Chapter 381. Future Worker (3)
Starting from the moment Chi-Woo’s eyes opened, the current world was revised. Chi-Woo’s prediction was almost right. The original time point had not changed dramatically, and most of the main events remained the same. In other words, the main flow of the world that took place before his intervention mostly continued unchanged. However, this didn’t mean that there was no change at all; if one considered the whole flow and took a closer look, there were minute details that were now different.
In fact, 99.9 percent of the beings currently active on Liber didn’t feel any abnormalities after the modification; this also meant that there were very few exceptions who did sense it—those who had realized the fundamental logic of the World and observed the flow of the World. And while Chi-Woo was interfering with the past, those who had taken a step back from the time flow detected abnormalities as soon as Chi-Woo returned to his original timeline.
“Ugh…!” Chi-Hyun, who had been trapped in Sernitas' territory, suddenly let out a violent groan. He clutched his head and felt intense pain because memories that didn’t used to exist in his head were coming to him one by one. Chi-Hyun groaned in pain for a long while and finally opened his eyes with difficulty. “…Sigh.” After he looked through each new memory one by one, he was completely dumbfounded.
With an incredulous tone, he shouted, “Chi-Woo, you crazy punk…!”
At the same time.
“Ahahahhaaha!” The Last Dragon, who had experienced a moment of disorientation like Chi-Hyun, burst into laughter after organizing the dizzying memories floating in her mind. “Crazy, how crazy! He’s so much more insane than his brother! Don’t tell me, he really…!”
And it was the same for the Sernitas.
—Error. Error.
—Fine-tuning detected in the flow of time and space.
—Confirming extinguishment of the now extinct World’s resentment. The World’s probability of survival has exponentially increased.
—….Notifying that a major revision in future plans is inevitable.
Signs of Chi-Woo’s interference with the past showed up everywhere, and this was no exception to the individuals who had caused this change.
* * *
Rubbing at his forehead, Chi-Woo slowly looked up. He saw Yunael likewise clutching her temples and groaning in pain. There were numerous messages in the air.
[‘Seven Ways to Become a Great and Respected Parent’ has been opened.]
[The amount of trust that user Yunael Tania has towards user Choi Chi-Woo will be measured.]
[Measuring… Measurement is completed.]
He turned the notification off for now. After checking his user information first, he saw that his Blessed Luck, which had dropped to 43, had now recovered back to the maximum 100. This was a result of absorbing many of the World’s problematic pieces. And that wasn’t the only success he reaped.
[User Choi Chi-Woo’s Merits: 120,963,279]
He had earned an astounding number of merits, and it easily exceeded 100 million. He gaped at the insane number. On second thought, it was understandable because Chi-Woo had directly interfered with the World’s flow. However, he couldn’t be satisfied yet. Blessed Luck and merits were merely a bonus, and there was a separate reward he wanted for his efforts—the changed present and the future that would change as a result. Of course, these were things he couldn’t hope for right now, and he couldn’t be sure that his actions would bring forth these results. However, the most important part was that the future could change depending on how he acted from now on. The situation was now different, and the future would follow suit.
Chi-Woo rose to his feet, and Yunael also struggled to get up. Then they went out at the same time as if they had planned it beforehand. While they quickly crossed the corridor, the two ran into one of the Seven Star members.
“Boss,” Eval Sevaru, who had been on his way to Chi-Woo’s office, called out to him. “You haven’t left yet. Sir, you told me that you’ll be working independently for the time being, so I came to ask you approximately how long you’ll be—”
“Ah, it’s over.”
“Sorry?”
“I just came back. It’s going to be alright now.”
Eval Sevaru looked blankly at Chi-Woo as he winked at him and passed him by. From Eval Sevaru’s perspective, it had only been a few minutes since Chi-Woo told him to not worry too much if he lost consciousness again, so it was understandable for him to be flustered. Trailing after Chi-Woo, Yunae gave Eval Sevaru a knowing, sympathetic look, and Eval became even more confused.
Yunael and Chi-Woo went outside and wandered around Shalyh; there was no substantial change, but if they had to identify one difference, the population did seem to have increased compared to before. Chi-Woo could guess why. Since the World had been modified, the events that had happened so far had changed little by little. When Chi-Woo first entered Liber as part of the 7th recruits, humanity had almost disappeared from Liber. Despite Chi-Hyun’s best effort, the number of survivors amounted to a few thousand at most. Compared to the time when humanity once reigned supreme in the Middle World and the population reached billions, it was truly a minuscule number.
On the other hand, humanity hadn’t gone extinct per se because there were quite a few humans captured and enslaved by other factions, but it wasn’t an exaggeration to say that humanity had lost the vitality and numbers to reign the Middle World ever again. Even if they saved Liber as it currently was, humanity would just become one of the countless minority tribes living quietly in the corner of Liber in the future. The outcome hadn’t changed much even in this modified world. It was safe to say that humanity’s power and force was still incomparable to the past, but thanks to Chi-Woo’s intervention, the results have changed a little. That alone could be considered progress.
“Hmm…I don’t know. I don’t really feel much of a difference.” Yunael still looked unsure. “The population has increased. That’s a good thing, but does it really matter if the current situation hasn’t changed much? To be blunt, even if there are more natives, it’s just more mouths to feed. It’s not like they help much in terms of power.” On the surface, Yunael’s argument was reasonable, but it was too shortsighted.
“Oh, come to think of it, you must not know about this.”
“About what?”
“How things got to this point in the first place…”
When Chi-Woo came into contact with a group of nomads, Shakira had told him that the reason why humanity fell so easily was because the main god, Elephthalia, had gone crazy. Due to Elephthalia’s curse, humans began to lose their mind and suddenly changed. They started viciously killing each other, and in the midst of this chaos, the Demon Empire invaded, the Abyss struck, and an alien race came bursting in, leaving humanity with no chance of surviving. Shakira’s explanation was half right and half wrong.
Elephthalia hadn’t suddenly gone crazy. The starting point was the excessive demand for backup during the series of crises, which burdened the World. The direct cause was Chi-Hyun’s complete extinguishment of the problematic World, leaving only deep resentment. When the foreseen repercussions occurred on Liber, things were set in motion according to the unknown figure’s intention, and the situation ended up like this.
However, at their current point of time, one part of the problem had been fixed. Chi-Hyun had failed to exterminate the World, and by protecting the World, Chi-Woo had prevented the World from cursing Liber with her resentment. Of course, since the fundamental cause of the problem hasn’t been solved, Chi-Woo couldn’t stop the chain reactions that would occur as a result. The Sernitas invaded Liber like before and greatly contributed to the emergence of the Demon Empire and Abyss by disrupting and weakening the World. However, even in that mess, the World tried desperately to protect Liber, and Elephthalia didn’t go crazy.
Although it was true that they failed to prevent the Sernitas from squeezing through the gaps, that humanity was still too weak to handle all the calamities befalling them despite their improved situation, and that they were walking on a foreseen path of destruction, humanity wouldn’t be as easily swept by their surroundings as before. In times of crisis, humanity resisted with all their might and sought a way to survive as much as possible even after human civilization collapsed. This was a huge difference indeed. When the World cursed Liber with deep resentment, humanity did not really want to continue living; this was evident from the displaced people who lived in the forest day by day only because they couldn’t bear to die.
However, the current World had not forgotten her duty, and as a result of her enduring will, more humans had survived than before. Therefore, humans were living persistently without giving up hope that someday they’d be able to regain Liber and go back to their old days. Hope for Liber to one day become normal again proved the existence of the World. Such changes may not be seen immediately, but the future might go differently this time. After circling Shalyh once, Chi-Woo and Yunael returned to Seven Stars and conversed.
“Let’s wait and see. I’m sure there’ll be significant changes in the near future—whether we know of it or not. In fact, there might have already been a change.”
“Would that be the case? I sure hope so…”
They headed to the main building after passing the main gate. Just when they were about to open the door and enter, the door opened first. The person who was about to go outside paused for a moment and tilted her head, her eyes softly closed.
Aida smiled brightly, “Are you two coming back from a date?”
“What do you mean by a date!?” Yunael fervently denied it.
“Haha, it’s a joke, a joke. So please don’t get so angry; that only makes you more suspicious.” Aida waved her hands and laughed at Yunael, who was jumping up and down. Then she suddenly looked back at Chi-Woo and said, “By the way, my lord. May I ask what happened about the matter I told you before?”
“Sorry?”
“About the star.”
Yunael, who had been angry, flinched.
“The lonely star’s energy is getting stronger day by day. I know you’re busy with official duties, but I recommend that you take some time to look around Shalyh if you can.”
Yunael quickly turned around and looked at Chi-Woo; Chi-Woo was just as surprised as her. There was a new star around Shalyh? He could swear that Aida had never mentioned such a thing before—before the past had been modified, that was. However, since the modification, this matter was definitely present in his memory.
‘Perhaps…’ There was only one explanation. An individual that should have died before the modification was alive after the modification, and this individual had the potential to be a star, to the point that Aida confidently recommended them to Chi-Woo. This could also be considered one of the changes of the World. However, this wasn’t the only change. He heard someone running to him from afar.
Hawa rushed over and stood in front of Chi-Woo. “Goddess La Bella…has sent a message… She told you to come quickly…right now…” She was in such a rush that she relayed the message while catching her breath.
Chi-Woo’s lips curled into a smile.
* * *
The Demon Empire was silent. An unknown sense of ominousness lingered—like the calm before a storm. Deep underground in a castle, a girl sat alone in a large cavity with only one small window. Her white hair shimmered under the moonlight streaming through the window. She immediately turned around when she heard the door open.
Shersha slightly opened her mouth at the figure walking towards her, “Bael.”
“Today,” the great demon, Bael, said as soon as she entered, “The General Assembly has made a decision.”
Shersha’s eyes widened. “No.” She quickly shook her head.
But Bael firmly replied, “I can’t overturn the decision now. We decided to give our answer—to accept it.”
“No. Bael. No. Please.”
“The legend has jumped straight into Sernitas’ territory. By himself.”
“We—”
“There’s no better time than this.” Shersha tried to say something, but Bael cut her off every time, “I know what you’re concerned about. But…” Bael trailed off. Then she chewed on her lower lip.
Shersha’s eyebrow trembled slightly because for some unbeknownst reason, she was getting a strange sense of déjà vu, as if they had had this conversation before. However, Bael was different then; Bael had seemed much more convinced. If this was a feeling that Shersha got from a dream, it could be a type of prophecy. And if the reality was different from the prophecy, it meant only one thing—the future had changed.
“No,” Shersha repeated in a stronger tone. “Even if. Everything goes well. All we can get. Is a grace period. If not. We’re jumping straight. Into the fire by ourselves.”
“…”
“Nothing will. Be left. Not even ashes.”
Bael’s eyes narrowed.
“Not yet. We have to turn back. We must.”
“…You told me that prophecy should only be used as reference and not to be followed blindly.”
“Bael.”
“You said that the future is always changing.”
“No. This is not.”
“What do you mean no?” Bael’s voice was filled with anger. “Why can’t we fight for the future we want? Why does the Celestial Realm have to always manage everything in the name of maintaining the order of the world?” Bael asked again and again.
Shersha was left speechless momentarily.
“Rather than living like livestock like that—” Bael spoke in a shuddering voice, full of anger, “Let it all go to hell. A world like this.” Bael turned away with those parting words.
“Bael!”
Bael heard Shersha get up in a hurry with a desperate cry. However, she shut the door without looking back. Although she heard Shersha banging on the door, Bael climbed the stairs without hesitation. Even when she went out of the basement and came up to the first floor, the knocking still didn’t cease. Bael walked alone in the corridor and stopped shortly after. Her slightly lowered head revealed an anxious expression.
“…I also know.” Bael sighed and muttered to herself. “That it could go wrong…” To be more precise, Bael couldn’t erase the anxiety that something was going wrong. “But…” Bael took a deep breath and raised her head. As she stared into the distance, a firm determination formed in her eyes. A conclusion had already been reached; it was all or nothing. Fight, or let all be doomed without leaving even ashes, as Shersha had predicted. Although the results couldn’t be known yet, one thing was for certain—there was no turning back now. While Bael was determined to do just that, a weak groan leaked from her mouth. She felt like she was being caught blindsided and swept away by a sudden torrent.
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