Chapter 6
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Operator Ⅰ
Shin No-a
1
How many years I survive during a particular iteration varies widely.
There are times when I fully enjoy a mayfly's life, dying within a day of regressing. Other times, I cling desperately to life for over 20 years only to freeze to death. I've been killed by alien tentacles in the 9th year, and I've experienced what dinosaurs must have felt by getting hit by a meteor falling to Earth in the 7th year.
Even I, who received the regressor's special privileges, am like this. How much worse must other people's situations be?
Most awakened ones couldn't last 20 years—heck, they couldn't even last 10 years, 5 years, or even 2 years before dying.
If they had power, they died because of that power's existence. If they lacked power, they died because of its absence.
In a world heading toward destruction, the reasons for death were just a matter of what you named them. Daily life itself was the cause of death.
Nevertheless, there was one person who died faster than any other awakened one.
Alias: SG Man.
Of course, 'SG Man' wasn't his real name.
It was just a shortened way of saying 'Shibal Gaesori-nam' [Fucking Bullshit Man], nothing more than a nickname I privately gave him in my heart.
I only learned SG Man's real name in the 50th iteration.
2
The human who dies the fastest in the world.
That was the image I held of SG Man.
To introduce his anecdote, I would first need to describe the scenery I see immediately after regressing.
"W-what? Where is this?"
"Huh? Busan Station? I was just at the park until a moment ago..."
"Cult Leader? Cult Leader, where are you?"
Every time regression begins, I open my eyes in the Busan Station waiting room.
In this place, 398 ordinary people besides myself were forcibly summoned. For reference, there were no rules to the summoning. There was even a Japanese person dragged all the way from Fukuoka.
As hundreds of people panic over the sudden situation, something appears in the air with a pop!
"Ahh, hello everyone!"
This was the so-called tutorial fairy.
A deformed character that looked like it had just jumped out of a 2D world all by itself in reality.
"Hmm? The numbers are a bit small... Anyway, you must all be very surprised to be suddenly summoned to a place like this, right? But you don't need to worry! I'm the guide who will kindly instruct you from the very beginning!"
As sorry as I am to the fairy, I couldn't help but worry.
First of all, its way of speaking was retarded. A person's speech is like ink printed from a printing press called personality. If the ink is a mess, it's reasonable to judge that there's something seriously wrong with the printer.
An even more serious problem was that the fairy was floating in mid-air.
Human civilization wasn't mature enough to accept extraterrestrial life forms hovering in the air without any devices. As a result, screams of "Kyaaa!" erupted here and there in the waiting room.
"Ah! It's okay, it's okay! There, there. I'm going to explain this and that to you all! You've all received basic education, right? I'm the homeroom teacher for this class called Busan Station waiting room! As much as you follow my words diligently, I will also treat you kindly. Then from now on..."
"Hey, you fucking bastard!"
Everyone froze.
A majestic lion's roar echoed.
"What kind of bullshit is that!"
He appeared to be in his early 20s.
A man wearing tattoo sleeves on his forearms was flaunting his triceps while pointing his finger at the fairy.
That's right.
This was SG Man, the Shibal Gaesori-nam (Man).
"Hoehhh... Yes?"
"Hey, you fucking bastard! If you suddenly dragged people here, you should start with an apology! Where the hell do you get off running your mouth like that!"
SG Man's voice was incredibly booming. So much that citizens near him unconsciously stepped back.
Even the fairy stuttered at such a refreshing outburst.
"No, hoeh. That's, this isn't something I did, and I'm just a mere person in charge..."
"Hey, you fucking bastard!"
The fairy flinched.
By now you've probably figured it out, but there was a reason I came to call SG Man 'SG Man.'
He was the type of man who couldn't utter a single word without decorating the beginning with 'shibal' [fuck]. A savory diction that only those who have worked in construction sites could master.
"Anyway, you said you're the person in charge! Huh? No apology?"
"Nooo... I heard from my seniors that people like this are rare these days. They said humans have become clever and provocations don't work on them anymore..."
The fairy made a crying face.
Suddenly, a notebook appeared in its hand. "What did they say to do in this situation?" The fairy flipped through the pages rapidly.
"Ah. It's written here."
"Hey, you fucking bastard! Are you mocking what I'm saying?"
"Hoi."
The fairy lightly waved its magic wand (summoned at some point as well). SG Man's head exploded with a bang.
"Now then! Everyone, please follow my command!"
The fairy smiled broadly. Like a child expecting their prank to work perfectly.
What the fairy failed to consider was the average sensibility of the people gathered here. In other words, what is also called morality or ethics.
"Hyeeeek!"
The owner of this amusing scream was Sim A-ryeon (I know the names of all the Busan Station waiting room survivors). With bad luck, she was right near SG Man, so she was the one who got doused in bright red blood.
"A p-person died...! A person! Heek, died! Heeeek! A person, died...!"
This person ran away faster than anyone else the moment she got covered in blood. Splish, splash! While spattering blood and innards in all directions.
That grotesque scene made people realize reality.
"Kyaaaaaah!"
"M-murder! It's murder!"
"Run awaaaay!"
Nearly four hundred people started running away chaotically, following Sim A-ryeon.
The fairy reached out its hand saying "Ah" "Over there," "If you go there" "Wait," but that pose only incited more fear.
Eventually, within seconds, only about ten people including myself remained in the waiting room.
"...."
"Uh..."
The fairy made a crying face.
"The guideline was complete rubbish! It said if you eliminate just one person as an example, everyone else would quiet down!"
SG Man's body, with its head deleted, lay lonely on the waiting room floor.
I then went into the souvenir shop alone and farmed my exclusive item, the Silver Bell.
Now you must all understand why I didn't know SG Man's real name.
The 'extra who gets executed for talking back to the tutorial fairy' commonly appearing in novels.
That was SG Man's true identity.
3
Honestly speaking, I never felt any particular emotion toward SG Man until now.
In every iteration, SG Man would go berserk at the fairy.
As regressions repeated, my life's routes became vastly diverse, but the initial event of 'SG Man dies by the fairy' always occurred.
'...What would happen if I save that man?'
So it wasn't strange for me to suddenly feel curious.
'Right. Let's try saving him.'
Who knows?
Maybe if I save him and awaken him, he might turn out to be the instant teleportation ability user that Elder Sho has longed for so desperately.
For reference, I was the type to follow the desire called curiosity quite well. I wasn't originally like this, but after repeating regressions, my personality changed on its own.
Now in the 50th iteration, I decided to satisfy my curiosity.
"Ahh, hello everyone! Hmm? The numbers are a bit small... Anyway, you must all be very surprised to be suddenly summoned to a place like this, right? But――"
But the one truly surprised was the fairy.
The reason was simple. I had leaped up from the ground and instantly approached right in front of the fairy's nose.
"Hoeh?"
My shadow fell over the fairy's dumbfounded face.
I didn't particularly feel sorry.
Before the fairy could even fully close its eyelids, my fierce palm grabbed its head.
I circulated gang qi (罡氣) once through my hand.
A pop- sound rang out like a joke. The sound of the fairy's small head bursting. Quite a paradoxical end for a fairy that had always exploded other humans' heads, wasn't it?
"Huh?"
"What just happened..."
People murmured as they watched me land on the ground with a tap.
It was literally a momentary engagement.
Since it was still the early period not long after regression, there would be no witnesses who properly followed the fight between the fairy and me with their eyes.
Ah, for reference, I didn't just grind the head but the rest of the body too. People probably only perceived that 'a tiny creature appeared in the air and then suddenly disappeared.'
"Huh?"
SG Man, who had been about to open his mouth to shout, was also making dumb sounds through that gaping mouth.
I approached him and greeted him politely.
"Hello."
"Yes? Ah, yes... Hello there."
For the first time, I heard words other than 'Hey, you fucking bastard' as SG Man's opening remark.
It was a somewhat historic moment for him.
4
Indeed, SG Man was a true manly man.
"Who might you be?"
The appellation 'that side.'
I could feel his determination to maintain his dignity and guts without losing honorifics.
But after witnessing me slice down the monsters that appeared at Busan Station with a single stroke, 'that side' changed to 'you.' And after the severed monster necks exceeded 50, it changed to '....'
Finally, when we cleared the gate, the form of address changed in a slightly more dramatic fashion.
"Um... Hyung-nim?"
"Yes."
SG Man glanced at my expression while twitching nervously.
"Seeing you handle those monsters, you seem like an amazing person, so why would you bother bringing someone like me along..."
"There are two answers. An answer that is true but hard to accept, and an answer that is false but easy to accept. Which would you like to hear?"
"Yes? Um... the truth, of course?"
"I am a regressor currently repeating the world for the 50th time. Each time, you died in the waiting room. I wondered what kind of person you were, so this time I saved you and plan to move together for a while."
"Yes...?"
SG Man's face, which had been looking at me with a mix of respect and fear, crumpled in an instant. If one were to express the sentence 'What the fuck does that mean, you nerd' with facial muscles, it would probably look like that.
I became somewhat dejected. Meeting the Saintess in the 35th iteration was a turning point of sorts, and since then, I occasionally revealed the fact that I was a regressor.
Yet still, aside from the Saintess, there was no one who believed my words. Why was that?
"Actually, I am a member of Special Task Force 5 that the National Intelligence Service has been preparing for such situations for a long time. I request your cooperation."
"Ah, I see."
"We're late in exchanging names. My codename is Undertaker. What is your name?"
"Seo Gyu. Hyung-nim. P-please call me comfortably."
"Really?"
Seo Gyu. That was SG Man's real name.
I realized how important 'companions' are on the journey to prevent the world's destruction. So I actively discovered and recruited promising individuals who would grow into A-grade awakened ones in the future.
The 50th iteration was no different. While traveling with Seo Gyu, I recruited more and more party members.
Since I had already figured out through countless iterations how they could use their abilities most efficiently, my party members grew rapidly day by day.
"...I guess I don't have any talent. Hyung-nim."
Seo Gyu couldn't enjoy such regressor privileges.
Naturally. It was the first time Seo Gyu survived the tutorial, and the first time he formed a party with me.
I didn't even know what ability he would awaken. I couldn't provide one-on-one customized tutoring.
"Ah, fuck. Everyone else is growing fine, but why am I the only one..."
On the other hand, from Seo Gyu's perspective, he must have felt like an incredibly untalented inferior student.
The only colleagues around him were all A-grade prospects, monster-like geniuses, so naturally, relative comparison would lead to feelings of inferiority.
But I knew all too well how to handle such situations.
"Saintess-nim."
"Yes?"
"Please send a message to Seo Gyu."
The Saintess of National Salvation.
It was time for the legendary Pokémon I had been hiding away to dispatch.
At my request, the Saintess occasionally sent messages to party members, sometimes pressing them and sometimes cheering them on.
['The Lord of the Red Horse' is certain that the talent you possess is real!]
['The Conqueror of the Alps' dispels your doubts.]
Of course, I knew every detail about the party members. Family relationships, education, past traumas, special skills, and so on.
All that information was passed to the Saintess. Based on top-grade personal information, the Saintess conducted psychological counseling for the trainees.
Legally, it would constitute personal information leakage and warrant punishment, but after civilization was destroyed, the personal information leakage law lost some of its effect. Actually, even before the destruction, it wasn't a law that was particularly well-observed.
The Saintess was already an S-grade awakened one with the 'Clairvoyance' ability.
Combined with my information leak, party members came to believe without doubt that celestial beings who observed their every move really existed.
And those celestial beings vouch for their talent one after another?
"...I will train hard and definitely awaken my ability!"
Seo Gyu had no choice but to burn with determination.
The Saintess and my two-person, three-legged strategy was perfect.
I will exercise my right to remain silent regarding whether this is brainwashing and gaslighting.
Eventually, late one night, Seo Gyu came to find me secretly from the other party members. With a very serious face.
"Um, Hyung-nim."
"What is it?"
"I think I awakened last night."
Finally!
I could feel my expectations swelling.
The sacrifice of the tutorial. The man who always left the stage first throughout 50 regressions.
What on earth is his ability?
A hit? A miss? Either way, I was confident I wouldn't be too disappointed in terms of satisfying my curiosity.
I shook hands with Seo Gyu.
"Congratulations. I believed you would do it someday."
"Th-thank you. It's all thanks to you, Hyung-nim."
"So what kind of ability is it?"
"Ah. That's... Shit, how should I explain this to you."
There was no strength in Seo Gyu's hand clasped with mine.
His expression was subtle too. Despite achieving the awakening he had longed for so much, he didn't look particularly happy.
'So it was a miss after all.'
Seeing his face, I also folded one layer of the expectation-colored paper in my heart. Top-tier abilities weren't something that appeared so easily to begin with.
"What is it then? Don't hold back, tell me straight."
"No. It's not that, it's just a bit ambiguous to explain in words... Hyung-nim, you carry a cell phone, right? Could you take a look at it for a moment?"
"A cell phone?"
"Yes."
I pulled out my smartphone while expressing doubt.
The phone was dead. Half a year had passed since the Gate incident broke out, and most communication methods had gone haywire.
Phones, internet, radios, radar—all were contaminated by strange beings regardless of type.
"Could you turn on the internet and access the address I tell you?"
"Hmm...?"
And I witnessed something amazing.
The internet, which should definitely have been inaccessible, was connected.
I felt the emotion of surprise for the first time in a while as I manipulated my smartphone this way and that.
The internet was still displayed as dead, and other apps weren't working either. But for some reason, only the site I accessed following Seo Gyu's words was running properly.
"This is...?"
It was a website in bulletin board format.
The design was incredibly poor, like the old PC communication days.
Seo Gyu spoke while acting shy as if showing a drawing from childhood to someone.
"Th-this is the ability I awakened. Site operation."
Infinite Regressor Tells a Story