Chapter 25
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The Prophet II
Shin No-a
2
There was a slight problem in the journey following Odokseo.
No, actually it was far from slight. An exceedingly major problem had erupted.
It wasn't a problem caused by me.
[Odokseo: Alright! Tutorial cleared!]
And it wasn't Odokseo's own problem either.
Actually, Odokseo's skills weren't bad for a beginner. Despite my modest help (though I was being humble—it was actually far from modest), Odokseo broke through the Busan Station Gate in just 48 hours.
For reference, I first cleared Busan Station in my 3rd cycle.
In other words, during the 1st and 2nd cycles, I lived in Busan and died in Busan. Truly, I could say I overflowed with more love for Busan than any native Busan local. If my hometown hadn't been Seoul, I would have long ago earned the authentic Busan Man certification mark.
Even when I cleared it in the 3rd cycle, it took a full week. For Odokseo to cut that down to 48 hours meant her aptitude was genuinely excellent.
[Odokseo: Even with the protagonist's help, finishing this in two days? Odokseo, what are you? Fashion, hip-hop, killing monsters—is there anything you can't do? I'm starting to get scared of my own existence…….]
Let's overlook that youthful, hot-blooded self-praise as something endearing.
Honestly, at this point, I had to wonder what kind of place the Busan Station waiting room actually was.
It went beyond overflowing with talent to outright causing a flood.
'A mysterious being named Goyori with the potential to destroy the world, Seo Gyu a community management expert I've never heard of, Sim A-ryeon who feeds on aggro, MacGuffin Uehara Shino, and me, Jang Uisa the infinite regressor. And now Odokseo too?'
It was truly terrifying.
A veritable treasure trove of talent farming.
It rivaled Paxian from the Chronicles of the Three Han, where Liu Bang played as a vagrant, Xiao He shuffled through civil service documents, and Fan Kuai slaughtered pigs. Let alone……. No, let's stop this conversation.
Anyway, Odokseo's adventure itself proceeded smoothly.
But if it wasn't my problem and wasn't Odokseo's problem, that meant a third-party stranger had wedged themselves into this cheerful and lively party.
"……?"
That unidentified existence walked with a light skip, occasionally glancing back at me. Each time, she tilted her head and smiled—prettily, at that.
I almost fell in love. If I hadn't learned the fact that this existence would wear the exact same beaming smile even while destroying the world, I might have truly confessed my feelings like a real man.
This being's name was Goyori.
'This is maddening.'
The master of red flesh.
If one were to classify her by genre tags, she would be categorized as #brainwashing #perceptionalteration #affinitymanipulation #CthulhuMythos and so on—an ultra-dangerous individual.
That's right. Somehow, Goyori had ended up joining Odokseo's party too. In truth, since we were all founding members who started from the Busan Station waiting room, this possibility had always existed.
To think that a single party formed in the early stages contained both a being who would make my life sweet jam and a being who would end my life entirely—was this even sane? As expected of Busan Station waiting room. It was truly a mad starting point.
At that moment, pink hair fluttered right before my eyes.
"Jang Uisa-nim…… was that your name?"
My heart lurched.
For reference, Goyori was still actively casting [Perception Manipulation], [Affinity Manipulation], and [Impression Brainwashing] at this very moment. All sorts of humans had already gathered around her, fawning and flattering her.
Yet she pushed away all those sycophants clinging to her claiming they liked her, and subtly approached me.
Goosebumps rose on my skin.
"…What is it?"
One stroke of fortune was that I was currently acting as 'the coolest regressor in the world.'
Facial acting. Facial acting.
I desperately recalled the despair of the world-ending scenery, the sense of betrayal when Old Man Sho ran off alone, the sorrow of losing Dang Seo-rin for the first time…… anyway, I worked hard to summon negative emotions.
Thanks to that, my expression became incredibly thick with realism. Thickness Level 5.
"Oh. No, it's nothing particularly important."
Apparently it wasn't thick enough for Goyori.
"I was just curious what kind of person Jang Uisa-nim is. Well, you were so calm even when people died in the waiting room or when monsters appeared."
Was she watching me?
If my heart had sweat glands, cold sweat would have been streaming down. Just as wuxia has the saying to beware of old people and children, my life always had a warning label attached: beware of pink-haired beings.
I decided to turn up the thickness even more. Thickness Level 6.
"I have no interest in you. So you should also lose interest."
"Do you like Silon tea? It's my favorite drink too."
"……."
That was unfair.
Was this the power of [Perception Manipulation]?
To naturally try to raise affinity toward her as easily as breathing.
But I, Jang Uisa, was not such an easy human. Honestly, my heart fluttered a bit, but I interpreted this as a sign of myocardial infarction. What that meant was, if left alone, I would die.
It couldn't be helped. Thickness Level 7!
"How tiresome. Get lost."
"Hmm."
Hmm? Hmmm?
She just smiled with her eyes, didn't she?
"Did you know you haven't looked at me once while talking to me?"
"Shut up. Do you not understand the meaning of 'get lost'? Or are you ignoring me? If the former, you're ignorant; if the latter, you're oblivious."
"Doctor-nim is an interesting person."
"……."
"Let's get along well from now on. My name is Goyori. Please call me Yori comfortably."
After saying that, Goyori walked ahead. Her shadow walked with hands behind its back, humming a tune.
As expected, she seemed to have taken an interest in me. A result completely opposite to my intentions.
'…Next time I get entangled with Goyori, instead of acting thick, I should unconditionally act like a crazy bastard addicted to alcohol and gambling.'
To give a spoiler, changing strategies was useless.
A crazy answer came back: 'To think you can forget your sorrows with alcohol and lay down your burdens with gambling—you're a wonderful person who knows what true refinement means!'
There was only one way to deal with Goyori. Simply, from the very beginning, never enter her field of vision.
Someone might wonder why an infinite regressor was so terrified of Goyori.
But what regressors fear most isn't death. It's ignorance.
Think about it. The opponent is an S-class perception manipulator. You could call her the final boss of the mental virus category.
No matter how much you approach Goyori, can you have confidence in the knowledge gained that way? What about the possibility that the knowledge itself has already been contaminated through brainwashing and manipulation?
If by some chance my identity as a regressor were exposed, what would Goyori do?
For example.
-Then let me ask as well.
-Since when did you labor under the delusion that I wasn't using brainwashing……?
-Ufufu. Doctor-nim is merely trapped in hypnosis about having regressed; in reality, you're completely in my grasp.
-From now on, I'll stand in the heavens.
What if something like that happened?
The awakened one with the strongest mental power I knew of was the Saintess. Even that Saintess fell to Goyori. Until I acquired a 'shield' to repel perception manipulation myself—a firewall for the mind—it was wise to have as little to do with Goyori as possible.
But it seemed I wasn't the only one ignorant about her.
[Odokseo: Hmm. What's this? Pink hair?]
Odokseo glanced this way. She probably thought she was secretly stealing glances, but my senses caught everything.
[Odokseo: Was there a character like this in the previous world? For an extra, the hair color is too flashy so it stands out. But she leaves a really good impression. Looks older than me. I wonder if there's a way to become friends.]
―――Odokseo didn't know about Goyori's existence either.
3
This fact concealed a major hint.
From following and observing Odokseo so far, it seemed she had read 'a certain novel.'
Surprisingly, the protagonist of that novel was me, Jang Uisa.
Actually, it was ambiguous whether to even call this a novel. It was essentially my documentary, no different from a biography. Otherwise, it would be hard to explain how much Odokseo knew.
However.
'She really only knows about the old days.'
Should I say it's a novel with very, very slow updates?
For example:
[Odokseo: Okay, Haeundae elixir cut! Wow. Getting an elixir right after clearing the Busan Station gate. Isn't this incredibly fast progress? Maybe I have some talent.]
[Odokseo: With this, I can defeat that terrifying final boss…… the Ten Legs.]
The Ten Legs wasn't the final boss.
Actually, it couldn't even be a mid-boss. The era when the Ten Legs toured restaurants as a lonely gourmet on the Korean peninsula was, at most generously calculated, until the 20th cycle. After that, it itself became the delicacy.
[Odokseo: From now on, I need to join up with Dang Seo-rin somehow. Among the guild masters who are all bastards, there's no ally as reliable as Dang Seo-rin. Once 'setting-wise' Ju Ga-youngchang activates properly, Dang Seo-rin is the strongest dealer.]
Dang Seo-rin wasn't the strongest dealer.
In the very early stages, she might appear to be a dealer, but Dang Seo-rin's true power was revealed when she took on the 'supporter' role.
In reality, as Old Man Sho and I appeared and grew stronger with each cycle, Dang Seo-rin unhesitatingly stepped back from the front lines and volunteered to back us up.
In other words.
[Odokseo: Then the protagonist needs to hold off the Ten Legs' offensive a bit……. It'll be hard alone. Tsk. I guess I have to fight together?]
Odokseo didn't even know about Old Man Sho's existence.
The conclusion was simple.
'The novel Odokseo read contains at best [my life only up to the 4th cycle].'
In short, an unfinished autobiography.
A novel with incomplete writing. A work with unreleased serialization. A series with a slow author's hand.
Truly, an incredibly unique ability.
If I were to勉强 name this ability…… [Serialization Harassment] might be appropriate.
Anyway, assuming the work Odokseo encountered was 'a summary of my life only up to the 4th cycle,' all questions were resolved.
I could also naturally understand why she treated me like a psychopath.
'Well. I was indeed quite sensitive back when I hadn't met Old Man Sho yet.'
Of course, I was absolutely not as much of a psychopath as Odokseo misunderstood.
Just making the heads and bodies of those who would cause discord in the group into separated families in advance, threatening to kill everyone if things went wrong, and being unsatisfied unless I got the biggest benefit in any event……. In short, about the moral level of an average web novel regressor?
[Odokseo: Wow. Look at how his expression turns murderous the moment I mention joining up with Dang Seo-rin. That crazy bastard, so he only considers people he's opened his heart to as people, and doesn't even see someone like me as human? I'm seriously going to die of grievance.]
Hmm.
It seemed a conversation was needed.
I quietly observed Odokseo for about 4 months. As a result, I judged that I could trust Odokseo's character to some extent.
"Odokseo."
"Hm? What, suddenly? It's unexpected for you to initiate conversation."
"I want to have a talk. Somewhere quiet if possible, just the two of us."
I approached Odokseo when the party members had briefly stepped away. I confirmed twice, three times that Goyori was gone, so it was safe now.
[Odokseo: Eek! Shit, so you really are planning to bury me without anyone knowing!]
It didn't seem very safe to Odokseo.
"Really? Sure. Responding to a party member's consultation is also a fine quality of a party leader."
I don't know about that, but at least it was clear Odokseo had talent in expression management. While crying and screaming inside, she chewed gum calmly on the outside.
We entered a neighborhood café with a sign that read [Closed temporarily until August 20]. Today was October 25th.
The shop interior was neatly organized. I sat down carefully, thinking of the owner who had organized their assets but couldn't organize their mind.
"Alright……. What's going on?"
Odokseo looked at me with an expression that seemed nonchalant, yet with determined eyes, and at the same time with a fearful heart.
I temporarily turned off [Mind Reading]. It didn't seem like a skill appropriate for a serious conversation between human and human.
"First, I advise you not to be too surprised."
"Hah? What exactly are you about to say?"
"I'll get straight to the point. Odokseo. I know you read a novel that you consider the original work of this world."
"……."
Tick, tock.
The wall clock, its battery not yet depleted, diligently turned its second hand. Unfortunately, it wasn't a cuckoo clock.
Odokseo's mouth fell open.
"Huh?"
"For reference, the way I'm speaking now is an imitation I'm deliberately using to match your standard. If you're okay with it, I'd like to return to my original way of speaking. This is actually quite inconvenient, to my surprise."
"…Wait, wait, wait. Wait a minute! Wait!"
Odokseo said in a near-scream.
"Novel? What novel? I have no idea what you're talking about!"
"Well, of course you claimed to have read it yourself from an omniscient regressor's perspective. You don't know this, but I have an ability called [Mind Reading]. It's an ability that converts the opponent's surface consciousness into language and conveys it to the user."
"Hah? That's a lie, that ability wasn't in the original work at all……. Ah."
Odokseo blinked.
"…Was that just now guided interrogation?"
"No. It's true. I also know well the fact that you've been treating me as half a psychopath in your heart."
"I, I never did that?"
Even while her voice trembled, Odokseo steadfastly maintained her innocence. It was a shamelessness that showed potential for politics.
10 minutes later.
We had a conversation that cleared up each other's misunderstandings, or more accurately, Odokseo's one-sided misunderstandings. During the exchange, Odokseo displayed a truly variety of facial expressions.
She muttered in bewilderment.
"No……. This is a scam."
"A scam?"
"Usually in novels, regressors can't figure out the secrets the protagonist…… ah, here 'protagonist' refers to me. Anyway, they can't figure out the secrets the protagonist is hiding. But what is this? Exposed from the moment of being summoned to Busan Station……. This isn't novel grammar!"
"Sorry to say, but the world isn't a novel, child."
"It was a novel to me until just a moment ago!"
Odokseo slammed the table.
"And what's with that tone! Where did the undertaker who kills everyone—ally or whatever—if things go wrong?"
"No, honestly from my perspective, it was so long ago. Think about hearing 'You were such a good child at 5' at age 50. Would you empathize?"
"Hah? That much?"
"That much."
"Exactly what cycle are you in from your perspective?"
"555th cycle."
"Five hundred fifty-five?"
Odokseo screamed like the cuckoo in the wall clock.
"What is that! What's with that number! Not the 55th cycle but the 555th? No, even if the Ten Legs is strong, you couldn't kill it until the 555th cycle? What are you? That's dereliction of duty level!"
"Ah, the Ten Legs isn't the final boss. That's actually the weakest."
Odokseo's expression went pale.
"…The Ten Legs that disposed of Samcheon Guild Master Great Witch Dang Seo-rin like fried chicken is the weakest?"
"Nowadays I grill it as chicken skewers and eat it."
"You're lying, right? ……Wait a minute. Jang Uisa. Then how old are you exactly now?"
Hmm.
I said defensively.
"Child. Age is meaningless to a regressor."
"No, no, no. It's absolutely not meaningless. Let's see. Calculating roughly 10 years per cycle……. 5,550 years old?"
"……."
I exercised my right to remain silent.
It wasn't that I had nothing to say, but I did have things to say—just that saying them would lead to a flow even more unfavorable to me. For instance, the fact that the average per cycle should actually be calculated higher than 10 years.
Odokseo, examining my expression, was horrified.
"What! You're completely an old uncle!"
"……."
"This is ridiculous. The protagonist I thought was the coolest in the world is actually an uncle!"
That was the moment Odokseo's term of address for me was decided as 'uncle.'
I became a little depressed.
How mean.
You try living as long as I have, you brat.
I'm an infinite regressor spinning tales.