The Tales of an Infinite Regressor

Chapter 24 – Prophet I

Chapter 24 – Prophet I

1

Let’s talk about a second-year syndrome misinterpretation of a web novel otaku, a leader in nerd fashion, Oh Dokseo.

As mentioned in the previous run, the first time I met this guy was in the 555th run. Well, to be honest, we had crossed paths long before that, but it was truly in the 555th run that we formed a ‘connection’ in the true sense.

At that time, I returned to Busan Station’s waiting room as usual.

‘Bored.’

And at this time, I hadn’t even picked up the hobby of reading web novels.

Even though I considered myself a highly positive person who would probably bid well in the “[Infinite Regression Lottery Contest Most Likely to Be Positive in Life],” facing the 555th starting point made me a bit uneasy.

Wouldn’t even the most exciting theme park in the world get boring after 555 visits?

Moreover, the Busan Station waiting room was hardly an entertainment-rich place to be called a theme park. At best, you could expect some excitement akin to hearing Seo Gyu’s loud cursing.

There was one secret hidden in the waiting room, but I’ll talk about that later.

‘…Should I try some mind reading?’

This time, I decided to add a bit of intrigue.

“Mind Reading” was an ability I acquired in the 554th run. It allowed me to eavesdrop on the thoughts of beings inferior to me.

The criteria for “inferiority” were extremely vague, and the ability itself was far from omnipotent, but it was worth using just for fun.

[Jaehui Lee: My phone isn’t working, huh?]

[Uehara Shino: There are too many people. It’s hard to breathe.]

As soon as I activated Mind Reading, the thoughts of the people gathered in Busan Station’s waiting room flooded into my ears. Among them were familiar voices and relatively unfamiliar ones.

[Seo Gyu: Damn, what’s going on? This is ridiculous.]

[Park Yedam: I need to contact the manager…….]

[Lee Baek: What? Where did the others go?]

[Koyori: Ugh.]

[Jeong Sohee: Master? Master, where did you disappear to?]

[Sim Aryeon: Where is this? Who am I?]

[Kim Siwoon: Mom.]

For a moment, my head spun.

Mind Reading wasn’t something I could only use on the target I desired. The moment I activated the ability, the surface consciousness of everyone around me was transformed into language and echoed in my ears.

But I could handle it.

And the impression of using Mind Reading for the first time in Busan Station’s waiting room was…..

‘Not much to it.’

It seemed like just ordinary thoughts.

‘Right. They’re all familiar faces.’

I already had almost everything about the original members of Busan Station’s waiting room figured out. Their names, impressions, backgrounds, and even what abilities they would awaken later on.

So, there was nothing new about whatever antics they were up to or what thoughts they harbored. I had reached a point where I could tell what they were thinking just by looking at their faces, so Mind Reading was practically meaningless.

‘Guess Koyori, who I wondered about, still doesn’t stand out.’

I definitely shouldn’t get involved with that kid.

I walked in the direction farthest away from Koyori and leisurely grabbed a drink from the vending machine in the waiting room. The people around me gave me strange looks, like, ‘What’s with this relaxed attitude in such a urgent situation?’ But I didn’t care.

Later on, these drinks would become incredibly precious. From their perspective, they had just been summoned to the waiting room, but for me, it was like returning to a world that hadn’t fallen apart as much in twenty years.

“Ah, refreshing.”

The Shirley Temple I hadn’t had in a long time was delicious. It was so good that I quickly finished one can and bought another. After downing four cans in a row, people looked at me incredulously.

[Lee Jaehee:…Wow, enjoying that drink, huh?]

[Jeong Sohee: Shirley Temple. It’s sacrilegious.]

[Park Yedam: The young lad knows how to drink.]

[Sim Aryeon: Where is this? Who am I?]

[Kim Siwoon: Is there really a nerd with such a refined taste here?]

Hmm. Lee Baek really hasn’t changed since the first run.

Even after listening again, I didn’t find any particularly interesting thoughts. That’s why Mind Reading was a double-edged sword.

I couldn’t help it. Demanding original thinking from the original members now was my excessive greed and an unreasonable demand—

[Misinterpretation: Wow. Busan Station waiting room. I saw this in a novel! In a moment, the fairy from the tutorial will appear and blow off the head of the man who will call it a fucking bastard.]

No, it wasn’t.

“Splat!”

I sprayed the fifth Shirley Temple I was drinking into the air. The sunset-colored liquid dyed the world like the picture on the soda can, and the people who had suddenly found themselves seven hours ahead in time watching the sunset were startled.

[Lee Jaehee: Yuck! Disgusting!]

[Jeong Sohee: Disgusting. Revolting.]

[Park Yedam: Ugh, what a filthy guy.]

[Sim Aryeon: Where is this? Who am I?]

[Kim Siwoon: Damn, filthy bastard.]

Personality, disposition, background, political affiliation, beliefs, everything about each of them was as different as night and day, yet the original members, who had always shown a miraculous compatibility since the first run, finally reached a consensus for unification. They achieved an almost impossible feat, but what mattered to me now wasn’t such things.

I turned my head so quickly it made a swishing sound.

[Misinterpretation: Let’s see… This novel didn’t have much illustration, so it’s hard to recognize… Ah, but I think I got it. Lee Baek! Kum Taeyang! Yeah. The waiting room conquest part was a development abyss because of that guy…]

There she was.

Misinterpretation.

[PR/N: After being hella confused and bothering the tl, misinterpretation is actually a pun/joke, adding this note just so ya’ll don’t get confused like me ]

Throughout the long regression life spanning up to 555, she always had a gloomy expression and seemed strangely detached from everything around her. She had almond-shaped eyes, wore a hoodie, and a cap.

Unless I intervened, there was a very high probability that the victim who died in the Busan Station waiting room would, somehow, still have dead eyes like almond eyes, but with a slightly lively gaze as she scanned her surroundings.

[Misinterpretation: Well, that settles it. Yesterday I binge-watched the previous episodes… The prologue part from the omniscient regressionist’s perspective is correct.]

Omniscient regressionist perspective? Prologue?

[Misinterpretation: Then what’s my ability? Status bar. Hey, status bar… Status? Open? Ability window? Skill window? Wow. No holographic bits thrown in for the latest trend? This status bar is disgusting.]

The latest trend? What’s she talking about?

“What the hell are you talking about!”

“Hoi.”

Oops. I was so focused on Misinterpretation’s thoughts that I couldn’t stop Seo Gyu’s head from exploding.

‘Sorry! Seo Gyu!’

The 264th fairy had finally earned its first kill in a long time. Many people, including Sim Aryeon, screamed as blood splattered everywhere.

Of course, I only felt a sense of “Wow, it’s been a while,” without being particularly surprised.

[Misinterpretation: Oh. Thanks for the tutorial head exploding cliche. You’re following all these cliches, so why didn’t you give me a status bar?]

Misinterpretation was the same.

She didn’t seem phased at all. Calling Seo Gyu “Head Exploding Guy” or “Tutorial Head Exploding Cliche” seemed a bit harsh, though.

[Misinterpretation: Well, anyway. The most important thing in the Busan Station section is how early you secure the potion hidden in Haeundae. That’s it.]

How did she know about the potion in Haeundae?

[Misinterpretation: And as for the awakening candidates to watch out for in the waiting room stage, is it Uehara Shino? She’s being treated as a low-level character now, but she’ll awaken as an advanced alchemist later on…]

How did she know that?

[Misinterpretation: And Shino is the exact opposite case of Sim Aryeon. He may be useless later on, but until the prologue part, he can be used to the fullest as a healer agent… Oh, he’s running away. Right. He was a coward.]

How did she… No. Sim Aryeon is useless later on?

On the contrary, right now is the lowest point, and if only SGNet were to open, she’d be the talent who’d casually say, “The world of NET is wide, isn’t it?” and turn the situation around.

But there was no room for nitpicking in trivial matters. Like a Himalayan beehive that never runs out of light yellow honey, Misinterpretation continued to spill out fun thoughts one after another.

[Misinterpretation: First, let’s start with Uehara Shino’s favorability. Sigh. The destruction of the original work’s duck-duck-moo is not my cup of tea… But there’s no status bar either? Isn’t it time to differentiate between hot rice, cold rice, and real rice?]

Destruction of the original work? Duck-duck-moo?

As I mentioned before, at that time, I didn’t know anything about web novels at all. The one who introduced me to this hobby was none other than Honey Reader, who was there. Naturally, the mutterings of Honey Reader sounded like gibberish to me.

[Misinterpretation: But Uehara Shino is just second place.]

[Misinterpretation: If I had to pick out the most important person here, it’s that guy, no matter what anyone else says.]

At that moment, Misinterpretation turned towards me.

I sensed her gaze moving and quickly turned my head. But Honey Reader stared in this direction as if she hadn’t noticed that I was already looking at her.

[Misinterpretation: There he is.]

[Misinterpretation: The protagonist of this world. Code name, Doctor.]

?

[Misinterpretation: He’s better looking than I thought… No, maybe the cover illustration was better? Hm. Is the real thing better? It’s ambiguous. Well, they’re quite similar to the cover, I guess.]

??

[Misinterpretation: But don’t be fooled by the face. So. The Doctor is a protagonist who has experienced regression several times. No blood, no tears.]

[Misinterpretation: A regressor who lives only on hatred towards monsters, typically a regressor who can’t die… Especially now, with his anger towards the world at MAX because he lost Tang Seorin to the Ten Clans in the last run.]

[Misinterpretation: He’s just insane, completely insane. If he even suspects something suspicious, he might just kill me. Let’s handle him with caution.]

???

No blood, no tears… Hatred… Anger, what?

Sorry, but who is this person?

To begin with, Tang Seorin didn’t die at the hands of the Ten Clans in the last run. The Ten Clans felt like a wall of lamentation only in the beginning, and from about run 20th, it was like a water rocket that I got a five-minute cut with.

Could it be….?

‘Could it be someone who knows me from the past?’

That’s when it happened.

[Misinterpretation: Hey, mister over there.]

“Hey, mister over there.”

Mind Reading and actual voice overlapped.

Misinterpretation pointed her index finger at me. Before I knew it, there were only about ten people left in Busan Station’s large hall, and everyone except me had gathered in one place.

“Hey, sir, come over here. That fairy made a blood fountain, and everyone puked, but at least we should gather together. Don’t you think?”

“Number 264 did nothing wrong! The seniors crossed the wrong guidelines! If anything, 264 is the unfortunate victim…”

“Ah, you’ve said enough. The adults want to talk now, so butt out.”

“Eeek.”

In the midst of the survivors, Misinterpretation confidently stood as if she had become the leader.

Her defiant stance amidst people who were all afraid of fairies left a deep impression on the survivors. In fact, Fairy 264 had simply followed instructions and had no inherent malice towards humans (excluding the bourgeoisie), so the fairy quickly became despondent.

“So? Are you coming over here, sir? What do you say?”

“….”

Misinterpretation muttered. So, basically, in her mind.

[Misinterpretation: Come on. Damn it, please come. We’ll all die without you! You lost your first love, Tang Seorin, who was your only guild leader, and the monsters are sh*t, and the world is sh*t too, but please, save us!]

Honestly, I couldn’t understand half of what this kid was saying, and I didn’t know how she came to these misconceptions in the first place.

But one thing was clear.

‘If I follow her, this run seems to be a guaranteed fun reservation, right?’

Beyond the impulse for fun, there was also another reason, the possibility of utilizing her to tackle some bizarre situation… but let’s talk about that much later.

Anyway.

I remembered my old, ancient self from a very long time ago. What expression I had, what look I gave, and what tone I used back then.

“I won’t follow you guys.”

It was something like this, right? Seems about right.

It was the first time I had acted as myself during my long regression life. It felt quite different.

“Just observing you guys.”

“Oh. Well, whatever.”

Misinterpretation chuckled as if it was nothing.

I farmed some souvenir orbs at the gift shop and then immediately read Misinterpretation’s psyche.

[Misinterpretation: Damn, is his voice really that harsh? It’s so irritating… Hmm. But escaping Busan Station’s large hall without the protagonist is almost impossible… I have to create favorable conditions by any means necessary.]

Hmm.

She was indeed an interesting fellow.