Chapter 20

Companion III

There is an epilogue to Dang Seo-rin's story.

No, actually, all of my stories belong to epilogues. At least until before the 1183rd cycle.

So, strictly speaking, Dang Seo-rin's story had many epilogues, and I'll mention just a few of them.

"Ah, Undertaker, you're awake?"

The day after the post-Ten Legs subjugation celebration.

Everyone was passed out drunk. Those who could handle their liquor were as drunk as they could handle, and those who couldn't were equally intoxicated. The Ten Legs' head was a fine accompaniment for such revelry.

Dawn lingered in the remnants of the night, unwilling to forget, as Dang Seo-rin stood alone under the white pine. Her posture suggested she was bidding farewell to the night past rather than awaiting the sunrise.

"Yes, I'm awake."

"Does your head not hurt? You and Sword Star were drinking fiercely."

"I get drunk quickly and sober up quickly. I'm not much for sleeping in anyway. How about you, Alliance Leader? Is your condition okay?"

"Of course. I'm always fine."

Yet, Dang Seo-rin's voice still sounded hoarse. No surprise there, given she had been chanting spells continuously for 41 minutes on the battlefield and sang heartily at the celebration. Even a singer with vocal cords of steel would have been strained.

"It seems like I’ll soon stop hearing you call me Alliance Leader. A bit sad, isn’t it?"

"Well, the Ten Legs is dead, but who knows what kind of monsters might pop up next. There's a high chance the guild alliance will need to be formed again. You’ll have to be the leader then."

"That so."

Dang Seo-rin quietly looked up at the dawn sky.

"That so..."

I, still not entirely sober, joined her side, half-hoping the blue sky would disinfect the remaining effects of alcohol.

Though it seemed unlikely the sky had such properties, what did it matter?

The day sky takes in people's sweat, and the night sky collects their dreams, while the thoughts they haven't managed to express are taken in by the dawn.

"Look."

The wind beside me spoke.

"Wanna hear what my dream is?"

"I know. It’s to conquer every famous eatery in the world."

"Ah, that’s right. Can't give up on that."

Dang Seo-rin nodded seriously.

"But the dream I'm talking about now is a different one."

A different dream?

I tilted my head, puzzled. Did she have another dream? I had served as the vice-guild leader for Dang Seo-rin from the 4th to the 6th cycle, but had never heard of another dream.

"Oh. Are you perhaps talking about raising three thousand elite guild members to live up to the name of the Samcheon World?"

"Oh. There was that too. What’s with you, Undertaker?"

Dang Seo-rin looked at me as if surprised.

"You always seem so disinterested in others, yet you know so much about me? Are you a fan? Sorry to say, but there’s another dream I’m talking about."

"Then I really don’t know. What is it?"

"Travelling."

Dang Seo-rin slightly lifted her heels and reached out towards the dawn.

Her fingers grasped sharply at the sky.

"I want to travel this ruined world by train."

"By train?"

"Yes. It doesn’t have to be a grand train. Just a junky, single-carriage train that I’ve customized myself."

She hummed as if singing.

"A thing that won’t move unless I take care of it, where I can eat, sleep, travel, and even hang laundry. Like a camper van or a yacht."

"I’m not sure if the rails are still intact. Even the KTX trains we’re using as temporary lodgings in the Samcheon Guild aren't running, are they? The one-lane roads are still managed by the Busan workshops."

"That's okay. Somehow with the mysterious power of magic..."

Dang Seo-rin mimed boxing with a yap yap sound.

"I’ll fix the world's destroyed railways one by one, continuing on. From station to station, always laying pretty rails behind wherever I’ve passed."

"Hmm."

"That’s how it will go, and go, and go... until it can go no more. If it ends at some dilapidated train station at a beach, where only a single station attendant stands alone."

"......."

Dang Seo-rin said no more.

Suddenly feeling an odd sensation, I looked at her face.

It was a strange statement, but she seemed as if she might collapse at any moment.

"Alliance Leader?"

"Hmm."

Dang Seo-rin blinked. She leaned against her broom, which she claimed was a witch's essential item.

Her complexion was the same as usual.

"Undertaker. Why not join my guild and become a vice-guild leader? You know our guild does well. You won’t get another chance like this. You’ll regret it later if you don’t."

"...Are we back to that? I won’t take the pointy hat."

"Really? Then, it can’t be helped."

Dang Seo-rin walked away waving lightly behind her.

"Bye-bye~ I’ll go for a walk and then head back. Don’t follow me; I’ll enjoy some solitude."

"When will you return?"

"Who knows? Maybe in about an hour?"

An hour passed, then two, and Dang Seo-rin did not return.

A search party was dispatched by the guild alliance.

Three hours after her disappearance, Dang Seo-rin was found collapsed on a forest trail.

After that day, Dang Seo-rin never got up again.

"How is the condition of the guild leader of Samcheon?"

"That is... peculiar."

The medical team looked somber.

"Her body's functions overall are deteriorating. We thought it might be a curse, but it’s not. I can only say it’s truly peculiar... I'm sorry to tell you this, but it wouldn’t be surprising if she closed her eyes at any moment."

"I see."

I braced myself and entered the hospital room, one of the few still functioning normally in Korea.

Dang Seo-rin caught my eye as she sat by the window.

Dang Seo-rin’s lifespans gradually ‘accumulated’.

Thus, by the 10th cycle, she had unwittingly saved up 250 years in an account called lifespan.

‘If this hypothesis is true...’

During the past cycles, the lifespans Dang Seo-rin had saved up were unfortunately all used up in this 10th cycle.

But my regression didn’t end with the 10th cycle. It would continue on. And depending on the situation, it was unclear how much lifespan Dang Seo-rin could save.

‘If it’s saved up to 500 years? 1000 years, 2000 years?’

I couldn’t contain my tremors.

"Guild Leader."

"Yes?"

I inadvertently called Dang Seo-rin ‘Guild Leader’ as I used to. She didn’t seem to notice anything unusual, tilting her head as usual.

"What?"

"I have something important to tell you."

That I’m a regressor.

Maybe your lifespan accumulates with each cycle.

"That’s amazing!"

Throughout hearing my theory, Dang Seo-rin was intrigued, surprised, and her eyes sparkled.

"Undertaker, were you actually my lackey?"

"Is that what you’re surprised about...?"

"Of course! What else should I be shocked by? Wow, I was amazing in other cycles, too. My eyes weren’t wrong. You really suit the pointed hat. Look here, Undertaker. Won’t you be my witchy friend?"

What on earth is a witchy friend?

"Didn’t you consider the possibility that my words might be a lie?"

"Why would I think about that? We’re comrades. If you say you’re a regressor, then you must be."

Dang Seo-rin chuckled lightly while coughing.

The sound of her cough thinly spread her remaining lifespan into the air.

"Anyway, you and I have similar dreams."

"Really?"

"We’re both fixing the broken rails in this world, one by one. The rails destroyed by the Ten Legs. The abandoned lines broken by other monsters. If we fix them step by step, eventually tracks will connect from one station to another, and other people can follow that path too."

"......."

"Not bad."

Even if I didn’t have [Complete Memory], I would have never forgotten the words I heard that day.

Dang Seo-rin grinned.

"And it’s ironic. I can’t walk the rails with you, but at least my lifespan will follow you at the same pace. I can’t be with you alive, but in death, we are companions."

Dang Seo-rin kept a smile to the end as she reached out her hand.

The novel on her lap slid off. The white pages, which never became wings and were tied up in a suit, unfurled partially on the floor.

Dang Seo-rin's eyes shone brightly.

Her five fingers gripped my forearm. The person who lost parents and siblings to a monster, the one who couldn’t stop loving trains, held onto my arm.

Strongly.

"Don’t waste my lifespan, use it well, Undertaker."

"......."

"It took up to the 10th melody to defeat the Ten Legs. That’s too much of a waste. You need to become stronger."

So it was.

"I shouldn’t excessively burn my lifespan with Cursed Song Incantation. It’s just a hunch, but I feel like it won’t be enough. Those creatures might be stronger. Not 250 years, but 500 years, 1000 years might be necessary. My lifespan needs to be accumulated as much as possible to prepare for the monsters that will appear after the Ten Legs."

So it was.

"And if possible, don’t reveal to the next cycle's me that you’re a regressor. I’m too greedy, too selfish. I can never think in terms of ‘sacrificing this cycle for the next one.’ If I knew that lifespans could be saved up for hundreds of years, I would definitely use it all up now. Until the very, very last moment, try to guide it so that my lifespan continues to accumulate."

So it was.

"And in other cycles, always try to become my vice-guild leader."

That did not happen.

Dang Seo-rin laughed brightly.

"Looking forward to it. My companion in time."

That night, Dang Seo-rin died.

Her remains were scattered at the beach.

It wasn’t easy to fulfill her will.

I grew stronger, and the Ten Legs no longer forced me to struggle. The need for Dang Seo-rin to chant during battles against the Ten Legs disappeared.

But even after the Ten Legs vanished, formidable enemies continued to appear, and Dang Seo-rin always stood at the forefront.

She was always at the forefront. The ends of the damaged tracks were always her destination.

Supporting her, who frequently sought to use up her lifespan, was more difficult than anticipated.

Once, a disaster occurred where all the lifespans were reset.

Of course, it was just a mistake.

Now, over 1000 cycles later, by my calculations, Dang Seo-rin's lifespan has accumulated tens of thousands of years.

At least over 30,000 years of lifespan.

‘How far could she sing if she started now?’

Sometimes, while drinking coffee, I get lost in such imaginations.

Envisioning Dang Seo-rin singing on some battlefield.

The 1st melody, the 2nd, the 3rd... No matter how long it goes on and overlaps, her song never ends and eventually spreads beyond the horizon, reaching all the beaches where the world’s tracks connect.

Eventually, Dang Seo-rin would arrive at some coast she had longed for. Wearing a pointed hat, holding a staff, aboard a single-carriage train.

While I hope to hear that song someday, I also secretly wish that day never comes.

In recent cycles, whenever Dang Seo-rin happens to meet me, she asks, just like when we first met in the 4th cycle, in exactly the same way.

"Undertaker. Don’t you want to join my guild? I can offer you the position of vice-guild leader."

Then I smile lightly and respond.

"I won’t join."

It can’t be helped.

The pointed hat doesn’t suit me, does it, guild Leader?

Footnotes:

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