I’m an Infinite Regressor, But I’ve Got Stories to Tell

WeTried Translations

Translator: ZERO_SUGAR

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The Receiver XIII

"At last, it's finished."

"You've worked hard."

"Soon, even this intermission will be over."

"I'm sorry. It seems I used up too much power. My eyes can hardly see… Could you hold my hand?"

"Of course."

"Haah…"

"I never imagined talking to my past self would be this exhausting. Back then I was truly young—far too young."

"Mm. Don't worry. I'm sure it was conveyed well enough."

"Do you think so?"

"Certainly. This isn't empty consolation. It was conveyed so clearly that Saintess reached this place."

"…You're right."

"To be honest, I don't clearly remember what I heard in that dream."

"Is that so?"

"Yes. It's just… so much time has passed."

"Ah."

"It can't be helped. Unlike Mr. Undertaker I don't have [Complete Memory]. Hundreds of years, thousands, tens of thousands…… Every precious memory has faded."

"…I see."

"That's why I turned to diaries so often. What happened, which memories must never be lost—just like reincarnated protagonists jotting down their past-life knowledge…"

"..."

"For me, perhaps this very world was an otherworld from the start."

"Is this the notebook you used as a diary? It's terribly worn."

"I've looked through it more times than I can count. Especially when I used [Time Stop] to block Hecate—no, Nut. When I had to live in a world frozen for 2,000 years, it helped me a lot."

"..."

"It was a little hard."

"Of course I have no regrets. If I hadn't stepped in, the world would've perished and your regression been endangered, so I had no choice. It's just… one day I awoke and realized I couldn't recall other people's voices."

"It grew harder to picture Ms. Noh Do-hwa's tone in my head."

"Ms. Cheon Yo-hwa's laughter wouldn't surface."

"Mr. Undertaker's voice… slipped away from memory."

"So, in that stopped world I would often—no, constantly—climb to the roof of Tower of Babel and look at you all. Even if I couldn't summon the voices, faces at least—though you were like statues—were still visible."

"In fact."

"When I decided I was strong enough, when I thought it was time to lift the [Time Stop] and face you again, I worried a lot."

"What worried you?"

"Whether I could…… properly act like the me from 2,000 years ago. I wasn't confident."

"Would the language I speak still be intelligible? Would my expressions look strange?"

"Would I look… like a monster?"

"I was a bit worried."

"But think about it, Mr. Undertaker, you're the same. You endured an equally long time… So whichever way it turned out, it wouldn't matter."

"Even if I'd become a monster, we could just be monsters together."

"And if we could remain human… we'd remain human together."

"…"

"It's all white. Everything."

"Saintess."

"Yes. Your hand…"

"Right here. I'm still holding it."

"Mr. Undertaker has actually gained a new ability."

"Eh?"

"You won't understand yet… but Ms. Dang Seo-rin cast an incredible—truly incredible—spell on you."

"A spell powerful enough to move a universe. Born of the sole wish to stay by your side despite being a monster—truly miraculous."

"While that spell is singing in your heart, you… will be able to hear the voices of the anomalies."

"The voices of the anomalies?"

"Yes. Just as only you could understand Dang Seo-rin-ssi's voice… from the next cycle on you'll comprehend the anomalies' screams."

"…"

"Perhaps, mine as well."

"The fact we can talk so easily may also be thanks to Ms. Dang Seo-rin's magic."

"I don't understand."

"It's all right. It's your miracle. Surely… as you said, another comrade will recognize it someday."

"It's amazing."

"…Talking to my past self, I realized this."

"In the end, what I needed to keep living might have been just a single human being."

"Somewhere in this world, if at least one person hasn't given up…"

"If a beautiful human being could exist."

"Even if it's only one."

"…If I have seen—am seeing—that proof with my own eyes, I won't choose death. Never."

"Thank you, Mr. Undertaker."

"Always, always… forever. I'm grateful I met you, grateful you lived."

"Always…"

"Forever…"

"Again, there. At the convenience store."

'…'

"Saintess?"

'…'

"Saintess."

'…'

"…"

"I was always grateful too. Thank you for waiting until we could meet."

"I'll come find you again in the thousandth summer."

"Miss Ye-ji."

There is an epilogue.

As I stressed last time, this story, too, was a manuscript the Regressor never reviewed.

Precisely for that reason, there were many points where I could pound the typewriter freely.

For example.

"Saintess, from now on you must hide your real name not only when playing the Constellations but also in daily life."

"Eh? Why is that?"

I can now reveal in full the part of that first-meeting conversation the Regressor deliberately [CENSORED].

Why hide anything?

I proudly fancied myself a scoundrel.

"A name is the most basic ingredient, and the frame, of any spell."

The 1,000th cycle.

The Regressor who etched a feat for the ages, conquering Hecate, travelling with Go Yuri, rescuing the Saintess, remembered none of it.

The moment he opened his eyes in the waiting hall of Busan Station he blurted, 'Huh? I was just drinking with Dang Seo-rin, so why—?' panicked, then in the restroom, 'Wait? Why can't I feel the Saintess's warmth even though I touched the mirror?' utterly confused.

Facing a situation too baffling to grasp, he simply copied what ordinary people do.

Ah, whatever. Let's stick to the routine.

"From now on, Saintess, you'll play a key role in the peninsula's spiritual infrastructure, so you mustn't reveal your weak point to anyone."

"…"

Thus, as in any cycle, the Regressor went to persuade the Saintess.

Near Jamsu Bridge.

Beneath the parasol of a ruined convenience store, the Regressor and the Saintess were having their thousandth 'first meeting.'

"So Mr. Undertaker already knows my real name? Even though I never told you?"

"Of course. I heard it in the 36th cycle. After that we skipped introductions."

"I see."

Up to here, events matched other cycles.

However.

"Then… would you call me by my name just once?"

"…Pardon?"

For some reason,

the Regressor saw a response freshly updated, never observed before.

Across the table, the Saintess sipped a canned drink and stared expressionlessly at him.

"Sorry? Did I mishear?"

"I asked you to call me by my name."

"Uh…… Saintess?"

"Not the title, my real name."

She spoke remarkably straight. She always pronounced perfectly by abusing [Time Stop]; she would never stutter like a northern knock-off Saintess.

She was genuine.

"I believe you're a Regressor, but I still need to verify whether you truly know my name."

"Ah……?"

"Besides, if this is the 1,000th cycle, the 36th is ages ago. We could update it once, couldn't we?"

"Update? Update what… hm."

About to argue, he closed his lips.

He hadn't used [Mind Reading], he simply reached the conclusion.

'Indeed. I've been making an unreasonable demand.'

He had just told her, 'Give up being addressed by your real name for life.'

Since he'd never been called by his own name, it hadn't struck him, but it might be lonely for her.

'Was I too insensitive?'

A brief self-reproach.

"Kh-hm."

He cleared his throat.

Tens of thousands of years had passed since he last said her name, so it felt strangely awkward.

Blankly—

Her gaze felt embarrassing for some reason.

"…"

"…"

At last he opened his mouth.

"…Well."

"…"

"Um."

"…"

"…Ms. Ye-ji."

Blink.

She blinked.

Finding no change, he tried again.

"Ms. Ye-ji."

"…"

"Ms. Jeong Ye-ji."

Jeong Ye-ji.

A tiny white sandbank that surfaces where the current bends.

White crafted by time.

It seems a thousand summers were needed to speak that white name.

"…"

While he shyly averted his eyes, something more disconcerting happened.

Squeeze.

Warmth covered the hand he'd left on the table.

"M-Ms. Y-Ye-ji?"

He was genuinely flustered.

The Saintess had taken his hand!

Today was supposed to be the 'first meeting,' after all.

"Um. Why all of a sudden…?"

"…"

Yet she did not release him. No—she interlaced their fingers.

And intently examined his face.

If Constellations were real, messages would be exploding.

She murmured.

"I still don't quite know."

"…?"

"But maybe I understand a little."

"……??"

She let go and bowed her head.

"I'm sorry, Mr. Undertaker. I had something to check."

"Uh… no need to apologize. I was just startled. You never initiated physical contact at our first meeting before."

"Was that so."

"Ah, yes."

"…"

"…"

Imagine the greatest awkwardness, insert it here, and endure five seconds.

"Well then, shall we return to the main topic?"

"Yes, let's."

Afterwards they discussed how to run the Constellation system and what the Regression Alliance would be.

To the anomaly-slayer regressor this part would be vital, but the historian thought otherwise.

It mattered not a whit.

Instead, the side story values another part.

For example:

"Ah, right. Saintess."

"Yes?"

"When I go to Busan next, please don't observe me with [Clairvoyance] for one day."

Here. This part.

"Of course. Even though we're allies, I won't spy if you don't want me to."

"Ahaha. Thank you."

"But I am curious. May I ask why?"

"Ah. I'm meeting someone, purely for personal reasons."

"…"

Originally she answered, 'All right,' and kept her word.

Thus she realized days later that Dang Seo-rin stood by him. For someone as noble as the Saintess, harboring 'that' feeling toward one who already had a partner would be unthinkable, so she neatly arranged her heart.

It wasn't hard.

Controlling emotions still mere seeds is easy.

She even liked romanticists like Dang Seo-rin.

The monster-lover Regressor knew nothing, but the Saintess had cheered Dang Seo-rin on for countless cycles.

With all sincerity.

"…"

But what miracle is this.

From the 1,000th cycle on, she checked his warmth the moment they met. In truth she measured her own heart.

There was no need, it was warmer than the Han River.

"I see."

She nodded slowly.

"All right. I promise not to watch you that day."

"Ah, thank you."

She smiled faintly.

"Think nothing of it. I look forward to working with you, Mr. Undertaker."

As you can guess,

that became her monumental 'first lie.'

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