Infinite Regressor, Chapter 432 - I’m an Infinite Regressor, But I’ve Got Stories to Tell

"Hmm..." Was my face, drenched in cold sweat, such a spectacle to behold? Noh Do-hwa chuckled softly, like someone who just returned from a trip to the pyramids with friends, dismissively stating, "Is that all?" "The choice is yours. This is merely a methodology proposed by Oh Dok-seo. There's no obligation for you to follow it..." "Then I'll absolutely refuse!" "Do as you please. Though, I must admit, I'm personally curious to see what kind of antics you'll pull..." Noh Do-hwa put down her tools. I swallowed nervously. To her, putting down the tools might just have been a gesture signaling the end of her work, but to me, seeing that doll resembling an "Artificial Undertaker Version 2" gave me the fright of narrowly escaping a concrete doom. "..." "..." With the cessation of the hammering sounds, this place within a dream became eerily silent, like the stillness at 4 AM when you step out to a convenience store only to find the streets void of people and cars, and the night sky pausing its breath for a moment. Like standing in the middle of a crosswalk, watching the pedestrian lights switch between green and red in vain, a white silence enveloped between us. "What are you thinking about so intently?" "You should try guessing..." "Not sure." I navigated through the silent pages of the manuscript in my mind. "Perhaps you're feeling a sense of joy?" "Joy? Hoh. Me?" "Yes. You've always distinguished between the various iterations of yourself and your current self, haven't you?" "..." Noh Do-hwa glanced my way briefly. Regardless, I continued to sort through the silent manuscript. "But now, at this final juncture, all past memories and future plans have converged into you. You've finally crossed the uncrossable torrent of time." "..." "Now you can look down upon all versions of yourself. Only the self standing at this moment has achieved the ultimate victory, you could say. So, yes, you're enjoying this moment in your own way." "Heh." A nasal sound escaped Noh Do-hwa’s lips. "Such an irritating fellow..." "I'll take that as a compliment." "Indeed. Even I am in quite a pleasant state right now..." It was evident at a glance. Certainly, the great Noh Do-hwa wouldn't have participated in such a trifling farce like the Undertaker Project, even if it was at Oh Dok-seo’s request, without reason. The fact that she teased me with minimal sarcasm (which was quite downright normal communication for her) demonstrated that her satisfaction level was clearly over 70%. "My condolences to my past selves. All they did for tens of thousands of years was work, work, work. Buried in paperwork..." "Haha." "Right now, in this strange place, memories are at least vivid because of it. Once everything ends, they might all become fuzzy again..." "Dok-seo mentioned that?" "Yes. That's why we should share reflections [before the conquest], not [after]. Once this dream within a dream is conquered, even the memories piled here like residue will become vague." Certainly. This magic where everyone recalled previous iterations was a byproduct of the dream within a dream. It was like Empty Poison, in extreme terms. If the core, the Empty itself, was conquered, the byproduct would naturally vanish. -Woof! From the entrance of Babel Tower, a large dog bounded over. Noh Do-hwa knelt fluidly, petting the large Maltese here and there. -Heh-heh-heh. Its tail wagged enthusiastically. Following the Maltese, other pets crawled over. Among them, a puppy shook as its front and hind legs were greatly mismatched in height. There was also a cat with three tails swishing like whips. "There, there..." Hundreds of pets. All with clumsy limbs, denizens of a broken world. They were pets I had given her in previous iterations, raised by Noh Do-hwa, and eventually had their funerals conducted by both of us. Once they received even a touch from Noh Do-hwa, these children quickly crumbled into ashes. "..." Not long after, the plaza of Babel Tower was left swirling with a shower of white ash. Noh Do-hwa dusted off her now ash-covered doctor's coat and stood up. "Undertaker." "Yes. What is it, Commander?" "Every time I killed you, you never resisted. I'm curious why." "Because I'm the one who pulled your life into this place." The answer had remained unchanged since before. Yet the layers beneath that answer had transformed. "For my fate, Go Yuri arranged almost everything. Nearly everything. But even she didn't anticipate how significant you would become in my plan." "..." "Yes. You were awakened due to a flaw introduced in your heart by Go Yuri. However, your ability is hardly grand. [Supporting Artifact Creation] is not a skill that would ever make one the protagonist, let alone a key player." In other words. "You did not join this narrative because of Go Yuri. It was solely because of me, the false regressor, that you bore all these tribulations." "..." "Therefore, I am responsible. No one else, just you have the right to kill me as you please." A smile curled at Noh Do-hwa's lips. "Still now?" "..." "If I express disdain for this ending, if I reject the path you and Oh Dok-seo have crafted because it doesn't suit my temperament, then what would you do?" Noh Do-hwa approached with deliberate steps. "Still...?" Her slender fingers clasped my neck. Pressing down gently, a delicate pressure filtered through the black leather gloves. "Would you still accept death?" I smiled. "I would, but you cannot kill me." "Oh?" The eye gleaming with intrigue beyond her monocle shimmered with interest. "Why would you think that? Do you really believe I've developed such a fondness for you that it would prevent me from killing you? If so, you're gravely mistaken." "That's not the case." As I answered, I pondered why Oh Dok-seo stationed Noh Do-hwa at the final checkpoint. Noh Do-hwa herself might dismissively attribute it to her "void affinity," but Oh Dok-seo had always, incessantly, insisted on nonsensical hints about the Noh-Jang couple. As always, Oh Dok-seo was offering a choice. "Even if you kill me now, we'll meet again. Here. Again. In the next iteration." "..." "And even if you kill me then, it won't be a 'new choice' for you. You'll simply be repeating the choices made by your past selves. And you..." "I?" "Hate becoming a mere replica of yourself more than anyone." "..." "How long will you keep killing me? A thousand times? Ten thousand? But someday, it will inevitably end, and the final you will choose to spare me. The one who remains in this world will be the one who made that ultimate choice, not the you standing before me now." "..." "To survive as the sole winner until the end, free from the curse of regression, you must spare me here, Noh Do-hwa. Therefore, you cannot kill me." "..." Slowly, the five-pronged silhouette of the leather glove retreated. "I didn't think you'd pull it off." The voice escaping from her lips, while close to admiration, leaned more towards a curse. "To declare you'd save the world and actually do it. Truly astonishing." "I couldn't have done it alone. With Go Yuri spearheading before me and Dok-seo following after, it became possible." "Those who wager on a failing hand must accept the consequences." Noh Do-hwa removed her monocle. "I won't repeat this again, so listen closely..." The folded glasses fell and rolled on the floor along with the ashes. A small, crunching groan. The monocle shattered under the pressure of her heel. Noh Do-hwa discarded her gloves. "It is your victory, Undertaker." "..." "And it is my defeat." She soon clasped my hand. A cool sensation spread across the back of my hand, as she brought it close to her pale forehead. "You were right, and I was wrong. You were cautious, and I was hasty. My disdain was too premature to reap the final autumn." Squeezing. Because her head was bowed, I couldn't see her face. But it wasn't her face that expressed her feelings, but the pressure on my captured hand. "I pay homage to all that you've accomplished. Even if my memories fade, the truth of your existence will never be erased from my heart." Emotions transmitted from the bare hand, wounded after wielding hammers and tools countless times. "Claim your victory, Undertaker." Humiliation. "Seize your triumph." Insult. "Considering how far you've come, you are more than entitled to victory." And despite it all, she accepted defeat as defeat and treated victory as victory, bestowing glory upon the victor as a vanquished party offering disgrace. "May fortune favor you." If somewhere else―at the terminus of a distant route―the roles of victor and loser were reversed. I was certain she would have enacted the same declaration as I did now. "Forgive me for killing you countless times." If only human voices could embody color. "I offer one wish." Surely, Noh Do-hwa's breath would be dropping like chilling droplets of blood. "Any wish. Even if it shreds my soul, I grant you one wish." A moment's silence. "Alright. There is a wish." "What is it?" "Run for president after all of this." "You damn shithead. Are you really looking to die?" It was a scolding filled with genuine intent. I scratched my head. "Hmm. You've managed a Korean-level organization for tens of thousands of years, squandering such talent is a national loss, isn't it?" "Seriously? That's really your wish?" "I'm joking. There's a limit to denying retirement. Someone of your standing, Noh Do-hwa, should lay down public duties." I stooped to pick up the glove. Then, after slipping it back onto Noh Do-hwa's hand, I offered a faint smile. "Let's not live too far apart." "..." "Even if we don't have to be too close, there's no need to be too far either. When strolling down a street bathed in the evening glow. When taking a slight detour on the way home... Even without formally dressing up, meeting on a call..." On a rainy day, rain will fall there too. On a day when waves crash, waves will crash there too. When the sun warms with its grace, that warming light will cast its shadow upon you too. "I hope you're there." The beauty of a sunset for someone might be because some paths under that red sky lead to a neighboring home. My sunset requires your home facing in the same direction on the west side. "Will you agree, Noh Do-hwa?" "..." Noh Do-hwa sealed her lips. A prolonged silence ensued. Until words rooted in her core circled her heart and rose deliberately up her throat. "Yes." She nodded. "I shall, Undertaker." Immediately. "Mister!" Creak. Out of nowhere, a door materialized in the void, and Oh Dok-seo stepped in, breathless. "Huff, I brought everyone! Without exception!" Beyond the door, glimpses of Sho and other connections I encountered on each layer briefly appeared. "I thought I was rushing, but the passage of time feels so different, I don’t know if the timing was right—whoa." Oh Dok-seo was panting, but then abruptly stopped. Her eyes were fixated on the scene at the end of her gaze—where I happened to be putting the glove back onto Noh Do-hwa's hand. "Oh my gosh!" Oh Dok-seo covered her mouth in shock. "The Noh-Jang couple...?!" "......" "I'm sorry! I was so oblivious! Wow. I should go and die, seriously. This crazy Oh Dok-seo! Idiotic Dok-seo! I'll come back in 3 minutes, no, 30 minutes, no no, 3 hours!" "......" "But wouldn't that mean we'll be at the last minute before the deadline? Well, whatever. The world's been destroyed billions of times already, one more won't matter. Enjoy your time!" Boom. The door closed. "Ah!" It opened again. "Don't mind me, seriously! Although at the end, I'll probably see what happened here through my laptop manuscript! But really, don't mind me! I do know how to respect privacy! You trust me, right? Okay, bye then." Boom. The door closed again. "......" "......" Had the door not reopened just then, it would've easily taken over 3 hours to clear up the misunderstanding, and the subjugation operation would have been postponed to the next iteration. Thank goodness for small mercies.