Ch.440Modern Era: The Age of Grand Anastasia (38)

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“So don’t make it so difficult. I may not know about other guys, but when it comes to myself, that’s a different story.”

“I understand what you mean. But why specifically to me, a Balhae person?”

You’re from Balhae, so you’re wondering why—you must be curious.

“I’m hurt. You’re still half of me, you know.”

“Excuse me?”

I expected this kind of reaction, but it’s still surprising.

I feel a bit regretful for seemingly breaking our friendship, but it can’t be helped.

I would have had to tell the truth eventually anyway.

Keeping it to myself would be disrespectful to me as well.

“This will be a long story. Shall we get into it?”

So I spent several hours explaining everything to him directly.

“So, to summarize: You, the Tsar, are from a nuclear war world setting. You were dropped into this world’s past Civil War era by some white-haired old man and changed history. Is that right?”

Yes, that’s it. At least you have some comprehension.

Well, you are me after all—I would have been disappointed if your head was filled with noodles.

“That’s right.”

“But does that even make sense? Um…”

“By that logic, how are you still like this after over a hundred years?”

Cognitive dissonance is inevitable here. It’s certainly difficult to accept.

Even for the Tsar, when you hear it directly, your brain momentarily stops working and goes blank—that’s normal. And it’s hard to believe.

Don’t I exist as the only living human deity who doesn’t age?

Until now, the mindset was “Anastasia Tsar is just natural.” But it’s a bit different.

This part inevitably lends some credibility.

“Wait, now that I think about it, some strange old man visited me recently.”

“A strange old man?”

When he mentions an old man, I feel uneasy.

“He asked me if I was happy, which seemed odd, and then he suddenly disappeared, which was suspicious. Could it be…”

Huh, I was told he wasn’t around, but he went to see this guy?

Perhaps he calculated that I would meet this guy and wanted to add credibility.

The fact that he deliberately disappeared suggests he might be something other than human, making my story more believable.

“So that old man visited you instead of me.”

“To think all of this was ultimately for us.”

“That world was truly terrible. Many people died, and you too were barely surviving day by day. You should be grateful to me.”

I stretched both of his cheeks.

Compared to my hardships, this guy has had it so easy.

I wasn’t even reborn in his body—I’ve been revered as this saint all this time. Unlike me, he’s been living comfortably in peaceful Korea.

“So you’re saying that Age of World Strategy was originally our world?”

“That’s right.”

“But why specifically in the body of an imperial princess?”

From what he said about “Kerensky was kicked out,” it seems like they just stuffed survivors into any historical figures.

“Besides me, it seems they put other people into different worlds and historical figures. And starting in Korea would have been difficult, don’t you think?”

Thinking about it now, that makes logical sense.

Russians might have wanted to rebuild the Soviet Union due to their Soviet-era nostalgia, not even considering communism. I’m not sure if Korea would have been unified by a Russian who wasn’t me.

“If that’s true, it means they deliberately selected from among survivors.”

“How does that work?”

“In that lawless zone where you lived day to day, you’d understand desperation, and without fear of death, you’d act boldly.”

Is that really it? It’s not simply because Korea was the setting.

At that time, even media institutions had collapsed and there was no internet, so we didn’t know how much of the world remained. From what the old man said, it seemed like only a few countries were left. Maybe they pulled out those who were considered strong in that lawless zone.

“Ah, I see. That makes sense.”

“To think I’d end up in a woman’s body. Hmm.”

“Why are you still using formal speech?”

“Well, even if it’s me, with a hundred-year age difference, isn’t it natural? Aren’t you an elder?”

Suddenly the back of my head felt incredibly hot.

He’s being condescending to me because of my age, and I’m genuinely getting angry.

“Say that again, I dare you.”

For the first time, I felt the urge to kill myself—literally.

What a truly terrible bastard. Calling me an elder? Do I look like that?

Couldn’t he at least call me a young lady?

“Then, is that why you gave me those special privileges?”

Sensing I was about to get angry, he changed the subject.

Well, he’s not wrong. Honestly, besides getting into Korea University, he hasn’t accomplished much compared to my level.

“I did pull some strings for your employment, but your specs weren’t lacking. The selection process is basically a lottery anyway.”

It’s basically a lottery, so no problem.

In other words, even if he was qualified, the selection is like a lottery.

The research institute has limited positions, and getting selected is considered beyond a family honor—it’s like giving up on winning the lottery.

That’s how prestigious this research institute job is—worth sacrificing your lottery luck for.

“A world where the Soviet Union exists as a superpower like the United States.”

“China has always been threatening here. China has been a nuisance not just to Korea but to many countries. Whether government-led or not, Chinese people would mess up real estate markets and such. Even though they’re in this state now, Communist China was arrogant and continued to bully Korea like a thug even after the imperial era ended.”

China is truly the worst.

For Korea, China was a huge market, but that created shackles.

Taiwan is the successor to the Republic of China, but the size difference is too great to stand against Communist China.

“So you tore it apart somehow.”

“Yes. By making the north prosperous while neglecting the south, they created emotional divides among the people to split them, and they left causes for conflict in southern China.”

Even now, I think it was a brilliant method.

Dividing China and India—what could be more impressive?

We also dealt with potentially threatening Indonesia and made Vietnam into a strong country in Southeast Asia.

Of course, in Vietnam’s case, they truly grew well on their own.

We scattered some bait, but they also used our inevitable help to continue growing.

“That’s fortunate at least.”

“What is?”

“If you had been born into another European royal family, there would be no justification to help Korea.”

He thinks exactly like me.

That’s right. Other countries would have no reason to help Korea. It wouldn’t have been impossible to help as I pleased if I were from another country, but I would have been criticized for acting like Korea’s emperor.

I always think that it was only plausible because it was Russia.

“That’s right. At least Russia shares a border with the Far East, so there was justification.”

“It’s hard to imagine a world where all my family is dead.”

Surprisingly, that was the reality, so it can’t be helped.

“I’ll say it again, you should be grateful to me.”

“That’s a bit harsh coming from someone in the Tsar’s position.”

Can’t I be a bit demanding? Thanks to me, he’s living well—I think he could easily live in Russia.

“Being in the Tsar’s position doesn’t mean everything works out.”

It was a future that kept coming, endlessly. I ultimately prevented a nuclear war between superpowers.

If you ask whether this process was smooth because of immortality, the answer is no.

Even with the best skills, if you just want to live a long, quiet life, what’s the point?

“I’m immortal! I’ll just quietly make money and become rich!” Some might think like that, but how many would actually try to change the world?

Especially for someone who lived in 21st century modern society, it would be even more impossible.

Most would obviously live quietly until time passed. I’m the unusual one.

The main reason was that I didn’t want to see the world fall apart.

“You prevented it for yourself. That’s impressive.”

Siyun smiled bitterly and shook his head.

“To be precise, it wasn’t for myself, but I ended up protecting the world.”

I ended up protecting the world.

I became the hero of a world no one knows about.

Of course, everyone in this world praises me too.

“How many people would appreciate that effort?”

“The Maria family knows, and only you besides them. Even if I told others, it’s not like I could use this to make you all treat me better.”

Of course, those who felt it through World Strategy would have realized.

Ah, so this is the world the Tsar lived in. The perceptive ones would think I changed the world, the future.

Most would say that future would have happened if I had died.

“You must have had some emotional struggles.”

“Sometimes I just thought, I want to live peacefully too. Not knowing anything, not thinking about anything. Just living simply. That kind of thing.”

I really just want to live without thinking.

I’ve felt this way more than once, and it’s sad that no one acknowledges it. I almost wished that people from the original world could have seen me changing the world.

“I see. It must have been difficult.”

“That’s right. The unavoidable reality. Not just for you, but for me. A war for all of us.”

“Was it a difficult life?”

“Getting hit by a bullet feels about 100 times worse than a forehead flick, and getting hit by a bomb feels like your body is being torn apart and then coming back together. Like a rubber band feeling.”

“So in the end, because your brain wasn’t good, your body suffered—”

“That’s nonsense. With changed history, I had to grab it by the collar and do everything possible.”

“But couldn’t you have left Indonesia alone? They have Pandora’s Box. It seems a bit pitiful.”

Yes, thinking about it now, tearing them apart so much does seem pitiful.

Indonesia would have struggled to challenge hegemony no matter what they did.

We did dismantle them by taking down Sukarno, seeing a “potential possibility.” But Indonesia would have struggled anyway, and in modern times, with the US and us keeping them in check, Indonesia would have been isolated.

But you know, one thing still annoys me.

“They didn’t pay for the fighter jets. They need to accept their karma.”

They didn’t pay back the KTX money. This can’t be overlooked.

“I guess so. Even though it was developed in this world too, it would be wrong if Indonesia just took it.”

But this guy is naturally speaking informally now.

I don’t need to mention it specifically. It’s what I was aiming for anyway.

“Instead, you unified South America.”

South America did rise as a considerable power. Of course, they couldn’t build up their military power much because the US was watching them closely, preventing them from challenging world hegemony.

Plus, they don’t have nuclear weapons. Considering the insane public safety in South America in the original history, this is actually better.

“But you know, if you really are me, it must be incredibly weird. You meet an old man, wake up, and you’re being buried. Plus, you’re a woman.”

I wonder what it would have been like to just be buried then.

This body isn’t weak, but it was a girl’s body and couldn’t easily exert strength.

“Do you know what it feels like to have your manhood disappear, leaving only a crevice, and having large breasts that hinder movement?”

“Rather than changing, you possessed a completely different person.”

That’s true. If I had gradually changed, I might have gotten used to it. But I entered the princess’s body as is.

“If I had changed slowly, maybe it would have been different. But having everything gone from the start was quite horrific.”

I can’t even begin to describe the feeling.

It was wartime, so I didn’t have the luxury to worry about such things, but when I had some time to examine my body, there were numerous discomforts.

The biggest problem was definitely the enormous things on my chest.

Even though I’m the Tsar, being a woman means I can’t help but notice men’s gazes.

There’s something about feeling it. I’m not trying to claim visual assault or anything, but you can feel those gazes.

“Wow, so you’ve lived with that appearance for over a hundred years.”

Siyun was amazed.

Yes, this body did grow somewhat.

From the war until the early days of the United States. It grew just enough for a woman to grow, and then stopped.

“Whether it was meant to be used for appearance or not, it grew to the prime of a woman in her early 20s and has maintained that state.”

Perhaps this too was meant for me to use my appearance.

With this look, I’d get good reactions wherever I went.

That old man took care of everything well. So that I could change this world. Though I may not be that smart, at least I could do everything possible through action.