Chapter 182
Chapter 182
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 182
Chapter Title: The Magic Mirror
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1
Today, let's talk about the mirror.
Last time, I told a story about the world's most famous ship, so the tale I'm spinning today is also related to the most famous mirror of all.
That's right—the 'Magic Mirror.'
The very beauty care mirror from the Snow White fairy tale.
-Mirror, mirror. Who's the fairest of them all?
-This is the 3,714th time you've gotten the same answer, but no one is fairer than you, Your Majesty. Please stop asking.
In short, the magic mirror came equipped with a database and statistical data capable of searching every human on Earth, plus full AI functionality.
Humanity had already invented ChatGPT centuries ago.
But the queen squandered this astonishing lost technology on ego-searching instead of investing it in domestic politics. Politicians getting lost in distractions on their smartphones had such a long and storied history.
When you think about it, though, it's a remarkably wise fairy tale.
Even if the ultimate tool falls into human hands, they'll end up fixated on 'searching'—that's the insight.
If the Brothers Grimm had lived to see modern SNS, wouldn't they have smugly patted themselves on the back for their foresight? See, I told you so.
"Undertaker, Your Excellency."
"Hm? What is it?"
But even the Brothers Grimm couldn't have foreseen this.
One day, Yoo Ji-won came to me and said,
"I think I've discovered a new monster."
"A new monster?"
"Yes. But it's a bit unusual."
This was during the 7th regression.
Updates hadn't fully rolled out yet, so the Ten Tribes still reigned as the final bosses of the Korean Peninsula. It was the early days when even Old Man Show still had dreams and hopes.
Originally, I'd been working under Dang Seo-rin as vice guild leader, but starting from the 7th regression, I struck out on my own. Old Man Show had sweet-talked me into partnering up for a business venture.
Just like people thriving at big corporations who jump to startups and watch their lives go sideways, my path was getting messy too.
Even so, Yoo Ji-won made a point of visiting me once a week without fail for a chat.
Like an investor who believes any Bitcoin dip is just fine-tuning or bottom-building.
Yoo Ji-won's expressionless face always silently proclaimed, 'The fact is, the regressor is thriving.'
In truth, our frequent meetings led some narrow-minded folks to suspect we were dating.
Old Man Show was the prime example.
Isn't it astounding? This old coot was utterly useless in my life.
"How unusual is it?"
"Hmm. It's hard to describe. Ah, care to come see for yourself after lunch?"
I went.
The 'new monster' was, astonishingly, in Yoo Ji-won's private room.
Right in the middle of an interior plastered floor-to-ceiling with books, the only furniture being bookshelves.
I furrowed my brow.
"...A mirror?"
The identity of the anomaly.
It was a full-length mirror.
"Yes. I found it by chance on the street and picked it up. Mirrors this spotless and flawless are rare these days."
"Wait... Haven't adults always warned since ancient times not to even look at, let alone pick up, mirrors abandoned on the roadside because they're ominous?"
"I don't believe in such superstitions."
So declared the wise investor who'd dumped her entire fortune into regressor coin.
At that point in the 7th regression, I still hadn't figured out the connection between anomalies and curses. So I could only click my tongue.
"But why is this? Did a door to another world open or something?"
"No. Look."
Yoo Ji-won stepped up to the mirror.
"Mirror, mirror."
And then she whispered those words to it.
I was starting to wonder if this psychopath had stacked another mental disorder on top when something fairly astonishing happened.
$-Die right now.
"Huh?"
$-Die right now.
The mirror 'responded.'
Yoo Ji-won turned to me, startled.
"Did you hear that just now?"
"Y-Yeah. I heard it."
"I've tested it on myself and the guild members too, but everyone gets the same reaction."
"Die right now?"
"Yes. All 36 members of Three Thousand Worlds got the exact same answer."
"...This really is an ominous item."
"Is it?"
Yoo Ji-won was nonchalant.
Anyone could see it was a cursed object, yet she'd kept it in her private room—truly, her brain folds were wired differently.
"Anyway, since it doesn't seem like an ordinary mirror, I thought I'd consult you. Disposing of it carelessly might backfire. You're the expert in these matters, Your Excellency."
"Hmm."
"What do you think is the best way to handle this item?"
"...How about putting it back where you found it? Unless the mirror's got legs, it won't come chasing after you."
"Indeed. A wise decision, as expected."
Three days later.
"Your Excellency. A minor issue has arisen."
"...What now?"
"Following your prescription last time, I disposed of the mirror. I thought that was the end of it, but now the bathroom mirror is reacting the same way."
"What?"
According to Yoo Ji-won's account, this is what happened.
She really did dispose of the cursed mirror.
Then, the bathroom mirror she first looked into upon waking the next morning fell under the exact same curse.
$-Die right now.
The mirror kept repeating the same words.
Naturally, Yoo Ji-won removed and tossed that bathroom mirror too.
The next day, Yoo Ji-won entered Dang Seo-rin's office to report to the guild leader.
And when she glanced at the desk mirror on Dang Seo-rin's table.
$-Die right now.
That's when Yoo Ji-won realized.
This anomaly wasn't bound to a specific mirror.
The first mirror Yoo Ji-won looked into each day became the anomaly.
"No way... What kind of mechanism is that?"
The newbie regressor from the experience-poor 7th regression was flustered.
"Why does every mirror go weird just from you looking at it, Ji-won?"
"I don't know either."
"Even talking, no less. It's not like some fairy tale magic mirror—"
I shut my mouth. Yoo Ji-won's appearance had just caught my eye.
More precisely, the color of Yoo Ji-won's hair struck me anew.
"......"
"Your Excellency? Why are you staring like that?"
$← The mirror is talking to her.
← Her silver hair looks like fresh snow, eyes like pure white.
← Flawless complexion beyond any human I've seen across all my regressor lives.
← Exaggerating a bit, she could be rated 'the fairest of them all.'$
"Ah...."
I couldn't help but sigh.
A conclusion formed in my head in an instant.
"......?"
That's right.
Yoo Ji-won.
This psychopath was the Snow White of the Korean Peninsula.
2
The mirror had no eyes.
So asking the anomaly clinging to her under the delusion if its eyesight was faulty felt a bit much. Cursing someone who truly had no eyes would make it hate speech.
I'm the Undertaker—I don't casually curse anyone except Old Man Show, Yoo Ji-won, and Sim A-ryeon.
$-Die right now.
"Hmm."
$-Die right now.
"......"
But there were too many odd things about it.
For starters, it was far too docile for an anomaly.
In both the 7th and 8th regressions, the 'magic mirror' caused no real commotion. It just passively urged suicide in a way that ruined moods.
Of course, urging suicide wasn't exactly nice.
But compared to other anomalies that aggressively tried to end human lives, wasn't this better?
That led to this question.
'What exactly is this anomaly's purpose?'
As far as I knew, Snow White's 'magic mirror' was an AI that kindly answered human questions—not some suicidal messenger.
"Mirror, mirror. What are you?"
$-Die right now.
"Mirror, mirror. If civilization hadn't collapsed, would Bitcoin have broken 300 million won?"
$-Die right now.
"Mirror. Wanna die?"
$-Die right now.
"......"
Unlike the fairy tale, the magic mirror responded with ironclad consistency to any question. It had the makings of a politician's spokesperson.
But if you asked whether it was just a recorder repeating preset lines, no, it wasn't.
"Wha? Hey, salted old man. This thing speaks German too?"
Surprisingly, when Old Man Show stood in front of it, the mirror urged suicide in German.
The languages it had mastered weren't limited to Korean and German. Later, when I brought the magical girls, it fluently replied to them in Japanese.
Hindi. Russian. Filipino. Arabic. French. Chinese. Portuguese. Vietnamese. Spanish. Swahili.
There was no language the mirror couldn't speak. Truly, the pinnacle of AI in history.
'In other words, it accurately identifies its interlocutor. So why doesn't its response change based on who it's talking to?'
Time passed.
The key to unraveling my question came much later, in the 41st regression.
"Ji-won. Doing well?"
"Yes. Thanks to Your Excellency's care, I'm managing fine at Three Thousand Worlds."
"The mirrors still the same?"
"Yes. No point tossing them since another one just gets possessed, so I leave them be."
I passed by the full-length mirror without much thought. I didn't even look straight at it—just glanced sideways.
Right then.
$-Next time, get infected with Udumbara immediately and die.
I halted mid-stride.
"Huh?"
"Hm?"
My voice overlapped with Yoo Ji-won's.
Our gazes met soon after.
"Ji-won, just now..."
"Yes. I heard it too."
Just in case, I stepped properly in front of the mirror this time.
$-Next time, get infected with Udumbara immediately and die.
It had changed.
After centuries of repeating the exact same line to everyone, the mirror suddenly gave a different response.
"Ji-won. You try standing here."
"Understood."
Yoo Ji-won swapped places with me.
$-Die right now.
Back to the usual response.
Yoo Ji-won nodded expressionlessly.
"Curious. I'll bring others."
Dozens of Three Thousand Worlds guild members came, plus Dang Seo-rin, for tests.
The results were the same. Everyone except me—awakened or ordinary—heard 'Die right now.'
Conclusion.
"It seems the mirror's response changes only for Your Excellency."
"......"
"This proves once again that Your Excellency is uniquely special in the world. Quite satisfying. That aside, may I ask what Udumbara is, Your Excellency?"
"Ah."
Smart readers might remember: the 41st regression was when I first subjugated Udumbara.
Naturally, no one except me and the Saintess knew of its existence.
I'd taken it down before it fully bloomed and spread the New Buddha virus.
"It's a world tree I subjugated in secret. It seems like it grants eternal life upon infection, but past a certain point, all the infected get digested as nutrients for the tree."
"Hmm."
"But awakeners absolutely cannot get infected. It strips your awakening ability."
"Your awakening ability disappears?"
"Yeah. If you got infected, Ji-won, your [Minimap] would vanish."
"And if Your Excellency got infected by any chance?"
"Well. Obviously, various abilities would get deleted. [Perfect Memory], [Continue], too."
"......"
Yoo Ji-won rested her chin on her hand.
Lightly propping her chin on her index finger—a habit when she was deep in thought.
A moment later, her lips parted slowly.
"This may be an extremely irreverent question, but..."
"You're irreverent by nature, so it's fine."
"If Your Excellency were infected by Udumbara."
"If I were infected?"
Yoo Ji-won said,
"Then even your [Regression] ability would be deleted, meaning Your Excellency would face true death, wouldn't it?"