Chapter 204

Chapter 204

Chapter 204

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The Antagonist I

This story begins in a nightmare.

"Undertaker! Hey, Undertaker, sir!"

In the dream, someone grabbed my shoulder and shook me violently. Upon closer inspection, I realized it was none other than the former soccer player Kim Joo-chul.

A fullback in his time, famously known as "Iron Wall."

Once a successful pro player, but he lost his family due to a gambling addiction. Much later, he reunited with his son, but since I'd already used Time Seal on him, he never got the chance to apologize.

A man erased from reality was now sweating profusely in my dream.

"Please, save me! Yeah? Help me out!"

"Wait a moment,” I said, somewhat startled. “Calm down. What's going on?"

"Get me out of this hell! I’m begging you! Please get me out of this never-ending 24-hour hell!"

At that moment, I thought, 'Ah, just an ordinary nightmare.'

The number of people I'd erased with Time Seal had reached 500,000. Even someone like me, proud of my mental resilience, still felt guilt about this. It was one of the two things I considered myself better at than Adolf Hitler. (The other being my drawing skills.)

"Mr. Kim Joo-chul, this is a dream. You could even say what you're going through is a dream."

"It's a nightmare!"

"Yes, but you're reliving the happiest day of your life. In a way, it's better than your real life. You even agreed to this, Mr. Kim."

"No! No way! I never agreed to this!" Kim Joo-chul screamed. "You said I’d forget everything after 24 hours and start over, right?"

"Yes, that's correct."

"But that’s not it! I'm repeating the same 24 hours, with full memory intact! Yesterday, the day before, and the day before that! I've been living the same day for 40 days straight!"

"...What?"

Now this was a new kind of nightmare.

"Save me, sir. Save me. No one believes me when I tell them the day is repeating! Even if they believe me, it resets after 24 hours! It’s hell! This is hell."

Kim Joo-chul kept spitting as he spoke. The smell of his breath and the splatter of his spit were so vivid, it felt disturbingly real.

"So... You're saying that although you're supposed to live with just one day's memory, for some reason, your memory is intact and you're living on repeat?"

"Exactly! That’s what I’ve been saying! Oh no, he’s coming! He's coming again!"

Who's coming?

Kim Joo-chul suddenly looked around, frantic and trembling. Despite being someone who liked to put on a show of bravado, he was clearly terrified.

"Calm down. Please explain. Maybe some anomaly has gotten involved in your situation..."

"He's coming!" Kim Joo-chul's scream echoed across the neighborhood, reaching the rooftops, and hanging from the sky.

Then the sky trembled.

The sun’s crown melted, rippling into crimson that stole across the sky in a bleeding sunset until all where its molten corona had passed was left fallen into night.

All and all, it took about five seconds.

An anomaly. And one I knew well.

'The Night Goddess, Nut.'

One of the world-ending scenarios. The horizon would gradually shrank, the entire world blanketed by night, and eventually, all of existence would be erased into nothingness.

In the 53rd cycle, when I worked as an assistant under Master Craftsman Noh Do-hwa, the world also ended due to Nut.

A being so powerful it could even melt the sun and moon—definitely ocean-class at the very least. And yet, I’d never treated Nut as a big deal in my stories.

Why? Simple.

‘That thing only deals the final blow.’

An anomaly that only ever strikes the final blow!

"What is it? Please, feel free to tell me."

"...This might be embarrassing if I'm just overthinking it." She inhaled softly. "Maybe... it's because of me?"

I blinked. "Sorry?"

"As you know, the Constellation System we’ve set up is also a highly advanced 'anomaly detection system.' Whenever Awakeners encounter dangerous anomalies, I receive visual information instantly and pass it along to you."

"That’s true," I agreed, nodding.

Thanks to the Saintess, I was always able to receive emergency alerts and rush to disaster zones immediately. Unlike most Regressors, who clung to individualism and elitism, I took pride in being a System Advocate. And I'd established a pretty robust system, if I do say so myself.

"That’s exactly why I think anomalies might find our system incredibly inconvenient."

"From the perspective of anomalies...?"

"Yes. Reality is too disadvantageous for them. But dreams are different. When an Awakener sleeps, their vision, even under my Clairvoyance, only shows darkness behind their eyelids."

My eyes widened. It felt like I had been lightly struck on the back of the head. A perspective I hadn't considered. "Are you saying the anomalies have fled into dreams to escape your Clairvoyance?"

"Maybe. More accurately, they're probably trying to escape the union between you and me. The moment I detect an anomaly, you’re alerted. From the anomalies’ perspective, we might seem like one entity."

"Hmm..."

"Of course, it’s unlikely anomalies have human-like intelligence that tells them to 'escape into dreams.' But perhaps, over time, they've simply thrived more in dreams than in reality, much like living organisms do."

I rested my chin on my hand.

That actually made a lot of sense!

Consider this. Let’s assume there’s an anomaly, A. “A” can operate in both reality and dreams. Like the Tutorial Fairy or Go Yuri, for example. Now, look at it from A's perspective:

▷ Reality: If you kill a human, a terrifying guy (me) shows up shortly after and punishes you. The strategy for defeating you is shared across the virtual world (SG Net), which makes things even more dangerous.

▷ Dreams: Roam freely without dying. Sure, if you wander too far into the unconscious, a terrifying lady (Go Yuri) might appear, but apart from that, it's relatively safe.

If forced to choose between me, who will always show up, or Go Yuri, who can be avoided with caution, then A, if it's rational, would obviously choose to operate in dreams.

That’s essentially what the Saintess was suggesting.

"In other words, the anomalies rooted in reality are gradually heading toward extinction."

"Yes. It’s a form of natural selection."

"Right."

The Saintess added, "From their perspective, you're not just a simple human, Mr. Undertaker. You're like a force of nature—an evolutionary pressure that could drive them to extinction."

"......"

"Just like anomalies have done to us, you’ve now become the same kind of threat to them."

Should I feel happy about that? Or conflicted?

On the one hand, there was a sense of satisfaction—knowing I hadn’t wasted my life as a regressor. On the other, I felt a deep unease at the idea that anomalies were now creeping into dreams to survive.

I set my coffee cup down. "Thank you. That was a very insightful hypothesis. I'll take your words to heart and investigate this anomaly further."

"Are you planning to check out Kim Joo-chul's modified grave?"

"Yes. It's in Busan, so I’ll head there via the Inunaki Tunnel."

"I’ll go with you."

Before I could respond, the Saintess blinked, and her outfit had already changed. Just a second ago, she was wearing a comfortable T-shirt, but now she was fully dressed for an outing, clad in a long coat for the trip.

Her signature axes, her main weapons, were also hanging from her bag, which was slung over her shoulder. She had likely used her ability to stop time and change clothes in an instant.

With a calm, expressionless face, she said, "I’ve always been very interested in your Time Seal ability. I'd like to take this chance to see the landscape inside the grave for myself."

Her tone was so firm that rejecting her offer didn't even cross my mind.

I couldn't help but smile. "Sure, I'd be happy to guide you."

Together, we prepared to head toward the grave I had created long ago.

A place of torment that I had never shown to anyone in my guild—a personal hell.

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