Chapter 252
Chapter 252
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 252
Chapter Title: Mugan's Proposal
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Sensing my menacing aura, Mugan swung both arms wildly.
"Wait, wait, wait! Isn't it too much to pull up your aura right away without even hearing an explanation?"
"There's no need to hear any explanation. It doesn't even look like a joke, and I'd rather hit reset than have a child with you."
"No! Listen to me! Stop the suicide!"
Mugan jumped down from the table and hugged me. I tried to brush him off lightly, but a supernatural grip far beyond imagination clamped down on me from both sides.
Crunch-.
Even a rotting mackerel is still mackerel. Having regained a fair amount of his authority, Mugan was no longer a pushover. I found myself completely immobilized.
"Urk."
"Ahat. Senior, you've really gotten weak♪"
"......"
"The senior who used to beat up my sealed self with aura every day is now such a frail human girl? Ehehe. Even I, an anomaly free of the seven deadly sins, feel like something's awakening unwittingly—."
It was utterly humiliating.
The aftermath of pouring aura into him during the final defense war must still linger strongly.
"Ey, ey, don't glare so scarily. Anyway, there's an extremely valid reason for my proposal. You know it too, right? I'm Mugan. Mugan. The Akashic Record, whose essence and purpose is collecting data on all phenomena in the three thousand worlds."
"So?"
"Listen quietly. Even now that I've somewhat recovered my authority, there's one piece of data I still haven't obtained. Do you know what it is?"
"Hmm. Human nature?"
"Ooh. Sharp insight. But compared to Yoo Ji-won, who's born to be Homo sapiens, I'm actually more human, don't you think?"
"......"
I couldn't deny it.
Out of everyone, even more than an outsider god, Yoo Ji-won failed the human test. What kind of beast test did you ace top marks in...?
As I wallowed in despair, Mugan giggled.
"Data that even I absolutely can't obtain. Ta-da! It's your childbirth and child-rearing, Senior!"
"What?"
"Senior, you've never had or raised a child even once so far, right? I don't know the details of other turns, but this much is certain."
"......"
"This gap in data is, from my perspective, hmm. How to put it. To make it easy for humans to understand, like being one gacha pull away from completing your collection? Anyway, it's an instinctual urge that's hard to resist."
"...Ha. Ridiculous."
I pushed Mugan away.
This time, Mugan didn't use his grip or resist. He stepped back playfully, chuckling "Akoko-."
"What makes you think I'd accept your proposal? Having a child for such a petty desire is wrong in itself, and above all, an offer like 'I'll cooperate if you offer up your child' is the epitome of a devil's scheme."
"Ey. But aren't you curious, honestly? Our child? An outsider god and... a regressor's offspring."
Mugan clasped his hands behind his back.
His red eyes narrowed.
"Probably an absolutely tremendous being would be born? A game-changer just by existing. A variable that could completely overturn the Six Paths Reincarnation board you've been struggling with."
"......"
"It would literally open the moment a myth is created. Half outsider god, half human... How about it? This might unexpectedly be the route to the true ending?"
"Impossible. Present another condition."
"Tch."
Mugan pouted.
"Boring. You'll reject the request to call me by the name Cheon Yo-hwa anyway, right?"
"Naturally."
"This no, that no. As expected of a regressor, you've packed away your conscience nice and tight."
I didn't chime in.
He was skillfully mimicking Cheon Yo-hwa's voice and gestures right now.
He had deconstructed someone I held affection for into data and replicated her perfectly.
Aside from the title changing from "teacher" to "senior" and polite speech to casual, the being before me was nothing more than a perfect copy of Cheon Yo-hwa.
A ploy to provoke even a sliver of carelessness from me.
I had no intention of playing along with such childish tricks.
"Hmm~. Amazing. Even though I stacked debuffs to weaken the mind all over the secret room before you came, Senior, it really doesn't affect you at all."
"......"
"A normal human would've lost their reason the moment they saw me earlier. You must've really been done in thoroughly by that Go Yo-ri or whoever. Fine, Senior. How about this?"
"Tell me."
Mugan tilted his head.
"Remember my favor."
I furrowed my brow.
"What do you mean?"
"Literally, remember it. I'll cooperate for free this time, so settle the debt later."
"......"
"At least for this turn, I'll actively cooperate with you in subjugating the black curtain. No demands like passing memories to the next turn's me, handing over data, or exclusive rights to the fairies—none of that."
Mugan, still with hands behind his back, leaned his face toward me. Staring. His red eyes looked up at me.
"So, a debt."
Just as I was about to respond, press.
Mugan extended a finger and gently pressed my lips.
"Sorry. Before rejecting my final proposal, think about it a bit more, Senior. I'm cunning, you know. I might surrender to the black curtain and devour you instead."
I closed my mouth.
Silence flowed between us.
After gazing into my eyes for a while, Mugan smiled faintly. He withdrew his finger and offered a handshake.
"Good. Cooperation sealed! Love you, Senior. Looking forward to working with you!"
"...Fall into hell."
"Huh? Why's that an insult? Forgot the name you gave me is Avici Hell?"
Arguing with an anomaly was pointless.
6
Surprisingly, Mugan's head seemed properly equipped with concepts like 'promise,' 'faith,' and 'loyalty.'
"Here, the great void of the outsider god... According to the terminology you invented, Senior, it's a divine domain? Anyway, there's a reason this place's background is set as a 'research institute.'"
Mugan, cloaked in Cheon Yo-hwa's skin, cooperated with me in earnest.
"There are restricted areas in the research institute. Depending on the researcher's rank, the accessible places differ."
"So clear rules exist."
"Exactly!"
Mugan grinned.
"A research institute handling anomalies is rife with all sorts of rules. Even anomalies have to follow them most of the time. Like now."
Snap-.
Mugan snapped his fingers. The speaker embedded in the lab ceiling crackled with static.
[Announcement to C-Wing researchers.]
[It is mealtime. C-Wing researchers, please cease work and gather at the cafeteria.]
[Repeating. C-Wing researchers, immediately cease work and gather at the cafeteria. End of message.]
The content was nearly identical to the announcement from a few hours ago.
I was somewhat surprised.
"You manipulated that speaker broadcast too?"
"Who am I? Lord Mugan, ruler of the Night Parade of One Hundred Demons. Ehehe. An anomaly you've seen somewhere before, right, Senior?"
"Ah."
Suddenly, I recalled when I'd infiltrated Baekhwa Girls' High School as a security guard to take down the ghosts.
Back then, the school's ghosts had possessed 'speakers' and 'walkie-talkies' to deceive students.
In other words.
"My Night Parade of One Hundred Demons subordinates are already fully unleashed in this divine domain, roaming freely. Not just the Fairy Lord you're wearing now, Senior!"
"...You're manipulating the Night Parade to force actions on the black curtain's anomalies. Like gathering at the cafeteria or moving somewhere."
"Yeah. Thanks to that, we could sneak in this secret meeting while the researchers are gone."
A power befitting an outsider god indeed.
While Cheon Yo-hwa could only manage [NPC Script] to implant behavioral patterns in people, Mugan went several steps further, imposing backgrounds and rules on the void itself.
So-called [Data Input].
It was thanks to Mugan's [Data Input] that tutorial dungeons had been generated worldwide, allowing only those who passed certain trials to survive.
"Well, as you've seen, Senior, the black curtain's resisting with full force, so glitches keep happening... Still, I've worked this hard for you, so handle the rest yourself, okay?"
I accepted the provocation.
First, over a few days, I familiarized myself with institute life.
What researchers did amounted to observing the 'simulation universe' all day, sleeping, and eating—simple enough.
Occasionally, researchers gathered to experiment with simulations together.
The researchers exchanged opinions, pretending to be experts.
"Shouldn't we buff O Dok-seo's stats to delay world destruction as much as possible?"
"No, inputting social skills into the Saintess is best. If her potential bursts right, she can handle everything alone."
"Did anyone else ride the Sword Marquis coin?"
"The conditions to reach Rejuvenation of the Old are too tricky... Gotta befriend the Undertaker no matter what. Worth it?"
The researchers ran simulations nonstop.
Typically, it took a fair amount of time—about 20 years—for a single turn to reach destruction.
But that was the time flow felt 'inside' the simulation universe.
'Outside' the simulation universe, it was different. The researchers just hit time acceleration, and 10 years flew by in a snap.
"Ooh, look at this. The Saintess fell again."
"Kyaa, the scenery where the whole universe grinds to a halt is always spectacular."
"I barely fixed things between the Sword Marquis and the Undertaker, but the Sword Marquis went to China alone and died a dog's death..."
"That's natural death."
"Hey, hey. No matter how many mock experiments I run, the results are always the same—what do I do?"
"Idiot? That's 'cause you're fiddling only with Korea settings. Try manipulating variables outside the Saintess's Clairvoyance range!"
To the researchers, the world destructions unfolding in the simulation universes were merely amusing spectacles.
Instead of raging at the anomalies' behavior, I focused elsewhere.
'...Some simulation universe scenarios are eerily identical to reality.'
For instance, compare the simulation universe a researcher just clicked in front of me to one of my specific turns.
A. Simulation Universe:
[The Undertaker builds the Regression Alliance], [The Undertaker builds a ranch and develops dinosaurs], [UFO lands in Manchuria and overwhelms the monster wave], [Cheon Yo-hwa gets devoured by Mugan], [World destruction by UFO and Mugan]
B. Undertaker's 340th Turn:
[Builds the Regression Alliance], [Builds a ranch to develop dinosaurs for National Highway Management Corps use], [Attempts to build a wall with UFO but fails due to overly tricky balance adjustments], [Cheon Yo-hwa goes berserk fighting UFO aliens], [World destruction]
Virtually identical.
Why was the outsider god deploying over 1,000 simulation universe holograms, ceaselessly repeating this even now?
'...To neutralize me, the regressor.'
Yes.
I, the Undertaker, designated worlds where prior incidents occurred as the '340th turn.' Naturally, since it was the 340th world in my memories.
Yet the black curtain's outsider god phrased identical events entirely differently.
「No.」
「This is merely the 13,290,578,935th scenario implemented by Simulation Universe No. 655.」
「You are not a regressor.」
「You are merely a puppet in the simulation universes.」
Chills ran up my nape.
'To this extent. An outsider god-level anomaly deploys such grandiose methods to demean and deny me, a mere regressor?'
A regressor was an all-purpose cheat key.
Their mere existence was a calamity to anomalies, worthy of the term.
Hadn't the pathetic Mugan here proven it, still clashing with the black curtain in this divine domain?
Even if I subjugated all the tutorial fairies and holed up in Baekhwa Girls' High School's underground bunker, what use? One 'click' from the regressor wipes it all.
The moment a regression awakener emerged on Earth—and coincidentally, this person had steel-like mentality, declaring 'I can repeat this forever'—anomalies, no matter how they rampaged, were doomed to eventually fall to mortal level.
To survive the regressor's curse, anomalies needed a trickier choice.
'That being... these simulation universes.'
The black curtain's strategy was extremely effective.
No need to fight and win against the regressor.
A guaranteed loss on the ring. Why not step [outside] and control the match itself?
"Fairy Lord. How many simulation universes have been identified so far?"
-Response: 3,505 identified.
-Corollary: Approximately 1 hour per simulation run. Researchers labor an average of 12 hours daily.
-Conclusion: Thus, over 42,100 simulation scenarios are generated daily.
"...Hah."
Me, running 1 turn per 20 years.
The outsider god, executing over 40,000 simulations per day. And that was just the minimum.
No contest in a war of attrition.
"If we tally every simulation the black curtain has run so far and extract only those identical to my life..."
-Response: Affirmative. The wearer's life to date can be fully explained by simulation universe scenarios.
-Corollary: From 4th to 687th turn, even thousands or tens of thousands more, the black curtain can explain every possibility as simulation universe outcomes.
-Exposition: Mugan's proposal to create a child with the wearer wasn't mere curiosity relief. It was to generate an absolute variable in these simulations.
"......"
Watching the anomaly researchers chatter aimlessly, I recalled memories.
The lines 'black curtain' had borrowed mouths like Seo-gyu or the Saintess to say at every world destruction brink.
-I've set up countless numbers games from behind the scenes, bro. I've destroyed the world.
-Undertaker. I've planned every destruction.
Not jokes or exaggerations.
The black curtain syndrome had never lied to me. The outsider god had indeed 'set up countless numbers games' 'from behind' and 'planned every destruction.'
Even this very moment.
No matter how I struggled, my regression was destined to be subsumed into one simulation's result.
"107?"
Then the researchers turned to me in unison.
"Researcher 107. What's your opinion?"
"Yeah. What variable to create for a new destruction scenario?"
"India or Europe best? Or outer space altogether?"
"Anywhere Clairvoyance or Minimap can't reach works. Inside Earth or outside entirely."
"What's Researcher 107's idea?"
The researchers mimicking Old Man Show, Dang Seo-rin, O Dok-seo, Sim A-ryeon had vacant eyes.
To avoid suspicion, I blended in among them and spoke.
"Yes, in my opinion..."
As I moved my tongue, I thought.
――This entire colossal divine domain is nothing but a meticulously crafted murder factory, built solely by the outsider god to kill me.