I'm an Infinite Regressor, But I've Got Stories to Tell-Chapter 312

Discord: https://dsc.gg/reapercomics

◈ I’m an Infinite Regressor, But I’ve Got Stories to Tell

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The Skeptic V

“Ugh... Oh, today is truly... a joyous day for this humble man... Ugh.”

Jo Yeong-su downed a celebratory shot for joining the resistance and left, thoroughly drunk.

The play is over. Acta est fabula.

Yu Ji-won, the “independence fighter who hides her true intentions while living as the right-hand woman of a dictator,” and Lee Ha-yul, the “young successor who carries on her father’s will to fight Anomalies,” had both exited stage left.

Of course, an encore performance would be ready whenever Jo returned. After all, a masterpiece never gets old, no matter how many times you see it.

[Oppa.]

After the commotion died down and the room quieted, Ha-yul suddenly approached me. I didn’t hesitate to pick her up, celebrating the star of today’s performance.

[Ah.]

Viking ride. Top spin. Roller coaster. Carousel.

The carnival of amusement rides invented over hundreds of cycles specifically for Ha-yul unfolded. She laughed silently, her golden Aura rippling with joy.

“You did really well today.”

[Yeah. And, this might be a bit TMI, but I’ll confess now—my mother’s family name is Uibong Lee.]

I tilted my head. Uibong Lee?

[The most famous superstar from that family is Lee Wan-yong, the Marquess of the Empire, who drove everyone crazy, whether they loved or hated him.]

“...”

[And according to the intelligence gathered by my network, the grandpa who just left is from the Pungyang Jo family.] [1]

No way.

[Yes.] Ha-yul drew a “V” with her fingers, expressionless. [The combo of Pungyang Jo and Uibong Lee leading the Korean Peninsula Independence Resistance Army—the last resistance of humanity—and it’s based on a true story? My heart swells with pride.]

That was truly, 100% pure TMI.

Still, it seemed our Ha-yul, who used to be so well-suited for reading, was becoming more of an otaku.

This dad was worried she might be hanging out with the wrong crowd.

As the saying went, “What’s next to ink turns black.”

Even if Do-hwa and the Saintess were horrified by my strategy, they didn’t refuse to execute the plan.

Once the goal was set, our Regression Alliance cooperated as one united front. By now, everyone was used to my style.

Noh Do-hwa’s orders came down next.

“We will strike the Voids that are impersonating or mimicking ‘state institutions,’ such as the Central Intelligence Agency on Namsan, Yeouido Airport, and the National Tax Service, which appears every tax season...”

Up until now, we had focused on separating the Puppet State and the resistance.

If we had warmed up with WWE, it was time to move on to UFC. Now, it was time to show the Anomalies what a real resistance looked like.

And I, the Undertaker, had learned UFC techniques from an old German communist.

“Wait,” I interjected. “Before we launch attacks on the Voids of the Puppet State, there’s one last thing we need to set up.”

“Which is...?”

“Let’s establish the ‘real names’ and ‘aliases’ of all Awakeners this time.”

In the past, almost all revolutionaries used aliases instead of their real names. They all wanted to become idols of ideology. For example, the original idol Lenin’s real name was Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov, a name that no one except hardcore idol fans remembered. Not even his comrades were familiar with it. It was thanks to this discretion that anyone captured and interrogated by the state could maintain some level of security.

“If you don’t want to die, tell us the name of the leader who gave you orders!”

“L-Lenin! Comrade Lenin!”

“Lenin? Who’s that? Tell us his real name!”

“I don’t know his real name either!”

Surprisingly, an equivalent security system was maintained in Korea until the early 2000s. Ideological agitators were often ignorant of technical and practical advancements like cybersecurity.

I decided to follow this ancient tradition.

“Until now, aliases were either self-proclaimed or naturally created, like pro gamers’ nicknames. But from now on, we’ll assign these aliases with the explicit purpose of acting as pseudonyms for the resistance.”

“Oh?”

“Revealing your real name to Anomalies is quite dangerous, even from a ritualistic perspective. Let’s change the culture entirely this time.”

Hide your real name as much as possible. Never call each other by your real names, even by mistake, especially when entering Voids or fighting Anomalies.

‘This taboo was already being observed voluntarily within the more experienced guilds. With a little push, it’ll soon become an unspoken rule across the Korean Peninsula.’

As I predicted, the guilds across the regions followed the guidelines from the National Road Management Corps without much suspicion.

We formed the organization. We prepared the members. And just as the atmosphere was ripening, Do-hwa finally dropped a quest directive across the Korean Peninsula.

Author: [National Road] Noh Do-hwa

Notice:

Recently, numerous Anomalies and Voids claiming to be or mimicking “state institutions” have been discovered across the Korean Peninsula.

As you all know, there is currently no legitimate government in the Korean Peninsula. Do not trust anyone claiming to belong to a government institution.

As of now, the National Road Management Corps will collectively refer to all Anomalous phenomena mimicking government institutions as the “Puppet State.”

Those who subdue Anomalies and Voids related to the Puppet State will receive certain rewards.

Rewards will be paid in Korean won.

Please ensure you have a means to prove your subjugation and report it to the National Road Management Corps.

A permanent post has been set up on SG Net for submissions, so please make use of it.

That is all.

National Road Management Corps Leader, Noh Do-hwa

The extermination order had been issued.

‘How touching.’

In the past, say, around the 100th cycle, we could never have issued quests like this. The only way to mobilize Awakeners on a national scale back then was to borrow the voice of a constellation. Rewards were also haphazard. We had to gather useful weapons or visions that could enhance each Awakener’s abilities and distribute them like “opportunities.”

‘Not anymore.’

Liberating the Tutorial Fairies from the Infinite Void and establishing a cooperative relationship to successfully open the Dream Casino had afforded us access to the dream-based currency system, where earning money in dreams allowed you to fulfill wishes.

The desire to escape from the harsh struggle for survival and enjoy a comfortable fantasy, even for just eight hours of sleep, was universal and primal.

‘Simply offering rewards of tens of millions, hundreds of millions, or even billions of won is enough to stimulate the desires of countless Awakeners.’

I’ll admit it. Everything in the world has its pros and cons. My steps to expand humanity’s liberated zones inadvertently helped the Puppet State Anomaly grow, but the regressor’s system was prepared to crush such minor side effects.

https://dsc.gg/reapercomics

[Mr. Undertaker.]

[The Baekpa Guild in Chungju has raided the National Tax Service. One member was seriously injured, but the Void was successfully half-destroyed.]

Soon, the Saintess’s Telepathy began relaying urgent reports.

[Awakeners across the regions are subduing buildings like police stations, fire stations, community centers, and schools while exploring Voids.]

[Some of these Voids don’t seem related to the Puppet State. What should we do in such cases?]

“Leave them be. For now.”

It didn’t matter if the resistance’s attacks weren’t precise. After all, the enemy wasn’t human, they were Anomalies. What mattered was fostering an atmosphere where subduing Anomalies related to the Puppet State and receiving rewards was seen as a sweet “honey” among Awakeners.

“We don’t even need to completely subdue them. Just damaging the buildings or disrupting their operations is enough.”

[I see... Understood.]

The resistance was fundamentally an underground force. Completely eliminating the Puppet State was a distant goal. No, even if we toppled the Puppet State and the Korean Peninsula returned to the resistance’s control, a new state born from the resistance would eventually emerge.

“Both WWE and UFC are shows. Even if blood spills and bones break, the show must go on.”

The Puppet State must not disappear. In fact, it must maintain its identity as a “state” forever. So that we, the Awakeners, humanity’s allies, can continue to exist as humans who are “not enchanted by state ideology” and “fight for their own freedom.”

[Not subduing them is itself a method of subdual... I didn’t know such a thing existed.]

“It’s not that rare. The Tutorial Fairies are the same.”

[Really?]

“Yes. Thanks to the fairies, we can interfere with the vast Void of “dreams.” If we forcibly capture all of them, the Nameless One from the unconscious world will rise.”

[The ecology of Voids is truly fascinating the more you think about it...]

Three years passed like this.

- Anonymous: Went Void exploring this time and found a bunch of school buildings lined up like dominoes lol. Thought it was some kind of academy city lol

└Anonymous: Did you get the reward??

└Anonymous: Yep. Knocked over the dominoes and easily sucked up 1.3 billion in rewards lol.

└Anonymous: Damn, I’m so jealous...

└Anonymous: So I donated 300 million of my share to our golden-handed DM-nim lol. This is why I risk my life exploring Voids.

└Anonymous: ?

Now, posts like this were common on SG Net. There was no need to completely destroy the Puppet State’s buildings, which were tainted by Void Corruption. Just damaging the exterior enough would automatically trigger the rewards. For Awakeners, there was no better farming ground.

‘This is enough.’

I turned off my smartphone.

‘With this, Awakeners using aliases are no longer susceptible to the Puppet State’s common sense alteration brainwashing.’

The Puppet State’s strategy of parasitizing the regressor’s success to build its own power had been thwarted.

I stood up, a satisfied smile lingering on my lips.

It was Wednesday—time for my regular study session with the Saintess. For a regressor with no weekends, Wednesday was the happiest day of the week.

‘Where should I have Dok-seo place this story?’ I thought to myself as I walked toward the Saintess’s house in Yongsan. ‘Since it’s about the Anomaly connected to the National Tax Service, maybe around then? Or right after the story where we meet parallel-world Dang Seo-rins on a passenger plane at Yeouido Airport?’

Let me confess upfront: neither option became canon.

I didn’t know it yet then, but this story wasn’t over.

‘Hmm. Both the Eastern Holy State and the Puppet State are state systems, so contrasting a human Puppet State built using Anomalies with an Anomaly Puppet State building a state using humans isn’t a bad idea...’

My footsteps halted.

A regressor’s vision was broad. Even while walking without paying particular attention to anything, I could catch a sentence in the corner of my vision.

It was on a stone wall blocking the exit of the Inunaki Tunnel. Written there—not in Japanese but in Korean, not in red but in pink—was the following sentence:

Hello, Mr. Undertaker?

I stared at it silently. The Inunaki Tunnel was a Japanese Anomaly through and through. Even though I used it as my hideout, it shouldn’t have learned Korean.

Perhaps Ah-ryeon or Dok-seo had painted it as a joke. I decided to think so.

I walked ahead and exited the tunnel.

About ten meters away, small stones were scattered on the ground in a very particular pattern that could be read as follows:

If this is not a dream

Or rather, it had to be read that way.

The thickness of the letters was expressed with pebbles, and the strokes of the handwriting were marked with gravel.

A spring breeze blew, scattering the gravel.

The sentence changed.

Can I borrow a moment of your time?

The spring gently breezed.

May I borrow a moment of your time?

A gust strong enough to blow away eyebrows blew.

The gravel all flew away. Even the pebbles rolled away.

Only twisted traces remained.

?

I immediately changed my route.

I had prepared 365 routes to the Saintess’s house in Yongsan from the tunnel in Busan to the tunnel in Seoul. I even matched the number on purpose.

Although the cycles were different, the Saintess had sealed Nut, the Night Goddess. Nut governed the geocentric model, the power of the sun, and the model of the universe. She was an Outer God. The sun was the protagonist of the calendar. The number 365 to represent days of the year honored Nut. Therefore, the 365 paths from me to the Saintess were themselves a ritual crossing the solar system.

‘The Saintess loves water. Water is the primordial mirror. Wednesday is the day of water in the Korean calendar. Therefore, Wednesday is when the Saintess’s presence is strongest.’

I chose the 88th route, the number of days it took Mercury to orbit the sun and the path closest to water.

Since ancient times, rituals had been composed of three elements: heaven, earth, and man. Wednesday was the heavenly timing. The path of Mercury was the earthly geography. And the strongest Awakeners in the Korean Peninsula, ranked first and second, were here as well. So, there was no room for another being to intervene—

I am now behind you

Dead ants.

The corpses of millions of insects floated on the Han River.

I swallowed, sensing nothing behind me.

No, I felt the wind. The spring breeze was almost indistinguishable from a whisper. It carried the warmth of a human breath.

That spring breeze licked the back of my neck. Its tongue was long and sticky, licking me and the Han River, scattering the millions of corpses.

If you turn around, you will understand

I squeeze my eyes closed.

I couldn’t bring myself to turn around. Yet ignoring it and walking away was even more impossible.

So, I let my voice flow backward alone.

“Go Yuri...”

“Yes.”

The wind laughed against the back of my neck.

“Hello, Mr. Undertaker.”

Footnotes:

[1] A reference to Joseon Dynasty history, where these families were also part of the resistance.

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