327 – The Past (6)
After Kim Jun-ho fought the tiger, he felt a lack of strength and was about to regress. William Smith was healing people by cutting up his body, and the crazy ones who took advantage of the chaos to satisfy their desires were gaining power, and in the midst of all this, many people were twisting their bodies and trying to maintain order.
At this point, Michael Jeter’s plan was leaked to some players. Not to the public, really, but to ‘some’ top players. The source… let’s just say it came from the White House.
Anyway, one player who heard Jitter’s plan commented:
“Aren’t you a psychopath?”
The player, who asked to remain anonymous, said Jeter twirled his fingers around his temples, suggesting his head was spinning.
“The way I see it, it’s obvious why that kid suspected the existence of a ‘time traveler’. He couldn’t do it on the fourth floor, but someone else did. Even though they did it twice, he thought it didn’t make sense unless they time traveled. If he can do something he can’t do, he must have seen the future. He’s just a complete idiot.”
Although the choice of words may be a bit harsh, it shows how sincere it is. Another player said:
“Doubt… I think it’s possible. There’s no limit to the characteristics that the tower can give, and if it’s a time-travel characteristic, it could definitely exist. But digging a trap to catch it… I find it hard to understand. People are dying right now, so is that important?”
Let me be honest. This is a rumor spread by the president to shift the blame to Jeter. In any case, the important thing is that this trap was a choice that is generally difficult to understand. It means that it was an act of eccentricity created by a person who was intoxicated by the omnipotence of the ‘book’ and a person who believed in himself too much.
To use an analogy, it’s a trap set to catch a unicorn. You don’t know if the unicorn exists, and you don’t know if it will actually fall into the trap. If you think about it, it’s easy to understand if the heads of state and international organizations joined forces to try to catch the unicorn. Yes, it was completely crazy.
but.
“Jiwon-ah. Let’s go back.”
Because regressors actually existed.
[I suffered damage.]
The story changes.
[You will return to the time you first entered the 15th floor.]
***
Time goes backwards.
The regressor climbs the tower to gain power. He passes the 16th and 17th floors and clears the 18th floor. He heads to America.
“Will this work?”
“It will definitely work.”
The memory of the crushing failure has long since disappeared. Michael Jeter and the President were both watching the camera in the secret laboratory where the book was stored. If there were regressors, they would have fallen into the trap today.
“I… don’t quite understand.”
The president sighs.
“Can reality change just by deciding how we will act in the future?”
“You have to actually intend to do it. If nothing happens now, you actually intend to do it.”
“… It’s difficult.”
The president has not been able to focus on politics these days. There are a mountain of issues that need to be resolved, but he has passed them all on to the vice president, and for now, he is only focusing on this issue of the returnee. Still… it is true that it is not pretty.
If I think about how I will act in the future, does that change the present? Logically speaking, it’s not wrong, but it was hard to accept.
“So, if no one comes today…”
“At that time, I plan to do as I said. I will wait and spread the rumor in the future. That means the regressor has not regressed yet.”
“Ugh…”
The president who had been immersed in the omnipotence of being able to do anything is no longer there. As he refrained from using the ‘book’ to dig a trap, the president slowly came to his senses and gradually began to think that he might be doing something crazy. Later, he tried to hit Jeter on the back of the head, probably because he realized that.
But that future no longer exists.
“Whew… I should have bought some donuts. I can’t ask my secretary to bring them here…”
“Mr. President.”
“If only I had a cup of coffee…”
“Mr. President.”
“Why, why but?”
“It’s a person.”
“Really… Are you saying that time travelers really exist? Really?”
Two people enter a narrow hallway. The image quality isn’t that great because the camera is very small and has been heavily coated with filters to reduce reflected light, but the faces are recognizable.
“Oh, you’re wearing a mask. Hehe. Hehehe…”
“…”
“It looks like a man and a woman… Jitter? Why is that?”
The president, who was very excited by the current situation, let out a ragged breath, but Jeter, on the other hand, remained silent.
The president couldn’t recognize the man and woman because they were wearing masks, but Michael Jeter’s senses recognized Choi Ji-won and Kim Jun-ho. Their height, body shape, and even their gait were a perfect match.
Yes. I knew this would happen. If there were regressors, I was sure they would be those two. Jitter felt a small sense of satisfaction that he was not wrong, and it was a feeling that a normal human would call ‘ecstasy.’
“Association President.”
The president, who was looking at the camera with shaking legs, suddenly called out to the reporter as if he was afraid.
“We won’t get caught, right? If we incur their resentment, then my life will be…”
“I checked. It was impossible to detect it even with my senses.”
“If that’s the case…”
Players were good at detecting things like magic or human presence, but surprisingly, they had difficulty detecting things like micro-machines. Especially if there was almost no operating sound. Unless you were trying to find a ‘hidden machine’ in the first place, it was impossible to distinguish it from everyday ambient sounds.
The senses became so sharp that they automatically filtered out unwanted noises, and Jitter took advantage of this. This is why neither Michael Jitter nor Choi Ji-won could discover the ultra-small camera.
-There’s no one there?
-Really?
-Uh. I even tried using magic, but there’s really nothing.
While the President and Jeter were pondering, Choi Ji-won and Kim Jun-ho arrived at the place where the warehouse should have been. They were clearly perplexed by the sight of the empty warehouse, and then began to talk about something.
“What are you talking about?”
“I don’t know.”
He was too masked to read lips, and too conspicuous to be ready for a microphone.
The existence of the regressors was proven. The fact that they were here, at this moment, was proof of that.
Then again, how will we remember this fact? Time will move back in time, so where will we record the fact that the regressor existed?
Jeter and the President came up with the solution. They wanted to solve it by leaving a very small, microscopic mark on the cover of the book. The book answered that it was free from the flow of time, and the mark it left would remain forever.
If you leave a trace now, even if time goes back, the trace will remain in the promised location. That is how you can record it. It is possible to remember the fact that the regressor exists.
But why? Why don’t they act? Why don’t they offer sacrifices to the book right away?
Because I wasn’t sure. I didn’t have the confidence to pour all of America’s future into a book.
Now, the certainty that time will turn back. The certainty that they are not prophets or mind-controllers. If time turns back, I’ll give it my all. But if time doesn’t turn back? That’s putting America’s future in the gutter.
Confidence. A tiny bit of evidence. A stepping stone to action…
-Whew, it’s hot.
And the next moment, Kim Jun-ho took off his mask.
-No. If we contact you, let’s contact you after you’ve returned. It’ll be too suspicious if we contact you right now.
“What, what did you say?”
“It’s Korean. Now, offer up your sacrifice. You are the one who returned.”
Kim Jun-ho mentioned ‘regression’. Jitter, who had already ‘adapted’ to Korean, could clearly read Kim Jun-ho’s lips. He was convinced. Now it was time to act.
“…Get ready!”
The president swallowed hard and gave instructions to the researchers. A huge warehouse was set up on one side of the secret laboratory, and it contained all the ‘items’ that the United States had ever purchased, as well as the gold bullion that the bank had held. Oh, and there were also many cultural assets that were likely to have value, borrowed from museums.
For today, the president has spent most of his accumulated political influence. Even if the items were originally under control, it was by no means easy to ‘temporarily move’ gold and cultural assets. It was even more so because he did it without being detected. It was a feat possible for the president, who had enough power to be called the master of the Earth.
The president staked everything. That’s what a country’s gold reserves are. Trust. And the future. The president staked it now. It was a clear crime, but now was not the time to worry about such things. Isn’t the regressor right in front of us?
“Book! I offer you everything here! So, let me leave a tiny trace on your cover, wherever I want!”
Everything that the world’s most powerful nation has gathered from one country. Even if you look at it from a magical perspective or in monetary terms, it is a treasure of gold and silver that is so valuable that it is difficult to even dare to speak of it. The president declared that he would offer it.
□… □
The book… didn’t answer. It didn’t even move.
“Uh, why…”
The reason was clear. The amount of sacrifice was… insufficient.
“…”
The worst situation that Jitter had been most reluctant about had arrived. The book had constantly emphasized its own value, and he had thought that it would not be easy to leave a mark on such a valuable book. But this was not enough.
The regressor. And the book. To influence things related to time… even if a country gave everything, it wouldn’t be enough. Not thousands of tons of gold, not rare cultural assets, not items from the tower. Even if it was the strongest nation in humanity, it still couldn’t reach the transcendent being.
“Failure… is that so?”
The president slumped down in his seat. In order to move the gold here and steal the cultural assets, countless crowds and rudeness were committed. This blow will be difficult to recover from. (This is one of the reasons why the president’s public opinion was shattered in the future.)
-Should I just go back now? If I go back to the city for no reason and get caught and questioned, it might be annoying. This future has already been decided, so it’s not too late to gather information after going back to the past.
-Yeah. I think that’s right. Are you going to regress right now?
-Oh. That’s what I was going to do.
Regardless, Jitter focused on the camera. In a time that flowed ten times slower than others, he pondered over and over again.
They routinely mention the word ‘return’. It is certain that time will soon turn back. No, is it really certain?
“… It is certain.”
All his senses screamed. Time is definitely turning back. No matter what he does, it will definitely be like it never happened. They are already ready to return. Choi Ji-won even closed his eyes.
Jeter’s brain, Michael Jeter’s brain, which had ‘adapted to high-level thinking’ to the point where it could use one second as if it were ten seconds, remembered an experiment done in the past.
-I’ll dedicate that watch to you.
-Oh, no. My watch…!
-I’m sorry. I didn’t know you could really offer it up as a sacrifice.
-It’s my watch… Why…
-I guess it’s because I’m your superior. I’ll buy you the same product again.
-Okay… Well then…
I pretended it was a mistake, but it was clearly an experiment. The book… allowed the ‘superior’ to offer up the ‘subordinate’s’ things. They didn’t need to ask for their consent, they could just do it if they wanted to.
“Book.”
And now, just before time goes back, Jitter wants to try a somewhat ‘aggressive’ experiment.
“I, the president of the World Players Association, Michael Jeter, the guardian who protects all of Earth, request that you allow me to leave a small mark on your sign. I will give you everything in this warehouse. And if that is not enough.”
No matter what you do, it will be like nothing happened. No one will remember it. Even though it goes against minor rules like morality.
“I will sacrifice the lives of every American except mine.”
□It was done.□
This is an efficient way.