Infinite Regressor, Chapter 433 - I’m an Infinite Regressor, But I’ve Got Stories to Tell

I managed to lead Oh Dok-seo out, who was entangled in a ridiculous misunderstanding. It wasn’t an easy task. This insolent child had been stubbornly resisting, clinging to the doorknob with a sly grin on her face. “Eeeh... Uncle, that's too much...” Only after I threatened her with a gentle flick to the forehead did the ‘Reader Oh Dok-seo’ mode in her mind finally switch to the ‘Possessor Oh Dok-seo’ program. Grumbling, Oh Dok-seo went inside the Tower of Babel and woke up the entire group of awakened ones who had entered sleep mode. A moment later— “Brother!” The awakened ones came rushing out. Leading the pack was none other than our SG man, Seo Gyu. “Shit! Brother, thank you! Seriously, thank you!” “Uh... Why all of a sudden?” “I remembered! I’m having flashbacks of getting my head chopped off right at the start of the tutorial, over and over again!” “Ah.” The tiny blood vessels on Seo Gyu’s muscles trembled. “You damned fairies! If only I were a battle-type ability user, I would’ve spent my life beating up fairies! Damn it!” In response to his words, Yo-hwa, who had followed Oh Dok-seo to the deepest layer of this dream-within-a-dream, reacted. “Ah. Those fairies are all under me now. Care for a one-on-one match with me?” “...No, ma’am.” Seo Gyu deflated like a muscle after a quick pump. Criticizing him for any kind of cowardice would have been misplaced; the trauma from the zombie kingdom founded by Yo-hwa the Necromancer was quite intense. “Meow! Undateiko!” Thump, thump, thump— A blonde magical girl with cat ears peeking out came running and dived toward my neck. “Oh dear. Who’s this?” “Nyahaha!” Part of the magical girl coalition protecting the Japanese archipelago. Manyo Neko’s face blossomed like a sunflower. “Really, really thankful, nyah! I thought you were just a strange person met at the Inunaki Tunnel entrance, but you saved my friend... I finally understand!” “Uh-oh.” I was slightly taken aback. It was well-known that Manyo Neko was a part of the friendly-undertaker faction within the magical girl coalition. However, across all episodes, Manyo Neko had never come forth for physical contact so unabashedly. Our relationship always had a gap somewhere between friends and comrades, allowing a pleasant breeze to flow when we conversed. “Oh my.” A voice laughed. The leader of the magical girl coalition, the Great Priestess, approached with her mouth covered by a fan. The laughter seemed to flow down the folds of the fan like valley water. “Isn’t it only natural? What you had dismissed as mere chance meetings, you now realize were actually efforts to save your irreplaceable childhood friend.” “...Um.” And suddenly, there was Obsidian Qin. Originally intended to be a casualty during the Inunaki Tunnel exploration, but her fate changed from the 146th iteration. Since then, she had become a pillar of the coalition, just like her friend. Much like Seo Gyu, who survived from the 50th iteration, Obsidian Qin also eventually broke free from the schedule of doom. “Thank... you.” She bowed, extending her signature mask marked with an ‘X’. She respectfully greeted me, letting her dark hair fall. “It was deemed a top-tier youkai, so no one imagined an Inunaki Tunnel incident could vanish before a full-fledged exploration started...” [Isn’t it truly a curious fate?] The armless swordsman, Phantom Blade, chuckled through a magical communication, rather than speaking. [To think of the time we went to sea with the Undateiko and faced an alien attack still sends shivers up my spine!] “Their weakness is water. They dissolve like cream when they touch it.” [Ah, yes, I heard it from Ms. Oh Dok-seo. Ha! To think that beings with a water weakness met their end in the middle of the sea—there couldn't be a greater foolishness.] Tuk. Phantom Blade used telekinesis to tap my forearm with her scabbard. It tickled. [There were many comrades I wished to march with, but this is the Grand Void. The expedition consists only of combatants who can at least hold their own. Please understand.] “What do I have to understand? I’m just grateful you came.” [The Undateiko is truly a samurai who understands honor!] As time passed, I exchanged camaraderie with several comrades one by one. All were familiar faces, though some left a particularly strong impression. “Here, Mr. Undateiko-san.” “Oh. Uehara.” “Um... Was I just useful in the early stages as a Grade B ability user, and discarded by the mid-stages?” “Pfft.” Nearby, Sim Ah-ryeon was giggling openly. Uehara Shino’s expression darkened. “Plus, their speech pattern is similar. I stutter when speaking, but back then...” “No, you’re just awkward speaking Korean. Ah-ryeon there is awkward with humanity itself, it’s on a different level.” “It's distressing that abilities have a hierarchy...” For reference, Uehara Shino is a supporter of the Japanese Communist Party. He would likely get along famously with a certain German old man. While everyone gathered around me, reminiscing what might be their final memories— “......” In the distance, I saw Lee Baek leaning against a wall. Lee Baek, roar ability user. During the timeline where he lived with Go Yuri, he emerged as a diligent leader, putting on a prequel to a national highway management story. In my return timeline, however, he was always cast as the ‘early tutorial infamous character.’ “......” Lee Baek, noticing my gaze, gave a slight nod. He can’t bring himself to approach and shake hands or vocally apologize. Nonetheless, he desires to join the final punitive expedition and see it through. His eyes conveyed such determination. ‘A good look.’ I smiled quietly. ‘Can a person change so much just by recalling the memories of different iterations?’ How much time had passed, I wondered. The chatter’s clamor and the laughter’s uproar had subsided, readily giving way to silence. “Ah-. Ah ah, mic test.” Hours passed, as Oh Dok-seo seized the megaphone amidst the aimless chatter, reminiscent of air escaping from a balloon twisted by a child's hand. “Yes. Has everyone aired out their matters sufficiently? Ah. Unlike that pervert undertaker guy, I can’t perform bizarre stunts like simultaneous foreign language translation, so someone please translate alongside me appropriately.” Laughter swept across the crowd. “Hmm.” Suddenly, Oh Dok-seo wore a peculiar expression. “Looking at everyone gathered like this, I realize how truly wonderful a person I am.” “?” Hooks appeared above the heads of the strategy team members. “Considering I was born chosen as the protagonist, and yet managed to take care of each and every extra through hundreds of iterations, it makes me wonder if there exists anyone like me at all…” “?” “This world owes a debt to the goodness of my being. I hope everyone remembers the truth that this gathering was made possible by my impartial approach to all of you, even as the day comes when the Grand Void is vanquished and memories blur.” “……” Silence. “What’s that hiatus devil rambling about?” Someone couldn’t hold back and spoke up. “Hey! Literary girl! I still vividly remember you luring in readers, only to trash them once you'd fallen! What damned benevolence are you talking about!” “You bastard! Wasn’t it you who wrote those laughable fanfics under the pen name ‘Non-literary Boy’ for Captain Noh Do-hwa?” “Boo, boo, boo—!” “If you couldn't do foreign languages, then why circulate poorly translated works with an MSYH GPT? To make us suffer too?!” “Moreover, your views were always lower than mine. If I were your ghostwriter, the regression would have cut off within 500 iterations... That's a fact.” “There’s a suspicion that the sudden mangaka-style sister’s yuri fiction of Cheon Yo-hwa that appeared anonymously on the SG Net novel posting board in the 806th iteration was your work.” “Stop writing those trashy side stories and focus on the main plot already!” What ensued was an eruption of fervent cheers and jeers. Oh Dok-seo just chuckled, adjusting her cap. Zero damage taken. She seemed completely unfazed. I could clearly see the train of thought currently rolling through her mind without the need for open-brain surgery. ‘I must have the makings of a superstar, seeing as I've driven even both fans and critics to madness!’—such self-congratulation was surely what she was lost in. I’d bet my entire fortune on it. “Life is suffering. If being struck by the ignorant gibberish of the masses is the fate of a writer, then I will declare from this lowly sky that I loved my life as a writer…” “Cut the crap!” “It’s because of a hiatus devil like you that we’ve suffered, damn it!” “However, the time has come to put an end to the story of Draft Go Yuri, Reviser Undertaker, and Editor Oh Dok-seo. Come on, my beloved readers!” Though rotten tomatoes and eggs were thrown, none of them hit Oh Dok-seo or resulted in any damage. She didn’t budge and continued onward. The reason was simple. [Absolute Defense] had already reached the realm of great immortals, repelling every projectile tossed at her. The present Oh Dok-seo was invincible. “Incredible…” Dang Seo-rin, who had followed closely beside me, let out a breathless laugh of incredulity. “In all of human history, she must be the first to ruin the last morale-boosting speech of the final punitive expedition like that…” “She probably thinks she looks incredibly cool right now.” “Why was the baton of world salvation passed to someone like that?” “Well.” I laughed. “Perhaps it’s because she has a talent for loving both herself and the world more than anyone else.” “……” “Let’s go, Dang Seo-rin. We can’t afford to ruin your final concert.” “Yes.” Step. I moved forward. Step. Dang Seo-rin moved forward. Sim Ah-ryeon, Lee Ha-yul, and Cheon Yo-hwa moved forward. Step. Jeong Yeji moved forward. Yu Ji-won moved forward. Noh Do-hwa moved forward. Seo Gyu, Lee Baek, Manyo Neko, the Great Priestess, Phantom Blade, and Obsidian Qin moved forward. Step. With Dang Seo-rin’s steps, the night sky of Utopia unfolded. In Sim Ah-ryeon’s steps, the Udambara blossomed at the world’s end. In Lee Ha-yul’s steps, threads binding humanity’s final arks were knotted. In Cheon Yo-hwa’s steps, bark of white birch. In Jeong Yeji’s steps, suspended white time. In Yu Ji-won’s steps, sea water. In Noh Do-hwa’s steps, paths leading to all lonely cities of this world. Step. The destructions humanity had weathered and the deaths they hadn’t were engraved in every single step. The screams which had shattered into discordant pieces across thousands, millions, billions of pathways— Now merged with the footsteps of everyone treading after me, forming shadows of footfalls. A route. Just one. “Uncle.” We decided to call that lonely path ‘time.’ “That’s the core of the dream-within-a-dream.” The direction Oh Dok-seo pointed with her finger. There, in the form of a vast fortress, stood the gravestone of glass shattered into a thousand, ten thousand pieces—a mirror-like, transparent headstone. Each glass facet bore the visage of Go Yuri. “...The gravestone of time-seal.” “Yes. Perhaps it’s the upper echelon of the ability you possess. Except instead of sealing others, Go Yuri sealed herself.” “I’ve explored the dream-within-a-dream several times. I never saw such an absurdly massive gravestone back then.” “That’s right.” Oh Dok-seo nodded. “The cemetery of mirrors. The kaleidoscope cradling countless Go Yuri will vanish on June 17th at precisely 2 PM. Based on the outside world’s standards—wait. Yes. It’s something that will happen in 19 seconds from now.” “……” “The outside bright night and this grave in the dream-within-a-dream are interconnected, burning away all clues that could help infer the identity of the reincarnated Go Yuri.” “What happens if that shatters?” At that moment — “The [Fallen Reincarnator] descends.” It wasn’t Oh Dok-seo’s voice. I turned my head. Oh Dok-seo seemed to have missed that voice entirely, continuing to respond in her own way, but my attention was fixed squarely ahead. “Guild Master.” There stood Go Yuri. A vision visible only to me. “...You disappeared after we entered the dream-within-a-dream. Is this where you’ve been?” “I’m sorry. It wasn’t intentional. I’ve been forcibly drawn to where I am meant to be.” “……” “The ‘red flesh’ that the Guild Master occasionally glimpsed—while it’s the result of my fallen state, it is in a very—really exceedingly—weakened form.” “Weakened, you say?” I couldn’t help but ask. “That?” “Yes. Despite my appearance, I’m a being that has accumulated karmic deeds over countless lifetimes in a human body. If I were to unleash all the power accumulated over billions of lives at once, then even small gods would surely be toppled.” “……” “With the minor caveat that the world I sought to preserve would collapse alongside it.” Go Yuri stroked the slick, mirror-like surface of the gravestone. “Throughout incalculable ages, I’ve sealed away my own abilities one by one.” “That’s...” It was a sound that felt very familiar. Go Yuri smiled brightly. “Yes. Just like how the Guild Master holds back the power of your aura.” “……” “In short, each of these countless mirrored surfaces is a reminiscent organ with the same caliber as the ‘aura you sealed’, Guild Master.” My mouth automatically shut tight. “Traces of a person who struggled to remain human. Traces of a power in which I once dared to place hope. If I had never let go and continued holding on, I would’ve fallen into madness, no doubt.” “……” “The culmination of routes leading to bad endings.” Go Yuri turned to look at me. No, not only me. At Oh Dok-seo, standing beside me. At the members of the Regressors’ Alliance. At the hundreds of awakened ones following after us, arrayed in formation. “If we succeed in destroying the ‘corpse’ that emerges upon digging up this gravestone, perhaps I can finally return to being human.” “……” “But, will you manage?” She, a ‘person of past humanity’. Us, the ‘people of present humanity’, stared at us with lifted corners of her mouth. “There is no humanity in the remnants sleeping beneath this gravestone. Of course not. Whatever faint humanity remained was scraped to the core and passed to me outside.” “...Truly a monster.” “Yes. A lamentation of a wretched being that eternally grieves over a world and human destiny it can never save, having even abandoned itself. A requiem.” Go Yuri placed her hands neatly over her abdomen. “This is the last Rubicon, Guild Master. If you’re to turn back, it has to be now.” “……” “It’s a cemetery no one knew existed. When the bright night bursts forth, this gravestone will vanish forever without a trace. You could simply return—visit the dream-within-a-dream occasionally with the aid of the fairies—sip on the memories of previous iterations like nectar—and live recalling your connections with each other.” “And you wouldn’t be there, would you.” Go Yuri’s eyebrows furrowed. “For me, it would be enough to linger as a memory in the Guild Master’s life, even now.” “Apologies.” I placed my hand on Oh Dok-seo’s shoulder. “The child who follows us seems to have different thoughts.” “……” “Old Man Scho.” Step. Emit Schopenhauer stepped forward. A quiet stride. In his hand, he held an unnamed sword. “Yes. Did you call for me?” “Cut it down.” No more words were needed afterward. One slash. With a speed hard for the eye to follow, Emit Schopenhauer drew his sword, and slower than the sword’s trajectory, the crystallized gravestone slipped apart. “--Ah.” Go Yuri was sliced along with the gravestone. A fine crack etching across that slender smile. “Really, such insatiable, greedy people you are――.” And. Through the broken mirrors with the seals undone, the red flesh surged forth. Humanity's long-standing nightmare had arrived.