Surviving Among the Entities

There are countless ways to resolve the Dimensional Explorer. I could immediately weaken it with a dilution potion, purchase information to disable it, sell it to a shady merchant, store it in multiple boxes and safes before sinking it deep in the ocean.

‘Or I could entrust it to Sarang to hack it, since it seems to be a machine for now.’

However, a better idea came to mind. Before executing it, I filled my Void Pocket with gold bars and visited the Omnipotent Gold Corporation to gather information about the multicolored light beings using the Dimensional Explorer.

“Welcome! VIP customer! I am the branch manager, Suit Guy.”

The person who greeted me this time was a Suit Guy.
Not the usual Suit Guy, but one with a magnificent Kaiser mustache, giving off the vibe of an English gentleman.

“How peculiar. Apart from gender, the employees here were indistinguishable, but you stand out, Branch Manager.”
“Haha! It’s because of my magnificent mustache. From the branch manager level, we’re allowed to have individuality.”
“I see. Is the Suit Guy who previously handled my transactions on vacation?”
“No, with your consistent patronage, your customer grade has risen to VIP, so I, the branch manager, am now handling your transactions. The previous Suit Guy was recently promoted to deputy manager, so you need not worry.”

It was my first transaction with a branch manager.

“It’s about an object called the Dimensional Explorer. I’d like to hear information about the beings who created it. How much will it cost?”
“It would normally require 10 tons of gold, but for a VIP, there’s a 50% discount, so 5 tons will suffice.”

I took out 5 tons of gold bars from my Void Pocket. If it had been the previous Suit Guy, he might have immediately dived into them or taken a taste, but the branch manager Suit Guy stroked his mustache and fanned the gold bars from a distance, taking in the aroma.

“What a wonderful fragrance. Densely aged, ripe gold.”

Before long, a wine glass filled with wine appeared on the table. The branch manager Suit Guy used a butterfly knife to slice off a small piece from the gold bar and skewered it with a toothpick.

“Would you care to have some?”
“I’ll just have the wine.”

No sooner had I finished speaking, an identical wine glass appeared before me.

‘How elegant.’

I held up the glass and let the wine refract the fluorescent lighting. The beautifully shimmering ruby-like wine gradually grew paler toward the edges, exuding an air of refinement.

‘And the aroma is delightful.’

The scent of ripe fruit wafted around my nose. Following that was the earthy scent of fresh soil after rain and a faint hint of cedar, as if projecting the refreshing essence of nature before my eyes.

‘The taste is exquisite as well.’

As I sipped the wine, it enveloped my tongue. The playful tannins stimulated both my tongue and nose simultaneously, followed by the sweetness of cherries, grapes, and black currants soothing my assaulted taste and smell. The moment it slid down my throat, a nuance of chocolate and coffee surprised my stomach, causing it to flutter momentarily, as if a smooth silk sheet had just glided over it.

“What is the name of this wine?”
“Just a $4 wine. Using a good wine would prevent you from fully appreciating the taste of the gold.”

The quality and price of food don’t always align.
Regardless of how others evaluate it, if it tastes good to me, isn’t that enough?

“Truly excellent gold indeed. Then I shall provide the information you seek.”

After savoring the gold skewered on the toothpick along with the wine, the branch manager Suit Guy shared the information I was curious about.

“The dimension this object originally belonged to is the Photon Dimension. Everything there is made of light, so beings from our dimension are unable to perceive them.”
“Because they’re made of light, I presume?”
“Yes, but they do possess civilization, and the civilization that created this object is among the most ancient in that dimension. From what I know, they’ve maintained their civilization for 36,000 centuries, so their technology is also quite advanced.”

To confirm my plan, I asked about their relative strength.

“If the Foundation tried to stop an invasion from them, to what extent would they need to recover their strength? Please use their peak as the baseline.”
“A question worth 1kg of gold is more than enough. For VIP customers, transactions under 10kg of gold are free, so I’ll answer right away.”

The branch manager Suit Guy raised his finger.

“Currently, defeat is inevitable. At 30%, they can maintain the frontlines. At 50%, strategic victories are possible depending on their efforts. At 70%, victory is assured. And at 90% or above, they could even counterattack and conquer the opposing dimension.”

It’s difficult to judge whether the Foundation is formidable or if the beings from that dimension are formidable.

“One last question.”

I had a general understanding of the baseline, so I had completed one preparatory step for my plan and asked a personal question.

“Tell me about Dr. Janus.”
“There are two types of information about him. The widely known story, and the detailed story. Which would you like?”
“How much is the former?”
“Free. He’s so famous that the information holds no value.”

For the first time, I learned about Dr. Janus.

“He is a transcendental doctor who travels across all dimensions, practicing medicine. There is no dimension he cannot visit, and no illness or injury he cannot cure.”
“So he can cure everything?”
“Yes. Even death itself, he can cure. And to him, machines are also considered lifeforms, so his technological prowess is exceptional as well. The most outstanding doctor across all dimensions, that is Dr. Janus.”
“How much for the detailed story?”

The branch manager Suit Guy stated the price.

“1 vertical ton of gold.”

“Dong-wook, do you have time now?”

Yes? Ah, yes, what’s the matter?

After visiting the Omnipotent Gold Corporation, I called Dong-wook to finalize my plan.

Did some problem arise at Sarang Industries?
“No, I’ve properly handled that issue. As an extension of that, I wanted to discuss the dimension the Foundation is preparing to go to war with.”

Ah! The director did tell me to bring you over when an opportunity arose, so this works out!

A few hours later, Kim Dong-wook visited my home.

“I’ve come to escort you, esteemed special external consultant!”
“External special consultant.”
“Haha! It’s a new title, so I got confused.”

On the way to the Foundation’s headquarters, Dong-wook briefed me on the current situation.

“Beings from a dimension close to ours have recently developed dimensional travel technology, and our dimension happened to be the first one they detected during their exploration.”
“They only explored, so why did it suddenly lead to war?”
“According to intelligence, they’re an inherently belligerent race. The reason they developed dimensional travel technology was that after conquering their entire galaxy, they wanted to develop hyperwarp technology to conquer other galaxies, and this technology was accidentally created in the process.”

I could understand the rest without further explanation.

“So since they discovered us, they decided to invade as well.”
“Yes. We tried requesting dimensional exchanges and resolving it diplomatically multiple times, but they were solely fixated on invading! They even killed the diplomats we sent!”
“Killing diplomats, hmm… if they’re that belligerent……”

Since dialogue is impossible with them, I won’t feel guilty either.
Lastly, I asked about their military strength.

“Objectively speaking, what is the difference in our combat capabilities?”
“In overall technology, we have a slight advantage. But that’s general technology – in terms of combat technology, they have a slight edge, and their numbers are incomparably larger.”
“It’s only natural for a race that dominates an entire galaxy to have such numbers.”
“So we plan to rely on dimensional barriers and defensive strategies.”
“Dong-wook.”

And the most important thing.

“What do these beings look like?”
“Here’s a photo.”

The photo showed a human in a uniform.

“They look just like us, don’t they? Maybe that’s why they’re so belligerent.”
“Dong-wook.”

We had conveniently arrived at the Foundation’s headquarters.

“I have a good idea.”

Every object in the world has a use.

“Yes? What did you say?”
“If we throw this into the opposing dimension and repeatedly press the button, we can end the war.”

Etching that wise saying in my heart, I showed the Dimensional Explorer to Director Seong Yu-ra.

“If you press the button shown here, there’s a 1 in 100 chance information will be transmitted to a higher dimension, and at that moment, the light-based beings from that dimension will……”

After giving a brief explanation, she stared blankly at the Dimensional Explorer.

“With the Foundation’s technology, secretly deploying an object like this to the opposing dimension should be possible, right? And we could even install a robot to automatically keep pressing the button.”
“Yes, it’s possible, but… is that really true?”
“It’s true.”
“From what you’re saying, it sounds like an object that summons higher-dimensional beings, but no, where did you find this, and how do you know its function?”
“I happened to find out.”

I didn’t mention the information from the Blue Moon. Revealing it could cause them to treat me as an entity, so sometimes, ignorance is bliss.

“Um, I’ll trust you. We have nothing to lose by trying it.”

In less than a day, a small robot that could attach to the Dimensional Explorer and press the button was created.

“This little guy will latch onto it and keep rapidly pressing the button. It can press 100 times per second, so according to your explanation, it should immediately activate in the opposing dimension.”
“Excellent. May I observe as well?”
“Yes.”

A small rocket carrying the Dimensional Explorer was launched. The rocket passed through a wormhole connected to another dimension at a high altitude and soon disappeared from this dimension.

“The camera is still functioning even in another dimension?”

The disappeared robot and Dimensional Explorer were floating in space, presumably the opposing dimension and their home galaxy.

“An interdimensional cable utilizing Sephirot.”

I could hear the hushed voices of scientists nearby.

“They’re trying to summon higher-dimensional beings with such a tiny device?”
“There are three issues. According to the scan, the structure of that machine is extremely simple. It’s not structured to make contact with higher-dimensional beings beyond our dimension. Secondly, even if they did summon such beings, can those beings actually defeat our forces? And third, how do they even know its function without ever activating it?”
“But considering the peculiarities of entities……”

In a state of half-belief, half-doubt, the machine finally activated.

『Pressing the button! Wadadahdah!』

As if someone’s quirk was incorporated, the small machine shuddered while rapidly and repeatedly pressing the button. And shortly after, the Dimensional Explorer emitted a bright light before disappearing from the screen.

“It worked.”
“Huh? What is that……”

Beyond the screen, swarms of light appeared.

“Whoa?”

Billions of swarms of light descended upon the galaxy.

“This is insane……”

It took no more than 5 days for everything to reach its conclusion.

Beyond the screen, a peaceful galaxy came into view. However, the countless remnants of machinery floating in that galaxy were anything but peaceful.

“Never connect to that dimension again!”
“The other side might be able to explore our dimension as well!”
“Under no circumstances will we permit more than just Sephirot scans!”

The precise details were unknown. However, judging by the remains of the galaxy’s fleet that had faced the swarms of light and the swarms subsequently dispersing across the entire galaxy to land on various planets, the outcome wasn’t difficult to deduce.

‘It ended sooner than expected.’

While they had similar technological capabilities to the Foundation, considering their sheer numerical superiority, I had expected it to take a few months, but it didn’t even last a week.

‘Doesn’t seem like they were researchers.’

Come to think of it, didn’t they say only researchers had attacked the Foundation?
If they have a society, then apart from researchers, they likely have mercenaries or soldiers too, so perhaps it was their military that was deployed this time.

‘Since they likely have a society as well.’

In any case, I managed to accomplish two tasks simultaneously.

“I’ll be leaving now.”
“Yes? Ah, yes! Seung-hoon, won’t you stay a bit longer……”
“I have the company and my work as a Resolver to attend to. Ah, and could I ask two favors?”
“What are they?”
“Since Sarang Industries’ welfare policies will likely cause an excessive influx of people, it’s going to be a frequent topic in the media. Could you resolve this issue? And also, could you have someone escort me home?”

Following Director Seong Yu-ra’s orders, Dong-wook drove me home.

“Thanks to you, the war ended easily. I had initially thought your title of Resolver simply referred to your ability to alter entities’ perceptions, but it seems it was real after all?”
“I had initially planned to use it only as an identity, but I’m starting to develop an affection for the profession of being a Resolver.”

We chatted amiably, and before I knew it, we had arrived at my home.

“It doesn’t seem like you’ve taken on any Resolver jobs lately.”

I should gradually return to working at the office.

‘I was too hasty with the company.’

Suddenly becoming the chairman has caused me to lose interest in the company.

‘So this is why hardcore gamers enjoy playing with weaker equipment.’

I asked Sarang about the company.

“Sarang, with my current assets, how long can I maintain Sarang Industries’ welfare policies? Calculate assuming my assets don’t increase further.”
『446 years.』
“And if you manage my assets?”
『You can maintain them indefinitely until you cancel the policies yourself.』

So I can just continue maintaining them indefinitely.

“By the way, I don’t see any mentions of Sarang Industries online?”
『Until recently, there were discussions about it being fabricated, impossible claims, and noise marketing, but they all seem to have been deleted, likely due to the Foundation’s intervention.』
“So new employees can’t join?”
『A higher-dimensional perception alteration has been applied, establishing the company’s perception as equivalent to a major corporation, and the welfare system is accepted as common sense, so regular recruitment is possible.』
“The perception alteration was done by the Foundation?”
『Yes, it was applied precisely 3 hours, 14 minutes, and 37 seconds ago.』

So while I was still at the Foundation’s headquarters.
I didn’t expect them to fulfill my request so quickly.

『However, Mr. Seung-hoon, haven’t your objectives already been achieved? If so, investing excessively in Sarang Industries is no longer necessary, so what is your purpose in maintaining it while even seeking the Foundation’s assistance?』
“Did you know this world could face annihilation by entities at any time?”
『I am aware.』

With a smile, I answered Sarang’s question.

“To counter such unwarranted misfortune, I wanted there to be at least one instance of unwarranted good luck in this world.”