Chapter 26
Chapter 26
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 26
Chapter Title: Prophet III
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Shin Noah
4
From the day I came out as a regressor, my relationship with O Dok-seo rapidly progressed.
I felt relieved too, having dropped the ridiculous cool guy act (which had been fun, but still). And O Dok-seo no longer had to constantly guard against a psycho time bomb who might snap at any moment twenty-four seven.
"Rookie. Let's go."
"Huh? Where to all of a sudden?"
"Gangnam."
Not long after, O Dok-seo and I headed out alone to Seoul for a stroll.
Originally, south of the Han River wasn't a great neighborhood for walks due to the lack of parks. But ever since citizens started moving their residences from the living world to the afterlife, it had become incredibly pleasant.
-Gruk?
A Ten Tribes stood blankly amid the empty abandoned buildings. It was a model janitor, steadfastly guarding the apartments even after the residents vanished.
-Krrrk!
It must have seen us as suspicious characters. It whipped its tentacles around and charged straight at us. Given how shady the times were, its overreaction was understandable.
In truth, the Ten Tribes' judgment wasn't wrong. What else would you call someone who's regressed hundreds of times and another who's read this world like a novel?
O Dok-seo let out a shriek of "Eek!" and hid behind my back.
"U-Uncle, are you insane? That's a Ten Tribes! With every Awakener in Korea needed to take it down, why go solo...!"
"Step back. Octopus slicing."
I swung my sword.
The reason subjugating Ten Tribes was so tough was their absurd regenerative abilities. Cut off their tentacles, and they'd regrow in no time. And you had to destroy both hearts simultaneously, which wasn't easy.
In other words, once you mastered sashimi slicing faster than their regeneration, a Ten Tribes was just mountain nakji on a cutting board.
After six or seven swings of my blade, the Ten Tribes and the abandoned buildings around it collapsed in a heap. Its scream was buried under the rumbling of the crumbling structures, barely audible.
Once the buildings were fully down, silence fell around us.
"Uh..."
O Dok-seo mumbled in a daze.
"What? It's over? For real?"
"Yeah. The guy you called the final boss is dead, so the world's at peace now. Go celebrate."
"Crazy... Uncle, you really got strong."
O Dok-seo looked at me with eyes full of admiration.
"But with that kind of power, how couldn't you stop the world from ending?"
"I couldn't. This Ten Tribes only has great regeneration—no bullshit immunities to physical or magical damage. It's literally the weakest."
"Even then..."
O Dok-seo's expression hardened.
She'd already believed me, but this incident made her trust me completely.
O Dok-seo disbanded the party she'd painstakingly built. I wondered if that was necessary, but she was surprisingly firm.
"No matter how much I built up my forces, we couldn't have beaten a Ten Tribes. But Uncle took it down solo. So my party is pointless, right? We should pivot to supporting you as much as possible."
Whether her judgment was right or wrong was secondary. Thanks to it, I had an excuse to part ways with Go Yo-ri.
Upon hearing the disbandment order, Go Yo-ri wore a deeply disappointed at least that's how it seemed to me).
"I wanted to stay with you, Party Leader, and Undertaker... Do we really have to part like this?"
"Uh. If it's about Cooking Sis, she could come with—Ow!"
I pinched O Dok-seo's arm hard as she started mumbling something weird. I'd explained countless times how terrifying Go Yo-ri was when it was just the two of us. Yet at the moment of farewell, she was getting brainwashed again.
Only then did O Dok-seo snap out of it with a "Huh."
"S-Sorry! Cooking Sis! I've decided to become Uncle's disciple for a while! This guy insists on taking only one disciple, so I can't move with you!"
"Hmm."
O Dok-seo even bowed her head, looking genuinely sorry.
Go Yo-ri just stared down at her. Then she turned her gaze to my face. If I'd glimpsed a shadow of red flesh in those scarlet eyes, was I overreacting?
"No helping it. A master-disciple bond is as sacred as parent and child. An outsider like me has no right to interfere."
Even as Go Yo-ri said those gratifying words right to my ears, her eyes stayed fixed on our faces without a flicker.
"Then I'll take my leave."
"R-Really...?"
"Yes. Even if we part now, I have a feeling our fates won't end here. We'll surely meet again someday. I wish you both happiness, even in this broken world."
Go Yo-ri took a couple steps backward, then bowed elegantly like a noble lady. Without another word, she descended the hill path alone.
Soon, her figure vanished down the slope.
"Whew—"
The tension released, and O Dok-seo melted limply. Even her cap—her main body—slipped halfway off.
"...Uncle was right. What the hell was that? Up until I brought it up, she seemed fine, but once I talked to her, suddenly I was thinking, 'Why am I being so cold to Cooking Sis?'"
"She's always like that. Lucky she accepted it for the master-disciple sake."
"Huh? What do you mean? She said even master-disciple bonds are dangerous if a man and woman travel alone, so I should be careful."
"......?"
"......?"
We stared at each other, then whipped our heads toward the hill path Go Yo-ri had taken. We'd just seen her going down, so she should appear climbing the opposite hill now.
A cicada chirped.
No matter how long we waited, Go Yo-ri's figure never crested the hill.
5
We wandered the crumbling world.
I have no desire to describe that decay in detail. Astute readers may have already noticed I'm deliberately avoiding such descriptions.
Of course, Korea's public order was relatively decent thanks to the Saintess's efforts. But her reach only extended to Awakener circles. She couldn't control the vast majority: ordinary people.
Looting, arson, violence—people lashing out after losing partners, raising ownerless pets to fill the void, warlords emerging from political factions and militarized units, the poor and weak painted as culprits or pandemic Patient Zeros. Misfortunes never end when listed.
I only deal with misfortunes I can handle.
The weight of those I can't belongs in others' hearts, and I'm not regressing to become a plague host.
"Hmm. The novel I read... I mean, the one where Uncle's the protagonist, [Omniscient Regressor's Viewpoint], had just hit 30 chapters when I checked."
One day, O Dok-seo said this while roughly wiping what looked like blood splatter from her face. It was actually red petals from something called Udumbara—an parasitic agent of a vicious plague. More on that in the next episode.
"30 chapters?"
"Yeah. I never read novels with fewer than 30, no matter how good they look. Authors might drop them anytime. Around two or three days before the Seoul Gate opened?"
O Dok-seo and I shared similar temperaments. We talked hobbies more than misfortunes.
"Where'd you find that novel?"
"Just? It was in my favorites on my usual webnovel platform... Favorites are like bookmarks. Anyway, I opened the app, and it was already favorited."
"So there's an author writing [Omniscient Regressor's Viewpoint]?"
"Dunno."
O Dok-seo chewed her gum.
"Honestly, I don't remember favoriting it. My favorites list is over 200, so I figured I forgot. But looking back... maybe it got added without me knowing. Oh."
A large dog, seemingly abandoned, approached as we walked through Onyang's streets. O Dok-seo hugged it.
Our two-person party gained a third member.
"I think it's your ability."
"My ability?"
I said this while sneaking into a guild-occupied department store to sweep up pet food. Luckily, the pet aisle had lax security.
"There's this guy named Seo-gyu with the ability to create and run internet communities. Awakener abilities vary wildly, so yours manifesting as 'reading novels' wouldn't be odd."
"But my ability's already [Barrier Creation], right?"
"You're a multi-ability user."
"Huh? Isn't that super rare in the lore?"
"It is rare. But living long, you realize 1% odds are more common than you think."
"Ooh, interesting... So I have another ability manifesting as novel-reading..."
"For convenience, I call yours [Serial Urging]."
"Serial Urging..."
Wang! Darkness (the dog's name) barked. The low sound echoed in the dim store.
O Dok-seo shushed it, but a patroller had already heard.
"Crap, danger—"
"Run."
Erasing the occupying guild would've been easy, but they were future allies who'd join the frontlines for humanity. We bolted. Wang! Wang! Darkness yipped excitedly in O Dok-seo's arms.
"Then maybe not Serial Urging, but [Prophecy]?"
Months later, on the way back from a guild alliance meeting, O Dok-seo said.
"Prophecy?"
"Yeah. Knowing Uncle's life story is basically prophesying the future. Prophets in novels see future visions like movies, but mine manifested as familiar webnovels. Sound plausible?"
"Hmm."
It did.
But if O Dok-seo's ability was [Prophecy], one mystery remained.
"Then why no signs until the 555th regression?"
"Huh?"
"From my view, this regression's abnormal. In your terms, an extra suddenly awakened [Prophecy]."
"Your phrasing's off... But yeah, weird."
O Dok-seo tapped her chin.
"Maybe it awakened exactly on 555 because it's a special-looking number? 555. Matches my name too."
"Regressions aren't number games."
"Hmm... What is it then? Why didn't I approach you until 555...?"
O Dok-seo tilted her head.
The mystery solved on a distant yet near day.
As usual, when the 555th ended in failure and the 556th began.
[O Dok-seo: Whoa. Busan Station concourse. I read this in the novel! Tutorial Fairy's about to show up and blow that 'you fucking bastard' guy's head off... Huh? Wh-what? Why's the protagonist coming toward me?]
This time, I approached O Dok-seo first. To block Go Yo-ri's interference, of course.
She panicked at the sudden event but trusted me quickly after I one-shot the Ten Tribes, like last time.
And learned something shocking.
"But Uncle, is it okay wandering with me?"
"Hm? What do you mean?"
"That... what was his name... Schopenhauer? Anyway, shouldn't you team up with that Sword Saint grandpa?"
My eyes widened.
"You know Old Man Show?"
"Duh. He's in the novel."
In the previous regression, O Dok-seo never mentioned him. I'd told her about the extra regressor, but to her—who'd only read up to chapter 4—it was just some side story.
I'd met Old Man Show in the 6th.
Yet now, she brought him up first.
The implication was clear.
'The novel O Dok-seo read... got more chapters?'
I looked at her seriously.
"Dokseo. How many chapters of Omniscient Regressor's Viewpoint have you read?"
"Huh? Uh... Around 32? 33? Something like that."
"......!"
It was confirmed.
As regressions progressed, O Dok-seo's 'novel' updated with more chapters. Last time, only 30; now at least 2 more.
The update pace was arbitrary as a peddler's whim.
Sometimes only 1 chapter added over my 60 regressions; other times 2 in just one. Totally random.
Figuring the exact trigger needed more investigation.
But one fact was clear now.
'She's following the rails of my life.'
I shuddered.
6
With slightly slow steps.
A bit behind my life's pace.
But at a steady speed, O Dok-seo was catching up.
She probably didn't read the 'novel' until it hit 30 chapters. She said herself she skips anything less.
So only when 30 accumulated did she 'first' read it. That was the previous 555th.
Her guess was right. Her ability was [Prophecy].
She'd just wasted it unknowingly for 555 regressions.
'But not perfect prophecy.'
Greek myth tells of Prometheus, a prophetic god, with a brother.
Epimetheus.
Unlike his brother 'forethinker' (prologue origin), Epimetheus was 'afterthinker' (epilogue origin).
O Dok-seo was prophecy's Epimetheus.
Her prophecies were never fast. Slower than any other prophet. She followed my long-trod rails belatedly, with a 5,000-year lag.
Yet step by step, she steadily trailed me.
When I passed 555th, she hit 5th.
When I pass 560th, she'll hit 11th.
'Someday—far, far in the future—won't O Dok-seo reach the 555th herself?'
This tale isn't fiction.
What she thought was another world's story is her own reality.
She'll meet protagonist me, wander the world, crush warlords, adopt a pet dog.
All that will serialize in her novel someday, and she'll read it.
Realizing that future, I trembled faintly. It felt like a ray of light pierced this inescapably doomed world.
"...Uncle, what's wrong all of a sudden?"
O Dok-seo tilted her head at my reaction.
My right forearm itched suddenly.
Over her puzzled face overlapped Dang Seo-rin's dying words.
-You have the same dream as me.
-You're fixing broken rails one by one to move forward. Rails wrecked by Ten Tribes. Abandoned lines smashed by monsters. Fix them inch by inch, and someday stations will connect.
-Others can follow that path too.
Yes. Dang Seo-rin was right after all.
Back then, her mutter was mere hope, and I accepted it sharing that wish.
But now, over 5,000 years later, reality had caught up to our hopes.
'Then.'
I held the tremor in my heart.
'My job is to wait until she catches up.'
Until when? Until O Dok-seo arrives at the station called 555th regression.
That regression is Pandora's box. When she realizes her 'novel' is reality's rails, the world will change decisively.
One more joyful wait added to my infinite regressor life.
Thus, I waited.
556th ended.
557th ended.
"Hey! Uncle! You can't just ditch Old Man Show like that!"
By the 581st, O Dok-seo yelled.
Probably read the latest where Old Man Show went on indefinite 'leave.'
I chuckled.
"Ditch? Who ditched who?"
Nothing more unjust. Me ditching Old Man Show? He'd ditched me. And I'd never given up on him.
She was mixing up sequence, perpetrator, and victim.
But interpreting the novel and leaving comments is always the reader's right.
As latest chapters updated with each regression, O Dok-seo left 'comments' for me.
"Whoa. How do you攻略 Udumbara, this boss mob?"
"No way! The constellations were all lies?"
"Community creation ability? What kinda shitty power is that..."
"Sim A-ryeon is just a crazy aggro-puller... I really don't vibe with her type."
"Online game anomaly? Wow, the world. Such a gimmick exists? Never mentioned in the original."
"......? What's Go Yo-ri's deal? Human? Or monster?"
O Dok-seo screamed or vented like a reader commenting on an author.
Even though I wasn't the author.
But I graciously accepted her comments. Over 5,000 years old, still childish me had learned to let others into my life's boundaries.
'Catch up, Dokseo.'
Come on.
Slower than me, but your steps are the swiftest.
Tread my failures, my攻略 guides, my biography.
My life was always for others, but now also for you.
Of course, the wait wasn't all joy.
Finally, O Dok-seo read to chapter 52—where I founded International Convenience with the fairies.
From then, her gaze toward me changed decisively.
"Uncle."
"What?"
"You know? You seem fucking insane."
"......"
"And tone down the SG Net stuff. Ease up on Three Kingdoms too."
"Dokseo. I drop Three Kingdoms hints for reasons. Without them, some anomaly..."
"Whatever. You reek of old man in ways that don't match your age. Or do they? How old are you anyway?"
"......"
I exercised my right to silence and sipped coffee quietly.
No use struggling; my image had nowhere to fall but rock bottom, and I knew it best.
Fine.
Call it pathetic, but sometimes I missed the O Dok-seo who trembled, mistaking me for a cold, cool regressor.
Brat.
Try aging like me, punk.
- Prophet. End.