The Last Life
Kang Yoonsoo walked at the front.
He lightly leaped over jagged rocks and tangled tree roots.
Yet his mind was far from the path beneath his feet.
‘Your thousandth life is the last. There will be no more regressions.’
Was that true?
There was no need to question it.
Doppelgangers that had never existed in these mountains had suddenly appeared, and the princess’s doppelganger even knew he had regressed.
Was this the ‘anomaly’ the whisper had mentioned?
Regardless, it was clear that a new change had finally occurred in a life that had only repeated itself.
A violent storm swept through his once-gray mind.
For hundreds of regressions, he had given everything.
He had fought until the pain of gripping a sword was forgotten, endured the agony of turning himself into a puppet, and memorized foreign languages until he was sick of them.
Over twenty thousand years, he had become a transcendent being.
He had reached the pinnacle in every field.
This time, too, he had struggled to end the cycle, to kill the Demon Lord.
To save everything precious to him. To protect the world.
Yet he could not deny that a complacent thought had taken root.
Even if he failed, there would always be another life.
‘The Demon Lord grew weaker the more I regressed. That’s why I grew careless.’
But if there were no more regressions…
The escape route had vanished.
‘If this is truly the last life……’
“Excuse me, Kang Yoonsoo?”
Shanette called from behind, her voice weary.
Only then did Kang Yoonsoo realize he had walked far past their intended destination.
Purple irises bloomed across the even soil, their buds just opening.
He spoke.
“Let’s rest.”
“You should have said that sooner.”
Henrik collapsed onto the dirt as if his legs had given out.
They had descended the mountain trail without rest since last night, so it was only natural.
Shanette sat down as well, massaging her aching legs.
Meanwhile, Kang Yoonsoo approached the doppelganger.
“Talk.”
The woman nodded obediently.
Shanette watched them with curious eyes but said nothing.
Once they were far enough that the others could not hear, Kang Yoonsoo spoke.
“The being inside you. You called it the White Shadow? When did it enter you?”
“The White Shadow has been with me since the moment I was born.”
“Do you know what it is?”
“I do not. It is quiet.”
Kang Yoonsoo continued.
“When does the White Shadow inside you whisper, and what does it say?”
“It usually says nothing. It stays alone in a corner of my mind, like an outcast. Even when I speak to it, it never answers.”
“Why do you call it the White Shadow?”
“Because it feels as though it should not exist in this world.”
Kang Yoonsoo could not understand her words.
The doppelganger looked at him with meaningful eyes.
“But it was different when I saw you. It spoke first, without me saying anything. The White Shadow seems very interested in you.”
“What about now?”
“It is silent.”
“Why should I believe I can no longer regress?”
“The White Shadow knows you well. It knows you lived countless lives—slaughtering thousands, becoming the Great Alchemist, ruling as the Monster Lord, and many others.”
An existence he had never encountered across all his regressions knew him.
The claim that he could no longer regress gained credibility.
He had no intention of traveling with her in this life.
Yet the White Shadow inside the doppelganger was the one who had brought change to his endlessly repeating life.
That alone was reason enough to keep her close.
Kang Yoonsoo made his decision.
“From now on, you will travel with me. In exchange, if that being says anything, you must tell me immediately.”
“Why should I do that?”
“What?”
“Why must I go with you?”
He remembered being asked the same question once before. Back then, he had answered like this.
“If you come with me, I will give you a name.”
The princess’s doppelganger looked puzzled.
“My name? I am a doppelganger. I have none.”
“I will help you find yourself, not the princess.”
She stared at Kang Yoonsoo with her beautiful eyes, as if he were strange.
“I am a nameless monster. You would give a name to someone like me?”
“Yeah.”
Kang Yoonsoo nodded.
“If you give me a name, what will it be?”
He looked around and pointed at the purple irises blooming nearby.
“Iris.”
It was the Western name for the flower.
The meaning attached to those purple blooms came to mind as well.
‘Good news.’
……Would it really be?
* * *
“That’s a fine idea. Giving a name to a doppelganger and deciding to travel together? Are you trying to get us killed by the knights?”
Henrik sneered in disbelief.
But Kang Yoonsoo shook his head.
“To complete the legendary quest to the end, Iris’s help is absolutely necessary.”
In truth, the legendary quest could be completed without Iris.
It was a quest he had completed to the point of exhaustion in past lives.
Still, he needed an excuse to keep her with them.
Shanette asked with sharp eyes.
“You didn’t just make that up because you wanted to travel with her, did you?”
“No.”
Shanette was unexpectedly perceptive.
“Why is the princess’s doppelganger here in the first place?”
“My purpose for existing is to assassinate the princess.”
Iris suddenly uttered something shocking.
Henrik and Shanette exchanged startled glances.
The Leorkhan Empire.
Assassinating the princess of the empire that ruled the continent?
Iris plucked the stem of a wildflower blooming from the dirt.
Then she began licking the flower’s stamen with her saliva-covered tongue.
Henrik asked, suppressing his revulsion at the bizarre yet strangely seductive motion.
“Assassinating the princess? What are you talking about?”
“There are people in the imperial palace who wish to kill the princess. They captured doppelgangers and conducted experiments. Hundreds of doppelgangers were sacrificed, and one mutant was born. That is me. A doppelganger identical to the princess in every way, yet unable to change her form.”
Henrik’s expression showed he could not believe it.
Shanette asked as well.
“Why go to such lengths to create the princess’s doppelganger?”
“To kill the princess and replace her. So that no one would notice her death.”
Iris licked the stamen, then plucked the petals and swallowed them.
Henrik looked as though he had no words left.
Instead, Shanette spoke.
“How did such a doppelganger end up here?”
“I learned many things. The princess’s etiquette and behavior. The precautions I must never be discovered violating. But I grew frustrated. I wanted to know who I was. So I escaped from the place that confined me. Using a power even they did not know I possessed.”
Iris picked another wildflower.
This time, she discarded the petals and licked only the stamen like a lollipop.
“I fled, but they pursued me. They closed the great road and mobilized men with swords.”
“The great road? You mean the Sinirant Trade Route?”
Iris nodded.
“Those who wanted to capture me did not like the idea of me hiding among people.”
Shanette and Henrik stared at each other in disbelief.
The trade route had been closed just to catch this single doppelganger?
Henrik scratched his messy hair in irritation.
“This is insane. We’ve stumbled into an imperial secret. This is dangerous. If they’re willing to experiment on doppelgangers and keep it hidden, they must be connected to someone extremely powerful. Who experimented on you?”
“I do not know. They always covered my eyes during the experiments.”
Shanette spoke gloomily.
“How did our journey become so perilous that we’re entangled with an imperial secret?”
Henrik ground his teeth, swallowing his frustration.
“Damn it! Undead cities weren’t enough—now we’re mixed up with imperial secrets in some remote mountain range. At this point, nothing that happens next will surprise me.”
“A bear will attack.”
“What, you?”
Kang Yoonsoo drew his sword.
The location was different, but based on past experience, he was certain.
“A bear will attack.”
Henrik and Shanette followed Kang Yoonsoo’s gaze.
Shadows of beasts prowled beyond the bushes.
Black bears of the Hatar Mountains.
Their forepaws looked fiercer than any ordinary beast’s, and their thick hides were intimidating even at a glance.
This area happened to be their habitat.
The black bears glared at them, growling savagely.
“Kuruuuuuurk—!”
The largest black bear charged violently.
Kang Yoonsoo ran to meet it, swinging his sword.
Even as he fought, his mind raced with other thoughts.
If this life was the last.
If it was truly the last.
“Abyssal Swordsmanship.”
As the skill activated, the blade was enveloped in a deep blue light.
Kang Yoonsoo drove the razor-sharp edge deep into the black bear’s neck.
Swish—!
“Kuruuurgh—!”
The undead swordsmanship savagely drained the bear’s life force.
A critical hit triggered, and blood gushed like a fountain.
The overflowing blood seemed ready to swallow Kang Yoonsoo whole.
‘I have to change everything. I must use every experience I’ve gained.’
He resolved himself inwardly.
‘I will abandon my complacency. Even if I am injured, even if I must risk my life, I will grow stronger.’
His resolve had shifted. The emotions he had long ignored began to crack.
Veins bulged on the hand gripping the sword.
Kang Yoonsoo turned his blade toward another black bear.
Fiercely.
Far more fiercely than before.
This time, to kill the Demon Lord.
A faint fighting spirit began to stir in Kang Yoonsoo’s indifferent eyes.
The path ahead would change.
Starting tonight.