Surviving Among the Entities

Hyung Si-yeol was an internet broadcaster.

“Brothers! Sisters! Good day to you all! BJ TimoKing here to greet you!”

With 2 years of broadcasting experience, an average of around 10 viewers, and a monthly donation range of 10,000-20,000 won.

“Ah! We won but what is our jungler doing! Jungler diff!”

His broadcast was a gaming stream, following the stale style of playing competitive co-op games while blaming others – already an oversaturated market leading to his dismal popularity.

“Alright, that’s it for today’s broadcast! Tiba tiba!”

That day too, he ended the broadcast and quietly let out a sigh.

“I’m hungry.”

Opening the fridge revealed nothing to eat, so he ended up using a food delivery app.

“For a man it’s jeyukdupbap.”

This month’s payment method was regrettable, but mobile micro-transaction.

[Mobile micro-transaction complete]
[August micro-transactions: 485,560 won]
[Micro-transaction fees will be added to next month’s mobile bill.]

After eating, he checked his bank balance on a whim.

[46,450 won]

He then showered and lay down on the bed.

[Meme of a chimpanzee playing with an AK-47 and accidentally firing it.jpg]
└[lololol look at the humans flinching and running away.]
└[Does it even know what a gun is to be firing it?]
└[A chimp wouldn’t know lol It probably just pulled the trigger by chance. It’ll probably end up shooting itself at this rate.]
└[This is a fake promo video but it’s still funny knowing that lol]

“Kekeke.”

While browsing humorous posts on community forums with his smartphone, he came across a meaningful post.

[The human brain lacks the concept of negation. If you think ‘Don’t think of an elephant!’, an elephant naturally comes to mind instead. If you try to forget something, the opposite happens where you become immersed in it – that is the human brain. So instead of thinking ‘No more slacking from tomorrow!’, think positively like ‘I’ll work happily from tomorrow!’ to escape being a NEET ^^]

“I’ll work happily from tomorrow.”

He quietly turned off his phone and closed his eyes.

“From tomorrow, I’ll happily do Coupang part-time work and day labor gigs, earn next month’s rent in advance, along with utilities, insurance, and my mobile bill.”

Quietly harboring positive thoughts for his tomorrow self.

“And in my free time, I’ll broadcast games enjoyably. If I broadcast enjoyably, I’ll succeed.”

Envisioning his future successful internet broadcaster self.

“…..What bullshit.”

It was impossible. He had already been doing it for 2 years but hadn’t even earned 1 million won. Viewers called him boring and hardly anyone new came, or how about those who did come only to insult him as boring – there weren’t even those kinds of people sometimes, leaving no one to chat at all.

“Maybe I should give up.”

Around when his pillow became damp, Hyung Si-yeol, eyes tightly shut, made up his mind.

‘Yeah, I should just give up now……’
-Hello there?

At that moment, someone visited.

“Hiyah!?”
-Hahaha! Why are you so startled! Don’t worry! I’m not a bad person!

Startled by the visitor not to his room but inside his mind, Hyung Si-yeol rolled off the bed.

“Wh, who are you!?”
-Who am I? You don’t need to know!

That existence did not convey a voice but a will, yet Hyung Si-yeol somehow felt an atmosphere like an elementary schooler’s.

-Just kidding, nice to meet you, human.

An exuberant, childishly energetic atmosphere.

-I’m the Munchkin Mary Sue Constellation!

-The reason I chose you? Nothing special! I just randomly picked one of the earthlings.
“I, is that so?”
-More importantly, as my chosen avatar you’ll get to live a heroic life from now on!

Hyung Si-yeol’s life took a 180-degree turn after meeting the Munchkin Mary Sue Constellation.

“Wh, what happened to my body!?”
-Huhu, how is it? I didn’t lie, did I? For lower dimensional humans, their bodies become superhuman after I descend and 5 days pass.

First, he met the constellation and gained a superhuman body. No matter how much he ran he didn’t get tired, could sprint 100 meters in 1 second, fly through the sky – the very definition of Superman-like abilities.

“I, I’m a hero!? A superhero!?”
-How about it? Like it? This world is filled to the brim with rotten evil! You’ll save it from them!
“But wouldn’t vigilantism be illegal?”
-Humph! You think the law can solve everything? There are too many underprivileged in this world in immediate need of aid to wait for the law! Let’s save them from this world!

An ordinary person might have agonized for days or weeks over accepting the constellation or acting as a hero, but as an internet broadcaster who lived off people’s attention, Hyung Si-yeol readily agreed upon becoming superhuman.

“Why not! Let’s do it!”
-That’s what I chose you as my avatar for! Alright, let’s go!

At first, they started light by going after organized crime gangs.

“What the fuck! What is this guy!”
“Knives can’t cut him!”

Next, they scaled up and took down South American criminals.

“O que é esse cara!”
“É um monstro!”

They also faced the Yakuza in Japan and Triads in China.

“Huh? Who are these people? Why can’t I…… tell their faces apart? And are they the bad guys?”
-Yes, wicked beings who even buy human lives with money! I never expected them to be in this dimension too!

And enemies who did not seem human.

“Uwahh! What are those things! Die, die!”
-Hang in there! Hang in there! Fighting!

During that time his strength had further increased, making him confident he could defeat anyone. But they were too powerful.

-Damn it! That old man came, didn’t he!? Avatar! Flee!

With the constellation’s orders too, he could only flee. It would have been better to face ordinary human criminals again, but once more he was targeted by special enemies.

“Target acquired, seems already tainted by the constellation. Proceeding to Plan B.”

A nuclear explosion occurred. Right before his eyes, while walking a mountain path in Korea, the mountain instantly vaporized with a mushroom cloud.

“…..What was that?”

Yet there were no news reports about it, no mentions of a mushroom cloud.

“A being that could annihilate the earth. But we’ll eliminate it first.”
“For the sake of humanity.”

Using weapons straight out of sci-fi movies like laser guns, beam sabers that cut through cognition, and incomprehensible psychic powers, they somehow tried to kill Hyung Si-yeol.

“Huff, huff. Fi, finally over!”

Fortunately, he was the final victor. After over a month of fierce battles where he would have surely died many times if not for his ever-increasing strength, it was finally over.

“You madmen, how many times did you turn back time?”
-They didn’t just turn back time. Those bastards even overlapped spaces and mobilized multiple universes, going so far as to leash higher dimensional beings to control them too. Who knew lower dimensions had such twisted beings?

They must have been villains. From raiding their bases while battling to root them out, they had committed atrocious acts like feeding people to strange monsters or tossing them to special beings like lab rats.

“So there really was an evil secret society like the Foundation in this world.”
-Alright, good work anyway! Let’s take a break for now!
“I suppose so.”

While resting, the constellation vented its frustration.

-Geez! But because of those Foundation bastards, all your heroic acts until now have been forgotten! Those jerks! They concealed your entire legacy!
“Haha, so what? I guess I was just secretly being a hero like Spider-Man.”
-No! A hero is meant to be praised by people! To be admired, liked, loved! Not just you, but me too!
“…..?”

Suddenly, Hyung Si-yeol wanted that too. As an internet broadcaster who lived off people’s attention, he wanted to spread his name as a hero while being praised.

“Constellation? Do you know about internet broadcasting?”

‘That was already 2 months ago.’

Hyung Si-yeol, holding his first fan meeting, became immersed in those past memories. Now fully accustomed to the constellation’s power which he utilized for internet broadcasting to receive people’s attention, he responded to the constellation’s voice resounding in his mind.

-Hey, what are you doing, a fan came so give him an autograph.
‘Ah, yes!’

After replying mentally, he beamed a bright smile as he prepared to give an autograph.

“?”

But there was no one there.

‘Constellation? There’s no one here though?’
-……

The constellation reacted belatedly.

-What? I’m sure there was someone? Or not? It’s felt like someone has been observing us by transcending space-time for a while now.
‘Constellation?’
-Didn’t a human named Seung-hoon Lee just come find us earlier?
‘Ah, no? There was no one here?’
-Is that so? Hmm…… Well, I suppose.

He waited a bit longer but regrettably no fan came.

-Hey, what’s going on! You said internet broadcasting would let me make a lot of fans! But people keep calling you a liar!?
“Ay, just wait a little longer. This is all part of the seedbed strategy where I pretend to have no power before suddenly revealing it to surprise people.”
-Humph! I hate being disliked! If this keeps up I’ll just leave? I can feel people disliking you right now! The feeling of wanting to abandon you is being conveyed to me! Not only that, I’m even starting to dislike you a bit too!
“Haha, alright. Soon the whole world will be praising not just me, but you too, Constellation.”

Unable to overcome the constellation’s fussing, Hyung Si-yeol was contemplating a new method when a major YouTuber contacted him.

“Of course! I’ll make an appearance!”

Having invited him to reveal the truth after witnessing his magic-like or sorcery-like abilities, several days later the broadcast he appeared on surpassed 20,000 viewers.

“Yes! I’m BJ SungJwa, no, Hyung Si-yeol.”

That day on the broadcast, Hyung Si-yeol revealed his abilities as the avatar.

[Wh, what!? Is this real!? It wasn’t CGI!?]

The world turned upside down.

“Constellation! Please give me an autograph!”

After appearing on the broadcast and unveiling godlike power, Hyung Si-yeol’s life changed once more.

“Haha! Of course I must!”

People were receptive to the superhuman who seemed straight out of a comic book. Not only was he superhumanly strong, but he could even utilize abilities to heal people and instantly revive the dying.

[To what extent are BJ SungJwa’s abilities?]
[BJ SungJwa, solve global warming!]
[BJ SungJwa, solve the drug cartel issue in a day!]
[BJ SungJwa, solve the Middle East conflict in two days!]

He was heaven’s avatar. No matter how wicked the villain, they would disarm and surrender if he directly confronted them, while companies would make concessions despite suffering losses from his actions.

“He is the return of Jesus.”
“He is proof of God’s existence, the Messiah descended to bring peace to the world.”
“He is the savior who will advance humanity.”

To people, Hyung Si-yeol was a human possessing divine power.
To people, Hyung Si-yeol was the real superhuman who had only existed in fantasies.
To people, Hyung Si-yeol was the Superman Americans had idolized.
To people, Hyung Si-yeol was proof of God’s existence.

‘Haha, the whole world knows me!’

As time passed and he became capable of fully utilizing the constellation’s power, he realized why the constellation had wanted to become a hero all this time.

‘Ahh, so this is the feeling. Of becoming a hero praised by people.’

People’s emotions flowed into him. Admiration, reverence, love, respect – all sorts of positive emotions stimulated his brain like dopamine.

‘There are those who dislike me too.’

Such emotions were unpleasant and depressing, but the positive emotions were overwhelmingly greater, preventing them from becoming a major issue.

“I wish I could live like this forever.”

But their parting came suddenly.

-Mom! I finally finished raising the avatar fully! I did my homework!
“Constellation?”
-Hiiing, wahh!

The Munchkin Mary Sue Constellation wailed.

“Co, Constellation!?”

The constellation vanished.

“!?”

At that moment, Hyung Si-yeol felt an overflowing surge of energy. His transformed physical body from spending so much time with the constellation was able to maintain a speck of that power even after it left.

‘I, I can’t control it!’

But having only the power, the excessive strength far beyond what a human could handle made it uncontrollable.

“Huff, huff.”

He exhaled harshly. The overflowing power was like water in a cup barely contained by surface tension from spilling over.

‘Anything, the power to do anything feels like it could burst out at any moment!’

Ah! So the reason I could control this power until now was because the Constellation was here!
The godlike power to erase hypernovae with just a thought is now dwelling within my body!

‘I mustn’t entertain strange thoughts. If I think them, they might immediately become reality!’

Unknowingly, he looked down at the ground. At the earth he was standing on, a planet that could crumble like a cookie with just a bit of force, as fragile as dust.

‘Ah.’

His brain reflexively entertained a negative thought.

“Aah.”

The avatar screamed too.

“Aaaaahhhh!”

The ground he was standing on.
The 7 billion people.
The third planet of the solar system.

Including himself, vanished from the world.

The earth was annihilated.

“May I conduct an interview perhaps?”
“My apologies, but I have come by slicing through time so I must depart right away.”
“Ah…… I see. Haha, if you’re busy then there’s nothing to be done.”
“Thank you for the autograph.”
“Yes, take care!”

After receiving BJ SungJwa, Hyung Si-yeol’s autograph, I boarded the subway.

‘A monkey with its finger on the nuclear launch button.’

Divine power was simply too much for humans.

‘That was exactly the picture.’

The constellation was not evil. But to lower dimensional beings like us, its very existence was evil.

“So the Foundation had reasons to devote effort into eliminating it.”

There was still time left.

‘But now I know.’

The time left to prepare was shorter.

‘How to drive away the Munchkin Mary Sue Constellation before it’s too late.’