Chapter 214

Chapter 214

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The Antagonist XI

There is an epilogue.

When I returned to reality, it was summer. And the summer’s day was dazzling.

The hellish land of swords, where blades rose up from beneath every step, had vanished. The molten steel that crept into alleyways and melted people’s hearts had evaporated.

Even the Silver Bell that once hung from my wrist.

These were not the only things to say goodbye to this season.

“Uh...?”

“Huh? Why... Why am I on the roof...?”

No one remembered what had just happened.

Not Noh Do-hwa, not Sim Ah-ryeon, nor any of the other companions.

The same went for the Regressor Virus-infected protesters who had rallied in the square. The confused crowd began chatting with one another or returned to their workplaces.

It was as if they had all just woken from a brief daydream.

“The Saintess...?”

That dream must have been a nightmare.

“Sorry, but who is that?”

The Saintess of the 267th cycle had vanished.

From reality. And from memory.

“Captain Noh Do-hwa. Do you truly not remember? The existence of the Constellations?”

“The Constellations? You mean the nicknames you use to shitpost on SG Net?”

“No. There was someone who could watch every Awakener on the Korean Peninsula with Clairvoyance and send messages at will through Telepathy.”

Do-hwa furrowed her brow. “What are you talking about? Is this some overpowered Awakener you dreamed up?”

No one remembered the Saintess from the 267th cycle.

It was exactly like my Time Seal. She had sealed herself along with Nut’s domain in the Hidden World, so she could no longer affect reality. She isolated her very existence.

To ensure that not even the Night Goddess could interfere with me. To keep my regression free from the Outer God's contamination.

“......”

Summer passed.

“Hoeeek. Comrade Secretary! No matter how much of a dream we inhabit, that’s just impossible! We can’t enter the dream of someone who doesn’t exist in reality!”

I had tried countless ways to reach the Saintess in her sealed world, the Hidden World.

And every attempt had failed.

When we had fought Nut, at least I could glimpse her behind a glass barrier, even though I couldn’t cross it. Now, even that had become impossible.

The Magic Mirror had lost its function as a portal. No method allowed me to get closer to the world where the Saintess slept.

“We searched the dreams of everyone living on the Korean Peninsula, but we couldn’t find anyone matching the person you described!”

But there had been someone like that.

“She was the type to brew every kind of coffee, but she always asked for instant coffee.”

“And she liked it even better if you secretly mixed in a spoonful of cinnamon.”

“She had hair the color of water and eyes like the ocean. Her breathing and footsteps were so quiet, it was like she was swimming gracefully, not walking.”

“She wasn’t interested in the trivial matters of the world, always expressionless, never joining in on people’s chatter. But she was still someone who could sacrifice herself for others.”

“She was brilliant.”

“And she liked to cross the Jamsu Bridge when she went for walks.”

There had been someone like that.

“Hoeeek! Comrade Secretary! We mobilized every resource for six years, but we couldn’t find her!”

The house in Yongsan where the Saintess had lived was now a ruin.

The tropical fish she had raised in the face of civilization’s collapse were gone. The aquarium she had carefully cleaned and tended had turned to dust.

The study sessions she held every Wednesday, sitting at a table with others, were no longer.

With the loss of Clairvoyance and Telepathy, public safety on the Korean Peninsula rapidly deteriorated. When Awakeners lost their way in the Void:

- Mr. Undertaker.

- There’s a person stranded. I’ll give you their location.

The person who would send me those messages had disappeared. I could no longer rescue people as quickly as before.

No one found it strange.

And summer passed.

When Awakeners didn’t fully understand their abilities or know how to strengthen them:

[The Librarian of the Great Library unlocks your true potential.]

[The Librarian of the Great Library has given you a quest.]

[Upon completing the quest, a special opportunity to enhance your ability will appear.]

The person who had subtly guided the Awakeners was gone. I could no longer help people on such a large scale.

The idea that, “At least the Constellations are watching over me,” disappeared from people’s minds, without them even knowing it was there in the first place. The belief that, “At least I can confide my worries to the Constellations,” was gone as well.

No one found it strange.

And summer passed.

Without you, the world grew closer to hell with each passing season.

It was then that I realized something.

From the 1st cycle—where I had forgotten everything—through the 4th, and ever since the 5th, when I truly began to live as a regressor. There had always been a silent observer somewhere, quietly watching over the world.

Even in my lowest moments, they weren’t as bad as they could have been. For all the lives I had lived as a regressor, there was still so much I hadn’t grasped.

I wasn’t ready to live in a world without you.

Then, summer passed.

It was time to move on to the next cycle.

I hadn’t told anyone, but a certain fear had settled inside me by that point.

‘What if the Saintess isn’t in the next cycle either?’

The moment I opened my eyes in Busan Station in the 268th cycle, I rushed straight to the souvenir shop. I went to find the object I always picked up, without fail.

‘It’s here.’

The cheap Silver Bell I always bought for 9,900 won was still there on the shelf.

I fastened the Silver Bell to my wrist and hurriedly cleared the Tutorial Dungeon, making sure to display overwhelming power, enough to catch the interest of a certain someone who might be watching the Awakeners.

And then—

[The Saintess of National Salvation is astonished by your feat!]

[The Monarch of the Crimson Horse feels a sense of rivalry at your strength.]

[The Conqueror of the Alps takes note of your course.]

[The Chancellor of the Red Cape is wary of your abilities.]

My knees nearly gave out.

I let out a breath. Relief swelled in my chest.

‘She’s here... Yes, she’s here.’

Finally, it was clear. The only one separated from time was the Saintess of the 267th cycle.

But the existence of the Saintess herself had not been erased from the world. Perhaps after ascending to the level of an Outer God, she was treated as a different entity entirely.

Now, I could tell my comrades what had happened in the 267th cycle.

‘But... I can’t tell them.’

I walked into the bathroom of Busan Station and splashed cold water on my face. Since the city’s water supply hadn’t been cut off yet, the tap water was enough to cool my mind.

‘I can’t tell the Saintess what happened to her in the 267th cycle. If she finds out she has that potential... She won’t hesitate.’

The same thing would surely happen again. It wasn’t hard to imagine.

In a moment where the world faced imminent destruction, the Saintess would trigger Time Stop without hesitation and spend another thousand years alone.

‘I can’t let that happen.’

That’s why I couldn’t tell her.

It was the same situation as Dang Seo-rin. She had once confessed that if she ever realized her accumulated lifespan already exceeded several thousand years, she would immediately dip into that reserve in her greed at the first sign of danger.

The moment the Saintess became aware of such a powerful last resort, she would transform into an Outer God once more.

‘I can’t let that happen.’

‘I must keep this secret.’

‘This must never happen again―’

With a tinkling jingle, the Silver Bell hanging from my wrist rang.

“...?”

I hadn’t been aware of it, but after washing my face, I had apparently placed my palm on the bathroom mirror.

‘Huh?’

I looked up at the mirror. Reflected there was my damp face and dripping wet hair.

But that wasn’t what caught my attention.

My palm.

The hand I had placed on the mirror.

‘Cold.’

For some reason, the spot where my palm touched felt unusually cool.

If I had to guess its temperature... Yes.

Exactly 15°C.

“...!”

I pressed both hands against the mirror, yet it didn’t matter how I touched the glass with my right hand. Only when my left hand—the one wearing the Silver Bell—touched the glass, did I feel that same sensation, that 15°C temperature.

‘Ah.’

She was there.

You were here.

“Saintess.”

You have to be.

“Saintess, can you hear me?”

There was no response.

I couldn’t see her anymore. I couldn’t cross to the other side.

We couldn’t speak, and I couldn’t hear her voice.

We couldn’t sit together in the same room, reading books and listening to the sound of each other’s breath.

All that remained was the memory and the faint warmth I felt through the glass—as if you were right there on the other side, pressing your hand against mine.

Perhaps, like me, you were touching the other side of the glass at that very moment. Frozen in time, along with the world.

“......”

But this was enough.

‘As long as you exist, we will meet again.’

That was the fate of a regressor.

Maybe to some of them, to those screaming infected fated to regression, this was hell. But not to me.

If there was a way for a person like that to still be grateful for life, even after realizing the world repeated endlessly, it was simply because they longed to meet someone again.

And for the chance of that one reunion, a person could endure crossing millions of summers.

“...Please wait a little longer.”

We were beings from opposite poles. I lived in the endless flow of time, while the Saintess resided at its end. I enjoyed wandering outside, while she preferred to gaze at the fish tank inside her room.

And now, we were separated by a mirror.

“Just close your eyes for a moment, and when you open them again, we’ll be back in that season.”

I slowly lifted my hand from the mirror.

For a while, the imprint of my palm and fingers remained faintly visible on the glass. And just before the marks disappeared—

I saw it.

The imprint of a smaller hand, delicate fingers, overlaying mine.

For a brief moment, our hands overlapped.

A message in white.

“Yes.”

“I’ll see you... soon.”

Outer God: Night Goddess, Nut

Aliases: Hell, Ruler of the Underworld, Mirror World, Geocentrism, Eye of Horus, Parmenides' Moon, Regressor Virus

Threat Level: Lv.5 Outer God (Alienation)

Extermination in progress.

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