# Chapter 37
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## Father and Son II
**Shin Noah**
3
No one knows the geography of the Korean Peninsula as thoroughly as I do.
Even Kim Jeong-ho, who created the Daedongyeojido, would have to yield to me. I'm not joking—the guy didn't even traverse the entire country. I went all the way to a closed-down inn in Onyang just to catch the Udumbara.
After the National Road Management Bureau was established in the 54th iteration, the navigation app in my head was updated with even greater precision.
No matter how capable No Do-ha was, managing all the roads in the entire country was impossible. There wasn't enough manpower or resources for that.
Roads connecting cities had to be limited to exactly one, and even then, they had to be restored as single-lane only.
Tunnels were particularly dangerous.
Some had already collapsed, others had a high risk of collapse in the future, and if by chance they remained intact, they were even more dangerous. Because dark, pitch-black tunnels... were terrain that grotesqueries especially loved and coveted.
With 70% of the nation's terrain being mountainous, this was a fatal weakness for the Korean Peninsula, which had favored tunnels accordingly.
Ah, of course, it wasn't as bad as Japan. Their 'tunnels' were seriously severe. There will be a time to address that separately later.
Anyway. The National Road Management Bureau had to find paths connecting cities by bypassing all tunnels. If it was truly difficult, they had to carve through mountains to create new roads.
The so-called 'Road Culling' operation.
It was a project with difficulty on the level of a national policy undertaking.
"Funeral Director Awakened-nim, please take care of this..."
Naturally, this plan was entirely entrusted to me.
"I understand."
I didn't particularly complain to No Do-ha either.
This project—I had intended to take it on from the start.
For example, assuming one needed to travel from Busan to Daegu, which road should be opened as a single lane most effectively?
Here, 'effective' didn't simply mean taking less time. Rather, time was a factor to consider only after other priorities.
The most important things were: How far from monster dens? Was the Four-Ward Boundary clearly guaranteed? Especially, how many rest points—'intermediate stations where patrol teams could safely camp'—could be secured?
If we were to be a bit more greedy here, being close to water sources was preferable. But dams could collapse at any moment, so if you didn't want to get 'Eulji Mundeok-ed' for no reason, you had to stay far away from dams. Bridges went without saying.
In other words?
'A project with too many factors to consider.'
Exactly. Only I could do this kind of work.
No matter how smart a person sat at a desk drawing up plausible road networks, it was useless. What could be done when the maps spread on desks were too outdated? All the maps we could obtain were antiques made before the Gate incident.
Ultimately, there was no choice but for me to personally run around on foot. There were a few satellite photos, but there were very detailed aspects that couldn't be determined from those alone.
But in this ruined world, who else would be idle enough to travel the entire country? Only an infinite regressor.
"Please take good care of things ahead. Saintess-nim."
[Yes. I'll support you.]
From the 54th to the 56th iteration, I literally searched every corner of the eight provinces of Korea until my soles developed heat rash, filming a road movie.
Sometimes I traveled with patrol teams, but mostly I wandered alone. Well, since I could always chat with the Saintess through [Telepathy], it wasn't particularly boring.
If I were to publish the travelogue from these 3 iterations separately as a side story, the title would be something like [I'm an Infinite Regressor in a Destroyed World, But I'm Traveling Leisurely With Just the Saintess's Voice].
It would probably be boring story-wise since there weren't many major events, but personally, I quite liked these 3 iterations. I got to meet ordinary people more often than Awakened ones for the first time in a while. I made many connections during this time.
"Huh, this road... Isn't this the place?"
Kim Si-eun.
My first meeting with the son of a former professional soccer player also occurred in the 54th iteration.
"Excuse me."
"Wah! Y-you surprised me!"
A young man dressed in travel clothes jumped in surprise.
It was hard to tell whether to call him a young man or a boy—he was at that borderline age in between. Perhaps he gave that impression because he was particularly short.
Until I spoke to him from behind, he had been standing idly in front of the Changwon Tunnel. He was spreading out a map that had become quite tattered from being unfolded and folded dozens, hundreds of times, his face practically buried in a map much larger than his own face. What was particularly impressive was the bag that seemed a bit too large for his small frame.
In short, from head to toe, the typical appearance of a backpack traveler.
"Who are you?"
The only slight difference was that he carried a spear instead of a walking stick.
The other party gripped his spear toward me. But the spear was a bit shoddy. It was clearly a 100% homemade spear made by tightly wrapping a dagger to the end of a walking stick with blue tape.
Actually, that was a trend among backpackers in this era. If you didn't want to hear the nagging, 'What, traveling without a spear? Is your final destination a monster's stomach?' you had no choice but to follow the latest trend.
"I apologize for startling you. I'm an Awakened belonging to the Three Thousand Worlds Guild who participated in the Ten Clans Subjugation."
"An Awakened...?"
The young man's eyes were full of wariness, but he began to show signs of 'Should I hear what he has to say?'
Starting from whenever the Ten Clans Subjugation was carried out in any iteration, ordinary people's attitudes toward Awakened became much gentler. It was similar to how Americans treated returning veterans after ending World War II.
In particular, residents who lived near Seoul treated Awakened quite well. Perhaps the young man was from that area too—at least he tried to be polite in his manner of speech.
"Um. I'm sorry. I was too surprised..."
"It's my fault for suddenly speaking from behind. Don't worry about it. More importantly, this tunnel has collapsed, so it's better not to cross it."
The young man's expression mixed with dismay.
"Huh? W-why?"
"Can't you see the entrance has collapsed?"
I pointed at the Changwon Tunnel. Untouched by civilization's hand, brush and shrubs grew wildly around the tunnel. Only the asphalt road cracked like a skin disease and the tunnel entrance barely asserted, 'This was still our territory back in the day.'
The young man's voice shrank.
"But it seems like one person could somehow squeeze through..."
"I wouldn't recommend it."
"Huh? Why?"
"Grotesqueries... I mean, there's a very high probability that monsters are inhabiting it."
"Ah."
Even for a young man traveling this harsh world with just a walking stick and a backpack, the word 'monster' had the magical power to make him give up on everything.
"Then why are you here, Awakened-nim?"
"A missing person report came in from around here. There are quite a few cases where people thought 'one person should be fine' like the gentleman here and met with disaster while passing through. So I intend to block it off completely."
"Good heavens."
"It's dangerous, so please step back."
I collapsed the tunnel in front of the young man. From inside the tunnel, a ghost-like wailing sound echoed, but I didn't particularly mind. It was probably the noise made when slimes burst.
"You really are an Awakened...!"
Having witnessed that I wasn't a fake Awakened, the young man finally let down his guard.
For reference, it probably wasn't because he trusted in the Awakened's goodness. It was closer to him humbly admitting that no matter how wary he was, it would be useless against an Awakened powerful enough to destroy a tunnel with a single sword strike.
To live without unnecessary stress in a ruined world, objective evaluation of oneself was quite important. In that sense, the young man belonged to the side that had adapted well to this world.
"Where are you coming from?"
"Ah, I originally lived in Asan."
"No. Did you walk all the way from Asan to here? Alone?"
"Haha. Yes."
The young man scratched the back of his head awkwardly.
"My mother's hometown is Daesan-myeon in Changwon. Do you know Daesan-myeon? It's in Changwon. Anyway, I stopped by there and was planning to go down to Busan. I thought using this tunnel would be the fastest way, but who knew it would be a slime dungeon..."
"Is your mother at her hometown?"
"Oh. No. She passed away 7 years ago."
At that moment, a familiar sound effect rang out in my mind. It was the sound of favorability rising for the young man right before my eyes.
Why hide it?
I, Funeral Director—not particularly because of age, but I was a man who could shed tears at the single character for 'filial piety' (孝). Substituting family love would have been the same. A regressor's weakness was always love.
"Did you decide to travel because you wanted to see your deceased mother's hometown even once?"
"Yes!"
"Truly admirable. It must have been a journey where you could clearly see the hardship ahead."
"Nah. Compared to the hardship my mother went through raising me, it's nothing."
Favorability plus 200 points!
Already at this point, I had decided to definitely deliver the young man before me safely to Busan. Anyway, I also needed to stop by Busan to see No Do-ha's face. One more companion wouldn't be any burden.
"I was planning to go down to Busan after destroying this tunnel. If you're okay with it, would you like to go together?"
"Really?"
At my proposal, color returned to the young man's face.
"Yes. My name is Funeral Director. It's not my real name, it's an alias. It will be a short journey, but please take care."
"Please take care of me! I'm Kim Si-eun! And, please speak comfortably."
"Alright. Take care, Si-eun."
"Yes! Hyung-nim!"
We shook hands. There was quite a height difference, so I had to subtly bend my waist without it showing.
Honestly, I'll confess.
Until this point, I still hadn't realized at all that the Kim Si-eun before me was 'that' Kim Si-eun.
There was an unavoidable circumstance hidden here. To summarize the very long and rambling excuse in one line, I had actually forgotten the name Kim Si-eun all this time.
Of course, in this episode, I was portrayed as if I continuously remembered soccer player Kim Ju-cheol's dying words. But as I've emphasized repeatedly, such consistency was merely the result of my editing the text.
Meeting Kim Ju-cheol was in the 4th iteration, and meeting Kim Si-eun was in the 54th iteration. Between the two points in time, a period longer than 500 years was spread out. How could I promptly recall the past from before I acquired [Complete Memory Ability]?
"What does your father do?"
"Huh? My father?"
It was when I was preparing to camp together with Kim Si-eun that day that I began to sense something strange, a certain sense of dissonance.
Kim Si-eun, who received my question, was frowning. As if someone had been asked what they thought about the phantom animal, the Black Tortoise.
"Um... Well. I don't really know."
"Why? Did something bad happen when you were young?"
"No, it's not that reason... Hmm. I just don't remember!"
I was spreading my sleeping bag without much thought when suddenly my eyes flew open.
The attitude Kim Si-eun just showed while speaking. That slightly trailing tone was a type of response all too familiar to me.
"Wait. It's a very rude question, but since Hyung is an orphan too, I'll just ask directly. Do you not remember your father at all?"
"Huh? Ah, yes..."
"Your mother never talked about your father even once? You never asked your mother about your father either?"
"...Yes. But?"
"Have you never thought that was strange?"
Kim Si-eun stared at me with round eyes like a squirrel. There wasn't a single doubt on his face. Rather, there was even a look suggesting that I was the strange one for caring about such things.
Because.
Not thinking about something that doesn't exist was only natural.
"Yes. That's right."
"...."
I let out a sigh.
And for a long time, I looked up at the night sky above the campsite.
The connections in this world were indeed this persistent and fearsome.
"Si-eun."
"Yes?"
"When we go to Busan, let's stop somewhere briefly with Hyung."
4
Kim Si-eun meeting me was, in a word, a miracle.
Well, I wasn't throwing around the word miracle in a terribly grandiose sense. As with all miracles, this meeting too, when examined closely, wasn't an event that suddenly burst forth like something from nothing, but occurred when various existing conditions meshed exquisitely.
The details of those conditions could be sufficiently inferred from the personal information Kim Si-eun himself revealed.
"You said you worked in Asan before the Gates broke?"
"Yes. A relative was running a really big mart in Asan. I just did some part-time work there!"
What caught my attention here was none other than the region 'Asan' itself.
Readers well-versed in Korean geography might have felt the back of their neck tingle as soon as they heard Asan.
To briefly explain, in terms of administrative districts, Asan in South Chungcheong Province included an area called Onyang.
That's right. Onyang. The region where that closed-down inn was located—the place where the World Tree 'Udumbara' first bloomed red.
If the Udumbara wasn't subjugated by me, the residents of Asan City would unconditionally be infected by the virus. It couldn't be helped since they were too close to the origin. I've never calculated it separately, but when the World Tree fully bloomed, 99% of civilians from Asan would have been annihilated.
—Kim Si-eun would naturally have been included in that death list.
Even if he somehow miraculously avoided the virus, the situation would never improve. Because in Korea, there existed the Ten Clans, the one and only Michelin inspector of the Korean Peninsula.
No matter how much the Shinbul virus guaranteed immortality to humanity, if your head was lopped off and your brain destroyed by the Ten Clans, there was no answer. Until the Guild Coalition subjugated the Ten Clans, all humans on the Korean Peninsula were merely omakase menu items on the Ten Clans' dining table.
In short, for Kim Si-eun to safely survive and travel from Asan to Changwon to Busan gripping a homemade spear, several conditions were necessary. If we were to display those conditions neatly like an RPG quest window, it would look like this:
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[Kim Si-eun Survival Route Liberation Conditions]
1. Subjugate the 'Ten Clans.' If the Ten Clans are not subjugated and you head south from Seoul, Kim Si-eun dies.
2. Subjugate the World Tree 'Udumbara.' Kim Si-eun is one of those infected in the early stages of the virus. If you do not subjugate the Udumbara immediately after regression, Kim Si-eun's death cannot be prevented.
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A difficulty level that would have been impossible to even dream of clearing without me, the regressor.
Was Kim Si-eun the only such person on the Korean Peninsula? Countless people were in the same situation. Just looking at Dang Seo-rin, who kept pestering me to be her witch girlfriend whenever she had a chance—she too was actually a character whose survival was only guaranteed once the Ten Clans were eliminated.
Subjugating boss-level monsters was similar to newly unlocking one by one the areas that were previously 'locked.' Kim Si-eun was like an NPC unlocked only in routes where the Ten Clans and Udumbara were killed.
Of course, all this explanation was just an analogy to a game; the actual world wasn't a game. Actual humans weren't NPCs either.
Therefore, the responsibilities that humans must bear also clearly existed.
"...Um, so."
After hearing all my explanation, Kim Si-eun narrowed his brow.
"You're saying I actually had a father named Kim Ju-cheol? And because Hyung sealed my father, I lost all memory of him?"
"That's right. More specifically, he was deleted from not just your memory but everyone's memory."
"No, how can such an ability even exist?"
Kim Si-eun opened his mouth as if dumbfounded.
He's reacting like this because he's an ordinary person, but actually, [Time Seal] was a fairly common-sense ability. In this world, there even existed an ability that grew stronger in healing the more you aggroed people on the internet.
Ordinary people tended to misjudge that Awakened had only RPG character-like abilities. But in reality, there were far more bizarre and preposterous abilities.
"Anyway, it could be a misunderstanding, but from my position, it seems highly likely that you're Kim Ju-cheol's son."
"Hmm. Well, I don't really feel it..."
"Have you ever taken interest in soccer in your life?"
Kim Si-eun hesitated.
"...No?"
"Kim Ju-cheol was a former soccer player. If you lost all memory of your father, your memory of soccer would have largely disappeared too."
"But there are lots of people not interested in soccer."
"That's true. But having no memory at all is a different matter. Have you never watched the World Cup even once in your life? Not even once? Have you never experienced seeing videos or articles about Korean players who advanced overseas?"
Kim Si-eun closed his mouth.
"Kim Ju-cheol is sealed in a stadium in Busan. If all of this was just my misunderstanding and mistake, I'll apologize in advance. But I think it's worth you coming with me once to confirm the truth."
"...."
His contemplation wasn't long.