I'm an Infinite Regressor, But I've Got Stories to Tell-Chapter 329

Translator: ZERO_SUGAR

Editor: LiteraryGirl

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

◈ I’m an Infinite Regressor, But I’ve Got Stories to Tell

Chapter 329

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The Skeptic XXII

Come to think of it, the first of my comrades ever to accept my regressor “coming out” wasn’t Old Man Schopenhauer (Scho), surprisingly enough. Scho first knocked on my timeline in the 6th cycle. And I’d met Dang Seo-rin in the 5th cycle, but... she never did learn that I was a regressor.

In the end...

“Vice Guild Leader, Your Excellency. You mentioned this was your 5th cycle?”

The first colleague who learned I was a regressor was none other than Yu Ji-won, my secretary and adjutant.

“Vice Guild Leader, Your Excellency! I will serve you faithfully like a loyal dog until the day this world ends!”

By that point, she was Leviathan’s Miko, whether she realized it or not. She had already achieved a level of mastery over Aura that dwarfed normal comprehension. Hers was a strategy of concealment, hiding one’s true potential in the shadows. Even if I or Dang Seo-rin had fought her at full strength, it’s likely neither of us could withstand Ji-won’s onslaught if she were to take it seriously.

But what if I hadn’t told 5th-cycle Yu Ji-won that I was a regressor? Granted, she was astute. She always hid her power, weaknesses, and even her strengths whenever possible. However, if she’d never known a regressor existed and genuinely thought her 5th-cycle life was her only one, then...?

– G̴̛̝̊r̸̥̘̈́r̵̩̪̓͊r̶̢̤̎o̵͍̟͘o̵̹͊o̴̥͊͆ͅó̴͉͝o̴̼͌̆ò̸̖ơ̸̪̍͜a̵̘̎̊ä̷̫̣́̒r̸̳͇̈́̑!̶̣͇̂

Then perhaps she would have revealed her true might while fighting off Ten Legs’s invasion, showing the entire world the depth of her Aura as she sliced through those tentacle monsters with a single blow.

“Vice Guild Leader, look out!”

But that’s not what she did. She chose to die, throwing herself into the jaws of a monster far weaker than she was, almost like suicide.

Why?

“Next cycle...”

She wanted a promise from the regressor.

“Your Excellency... promise...”

Yes.

By chance, in that 5th cycle, I had personally revealed my identity as a regressor. Thanks to that, Ji-won managed to hide her full strength until the very end. Indeed, she succeeded in never revealing it. She could’ve called it sheer luck.

But what about the 6th cycle? Or the 7th? The 8th?

Could she keep withholding her power all the way to the end of those future lives too? If she had never learned that man was the regressor, might she accidentally expose her own threat level before him?

That was exactly what the silver-haired psychopath dreaded most. It would be a fate worse than death itself.

Yu Ji-won agonized over it. She did the math and acted accordingly.

“Next cycle... Your Excellency, promise...”

And so, she decided to “throw away” the 5th cycle.

She needed the regressor’s trust, no matter the cost of any minor side concerns. Only one promise mattered. So long as the next cycle’s Yu Ji-won could be assured that Undertaker = Regressor, she could keep her claws hidden indefinitely. Thus, she would sacrifice her life in this cycle, and in exchange, she’d gain hundreds more cycles of survival.

A formula of life and death. Once that equation balanced out, she, Yu Ji-won, could gain an almost infinite return on investment.

Mathematically speaking, it was outrageous. Good grief, trading one single death for dozens or hundreds of guaranteed futures? Only a fool wouldn’t take that deal.

Not dying would have been the foolish choice, so she was all too willing to die. She bet her life like a poker chip, risking it all in a single round of high-stakes gambling.

“I see. I understand that you claim to be a regressor, and that you possess the ability known as Time Seal.”

And it worked.

"Damn it, I even know you killed someone when you were fifteen and dumped the body in a minari swamp on Mt. Bukhansan. Believe me, you psycho!"

“Oh.”

At that instant—the moment she saw the man before her, who claimed to be a regressor, and heard about this “last will and testament” that her previous cycle supposedly left behind—Ji-won understood. She had never once met or spoken to that older version of herself, yet with that single clue, she deduced everything.

“Understood. I will come with you.”

This man was a regressor.

This man had once been her superior.

He was—

“The last cycle’s me eventually left this place and ended up joining your guild, yes? If I’m going to leave anyway, I might as well head over sooner rather than later so I can rise through the ranks faster.”

“D-don’t come, you creep! Screw off!”

He never saw through her true nature.

All that information about him being a regressor was just surface-level. The critical fact that the previous cycle’s Ji-won had “successfully kept a secret” remained hidden.

So the 6th cycle’s Yu Ji-won, the 7th’s, the 70th’s, even the 700th’s... They would keep passing along that baton in an endless relay.

Thus did the poker-faced, silver-haired psychopath become a parasite on the regressor’s timeline.

Occasionally, the regressor took a “vacation.” During those so-called vacation cycles, he would still hang out with his companions and thus often upheld Ji-won’s final request. However, every now and then, he severed all ties from the start, forging a new path alone. In those cases, Ji-won never obtained the info about her previous cycle’s last testament from me.

Which might explain this:

This shop’s coffee is top-tier!

—Samcheon World, Dang Seo-rin

The Sword Marquess of Yuldoguk

Thanks for all the good times. Lee Ju-ho.

My sincerest gratitude. But no matter how I think about it, the store's name and the clerks' shirts are kind of odd. Are you a member of the Red Army?

—Uehara Shino

Visiting on a school trip! Baekhwa Girls' High ♡ May our love last 10,000 miles forever

—Cheon Yo-hwa (天寥化)

Damn, the road here is too rough. Nearly died lugging the wine bottles over.

—NDH

Long live the Sixth International!

—Sim Ah-ryeon

If you had just sold me one carton of cigarettes, you’d’ve been the GOAT... Y

Your first customer.

For example, back in the 90th cycle, that time I opened a Sixth International convenience store, Ji-won was nowhere to be found.

In hindsight, it was strange. Surely she was active as a member of Samcheon World. Yet she never once visited that convenience store, the hottest spot for Awakeners. Everyone else came by—the Sword Marquess, Uehara Shino, even Noh Do-hwa despite her trust issues—yet there wasn’t a single trace of Yu Ji-won.

Maybe the moment she confirmed Mr. Matiz wasn’t in Korea, she left for Japan, or China, or even farther.

‘All to keep her promise.’

I let out a bark of laughter that was somewhere between amazed and bitter.

‘That’s truly absurd... but it fits her. No wonder she was once the regressor’s adjutant.’

Just like me, my silver-haired adjutant possessed a singular, infinite determination that fueled her through seemingly endless time.

“We’ve arrived.”

The car came to a stop. Ji-won climbed out first and opened an umbrella, then she opened my rear door for me—a courtesy fit for a VIP.

“Please step out,” she requested.

Rain pelted down outside. “Here?”

“Yes.”

Looking up at the sky, I could see fleeting glimpses of a great dark shape in the swirling black clouds, probably Leviathan’s silhouette. Yet even in that downpour, I recognized the scenery with ease.

“This is a familiar neighborhood, isn’t it?”

We stood along a run-down hillside. Half-collapsed villas, a supermarket sign left on the ground. Dilapidated tile-roofed houses and small apartment buildings clinging like poisonous mushrooms along the slope, their expiry date long past. It was a shantytown that once barely survived on the warmth of the people living there and that now lay deserted as a habitat for bugs and rainfall.

Yes, this place...

“This is my home. And yours,” I answered. “I left here seven years ago, saying I was going to tutor the children of local aristocrats. Have you been by since?”

“No. This is my first time.”

“I see.”

Ji-won popped open the trunk. Inside were raincoats and the items she’d looted from the convenience store. “Let’s carry them in.”

“All right.”

Without further conversation, we carried the supplies inside as our clothes got damp from the rain. We could have used Aura to keep the raindrops off, but both of us chose to stick with umbrellas instead.

Surprisingly, the front door to the third-floor villa still worked. Actually, the building was practically the only structure in the ghostly hillside that wasn’t wrecked by time.

5555.

I punched in a familiar code and stepped inside, with Ji-won following behind, dripping with rainwater. I stepped onto the yellowish floorboards and looked around.

“Where’s your grandmother?”

“She passed away six months ago.”

“...I see.”

“I mummified her and stored her in the bedroom wardrobe. You may offer your respects if you like.”

“Are you crazy?”

“I’m just a filial granddaughter.”

When she lifted a corner of the floorboards, a secret storage space appeared, clearly packed with extensive supplies.

“Huh, so the building never collapsed?”

“It partially did, but I repaired it,” she replied. “Fortunately, the old man downstairs had evacuated, so there was no neighborhood dispute to worry about.”

“Was it a neighborly homicide?”

“Please wait a moment here.”

She busied herself for a while. Before long, a delicious aroma drifted in from the kitchen along with her voice.

“It’s ready. Dinner.”

The spread on the table was hardly luxurious, yet more than splendid enough. She’d cooked using a portable gas burner and limited stock from long-frozen ingredients, but no one could have guessed it was the apocalypse from the quality of the meal.

I clamped my mouth shut, then opened it once more. “Thanks for the food.” fɾeewebnoveℓ.co๓

“Yes. Let’s eat.”

Chopsticks and spoons clinked together.

Outside the window, Leviathan’s rain continued to fall in pitter-pattering streams. Water-bugs latched onto the glass, writhing softly.

Yet as we ate like this, it felt unreal that civilization had already collapsed.

“So then,” said Ji-won from across the table, “how was it, living tens of thousands of years?”

“...It was tough. No cakewalk.”

“Want to die together tonight?”

The rain drummed outside. “No.”

“I see.”

Warm, freshly cooked rice sent up steam mingled with the scent of pork.

“Did I... kill a lot of people?”

“You did.”

“Was I a competent subordinate?”

“...Unparalleled.”

“Did you sacrifice your life for me?”

“...More than once.”

“I see.”

Clink.

The child who first tried her hand at cooking at age fourteen. The neighbor girl who would pack leftovers for me, saying she miscalculated portions.

Now, the meal we shared was nearly flawless.

She’d always been good at anything she tried.

“To defeat or weaken Leviathan is simple. I’m sure you’ve already realized it, Mr. Matiz.”

“...We’d have to give up Aura. We can’t use it at all.”

“Yes.”

Clink. Squirm.

A single water-bug had crawled up the table leg, presumably following us in from outside. Ji-won squashed it under a napkin with a firm press. Croooak! The water-bug popped like a frog.

“In the end, Leviathan only grew this powerful because of you, Mr. Matiz. If you were to give up Aura yourself, and refrain from spreading your Aura training method to other Awakeners, Leviathan would calm down... In other words, no matter what plan you cook up, as long as you, and countless others, keep relying on Aura, Leviathan will never weaken.”

Rattle.

“Don’t use it. Don’t depend on it. Don’t get addicted. Refuse to become a cultist of that monster god... That’s all there is to it.”

Something was being rattled.

“It’s also the simplest strategy in the world.”

‘And the hardest.’

I silently sipped the hot seaweed soup.

‘Give up... Aura.’

Thump.

Rain battered my heart.

The sounds of water-bugs crawling on the window seemed to wriggle through my veins.

‘Humans must renounce the easiest way to gain power. They must ban themselves from using Aura.’

For me, that was akin to being told to cast aside my sharpest sword, the paddle blade that had helped me navigate so many rough waters to get here.[1] Because apparently, that blade had never been a fine blade at all.

It was a cursed demonic sword... A warped and twisted weapon.

‘Was Aura... just a drug all along?’

I’d thought of it as my lifeline. Ever since I lost Old Man Scho, I believed it was the reason a mere support-class like me could still fight on my own. But if I stopped and thought about it rationally, it was obvious that Aura was something beyond the scope of normal human powers.

Then—

“Maybe,” I said unconsciously.

“Pardon?”

“Maybe to truly prevent the end of the world, we’ll have to abandon not only Aura, but all superhuman abilities, one by one.”

Suddenly, like a turbulent current, intense emotion surged inside me. It was hard to describe. Excitement, maybe? The water-bugs that had seemed to swarm in my veins were driven back by the pulse of my bloodstream, that bright red tide coursing from head to toe like an electric jolt.

‘Yes. Starting with the Tutorial Fairy.’

Then Ten Legs.

Then Meteor Shower.

Then Udumbara.

Then Butterfly Effect.

Inunaki.

Trolley Dilemma.

UFO aliens.

The Hollow.

City Devourers.

Monster Wave.

Infinite Void.

Nut.

Infinite Metagame.

Leviathan.

‘And every Outer God that still hides in the shadows. Without Aura, relying only on human power.’

It would feel awkward at first. We might slip into using Aura at times. We’d often need powers. But we’d try our best to hold back.

Step by step, we’ll erase inhuman abilities from this world. We won’t rely on demonic artifacts. Instead, we’ll turn the Anomalies themselves against each other. We’ll leverage this towering edifice of knowledge gathered over tens of thousands of years.

‘With nothing but these two hands, we’ll hunt down every last Anomaly.’

That was the only method.

A hidden route to the hidden ending.

It was the single precarious trail that might lead to truly saving this world, one you could only reach after near-infinite tries. A decisive formula that rejected the Outer Gods’ manipulations and proved that this world could stand on its own two feet.

Feeling my blood boil, I thought, ‘Is it possible? Really possible?’

And I answered myself.

‘Yes. Absolutely.’

So I steeled my resolve.

Thus, in the 777th cycle, a massive turning point had arrived in my long journey as a regressor.[2]

Footnotes:

[1] A paddle's blade can be used to create stability when crossing a river by triangulating with the river bottom. This technique helps keep the paddle fixed to the river bottom, which allows the wader to move laterally in the water. What Undertaker means here is to give up on his weapon which got him through thick and thin.

[2] The number 7 is associated with good luck and prosperity in Korean culture.