A star suddenly splitting in two, or a meteor contaminated with some deadly substance crashing into the planet and unleashing an unknown plague throughout the oceans—to be honest, the Archmage had little interest in the actual arrival of such world-ending scenarios, where all living beings were doomed to perish. After all, he wasn't even sure whether biological threats could affect him anymore. With his hardened outer shell, he could probably venture into space without protection and remain perfectly unharmed.
[Damn it.]
But even the habitually indifferent Archmage reconsidered after seeing how the planet's inhabitants reacted as their world approached ruin.
No matter how much he thought about it, he simply couldn't bring himself to continue serving as the Magic Master.
Because.
***
"Come to think of it, there's a saying on Earth, isn't there?"
"_ _"
"If you waste food, you'll be punished."
"_ _"
"They say that in the afterlife, you'll be forced to eat all the food you threw away while you were alive. Something like that. And wasn't there also an expression about white rice with meat soup being someone's greatest wish?"
Warm light.
Dry air.
The perspective returned once more to the room, where familiar surroundings spread out before me.
This was an ordinary living space on Earth. The wall clock was already nearing twelve, and I, sitting in the middle of the studio apartment, drained the cold green tea in front of me in one gulp until the bottom of the cup came into view.
Since my explanation was almost over, I was merely quenching my thirst one last time.
"Anyway, honestly, in today's world, are there really that many people in Korea who value food so dearly?"
What followed was a story about food, in keeping with the lighthearted tone I had begun with.
"There's some general knowledge about it in Kim Gyeo's brain. Even just after the war, when people were desperately poor, everyone treasured every single grain of rice. But now, food waste exceeds four million tons."
"_ _"
"But I'm not saying that to blame anyone—it's actually a perfectly natural phenomenon."
"_ _"
"My hometown fell apart along roughly the same lines."
"_ _"
"When I regained consciousness inside the core... Alphauri had already reached a level comparable to Earth after biotechnology had become highly advanced."
Just as food loses value when it becomes abundant, Alphauri eventually became a place not much different from hell.
The very advancement of magic—the thing I had loved more than anything—became the root of all that misery.
Once life itself became commonplace thanks to artificial cultivation technology and souls were treated as something trivial, no one felt sympathy for those who bled anymore.
And that wasn't the only concept that met a miserable end on that alien planet.
"If I had to make an analogy..."
It was a world where philosophy, art, and altruism had died.
As history approached its end, for some reason, the inhabitants of that planet became obsessed solely with technological advancement. Anything romantic or beautiful that was deemed unnecessary for survival was ruthlessly discarded.
Even describing it in words was horrifying, so imagine how terrible it must have been for someone who had witnessed all of it firsthand.
Truly, the final events I experienced in that ocean were things I didn't even want to remember.
I shook my head and barely managed to continue.
"These stories are a little depressing, so I'll keep this part as brief as possible. Do you know why my hometown collapsed?"
"_ _"
"The correct answer is resource depletion."
When broken down to its essence, Alphauri's resource crisis was far more severe than Earth's theories about oil depletion—so much so that the two could hardly be compared in either scale or urgency.
"Our circumstances were different from Earth's. The only reason I knew even basic biology or the fundamental laws of physics was because that knowledge helped me use magic more efficiently. And you see, mages aren't naturally all that interested in studying the natural sciences. That's why our entire civilization ended up depending on a single resource."
A miracle capable of turning imagination into reality merely through sincere prayer—
when that sort of power flowed through the veins of an entire species, how could any living being resist the allure of magic?
Magic had been cherished ever since the Alphaurins were still primitive creatures.
Naturally, the rulers of that oceanic planet built almost their entire civilization upon it.
But one day...
some intellectuals discovered a shocking truth about their world.
"The external mana produced by the planet isn't infinite."
To the Alphauri, it was a revelation so terrifying that it felt as though the entire world had been turned upside down.
"It's really difficult to compare the situation to anything on Earth."
Unlike disasters such as global warming here, the Alphaurins only realized that their mana was being depleted after the planet had already crossed the threshold beyond which natural recovery was possible.
The celestial energy known as external mana followed a cycle of its own, much like the lifespan of a living being.
In its early stage, when mana had only just begun to form, its reserves could recover flexibly no matter how recklessly they were consumed.
However, after hundreds of millions of years, once the planet reached what might be called middle age, every extravagant use of high-level magic by its inhabitants placed additional strain on the system that generated mana.
I don't know whether that period should be called the old age of the magical era.
But at least from what I observed, once a certain critical point was passed, the planet's mana stopped regenerating altogether and simply continued to decline.
"Have you ever imagined a world without electricity, Seonwoo Yeon-ssi?"
Unaware of that hidden truth, the Alphauri had squandered their resources on pointless wars and endless conflicts.
They wasted everything.
They had only just realized their dream of extending their lifespans.
And then, only afterward, came the terrifying realization that a world without mana might be approaching.
"On top of that, imagine this: every time someone in South America killed a person they'd never even met, the lifespan of electronic civilization in Korea was extended by one month. What kind of world do you think that would create?"
At least in my hometown, society failed to remain rational in the face of resource depletion.
The resulting chaos exceeded anything one could have imagined.
"You really thought we wouldn't find out about that population-control plan?"
Some time after regaining his memories, he finally came to understand the true meaning behind the words once shouted by a certain Alphauri announcer.
"Until then, the rulers had deliberately kept the plan to massacre the planet's population out of my mind."
Once he became capable of resisting them to some extent, the first thing he did was try to protect the planet's inhabitants.
There were numerous restrictions against killing Alphauri, but saving lives did not violate any of the Golem principles.
So that was something he could still do.
Yet despite his efforts, it wasn't long before a horrific scene unfolded beneath the sea.
Perhaps he should have realized it from the moment that fire-element mage launched his campaign of terror.
After hundreds of wars, Alphauri had already lost far too many altruistic individuals.
In other words, even the genetic pool itself had crossed a critical threshold.
The time when society could still correct itself had long since passed.
So when news spread that mana might eventually run out, rich and poor alike willingly participated in population control.
"_ _"
If only that madness hadn't happened, Alphauri might have lasted several more years.
"_ _"
"Anyway."
I carefully chose my next words.
"At first, I thought I'd simply accept reality and spend the rest of my existence protecting my people. But after seeing all that, I completely lost the will to continue."
"_ _"
"Clinging to even the faintest hope, I secretly tried to let outsiders know that the rulers were imprisoning me against my will... But if the response I'd received back then had been any good, I probably wouldn't have ended up so disappointed with the world."
"_ _"
"I was already in a very unstable state. Maybe that's why I couldn't properly resist the new mind-control magic my superior developed."
"_ _"
"After that, I spent another ten years or so serving quietly before suddenly regaining my sense of self again. That time, I treated it as an opportunity. Instead of making a scene, I quietly developed magic that would somehow allow me to 'die' mentally. Oh, and by the way, self-harm is fundamentally forbidden by the grand principles—but that restriction only applies to the physical body."
"_ _"
"Wow, but that leader's kid wasn't exactly ordinary either. The moment I incapacitated myself with that trick, it was almost as if they'd been waiting for it—they activated the 'reboot' mechanism..."
After explaining that much, I looked straight ahead again.
"Oh, sorry. Whenever I start talking about mechanical stuff like this, most people get bored."
There was still no answer.
But it didn't matter.
"I've already condensed it down to only the necessary parts, but ten minutes have passed anyway. Thank you very much for staying awake and listening."
Yeah.
At this point, none of it really mattered anymore.
"So then, we're finally almost at the conclusion."
I slowly rose from my seat.
The empty green-tea cup was still in one hand, and I even gave it a small shake toward Seonwoo Yeon to make my destination obvious.
The sink.
"Self-restoration, attempts at mental annihilation, rebooting—basically, I repeated that cycle over and over. As the intervals between my awakenings grew shorter, even the managers there more or less gave up on me. In the end, they just had me stare at the ceiling twenty-four hours a day and check whether anyone had entered the planet. Seriously, at that point, why not just scrap me? What was so important about preserving the symbolism of 'Number 1' anyway?"
"_ _"
"Oh, did you know? Near the end of my hometown's civilization, virtual worlds became incredibly popular."
"Once people's physical bodies had completely deteriorated, all their attention shifted toward the mind instead. So while I was still under control, I ended up developing an incredible illusion spell. I didn't exactly intend for it to happen, but it led to an increase in dream addicts, which in turn made managing the planet much easier overall."
"_ _"
"To put it simply, there was nothing left to do. During the final period I remember, the living population had fallen to barely three digits, and the seas were filled with nothing but golems. It was a truly bizarre world..."
Clank.
I placed the cup I'd carried into the kitchen sink.
Around that moment, however, an unexpected voice finally broke the silence.
"That."
It was Seonwoo Yeon's first remark in quite some time.
"But."
"Yes. Go ahead."
"Even after hearing the whole story... there's still something ✧ NоvеIight ✧ (Original source) I don't understand. You were in that kind of... situation, but how did you manage to escape and come here? Wasn't everything under complete control?"
I answered without hesitation.
"Oh, that."
It was a period I'd rather not think about, so I'd unconsciously skipped over it.
But she was right.
I'd left out the part that actually mattered.
"Someone helped me."
I continued speaking with a calm expression.
Was it around the time the world was already on the verge of collapse?
Back then, there was a well-known profession on that planet—an expert position responsible for supervising golem design.
The Chief Engineer.
One day, an Alphauri from the new era, presumably holding that title, came to me and said:
"One who once saved the planet—how pitiful you've become."
At the same time, he secretly restored all my memories without the rulers discovering what he had done.
What he was really telling me was simple.
Even if I reduced myself to a mental vegetative state, they would merely reboot me again.
Furthermore, that engineer carefully taught me how to become [---] and how to preserve my sense of self against indoctrination.
"I found it in the historical records from the old era. Apparently, you numbered Magic Masters were originally living Alphaurins. This inhumane technology... don't you think it's time to bring it to an end?"
That person...
was the last remaining trace of altruism on that planet.
They helped me tremendously, motivated by nothing more than kindness.
I was so moved by the compassion shown by that gentle compatriot that I even planned to escape the ruined planet together with them.
Once I completed the reincarnation magic, the Chief Engineer would be the first person I used it on.
However.
"The ocean at the end of civilization wasn't filled with selfish people for no reason."
In a dystopian society, compassion often becomes a disadvantage to survival.
So I'll get straight to the point.
That kindhearted engineer was caught while trying to interfere with several of the remaining successful reincarnation mechanisms.
And was executed on the spot.
It was a tragedy.
But sadly, it wasn't even the kind of tragedy that felt unexpected.
Afterward, I was subjected to all kinds of torture, and one of the rulers even came to interrogate me while dragging along the engineer's corpse, its spine grotesquely torn open.
"Doesn't this red blood remind you of something?"
Fortunately, thanks to the trick the Chief Engineer had taught me, I was able to lie.
So there was no problem.
[Who is that?]
Just in case they suspected anything, I also resisted the additional measures the ruler attempted by using the special protective spell the engineer had taught me.
It would have been nice if we'd actually managed to escape together as planned.
"Thanks to a conscientious compatriot who helped me, I barely managed to possess this corpse on Earth. It's just unfortunate that the person who made that possible was caught and killed."
"_ _"
"Wow, honestly, I was really shocked back then. When hundreds of millions were still alive, no one helped me. But when there were barely a few hundred Alphaurins left, a helping hand finally appeared."
Shrug.
I moved my shoulders in the body of an Earthling, a body I had long since grown completely accustomed to.
Seonwoo Yeon looked slightly surprised by the gesture.
"That's just how things are. But that's reality, isn't it? People who are too kind often end up sacrificing themselves when a crisis comes—and then die without ever being rewarded for it."
At that moment, Seonwoo Yeon, who had been staring at me, suddenly muttered,
"...Could it be that the reason your expression never changes is because you're an alien...?"
It was a somewhat unexpected remark.
"Huh? What did you say?"
"Ah... It's just, you said that the only person who ever helped you met such a terrible end. But your face... you don't look sad at all."
Apparently, she had a reason for bringing it up.
"Was that rude of me? S-sorry. It's just... you went through something unimaginable, yet you seem so calm that I couldn't help wondering..."
The truth was, everything from that previous life had been sealed away and carried with me for an unimaginably long time.
So long, in fact, that by Earth's standards, measuring it properly would probably require more than a thousand years.
Yeah.
Now that I thought about it, most of the jokes I used to make about those experiences—complaining about this or that—were really nothing more than self-deprecating humor.
The truth was that my past life hadn't been particularly lighthearted or cheerful.
But even so, it wasn't something worth remaining depressed about forever.
"What's the big deal? I'm only explaining something that's already over and done with."
I widened my eyes in an Earth-style expression of surprise.
A moment later, Seonwoo Yeon mirrored the expression, apparently surprised by my reaction in turn.
"It was hard back then, sure, but as you can see, I've settled in pretty well here. Uh... as for the engineer, nothing can change what happened, so I decided not to dwell on it. I'm sure he found some satisfaction in knowing that he'd done something good. And for the record, this expression I'm making right now? I really am showing how I feel."
Unlike me, whose face had already returned to its usual blank expression, Seonwoo Yeon only looked more astonished.
By now, she ought to have understood what I meant.
Though, to be honest, I still only half understood why she was reacting that way.
"By the way, was what I went through really such a big deal?"
"Yes?"
"I mean, I was wondering whether it was really shocking enough for you to call it unimaginable."
Glance.
I briefly glanced toward the plate of Justitia sitting in the middle of the room, then looked away again.
What followed was nothing more than a few trivial remarks exchanged between us.
"It's different from how I used to evaluate things, so I find it kind of interesting."
"Evaluate?"
"I always assumed Earth must have gone through something similar too. Like maybe they didn't have enough time or money to properly develop AI, so they just took the cheap route and stuffed humans into machines instead."
"They still do that on Earth?"
"Of course!"
"Really? Has there never been a point in history when people committed inhumane acts simply to save money?"
"_ _"
Honestly, there was no reason to drag the conversation out any longer.
Still, now that the difficult part was over, there was no harm in exchanging a few casual remarks for fun.
"Anyway, I don't think what happened to me was anything particularly special. You don't have to look at me with that much concern."
I let several stray thoughts—ones that directly contradicted what I'd just said—drift through my mind.
Then, not long afterward, I spoke a joke into my phone that neatly summed up everything I'd explained so far.
"Seri, can you set an alarm for 7 A.M. tomorrow?"
The phone's built-in app replied.
[Yes, Kim Gyeo. I have set the alarm for 7 A.M. tomorrow. It will ring in 18 hours.]
Visit and read more novel to help us update chapter quickly. Thank you so much!
Use arrow keys (or A / D) to PREV/NEXT chapter