Novelist Running Through Time
Chapter 164

TL: KSD

「HAPPY ARE those ages when the starry sky is the map of all possible paths—ages whose paths are illuminated by the light of the stars. 」

Lim Yang-wook knew this sentence.

It is a line that adorns the opening of <The Theory of the Novel> by György Lukács.

Though the opening feels somewhat disconnected from the main content of the book, it possesses a vitality even stronger than the author or the core of the book itself, lingering deeply in the hearts of readers.

There are many reasons why this phrase is still widely remembered: nostalgia for lost things, the fame left by a giant of literature, aesthetics, and socialist philosophy in history…

But there was a more immediate and easily understandable reason right next to Lim Yang-wook:

It was the dazzling nightscape of Los Angeles.

EP 10 – Starry Sky

The bald editor with a cigarette in his mouth turned his head toward the window.

He casually switched off the stand light, the only light source in the dim room.

The hotel room did not fall into darkness.

The neon signs of bar signs, car headlights, and the lights from the forest of buildings streamed in from beyond the window.

Developers crunching before their deadlines, young people sticking out their tongues for selfies in front of clubs with friends, LAPD officers chewing on a donut while patrolling the roads late at night because of an inconvenient weekend shift…

Everyone was living a night more radiant than the day.

But there was no starlight there.

Humans had dragged the stars down to the ground. Now, it was not the sky but the lights of the earth that illuminated the night. Neon signs of whiskey bars drove out the stars from the night sky.

György Lukács had mourned those vanished stars.

Starlight was the guide for sailors navigating the vast open seas, the only friend to console the loneliness of shepherds on hilltops, and the guide for wanderers treading the wilderness with nothing but a walking stick.

As long as they had starlight, they could go anywhere in the world.

Even to an unknown world no one had ever reached.

Of course, the past wasn’t solely filled with brilliance and purity. Explorations of the New World led to the massacre of indigenous peoples, the slave trade, and imperialism, and medieval travelers were often frightening vagabonds doubling as merchants, jesters, and bandits.

But did progress ever bring peace?

No.

Advanced technology turned humans into slabs of meat hung on barbed wire, and developed culture made everyone into ideologues, killing and being killed in the fervor of revolution.

The cogs of industry spun by consuming the fingers of children, and peace never came even after the dreadful “war to end all wars” had ended.

It was in such a world that a Hungarian philosopher yearned for the things that had been lost.

The same was true for the boy.

“Ha… this is interesting…”

Thanks to his rich background knowledge, Lim Yang-wook thoroughly enjoyed Starry Sky.

An era where all the mysteries of the stars had been unveiled, where travelers were forcibly conscripted for conquest and colonization rather than out of curiosity for the unknown, and where people could still see the starlight from their windows yet no one felt its beauty…

A boy born into such a time, possessing the soul of a true adventurer, this story, even for a seasoned reader like Lim Yang-wook, was one that stirred his heart deeply.

“You little punk…”

Lim Yang-wook packed all his thoughts <Moon In, you little… he could write like this if he wanted to? I kept telling him I wasn’t asking him to only write stories that make money, but still, it would’ve been nice if he wrote something more mainstream… why did he make me suffer so much when he could write such interesting SF?> into those words “You little punk.”

Lim Yang-wook rubbed his nose bridge, feeling grateful for how this story was soothing the fatigue of his grueling U.S. business trip.

He continued turning pages with a content smile for quite a while.

Then once again, with a Buddha-like smile, he repeated his earlier words.

“You little punk…”

But this time, his laughter wasn’t genuine, and the emotions behind “you little punk” weren’t affection.

Lim Yang-wook smiled brightly while-

watching the boy who was about to offer up his own leg as food on the spaceship where supplies had run out.

“I knew this would happen.”

* * *

“……”

“……”

There is a saying: “Even if you are caught by a tiger, you can survive if you stay calm.”

That saying is contradictory.

You cannot stay calm in front of a tiger. It’s not because of some infrasound in the tiger’s roar that tenses up human muscles… but because humans are intelligent beings.

The human brain is not so simple as to just run away the moment it encounters a tiger. It’s far more literary than that. When humans face a tiger, they use their rich imagination to predict their future.

In doing so, they envision 101 ways to become tiger food, and by the time they try to calm themselves and run, the tiger is already lunging at them with a hearty “Thanks for the meal!”

Therefore, the only thing a human in front of a tiger can do is lie and say, “Write me a review, and I’ll give you a rice cake”, and then run away while the tiger is busy writing the review.

I decided to follow the wisdom of the ancients and escape from this beast.

“I need to use the restroom for a moment…”

“Sit down.”

I don’t know if a tiger’s roar contains infrasound, but Gu Yu-na’s voice certainly does.

The muscles in my thighs, which had tensed up to lift me from the chair, went slack.

Before I could even fully stand, I plopped back down onto the chair like a deer tranquilized mid-jump.

It’s common knowledge that Gu Yu-na can use word spirits, so I could accept that. But the electric, prickling aura of murderous intent emanating from her right now was completely incomprehensible.

“Wh-why are you doing this? What did I do wrong?”

Gu Yu-na, who had been glaring icily at me, muttered in an even colder voice.

“……Wrong?”

And then came the single damning sentence.

“Do you not even know what you did wrong?”

“Kuhhh…!”

If words could take physical form, those words would have turned into a dagger and plunged straight into my heart.

Those words were a harbinger of disaster.

From the depths of time and memory, a familiar feeling began to creep up.

Do you not even know what you did wrong?

Hah… So you really don’t know, do you?

Fine. If you don’t know, then just stay as you are.

Familiar voices brushed past my ears automatically. Horrific terror squeezed my heart.

If my mental fortitude had been even a little weaker, I would already have broken down, curled up in a corner of the room, repeating “I’msorryI’msorryI’msorry.” like a machine.

But fortunately, the “Gu Yu-na” before me was not the same “Yu-na” from those days, who had been a master of scolding.

I exploited the imperfections in her craft and escaped the mental demon. Summoning all my strength, I resisted.

“I-I didn’t do anything wrong! Proper trials only serve to strengthen the theme!”

“……”

Gu Yu-na remained silent. I would have preferred it if she said something, anything. But Gu Yu-na just stared at me with a chillingly blank expression.

So when Gu Yu-na suddenly stood up, it wasn’t strange that I flinched in fear.

Crack, pop. Twisting her neck from side to side and loosening her shoulder muscles, Gu Yu-na moved as though she was preparing to land a punch right in my face.

In that moment, I couldn’t help but recall a famous movie quote I’d once seen on the internet: “This punk must’ve forgotten my temper…”

There she stood, towering over me as I sat frozen in my chair, glaring down with icy eyes.

She said just two words:

“Leg. Back.”

“…!!!”

I gritted my teeth and bowed my head deeply.

I was too scared to look at Gu Yu-na, so I tightly shut my eyes. A chilling sensation crept up my spine.

But… I couldn’t break!

“You may break my neck, but you cannot break my pen!”

“What are you on about.”

Gu Yu-na walked toward me with firm steps.

As the miniature human weapon drew closer, my entire body trembled, but Gu Yu-na didn’t break my neck. Nor did she twist my leg.

Instead, Gu Yu-na walked right past me, picked up a pen and a stack of manuscript paper.

“Okay. Special agent deployed.”

And then, she broke my pen.

* * *

「The colonial planet ‘Sirius Alpha’ in the Sirius star system is infamous for its frequent changes in governors.

The reason lies in its ‘political integrity.’

Sirius Alpha, once the center of the Intergalactic Civil Rights Movement, is home to more androids with human rights and voting rights than anywhere else in the universe.

These androids are adept at protests, revolutions, and strikes. Above all, every single one of them has the planetary government’s legal code implanted in their systems.

Unlike humans, who create labyrinthine legal systems to differentiate the upper class from the lower class, every android is both a legal expert and highly politically engaged.

Thus, whenever something ‘irrational’ occurs, they don’t just mumble, ‘Ah, of course, those high-ranking guys again,’ and let it go.

When corruption or embezzlement by a governor is detected, the androids immediately initiate political action.

Impeachment, elections redos, hearings…

Even responses that are often reduced to mere dead letters in law, or those that are legally possible but politically frowned upon, are promptly and rationally enacted.

If such ‘rational’ measures are rejected by high-ranking politicians or capitalists, the androids begin to exercise the strongest right guaranteed by the constitution.

A general strike.

Planet-wide general strikes are a specialty unique to Sirius Alpha.

When this specialty was exported to other planets, leading to the first intergalactic general strike, every android, semi-intelligent entity, and clone in the universe gained their human rights.

Amid this ‘rational’ response system, the political structure of Sirius Alpha plunged into an endless labyrinth.

The governor, tasked with managing the most demanding and powerful voters in the universe, rarely serves a term exceeding six months on average.

In a universe where governors ruling planets for over a century is the norm, this is not just rare, it’s an extraordinary phenomenon.

Therefore, amidst the countless tragedies across space, where food supplies had run out, and humans had begun consuming one another…

It was not entirely ‘irrational’ for an android to stand up with a steel pipe in hand.

“Stop.”

The android spoke.

But neither the violent thugs about to devour an infant nor the boy kneeling before them, begging them to take his leg instead, stopped at the android’s command.

So the android personally ensured their functions were stopped.

Clang – !

With its precise mechanical intelligence, the vertically descending steel pipe concaved the skull of one of the thugs. The thug collapsed with a thud, foaming at the mouth for a moment before becoming completely still. A flawless ‘stop’.

“What the fuck!”

“Please cease your actions.”

“You damn tin can bitch…!”

“Return to your position.”

Clang – !

Clang – !

With two more resounding clangs, the remaining thugs also had their ‘functions stopped’.

The boy, holding the infant who had just lost its mother and had almost been eaten himself, trembled as he looked up at the android.

The android, holding a steel pipe dripping with red liquid, asked with a puzzled expression:

“Why are you afraid?”

The boy, unable to form words, pointed with a trembling finger at the three thugs whose ‘functions’ had been stopped.

The android stared blankly at the ‘organisms with stopped functions’ lying on the ground, then let out an Ah and began to explain its actions.

“This falls under exemptions for emergency evacuation, self-defense, and the Good Samaritan Law. Thus, it is not an illegal act. Please do not be afraid.”

Only an android, or perhaps another android, would nod and say, ‘I see’, in response to such logic.

But the boy, being a kind and wise human, forced himself to smile through his tears, tightly hugged the infant, and nodded.

“Y-y-yes, I s-see, that makes sense!”

The android could not comprehend the emotions carried in the ‘noise’ of the human’s voice.

“Do you have a ‘functional defect’ in your vocal cords?”

“N-no! No! They’re fine! Perfectly fine!”

“That is fortunate. Please, rise.”

The android extended a hand to the boy who was sitting on the ground.

The boy, his excitement now subsiding, hesitated for a moment before grabbing the mechanical hand and standing up.

As the android helped the boy to his feet, it spoke.

“If you are unharmed, will you assist me?”

“M-me? Assist you with what…?”

“I intend to enter the bridge, take control of the pioneer fleet, and restore order.”

The boy blinked blankly, trying to make sense of what the android was saying, but no answer came to mind.

However, the android, interpreting the human’s silence as a refusal, wasted no further time and turned around without hesitation.

“Then, farewell.”

The android briskly walked away.

Clutching the infant tightly, the boy hurriedly chased after it.

“Wait! I’ll go with you!”

On the back of the android, which the boy had begun pursuing, the identification code “9U-na” was inscribed.」

*****

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