I'm an Infinite Regressor, But I've Got Stories to Tell-Chapter 395

There were pros and cons to everything in the world.

Pros.

Being able to roll the dice again and “retry” at any time — that was the advantage of a regressor, me, the Undertaker.

Even if you failed, as long as you forgot it, that was fine — that was the advantage of an amnesiac, Cheon Hwa.

However—

“Oh? Yo Hwa. Why are you here……?”

“Ah! Teacher! I decided to open a Baekhwa Girls’ High School branch in Busan starting today!”

“A branch?”

“Yes! Ahaha, it’s nothing grand. I just asked the National Road Supervisor, and I’m planning to set up a temporary student council room as a prefab building on one corner of the Babel Tower rooftop!”

“……”

Every advantage, when flipped over, inevitably became a disadvantage.

“But… Yo Hwa.”

“Yes!”

“It’s hard to bring this up but……”

“Ay, come on. It’s me and you, teacher. You can say anything!”

“The temporary building you’re constructing right now… the spot where the container box will go is, from my perspective, exactly where the [Time Seal]’s crystal tombstone lies.”

“Oh? A-ah, really?”

“Yes. I’m sorry, but could you set up the building a bit to the side instead?”

“Uuuum—.”

“……”

“Why, teacher?”

Disadvantages.

Until you rolled the dice again — until you reset the loop — a regressor could never escape the traces of failure that clung to them.

For the amnesiac, there was the compulsion of having to accept only the results of failure without even realizing they had failed.

“I can’t see it, and I don’t really want to see it either, but if you absolutely have to visit, you can just come into the student council room, right? I’ll always welcome you!”

“……”

“Oh! For a while, I’ll be staying at the Busan branch instead of the Sejong main school because of some administrative work. Hehe. Please stop by often, teacher!”

Yo Hwa’s red eyes were smiling.

――Access denied.

I was Yo Hwa’s teacher. Inside the Infinite Void’s domain, we had spent years together, just the two of us.

Of course, I could read the light and darkness hidden behind my lovely student’s smiling eyes as if they were in my hand.

Just now, what had been forbidden was any contact with Cheon Hwa.

That night—

[There’s confusion spreading even within Baekhwa Girls’ High itself.]

I immediately tried to contact the Saintess to grasp the situation.

“Are you saying the student council president… Yo Hwa acted on her own?”

[Yes. Even the vice president and secretary — the Baekhwa Girls’ High officers — didn’t know.]

[Yesterday, all of a sudden, Yo Hwa met with No Do Ha alone and settled it herself.]

[No Do Ha was puzzled, but since it’d be unreasonable to antagonize Baekhwa Girls’ High over just giving up a small corner of the Babel Tower rooftop, he handed over the container.]

It was fast. Far too fast.

Among the Regressor Alliance, the one with the quickest judgment and action had always been Yo Hwa.

Unlike her sister, who constantly calculated variables behind the scenes to weave vast strategic epics, the younger twin sister improvised plans the moment the battle began—or even during it, in real time.

People called her the Field Commander.

Failing to account for that nature of Yo Hwa’s had been my mistake.

In less than twenty-four hours, the Babel Tower rooftop fell under the surveillance network of the Baekhwa Girls’ High student council president.

When Yo Hwa was an ally, it was an incredible advantage — just like during the Leviathan Suppression, when she came as reinforcements.

But in the current situation, it felt like the noose around my neck was slowly tightening.

“What is Yo Hwa doing right now?”

[She’s still on the rooftop.]

“……”

[She’s constantly exchanging messages with Baekhwa Girls’ High guild members in Sejong through me.]

[This is just my personal assessment, but…]

[It seems Yo Hwa truly intends to stay at the Babel Tower alone for the time being.]

[Mr. Undertaker.]

[What exactly happened inside the Time Mausoleum?]

“……”

The reverse scale.

The human heart has invisible scales covering it, and among them is one single scale that grows the wrong way.

“…I’m sorry. If Yo Hwa leaves her post, please let me know immediately.”

[Yes, I understand.]

What that reverse scale was — often, not even the person themselves knew. Many lived their whole lives without realizing it.

For Yo Hwa, her reverse scale was the existence of her lost twin sister.

[I’m sorry, Mr. Undertaker.]

[We tried calling her to the meeting room through No Do Ha and tried various methods, but Yo Hwa won’t move at all.]

[Actually, I think she doesn’t trust my words.]

[She seems to be convinced from the start that we’re trying to trick her into leaving.]

“……”

[She only leaves the rooftop when she’s going out with you, Mr. Undertaker.]

Warning.

A low siren echoed in my head.

“Hehe. It’s nice to walk around the city with you like this, teacher! Wow, I really wish I could’ve settled down in Busan instead of Sejong……”

“There’s the Inunaki Tunnel, remember.”

“Yeah, but still! Please understand your student’s heart that just wants to be closer to you!”

“Then how about moving into my guild’s hideout and living there?”

“Ah.”

“Aran says that all the time. Except when she’s working in Pyongyang, she spends all day holed up in the hideout room. There’s always a guest room ready for you.”

“Uuuh! That’s… too sweet a proposal…! My heart’s pounding like crazy… What should I do, teacher?”

“What do you mean, what should you do? Just move in like you’re buying a vacation home—”

“You want to see me that much?”

“……”

“Why, teacher? I’m right here.”

“……”

“That’s not fair.”

“……”

“Lately I keep regretting being so far away. Sim A Ryeon is even farther away, working in Pyongyang. Whenever the northern front gets dangerous, I went to help as a reinforcement too. It’s a bit… unfair.”

Warning.

Yo Hwa wasn’t the only one who had lost someone to a Time Seal.

Long ago, in the episode about the soccer player Kim Ju Cheol, his son Kim Si Eun had also been mentioned.

Because the father’s existence had been erased and distorted from the start, Kim Si Eun lived a life wandering across the country.

In this era, traveling was synonymous with suicide. He didn’t stop at Korea — he even crossed to the Japanese islands.

As if desperately searching for something.

Kim Si Eun never loved his father.

Kim Ju Cheol was a gambling addict. Unable to forget his past glory, he vented his violence and abuse on his family.

That kind of man.

Even losing such a family irreversibly changed Kim Si Eun’s life.

Even if you didn’t love the family you lost — it still happened.

…So if you lost someone you did love more than anyone, how much would the survivor’s life twist?

“Teacher?”

“Teacher.”

Warning.

Even so, I trusted my student and believed that dialogue could solve things.

Giving up was always the simplest solution — and the most superficial. That’s why I chose to talk.

“Ahaha.”

“So… what are you saying?”

“I have a twin sister.”

“My sister really, really loved the teacher. She gave her soul to save the world with you.”

“And if all of that happened exactly according to her plan, that means she was— super, super smart, right?”

“What is that even supposed to mean! Ahaha.”

I tried to talk.

“I can’t do that. Mm, I could throw away my life a hundred, a thousand times for the teacher—”

“But calculating hundreds of regressions as variables to form a plan with her life? I don’t have that kind of head.”

“She looked exactly like me.”

“Her voice was the same.”

“Even her scent was the same.”

“But she was much smarter, wasn’t she?”

I tried again.

“So that’s why the teacher’s attracted to that one, huh?”

“What do you call this again? Hmm, there was a term for it. Ah! Right — ‘superior version!’ This is what you call a superior version, right? Ahaha.”

“Hmm. I don’t dislike being challenged. I actually like it. I can prove myself by fighting. But… she doesn’t exist anymore, does she?”

“She doesn’t exist in this reality.”

“She’s more thoroughly dead than death itself.”

“So what are we fighting with? How do we fight?”

“Don’t you think it’s unfair?”

I tried—

“Then what am I supposed to feel?”

“My family sacrificed themselves for you and for the world, but you didn’t even acknowledge it — should I feel sorry? Sad?”

“Am I supposed to feel guilt and sorrow over a family I’ve never even known?”

“Isn’t it the opposite?”

“I’d rather you apologize. To me.”

Warning.

“Even if you’ve accepted it, that’s not the end. You’re admitting that I existed. But I’m not a regressor like you, I don’t have perfect memory, so there’s no way for me to regain my memories.”

“She disappeared on her own, and now expects me to just accept it?”

“If you acknowledge her on top of acknowledging me — then she’ll truly become the ‘sister,’ won’t she?”

“I hate that.”

“You’re the worst kind of person.”

“Cheon Yo Hwa is me. Teacher… yes, right?”

Warning.

“Look, teacher. This is Busan. The city you protected.”

“I’m the only one who can walk here holding your hand. The real Cheon Yo Hwa. Not that creepy illusion locked in some classroom.”

“Your hand… it’s warm.”

“Mm, teacher. A little closer…”

Warning.

“Teacher, look at this. I got injured in the last battle.”

“Here— on my neck. Do you see?”

“No, I didn’t ask Sim A Ryeon to heal it. I wanted to keep it.”

“Why? Ahaha, well— my wound doesn’t disappear after twenty-four hours.”

“It’ll heal eventually.”

“But it doesn’t ‘reset’ without a trace. Never.”

“You can come closer. I actually wanted to show you. Yes, up close.”

“Teacher.”

“My teacher—”

Reset.

The conversation failed. Completely. A fumble.

Until that loop ended, Yo Hwa never left my side.

Her position as student council president, her authority as one of the twin guild leaders of the Korean peninsula — none of it mattered anymore.

Baekhwa Girls’ High collapsed.

It had been a structure that existed solely on the charisma of a single student council president. Once their queen was lost, the bees scattered — the National Road Administration and Samcheon World divided and absorbed the members.

Once, the former vice president of Baekhwa Girls’ High came to me, sobbing in despair. But Yo Hwa’s expression never changed.

All I could do was take responsibility for her until that loop ended — and stay by her side.

Reset. And then—

“……”

The next loop.

I was in the classroom. Across from me sat Cheon Hwa.

As soon as the new cycle started and things settled down, I came to the divine realm.

“Ah—.”

After hearing the full story from me, the elder twin sister sighed deeply.

“I see… So that’s how it turned out. I’m sorry, senior. I’ve forced you into such a painful role.”

“It’s fine. This kind of thing has happened with others before.”

“Hmm? Ah, I see. There were always unstable comrades who depended on you mentally. Still, I’m sorry.”

Cheon Hwa murmured,

“My sister was right. This is the price for me recklessly using the [Time Seal]. Back then, I was too focused on defeating the mastermind, so I thought this was the best option.”

“……”

“But honestly, I’m fine with this! Haha— For you to remember me as a human at all, that’s already a jackpot. That’s like winning a gacha at the worst odds. And getting my cute little sister’s heart too? That’s like pulling a double five-star in a single roll! Hahaha.”

“……”

“You don’t have to tell my sister about me, senior. Even I have some shame left — I don’t want to hurt her mentally just to ease my own conscience. Nope!”

Leave it be.

Abandon it.

Just like always.

After all, no one knew.

Yo Hwa could never know she had a sister.

And Cheon Hwa could never remember that she had scarred her sister.

No one in this world knew — except me.

“……”

If I closed my eyes, all of it could remain as something that “never happened.”

A blank.

A void.

“Cheon Hwa.”

“Yeah?”

“The classroom you’re sealed in — it’s modeled after a Baekhwa Girls’ High classroom, isn’t it?”

“Uh… yeah. Why, suddenly?”

And that aligned perfectly with the life of a regressor.

“I have a strategy.”

That Yo Hwa wasn’t a necromancer of zombies, but a girl who simply wanted to save a few more of her friends.

That Yu Ji Won wasn’t a power-mad psychopath, but someone searching for the person she met one summer.

That the Constellations didn’t exist — that they were only people who once wanted to save others.

That, like old man Sho, if I just closed my eyes, no one would ever know.

Originally, the void was a world only for those who wished to know, and people were only human for those who wished to see.

I believed regressors were people who sang of loss.

“In this loop, I haven’t saved Yo Hwa yet. Right now, she’s still trapped in Baekhwa Girls’ High, struggling.”

“Yeah. So hurry and go.”

“And as you know — to purge the traces of Infinite Void sleeping there, you must endure until the world shrinks to the size of Baekhwa Girls’ High and enter the void within the void.”

“……”

“I will summon you, Cheon Hwa, into the Void Baekhwa Girls’ High.”

“……!”

Cheon Hwa’s eyes widened.

I declared:

“There, I will reunite you — the two sisters.”