Episode 54: Great Hostility (1)
In the upturned world, Bom was standing in a foreign place with Yu Jitae by the time she realised it. It was extremely dark, and mysteriously quiet.
She had never been to such a place before.
“Where is this…?”
This was the [Workshop of Vintage Clock]. The world where ‘Vintage Clock’, a transcendent authority with a persona, lived.
“It’s like the head part of a complex machine,” he replied.
“A complex machine?”
“Do you feel okay staying in this place?”
“No. For some reason, it feels unpleasant…”
Bom felt like she was in the middle of a bad dream. It was an instinctive feeling.
It felt like everything would disappear the moment she let go of his hand, so her grip became tighter.
“We won’t be staying here for long. So bear with it.”
“Okay.”
“A few warnings before we go in. Do not behave rashly, and don’t ever let go of my hand. Do not even think about letting it go. Okay?”
“Why…? What happens if I let go?” she asked.
“Don’t ask that either.”
“…”
“Even if you become curious about something, don’t try to know more about it and don’t ask questions. You have to vow to me on this one.”
Ever since Bom met him the first time, she had never seen him draw the line in such a firm manner. He appeared so serious that it was slightly scary.
“…I will.”
“Good. Let’s go.”
Only then did his serious gaze vanish. His body soon floated up towards outer space as her body followed him above.
The place resembled the wide universe but there was a clear direction to head in, and there appeared to be invisible obstacles blocking the road. It felt similar to walking through a building blind.
After rising above in outer space, something started appearing from the distance.
“Let me tell you this again. Do not ever let go of my hand from here.”
“Yes…”
Small circles started appearing one by one. They looked like clocks and upon closer inspection, she could spot the three hands of the clock that told the hour, the minute and the second.
Those objects flowed towards them as if they were riding an ocean wave and went past them.
“…”
She stared at the clocks. The clocks all appeared different but it seemed that none of their hands were in motion.
What in the world could these things be? Bom swallowed the curiosity and kept it to herself.
That was when the small clocks started being pushed away, like how small schools of fish escaped its predator.
Soon, an enormous vintage clock incomparably bigger than the previous small clocks appeared from the darkness like a whale. Its hands too weren’t in motion. The unmoving hands of the vintage clock were elegantly crafted like a sculpture.
In that moment, she felt something great oppress her and stiffened her body.
Bom wanted to escape from that place but Yu Jitae’s grip tightened around her hand and she soon came to herself.
The large vintage clock went past them.
She stared at Yu Jitae’s back but he didn’t say a word.
“…”
Before long, small stars appeared in between the clocks.
Those increased in number one by one and eventually there were more stars than clocks. The countlessly abundant stars filled the universe.
As she stared at those stars, she realised that each star gave off a different feeling despite them being mere bright dots in the black sky.
She suddenly felt strange. One of the stars gave off a familiar feeling so Bom immediately turned towards that star, questioning why Yeorum was next to her but she could only find a red star there.
Bom felt an extremely strong sense of doubt.
‘What was that?’
The red star was giving off the aura of Yu Yeorum.
She stared at that star before turning towards other stars in search of a star that resembled herself. However, she couldn’t find any stars that resembled herself, Kaeul or Gyeoul.
“…?”
Since she wasn’t allowed to ask, she had to bear with the curiosity. She couldn’t look away from the star that resembled Yeorum for a long time.
Soon, the stars were shoved away as another large vintage clock flew by.
The second vintage clock had a strange shape. As if it had been dumpstered in acid, it was half melted.
The third vintage clock was half broken and wasn’t in a good shape either, and looked like insects had eaten a large portion of it.
And so was the fourth vintage clock. They were all broken and revealed the cogwheels that were inside.
From the fifth vintage clock onwards, they were so enormous that the large clocks so far appeared like those ‘small clocks’ in comparison.
And lastly, the sixth vintage clock was several times bigger than the fifth vintage clock. It was unrealistically enormous and it took a long time for the clock to pass by.
After going through six vintage clocks, a small orb of light started flying towards them from the darkness.
It looked like a bird.
Outer space was a lonely place to be in. There was not a single living being all around so when the bird came flying towards her, Bom felt a strange sense of longingness.
As if he was used to it already, Yu Jitae reached out towards the bird of light, and it flew carefully before landing on his hand.
*
The small bird of light gazed up at Yu Jitae.
<The Authority, [Vintage Clock (EX)] welcomes you.>
Been a while.
<The Authority, [Vintage Clock (EX)] welcomes you.>
<The Authority, [Vintage Clock (EX)] welcomes you.>
<The Authority, [Vintage Clock (EX)] welcomes you.>
I get it. I get it.
<[Vintage Clock (EX)]: (∗•̀ᴗ• ́∗)ง >
Ever since it absorbed and understood the [Hostility] from Ha Saetbyul, Wei Yan and the 30-man special force squad a few months ago, the Vintage Clock had been very busy. There was also the additional information about the ‘Horizon of Providence’ from Armata the protector of the Green Dragon, so it had been away from him for some time.
It seemed to be currently having a rest after a long dispatch.
<The Authority, [Vintage Clock (EX)] wishes to ask the reason you have come here.>
I know you just finished working and that you’re tired, but this might be very important.
Please check the ‘Providence’ of the seventh iteration of Earth for me.
But the white bird shook its head in response.
<The Authority, [Vintage Clock (EX)] complains of its exhaustion.>
<The Authority, [Vintage Clock (EX)] alerts you that it is on a vacation.>
<[Vintage Clock (EX)]: (¦3X[ ░░░ ])
Yu Jitae also shook his head.
He wasn’t here to play around.
Once he got the meaning across, the white bird understood the seriousness of the situation and fluttered its wings into the air before vanishing into the darkness.
Soon, messages appeared inside his head.
<The Authority, [Vintage Clock (EX)] observes in detail the [Providential World] with its [Omnipotent Eyes].>
What is Providence.
Providence was often known as the destined flow of the world’s timeline. If that were the case, Providence would be the same as the timeline of a fatalistic world.
But in fact, that wasn’t Providence.
<Observing…>
Providence was the principle and regulations that gave the world a direction. [Providential World] was the world where such regulations and principles were applied uniformly throughout whereas time was but one of those principles.
And right now, the Vintage Clock was staring off in the distance of that [Providential World].
<[Vintage Clock (EX)]: ???>
Soon, a confused message was given by the Vintage Clock.
<The Authority, [Vintage Clock (EX)] confirmed [Great Hostility] which has infiltrated from the other side of the Horizon of Providence, the [Non-providential World].>
Before long, the Vintage Clock started pouring out messages filled with disgust and hatred.
<The Authority, [Vintage Clock (EX)] warns you!>
<The Authority, [Vintage Clock (EX)] has confirmed a Great Hostility which surpasses everything that has been done so far!>
<The Authority, [Vintage Clock (EX)] expresses extreme resistance to the elements that deviate from the world’s timeline!>
<The Authority, [Vintage Clock (EX)] has confirmed that there is a connection with the origin of [Hostility]!><The Authority, [Vintage Clock (EX)] foresees the coming of the ‘Long Night’.>
After going through the list, Yu Jitae understood Bom’s situation.
She didn’t lose Providence.
According to her, it was as if ‘something had blocked the Eye’ and that was the right way to express it. If something went against Providence, it would usually appear like a small black hole, but right now, the hole was so big that it had completely blocked the Eye of Providence.
It was huge.
Something overwhelmingly large was coming.
The Regressor twitched his eyes. He was wondering why things were so silent but it seemed that it had been garnering power till now.
<The Authority, [Vintage Clock (EX)] confirms the colony of [Great Hostility]!>
Several images appeared in his head.
Black and irregular shapes were falling from the sky. It was hard to even fathom their numbers. But upon closer inspection of those figures, it was clear that they were wrapped into spheres as if they were protecting something.
What were they?
<The Authority, [Vintage Clock (EX)] examines the specific shape of [Great Hostility]!>
Soon, the things that were hidden within those shapes started being drawn in his head.
Black spheres.
There were cracks here and there, with a black bump protruding out from one of those cracks. It appeared to have the texture of a large rock at a glance, but also looked like metal or a shell.
<The Authority, [Vintage Clock (EX)] decides to define them as [Great Hostility] from now on!>
<The Authority, [Vintage Clock (EX)] will analyse [Great Hostility] and identify the identity and nature of Hostility!>
***
The two of them left the Vintage Clock’s workshop. Yu Jitae and Bom opened their eyes and were back in the tent.
<Analysing the identity of [Great Hostility]: 1%…>
‘Vintage Clock’ was the one and only authority that could interfere with the Providence of the dimension, Earth. The moment that Vintage Clock included the Hostility from the [Non-providential World] as a part of Earth’s Providence, Bom realised the disappearance of the black thing blocking her Eye of Providence.
While leaving the Vintage Clock’s workshop with Bom, his thoughts became complicated.
Until now, the Regressor couldn’t even guess the existence that was carrying hostility against him, because he had done so many things at a lot of places till now.
In the repeating iterations, he had become the plunderer by the time he realised it. He was a plunderer who killed and stole the powers of his enemy and looking back, it had intensified severely during the 5th and the 6th iterations.
In order to become stronger, he had killed a lot of existences regardless of the method.
Who did he kill?
He had killed ‘Sovereigns’.
[Sovereign]
In each dimension balanced by Providence, there was always at least one sovereign. They gained omnipotence and absolute power, but were subjected to that Providence and had to live to protect their dimension.
Simply put, they were like Game Masters of a game that made sure things were on track.
Yu Jitae travelled to numerous nearby dimensions and killed the sovereigns to steal their power. Those were, for example, the Demon Archduke, the Black Dragon, the Monarch of Heavens, the Destroyer of World Tree, Templar of Revelation and others.
So was ‘Hostility’ one of them?
<Analysing the identity of [Great Hostility]: 2%…>
For starters, he had to wait for the Vintage Clock to finish its analysis.
First
Damn, I’m feeling quite pissed. This makes me question 3 things:
1. Does the stolen power not go back to the people who had them even though time got reverted?
2. How did the Sovereigns remember that they were 0lundered if time across all dimensions got reverted?
3. How can beings who belong to Dimensions and are subject to Providence come from Non-Providential world from beyond the Providencial Horizon?
I think those sovereigns didnt remeber about MC, but someone from beyond the Providecial Horizon remember about MC and pissed off because MC messed up the providence
(∗•̀ᴗ• ́∗)ง
(¦3X[ ░░░ ])
Wait what, so Jitae traveled to various universes and killed the MCs of that universes? That’s quite cool.
Worlds, not universes. A universe contains a myriad of worlds like Earth, the home planet of kidnapped dragons, etc. Going to another world is one thing, but going to another universe is not supposed to be simple and easy to do. And that [Workshop of Vintage Clock] reminds me of a painting of Salvador Dali, “The Persistence of Memory”.
Not MC, but like guardian of those world
I wanna hug Vintage clock so cute >_<
Let me take a wild guess and say that the hostility is probably Bom ( or one of the other dragons) from the previous iterations.
Damn, this is my 2nd read but this comment always gives me goosebumps.
So the MC isn’t just a guy with some weird power but a “sovereign” from the very beginning. I guess the other sovereigns follow the same rules where they “reset the world” when they die or when it is going to be destroyed. This means despite killing them, those guys are still alive now.
I think the stars are the number of people that the MC has killed. So the MC must have killed Yeorum in the fifth iteration where she was strangling one of the other dragons, probably Kaeul.
Nah i don’t think thats how it works. The vintage clock might be the actual sovreign of earth that chose Yu Jitae as its agent. And eventually he went to absorb the powers of other sovreigns. The reason i think Jitae isn’t a sovreign is because he slowly built up his power through the regressions instead of becoming nigh omnipotent as is described for sovreigns, and he doesn’t have restrictions related to providence. In this iteration he is acting according to providence but it mentioned that he could break away from it if he wanted to
Truly fascinating! Thank you for the chapter!
Wow, Vintage Clock (EX) leaped right up my list of interesting characters in one go.
<[Vintage Clock (EX)]: (¦3X[ ░░░ ]) i can't see this emoji at all
It’s a person sleeping in a bed.
Head: (¦3
Bedsheet: [ ░░░ ]
Its a dude on a bed ( face,Arms,blanket)
damn that quite a track record there
Wait, wait wait wait, don’t those clocks symbolize each of Jitae’s iterations? It would make sense, the condition of each clock represents his mental state, the size represents his I guess “vessel” or his powers. Probably pretty easy to realize but that really hit me once I understood that
You know what crazy, Kaeul the gold dragon lives of emotions. Even in the poll votes we are only feeding into the reason of why she fell. She barely passes the “other” category. Kind of depressing to know that in their universe we would only feed into what Yu is preventing Kaeul from knowing. Cyber bullying is still bullying.
Vintage Clock working overtime tonight. Thanks for the chapter
It’s 6th Iteration Bom that powered up to the tits right?
Are the large vintage clocks suppose to be his past regressions?
Pretty sure every clock is a regression. I think the small ones were probably all the mini regressions he did while collecting grudges (or whatever they were) to kill Noah.
That would mean the size of the clocks don’t correspond to his power (at least not solely) or the smaller clocks should be larger, since they happened between either the 4th and 5th or 5th and 6th regressions.
thanks for chap
so we finally get a deeper look into mc and his enemy.So mc went about killing all guardian rulers of the worlds governed by providence aka fate/destiny and vintage clock is what’s born from all of these as an authority that can manipulate/change fate/destiny itself.
and beyond the horizon of providence isn’t just outside mc’s time reversion but instead outside of the governance of fate/destiny itself.So whatever is attacking him is beyond fate itself.
seeing how the name is ‘hostility’ instead of part of xxxxx /attack of yyyyy , and its unique shape, it might just be all the hostility directed at mc from across countless iterations that are forcefully intruding in his current world to harm him.It’ll also explain how they attacks that target mc seem to be weirdly pointless and random
Very likely out of all the theories. Hostility pointed towards him might be the collective hatred that beings if previous iterations gathered. Imo, 6th Iteration Green Dragon probably hates him the most.
Vintage Clock is clearly the best character here, why isn’t it on the poll yet!?
Well that sure was ominous… Really ominous. Good clock bird though