Chapter 64
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The Sleepwalker II
Shin Noah
I barely, truly barely, held onto my sanity that had decided to wander outside my skull.
'An assassination... wasn't it...?'
Then does that mean the Level 6 security hideout I constructed by mobilizing every bit of knowledge from the regressor was completely useless?
What about the constant-poison-surveillance-system I barely created by scraping together every Awakened with medical abilities like Uehara Shino and Sim Ah-ryeon?
And the ultimate weapon-train-fortress-Galaxy Express 999 that I created while causing tremendous stress to Dang Seo-rin?
That's right. It was all useless. All of it was a waste of effort.
Evaluating coldly from the perspective of the 1183rd iteration, I in the 24th iteration was simply an excellent dumbass.
Among those, the train fortress in particular was registered in the black history I don't even want to mention, so I will absolutely never bring it up when telling stories in the future.
'Then what exactly did I die from, and for what reason?'
Confusion. Anguish. Pain.
My brain was still frozen solid, buried in preconceptions. In other words, to reach the train of thought that 'Perhaps monsters don't need a fixed form? Couldn't the starlight in the night sky be a [phenomenon] that's also sufficient to be a monster? In other words, the word monster itself is somewhat incorrect, and wouldn't it be more appropriate to use the term anomaly instead?' - my brain needed to soften a bit more.
Well. If you don't know, you suffer.
But even the 24th iteration of me wasn't a big enough dumbass to fail to reach the conclusion that 'Regardless, something tremendously strange definitely happened that night.'
And so, back to the 7th year.
"Wow. Funeral Director, look over there――."
"Yeah. A shooting star. It's a meteor shower that appears around this time. I'm watching it very well."
"...What? Aren't you being a bit prickly today? What's been bothering you all day?"
Because our death is confirmed on the day shooting stars fall.
But I couldn't reveal that regressor's knowledge to Dang Seo-rin. Naturally, Dang Seo-rin, having not heard a rational explanation, left in a huff.
I made a resolution to apologize someday, but unable to bear my own tension and sensitivity, I looked up at the night sky.
'I absolutely won't fall asleep today.'
Click.
Drinking the Let's Be canned coffee I had saved for this day in gulps, my eyes kept vigilant watch over the surroundings without missing anything.
I was careful in selecting the location. The peak of Bongnaesan Mountain in Yeongdo, Busan.
To climb up here, one couldn't avoid stepping on the threads spread like a spider's web by the Puppeteer, and then I would immediately notice the intruder. That is, unless an intruder literally dropped from the sky.
The meteor shower was still falling beautifully in the night sky.
......
"Huh?"
Wait a minute.
When I walked with Dang Seo-rin earlier, it was 9 PM, so calculating from that time, it's already been......
6 hours since the meteor shower started falling.
'Do meteor showers normally fall this long?'
And it wasn't just a drizzle of one or two streaks. It was truly like summer monsoon rain. Distinct starlight like thick raindrops was continuously crossing the night sky.
And the raindrops.
Were getting thicker.
"......"
Goosebumps ran down my spine.
Without realizing it, I dismantled my stance and stood up abruptly.
"Crazy. No way, right?"
Of course, that 'no way' was correct.
Joyously, from now on humanity had to fight and win against the starlight of the universe, and this was the new quest the regressor had undertaken.
Right. What did I expect from this shitty game anyway?
3
There are probably few people who can accurately describe the moment the world ends.
More precisely, as far as I know, there were only exactly two people in this entire world who could pull off such a feat.
The Saintess of [Clairvoyance]. And me, the Funeral Director of [Infinite Regression].
The Saintess, no matter how suddenly an event occurred, could call 'Time' and carefully record the situation, and I could simply turn the wheel of regression.
But unfortunately, at this time, I hadn't even exchanged names with the Saintess.
Therefore, I had to witness the scene of the world ending by meteor shower alone.
"The stars... are getting closer?"
Boss battle, versus Meteor Shower. Phase 1.
First, countless starlights begin pouring down from the night sky.
If you are very far from the meteor shower's landing point, your survival probability is very high. The meteor shower isn't real shooting stars. It's an anomaly. It falls infinitely slowly compared to actual shooting stars.
If you're standing near the landing point? You can only offer your condolences. You're already dead with 99% probability.
The 25th iteration of me fell exactly into this case.
Because the first region that decided 'Ah, I should fall here!' after the meteor shower appeared in this world was none other than Gyeongsangnam-do on the Korean Peninsula.
"Damn it."
With the Ten Clans, Udambara, and now meteor shower, respect for Dangun Halabeoji spontaneously rises in my heart. Is the Korean Peninsula's geographical location for real?
If there's any consolation, hmm. At least I can experience something quite mysterious right before dying.
-Twinkle, twinkle, little star.
A melody touching the heavens enchantingly.
-How I wonder what you are.
It was the beginning of Boss battle Phase 2.
I quickly descended Bongnaesan Mountain.
Even though it was the middle of the night, people were outside, or poking their heads out through windows, watching the night sky.
Because of the unrealistic scene and unrealistic melody, probably.
"What is this? A song?"
"Where's it coming from?"
"Speakers......? No, that can't be."
Murmuring.
After civilization was destroyed, humanity's biological rhythm returned to the Stone Age. At 9 PM, almost all humans were forced to live as good children who fell asleep soundly.
Considering that, the scene reflected in my eyes now was definitely abnormal.
-From the eastern sky, from the western sky.
Not even in empty words could it be called an excellent singing voice.
First, the pitch was off. Here and there, noises similar to television static, sounds that sounded like human sobbing if you listened carefully, interrupted, making it difficult to even understand the lyrics.
But even so―― the fact that it was a 'song' was something anyone could immediately realize. No matter how covered in noise it was.
To exaggerate a bit, the heavenly song that the meteor shower was singing contained a rhythm virtually imprinted in modern humanity's DNA.
"Doesn't it sound familiar?"
"This is a lullaby!"
"What? Lullaby?"
"Yeah! It's too crackly to hear well, but it's a lullaby. That, what was it. Twinkle Twinkle Little Star!"
"Ah."
Mozart's lullaby. Twinkle Twinkle Little Star.
Although lyrics might differ by country and ethnicity, it was a masterpiece that became a huge hit to the extent that almost all people could instinctively understand it.
-Twinkle, twinkle, little star.
Listening to the starlights approaching ever closer from the night sky and the lullaby flowing cozily from the heavens, people might even forget the fact that they were being invaded by one of the world's most dangerous anomalies.
But at the very moment all humans were blankly looking up at the night sky, the pitch broke and the world's flesh was torn away.
-Wheeeeeeeeing!
"Argh! Shit!"
"A- air raid siren?"
"No, the government's collapsed and all the speakers are broken, so what......"
People grabbed their ears and frowned at the sudden siren sound. Fortunately, the siren stopped before long, but that didn't mean they should feel relieved.
Because that sound just now was the sound effect indicating the anomaly had entered a new phase.
Phase 3, entered.
-Twinkle, twinkle, little star.
-How I wonder what you are.
Kwaaaaash-
The meteor showers that had been falling infinitely slowly all simultaneously 'crossed' over Busan's airspace.
Distorting this way and that in beautiful white curves, each individual starlight spread out like wings, each preserving its own pitch.
It was around this time that I arrived at the Three Thousand Worlds guild headquarters. Along with some guild members, Dang Seo-rin was also outside the train station.
I shouted urgently.
"Dang Seo-rin!"
"Huh? Funeral Director? Why at this hour......"
A displeased look momentarily hesitated on Dang Seo-rin's face. She must have remembered that the two of us had argued and parted ways earlier.
But there was no time to worry about that.
"It's a monster!"
"What?"
"That! The starlight! It's a monster!"
"......!"
Upon hearing my words, Dang Seo-rin's complexion also changed instantly. Not Dang Seo-rin as a restaurant tour friend, but Dang Seo-rin as the leader of the Korean Peninsula Guild Alliance and master of the Three Thousand Worlds guild wore a fierce expression.
"That's ridiculous! That's just a phenomenon!"
"What phenomenon? Even if all the scientists got employed inside monsters' stomachs, they've never announced the existence of shooting stars that sing lullabies from space while falling slowly for over 6 hours!"
"Wait. Then, how on earth......?"
I understood the meaning of Dang Seo-rin's swallowed words.
[Then, how on earth are we supposed to block it? Something like that?]
In that it took only a word or two to break the fixed notion about monsters, Dang Seo-rin was faster than anyone.
But in all other aspects, we were too late.
-From the eastern sky, from the western sky.
Thud.
Dang Seo-rin and I turned our heads simultaneously. Thud- The Three Thousand Worlds guild members who had been forming a circular formation as if standing guard around us were collapsing to the ground one by one like scarecrows.
Even Dang Seo-rin couldn't help but be horrified at this.
"What the――"
"Crazy."
It wasn't just the guild members. Thud. Thud. Citizens who came out to see the rare night sky scene, people who had been eavesdropping on the low-quality lullaby through window cracks were also collapsing as if fainting.
"Are they... dead? Everyone? Like this, suddenly?"
"No."
I approached the nearest guild member and checked their condition.
"...They fell into sleep."
"What?"
" Literally, they're in a sleeping state. Hard to believe, but. The entire city is falling into sleep right now."
I slapped their cheek, but the guild member didn't even flinch. Despite flowing aura into them.
I groaned.
"It seems... not only those starlights but the lullaby song itself flowing from there is already a monster."
"......"
"I'm not sure, but it probably has a [forced sleep] effect. Already, the moment they heard the song, it was over. A shitty situation. Let's run."
I immediately gave up on the city.
"Run?"
"Yeah. Dang Seo-rin. We need to get out of this city quickly."
I grabbed Dang Seo-rin's wrist. Her body weight felt particularly light.
"If we stay here, we'll fall asleep before long. Then there'll be no one left to report about this phenomenon, about that monster."
"......"
"We have to struggle until the end. It's not all over yet. Let's go, Dang Seo-rin. Hurry."
That's when it happened.
The night sky turned white.
Dazzlingly, blindingly so.
Dang Seo-rin, whose wrist I had grabbed, looked up blankly.
"Ah......"
White night.
Boss battle Phase 4.
And the final phase.
"...We're late. Funeral Director."
"......"
"I thought something was strange lately. Someone who was normally fine has been anxious and irritable lately. Funeral Director, you... knew this would happen."
"No, I didn't know either. I just guessed something would happen tonight. I never imagined the identity of countless starlights would be monsters."
"Mm, sorry. I should have taken it more seriously."
"...I'm sorry too."
I murmured.
"I promise I won't do this again next time."
"Pfft. Yeah, got it."
Dang Seo-rin chuckled as if she'd heard an amusing joke. I held her tightly.
A lullaby was chirping from the sky that had been bleached white with darkness. Along with static noise, crackling.
The singing voice was even more distorted and glitchy than before, now sounding like noise from a broken radio.
-Twinkle, twinkle, little star.
-How I wonder what you are.
The light arrived right before my eyes.
My vision grew brighter and brighter, so my mind should have been awakening, but instead my eyelids grew rapidly heavier.
Was it the same for Dang Seo-rin? Blinking her eyes repeatedly, she wrapped both arms around my back. Perhaps she wasn't trying to hold me but had collapsed toward my body.
"Funeral Director."
"...Yeah."
"I, actually."
Flash―――.
My vision was dyed white.
The night sky, the city, the sea in front of Busan, the collapsed bridge in the middle, the beach. Dang Seo-rin's face too. Shadows too. Breathing too.
Even the world.
That was my 25th demise.
I'm an infinite regressor telling a story