Chapter 203
Chapter 203
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 203
Chapter Title: Infinite Regressor Spills Tales
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People often say life comes only once.
But suppose a regressor appeared before you and lightly confessed, "Actually, life happens multiple times." And suppose that regressor looked just a tad more trustworthy than the various sages on the street begging for the Way.
How would you react?
"Wow! Infinite rerolls on life! Awesome!"
If that's your reaction, you're a positive person.
You're the human vitamin who showered happiness on everyone around you, whether you knew about regression or not.
"I'm intrigued. How did I live in other turns? Any info that could help my life?"
If that's your reaction, you're a normal person.
Curious anytime, anywhere, always grabbing the benefits—a perfectly human human.
Now.
What reaction did O Dok-seo show here? She's our writer and editor this turn, who underwent a dark evolution into a ghostwriter limited to this cycle.
"St-still, Uncle! Don't be disappointed! I'm stronger than my other selves from previous turns!"
"Hmm."
"Those guys are always holed up in the Inunaki back room, hunched over typewriters all day, developing severe turtle neck, right? And scoliosis too—total mess from head to toe!"
"Hmm."
"Look at me, on the other hand! Come on! Look! How healthy am I? I could demolish an entire building with my aura! Whoa. See, people really need to exercise, huh? And so what if I've fallen a bit? I'm still your ally, Uncle! Right?"
"......"
Indeed.
Incredibly, O Dok-seo—
Tried to "compete" with her other selves from different turns.
I'd never heard of a reaction like this anywhere.
Can you imagine a 50-year-old envying or jealous of their 6-year-old self? A 20-year-old seeing their 10-year-old self as a rival?
No way. O Dok-seo was pioneering a new frontier in psychopathology in real time. Freud would've given a standing ovation.
"And us fallen ones have our own uses!"
"Like what? Ending the world?"
"N-no! For example! Like this!"
O Dok-seo hammered the laptop keyboard.
――――――――――
>> Make sure the O Dok-seo (me) in the next turn—889th turn—never hits a slump and writes one piece a day consistently.
――――――――――
I blinked.
"What's this now...?"
"Think about it, Uncle. This turn's me unluckily became a fallen one. That's undeniable fact."
A heroic air emanated from O Dok-seo's face.
"But what if I use the power of Fantasmal Diversion... to cast a permanent buff on the next turn's me?"
?
"Slump immunity. Constant motivation 365 days a year. Fall asleep in 3 minutes flat when hitting the bed, enjoy over 7 hours of perfect sleep. Plus, wake up refreshed with a brain firing on all cylinders...!"
Tap tap.
Even as she explained to me, O Dok-seo kept typing nonstop.
――――――――――
>> Make sure O Dok-seo (me) in all future turns never hits a slump and writes one piece a day consistently.
To that end, grant the following buffs to O Dok-seo in future turns as passive skills.
① Endless Motivation: O Dok-seo never experiences burnout or laziness.
② Perfect Sleep: O Dok-seo never pulls all-nighters wasting time on SG Net. Only serious about writing! And sleeps great!
③ Clear Mind: While awake, O Dok-seo never suffers drops in cognition or fatigue. Always performs at 100% capacity!
Thanks to this, O Dok-seo in future turns can write at least 500 pieces per turn.
――――――――――
O Dok-seo looked up at me triumphantly.
"How about it, Uncle?! Perfect, right?"
"......"
"If I tried brainwashing this turn's me, it'd get devoured by Fantasmal Diversion no question. I'd be voluntarily handing my existence to a monster. But other turns' O Dok-seos are different! They're just chilling, and suddenly blessings rain from the sky! So they get to suck the honey without submitting to Fantasmal Diversion!"
"No..."
"Whoa, damn. I'm a genius! Uncle, O Dok-seo's life changes completely from turn 888 onward. All future O Dok-seos will live their remaining days indebted to me..."
Countless counterarguments bubbled up in my mind.
Like, wouldn't this let Fantasmal Diversion exert massive power across turns, and can you handle the backlash—?
Or, your fallen powers only activate if you beat the target in something like rock-paper-scissors first—how do you control next turn's you—?
But those were side issues.
Unknowingly, my tongue cut straight to the core.
"Dok-seo. Just gotta ask out of pure curiosity."
"Yeah?"
"What's the difference between that and 'Today's me can slack off because tomorrow's me will handle it'?"
"......"
"......"
Silence fell.
In that suffocating air, beep—the laptop screen flickered. Fantasmal Diversion responding to O Dok-seo's absurd request.
――――――――――
MSYH >> Yes, understood.
Delivered the buffs set by 888th-turn O Dok-seo to 889th-turn O Dok-seo.
――――――――――
"Huh?"
"Uh?"
O Dok-seo and my voices overlapped.
Late hour. No Do-ha had gone to bed, Sim A-ryeon had dived into the vast Net world. Everyone else clocked out, leaving just me and O Dok-seo in the conference room.
Lights off to save power—only candlelight, with the outsider god's laptop blinking in the center.
――――――――――
MSYH >> Terminology confusion. Henceforth, refer to 888th-turn O Dok-seo as 8 Dok-seo, 889th-turn O Dok-seo as 9 Dok-seo.
9 Dok-seo has received all buffs and explanations from 8 Dok-seo. The two can now engage in a simple match via this laptop screen.
――――――――――
My eyes widened.
'As expected! This outsider god bastard's scheming to wield influence across turns for real!'
Me, the battle-hardened regressor Undertaker, wouldn't let such a cheap trick slide.
But right before I could warn Dok-seo—
――――――――――
MSYH >> First, relaying message per 9 Dok-seo's input.
Apologies for slow text output due to unstable connection.
――――――――――
Text appeared on the laptop.
Something previously deemed impossible—bidirectional real-time communication between multiple turns.
Humanity's first over-technology exchange.
And that touching first line was:
――――――――――
9 Dok-seo >> No thanks?
9 Dok-seo >> You stockpile 500 pieces and hand them over to me.
――――――――――
Silence.
"Wha?"
Dok-seo's dumbfounded voice leaked out.
――――――――――
MSYH >> That was 9 Dok-seo's message. Shall we proceed to the match now?
――――――――――
Was it my imagination, or was Fantasmal Diversion desperately steering the convo toward a match?
But O Dok-seo didn't play along. She hammered the laptop like enraged Beethoven.
"No, no! No way! Why should I write 500 pieces for you?"
She inputted something similar, and soon a reply came.
9 Dok-seo >> You slacked off doing whatever, now telling me to just write? Why me?
"Of course! You're loaded with buffs, but I get none! If I beg the outsider god to define my existence, I become a real monster's minion! But you're not! I sacrificed, became fallen, offered this body to pass the baton to you! Dumbass? Show some gratitude!"
9 Dok-seo >> Okay, thanks. Then I'll fall next and pass to 890th-turn me lol.
"This crazy bitch...?"
O Dok-seo yelled.
The laptop flickered frantically.
――――――――――
MSYH >> Control your emotions. Hatred, contempt, and shirking responsibility yield no good.
What matters is action that actually changes the world.
How about proceeding to a match between 8 Dok-seo and 9 Dok-seo? Recommend simple rock-paper-scissors.
――――――――――
"Shut up! That's not the point right now!"
No matter how advanced the AI chatbot, without humans initiating, it's just a parrot nymph—some small, cute critter that can't speak.
O Dok-seo furiously pounded the keys. The poor AI devolved into a helpless text shuttle.
"No slump worries!"
Tap.
"No sleep worries!"
Tap tap.
"Mind crystal clear at 100%, brain spinning perfectly!"
Tap tap tap.
"Now you just write, so why refuse and dump on another me? You told Uncle to trust only you! You'd be his editor and help! Forgot that vow—lifelong oath, soul-bound promise? You human? You O Dok-seo?"
Tap tap tap tap.
O Dok-seo panted, unable to contain her excitement.
Soon, the reply:
9 Dok-seo >> That's your story, not mine?
Wha—8 Dok-seo next to me froze.
9 Dok-seo >> World went to shit, apocalypse hit, but regressor Uncle picks you as guildmate, you survive Busan Station tutorial fine.
Beep.
9 Dok-seo >> While everyone's starving, waiting for Sword Marquis gramps, you're chilling in Inunaki Tunnel Cafe Hideout, even brunching elegantly.
Beep beep.
9 Dok-seo >> Uncle's too nice, doesn't assign tasks, so you SG Net trance all day, no complaints. Grab any rando who got hit by shoes at Gwanghwamun Square, they'd have 2000 pieces by now?
Beep beep beep.
9 Dok-seo >> Now refusing to write and dumping on others? That's you, you serial abandoner. You human? How you me?
9 Dok-seo >> Permanently expelling you from O Dok-seo Association. Fallen one. Can't acknowledge an ugly thing like you as "me."
Beep.
Reply stopped.
"......"
"......"
O Dok-seo's breathing seemed to halt too.
For a long while—until I brewed coffee from the National Highway Management Corps pantry and returned—O Dok-seo just stared blankly at the ceiling.
"Uncle..."
"Yeah?"
"I'll restart serialization from tomorrow..."
"Good call."
"Yeah..."
Glance.
Sipping coffee side by side, we eyed the laptop screen.
No one left to input text—the lonely AI chatbot sat there forlorn.
――――――――――
MSYH >> Question.
The outsider god's life is far too miserable. Why on earth did past turns' Fantasmal Diversion choose such a human as its vessel?
Me and future turns' Fantasmal Diversions want to form the Fantasmal Diversion Association and banish that turn's version.
――――――――――
"......"
I quietly brewed another coffee and set it before the laptop.
Have a cup too.
At least you made one fallen one, despite getting subjugated ages ago?
9
Epilogue.
A week later, a notice went up on SG Net's novel serialization board.
[Literary Girl] It's O Dok-seo... (50 min ago)
[Literary Girl] It's me. (7 days ago)
[Literary Girl] It's O Dok-seo... Taking a short recharge break for serialization... (7 years ago)
The new notice lacked the usual weird tone or content.
Just sincere apologies for the real 7-year abandonment, vows to serialize diligently henceforth.
In an internet world of nothing but mockery and refined mockery, such a notice should've drawn malice.
But—
-Anonymous: Writer wants a break? Waiting patiently is true reader etiquette, right?
-[National Highway] Historian: To desert tribes, paradise appears as an oasis. What one lacks becomes utopia. Literary Girl's novels are oases in this barren world.
-Anonymous: Take more time off lol
-Anonymous: Thank you for returning!!
What the hell?
The same crowd debating killing or saving the writer a week ago turned into meek sheep, Literary Girl praise bots.
Not even malicious comments or sly pokes.
No Do-ha commented simply on the phenomenon.
"Come on. After footage of punching out Baekhwa Girls' High School student council president went viral, who'd dare trash-talk her...?"
"Oh."
True.
Instead, O Dok-seo's [Regressor Quill] hit a second heyday. Word spread it was penned by such a powerhouse awakener—crowds flocked from SG Net and real world alike.
Of course, popularity didn't last.
[Literary Girl] Did my best but... quality not satisfactory... Will do double chapters tomorrow... (5 days ago)
[Literary Girl] Flu monster still not better... (14 days ago)
[Literary Girl] *Emergency* Turns out my flu wasn't just flu but a "flu monster"... Need a few more days off (20 days ago)
[Literary Girl] Sorry, caught a flu... (25 days ago)
[Literary Girl] Apologies. Fatigue built up, can't serialize today. Will visit early tomorrow instead...! (38 days ago)
[Literary Girl] Today's serialization delayed 30 min. Sorry. (39 days ago)
[Literary Girl] It's O Dok-seo... (60 days ago)
A barrage of notices that made your head spin just reading them.
No matter how Heavenly Demon-level strong O Dok-seo was, readers couldn't endure, spamming "Aargh O Dok-seo you bitch."
Humans gonna human.
For the record, I held no ill will.
'It's not ordinary slump—it's curses from the outsider god.'
Instead, I occasionally brewed her coffee, cheering as she struggled against Fantasmal Diversion's presence to keep writing.
Oh.
And that AI chatbot scheming "outsider god's return" despite subjugation?
――――――――――
>> Bind yourself with the setting that you're just a mere AI and can never regain outsider god status.
――――――――――
Neutralized with that simple input.
Fallen ones vary—even easy resolutions like this happen.
ChatGPT-Fantasmal Diversion glitched out, outputting a death rattle of a last word, perfectly localized.
――――――――――
MSYH >> F*ck this game's such sh*t fr
――――――――――
-Ugly one. End.