WeTried Translations

Translator: ZERO_SUGAR

Editor: LiteraryGirl

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

◈ I'm an Infinite Regressor, But I've Got Stories to Tell

Chapter 317

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The Skeptic X

Thinking about it now, all of the Anomalies that relied on mental domination or brainwashing always made the same mistake when they tried to ensnare me: they all tried to show me a “sweet” illusion.

– How about this happy ending?

– I’ll show you the ideal partner you’d like best.

– Play with me. You can rule the world as you please.

The typical temptation.

However, no matter how tempting that “dessert” might be, it never suited my taste. Once I’d already swallowed the red pill that it was a bogus illusion, there was nothing they could do.

I mean, really. What thrill is there in owning a massive penthouse if it’s not real, but just a penthouse in a game?

As a realist, I, the Undertaker, could point out the flaws in their logic with cold precision.

“Hmm, so you’re offering a happy ending, but for that to make sense, you’d have to assume from the start that no Anomalies ever appeared, right? Also, no matter how ideal that partner might be, forcing me to like them is... Well, I prefer something more natural. And controlling the world? Would that really be fun?”

“Huh? Then just die.”

My mentality was an iron fortress, impregnable to the point that all those mind-control Anomalies, so fearsome against regular people, would inevitably shower me with praise.

All except for Go Yuri. That was simply a difference in compatibility.

Centuries upon centuries passed, and at last, Anomalies began adapting to this new meta. Some even discovered the “Undertaker Tactics” they needed to succeed.

“You won’t accept anything if it’s not reality?”

“Then we can just color in the parts of your past you don’t remember with illusions.”

“You were actually a private tutor for me... or for us, the twin sisters.”

By all accounts, the first to draw “first blood” was Cheon Yo-hwa.

She didn’t offer me much. She didn’t demand much, either.

Cheon Yo-hwa was alive, was a Miko, was a strategist, and was once my disciple who sacrificed herself to seal an Outer God in my stead.

That was it.

No sweet happy ending, no jaw-dropping powers. In return for sealing away the Outer God, Cheon Yo-hwa merely claimed a little drawer in the corner of my memory.

And now, here came Leviathan:

– So you won’t accept it unless it’s real? I get it. You’re a die-hard realist.

– Then I’ll show you a perfectly “real” illusion, indistinguishable from reality at 100% authenticity.

– Which of us will tire first? You, repeating that same three-day cycle over and over? Or me?

– I can do this all day.

– Oh, and by the way, if someone in the illusion dies mid-battle against the Anomalies, it counts as a real death. Good luck.

What kind of cheat is that?

I’d love to call in a referee to penalize him, but the truth was, I was cheating too. After all, Go Yuri, basically an end-boss of mental powers, had temporarily joined my side.

Both sides were cheating. It was a chaotic, all-out fight. No matter who won or lost, the outcome would be stupid. However, we had no choice but to pick a side.

“So, what will you do now, Doc?” Go Yuri asked.

I still couldn’t figure out why she was revealing all this to me. Judging by her expression alone... it seemed like she was simply curious, barely able to contain her anticipation over what I would do.

“You have no way to know whether the moment you’re in now is reality or illusion. If you don’t figure out a method to tell them apart, you’ll be trapped forever in an endless sequence of three days.”

“For one...” I began, still thinking. “I could observe your appearance. If your clothes get wet from the rain, it’s reality. If they stay perfectly dry, it’s an illusion, right?”

“Oh! So you’re basically letting me be the standard for what’s real? I’m flattered.”

I couldn’t settle for that. Even though we’d formed a temporary alliance, entrusting something so crucial to her was out of the question. It’d be like inviting a tiger to ward off a fox.

I clicked my tongue. Then, making sure Go Yuri couldn’t see, I hid both hands behind my back and scribbled a note on my palm.

“Saintess.”

[Yes?]

“I’m heading to the Tower of Babel for a moment. The Anomaly assault has eased a bit, so we shouldn’t take heavy casualties if I step away.”

[Understood.]

The Saintess raised no objections to my sudden decision. As soon as I was ready to move, she followed up by saying, [By the way, that convalescent ward system that Go Yuri mentioned while speaking with you—I think it’s quite useful. Since you agreed, I’ll set up a hospital ward in the rear.]

We never had a conversation about that. Not from my perspective, anyway.

“Understood. Please take command of the Human Allied Forces while I’m away.”

[Yes.]

With that, I left Go Yuri behind and slogged through the mud.

The Tower of Babel wasn’t far. Normally, I could have reached it with my eyes closed, but in the midst of Leviathan’s “Great Void,” the terrain could have changed in unpredictable ways. Fortunately, many of Ha-yul’s puppet-strings still glowed gold, forming a path that had not yet lost its light. By its very nature, an Awakeners’ Aura fundamentally resisted the Void, so as long as I followed those strings, I could make it to the Tower of Babel with ease.

– Please help me, just a bite.

– Ribbit.

– One per person. Let’s not sell out our conscience for a piece of bread. Please maintain order.

– My child is starving. If you would help me, just for today, I’ll never forget your kindness.

In the fog blanketing the Tower of Babel plaza, watery shapes crawled about. Those water droplets burst without pause, and each pop produced “voices.”

– Please, just a bite of bread.

– My child is starving.

If one ignored that the figures were made of water, the same scene was the same old, same old for the Tower’s plaza.

Leviathan was copying my complete memory of this space and re-enacting it.

It wasn’t just the humans that got copied either. The paving stones of the plaza, the streetlights the Samcheon World guild had installed for charity, even the exterior walls of the Tower of Babel HQ—all were gradually replaced by water, as if the world had been made of water from the beginning.

– Thank you. God bless you. Ascended being, thank you. Because of you, my child can keep living.

– Ribbit, ribbit.

– Just one bite. Please.

If the first Great Flood of mythology merely drowned the surface of the earth, this second Great Flood, summoned by Leviathan, was submerging the very existence of everything.

‘An Anomaly has neither malice nor intelligence. If it seems to have them, it’s because the human gazing at it does. If an Anomaly knows love, it’s because humans themselves hold love in their hearts...’

I quickened my pace, stepping onto the half-translucent outer walls of the Tower of Babel HQ to climb up. Once on the rooftop, I found...

Nothing.

‘It’s gone.’

That was decisive proof.

‘The crystal tombstone of Cheon Yo-hwa. It’s nowhere to be seen.’

Just in case, I also visited the soccer stadium in Busan. There, all matter had been replaced by water, leaving the entire ruin bubbling with watery foam. The tombstone for the soccer player Kim Joo-chul had vanished from sight.

‘All right, no doubt now.’

This was not reality, but an illusion crafted by Leviathan.

To be fair, I still suspected that Go Yuri might be the true culprit. There wasn’t only one Anomaly capable of illusions, after all. She could frame Leviathan for everything, pretend to be my ally, and hoodwink me.

It was certainly well within her wheelhouse.

‘But whichever of them is behind this, they still couldn’t replicate my Time Seal.’

The means of distinguishing illusion from reality came, paradoxically, from something that no longer existed in the real world: an absence in the present.

Rain blurred my vision. For the first time since the Leviathan Offensive began, I smiled.

‘So my reality is founded on the things I’ve already lost...’

I descended from the rooftop and returned to the front line.

Go Yuri silently stared at me. The Saintess asked questions, but I offered no response.

‘I can do this. I just have to wait, until the clock of these three days runs out again.’

Squelch.

Squelch.

When our Human Allied Forces at last marched out of the Inunaki Tunnel, the first thing to greet us was the smell of soggy earth that clung like muddy chocolate, along with an endless deluge of rain and fog.

“Corps Commander!” I shouted, the moment I returned to this starting point.

The tunnel gate was still wide open. The entire Human Allied Forces was still behind me, inside the Inunaki Tunnel.

Past the great door, I could see Do-hwa’s damp, curly hair.

“Don’t close the door!”

“Huh...?”

“Everyone, retreat! This is a strategic fallback!” I turned around without even letting the outside air fully hit me and hurried back inside the tunnel.

“Uh, wh-what?”

“Undateikeo, what the heck is going on, nya?”

Confusion.

They’d just heard me screaming “Let’s go kill those Anomalies!” moments ago, and now I was ordering a retreat. One could only imagine how baffled they felt. The troops here must have been less confused than those at the historical Battle of Wihwado, when General Yi deserted the front lines.[1]

“Crap, wh-what...?”

Do-hwa’s expression was a sight. She was holding the feather key, staring at me like Commander Choi Young must have stared at his map, flipping it upside down in disbelief.[2]

“Don’t tell me you got explosive diarrhea or something. Then again, you can just flush it out with Aura, you freak...”

“Come on, call me a gentleman who values cleanliness, if you would please.”

“You think that kind of bull is what everyone wants to hear when over three thousand Awakeners from across the globe are watching your back...?”

I would have loved to enjoy a long-overdue, leisurely chat with Do-hwa, but there was no time.

Raising the collar of my coat to cover my mouth, I muttered, “Saintess.”

[Yes?]

“You must be taken aback, but please keep everyone calm and guide them back inside the tunnel. Leviathan’s mind-control is stronger than anticipated.”

[Understood.]

“Everyone must be confused. Could you also use your Constellation powers to soothe them a bit?”

[Okay.]

As expected of the Saintess—she followed my abrupt orders without a word of protest. Even so, her power as a Constellation had limited range outside Korea. The foreign Awakeners might not be so easily swayed.

The Great Priestess approached, leading a group of Magical Girls in tow. “Undateikeo, I can’t warp my mind around this. What’s going on?”

I looked around and said, “The moment we took one step outside, we experienced a palpable wave of Leviathan’s psychic corruption.”

“We accounted for that as a risk factor in the operation, no?”

“Yes, but the actual severity is beyond anything we predicted.”

We were speaking in Korean, but the conversation was being interpreted in real time for the other Awakeners. Even in their confusion, they all listened to me.

“With just a single step—literally one foot out the tunnel—our force has already suffered casualties.”

“What?”

“Listen up, everyone!” I barked, raising my voice. “I’m going to call out some names! Check if these Awakeners are safe! Akash from New Delhi, Kunpeng from Shenzhen, someone from Haiphong...”

I listed the six who had vanished to Leviathan’s illusions. All of them were part of some group or unit, so their missing presence was quickly noticed.

“Wait, what? Where’d he go?”

“He was right next to me a second ago...”

“Akash! Akash, where are you?”

Murmuring spread, evolving into a new kind of pandemonium. Suspicion of me was replaced by shock at the situation.

Before that sentiment could fester, I called out again.

“We lost six allies just by stepping outside. Their teammates didn’t even notice them vanish. If we charge blindly into that fog, the damage will skyrocket. Until we establish proper countermeasures, we’ll remain here in the tunnel lobby!”

I glanced over the assembly. No one doubted my words now. They were too shaken by the realization that in the mere blink of an eye, they had lost companions without noticing.

Leaving them there, I sought out the person who could be a clue to this entire situation.

“Team Leader Yu Ji-won.”

The silver-haired psychopath saluted. Around her, the other ops staff all snapped to attention.

“Yes, Your Excellency.”

“Leviathan just unleashed a huge wave of psychic corruption. By my sense of time, it lasted close to ten days. How did it feel to you?”

“I didn’t detect anything at all, sir,” Ji-won answered promptly. “As far as I could see, you had one foot outside and one foot still inside the tunnel, and then you suddenly stopped. Then you returned.”

“And you had no hallucinations or illusions in that interval?”

“None, sir. At least from my perspective, there was nothing strange.”

I nodded.

‘So Leviathan focused its illusions on me. From my perspective, ten days had passed, but for everyone else, it was only the blink of an eye.’

Ji-won’s testimony was credible, as she was the one who hadn’t been fooled by Go Yuri. She was a genuine beacon of hope for humanity. We didn’t know the exact details, but she definitely has a trait like Brainwashing Immunity Lv. 99.

“Ji-won.” I lowered my head, whispering so no one else would overhear.

Her sleek lashes didn’t even flutter as she asked, “Yes, sir?”

“This Anomaly is stronger than I thought. Sorry, but this time, you’ll have to do it.”

“At your command. Whatever you ask, I shall obey.”

Our eyes met.

The expression of my deputy who had once fashioned a pocket of hell beneath this very tunnel was empty as ever.

I whispered, “Become Leviathan’s Miko.”

Footnotes:

[1] A reference to a 14th-century event in Korean history, where General Yi Seong-gye famously turned his troops back at Wihwado.

[2] Commander Choi Young was the general who ordered the invasion of Wihwado, and who was in turn baffled as a fellow General turned coat and retreated back to the capital to stage a coup.

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