Regressor Instruction Manual

Chapter 1503. Extinction (13)

The reason behind their conflict eluded me, but there couldn’t be better news than this. Wasn't Michele the very obstacle that stood in the way of Mikael sacrificing himself?

From the start, the character Mikael was the type who unnecessarily valued principles and the distinction between right and wrong, so when he himself was starting to disappear, he'd have to consider that Michele could also be disappearing along with him.

Moreover, I was sure that various constraints had narrowed his freedom of movement. Even his weak Endurance seemed like nothing more than a side effect that occurred during the process of leaving Michele’s consciousness behind.

If something was going to disappear anyway, it'd be great to leave behind a pure lump of material rather than something mixed with impurities.

‘He has to overpower him.’

Mikael had to consume Michele. Only by completely seizing Michele’s body would he be able to steel his resolve both outwardly and inwardly. I briefly wondered whether I ought to prepare another event for it...

‘I never dreamed they'd start beating each other up on their own.’

"This is not something you can judge lightly. Do you know how important it is to remember someone for a transcendent being living an endless life? There’s no way you could understand that."

‘Oh, is that important? Ah... I had no idea.’

"This isn’t something that can be judged with knowledge from your dimension. Do you know how painful it is and what it means for two people whose souls are connected to forget each other? Don’t forget. You and I have already made one mistake."

‘You’re doing very well.’

"We all owe him a debt. That’s what I’m saying. You and I can never be free from this responsibility."

‘Yes, very well done.’

"..."

‘His split personality really came out.’

"..."

"Whoo... I think it would be better to continue this conversation another time, Michele."

‘It’s already over?’

The result was a little disappointing, but I could see that his eyes looked slightly unhinged. How could anyone be satisfied with the first bite anyway?

‘It’s probably progressing little by little.’

It was not just wishful thinking on my side. Even judging from the general atmosphere alone, it already looked like the fuse was lit. The scene of it slowly burning away appeared in my mind. In the end, Mikael would completely abandon Michele.

As a result, I no longer needed to devote time to dealing with him. Concentrating on the events at the beginning had turned out to be effective. This was a good time to focus a little more on something else.

‘For example, here.’

Things like the letter Lee Chang-Ryeol had sent over to me. When I casually pulled out the letter, I saw a familiar handwriting. In truth, there was nothing particularly remarkable in the contents of the letter.

It said something about how Ha Yeon-Soo would soon depart for Castle Rock to help me. Lee Chang-Ryeol escaped the fate of being one-armed through Sun Hee-Young, and they had also taken the gate, arriving several years earlier than the present time.

They also said that they had rebuilt the information guild that had almost collapsed and were currently staying in Lindel, scrambling to keep things together.

Since they weren’t just looking for me, there was also an investigation report about Kim Hyun-Sung’s movements written in it. The problem was that there had been no particular results. Of course, the information guild was still waiting in the regions where Kim Hyun-Sung had appeared, including Heren, and apparently, Lee Chang-Ryeol and Alps were once again wandering the continent alone for the sake of the mission.

In the previous pursuit, he played his role perfectly. A coincidence was involved, but he still chased Kim Hyun-Sung personally, so they believed the chances of finding him were higher than before.

‘If Chang-Ryeol is moving together with them, there’s probably no need to worry too much.’

First of all, the fact that everyone was safe without a single person dropping out was good news. I couldn’t help but let out a sigh of relief when I read that Lee Chang-Ryeol’s arm was reattached. It had been too long since it was severed, so I had been worried about whether it could even be reattached, but it seemed my worries were needless.

The misfortune of bringing a one-armed groom to Yoo Ah-Young as a wedding gift didn’t happen, after all.

‘They’re safe... Now it is time to sort out everything else.’

More precisely, it was about organizing the timeline. It seemed like there was nothing left to sort out at this point, but there were still parts that I had to confirm.

‘Before the war with the Outer Gods truly erupted...’

Hadn’t the Monarch of Lust and Eternal Sleep descended upon Lindel? I had to confirm everything—whether First Life Lee Ki-Young remembered the Monarch of Lust and Eternal Sleep. I also had to know how the history of the first life changed and progressed after that day.

Naturally, I had to know whether that event was the reason First Life Ki-Young had been running around trying to create the Sage’s Stone. For a moment, I wondered if an error had occurred, rolling back everything to whatever it was before that incident.

‘But that wasn’t the case.’

Even here, I heard that a large battle had occurred in Lindel. Unlike the original history, First Life Ki-Young launched a full-on attack on Linder upon realizing the fact that I was moving through those gates and turning back time to save Jung Ha-Yan.

In other words, Big Boy's death, the descent of the Monarch of Lust and Eternal Sleep, as well as my eventual recall, had actually happened.

Naturally, my gaze slowly moved back to the letter again. Lee Chang-Ryeol had written information I hadn't even requested and news I wanted to know.

Jung Ha-Yan...

‘Survived?’

“...”

“...”

I remembered that the Big Boy family protected us at the time. I thought she died, but in the end, the news said she received treatment and survived.

A few days later, she hanged herself, just like in the original history. My mouth suddenly tasted bitter. It wasn't because I had failed to save her, but because I couldn’t help but imagine how she stayed alone in the Magic Tower the entire time after I left.

As for the Monarch of Lust and Eternal Sleep...

“...”

“...”

‘No one remembers it.’

“...”

“...”

It looked as though some kind of sudden correction was applied, and everything bounced back into place. It seemed the system itself was treating the descent of Lust and Eternal Sleep as if it had never happened in the first place.

Of course, what was written in Lee Chang-Ryeol’s letter was based entirely on the perspective of ordinary people. The history they remembered from that day was that humanity resisted the Outer Gods, defended Lindel, and drove them away.

In fact, quite a few people could recall the memories of that day fairly vividly.

They said that the Holy Sword Hero and the Keepers of the Moonlight appeared in Lindel, along with the new Black Rose Salon and small reinforcements from other races.

Everyone remembered the same thing, so it could hardly be dismissed as nonsense. Here, there was no choice but to conclude that history itself was altered.

In any case, the snowball I had been rolling since the past life had finally rolled its way to Lindel and helped them hold the defensive line. They probably arrived after I was recalled.

It seemed that the memories of those who had died in the sky during the descent of the Monarch of Lust and Eternal Sleep had vanished. As for First Life Ki-Young and the pigeons...

“...”

“...”

‘Is it still impossible to be certain? Well, that would make sense.’

“...”

“...”

Just because most people couldn’t remember the Monarch of Lust and Eternal Sleep didn’t guarantee that First Life Ki-Young and the pigeons had forgotten what had happened back then.

To begin with, those pigeons remembered the fact that time had turned back, and as mentioned before, First Life Ki-Young once noticed that I kept altering history in order to save Jung Ha-Yan.

The reason the descent of the Monarch of Lust and Eternal Sleep had become an event that never happened was due to the system's intervention, but beings like Seraphim were probably somewhat free from that suppression. The same would likely apply to First Life Ki-Young, who was presumed to have made a contract with Belial.

Perhaps he could at least get a glimpse of a faint afterimage, like something seen through fog. Watching him run around to create the Sage’s Stone...

‘There's a high probability that he remembered at least a little.’

After all, I was the reason he realized that regression was possible. Since then, he had to have been looking for some way to turn back time.

His memories weren’t complete, and Second Life Ki-Young—no, the Monarch of Lust and Eternal Sleep, had completely disappeared, so he had to have been desperately running around to find a method of his own. The conclusion he eventually reached was...

‘A wish-granting stone made by sacrificing people...’

Now, it finally made sense. The reason he approached me in the form of a crow and tested the waters by asking about the Sage’s Stone, and why he called that stone "Sage’s Stone" in the first place, all finally made sense.

After all, the Sage’s Stone never really existed, but it had always been strongly perceived as an object capable of bringing about any miracle.

‘And besides, there’s also the widespread belief that it can be created through alchemy.’

After I left—no, more precisely, after he began to feel a sense of incongruity and faint memories about the Monarch of Lust and Eternal Sleep, he probably started digging around for information.

I could say with certainty that he had to have searched the entire continent as if he were hunting down rats. Until the uneasiness inside him was resolved, he would run around again and again, trying to obtain information from the past, present, and even about the future.

Even though he couldn’t remember the Monarch of Lust and Eternal Sleep himself, reaching others connected to him was probably not so difficult.

The time traveler who once met Cha Hee-Ra; the experimental retainer from the Magic Tower who appeared with the Big Boy Family; the Young Death who witnessed Jung Jin-Ho’s death; the bandaged boy who pulled Kim Hyun-Sung out in Heren; and the little mage who followed Jung Ha-Yan and traveled with her.

Aina Peneloti, who rekindled the spark of the Black Rose Salon, the Saint of the Moonlight, and finally, the Monarch of Lust and Eternal Sleep.

These were errors and irregularities that appeared at specific points in time, and they were beyond the calculations he had made.

I couldn’t know exactly which of the many identities he managed to trace, but if he had really been searching with the determination to find any information at all costs, it wouldn’t take long for him to realize that all of them were the same person and that person was himself from the second life.

Naturally, he had to have gathered some information about me as well. If he had discovered that his second life self was an alchemist rather than a black mage.

‘He might’ve concluded that his second life version had created the Sage’s Stone.’

No. It definitely existed. The Ki-Young, who was a time traveler, a regressor, and someone from the second life, was an alchemist after all.

However, there was no way First Life Ki-Young knew about things like the Hexagram Gate or the process of imposing narrative onto the continent. Even if he had somehow noticed the Hexagram Gate's existence, it would be difficult to deduce that it was a virus created due to the problems in the second life's continent.

Even our own side could not clearly grasp the nature of the hexagram, so what right would that bastard have to judge the nature of those gates?

In the end, if Second Life Ki-Young was traveling through time by some particular method and committing miracles, then it had to be all because of the Sage’s Stone.

Even if it had no tangible form, he believed the Sage's Stone had performed those miracles.

“...”

‘So that's it. He thinks Second Life Ki-Young has the Sage’s Stone? That must be why he changed his plan and started tearing into both humans and the Outer Gods. He needed to be able to make one himself as well.’

“...”

‘That must be why he tested me while disguised as Jin Cheong.’

“...”

Of course, he had no trust in me. Naturally, I had no trust in him, either. Not trusting could be one of the stupidest things imaginable, but people like us would find it impossible to sit down and openly talk with our past selves, even if someone were to beat us to death.

Commander Jin probably wouldn’t trust himself either. The same went for Ji-Hye noona.

Of course, there were times before when trusting myself had worked out in my favor, but those were special cases that happened under very specific circumstances.

Under normal conditions—no, if I were in the same position as First Life Ki-Young, there would be no one I could trust. How could anyone guarantee that what I wanted now would be the same thing that my future self wanted?

The fact that I wanted to regress did not mean the future me would want the same thing. In a way, it was actually harder to trust oneself than to trust someone else. Both he and I knew very well that people could change far too easily for many reasons.

‘That’s why he keeps testing me.’

He wanted to know whether I had come here to help him or to interfere with him. He also wanted to know whether we’re enemies or allies, and if eliminating me would be more beneficial than leaving me alone.

“...”

“...”

In truth, it did not really matter. What mattered more was what I thought about him. A memory I had almost forgotten suddenly came back to me. Right, he was the one behind it...

‘He’s the one responsible...’

Of course, the first life and the second life ought to be treated separately. It felt like just yesterday when I kept hearing pointless lectures about that from Ji-Hye noona and Benigoa, but...

‘Do I really need to keep First Life Ki-Young alive right now?’

At this point, I didn't think it was necessary for First Life Ki-Young to stay alive. I would stake Commander Jin’s wrist on it that it wasn’t simply because of revenge, but because I believed I could take over his role myself. No, first of all...

‘I should at least pretend that I have the Sage’s Stone.’

I quietly turned on the Telescope and saw several crows circling around Castle Rock.