Chapter 143

Thirty minutes later, the Tier-6 monster horde had been completely dealt with. My Allies and I had done our part, and Pildu Gong's ability in large-scale combat had been especially effective. It was the kind of moment that made bringing in the Ten Evils worth it.

"Now I can finally breathe again. They said the next wave is in four hours, right?"

Lee Jihye said as she slid her long sword back into the sheath at her waist. Looking around, I saw the nearby fighting had also begun to die down. I didn't know about the other areas, but at least the Gangseo district was one we had managed to protect.

Of course, that didn't mean everyone had come through safely.

"Father! Please, wake up! Father!"

"Somebody help us!"

The Incarnations who still didn't know how to hunt Tier-6 monsters hadn't even managed any real resistance. Some had been struck by a Heavy Hound's foreleg and suffered massive external injuries. Others had died with their organs ruptured. Most of them were newly deployed Incarnations.

[Current number of incarnations: 90,531]

Only the first wave had passed, and yet a tenth of Seoul Dome was already dead. A little farther away, Yu Junghyeok was watching the Incarnations. Seeing him standing there like that made me a little uneasy.

The dokkaebi had said it. Through the sacrifice of a single strongest Incarnation, every Incarnation in Seoul Dome could survive.

"Hey, Yu Junghyeok."

Yu Junghyeok turned to look at me. I didn't know exactly what that scene meant to him.

I always said this, but just because I had read TWSA didn't mean I truly knew everything about a person. In the end, all I could understand was text, and text was something that reached me only after it had already been processed once.

And some things became impossible to read precisely because they could be read.

"Let's talk for a minute."

* * *

We went up to the rooftop of a nearby high-rise. On the way there, I used [Character Profile] on Yu Junghyeok for the first time in a while.

[Exclusive Skill, Character Profile, has activated.]

[There is too much information related to this character. Character Profile will be converted to Summary Profile.]

[Only user-designated categories will be displayed.]

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<Character Summary Profile>

Name: Yu Junghyeok

Patron constellation: ???

Exclusive attributes: the regressor <3rd round> (Mythic), Pro-gamer (Rare), Supreme King (Heroic)

Exclusive skills: [Sage's Eye Lv.9], [Close Combat Lv.10], [advanced weapons proficiency Lv.10], [Advanced Mental Barrier Lv.3], [hundred-step godly fists Lv.9], [phoenix walk Lv.8], [sky splitter Lv.8]......

Stigma: [Regression Lv.3], [transmission Lv.5]

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His Patron constellation still didn't appear.

I already knew why.

Even in the original TWSA, Yu Junghyeok's Patron constellation was never revealed in the end. I had thought it might show up in the epilogue, but unfortunately, I hadn't been able to read TWSA's epilogue.

A Constellation with greater resistance to Plausibility than any Constellation I knew, while also possessing the power to turn back the wheel of time and deceive even other Constellations. A Constellation that never once granted Yu Junghyeok any Stigma besides [Regression] until the very end of TWSA......

What kind of being it was, and what it wanted to gain through Yu Junghyeok, even I couldn't say for sure.

"...You said there was a way to kill Nirvana?"

That bastard really was impatient. We had finally been given a chance to rest, and that was the first thing on his mind. Even with regressor's depression, Yu Junghyeok was still Yu Junghyeok.

"Before that, take a breath for a second. The view's nice too."

I said it while sitting on the rooftop railing. Yu Junghyeok asked through gritted teeth.

"What are you plotting?"

"Nothing. Just look at the world for a second. Isn't it beautiful?"

The scenery of Seoul, destroyed by monsters, stretched out before us. I quickly added,

"It used to be beautiful, didn't it?"

"They're all things that will disappear someday."

After everything with Shin Yuseong, I had thought I understood the Yu Junghyeok of the 3rd round a little better. I had wanted to believe he was someone who didn't give up or fall into despair so easily, someone who knew how to love this world a little more.

"But they're also things you have to protect."

"Kim Dokja, you don't know."

But maybe that had been my misunderstanding.

Because there was something Yu Junghyeok refused to let go of through countless regressions, there were also things he could cast aside at any moment.

In the end, Yu Junghyeok's goal was to stop the destruction of this world.

Paradoxically, in order to do that, he could abandon this world at any time.

At his core, he was the regressor, and that fact wouldn't change.

"No. I know too."

"What?"

"If you can regress whenever you want, then death has no meaning."

Below the rooftop, I could see Lee Seolhwa tending to the wounded. Lee Seolhwa was feeding medicinal broth to a nameless character. But regardless of her efforts, that character would most likely die. Even if they survived today, they would die tomorrow, and even if they miraculously survived tomorrow, they would die the day after that.

In the 4th round. In the 5th round too.

Even after the 100th round, in Yu Junghyeok's world, they would always be people who had already died.

"But if death has no meaning, then life loses its value too."

"What would you know......"

"Yu Junghyeok, get a grip. I'm telling you not to delude yourself into thinking things will get better just because you repeat it a few more times."

Maybe my hard tone surprised him, because Yu Junghyeok shut his mouth for a moment.

"Sure, maybe you'll do better in the 4th round than you are now. But maybe you won't. You haven't forgotten the Cinema Dungeon already, have you? If I hadn't shown up then, you would have..."

"As the rounds pass, things do improve. There were a lot of unexpected things in this round, but the next round will definitely be better."

"Why? Because you'll know more of the future?"

That vague belief that more information would let him do better in the next round. That impulse to throw away a round the moment even a little something went wrong.

Those were the warning signs of regressor's depression.

Part of TWSA drifted up through my mind.

I think it was around the 48th round. An Incarnation whose Patron constellation was Discoverer of the Unconscious had once counseled Yu Junghyeok about his regressor's depression.

Back then, that bastard had probably said almost exactly what I was saying now.

"Fine. Maybe you're right. If you repeat the 10th round or the 20th round enough times, maybe things really will get a little better. You'll face more Scenarios, and you'll see more futures. But the real problem is...... when you finally save this world that way."

"...What are you trying to say?"

"When that time comes, do you think you'll really be able to say that you saved this world?"

"......"

"I'm asking if you'll still be able to say that after repeating regression a hundred times, two hundred times."

"I would never regress that many times."

I looked at Yu Junghyeok without a word.

"...Surely not?"

Yu Junghyeok's eyes slowly widened. I continued.

"You still have nightmares these days, don't you?"

"......"

"Even if you save the world, you won't be saved. The moment you save the world, all the worlds you threw away will come crashing down on you. Even if you save one world, every other world you abandoned will drag you down into hell."

Yu Junghyeok's eyes shook violently for a moment. He had probably known it himself, at least vaguely.

"So live this round properly. Shin Yuseong wandered for countless years and broke down. You're worse than she was. The more rounds pile up, the more repeated life will ruin you until you can't even be repaired. Ask yourself. How different are you now from who you were at the beginning?"

"That......"

Yu Junghyeok's face stiffened. I could see his eyes trembling hard.

Then again, there was no way Yu Junghyeok had been like this from the very beginning.

"Don't fool yourself into thinking the next round will be better just because you throw this one away. The round you're trying to abandon might be the one and only round in which you can see the end of the world as a human being."

"......"

Yu Junghyeok pressed his lips tight together. He looked conflicted, like there was something he wanted to say but the words wouldn't come out.

That's right, Junghyeok. Think about it as hard as you can. If you regress, what happens to me?

[Character Yu Junghyeok's mental energy has slightly recovered.]

As if he had reached some kind of decision, a faint light brushed across Yu Junghyeok's face.

Whether someone was the regressor or not.

In this damned world, life was hard all the same. All we could do was gather ourselves again every time and survive with every last scrap of strength we had. A cool wind blew in from somewhere, and the two of us stood there facing it as we looked down together at the ruined city of Seoul.

"This Scenario is heavily event-driven. The flow will return to the course we know. You can still use future information as much as you want. There should still be plenty of hidden pieces only you know about. If we can just liberate Seoul Dome..."

At that moment, the rooftop door opened with a creak, and my companions came spilling out in a heap. The first one sprawled on the floor was Pildu Gong, and Lee Jihye and the kids were piled on top of him.

"Uwaah! Don't push!"

"Ah, it's because we were curious what you two were talking about. Why does only ajussi get to hear it?"

"You don't just cut into a man's conversation whenever you feel like it."

"Some man you are......"

I had a rough idea of what had happened.

[The constellation Demonic Judge of Fire's eyes sparkle.]

"So what were you two talking ab..."

I cut Lee Jihye off before she could start saying nonsense again.

"Don't crack petty jokes today. I'm not in the mood."

[The constellation Demonic Judge of Fire grows sullen.]

Whether the Constellation grew sullen or not didn't matter to me right now. What mattered to me was Yu Junghyeok. Uriel could stop giving me coins now and go to Jeong Huiwon instead.

Yu Junghyeok opened his mouth.

"We were briefly discussing a strategy for the Scenario."

"A strategy? What kind of strategy?"

At those words, Yu Junghyeok looked at me.

"This Scenario only ends when the strongest Incarnation dies. I was thinking a little about that."

A chill ran down my spine. This bastard, why was he looking at me when he said that?

Lee Jihye asked, sounding a little excited.

"We were talking about that too. So what did you decide? Who's the strongest Incarnation?"

"Obviously, me."

Watching Yu Junghyeok answer so confidently, I realized my worry had been off the mark. Right, of course a bastard that proud would...

No, wait.

If the Scenario ended only when the strongest Incarnation died, and he thought that strongest Incarnation was himself, then...

"You weren't planning to die, were you?"

"If I die, we can stop this Scenario."

I was a little moved by the nobility of his conviction. Damn it, his regressor's depression suddenly looked a little cool.

But I still couldn't just let him die.

"Isn't that a little too hasty? There's no guarantee you're obviously the strongest. For example, there's also me..."

At my words, all my companions turned to look at me at the same time. Lee Jihye slapped my shoulder a few times and laughed exaggeratedly.

"Come on, you're not serious, are you?"

"...Dokja-hyung."

Lee Gilyeong looked at me as if he were trying to comfort me, and Shin Yuseong looked confused, like she still didn't really get it. Even Pildu Gong and Min Jiwon said their piece.

"Well, that's not even something you need to ask."

"Even so, isn't the Supreme King still stronger?"

"Wait, is ajussi acting like this because he beat the Salvation Sect leader earlier?"

That was exactly it.

"But there's no way ajussi beat them because he's actually stronger, right? I didn't see it, but obviously he used some weird trick. Isn't that right?"

In one sense, she was so exactly right that I had nothing to say. Feeling strangely miserable, I added a weak excuse.

"...I was only giving an example. What I mean is that the Salvation Sect leader might be stronger than Yu Junghyeok. We had a pretty hard time with them earlier too."

Lee Jihye's eyes widened in surprise.

"Really, master?"

"It's true. Nirvana and I are a bad matchup."

At Yu Junghyeok's answer, my companions fell into total confusion.

"Then is the Salvation Sect leader really the strongest?"

"My god, there's a human stronger than master?"

"But what exactly is the ranking based on? Combat ability? Or does the side that actually wins in a fight get counted as stronger...?"

I answered Min Jiwon's question.

"For now, I'd guess there's some kind of figure that measures overall combat power. It isn't as if everyone can fight everyone else to compare. Once actual wins and losses start getting decided, the ranking might change."

"Come to think of it, I feel like the dokkaebi said something earlier. That the strongest Incarnation would know it best themselves..."

We all looked back at Yu Junghyeok.

"Yu Junghyeok, does anything feel different from usual? Did the dokkaebi say anything to you, for instance?"

Yu Junghyeok slowly clenched and unclenched his fist as he answered.

"Well. I didn't hear anything."

I turned back to my companions and said,

"For now, it doesn't seem like anything has been confirmed."

"Then what do we do now?"

"Let's take that as good news. No one here wants Yu Junghyeok to die, right? For the time being, let's assume Nirvana is the strongest and decide that killing them is the sensible move."

"But what if it turns out the Supreme King really is the strongest..."

"We'll deal with that when the time comes."

Min Jiwon nodded.

"The Salvation Sect is in Gangbuk. But their defenses are tight, so it won't be easy to get close, and the difference in manpower is huge. Even if all of us go..."

"We're not going. We'll make Nirvana come to us."

"How? Do you think they'll respond? No matter how I look at it, there's no way they'd agree to something that puts them at a disadvantage..."

"If you think about it normally, yes."

But Nirvana wasn't someone who operated on common sense.

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