abcnovels
Chapter 229
Chapter 229:
Chapter 229
As Yuhyun was filled with anticipation for the reward he would receive later, various meetings were taking place in the departments of the Celestial Corporation to secure their share of the Earth in the future.
Who would fill the empty spot left by the Pentagram department?
The Earth, which had been treated like a rotten fruit until now, would have been ignored by them, but after the recent massive patch, it became the hottest potato for the tellers of the Celestial Corporation.
Celestina was one of the tellers who was interested in the Earth.
“I think you already know why I called you here. I heard some rumors.”
In Celestina’s personal office, two tellers were having a meeting.
One of them was obviously the owner of the office, Celestina, a red-haired beauty and the head of the department.
The other teller was standing opposite her, and he was her direct subordinate.
He wore a black Wilhelm helmet on his head and a black uniform that fit his body.
He also had a red cloak fluttering behind his back, making him look like a nobleman and a knight from modern Europe.
He was Romulaxis, the manager of the Celestial Being department.
He was the one that Celestina was going to send to Earth.
“What?!”
However, Romulaxis, who had been listening to Celestina’s words silently, let out an exclamation that was completely incompatible with his solemn appearance.
“I’ve never heard of that?!”
“Hey! I already told you!”
Celestina, who was trying to set the mood, couldn’t help but get angry and slammed her hands on the table as she got up from her seat.
Romulaxis then nodded his head as if he realized something.
“Now that I think about it, you did give me a hint before?”
“And?”
“Oh, oh no! You did! You did! So please, open your clenched fist!”
“Hoo.”
Celestina relaxed her fist that she didn’t even notice she had clenched.
It was always like this when she talked to him.
Romulaxis was a guy who had a serious gap between his appearance and his frivolous behavior and speech, and she often found herself getting heated up without knowing it.
‘But then again, his skills are really good.’
She had recruited this guy because he was interesting, but wasn’t that ultimately her own choice?
That meant that all the mental stress she received from him was her own fault.
How could she convince this guy who was a weirdo among weirdos to accept the situation?
As Celestina was pondering this, Romulaxis raised his fingers and made a preemptive move.
“Well, I guess I know why I have to go to Earth. It’s because it’s the world that’s hitting the highest price lately, right? So you want to squeeze into the empty spot and get the first-mover advantage.”
“That’s right. You know well. But it’s not first-mover advantage. There are already some people who went in.”
“But they don’t have any affiliation yet. The Earth was a world that was almost abandoned, right? The Pentagram, which used to be the boss there, got completely screwed by this incident.”
“Even so, you can’t ignore their influence. They withdrew some of them, but they still have some good ones left.”
“But they still lost their teeth. So you want to send me there?”
“What? Is there a problem?”
“No? Well…”
“Be honest. What? Do you think I’m going to eat you?”
“It’s annoying…”
“Can you say that again?”
“Ah, no I mean honestly… Ouch!”
In the end, Romulaxis got punched in the head.
As he rubbed his crushed head(?), Celestina said in a cold voice.
“Geez. How did I end up picking this guy?”
“It’s your mistake. You have to deal with it.”
“Are you saying that with your mouth right now?”
Celestina didn’t even feel like hitting him again.
It would be better for her mental health to send him to Earth as soon as possible rather than wasting time here.
“The other departments have already finished their personnel selection and are ready to send them. We’re the last ones.”
“So they’re all eyeing it too?”
“Of course they are.”
There are eight departments in total in the Celestial Corporation.
Originally there were much more departments than that, but some of them were dissolved due to poor performance or merged with other departments due to political defeat or new departments were created.
It was now that this turbulent change had settled into a system of eight departments.
They were called Shi Hua Ba Bu (示話八部) within the Celestial Corporation.
The 1st Department: Tian Gan Di Zhi (天干地支)
The 2nd Department: Halo
The 3rd Department: Pentagram
The 4th Department: Celestial Bing
The 5th Department: Star Seeker
The 6th Department: Liu Xing Guang Qun (流星光群)
The 7th Department: Prominence
The 8th Department: Ophiuchus
Among them, the Pentagram, which had occupied the Earth, had weakened its position, and the remaining seven departments were coveting the empty spot.
For now, they agreed not to touch each other and send one or two managers or deputies at most, but who would trust a verbal agreement that was not signed by a contract?
“I’m sending you there for that reason. You have the best ability among the executives, even though your personality is not so great. That’s why I’m sending you there.”
“What? What’s wrong with my personality? I think my personality is better than my ability.”
“Bullshit.”
The chief’s sharp rebuke made Romulaxis slump in his seat, assuming a posture like a pitiful heroine.
“Boo-hoo, you’re so mean.”
“Cut it out. Anyway, there’s no other reason for sending you there. Just remember that.”
“Yes. Got it. By the way, is there anything I should be careful of? It’s been over three years since I’ve been to Shiwa, so I might have lost some touch.”
“There’s nothing to worry about. Just do as you please. He’s not the type to listen to you anyway, right?”
“Oh dear. You know me so well, boss?”
“If I have to warn you of one thing, it’s to watch out for the others.”
“The others? You mean…”
“Exodus and Tragedy Faction. They’ve also started to show interest in Earth, using this incident as an excuse.”
Celestina sat back in her seat, crossed one leg over the other, and tilted her head slightly.
“You’ve clashed with them before, so I trust you know what to do.”
“…”
Romulaxis, who always retorted cheekily, kept silent this time and maintained his silence.
***
A memorial service was held for the victims of the runaway of the Thought World.
The whole world was in sorrow, but they did not dwell on it.
The Genesis System had already warned them enough.
It was ultimately the humans of the limit who did not accept it and acted as before.
The government and the association immediately discussed the closure of the Thought World.
“This is exactly what the Genesis System’s warning meant. The Thought World, which had been quiet until now, ran wild and eroded our land. We can’t leave it alone any longer.”
“That’s right. It happened once. Who can guarantee that it won’t happen again? The people are afraid. If this continues, there might be social panic.”
However, there were also those who had opposing opinions.
They said that the other side’s argument was too idealistic and that they should look at the reality in front of them.
“It’s not easy to close the Thought World all of a sudden. Have you forgotten? How huge is the proportion of the by-products of the Thought World in the world economy? We are trying to cut open the belly of a goose that lays golden eggs.”
“That’s right. Besides, even if we fight now, will the collectors risk their lives to fight? And there are more than three digits of Thought Worlds that have not been cleared in our country. When will we clear them all?”
In a huge conference room, opinions clashed harshly.
The pro-association faction and the pro-clan faction both had reasonable arguments. But reasonableness was not all the same.
Their claims did not mix with each other.
“People have died! The people are afraid! Do you want to leave the Thought World alone, which is like a ticking time bomb?”
“Let’s be rational, rational! Do you know how much labor it takes to get rid of it right now? Let’s say we do it anyway. Then what about the collectors? Have you thought about how many of them will die?”
“Then what do you want us to do? Just leave it alone? Think about the damage that will happen if we do! What if another runaway happens? Will you go out and fight with a gun then? Don’t say things you can’t take responsibility for!”
“Hey! We didn’t say we’d just leave it alone! We just said it’s hard to do it right now! There’s a sequence to everything! How can you do anything without following that!”
“You’re probably getting paid by the clan!”
“What?! Have you said enough?!”
“Enough! Why!”
In some cases, they even fought with each other by grabbing their collars. But when the higher-ups were having a desk debate, others were not just sitting around.
Especially, the collectors.
The collectors witnessed the disaster firsthand at the scene. And their choices were narrowed down to two.
Would they continue to fight?
Or would they stop where they were?
“What’s the point of going on like this? We became collectors, but we’re supposed to retire because we’re afraid of phantasms?”
“It’s better than before. Because of that damn boundary line, we had to hold back and come back even though we wanted to catch more.”
“What if it disappears when we clear it? Anyway, they said more will be created later.”
“Still, people might die if we just stay still…”
They were not afraid of fighting either. But they realized something as they went through the fight.
Why they were chosen as collectors, and what it meant to be a collector.
And this second Phantasm Shock gave the collectors a great enlightenment.
The collectors who had a sense of cooperation began to form an organization with those who shared their will.
They didn’t need a clan or management.
They were the only ones who moved them, and their goal was only to clear the Thought World.
They were born as humans, chosen as collectors, and walked toward the sky.
Those who gathered stories discarded the name of collector.
Now they called themselves Walkers.
And.
Along with the appearance of the Walkers, new Tellers broke through the sky and descended to Earth.
The Earth’s pie had grown much bigger than before, and more than half of the pentagram members who had been laying eggs had left.
The tellers who came down from the remaining seven departments of the drawing room and some of the tellers who did not belong to any department had a dream of making a fortune, and they tried to squeeze in somehow.
Fortunately, there were plenty of vacancies for them.
The problem was that there were too many vacancies.
“That is…”
Romulaxis, who was looking down at the scenery of the lower world from a high place in the sky, turned his head as he felt an unpleasant wave coming from not far away.
There were two classes of tellers there.josei
One group was tellers who hid their identities by wearing black robes.
The other group was tellers who wore strange masks and bulky clothes.
Just by looking at their appearance, the two groups that could not be called the same race belonged to two other organizations that were long-time rivals of the Celestial Corporation.
Exodus and Comedians.
Romulaxis thought that the chief’s words were true and set out to find his first contractor who returned to the lower world for the first time.
The ones they mainly looked at were those who had more fighting spirit than anyone else.
They were walkers.
***
Golden lights wandered around the universe.
They did not flock together and moved individually.
They were looking for a place that suited them.
A place rich in stories.
A place where many stories gather.
A place where there are more audiences than anyone else.
Countless golden lights roamed the vast universe, the entire region of the hybrid system, but they could not find it easily.
The golden lights did not know what they were looking for.
The golden lights had no will.
They just moved instinctively.
They were not living beings, but rather close to a kind of concept.
Then one day.
The golden lights felt a stream that crossed this hybrid system.
Countless texts that were invisible to others formed a huge river like a galaxy and flowed to one side.
It was a sign that some story was about to be born.
The golden lights sensed the flow. And they felt a familiar energy at the end of it.
It was an energy similar to theirs, and more than anything, it was something much bigger than them.
A conceptual golden light that was invisible to people’s eyes.
One by one, they descended to Earth.