The Tales of an Infinite Regressor

[Translator - Jjescus]

[Proofreader - Gun]

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Chapter 215

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The Unclaimed Ⅰ

1

A novel is different from a painting.

It might seem like an obvious statement, but for me, this difference is surprisingly important.

For instance, Lee Hayul.

She lives in the Inunaki Tunnel, which I've turned into my hideout. Except for a few vacation days, she's almost always here.

Compared to the other members, Lee Hayul's attendance rate is overwhelmingly high.

"Ah, sorry, boss. I have thalassophobia, so it's hard for me to live deep inside the Inunaki Tunnel... If something bursts, I'll drown instantly."

Seo Gyu preferred to stay near the National Road Management Headquarters.

"I'm the Queen Mother of Holy Eastern Kingdom."

Sim Aryeon was often busy working as the Saintess of the North, so her appearances at the hideout were sporadic.

Oh Dokseo, who joined as a new recruit after the 555th turn, lacked experience.

But Lee Hayul always secured the best spot in the hideout, no matter when.

Yet, in my story, Lee Hayul didn’t appear as often as one might expect. Why?

There was a sad reason for this.

For example:

"...Ah, this coffee is really delicious."

"Isn't it? I blended three types of the instant coffee that the Saintess likes, and then added just a single spoonful of cinnamon powder. This is your favorite coffee."

"...Um, Doctor Jang? Isn't this so well-made that it can no longer be called instant coffee? Though, it does taste good."

Let’s say the Saintess and I were having such a conversation at the café in our hideout, 1,200 meters deep underground.

But this is a novel.

If we strip away the novel's filtering and express it more visually, the truth is as follows:

"...Ah, this coffee is really delicious."

"Isn't it?"

(Lee Hayul silently lifting two instant coffee packets like twin swords next to me.jpg)

"I blended three types of the instant coffee that the Saintess likes, and then added just a single spoonful of cinnamon powder. This is your favorite coffee."

(Lee Hayul holding the two packets, smacking my back with them like a jazz drummer in Whiplash, deeply immersed in the role.jpg)

"...Um, Doctor Jang? Isn't this so well-made that it can no longer be called instant coffee?"

(Then, Lee Hayul loses control of her aura, and the packet bursts, spilling coffee mix all over my barista outfit.jpg)

"It tastes good, though."

(This little brat squirming as I grab her head with my hand.jpg)

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What a different scene this is!

Yes.

As you all know, Lee Hayul was born with a speech impediment. So, she usually brought along a housekeeper doll to speak for her.

However, when it was just the two of us, or when she wanted to mess with me, she would leave the housekeeper behind and stage her silent protests.

Though I never described it to you, Lee Hayul was almost always by my side, pulling these pranks about 80% of the time in the hideout.

Why did she leave the housekeeper behind only when it was just the two of us?

"Ouch, ouch, that hurts, oppa. My skull is in danger."

This kid could write letters on my back using her aura.

And I was exceptionally good at reading aura, so I could understand what she was saying right away.

"You can endure a bit of pain."

"Ah! No to violence. No to violence."

"...You and Lee Hayul seem really close, Doctor Jang. Like siblings with a big age gap."

Anyway.

Lee Hayul was always like a hidden object for the readers of my story.

She had a variety of ways to convey messages to me: writing on my back, vibrating her aura to speak like a voice synthesizer, tapping Morse code into my palm...

And after receiving a diligent scalp massage from me, Lee Hayul would dash behind the Saintess and suddenly pull out a sketchbook.

The sketchbook read:

[Explanation] [Clarification]

?

[Doctor Jang is a strange phenomenon] [Confirmed as a regressor anomaly] [When you gaze into the abyss, the abyss gazes back at you] [This regressor has no memories from before the 4th turn] [What guarantee is there that he isn't an anomaly that suddenly emerged from the 4th turn?] [Can humanity truly entrust its defense and fate to this anomaly on the Korean Peninsula?] [Is this really okay?]

.........

[Rock] [Scissors] [Paper]

[Doctor Jang the Great Anomaly]

[Explanation] [Clarification] [Explanation]

The sketchbook pages flipped at a rate of 0.3 seconds per page.

If it weren’t for my highly developed aura-enhanced eyesight, I wouldn’t have seen anything.

"......? Is something wrong, Doctor Jang?"

The Saintess sensed something strange and turned around, but Lee Hayul, cunning as ever, quickly showed her a portrait she had drawn.

It was an illustration of me, seriously making coffee. Thanks to lessons from Sim Aryeon, Lee Hayul had gotten pretty good at drawing.

"Oh. That's a very impressive drawing."

"......."

"By the way, Doctor Jang, could you tell me the ratio of the three products you mixed in my coffee earlier?"

As soon as the Saintess turned her head, Lee Hayul eagerly flipped to the next page of the sketchbook.

(Regressor anomaly, Doctor Jang, donning a monstrous costume, unleashing a dark aura like coffee, defeats Noh Doha, Tang Seorin, Sim Aryeon, and other awakened ones of the Korean Peninsula, and destroys Busan.jpg)

This little brat...

She knew the Saintess would temporarily stop using her [Clairvoyance] and [Telepathy] to rest while drinking coffee at my café, and she used that to her advantage.

"Hmm."

But regardless of Lee Hayul's mischievous nature, her point was valid.

This was the so-called [Regressor Anomaly Theory].

As I mentioned before, I have no memory of my family. My memories from before the 4th turn have become faint and distant.

But that’s not the only reason.

[Translator - Jjescus]

[Proofreader - Gun]

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‘Even in the turns where I became quite famous, to the point where everyone knew me, no one ever came looking for me.’

Not even a distant relative.

Not even a friend from the same neighborhood.

No one like that existed in my life.

Sometimes, the "Reunion Anomaly" would call, claiming there was a gathering, but I wouldn’t consider that a friend.

Oh, and by the way, defeating the "Reunion Anomaly" is very difficult, yet quite simple.

Just drive up in a limousine like a Maybach S-Class Pullman or a supercar like a LaFerrari. Then, it gets automatically subdued and never calls again.

Returning to the main point.

‘In the end, it means that all my family and acquaintances were either killed or went missing during the Void’s arrival.’

The odds weren’t that low.

Wasn't it that 19 out of 20 people in Korea had died? Those who usually felt unlucky with gacha games had all lost their connections just like me.

"So... Shall I really try to find out?"

"Pardon?"

"Ah, Hayul kept teasing me, saying that I might actually be some kind of regressor anomaly. So, I thought I might as well test if I really am some anomaly that popped out in the fourth turn."

(Lee Hayul, startled, looking at me with contempt, as if wondering why I would tattle on him like that.)

"Ah, um..."

The Saintess put down her coffee cup.

"Wouldn't it be difficult?"

"Why do you think so?"

"Because of your nature, Doctor Jang. Of course, I don't know much about Doctor Jang from before the fourth turn, but just piecing together what I've heard so far..."

With a slight hesitation, the Saintess opened her mouth.

"I think you might have sealed [Time] on your closest ones one by one."

"....."

"You said you cleared the tutorial dungeon for the first time in the third turn, right? Then, knowing you, I believe you would have searched for your family and acquaintances as soon as you came out of Busan Station. And you would have persuaded them―."

"To be enshrined in the Crystal Tombstones. But now, I can't remember where the tombs were or who was sealed in [Time]."

"Yes, but it's just a guess."

...It was quite plausible.

In the end, if I wanted to find clues about my family, I would have to examine all the crystal tombstones in Korea.

But had I dug that many graves?

At the very least, there were 500,000. If I included the crystal tombstones I hadn't identified, it was hard to guess how many there would be.

"It certainly seems difficult."

"Yes, unfortunately."

[Sun] [Light] [Sun]

The discussion ended, leaving only Lee Hayul's clumsy banner behind.

In the first place, I had no intention of making a 'In Search of Lost Time' version of a regressor story, so the matter was naturally left unattended.

Until the 267th turn approached.

* * *

As I mentioned before, I mobilized all the fairies to search for traces of the Saintess from the 267th turn.

I sent out all the night demons to thoroughly search the dreams of the survivors in Korea.

As a result, I can say that no trace of the Saintess from the 267th turn was found anywhere.

"Huh?"

Instead, I stepped on a completely unexpected puzzle piece.

"Isn't that the Secretary? Shall we go?"

"Hmm?"

"Here, in this person's dream, take a look at the uphill road over there. The human passing by the front of the supermarket!"

The 264th fairy invited me into a certain dream. Into the dream of a 50-year-old woman I didn't know at all.

"...I can see it, but why? Isn't it just a mother and child walking together?"

"That child, I feel, strangely resembles the Secretary!"

"What?"

It was none other than a vague silhouette of a 'person presumed to be Doctor Jang' that was faintly discovered in this dream.

"No, it's too blurry. I can't even identify the face, so how can you tell if it resembles me or not?"

"Huh. But the night demon's senses are subtly telling me! The gloomy aura! The shadow painted black like ink! Eyes more dead than a fish's! The footsteps that trample the ground with such intensity! That is! Without a doubt, the Secretary, our iron leader... Gyaaaa! My skull! My skull is being squeezed!"

"First of all, it's not senses, it's touch."

"Opposing violence! Opposing purges!"

I gave the fairy a scalp massage while frowning deeply.

In the distance, a mother and child were walking as 'extras' in the dream, almost unnoticed by the dream's owner. Because they were at the edge of perception, I couldn't get any closer.

"That kid is supposed to be me?"

Maybe they were around elementary school age.

I didn't feel anything at all.

I ignored the fairy's sense, but similar reports continued to come in periodically afterward.

"Secretary! Look at the middle school graduation hall!"

"Where?"

"20 meters away from the dream owner, there are a bunch of students, and just over the shoulder, a silhouette passes by for a split second! That must be the Secretary's past!"

It was so subtle that only with the most refined vision, which only I, the most highly trained awakened one among humanity, could detect, did the silhouette finally flicker faintly.

I muttered, dumbfounded.

"...No, seriously, this is like a hidden picture game. 'Where's Waldo?' would be 5,000 times easier than this."

But if what the fairy said was true, one thing was certain.

The past I thought I had lost forever before the fourth turn. Especially the original 'first-turn Doctor Jang.

It was evidence to prove that I wasn't some anomaly that suddenly popped out in the fourth turn.

The hidden clues to piece together that puzzle had been given to me.

[Translator - Jjescus]

[Proofreader - Gun]

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