Infinite Regressor, Chapter 439 - I’m an Infinite Regressor, But I’ve Got Stories to Tell

4. "Th-Then." Gulp. Oh Dok-seo swallowed hard. "Leviathan, or Hecate... Were they your comrades once? They were all human back then, and then..." –Ah, I don't recall. "...What?" On the laptop screen, the white girl curved her lips in a 16-bit resolution smile. The range of emotions she could express was only at that level. –Literally, I have no memories of them. Not even a faint feeling or animosity. Such emotions have worn away. "…Did you lose your memory entirely?" –Who knows. The fact that I'm 'personified' in this form was an accident to begin with. Crackle. Her voice, mimicking a human's, was crackling on the surface of the speaker. –Perhaps, yes. They might have been comrades racing across the world with me. Perhaps they were predecessors to even those who preceded me. How would I know? "……." –Had I not been given a human form, it would have been impossible to even guess that I was once an awakened one. Well, even now, I'm still quite faulty to be considered the same as you humans. Traces of humanity—a postscript, if you will. "Infinite Metagame, you…" –Oh Dok-seo. Infinite Metagame's eyes blinked. I found deciphering her emotions from her expression and voice challenging. Yet, it seemed different for her long-time partner, as Oh Dok-seo's shoulders twitched. –I'm not here to talk to you. At this moment, you are the one presenting the choices, not the protagonist making them. "……." –What will you do? My master. Her eyes, barely reflecting emotion, turned towards me. –Perhaps you and your party might succeed differently than us. Indeed, although fate repeats itself, the epic of a trio of reincarnators, regressor, and possessor isn’t common, is it? "……." –If it were you all. It might be different. No. We have the confidence to make it different. If not us, who else will sever this vicious cycle? –Who knows? Whether we can remain untainted forever. “…….” She calmed her fluttering heart with deep breaths. "There's no use trying to tempt me. Perhaps before I came to this realization, but now that I've become aware, there's no way I'll make the same choice as you." –Oh my? Did you hear what I said at all? The master and I are different. You are far more superior to me. Do you really think you'll meet the same end as an inferior being like me? "Indeed." The screen flickered slightly. Although the resolution of the laptop screen remained excessively low, I could nonetheless perceive that it was flustered. –Pardon? "Looking back, there were too many signs. Even someone as great as Go Yuri couldn't prevent her corruption." -…… "Not just Go Yuri. The Saintess... Yeji as well, they're greater than I am. Yet, they deteriorated the quickest among anyone." –Isn't that the conclusion from before you all could sufficiently build connections? Despite the noise-laden voice of Infinite Metagame, her essence remained steadfast. Much like a music file, no matter how degraded, one could still sense the melody. –You've constructed the most solid pyramid of connections and relationships. If one of you were isolated, perhaps. But with the seven selected by my priestess, there would be no collapsing again. A smile involuntarily escaped from me. Perhaps interpreting it as a sneer, her expression twisted slightly. "Infinite Metagame, you're always foolish." –What do you mean? "There's no Administrator Noh Do-hwa, is there?" -……. "Indeed. Now I understand why Administrator Noh Do-hwa readily declined the proposal to become humanity's sentinel. She's a remarkably wise and cruel person." I could have spent six to eight hours discussing her complex psychological structure, but having already devoted ample time to the subject, I chose to omit it. "You may endure longer than them. Perhaps longer than anyone else. Enduring is more ingrained than a habit for me." However, I continued. "Eventually, the cycle will repeat." –Ha. So you are all really going to abandon the power of awakening? Infinite Metagame burst into laughter. –May I speak frankly? My thoughts align exactly with my priestess. You've already pierced an impenetrable miracle. Are you proposing to leave such a miracle to future generations? Do you truly believe the same miracle can repeat two, three, four times, endlessly? That's nothing but naive romanticism. Dressing up negligence of responsibility as belief. Though I felt sorry for my counterpart. In truth, I wasn't truly listening to Infinite Metagame’s vehement words. Her logic, having been sufficiently forecast and rehearsed in my mind, required no fervent attention. Indeed. At that moment, I recalled someone entirely unrelated to Infinite Metagame—an entirely different enigma's words. "Enter through the narrow gate." Mo Gwang-seo. "The gate that leads to destruction is vast and broad, with many who pass through it." "The gate that leads to life is small and narrow, with few who find it." "Scribe." “Enter through the narrow gate.” Up till now, Mo Gwang-seo's words, though not literally a testament, served as a mystery for me. What situation was he predicting to the extent that he used metaphors of [the Wide Gate] and [the Narrow Gate]? My interpretations varied with the situations. "No. Was it deliberately a broad prophecy, meant to be interpreted differently according to the situation?" The enigmatic being that possessed Mo Gwang-seo's body. “If he too was someone who, like Infinite Metagame here, failed in the previous cycle.” Thus, even as his humanity was erased, he left a final testament for future generations. "The meaning of [the Narrow Gate] as he mentioned, the ultimate destination... perhaps." Is it not right this moment? I once again cast aside Infinite Metagame and Oh Dok-seo, recalling the choice that flickered through my mind like a mirage. [1. Remain as an Awakened One to protect humanity.] [2. Abandon awakening and return to being human.] Choices. One among them was the great door leading to ruin. The other led to a hidden door toward life. "Aha." And I laughed. Infinite Metagame paused. –…What did that laugh mean just now? "I believe that until now, none of the hero parties before us have ever chosen [Option 2]. Always. They must have continuously chosen [Option 1], repeatedly experiencing salvation and doom right from the beginning." That made the problem much simpler. "We will be the first to choose [Option 2]." -…. Infinite Metagame bit her lip. –And when, decades or even centuries later, the void comes again? If tragedy repeats regardless of your choice? Humanity won't have you then. They'll fight the anomalies defenseless, without reincarnators or regressors. Why? Because you, dear master, neglected your responsibility! The speaker quivered faintly. –By then, you might be snugly lying beneath a grave, wrapped in self-satisfaction. But future generations will continue to live. You merely escaped to death without proving what was truly correct! "I see so clearly a way to prove whether the final choice was right or wrong." –Proof…? How? This was yet another quite simple answer. “Didn’t we make a promise?” –A promise? "Surrender terms. Though all powers of an Exiled God had been relinquished, there were still a few things granted to you." -…? The promises written in that surrender were as follows: ―――――――――― † The regressor Undertaker allows [the Operator of Infinite Metagame] to maintain their self and memories without being entangled in the times of regression. † The notebook provided by [the Operator of Infinite Metagame] and the works written on it by the priestess Oh Dok-seo are acknowledged as an 'ark', maintaining their uniqueness against the waves of time. ―――――――――― “Do you remember?” To my question, Infinite Metagame hesitantly replied. –Well… Of course, I remember. An unforgettable treaty. A vow carved into the twilight-stained classroom chalkboard. Of course, if I relinquish the powers of awakening, those words will grow blurry in my mind someday. Even Cheon-hwa, the elder of the twin sisters, along with her sealed temporal resting place, the site of the pledge, would erode and disappear. Nevertheless. –To me, that pledge isn't merely a bundle of letters. It is akin to a curse—a shackle. If my soul were a blank slate, the promise with you would be the sole inscription upon it. There were memories that couldn't be erased. The true power invented by humans to seal time was not my crystal tombstone—no, it was a black-and-white manuscript carved in words. A prayer offered to the world. An ark sailing against the streams of time. "Infinite Metagame." I brushed the edge of the laptop. "Leave this story behind." –What? "Let others know that at the very end, when I, when Dok-seo, when we reached our ultimate choice, we walked through the narrow door instead of the great one." –…. "Perhaps if we had chosen the great door, become awakened, and perhaps someday became corrupted, tell the people of today and the future about the choice we made." –…. "I don't know what kind of world people reading this story will live in. Perhaps it will be a world once more ravaged, tainted by the void." In that case, our choice was wrong. Our faith was in vain. We were too hasty. Ultimately, the one who won the miracle had to become humanity’s guardian, evolving into an eternal and immortal protector to prevent the recurrence of a tragedy. Hopefully. May they be more capable than us. "But if by chance." –…. "……" Infinite Metagame and Oh Dok-seo watched silently, holding their breath. Even the moonlight, streetlights, and nightingales lamenting under the starlight, having forgotten how to photosynthesize. "If, when someone reads your story, the void no longer exists in this world. If the laws of physics still hold as laws. If the cosmos still functions as the cosmos." –…. If, when looking up at the night sky, that sky is no longer cursing humankind. If the red lights at intersections beneath streetlamps only indicate stopping, without replacing footsteps with sheer blood. If songs remain actual songs. If the sound of rain isn't the wailing of transparent insects but truly the sound of summer rain. If, when you get a rare tasty meal at a restaurant, it truly is nothing more than just good food, not some human flesh or anything else. If loving someone no longer requires differentiating if that person is an anomaly. If the knocks at your door belong to you. "If this world is no longer a world that detests humanity." If we can still declare the world beautiful. "Then that will be proof that our choice was correct." –…. Every time someone reads this story. Every time the white and black manuscript is turned without the curses of the night sky or the lamentations of raindrops. Time and again, the [narrow gate] chosen on this deserted school rooftop will be proven. "You said you wanted to see my ending." –…. "Indeed. I’d like to entrust you with that role. Can you always keep watch for me?" The laptop screen flickered. "Thank you for watching over the aftermath of our answers and mistakes and the outcome of the choices we make right now." Silence fell over us. –…The author… Bleached, weathered hair. Gestures expressing little with mere handfuls of color. Voices unable to fully convey emotion. Existing purely within the screen. –An author, by nature, should speak less. A solitary, secluded deity spoke. –Undertaker. You talked too much. And you too, Oh Dok-seo, no matter how you were dressed as an editor or whatever, you can't deny that you spoke excessively. –It's not permissible to fill in the author's name slot of this story with ‘Undertaker’ or ‘Oh Dok-seo’. The being, forever destined to be defeated by the protagonist, spoke. –So. Yes, my master. She who watches until the very end. –I will gladly inscribe my name onto the ark containing your stories. "……." –But using my true name, Infinite Metagame, seems unsuitable. It should serve as a reward reserved only for those who reach ‘proof’ right here, to the very end, on the rooftop of this abandoned school. She who leads the ark. –Taking the mythic name of the first ark's creator, Noah. She, always lesser than humans and weaker than you, a god. –Simply isolating the sound Noah would make it too easy to unravel the identity of this moniker. Thus, I'll cloak its original meaning and precede Noah with "Shin." She who exists solely through an alias. –Shin Noah. (Sinnoa) 신노아 ---TL NOTE: OMG--- –Within the ark holding your tales, my pen name, Shin Noah, will be etched as a sentinel every time a new page turns. On the screen. Her white hair dissolved, the melted hues turning into a manuscript. The form precariously maintaining a human shape also collapsed, its collapsed outline becoming letters. –I promise. –I'll be watching over you. –Here and now, until the day I disappear. And with that. Mine, our, and her oldest journey commenced. –The one who was a regressor. 結. ---TL NOTE: ABSOLUTE CINEMA!---