Editor: echo
Discord: https://dsc.gg/reapercomics
◈ I’m an Infinite Regressor, But I’ve Got Stories to Tell
Chapter 253
The Mastermind IV
I posed as a thoroughly competent researcher and built a network.
Though I hated to admit it, “Undertakeress” was quite beautiful. With her amiable attitude and tailored strategies for approaching others, even the NPC researchers quickly opened up to her.
“Researcher, you must be tired. Here, have some coffee and take it easy.”
“Oh! Thank you. Wow, it’s been ages since I’ve had coffee made by someone from the Undertaker’s guild. I kind of missed it even after coming here...”
The researchers referred to themselves as Ascended. Normally, I would have rejected such a term outright, as it reeked of anti-Awakener supremacism, but for these individuals, the title seemed oddly fitting.
‘Whatever they call themselves, these are just NPCs based on my comrades.’
Naturally, the method to win their favor was similar as well. I had memorized hundreds of ways to get on their good sides.
“Researcher 107, you’re so kind. The Undertakers in the world I ascended from were selfish jerks who only cared about themselves...”
“Is that so?”
“Yes! All they ever said was they were the Regressor, just follow my orders, nothing will go wrong if you do. So we all ganged up on them behind their backs.”
“Haha...”
“And they kept rambling about Romance of the Three Kingdoms. Seriously, who even reads that these days? It’s so boring, but I had to humor them all the time—it was torture!”
“...”
Endure it.
These researchers weren’t true comrades, merely creations filtered by the Outer God. There was no need to take them seriously.
For the next few days, I focused solely on building good relations with them to give me time to recover my Aura. It wasn’t long before the researchers began to flock around me.
“Researcher 107! Want to grab lunch together?”
“How about a walk after eating?”
“Um, unnie, there’s something strange happening in my simulator. Do you have time to take a look?”
“Researcher 107!”
In no time, I became the center of attention.
Meanwhile, the slime Fairy King clinging to my body 24/7 wriggled.
- Admiration: You’re truly exceptional. Wherever you’re placed, you always rise to the top of the social hierarchy.
- Inquiry: That makes me wonder. Why didn’t you fully exploit this talent in your original world? Is an Undertaker inherently inferior to an Undertakeress?
Shut up.
“If you only act according to everyone’s ideal vision of you, it only becomes exhausting in the end. My comrades and I have to endure for ten, twenty, or even thousands of years together. These shallow strategies are only fit for superficial runs where relationships don’t matter.”
- Commentary: You live such a tiresome life.
The slime, initially robotic in its reactions, seemed to grow more human-like after spending time with me.
By this point, I had grown accustomed to the simulation lab’s sterile environment. Once I deemed my Aura sufficiently recovered, I immediately began to enact my plan.
“Ah, unnie? You’re here?”
“I’m not your unnie. You Anomaly.”
“...Huh?”
Alone in the lab, I struck down the NPC researcher disguised as Sim Ah-ryeon in a single blow.
- ......!
The researcher fell, unable to resist.
Under normal circumstances, their death would have immediately alerted the Outer God. However, with Infinite Void drawing their attention elsewhere, the Outer God was unable to focus on this area.
“Fairy King, transform me into that one’s body.”
- Response: Understood.
The slime consumed the corpse before returning to me, reshaping my body.
Looking in the mirror, I saw that I was no longer the Undertakeress but had completely transformed into Ah-ryeon, down to every last detail.
“Ah, ah. Ahhh.”
I adjusted my voice using Aura, testing it to match hers.
“This... this t-tone... seems fine. Ehe.”
- Shock: I’ve experienced the human emotion of astonishment for the first time. I will henceforth classify this sensation as “goosebumps.”
“J-just... shut up.”
- Goosebumps.
I destroyed the simulation universe overseen by Sim Ah-ryeon.
As a regressor, my power fundamentally stemmed from regression. In contrast, the Outer God’s strategy to counter me relied on simulation universes. The fewer false universes that existed, the weaker the Outer God’s dominion would become.
- Inquiry: This Divine Realm alone contains thousands of simulated universes. Do you intend to destroy each one?
“Th-thousands... Hoh, h-hoh... hoeeeh...” I let out a sinister laugh, mimicking Ah-ryeon. “Hoh-heh... hehehe...”
- Goosebumps: Goosebumps.
I staged things so it appeared as if the Undertakeress had been killed by turning Research Lab 107 into a chaotic crime scene. It didn’t take long for the “crime” to be discovered.
The researchers, who had grown close to Undertakeress, erupted in outrage.
“Researcher 107 was murdered!”
“Who did it? Who’s the bastard that did this?”
Infinite Void’s power, Data Input, was devastating. It reduced even the Outer God’s minions to mere NPCs. Had it not been defeated at Baekhwa Girls’ High School, Infinite Void would undoubtedly have become one of the most powerful Outer Gods.
‘I was right. This strategy of relying on Infinite Void is hopelessly flawed.’
I resolved myself.
I needed to find a way to reach the Outer God’s Divine Realm without depending on Infinite Void.
Developing a new route would be the greatest achievement of this run.
“Hm.” Infinite Void gazed up at me with a knowing look. “I know what you’re thinking. You’re scared that if you wipe out those researchers and simulations, I’ll be unstoppable, right?”
“...”
“But don’t forget—I’m still afraid of you. Regression resets everything. We’re mutually hostile by nature. So, how about this?”
“Speak.”
“I’ll use Data Input on myself.” Infinite Void tapped the side of its head with its finger. “I’ll input, ‘I will love sunbae forever.’”
My eyes widened. I hadn’t expected it to propose that.
“In return, you input this: ‘I will love Infinite Void forever.’”
“...”
“No tricks, no word games. We trust each other, talk things out, and move forward together. Positive, everlasting love. Then neither of us will have reason to betray or exploit the other.”
Infinite Void grinned mischievously.
“Even if you regress, you’ll trust and love me enough to share what happened in the past. Together, we could conquer the world! The Outer God would be easy to crush.”
“You’ve thought this through.”
“Ahaha! Of course! I’m not like the other Outer Gods. In the old days, Demon Kings tempted heroes with half the world. These days, the trend is offering half your heart.”
“You’re an Anomaly. Do you even understand love?”
Infinite Void moved its hand to its chest. “Who knows? But this heart seems to. Why don’t we turn mutual hostility into mutual love, sunbae?”
I didn’t answer. And it wasn’t just because its offer likely included a hidden clause about claiming Cheon Yo-hwa’s body.
Instead, I swung my Aura, annihilating all the researchers in one fell swoop.
“Ah!”
With the researchers gone and their simulations destroyed, Infinite Void’s face lit up with glee. I simply stared at it, staying quiet.
“Really? Did you just accept my proposal?!”
“...”
“Wow! I made that suggestion half-jokingly, thinking it was a long shot, but you actually went for it! Ah, but don’t get me wrong—I’m not saying you’re foolish. As expected of you, sunbae. Pretending to resist but secretly curious about wielding the power of an Outer God! Don’t worry—I’m really one of the good ones. Look at my little fairy servants! Aren’t they adorable and kind? Just like their master, and they’ve been watching, waiting, for the right moment to—”
Infinite Void froze mid-sentence.
A single second of silence stretched on unnaturally.
“Huh?”
The same eerie, overlapping voice that had haunted me during my first encounter with the Outer God echoed, both from Infinite Void’s lips and the speakers in the research lab.
“Wait, this... Destroying the simulation lab was a part of my plan all along? You’re kidding, right?”
The voice continued, seamlessly shifting into a maddening stream of words.
- What was the first entity you encountered upon awakening in this place?
- It was the Fairy King, the puppet of me, Infinite Void. You foolishly allowed my servant to cling to you without suspecting a thing, thinking it merely a harmless accessory.
“What...? No! That was supposed to be my mole, planted for intel! This can’t be... is what you must have thought, right?” The dual voices intertwined as the tone turned mocking. “But, alas, that too was part of my plan, Undertaker. Nothing you’ve done in this place has been outside my design. Every step you took, every lab you destroyed, no, sunbae! My mouth moving on its own, it’s all within the script I wrote. Even this, even now, your surprise and denial—my experiments accounted for it all!”
Infinite Void winced, its face twisting in visible pain as its body began to dissolve like smoke. The slime Fairy King, which had been pretending to be an “innocent companion,” evaporated alongside it.
What followed was disturbingly familiar.
Creeeeak.
The research lab’s ceiling tore open.
Beyond it lay a vast void of stars, with a colossal rupture splitting the expanse in two.
- Ah.
A massive crimson eye filled the gap in the Void, glaring down at me.
It was Infinite Void—its true form—looming from above.
It extended its hand, its movements unnervingly deliberate. This time, I was prepared. I leapt onto its outstretched palm with practiced ease.
‘This must be how Sun Wukong felt on the Buddha’s palm.’[1]
After obliterating the research lab, Infinite Void dragged me through the rift in space.
For a moment, all was black.
When I came back to awareness, I found myself sprawled in a restored research lab.
Behind me lay the ruins of the “simulation lab”—now just another simulation itself.
“...”
“...”
The only noticeable difference was that Infinite Void now stood before me, in person.
Somehow, we had ascended to a higher realm: a simulation of a simulation.
Infinite Void muttered under its breath, its words raw with emotion.
“Goddammit...”
The way it spoke... It had a strangely human ring to it.
Footnotes:
[1] In Journey to the West, Sun Wukong once bet the Buddha that he could escape the latter’s palm. He lost almost immediately.