Absolute Dweller-Chapter 229

At first, I was a little taken aback, but quickly regained my composure.

‘The one thing I'm certain of is that I am Kim Jae-hyun himself.’

Therefore, those words had to be a lie.

In a world where awakeners roam and monsters are everywhere, there were countless ways to explain such phenomena.

Just off the top of my head, there's the possibility of hallucinations, illusion users, or even doppelgangers among monsters.

I also immediately tested telepathy, but as expected, it didn’t work.

‘In this case, I’d think of it as an illusion.’

It was clear that the black energy had created this phenomenon.

I vividly remembered being engulfed by the black energy moments ago.

Once I realized that, I immediately checked to see if my abilities were intact.

‘Eyes of the Absolute.’

The Eyes of the Absolute spread out from me.

The darkness that had been blurred by my defensive measures began to reveal its secrets.

At the same time,

‘Ugh.’

My head felt like it was going to explode.

The overwhelming amount of information came crashing in like a tidal wave, almost causing me to lose my sanity.

The twisted rebar from the collapsed buildings.

Concrete cracking in real time.

Rotting wood and decaying leaves.

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The information that poured in was more extensive and detailed than when I used Clairvoyance.

Details about an area spanning hundreds of kilometers filled my mind.

“Gasp, gasp!”

Had I not turned off the Eyes of the Absolute reflexively, I might have gone insane.

‘What exactly is this...?'

It was strange.

What was that just now?

It resembled the Eyes of the Absolute, but the scale was vastly different.

The incredibly wide range and unnervingly detailed information.

Not only the insides of concrete buildings, but also the flow of air around, the subtle movements of the ground, droplets in the clouds in the sky, the vast ocean, floating trash in the sea, the currents of the ocean... all of that information was coming in at millimeter precision.

As I was still trying to process what was happening,

“How is it? The original version is definitely a bit different, right?”

It spoke in a strange tone.

“You probably couldn’t handle it at your level just now.”

“What...?”

Due to the aftermath of using the Eyes of the Absolute, my defensive measures had gone out as well.

My voice echoed in the perfect darkness.

Even though I couldn’t see anything in the pitch-black void, I could somehow sense the expression it was making.

It was as if I could see its face.

It said,

“You still haven’t figured it out, have you? Want me to give you a hint?”

It was clearly enjoying itself.

Its tone was dry, but I could feel the emotions behind it.

A sense of déjà vu.

‘This is like...’

A being with the same face as mine, speaking in my exact voice, was in front of me.

And the emotions it was feeling were vaguely transmitted to me.

‘...It’s like when I summoned my avatar.’

To be more precise, it felt exactly like how I felt when I was in the avatar position.

It spoke again.

“This is the future.”

As if trying to be generous.

“Maybe about 300 years? No, it might be a little more than that.”

Unbelievable words.

“At least it’s definitely been over 100 years. I counted it myself.”

It kept babbling.

“Maybe it’s been a thousand years.”

It sounded irresponsible and lighthearted, yet somehow, it didn’t feel like nonsense.

So I asked,

“You’re saying this is the future?”

“Yeah.”

“...That’s impossible.”

As the information that had just poured into my mind settled, I realized one thing.

The range of about 500 kilometers.

When I looked at it overall, it clearly resembled a map of South Korea.

I was currently standing in Busan.

Even Japan was within the range of the Eyes of the Absolute.

One common thing in that vast area stood out.

There were no moving life forms.

No humans, monsters, mice, fish, or insects.

The only living beings within the 500-kilometer range were me and it.

“It’s exactly the future I’ve experienced.”

“The future you’ve experienced? What does that even mean?”

“You and I are a bit different. Compared to me, you... you’re blessed. Lucky bastard.”

When I added up everything it had said so far, it seemed like it was trying to claim that it was the future version of me.

Unfortunately, there was some credibility to it.

Given the reasons mentioned earlier, in a world overrun by awakeners and monsters, it wouldn’t be strange for someone from the future to appear.

‘I’ve confirmed that it’s possible to turn back time too.’

Although the probability is low, it’s not entirely impossible.

And then,

‘The sensation I felt when using the Eyes of the Absolute earlier.’

That was real.

The experience I had at that moment lent weight to its absurd claims.

‘If I assume everything it’s saying is true...’

That would mean this horrific hellscape is what the future holds.

The same thought seemed to be spilling from its mouth.

“Even so, in the end, we won’t be able to stop ‘that’.”

“I’d like you to explain a bit more.”

“Should I?”

It readily agreed.

Then,

Zing—

A massive door opened right above my head.

And through it, two enormous forces were clashing.

No,

Crack—

To be more precise, they were constantly tearing each other apart.

The black energies of the two sides were devouring one another.

The endless cycle of consuming and being consumed was like a hellish struggle.

Kim Jae-hyun, or rather, the future version of me, spoke calmly.

“This is what lies beyond the domain. The reason the sky looks completely black.”

“....”

"This is also the future that will come to you."

A brief silence followed.

Suddenly, I recalled the story Kim Da-bin had told me about prophetic dreams.

The tale of the sky turning completely black, signaling the end of everything.

I asked,

"When will it happen?"

If this truly was the dark future that awaited,

"When will it come?"

I had to be prepared.

It spoke.

"If you're curious, see it for yourself."

Immediately after,

A massive amount of information flooded my mind.

Memories.

It was memories.

The painful and miserable memories of what future me had experienced.

‘......’

The future me was different from the present me from the start.

While we both awakened on the first day of the monster apocalypse, the ability I awakened was completely different from his.

There were no protective shields to guard my domain, no shop skills to produce items, no warehouse for storing items in pocket space, no Eyes of the Absolute, and no Invisible Hand.

The ability future me possessed was solely “Devour.”

The power to consume and absorb anything.

It resembled the identity of the black energy.

However, he quickly grew stronger.

As soon as the monster apocalypse erupted, he headed toward his family’s home, devouring countless monsters along the way.

Sometimes, he consumed the abilities of deceased awakeners or hostile forces, becoming like a runaway train.

‘But the outcome wasn’t good.’

Unlike me, he failed to save his family.

The home was guarded by the World Tree that had consumed everything around it, and the elves born from it.

He devoured the World Tree.

Unlike me, he couldn’t protect his family.

But he had enough power to rule over Busan.

He was a tyrant, devouring all hostile forces.

Among them were mythical monsters like the Samjok-o, and powerful awakeners.

Every time, he grew stronger and acquired new abilities.

Thirteen years passed.

‘The end came.’

Darkness from space descended upon the Earth.

A massive darkness began devouring everything.

The survival struggle between monsters and humans on this tiny planet was meaningless as it swept everything away.

In the face of overwhelming power, everything was powerless, and future me chose survival.

He consumed everything in order to survive.

He devoured not only hostile forces, but also his comrades and, eventually, even the darkness that was engulfing the Earth.

In the end, after consuming everything, the only thing he preserved was himself.

Along with a small domain about 500 kilometers in radius.

Fragments of the Earth.

That was all, and he had survived in that endless darkness.

“......”

As I remained silent, future me smirked and asked,

"How was it?"

Now, I could see it.

The fake mask and the madness in his eyes.

He wasn’t future me.

He was a monster.

I asked him,

"Is this why you wanted to steal my body?"

"It seems there’s a misunderstanding, but I’m not the one who wants to steal your body."

"What do you mean?"

"It’s a fragment of my personality that split off during the process of defying time. Desire."

I thought I had heard a similar excuse from Orochi.

"I’m not planning to steal your body. If I had such thoughts, I wouldn’t have kindly told you everything. Now you know, the power you possess is the power I gave you. And the one that wanted to steal your body... that was just a remnant of that power."

He spoke with a look that mimicked a friendly expression, as if trying to seem human.

"If you let yourself be stolen by something like that, it’s your fault. It’s like being bitten to death by the dog you raised. Or, in this case, should I say, the dog you gave away?"

He added,

"So don’t be afraid of your own power and focus on leveling up. That way, you’ll be able to prepare for the darkness that’s coming."

It was almost as if he was advising me out of concern.

"I’ve already lived enough. I have no regrets about life. Don’t worry about being devoured by power. Just focus on leveling up. In the end, you are me. As long as you hold onto the leash, you won’t be devoured."

Future me played the role of a mentor, but I spoke up.

"That’s laughable."

I could feel his face freeze, even in the darkness.

"You, who claim to have no regrets about life, have been desperately clinging to life for hundreds of years? Nonsense."

No matter how much he had lost his family and faced misfortunes, I never imagined I would end up so broken.

Indeed, environment plays a huge role in shaping a person.

"You keep going on and on, but in the end, the point is to level up, right?"

The reasoning was understandable.

If the monster apocalypse were to come, and in 13 years, that would happen—then I had to prepare.

And the only way to do that was through leveling up.

‘If I’m to turn the entire Earth into my territory, though...’

In that situation, increasing the experience points distribution to the maximum for all citizens, while I refrained from gaining too much experience, could seem a little precarious.

But,

"Seems like you were getting frustrated? You’ve come out personally to say all this."

"......"

Hundreds of years, or perhaps even a thousand.

After living alone for such a long time, had I gotten stupid?

I could see right through his intentions in this conversation.

After all, maintaining your sanity after such a life would be nearly impossible.

It was inevitable that his intelligence had diminished.

"So, the key point is that if you level up and increase your influence, you won’t have to worry about your body being stolen."

"......In that case, you’ll eventually meet your demise."

"Don’t worry. Thanks to what you told me, I plan to level up quickly."

However, I would also need to be mindful of absorbing other divine beings.

And then,

"As you said, in the end, you are me, right? Then, if you can do it, I can too."

I focused on the surrounding powers.

And then,

Whooo—

The black energy that had been unresponsive slowly began to react as the control shifted toward it.