The Tales of an Infinite Regressor

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The Pursuer XI

Cheon Yohwa.

――A long time ago, when I first saw the characters of that name, I might have already sensed an omen.

Sky. Desolate. To become.

Simply put, it means “to become desolate.”

Isn’t it quite strange to give such a name to a beloved child?

However, (yo) doesn’t only carry the meaning of ‘desolation.’ It also means ’emptiness,’ ‘an empty sky,’ ‘quiet.’

Have you ever seen a writer embellish a passage by using ‘quiet’ where just ‘silent’ would suffice?

That ‘yo’ of quietness is the character in this child’s name. If interpreted as ‘to become quiet’ rather than ‘to become desolate,’ it doesn’t seem so strange.

Yes. If interpreted that way.

Warning.

From here on, this is a secret I haven’t even told Cheon Yohwa, information that only I know in this world, a bit of TMI for later.

This is purely my personal speculation, so take it with a grain of salt. I’m merely showing the fragments I’ve pieced together from various encounters.

First Fragment.

I believe everyone knows that I visited China with the Sword Maiden during the 108th turn.

While the Sword Maiden was busy planting red flowers on Mount Hua, I took a brief excursion around the area.

If I were to directly quote the description I wrote back then, it goes like this:

――――――――――

The scope of my strange hunts gradually expanded. It extended not only to Shaanxi Province but also to Henan Province.

The ‘Tutorial Dungeon’ phenomenon occurred worldwide, not just on the Korean Peninsula. As luck would have it, a top-tier dungeon appeared in a place called Yingyang Town in Henan Province.

It was utter chaos, especially with the involvement of Taoist heretical terrorists.

――――――――――

There is a place called Dengfeng in Henan Province. It’s famous as the city where the Shaolin Temple is located.

If you go a bit further west from there, you reach a village called Yingyang Town.

The Cheon family of Yingyang.

This is the origin of Cheon Yohwa’s family.

Second Fragment.

Originally, the Cheon family of Korea descended from a Ming Dynasty general who was dispatched to Joseon during the Imjin War.

The general didn’t come alone but with his entire family, and they settled in Joseon.

Most of the descendants perfectly adapted to the local culture and lived without any problems. However, according to my hypothesis, a very small fraction of this family continued to maintain their ‘traditional beliefs.’

The traditional belief system of China is Taoism.

Laozi, who can be considered the founder of Taoism, was from Xunyang in Henan Province, a person of Luoyi County. Laozi is said to have worked in Luoyang, Henan Province, and wrote the Tao Te Ching in Hangu Pass.

Yingyang Town, the hometown of the Cheon family, is located along the path from Luoyi County to Hangu Pass.

The birthplace of Taoism. A region long influenced by religious faith.

But at some point, among the Cheon family who migrated to the Korean Peninsula, only Cheon Yohwa’s family’s beliefs changed.

It’s unclear whether this change happened from the beginning or occurred later. There’s no data available.

They built a large mansion of 14,990 square meters in Sejong City. A religious facility was hidden underground. They established Baekhwa Girls’ High School and enrolled the children of their faith.

Cheon Yohwa’s father, a leader of the cult, changed her surname from Cheon (千) to Cheon (天). To this family, their origin no longer had any meaning.

[PR/N: Left the characters so you can understand what it means to say .]

They summoned their own gods.

What kind of god they wished to descend is unknown. Perhaps it was merely a shallow fraud by the cult leader.

But in the void of the apocalypse, sorcery was not an illusion but a reality. The sorcery performed by hundreds of people sacrificing their children was especially so.

From beyond the void, some being heard their prayers. It responded.

Thus, the Endless Hell descended.

Third Fragment

Solitude, Desolation, and Emptiness.

In the Tao Te Ching, there is such a passage.

Before humans distinguished between all things, before the shapes and names of all things were made, before heaven and earth were even divided, the world existed.

Laozi referred to that world as ‘serene and vast.’

The next line goes something like this:

I do not know its name.

The serene and vast world, the serenity of the world, was something that existed before all things took shape, so it had no name.

Now.

Let’s take another look at the name of the student council president, Cheon Yohwa.

If we simply interpret the outward meaning as ‘to become serene,’ we might think, ‘Oh, her parents must have hoped she’d grow up to be a recluse.’

But her parents, especially her father, were high priests of a sect corrupted from Taoism. He wouldn’t have been ignorant of one of the most famous passages from the Tao Te Ching.

So, knowing the origin of (yo), when we interpret the name Cheon Yohwa, it becomes… very strange.

To become desolate.

To become serene.

The sky. To become empty.

To lose one’s name.

Anonymous. Nameless. To ascend to a serene sky of emptiness, abandoning both self and name, to a world where nothing can be distinguished.

The wordplay in the name.

…What a malicious spell it is.

Cheon Yohwa.

A name with an ominous resonance, not something you’d give to a beloved child.

It would be more fitting for a living sacrifice offered to an evil deity.

The more sinister fact is that the spell succeeded.

Far beyond the caster’s expectations.

A god of alienation filled with all forms but essentially formless. An Endless Hell and a parade of hundred ghosts.

…Or, Cheon Yohwa.

She was the living sacrifice, and Baekhwa High School was the altar. Baekhwa High School was a sacrifice for her, and she was an altar for the god.

This is the answer I’ve deduced so far.

A commentary from a time traveler on why the god of alienation, an Endless Hell, descended upon Baekhwa High School.

But.

This story’s conclusion wasn’t mine.

“Thank you, sir.”

Cheon Yohwa said.

“I’m sure I couldn’t have done it alone. Even if I had won, I would have certainly lost myself.”

Even so, you saved 16 of your friends. Always. From the first turn to the 117th, continuously.

Cheon Yohwa said.

“Even if it was an illusion, thank you for letting me meet my mother again. I got to say the words I couldn’t before. The flight was fun. Thank you for showing me the sunset. The coffee you made is delicious.”

The only necromancer in Korea, as she was called.

The former student council president of Baekhwa High School.

She started playing basketball out of rebellion against her family but genuinely grew to love it. She would forget her original name and past if she escaped the prison of the void, never called by her name from the first to the 117th turn.

The living sacrifice and the altar of this Endless Hell.

And someone who likes slightly bitter and slightly sweet cream lattes.

Cheon Yohwa said.

“――So, I can’t let a monster like you have me.”

-”…….”

“You are not me. You don’t know the contrails I’ve passed through. You don’t know the name of the sunset I’ve seen. You don’t even know the texture of the coffee I like. You don’t know me. I’ve gone to places you can’t reach, am reaching, and will reach.”

-”…….”

“I am Cheon Yohwa. I will sing a thousand tales. Do you think I would be satisfied with just a hundred stories? I will live with ten times the volume, size, and color. Because—I’m not alone. Yes. There are people who have helped me. There are people I will help. So―― you, go back to your narrow glass sky. Cheon Yohwa.”

Blink. Rattle.

A snowstorm raged. There were no windows. The table, the electric kettle on the table, and the coffee cup were all engulfed in a white snowstorm.

The wheel of time turned.

From the other shore to this one.

Forward, 0 steps.

-Ah”.

The god of alienation, the Endless Hell.

In the white world, Cheon Yohwa smiled. Though her lips did not move, the snowstorm shattered and made a sound.

-”How, so beautiful――.”

The snowstorm surged towards us like a tidal wave.

At the moment I was certain this was the final struggle, I drew my cane-sword.

A longsword forged in the now-extinct dwarven furnace.

Doha.

One slash.

My dark wave split the white snowstorm of the Endless Hell.

To the god of alienation, who had gathered almost all the data in the world, this ‘sword’ was the only unpredictable irregularity.

Because Doha was a creation the master craftsman had made for me in another turn.

A masterpiece crafted by the greatest blacksmith in the other world, having learned from the greatest blacksmith in Void. A weapon almost as monstrous as the monster itself.

Even though it was the strongest weapon I possessed, I had not used Doha in this turn. Not even once. I had kept it sheathed.

For this moment only.

-”――――.”

The snowstorm split and split again.

The being once called Endless Hell was imprisoned in a glass prison without being able to finish what it wanted to say.

The world’s whiteness transformed entirely into a snowstorm. The snowstorm then turned into white grains of sand.

The desert sands whirled and whirled again, eventually gathering in Cheon Yohwa’s palm.

An hourglass.

A world of glass walls filled only with white sand was now in Cheon Yohwa’s hand. The transparent barrier sparkled. A wheel made of two sections of glass.

The Endless Hell was captured by time.

“Ah.”

Cheon Yohwa looked up.

There was no mist. No blood-red sky of school ghost stories. No thorny birch forest or the shadowy hill of amaryllis.

The sky was red.

Not the red of monstrosities, but the red of reality. The color emitted by the sun hitting Earth’s cornea. A sunset. Evidence that this world was still alive and bleeding.

In the middle of the playground, surrounded by 98 scattered hourglasses like petals, Cheon Yohwa looked up at the sky. This was her parade of a hundred ghosts.

(Congratulations) Two accepted into Ba■kwa! (Congrats)

Flap.

A worn banner fluttered at the school gate. Beneath the flag that once celebrated civilization, the echo of the wind resounded.

“Yohwaaaaa!”

“Security Guard Misteeeeer!”

The students of Baekhwa High School. The children saw us and waved. Their gestures splashed in the sunset.

Though it seemed a distant scene.

It was not as far as the distance from the other shore to this one.

“…Mister.”

I looked at the side of Cheon Yohwa’s face. The sunset light slipped and combed through her auburn hair.

“Now that I think about it, I forgot to ask.”

“Ask anything.”

“Why did you come to save us?”

That was probably the final moment.

The moment when I could decisively imprint upon Cheon Yohwa, who had awakened with the power to brainwash others. The moment she received her name.

The junction that could determine the direction of her life.

It might sound silly, but if I had said here, ‘I received an oracle to help you,’ Cheon Yohwa would have become a fervent believer.

If I had said, ‘Because the nation will not abandon you,’ she would have become an unparalleled patriot.

She was ready to accept any answer and prepared to embrace any direction.

I pondered for a brief second, then gave her the answer I had thought of long ago.

“Because you are helpful to me.”

“……”

“The Endless Hell was a monster I could never defeat alone. I needed the assistance of a human chosen as its apostle. The reason you could command a hundred ghosts was that the entity called ‘Cheon Yohwa’ was somewhat identified with the Endless Hell. Recruiting you and subduing the Endless Hell was the best, and essentially the only strategy given to me.”

“…I see.”

Cheon Yohwa’s expression seemed somewhat relieved. She probably accepted my answer as a ‘setting’ for the course of her life.

“Yes, then――.”

“And because I was curious about how the worst tutorial dungeon in Korean history was created.”

“……?”

“And because I wanted to finally track down the true nature of the fairies I’ve seen endlessly. I wanted to test if I could truly defeat a god-level monster of alienation. Oh, and of course, I was purely curious about what kind of person a weirdo who had brainwashed herself at Baekhwa High School originally was.”

“Um, Mister? What are you talking about…?”

“Yohwa.”

I smiled.

“Finding a reason to live is good. It’s already admirable in itself. But I want you to live not just for one reason, but for as many reasons as possible.”

“……”

“If a person can decide to die over a single raindrop, then equally, a single strand of music can be a reason to live. Even when helping someone, rather than for one reason, create multiple reasons. Benefit. Goal. Curiosity. Self-test. Simple amusement. Curiosity. Those thousand reasons are both the reasons that can kill a person and the reasons that will keep you alive.”

That was the exact same declaration Cheon Yohwa made to the Endless Hell.

Even if it’s the truth, for a person to be sure of their own words, they always need someone else to say the same thing, though in a different way.

Click.

I opened my trunk bag and took out a specially preserved document file.

“That is…”

“It’s a gift. You could call it a reward for clearing the dungeon. Originally, the fairy of the tutorial was supposed to give it to you, but I got rid of the person in charge here. Here you go.”

In neat handwriting on high-quality paper, rare in this age, were written words. It was my handwriting.

I took out a brush pen and added a few more characters before handing it to Cheon Yohwa.

――――――――――

[Diploma]

Name: Cheon Yohwa

This person has completed the entire three-year high school course and demonstrated excellent academic ability, thus this diploma is awarded.

――――――――――

“……”

Cheon Yohwa held the diploma with both hands and looked down at it. The shadow of her standing still settled on the playground floor.

The blank space for the name, just filled in, shone like a bright shade.

“Congratulations on your graduation, Yohwa.”

It would be ungentlemanly to detail her exact reaction there.

I just want to note that it is perfectly natural for a high school student to cry at their graduation ceremony.

Post-battle.

Monster: The Endless Hell

Aliases: Eternal Hell, School Ghost Story, Parade of a Hundred Ghosts, (White Flower), 4-Character Taboo, Heraclitus’ Garland, Backroom, Cheon Yohwa

Danger Level: Lv.5 Alienation God (Alienation)

Subjugation complete.

—

There is an epilogue.

Actually, there are many epilogues. Stories related to the Endless Hell are numerous. But those stories can always be told later.

Today, I’ll briefly describe an event that occurred shortly after the ‘graduation ceremony.’

I was walking down the hallway of the National Road Management Headquarters.

“Ah! Teacher!”

A lively voice came from behind, followed by the sound of quick footsteps.

Turning around, the former basketball ace quickly closed the distance and then stopped with a screech. She playfully saluted.

“Yohwa. What brings you to the Management Headquarters?”

“Ahaha- I thought it’s time to get our guild’s exclusive dominance recognized in Sejong City. I just had a meeting with the head of management!”

“I see.”

For reference, Cheon Yohwa was still wearing her white sailor school uniform. Not just Cheon Yohwa, but the entire Baekhwa Guild… a group of Baekhwa High School graduates did the same.

Well, uniforms have always been an effective way to foster a sense of unity among members. There’s no reason to give up the strong identity of ‘Baekhwa High School’ now.

Or maybe she just got hooked on uniform cosplay like how Tang Seorin is obsessed with witch cosplay. Magic users tend to have a strong fetishism.

I tilted my head.

“But why call me teacher? Why not call me Mister as you used to?”

“Hehe… Because you were born before me and have experienced more than me? So, I decided to call you Teacher out of respect. Why? Don’t you like it?”

“No, I don’t dislike it. It’s just a bit strange to suddenly change my job from a security guard to a teacher.”

“Haha, what are you talking about? You even gave me a diploma!”

Cheon Yohwa clasped her hands behind her back and looked up at me obliquely. The smile on her face was distinctly different from the expressions of ‘Cheon Yohwa’ before the 117th turn.

A lively and cheerful smile.

“I look forward to working with you in the future!”

I could not object to Cheon Yohwa’s change of address. Because, as I mentioned at the start of this episode,

“――My teacher!”

This is the story of the time it took for the title of ‘senior’ to change to ‘teacher.’

-End of the the Pursuer’s Tale.