Chapter 671: Chapter 671

The moment the message appeared, I felt myself being moved. A powerful magic wrapped around me and tried to pull me out of this space. Peace and Director Song and Noah tried to approach me but were instead forced back. The magic also tried to tear Yuhyun from me. Yet Yuhyun would not let go of my arm. Worse, he focused his own magic in his fingertips to resist the power trying to separate us, and my heart sank.

If this continued, Yuhyun’s hand might be torn off. Panicking, I flung my arms around my brother. Yuhyun’s nature refused to let him yield easily; once he had a hold on me there was no tearing him away. The surging magic faltered, then finally transported both Yuhyun and me at once.

“What a stubborn child.”

My momentarily darkened vision snapped bright again, and I heard a woman’s voice.

Immediately, the large body pressing against my arm shrank in an instant—too big even to fit into my arm fully before. Then:

A jet-black cat bared its teeth at the figure before us. Y-Yuhyun!

I leapt up, clutching the cat that had once been my brother. A woman in a white coat looked at me. A face I’d seen before....

“...Lighthouse Keeper?”

She was the system’s creator and administrator, who had appeared out of nowhere in the hospital when I was admitted to fix my leg. It was a welcome situation, but more importantly:

“What is this madness!”

Turning my brother into a cat. Is this even allowed? I demanded, and the Lighthouse Keeper answered lightly.

“That one wasn’t qualified to come here, nor prepared to listen to me. I merely changed his body so he couldn’t hear our conversation. Don’t worry—his mind remains intact. I’ll return him to normal soon.”

If that was true, it was a relief. I looked down at the black cat calmly nestled in my arms. His vivid blue eyes blinked, then he licked the back of my hand. He was pretty, but why blue eyes?

Suddenly a voice came from the floor. I saw no movement, yet when I turned, a pitch-dark figure lay sprawled there. It struggled to rise. Long black hair drooped to the floor, revealing a pale face. Half-open rose-pink eyes stared at me. Pink eyes.

Though he swayed weakly, he looked to be a handsome—probably—man. His body, wrapped in a black robe, seemed quite large. He staggered feebly and wasn’t threatening.

“This one is Sloth. One of the other system creators, like me.”

The Lighthouse Keeper said. Sloth yawned quietly, showing a sharp fang. No other Transcendents seemed present. The space, draped entirely in white, was empty.

“You destroyed Chatterbox? Impressive.”

“Lucky, really... He said he’d draw the strongest person in our world, but that turned out not to be true!”

“A bit off. In fact he became the strongest person himself. In your world.”

...That was true. After all, he’d drawn me in. I scratched Yuhyun’s scruff and made a weary face. My brother purred.

“I thought I was going to die. Or worse.”

Here, I’d have to look pitiful. That might gain me something. I would be polite, very polite.

“I’m just a fragile F-rank....”

“But by skill and worth you’re above S-rank.”

“Who grades fights by test scores? You sort by weight class. Between me and Chatterbox it’s like mouse and elephant—or dragon. System-wise it was unfair. The very fact Chatterbox could manipulate the system at will was unjust.”

Had the King of Harmless not helped me, I’d already be in a fate too dreadful to contemplate.

“I’d rather there were no system or Transcendents at all.”

“I told you before. Without the system’s help, monsters would pour out of dungeons like a waiting room gone—You might have managed, but...”

The Lighthouse Keeper glanced at Yuhyun in my arms. Though the world might have been ruined, perhaps it was easier for Yuhyun to protect me. Conversely, if unlucky, I might have fallen to monsters before Yuhyun awakened.

“Please help us. You built the system to protect the world. But there are Transcendents abusing it. Can’t you just let our world be independent?”

If the system were gone and Transcendents barred from entry, we could handle the rest. If the Crescent Moon couldn’t intervene, perhaps Seong Hyunjae’s case would resolve itself. I’d have to keep searching how to bring my brother back, however.

The Lighthouse Keeper answered flatly.

“We’ve woven the system into the laws between worlds. Like sun and moon it’s an unchanging natural rule. Only then can neither Origin nor anyone else erase it. When an Origin tries to devour a world, the system activates and won’t stop until that world escapes the Origin’s consumption. Even I can’t override that. It’s automatic.”

“I’ve seen glitches though.”

“Yet dungeons and status screens don’t vanish, do they? Even if your world’s people complete the Awakened System, the dungeons will remain.”

“...What about preventing Transcendents from interfering?”

So what can they do? I hadn’t expected it to be easy, but it was disappointing. Sloth slowly washed his face at my side. Why had he come all this way?

“We’ve just spirit-snatched you for a moment. Initially you were to be summoned by another Transcendent—the Filial-Addict. Whatever they’re doing I can’t say, but at the rookie’s request and because your singularity intrigues me, I intervened.”

Thank the rookie so much. I’ll repay you.

“Now, Han Yujin, you’ve received partial system admin privileges from Chatterbox. That should be impossible. It’s unprecedented. An Awakened has never tampered with the system by right. Those who did inherited admin talent and assistance from a senior Transcendent.”

The Lighthouse Keeper said I had almost no admin talent. I wasn’t mechanically inclined nor skilled at engineering—as expected, unlike Myeong-woo.

“When an excessive power is forced on someone lacking aptitude, their body usually can’t handle it.”

“Indeed. I know well.”

My lifespan had oscillated like a stock chart. The Lighthouse Keeper lightly brushed below his chin.

“Even if you qualify to inherit Chatterbox’s legacy, both the Filial-Addict and the Filial-Rebel must agree. That means the Filial-Rebel side doesn’t care about your life either—or knows how to compensate it.”

I’d never really trusted the Filial-Rebel. The rookie had changed a lot, but the other Transcendents could summon the excuse of saving the world to use me as a disposable tool.

“We don’t favor that. We’ll adjust things so your burden is lighter. We entrusted the system to Transcendents who willingly serve. Leaving Awakeneds to shoulder it alone is unfair. Awakeneds need only block monsters and dungeons in their world.”

“Right? But they had to face Transcendents.”

“Dragging a newborn into an adult fight is insane.”

Sloth clicked his tongue and ruffled his hair. Meanwhile the Lighthouse Keeper twirled white hairpin decorations into his long hair. Sloth carefully combed his long locks in front of a mirror. I really wondered why they’d come.

“We’d love to smash this all flat, but we can’t interfere beyond the system.”

“Sloth will handle the adjustments. Ask any questions before you’re ready. You should be able to hear almost anything now that you have admin access.”

That was welcome. The question I most wanted to ask—would they let me?

I glanced at Yuhyun in my arms. He couldn’t hear, but he’d sense their goodwill.

“Is there a way I can go to the Snow-Falling Tree?”

“Yes. There’s someone there I need to bring back.”

“The Origin is both unfathomably distant and extremely near. The Snow-Falling Tree that seeks to swallow your world is in effect right before you. But in your terms, it lies in a different dimension. You know spatial teleportation?”

“You need an even higher grade of ability—and the strength to endure the journey. Once you have those, you must pinpoint exact coordinates. Origins have been attacked several times, so they continuously conceal and shift their location, even Transcendents can’t track them easily.”

So in short: very difficult.

“If I were to bring someone back... they wouldn’t belong to my world, right?”

“Even most Transcendents would pay a huge price of power. Hard to gauge. First getting you safely to the Origin is itself a feat.” Updates are released by 𝕟𝕠𝕧𝕖𝕝•𝖿𝗂𝗋𝖾•𝘯𝘦𝘵

How did Ppiyak manage? Was Ruga Peya’s magic stone that strong? Or...?

“What about simply bringing someone from the Origin here to my world?”

“Inserting a being from another world intact is also difficult. Transcendents usually enter via Incarnation—borrowing another’s body. There’s also Replacement.”

Incarnation was what Chatterbox used.

“You remove one being and put an outsider in its place. Also not easy. The host must consent, and you must spend long effort to equalize both presences. The outsider’s value must be similar or lower, so Transcendents lose power. They fall to non-awakened or pre-awakened status.”

They said Seong Hyunjae had been transplanted. The fairy-form that inherited part of his being was a changeling trait, so that made sense.

“If it’s siblings, would their presence be similar?”

“Yes. Their genetic information is similar.”

I see. Then we could return together.

“Sometimes a Transcendent weary of existence gives up their status via Replacement to become part of a world. They lose most power—and memory—to lower their presence.”

The Crescent Moon forced Seong Hyunjae that way. If she used Replacement, who had been swapped with him? And what became of them?

Sloth called me. Though younger than the others by far, “boy” felt odd. I was thirty-one inside.

A black cloth appeared on the floor, a wooden table set atop it. Sloth, silver hairpin in his twisted hair, sat beyond the table. Though dark and gloomy, it felt like a shaman’s cottage.

“Um, I’ve wondered—if you’re a Transcendent, couldn’t you neaten your hair with a gesture?”

“Formality matters. Though transcendent, we remain bound by form. Form is both shackle and vessel; without form we’d lose self. To exist as individuals we need reflection and recognition—then skip ahead.”

...Ah. Sloth looked bored. His attitude differed from other Transcendents, so I asked the Lighthouse Keeper quietly.

“...How did he become a Transcendent?”

“He’s lazy, so he wants to process everything quickly and efficiently. He couldn’t bear watching others fumble when he lived in his world. With strong abilities, he stepped in to finish tasks quickly and rest—but it didn’t go his way.”

Hm... some people are like that. They can’t stand inefficiency and just take over.

“He was thrilled when the system let him rest forever.”

“Couldn’t you have just relaxed from the start?”

“If that were possible, you wouldn’t have become a Transcendent.”

That meant he was a good person at heart. As I approached, a cushion appeared before the table. It was soft. Yuhyun stretched across my lap, his smooth tail curling around my arm—being a cat wasn’t so bad for him. Though he couldn’t understand words, he’d sense their goodwill toward me.

“Do you... require an explanation?”

Sloth’s pink eyes clearly hoped I’d say it was okay. I had to listen anyway.

Sloth sighed. Up close, his eye color was indeed beautiful—bright amid all the gray. He raised a hand above the table; complex azure lines and sigils spread from his fingertips.

“You’ll be placed under system management. Consider yourself a junior, a probationary staff member.”

“So as a probationary member, my responsibilities lie with my superiors?”

Perhaps relieved to have less to explain, Sloth beamed.

“It’s not without burden....”

“But manageable? Within my capacity?”

“May I place my hand here? On the right? Here?”

Sloth nodded approvingly. I smiled back.

“I will. May I ✪ Nоvеlіgһt ✪ (Official version) speak with the Lighthouse Keeper as well?”

Yes, you may. I placed my hand on the azure sigils and looked to the Lighthouse Keeper. Meanwhile Sloth methodically pressed various symbols.

“I wish to sever contracts with Transcendents.”

“Breaking a contract by force of stronger power is standard.”

“If that’s impossible?”

“If you contract first with an equal, that contract takes precedence and naturally overrides the previous one.”

So Seong Hyunjae... was gone. The Crescent Moon was first, so he’d be unseated.

“Under some contracts, killing the other dissolves it. There are also loopholes.”

How to kill the Crescent Moon? Even finding a loophole requires knowing the contract’s terms. Maybe the original Seong Hyunjae remembered.

“What can I do with my admin privileges?”

“Well, the system side will define specifics. Admin privileges aren’t earth-shattering. The system is a support framework. Yet... countless data has accumulated—information even we don’t fully know.”

The Lighthouse Keeper looked me in the eye.

“Don’t meddle rashly. It’s more than you can handle.”

I responded. I didn’t want much—just to retrieve my brother and free our world from Origin and Transcendent threats. ...Not bad.

A warmth seeped into the tips of my fingers. The blue sigils crept up my fingers like vines, winding around my wrist and forearm.