The Tales of an Infinite Regressor

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Chapter 205

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The Antagonist II

3

There were times when someone was taken into the gravestone where the [Time Seal] was performed.

Even the gravestone of the soccer player Kim Joocheol was entered with his son, Kim Sieun.

But this was the first time I had ever shown the landscape inside a gravestone to someone as close as the Saintess.

“――This is it.”

The Saintess, holding my hand, looked around, her eyes wide.

“This is the heaven I’ve heard of, where the happiest 24 hours repeat endlessly.”

I cleared my throat.

“Heaven is a bit of an exaggeration.”

“From the perspective of a regressor like you, it might seem that way. But for ordinary people who have to worry about daily survival, this place is one of the best choices.”

“I don’t know. Isn’t it better to ask the fairies for a cup of dreams at the casino instead of being subjected to the [Time Seal]?”

“Even that casino was created as an option by you.”

“……”

“But it’s quiet here.”

As everyone knows, Kim Joocheol’s dream took place in a soccer stadium.

The match where he performed brilliantly in front of his family, achieving perfect success in honor, money, and love, was endlessly repeated.

However, the stadium, which should have been filled with the cheers of the crowd, was, as the Saintess described, ‘quiet.’

“Hmm.”

A little too quiet.

“It seems everyone is asleep.”

“Indeed, it’s strange.”

A world where everyone had fallen asleep.

All the people seated in the stands were fast asleep. Only an eerie silence lingered.

It wasn’t just the audience. Even the players who should have been running around kicking the ball were collapsed on the field.

Among them was Kim Joocheol, the owner of this place, who had appeared in my dream as a nightmare to deliver a warning.

Kim Joocheol, who had reverted to his prime, was lying down, clutching a soccer ball.

“Kim Joocheol. Mr. Kim Joocheol.”

“……”

“Can you hear me? Sieun’s father. Sieun’s father.”

I tapped his cheek, but he showed no sign of waking up. Even when I channeled aura through his body, there was no response.

It was as if he was in a state of suspended animation.

All ten thousand people gathered in the stadium had completely lost consciousness. Considering that they were all mere illusions, it was a form of pseudo-death.

I quickly made a decision.

“It seems we need to call the tutorial fairy to scan these people\'s unconscious minds. And Saintess.”

“Yes?”

“Don’t let go of my hand, and absolutely do not consume any food or drink here. You might be tempted to grab something from the vending machine, but if you eat anything, you could be cursed like in the myth of Persephone.”

“Ah…….”

We re-entered the gravestone with the tutorial fairy. Using the fairy’s ability, we entered Kim Joocheol’s dream.

Then, a completely different scene unfolded before our eyes.

-Screams!

-Help! Please, help!

The stadium seats were half-destroyed by fire, reduced to ruins.

People were running around madly, screaming.

-Another day is starting!

-Someone stop that murderous bastard!

-Hehe. It doesn’t matter since we’ll all come back to life after a day anyway! Kill! Go ahead and kill, bastards!

It wasn’t just screams; blood was splattered everywhere.

People were brawling with their fists, some trying to detach the seats to use them as shields, others swinging clubs or baseball bats they had found somewhere.

“Everyone, stay back! Hold your positions!”

Kim Joocheol was desperately trying to protect his wife and young son. The soccer players, at least, seemed somewhat safe as they formed teams.

I held the Saintess’s hand and approached the group of soccer players. Kim Joocheol turned towards me and shouted loudly.

“Hey! Don’t come any closer! I’ll kill you!”

“Mr. Kim Joocheol. It’s me, Doctor Jang.”

“I’ll really kill you……. Huh? Huh?”

Kim Joocheol’s eyes blinked rapidly.

“You, Doctor Jang? Is it really you?”

“Of course. Doctor Jang. Aren’t we comrades who survived the Busan Station tutorial dungeon together?”

“Ah! Ah!”

Kim Joocheol dropped the baseball bat in his hand and ran to embrace me.

My shoulder was soon wet. Tears flowed from the eyes of the young man who had become middle-aged.

“Why, why are you only coming now? Huh? You’re not an illusion, right? Oh my god. Why are you only coming now, man……”

I could only pat Kim Joocheol’s back, not understanding what was happening.

Not only me, but also the Saintess beside me, the tutorial fairy, and even Kim Joocheol’s wife and teammates, all wore expressions of confusion.

“Calm down, Mr. Kim Joocheol. Explain to me slowly. You said you were waiting for me, but how long could you have waited when your memory resets every day……”

“1,000 days!”

I paused.

“What?”

“I’ve been waiting for over 1,000 days! I’ve repeated this hellish day more than 1,000 times! Not just me, but everyone!”

“……”

“This, this is hell! Doctor Jang! Please, get me, get us out of here!”

My jaw dropped in shock.

What on earth was going on?

4

It was dangerous near the stadium because of the mobs of hundreds, thousands of people.

We moved to the slopes of Mount Gu-bong, which Kim Joocheol said was ‘relatively safe.’

Looking back from the hillside, we could see that the Seo-gu district of Busan, including the soccer stadium, was burning.

“…At some point, I started feeling like I was repeating the same day.”

This was Kim Joocheol’s explanation.

“Then memories of you, Doctor Jang, suddenly came to mind. Ah, this is a dream. I’ve already died in reality, and I’m doing this nonsense here.”

“……”

“But I didn’t really care much. After all, it was something I had accepted. Huh? I thought it didn’t matter since I would forget everything after time passed and live on as if nothing happened. But……”

However, the memories continued.

Even after 24 hours passed, the ‘Continue Playing’ button was forcibly activated.

“Damn it. No matter how happy the memory was, repeating the exact same day over and over was torture. You were right, Doctor Jang. Forgetfulness was a blessing.”

Kim Joocheol sighed.

“So, at first, I tried to tell the people around me. That the world was repeating. That after 24 hours, we would live the exact same day again…….”

“……”

“At first, people looked at me like I was talking nonsense. I felt bad, but I understood. But then, after about 20 or 30 times? Maybe after about a month of repeating the same day―”

The anomaly began at the bar he visited with his teammates after the game.

“Suddenly, the bar employee said this to me.”

‘Excuse me, sir, didn’t you come here yesterday too?’

“That was the beginning. It started happening one by one. The bar staff, my teammates sitting at the same table. The customers at the other tables.”

‘Hey. Isn’t this TV always the same?’

‘What the hell? Didn’t we meet here yesterday too?’

‘The food here tastes the same every day.’

“Soon enough, even my wife realized.”

An epidemic.

The so-called ‘regression virus’ began to spread rapidly.

The infection order seemed to start with those who had close contact with Kim Joocheol on that day.

And so the day continued to repeat.

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Even when time reset, for some reason, the ‘regression virus’ was not reset. The infected people spread the virus further.

- Huh? Wasn’t today Saturday?

- What, what is this? Didn’t this match happen yesterday?

The bar customers spread it to their families, the players to the opposing team players, the players to the supporters, and the supporters to other citizens.

The ‘regression virus’ spread rapidly.

The problem was that this was only a half-baked regression. That is, it was merely the ‘repetition of the same 24 hours forever.’

“Mister, this might sound strange, but did yesterday… no, the day before yesterday also…”

“You feel it too? Something’s wrong, right?”

“Wait a second. I have a friend at the TV station. I’ll give them a call…”

People tried to alert those around them to the emergency and solve it somehow.

But that only helped the contagion spread, bit by bit.

By the time the 100th day had passed, the virus, which started in a small bar near a soccer stadium, had completely engulfed the entire Seo-gu district of Busan.

“Again, the day has started again…”

“What on earth is the problem?”

“What is the government doing?”

The citizens also tried to resolve the situation, rallying around officials, police, and others. They informed the media and the internet about Busan’s predicament and requested help from the government.

They even managed to get in touch with the government.

But once 24 hours passed, everything reset.

“Why isn’t the government doing anything? Didn’t the professor say he got a direct promise from Mayor Jung Sangguk?”

“Well… I’m sorry, but it seems like people other than us have no idea that the day is repeating.”

“What?”

“We’re the only ones who know that the day is repeating. The others have no idea. So, any promises made 24 hours ago are all forgotten.”

Isolation. Quarantine.

The truth was that the “regression virus” epidemic had never spread beyond Seo-gu in Busan.

Only the citizens there could realize that the 24 hours were repeating.

Just as an entire city would be physically quarantined during a zombie outbreak, the citizens of this place were being “quarantined in time.”

“No, this can’t be happening!”

“Isn’t there anything we can do?”

Still, the citizens refused to face the truth.

They believed that a solution would somehow emerge if they informed the government of this absurd situation.

Leaving behind the elderly professor who had confessed that securing a promise from a politician had been useless, the citizens devised their own means.

“We need to make this such a big deal that the whole world can’t help but notice!”

“That’s right! We have to make it so serious that within 24 hours, both the government and the entire nation realize how dire the situation is!”

“H-how?”

“Let’s stage a riot! Create a bloodbath so that the world takes notice and sees this as a serious disturbance.”

“Ah…”

“People need to get hurt for the government to act urgently. The media will flock here and start covering us.”

“Everyone, let’s harden our resolve and go for it!”

It was literally a desperate measure.

The carefully planned riot certainly caused a massive stir. It even resulted in fatalities.

The bloodshed among ordinary citizens shocked Busan, and they quickly dispatched police forces.

“Ahhhh! It’s working! It’s working!”

“Look at the TV! The government is making an announcement! They acted before the day reset!”

“We’re saved!”

“Something will work out now!”

Even with blood streaming down their heads, even as they were arrested by the police, the citizens shed tears of joy.

They thought they were finally escaping hell.

But 24 hours later...

“Ah.”

“We’ve returned again. But now that everyone in the country knows, something will be done.”

Nothing was done.

It was, in fact, the final blow.

“…No one knows?”

“What?”

“No one in the government knows. They have no idea… that the day is repeating.”

That’s right.

After causing such a commotion, the citizens had no choice but to confront the harsh truth.

One: The regression virus only spreads in the Seo-gu district.

Two: It does not spread even slightly beyond that area.

The reason was simple.

――This day, in fact, wasn’t implemented beyond the range of soccer player Kim Joocheol’s movements.

[Time Seal] wasn’t omnipotent. Only the data necessary to create a happy day for Kim Joocheol was built.

Only the area sufficient for Kim Joocheol to enjoy his day was allocated.

Beyond that, even though it looked like something was happening, and people appeared to be moving around just the same, it was all just an illusion—a virtual “image.”

“What? Why are we the only ones repeating the day…”

“Damn it, what’s going on?”

The citizens couldn’t deduce the cause.

They were simply faced with the fact that the same day had repeated a hundred times, two hundred times, three hundred times, four hundred times, and more.

Eventually...

“A-ahhh! Ahhh!”

At a certain point, the public order around them rapidly collapsed.

The leaders who had suggested active solutions like “Let’s inform the government” or “Let’s start a riot” lost their support.

No, the people who had been leaders fell into despair.

No matter what they tried, they couldn’t escape from the “repeating 24 hours.” Even if they killed someone, even if someone died, everything would return to its original state.

“Wait! Calm down! If we at least form a society among ourselves…”

“Shut up! My family is in Incheon!”

Attempts to assemble some form of community repeatedly failed.

The rule of this space-time—“Even if you kill someone, everything resets”—was too harsh.

In a situation where everyone was forced into extreme stress, fights easily broke out, and every time they fought, anyone could easily kill the other.

“Life” was the most fundamental element of society.

Long before the gold standard was invented, manpower, labor, and “human time” had always served as the basis of society.

Morals. Work. Relationships.

With the value of life reduced to nothing, the society of Homo sapiens collapsed in an instant.

And then...

“This is… Doctor Jang. Maybe this is all my fault…”

Having witnessed everything, Kim Joocheol was terrified.

“You know. I made that wish to you, Doctor Jang, for that, what was it… Time something…?”

“[Time Seal], you mean.”

“Ah! Yes, yes. That’s right. The Time Seal bound me… Maybe others got caught up in it too…”

Kim Joocheol’s voice dropped to a whisper, afraid that someone nearby might hear him.

His eyes were filled with a heavy guilt, self-loathing, and fear. He murmured with his head lowered.

“If that’s the case, doesn’t this usually end when the source dies? But I’ve already died a few times, and still…”

“No.”

I shook my head.

“It’s not your fault, Kim Joocheol.”

“Is that so…?”

“Yes. In the first place, Kim Joocheol. This space is not reality. It’s merely the last trace you left in the world and a fleeting dream.”

“Oh…”

“The bar staff, your teammates, your wife. They’re not real people but figments of your imagination.”

“……”

“There’s no fundamental difference between the people here and the people beyond Busan. The only difference is that the illusions here are implemented in more detail, while the ones beyond are roughly sketched out. The people beyond Busan don’t realize the day is repeating because they don’t have the capability to perceive it.”

Gulp. Gulp.

Kim Joocheol opened and closed his mouth.

“R-right. That’s it. You’re right… But Doctor Jang, from my perspective, no matter how I look at it, the people…”

At that moment, Kim Joocheol looked up at me.

Then he grabbed my feet.

“Please save us.”

“……”

“Please don’t abandon us. Doctor Jang, no, God! God. Aren’t you like the Creator who made this world? Yes? Didn’t you promise at the beginning? That you would let us dwell in an eternally happy day. But this… God, this is different. This is hell…”

“Please calm down.”

I took his trembling hand with my free hand.

“And don’t worry. This is my responsibility, and I will resolve the situation for you.”

“Ah…”

“If there’s any fault to be found, it lies not with you, Kim Joocheol, but with me. And with the anomaly behind this.”

Swoosh.

I turned my gaze and made eye contact with the saintess.

She seemed to understand the meaning in my eyes and nodded slightly.

“Thanks to your explanation, I now have a good idea of this anomaly.”

Valhalla.

The underworld where, even after dying, one revives and endlessly repeats the same day, engaging in ceaseless slaughter.

For now, that anomaly had descended upon this “graveyard.”

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