The Tales of an Infinite Regressor

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Collaborator III

5

“We’ll prepare here.”

A long time ago, I said that. In my hand, I held a fire axe.

Party members murmured in the corridor before the final staircase.

“Here? Why? The fairy said the final stage is just a little further down.”

“…”

“Don’t doubt him, Jaehee. The Master will guide us to salvation.”

Lee Jaehee, Uehara Shino, and Jung Sohee.

Their professions: Swordsman, Alchemist, and Zealot.

Just by their classes, you’d think it was a doomed party. Despite appearances, they were founding members, likely from the third round or possibly even earlier.

Dirty and unkempt from days without a proper wash, they looked at me.

A mess. But they were the best ‘Busan Station Tutorial Dungeon’ had to offer.

“…”

I met each of their eyes in turn. The me in the memory was much more emaciated than now.

“For the past three days, a scout has been spying on us.”

“A scout…?”

“It must be sent by Lee Baek. He’s the only other group of survivors who could’ve made it this far.”

The party members flinched.

“He purposely made us clear the path of monsters. But he has to kill the final boss himself to get credit for the achievement. So, he plans to strike when we’re exhausted from the boss fight.”

“What a total jerk.”

“If we defeat the boss first, his plan is useless. He knows that, so he’s probably rushing here at full speed. Everyone, crouch and hide at the bottom of the stairs. We’ll strike when they’re tired.”

“…”

“I…”

6

“I’ll take the lead.”

The déjà vu disappeared in an instant, like a newborn wave briefly touching the beach of white sand grains left by the old, crumbled shore.

At that moment, something stirred beside me.

“…”

It was Oh Dokseo.

A kid barely tall enough to reach my collarbone, holding a baseball bat on her shoulder. The bat was smeared with goblin blood.

“What are you doing, Oh Dokseo? I said to fall back.”

“No.”

Oh Dokseo chewed gum.

“I killed 14 monsters today. You? Eight. Isn’t hunting based on skill? I don’t follow orders from someone weaker than me.”

“…”

Sometimes, when you’re utterly flabbergasted, you just laugh. Before the laughter could fade, the sound of footsteps came thundering down the corridor.

A group of over a hundred. Not surprisingly, at the forefront of the group was Lee Baek.

“You bastards. Missed me?”

A bit surprising was that Lee Baek spoke. How? His vocal cords had been sliced into eight pieces like a pizza.

“Ugh, ugh…”

The answer lay beside him, in Sim Aryeon, who was slumped over like a defeated minion.

As a healer, Sim Aryeon was wrapped in bandages (made from cloth) all over her body. Her cheeks and shoulders were bruised.

It wasn’t hard to deduce the situation.

‘She must have refused to heal, got beaten up by Lee Baek, and now has to get permission to heal herself, essentially a slave.’

It was pitiful. Aryeon, Aryeon, a potential S-class ability user being beaten up by an E-class, what a sad sight…

Lee Baek’s followers, who should have been suffering from vocal cord pizza syndrome, were also chattering away.

“It’s him! That tall bastard beat us half to death the moment he saw us!”

“They took all the supplies from the waiting room too!”

“Damn, look how clean they are. They’re living it up hogging all the supplies with just three people… Bastards, they’re not even human. We’re struggling so much, splitting our food…”

“It’s a fairy! There’s a fairy with them!”

While the instigators stirred up the crowd, someone screamed and pointed at the fairy.

Lee Baek seized on that. With a sinister smile, he stepped forward five steps.

“They’re in cahoots with the fairy!”

Ate-eh-eate-ea-eaah-.

Lee Baek’s voice echoed throughout the corridor, loud enough for the group of over a hundred to hear clearly.

That was the man’s awakened ability.

[Lion’s Roar]. Or [Loudspeaker].

“They’re not on our side! They’ve betrayed us to the fairies! Look! They’re with a fairy! Traitors! Traitors!”

Although it was merely an ability to amplify his voice, it was quite useful in a tutorial where everyone’s level was roughly the same.

The saying ‘the loudest wins’ held especially true in emergencies.

While other survivors mumbled, Lee Baek alone shouted into his loudspeaker, seizing control and logic be damned.

It was a useful skill not only for politics but also in combat. In a marketplace fight with dozens of civilians mixed in, even simple commands like ‘attack!’ or ‘retreat!’ were often hard to hear. Lee Baek’s [Lion’s Roar] ensured orders were conveyed immediately.

A very handy skill, at least for the tutorial.

“Traitors…?”

The tutorial refugees murmured.

“It’s true, the fairy’s over there.”

“So Lee Baek was right. They stole all the supplies and…”

“Bastards. Instead of helping out, they’re just looking out for themselves…”

I understood them.

People who had just been thrown into an apocalypse—starving, cut off from communication with their families, stressed from forming groups with strangers, battling monsters, witnessing people die in front of them—were bound to be swayed by Lee Baek’s [Loudspeaker].

Well, if Seo Gyu were here, he’d probably have yelled back, “What the hell are you talking about, you bastard!”

“What! You bastard!”

Imagining Lee Baek and Seo Gyu hurling curses at each other, raising the tutorial dungeon’s average decibel level, made me laugh. It was absurd. I should try that later.

“Hoek. This is bad. If it’s found out that I favored specific players, I’ll be purged, purged! Strategic retreat…!”

Poof. Fairy #264 panicked and disappeared into the air. It wasn’t teleportation. It was just invisibility.

But to the people, it looked like the fairy had vanished. To survivors traumatized by fairies, that alone was a signal.

Lee Baek bellowed.

“The fairy is gone too! Everyone! Now’s our chance! Let’s take them down! We’ll take their supplies, regroup, and get out of this damn dungeon ourselves! Let’s go see our families!”

“Uooo—”

Just as people raised a battle cry, boosting their courage, I took a step forward.

From my footstep, a dark aura surged like a tidal wave. The wave swept through the group of 117 people in an instant.

“―――!”

“……? ……!”

Mute.

The people who were about to charge at us looked at each other in confusion. No matter how much they opened their mouths and screamed, no sound came out.

The underground corridor fell silent immediately.

When aura control reaches its peak, such a trick becomes possible.

“Oh, protagonist cheat…” muttered Oh Dokseo quietly next to me. I ignored her and spoke.

“Sim Aryeon.”

“…!”

“Don’t hide. Come over here. We’re stronger. We’ll keep you safe, and we won’t beat you up for not using your healing ability. We guarantee three meals a day and a comfortable bed. Switch sides.”

“…”

“I’ll give you three seconds.”

The remarkable thing about Sim Aryeon was that she never hesitated in such situations. Before Lee Baek could even turn around, she darted over to our side.

Lee Baek’s and the survivors’ faces twisted in frustration.

“Heal yourself.”

“Y-yes. Oh. My voice…”

People started pointing fingers at the traitor and shouted, but all that filled the hallway were silent cries.

It was a marvelous rage. To Sim Aryeon, the “Aggro Magnet,” it must have been delightful leveling-up experience.

With a warm smile, I took another step forward.

“Lee Baek. I’m sorry.”

“….”

“I didn’t show enough consideration. It seems I didn’t sufficiently demonstrate the difference in our abilities when I knocked you out too quickly. So I’ll give you a chance.”

“…?”

“Do you see that red-headed kid?”

I put my hand on Oh Dokseo’s shoulder.

“Fight her one-on-one. If you win, we’ll give you all our supplies, and let your group go ahead to the boss fight.”

“…!”

“Don’t worry. No traps. We won’t hit you from behind. But if you refuse the one-on-one, I’ll take your voice away for good. Or perhaps… are you too scared to fight a kid?”

“….”

Voices were strange. Regardless of right or wrong, the last word often felt like the righteous one.

Lee Baek, who had long enjoyed the power of voice, could say nothing in response. The survivors, intrigued by my words, looked at Lee Baek.

Silently, the pressure of 116 pairs of eyes.

“…”

Lee Baek scrutinized Oh Dokseo’s appearance. Perhaps he thought it was doable. Gripping a stick with nails embedded in it, he stepped forward.

“Hehe.”

Oh Dokseo glanced up at me.

“Alright. I’ve thought about smacking that guy’s face over a hundred times while reading novels.”

She could have asked why I was making her do this, but instead, Oh Dokseo, looking amused, swung her baseball bat and stepped forward.

In a one-on-one duel, many people watched from a distance.

I nodded.

“Accept the outcome, whatever it may be. If anyone complains afterward, I’ll personally cut off their ankles. Begin.”

As soon as I finished speaking, Oh Dokseo charged.

Flinch. Lee Baek, surprised that a kid much smaller than himself was attacking so fearlessly, had a vicious look on his face.

That bastard- his silently mouthing lips articulated.

Using his far superior reach, Lee Baek swung the stick. The nail embedded in the stick aimed straight for Oh Dokseo’s head.

Clang-!

It only aimed. The stick, instead of hitting, bounced off an invisible, transparent shield around Oh Dokseo.

“…?”

Absolute Defense.

A shield that not only repelled human attacks but also resisted monstrous invasions. Oh Dokseo swung her baseball bat.

A faint red aura surrounded the metal bat.

For the past few days, Oh Dokseo had been receiving intensive aura training from me. A unique lesson unmatched anywhere else in the world at this point.

I snapped my fingers, withdrawing the aura around Lee Baek. Sound restored. So my student could savor his victory.

“Die, you starchy bastard!”

With that shout, Oh Dokseo swung her bat with all his might.

“Ph-cough…?”

Unfortunately for Lee Baek, he couldn’t even scream properly. The baseball bat had broken his wooden stick and struck him squarely on the jaw.

A home run.

“Ough, oough? Ughhh…!”

Lee Baek fell, clutching his jaw, and a few white teeth scattered around him.

Oh Dokseo let out a long burp, as if a decade-long indigestion had finally been cleared.

“Wow. When Lee Jaehee died because of him in the third run, I threw the novel across the room. Bastard. Son of a bitch. Piece of shit.”

“Urgh…”

“Shut your mouth, you prick.”

Oh Dokseo kicked Lee Baek, who was now doing a freestyle crawl on the ground. Lee Baek passed out and went limp.

Six of Lee Baek’s followers belatedly rushed forward.

“Waaah!”

“Oh, it’s against the rules to gang up on a kid.”

But this was a rule violation. Without hesitation, I drew my aura and sliced through the ankles of the six men, one by one.

“―――!”

“…! …!”

All six of them fell to the ground against their will. Mute screams erupted.

Fear mixed into the gazes of the survivor group watching us. Some people in the back row had already started running away.

Sim Aryeon looked at the seven defeated men squirming on the floor with a rather peculiar expression. Like a thrush that had just found a worm.

“…Aryeon. Don’t play with them by threatening to heal them even if they beg for it.”

“Oh, y-yes… Huh? W-wait, how did you know what I was thinking? Are you a mind reader?”

I did have a mind-reading skill, but I rarely used it. It was interesting at first, but it quickly became boring.

However, it did help me form some interesting connections.

I quietly watched as the red-haired kid, whom I had taken on as an apprentice from the 555th turn, approached.

“See? Don’t worry.”

My reader and apprentice, who had entered my life, fearlessly said,

“I’ll make sure you reach a happy ending.”

“…”

“You’re the original protagonist, and I’m the person who got transported into the novel. With two protagonists working together, anything is possible. Well, your image is a bit different from the novel, but you’re still my favorite character!”

I chuckled.

“Alright. I’ll trust you.”

“Okay!”

Hurry up and catch up, Dokseo.

I’ll always be waiting here.

Epilogue

“Whaaaat? A-ahn, help! Please! Really, save me! I used my skill on Lee Baek earlier, so I don’t have a shield now! Ughhh? That just grazed me! It really did! I’m gonna die, I’m gonna die to the final boss of the tutorial! Ahhhhh! Save meeeee!”

“So, Mr. Jang, should we help out little Dokseo?”

“…”

I let out a sigh.

It seemed like it would take a long time before I could rely on this middle-school-obsessed otaku kid. The end.

– The Collaborator. End.