The Tales of an Infinite Regressor

4

Since we’re on the subject of stories, the author of the novel “Bird That Drinks Poison” (as confirmed in turn 766) once said the following:

“The setting of the novel is like the roots of a tree—vast and robust—but if exposed and revealed, the tree will wither and die. This applies not only to the world-building but to every situation.”

The protagonist isn’t omnipotent. They should always leave room at the edges of their vision like ‘white fog.’

The barren white wasteland left behind by their ignorance is, in fact, a honeyed ground continuously nourishing the sentences and descriptions.

Naturally, information about characters… individuals should also be shrouded in mist to some extent. How could anyone instantly know the extent of this person’s intelligence or what skills they possess?

Therefore, the status window is detrimental.

Metaphorically speaking, the status window is no different from the heinous act of indiscriminately removing minerals from the earth and nitrogen from the air.

It’s not because of my irritation with Sim Aryeon that I say this. There is a logical and legitimate justification.

Even though I developed an interest in web novels and genre fiction starting from Turn 555, and now it’s Turn 133, in reality, I had absolutely no knowledge about the status window. The current discourse is clearly a historical distortion by future generations.

This proves not a contradiction but rather prophetic insight on my part from Turn 133. Even during my ignorant days in web novels and genre fiction, I instinctively felt that the status window was a ‘harmful’ entity.

“Relying on the status window weakens people.”

I immediately took action.

Not only did I wage a public opinion war on SGNet, but I also meticulously emphasized how bad the status window was whenever I encountered awakeners privately.

“Yes? Hyung-nim?”

“In my day, I tested my strength against anomalies bit by bit to estimate my capabilities. That process of exploration, testing enemies in life and death, simultaneously testing myself, is an invaluable treasure. Yet these days, with my strength being B, they casually boast that I can easily defeat slimes.”

“Uh…”

“How ignorant can one be? Slimes aren’t creatures you can simply defeat with strength alone, and their danger varies drastically depending on whether you encounter them in a swamp or a narrow dungeon where unexpected dangers like falling from an unseen ceiling lurk. Void. That place is a space that cannot be quantified in numbers from the start, so it is empty.”

“…”

“How can you gauge your own abilities, your opponent’s capabilities, and even the depth of the void just by trusting the alphabet soup displayed on the status window? The status window is itself an anomaly, polluting the minds of awakeners, undoubtedly a ‘fool’s box’ that lowers humanity’s standards! Why do you fail to see the malicious machinations of anomalies, slowly but surely destroying awakeners who have become accustomed to the convenience of the status window and neglected their own training!”

“Um…”

Seo Gyu raised his hand.

“Can I ask one thing, Hyung-nim?”

“What is it?”

“Why is your tone like that?”

“This is a draft manifesto to awaken the consciousness of awakeners. I’m thinking of posting it on SGNet like this. What do you think, Seo Gyu? Doesn’t it make your heart swell and make you feel anew about the essence of awakening?”

“Uh, um…”

“Surely you didn’t shout at the status window too, Seo Gyu? From Busan Station’s main hall, I’ve put you through one-on-one education. I believe you wouldn’t entrust your judgment to such a vulgar anomaly.”

Seo Gyu’s expression became subtle.

According to physiognomy, it was a facial muscle state that could be interpreted as ‘Why is Hyung-nim like this again?’

Beside him, Sim Aryeon (she still existed) whispered to Seo Gyu.

“Oh, um…! It seems the status window appeared but you don’t have the SSS ability. Gacha failure…”

“Oh, so that’s why you’re like this.”

“Yes, yes… Oh? Suddenly, there’s a tremendous aggro energy coming from somewhere? Ah! Even though I haven’t done anything, aggro is piling up in my heart! I can feel my abilities being enhanced in real time! It’s delicious! So delicious! Such a delicacy I’ve never tasted in my life…! W-who could have resented me so much…!”

“For the next 6 months, no coffee for you guys.”

Seo Gyu and Sim Aryeon screamed in dismay, but I ignored them smoothly. These guys had to learn more about the value of discomfort.

-ZERO_SUGAR: [Long Article] Current Manifesto on a Ghost ‘Status Window’ Appearing on the Korean Peninsula ~Awakeners of the World, Awaken!~

I rang the alarm with blood vomiting in my heart. However, awakeners who had already succumbed to the false convenience of anomalies did not respond at all.

Instead, they laughed.

-Anonymous: What’s this?

-Anonymous: Is this a comedy?

-Anonymous: No, damn it, it’s a legend lol

-[Baekhwa] High School 10th Grade: ;;;;;

-Anonymous: I saw this when I was in elementary school! It’s like the story of nobles smashing up the burrows because the serfs said they were comfortable, asking where the nobleman was going to find a place to escape the winter wind.

└[National Road] Officer: This is an anecdote of the scholar Yi Gyu-bo during the Goryeo period. In the original text, it says, ‘Summer is hot and winter is cold, this is the natural order of the four seasons. If it is contrary to this, then it is strange and unusual.’ It means, ‘It is normal for it to be hot in summer and cold in winter. To oppose this is strange.’ Interestingly, even in the original text, the word ‘strange’ is used.

└Anonymous: Who are you to be so smart?

└Literature Girl: Oh.

-dolLHoUse: Oppa……

-KoreanVillage: ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ

-KoreanVillage: ㅋ

-KoreanVillage:

-KoreanVillage: This guy’s status window shows strength, intelligence, and skills all as F. Lol, what am I seeing?

└Anonymous: Oh, I see!

└Anonymous: We didn’t even know that!

“…….”

There was no public opinion defending me anywhere on SGnet.

Is this the pain of a righteous person with clear vision in a city of the blind?

…No, strictly speaking, there was one defense.

-[Yuldo Nation] Sword Maiden: Ah, this child’s words are indeed correct! Seeing something only in one’s own eyes is a hallucination, diagnosing it as a sign of madness from the beginning. The martial artists of the martial world all falling into hallucinations can indeed be considered a collective madness. Ohho Tongjae! Inevitable madness is a tragedy, but what can one say when they choose to go mad willingly?

└Anonymous: Ttoktakduo, come quickly.

└Anonymous: Three Kingdoms Ttoktak vs Wuxia Ttoktak…. My heart swells.

It was rather a feeble defense, to say the least.

On SGnet, there were often malicious individuals who lumped me and Sword Maiden together, tarnishing us with prejudice. Sword Maiden’s vocal defense only added fuel to such preconceptions.

“…Very well.”

I admitted defeat willingly.

“Anomaly, your victory.”

This was not just a soliloquy. Since the ‘Status Window’ was clearly a type of mental disorder, it was neither here nor there.

“But don’t think your victory is assured here. Next time, and the time after that, I will reappear and ultimately undo you.”

[…….]

“Saintess, even if you say nothing, your breathing can be heard when you watch over me.”

[Oh. Yes. I’ll be careful.]

And so, we ascended to a slightly higher stage――

To put it bluntly, we moved on to the 134th turn.

“Hiik? Why is such aggro being generated on its own when I haven’t done anything yet…? Well, it’s tasty. Scary! Guild leader! Someone unknown is hating me for reasons I can’t understand! In real time! Every day! Help!”

“….”

For some reason, the intensity of the 134th turn awakened my skills to an unprecedented level.

Of course, such minor incidents were not of great importance.

I instructed the Saintess.

“Saintess, starting three days from now, the anomaly known as the Status Window will begin to be observed nationwide.”

“Oh. Yes.”

“Since I explained what the Status Window anomaly was last time, do you remember?”

“Yes, very much so. Mr. Noh Doha spent three hours vomiting in front of me.”

“Good. Now, aim for the timing and hijack the Status Window.”

The Saintess blinked.

“…Yes?”

“I mean to say, decorate the act of displaying the Status Window as if it were a privilege of the Constellation. Then, every time you proclaim the Status Window, the gratitude and, well, emotions of the awakened will all be directed towards the Constellations. People will sing the greatness of the Constellations, and they will never know the truth that it was actually an anomaly.”

“…I’m sorry. If I understood Mr. Jang’s proposal correctly, that is, um… taking away the credit of the anomaly and making it ours?”

“The expression is a bit extreme, but yes, that’s right.”

“Oh…”

The Saintess sighed.

Having admired even the ideology that challenges the greatest anomaly hunters of all, Doctor Jang and I, for its challenges, were in order.

Noh Doha, who had been listening to the conversation, put down his coffee cup.

“Well done. Now, not even a person, but now you’re plundering the anomaly’s achievements. Even last time, didn’t you just talk about how being addicted to the convenience of the status window makes you lazy? Why are you hijacking it now? Could this be a step for the regressor…”

“Hmm.”

“Not a compliment, you fool…”

My plan was flawless.

I remembered every second of the first certification post of the Status Window on SGnet as a matter of course, thanks to my complete memory ability.

Since even the smallest failure was not allowed in this plan, I went up to Yongsan and proceeded with the command from the Saintess’s home. The Saintess and I sat side by side in gaming chairs and looked at the monitor.

“Standby.”

“….”

“Standby, standby. 3 seconds, 2 seconds, 1 second—now! Saintess! Now!”

The Saintess clapped her hands together.

[“The National Saint” confers a new power upon you all.]

[From now on, you can confirm your abilities by muttering ‘Status Window’ or ‘Status Open.’]

At that moment.

-Anonymous: Did you shout ‘Status Open’ as soon as you opened your eyes today? (191st day)

-Anonymous: Since it opened, let’s post itㅋㅋㅋㅋ (191st day)

The certification post appeared on SGnet with amazing timing.

Not only the first witness, but also the Constellation talks were sent to the awakened across the Korean Peninsula at the same time.

On SGnet, posts such as ‘What?’ and ‘Heck, received a Constellation message just now’ appeared, followed by certification posts like ‘Is the Status Window really appearing?’ and ‘Why is this real?’ flooded in.

I clenched my fist.

“Success! Saintess! We did it! You did really well!”

“…Yes.”

At that precise moment. To execute the optimal ambush that could humble the anomaly, the Saintess paused time and sent a message to all awakened individuals across the Korean Peninsula.

Isn’t this satisfying? Ordering a lunch box only to find the delivery person has eaten all the side dishes would have elicited a lesser surprise than this.

-Anonymous: National Saint >> GOAT among all previous Constellations, lol

-Anonymous: Seriously, this kid is the correct answer lol

└Anonymous: Kid?

└Anonymous: Call him by his name, how dare you

-Literature Girl: Telling us what the skill is, telling us the development method, now even giving us the Status Window. How far are you willing to generously distribute, GOAT-sei…

Naturally, the faith that originally would have gone to the anomaly all turned towards the Constellation. In other words, they gathered around the Saintess.

Talent is controlled by the anomaly, but money is earned by humans. This is the ultimate way of the regressor.

“How is it? This is a general, outer protrusion.”

“….”

The anomaly of the Status Window was neutralized.

What I did not anticipate at that time was that the aftermath of the vacuum created by the subjugation of the isolation god Endless was ‘Status Window.’

Just as aftershocks of an earthquake occur several times, aftershocks of void also occur many times.

Kuwong!

I’m satisfied that I’ve overwhelmed the ‘Status Window.’

Boom!

Not long after I had triumphantly subdued the Status Window, Sim Aryeon burst into my room, kicking open the door.

“G-Guild Master!”

“…It’s sad. I’ve been saying this time and time again, but you shouldn’t be obsessed with such superficial things, whether it’s S-class or anything else….”

“I’m serious! Please don’t be mistaken again!”

“Oh.”

“Ah! Ah, anyway! That’s not important right now—well, it is important, but! B-Big trouble! H-Hurry up and come outside!”

Sim Aryeon grabbed my sleeve and pulled me along.

Instinctively, the thought, “I’m not moving because this E-Rank Strength is pulling me,” crossed my mind, even reaching my lips. But I managed to hold it back just in time.

I hadn’t fallen that low yet.

Anyway, we emerged onto the guild’s vacant lot (at this point, I hadn’t yet come up with the idea of using the undersea tunnel as my hideout), and there, a slime was lying half-dead, groaning in pain.

“Oh no! It’s already running away! Stop! Stop! Where did a slime like that…”

Perhaps Sim Aryeon was the one who had defeated this slime, as it was clearly wary of us, wriggling around.

Sim Aryeon picked up a club.

“L-Look, Guild Master! You have to open your eyes wide and see…”

What did she mean by “opening wide”?

I was getting the impression that the language of Cryptid creatures was becoming increasingly difficult to understand with each passing day. With that, Sim Aryeon swung her club.

And I opened my eyes wide.

“…Huh?”

“L-Look. Hehe. You saw it, right…?”

The reason I was surprised wasn’t because Sim Aryeon’s club strike contained such profound wisdom, nor was it because a chemical reaction I had never seen before occurred in the slime.

More precisely, the reaction was observed in the ‘void’ above the slime’s torso, where a labyrinth of blank space was supposed to remain.

[DAMAGE!]

[91!]

It was floating there.

The word ‘DAMAGE’ in English, floating above the slime’s torso. And the ‘value’ of that damage.

The bold red letters floated there for a moment before disappearing.

An even more astonishing event unfolded immediately afterward.

Ping♪

A ridiculous sound effect rang out once. Then, Sim Aryeon muttered, “Ugh,” and fiddled with the Status Window in the void as if manipulating it.

“I, I got experience points and leveled up…”

“Experience points? Level?”

“Ah, yes. I was beating up slimes to relieve stress every day, and suddenly, damage numbers and stuff started appearing. And experience points and levels were newly added to the Status Window…”

“…”

“I-I’m level 13! Oh. I just leveled up to 14… Guild Master, what level are you at? Huh? Ehehe. Are you just going to level up to 99 on your own?”

Sim Aryeon’s eyes sparkled, but I could only remain silent.

It seemed like I could hear a strange hallucination coming from somewhere far away.

-Outsider? No, you idiot.

-What are you looking at? That’s my afterimage.

The Status Window was just the tip of the iceberg.

Experience points. Level up system.

The true identity of the strange entity that freely manipulated all of these elements was none other than… an RPG, a ‘role-playing game’.