Chapter 210 - The Antipode VII

I bit my lip.

"... It's rushing because I discovered it."

"W-what?"

"What's spread over Mount Gudeok is the Hell of Blade Mountains, and what's descended on the plaza is the Hell of Boiling Cauldrons. First it brought out Valhalla in the crystal gravestones, and now it's summoning Buddhist hells."

Even as I explained this to my companions, my mind kept proposing and discarding strategies for breaking out of this hell.

'Too fast.'

It had only been a day and a night since I'd begun taking serious action after witnessing the strange phenomena in Kim Jucheol's dream.

The God of Alienation, which had lain quietly in hiding until now, began an all-out offensive as though this moment were all it had prepared for.

Yes.

This must have been why the God of Alienation had hidden inside the crystal gravestones in the first place, biding its time for hundreds, thousands of years.

Just as I, a regressor, had taught anomalies a lesson with a killing blow honed over several lifetimes, this time the God of Alienation had succeeded in launching a perfectly timed surprise attack on me.

"B-Boss. Something's wrong."

Even Seo Gyu, who put on a bluff in most situations, had a tremor in his voice.

Naturally. People were screaming as they melted in boiling liquid right beneath the headquarters building.

"The people aren't dying. They should be dead, boiled in that molten metal... Uh. They keep recovering."

"Because it's hell," I answered.

"The God of Alienation has defined this world as hell. And in hell, no one dies."

"Th-they don't die?"

"That's right. Because hell is where people go when they're already dead. They simply suffer forever. From now on, no one can die—"

At that moment, a thunderbolt of realization shook my mind.

'Ah. Aaaah!'

Was that why?

Was that why!

"—It's become hell because no one dies!"

"What?"

"Think about it, Seo Gyu! I'm a regressor! Because I regress, everyone in this world has been kept in a state where they 'don't die even when they die.' For hundreds, thousands of years!"

I clenched my teeth.

"The God of Alienation turned that state of the world to its advantage! What kind of place subjects everyone to an eternity in which they don't die even when they die? Why, it's hell, not reality—that's how it defined the world in its own way!"

"...!"

Exactly.

A complete reversal of thinking, so to speak. A Copernican shift.

From an anomaly's perspective, the regressor called the Undertaker was an extraordinarily difficult opponent.

No matter how powerful the anomalies were, the regressor simply reset time with a click until they were defeated.

Whatever they did, the anomalies were destined to lose to the regressor in the end. No amount of struggling or raging could free them from that conclusion.

But what if they turned the regressor's regression to their own advantage?

Not: Time repeats forever because there is a [regressor] here in the [real world].

But: Time repeats forever because this place is [hell], where [people live lives in which they do not die even when they die].

A simple difference in perspective.

A difference of interpretation and opinion.

Merely assuming this world was 'hell' rather than 'reality' allowed one to exploit the regressor's regression to perfection.

That God of Alienation—Nut, the goddess of night—had ridden along on my regression by affirming the regressor rather than denying him.

As long as I refused to abandon my Regression ability and continued the cycle of rebirth, [this world could never cease to be hell].

'How can this be?'

My whole body tingled.

Horror. And a shudder.

'You used me! Rather than swallowing me as a person, you sowed seeds of evil inside my ability and tried to contaminate the world!'

Seeing me in shock made Sim Aryeon and Seo Gyu even more agitated. Both depended heavily on me for emotional support.

Amid the ringing in my ears, the Saintess's voice reached me, as cool as ever.

"Mr. Undertaker. Can't you regress now and prepare for another attempt?"

"... Probably not. As I explained to Commander Noh Doha, this God of Alienation is parasitizing my abilities themselves."

It had burrowed into the crystal gravestones under [Time Seal] and gnawed away at the sealed souls.

It had used the world's propensity for [Regression] to bring the concept of hell down upon it.

In other words:

"Even... if I regress, the situation won't improve at all. It will only get worse."

"Why?"

"Right now, at least we're united as a group called the Regression Alliance. But if I regress, our relationships will reset. Whereas Nut's hellscape..."

"... Will remain intact. The crystal gravestones under [Time Seal] continue to exist, unaffected by regression."

"Yes. And as you can see, Nut can summon hell into the world in less than a day if it wants to. But a single day would be nowhere near enough for us to build bonds as strong as the ones we have now."

"... Regression has been on our side until now, but now it will be on the enemy's side instead. Against this God of Alienation called Nut."

"That's correct."

Checkmate.

To undo this checkmate...

"The only way is..."

"The way is?"

"For me to go to Onyang immediately after regressing and become infected by Udumbara, the World Tree."

Udumbara.

If an awakened became infected with that virus, which had been called the New Buddha, they lost all their abilities.

Therefore:

"I would lose all my abilities, including [Time Seal]. And [Regression] as well."

"..."

This was why I almost always went to Onyang and defeated Udumbara immediately after regressing.

Udumbara had the potential to kill a regressor.

The Saintess looked straight at me with her blue eyes.

"Then... what happens?"

"I don't know. I probably won't regress anymore. The world might continue as it is until some anomaly destroys it, then remain destroyed forever."

"..."

"An even worse possibility is that the world regresses anyway."

"What? ... Oh."

The Saintess blinked.

"You mentioned someone named Schopenhauer. You said he was a regressor too..."

Yes.

There were [two] regressors in this world.

If a regressor was a switch that made the world regress, then even if I disappeared, one more switch would remain.

And right now, that switch was fixed in a fully depressed position, beyond any possibility of intervention.

Moreover:

"Perhaps [the Regression ability] and [the world's regression] are separate things."

In fact, I had kept a certain hypothesis in the back of my mind for a long time.

"No, in this case, I should call it [the world's repetition], not [the world's regression]."

Suppose time passed and the world ended.

Then the world began again from the very beginning. The universe forming through the Big Bang, the birth of the first galaxy, the formation of Earth, life emerging in the sea, and one of those life-forms coming ashore—all of it.

Eventually, humans emerged, civilization began, and cities were built.

And one day, a human called the Undertaker was born and found himself heading to Busan Station.

... As you all know, I possess [Perfect Recall].

In the scenario I just described, what if Perfect Recall meant [receiving a transmission of memories at the moment of awakening]?

Wouldn't the resulting phenomenon be perfectly identical to [Regression]?

"... But you said you awakened Perfect Recall after your fourth run, Mr. Undertaker."

"Awakened abilities grow stronger. Perhaps my ability only fully awakened in the fourth run."

And there was something else that made this hypothesis terrifying.

"Let me put the story together."

I gave voice to it.

"If I become infected with Udumbara, first everyone placed under [Time Seal] so far will be released. And I will begin the Busan Station Tutorial Dungeon without any memories of previous runs."

Time passes.

"Time continues to pass, and Old Man Scho returns from his vacation. Then countless things happen that my present self knows nothing about."

Time passes.

"Then one day, something happens to Old Man Scho that damages his Regression ability. He becomes infected with Udumbara, or becomes the target of some anomaly that transcends regression... And so the world is utterly destroyed."

Time passes.

"And finally, in some unimaginably distant future when even the meaning of 'regression' has been lost, my ability sprouts again at Busan Station."

In other words, everything begins again from the start.

"I perceive that as my first run."

And. And. And.

"The second run, the third run, then I gain Perfect Recall in the fourth, and eventually meet Old Man Scho..."

And someday:

"Once again, [this very moment that I perceive as run 267] arrives."

"..."

"... Perhaps I've been repeating all these runs over and over."

This was the fundamental trauma the regressor called the Undertaker had harbored for a very long time.

The anguish I had carried without telling anyone ever since learning that Udumbara erased awakened abilities.

The possibility that run 267 was actually 267×2, 267×3, 267×267, 267×267², or 267×267³.

The fear that my entire life might amount to nothing more than one enormous 'tale of failure.'

A regressor's fear. A fear unique to regressors.

If this hypothesis was correct, then yes.

Nut, the goddess of night, had defined the world correctly.

Wasn't the world truly hell?

"Aaagh! Aaaaaagh!"

"I-I don't want to live! Kill me!"

"Someone, please kill me!"

Below the headquarters building, hundreds of people were still melting in molten metal.

Their screams gathered on my eardrums, those translucent glass membranes every human was born with.

The hellscape that had descended upon the living world was spreading rapidly. Every tree and flower in Busan had now become a sharp blade, and every plaza and alley was filled with boiling molten metal.

There was no end to the Buddhist hells.

The Hell of Blade Mountains, the Hell of Boiling Cauldrons, the Hell of Ice, the Hell of Sword Trees, the Hell of Tongue-Pulling, the Hell of Venomous Snakes, the Hell of Sawing, the Hell of Iron Beds, the Hell of Wind Blades, the Hell of Darkness. Then would come the Eight Hot Hells: Reviving, Black Rope, Crushing, Screaming, Great Screaming, Burning, Great Burning, and Unremitting. Finally, the Eight Cold Hells: Blistering, Bursting Blisters, Chattering Teeth, Lamentation, Shivering, Blue Lotus, Red Lotus, and Great Red Lotus. A sentient being cast into the Great Red Lotus Hell could only be reborn after spending 2.56 sextillion years in hell.

2.56 sextillion.

Infinity.

If I did not regress here, an infinite hell would unfold. If I regressed and became infected with Udumbara, the infinite regressor's hell would unfold.

'Is this...?'

I gripped Doha's handle tightly.

The sword cane Noh Doha had made for me in precisely my hundredth run. The support that had made me believe time, too, had a destiny that resembled coincidence, and that this destiny would smile upon me.

Today, the world beneath that cane felt far too thin and fragile.

'Is this my epilogue?'

A firm pressure.

Someone covered my hand. Another person's palm settled over the back of the hand with which I held my cane.

I turned to look.

"Mr. Undertaker."

It was the Saintess.

"There's an error in that hypothesis."

"Pardon?"

"You aren't someone who creates hell, Mr. Undertaker. Even if the world is repeating, you aren't cycling through an eternal life. No—to be more precise, as of this moment, you aren't repeating an eternal life. Because there is a fatal error, far too significant to overlook."

"... How can you be sure?"

"Because."

Aqua-colored eyes.

Those underwater eyes, always quietly observing the world from a step removed from the clamor on land, were looking endlessly, directly at me.

Their well-like depth made even the people's screams, splashing against my eardrums, feel somehow distant.

Instead, what enfolded my ears was a still water's surface. The voice of waves that seemed to wet the tips of my toes.

That watery light spoke.

Because, it said.

"From this moment on, I'm going to make that hypothesis wrong."

I blinked.

"What? What do you—"

"Goodbye, Mr. Undertaker."

A caress.

Warm water stroked the back of my hand.

As though I were being drawn into those deep waters. As though I were sinking beneath a surface whose bottom I could not fathom.

"I'll see you in a little while."

And.

Time stopped.

13

Time stopped.

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Time□□ stopped.

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Ti□□ stopped.

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Ti□□ stop□ed.

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Ti□□ □□ed.

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Ti□□ □□e□.

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A□□.

A□d.

And.

"Hello, Mr. Undertaker."

It was a truly ordinary greeting.

The aqua-colored voice spoke in the most ordinary tone, as though addressing someone who had just woken from sleep.

Bright watery light. Shining transparently on the beach, spilling clear and gently touching my toes.

The sound of the sea knocking on the land at its gentlest.

At that sound, I opened my eyes.

The sensation that only an instant had passed—just enough time to close my eyes and open them again—rested lightly on my corneas.

Yet why was it?

"... Saintess?"

"Yes."

I felt as though it had been a very long time since I'd heard the voice caressing my eardrums.

The Saintess's hand was still wrapped around mine. Only its temperature had changed. The water that had been warm just a moment ago was now cool.

Perhaps that difference in temperature was what first made me sense something was wrong.

After hearing and touch, it was sight's turn.

The world was 'stopped.'

"..."

The blades that had blanketed the entire city lay hushed. The molten metal that had swept through the plazas and alleys like a tsunami had stopped exactly where it was.

The people submerged in boiling metal, their screams, Sim Aryeon studying my face with concern, Seo Gyu with his mouth hanging open, Noh Doha firmly adjusting the fit of those leather gloves.

This entire hell.

Everything had stopped.

"Ah."

An intense sense of familiarity. Déjà vu.

I had seen this exact scenery somewhere before. In the prison of time, the hellish scene Gapless had shown me to break me.

And so I could immediately identify the cause of this 'stopped world.'

My lips moved.

"Saintess, have you perhaps... become a Fallen?"

"Yes."

"My God."

The Saintess's ability, [Time Stop].

When strengthened to the utmost, it could wield even this absurd authority.

This was the first time I had seen it in reality.

Although the Saintess had once come within a step of falling in run 107, she had never brought [Time Stop] to such perfect fruition.

"But in this run, you shouldn't have trained your aura that extensively. How could you become a Fallen...?"

"I trained," the Saintess said.

"With time stopped."

"..."

"At first, even walking a few steps was difficult. Continuing to breathe was a struggle too. But I brought forth my aura and tried to keep it going however I could."

Her voice was so excessively calm that anyone else listening might have thought she was describing a perfectly ordinary training method.

Not me.

I knew just how brutal that method was.

"No, that's impossible. Your aura would stop too, so it would only move if you pushed it along bit by painstaking bit. It would be like taking thirty minutes—no, an hour—to draw a single breath."

"Yes. It was very difficult."

The Saintess nodded.

"So it took a little longer."

"Longer? How long, exactly...?"

"I didn't count precisely, but I think it was more than two thousand years."

"..."

Good God.

As I stared at her in open-mouthed shock, the Saintess gave me a small smile. With a hint of mischief.

It was a truly rare expression, a face I hadn't seen in so very long.

She said,

"Perhaps I'm a little closer to your age now, Mr. Undertaker."