BXBX NOVEL Chapter 166
Chapter 166
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Traveler I
1
As you all know, I, Doctor Jang, sometimes take vacations when I feel stressed.
And being a regressor, my vacations are on a grand scale. I don\'t just take a week or two off; I dedicate an entire episode to my vacation.
But what about other awakened individuals?
Of course, someone like Sim Aryeon, whose every day is practically a vacation, wouldn\'t need a break. And for someone like Noh Doha, whose mind is possessed by Zhuge Liang, the concept of rest probably doesn\'t even exist.
However, those two belong to the realm of the \'non-human.\' Right now, I\'m talking about humans.
Normal people need rest.
Even Tang Seorin, who is human compared to those two and has experienced corruption, was no exception.
"Hey, Doctor Jang? Wanna go on a trip?"
One day, when I returned to my base, Tang Seorin was casually sitting in my special chair, munching on potato chips.
If you were in this situation, how would you respond?
A. A trip? Out of nowhere? Did you drink alone again?
B. Sorry, can you wait another thousand years on top of the thousand you\'ve already waited?
For reference, both A and B are the wrong answers.
I replied like this:
"A trip sounds good. Where do you want to go?"
Let me give you a tip when dealing with people. If someone suddenly says they want to go on a trip, you should first go along with it. Otherwise, your head might be the one to go on a long journey.
"Huh? I didn\'t expect you to agree so quickly. Aren\'t you busy? Do you have time to go on a trip with me?"
"You\'re just as busy. And I always make time for a trip no matter how busy I am. Being busy includes being able to take time off."
"Hmm."
Leader Tang Seorin of Busan smiled as if she was pleased. It seemed my answer wasn\'t wrong.
"Really? Then I\'m really going on a trip?"
"I don\'t mind."
I responded firmly.
"Do you have a destination in mind?"
"Destination... Hmm, a destination... Wait a minute. Why is this chair so comfy? It\'s almost criminally soft."
"That\'s a \'Chair That Makes You Not Want to Get Up.\' It has the effect of relieving fatigue, but if you sit for more than three hours, your buttocks will peel off like Theseus."
"Oh my, seriously. What exactly is a \'Void\'...?"
"That\'s exactly what it is. The essence of the Void is to evoke such reactions."
"Hmm..."
Tang Seorin pinched the tip of her witch hat. It was a gesture that habitually appeared when she was deep in thought.
"Actually, I don\'t have a specific destination in mind. I just want to go somewhere far away. Oh, but not somewhere too close, like Jeju Island."
"Okay."
I felt a similar vibe to when a close friend suggests going out to eat \'anywhere.\'
"But I am a regressor."
It wasn\'t the first time Tang Seorin had suddenly contracted the \'Let\'s Go on a Trip\' disease, so I had prepared for almost every possible scenario.
I confidently handed her a guidebook. It had a neat cover and printing quality that could easily be displayed in a bookstore.
"What is this? \'A Traveler\'s Guide for the Guild Leader of the Three Thousand Worlds\'...?"
"It\'s a travel course guidebook I\'ve made just for you. As you can see, the first chapter is about Hawaii. It\'s established a perfect identity as a \'vacation void.\' Apart from the fact that it\'s a bit expensive, I highly recommend it."
Of course, there\'s also the daily Pearl Harbor air raid parade and occasional SCP sightings, but...
Considering all that, Hawaii was rated as a four-star difficulty (★★★★) destination.
"Doctor Jang, you..."
Tang Seorin looked genuinely touched by my insane level of preparedness.
I smiled inwardly with satisfaction. Success.
"This is nice, but is there anywhere else?"
Damn it. Normally, this would be where she\'d suggest we go find a good restaurant.
Then again, if that were the case, this episode would have ended with, "We had a delicious meal and drank a lot. The end," and it wouldn\'t have been an episode at all.
"We see the sea every day here, so I\'m honestly looking for something different. For example... how about Paris?"
"Which Paris are you talking about?"
"Huh? Which Paris? What do you mean?"
Tang Seorin tilted her head in confusion.
"Paris in France, of course. What else is there?"
"The time periods are layered there. There\'s Paris from the Huguenot Wars, Paris from the French Revolution, Paris from World War II... There are six Parises in total. Do you want to experience religious wars and witch trials? Then it\'s the Huguenot Wars. Want to see the guillotine and Napoleon? Then it\'s the Revolutionary Era. You can pick your Paris romance depending on your preference."
"Seriously, what exactly is a \'Void\'...?"
"The essence of the Void is to evoke such reactions."
"Hmm."
Tang Seorin carefully flipped through the \'Traveler\'s Guide for the Guild Leader of the Three Thousand Worlds\' that I had created.
"Ah. Let\'s go here."
Her finger pointed to a location with the words:
Uyuni Salt Flats (Difficulty: ★★★★★★★☆).
"Hmm."
This place, where rain fills the desert to the horizon, transforming it into a mirror that reflects the blue sky, is the most brilliant \'mirror\' on Earth.
By the way, it\'s located in Bolivia, South America.
By the way, by the way, the Inca Empire once existed in this area—a nation of fashionistas who prioritized heart beauty over facial beauty.
By the way, by the way, by the way, for Void, time and space are like taffy. In other words, they\'re arbitrary. Just like how witch trials and revolutions are happening simultaneously in Paris, in the void of the Inca, there\'s a \'Who\'s Got the Prettiest Heart\' contest in full swing.
"..."
A drop of sweat formed in the heart of the regressor.
That\'s right. The Uyuni Salt Flats were already a challenging destination to visit even before the world ended. Now, the difficulty had skyrocketed.
I desperately searched Tang Seorin\'s face, trying to read her mood like a North Korean citizen trying to gauge the leader\'s emotions.
"Hmm? Hmm? How about this place? I\'ve actually wanted to go there for a long time."
"..."
The Leader was quite excited.
If you were in this situation, how would you respond?
With a heavy heart, but not showing it on my face, I replied.
"...Let\'s go. Uyuni Salt Flats. I\'ve actually wanted to visit there too."
"Let\'s go tomorrow!"
"Are you serious...?"
"What?"
"Tomorrow is a bit tight. Let\'s go the day after tomorrow."
"Okay!"
2
The next day, when Tang Seorin woke up, there was no event where she hurriedly injected her brain with sanity and returned to her duties as guild leader.
"Alright, let\'s go, Doctor Jang!"
Instead, Tang Seorin geared up completely. She prepared a red leather trunk and even put on sunglasses.
It was an airport fashion that would fit right in at Incheon Airport. Even her witch hat and robe had more intensity than usual.
I sighed softly.
"Whoever said a regressor was an omnipotent being was wrong. We\'re nothing more than ordinary people who can\'t even predict tomorrow\'s fate..."
"Huh? What did you just say?"
"Nothing. More importantly, we\'ll be gone for at least a week or two. Will the Three Thousand Worlds be alright?"
"Of course. I\'ve been subtly hinting that I wanted to leave for the past six months. They probably caught on and prepared by now. If not, I\'ll just clean house when I get back. What about you? Will you be okay?"
"I told you, there’s no problem."
Though when I return, the enraged Noh Doha, the Control Officer might go on a rampage, but, well, what\'s the worst that could happen? I might die, but not much more than that.
Tang Seorin put sunglasses on me as well and giggled.
"So, are we taking your private plane now? What was it called again? Red Dog?"
"Red Pig. It\'s a modified Savoia S-21. Don’t get it wrong again. And unfortunately, it’s impossible to fly to South America on the Red Pig. Not enough fuel."
"Then how?"
"There’s always a way. Tang Seorin, you\'re really lucky, you know that? These days, you won’t find another travel guide like me."
"Ooh, what confidence!"
First, we traveled through the Inunaki Tunnel.
It seemed the tunnel noticed I was heading overseas, as the walking path was oddly more welcoming than usual.
→ Trap present here →
Ghost appearance point! Be careful!
(Congrats) Safe travels. (Cheers)
These kinds of Japanese phrases were graffitied on the tunnel walls. It was probably because the magical girl murals were regularly refreshed, boosting its favorability.
The two of us arrived in Seoul through the high-speed toll lane.
"Tang Seorin, do you happen to know where the first airport on the Korean Peninsula was?"
"Huh? Isn’t it Gimpo Airport?"
"No, it was Yeouido Airport."
There was such an airport.
If you’ve ever seen Robot Taekwon V launch from the National Assembly Building, you’d know that Yeouido originally had the perfect conditions for flying vehicles to take off. There was a reason why the minds of past National Assembly members seemed to be floating in the air.
The original Yeouido Airport was eventually overshadowed by Gimpo Airport and faded into history, but it has now made a splendid comeback as the only international airport on the Korean Peninsula.
Tang Seorin looked somewhat unimpressed when she was guided to Yeouido Airport.
"Was there really such a facility in Yeouido?"
"No. You know how the \'Comprehensive Income Tax anomaly\' appears every May, right? When the taxes accumulated there reach a certain level, the \'Yeouido Airport\' void is created."
"Ew. So the anomaly builds an airport with the taxes we pay?"
"Yeah. They’re pretty serious about pretending to be a government. The fact that they use taxes for something proper already makes them well-qualified to be called an anomaly."
"Seriously, what even is an anomaly…?"
That was the exact reaction.
Tang Seorin tugged at my sleeve.
"Hey, Doctor Jang."
"Hm."
"The airport windows are all blood red. There are like thousands of red handprints on them. Am I seeing things?"
"Ignore it. It\'s just the interior design."
"……."
As I mentioned, the current architectural trend is voidism. Blood on the windows is just a cute little detail.
In history, Yeouido Airport operated before international travel was freely allowed to the public.
Back then, traveling abroad was a luxury and privilege that most citizens couldn’t even dream of.
Naturally, the faces of the officials at the airport inspection desk were stiff and unyielding.
- Where are you coming from?
An anomaly official mumbled, mimicking human speech.
The savage desire to teach a lesson to an SCV who dared to escape their own country was palpable.
[PR/N: In StarCraft, SCVs are the Terran workers who gather resources and build structures.]
It was quite an impressive performance. I might have been fooled if only fingers weren’t growing where the eyes should have been.
"I\'m someone like this."
I casually handed over my ID.
It was an ID I farmed in advance from Namsan yesterday. It took me two days to prepare it.
- Ah. You’re from the Special Task Force.
The anomaly\'s tone immediately became polite.
- We were notified yesterday. But the person with you…?
I feigned displeasure.
"Do I really need to explain everything?"
- No, of course not. I apologize. Please proceed, Agent.
The airport was swarming with anomalies, but we walked comfortably all the way to the boarding gate.
Tang Seorin muttered beside me.
"This is… quite different from the overseas travel I imagined…"
"If you want to go as far as South America, this is the easiest way to fly."
Ignoring the minor downside that there’s a roughly 60% chance the plane might crash, it’s an excellent means of transportation.
I explained as we walked to the gate.
"First, we\'re going to Spain. From Spain, we\'ll head to South America, where we can get a significant bonus related to Incan anomalies. The flight time will be longer, but this is the safest route—"
And when we finally boarded the plane, I had to stop explaining. Tang Seorin, who was following me, also halted.
"Uh."
"Uh."
In the old, worn-out plane, 212 passengers were already seated, paired up in twos.
And every single one of the 212 passengers had the face of either \'Doctor Jang\' or \'Tang Seorin.\'
As if they were all dressed for the same trip as us.
Blankly—
They stared at us, and we stared back at them. Including us, a total of 107 Doctor Jangs and 107 Tang Seorins fell silent.
"..."
"Is this part of the interior design too? Doctor Jang?"
Hm.
I didn’t see this coming.