I'm an Infinite Regressor, But I've Got Stories to Tell-Chapter 394

WeTried Translations

The Bereaved II

For a moment, let’s add a single, cruel thought to the mix.

I want you to think of someone very precious to you.

It could be your mother. It could be your father. It could be a lover. It could even be a pet.

It doesn’t matter if you don’t have such a precious person.

No. In fact, for the simulation we’re about to try, it might be more fitting if you don’t have a precious person.

– Ah, seriously! Unni!

It is enough to simply posit the hypothetical existence of ‘someone incredibly precious to me’.

– I told you not to steal my clothes! I haven’t even had a chance to wear that yet!

– They say wearing new clothes right away is bad for you because of all the chemicals on them, little sis. Your amazing older sister, in her infinite concern for your health, has graciously tested it for you first, just like a royal food taster.

– Die!

Your life story is so intertwined with that precious someone that you couldn’t possibly write your biography without them.

Laughing. Fighting. Glaring. Apologizing.

Cursing. Blaming yourself. Trusting. Waiting for them.

Through that someone, you learned how to be ‘human’. You learned emotions. You practiced how to interact with people.

Thanks to them, you became human.

– I’m so glad you’re my unni. To think… that I have someone in my family I can talk to like this, even about our parents. I think it’s a blessing.

– Yeah. Me too.

– If, by any chance, I get dragged away by that god… help me, unni. I’ll help you too, no matter what happens. 𝙛𝒓𝓮𝒆𝔀𝒆𝙗𝓷𝒐𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝓶

– Okay.

Then one morning, you wake up, and that ‘someone’ is no longer by your side.

– ...?

A strange feeling.

It feels like you’ve left something behind somewhere.

– Huh?

They are no longer there.

If it was your mother, it’s as if you never had a mother to begin with. If a lover, you’ve never experienced such a love. If a pet, that child had never once climbed onto your back.

– …

It is empty.

A void.

This world, this universe, has lost something precious called the laws of physics. And you have just lost something a little more precious than that.

Even so, the world keeps moving, and you are still left there.

– …Ugh? What is it? I feel like I forgot something.

– Pre-President!

– Hm?

– Thank goodness! President, the school has gotten really, um, strange! We can't even get past the school gate. And all the teachers have disappeared!

– Whoa, whoa, hold on! Calm down! Everyone, take a deep breath in! And out. Yes, yes, in and out. Good. Calm down and speak one at a time.

– Sob. Well, you see….

As the world’s time flows on and your own life remains, you have no choice but to keep living.

But then, it suddenly hits you.

While walking down a long, straight hallway, for no reason at all, a reason you yourself could never figure out, you turn around.

– …

Me.

What did I leave behind there?

– President?

– Oh, uh, yeah! Sorry. I just had a strange feeling for a second. Let's go! Let's find the other kids!

– Yes! Waaah. Really, I'm so glad you're here, President!

– Ahaha…

Why is it?

– …

This.

It feels like this isn't my life.

The reunion with the twin sisters… nearly ended in disaster.

“Ahahaha! Really—?”

“Hey, I’m serious. Ahaha.”

Unlike the older sister, who was a hikikomori of legendary proportions (having been trapped by Time Seal and left all alone in the classroom for eternity, she was effectively the world’s greatest loner), the younger sister was, thankfully, a complete social butterfly. The very epitome of an ENFP.

She had mastered that special magic exclusive to social butterflies, turning the momentarily frigid air into a soft spring breeze as if by a lie.

Oh, for the record, the older sister who made a mess of her first impression was classified as an INFJ. Since her personality type will never be mentioned again before the story ends, I’ll just get it out of the way here.

Even though a catastrophe had occurred, much like an otaku trying to make a deep impression on a blind date and instead leaving a very deep impression in a different sense, the younger of the twin sisters, Yo-hwa, skillfully performed a stunt called ‘getting close to someone you just met’.

“For some reason, from the moment I saw you, Teacher, I felt this incredible sense of familiarity. And, wow. So you were our tutor even before we met at Baekhwa Girls' High!”

“Yep, yep.”

“But why does unni call you Sunbae?”

“Ah. I was planning on getting into Seoul National University too. Since we were going to be senior and junior in a few years anyway, I just decided to start calling him Sunbae. That's how we settled on the title.”

“Wow. You must have been really good at studying.”

“Well, well. Studying is a piece of cake! Ahem.”

Hmm.

I had been watching the reunion of the separated sisters with a nervous heart, but….

‘This is surprisingly okay, isn’t it?’

Just then, my eyes met Cheon-hwa’s.

From an angle her sister couldn't see, she clenched her fist and mouthed ‘Nice!’. I found myself responding in kind.

“So, so. Yo-hwa, you won’t remember this, but when I was teaching you two, we used to wander through a secret passage in your house and stuff―”

“Heeeh.”

“And then! Sunbae―”

Cheon-hwa chattered on, unusually excited like a child. Yo-hwa played along, chiming in enthusiastically.

A contented smile naturally formed on my lips.

‘Well, they were such close twin sisters, so even if she lost her memories because of the [Time Seal], their basic human compatibility wouldn't just disappear…’

A mold grew in the cracks of my thoughts.

It was a sense of unease.

‘…Hm? Wait. How would I know how close the two of them were?’

This was the first time in my entire long life as a regressor that I had seen Cheon-hwa and Yo-hwa laughing and chatting together like this.

In other words, I had no clues or evidence to know anything about the two sisters’ relationship.

It was only natural.

So why did I?

“Our family is the absolute worst, isn’t it?”

“Ah, for real! You really can’t understand it unless you’re born as the successor to a pseudo-religious cult!”

“Right, right. I mean, what kind of parents mess with their daughters' names, planning to offer them as sacrifices? Did you know? We actually have different names officially registered at the government office. It was just within the family and the cult that we were both called Cheon Yo-hwa…”

“Wow. No way.”

“We would’ve known sooner if we’d gotten our ID cards. They probably hid those from us too. Ah.”

Poke, poke.

Cheon-hwa, with a mischievous, playful smile, nudged my ribs with her elbow.

“Sunbae, you probably know our other names, don’t you? You know. When you were working with Grandpa Schopenhauer, you dug through all the government records.”

“Who knows. I wasn't paying special attention to you two back then.”

“Aww. But you could find out if you tried. Sunbae, please look it up for me! I don’t particularly dislike my name, but I’m just curious to hear what it is. You never know. It might be something like Bok-ja or Gil-ja.”

“That does sound interesting.”

“Right? I’m Cheon Bok-ja. Ahahaha.”

It was then that I suddenly realized.

The classroom had gotten a little quiet.

Specifically, Yo-hwa. The younger sister had suddenly stopped talking.

“Ahaha…?”

“Hm?”

We both turned our heads at the same time.

And we saw.

“…”

From Yo-hwa’s face.

All expression had vanished.

She was just silently staring this way… in the direction where Cheon-hwa and I were sitting, with a blank look.

“Uh.”

Flinch.

Both Cheon-hwa and I were at a loss for words.

In the red eyes watching us, there was a vinyl-like film that seemed impossible for any wings to penetrate.

They resembled the eyes of a reptile.

“...”

“...”

Silence.

The thread of conversation was unnaturally torn, and a stillness continued.

Both Cheon-hwa and I had good instincts. While we pretended to be logical at a glance, in reality, we often relied on our gut feelings.

That was why we kept our mouths shut.

Like an insect. Because it knows that if it moves now, the lizard over there will react.

“Hey.”

After about 90 seconds of silence, Yo-hwa’s lips parted.

“Are you two close?”

“Yes! No!”

Cheon-hwa answered instantly.

“I-I’m not close with Sunbae! We’re mortal enemies! I really hate him! We’re always just looking for a chance to stab each other in the back! Right, Sunbae?!”

“Ah, ah. Besides, I’m not even 100% sure if this thing is a human or an anomaly. From my perspective, she’s not trustworthy at all. A self-proclaimed strategist? A schemer? She seems eager to brand her own character, but it just comes off as sinister.”

“See! She hurts people’s feelings just like that, without a second thought! Would close friends do this to each other? Huh? Aah- this is the worst. My youth was wasted because a person like this was my tutor. Yep, yep. It would have been better if I never knew!”

“I probably only taught her for the money. In my heart, my only true disciple was always you, Yo-hwa.”

“Die! Sunbae! Please just die!”

“You die. No, you’re already dead, so please just delete your very existence.”

“See!”

“We’re―”

“Not close at all!”

“...”

Silence. Ninety seconds again.

“Hmph.”

More silence. Thirty seconds added.

“Your hair. Dye it.”

This time, it was our turn to be silent.

Only, the meaning of our silence was quite different. It was because we couldn't easily decipher the meaning of her demand, the words that had popped out of her lips.

“Huh? What are you talking about, Yo-hwa? Dyeing?”

“...”

Yo-hwa didn’t answer. She didn’t even shift her gaze. She was looking at her ‘unni’ from the same unmoving angle as before.

“Ah.”

Cheon-hwa sighed in resignation.

“Yeah, I see. I get it.”

What could she possibly have gotten?

Cheon-hwa got up from her desk and walked to the blackboard. Then she picked up the blackboard eraser and, out of nowhere, started rubbing it on her own hair.

Thump. Thump. Thump. Thump.

In the desolate classroom, only the sound of the blackboard eraser striking not the blackboard, but Cheon-hwa’s hair, drifted down.

It was such a sudden, bizarre act.

I tried to approach her, but, squeeze.

Yo-hwa’s fingers, which had been interlocked with mine since we entered the [Time Seal] classroom, stopped me.

“...”

It was a grip of negligible strength, but for that very reason, it was a pull I couldn’t break free from.

While I was frozen, Cheon-hwa’s hair had become caked in white chalk powder.

As the powder scattered in all directions, Cheon-hwa turned to look this way.

“Is this okay? Or… more?”

“Yes.”

“Okay. I get it.”

Rustle. Cheon-hwa undid her hair tie.

And with that, the ponytail that was as good as the sisters’ trademark, vanished.

I couldn’t understand.

“Sorry.”

What was even harder to understand was that the older sister, Cheon-hwa, who had covered her own hair in chalk powder, dirtied her neat black school uniform, and let her hair down, bowed her head deeply.

“I am an anomaly.”

“...”

“The truth is, I’m the god your family, the Cheon Yo-hwa family, used to worship. An Outer God. The mastermind. But to entice the the Undertaker, I’m mimicking your appearance, pretending to be human. A kind of doppelgänger.”

“...”

“I’m sorry for invading your space without permission.”

Cheon-hwa kept her head, now powdered white, bowed low.

“I won’t ask you to forgive me. But there are two points I’d like you to consider from my perspective. Will you hear me out?”

“Say them.”

“First. I am an anomaly that has been afflicted by [Time Seal]. So, when a day passes, I forget everything that happened today. You can assume it’s nearly impossible for the Undertaker and me to build memories together.”

“And?”

“Second. The Undertaker will never, ever confuse a creepy anomaly like me with you. I’m sorry, but the one who is confused is you.”

“...”

“The one who’s anxious is also you. It’s brazen of me to say this when I’m the one who caused the confusion, but no matter how much an anomaly like me imitates you, you will never be replaced by ‘me’ in the Undertaker’s heart. Please believe me.”

“Change it, then.”

Flinch. Cheon-hwa’s shoulders, her head still bowed, tensed slightly.

“…Sorry. I can’t change my appearance.”

“Why not?”

“I just…. Can’t.”

“You said you were a doppelgänger?”

“I’m sorry. I really can’t. It’s beyond my ability. It’s because I’m an incompetent person, no. An incompetent anomaly.”

“You said you were an Outer God?”

“I was sealed. The me right now is just a trace left by the Outer God, nothing more than a shadow. I’m sorry.”

“Hmph.”

Yo-hwa tilted her head.

“Then you can change your name, can’t you?”

“...”

“Mastermind, that’s good. Your clothes are black, too. From now on, I’d like you to use the name Mastermind, not Cheon Yo-hwa.”

TL/N: The word for Mastermind can also be “Black Veil”, hence the black clothes.

“Okay. I will.”

Creeeak.

Outside the classroom. The trees and flowers of the four seasons that had adorned the windows all withered at once.

The bark on the birch trees split, and from the cracks, black blood gushed out.

“But like I said, I’m a mayfly. Even the thought that I changed my name will be reset when midnight passes.”

“...”

“So you don’t need to worry about someone like me. Cheon Yo-hwa. A mayfly that doesn’t exist in the world anyway, that won’t exist in the future, and that won’t be able to leave anything behind. That’s what I am.”

“I see.”

“Yes.”

“Okay.”

Scrape, Yo-hwa pushed back her chair and stood up.

“Let’s go then! Teacher!”

Yo-hwa, who said that while looking at me, had a wide smile on her face, a smile without a single trace of shadow.

“Ahyoo. Really! I don’t know why I get so tangled up with doppelgänger-type anomalies.”

“...”

“You remember, Teacher, at Baekhwa Girls’ High? When we were isolated in the student council room all winter. Back then, too, a doppelgänger was the one who remained until the very end, wasn’t it.”

“…That’s right.”

Or perhaps.

――To subjugate the Outer God sleeping at Baekhwa Girls’ High, it wasn’t just Yo-hwa and me, but there was actually one more mischievous ‘someone’ by our side.

――So in the student council room, where the electric stove let off wisps of steam, there wasn’t the warmth of two people, but actually three.

――And by that someone being deleted, they might have been forcibly replaced by the anomaly called a doppelgänger.

It’s just that I had resolved myself to the latter.

And the Yo-hwa before me had simply decided on the former.

‘Ah.’

Only then could I truly feel how cruel my authority, the ability called [Time Seal], was.

As a regressor, ‘I’ could accept it.

Because I had been given enough time, over many regressions, to choose whether the being before me was an anomaly or a human.

But it wasn’t the same for other people.

To even her own family, who must have been the closest and dearest to her, the being before her could only be seen as an ‘anomaly’.

There was no choice in the first place.

Because they weren’t even given a chance to understand what time and what path led to this situation.

‘I see. Is this the epilogue I have to face?’

It was quite a harsh story.

“It was a bit bizarre, but it was a pretty interesting experience. Ehehe. Teacher! I’ve completely cleared my schedule for today, so let’s hurry and go get something to eat!”

Even as I was led out of the classroom by Yo-hwa’s hand, all the while.

Cheon-hwa just kept her head bowed.

“...”

Yes. To reveal it now.

This was a story about a person who lost someone precious due to [Time Seal].

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