TRPM 172

chapter 172

A low-frequency generator had been installed right in the middle of the park in our apartment complex.

Seeing a familiar logo on the device, it seemed the president of the residents’ association had purchased the low-frequency generator from the company I had recommended.

It would have been better if they had waited a bit to buy a product whose safety had been confirmed…

“Since it’s from that company, it should be fine for at least a year.”

With that thought, I walked past the people who were inspecting the low-frequency generator.

Since it was the weekend, I didn’t have any fixed plans. I wasn’t meeting anyone in particular, and there was nothing urgent I had to take care of this weekend.

Originally, I had planned to just stay home and practice qigong to pass the time, but suddenly I felt like going out to eat, so I left the house.

“What should I eat…”

I was wandering around the city without much thought, looking for a place to have lunch.

“…Hmm?”

I sensed an unusually concentrated amount of ether in one place.

Even I can’t easily detect ether unless I’m focusing. I might notice if a lot of ether moves all at once, but for my senses to pick it up while I was walking casually… that meant an abnormally large amount of ether was gathering and moving.

“…Is it because of the low-frequency generator?”

Low-frequency generators don’t eliminate ether—they push it away.

So the displaced ether naturally gathers where there are no low-frequency generators. The ether I sensed was probably gathered in that way.

“Hmmm…”

I decided to check the place where the ether had gathered.

Ether gathered like this could cause problems if it was affected by the black mist. Even if there was no danger, I could collect the ether and process it into something like a spiritual elixir.

Moving toward the source, I saw what kind of place had accumulated the ether.

“It’s a park.”

And it was quite a large park.

“Of course, they wouldn’t have installed the low-frequency generator here.”

Even if a dungeon appeared in the park, it would only slightly damage the park. Moreover, since the dungeon would be easy to find, monsters would be unlikely to come out of the gates.

Even if a monster did come out, fighting in an open park gives a defensive advantage. And if monsters emerged through the gates, unless they were extremely strong, they could be easily subdued by attacking from all directions.

Of course, that doesn’t mean low-frequency generators shouldn’t be installed. It’s just that when a dungeon appears, it’s more practical for awakened ones to handle it directly.

“Let’s see…”

I manipulated the ether gathered in the park’s air, drawing it into my hand. Then I compressed it as much as possible into a single crystal.

The ether crystal was very small, but the energy contained within it was equivalent to what I would normally gather through about an hour of qigong practice at home.

“Not bad.”

It may seem like a small amount, since it’s only what I could normally gather in an hour of qigong, but considering the magic circle in my room and my current level, it’s an enormous amount.

The important thing is that this ether had been gathered from the air itself.

“And it only took a few days for it to accumulate.”

This energy hadn’t been gathered through my qigong—it had collected naturally. Just coming to this park occasionally to harvest ether could give the same effect as practicing qigong.

Most importantly, this was ether, not magic power or internal energy.

[Ether exists. More precisely, the black mist and the Awakened system are essentially made up of these ether masses.]

[The important point is that this ether can be transformed into any form of energy.]

Jacob, the founder of the Awakened system, told me that. Ether could be converted into aura, magical power, mental energy, elemental energy, or any kind of force.

I could convert this ether into internal energy and absorb it, but at my current level, doing so wouldn’t bring much growth.

There was a better option.

“This crystal itself is basically a spiritual elixir…”

I could use it as a potion. It would be far more effective than most ordinary elixirs. I could give it to Yeon Mirae, who lacks a little magic compared to her level, or to Alex, who is low on mana from controlling Fafnir.

Moreover, as long as the low-frequency generator isn’t removed from the park, this ether crystal would continue to form.

“An unexpected side income.”

I put the crystal into my pocket dimension and continued walking to find a place for lunch.

“Hmm?”

As I walked, I suddenly entered a familiar street—a street leading toward the school.

“Our school is an elementary, middle, and high school all specialized for Awakened students… I guess I unconsciously ended up here because I went to elementary and middle school from this side.”

It didn’t really matter. There were plenty of decent restaurants near the school. Even if the school was closed today, that wouldn’t affect the restaurants.

“Let’s see…”

In front of the school, there was my favorite dessert shop, but it wasn’t suitable for lunch. I didn’t feel like eating Korean snack foods either, so I thought of going to a tonkatsu or budae-jjigae restaurant.

As I walked onto the street near the school, someone suddenly spoke in English.

“(Hey, are you Geonwoo?)”

“?”

I turned toward the voice and saw two foreign students from my class.

“Elliot, I told you to use Korean in Korea!”

“(Geonwoo can understand English anyway, right?)”

Elliot and Elena. Unlike other students who live nearby, they came from abroad and lived in the school dormitory. Having been here for just over two weeks, they were still learning the local geography by wandering around the area.

“By the way, why are you at school on the weekend, Geonwoo?”

“Oh, I was just wandering around to have lunch outside.”

Elena’s eyes lit up at my answer.

“Then let’s eat together. Of course, you’ll recommend a good restaurant, right, Geonwoo?”

“Wait… You said you never go out to eat to save pocket money… huh?!”

“Ahaha… just ignore what Elliot says.”

Elena playfully covered Elliot’s mouth with her fist. I chuckled at their antics and asked if there was any food they couldn’t eat.

“Nothing like that. I’ve tried many Korean foods, and I can handle spicy foods too.”

“You… previously tried tteokbokki and for a while… ugh?!”

“Ahaha…”

Elena couldn’t handle very spicy food. So budae-jjigae would be out.

“Have you ever had tonkatsu?”

I said this and took them to my pre-reincarnation favorite restaurant.

Of course, Korea wasn’t the only country affected by the low-frequency generator.

Many countries worldwide installed low-frequency generators to protect themselves from dungeons, and the effects quickly became apparent.

“(It doesn’t seem like the number of dungeons appearing has decreased much?)”

“(True. But in the last two days, all the dungeons that appeared were outside the low-frequency generator’s range. At least, they didn’t appear in inhabited areas.)”

The low-frequency generator was indeed effective.

Based on information sent from all over the world, researchers from the Global Awakened Association concluded this.

Thanks to Oracle’s scheme, which led to the deaths of many researchers by doppelgangers, the current researchers in the association were either lucky to have been absent at the time or were urgently recruited. Even so, compiling this data wasn’t difficult.

“(…But who really spread this information? From the conclusion, it benefited humanity, but this was our research.)”

“(It must be one of the association’s survivors….)”

One researcher said this, and another shook his head.

“(Impossible. You didn’t check the database properly, did you? Until now, we focused on frequency and amplitude to counteract the black mist’s influence. But according to this database, the waveform matters as much as the frequency. There’s no mention of amplitude at all.)”

This was completely different from the association’s research. Meaning, at least, the association’s research hadn’t been leaked.

“(Really…?)”

“(Yes. Someone must have coincidentally conducted similar research and realized the importance of frequency and waveform.)”

Hearing this, one researcher’s expression hardened.

“Tsk… no results. Since this order came urgently from headquarters, I thought if I handled this matter well, I could go to headquarters too…”

Should he give up again? The researcher thought.

He was a member of an organization called Oracle. That’s why he knew in advance that doppelgangers would wreak havoc in the association’s lab and could survive by taking leave.

Now, as a researcher at the association, he was looking for the person who uploaded the information on the low-frequency generator.

It wasn’t just him.

“(Other members around the world probably received the same order.)”

Some were in the association, some in a company, and some were veteran Awakened working independently. All were trying to trace the source of the low-frequency generator information.

Knowing this, the researcher naturally became impatient. Only one member could gain recognition from this task and go to headquarters.

“(…But who could have uploaded the information on the low-frequency generator?)”

So he grew anxious.

“(I just said it. At least it wouldn’t be a researcher from the association.)”

“(I know that, but is there really no other clue?)”

He tried to extract as many clues as possible.

“(Well… if an Awakened suddenly gained a lot of points, it would be obvious, but even then, it’s not easy to figure out, right?)”

“(Points… points….)”

“(Why are you acting like that?)”

Naturally, his behavior aroused suspicion.

“(Please follow us for a moment.)”

“(…?)”

“(We’ll be conducting a brief inspection. To check if you really went on leave recently and if there’s any trace of memory tampering.)”

“(W-wait…!)”

Eventually, he was caught. Not only him, but one by one, members around the world who had ruined things due to impatience and had their identities exposed began to appear.