I'm an Infinite Regressor, But I've Got Stories to Tell-Chapter 431

“Ah, you’re here?”

“Ah, you’re here?”

The 6th station.

That place was a garden.

A place that rustled only with falling petals.

A fallen-flower garden (落花園) that left behind fragrance even after death.

And it overlapped with the Tang family’s garden—

the place where Dang Seo Rin used to spend time with her family.

The two landscapes overlapped.

“……”

Of course, its appearance was far removed from reality.

The 6th layer of the Deep Mind.

Only one layer remained before reaching the deepest depths of the dream within a dream.

If this place—where one could not help but be deeply saturated with Void Poison—had actually resembled reality, that would have been even more concerning.

“……Dang Seo Rin?”

But the sight before my eyes went beyond merely being “strange space.”

“Yeah.”

“Yeah.”

Dang Seo Rin—no,

two Dang Seo Rins—answered at the same time.

The situation was like this:

in my right retina and my left retina, two different Dang Seo Rins appeared, overlapping precisely at the center.

“Feels a little disorienting, right? Me too.”

The Dang Seo Rin on the right was gently touching a wilted violet in the fallen-flower garden.

The navy-blue shadow cast by sunlight through the glass caressed the withered petals, and that color became the violet’s new hue.

“Feels a little disorienting, right? Me too.”

The Dang Seo Rin on the left was caressing a corpse pierced through by tree branches in the Tang family garden.

The ceiling of the collapsed building let in countless starlights.

It looked as though Dang Seo Rin was holding a funeral beneath the Milky Way of the night sky.

“……”

Overlapping, yet not quite overlapping.

I immediately understood what these “two layers of overlapping scenery” represented.

“Dang Seo Rin as a human… and Dang Seo Rin as Hecate coexist.”

“That’s right.”

“That’s right.”

The violet shed its shadow, and the corpse dripped blood.

““Normally, Oh Dok Seo would erase Hecate and leave only the human Dang Seo Rin behind.””

““But that kid, this time—right at the very end—it seems his heart changed.””

““He said you deserve the right to choose for yourself, didn’t he?””

A dry laugh escaped my lips.

“That’s really… something Dok Seo would do.”

Dang Seo Rin giggled.

““Seriously, isn’t he way too fourth-dimensional? Sometimes when I talk to him, I end up tilting my head like, ‘Huh? Did I hear that right?’””

“Ahaha.”

I laughed with her, but how could I not understand Oh Dok Seo’s true intentions?

Placing one of my bonds on each descending step of the dream within a dream—

this had more meaning than merely “leaving me the right to choose.”

‘It’s a gift for me.’

Indeed.

For a regressor like me, this situation was nothing short of a dream.

No matter how I tried to protect my mind by forging armor for it,

each time I regressed and saw my comrades’ memories reset,

how could I not be affected?

I considered digging into that unhealable sorrow to be foolish.

So I merely applied ointment over the wounds so that the flesh wouldn’t tear open again.

“Your and Dok Seo’s idea… I get it now. It’s basically the golden axe, silver axe operation.”

““Huh?””

“In other words, I just have to decide here—

whether the Dang Seo Rin I truly loved was the personality inherited by Hecate,

or the human Dang Seo Rin—

and then take one of your hands, right?”

““Ahahaha! You got it!””

Day and night merged at the center of the sky.

““Actually, it was Dok Seo who first came up with the idea,

but I didn’t think it had much meaning.

No matter how I saw it, it only looked like you’d end up choosing between the two of us.””

“A classic fairytale cliché.”

““Well, you know, I’m confident.

Whether I’m a monster or not, I know you’ll still see me as Dang Seo Rin, just as I am.””

That was righteous confidence.

Because the paths we’d walked, the countless cycles we’d endured,

and the dialogues we’d exchanged all justified that confidence.

“Then you’ll understand too.”

I smiled.

“Dang Seo Rin. The choice doesn’t actually belong to me—it belongs to you.”

““Huh?””

She tilted her head.

““What do you mean?””

“Miss Seo Rin.”

I looked at the Dang Seo Rin on my right—

the one who was still fully human,

tainted with the memory of an Outer God,

yet not fully united with it.

The Dang Seo Rin who was still alive as of June 17th.

“The memories you feel you’ve regained now—

in truth, those are the past of some Outer God who replaced your soul.”

“……”

“You don’t have to consider those unconditionally your own life.

No—in fact, it wouldn’t be strange to feel disgusted by them.”

“……”

“Because of Go Yuri, your entire family’s massacre was orchestrated.

You had no choice but to make a wish—

and it was a monster that resonated with that wish that took your life as collateral.”

I spoke calmly, taking care not to add any exaggeration, as I looked straight into her eyes.

“You have the right to reject this future, this past,

to declare all of it as belonging to someone else, not you.”

“……”

Then I turned my head—

to the Dang Seo Rin on the left—

the one still fully an Outer God,

who had foreseen her fate of being degraded into a human,

yet precisely because of that, could refuse it.

The Hecate who still had not lost her name as of June 17th.

“Seo Rin-ah.”

“……Yes.”

“Guildmaster.”

“……Yes.”

Hecate hesitated, then spoke.

“……Vice Guildmaster.”

“Well. I don’t know what it feels like for an Outer God to transform into a human.

For a being that only reacts to wishes to become the wish itself—

for someone like me, once a Homo sapiens, that’s a bit too abstract.”

“Ahaha. What are you talking about?

You’re more monster-like than any monster.”

“Hah. Then the Three-Thousand Worlds are basically just a monster syndicate.

A guildmaster, a vice guildmaster…

And come to think of it, Ji-won’s a Leviathan priestess, isn’t she?”

“Wow. And that kind of guild rules the Korean Peninsula?

Even their rivals, Baekhwa Girls’ High, are the same?

Yeah, Korea’s doomed.”

We laughed together.

“You can still refuse.”

“……”

“From your standpoint as an Outer God,

humans might be nothing but lowly creatures.

Even if you refuse, I have no right to stop you.”

“Why?”

“Because in the end, I’m Go Yuri’s accomplice.

One of the culprits who dragged an Outer God like you down to the mortal realm.”

“……”

She closed her mouth.

I waited until the silence melted into the day and night.

Only then did I ask the sun and the moon:

“Will you accept the monster?”

To the sun placed on my left.

“Will you accept the human?”

To the moon placed on my right.

“……I. Um, I think…”

The Dang Seo Rin bathed in the sun’s shadow opened her lips.

“I don’t think it’s that important a question.

After all—people say all their cells are replaced, right?

Whether monster or whatever, if it’s my consciousness, then it’s me.”

She treated monsters like mere cells.

But then again, even cancer cells are still cells—

so it wasn’t wrong, and I couldn’t help but smile.

Dang Seo Rin looked straight at me.

“If I deny these memories,

then I’ll lose every trace of walking beside you—past and future.

I don’t want that.”

That was the human’s answer.

I nodded, then looked at the other side.

“……”

Hecate, soaked in starlight, opened her lips.

“What you said—that compared to the Outer Gods,

humans are insignificant specks—that’s wrong.”

Her lips curled into a faint smile.

“Outer Gods have only themselves.

Most humans are the same way—but at least,

the life I lived—and ended up living—was different.”

Hecate reached out her hand.

Gently—my left hand was taken.

“Undertaker!

I’m really glad I got to know you!”

“……”

“I’m sorry for dying first.

Thank you for always keeping my promises.

Thank you for trying, every day, to stay by my side… Thank you. You’re…”

Gently—my right hand was taken.

“Go Yuri.”

“Undertaker.”

The Dang Seo Rins on the left and right,

who had been slightly apart, pulled me toward them at once.

““You were always, to me, like magic!””

The sun and the moon overlapped.

The rotted, crumbled blossoms accepted the crimson and bloomed anew.

The branches that once bore only corpses were adorned with petals and flourished.

“When the latecomers arrive, I’ll follow too.”

With a smile—

holding the earliest flower a human could bloom,

Dang Seo Rin whispered before me.

It was a song that had always flowed in my heart.

“For the record, I think Ha Yul’s really pretty!

Ah, but Oh Dok Seo’s a bit…

and even Sim Ah-ryeon too…”

Time limit—

20 seconds.

“When this is all over, let’s talk again!”

Dive.

And then—

To the next stage.

“……”

Silence.

The 7th station.

The terminal.

Though this place should have been where time and space were most chaotic,

what spread around me was merely the Babel Tower plaza—

wrapped in stillness.

“Hm?”

Kaang!

Noh Doha, who had been working on something with tools, turned around.

Her black eyes, shadowed under dark circles, scanned my face.

“You’re here? You’re damn late…”

“Noh Doha, Chief of Administration.”

“Well, that’s what you’d call me, I guess.

Though in this timeline, I haven’t even founded the National Roads Administration or anything like that,

so it feels a little awkward…”

“Where are the other raiders? What about the Sword Queen? Seo-gyu?”

Step, step.

I walked toward her, scanning my surroundings.

“And why is Noh Doha, the Chief of Administration, standing guard at the most dangerous 7th depth?”

“When you ask several questions at once, it’s hard to answer. You bastard.”

“……”

Definitely Noh Doha.

“For now, the others—over there inside Babel Tower—they’ve all dozed off quietly, so don’t worry…”

Kaang!

Noh Doha hammered at her project.

“As for the next question—

I’m not entirely sure myself,

but it seems I have a [Trait] that prevents me from being tainted by Void Poison even here in the dream within a dream…”

“What?”

“You didn’t know? Well, fair enough.

We only figured it out recently from our repeated visits here,

so your update would be a bit delayed…”

The corner of Noh Doha’s mouth twisted.

“Oh Dok Seo said something like this—

that perhaps the fact that I’ve never once been corrupted

across all regressions

is itself being treated like a ‘Trait,’

so I’m unaffected by the dream within a dream…”

“Huh.”

A sigh escaped me.

I was genuinely impressed.

Noh Doha kept hammering as she spoke.

“Thanks to that, whether it’s the 6th or 7th layer,

I stay fine no matter how long I’m in here.

So Yoo Ji-won, who has decent resistance like me,

is guarding the [entrance], and I’m handling the [exit]…”

Come to think of it—

In the Regressor Alliance, which was almost entirely made up of Outer Gods or their priestesses,

Noh Doha had always served as the chairwoman.

And yet, she had never once abandoned her humanity.

‘…If something remains unchanged even after thousands of worlds repeat,

then it’s practically a law of nature.

A law that remains unbroken even in the deepest void.’

It was a truly astonishing achievement.

But praising her would only make her facial muscles produce nonflammable trash,

so I changed the subject.

“What have you been working on all this time?”

“Ah, this… hmm.”

Noh Doha picked up her project and showed it to me.

It had two arm-like things, two leg-like things, and one head-like thing attached.

In short—it was a doll.

“It’s you.”

?

“Pardon?”

“You. It’s you.

Alias, Undertaker—real name… what was it? Something about a ‘Day’?

Anyway, whether it’s alias or name, they’re both annoying as hell.”

“That’s character defamation??”

“My entire life’s been defamed.

I think I’m allowed this much, you bastard.”

“Anyway, me? This doll?”

I could only stare blankly, full of 100% pure bewilderment.

“And it’s not just one doll—two, three, four, five, six, seven… wait, how many?

Why the hell are there so many dolls?”

“Oh Dok Seo’s commission.”

Dok Seo?

“she said, when this quest ends successfully,

your body will split into at least six pieces,

so before that happens,

we should preemptively craft multiple Undertakers using doll-duplication.”

“……….”

“So I did.

Collaborated with your daughter, the Dollmaker.

There might be some ontological debate about whether these are really you or not,

but don’t worry.

We’ll just neatly cut off your limbs and attach them—good as new.”

“Excuse me??”

“My ability is prosthetic creation, isn’t it?

Normally it replaces lost limbs,

but apparently it works the other way too.

By attaching limbs, arms, legs, necks, and heads one by one,

I can reconstruct an actual ‘person.’”

I was too shocked to respond.

“Ah, wait—there’s too much to unpack here.

First off—my legs. I have two.

I’m not a centipede.”

“I’m aware.”

“If you’re replacing all the dolls’ legs with my real ones,

I’d have to evolve into a human centipede to fill all the materials!

Where are you going to get all that?”

“Sim Ah-ryeon.”

Flinch.

“Cut them off, heal, grow them back,

cut again, heal, grow again—problem solved.”

Silence.

“Fine, let’s say that works for limbs. But the brain?”

My strongest protest yet.

“The head?

No matter how amazing Ah-ryeon’s healing is,

regrowing a decapitated head isn’t exactly easy.”

“Oh, please.

Who said we’d extract the whole head at once?

We’re not idiots.”

“Excuse me?”

“We’ll just slice small pieces of the brain, heal them,

then slice a bit more and heal again—

slowly reassembling the whole thing.”

Silence.

“...This plan was Dok Seo’s?”

“Oh, yeah.

she said, ‘I’ve found it! The only happy ending!’

with that stupidly confident grin on his face.”

“Dok Seo!”

I screamed.

All the gratitude and respect I’d ever felt toward Oh Dok Seo melted inside me

like ice cream in Daegu’s summer heat.

“So…”

Noh Doha chuckled lowly.

“Where shall we start cutting?”

“……”

“Arms? Legs?

Or maybe, if you’re the kind who eats the bad parts of curry first,

should we start with the head…?”

“……”

“Well, don’t worry.

At least I didn’t make a doll for myself.”

She whispered.

Cold sweat wouldn’t stop trickling down my neck.

“Anyway, it’ll take some time before the others come down from above.

I’ll make the cuts as prettily as possible,

so decide which part you’d like to start with.”

“……”

Alias: Undertaker.

Real name: Go Yoil.

Or perhaps, Go / Yo / Il. [Go/jo]

It was the crisis of a lifetime.

And at that moment, I realized—

the more lifetimes one has,

the more “crises of a lifetime” one inevitably gains.

Not exactly a comforting realization.