I'm an Infinite Regressor, But I've Got Stories to Tell-Chapter 426

There existed someone named Go Yo-il.

“Wow, how can someone’s name be Go Yo-il!”

“?”

“Really. Don’t you think your mother was a bit too much? ‘Yo’ as the family syllable, and because you’re the first child, ‘il’ for one, and the second ‘i’ for two. This naming sense is practically from the Joseon Dynasty. Thankfully, the Chinese characters are at least different.”

“??”

“But I like it, you know? Your name, brother. Go Yo-il (高曜日). It can be read as ‘a quiet day,’ or maybe as ‘a high, shining day.’”

A neighborhood hospital. A funeral.

In middle school, Yo-il, who was silently taking care of his mother’s funeral alone, was rather bewildered.

“Brother…?”

“Yes.”

“Uh, I’m sorry, but—miss, anyone can see you’re older than me. Aren’t you in high school?”

“Ah. Every time I hear you call me ‘sister,’ it makes me so happy. Please call me sister just ten more times.”

“……”

If one had to pick just a single “thing that must never be done at a funeral,” the answer would, without hesitation, be “resurrection.”

However, young Yo-il had just realized that there was another that should be added to the list: “A person you’ve never seen before claiming to be your younger sister.”

“Don’t be too surprised.”

The person before him smiled softly. It was a smile very bad for one’s heart.

“This isn’t a story about the present life. It’s about a bond from a previous one.”

“Ah, so that’s your setup?”

Peace of mind returned quickly.

Anyone born in the Republic of Korea, upon discovering the other person was a cultist, would automatically develop immunity even if they’d never had it before.

“Ahaha. Your expression, brother—it’s so funny.”

…But the person before him seemed quite skillful.

Even when he shot her a gaze that blatantly treated her as a lunatic, she didn’t flinch in embarrassment; instead, she calmly took a seat in the mourning hall.

Even if there were no visitors now, that was still an extremely rude thing to do.

“Excuse me. I’m sorry to say this when we’ve just met, but please leave now. If you don’t, I’ll call someone.”

“Don’t be lonely just because there are no visitors. In three minutes, someone will come.”

“What?”

“A coworker from the hospital your mother used to work at. After that, in sixteen minutes. And again, in sixty minutes.”

“……”

It was true.

“Oh my, Yo-il. I saw you when you were a baby. Do you remember me?”

“Yes. Of course I remember.”

“My, you’ve grown up so proper!”

“Thank you so much for coming.”

“……”

The self-proclaimed younger sister, who had suddenly appeared, even greeted the mourners alongside him as if it were the most natural thing in the world. 𝗳𝗿𝐞𝕖𝘄𝗲𝕓𝗻𝚘𝚟𝕖𝐥.𝚌𝕠𝕞

But there was something even stranger.

The fact that both Yo-il himself and the visitors found it completely “natural” that this woman was there, bowing beside him.

“Excuse me.”

Finally, after the promised sixty minutes had passed, Yo-il had no choice but to ask carefully.

“Sister… who on earth are you?”

“Oh my. That’s a question with countless possible answers, and yet not a single one possible to give.”

“……”

“It’s fine. We have plenty of time. There will be no more visitors until morning.”

The woman smiled modestly.

“Shall we take our time talking?”

Yo-il suddenly thought that her smile was incredibly beautiful.

Time was flowing.

Hình dạng

Her name was Go Yuri.

“Wow, how can someone’s name be Go Yuri!”

“Doctor. To memorize the first line you said when we met and later use it to tease me in revenge—that’s so petty.”

“……”

He was usually called “Guildmaster” or “Doctor.”

Unfortunately, in this timeline, Yo-il had never made a “Sibling Alliance” with his younger sister nor engaged in any eccentric acts since childhood.

Therefore, he had no tolerance whatsoever for otaku culture.

Ordinary people, upon merely hearing the four syllables “O-ra-beo-ni (older brother),” would feel their whole body’s energy twist as if hearing an incantation from the Necronomicon.

If he ever wished to re-enter subculture again, he would need a great deal of time—perhaps many years.

“Whatever we were in our previous lives—siblings or otherwise—you’re the older one here now, aren’t you? Even if I speak politely, I think I should be the one using formal speech…”

“Uegh.”

“?”

“Ah, sorry! Doctor. It’s just that, when I suddenly faced you— my brother’s face, my brother’s voice — speaking formally to me, my spinal fluid secreted something from my stomach, and I reacted reflexively.”

“……”

“For my mental health, could you please speak casually? Oh, and by the way, I won’t be calling you by your real name.”

“Why not?”

“Haah. Doctor, in my master plan, you occupy a truly, extremely important position. I must keep your real name hidden as much as possible.”

“…Weird kid.”

Time was flowing.

“Doctor, you can do it! Fighting!”

“Gaaah!”

“Even when I wasn’t born as your sister, you were already a medical school admit, you know? Actually, after you lost me, your timeline entered a slump, and you stopped studying seriously. Ah, my heart aches for you… Doctor, please recall your scholarly passion from your previous and pre-previous life.”

“So you’re saying it’s all your fault! I stopped studying since sixth grade!”

“Ahaha. That’s why I came on-site to give after-service support! Now, if you memorize a bit more, a perfect score on the college exam won’t just be a dream. Fighting! Fighting!”

“Give me back my life! Give it back, you criminal!”

Time was flowing.

“As I said before, to infiltrate Cheon Hwa’s cult, college entrance exam scores are crucial. No one knows this, but the cult leader has a serious academic inferiority complex.”

“…I see. So the founding of the Baekhwa Girls’ High School under a private foundation wasn’t just for the cult’s future—it also satisfied personal desires?”

“The world works like that.” [idk what reference this is?]

“Hmm? Why did you pronounce that weirdly?”

“Ugh. That’s why you’re such a muggle.”

“?”

Kkatok.

Ding-dong.

“Ahh—! Th-this is bad!”

“What now?”

“I just pressed the doorbell, but maybe the button’s stuck—it won’t stop ringing!”

“Hey, you’re a teleporter. Wouldn’t it be easier to just appear in my room instead of walking through the neighborhood alleys?”

“Hmm. I tried that once before.”

“And?”

“You begged me in tears to please respect your privacy. Plus, I saw something I really didn’t want to see.”

“……”

“And I don’t dislike it, you know. Knocking on someone’s door after walking even a little—it feels romantic, like really visiting them.”

“Romantic, huh.”

“First of all, let me compliment you. You did really well! Implanting a sense of humanity in Yu Ji-won was really hard. Thanks to what happened this summer, later on…”

Ding-dong.

“Eh?”

“Hmm.”

“Oh, wait. It’s Yu Ji-won. Was this visit planned for today?”

“Sorry, I forgot to tell you. She cooked too much and said she’d bring some over.”

“This is terrible! If she finds us together alone, she’ll kill me, and then the world will end!”

“No way she’d—”

“Yap! Teleport!”

“…So you can use it just fine when it suits you.”

“Hmm. You opened the door a bit slowly today, Mr. Matiz. I thought I heard voices from inside. Was someone here?”

Time was flowing.

And then—

“Brother. Wake up. It’s morning.”

“…I don’t know why the first thing I see when I open my eyes has to be your face, and I don’t know why I have to wake up to that weird alarm sound, either.”

“Oh my. Can you really afford to act so relaxed?”

“Hm?”

“Tomorrow’s finally D-Day, you know.”

“…Ah.”

The day approached.

“Yes.”

Summer.

D-Day.

June 17th.

“Sadly, tomorrow’s the day the Doctor and I must part!”

“……”

Their time together was preparing for a funeral.

Hình dạng

That day, strange things happened from morning.

“Take the train down?”

“Yes. From now on, we’ll probably owe countless debts to that place—hundreds, maybe thousands of times over. I thought, before losing our memories, it’d be good to visit it at least once.”

“……”

“Come on, Doctor.”

Go Yuri extended her hand.

“Mm. Miss Go Yo-il.”

“……”

“Let’s go together.”

They walked.

Though it was embarrassing to hold hands the whole way, Yo-il actually had no reason to feel shy.

No one was watching them.

No—there weren’t even any footsteps of “third parties” on the road they walked.

“Is this another trick you staged?”

“Yes. Only on June 16th—if I tweak a few things, I can make it so there are literally zero pedestrians on this route.”

“What an extraordinary coincidence.”

“Yes! That’s why I specifically set the execution date for tomorrow. I wanted to travel to the destination just once without using teleportation.”

“……”

Just like ordinary humans do—

Leaving the house, arriving at the station, passing the gate, boarding the train, and arriving in Busan.

The two met not a single person.

The world still had some time before its destruction, yet it felt as if the two of them alone were walking ahead, rehearsing the end.

“Come to think of it—”

At Busan Station’s waiting area, Yo-il asked her why she had staged their “first meeting” at his mother’s funeral.

Go Yuri gave a slightly embarrassed smile.

“You were too young back then, Doctor. Ah, well, even now you’re still far too young in my eyes.”

“So?”

“No matter how mature you were for your age, greeting mourners alone— that’s never an easy thing for a middle schooler.”

“……”

“There are moments when a person just wishes someone would be there beside them. Once, long ago, you confessed to me that you had been terribly lonely and exhausted back then.”

Yo-il wanted to ask—

Then do you also have moments when you wish someone were beside you?

“But now, you’ll remember that day completely differently. Even if it was a sad day when you buried your mother—”

“It’s also the day I met you.”

“Yes. Isn’t that amazing?”

She smiled brightly.

“The way people comfort each other isn’t by erasing sadness. It’s by laying another memory over it.”

“…Is that so.”

“Yes. Someday, I’ll disappear, and you’ll lose all your memories, but until that day comes, I wanted to give you as many happy memories as possible. Ah.”

A souvenir shop.

While browsing a store whose owner had ‘coincidentally’ stepped out, Go Yuri pointed at something.

“This one—it’s really cheap but surprisingly pretty.”

A silver bell.

It wasn’t new; it seemed to have been made quite a while ago, cheap and a little dusty.

Among the display’s corner were exactly two left.

“Do you like it?”

“Yes”

Yo-il silently picked it up.

Then, placing a 10,000-won bill on the unattended counter, he returned to her.

She tilted her head.

“What’s this?”

“A gift.”

“Oh my.”

“It’d be better to give you something grander on our last day, but… you’ve probably already enjoyed luxuries beyond my imagination, countless times through your reincarnations. So—”

He pressed the silver bell into her hand, covering her fingers with his own.

“I’ll give this to you as a relic of the place that will become our shared grave.”

“……”

“According to your ‘plan,’ someday I’ll forget you.”

“Yes.”

“I swear this.”

Glancing at the remaining bell on the shelf, Yo-il looked back at her.

“Tomorrow, when everything ends and begins— even if I forget you, no matter what happens, I’ll take that remaining half of the bell.”

“……”

Go Yuri’s eyebrows folded softly.

“I’m sorry, but that’s impossible. I was, am, and will be someone irreplaceably precious to you. When I disappear, you’ll awaken as an unprecedented multi-awakened being. It’s all a predestined plan.”

“Yes. It’s impossible.”

The grip between their hands did not loosen.

“That’s why this is a kind of test.”

“Test?”

“If tomorrow comes and I don’t have the bell, then it means what you deemed ‘impossible’ truly is impossible. Everything will flow as you planned. You and I will vanish, leaving only traces.”

But, said Yo-il—

“If I don’t forget.”

“……”

“If I forget you, yet still hold this cheap, unshining toy in my hand—then maybe that’s a small miracle, isn’t it?”

If that happens—

“Bring me hope.”

“……”

“Even a tiny bit of hope is fine. I just want you to think, even slightly, that what you thought impossible might actually be possible.”

Silence followed.

Yo-il released her hand. Left alone, Go Yuri still held the bell he had given her.

“…Yes.”

Tightly—

She gripped that shabby leftover product, that one bell left in the world for someone who would take her in.

She pressed it to her heart with both hands.

“I’ll believe in you.”

It was a promise.

“I’ll be waiting.”

The hour and minute hands overlapped—merged into one vow.

“Forever.”

And then, the void came—

.

.

.

.

.

“—I am your savior, mister.”

Toward the crossed hour and minute hands—

“Come on, mister!”

The youngest, fastest second hand extended its hand.

Smiling brightly.

“Let’s go save your love together now!”

And then, time arrived.

—He who was once the Reincarnator. End.