WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: Haruto
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◈ A Gacha Addict's Life in Fusionpunk ◈
Chapter 73: The Unbearable Lightness of Regression (2)
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1.
Situation check.
First, I’m completely naked.
This is Ceres Mama’s bedroom.
The clock says 1 p.m.
Swoooosh.
And there’s water running in the bathroom.
I gathered my ragged memories, patchy as a severed film reel.
I’d wandered the streets drunk.
Taught a bunch of bad citizens a lesson.
Then I came to Ceres Mama’s place blacked out and shared some affection with her.
So far, no problem.
I’d nearly wasted an entire iteration over a stupid drunken incident.
Ceres putting up with my ugly drunken antics had saved my life.
But then...
‘...Boksun.’
At the end, did I shout Boksun’s name into Ceres Mama’s ear?
That was a little open to interpretation.
“...Fuck.”
As cold sweat trickled down my back...
The sound of water from the bathroom stopped.
Tap, tap.
Indoor slippers crossed the marble floor.
Ceres entered the bedroom in a soft bathrobe.
“You’re awake.”
“Good morning, Ms. Ceres.”
“Get dressed if you’re up. There’s water there, so drink it.”
“Ah, yes.”
Ceres gathered mana and dried her hair in an instant, then headed into the dressing room.
“Director, would you like help getting dressed?”
“No. Get yourself together first.”
Her reply came with a faint snort of laughter.
I got dressed and sat across from her at the table.
This was a fucking improvised explosive device of a seat.
Was she angry? Wasn’t she?
As always, Ceres’s expression was hard to read.
“I ordered soup. Take care of your stomach.”
“Damn, Director Ceres’s love is beyond my comprehension. Did you make it yourself, by any chance?”
“I ordered it. From Le Jardin.”
“Ah, they deliver too.”
“Yes.”
The meal was clear mussel soup with white bread.
The gentle aroma of white wine and basil was truly luxurious.
I could guarantee that one bowl of this soup cost as much as two weeks of food for Boksun and me.
“Slurp.”
The salty, savory flavor washed away the stale taste of alcohol with my first sip.
“How is it?”
“Damn, I’m living in luxury thanks to you, Ms. Ceres.”
Though I really wanted to slice some Cheongyang chilies into it.
“This is embarrassing. I think I got pretty drunk last night.”
“You really need to fix your drinking habits.”
“Did I make a big mistake?”
“You did.”
Ceres smiled through her nose, and I swallowed.
“What mistake...?”
“Throwing yourself at me without listening to reason, for one.”
This was just the usual Ceres.
The usual Ceres who found me cute like a pet, while still coolly drawing a line where needed.
She really hadn’t changed at all.
“Were you not satisfied after what we did the other day? Men, honestly.”
“I was blinded by your charm, Ms. Ceres...”
Still, it made sense.
I’d been through so much over countless regressions, but Ceres had not.
At this point...
I had just worked with Ceres Mama to stop Project Z.
She had broken her Commandment, and I’d received an official offer to spy for her.
This was the very next day.
Wait.
Considering that, the fact that Ceres wasn’t mentioning my mistake from yesterday...
Could it be?
Had I not said it?
Had I confused reality with my imagination?
Yes!!! Thank God!!!!
“By the way, who is Boksun?”
If I’d been drinking water, I would have become Cedric the Human Sprinkler.
“Pardon...?”
Tremble, tremble, tremble.
My hand shook.
“You don’t remember? You kept calling that name while you were in my arms yesterday.”
“Me?”
“Yes.”
“What did I say?”
Ceres added a little more milk to her teacup and stirred it with a teaspoon.
“Boksun, I miss you. Boksun, do you like me? Boksun, why did your breasts get so big?”
“...”
You fucking idiot, Cedric!
You didn’t just sing one verse. You did the whole medley!
Now I couldn’t even claim she was a dog I used to raise!
I didn’t want to follow in Julien’s footsteps.
So mussel soup that needed Cheongyang chilies was my last meal!!!
“...”
“...”
Not a word passed between us until the meal was over.
Only the dry clatter of utensils filled the table.
“...”
I wasn’t normally bad with words.
But I had no idea what I was supposed to say in a situation like this.
Did I feel guilty?
No.
Cedric’s ideal lifestyle was a harem.
Besides, Ceres and I had never shared deep feelings for each other.
We only walked the same path because our interests aligned.
But just as a Japanese chef shouldn’t tell customers, “Damn, I took the most refreshing shit, so now I’ll make sushi!”
Even a gigolo shouldn’t go out of his way to advertise, “I have other lovers besides you.”
I had gone beyond that and treated Ceres like an attachment doll standing in for my ex-girlfriend...
“If you’re done eating, you should go. Don’t come looking for me unless you have business. There’s no need to make Yiming suspicious.”
It was almost strange that proud Ceres was reacting only this much.
No, perhaps her pride was precisely why she reacted this way.
Getting worked up over a one-night partner’s slip of the tongue would damage her dignity.
“...”
I recalled the first iteration.
Ceres simply had not measured up to Brother Yiming’s fiery chivalry and righteousness.
But Ceres had cut me a lot of slack.
Back then, though, I had made many suspicious moves in Ceres’s eyes.
And in the final exchange, I had disappointed her expectations.
What could I infer from that?
Ceres was suspicious, had thick walls around her heart, and valued trust.
I couldn’t just mumble my way through this because she was letting me go.
It would be better to tell the truth here.
“Ms. Ceres.”
“What?”
“Boksun is...”
Ceres listened while pretending not to care.
“...My lover.”
I said it with all the gravity of a show host, and Ceres’s brow creased slightly.
She had expected it, but the confirmation still seemed to upset her.
“...Fine. I like your honesty. Forget it. I only asked because I was curious.”
“I’m sorry about yesterday.”
“Forget it. We’re not in a relationship where we need to nitpick these things.”
Her response sounded indifferent, but Ceres’s reaction made it clear.
This was something I had needed to say.
Despite my relief, my mouth added one more line as though tossing it out casually.
“But I can’t see her anymore.”
“What?”
My eyes stung.
My nose prickled.
“Cedric...?”
“Huh...? Why am I crying...?”
When I came to my senses, I was sobbing my eyes out like I had during my first liquidation.
“Come here.”
“...Really...?”
Ceres Mama’s expression softened as she sighed and opened her arms.
“Waaah!!! Uwaaaah!!!”
“Ha, acting spoiled like a child... Here, blow your nose.”
“Uwaaaah!!! Waaah!!!”
“It’s all right. It’s all right, Cedric.”
Held in her arms as she gently stroked my back, I cried like a Lamborghini’s exhaust.
2.
About two hours and twenty-seven minutes later.
Ceres Mama, who had comforted Cedric body and soul, went to work late.
“That’s really unexpected.”
She actually made time to comfort me like that?
Ceres was a director at Twilight Resource Development and a workaholic.
I knew how busy she was because I had worked as her driver.
Even after all the bullshit I pulled yesterday, she made time for me.
“I seriously don’t understand women’s hearts!!!”
Could Ceres be the woman who might become my mother?
For a moment, I felt the urge to tell Ceres everything and ask for her help in this iteration.
A Rank 5 Mage.
On top of that, a director at Twilight Resource Development.
If I could get her cooperation, it would feel like riding with an F1 driver.
But...
“I can’t do that.”
There was too much uncertainty.
Looking at the circumstances, Ceres’s position was a balancing act in itself.
She was a director at Twilight Resource Development, yet she had tried to stop Project Z.
That much could be because she hated Gisela, another director.
But even during the True Progenitor doll incident, which clearly had nothing to do with her jurisdiction, she had come to find me faster than anyone else.
Now that I thought about it...
‘Do I look like someone who can move however I please, whenever it suits me?’
She had said something like that too.
At worst...
Ceres might be connected to the True Progenitor doll.
Even if she were not directly involved, she might try to stop me.
I had no justification to offer when I couldn’t reveal that I had regressed.
That iteration would be as good as lost.
“Anyway.”
I couldn’t just sit around either.
It was time to start up Premium Iteration Three.
Time to say goodbye to soft, squishy baby Cedric, all cries and babbling.
I wiped away my tears and began a brave, wholesome life in Necropolis.
I had a rough plan in mind.
“Step one.”
Meet the True Progenitor.
In the previous iteration, Boksun and I had suffered through a fucking treasure hunt before finding the Keystone in the Old Sewers on the eleventh day.
On top of that, Undead Sunming had snapped my ribs and arm, forcing Boksun to break the Vessel of Life.
Truly the strongest Grade 7 fixer, and Brother Yiming’s half-brother.
But now?
“I’ll win.”
I could win.
I would send Sunming back into nature, enter the shrine through the Keystone, and receive a head ornament from the True Progenitor to solve my money problems.
While I was there, I would ask what I hadn’t been able to ask before.
Like how to cause trouble more efficiently.
Or about Ceres Cassian.
Stealing the fake Progenitor could wait until after this was done.
After packing only simple gear, I entered the Old Sewers alone.
‘I don’t want to, I don’t want to, I don’t want to! This concubine will not go in!’
‘Fuck! I don’t want to go either, you bitch!’
‘Kyahaha!!!’
‘Stop fucking laughing!!!’
‘Master, look at your f-face...! How could this concubine not laugh!’
‘You go up first.’
‘T-this concubine is wearing a skirt.’
‘That’s why I said you go first.’
‘Oppa, aren’t I cool?’
‘Hmph. In this concubine’s eyes, it was merely a cute little performance.’
‘Master...! My master...! I was wrong...!’
I took down the Cleaners that attacked along the way and reached the fixer couple’s secret stash.
I safely got the diving suit they had hidden away.
“This is a good start.”
The biggest variable had been whether the diving suit even existed at this point in time.
If it hadn’t, I planned to beat the hell out of a Cleaner and farm one from it.
“This is lucky.”
And my luck didn’t end there.
Rumbleee!
When I reached the sedimentation tank where rainbow-colored shitwater poured down...
It looked different from before.
For one, there were no piled-up Cleaner corpses.
And Undead Sunming, the mid-boss, didn’t appear either.
I had thought it strange that I saw Cleaners on the way here.
Apparently, at this point in time, Sunming had not yet settled in as the sewer’s local ruler.
“This is a fucking great start!”
I put on the diving suit and dived into the sedimentation tank.
“Huff... Huff...”
My body sank quickly into the deep, cold shitwater.
But anything is difficult the first time.
The second time isn’t.
Clunk!
At last, my heavy lead shoes touched the bottom.
In the distance, I saw the Keystone, radiating an alien yet almost holy aura.
I walked toward it slowly.
My heart pounded.
“Phew...”
In truth, there was something I absolutely had to ask the True Progenitor.
The principle behind the fake Progenitor’s inherited memories.
My gloved palm touched the surface of the heavy stone.
My vision would flip any moment now, and I would be transported to the shrine.
That was how it should have gone.
But...
“Fuck. Why...?”
The Keystone did not react.
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Footnotes:
“Could Ceres be the woman who might become my mother?” echoes a well-known Evangelion line and is used humorously here.
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