Chapter 100
Chapter 100
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 100
Chapter Title: Sharer I
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Shin Noah
1
Perhaps, if you're listening to my tale, you might suddenly have such a doubt.
' aren't all these people around me way too noble?'
That's right. Setting aside the saintess, who's reached a practically inhuman level of purity, people like Dang Seo-rin (excluding her witch cosplay) and No Do-ha (excluding her personality) are all pretty damn noble. Pretty much everyone around me (excluding Sim A-ryeon) falls into that highly virtuous category.
But this kind of suspicion has the cause and effect backwards.
- How did all these noble and competent people end up gathering around this guy? (X)
- Ah, this guy only picks noble and competent people to hang out with! (O)
I too have trudged through a brutal history of betrayals. Shitty personalities, backstabbers who only look for openings, filthy and incompetent trash...
After filtering out those bastards, I've finally arrived at my current circle of acquaintances.
"By the way, Uncle."
"Hm?"
So on some day in the 669th round, when O Dok-seo asked me this, I was a bit taken aback.
"Come to think of it, Uncle, you hardly hang out with the early members anymore? You're always meeting people like Dang Seo-rin or No Do-ha."
"Early members? Who do you mean? If you're talking about Old Man Show..."
"No, no. You only met the Sword Saint in the 6th round. I mean the real early members. Jeong So-hee. Kim Si-un. Kids like Uehara Shino."
"Ah."
"[Omniscient Regressor’s Perspective] only features them in the very beginning and never mentions them later. Why don't you meet them anymore?"
"......"
I felt a truly novel sensation. Like hearing the name of an elementary school friend I'd completely forgotten about until now.
"I don't remember."
"Huh?"
"I don't remember. I got [Perfect Memory Ability] in the 5th round, but I mostly teamed up with them in the 4th round, right? From my perspective, that's already thousands of years ago."
"Ah......"
"The novel you read must include stories from before the 5th round too."
"Yeah, kinda... Actually, the 1st and 3rd round stories were treated super importantly. It even cliffhanged right after entering Baekhwa Girls' High School and running into that guy named Mugeon or whatever."
"Hmm."
Then, at this point, O Dok-seo had 'read' my life from the 1st round up to the 117th round.
From my current perspective, this round was the 660th. Meanwhile, O Dok-seo had only observed 'me up to the 117th round.'
In other words, O Dok-seo was trailing behind my life by about 500 rounds.
'The world's longest lag adaptation.'
[Omniscient Regressor’s Perspective] was an irregular serialization. It didn't update regularly like modern webnovels just because my rounds advanced.
It wasn't because the author hit a slump and slacked off for five days—Mon, Tue, Wed, Fri, Sat, Sun—possessing a stress management skill that would enrage office workers if they heard about it.
It was simply that the 'conditions' for serialization were different from other novels.
'When major anomalies are defeated, [All-Regression Chronicle] especially increases its update volume.'
Ten Tribes. Udumbara. Meteor Shower.
Especially after Mugeon's subjugation, [All-Regression Chronicle]'s update volume skyrocketed erratically. Naturally, the knowledge held by [All-Regression Chronicle]'s sole 'reader,' O Dok-seo, grew accordingly.
Compared to O Dok-seo in the 555th round, who thought the Ten Tribes were the final boss, O Dok-seo in the 669th round possessed an overwhelming amount of information.
Of course, it was still patchy compared to me. But O Dok-seo had knowledge I lacked.
"Actually, I want to ask you, the reader. What happened between me and those early characters."
"Huh?"
"I don't properly remember a single thing. I know roughly who they are, but I don't know what went down in the 4th round. No, nobody does—including me. Unless you tell me."
"Uh...... Should I? It's been about a month since I read the early parts, so my memory's a bit spotty......"
"Doesn't matter at all."
"Okay...... Wow, being asked by the protagonist to tell him his own story feels so weird. Amazing. I bet no creative work has ever had a scene like this."
O Dok-seo cleared her throat.
"Ahem, alright. Anyway, so what happened was......"
"Wait. No need to tell me now."
"Hm?"
"I'll ask the you from the next round. There's a much better way than just hearing it as a 'story' from you anyway."
"......?"
O Dok-seo tilted her head.
"...Uncle, what the hell are you talking about?"
Exactly this kind of bullshit.
2
"You fucking bastard! What the hell are you talking about!"
"Hoe......"
Next round. 670th round.
In the concourse of the 'Busan Station Tutorial Dungeon,' SG Guy Seo-gyu's booming curses echoed as usual.
Fairy No. 264's face, who took the abuse right to her face, was still blank. The expressions of the hundreds of civilians weren't much different.
More nostalgic than my hazy birthplace, an unwelcome home for an infinite regressor.
I approached O Dok-seo and greeted her in the latest MZ-generation slang.
"Hairoo. Bangga bangga. Annyeong hasalbeop."
"Eek! P-Protagonist......!"
Of course, MZ encompassed both Millennials (1980s-1990s) and Gen Z (2000s-2010s), so my greeting was totally up-to-date.
There was apparently controversy in the past about lumping 30 years together, but personally, I found it baffling—what's the problem?
I'd bundled my life in 1,000-year chunks.
Honestly, 30 years is a blink, isn't it?
But it seemed out of left field to O Dok-seo.
"W-Why are you coming to me!"
"Calm down, Reader Teacher. I know you've read [Omniscient Regressor’s Perspective], where you cast me as the protagonist. But that's a lie—it's just a tool aliens used to brainwash you......"
"......?"
"My name is Undertaker. In the secret society Library Academy, I'm called the Black Book Hall Duke. You must trust me completely......"
"......!"
The world's most fun game. That is, O Dok-seo teasing time. I enjoyed it for about 10 minutes.
In the meantime, SG Guy's head exploded (sorry, Seo-gyu), Sim A-ryeon proved she's a scream magnet, and 398 survivors scattered in all directions.
O Dok-seo and I were left alone. People didn't notice now because they'd just witnessed murder up close, but actually, the convenience store, souvenir shop, and vending machines in the concourse were prime loot spots.
I went around the convenience store and shops, picking up just what I needed.
As always, I didn't forget to grab the silver bell from the souvenir shop and pocket it. Then I dumped all my cash into the vending machines, sweeping up every drink.
"So......"
Oh, O Dok-seo invested her entire fortune into the vending machines too. Having heard all the truth from me, she glared at me with a venomous look.
"In a much earlier round, I formed an alliance with you, right? Now in the 670th round, you're asking for my cooperation to experience something 'as similar as possible to the 4th round'?"
"Yeah."
"...Hey, Uncle. This is all super confusing, but first off—why the hell did you pull that prank earlier?"
"Hm. Reader. Imagine this: You're living reality diligently, and some guy brags that this world is actually a novel and he knows the entire plot. How intriguing is that? Doesn't it make you want to mess with them?"
"......No clue."
Well, it was a bit too sophisticated a sentiment for a severe webnovel otaku with terminal Hongdae disease and middle-school syndrome.
"But...... At this point where we're traveling together, hasn't it already diverged way too much from the 4th round? In [Omniscient Regressor’s Perspective], I'm not even a named extra."
"Tsk, extra? Nonsense. You're saying that because 'that novel' hasn't reached the 555th round yet. In the novel's 555th round, you appear as a major character from the start."
"Oh......"
"I'm not aiming for an exact replay of the 4th round anyway. Just similar enough is fine. I just want to experience the lost memories."
"Well, if that's the case... Ah. Incoming."
O Dok-seo muttered tensely.
Footsteps echoed from the far end of the concourse. Seven people.
Leading the group was a 20-something guy in a Hawaiian shirt holding a wooden plank. He scowled when he saw us.
"Huh? People?"
Lee Baek.
If left alone, he'd drop out in the latter half of the tutorial. Awakening ability: E-rank. Barely different from a regular person.
That's all I remembered, but O Dok-seo seemed different. The kid stood on tiptoes and whispered to me.
"It's Lee Baek. The guy leading the biggest, meanest gang in Busan Station. He made you suffer big time from the 1st round onward."
"What? Me?"
"Yeah. Always inciting people, forming hierarchies among themselves... When you caught his eye, he sowed discord in your group to make them betray you. Pretty much all the infuriating early plot was his doing. I seriously considered dropping because of him."
"Oh."
Me, toyed with by an E-rank 20-something normie? Impossible to imagine. It was so bizarre I wasn't annoyed—just intrigued.
"What're you two whispering about? Huh?"
Lee Baek didn't like seeing O Dok-seo and me murmuring. He approached, swinging the plank around.
His followers trailing behind had equally thuggish faces. Probably knew each other from before the tutorial dungeon summon. Back alleys, most likely.
"How did I act in the 4th round?"
"You were waiting at the vending machines when Lee Baek approached, and you immediately snapped his neck."
"What? Just killed a guy?"
"Yeah. It was pretty much the first cathartic scene in [All-Regression Chronicle]. Without that, I really would've dropped."
"I was a pretty barbaric guy in the 4th round......"
"Hey, you T-shirt dude! And you hat kid! Didn't you hear me?"
The moment Lee Baek stepped within five paces, I strode forward. One step brought me right to his face.
"Can't you hear—?"
Thwack. I chopped his throat with my hand blade, knocking him out. He didn't die. His vocal cords were just severed, leaving him to feel the sorrow of separated kin.
"Huh?"
His followers' eyes bulged wide, but they didn't need to hold the pose long enough for dry eyes. It took exactly 3 seconds to destroy all their vocal cords and knock them out.
"...Whoa."
O Dok-seo's exclamation came late.
"Dead? All of them?"
"Nah, just vocal cords destroyed. They'll live as mutes forever. As you said, incitement and scheming are his specialties—sealing his voice is penalty enough."
"Wow, seriously. Whoa. Uncle, you've really been through hundreds of rounds. The genre's totally turned into a Munchkin story. Where'd that early cringe loser go......?"
"Tsk. Slanderous. Anyway, what's next?"
"Ah. You get an arm injury fighting these seven here? Busan Station's only healers are Uehara Shino and Sim A-ryeon. But Sim A-ryeon is......"
"Healing's at Mercurochrome level. At this point."
"No, even so, it's way better than Mercurochrome. Anyway. Compared to Uehara Shino, her performance is way lower, so you recruit Uehara as a companion......"
I followed O Dok-seo's guidance, enjoying the nostalgia trip.
'Come to think of it, I used to rate Uehara Shino higher than Sim A-ryeon back then.'
It was a fresh experience.
Chasing mirages from a distant forgotten past, vaguely lingering as déjà vu, stepping through them one by one.
Even for me, blessed with [Perfect Memory Ability] to remember everything, feeling like there was still an unknown past wasn't bad at all.
It must've been a mystical experience for O Dok-seo too.
"Ew. Uncle, why's your Japanese so good?"
"Hm?"
"You just talked to Uehara Shino in Japanese. Originally, you couldn't speak it and used smartphone translation... Ah, right. You lived thousands of years. Foreign languages must be easy then......"
"......?"
Uehara Shino watched our conversation, head tilted. Long ago, I saw her as an S-rank agent, but in this round, she was at best B-rank alchemist.
A past connection naturally dropped from my party. Remnants of time.
"......"
"Mr. Jang, is something wrong?"
"No, nothing. More importantly, we're challenging the mid-boss tomorrow, so rest up."
"Ah. Yes."
We cleared the tutorial in the exact order of the 4th round.
Rallying survivors, demanding food and medicine as mid-rewards from the fairy, killing the seven bosses in sequence.
To me, who already knew how to force-open the 'exit,' it was a massive time sink. But at the same time, time travel.
Of course, there were decisive differences from the 'original' 4th round. A past history that could never repeat, no matter what.
"Hmm, normally from today, I'd go around meeting survivors and using [Time Seal] on those who want it......"
Glance. O Dok-seo checked my expression.
"...Can't replicate this. Because everyone you sealed with [Time Seal] is already trapped in revision tombstones."
I stared blankly at the Busan Station food court. A place I hadn't visited in quite a while.
Tombstones.
Crystal tombstones visible only to my eyes lined the food court hallway. To me, it looked more like a cemetery than a restaurant.
Corpses of people sealed by my ability on 'the happiest day of their lives.'
I silently slipped my hand into my pocket. Jingle, the silver bell's texture felt.
O Dok-seo cautiously asked.
"Um, Uncle... You can see them now, right? The tombstones."
"Yeah."
"Can you tell me how many there are?"
"Dunno. I'd have to count the ones in this food court, but I can tell you exactly how many are in the entire Busan Station Dungeon. I memorized that. 101."
"......"
This place held 101 dreams, 101 afterlives, 101 tombstones slumbering in total.
That's right.
The number of civilians originally summoned to the 'Busan Station Tutorial Dungeon' wasn't some vague 399.
500 people.
It started with 500 survivors.
Of them, 101 were sealed in time by me.