Surviving Among the Entities

Park Moon-pil (70), living in Daejeon, was born with immense luck.
Born sturdy in a family with a history of frail bodies, the moment he was born in an impoverished rural village, a redevelopment boom occurred.

“Wow! We’re moving into an apartment too!”

Living in the city with his family who had come into a large sum of money.
As a student, he happened to hear about stocks, studied them, and began investing as an adult, amassing an enormous fortune in no time.

“Everyone thinks I’m just lucky.”

And currently, he had become a wealthy individual in Daejeon, owning several buildings, apartments, and department stores as a local magnate.

“But they don’t know what they’re talking about. I’m not just lucky.”

The now elderly Park Moon-pil smiled wryly as he looked in the mirror.

“Isn’t that right, Spirit?”

Behind him, a towering ancient tree stood, not reflected in the mirror.

[97.34% of those who know you think that way.]
“The truth is, it’s not luck, but because of you, Spirit.”
[That is true.]

He first met the Spirit when he had just graduated high school and was working a part-time job at a construction site.

[Hey! What the hell!? An artifact!?]
[Is this Gyeongju or what? Hey! Throw all that away! If we get caught with that, the whole construction cost will be gone?]
[Why does this country always make the construction workers cover the costs whenever artifacts show up?]
[They’re forcing us to halt construction while also making us pay, insane.]

Among the pots buried in the construction site dirt pile,
he was ordered to shatter them all, but instead brought the prettiest and most mystical-feeling pot back to his studio apartment.

[Thank you for saving me.]
[Ack! A ghost!]

And that’s how he met the Jujube Tree Spirit.

“I was really startled back then. Why did you say you were sealed there?”
[The shamans sealed me away, calling me an evil spirit. But I am not an evil spirit. I simply have no concept of good and evil. How could a tree have the concept of good and evil? Only a few beings, including humans, differentiate good and evil.]
“A few beings, huh.”

The Jujube Tree Spirit knew many things.

“Living with you, I’ve certainly encountered many of those beings.”

Which stocks would rise in a few days.
Which stocks would rise in a few years.
The location of winning lottery tickets.
Real estate that would soon skyrocket in value.
With the Jujube Tree Spirit, life was easy, and he quickly became wealthy, freely doing whatever he wanted.

“I learned that ghosts exist by seeing you, but there were even greater things than ghosts.”
[To me, you are the most strange.]
“Heh, I’ll do more than just make money.”

He gripped his cane and left the room, patting his pocket.
The cold, hard feeling of metal.
After confirming the object called an “entity,” he followed the Jujube Tree Spirit’s instructions.

[Go 100 meters straight ahead. A woman living nearby will pass by that park at 2:41 AM. Make her the target of your crime, and you won’t get caught.]
“Thank you for the information.”

Soon, at the designated time, the designated person appeared at the designated location.

“Over there, Miss, could you help me for a moment?”
“Yes? Oh, what is it?”
“Well, you see…..”

With no wariness toward the elderly appearance, the woman approached.
At that moment, Park Moon-pil quickly took something out.

“Just go along with my hobby a bit.”

From a toy gun, a rowdy burst of light shot out alongside a beam.
The woman struck by it transformed into a small toy figurine.

“Huh? Wha-!?”
“Heheh, stay quiet.”

The living toy figurine woman.
Park Moon-pil, holding her in his hand, smiled amiably.

“Or else it’ll hurt a lot.”

He did not initially have such a hobby.

“Life is so boring.”
[Words of someone with a full stomach.]

Having achieved everything through the Jujube Tree Spirit, he had fallen into a slump.
Money, women, being a filial son, the path he needed to walk – the Spirit provided answers to all his problems, and he only needed to execute them to succeed.

“Spirit, can you really solve anything?”
[Anything within the realm of human capability is possible.]
“Then……”s challenge gods.
From that point on, Park Moon-pil challenged the Jujube Tree Spirit.

“If I commit murder, can you cover it up?”
[Yes.]
“Then I’ll do it.”

After that day, Park Moon-pil committed countless crimes.

[Cut off the third pinky finger of the victim and throw it off Hannam Bridge. Your misfortune will transfer to someone else, who will take the fall.]
[Start a company. In Asan, Chungcheongnam-do, there will be a man named Jo Sin-yong. Have him handle the accounting fraud, you’ll make a lot of money, and you can pin all responsibility on him later. Until then, remain in the shadows and hide your appearance.]
[Hide under the black locust tree at 9:30 PM on the 12th. Starting from that moment, count the passers-by and commit a crime against the 4th woman. You won’t get caught.]

The Jujube Tree Spirit’s effects were perfect.
He was never caught for any crimes, to the point where he was never even a suspect, instead receiving a Diligent Taxpayer Award and Model Citizen Award.

“I guess that’s the end of it.”
[Did you enjoy yourself enough?]
“Yes, I did.”

Inside a box was a broken figurine.
Next, the elderly man took out a coupon.

[Otherworld Challenge Coupon For You]
[Want to go to another world? Want to experience a dangerous, scary place instead of a soft, happy otherworld? Want to challenge yourself there and prove your abilities!? Then use this right away! Prove your abilities and obtain incredible rewards!]

A suspicious merchant he learned of through the Jujube Tree Spirit.
It had been 40 years since he made a deal with her.
Recently, he purchased what could be his final entity from her.

“If I succeed with this, I can become young again?”
[Possible.]
“And even if I die, I can safely live for 1 year, right?”
[With me, success is guaranteed.]
“Heheh, I’ll give it a try this time too.”

Park Moon-pil used the Otherworld Coupon.
The elderly man and Jujube Tree Spirit disappeared from this world.
And precisely 24 hours later,

“……Phew.”

A young man and the Jujube Tree Spirit revealed themselves in this world.

“That was long. Finally finished.”
[You succeeded.]
“It really dragged on.”

Looking exactly like Park Moon-pil in his youth.
No, even more handsome with a better physique.

“Let me see, the date is… really just one day later?”
[You remembered?]
“Haha, thanks to the ‘Perfect Memory’ magic, I never forget anything.”

It was Park Moon-pil himself, having returned from another world through the ‘Otherworld Challenge Coupon,’ cultivating magic to achieve a full body transformation.

“When I was there, I wanted to return, but now that I’m back, I don’t feel much.”
[A side effect of the ‘Perfect Memory’ magic. Since you remember it as if you just left this place yesterday, the feeling is lacking.]

The other world was so difficult that death seemed inevitable.
But with the Jujube Tree Spirit’s help, even at 70 years old, he managed to attain success.

“The EX-rank skill I received as a reward is ‘The World’s Luckiest Person.’ What is this?”
[You are the luckiest man in the world. No matter what you do, you will surely succeed.]
“Is that so?”

The joy of returning was short-lived.
He found life boring once more.

“Those 30 years in the other world were boring too. Since I just had to listen to you, Spirit, and everything would be solved. But now I’m so lucky I don’t even need you?”
[That’s right. But don’t let your guard down. The world is not so easy that luck alone will keep you alive.]

Just how far can I go?
What must I do to dispel this boredom?

“……Should I try exterminating humanity? That might be fun. The Foundation or whatever might show up to stop me. Then life might become a bit more enjoyable.”
[With your current strength, you can handle the present Foundation.]
“What are my odds of winning?”
[Zero percent if you confront them head-on and fairly, but using guerrilla tactics, you can raise the win rate to 32%.]
“Good. Give me their coordinates then. I’ll start with a declaration of war.”
[213,546,0131……]

He gathered his magic power.
Using the coordinates provided by the Jujube Tree Spirit, he prepared to teleport.

‘If I didn’t listen to the Spirit, I wouldn’t have felt this boredom.’

But the Jujube Tree Spirit, who had been with him for so long, had already taken root in his soul.

“So this is why you were called an evil spirit?”
[As I’ve said repeatedly, I have no concept of good and evil. This is simply my way of survival.]
“You’ve become such a part of me that I don’t want to go against you.”
[Don’t worry, I won’t lead you down the wrong path.]
“I suppose so.”

So, what should I do once I get to the Foundation?
First, I’ll launch a meteor at them, then return to Earth.
Using guerrilla tactics, I’ll take hostages as human shields while fighting them, revealing the Foundation’s existence to the world.

‘I’m already feeling excited.’

Just as he was teleporting through subspace,
something entered Park Moon-pil’s field of vision.

‘Scales?’

It was such a fleeting moment that even his superhuman eyesight could not fully capture it.

[You are a wicked one.]
[The fortune of the wicked shall be taken.]

As one standing at the threshold of transcendence beyond a superhuman, he glimpsed the will of the scales, but it was already too late.

“Ugh!?”

The coordinates were distorted.
An occasional subspace storm had twisted the coordinates toward the Foundation elsewhere, and before he could react, he fell through those distorted coordinates.

‘Where is this place?’

He emerged in a hallway where everything was made of gold.

‘The top floor, huh.’

Looking outside from the hallway, the view extended far below.
While surveying his surroundings, Park Moon-pil noticed a door.

[Chairman’s Office]

The place where the highest-ranking person resides.
The most valuable hostage.
Without hesitation, he smashed through the golden door and barged inside, only to see:

‘A gold bar.’

On the desk, atop a plush cushion, a single gold bar.
And at that moment, he sensed the will of the gold bar.

‘Intruder, Golden… Execution?’

The world grew distant.
His physical form grew distant, and everything felt like it was not his own.

[Ah, ah, ah, ah.]

He heard the Jujube Tree Spirit’s voice.
Mustering his final strength, Park Moon-pil asked it:

“What is this……”
[Something I don’t know, something behind the truth, something that does not grant recognition to the uninitiated.]

His entire body was separated.
Each cell gained individuality, each cell coveting the others as they struggled to dominate the body.

[The beginning of all greed.]
[The origin of all progress.]
[The ruler of all motion.]
[The starting point of all futures.]

Within that, Park Moon-pil was no longer the ruler of his body.
Just like the other cells, he was merely one cell fighting to dominate the body.

[Doctors have the desire to heal patients.]
[Gods have the desire to create the world.]
[Humans have the desire to live.]
[Ghosts have the desire to resent the living.]

He fought and fought within that.
He fought and won against tens, hundreds, thousands, tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands, millions, tens of millions, hundreds of millions, billions of cells.

[Stars have the desire to burn.]
[The universe has the desire to embrace the world.]
[Dimensions have the desire to exist.]
[What lies beyond dimensions has the desire to desire what lies beyond dimensions.]
[Beings from the outer universe have the desire to become insignificant beings of the inner universe.]

And so he fought and won against quadrillions of cells.
It felt like quadrillions of years had passed.

[Things have the desire to exist.]
[Electrons have the desire to move from high potential to low potential.]
[Everything has the desire to flow from high to low.]

He regained his body once more.
His consciousness was divided into the infinite universe and dimensions.
Not copies or divisions, but everything was his main body, sharing all consciousness, all time, all life.

[And so, everything will become the most perfect at the lowest point, the end of desire.]

The Jujube Tree Spirit fell silent.

[Ah.]
“Ah.”

And soon after, they spoke in unison.

[Golden!]
“Golden!”

Both transforming into gold bars, instantly melting.
The melted gold was absorbed into the building.

[Chairman’s Office]

And replaced the door they had smashed through.

[He has too much fortune.]

The scales tilted heavily to one side.

[He shares his fortune with many virtuous people.]

Several days later,
an incredible uproar occurred worldwide.

[16,751 Powerball Winners. First prize is only 2.1 million won?]
[Lottery rigging scandal, “How can there be 20,000 first prize winners!” Prize money doesn’t even reach 1 million won.]
[Lottery winners emerging across Korea, USA, Japan, China, Europe, etc.]

For one week, a rather trivial, if not trivial, occurrence.