Chapter 214
Chapter 214
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 214
Chapter Title: The Mirror Between Us
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There is an epilogue.
The season upon returning to reality was summer.
Summer was brilliant.
The hell of swords and blades, where knife edges sprouted at every step, had vanished. The molten iron that had seeped into alleyways and melted people's hearts had evaporated.
As had the silver bell that had once dangled from my wrist.
Not only those things bid farewell to this season.
"Um...?"
"Eh? W-Why am I on the rooftop...?"
People could not remember what had just happened.
No Do-ha and Sim A-ryeon, and all the other comrades, were the same.
Even the Regression Virus infectees who had been protesting in the plaza were no different. People stood around in bewilderment, chatting with each other or heading back to their workplaces.
As if they had merely dreamed a brief daydream.
"Saintess...?"
It had probably been a nightmare.
"I'm sorry, but who is that...?"
The Saintess of the 267th round had gone missing.
From reality. And from memory.
"Highway Management Corps Leader No Do-ha. You truly don't remember? What about the existence of the constellations?"
"If you're talking about constellations, aren't those the nicknames you keep stealing and using in your SG Net announcements...?"
"No. There is someone who monitors all Awakeners on the Korean Peninsula with [Clairvoyance] and delivers messages whenever they wish with [Telepathy]."
No Do-ha furrowed her brow.
"What is that? Some ultimate Awakener you imagined...?"
No one remembered the Saintess of the 267th round.
It was just like my [Time Seal].
Along with Nut's domain, she had sealed herself away into the back world—an other side that could no longer influence reality in any way.
So that, just in case, the goddess of the night sky could not interfere with me. So that my regressions would not be tainted by any Abnormality.
She had isolated her very existence.
"......"
Summer passed.
"Hoeack. Comrade Secretary-General. No matter how much we're residents of dreams, that's impossible. We can't enter the dream of someone who doesn't exist in reality at all!"
I tried countless methods to cross over to the domain where the Saintess was sealed, to the back world.
And all of them failed.
When I had subjugated Nut before, there had at least been a glass barrier I could meet her through, even if I couldn't cross over—it was visible to the eye.
Now, even that was impossible.
The magic mirror had lost its function as a passageway.
No matter what means I employed, I could not get any closer to the back world where the Saintess slumbered.
"We scoured the dreams of everyone residing on the Korean Peninsula on Comrade Secretary-General's orders, but we couldn't find a single human matching the characteristics you described anywhere!"
But such a person had existed.
"Someone who could brew any kind of coffee but always requested instant coffee."
"And if you secretly mixed in a spoonful of cinnamon powder and gave it to her, she liked it even more."
"With hair the color of water and eyes like rippling waves. Her breathing and footsteps gave off the vibe of quietly swimming underwater rather than walking on land."
"Someone uninterested in the trivial affairs of the world, always expressionless and not joining in people's chatter, yet willing to sacrifice herself for others."
"Very intelligent."
"She liked crossing the pontoon bridge during walks."
Such a person had existed.
"Hoe. Comrade Secretary-General! We mobilized all manpower for six years straight, but we still found absolutely nothing!"
For some reason, the residence in Yongsan where the Saintess had stayed had turned into ruins.
The tropical fish she had steadfastly raised even after civilization's collapse, the aquariums she had meticulously cleaned of moss— all had turned to dust and vanished.
The table where we had held study sessions every Wednesday, sitting together, was gone.
Having lost [Clairvoyance] and [Telepathy], security on the Korean Peninsula rapidly deteriorated.
When Awakeners got lost in the Void.
-Undertaker.
-There's a distress signal. I'll tell you their location now.
No one sent me messages like that anymore. I could no longer rescue people as quickly as before.
No one found it strange.
Summer passed.
When Awakeners didn't know their own abilities precisely, let alone how to strengthen their skills.
['Librarian of the Great Library' unlocks your true potential.]
['Librarian of the Great Library' bestows a quest upon you.]
[Upon quest completion, an opportunity to strengthen your abilities will be generated.]
No one guided Awakeners subtly in my stead anymore. I could no longer help people on as wide a scale as before.
The notion that "at least the constellations are watching over me," no matter what misdeeds they committed, vanished from people's minds.
The support that "at least I can pour out my honest worries to the constellations," no matter what troubles they harbored, also disappeared from people's hearts.
No one found it strange.
Summer passed.
The world without you grew a little closer to hell with each passing season.
Only then did I realize.
From the 1st to 4th rounds, where I had eternally lost my memories, to the 5th round onward, where I began truly living as a Regressor.
At no point had there not been one silent watcher somewhere in this world, quietly protecting people.
Even the moments I thought were the worst were, in fact, not the worst at all.
Even a Regressor who had lived countless lives still had much to learn about life.
It seemed I was not yet prepared to live in a world without you.
Summer passed.
Now it was time to move on to the next round.
In truth, I had never told anyone, but at that time, one fear dwelled within me.
"What if the Saintess isn't there in the next round either?"
268th round. The moment I opened my eyes in the Busan Station concourse, I rushed straight to the souvenir shop.
There, I searched for that item I had always reliably farmed.
'It's here.'
The cheap souvenir silver bell, priced at 9,900 won, sat intact on the shelf.
I attached the silver bell to my bracelet and wore it, then hurriedly cleared the Tutorial Dungeon.
If there was "someone" observing every Awakener without fail, I displayed an overwhelmingly impressive performance sure to pique their interest.
Then.
['Saintess of National Salvation' is astounded by your exploits!]
['Lord of the Red Horse' feels competitive fervor toward your power.]
['Conqueror of the Alps' takes note of your actions.]
['Prime Minister of the Red Cape' grows wary of your skills.]
I nearly collapsed at the knees.
I exhaled. Relief swelled from my heart.
'She's here. ...Yes, she's here.'
It became certain at last.
The one alienated from the flow of time was solely the "Saintess of the 267th round."
In the end, the Saintess as an existence had not been erased from the world. Perhaps the moment she ascended to Alienation God-grade Abnormality, she had been treated as an entirely separate entity from the previous Saintess.
Now I could tell my comrades what had happened in the 267th round.
'But I can't say it.'
Splash!
I entered the Busan Station bathroom and washed my face with icy water.
Since the city hadn't implemented water rationing yet, the tap water sufficiently cooled my mind.
'I can't tell the Saintess what happened to her in the 267th round.'
'If she learns there's even a possibility of that happening to her... the Saintess won't hesitate.'
Surely the same thing would repeat someday.
I could easily imagine it.
If a moment of world-ending danger arrived, the Saintess would unhesitatingly activate [Time Stop] and spend thousands of years alone once more.
'No.'
So I absolutely could not tell her.
It was similar with Dang Seo-rin.
Just as she had confessed that, being the greedy type, if she realized her stockpiled lifespan already exceeded thousands of years, she would break into her savings at the slightest danger.
The moment she learned she had such a devastating trump card, the Saintess would transform into an Alienation God-grade Abnormality again at any time.
'That can't happen.'
'I have to keep it secret.'
'This must never happen again――.'
Jingle.
It was then.
The silver bell on my wrist shook.
"......?"
An unconscious occurrence.
Apparently, without realizing it, after washing my face, I had placed my palm against the bathroom mirror.
'Huh?'
I looked up at the mirror. The surface reflected my wet face and hair.
But my gaze wasn't directed there.
My palm.
The palm pressing against the mirror.
'It's cold.'
For some reason, only the spot where that palm touched felt strangely cool.
In terms of temperature, yes.
Precisely around 15°C body temperature.
"......!"
I touched the mirror with my other hand. But the hand without the silver bell felt nothing no matter how much I groped the glass.
Only when I touched the mirror with the palm of my left hand, the one with the silver bell, did I feel that 15°C temperature.
'Ah.'
She was there.
She is here.
"Saintess."
Undoubtedly.
"Saintess, can you hear my voice?"
No response came.
She was no longer visible. I could no longer cross over to the other side. We could no longer converse. No exchanging voices. No sitting in the same room reading books, sensing the outline of each other's breaths.
All that remained here was memory.
And, with the mirror between us, me on this side and you on that side, pressing our palms together and faintly feeling each other's body heat.
You on the other side were probably pressing your palm to the mirror just like this.
Frozen eternally with the world.
"......"
But this alone was enough.
'As long as she exists, we will surely reunite.'
That was the fate of a Regressor.
I was endlessly grateful for being a Regressor.
As the people infected with the Regression Virus had screamed, this fate might be hell to someone else, but not to me.
If someone could still be grateful for life even after realizing this world repeats endlessly, it would only be because there was someone they wanted to meet again.
And a person could cross millions of summers for just one reunion.
"...Please wait just a little longer."
We were beings at opposite poles.
I lived through endlessly flowing time, while the Saintess remained at time's end. I enjoyed wandering outside, while the Saintess preferred quietly gazing at the aquarium inside the room.
Now, a mirror stood between us.
"If I close my eyes for a moment and open them again, I'll be back in that season."
Slowly.
I withdrew my hand from the mirror.
For a while, the palm print and fingerprints remained stark white on the mirror surface.
――And right before the fingerprints vanished.
I clearly saw it.
Overlaid on my mark in the mirror. A trace somehow smaller in palm and slenderer in fingers than mine. The sight of them briefly overlapping.
White text.
-Yes.
-I'll see you soon.
Abnormality 'Night Goddess Nut'.
Epithets: Hell, Lord of the Underworld, Mirror World, Geocentrism, Eye of Horus, Moon of Parmenides, Regression Virus
Danger Level: Lv.5 Alienation God-grade
Subjugation in progress.
-Archenemy. End.