Surviving Among the Entities

It was the time when he should have gone to the office.
However, his footsteps did not lead him there today.

[“Why is that?”]
“I just don’t feel like going to work.”
[“Could it be because of the speech from last time?”]

Sarang-i automatically turned on and showed internet news articles.

[Sarang Mulsan’s Chairman Lee Seung-hoon. Gathered employees and caused a cult speech scandal.]
[21-hour speech, employees dropping from exhaustion.]
[Introducing a new concept of the ‘Internet Hell’, claiming heaven and hell exist in reality, a new cult.]
[Were the insane welfare benefits all a trap to gather cult followers?]
[Giga-Christ? Internet Hell? Security certificates as punishment? An overwhelmingly bizarre doctrine unlike any cult that has existed!]

Numerous internet articles harshly criticized his speech.

“Even as a Resolver, I couldn’t convince people.”
[“In my view, this speech exceeded the limits of a Resolver’s ability to change perceptions.”]
“They believed everything else, so why not this?”
[“Isn’t it the result of a 21-hour speech?”]
“The speech was a bit long. But the inspiration within me just kept gushing out.”

Sarang-i showed another screen.
This time, it wasn’t an article but a YouTuber’s video.

[Analysis of Chairman Lee Seung-hoon’s speech with university professors! What kind of nonsense is this? Professors unable to hold back their sighs! Better at spouting nonsense than dogs?]
[23.27 million views]

“It’s unfortunate. But I won’t blame them.”

Prophets are always ridiculed.

“Ignaz Semmelweis, who first preached the importance of handwashing, was treated as a madman and committed to a mental asylum.”

John Snow, who first revealed the existence of waterborne diseases through epidemiological investigations, was not recognized during his lifetime.
Mendel, who discovered the laws of inheritance that everyone now knows as common sense, was not recognized during his lifetime and only gained recognition 35 years after his death.

“Pioneers are bound to be rejected, I won’t blame them.”
[“You probably won’t listen even if I say the situation is a bit different.”]
“Anyway, it’s not because of the speech, but I’ve experienced too many incidents lately, so I seem to have burnout. I need to take a good rest for a while.”
[“That’s a good choice. How about a trip?”]
“I’ll just rest at home.”

Acquiring new experiences and knowledge is a form of rest, but sometimes, letting one’s brain marinate in the repetitive mundane is also a form of rest.

“Let’s return to an ordinary daily life for a change.”

First, he checked “My Notebook in My Head.”
The question [1+1=?] written on the first page remained unanswered.

“Perhaps my guess was wrong.”

The answer may come someday.
Next, he exchanged memos with Singu Hwerang, who lived in another dimension beyond the toy well, for the first time in a while.

[I became a Dueseram this time! That means senior researcher in your language!]

He had been steadily exchanging and learning each other’s unique words and sharing knowledge with Singu Hwerang, so there was no difficulty in communication.

[More than that, I want to see these ‘entities’ you speak of. To be honest, as a scholar, I would be disqualified if I didn’t have any interest in beings that cause supernatural phenomena!]
[Should I send you some? I have photos of entities I’ve taken, so I’ll copy and send them to you.]
[Really? Wow, please do send them!]

He copied the photos taken with an enhanced Polaroid camera.
He sent the copies through the toy well.

[Hmm, is this strangely shaped thing in the photos what you call an ‘entity’? The same entity appears in almost every photo?]
[That’s probably me.]
[Huh? This is you, Mr. Seung-hoon? Wow, really, you only have two eyes, two arms, and two legs… I had no idea you looked this peculiar. And you’re so small too?]

Singu Hwerang’s world had multiple genders.
Not genders derived from mental aspects, but biologically distinct genders.

[Is it that different? Come to think of it, you said you were a Sevylurem, right? What does a Sevylurem look like?]
[Should I send you a photo of myself? Heheh!]
[I would appreciate that.]

A short while later, a photo came through the toy well.
Instead of paper, something was printed on a metallic plate.

“Hmm.”

A female…?
Let’s analyze it in detail.

‘The facial features are slender. There are four pairs of eyes.’

Each eye had three pupils, so she likely had excellent all-around vision.
Her tongue was long like a snake’s, and her body was also elongated like a snake’s.

‘The lower body alone must be about 6 meters?’

Instead of legs, the lower body was covered in something like scales or a carapace, with many joints, suggesting it was a detachable or self-manipulable part of the body.

‘Clothing? Or is it part of her body like human skin, but freely manipulable?’

And the upper body was completely bare.
The elongated upper body appeared to be about 5 meters long when compared to the background, surroundings, and the photo I had sent that she was holding.

“Many ‘chests’.”

To be precise, they were large and numerous.
Interestingly, Singu Hwerang’s photo was not a still image.

“Fascinating. It’s moving despite not being digital.”

The laws of physics that only applied in each other’s worlds were not immediately erased upon crossing over?
Then the technology applied here must also be applicable to our world.

“Just like the moving newspapers in Harry Potter.”

Singu Hwerang’s face in the photo changed.
Her previously slender, feminine face split into dozens of pieces, from which numerous tentacles bloomed like flowers.
Each tentacle had a mouth at the end, with sharp teeth protruding and enough elasticity to swallow a human whole in one bite.

‘Her back is splitting open too.’

As the carapace split open, sturdier and more peculiar tentacle-like appendages unfurled like wings.
A liquid dripping from their tips created white smoke upon hitting the seemingly metallic floor, causing it to melt.

[How’s this? I took it with a smile!]

A note from Singu Hwerang arrived.
I thought she was being threatening, but it was a smile.

[Beautiful.]
[Heheh, thank you! Actually, you didn’t look too bad either, Mr. Seung-hoon! If you take a closer look here and there, you might even find it cute?]

A Sevylurem, huh.
I reminisced about my memories with Singu Hwerang.

“Hmm.”

I suppose this qualifies as female.
And more important than outward appearance is the inner self and intimacy.

“Possible.”

Next, he created a special enhancement potion.
Ordinarily, he would have used a regular enhancement potion. The versatility of enhancement potions was excellent, and they had the scarcity of only being usable ten drops per month.

“Special enhancement potions are good, but the limitation of only one drop per month is too strict.”

However, since he planned to take a comfortable rest for the time being, if he created one drop in advance this time, it might come in handy someday.

“Let’s try making this too.”

If enhancement potions could be made into special enhancement potions, then weakening potions should also be possible.

“It really was possible.”

Ten drops of the weakening potion, which previously had no major use, merged into one special weakening potion.
Unlike the golden special enhancement potion, the special weakening potion was a distinct purple color, clearly distinguishable to avoid mistakes.

“Purple means deadly poison, easy to distinguish.”

Wait, wasn’t deadly poison green?
Anyway, after creating the special potions, he pondered what to do with them.

“The wall-mounted TV?”

What would happen if he enhanced it with the special enhancement potion?
Since potions don’t work on already enhanced or weakened states, he first sprayed a purification potion.

“It’s not changing back?”

However, the wall-mounted TV did not revert to its original form as a dial TV.

[“What are you doing!? Don’t take away our new headquarters!”]

Suddenly, the TV turned on, and the announcer protested.

“I’m not trying to take it away, but to upgrade it to something better than it is now.”
[“…Really?”]
“Yes. I made a special enhancement potion, so using it will greatly upgrade you. However, to use the potion, you need to return to your original state first.”

He had known that real-time communication was possible before, but now the announcer was openly doing it.

[“That’s great! Then please spray it again!”]

He sprayed the purification potion once more.
But again, it did not revert to its original form.

[“No, what is this… Just a moment…”]

The announcer made a call to someone and had an intense conversation.

[“Yes, Director, this Mr. Lee is trying to enhance us… Yes, you knew? Ah, because your power has seeped too much into the TV, it no longer works? Oh, what a shame!”]

It was a short conversation, but he could make many guesses from it.

‘The intern had mentioned before that the Director of the wall-mounted TV was also a candidate for a primordial being.’

And from the current conversation, it seems the Director’s power exerts influence on this world through the TV as a medium.

‘In other words, the TV is a conduit for power, and the already expanded conduit blocks external new powers from being supplied?’

A higher entity blocking the abilities of lower entities.
Interestingly, the forgotten alchemist’s potions brought about this change, but the reversible changes they caused led to an irreversible change in function.

[“It’s a shame, but there’s nothing we can do.”]
“It’s unfortunate.”
[“Then, I was the wall-mounted TV’s announcer for you until now…”]

Along with the announcer’s dejected farewell, the wall-mounted TV turned off.

“I’ll have to use it somewhere it’s needed.”

Since there was no immediate use for it, he stored it away.

[“Quack!”]

With nothing else to do, he spent time taking a bath with Rubber Rubber Duck, reading backlogged new book releases, and browsing communities.

“Pudding!”
“You’re doing well.”
“Woof! Lots of pudding! Many kinds too! Want to live here forever!”

He also visited Frankenstein, who was under dedicated care at the company.
According to the report, Frankenstein was surrounded by numerous puddings and snacks, enjoying a happy meal every day.

‘His daily intake is roughly a million calories?’

Didn’t the letter say around a hundred thousand calories?

“Me! Can accumulate! Working hard to store it!”
“Why?”
“To eat more!”

So he had an energy storage function too.
Well, there didn’t seem to be any other problems, so it was fine to leave him be.

‘Should I go look for safe entities?’

As he surfed the internet, he discovered clues for a few safe entities.

“I’ll take a stroll and check them out.”

Three days later, he had obtained three safe entities.

“Teru Teru Bozu for Destroying Relationships.”

A paper doll that, when hung on the window on a rainy day and prayed to, can make the couple or married pair of your choice break up.

“Forced Couple Establishment Stationery, 100 sheets.”

Stationery where you can write the character coupling you want (1 to many possible), send it to a manga or novel author, and regardless of whether it’s a harem, reverse harem, TS, pure love, BL, or yuri, the story will be changed to the coupling written on the stationery, ignoring everything else.

“Perfume of Destiny.”

A perfume that, when sprayed before going out, makes you brush past the person of the opposite sex who is genetically, personality-wise, and interest-wise the most compatible with you that day.
However, you have to make an effort to figure out who that person is.

“For some reason, they’re all safe entities related to lovers.”

With these, he visited a shady dealer.

“It’s been a while.”

The woman he met after a long time had changed greatly.
Previously a spider villainess, she could now be called a spider demi-human.

“Mr. Seung-hoon, thank you so much for all the dealings we’ve had.”

After completing this transaction, her store became shrouded in darkness.

“Now that you’ve become a true VIP, I’ll show you the hidden features.”
“What are those?”

When the light returned, a new passage had appeared next to her store.

“You can proceed through there to a new trading post. Of course, I’ll be handling the transactions there as well.”
“What kind of trading post is it?”

She neatly gathered her six arms and bowed politely.

“It’s a trading post among customers themselves. Trading entities, mutual cooperation, and even exchange of information. In fact, many customers have been looking for you, Mr. Seung-hoon.”
“For me?”
“For those who know about entities, they are inevitably fated to face many problems. For them, you, the world’s greatest Resolver, are the best helper to solve their problems.”

Interesting.
Even after opening a Resolver’s office, there were few cases related to entities.

“They could have just come to my office.”
“They trust making connections through me more.”

Just like using a secondhand trading site is safer and more trustworthy than directly peddling secondhand goods.

“Would you like to take a look inside?”
“Yes.”

He stepped into the passage.

“Let’s go take a look.”