Infinite Regressor, Chapter 442 - Side Story, Begin. - I’m an Infinite Regressor, But I’ve Got Stories to Tell

Click. "I want to see my wife in person." ... "Don't you understand me? At least you should. Use your abilities to..." "I can't. You know this, sir. Once time is sealed, it's over. No matter how many times you go back, the seal won't be broken." "Yeah. But at least in my dreams, I could talk to my wife." "You'd just be repeating the same day forever." "And how is that any different from our current predicament?" "......." [1. Grant Emit Schopenhauer's wish.] [2. Refuse. There is still too much I don't know to say that the world's misfortune is inevitable.] Click. [1. Grant Emit Schopenhauer's wish.] ◀ Click. "Ah――." ... "Thank you, Undertaker. Thank you. Truly. You can't begin to imagine how much you've done for me. Truly..." ... "Adele." Click. "Saintess. Please stop using time freezing." "I find myself becoming more and more consumed by void." ... "I think I've already become half an anomaly. When the Undertaker discovered my secret, I thought it was dire. But in hindsight, I'm relieved it's been revealed now. If more time had passed..." ... "When Awakeners become not just accustomed to their powers, but consumed by them, they'll become close to anomalies like me. Do you understand? The power of an Awakener isn't just a blessing. It's a double-edged sword." "......." [1. The being in front of me is an anomaly. I can't allow exceptions for myself. Sealing before it descends into madness is the best path.] [2. The being in front of me is human. Not because I can explain why, but because I want to prove she is human, I move forward with my life.] Click. [1. The being in front of me is an anomaly. I can't allow exceptions for myself and Schopenhauer. Sealing before it descends into madness is the best path.] ◀ Click. "Ah." ... "...Yes. I'm sorry. I'm not strong enough to walk with you further. I'm sorry my heart broke first." ... "Please, Undertaker. In this world that cannot be saved, at the very least... For you alone――." ... "Why must people be... people...?" Click. "This is utopia." ... "Simply governing the city doesn't stop the descent into an anomaly. But now, this city is indistinguishable from you, Dang Seo-rin." "So, now... Will you hunt me down too?" ... "Even so, Undertaker, I can't give up my city. It's the oasis I've barely managed to create in this damned world. No matter what anyone says, my citizens are human. No, I'll make us the last of the human race. So if you intend to hunt us down―― You'd better be ready to die." "......." [1. The being in front of me is an anomaly. I can't allow exceptions for myself. A bit of happiness. Ignorance of happiness. A timeless paradise. That's the best an anomaly can have.] [2. Do not hunt Dang Seo-rin. Who is and isn't human is a question I decide, proven only by the responsibility and love of life.] Click. [1. The being in front of me is an anomaly. I can't allow exceptions for myself, Schopenhauer, or the Saintess. A bit of happiness. Ignorance of happiness. A timeless paradise. That's the best an anomaly can have.] ◀ Click. "Haha, hahaha. Ha..." ... "As expected, you're strong. You. Hm... No, it seems even hurting you was too much for me." ... "What?" ... "Well, if it's a utopia because it's nowhere, then running away to a place that's truly nowhere isn't much different." ... "Ah, what a shame. I wanted to travel with you alone someday! But... I knew it was a dream that could never come true." ... "If this is my final stop. The last city we reached together. Yes, then... It might not be so bad." ... "Thank you. Undertaker." ... "Because of you, I was happy." Click. Click. Click. 1. The Undertaker opened his eyes. The waiting area at Busan Station. The tutorial dungeon. It was a scene all too familiar to him. "...Back again, I see." The Undertaker pressed his fingers to his brow. Persistent fatigue clung to his eyelids like mites. It was just the beginning of this journey, so there should have been no reason for exhaustion. Strange as it was, it wasn't entirely unusual. ‘It's no doubt mental exhaustion rather than physical.’ For thousands, tens of thousands of years, he'd pressed on without rest. There was a time when he considered introducing a concept of a 'vacation round'. Sacrificing an entire run to do nothing but indulge in what he wanted, abandoning all purpose and mission. Such a dream. ‘No.’ But the vacation round remained merely a paper plan. ‘I shouldn't be afforded such luxuries.’ To rest? To forget what? By what right? Even now, in some café in Busan, a monument of crystal stood coldly – a memorial to the old man, Emit Schopenhauer. Not just there, but everywhere. ‘Even this place... has quieted down.’ Looking around, it was barren. Utterly silent. The man who would curse at the fairy with a ‘bastard!’ each new round, the woman who stumbled over her words, hiding behind others. The ‘Busan Station Tutorial’ survivors, once numbering in the hundreds, were now down to―― Just one. The Undertaker. None other than him remained. ‘The tutorial fairy will show up soon; it'll be startled, I'm sure.’ A faint smile crept across the Undertaker's lips. In the chilling silence where not a breath could be heard, the only amusement left was the fuss of the fairy. Even if it was akin to squeezing filth from a dried-up rag, it was a welcome diversion for a traveler on the brink of despair. "Aha, good day! Ladies and gentlemen―― Huh?! Wh-why are there so few of you?!" "O-only one?! Just one person?! H-how is it that only one has been summoned to my area?!" "T-there must be some mistake! I have to report this to the authorities!" Watching the fairy sweat profusely, flustered and panicking, inexplicably brought a sense of enjoyment. Once, he had hated it so fiercely. Why was that? “...Hmm?” However, no matter how long he waited, the tutorial fairy didn't appear with its typical pop. The deviation from the usual sequence left the Undertaker taken aback. Considering how unfamiliar he had become with being surprised, it was indeed rare. “Ah.” Soon, he realized the reason. ‘Right, I sealed Cheon Yo-hwa with time freeze in the last cycle. Could it be that because the void was entirely sealed, even the tutorial fairy and all were swept away?’ It seemed like a plausible guess. Yet, an unexplainable unease and awkwardness twisted the rhythm of his heartbeat. ‘It's a bit strange. The tutorial fairies felt like they spanned over multiple Outer Gods, not just one.’ ‘To think merely sealing Yo-hwa would make all the fairies vanish. It’s unlikely that the waning void was so powerful...’ It was then. Following an instinctive pulse, as the Undertaker unraveled his thoughts, he suddenly released the thread of his reasoning. “...Oh well.” The nature of the void, the true form of the isolated deity, and the aftermath of the sealed Cheon Yo-hwa didn’t matter much in the grand scheme. ‘Regardless, the anomalies that were the tutorial fairies have disappeared. Isn't that enough?’ Only the results were significant. Suppose someone falls into a swiftly flowing river before him. The correct action was to rush in and rescue them, not waste time theorizing how they ended up in the water. ‘And the current world is being swept away by a tsunami.’ The Undertaker could not afford to be idle, investigating the causes of the flood and the fallen. Thus, he moved. Leaving Busan Station was effortless. No longer were there fairies making a ruckus to announce the arrival of emptiness in the world. The tutorial no longer existed. Though a part of his heart felt lonesome. This landscape, where nothing 'began,' might ironically suit him best, he mused to himself. From Busan to Seoul. He could have utilized his aura to arrive swiftly, but he purposely took his time over several days to reach his destination. A convenience store. As soon as he twisted the elaborate booby trap at the entrance as if it were a child's toy and entered the store, an axe came flying toward his neck. “...!” Yet, the one taken aback was the attacker. Underneath the fluttering silver hair, bright eyes widened. The axe blade didn't even penetrate the Undertaker’s neck. A dark energy moved protectively around him. “How do you manipulate prāṇa――?” “It’s not prāṇa. It’s aura.” Bang! Even without the Undertaker raising a hand, the handaxe exploded, sending fragments scattering in all directions. His opponent quickly retreated. The movements were not ordinary, though not quite on the Undertaker’s level. “.......” He could pursue if he wished. He knew pushing further would make it easy to finish things. Yet, for some reason, he had no desire to do so. “.......” Perhaps the other sensed this instinctively. They maintained their distance, watching him impassively. ‘This development has changed too.’ Originally, simply entering the convenience store wouldn't have provoked such an immediate attack. Ordinarily, there would have been an attempt to engage in conversation, to lure him into a false sense of security by revealing their appearance. Yet, at some point, these small talks disappeared entirely. The opponent likely had thoughts of their own. If, by the time they made the convenience store their base, no other survivors had been encountered? In a world turned bizarre, the first newcomer would naturally warrant immediate subjugation rather than chatter. “Yu Ji-won.” “…….” As the Undertaker uttered that name, her wariness grew even sharper. “I am a regressor.” “Is that so.” “I know you killed your grandmother when you were 17 and dumped the pieces in the Bukhansan watercress pond.” “…….” Yu Ji-won’s delicate eyebrows twitched slightly, but her guard did not lower. Instead, it intensified. “If you’re a regressor, then you mean to say you can turn back time. How many cycles are you on, and when did I first tell you that?” “I learned about your past in the 5th cycle. And now… counting seems meaningless. I would estimate it's been thousands of cycles.” “I see.” Yu Ji-won nodded. She paused, contemplating for about ten seconds before she spoke again. “I can trust, to an extent, that you’re a regressor. Why have you come to find me?” “I have a proposition for you.” “A proposition?” “Yes.” The Undertaker spoke calmly. “I possess the ability known as [Time Seal]. Anyone caught in this ability relives their happiest day endlessly. Unaware that they're even repeating it.” “…….” “You’ve likely explored the city enough to know. The world has ended. There’s no salvation or hope left. To remember and live eternally in one’s happiest moment, that is the only path left for humanity.” “Indeed.” Yu Ji-won's eyes narrowed. “It’s certain, at least, that only anomalies remain in Seoul.” “Not just Seoul. The same goes for the entire Korean Peninsula and the whole world.” “...Hmm. Even so, I find it difficult to accept your proposal.” “Yes, I know the reason.” The Undertaker spoke. “You're holding onto the hope of reuniting with someone precious, someone who promised to return, aren’t you?” “……” “As I said, I am a regressor. Do you think this is the first time we've had this conversation? I've heard this from you hundreds of cycles ago.” “I see.” Yu Ji-won gazed directly at the Undertaker. “I'll ask again. Why have you come to me, regressor?” “To inform you there’s no need to cling to futile hope any longer.” “What do you mean?” “You. Me. And another woman who is still alive somewhere.” The Undertaker lifted his fingers. “Three of us.” “……” “Excluding the three of us, there are no other living humans currently on Earth.” “……” “So, no matter who you're waiting for, whoever you wish to reunite with, the possibility of that wish being fulfilled is nonexistent.” “……” “Because everyone else has vanished.” Silence. “By vanished, do you mean—” Yu Ji-won's voice cut through. “Do you mean to say the entire humanity of this world was [Time Sealed] by you?” “Yes. While sealing time requires the consent of the subject, which took a great deal of time, in the end, it was achieved.” “Even if you’re a regressor, to contact everyone given the time constraints would have been impossible. There are those who start dying the moment you regress. What did you do with those people? Did you just leave them?” “No.” The Undertaker shook his head. “In previous cycles, I traveled with a necromancer ally.” “A necromancer...?” “A sorcerer who could resurrect the dead. Not a perfect resurrection, but they were half-corpses at best... Yet, obtaining ‘consent’ was possible.” “……” “Together with the necromancer, I traveled the world for countless years. Raising corpses and even spirits of those whose bodies no longer existed, we sought their agreement for the time seal.” The Undertaker gestured beyond the convenience store. In his eyes, the horizon stretching beneath the mountain was entirely covered with crystal tombstones. Everyone was there, and yet no one was there. “That’s the world you see now.” “……” “Sorry, but the person you were looking for wasn't anywhere. Though some knew a child model named ‘Yu Ji-won.’ No one understood keywords like Bukhansan or Minari Pond.” “……” “So, I am the one who severed your obstinacy. Yu Ji-won, isn’t it time to give up?” Once again, silence. For some reason, that silence felt ominous to the Undertaker. It was yet another foreboding feeling, echoing from his heart. “What are you hesitating for? Traveling the world to convince you isn’t an exaggeration. If it still doesn’t convince you, I might have no choice but to use force――.” “No.” Yu Ji-won replied. "Our conversation revealed much to me. My hesitation isn't about finding an excuse to reject your time seal." “……Then?” “I merely want to ask you something.” “Ask anything. As long as you consent to the time seal, I will share any secret I have uncovered.” “Cars.” Cars? Such an out-of-the-blue word left the Undertaker tilting his head in confusion. “What about cars?” “I want to know the type of car that's left the most impression on you. Whether it’s a truck or a sedan, any brand will do, just name one.” “……Truly a strange question.” The Undertaker frowned. “No such car has ever left an impression on me. Things I can’t even use.” “……” “Since mastering the aura, I never relied on vehicles. So the answer to your question is ‘none.’” “Is that so.” Yu Ji-won closed her eyes. And when she opened them again, meeting his gaze, the Undertaker was suddenly gripped by a strange sensation. Her eyes were certainly looking at him. Yet, her gaze seemed to pierce through him, reaching toward some distant ‘beyond’ rather than focusing on the Undertaker who stood there. An eerily curious look. “I understand.” “……Will you consent?” “Yes. If the only place I can meet that person is there, then that's where I should go.” The Time Seal procedure was conducted smoothly. Having repeated this work billions of times, the Undertaker sealed the being before him with proficiency befitting his moniker. Just before that. “Yu Ji-won. Since I've answered your question, could you answer one of mine?” “Alright.” “The person you’ve been searching for all this time. Throughout countless cycles, you never revealed their name. Now, as this concludes, isn’t it time you let me know?” “Ah, yes.” Yu Ji-won nodded. “It's Mr. Suzuki.” “Suzuki? A Japanese person?” “……” She didn’t answer further, as if signaling that the one question had already been asked. The Undertaker shrugged and completed the rest of the procedure. Before long, behind the convenience store counter, there stood a gravestone as transparent as crystal. ‘I am curious about the conclusion of Yu Ji-won’s story. Perhaps I'll glance at what her happiest day was like.’ He almost reached out towards the gravestone but stopped himself halfway. His lips curled into a bitter smile. ‘No. A gate-crasher like me has no right to invade the dreams of others. I’ve promised them their final happiness.’ The Undertaker exited the convenience store. And changed his path. Contemporary humanity. Survivors: just two. Aside from himself, only one human being was left on Earth. And he set his steps towards that one.