The Puppeteer V
There is a bit of a long epilogue.
In fact, my whole story is one long epilogue.
To confess truthfully, I originally intended to title this memoir something like 'The Regressor's Epilogue.'
"Huh? Mister, are you crazy?"
If it weren't for the interference of the web novel otaku, Oh Dok-seo, that would have indeed happened.
"Why? Isn't it good?"
"What's so good about it? These days, even those kids who live on SG Net wouldn't fall for a title like that."
"Hmm… Then how about 'The Infinite Regressor's Daily Café'?"
"What?"
Oh Dok-seo looked like she heard something unspeakable.
"What did you just say?"
"My hobby is being a barista. Every time I go to see Old Man Scho's corpse, I also make café au lait. So I thought of using the word café…"
"You're really insane, aren't you?"
There was genuine sincerity in Oh Dok-seo's words.
Though I knew an otaku's sincerity didn't guarantee truth, surprisingly, I sensed some truth this time.
Hmm. Is it really that bad…?
"How to Fail at Infinite Regression?"
"Your Excellency."
"I am a Regressor."
"Oh god."
"The Regressor Abandons Salvation."
"Bullshit."
"The Regressor's Epilogue."
"Get lost!"
"The Records of the Regressor's History."
"Oh, please! Mister! Stop!"
"...."
Why is this?
Is this a generation gap? No. It can't be. My aesthetic sensibility, honed over thousands of years, had transcended human levels, capable of casually greeting Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, and Goethe with 'Yo, long time no see.'
I poured out all the title candidates I'd thought of for twenty minutes, but they were all cut off by Oh Dok-seo.
Even if my character was at the level of Siddhartha Gautama, this was an excessive tyranny.
I said in anger.
"If you're so good, why don't you name it yourself?"
"Fine! But no matter what title I come up with, you must never interfere! I'll read everything you've written and then give it a comprehensive title!"
"Alright. Let's see what you've got."
"Deal!"
"Deal."
Looking back now, I shouldn't have made such a foolish promise.
What was I thinking, trusting Oh Dok-seo with naming?
A 50,000 won cap? Jeans full of holes? Gum that couldn't even blow a balloon? I'd rather trust Jung Sang-guk's patriotism.
In the end, I still don't know what title was given to my story. Just by calling it a 'story,' you can guess.
What a paradox. Not being able to call a father a father... No, it's more like not knowing the name itself. Oedipus not recognizing his father would be more fitting.
I don't know what it's like from your perspective. If you are reading not only my story but also its title, please at least understand that it wasn't a title created by me, the Undertaker.
Anyway.
Let's return to the epilogue of the Puppeteer, Lee Ha-yul.
Jung Sang-guk died.
The former mayor of Busan died. The current Prime Minister of the Second Provisional Government of the Republic of Korea died. The president of the Fukuoka Korean Association died. The representative of Busan died.
No word was appropriate. Jung Sang-guk did not die for those reasons.
To be accurate in the diagnosis considering the cause of death, the following phrase was most fitting for the coffin of this death.
Lee Ha-yul's biological father died.
Although I didn't agree with Freudian psychoanalysis, I enjoyed using its terms.
A child killed their father, but Lee Ha-yul was not Electra. Nor was she Oedipus.
A parent's death should be called a prologue, not an epilogue for the child.
It was a cruel affair.
From now on, I planned to do something cruel.
"Lee Ha-yul."
"Yes."
Lee Ha-yul responded. Not from the already decapitated Jung Sang-guk but from the maid's lips.
"Don't do it."
Lee Ha-yul tilted her head.
"What do you mean? This person is dead. Perception. Can't be stopped."
"I wasn't telling you not to kill Jung Sang-guk. I meant don't kill yourself."
"...."
Pause. The red circles in Lee Ha-yul's eyes grew larger.
No further conversation was needed. Every breath from Lee Ha-yul was language. The girl was confused.
"How?"
"If you killed your parent, you killed them. Why follow after and die? You have a talent. The talent to kill people and the talent to save people are the same. If you are determined to kill yourself, turn the blade of that determination to stab the anomalies."
"...."
"This world needs awakeners. Humanity's survival is at risk. Whether they are Korean or Japanese, such distinctions are meaningless. Whether Jung Sang-guk is dead or not, ultimately, everyone you've known so far will die at the hands of the anomalies."
"...."
"Help us. I will help you so you can."
Silence followed. Half of the silence flowed from the gaping mouth of Jung Sang-guk lying on the concrete floor.
Was it just my imagination? It felt like all the dolls densely packed in the basement were staring at me.
"If I follow you?"
"...."
"Can it be stopped? The world's end."
"No, I can't guarantee it."
"What did you say your alias was? Sorry."
"Undertaker."
"Undertaker."
Although I had introduced myself several times, it seemed that only then did Lee Ha-yul's brain properly register my alias.
She wouldn't have considered it before. People facing death didn't bother to remember new acquaintances.
Lee Ha-yul muttered.
"Swordmaster's comrade."
"Yes."
"Dang Seo-rin's boyfriend."
"That's fake news."
"Really? It's on the radio, every day."
"It's fake news. I can swear on anything except Jung Sang-guk's patriotism."
"...."
Silence again.
Lee Ha-yul raised her index finger.
"A condition."
"Tell me. I'll do my best to meet it."
"Lies. I hate."
"Sounds like a plea not to act like your father. I can promise that for sure. I'm a firm believer in not marrying."
"...?"
"I have no intention of having children. So there's no chance of becoming someone's father. It's a perfect solution to fulfill your condition."
"...."
Lee Ha-yul laughed quietly.
There was no sound.
It was a smile I saw for the first time.
"I'll follow you."
In many cycles after the 19th, Lee Ha-yul was often recruited as my subordinate.
Even after Old Man Scho went on 'vacation' and the Freiheit Academy was effectively closed, her fate did not change.
Lee Ha-yul faced countless brutal deaths at the hands of anomalies, both at the frontlines and the rear.
The only promise I could make to Lee Ha-yul was that I would face a slightly quicker, slightly more brutal death.
Of course, much had changed.
"Oh, Ha-yul."
"...."
"Do you want some coffee? You like con panna, right?"
"...."
"Okay. Just wait a bit."
I had learned sign language first. Now, even without her controlling a doll, I could understand what Lee Ha-yul was saying quickly.
Even now, she yawned silently from the sofa in the guild's hideout. She stretched extensively.
Looking around with sleepy eyes, she spotted the maid. A light snap of her fingers, and the maid doll activated.
"Where is the wheelchair?"
"You left it with Noh Do-hwa yesterday."
"Oh."
"Endure a bit of discomfort today."
"Yes."
Originally, I intended to leave her in the care of the Saintess instead of my guild's hideout. Both expressionless, both recluses, both with supporter-type abilities. Didn't they seem alike?
But after a brief communal life in the 20th cycle, the Saintess requested a return.
"She's too different from me."
"What?"
"Lee Ha-yul is… to put it in understandable terms, she's an insider."
"What?"
"She's a different type of person from me. Undertaker, please refrain from thinking that just because we are both rear support with few expressions, we'd be close like sisters. Two of my fish tanks broke."
"...."
"I like being alone."
For some reason I couldn't grasp, it seemed I had an MBTI clash with the Saintess.
What could I do? Like Sim Ah-ryeon, Lee Ha-yul also became a permanent member of my guild. After all, her talent as an Awakened had no dispute that she was A-class.
More importantly, Lee Ha-yul's talent, as seen in the 'House of Dolls,' was specialized in establishing a hideout. Thanks to Ha-yul, I was able to build an impregnable hideout.
This will be discussed in another story.
The everyday life of Lee Ha-yul encountered a slight turning point around the 54th cycle.
The 54th cycle was the monumental run where I brought Noh Do-hwa into the National Road Management Corps.
In other words, it was the time when Noh Do-hwa and I began to get along genuinely.
"Master Artisan Noh Do-hwa, it's been a while. This girl with brown hair just returned from Japan. Could you make her a prosthetic leg?"
"Sorry, who are you…?"
"…..."
"Just kidding. Awakened Undertaker, I get scared just looking at you. Honestly, you make me jump, so please don't come into my sight without signaling… Honestly…"
"...."
"Does it make a difference if a Korean goes abroad and comes back? I'm very busy with many clients…"
"Ah."
"I'll schedule you, but it will take a month. Today, I'm also busy dealing with local grandpas. Seriously, why are the roads in Busan so bumpy…?"
Hmm. Right. To be honest, Noh Do-hwa and I were not particularly close personally.
There was no one who had any emotional connection or rapport with Noh Do-hwa. The fact that I could schedule an appointment in a month was fortunate. Other awakened would have waited at least three months, even if they were early.
A month later, Noh Do-hwa examined Lee Ha-yul.
"Your legs were thoroughly wrecked. Huh. Not only were they physically torn, but three curses are overlapping. Untreatable, constant intoxication, hallucinations. Quite detailed. May I ask where you sacrificed your legs...?
"They were never there."
The maid answered. Despite the unfamiliar experience, Noh Do-hwa didn't raise an eyebrow.
"Huh. So the curses just happened by chance. Well, Japan is known for that. Do you get phantom pains at least once every three days…?"
"Yes. How did you know?"
"There are ways to know. Quite severe. Very severe. Hm…"
Noh Do-hwa continued measuring Lee Ha-yul's body with a measuring tape.
The unique part was that she measured even the lengths of Lee Ha-yul's 'missing legs.'
"...?"
Lee Ha-yul looked puzzled, unsure if she was being insulted or not.
But Noh Do-hwa had no intention of humiliating her.
Of course, she had a vicious nature of mocking others when given a chance.
But I had never seen her mock a patient in my entire life as a regressor.
"Please shake your body a bit as if you are moving your legs."
"Okay."
"Good. Very good. Now, please move as if you are walking in place. Ah, try jumping slightly? Even just lifting your hips is enough. Hm. Well done…"
It seemed that Noh Do-hwa could genuinely see Lee Ha-yul's legs.
Not just the muscles, but also the bones, joints, and nerves were all visible to her. Such 'vision' was included in Noh Do-hwa's ability.
Noh Do-hwa's awakened skill was [the ability to observe and replace lost body parts].
It was an amazing ability, but she refused to name it. It was Noh Do-hwa's will.
Moreover, she declined even having an alias.
"A public official making a name for themselves is pointless."
That was Noh Do-hwa's philosophy.
Such a person was brought into the National Road Management Corps as the leader. By me.
Anyway, due to this reason, her ability was roughly referred to as [Prosthetics Production]. Even [Restoration of Loss] would have been a cooler name.
"Yes, the measurements are done."
Noh Do-hwa scribbled some complex numbers in a notebook.
"It usually takes one to two weeks to produce prosthetics. Is this tall person Lee Ha-yul's guardian?"
"Yeah."
"Do you have a preference between wood and metal for the material?"
"What's the difference?"
"Wood needs to be replaced often. So you would have to visit our workshop periodically, which is inconvenient. Metal has a longer replacement cycle, but it might make a squeaking noise and rust. Many patients find it bothersome."
"...."
"If you bring your own materials, we can work with those too. Prosthetics are meant to last a lifetime. It's not too late to decide after finding good materials. You don't have to rush to get high-end materials right now."
Lee Ha-yul pondered.
I could sense her consideration as an expert in dolls.
"Then, metal."
"Do you dislike clockwork?"
"No."
"Does the ticking sound of a clock drive you crazy and make your hair stand on end, and do you feel an obligation to smash it immediately?"
"No."
"Do you usually perform covert operations and have assassination missions?"
"No."
"Great. I'll make it as quickly as possible, but it might take more than 15 days. Once it's done, I'll send someone to inform you."
Even though she said that, it took less than five days for Noh Do-hwa to call us back.
Some people either reflected their hopes in the deadlines they gave or distrusted the timeframe, and Noh Do-hwa's basic distrust level was over twice her hope level.
"This is Lee Ha-yul's prosthetic leg."
"...."
Noh Do-hwa handed over a long wooden box with a hollow gaze. The plain wooden box was neat and clean without any decoration.
On one corner of the box, the words 'Lee Ha-yul, xxxx year xx month xx day' were engraved with a carving knife. The numbers changed every cycle.
Noh Do-hwa's habit was to give the completed product in a box rather than handing it over raw.
Now you can guess why no ruffian dared to mess with her. If someone did, there were countless awakened ready to form a lynch squad to protect her.
"This is your first time at our workshop, so would you like to try it on here? If it doesn't fit, I'll adjust it."
"Okay. Please."
"Then, Awakener Undertaker, please turn around."
I complied with the prosthetist's instructions.
I could hear faint sounds of clanking and scraping behind me.
Between the metallic noises, Noh Do-hwa's explanations continued, "Do it this way" and "If it doesn't work, don't get angry, just calmly try again."
Finally.
"It's done."
I turned around.
"Please stand up."
"...."
Lee Ha-yul fidgeted in the wheelchair.
Even during the journey from Japan to Korea, she had been extremely sensitive to the setting of the wheelchair, such as the angle and puffiness of the cushion.
Like someone suddenly leaving a rented room they thought they would live in forever, Lee Ha-yul stood up a bit dazed, with many worries and a bit of expectation.
"...!"
With a silent breath, whether it was a shout or an oath, or a silent encouragement to herself or the world.
She stood on two legs.
For the first time since infancy.
"...."
"How is it? Does it hurt, feel prickly, or ache?"
"No."
There was a particularly strong mechanical tone in her voice.
"How. It doesn't. Hurt. At all."
"Huh."
Noh Do-hwa tapped, tapped, Lee Ha-yul's 'legs' with a stick. The metal parts clinked.
But the material didn't matter.
"It feels like real legs, doesn't it?"
"Yes. I can move my toes. It feels. Real. I'm walking. My feet are walking."
"Yes, indeed. Look, I attached a spring here. It has no practical purpose, just looks cool. The clock hands spin faster as you run, but it's purely decorative. I wish I could make vocal cords too, but that's tricky. So, do you like it?"
"Yes."
Lee Ha-yul cried. She wiped her tears with her hands.
Tears kept falling, blocking her mouth, but she could speak fluently with a mouth that wasn't originally hers.
"Thank you."
"Huh."
Noh Do-hwa smiled faintly.
"That's a relief."
Depending on who was watching, her smile might seem creepy or sinister.
But I could confidently say it was a genuine, kind smile.
She was a person who found satisfaction in just replacing lost body parts for patients. A person whose greatest desire was to build a direct road from the most inconvenient elderly patient's house to her workshop. I always felt a sense of guilt for dragging her into the mundane world and assigning her the title of National Road Management Corps leader.
"Thank you."
Lee Ha-yul looked at me.
"Thank you, oppa."
Even after that, Lee Ha-yul often moved around in a wheelchair. She was so used to controlling the doll and liked the feeling of the maid pushing her.
But I saw.
"...."
One summer night, when a meteor shower rained down from the sky.
The sight of Lee Ha-yul standing on two legs, reaching out towards the starlight from her wheelchair.
Looking up at a star that shone golden like her eyes, in a daze.
A sparkling little star.
Ultimately, everyone is born accepting something from someone else, whether it's heart or flesh.
We were all born as dolls.
But Lee Ha-yul, the Puppeteer, would die as a human every time she faced countless deaths.
Listening to the lullaby of starlight.
-x-X-x-
The Sleepwalker I
In my regressor life, I considered the 1st to the 100th run as the "early phase." Another term would be "childhood."
It was a period when I held the romantic illusion that if I just eliminated the anomalies, peace would somehow come to the world.
And during this early phase, there were three boss monsters who had claimed the Korean Peninsula as their territory.
Level 1 Boss: Crawling octopus head. No matter how much you stab it, unless you pierce both hearts simultaneously, it showcases infinite regenerative abilities and never dies! It's called the "Immortal Ten Legs"!
Level 2 Boss: Ignorance is your downfall! Rejoicing at the promise of free immortality during the apocalypse, you accept it only to find out it's nothing but fertilizer for growing a massive World Tree! The New Buddha and Divine Buddha, "The Immortal Udumbara"!
Level 3 Boss: You will fall victim even if you know about it! In the 7th year from the start of the regression, it inevitably descends from the night sky, the unavoidable Armageddon, "The Inescapable Meteor Shower"!
The geographical setup of the Korean Peninsula is truly awe-inspiring.
However, among them, the Ten Legs can now be ignored. By the 100th run, the Ten Legs are nothing more than a minor mob that can be one-shot-killed.
-Kyu?
Yes, even if you act cute, I won't spare you. Tentacle-headed Cthulhu knockoff.
The Udumbara, also known by names like "Divine Buddha Virus," "Red Cordyceps," and "World Tree," had a more infamous reputation.
-I'm hungry?
It might be a bit unfair from its perspective, but the Udumbara had the worst compatibility with a regressor from the start.
From the moment I discovered that the origin of the Udumbara was in Room 202 on the second floor of a closed inn in Onyang, the Udumbara was perfectly conquered.
So, let's talk about the final chapter of childhood.
"Look! Hey, look at the sky."
Let's talk about the Meteor Shower.
"Wow! A shooting star! So many of them!"
"The sky is beautiful even if the ground is fucked…"
Strictly speaking, among the three early-phase bosses, only Ten Legs exclusively operated in the Korean Peninsula.
As known, the Udumbara spread across East Asia as a pseudo-religious cult called the New Buddha.
The Meteor Shower was the same. The falling stars did not only strike the Korean Peninsula.
They struck the entire world.
"Huh? Why does it keep getting closer...?"
"What are you doing? Get away! Run!"
"Run? Where to? They're falling from the entire sky, guild leader?"
"...."
Have you ever played a battle royale game?
In such games, as time passes, the playable map area gradually shrinks. For example, the "safe zone" gets smaller as the magnetic field contracts.
It was a method to force players into a tighter ring as the game progressed.
This world mimicked the worst parts of games because our lives were a shitty game.
"Half of the Eurasian continent is gone!"
"What nonsense are you talking about?"
"Exactly what I said. It just got erased. Last week, when the Meteor Shower hit, half the continent just vanished."
"This is insane."
Once it hit South America, once Australia, once Eurasia, and once the Pacific Ocean.
Continents struck by the stars invariably turned into barren lands where no human could survive.
It was truly Armageddon.
Humanity, momentarily indulging in an apocalyptic romanticism while gazing at the showering stars in the night sky, was horrified.
"Again, again! Another one's falling!"
"Damn, where this time? Where is it going to hit...?"
Meteor Shower. Western awakeners often called it "Armageddon," and Japanese Awakeners called it "Meteor." According to the classification of the Library Society, who saw naming anomalies as their mission, its threat level was "Continent," and it was identified as "Shining Little Star."
"...."
The falling star that Lee Ha-yul reached for in a previous episode was none other than this.
It was another method by which our world was meeting its end.
The first time I encountered the Meteor Shower was in my 23rd run.
The number 23 held significant meaning for me. In a slightly negative way, to be more blunt—since we are close enough to use such expressions—I hope you'll understand with generosity—it was pretty shitty.
Perhaps some of you, with an exceptional memory like mine, might quickly recall the events of the 23rd run, more precisely, the events that started from the 23rd run.
"Huh? Old man? Old man, are you here?"
Ta-da!
Congratulations! You have found the corpse of Old Man Scho!
"Damn it."
Yes.
The 23rd cycle was the first time Old Man Scho went on vacation. It was also the moment when "Congrats! Shitty End!" was chosen as the BGM for my character, the Undertaker.
At that time, I was… well.
To be honest, I was pathetic.
Would it be right to call it a dark history? The person I thought I would fight alongside for life had suddenly disappeared.
"Wow, casting such high-level magic with just two chants... I'm a genius! And Undertaker, you seem like a genius too!"
I didn't say it, but I helped Dang Seo-rin perfect her Equivalent Exchange magic for this reason. Back then, I relied on Dang Seo-rin mentally.
Because, well...
I feel a bit hesitant to reveal this, but I believe we're close enough to freely discuss such things now.
I'll be honest, because she was the only one in my regressor life who could share the same timeline with me.
"We can't live together, but at least we can accompany each other in death."
"Please take care of me, my companion in time."
Of course, Dang Seo-rin didn't remember the time she spent with me. But at least, her magic, which opened songs by burning her lifespan, continued to accumulate lifespan even through regression.
So, it's really embarrassing to say, but I treated Dang Seo-rin as a substitute for Old Man Scho.
No, even calling her a substitute is too weak. I was clearly dependent on Dang Seo-rin.
Despite my mental breakdown, I didn't forget my final role as a regressor.
Somehow, I established an organization by myself without Old Man Scho, made Dang Seo-rin the leader, and eradicated the Ten Legs.
And in the 7th year.
"Wow. Undertaker, look over there."
"Hmm? Is it a shooting star?"
"Yeah, there are so many."
Dang Seo-rin, walking barefoot on the sandy beach with shoes in hand, pointed to the night sky.
That was the moment I first observed the Meteor Shower.
Naturally, I never imagined that the twinkling Meteor Shower in the night sky could be an anomaly.
I returned from the night walk and fell into a comfortable sleep.
And when I woke up, I found myself at the starting point of my regression.
Back at Busan Station.
"…Huh?"
I was so dumbfounded that I looked around blankly. What the hell was going on?
Anyone would be disoriented if they went to bed and suddenly regressed.
At first, I thought it was a dream, but no matter how much I pinched my cheek, I didn't wake up. So- goodness. I had really regressed "while sleeping."
"You fucking asshole!"
The trademark exclamation of SG Man (I didn't know Seo Gyu's real name back then) rang out like an alarm app that lives to ruin a salaryman's morning.
And I felt exactly like a salaryman in the morning. A mix of 30% confusion and 70% frustration.
'No, really, hold on. Why is this happening?'
But regardless of my confusion, the physical time of the world flowed steadily.
A scream tore through the waiting room of Busan Station. Seo Gyu's neck was neatly severed by a fairy.
People were running away in panic, but I was the only one standing there dazed, my mind blank.
When your mind is vacant, some people replace it with reason, and I was usually the latter.
'Did someone poison me?'
This was the most rational guess.
'Or an assassination? No matter how, but to assassinate me, the Undertaker, like twisting a chicken's neck in my sleep?'
Ah.
I groaned.
'How could this happen! I was too complacent!'
Indeed.
In the end, the enemy of humanity was not the monsters but humanity itself. Our ancestors wrote the first histories to leave the message [Humanity sucks] for future generations, didn't they?
"Now... I will live for myself."
While I was solemnly declaring my resolution, the fairy, who was playing with Seo Gyu's rolling head, tilted its head.
"Huh. This human isn't running away and is talking nonsense?"
"Shut up, tutorial mob."
After responding to fairy number 264's argument with a flick on the forehead ("Huek!"), I farmed Silver Bells from the souvenir shop in the waiting room as usual.
And immediately went into strategizing.
Never sleep alone. Not only establish a guild and recruit comrades, but also build an impregnable hideout fortress for communal living...
It was around this time that I started putting effort into the guild hideout.
Later, due to being completely brainwashed by the mysterious entity named Go Yuri, the hideout was destroyed from within. But until then, my guild hideout was an impregnable fortress, the epitome of resilience (let's temporarily ignore the fact that both eventually fell).
Of course, even though I declared my intention to live for myself, I wasn't the kind of regressor protagonist in Korean web novels who struggles alone.
Humans should live together, right?
Naturally, I actively shared my hideout construction know-how with those around me.
"Hey, Undertaker. I appreciate you looking out for my safety, but isn't this a bit overreacting...?"
Hmm. Maybe 'sharing' is not as appropriate as 'insisting.'
"Hah! Being careless like that will get you assassinated without anyone noticing, guild leader Dang Seo-rin!"
"Eh? Um? Ah, uh-huh...?"
"You get praised as the best awakener in Korea, and your pride is soaring! No matter how strong you are, that's only after singing three verses of the Cursed Song Incantation! Before that, you're just a mage before warriors! Do you think those wicked assassins will wait until you leisurely hold a concert?"
"No, well. This is my guild headquarters, right? I've set up a really good watch and patrol system. It's impossible to break through to my sleeping quarters unless it's an awakener like you…"
"Hah! Assassins would have already bribed all your loyal guild members! What if the enemy has abilities like hypnosis or brainwashing?"
"Eh…"
Surprisingly, I accurately predicted my future defeat by Go Yuri. This is the power of a regressor.
A damn pathetic power.
Dang Seo-rin seemed to reach a similar conclusion.
"If an awakener has such a cheating ability, security is meaningless…"
"Hah! From now on, before you sleep, you must sing [Repeat], [Auto-play], [Silence], [Shield], at least four layers of songs. And call Ha-yul to cover the train carriages with her puppets."
"But it's like spider webs…"
"Haaaaah! If you die, it's the end of Korea. Do you realize your position?"
"Um, well... Fine. Sorry…"
"If you're sorry, then it's okay. Actually, it's unrealistic to sing the Cursed Song Incantation before sleeping."
"Oh! Right, that's what I…"
"So, we must build an ironclad fortress. Don't worry, Dang Seo-rin. I won't ask you to leave your precious train. I'll just remodel it into the strongest fortress on earth."
"...."
Dang Seo-rin looked at me with an expression that said, 'Why has this kid suddenly become such a bother?' but I ignored it.
In the end, not only my hideout but also the Samcheon World's train was remodeled into the "Ultimate Weapon - Fortress Train - Galaxy Express 999." Now, even if an army of assassins came, it would be futile.
In the 7th year.
"Wow. Undertaker, look over there."
"Hmm? Oh, it's a shooting star. It must be a Meteor Shower that appears around this time."
"Really? There are so many. It's nice. If someone hadn't covered my luxurious train carriage windows with iron bars and spider webs, it would've been much prettier."
"...."
After having a drink with Dang Seo-rin, I returned to the hideout and fell into a comfortable sleep.
"Hello! Everyone! Oh? The numbers are a bit small... Anyway, you must be surprised to be summoned here suddenly! But don't worry! I'll kindly guide you from the beginning!"
Naturally, I regressed again.
The familiar ceiling of Busan Station's waiting room greeted my eyes. Of course, Fairy No. 264 was flying around cutely.
"...."
My vision blurred.
And SG Man's unmistakably friendly alarm sound rang in my ears.
"You fucking asshole!"
-x-X-x-
The Sleepwalker II
I barely, truly barely, managed to hold onto my sanity, which was on the verge of escaping from my skull.
'It wasn't an assassination…?'
Then, did my hideout with a security level 6, constructed with all the knowledge of a regressor, mean nothing?
What about the ever-vigilant Poison Surveillance System, painstakingly set up by gathering all the awakened ones with medical abilities like Uehara Shino and Sim Ah-ryeon?
Or the Ultimate Weapon - Fortress Train - Galaxy Express 999, which I created despite causing immense stress to Dang Seo-rin?
Indeed. It was all useless. All of it was a waste.
From the perspective of my 1183rd cycle, the 24th cycle me was nothing but an utter fool.
Especially that railgun fortress; it became such a black mark in my history that I wouldn't mention it in any future stories.
'Then what on earth did I die for? What caused my death?'
Confusion. Agony. Pain.
My brain was still hardened, buried under preconceived notions. To reach the idea that 'maybe monsters don't need a fixed form? Maybe even the [phenomenon] of starlight in the night sky could be a monster? Perhaps the word monster is somewhat inaccurate, and it would be better to use the term "anomaly" instead,' my brain needed to become more flexible.
Right. If you don't know, you suffer.
But even my 24th cycle self wasn't so foolish that he couldn't reach the conclusion that 'something very strange indeed happened that night.'
And so, back to the 7th year.
"Wow. Undertaker, look over there―"
"Yes. It's a meteor shower. It usually appears around this time of year. Enjoying the view, aren't you?"
"…What? You seem a bit irritable today. What's been bothering you all day?"
It's because our death is sealed on the day the meteor shower falls.
But I couldn't reveal that regressor knowledge to Dang Seo-rin. Naturally, without a reasonable explanation, Dang Seo-rin left in a huff.
Determined to apologize someday, I looked up at the night sky, unable to handle my own tension and nervousness.
'I won't sleep tonight.'
Click.
I drank the secret Lotte canned coffee I had saved for this day, keeping my eyes vigilant.
I chose the location with great care: the summit of Bongrae Mountain in Yeongdo, Busan.
To reach this place, one would have to step on the strings laid out by the Puppeteer like spider webs, alerting me to any intruder. Unless, of course, the intruder fell straight from the sky.
The night sky was still adorned with a beautiful meteor shower.
....
"Huh?"
Wait a minute.
When I took a walk with Dang Seo-rin earlier, it was 9 PM, so based on that time, it has already been....
Hasn't it been six hours of the meteor shower?
'Is it normal for a meteor shower to last this long?'
It wasn't just a trickle, either. It was like a heavy downpour in summer, with thick streaks of starlight continuously crossing the night sky.
And the streaks were getting thicker.
"...."
Chills ran down my spine.
Unknowingly, I dismantled my disguise and stood up.
"Shit. No way, right?"
Of course, that "no way" was correct.
From now on, humanity had to fight and defeat the starlight from space, and this was the new quest assigned to the regressor.
Yeah. What could I expect from this shitty game?
Accurately describing the moment the world ends is something few people can do.
More precisely, as far as I know, there were only two people in this vast world capable of such a feat.
The Saintess with [Time Stop]. And me, the [Infinite Regressor], the Undertaker.
The Saintess, no matter how suddenly an incident occurred, could call out "Time" and meticulously record the situation, and I could simply turn the wheel of regression.
But unfortunately, at this time, I hadn't even exchanged names with the Saintess.
Therefore, I had to witness the world-ending scene caused by the meteor shower alone.
"Stars… are getting closer?"
Boss battle, against the Meteor Shower. Phase 1.
First, countless starlights start pouring down from the night sky.
If you are very far from the meteor shower's impact point, your chances of survival are high. The meteor shower is not a real meteor shower. It's a monster. It falls infinitely slower compared to actual meteors.
If you're standing near the impact point? You can only offer your condolences. You're already 99% dead.
The 25th cycle me fell into this category.
Because the area that the meteor shower first decided to fall on was none other than Gyeongsangnam-do, Korea.
"Damn it."
From the Ten Legs, to Udumbara, and now to the meteor shower, I couldn't help but feel a growing respect for the legendary Dangun in my heart. Is the geographical position of the Korean Peninsula real?
The only consolation was that, well, you could experience something quite mystical just before dying.
-Twinkle, twinkle, little star.
A melody delicately plucking the heavens.
-Shining like a diamond in the sky.
Phase 2 of the boss battle began.
I quickly descended Bongrae Mountain.
Despite it being the middle of the night, people were outside, or poking their heads out of windows to watch the night sky.
It must have been due to the surreal scenery and the ethereal melody.
"What's this? A song?"
"Where is it coming from?"
"Speakers…? No, that can't be right."
Murmurs.
After the collapse of civilization, humanity's biological rhythm reverted to the Stone Age. Almost all humans were forced into a good child's lifestyle, falling asleep as early as 9 PM.
Considering that, the scene before me was certainly abnormal.
-From the eastern sky, to the western sky.
Even with a little exaggeration, the celestial song from the meteor shower carried a rhythm engraved in the DNA of modern humans.
"Doesn't it seem familiar?"
"This is a lullaby!"
"What? A lullaby?"
"Yes! It's hard to hear because of all the noise, but it's a lullaby. That, what was it? Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star!"
"Ah."
Mozart's lullaby. Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star.
Although the lyrics may vary by nation and people, it's a song so instinctively recognizable that almost everyone can identify it.
-Twinkle, twinkle, little star.
Listening to the lullaby drifting serenely from the sky, while the stars drew nearer and nearer, one might forget that we were being invaded by one of the most dangerous monsters in the world.
But as all humans gazed blankly at the night sky, the melody broke, and pieces of the world were torn away.
-Vvveeeeiiiiiing!
"Argh! Damn it!"
"Is it an air raid siren?"
"No, the government's gone and the speakers are broken, so what…."
People grimaced and covered their ears at the sudden siren. Fortunately, it stopped shortly after, but we mustn't let our guard down.
That sound was the indicator that the monster had entered a new phase.
Phase 3, commence.
-Twinkle, twinkle, little star.
-Shining like a diamond in the sky.
Whoosh――
The previously slow-falling meteors all converged over Busan at once.
Twisting into a beautiful, bright white arc, each star held its own unique pitch, spreading like wings.
I arrived at the guild headquarters of Samcheon World around this time. Some guild members, including Dang Seo-rin, were outside the train station.
I shouted urgently.
"Dang Seo-rin!"
"Huh? Undertaker? Why are you here at this hour…."
A look of irritation crossed Dang Seo-rin's face briefly, probably remembering our earlier argument.
But there was no time to dwell on that.
"It's a monster!"
"What?"
"That starlight! It's a monster!"
"...!"
As soon as she heard my words, Dang Seo-rin's expression changed. Not as a friend on a gourmet tour, but as the leader of the Samcheon Guild Alliance and the Samcheon World guild master, her face turned fierce.
"That's absurd! It's just a phenomenon."
"What phenomenon? Even though most scientists are employed inside monsters, no one has ever announced the existence of meteors that sing lullabies for over six hours while falling slowly from space!"
"Wait. Then, how the hell do we…?"
I understood the unspoken question Dang Seo-rin swallowed.
[Then, how the hell do we stop that?]
It took only a few words to break the fixed ideas about monsters, proving that Dang Seo-rin was faster than anyone else in this regard.
But in every other respect, we were already too late.
-From the eastern sky, to the western sky.
Thud.
Dang Seo-rin and I turned our heads simultaneously. Thud. One by one, the Samcheon World guild members who had been standing guard around us fell to the ground like scarecrows.
Even Dang Seo-rin couldn't help but be shocked.
"What――"
"Damn."
It wasn't just the guild members. Thud. Thud. Citizens who had come out to admire the rare night sky view, and people who were listening to the low-quality lullaby through their windows, all collapsed as if fainting.
"Are they… dead? All of them? Just like that?"
"No."
I approached the nearest guild member to check their condition.
"…They've fallen asleep."
"What?"
"Literally, they're in a state of sleep. It's hard to believe, but the whole city is falling asleep right now."
I slapped the guild member's cheek, but they didn't even flinch. Even after channeling aura, there was no response.
I groaned.
"It seems that not only the starlight but also the lullaby itself is a monster. It probably has a [Forced Sleep] effect. The moment we hear the lullaby, it's over. It's a damn situation. We need to escape."
I immediately decided to abandon the city.
"Escape?"
"Yes. Dang Seo-rin, we need to leave this city quickly."
I grabbed Dang Seo-rin's wrist. She felt unusually light.
"If we stay here, we'll soon fall asleep too. Then there will be no one left to report this phenomenon or the monster."
"...."
"We have to struggle until the end. It's not over yet. Let's go, Dang Seo-rin. Hurry."
At that moment.
The night sky turned bright white.
Blindingly, blindingly bright.
Dang Seo-rin, whose wrist was held by me, looked up dazedly.
"Ah...."
White night.
Phase 4 of the boss battle.
And the final phase.
"…It's too late. Undertaker."
"...."
"Something strange has been happening lately. People who were usually fine became anxious and irritable. Undertaker, you knew… this would happen, didn't you?"
"No, I didn't. I just guessed something would happen tonight. I never imagined the countless starlights would be monsters."
"Hmm, sorry. I should have taken it more seriously."
"…I'm the one who should apologize."
I murmured.
"I promise I won't do this ever again."
"Heh. Okay."
Dang Seo-rin chuckled as if she had heard a funny joke. I hugged her tightly.
The sky, bleached white, was filled with the lullaby, mingled with static noise.
More twisted and stuttering than before, the lullaby now sounded like noise from a broken radio.
-Twinkle, twinkle, little star.
-Shining like a diamond in the sky.
The light approached.
As my vision grew brighter, instead of awakening, my eyelids became increasingly heavy.
Dang Seo-rin might have felt the same. She blinked her eyes slowly while hugging my back. Perhaps, instead of hugging, she was collapsing toward me.
"Undertaker."
"…Yes."
"I, actually…"
Flash―――
The world turned white before my eyes.
The night sky, the city, Busan's waterfront, the collapsed bridge in the middle, the beach. Dang Seo-rin's face. Shadows. Breathing.
Even the world.
That was my 25th annihilation.
-x-X-x-
The Sleepwalker III
In the first battle with the meteor shower, I received a report card marked "utterly defeated."
In fact, even the term "first battle" reflects a very human-centric perspective. For the meteor shower, it was the third.
Since I'm already writing the report, I might as well write it all the way through. Although the 25th cycle me died and couldn't witness it firsthand, after the meteor shower fell to the ground, the following scenes unfolded.
Flash―――
As soon as the starlight touched down, it evaporated everything within a radius of tens to hundreds of kilometers in an instant.
Evaporation, literally. It's a phenomenon hard to describe with any other word.
-BOOM!
Everything within the starlight's range—humans, animals, plants, even most monsters—turned to ash in an instant.
Not gray ash, but pure white ash, giving it a beautiful appearance.
If you run to where the meteor shower first appeared, you can witness the entire world turned into a white ashland, with countless particles floating like cherry blossoms in the air. It's quite a spectacle.
Of course, no matter how pretty it is, you shouldn't think about getting close.
Even one step into the 'Territory of Ashes,' or even a single finger crossing the boundary, and you'll inexplicably burn to white ash.
Yeah, this is a message for my 26th cycle self. You idiot with too much curiosity.
Thus, the entire Gyeongsangnam-do region of Korea was wiped out, but unfortunately, the meteor shower's havoc didn't end there.
Next came Hawaii in the Pacific, the Ingrian region of Russia, China, France, India, Pakistan, Israel, and so on. The meteor shower went on a world tour.
Each time, the world became perforated like Swiss cheese often seen in Tom and Jerry. The habitable area for humanity shrank accordingly.
This world tour took a total of six years.
Exactly six years after the meteor shower first fell on Korea, the entire world turned to ashes.
In the fifth year, the meteor shower hits Seoul. This time, not only the Korean Peninsula but half of East Asia gets included in the 'Territory of Ashes.'
The meteor shower that killed me during the vacation cycle when I was running a convenience store was the one aimed at Seoul.
There are no exceptions to the apocalypse.
No matter how deep you dig underground or build a bunker, or even if you escape to the sea on a boat, the day will come when every surface on Earth is covered by the 'Territory of Ashes.' Even the sea turns white when struck by the meteor shower.
A beautiful death.
A bleached end.
A white world.
"...."
In the 27th cycle, I succeeded in escaping the meteor shower.
'Escaping' is perhaps more accurately described as 'scouting to strategize for the future.' It wasn't hard to avoid the meteor shower's range.
Even if it meant that my base, the Korean Peninsula, Dang Seo-rin, and many of my connections would be turned to ashes by the starlight, I meticulously gathered information on that monster.
'I must endure now.'
It was a familiar task for a regressor like me.
It was around this time that I started using the term "anomaly" or "grotesques" instead of "monster." Observing the meteor shower made me revise many of my preconceptions about monsters.
Of course, that didn't mean a miracle like defeating the meteor shower happened right away.
Because at this point, the Korean Peninsula was a literal hell.
"Immortal life! Eternal flame! Celestial court!"
"Oh! You know the New Buddha! If you just wear flowers on your head, you can survive even if your limbs are blown off!"
"Why do we need awakeners? If you just believe in the New Buddha, you can truly achieve eternal life!"
In the seventh year, a meteor shower hit Gyeongsangnam-do, and on top of that, the World Tree 'Udumbara' fully bloomed.
And that wasn't all. If Baekhwa Girls' High School wasn't properly sealed, our dark mage junior, Cheon Yo-hwa, would gleefully create an 'academy city.'
Honestly, even as a regressor, this was too much bad luck.
A meteor strike comparable to a nuclear explosion, an apocalyptic cult spreading across East Asia, and a zombie city added to the mix? What is this? Are they telling me to just die quietly?
'I must endure.'
So I obediently died.
Yes, a regressor can just die and start over.
'A flow of change will surely come someday.'
In other words, I bided my time.
Sometimes I died from the starlight bombardment, sometimes I got bitten by the million-strong zombie army of the academy city. I refined strategies for the world's end and lamented the lack of a masterpiece to execute those strategies while growing impatient, enduring and enduring, waiting.
Can I really clear stages this difficult? No, these stages?
I endured.
Maybe it was time for me to, like Old Man Scho, shed my sense of duty and focus on enjoying small pleasures. After all, I knew better than anyone that no matter how many regressions I went through, the world didn't change much.
I endured.
What if I just told Dang Seo-rin everything?
I endured.
And then.
"The constellations don't exist."
Finally.
"The Saintess of National Salvation and the Conqueror of the Alps, they're all characters I created by myself."
Splash.
A small wave rippled through my world.
―Finally, the tide of change had arrived.
No matter how much the world forced the genre of despair upon me, I, the Undertaker, never broke.
If Oh Dok-seo had heard me, she might have retorted, "No, mister, that unbreakable spirit is exactly the key seasoning that makes despair delicious," but I'd cleanly ignore such comments from a literary pervert otaku.
Game Changer.
The Saintess's overwhelming awakening abilities turned the tide of war, which had repeated dozens of times, completely.
[I found it, Mr. Undertaker.]
[Chungcheongnam-do. Asan. Onyang.]
World Tree Udumbara, extermination complete.
The regressor's 'knowledge' of the future and the Clairvoyant's 'sight' of the present created an overwhelming synergy.
Even aside from her awakening abilities, the Saintess was a reliable partner.
We shared information, planned strategies, and together, we eliminated the factors turning the Korean Peninsula into a fiery hell.
"However, I can't seem to figure out how to deal with the meteor shower. Starlight falling from the sky, and the effect of forcibly putting people to sleep...."
"Don't worry. I have a plan."
I said.
"The only role you need to take on right now, Saintess, is that of a prophet."
"...?"
The Saintess tilted her head.
Before long, a translucent message appeared to all the awakeners active in Korea.
[The Saintess of National Salvation sends out a quest.]
"Huh?"
"What?"
The awakeners read the quest window with puzzled expressions.
The message read as follows:
──────────
[Meteor Strike]
In six years, a top-class anomaly called 'Meteor Shower' will fall on the Korean Peninsula. The meteor shower will burn down the entire southern part of the peninsula.
Survive the threat of the meteor shower.
-Reward: Survival
-Failure: Death
──────────
A quest distributed to all the awakeners in Korea. Thanks to the Saintess's [Telepathy] ability, the message was transmitted both as voice and text.
Of course, the messages were sent under the name of a constellation, not the Saintess herself.
"Wha? Death? Just die?"
"Damn it. What kind of quest is this?"
"There's no chance this is a hoax… right?"
The awakeners fell into confusion.
Even I, the regressor, was almost fooled, the Saintess impersonated the constellations so well. It was extremely hard to doubt the authenticity of a quest given by a constellation. Who would imagine a madman using [Clairvoyance], [Telepathy], and [Time Stop] all at once to impersonate the constellations?
Moreover, this was the moment that revealed how skillful the Saintess was at manipulating the constellations, thus showing her natural talent for inciting the awakeners' psychology.
"An anomaly? A meteor shower? …What's that?"
"There are no clues except that it's six years away. How are we supposed to proceed with this quest?"
"Is there anyone with specific information? If you share it with our guild, we will reward you handsomely!"
The Saintess didn't reveal all the information at once. She guided the awakeners to voluntarily piece together the clues.
[The Chancellor of the Red Cape secretly tells you that anomaly is the term constellations use for monsters.]
To particularly devoted awakeners, she gradually leaked information as if it were special knowledge meant just for them.
[The chain quest for 'Meteor Strike' has been activated!]
For specific awakeners, she framed the information about the meteor shower as a quest, revealing it step by step.
──────────
[Identity of the Meteor Shower] (2/4)
So far, it has been revealed that the meteor shower is the entity responsible for destroying numerous worlds.
If the starlight of the meteor shower touches the ground, no one can escape destruction.
Currently, you are the only one who has accurately grasped the danger of the meteor shower.
──────────
I prepared all the quest rewards to motivate them.
Having run a convenience store once, I knew that in an emergency, I could secure a significant portion of the remaining logistics in Korea.
I hid the stolen goods in a remote warehouse, and when the constellation revealed the warehouse's location as an 'event reward,' the awakeners eagerly rushed to gather the supplies.
Additionally, when Cheon Yo-hwa joined our operation later, the authenticity of the 'quests given by the constellations' reached its peak.
"Oh, the meteor shower? Indeed. They led my homeworld to its end."
"I'm just a fugitive. So, I don't know much about the meteor shower. But rumor has it… that before the starlight falls from the night sky, a song always resounds."
These NPCs were created by Cheon Yo-hwa under my orders.
Occasionally, when entering the depths of the void, NPC villages would be found. The NPCs claimed to be 'refugees from a world that had already been destroyed.'
"A song? What song?"
"I don't know the details either."
"Ha, this seems like crucial information.... We're stuck here."
The NPCs' zombie-like appearance, with parts of their bodies melting away, added visual impact and credibility to their statements. To the uninformed, it would seem like an ominous sign of something truly terrible about to happen.
About a year passed like that.
-Anonymous: Comprehensive compilation of information on the top-class anomaly 'Meteor Shower.'
-[Samcheon] WitchJudge: Regarding the 'song' consistently reported in quests related to the meteor shower.
-Anonymous: Posting the messages supposedly sent by constellations regarding the meteor shower so far.
A 'Meteor Shower Board' was even created on SG Net.
Here, the awakeners not only voluntarily organized the information but also actively discussed strategies.
Believing the information was hard-earned through their own blood and sweat, they became more convinced of the meteor shower's appearance.
There were always one or two awakeners like Old Man Scho who doubted the existence of the constellations.
But combining the Saintess's [Clairvoyance], [Telepathy], and [Time Stop], Cheon Yo-hwa's [NPC Creation], my future knowledge as the regressor, and skillful resource distribution created an unquestionable sense of 'authenticity.'
As a result.
-Anonymous: There's only a year left until the meteor shower appears. Shouldn't we start joint training between guilds?
-Anonymous: I heard Samcheon World already periodically gathers allied guilds for training.
-Anonymous: Objectively speaking, Dang Seo-rin is the only leader for Korea.
└Anonymous: Are you wearing a pointy hat?
The awakeners in Korea were fully prepared to hunt the meteor shower.
From now on, it was the regressor's time.
-x-X-x-
The Sleepwalker IV
I could end the Ten Legs with a single strike.
Originally, I had mastered a miraculous power that was only allowed to the Sword Star in this world, the aura of starlight, known as Sword Force.
Despite this, I never ended the Ten Legs in one turn kill. Instead, I always ensured that the 'Korean Awakeners Alliance' was established and dragged them into the battlefield against the Ten Legs.
"It's been a while. How have you been, Undertaker?"
"Ah, Undertaker! How are you!"
This was because, to use a somewhat comical expression, the awakeners needed 'awakening.'
In the battlefield, I showed them how powerful the Ten Legs were, how mistaken their arrogance was in seeing themselves as transcendent beings, without needing to lecture them.
Humans, Homo sapiens, only learn whether something is shit or soy paste by tasting it themselves.
After a life-or-death battle with the Ten Legs, the awakeners of the Korean Peninsula realized, 'Ah, if we don't form an alliance in advance, we'll all die when an A-class anomaly appears.'
I added one more trick to this.
"It's been a while. How have you all been?"
"Good, good!"
"Getting used to the aura?"
"Haha, well, not quite yet…"
I advertised that 'only those who joined the alliance would receive special tutoring on advanced aura techniques for free.'
Even though civilization had collapsed, the zeal for education was engraved in the DNA of Koreans. Words like 'advanced,' 'learning,' and 'special tutoring' paralyzed their brains.
Many awakeners had witnessed firsthand in the battles with Ten Legs how useful aura was. The tentacles of Ten Legs were tougher than the toughest squid legs, and only blades imbued with aura could pierce them.
"Undertaker!"
"Undertaker, I'm stuck in my training…"
In a sense, the Korean Awakeners Alliance became a sect that revered me like a Grandmaster.
Originally, Old Man Scho filled this role, but he had retired…
Of course, the awakeners were all lunatics. There were countless people who treated their superiors like dogs.
Therefore, even while teaching them aura techniques, I never demanded anything in return.
Running a guild? Why should I interfere? It's your guild, so handle it yourself. Tuition fees? Forget it, just suck the essence of the techniques from me. Sure, take this and that, take my liver and gallbladder. It's fine. I don't need anything.
In the apocalypse, such behavior was the perfect way to be treated like a pushover.
But what if that pushover nonchalantly walked through anomaly-infested voids, traveled from city to city, effortlessly dispatched Ten Legs, received plenty of favor from the constellations, and boasted friendships with the guild master of Samcheon World and the National Road Management Corps chief?
Even awakeners, who selectively let rationality enter their skulls, would have to reconsider the definition of 'pushover.'
"Master, when will we ever be able to repay our debt?"
"I can collect your debt anytime, but I won't, and I'll continue not to. So, keep learning aura techniques that suit you. You'll survive life-threatening situations and solidify your authority as a guild master, but you won't give me anything in return. We all know this, you, me, Dang Seo-rin, and Noh Do-hwa."
"Master! No, hyung! Please!"
The so-called Super Subordinate phenomenon.
To exaggerate a bit, if I came up with a suitable reason and said, 'I heard the guild master in Incheon is stirring trouble in Korea...,' the guild masters here would lead their entire forces to cause havoc, thinking, 'Grandmaster wants us to crush the Incheon guild!'
Moreover, the extermination of the Meteor Shower wasn't just any reason but one that involved the fate of the entire Korean Peninsula. The guild masters who owed me naturally had no choice but to gather.
"You're always popular."
After a round of intense handshakes, Dang Seo-rin greeted me with a weary face.
"You could just settle down in one city, but you always travel all over the country. Are you diligent or not…?"
"Why, I've settled down. All of Gangnam in Seoul is my turf. Are you underestimating the land value of Gangnam now?"
"There's nothing in Gangnam now except your guild building."
"It's a low-point investment. When civilization starts to rebuild, the life of Undertaker will become a legendary real estate story."
Dang Seo-rin chuckled.
"So, no thoughts of settling down? No thoughts of dating? I hear a lot of people like you."
"I'm not interested in dating…"
The Meteor Shower had to arrive at dusk.
We waited for the night, holding brooms in our hands while chatting. Why did we all have brooms? Well, you'll soon find out.
Tense air.
To ease the hardened atmosphere, light jokes and small talk flowed quietly in the camp.
Maintaining normalcy to ignore the abnormal had been a wisdom humans learned long ago.
"Why? Are you impotent?"
"I'm just not interested in dating. Honestly, my mental age is around a thousand years. No matter how it is, I can't date kids, can I?"
"Pff. What nonsense."
Not only Dang Seo-rin and me, but all the awakeners exchanged trivial jokes.
It was natural. The Meteor Shower was supposed to descend over Gyeongsangnam-do in the 7th year of regression.
Here in the Gimhae plains, not a single elite warrior hadn't crossed the wall of life and death dozens of times.
They all knew how crucial it was to control their mental strength right before a battle.
"Actually, it's hard to imagine you dating anyone."
"Yeah, even though there's nothing rough about you, you have the look of someone destined to be single forever. You have that kind of vibe."
If it were after the 50th cycle, SG Man Seo Gyu and the villain Sim Ah-ryeon would have joined in the joke.
"Heh. More than anything, it's the partner who should be worried. Seventy percent of your conversations would be about the Three Kingdoms, twenty percent about the Chu-Han Contention, and the remaining ten percent about the Water Margin. Who could endure that? Even a thousand-year love would wither."
If it were after the 55th cycle, the National Road Management Corps chief Noh Do-hwa would have sipped her ginger tea, exhaling hot breath and equally hot sarcasm.
"Haha. I sometimes think I wish senior would stop talking about the Three Kingdoms! Honestly, I don't even find it interesting. Well, except for the part where Dong Zhuo burns down Luoyang!"
If it were after the 109th cycle, Baekhwa Girls' High student president Cheon Yo-hwa would have added with a bright smile.
"..."
[....]
Lee Ha-yul and the Saintess would have always been silent.
Throughout my life, spanning 1183 cycles, allies sometimes increased and sometimes decreased.
But today was the 42nd cycle.
Our blood pact was not yet complete, and thus, I would describe one of the most difficult and intense battles.
―――, ――.
―. ―――. ....
...., ..., ...."
Countless voices disappeared.
Above us, only Dang Seo-rin and I, our breath turned into white smoke and rose.
Our breaths for two people turned a reddish hue.
My companion in time muttered.
"Indeed. I'm not interested in dating either."
The dusk descended from the sky.
A pleasant tension seeped through my body.
[――It's coming.]
The Saintess's low mutter.
Suddenly, the world's crimson glow burned a bit brighter.
It was like a giant wreath of flames.
The sky's zenith burned red, while the edges turned blue, black, pitch-black, quietly darkening.
The flames lived and moved. The crimson dusk at the center exhaled continually into the dark blue night sky, and inversely, it inhaled from the periphery.
The sky— the world, was breathing in the glow of dusk and starlight.
"Dang Seo-rin."
"Yes. I know."
Dang Seo-rin had already started chanting.
How long had it been since the song flowed from her lips?
Suddenly, the darkness at the edge of the sky swallowed the entire celestial dome. The world darkened as if dusk had never existed.
Night sky.
It wasn't a physical or astronomical change. It was as if a mother quietly covered her child's eyes with her palm, the entire world was momentarily shrouded by something.
"It's here."
"Damn. It's real."
Murmurs.
Some awakeners stirred at the incomprehensible phenomenon. The tension they had carefully suppressed with thorough strategy meetings, tactics, and witty banter suddenly surged to the surface.
Some clenched their fists at the arrival of the anomaly that had been foretold for six years.
In an era where power poles and streetlights had closed their eyes, only the elite warriors' eyes dimly glowed. They stared at the night sky, arranged in meticulously planned formations.
[The Saintess of National Salvation announces that...]
[A top-class anomaly 'Meteor Shower' has appeared over the Korean Peninsula.]
Whirr—
The night sky's darkness vomited out the highly condensed starlight. It was as if a giant playfully poked the sky's balloon with a scale.
But the result was no joke.
"Starlight!"
"The strategy was right…?"
"My God. That's not just a meteor. It's an anomaly controlling the entire sky.
Normally, from this point, the Meteor Shower would stay in the sky for six hours.
But as observed through many cycles, during those six hours, the Meteor Shower wasn't merely showing off how beautiful its starlight was, doing a runway walk, or rather a Milky Way walk, in the night sky.
In fact, it was casting a 'spell' on the humans on the ground over those six hours.
It could be called hypnosis or brainwashing. The key was, the more people who looked up at the starlight in the night sky, the stronger the Meteor Shower became.
[The Saintess of National Salvation advises non-combatants not to look at the night sky.]
Thus, in this boss battle, cooperation and swift resolution were paramount.
Instead of waiting for the Meteor Shower to gather enough power to fall, we aimed for its weakest point.
In other words, striking in the early stages was my strategy.
"Ah――"
To initiate this plan, Dang Seo-rin opened the first movement.
First melody, repeat. Second melody, expansion.
The song, often used in large-scale battles, filled the plains.
This alone was enough to back up the allies within the range of her magic. However, we were fully prepared for this battle.
"...Bzz, ...Ah...."
Each combatant had a radio attached to their chest or waist. These items were prepared specifically for this battle. There was even a base station built nearby.
It was a tactic only possible because I, as a regressor, knew the exact location of the battlefield.
It was evidence that we had concentrated all the remnants and dregs of civilization for this critical battle.
Simply spreading Dang Seo-rin's song through the radios would have been convenient, but such a convenient cheat didn't occur. Thus, an additional melody was necessary.
"Ah――ah, ah――"
Third melody, Medium.
A pre-designated substance resonated with Dang Seo-rin's song like a kind of mirror, thanks to magic.
Naturally, all the radios distributed to the awakeners were designated as 'mediums.' Since this designation required another layer of magic, Dang Seo-rin had been pre-enchanting the radios whenever she had spare time.
The total time spent on this task was three years.
Moreover, the equipment designated as 'mediums' by Dang Seo-rin wasn't just cheap radios.
The final and most important Cursed Song Incantation that we had prepared and Dang Seo-rin executed resonated.
"Ah―― Ah―――"
Fourth melody, Flight.
The fourth song wrapped around the sky once and continued in endless da capo through repetition.
Grasping.
Nine hundred awakeners gathered in the Gimhae plains, and among them, seven hundred selected for combat clenched their hands as promised.
Every one of their fists held a broom.
"It's a bit late to point out, but… Was a broom really the best choice?"
"Yep, absolutely."
Dang Seo-rin answered, having finished the fourth melody. She had a look as if wondering why such a thing was asked.
"A witch can only fly with a broom."
With a tap, Dang Seo-rin kicked the dirt. Perhaps it was because she had repeated this action thousands, tens of thousands of times. The pose of the great witch was relaxed and elegant.
Frrrrrk— From her small frame, a black cloak three times her size fluttered like a flag.
I chuckled. Then, I spoke into the radio.
"All units, commence takeoff."
That was the signal.
Seven hundred awakeners of the alliance simultaneously leaped from the plains and soared into the night sky.
Boss battle.
Anomaly: Meteor Shower
Threat Level: Lv.3 Continental-class
Begin Subjugation.
First phase, takeoff.
-x-X-x-
The Sleepwalker V
To state the obvious, homo sapiens do not have wings.
Most people have no intuition for flight.
Unless they are pilots who treat the engine sounds of an airplane like their heartbeat or paragliders who feel their parachutes as extensions of their arms, humans generally don't find much thrill in flying.
And where intuition is absent, fear is born.
"Argh! I'm flying! I'm flying!"
"How high do we have to go?"
As seven hundred awakeners soared into the air, relying only on cheap brooms, screams erupted from all sides.
"Mom! I really hate this!"
"I'm falling! Ahhh!"
"Waaaah!"
Of course, we had conducted several joint training sessions beforehand. Those with a fear of heights were excluded from the combat team.
However, even so, cheap brooms were far from reliable as humanity's new wings.
An owl flying through the night sky gave us a look that seemed to say, 'What are these new suicide seekers?'
[The Saintess of National Salvation announces that the vanguard has currently surpassed an altitude of 300 meters.]
In a sense, the owl's look was accurate. If not a suicide squad, what would you call a group charging with makeshift wings to take down a top-class anomaly?
Only the guild members of Samcheon World skillfully demonstrated the art of flight.
[600 meters.]
Oh, by the way, I was quite proficient in broom flight myself. Believe it or not, I once took second place in an internal flight competition at Samcheon World.
Leading the vanguard, alongside me, was Dang Seo-rin, the perennial champion of those flight competitions.
[1500 meters.]
It started getting cold.
"Aaah――."
But it didn't matter. Dang Seo-rin was already singing another verse of the Cursed Song.
The fourth melody, body reinforcement.
Combining existing spells like 'temperature regulation' and 'breath support,' it was a comprehensive package developed by Dang Seo-rin. It helped withstand hostile environments such as the deep sea, scorching deserts, and the void to some extent.
As expected, as soon as Dang Seo-rin finished chanting, a pleasant warmth enveloped my entire body.
[2200 meters.]
Higher. Higher.
[2900 meters.]
A quick glance downward showed the ground already a tiny speck below. Ignoring the instinctive dizziness, I turned my gaze back to the sky.
There was the Meteor Shower.
From below, the starlight seemed about to fall at any moment. However, no matter how high we flew, the stars didn't appear any larger.
An optical illusion. A trick of the world. Staring at the starlight continuously, I felt my sense of proportion between distance and size breaking down.
But this too was an illusion within an illusion. We were undoubtedly getting closer to the Meteor Shower.
[3500 meters.]
Finally.
[4100 meters. Approaching Target.]
[Engage.]
Shhhh—
It sounded like waves crashing. At an altitude of 4100 meters, it was a sound that shouldn't be heard.
As we pierced through the surface of that noise, suddenly, everything turned pitch black.
It was more fitting to call it a 'dark abyss' than a 'night sky,' as the inky blackness covered everything.
Shaa, shaaa—
Each time an awakener followed me up, the darkness rippled. They lowered their brooms and hovered in midair.
Awestruck by the unfamiliar sight, the awakeners gaped.
"My god, this is…."
"It's the void!"
Before confusion spread through the combat team, I grabbed the radio and shouted.
"We have just entered the Meteor Shower's territory! No need to be surprised or tense! It's just the void we've experienced countless times before, but now it's in the sky!"
"Ah."
"Continue the operation! Reform your formations! Team up with your combat units! Reorganize and charge as trained! You have 40 seconds!"
"Team 8, gather! Team 8, gather!"
"Team 11! Why are you there! Get over here, you idiot!"
The formation of awakeners, momentarily disrupted by the ascent into the night sky void, quickly reformed.
Meanwhile, I kept my eyes fixed on the direction of the Meteor Shower.
Starlight that seemed ready to fall at any moment. No, it gave the illusion it was already falling.
But it was clear that it was just crouching there, watching us.
Surpassing intellect and reason, the instincts honed through dozens of cycles fiercely sensed its hostility.
Contrary to my instincts, the surroundings were eerily calm.
It felt like being dropped in the middle of a calm, dark ocean.
"This place is strange, Undertaker."
Dang Seo-rin pulled her broomhead close to me and murmured.
"The air feels heavy. It's a bit hard to breathe. It feels like I've entered shallow water rather than the sky."
"The anomaly must have a water attribute and be preparing for rain. What did you expect? The void is just void."
"That's true."
"Do your best with the last song."
"Yes. Leave it to me. And you, too. This operation depends on you."
"Of course."
Then, a small voice of the Saintess whispered into my ear.
[Be careful, Mr. Undertaker. The altimeter is broken.]
Broken?
[It was recording about 4100 meters just before entering the void, but now it's showing 7182 meters, -9699 meters, 21337 meters, 0.01 meters, changing erratically. In real-time.]
"...."
[It's not just the altitude. Other metrics like pressure are fluctuating continuously. Good luck.]
I nodded.
Exactly 40 seconds.
I looked back. Seven hundred perfectly aligned members of the flight squad were behind me.
"Continue the operation! Charge! Charge!"
"Waaaah!"
Boss battle, Phase 2, begin.
Seven hundred members of the flight squad followed me in a spearhead formation. Dang Seo-rin, who had been at the forefront with me, shifted to the rear as planned.
The starlight remained unresponsive.
Which was our greatest opportunity.
"Aaah―aaah―a――"
From the rear, Dang Seo-rin's voice awakened the night sky.
The fifth melody, 'Mirror of All Things'.
This too was a recently developed high-difficulty grand magic. Combining [Focus], [Absorption], [Reflection], and [Amplification], it was Dang Seo-rin's masterpiece, finally unified into one song.
Its effect was clear.
Shhh—
Translucent mirrors formed around the seven hundred awakeners. Like planets orbiting the sun, countless mirrors surrounded our flight squad.
I gave the command without hesitation.
"All units, pour out your power!"
The awakeners, as if waiting for this moment, unleashed their aura and mana towards the mirrors.
The mirrors reflected the awakeners' auras precisely towards 'other mirrors.'
Ching—
Mirrors that finished their reflection shattered instantly. Countless mirror fragments scattered in the air like white spring flowers.
The streams of aura, reflected from the rear, bounced off more and larger mirrors as they moved forward.
Ching— Ching— Ching—
Each time, the mirrors shattered, and the aura, superimposed repeatedly, was passed to the next mirror.
The glass, stained with the colors of the aura, poured out every color into the pitch-black night sky.
The radio buzzed noisily.
[Team 12, charged!]
[Team 11, charged!]
Exactly.
The role of the 'Mirror of All Things' in this battle was to concentrate firepower.
With slight variations, the seven hundred-member squad formed teams of about sixty members each.
Meaning, roughly sixty awakeners focused their aura, their strike, into the mirrors.
[Team 6, charged! Charged!]
[Loss rate, about 5%!]
Rumble!
The mixing of differently colored and patterned auras created thunderous sounds. Like a giant beast growling.
From Team 12 to Team 1.
Passing through twelve zigzagged intestines, the roar of the Korean Peninsula alliance surged up to its throat.
[Team 4, charged――]
[Loss rate below 3%. Within calculated range. Transmitting.]
[Team 3! Passed!]
A storm of aura swept forward.
Occasionally, a scream of 'Hic!' escaped. Awakeners not accustomed to flight stumbled in the aura storm.
It was anticipated. Therefore, I placed inexperienced awakeners in the later teams, and skilled elite warriors in the lead teams.
There was no problem.
Dang Seo-rin controlled everything from the rear, and I commanded everything from the front.
[Team 2… passed! Somehow, we made it!]
[Go! Go! Go!]
Some awakeners exclaimed in awe. Like ancient Egyptians in awe of their self-made pyramids, they too were thrilled by the torrent of aura.
And then.
[Team 1! Charged! Mr. Undertaker!]
The leader of Team 1 shouted. Yu Ji-won. In the distant past, she had served as my adjutant when I was with Samcheon World.
[Now―― Now! Transmitting!]
[Loss rate below 1%! Below 1%!]
[Mr. Undertaker!]
Rumble—!
Finally, the auras of seven hundred were delivered right before me.
All the mirrors created by Dang Seo-rin shattered. The magic mirrors fell to the ground, scattering countless fragments.
Except for the largest mirror right before my eyes.
The transparent concave mirror swirled with the aura storm.
"Huff…!"
Every hair on my body stood on end.
An euphoria like becoming an omnipotent god surged up my spine. Which mere mortal could be granted such power, and who could wield it properly?
That's why I stood at the forefront.
I infused my aura into the torrent of aura that seemed ready to explode beyond my control.
Ink-black. This was the color of my soul.
The torrent of colorful auras was instantly tainted black, as if a drop of ink dyed water in a beaker.
Pop, the skin on my right hand peeled up to my forearm. Unable to withstand the output of the aura.
"...!"
My ears rang. I heard no sound. Thunder rumbled incessantly around me, and my vision darkened, making everything invisible.
The pain of bursting blood vessels.
But still, there was no problem.
-Saintess! The position――
[Adjust 3 cm to the right.]
A calm voice echoed directly in my mind.
[Now, 11 cm down.]
[Too low. 2 cm up.]
In the 42nd cycle, I didn't know, but the Saintess was meticulously correcting errors using 'Time Stop.'
She must have reviewed and recalculated countless times whether the aura would hit the Meteor Shower. Perhaps spending days and nights.
That long time was but a moment to me, and I endured all the pain to hold on to that moment.
[Yes, just a little. Just a little more....]
[Now.]
Softly.
[Now, Mr. Undertaker.]
The Saintess's time intersected with mine.
At that moment, I roared and fired the storm of aura gathered before my eyes. My own roar was inaudible to me.
Rumble—!
Only the roar of a giant beast.
The ink-black roar, penetrating through the souls of seven hundred and the twelve intestines, shook the world.
-Wh҉a҉t҉?҉
Finally, the Meteor Shower, which had been silent, reacted. Like an entity just awakened from a deep sleep.
Boss battle, Phase 3, begin.
-Twinkle, twinkle, little star.
The Meteor Shower trembled.
-Shining like a diamond in the sky.
-From the eastern sky, to the western sky.
A familiar melody. The lullaby that had always led the ground to ruin from the 23rd to the 41st cycle resonated through the storm.
It intended to lull us to sleep again.
"Aaah―aaah, aaah――"
And for this very moment, Dang Seo-rin played her final card.
The song, resonating from both the far and near side of the night sky, but the moment the two waves met at the center.
-Wh҉a҉t҉?
―――The song abruptly ceased.
The sixth melody, Antiresonance.
An application magic of [Silence] that nullified all noise by emitting a sound wave precisely countering the opponent's sound.
I shouted, filled with joy.
"The power to create miracles with song isn't a patent exclusive to you!"
The point where the Meteor Shower's void and Dang Seo-rin's magic crossed was exactly where I was flying.
The black waves emitted by the Meteor Shower and the white waves emitted by Dang Seo-rin clashed endlessly. Black and white. The colors of humanity's song. The shades of the anomaly's song.
The battlefield in the night sky was filled with the songs of humans and void, while I alone raced through the line of silence.
Following the Saintess's guidance, constantly aiming the storm of aura.
-Wh҉a҉t҉?҉
Was it because its lethal move didn't work? An unidentifiable noise seeped into the lullaby sung by the Meteor Shower.
But, it was too late.
To land this strike, this surprise attack, the seven hundred combat team and nine hundred support team had trained relentlessly.
Dang Seo-rin developed three high-level spells, prepared radios, and enchanted them with medium magic.
The Saintess had worked in secrecy, hiding her existence to lend credibility to the constellations' messages.
The time the Saintess spent over seven years to unite all the awakeners of the alliance was near eternal. The few days spent fine-tuning the aim were but the final seasoning of that eternity.
And my 150 years.
The optimal route. The best strategy.
-Wh҉a҉t҉?҉ Wh҉a҉t҉?҉ Wh҉a҉t҉?҉ Wh҉a҉t҉?҉
Thus, this was the first and final strike.
The only moment the Meteor Shower was off guard. A moment when it had not yet fallen on any ground, destroyed any nation, or killed any awakener, and thus was least experienced.
Literally, the regressor's killer move.
-Wh҉a҉t҉?҉ Wh҉a҉t҉?҉ Wh҉a҉t҉?҉ Wh҉a҉t҉?҉ Wh҉a҉t҉?҉ Wh҉a҉t҉?҉
You can't blame it for being unfair.
That's how you've fought all along.
You too shall die in your sleep, anomaly.
-Wh҉a҉t҉?҉ Wh҉a҉t҉?҉ Wh҉a҉t҉?҉ Wh҉a҉t҉?҉
Flash―――
Starlight ascending from the ground pierced through the starlight descending from the sky.
-x-X-x-