The Experimenter VI
Humanity's dream had ended.
"..."
As mentioned, those who harbored intense disdain for Sim Ah-ryeon as the Collector of All Anomalies were the ones who fully, swiftly transformed into trees and flowers.
The Collector of All Anomalies had always claimed responsibility for nearly every event in the world—when and where an Anomaly would appear, how much suffering people would endure.
I foresaw the future based on my regressor knowledge. And when standing in for me, the Collector of All Anomalies performed the duties of a prophet.
A prophet widely reviled as the mastermind behind world-ending plots, hiding in the shadows.
Naturally, the more they despised "the one who ruined the world," the more they "loved humanity," the less they resigned themselves to civilization's collapse, and the stronger their hope that the world could change—the deeper the hatred ran for Ah-ryeon, the Collector of All Anomalies.
Dang Seo-rin loved humanity. Since she wasn't part of the Regressor's Alliance, she didn't know the true nature of the Constellations. Thus, she hated what was meant to be hated.
So when the Hundred Blooming Blossoms spread across Busan―it took less than 0.1 seconds for Seo-rin to become a tree in full flower.
A violet bloomed before me.
"...Seo-rin."
The violet quivered.
A rich, dark purple flower, almost black, hung down from its branch like wisteria.[1]
Swish.
The sea breeze stirred the flowers.
As if answering my call, the violet's purple petals released a faint lilac scent.
Violets were typically ground flowers, yet she had transformed into a tree. Just as she had leaned on me, putting her weight in my hands. I released Seo-rin's fingers, now vines, and leaned close to the violet. Quietly, I kissed its petals.
"It was just a bad dream. And it won't last too long. Let's meet again, tomorrow."
"..."
Across from the wisteria, Dok-seo stood, looking over with uncertainty. Unlike the others, her body hadn't turned into flowers.
"Hey, mister..."
"Yes. Let's go together."
"...Alright."
Leaving behind the violet wisteria on the beach of humanity's last city, we headed for the Tower of Babel. The city had been transformed entirely into a garden of flowers.
Waaaah!
Some people sobbed, some just moaned, but in this "vegetative" city, the cries of newborns rang out, the last truly human sound.
Beyond that was only chaotic noise.
"No, why! Why aren't my wounds―"
"Damn it, where the hell is the Saintess?!"
"Stop it! Don't pull on that! It's my arm, not a branch! It's my arm!"
Yes.
When no one died and no one was hurt, people could be noble. They could sing of hope. But when they began to suffer injuries, only a few retained their purity.
In the end, "humanity's final line of defense" was not just the territory of "Busan" as a geological site. It was the strategy pieced together by the regressor after endless attempts, the social infrastructure established by the Regressor's Alliance, and the illusion Ah-ryeon had conjured of a world "where no one gets hurt."
This was humanity's last line of defense.
"..."
These scenes passed by quickly as we ran through the blurred cityscape. Dok-seo's gaze wavered as she watched the final sanctuary crumble before her.
"I'm sorry."
"Huh?" she stuttered. "Wh-what? Sorry for what?"
"This is where I've reached my limit."
She pursed her lips.
The final line of defense had lasted a mere 61 hours, 11 minutes, and 32 seconds, a sweet dream that ended with a chilling gust of emptiness.
- This is F11!Cr҉kk҉ ҉ ҉ this is F11! There are too many of the Hollow! Can't hold the front! Requesting support! ReCr҉kk҉ ҉ ҉ tatr҉kk҉ ҉ ҉ !
- Ahahahar҉kk҉ ҉ ҉ har҉kk҉ ҉ ҉ hahakk҉ ҉ ҉ haha.
- r҉k҉ ҉ ҉ 2 has no issues. Ah! The world's so bright. The red sunlight's as sweet as fresh tomato juice...
Crunch!
I crushed the radio. The radios, which had barely held our wide frontlines together, could no longer withstand the Void Poison and had been corrupted. By now, the radio operators at each front were probably receiving phantom orders like, "Hold your position. Reinforcements are on the way."
I carried Dok-seo up the Tower of Babel. When we reached the terrace, I set her down.
"Well now, welcome..."
Do-hwa greeted us first. She still looked relatively intact, although tiny buds of Dicentraflowers had formed on her cheeks. They looked like tear tracks running from her eyes to her jawline.
"Good to see you again, Regressor Undertaker. Honestly, when I saw the Monster Wave, I had no idea how the hell we'd fight such godforsaken things, but you... Well, you've lived up to your reputation as some 'Regressor'..."
"..."
"So, is it over now...?"
I looked around.
Noh Do-hwa. Oh Dok-seo. Cheon Yo-hwa. Yu Ji-won. And Sim Ah-ryeon, silently praying.
"Where's Ha-yul?" I asked.
"Oh. She radioed that she'd try to hold them off, but no word since. Not even sure if that was really the Puppeteer kid's voice..."
"Lee Ha-yul is presumed dead," said Ji-won. "The Mini-Map shows her marker toppled, Your Excellency. All fronts are collapsing simultaneously."
Yo-hwa gave a bittersweet laugh. "Heh. Normally, I'd be dying on the front with my squad right now—but you insisted I survive, Teacher, so here I am. I slipped away while they held the line."
"Thank you." I nodded. "And among us, there's an Anomaly."
"Excuse me?"
I swung my sword toward the confused Ji-won. Her body split in two perfectly.
Everyone's eyes widened.
"Mister? Even if Ji-won was a crazy psychopath, always plotting a power grab, killing her like that is..."
"Ji-won is already dead, Dok-seo."
I sheathed my sword.
"Did you forget? We chose to fall back because the Saintess and Yu Ji-won were killed."
"Huh...?"
"The body here is not Ji-won's."
Dok-seo and the others looked down at the terrace floor.
Ji-won's bisected corpse had vanished completely. In its place was the carcass of an Anomaly with the head of a mouse and the body of a raccoon.
Dok-seo gaped as I murmured, "The Void Poison has already started seeping in here."
"..."
"To answer your question, Commander Noh Do-hwa, yes. This is our end."
I approached Ah-ryeon. She wore her Saintess's gown, her face veiled beneath a cloth thicker than a bridal veil. I lightly lifted the veil.
- ...
And beneath it did not lay Ah-ryeon's smile, which had once been directed at me.
Calendulas. Baby's breath. Daisies. Campsis. Zinnias. Daffodils. Azaleas. Carnations. Moonflowers. Poppies. Canola flowers.
A vast array of flowers and vines wove together across Ah-ryeon's eyebrows, forehead, brow, nose, eyelids, eyes, cheeks, earlobes, philtrum, lips, and jawline. Bearing the language of every flower in the world, the shy girl who once called me Guild Leader, blossomed here without a word.
...Guild Leader...
I didn't want to look below her face.
In the center of the terrace, where she knelt, innumerable trunks grew, entwining the Tower of Babel and spreading to all of Busan.
...A-are you alright?...
The roots kept growing. Considering the now "flattened" world wasn't so vast, her roots would soon cover everything.
I opened my arms and embraced the Sacrifice.
With a flutter, the flowers in my embrace wilted, permeating the air with the fragrance of a million blooms.
A conversation from a past cycle came back to me.
"Ah-ryeon. This is your end."
Sketchbook held in hand, Ah-ryeon lifted her head slightly and blinked up at me. "Huh, what?"
"This cherry tree. This monstrous flower sprouting from the bodies of a mother and child is your final seed, full grown."
"..."
The Udumbara originated in an old inn in Onyang, Asan, Chungcheong Province.
At civilization's end, even before the world fell apart, a mother and child died of starvation in each other's arms.
The Udumbara bloomed in Room 202 on the inn's second floor. Its branches reached out, climbing over crumbling bricks, through window gaps, a cherry tree draped over it.
I often brought Ah-ryeon along to Onyang to eradicate the Udumbara. Today was no different.
"Ah-ryeon, your Awakening power and Udumbara's are probably the same type. Healing people, suspending death."
"..."
"Plants don't feel pain. If there's no pain, there's no wound. If there's no wound, death itself can be surpassed. A rejection of suffering. That's your ability, Ah-ryeon."
Ah-ryeon's wide eyes looked at me, her usual faint smile disappearing into an almost emotionless expression.
I told her many things.
How to draw aggro. Strategies using the Collector of All Anomalies Constellation. Plans to establish a puppet state, the Eastern Holy State, using Mo Gwang-seo. Stories of becoming a living line of defense under the alias Saintess of the North to face the Monster Wave.
"If you don't want this, you can erase it all."
"..."
"I mean it. You don't have to decide here. If you try it and it doesn't feel right, just let me know."
She hummed, chewing on the end of a rounded brush. "But if I don't evolve into that 'Bird that Drinks Poison,' eventually, we... c-can't stop the Anomalies... uh, the Monster Wave, coming from the continent?"
"Yes." I hesitated for a moment. "If I come up with a better solution, we might manage, but so far, my solution involves you—and it's only a shaky stopgap."
"But if I'm not there, won't... everyone die? Everyone?"
"Yes."
Ah-ryeon tilted her head. "Mmm... Guild Leader, I'm just asking out of curiosity. Does... Does my decision even matter?"
I nodded.
Ah-ryeon didn't nod back.
"Why does it matter?"
"Having the power to save the world doesn't mean you must save it, Ah-ryeon."
"...?"
"I think every person in this world holds the power to destroy it. Each person is a world on their own. People think they're just living their lives, but they're all keeping their world alive."
"..."
I knelt down and met Ah-ryeon's gaze over the sketchbook.
"So, if someone takes their own life, it's not just saying their life is worthless. It's saying, 'This world is worthless,' too."
"..."
Why did the world end so suddenly?
Why did Anomalies appear, annihilating humanity with no warning?
I'd pondered this for a long time but never found a definitive answer. But I had one guess.
Because too many people thought the world was worthless, and in response, the world simply emptied out.
Perhaps the Anomalies believed, "Since we fulfilled humanity's wish, they should thank us."
This nightmare, it was a dream humanity had desired for so long. The Anomalies were likely sneering at us.
"You have the power to decide this world's fate, Ah-ryeon. The world repeats endlessly, and even if you don't remember it, your actions, your words will always circle back to you."
"I... I don't understand."
Ah-ryeon looked down at her sketchbook, and then, she met my eyes once more and almost seemed to be carefully reading what she saw there in my gaze. Hesitantly, she said, "But... I feel so comfortable with you, Guild Leader."
"..."
"When we talk, my heart doesn't ache. Even if we're not talking, I don't feel any pressure in my chest. Even when I stutter, I'm not embarrassed. The o-others you introduced me to are fun too... and th-that café mocha from last time... Wow, it was delicious! Amazing. I still don't get how coffee can taste like that."
She set down her brush and sketchbook. Slowly, clumsily, she wrapped her arms around me.
"S-so..."
...Please don't cry, Guild Leader...
I held the Sacrifice's shoulders lightly.
Fighting against the corpses of humans and cities had drained almost all my Aura, but I had enough left to perform one last ritual—for the girl who had smiled at me even as she crossed from the Outer Gods' Realm.
Clink.
A silver bell jingled on my wrist.
My Aura flowed from my body to the Sacrifice's petals, stems, and roots—a dark, flowing power.
The next moment, humanity's final city burned.
-x-X-x-
The Experimenter VII
The roots resembled human veins, stretching from the Victim in Busan—across the entire earth—like blood vessels. Starting from this being, who still faintly held Ah-ryeon's form, the branching veins spread out like a spiderweb.
Now that the world had shrunk down to almost nothing, it wouldn't be wrong to call the being before me the Heart of the World Tree.
"Ah..."
Behind me, Dok-seo let out a small breath. It might have been awe, or perhaps despair. After all, there had to be some difference in "resolution" between the concept of world annihilation that she had only ever encountered through "words" and the reality now unfolding before her.
"The whole world... It's burning."
It was exactly as Dok-seo muttered.
While I held the Victim, I spread my Aura. The dark tendrils spread from the Tower of Babel, flowing swiftly through all of Busan, through the narrowest alleys, the slums, and even past the last line of defense.
- Ah...
All over, those who had been injured by the Victim and whose limbs had turned to vines lost their balance and fell.
The vegetative humans, whose bodies had fully transformed into trees and flowers, began burning to black and gray without exception, their petals scattering like flames.
The violet wisteria of Dang Seo-rin, once blooming alone in Haeundae, also burst into flames, scattering purple.
There was no pain.
"..."
Even though my Aura had reached an extraordinary level, it wasn't easy to create such a grand sea of flames at the end of a war.
Yes. If the Corrupted being before me had rejected my Aura even slightly, this would have been impossible.
But the Victim had not resisted. Despite having the perfect opportunity to overtake the city and paint it in her own color a step ahead of the Monster Wave, she only quietly accepted my Aura and burned.
She, who had postponed world annihilation for 61 hours, 11 minutes, and 32 seconds, now erased the threat of annihilation herself.
Fwoosh...
When all the vegetative humans turned to ash along with the final line of defense, the Heart of the World Tree too crumbled to ashes and collapsed on the spot. Even the outline of Ah-ryeon dispersed like dust into the wind from the terrace.
A moment of silence ensued.
"Hm."
Do-hwa was the first to break the silence.
Glancing down, she looked at the Monster Wave, which was now rushing freely toward the Tower of Babel with the last line of defense destroyed.
"What's your next move...?"
"Our paths diverge here." I stood up, brushing off none of the ashes on my face or clothes. "If you want to keep resisting, even just to extend humanity's survival by a single second, you should retreat to the Inunaki Tunnel and join up with Seo Gyu. If that gets taken, every Anomaly imprisoned in SG Net will be unleashed at once."
"Ohhh."
"With the Monster Wave and the SG Net escapees mixed in, we'll have a complete pandemonium on our hands. The Inunaki Tunnel is well suited for a siege. If you're determined, you could hold out for over a hundred days."
"Aha... I see. So that's why you chose such a narrow tunnel as a base—because it was intended for this kind of crisis in the first place?"
"Precisely."
Do-hwa adjusted her monocle. "But since the goal of this run is to capture the Outer God tied to Mastermind Syndrome... Keeping the SG Net Admin alive doesn't hold much value now, does it?"
"No."
"Right..."
Do-hwa picked up a radio. Originally, 31 radios were prepared on the operations table in front of her. Of those, 30 had been destroyed.
Strangely, the last one hadn't been used once throughout the entire battle.
Holding the final radio, she said, "The time is now. Kill him..."
Bang!
Through the radio came a burst of static and the sound of a gunshot.
All of us on the terrace stared wide-eyed at Do-hwa. She chuckled.
"Oh... There's no need to thank me. Given everything we've been through, I figured it was on me to handle this..."
Before I could fully grasp the meaning,
Boom!
a deafening noise rang out from the waters off Busan. It was in the direction of the shared entrance to Inunaki Tunnel, Dream Casino, and Café hideout. A sudden blizzard swept across, instantly freezing the sea's surface. From beneath the ice burst forth Anomalies in all manner of bizarre forms, marking the collapse of the cyber-prison, SG Net.
In other words, Seo Gyu's death.
"You... You killed him!"
Dok-seo came to her senses and grabbed Do-hwa by the collar.
"You killed Seo Gyu? Using the National Road Management Corps? How could you? He was our ally!"
"I was never particularly close to him..."
"What does that matter?! We've been working together, trying to prevent humanity's extinction! This is insane! Are you stupid? How could you betray―"
Bang!
Dok-seo fell silent, releasing her grip. Then, she slumped downward.
Bang!
Do-hwa pulled the trigger again—a confirming shot. In her hand was a gun all too familiar to me.
"Hm. She may have been the Outer God's apostle or whatever, but she couldn't resist a weapon crafted to put a bullet in the heart of her master. This is the compatibility you mentioned, isn't it?"
A Walther PPK, Chekhov's Gun. A weapon specifically created for slaying the Admin of the Infinite Metagame. After the campaign, the weapon had been locked up in the underground prison of the National Road Management Corps headquarters.
"Just as I thought. The tactics for attacking the Outer God would work just as well against the apostle. My guess turned out to be right..."
"Commander Do-hwa."
Do-hwa let out a laugh from deep within. Her head tilted to the side as she said it:
"I'll see you in hell..."
Bang!
The doctor's coat billowed as Do-hwa collapsed. The gun that had spent its final bullet rolled limply from her hand.
"Wow..."
"..."
"Really, um. That was incredible, Teacher."
Now, the only two survivors left on the terrace were Yo-hwa and me. And in just a few more minutes, with the world rapidly collapsing under the onslaught of Anomalies flooding in from both the last line of defense and the Inunaki Tunnel, we might as well have been "the last two survivors in the world."
From the terrace, Yo-hwa looked down at the ground. She clicked her tongue.
"I must've run the Reincarnation Project simulation hundreds of times, but, wow, real 3D... The impact of it all just doesn't compare. You go through this hundreds of times?"
"Each time is different. When the Monster Wave destroys the world, it usually plays out this way."
"And... are you okay with this? Mentally speaking?"
"I told you already."
I covered Do-hwa's body with her doctor's coat, and used Ah-ryeon's saintly veil to cover Dok-seo's. After a brief moment of silence, I turned.
"It usually ends like this."
Yo-hwa sighed. "Ah... So every time I died in other cycles, you performed these funerals for me too, Teacher."
"You're a Guild Leader who roams the frontlines constantly. You're so free-spirited that I've always worried about you."
"If I'd known, maybe I would've stayed tucked away at Baekwha Girls' High a bit more... I guess it's too late to regret wandering around just to blow off steam now, right? Next cycle, I won't remember any of this?"
"Mm."
"And if I leave a message for myself, I won't understand it, will I...? Wait a sec. Déjà vu." She gasped. "Didn't you once tell me this was my own last will from a past cycle?"
"Good memory."
"I'm such an idiot..." Yo-hwa groaned, clutching her head. It was her way of comforting others.
I caressed Yo-hwa's cheek, and my palm came away smeared with soot. This kid had spent more than two days fighting in the war just as I had, becoming a complete wreck in the process.
"Let's meet again next time, Yo-hwa."
"..."
"Thank you, always."
"Me too, Teacher."
Yo-hwa placed her hand on the back of mine. She smiled and rested her cheek against it.
"Even though..." She hesitated. "Even though it's not always, thank you for coming to find me even knowing we'd part like this. Please take care of the next me."
"If you stop kicking the guards every time we meet in the hallway, I'll consider it."
"Haha... Ah. I miss it already. Already..."
She closed her eyes.
"Already..."
When she opened them again—
Her once-red eyes were now tinged with the emptiness of Infinite Void and gleamed with an eerie light.
"Damn."
The first word Infinite Void uttered when it opened its eyes. It pushed my hand away, muttering a nervous string of Damn! Damn! Damn!
"You're insane, aren't you? You're just a human—how can a human...? Even with the ability to regress, how is this possible?"
"Prepare yourself. Soon, the Outer Gods will extend their hands."
"Which ones?" Infinite Void laughed hollowly. "There are three Outer Gods descending on this tiny world right now! Ah, including me, that's four! Add in the real mastermind of Mastermind Syndrome, and that's five!"
"..."
"And you... you held out in this hell for over 60 hours? A mere mortal. This is impossible...!"
"If you want to kiss my ass, work on honeyed up that tongue. Praise from an Anomaly doesn't do a thing for me."
"You're insane..." Infinite Void muttered, sucking in a breath. "No, wait. I'm technically the Enemy Who Turned Ally, right? Plus, I'm forced into this miserable human form, with a human's mind. So... right! This could work out! If I ride the Undertaker Bus from here on, wouldn't it be my win as long as I survive?"
"If you're declaring full surrender, I'll accept it any time. Are you ready to abandon all your powers?"
"Aaaaah...! No! I don't want to become human! What is this, with emotions and this pathetic memory span, repeating the same damned actions and thoughts over and over? Why would I ever want to be reduced to that!"
It bit its nails.
"Wait a sec... Isn't even this freak-out a bit too human? Aaaaaah! Undertaker! Undertaker! I curse you! You're an Anomaly that turns others into humans! A human Anomaly!"
"Keep it up."
I looked down from the Tower of Babel. The ground was now swarming with Anomalies, colored black and red. Some were even crawling up the tower's walls.
"And regardless of whether you surrender, I've already achieved this cycle's goal."
"What?"
"It's down to just us two." I turned my gaze to Infinite Void. "Show yourself, Mastermind."
Infinite Void's mouth dropped open. And from that opening came a voice—a bizarre mixture of Yo-hwa's and a mechanical hum.
"That's right. I cast NPC Creation on Commander Do-hwa. While you were gone."
Bzzz, crackle.
Like his vocal cords resonated with a radio, static came from Infinite Void's throat. At the same time, from the 30 broken radios on Do-hwa's table and the last one she had used, came Infinite Void's voice.
- Undertaker, I was waiting for you to come back and deal with Ah-ryeon.
- Once the city burned—truly, completely—you'd be left exhausted. "That's right. I planned it so Commander Do-hwa could pull the trigger without you being able to stop her, even for a moment."
- And that's not all, right? Seo Gyu was already under my control. That gunshot through the radio—that was Seo Gyu pulling the trigger on himself.
"To put it simply, SG Net's prison was under my control the whole time."
- Why eliminate the Saintess first? Why kill Yu Ji-won? Obviously, it was to get rid of anyone who might track me, Yo-hwa.
"Those two were a nuisance."
- Yeah! A nuisance!
"Every bit of data the Saintess observed would've been handed to the Undertaker. And any 'fog of war' on this battlefield would be lifted. If the fog is gone, I can't manipulate causality. Same with Yu Ji-won. Her Mini-Map tracked everyone, anytime, anywhere. With that, I couldn't create or manipulate causality. I couldn't warp it. I couldn't take it."
- Create?
- Manipulate?
- Warp?
The radios crackled.
- What are you talking about?
- When did we manipulate anything?
- There's no warping. Seo Gyu was brainwashed through NPC Creation, shot himself. That really happened in this world.
- Yeah! The Undertaker's causality can never tell what's true or false!
"No."
Infinite Void muttered blankly.
"No, no, no. Yo-hwa didn't use her power on Do-hwa or Seo Gyu. I made sure to 'collect' that data. This is my data. You can't alter my data."
- ....
- ....
"The white birch-patterned hospital gown, the red trace of blood on the patient's bed from the red spider lily, ripped apart in the school's garden..."
I spoke.
"Infinite Void."
It turned sharply toward me.
The "human" expressions it had shown while agonizing and talking were now completely gone, and in their place were endlessly blank eyes. In its pupils, the colors red, white, black, blue, and yellow flashed in continuous pulses.
"For this run, I'll return some of your powers."
"..."
"I'll give you control of the Bakus. Break the hourglass."
Shatter!
As soon as I finished, it pulled out the hourglass from his waist and crushed it in his hands. It was the glass bottle that had imprisoned the Doppelganger.
From where Yo-hwa stood, "colors" spread, blanketing the once-red skies and ground instantly.
It wasn't a single color. It kept changing, endlessly, never resting for even a second.
The blue of the earth from space, the green of foxtail grass, the brown of ants, the black of a charging smartwatch, the red flush on a newborn's cheeks, and then, and then,
Yo-hwa's body had disappeared.
- Ah.
- Ah?
- Ah. Ah.
The radios screamed with static.
and then, silence.
Against the black background, a gasping "Ah" glowed yellow. Even that yellow quickly dissolved into blackness. The letters "Ah," "Ah?" "Ah." painted themselves in succession before melting away.
- Ah.
Then, scarlet letters appeared in the sky.
- Found you.
In that moment, the sky tore open.
-x-X-x-
The Experimenter VIII
There will be no epilogue for this story.
However, if given the task of putting the scene after the world has ended into words, I could do it and describe it in some detail.
Below is an account of the world's end, a substitute for an epilogue.
"The sky tore open."
It wasn't a metaphor, an exaggeration, or a distortion. Quite literally, the sky ripped like a sheet of plastic. Silently, too.
- Ahahaha.
From the fissure in the fabric of space appeared nothing other than a red eye.
It was the eye of Infinite Void.
The vivid red iris was larger than any known being. Its muscles shifted, resembling a crackling earthquake. Each rippling tendon made galaxies contract and expand in turn.
- Tiny!
Infinite Void's eye slit open even wider, and a dark pupil as deep as a black hole gazed "this way"—toward the earth below.
- Tiny, tiny, tiny, tiny, tiny! Kyahahaha!
Soon, from the rift in the sky, a hand stretched forth.
The hand approached this world.
It was a right hand. Only moments earlier, it had shattered an hourglass, and now bare shards of glass were embedded in its skin, with blood flowing down freely.
The right hand emerging from the rift was larger than a continent.
In an instant, the ground was engulfed in its shadow. The Tower of Babel, Haeundae, Busan, even the earth—flattened as it was—all of it.
Completely.
Blood from the giant's right hand dripped down like waterfalls in great torrents.
Craaash!
Each drop of blood formed a vast sea, cascading into the world.
- ...!
- ...! ...!
The earth was engulfed in a colossal flood.
The grotesque creatures scaling the Tower of Babel had no escape from this bloodbath. The escapees from SG Net, poised to break through the icy waters, were instantly submerged, struck by the tide of blood.
- Kyahahahahaha.
The sound of Infinite Void's laughter echoed through heaven and earth. It stretched out a thumb and forefinger and plucked the Tower of Babel.
Crack!
Like a child awkwardly snapping a chocolate bar, the tower shattered at its midpoint.
- Sunbae.
Infinite Void laughed. That eerily bizarre voice, if it were to be described more accurately, really sounded more like this:
- sunbae, sunbae, sunbae, sunbae, sunbae, sunbae, sunbae
- Suuunnnbbbaaaeeee
The voice of Cheon Yo-hwa (天寥化) and the mechanical tone of Infinite Void seemed to intertwine, pronounced simultaneously.
Yes. Infinite Void's voice wasn't just coming from the rift in the sky.
Now, it resounded from broken radios, from smartphones bobbing in the flood of blood, from every electronic device floating on the water.
The voices of the Outer God overlapped endlessly, echoing all at once.
- I'll make an exception for you, sunbae. I'll let you live.
- Sunnnnbaaaeee, huh?
- Kyahahahahahaha!
Infinite Void lifted me along with the entire Tower of Babel.
A forced ascension.
It seemed that the Outer God was inviting me beyond the rift.
The gesture of the grotesque hand was anything but gentle.
As I shot higher and higher in altitude, I had to cling desperately to the terrace railing to keep from falling.
Then, it happened.
--The҉re҉ it҉ ҉ ҉ ҉ ҉ ҉ ҉ ҉ ҉ ҉ ҉ ҉ ҉ ҉ ҉ ҉ ҉ ҉ ҉ ҉ ҉ ҉ ҉ ҉
Schloooosh!
In the middle of this world, which had now been completely dyed red by an endless flood of blood, a colossal dragon suddenly sprang up and soared into the air.
In an instant, I knew what it was.
"Leviathan!"
The ocean-class Anomaly that had unleashed a super monsoon back in the 664th cycle.
Although not as large as Infinite Void's fingers, the Leviathan was still massive. After all, it was the beast described in myth as being larger than the earth itself.
'I see. Super Monsoon and Great Flood are basically the same term. And now that the entire world has been flooded, it's an ideal situation for Leviathan. For any other Anomaly, it might be a disaster, but for it, it's actually an opportunity!'
Even in the 664th cycle, subjugating Leviathan had been a grueling ordeal, but the dragon that had appeared now was on a different scale. Its body was large enough to wrap around the earth nine times over and still have room to spare.
It wasn't only the size that had changed.
In the 664th cycle, the one who dealt the final blow to Leviathan was Go Yuri, not me.
No matter how relentlessly the Ark fleet pursued him, Leviathan still seemed to have one final means of resistance left.
- Beeehooold.
The dragon's scaly body, covered in countless shimmering scales, suddenly flipped inside out.
It was its reverse scales.
All the scales transformed into eyes, each with a writhing tentacle sprouting from within.
The dragon's appearance now seemed more like a centipede than a dragon, corrupted to the point it could no longer be seen as a divine beast. And yet, its sheer aura was chilling enough to make one's spine freeze.
If this final form had appeared back in cycle 664, humanity, including me, would have perished without a chance.
- Ahahahahaha!
Infinite Void laughed again, as yet another hand—this time, its left—emerged from the rift in the sky.
- Tiny.
Crack!
With a simple grasp, the right hand snatched Leviathan.
Leviathan immediately tried to resist, but it was utterly futile.
Infinite Void clenched its fist.
Cr-r-rack—!
With a sound that was almost playful, Leviathan was quite literally crushed.
The head of Leviathan, which had opened its giant maw toward the Outer God, was flattened and fell motionless. Its body was fragmented, broken into tiny pieces like poorly handled candy sticks.
Thud, thud, thud.
The shattered remains of Leviathan's body rained down into the sea, which was now one vast body of water—Panthalassa, where the distinction of the five oceans no longer existed.[1]
"..."
From my high vantage point, I looked down at it all, struck speechless.
The 664th cycle hadn't been that long ago. My Aura, my skills, they were all nearly the same as they were now.
'And yet, the ocean-class Anomaly that had driven me into a corner back then has been destroyed so easily, so utterly.'
My musings were irrelevant to the ever-ascending altitude.
The stratosphere, mesosphere, thermosphere, exosphere―
Finally, I was pulled up into a realm that could truly be called space. It had all happened in an instant. For an ordinary Awakener, this alone would have been enough to make them lose consciousness.
"Oh."
Though "thanks" didn't quite seem appropriate, reaching this altitude allowed me to see a clear view of the earth, which had now become flat as a pancake.
The scene was so overwhelming and surreal that I muttered without realizing it.
"There are... two suns."
If I were to put it into a drawing, it would look something like this:
○
〓〓〓
●
The earth was completely flat (〓〓〓).
And on one side was the original sun (○), while on the other was an identical sun (●).
'The original sun has shrunk to nearly the size of the moon. It must be the influence of the geocentric model. And that sun on the opposite side... perhaps the influence of the Hollow Earth theory.'
At that moment, a revelation dawned upon me.
The heliocentric truth of the universe had shifted into a geocentric model, causing the sun to shrink. So where had the "extra" mass of the sun gone?
'Aha! So that's it! The shrunken mass of the sun was used to create another sun in the Hollow Earth below!'
It was astonishing.
If this theory was correct, then the geocentric model and the Hollow Earth theory—two seemingly unrelated Anomalies—were in fact united as one.
Further realizations kept coming.
'And that's not all.'
Look. How can the flattened earth remain balanced without drifting in space?
It's because the two suns, positioned on opposite sides, were precisely balanced, holding the earth in place from both sides.
It was an incredible, nearly impossible feat. But that was only by human standards. From the perspective of an Anomaly, one such as the geocentric model, the Hollow Earth theory, or the Flat Earth theory, this must have been a perfect interpretation.
The universe had become nothing more than a playground.
'Just what kind of Anomaly did this?'
My mouth fell open.
'It must be an Outer God-class. Nut? Is it Nut's power that Saintess has been sealing away? Or is it the Mastermind Syndrome-afflicted Outer God that Infinite Void just devoured? Or maybe...'
- Uh huh. Uh huh. Uh huh.
Then, something massive brushed past the Tower of Babel. It was so enormous that it took more than a second to discern its identity. But it just so happened to be a shape familiar to my eyes.
'Yo-hwa's shoes?'
It was a pair of Air Jordans in a black and red colorway.
These were the very sneakers that Cheon Yo-hwa had worn when she first kicked at me in the corridor of Baekwha Girls' High School. As a former ace of the basketball team, Yo-hwa cherished these shoes and would wear them whenever we met.
She had, of course, worn them during this Final Defense War as well.
Now, that very pair of sneakers appeared through the rift in the sky, descending upon the earth flattened by the Flat Earth Theory.
- Ughhh.
KRAKOOM!
The sneakers stomped down on the "Flat Earth Theory."
It wasn't just the flattened earth that was crushed. The two suns were also obliterated under the sole of the shoe.
The world, already submerged in blood, crumbled like a delicate cookie under the blow.
In a single kick from the Outer God, countless humans and even more countless Anomalies that had filled this world were obliterated.
"..."
- I'mm theee onne now. I'mmm theee onne nowww.
- I'mmm theee onne nowwwww. Meee. Meee.
In the geocentric model, Earth was the center of the universe. With the center erased, the only things remaining in space were the planets of the solar system and the constellations.
Crash! Boom! KRAKOOM!
Infinite Void unleashed its right hand and its foot, methodically destroying the remaining celestial bodies without hesitation.
The universe, stripped of its center, began contracting rapidly. Or perhaps it was "receding."
Infinite Void's left hand was still gripping me and the Tower of Babel, drawing us toward the rift.
The universe had now shrunk to a single dark speck, and I was pulled "outside" of it.
"Ah."
Even amidst this, as a regressor, my mind processed information unceasingly, sorting and analyzing.
The world had ended.
The Outer God-class Anomaly, empowered beyond belief by merging with the Mastermind Syndrome-afflicted Outer God, had eradicated it all.
What had transpired beyond the rift was beyond my knowledge. Perhaps Infinite Void had consumed the Mastermind, or the two Outer Gods might have combined in some horrific fusion.
One thing was certain: that Outer God had grown incomprehensibly powerful, and as a result, the world was destroyed.
The Outer God overseeing the Monster Wave, the one who wielded Leviathan, all had been demoted under Infinite Void's domination.
In short, this was Infinite Void's final victory ending.
Released from the confines of Cheon Yo-hwa's body, Infinite Void had become powerful beyond imagination.
This cycle could be considered a failure. Just like so many others.
'I heard something...'
But the only failure was that of the current me in the 687th cycle.
By clashing Infinite Void with the Mastermind, my experiment to reveal the weakness of the Outer Gods had succeeded.
At least, the initial phase of the experiment had succeeded.
As seen now, Infinite Void had crossed "through the rift" and was pulling me along.
The sacrifices of my comrades—Saintess, Yu Ji-won, Dang Seo-rin, Oh Dok-seo, Noh Do-hwa, Sim Ah-ryeon... countless lives—they weren't in vain.
No, I wouldn't allow them to be in vain.
As the regressor, I scanned my surroundings, ever-vigilant for any scrap of information, any hint of leverage.
'Even if the earth was destroyed, it's still impossible for sound to reach me out here in the distance of space.'
Yet I had heard booming echoes as each celestial body was annihilated.
I checked to see if there was any air blowing nearby, like by moistening a finger, suspecting that "breath" from Infinite Void's presence might be filling the vacuum of space.
But I felt no air. I wasn't even breathing normally.
Yet still, there was sound—
'A medium exists within space. In other words, ether exists, just as scholars of the geocentric era theorized.'
Ether.
A supposed element that fills the entirety of the universe, like air on earth, present everywhere, always.
Given my Complete Memory, as soon as I recognized the existence of ether, my mind was inevitably drawn to the next deduction.
And the reason was simple.
「Brothers and sisters! Since ancient times, fire has been the sacred ether! Fire's essence is to purify the foul air of the earth and draw closer to heaven!」
A memory from long ago.
When Mo Gwang-seo Christ was still simply known as Mo Gwang-seo, I'd recorded in a corner of my mind his speech to his followers.
He had once said:
"But cleansing these foul airs is no easy task. As a soul who has penetrated the six spiritual realms, I will pave the way and guide you all to the heavenly kingdom above."
"Each of you must break through this Path of Wind I open with your full might as one so that the souls left on Earth can easily ascend!"
Ether.
The Path of Wind.
The Heavenly Kingdom.
"..."
A thunderous epiphany shook my mind.
'Was Mo Gwang-seo not just some mere fraud or demagogue?'
The ether was real, present in the void that had emerged with the Flat Earth Theory. The Path of Wind, connecting to the rift in space, was likewise real. Even now, as I was clutched by Infinite Void's fingers and being drawn through it.
So, what lay beyond that rift? Was it the Heavenly Kingdom?
Without seeing it for myself, I couldn't begin to speculate.
Only—
"Enter through the narrow gate."
A prophecy uttered to me by Mo Gwang-seo, the man who had always remained silent like a puppet, came to mind suddenly.
Though I'd initially dismissed it as Lee Ha-yul's trickery, Ha-yul herself had insisted that she had never been "coerced into saying anything of the sort."
"The gate to life is narrow, and the path narrow, and those who find it are few."
I was on the terrace of the Tower of Babel.
Clinging to the very structure humanity had built in their quest to reach divinity, I turned to look behind me.
The cosmic scenery had vanished entirely. Only the "rift," growing closer, with Infinite Void's enormous eye watching, remained.
The void, a tear in the fabric of the world.
"O, scribe."
"Enter through the narrow gate."
And so.
I entered through the narrow gate.
Footnotes:
[1] Panthalassa, also known as the Panthalassic Ocean or Panthalassan Ocean (from Greek πaν "all" and θάλασσα "sea"), was the vast superocean that encompassed planet Earth and surrounded the supercontinent Pangaea, the latest in a series of supercontinents in the history of Earth.
-x-X-x-
The Mastermind I
Did you know?
The title of any existing work in the world could be transformed into a "concealment" format.
Let's call it the Concealment Transformation Theory.
Needless to say, of course, the stories we've journeyed through so far could be concealed in the same way.
"City Bus Conceals a Chessboard," "Radio DJ Conceals a Musical Genius," "The Last Heir of a People Conceals a Signal Fire," "The Ice Age Conceals Humanity's Sincerity," "Earth Conceals the Sun," and so forth...
There's truly no end to the possibilities. All it takes is tacking on "conceals" somewhere in the middle.
The genius who first conceived these titles surely deserves some acclaim.
In fact, the sharp-witted among you may have already noticed that the Outer God we're about to target lends itself most fittingly to this concealment transformation. After all, the very term "Mastermind" implies a perpetrator concealing their identity.
Therefore, if we were to arbitrarily apply the Concealment Transformation Theory to this Outer God, who still lacks a proper name, we might describe it like this:
"The Anomaly Conceals the World."
The instant I crossed the rift, led by the Infinite Void's pointer finger, I briefly lost consciousness.
How long was I out? Maybe five seconds?
After blacking out for a short while, I opened my eyes again to find myself lying on the ground.
Someone was gazing down at me.
- Consciousness restoration: confirmed.
- Primary language set to Korean. Initiating dialogue.
- It has been a while, human.
It was an Anomaly.
A slime-like entity composed of bright red liquid bubbled up with a pop-pop, creating sounds that resembled a "human" voice. So the lines it had just spoken weren't really words. They were just intermittent bursts of effects like "I-t has-been-a-while, hu-man."
"A while...? And who might you be?"
- Name: Fairy King.
"Ah."
The Fairy King.
An Anomaly similar to an AI personality that governed all the fairies in the tutorial. To be precise, each Tutorial Fairy was essentially a terminal of the Fairy King.
Considering that fairies were actually Baku, one might also call the Fairy King a Succubus Queen.
Once, this Anomaly might have acted freely, but since the point at which I began to regress, it had already been enslaved by the Infinite Void. It didn't pose any real threat.
"And why are you here? And what's with that form?" I looked around. "Where's the Infinite Void?"
- Processing your questions in reverse order. First: You transferred your control of me to the Outer God known as the Infinite Void.
The bubbles popped again.
- The Infinite Void is currently engaged in a dispute with the Outer God in this place, which, according to your words, would be called the Great Void or the Void of Imageless Spirits.
"A dispute."
I clutched my head, quickly running through the Fairy King's answers. My head throbbed, probably because my Aura had drained.
"So, the Infinite Void is battling the Mastermind Outer God? To seize control?"
- Confirmation: That is correct.
"And where are they fighting? I was definitely pulled here by the Infinite Void's finger."
- They are fighting now, here, and in all places at all times.
"..."
- Because it is not a physical battle, but a contest of concepts, your senses cannot perceive it.
However, the Fairy King then murmured something else.
- Explanation: The Infinite Void has determined that without you, the outcome of this battle is meaningless.
- Reason: Even if it wins, the moment your life ends, all progress resets.
"Mm."
As expected.
The Infinite Void couldn't preserve data across cycles. Even if it regained some of its former powers, it would face serious problems if the regressor hit "reset." Whether it wanted to recruit, persuade, or imprison me, the Infinite Void had no choice but to focus on me, the regressor. The reason it pulled me in, even after the world had perished, lay in this.
"Then, is this really the Mastermind Outer God's domain?"
- Confirmation: Correct. I descended here to communicate with you on behalf of the Infinite Void.
"So you're something like a walkie-talkie."
- Confirmation: That understanding is accurate.
I groaned, pulling myself upright.
We were in a sealed room—a cube. The sterile, white cube exuded no sense of life.
"A containment room? A laboratory? An experimental chamber?"
There was no furniture to suggest a lived-in space, only a corpse that lay sprawled behind the Fairy King and a hologram of the solar system standing in the center of the room.
"And what is that corpse?"
- It's related to your next question. The corpse belonged to a "researcher" responsible for this containment space.
- Explanation: The Infinite Void killed the researcher upon emerging from the rift and used the corpse to assemble a physical form for me.
"So, in other words..." I frowned. "That slimy blob of yours is actually the blood and flesh of that researcher?"
- Confirmation: Correct.
The slime squirmed. Apparently, neither of us minded the presence of a corpse lying around.
- Caution: Look at this solar system.
I was already looking.
As I mentioned, a hologram of the solar system floated in the center of the room. Long "claw marks" were gouged out around the hologram. Inside, the Earth and planets had crumbled into fragments, floating aimlessly.
Anyone with a shred of sense would understand the implication.
"Wait a minute, is this our solar system?"
- Confirmation: Correct.
"..."
- Explanation: The Earth you lived on is nothing but a simulation represented by this hologram.
- Supplementary note: To be precise, the Outer God here is forcing it to remain "only a simulation."
The answer came to me then, and I nodded grimly.. "So it's the simulation hypothesis."
The simulation hypothesis.
This theory proposed that the world we live in isn't real, but rather a virtual reality—a virtual world created for some kind of experiment.
It was akin to the idea of a brain in a vat. We weren't truly human, just brains confined in life-support tanks, receiving electrical impulses from an outside researcher, convincing us, "This is the real world!"
"Then was that corpse one of the researchers controlling our world?"
- Confirmation: Yes.
"Good riddance."
All of a sudden, I felt an overwhelming disgust for this white-walled chamber.
"So they reduced our world to a mere 'simulation test site' and observed it?"
If that wasn't a true Great Void, then what was?
Reducing the world itself to a mere simulation was likely the power the Mastermind Outer God wielded. The Fairy King's explanation only cemented my resolve.
"Truly, Outer Gods cannot be allowed to exist under the same sky as us."
Enemies of humanity. Only by destroying this place and the Mastermind Outer God could we prove our world was more than just a trivial simulation.
What exact angle I should take to attack it still eluded me, but my objective was now clear.
"Alright. So do I just destroy this damn lab? It looks small enough that it shouldn't be too hard."
The Fairy King's slimy form wriggled. Although it had no eyes or mouth, I sensed it staring at me.
- Guidance: Follow me.
The slime tapped on the wall, causing a door just wide enough for a person to appear where there had once been none.
I was taken aback. Such technology was unimaginable with modern Earth civilization.
"There's more beyond here?"
- Confirmation: Correct.
I stepped through the newly formed door.
Or rather, I intended to step through and keep walking, to assess the structure of the Outer God's Great Void. But the moment I crossed the threshold, I froze in place.
"What...?"
An endless corridor stretched before me with cube-shaped labs packed closely together on either side.
"What is this...?"
- Explanation: As of now, the Infinite Void has identified at least 1,000 simulation labs.
- Supplementary note: This is merely the count. We have no information on the actual experiments taking place.
"..."
A World Annihilation Simulator. That was the scene that awaited the regressor as I crossed beyond the rift to confront the Outer God.
- Directive: First, wear the researcher's lab coat.
As I prepared myself to leave the containment chamber, the Fairy King offered a suggestion.
- Explanation: I understand you intend to prove that this is merely an illusion, that this Great Void is nothing but a false reality.
- Supplementary note: However, as you know, the Great Void has its own rules.
"So... you're telling me to disguise myself as a researcher here, to pretend I'm one of the Void's personnel?"
- Confirmation: Precisely.
No further explanation was necessary.
- In fact, no human-shaped beings originally existed in this Great Void.
- The Infinite Void "hacked" this place to enforce physical forms. The white containment room, the simulation hologram, the researcher—they were all elements forced into existence by the Infinite Void.
"So this space would have been far more abstract otherwise?"
- Response unavailable: I do not know. I myself only came into existence after the Infinite Void began its invasion.
"Mmm."
The exact intention behind the Infinite Void's machinations remained unclear. Still, for now, it seemed willing to aid me. At least until we took down the Mastermind Outer God, our relationship could be considered one of cooperation.
"It's a setup so that I, an Anomaly from the simulation, can move freely without raising suspicion."
- Confirmation: Additionally, I am here as your guide and assistant.
- Self-evaluation: I have served both the Infinite Void and you as my masters in turn. I am a suitable choice.
"But... you're not human."
- Counterpoint: The confusion arises from the limitations of inferior human language. It is not your fault.
With a sigh, I stripped the corpse of its clothing, then incinerated the body with Aura.
Squirm!
As soon as I draped the white lab coat over my shoulders, the Fairy King's body wriggled, attaching itself to me.
"What the—?"
- Explanation: Transforming appearance.
The slime spread thinly across the contours of my body, even covering my face.
Then, it suddenly became transparent, reshaping my features!
'A silicone mask? A human skin mask?'
In any case, the slime adhered to me like an armor of tentacles, completely altering the appearance of me, the Undertaker.
Without a mirror, I couldn't see how I looked, but I could tell that a flat chest had appeared, among other subtle changes. One thing was certain: I now looked more feminine.
"You! What are you doing?!"
- Detected emotion: Anger.
- Explanation: This appearance replicates the former researcher (now a corpse) who managed this lab.
- Question: You are aware of the Great Void's rules. Adjusting your form to match the researcher's appearance is a given. Anger is unwarranted.
"Couldn't you at least show me a mirror so I can see what kind of surgery you've pulled off...?"
- Confirmation: I will comply with both the Infinite Void's instructions and your preferences to the fullest extent possible.
Squirm.
A section of the slime emerged from my sleeve and shaped itself into a mirror. This feat was so far outside the realm of human capabilities that I felt as if I had transformed into an Anomaly myself.
"..."
I glared at the reflection in the mirror.
Seeing myself transformed into a woman didn't shock me out of some silly, clichéd awe at my beauty—no, it was something else entirely.
The reason was much simpler. The face was... familiar.
"This is... the Undertakeress!"
- Question: What is "Undertakeress"?
The Fairy King, now back in its slime form, tilted its head in curiosity, but I couldn't answer.
Back in the 664th cycle, I had gone on a trip to the Uyuni Salt Flats with Dang Seo-rin. And on the airplane, which was supposed to facilitate a safe journey, I encountered Undertakers and Dang Seo-rins from parallel worlds.
One thing I found memorable was that in those other worlds, every version of Undertaker and Dang Seo-rin was a couple.
Among them was a female version of me, known as "the Undertakeress," a parallel universe's version of myself.
She and I even shared a similar level of martial prowess.
"This is impossible..."
I turned to stare blankly at the spot where the researcher's corpse had lain just moments before.
'So, the Undertakers from parallel worlds were Anomalies born in the Mastermind Outer God's domain?!'
This exploration of the Void was going to be anything but easy.
-x-X-x-
The Mastermind II
My confusion was fleeting, but my resolve was firm.
'First, I need to get used to this female Undertaker persona.'
The sensation of slime clinging to my skin and reshaping my features was disturbing.
But so what? Life itself was disturbing.
The cold logic of a regressor urged me to adjust quickly, dismissing this strange phenomenon as insignificant.
'Alright. Let's commit to the role. What was the Undertakeress's tone like? Her gaze? Her emotional responses?'
Not to brag, or rather, it was something to be proud of—I, the Undertaker, was better at acting than anyone else. Thanks to my Complete Memory, I had observed countless people's every gesture, and as such, I possessed an acting ability that would put even Chigusa from Glass Mask to shame.[1]
Naturally, I remembered every detail about the Undertakeress from the 664th cycle.
"Alright... Voice. Yes, I'll start with the voice," I mumbled deliberately, adjusting my vocal cords with Aura. Even though my reserves were nearly depleted, I could still manage this small trick. However, I would need to rest, and soon, as I was in no condition to fight. "Good. Perfect."
Thankfully, the Undertakeress was similar to me—the original Undertaker—in every way except in looks and voice. There was nothing else to adjust.
"Well, except for dating Seo-rin."
Hmm.
Would that detail be important? Could there be Anomalies playing Dang Seo-rin or Sim Ah-ryeon in this Great Void?
There was no telling. The Great Void lay beyond human comprehension.
[Attention, researchers in Section A.]
I jumped, my gaze darting to a speaker that had appeared in the corner of the ceiling, where there had been nothing just moments ago. A mechanical voice streamed from it.
[It is mealtime. All Section A researchers are instructed to halt work and proceed to the dining hall.]
[Repeating. All Section A researchers are to halt work immediately and gather in the dining hall. That is all.]
I tapped my forearm, nudging the Fairy King—slime spread thin over my skin.
"Explain. What's going on?"
- Explanation: As I mentioned earlier, the Infinite Void is currently engaged in a fight against the opposing Outer God in this Great Void.
- Addendum: The Infinite Void is injecting NPC data, map data, and so forth into this space to bring it under control. You may consider this a process of "setting parameters."
In other words...
"This sterile, desolate room is supposedly part of a research zone called Section A, that speaker that just popped up over there—all of these are results of the Infinite Void's current 'settings?'"
- Confirmation: Exactly.
- Warning: Conversely, the opposing Anomaly, although ambushed by the Infinite Void, continues attempting to regain control of the Great Void. Any parameter could be overwritten at any time.
- Addendum: Should the opposing Anomaly realize that you are not an NPC created by the Infinite Void but rather the real Undertaker, it will eliminate you immediately.
- Conclusion: Proceed with caution.
I stared at my forearm silently.
In short, I had to completely immerse myself in the role of "Researcher Undertakeress." No one could discover I was the real deal.
"Fine... I'm confident in my acting."
- Warning: The speaker instructed you to halt work and proceed to the dining hall. Failure to comply with the directive may draw attention, increasing the risk of your identity being uncovered.
"Understood. Let's head out."
Tap, tap.
I mimicked the Fairy King's knock, tapping the wall. A hole wide enough for me to pass through appeared once again. However, the moment I stepped through the door, I found myself surprised.
'The surroundings... changed?'
To be precise, they werechanging. Moments before, all there was to see was an endless hallway flanked by hundreds of confinement rooms crammed tightly together. Now it was different.
'There are potted plants and something resembling a water dispenser. Even a spot to sit and rest.'
At this point, it could almost pass for a plausible "office."
Of course, given that it was still the Great Void, the interior design differed drastically from an actual office.
- Bzzzzt. Bzzzzt, bzzzzt.
Static buzzed intermittently along various parts of the corridor that otherwise seemed intact. Each time the static flickered, spaces resembling "cosmos" or "galaxies" appeared and vanished around me—over and over.
It looked as if someone were using the world as a canvas, spilling a can of paint and then wiping it away again.
- Warning: You are viewing a section of the opposing Outer God's domain. It is advisable to avoid unnecessary observation.
'I understand.'
In response to the Fairy King's soft whisper into my ear, I tapped my body with my fingers, signaling back in Morse code.
'Where are they eating?'
- Navigation mode: Beginning guidance.
I walked down the corridor.
Swish, swish.
Dozens, no, hundreds of researchers poured into the corridor from "doors" that opened on their own. They gathered naturally in groups, chatting away.
"How's your world doing? Everything going smoothly?"
"Ugh, don't even mention it. Undertaker's been isolated again because of suspicion from the Saintess."
"Seriously, isn't that Saintess entity odd? How can she spend 365 days a year spying on people and expecting them to be flawless?"
"She just has absurdly high standards."
Chatter filled the air.
The researchers came in various forms. Some resembled me, the Undertaker, while others looked like Dang Seo-rin or Oh Dok-seo.
"As a Saintess, I find this offensive."
"Oh. Sorry! We were obviously talking about the Saintess from simulation 431, right?"
"Of course. She's worlds apart from a Saintess who has ascended, as you have!"
"I'll take it that way."
767, 766, 431—Instead of name tags, numbers were displayed on the researchers' lab coats. Most likely, the numbers represented their respective simulated universes.
A number was also printed on the lab coat I was wearing: 107.
'The same number as the cycle in which I traveled to the Uyuni Salt Flats.'
At that point, I felt a sense of certainty. The parallel world Anomalies were part of some enigmatic Mastermind Outer God.
Bzzzzt!
Researchers stepped into "cosmos" and "galaxies" zones gouged out in sections of the corridor. As soon as they entered, their previously normal forms contorted grotesquely. Their faces disappeared, their eyes transformed into twin suns, and a mechanical sound resonated from the black hole-like Void where their mouths should have been.
"So, did you kill the Saintess?"
"Yeah. She was annoying. Set off an earthquake so that she got crushed under the debris from every building."
"I killed Undertaker. I whispered all the reasons he was loathsome, all the harm he was causing this world, pausing time each time, and singing it like a lullaby whenever he fell asleep. Before long, he sealed himself away with the Time Seal. What an idiot."
"You should've seen the Saintess's corpse as she got crushed to death! She kept using the Time Stop, trying desperately to escape the earthquake! Like a pathetic little bug."
"Oh, speaking of bugs, I heard there's an escapee."
"An escapee?"
"Yeah. Looks like he's one of us."
"Apparently, they're really weakened right now."
"Bet their guts will taste delicious."
Thud.
The researchers' bodies, which had become increasingly monstrous, returned to normal the moment they stepped back onto the "corridor."
"What's on the menu today?"
"No idea. Haven't checked in a while. I just eat whatever they give us."
"I don't know how much longer we'll keep running these simulations. I thought I'd live in luxury once I ascended, but what is this?"
They strolled into the dining hall, chatting as though nothing had happened.
At the entrance to the dining hall, I noticed a head of green hair among the backs of hundreds of other figures—it was Sim Ah-ryeon.
"Hmm? Are you not going in, 107?"
One of the researchers glanced back at me. It was an Anomaly with the face of Oh Dok-seo.
A suspicious look.
Perhaps it was my imagination, but it felt like their gaze swept over me from head to toe in an instant.
I immediately put on an expression.
"Why does it matter if I go in or not? Are we close? Mind your own business."
"Oh... Right."
Hearing my response, the researcher turned away. The scrutinizing gaze disappeared as quickly as it had come.
"Acting all high and mighty, just because you were born with a regressor spoon in your mouth..."
With that grumble, the researcher vanished.
Inside the dining hall, researchers in white coats sat at tables lined in rows. Laid out on their trays were chunks of meat resembling crudely arranged human entrails.
[In every dish you enjoy today—whether it's a side or a broth—you'll find the earnest heart of a farmer sweating under the scorching sun.]
The speaker buzzed to life.
A section of "cosmos" engulfed part of the dining hall, and for a moment, the speaker morphed into a human mouth.
[Today's meal was specially prepared, sourced from survivors who endured until the very last moment of world annihilation.]
[Ingredients have been provided from simulations 1101, 332, and 89.]
[Taste every bit of hope, despair, and survival instinct in every bite.]
[Let's dine with gratitude. That is all.]
"Thank you!"
"Thank you."
The researchers suddenly sprouted five or six extra arms, which they used to devour the entrail-like meat. Their hands were smeared with oil and blood.
"Hmm."
I steadied my breathing.
As expected, I was the only human here.
After finishing the meal, I returned to Lab 107, where an orange-ponytailed researcher was waiting for me as if it were the most natural thing in the world.
"Yoo-hoo. Hey there, sunbae. How was the banquet in the Outer God's domain? Tasted divine, right?"
"..."
"Oh, right. Come on in. I've disabled the surveillance in this room, so it's safe."
I subtly tapped on the slime.
- Confirmation: The individual before you is indeed a terminal for the Outer God Infinite Void. They are an ally.
Finally, I exhaled. "Infinite Void."
"Yup! Gosh—when you first captured me and forced me into a human life, I was ready to hate all of existence, but I guess it all builds character, huh?"
Plop.
Infinite Void hopped up onto the table (which, like many things, had appeared from nowhere) and swung its legs, clearly in high spirits.
"If I hadn't been forced into human life back then, I'd have a much harder time passing as an NPC now. Thanks, sunbae!"
"I have no idea what's going on here. Share some information."
"For free?"
"..."
"Hehe." Infinite Void's eyes sparkled mischievously. "You want to slay the Outer God here... Ah, whatever, let's just call them the Mastermind since it's a hassle, yeah? Anyway, you want to take down the Mastermind, right?"
"Yes."
"Well, you'll need my help! If I back out now, this table, the simulation hologram, the researchers, the corridor, everything will warp out of your perception."
"Listen, even if you sound high and mighty, if I decide to reset, you'll lose everything."
"True, fair point. I can't argue. Exactly why we make such a perfect team, right?" Infinite Void giggled. "I'll keep programming 'settings' for this Great Void so that you can move freely. Meanwhile, you should destroy the other simulated universes!"
"Why can't you destroy them yourself?"
"Oh, come on. I thought you'd noticed by now. While we were going back and forth to the dining hall, I was struggling just to maintain a balance with the Mastermind."
Infinite Void shrugged its shoulders dramatically.
"Let my guard down for a second, and all these settings, parameters, and whatnot would be devoured by that cosmos-looking domain. Summoning the Fairy King and sticking him on you was already a major stretch, you know?"
"..."
"You have to be my blade. I'll distract the Mastermind's attention whenever possible, and then you strike at the right moment! Like a group project—team effort."
I propped my chin up, deep in thought.
'It bothers me to give the Infinite Void an opening. Still, cooperation seems reasonable for now.'
After all, my goal in bringing Infinite Void here was precisely this kind of collaboration. It was the only Outer God with whom "human dialogue" was possible. While I would need to hear what it wanted, I was open to granting any requests that weren't too unreasonable.
"My objective is to slay the Mastermind and establish a strategy."
"Yup, I know!"
"If that strategy works out, I'd be willing to grant you a few minor benefits. But if you ask for something like a complete transfer of Cheon Yo-hwa's body, I will flatly refuse."
"I knew that too!"
I nodded. "Alright. Tell me your demands."
"Will you have a baby with me, sunbae?"
"..."
Alright. Perhaps this creature should be the first to go.
Footnotes:
[1] In Glass Mask, the protagonist is a young actress who is so talented that she is scouted by the legendary actress, Chigusa Tsukikage, to be her successor.
-x-X-x-
The Mastermind III
Sensing the ominous look on my face, Infinite Void flailed its arms desperately.
"Hold on, hold on, hold on! Can we not jump to bringing out the Aura without at least hearing an explanation?"
"No need to bother. Judging by your tone, it's not a joke, and I'd sooner hit reset than have a child with you."
"No, wait! Just listen! No suicide, stop it!"
Infinite Void leaped off the table and hugged me. I intended to shake it off lightly, but an unimaginable force constricted me from both sides.
Squeeeeze.
Stubborn as ever, it wasn't the feeble creature it had been. Having regained some degree of its powers, Infinite Void was no longer a mere weakling. I was immobilized.
"Ugh," I grunted.
"Aha! You've really grown weak, haven't you, sun-ba-eee?"
"..."
"The sunbae who used to smack me around with Aura back when I was sealed is now this frail little human girl? Ohoho! Even a being like me, free from the emotions of the Eight Desires and Seven Feelings, feels an Awakening coming on!"
This was truly humiliating. To think the aftereffects of unleashing all my Aura in the Final Defense War would linger so long.
"Come on now, no need to glare at me so intensely. Anyway, there's a perfectly reasonable justification for my proposal. You know me, right? Infinite Void, the Akashic Record whose essence and purpose is to gather the data of all things in the cosmos."
"And?"
"Hold on, hear me out. Even though I've somewhat regained my powers, there's still one piece of data I've utterly failed to obtain. Guess what it is?"
"I have no idea. Humanity, perhaps?"
"Oh, sharp guess. But honestly, I think I'm more human than that Ji-won girl, sunbae, who happened to be born a bona fide Homo sapien."
I couldn't argue with that. If Ji-Won had failed so spectacularly at being human that even an Outer God disqualified her from the running, just what kind of beast test did this being pass with flying colors...?
Infinite Void clocked my sour mood and sneered at me.
"The one thing I've never been able to obtain. Ta-dah!. It's your experience of childbirth and parenting!"
"What?"
"Sunbae, you've never once had a child, let alone raised one, have you? I don't know all the specifics of the other runs, but I know that much—it's obvious."
"..."
"This gap in my data is, to put it in terms a human could understand... It's like being one roll away from completing a gacha collection? It's an urge that's hard to resist on a primal level."
"How absurd."
I gave it a light push. This time, it didn't resist or exert any strength to hold me back. It took a few playful steps back, making a silly ack-ack! sound.
"Why do you think I'd accept your proposal?" I grumbled. "Having a child just to satisfy a craving like that isn't right, and what's more, a proposal like 'Work with me, and give me your child' is the quintessential devil's scheme."
"Aw, but aren't you at least a little curious? I mean, it's a child between you and me—a child of the Outer God and the regressor." Infinite Void put its hands behind its back. Its red eyes narrowed. "A being of extraordinary power might be born—a game-changer, a variable that could completely overturn the endless cycle of reincarnation you're trapped in."
"..."
"The moment when myth itself is created. A being half Outer God and half human... What do you think? Could this be the true route to the 'True Ending?'"
"Impossible. Propose something else."
"Aw." Infinite Void pouted. "Boring. I bet you're going to reject my request to call me the Hyakki Yagyo too, right?"
"Naturally."
"This won't do, that won't do... Typical regressor, acting all high and mighty."
I didn't bother responding.
Right now, it was skillfully mimicking Cheon Yo-hwa's voice and gestures. It had broken down and reproduced my loved one's data with precision. The title had switched from "Teacher" to "Sunbae," and its speech shifted to casual language, but otherwise, it was an impeccable replica of Yo-hwa.
An obvious trick meant to lull me into dropping my guard.
I had no reason to entertain such childish pranks.
"Hmm? Odd. Even though I layered multiple mental weakening effects in the room before you arrived, it's having no effect on you."
"..."
"A regular human would've lost their mind at the mere sight of me. I suppose Go Yuri really did mess with you, huh? Alright then, sunbae. Here's my next proposal."
"Go on."
Infinite Void tilted its head. "Remember my goodwill."
I furrowed my brow. "What does that mean?"
"It means just what it says. This time, I'll cooperate free of charge, so later on, just call it a debt."
"..."
"For this cycle only, I'll actively assist you in defeating the Mastermind. No demands like transferring memories to my next reincarnation, passing on data, or even securing exclusive rights to the fairies."
With its hands behind its back, Infinite Void leaned in close. Its crimson eyes peered straight into mine.
"In other words, a debt."
Just as I was about to answer, it reached out, pressing a finger to my lips.
"Sorry. Before you reject my final offer, give it a little more thought, sunbae. I'm crafty, you know. I might just turn against you and side with the Mastermind, swallowing you whole."
I kept quiet.
We stood there, a silence stretching between us.
After a long pause, Infinite Void, still gazing into my eyes, smiled faintly. Withdrawing its hand, it held out its own for a handshake.
"Alright, a deal is made! Love you, sunbae. Let's work well together from now on!"
"Go to hell..."
"Huh? How's that an insult? Did you forget that Infernal Hell is also a name you gave me?"
Arguing with an Anomaly was pointless.
Surprisingly, Infinite Void seemed to understand concepts like "promise," "faith," and "loyalty" after all.
"Here in the vast emptiness of the Great Void, or as you call it, the Divine Realm, there's a reason why I specifically set the background to be a 'Research Facility.'"
Draped in the guise of Yo-hwa, Infinite Void was genuinely doing its best to assist me.
"There are restricted areas within the research lab. Access varies depending on the level of the researcher."
"So clear rules exist, then?"
"Exactly!" Infinite Void said, giggling. "In a research facility handling Anomalies, rules run rampant. And the Anomalies generally follow these rules—just like now."
With a snap, Infinite Void's fingers clicked, and static crackled over the speakers embedded in the lab ceiling.
[Attention, all researchers in Section C.]
[It is mealtime. Researchers in Section C should stop their tasks and gather in the cafeteria.]
[Repeating, all Section C researchers, please cease work and proceed to the cafeteria. Over.]
A hint of surprise snuck over me. It was almost identical to the announcement from a few hours ago.
"Did you control that speaker too?"
"Who am I? The ruler of Hyakki Yagyo. I bet you've seen something similar before."
"Oh."
Suddenly, I recalled the time I'd served as a security guard at Baekhwa Girls' High, subduing spirits. Back then, the school's spirits would possess "speakers" or "radios" to deceive students too.
"All of Hyakki Yagyo under my command has been set loose in the Divine Realm. The Fairy King you're wearing isn't my only pawn!"
"So you're using Hyakki Yagyo to manipulate the Mastermind's Anomalies, ordering them to gather in the cafeteria or move elsewhere."
"Exactly. Thanks to that, I could arrange this little rendezvous with you."
Truly a power worthy of an Outer God.
While Yo-hwa's abilities allowed for NPC Creation to influence behavior, Infinite Void went a step further, imposing entire backgrounds and rules onto the Void itself. This was its so-called Data Input, a power that was likewise responsible for creating tutorial dungeons across the world, with survival as the reward for passing each test.
"Well, as you saw, the Mastermind is putting up one hell of a fight, so I'm running into some snags here and there... But after I've done all this to help, you can handle the rest, right?"
I accepted the provocation.
Over the next few days, I settled into life in the research lab. As far as research work went, it mostly consisted of observing a "simulated universe," eating, and sleeping—a routine that was easy to adapt to. Occasionally, we researchers gathered for simulation tests, where the group pretended to exchange expert opinions.
"Maybe we should raise the Saintess's power levels to slow down the world's end."
"No, no, it's better to give the Sword Marquess some social skills. If he fully realizes his potential, he can do anything on his own."
"Am I the only one betting on the Sword Marquess?"
"Reaching Rejuvenation mode requires such specific conditions... You have to befriend Undertaker, right? A bit much, no?"
The researchers constantly ran simulations, each round in the simulated universe lasting roughly 20 years until it reached destruction. However, those years were only perceived within the simulated universe itself. Outside the simulation, things were different. By simply adjusting the time dilation setting, the researchers could make ten years flash by in an instant.
"Oh, look at this! The Saintess has fallen into Corruption again."
"Wow, it's always a sight to see the entire universe just come to a standstill."
"We were just about to build a strong alliance between the Sword Marquess and Undertaker, but then she crossed over to China and got herself killed..."
"A natural death."
"Hey, no matter how many simulations I run, the results keep coming out the same. What am I supposed to do with this?"
"Idiot. You're just tinkering with the settings within Korea. Try adjusting variables in places outside the Saintess's field of vision!"
For the researchers, the end of the world in the simulated universe was merely a point of academic curiosity.
Instead of getting angry at the Anomalies' behavior, I focused on a different aspect.
'Some of these simulated scenarios mirror real events almost exactly.'
Take, for instance, the scenario that had just unfolded in one of the simulations before me, comparing it to a particular run in my life.
A. Simulated Universe:The Undertaker builds a Regression Alliance > The Undertaker establishes a ranch to develop dinosaurs > UFO lands in Manchuria and crushes the Monster Wave > Cheon Yo-hwa is devoured by Infinite Void > World destroyed by UFO and Infinite Void
B. Undertaker's 340th run:Regression Alliance is built > A ranch is established to develop dinosaurs for use in managing national highways > Attempt made to use a UFO as a barrier, but balance issues caused it to fail > Cheon Yo-hwa goes berserk fighting aliens from the UFO > World destroyed
As you can see, they were almost identical.
Why, then, was the Outer God running more than a thousand simulations like this, continuously and tirelessly?
'It's to render me, a regressor, powerless.'
Yes.
I, the Undertaker, categorized the world where the above events took place as the "340th run," so according to my memory, it was the 340th world, naturally.
But the Outer God Mastermind was interpreting the same events in a different way.
[No.]
[This is merely a scenario produced by the 655th simulated universe for the 13,290,578,935th time.]
[You are not a regressor.]
[You are simply a puppet in the simulated universe.]
A chill ran down my spine.
'To think that an Outer God-class Anomaly would go to such great lengths to degrade me as a Regressor.'
Being a regressor was a cheat code in itself. My very existence was nothing short of a calamity for the Anomalies.
If there was ever a living testament to this, it was the weakling Infinite Void fighting the Mastermind here in this domain. Even if one managed to subdue all the fairies in the tutorial and barricade themselves in Baekhwa High's underground bunker, what good would it do? A regressor could simply "click" and tear it all down.
From the moment a regressor Awakened on Earth—and as it happened, one whose mental fortitude was forged of steel, capable of declaring, "I can do this forever"—the Anomalies, no matter how powerful, were inevitably bound to fall to ruin.
For the Anomalies to escape the regressor's grasp, a more complex strategy was required.
'And that strategy... is these simulated universes.'
The Mastermind's strategy was remarkably effective. It didn't try to defeat the regressor in battle, not when stepping into the ring would only guarantee its loss. No, it chose to control the match from outside the ring.
"Fairy King. How many simulated universes have we identified so far?"
- Answer: As of now, 3,505 simulated universes have been catalogued.
- Supplementary Information: Each simulation takes approximately one hour to complete. The researchers work an average of twelve hours a day.
- Conclusion: Thus, over 42,100 simulation scenarios are generated per day.
"Good grief."
I complete one run every twenty years. This Outer God completes over 40,000 simulations in a single day, and even that was likely a conservative estimate.
In a sheer numbers game, there was no winning.
"So if we were to aggregate all the simulations the Mastermind has run, and isolate only those that match the events of my life..."
- Affirmative: All the paths you've walked can be explained by the simulated universe scenarios.
- Additional Information: From the 4th run to the 687th, even if there are thousands or tens of thousands of iterations, the Mastermind can explain all of them as outputs from the simulated universe.
- Explanation: Infinite Void's suggestion to produce a child with you wasn't merely to satisfy its curiosity. It was to introduce an absolute variable into the simulation.
"..."
Watching the researchers, who had taken on the appearance of various Anomalies, chatter and bicker, I recalled moments from my past.
Those times, at the brink of each world-ending crisis, when the "Mastermind" would speak to me, channeling voices through people like Seo Gyu and the Saintess.
"I've set up countless stratagems behind the scenes. Hyung, I was the one who brought about the world's end."
"Mr. Undertaker, I orchestrated every bit of destruction."
It hadn't been a joke, nor an exaggeration.
Mastermind Syndrome had never lied to me. The Outer God had truly woven "countless stratagems" "behind the scenes" and had "orchestrated every bit of destruction."
Even at this very moment.
No matter how much I resisted, my regression would always be reduced to just one of the simulated universe's scenarios.
"107?"
At that moment, the researchers all turned to me.
"Researcher 107, what's your take?"
"Yeah. What variable should we add to derive a new apocalyptic scenario?"
"India or Europe sounds good, right? Or outer space?"
"Actually, as long as it's outside the range of Clairvoyance and the Mini-Map, anywhere is fine. Whether it's deep within the Earth or even beyond it."
"What's 107's idea?"
The researchers, who had taken on the forms of Old Man Scho, Dang Seo-rin, Oh Dok-seo, and Sim Ah-ryeon, had hollow, vacant eyes.
Blending in to avoid suspicion, I replied, "Yes, my suggestion is..."
I chose my words carefully, all the while thinking this:
This vast Divine Realm was, in essence, nothing more than a murder factory meticulously designed by the Outer God to kill me.