Chapter 132 - Eschatologist IV

[Translator - Jjescus]

[Proofreader - Gun]

Chapter 132

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Eschatologist IV

5

Let’s talk about Old Scho.

Flashback. A distant past.

A very long time ago, during the 21st turn, I once had a drunken heart-to-heart with Old Scho on a sky-blue bridge.

“Embalmer, what do you think will happen to the world after we die?”

“After we die?”

Old Scho and I were probably the only two regressors in this world.

So, every now and then, we’d excitedly discuss topics that “only regressors could truly get absorbed in.” Just like now.

“Well... at the point when the two of us die... I guess the world would also regress along with us. Time would rewind.”

“What if that’s not the case?”

“Sorry?”

“What if the world continues even after we’re dead?”

“But that wouldn’t make any sense, would it? We die and then immediately wake up again. How could the world continue?”

“Listen carefully.”

The old regressor’s theory went like this:

――――――――――

A. The [World After a Bad Ending] Hypothesis.

Explanation: Even if a regressor dies, the world does not regress. Time continues until the universe meets its end.

Only after a complete end does the world ‘roll back.’ The server resets. However, for some reason, the memories of Old Scho and me, the regressors, are preserved without being wiped.

――――――――――

“Ah... So even though we subjectively feel like we’ve just woken up after dying, objectively, we only wake up after the world has been destroyed?”

“Right. In this case, our ability would be closer to [memory preservation] rather than [regression]. It aligns pretty well, considering that you, doctor, possess perfect memory.”

“Oh...”

“There’s another hypothesis too.”

――――――――――

B. The [Parallel World] Hypothesis.

Explanation: If a regressor dies, their consciousness and memories are transferred to a ‘different parallel world.’

Even though it may look the same, the world they now live in is entirely separate from the one they previously lived in.

However, the differences between the worlds are not observable to the regressors.

――――――――――

“If the parallel world hypothesis is correct, our ability might need to be called [world line transfer].”

“This is a perspective I’ve never considered before.”

“That’s because you, Embalmer, wander around with that empty head of yours without any thought. You’re so ignorant. You really need to study. Calling social democrats commies, mocking Germany’s history at every chance—you're utterly uneducated. You’re a failure as a human, a failure in character, and a failure in personality.”

“Did you just ambush me with slander here...?”

“I support the parallel world hypothesis.”

I blinked in surprise.

“Uh... why?”

“Do you really think it makes sense for the entire world, for time itself, to regress just because two mere human beings died?”

Old Scho swirled his soju glass.

“It’s much more plausible that only our consciousness moved to another world, don’t you think?”

“Hmm.”

Listening to Old Scho, I felt an inexplicable unease.

If, as he said, it’s absurd to turn back the world’s time, then isn’t it equally absurd to transfer an individual’s consciousness and memories to another parallel world?

In fact, theoretically, it might be more burdensome to assume the existence of countless parallel worlds.CHeCk for new stories on no/v/el/bin(.)c0m

“Then, all the worlds we originally lived in... all the ‘parallel worlds’ we’ve passed through have been destroyed, haven’t they? We’re just wandering from one vanished home to another.”

“Exactly! We keep telling ourselves that we’re saving the world by retrying over and over... but in reality, the people of those many worlds are already dead. The monsters have won.”

Looking back now, like most drunken ramblings, Old Scho’s passionate speech lacked consistency.

If we assume that Old Scho sincerely believed in the [World After a Bad Ending] or [Parallel World] hypotheses—

Then shouldn’t he have valued his life even more?

If it wasn’t simply about turning back time, and if indeed countless worlds had met their end, then the lives of Old Scho and me bore the weight of ‘an entire world.’

Since each time we failed, another world would perish.

Yet, Old Scho was soon to take a long vacation.

Why was that?

Did it mean he trusted me that much? Believing that even if he gave up, I wouldn’t?

Or was his lover far more precious to him than a world that had entrusted its weight to the likes of us?

Between a world and a love, is the latter really heavier?

It was the forbidden secret technique passed down through the Korean peninsula: the Friend Shield.

Running away now would only risk being pursued by the corrupted regressor, the strange creature known as ‘Emett Schopenhauer.’

So, why not aim for mutual destruction?

As a guardian of human civilization, I always respected the Code of Hammurabi. An eye for an eye. Anomaly for Anomaly. Old Scho for Koyori.

If I could eliminate either the regressor’s anomaly or the brainwashing beam anomaly, it would be a win for me! Why bother worrying about means and methods?

“......”

Scho hesitated.

The old man, who had been poised to launch a barrage of attacks, suddenly stopped.

I mentally pumped my fist.

As expected, even Old Scho had to hesitate in front of the brainwashing beam. Even I, after crawling through 261 turns, could only avoid it with no real countermeasure, so how could some fresh-faced old man like him boast here?

"Um... Guildmaster?"

"What? I'm busy. Don't talk to me."

"But I think it would be better if I tell you."

Koyori, who had been reduced to a human shield in my left hand, spoke as if troubled.

"As you know, I am perceived as the ideal type that the other person would be most attracted to, right? So... who do you think I look like to that grandfather who’s reached his ending?"

"......"

Ah.

"AdeleAdeleAdeleAdeleAdeleAdeleAdeleAdeleAdeleAdeleAdeleAdele."

Around Old Scho, a 'night sky' unfolded.

To use the latest trends, this was domain expansion. Considering the old man’s age, it was more like a bounded field.

Old Scho's terrifying aura, coloring the ground and sky, extended from his feet. Suddenly, the night sky appeared in the middle of the day in a ruined city.

This was more than sword energy; it was killing intent.

This was the ultimate potential of Emett Schopenhauer, the human being. The extreme limit of his possibilities.

This was a realm that even I had never witnessed when Old Scho was in his prime in the original world, an incomprehensible level of transcendence.

"If he were maintaining his sanity, he wouldn’t confuse me with his beloved wife... But in this corrupted 'ending' state where he’s lost his reason, well, I’m at a loss too..."

"Cancel your brainwashing!"

"Haha, Guildmaster, you know that's passive and I can’t do anything about it. But more importantly, this is a big deal. To him, I must look like his beloved wife being held hostage by a kidnapper. Though, of course, I’m glad to have become friends with you, Guildmaster."

I immediately threw Koyori as far away as possible.

"Whoa-?"

She flew like a missile, maybe because she was originally from North Korea. I just hoped she would be faithful to her origins and explode at the end.

Naturally, the focus of the Old Scho Anomaly shifted from me to the Koyori Missile. The old man, a hopeless romantic, threw down the steel pipe and charged after Koyori.

My one and only chance.

I took off immediately. The protagonist of an infinite regression story should never miss a one-time opportunity.

"Adeleeeeeee!"

Boom. Bang. The city was being destroyed in real-time.

I could hear Old Scho’s desperate cries from far behind, but it wasn’t my concern.

I wished the two of them would live happily ever after――.

"Adele."

At that moment, I sensed a presence beside me.

There was no time to look back.

Slash!

Something cut through my protective aura, like tofu, slicing up to my neck.

'Ah.'

I fell forward in the same running motion.

My head soared into the air, and I barely managed to look to the side.

Old Scho, whom I thought I had sent far away, was suddenly right next to me, running 'alongside' me. His hand was stained with blood.

A close-range strike. With a single hand strike, he had decapitated me.

Koyori was held by Old Scho at his side. She looked at me—or more precisely, at my escaping head—and gave a wry smile.

My senses faded. Sound, consciousness, everything was rapidly drifting away.

In a way, it was a relief. Even if I had survived a bit longer, all I would have witnessed was Old Scho kissing Adele-Koyori in some twisted romantic scene, right?

I wanted to say something, anything.

'Seriously, isn’t this just too much?'

At the same time, I felt like I had returned to one of the early turns, back to my childhood as a regressor.

Back then, I didn’t have to face destruction alone. There was always the reassuring back of the most dependable dealer right in front of me.

See? Old Scho’s potential was definitely extraordinary.

If only he could fully unleash that overwhelming talent, if only he could blossom it completely, not in this bad ending but in reality, then, old man, together we could definitely――.

At that moment, my consciousness plummeted to the bottom.

The sensation of death was not much different from a dream or reality.

Blackout.

[Translator - Jjescus]

[Proofreader - Gun]