Discord: sdsc.gg/reapercomics
◈ I’m an Infinite Regressor, But I’ve Got Stories to Tell
The Mastermind XIII
I opened my eyes.
The mont I did, I realized I was in a divine realm. At first glance, it resembled an ordinary classroom, but this was the domain created by Infinite Void, which had consud the Mastermind.
This was the alpha and the oga, the beginning and the end.
“It’s been a while, sunbae.”
Infinite Void sat with its back against the chalkboard.
“Or should I say, we’ve t again after only a fleeting mont? How are you feeling right now?”
It took a mont to respond. “It feels like I’ve relived my life from the 1st cycle all the way to the 688th.”
“Hahaha. That’s not a feeling. That’s just a factual description.”
The scenery outside the classroom windows was surreal. Each window showed a different scene. Through one, a vivid blue sky stretched out endlessly while another revealed a galaxy swirling across the darkness. In so windows, it was sumr, and in others, autumn or winter.
“Facts? Don’t be ridiculous,” I scoffed. “What you’ve shown is nothing more than an illusion.”
“Hmm.” Infinite Void smiled faintly as it asked, “Are you so sure?”
“......”
“You, sunbae, rember two tilines. One where Infinite Void was rely an Outer God, a target to be hunted and destroyed.”
A piece of chalk moved on its own, drawing a screeching line across the chalkboard. Soon, a second, parallel white line followed.
“And another where the elder twin, Cheon Yo-hwa, existed as your companion and strategist, always by your side. In this tiline, I was both Infinite Void, the Outer God, and Cheon Yo-hwa, the human.”
Tiline A.
Tiline B.
Either way, both led to the scene I was witnessing now.
“Now you rember both. Why not ask your Complete mory to figure out which one is real?”
“Of course, the tiline where you are an Outer God is the real one...”
My chest tightened painfully.
“You seized the power of the simulated universes in the 688th cycle. That’s how you were able to show this false illusion.”
Even as I spoke, my heart ached.
The figure before —the mischievous, cunning elder twin—was undoubtedly the sa person I had spent countless cycles with.
My soul, which retained every mory, whispered this truth to .
“Perhaps. But that’s not a settled matter, sunbae,” Infinite Void said with a smile. It was the exact sa expression I had seen on my student’s face countless tis across the cycles. “This is a matter to be decided from now on.”
What nonsense was it spouting?
“I told you, didn’t I? Once you Ti Sealed , the Mastermind’s perfect Miko, I’d be erased from the world.”
Ah.
“That’s right. If I, the elder twin of Tiline B, am sealed in ti, the world will revert to Tiline A.”
“......”
“People will forget . Even my younger sister, Yo-hwa, won’t be able to rember . The events I participated in will transform into events that occurred without .”
Just as it had been for others who were sealed.
Even if a son forgot his soccer-player father, his life would continue without disruption. Similarly, even if Cheon Yo-hwa ceased to exist in this world, nothing would change.
Her achievents would beco soone else’s accomplishnts. Her words attributed to soone else’s whispers.
“The distinction between past and future is aningless, sunbae. The choice you make now will loop back through the wheel of cycles, shaping both your past and the present mont.”
The tilines would rge.
The gaps would be filled.
The story would be rewritten.
“Didn’t you ever find it strange? Why, as soon as you established the foundation for the Regressor Alliance, you always rushed to Baekhwa Girls’ High School?”
It’s because, originally, you were the twins’ tutor. The bond you shared with them made it natural for you to try and rescue them.
―So said Infinite Void.
“How did you manage to subdue , Infinite Void, in your first-ever attempt at infiltrating Baekhwa Girls’ High School? Was it because I was a weak Outer God? Or...”
Or because you had already uncovered my weaknesses through so ans. As a regressor, you had an ally who was deeply familiar with the school’s secrets. You waited until you were strong enough, until you wielded the blade Do-hwa, until you had enlisted the fairies. Then, you struck at the perfect mont.
An excellent strategy. A testant to your patience.
As a result, Infinite Void, the Outer God, was defeated so easily it bordered on being absurd.
―Or so the girl before claid.
“That is my story.”
The girl placed her hands over her heart.
“The one who lived as a priestess in a cult, who stood faithfully beside the Regressor, who worked harder than anyone to help you hunt Outer Gods... This is where it ends, sunbae.”
My heart pounded ominously.
“This is the end, sunbae.”
“Infinite Void...”
“If you see as an Outer God, it’s only natural to use Ti Seal here to eliminate . After all, I’m a threat. This is the perfect opportunity to erase the one responsible for this broken world. You’re not going to refuse, are you? Or... do you see as human?”
My heart wouldn’t stop racing.
“If I seem human to you... please respect my will. Accept that this is the only way to conquer the Mastermind, sunbae.”
“......”
“Haha. Don’t look so down. In a way, I’ve bet everything on you.”
A bet?
“What? Did you already forget? You promised , sunbae. You said you wouldn’t give up, no matter what.”
“You...”
“Yes. I believe it too. Soday, you’ll find the key to undo the challenge of the Ti Seal. No matter how many hundreds of cycles it takes, or how many thousands of wheels must turn, I know you’ll succeed.”
Infinite Void gave a shadow of a smile.
“When that day cos, you’ll treat as human. You won’t have any other choice.”
“......”
“So this is my final move.”
Sowhere, I thought I heard the sound of chains clinking.
The source of the noise—it was my own chest.
Every word the figure before spoke felt as though it was being etched into my soul until that promise beca a shackle, binding my heart.
“Not another Anomaly. Not an Outer God. I believe the one who will ultimately claim victory in this world is you, sunbae. I have unwavering faith in that.”
“......”
“That’s why I won’t betray you. I won’t stab you in the back. I won’t pull so foolish stunt like the Admin of the Infinite taga. I’ll simply create a final destination, just for you. When everything ends, I’ll remain as a human who contributed to your victory.”
I realized it then.
It really was checkmate.
No matter what I did, I couldn’t help but see the figure before as human. It didn’t matter whether she had been born as an Outer God or as the elder sister in a cult. She had claid the title of “human,” the proof of kinship with , not through anyone else’s acknowledgnt but by her own hand.
What kind of human could devise such a strategy? How could anyone make it a reality?
And yet, the girl standing before had done exactly that. She had conquered the Mastermind. She had broken the seal confining her in Cheon Yo-hwa’s body. She had deceived even herself and conquered Infinite Void.
She had conquered the Regressor.
She was an Awakener.
sdsc.gg/reapercomics
“Don’t be too sad,” she said again.
With an exaggerated “Oooshyaa!” she jumped up from the desk.
“I’ll always be here. Even if I’m sealed away and everyone forgets , you’ll still rember, won’t you? You can co visit every now and then.”
She took a step toward . Then, with the sa boldness she had shown as my student during tutoring sessions, she reached out and grabbed my trembling hand.
“Do it.”
“......”
“Seal . Save the world. Find a way to break the seal. And soday, bring back from here.”
I trust you.
The mont I heard those words, I had already begun casting Ti Seal.
The galaxy and the seasons visible outside the windows began to freeze. The curtains billowing in the breeze, the strands of the girl’s hair—everything slowed.
“Rember this, sunbae.”
Through her hand, I could feel her heartbeat. Even that steady rhythm began to slow.
“From the next cycle onward, Infinite Void will no longer have ‘’ as its personality. The possibility of ever existing will be completely eradicated. The only thing left on the fourth basent floor of Baekhwa Girls’ High School will be a mindless husk of an Anomaly...”
“I understand.”
“My disappearance might destabilize my sister’s mind a bit. Please take care of her...”
“I will.”
I knew instinctively even then. She was offering her final words of advice.
“Even if I disappear, there might still be contradictions. It’s unavoidable. Think of it as the ache after a wisdom tooth is removed.”
“......”
“I’m sorry... I couldn’t figure out why you can’t rember anything before the 4th cycle.”
Her red eyes t mine directly. Even on the brink of annihilation, her gaze was infinitely calm and composed, calculating every possibility for what would co next.
“But every effect has a cause.”
“......”
“Maybe your mory loss from the 1st to the 4th cycle isn’t a curse but a blessing.”
“A blessing?”
“Yes. From the 1st to the 4th cycle, you’ve created sothing called ‘four spaces of sealed ti.’”
My eyes widened.
“Maybe you’ve already experienced the 688th cycle hundreds, thousands, even tens of thousands of tis. And maybe, in this very mont, you realized that the only way to defeat the Mastermind, an unbeatable Outer God, was to create gaps in your mory.”
“...!”
“Using those gaps, you forged a causality where the elder twin Cheon Yo-hwa could beco the Mastermind’s Miko. Do you understand? Because your canvas was blank, you could paint anything on it.”
The girl squeezed my hand tightly, steadying its tremors.
“You have four blank canvases. I can’t be sure, but I believe those canvases are your ultimate weapon against the Outer Gods.”
“Through these gaps, you can rewrite reality, inventing a causality that allows you to defeat even the undefeatable.”
“Exactly.”
It was a terrifying realization.
Sensing my shock, she carefully chose her next words.
“You’ve used one canvas to seal , the Mastermind. By rewriting your past. Well, technically, I made the choice for you.”
“......”
“But there are still blank spaces in your mory. Who left you the Silver Bells? What is Go Yuri? And most importantly, who advised you to intentionally create this amnesia between the 1st and 4th cycles?”
“You—”
“It wasn’t .” She took my other hand in hers as well, clasping it even tighter in her grip, and she said, “There’s soone else. Another entity.”
That was true.
Thanks to her, I now rembered being the twin sisters’ tutor, but most of my mories were still shrouded in mist.
For instance, I might not have been the only one on that KTX train heading to Busan. In the tutorial dungeon at Busan Station, it felt like a certain soone else had been there with .
Her brow furrowed slightly. “I’m sorry. I wanted to save Old Man Schopenhauer too, but forcing such drastic changes to causality was impossible.”
“Ah...”
“It was already a miracle to weave together a tiline that honored your journey up to the 688th cycle while simultaneously creating sothing new.”
To deny the Mastermind’s existence was to manipulate the universe as if it were a simulation. Yet, to erase an Outer God like the Mastermind, I had to honor the singular reality of my universe.
“That’s why the only picture you can paint on this canvas is your shadow.”
“My... shadow?”
“Yes. Don’t forget. This blank canvas, this shadow—it’s your divine realm.”
The girl, who had been serious until now, suddenly smiled brightly.
“Oh! I’ve said everything!”
“......”
“Honestly, you don’t have enough strategist characters by your side, sunbae. Phew, now I can finally relax.”
“......”
“Haha. Sorry for dropping out like Old Man Schopenhauer. The rest of your life is going to be tough, but you’ll just have to suffer through it. That’s what being a regressor is all about.”
Ti began to freeze.
This classroom, this divine realm, and the girl’s domain were becoming eternally severed from reality.
To create the most beautiful hell imaginable.
“Ah.”
The girl looked up, gazing at her galaxy above, and sighed.
“Yo-hwa. My na.”
Yo (寥). Desolate.
Hwa (化). Transformation.
“To grow lonely and desolate.”
From the galaxy, a voice seed to erge. Perhaps it was nothing more than the sensation of her heartbeat, transmitted through our joined hands, that I simply interpreted as words.
Sothing beyond sound resonated, carrying the girl’s final testant as if singing her last poem:
Here lies the loneliest place in the universe of all creation.
The most desolate place.
The most colorless void.
A world outside the world, thus emptiness.
A ti beyond ti, thus absence.
Yet still the pinnacle humans endlessly imagine, dream of, and long to reach—thus karma.
I, born as Infinite Void, have co to know ti.
Here, all things cease.
Even the infinite regress of logic that thinks of itself, and then of itself again, will stop breathing here.
I, having known ti, now return to Infinite Void.
To the mont, the ti, the void,
I can now finally say these words:
Be still. You are truly beautiful.
It might have been nothing but a sound I hallucinated.
The girl before might also have been nothing more than an illusion or a shadow. Forgotten by the world, her existence was sothing even I could easily dismiss.
“Yo-hwa.”
But I didn’t deny her.
To rember—that was my life.
Hearing my voice, hearing call her na, Cheon Yo-hwa looked at . Her crimson eyes widened.
“Yes.”
Cheon Yo-hwa smiled.
“Thank you for teaching what it ans to be human, sunbae. In the past, in the future, and here in this place―”
And thus,
“I love you in this very mont.”
Ti stopped.
Anomaly: The Mastermind
Aliases: Simulated Universe, Heavenly Kingdom, Infinite Labyrinth, Fog of War, Soul Harvester, Brain in a Vat, Hollow Earth Hypothesis, IF Scenario, Descartes’ Demon
Threat Level: Lv. 5 Outer God
Subjugation—COMPLETE
Footnotes:
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