[Translator – Jjsecus]
[Proofreader – Gun]
Chapter 41 – The Forr Watcher III
5
There had always been a hypothesis that I had been suspicious of.
―― Could it be that certain monsters, certain anomalies, were actually born from humans?
I hadn’t entertained this thought for a long ti.
The mont I seriously considered this hypothesis was when I uncovered the identity of Udumbara, in the World Tree.
As you may know, Udumbara originated from Asan, Chungcheongnam-do. It was the corpse of a mother and child presud to have died of starvation. And it was none other than humans who gave birth to the unprecedented virus.
It seed illogical for anomalies to be born from ordinary humans. But with a slight shift in perspective, it beca quite plausible.
Assuming they were Awakeneds with ‘such abilities’, everything made sense.
We couldn’t determine which of the mother and child was the Awakened. By the ti we discovered them, they were already gone. But what if one or both of them were Awakeneds?
If Udumbara itself was an ability?
―― When objectively analyzed, the abilities of Awakeneds were no different from those of monsters, anomalies.
In theory, Awakeneds had the potential to ‘fall’ into monsters just like them. No, in fact, you couldn’t even call it a fall. Awakeneds and monsters were essentially the sa from the beginning.
[The ability to grow two hearts in the body and constantly regenerate tentacles].
Thus, the tentacle monsters ca to be called Ten Clans.
[The ability to observe a wide area covering the entire Korean Peninsula at will and freely shoot telepathy at all Awakeneds].
Thus, the Saintess who claid to be an Awakened.
If viewed from the perspective of soone completely unrelated to humanity, such as aliens, which of the two creatures would be more dangerous?
Whether they took on a ‘human form’ or not, the only difference in appearance was superficial―― they were both terrifying beings in essence, weren’t they?
“…Saintess.”
“Yes. I killed her.”
A remarkably straightforward affirmation.
But considering that these words ca from the Saintess herself, it was more cold than straightforward.
“Why….”
“Doctor Jang. That’s a strange question. I’ve simply taken the sa stance as always.”
The Saintess remained expressionless.
“To prevent Awakeneds from committing cris recklessly, we created the Constellation system, which doesn’t even exist in this world. We mimicked it. The operating principle of the Constellation system is the possibility that [soone may be watching my every move]. Anxiety. Humans restrain themselves when others are watching, but let go of reason when they’re not.”
The Saintess tilted her head.
“Is there really a difference between and a serial killer?”
“….”
“The Constellation system could control the riots of Awakeneds. But it couldn’t reach out to ordinary civilians. Unfortunately, my telepathy abilities only apply to Awakeneds. So, I’ve simply recreated the possibility that ordinary people could also fear .”
Snow was falling.
Snowflakes fell over the Saintess’s head, over her double coat. As soon as the cold descended from the sky and touched her body, it lted away without maintaining itself.
The Saintess’s eyes narrowed.
“There’s too much garbage in this world. No, ‘garbage’ isn’t the right term. There are too many beasts pretending to be human.”
“So….”
“So, I killed them. Are you worried that there might be innocent people? Don’t worry, Doctor Jang. I’ve checked. I’ve killed them over and over again. I’ve never regretted my killings for a single mont.”
Why was it?
Even though I was talking to the Saintess, the presence emanating from the figure in front of felt unfamiliar. It wasn’t just that the person had changed or their personality had changed. It was as if their very existence had changed.
Sweat inexplicably beaded on the palm of my right hand.
“You’re too kind, Doctor Jang.”
“…? I didn’t expect to hear such words from you, Saintess.”
“You give everyone infinite chances.”
Crunch.
The Saintess took a step forward. The snow underfoot crunched. Reflexively, I took a step back, keeping my distance from the Saintess.
Even if the Saintess was a murderer, there was no reason for to avoid her. We were allies. Even if the Saintess were to set the whole world on fire, I would stand by her side.
So, the reason I moved my foot was not logic, but intuition.
Instincts accumulated over 107 cycles of life controlled my footsteps.
“Chances?”
“Yes. What do you think about the ability of [Regression], Doctor Jang? You undoubtedly think that you yourself are constantly receiving endless chances. But from my perspective, from the standpoint of soone watching you, it’s a bit different.”
“What do you an?”
“It’s not just you who receives chances. Everyone except you, every ti the world regresses, receives chances.”
One step.
“The evildoers who killed innocent girls in the previous cycle will receive a chance to change in this cycle. They will have the opportunity to take away the food that the child had saved until the end, to bind the child, and to deliberately watch as she starves to death. Once. Twice. Ten tis. Twenty tis. Thirty tis. Forty tis. Fifty tis.”
“….”
“But how many of them hesitated in front of their own wicked deeds? How many of them killed the sa person, tortured the sa person, more than thirty or forty tis?”
“…Those people don’t know that the world is regressing.”
“Exactly. Ignorance. Not knowing is always a good excuse. People always hide behind ignorance, even when it cos to killing others. I understand. I’ll understand. But what about the people who were killed?”
“….”
“Why should those people endure countless unjust deaths and wrongful suffering?”
One step.
“Doctor Jang, soday you will succeed in saving the world. Yes, undoubtedly. In the future world, even evildoers will be given the chance to live a new life again. Perhaps in a world where evildoers have beco a little more relaxed, in a slightly more peaceful era, they might not commit sins anymore. I think that would be very―― wrong.”
Another step.
“Doctor Jang, if you kill soone, you must face punishnt.”
The Saintess said quietly.
“It’s not about getting a chance.”
At so point.
Before I even realized it, a small and nimble hatchet was already clenched in the Saintess’s hand. It ant that the Saintess had ard herself at a speed beyond my cognitive abilities.
More sweat trickled down my neck.
“Even if Doctor Jang regresses many tis to save this world, the sins committed by evildoers within it will not disappear. No. I won’t allow myself to disappear.”
“What do you an…?”
“I will forever bring suffering to the sinners.”
Steam rose from the Saintess’s lips.
It was white smoke rising to the boundless sky.
[Translator – Jjsecus]
[Proofreader – Gun]
“You are welco to regress, whenever you want. A hundred tis. Two hundred tis. A thousand tis, if necessary, to save this world. But I won’t let evildoers enjoy the benefits of your efforts.”
“….”
“Every ti Doctor Jang regresses, I will execute the punishnt that should rightfully fall upon this world. If evildoers continue to commit cris forever, I will torture them forever.”
The steam emanating from the Saintess’s lips twisted sideways.
It was the Saintess’s mockery.
“I may not have the ability to create heaven on earth due to my incompetence, but I do have the ability to create hell, albeit on a small scale.”
As the Saintess took her final step, I drew my sword like a flash of lightning.
The target was the axe the Saintess was holding.
I couldn’t understand why the Saintess had ard herself against . But I didn’t doubt her intellect. If the Saintess had taken up arms, there must have been a reason for it.
What was the Saintess’s plan? After subduing , what did she intend to do?
It was hard to guess, but one thing was clear: it wouldn’t end well for .
Suppressing my ominous feeling, I attacked the Saintess.
“What…?”
However, the Saintess easily evaded my attack. Just one step. Just moving one step to the side.
It was as if she knew in advance where the attack would co from and where it would go.
Crash!
Suddenly, a noise of glass breaking echoed from my body. Not just one place. Left arm, right arm, left leg, right leg, my limbs all vibrated from the collision at the sa ti.
The four axes struck my body and ricocheted off in all directions.
I couldn’t even tell when or from where the axes had co flying.
It felt like the axes had suddenly appeared ‘right in front of ’.
“If I hadn’t developed the habit of wearing aura armor all over my body, I would have suffered serious injuries from that blow.”
I imdiately distanced myself from the Saintess. I pounded the ground with my feet and leaped backward in one breath.
――But the gap didn’t widen.
“You’re strong. Just as expected, Doctor Jang.”
Without a doubt, the Saintess had covered dozens of ters in one leap and was ‘already’ standing in front of .
“…!”
Not only that, but when I crashed, the axes bounced off my body again. This ti, there were six of them. I could barely react to only two of the axes and fend them off with my sword.
‘How? Even if she had talent in martial arts, it wasn’t to this extent. This isn’t a skill, it’s….’
That’s when it hit .
As I watched the Saintess effortlessly following my movents, a mory from long ago suddenly surfaced.
Run 36. The conversation I had with the Saintess when we first t.
– How did you create the Constellation system?
– It’s thanks to my abilities. I can use Clairvoyance and Telepathy.
– But isn’t it impossible to impersonate the Constellations with just Clairvoyance and Telepathy? You need another ability to simultaneously observe multiple people and send ssages. Don’t you have another ability?
“Oh, that’s…”
The Saintess chuckled lightly.
“That’s a secret. I’ll tell you later.”
An old mory.
Now I felt like I knew what that secret was.
“Ti stop…?”
“…”
The Saintess paused.
“You knew?”
“I was just guessing. It was one of several possibilities. To impersonate multiple Constellations and observe multiple Awakened Ones simultaneously, you would need a remarkable ability, like multi-perspective or multiple personalities… But ti stop.”
Ti stop. It was the joker card I thought was the least likely.
If it was true that she also had the ability of [Ti stop], then the Saintess was essentially the most powerful Awakened One.
I laughed bitterly, forgetting about being cornered.
“Clairvoyance, telepathy, and now ti stop? It’s ridiculous. It’s not just having one extraordinary ability; it’s monopolizing three. Spare your flattery, Saintess.”
“That’s excessive praise. Even if I have abilities, I’m not comparable to an infinite regressor.”
…Finally, everything made sense.
The Saintess had used [ti stop] to simultaneously observe so many Awakened Ones and also to impersonate multiple Constellations.
It was inevitable to accept that she had dodged my attacks and suddenly thrown axes from all directions.
With ti stopped, she could calmly assess where attacks were coming from and where to strike.
And what’s more? If she used [clairvoyance] on , the Saintess could synchronize her vision with mine, predicting exactly where I was looking and aiming.
As long as she didn’t let her guard down, she was practically invincible.
“My abilities weren’t this strong from the beginning. Even when ti was stopped, I could barely flow my consciousness or move my eyes. But as ti passed, it got stronger. Now, I can stop ti and travel across the country to find villains.”
“Amazing. So, what do you intend to do by overpowering ?”
“Well…”
The world froze for a mont.
The next mont, I had no choice but to widen my eyes.
Where there had been only a few lines of footprints on the snow-covered ground, countless footprints suddenly appeared. There were no footprints of mine. The tattoos on the shoes the Saintess wore were spread out in hundreds, thousands, surrounding like a panorama.
It ant that my mont was eternal to her.
The Saintess didn’t waste ti.
Right now, thousands of bullets flying towards from all directions proved her diligence.
It wasn’t just bullets. Among the bullets, dozens of axes also appeared. Unlike the re shots fired, each axe seed ticulously aid.
“It’s a secret.”
Countless bullets stord towards .
Boss battle.
Ocean-level danger.
Awakened Ones: Lee Myung and the Saintess.
Fallen Ones: Lee Myung and the Executor.
Battle begins.
[Translator – Jjsecus]
[Proofreader – Gun]
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