328 – The Past (7)
“I will sacrifice the lives of every American except mine.”
□It was done.□
What Jitter did was an outrage that crossed the line that no human being should cross. However, Jitter also had his own reasons. It was an ‘experiment’ that was very carefully planned and carried out with sufficient grounds.
First of all, it is obvious that Jitters sacrificed his people because time was turning back. But there were many other reasons as well.
First of all, the book’s main character, Ronald, is currently registered as Portuguese. His parents are American, and he grew up in the United States. However, he was born in Portugal, and due to various circumstances including taxes, he is currently Portuguese. He said that he plans to have dual citizenship or become an American citizen after becoming an adult. In any case, he is the Portuguese Ronald.
Therefore, even if all the lives of Americans are sacrificed, it does not affect the owner of the book in any way. Therefore, there is no variable. (And, although Jitter did not know this rule, the lives of those who entered the tower and had a status screen were not sacrificed.)
And that’s not all.
“China can provide test subjects. If they offer human sacrifices…”
“Don’t cross the line, sir. Let’s think of another way.”
About a month after the Chinese leader proposed human experimentation and the president refused, Michael Jeter lost his emotions.
“Those test subjects. Are you sure they’re all death row inmates?”
“Tongue, Chairman. If you’re a test subject, you’re a death row inmate.”
“If we are going to die anyway, it is right to use our lives more valuable.”
Jitter chose the more ‘efficient’ option. If they were going to be killed anyway, wouldn’t it be the same whether they were sacrificed to books or roasted to death with electricity?
Anyway, Jitter, who secretly took over the death row inmate through teleportation, donated the human to the book without the president’s knowledge, and confirmed that the human possessed tremendous magical value.
“…”
And after some time, when the plan to catch the regressor was in full swing, Jitter’s 10x faster brain came up with one possibility.
If it were to regress, wouldn’t it be okay to sacrifice a person? Wouldn’t they be resurrected anyway? Wouldn’t that be the most efficient use of human life? If time were to go back to the past, death would never have happened.
No, I’m not sure. There may be side effects. Jitter was ignorant of the book’s laws.
What if the regressor was caught, and Jitter sacrificed a human right before he regressed. What if after the regressor regressed, they disappeared forever? Or, what if when the time came for Jitter to sacrifice a human… they all died? Isn’t that a very possible scenario?
It is inefficient. It is an extreme inefficiency that can never be chosen in normal situations, although it can be used only in truly unavoidable situations. No matter how great the value of finding a regressor is, it is not so great that precious American lives are ‘permanently’ sacrificed. Again, Jitter’s goal is world peace. It is to protect American lives. (If you ask why he sacrificed all Americans, Jitter will answer ‘because they will regress anyway.’)
Jitter was trying out various possibilities in a time that was 10 times slower. At some point, he realized that he had not come up with the easiest way.
“Let’s go to the lab. Contact the security.”
That is, the method of asking the book directly. The book demanded an infinitely generous offering when asked about its own rules, and Jitter had the ability to teleport. It was no big deal to sneak into the lab. (By the way, most of the security was done by the players. This means that it was Jitter’s responsibility.)
Anyway, in the middle of the night, Jitter sneaked into the lab. Since the rental period hadn’t ended yet, the book was still in its original place, and Jitter asked the book while handing it the treasure he had brought in advance.
“Book. After offering a person to you. If time were to turn back. Would they be forever subservient to you, and disappear from the timeline? Or would they ‘accidentally’ die when the time of their death comes?”
□No.□
“But you said you were free from time. Then aren’t you only losing out?”
Jitter’s question was valid. Throwing a person to a transcendent being who is free from time, and when time goes back, the person just comes back? I don’t know from a human’s perspective, but from this book’s perspective, isn’t it just a one-sided loss?
To this question of jitter, the book answered succinctly: the devoted human being had to pay a proper price.
“Ah. It was nothing special.”
But fortunately, the ‘price’ mentioned in the book was not that great, and was within the range that could be easily tolerated. Jitter was relieved by this, and thought that if the situation allowed, he would consider offering people more actively.
…at least by jitter’s standards, it wasn’t much.
**
After all Americans died suddenly, and about 3 seconds later, time went back. So in an instant, the apocalypse, where almost all people in a country lost consciousness and died at the same time, lasted only 3 seconds. It was fortunate that the mental health of some of the American players (including the Emperor) who had to watch the scene returned to what it was before.
During this period, Choi Ji-won and Kim Jun-ho stayed in reality for about two months to find out the cause of the butterfly effect. Choi Ji-won was in the US, Kim Jun-ho was in Korea, and they even had the support of the messenger. To this extent, it can be said that they built a pretty good information network.
The results of the survey were surprising.
“The warehouse disappeared…?”
First of all, the story about the secret warehouse in the US was completely lost. Only traces remained, and even Choi Ji-won’s information network could not find the story about the secret warehouse.
Also, the atmosphere in the U.S. government has become really chaotic. The news is full of criticism of the government every day, and fights are breaking out on YouTube and in newspapers.
I tried contacting Jitter just in case, but he didn’t answer, and there was no way to contact Dok Soo Hee.
It just went back to normal. But this kind of change? In just two months?
Kim Jun-ho, who finally decided that there was no more information to be found, began to climb the tower again. Towards the 19th floor, and further up. He began to move forward.
And during the two months that Kim Jun-ho was collecting information.
There really has been a lot going on.
**
“So, this is my plan.”
It was right after Kim Jun-ho returned. The president was explaining his plan again in front of some researchers and Michael Jeter.
“The cover of this book. It’s incredibly huge, and it has a sacred atmosphere… but if you pay a sufficient price, wouldn’t it be possible to leave a small mark on it? And wouldn’t that mark be able to resist time… This is it.”
“When you say sign, what sign do you mean?”
When Dr. Han raised his hand to ask a question, the president hesitated for a moment and then tapped the lower right corner of the book.
“So… the lower right corner of the cover. Based on this, at points 50cm apart in length and width, we’ll put a star in there. However, the size has to be very small. So small that you have to look at it with a microscope. If it’s big, wouldn’t the amount of sacrifice increase?”
“Is there a reason why it has to be 50cm…?”
“Aren’t there 50 states in the United States? Does the President really need to explain this much?”
“I’m sorry, I’m sorry.”
“Anyway, here…”
“for a moment.”
Jitter interrupts the President while he is talking.
“Why, Chairman. Are you worried that I might cause you some trouble…”
Jeter bent down slightly and began to stare intently at the spot where the President had been tapping. Then, Jeter’s eyes widened slightly, as if in disbelief.
“Mr. President.”
“…?”
“I think we’ve succeeded. Doctor, bring the measuring tools and microscope.”
It was something that ordinary people could never see, but it was visible to Jitter’s eyes after he ‘adapted’.
“I guess… regressors do exist.”
A small but distinct star-shaped mark engraved on the spot where the President touched.
**
Was there originally a star in that spot? Could it be that, by sheer coincidence, there was a star-shaped sign in the spot where the President spoke?
No way. On the cover of the book, there was no such marking. Only in the exact spot where the President had mentioned, there was a star so small that it was barely visible.
So. The regressor existed. The plan worked.
It proved that the regressor exists. It is the situation that the president has been dreaming of.
But his mood… couldn’t even be described as ‘happy’ in empty words.
“Really… It really exists.”
Yes. We have proven the existence of a being with god-like powers. We have figured it out. But so? Now?
Originally… I was going to use it. I was going to use the regressor in a way that would benefit America. But the emotion that came after was fear.
In the process… what if the President’s actions are exposed? What if everything he has done so far is discovered by the Regressor?
The current president has no image of an Asian seen through a camera. Only a vague image of a transcendent being who can manipulate time as he pleases floats around. It is inevitable that the president is terrified.
“Damn… the markings were the problem…”
Yes. The problem was simply engraving the mark. It was right to engrave the letters. If this were the case, wouldn’t it be impossible to know who the regressor was? Were we simply acknowledging their existence? This was an obvious mistake. The visible enemy is the object of analysis, but the invisible enemy is the object of fear.
“… Jitter. What should we do now… Jitter?”
But whether the President was terrified or not, Jeter just sat there listening to what the doctor had to say.
“So… the location wasn’t exactly 50cm, 50cm. It was slightly lower.”
“How much exactly?”
“It was down 2cm.”
“…”
I didn’t tell the President, but Jitter was just thinking about creating some kind of encryption system himself.
At exactly the 50, 50 point, the President put a mark on it.
If it occurs below 1cm, it means that the jitter has marked it and the identity of the regressor has not been identified.
If it is below 2cm, it means that Choi Ji-won or Kim Jun-ho were the regressors. They were the most suspicious targets.
And if it was under 3cm, it meant that I had seen a regressor, but it was a human other than that.
The mark engraved on the book is now 2cm down. If the future Jitter uses the same system, the regressor is clearly Choi Ji-won or Kim Jun-ho. What Jitter is worried about now is whether it is right to tell the president about this or whether it is right to hide it.
“What would you do if you met a regressor, Mr. President?”
“Me… you say.”
A troubled president.
“Actually, I don’t want to meet him. I need to figure out his disposition before I meet him. If he’s a good regressor, I’ll help him in both material and spiritual ways, but if he’s an evil regressor… I’ll have to find a way to get rid of him.”
It was the right answer. The ability to return is such a powerful ability. If you help, there will be a strong synergy effect, but if you are hostile, your life will never be comfortable.
“But right now, we don’t know its true identity. If we just meet it… I don’t know. There are too many variables.”
What the President feared was the situation where he would never be able to live a proper life if he incurred the wrath of the regressor. If he could win their favor and build positive relationships, he could gain more wealth and fame than he has now, but if he was hostile, he would have to suffer for an eternity.
Again, the regressor is a god. He doesn’t know the conditions for regression, the timing, or the number of times it can be done. In any case, the very fact that he can manipulate time is an object of fear for ordinary humans.
“What if the regressor doesn’t want to surface on his own?”
“That… doesn’t matter. It’s not like there’s no way we can help secretly. If we can just find out his name and disposition. I want to help.”
His eyes were sincere. As far as Jitter could tell, the president wanted to go down in history as ‘the strong supporter of the returners, and the waterman.’ No matter what anyone said, the returners were the ones most likely to clear this tower first.
“…”
Here, Jitter chose to remain silent. He chose to quietly leave the lab. He couldn’t decide whether it would be more efficient to inform the president or not.
But one thing was certain.
“Team Alpha. Assemble everyone. We need to have a meeting. This is an important matter.”
Jitter will choose the more efficient option.