Chapter 225

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The Concealer II

Seo Gyu hiding his hair and Dang Seo-rin hiding her nerdy interests left me reeling from mental exhaustion.

Especially the latter—Dang Seo-rin giving up her witch cosplay and train obsession? How could that possibly be Dang Seo-rin?

The Great Witch of the Samcheon World was someone who led with both witchcraft and steam locomotives. She held symbols of the medieval and modern eras in either hand, and by doing so, she became a transcendent figure that embodied human history.

In other words, Dang Seo-rin of the 244th cycle had lost her very soul and become a soulless being. We decided to call that a Yu Ji-won.

“Is there no one normal this cycle? Seriously, not a single one?”

Of course, when I say “normal,” I mean it by my standards: a person who was the same as in other cycles.

Leaving behind my comrades who had lost pieces of themselves, I desperately searched for someone normal.

“Your Excellency, why are you so anxious?”

“Ji-won, you were always hiding your morality and humanity, so stay out of this.”

“I don’t know what you mean, but I’ll take your word for it. I’ll consult you about my concerns later.”

Once again leaving behind Ji-won, the ever-constant psychopath, I continued my search, but the results were disappointing.

“Commander Noh Do-hwa, why are you being kind to both old and young patients alike? Where did your MZ-generation disdain go? Why aren’t you discriminating based on age?”

“Huh...? What kind of bastard would discriminate against patients based on age?”

“Right, you’re not Noh Do-hwa.”

“Wanna die?”

Do-hwa—OUT.

“Saintess, why haven’t you set up any aquariums in your home? Don’t you plan on keeping fish?”

“Fish...? I’ve heard that aquariums are too hard to maintain, so I’m not really interested. Lizards are cuter, you know.”

“Ah, so you’re fake too...”

“Sorry, what?”

Saintess—OUT.

“Yo-hwa, why do you keep calling me ‘sunbae’ instead of ‘teacher’ after I handed you your diploma?”

“Huh? Haha. Well, you don’t look that much older than me, sunbae! At least not on the outside. It’d be weird to start calling you ‘teacher’ now, wouldn’t it?”

“...I see. Then why don’t you wear your white sailor uniform after graduating?”

“Come on, sunbae. Who wears a sailor uniform after graduation? That’d be crazy, not to mention super tacky.”

“Infinite Void! You brat, you dare defy me!”

“Eh?”

Cheon Yo-hwa—OUT.

“Manyo Neko! Why aren’t you ending every sentence with ‘nya’ or ‘meow’? Are those cat ears just for show?!”

“Are you picking a fight, Undertaker?”

Even the Magical Girls from the Islands were all OUT.

It was a small detail, but even the coffee left behind by Old Man Scho in this cycle was hazelnut Americano instead of café au lait.

A German! (German!) Barista with incredible pride! (An old man!) Drinking Americano! (Americano!)

The shock echoed like an a cappella choir in my head.

I despaired. Something had gone terribly, terribly wrong.

I retreated to the Inunaki Tunnel, muttering in anguish.

“...Something’s off. This isn’t right. How could there be such big differences right after regressing? This is before the Butterfly Effect even has a chance to kick in. Could I have fallen into a dream without realizing it? Oh, the horror... Am I just a brain in a jar, with my consciousness trapped in a dream...”

“Your Excellency, are you alright?”

“Ji-won, stay out of it. I may be cornered, but I haven’t fallen so low that I’d seek empathy from you.”

“I still don’t understand, but if Your Excellency says so, I will remain silent.”

How was I supposed to fix this unprecedented disaster?

Looking back now, I was still relatively inexperienced in the 244th cycle. I had yet to defeat the Goddess of Night, Nut, and I hadn’t even taken down the Admin of the Infinite Metagame. At that point, I hadn’t fully realized that if something was powerful enough to interfere with my regression, it had to be an Outer God-level anomaly.

(The Saintess sealing herself to place an impenetrable barrier around my regression was something that would happen much later.)

“Alright... Yes. I’ll help them recover what they’ve lost. If I can restore what’s been hidden, it should counter the anomaly's tricks.”

“Even if Your Excellency mutters incomprehensible things to yourself, it won’t diminish my admiration for you in the slightest. Feel free to command me.”

“Go get a wig, Ji-won.”

I got the wig and placed it on Seo Gyu’s bald head. I styled it carefully, making sure it matched his usual hair from previous cycles to 99.99% accuracy.

“How does it feel, Seo Gyu? Do you feel like you’ve regained something you lost, like you’re finally returning to your true self?”

“......”

“Come on, remember your true identity! You can do it, Seo Gyu!”

“...Hyung, I’m really sorry, but... are you asking to get hit?”

It failed.

In other stories, when a regressor caused this kind of commotion, their comrades would murmur things like, “Huh? Why do I have memories of something I’ve never experienced...?” and recover their memories of past cycles.

But not in my particular brand of regression. In fact, Seo Gyu was one of the better ones.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

When I ran up to Noh Do-hwa and said, “Commander! You should start cursing out young people right away! Yell at them! Start throwing all kinds of insults like you used to!” I ended up getting beaten like a dog and thrown out.

With Dang Seo-rin, I personally brought her a witch’s hat, witch’s robe, and broomstick, saying, “Dang Seo-rin! Isn’t this stirring your passion for fashion again?” and her response was, “Hmm, are you asking me to strip you in a very sophisticated way?” She almost ate me alive.

As for Cheon Yo-hwa, I couldn’t bring myself to wear a school uniform and visit her. As the Undertaker, I hadn’t completely abandoned my humanity. Besides, while her titles and fashion had changed, Cheon Yo-hwa was still as unpredictable as ever.

I failed. I failed. I failed. I failed.

My regressor mentality, once steeled against the suffering of time, was cracking with a resounding creak. To my surprise, I discovered that I was more shocked by my comrades' changing hobbies than by the world getting destroyed by anomalies.

“Well, even if Your Excellency is right, there’s no way for us to confirm it. As you’ve mentioned, we’re only aware of the 244th cycle.”

“...Yeah.”

Ironically, I could only have these kinds of discussions comfortably with Ji-won for the simple reason that she didn’t care about my mental state at all, so we could talk without any regard to sensitivity or tact.

“Have you considered the possibility that your mind is the one that’s changed?”

“...So you’re saying Seo Gyu was bald in every cycle, but my memory was warped to see him as having a full head of hair?”

“Yes. That’s much more reasonable,” Ji-won said while carving a chess piece with a sharp knife. “It’s practically Occam’s razor.[1] If you assume everyone but you has changed, then the anomaly responsible for this would need to be incredibly powerful, capable of reaching across cycles to tamper with things.”

“Hmm.”

“On the other hand, if only your mind has been tampered with, it’s a much simpler explanation. The anomaly would only need powers related to mind control or perception distortion. It wouldn’t even need to cross cycles.”

“......”

Right.

As much as I didn’t want to admit it, Ji-won’s analysis was correct. Chances were high that I was currently under some form of mental manipulation, that at some point, my Complete Memory had been hacked, causing my perception to become distorted. Everything wrapped up in one, neat explanation.

Not to mention, everyone else had some trait of theirs hidden away, so why was I the only one left untouched? This would answer that question as well.

It was just that I was the one who had become strange.

“Of course, Your Excellency is flawless and never makes mistakes. But sometimes, it’s worth flipping the board and considering the opposite.”

“......”

Actually, I wasn’t the only one who remained unchanged.

Ji-won. The silver-haired psychopath in front of me was as consistent as she always was. Her speech, hobbies, fashion sense, and way of thinking—not a single part of Ji-won’s personality had been hidden. She was the same ace of the Samcheon World and operations commander of the National Road Management Corps that I remembered.

She was the exact same, if not for the fact that her ability had been altered ever so slightly.

That’s why I was suspicious. What if the mysterious anomaly, which I had labeled “X hides Y,” had actually attached itself to Ji-won?

“Waiting until the next cycle might not be a bad strategy.” Ji-won placed the newly finished chess piece on the map.

“Wait until the next cycle? Why?”

“If this anomaly really has the power to hide something from people, then by the next cycle, more things will be hidden.”

“......”

“I imagine it will start small, hiding things like hair or fashion. That way, it can stay under your radar for as long as possible.”

“My mental state is already on the verge of collapse.”

“That part, the anomaly probably didn’t predict. I think from the next cycle onward, it will start hiding people’s abilities, personalities, or even their core behaviors.”

“...Then it really will be dangerous.”

“Yes. It’s an effective strategy, lulling the target into complacency before striking.”

Then something strange happened with the map.

Sssssk.

The chess piece Ji-won had placed on the map moved toward another chess piece, as if drawn by a magnet.

The one Ji-won had just carved moved to the upper part of the map, while another, invisible piece pulled toward the lower part.

It formed an image, taking a shape similar to a Taegeuk symbol.

The paper map, pinched by the chess pieces, began to float in mid-air.

It was an unusual sight, but this was part of the subtle changes in Ji-won’s ability in the 244th cycle. Aside from the map floating a little, the Mini Map ability still worked fine. Ji-won’s chess pieces continued to track people’s locations perfectly.

Just a minor error.

“This is still strange...” I muttered to myself. Dang Seo-rin and the others seemed like they had a trait “missing,” but Ji-won felt more like something was “off.”

The difference kept nagging at me. Why was Ji-won so different from everyone else?

“Perhaps what Your Excellency calls my psychopathic tendencies are what’s been hidden. In this cycle, I’ve regained the ability to deeply empathize with others.”

“Why don’t you try showing some emotions in your eyes while you say that?”

“My eyes are already full of respect for you, Your Excellency. There’s no room for any other emotion. I ask for your understanding.”

“There’s nothing to understand. You’ve had that same dead-eyed look ever since we met in the 5th cycle—”

I stopped mid-sentence.

“Wait a second.”

I didn’t mean to do it. My instincts—my sixth sense—forced me to stop.

My vision was still filled with the image of the chess pieces pinching the map, forming a Taegeuk shape.

“Space? Space...?”

If Ji-won’s ability wasn’t malfunctioning...

If the chess pieces were showing the precise locations of people on the map...

Then what did it mean?

I shot to my feet. “Ji-won.”

“Yes?”

“Grab the map and the trunk and follow me. I want to test something.”

Ji-won glanced at her analog wristwatch. 11 p.m. Back when human civilization still thrived, some people might have thought of it as morning, but now it was a time considered far too late for going outside.

“Understood.”

Without asking any questions, Ji-won followed me out of the Inunaki Tunnel.

I led us to a clearing far from the coast and grabbed a shovel instead of a sword. “We’re going to dig down.”

“Dig... down, Your Excellency?”

“Yes. It sounds ridiculous, but I have a hunch. We’re going to dig through the ground until we reach the bottom. You watch the map and track our progress.”

“Understood, Your Excellency.”

And so, I carried out my plan.

Thwack!

The shovel sank into the ground like pudding. It was an impressive feat, thanks to my liberal use of Aura.

Down. Further down. Even deeper—

This was no ordinary digging operation. As the ground grew harder, any other Awakener would have ruined their shovel by now.

‘This is way too solid.’

Despite using Aura, the ground was unusually dense, and progress slowed.

Thwack! Thwack! Thwack!

Still, I continued digging without hesitation. At this moment, I wasn’t a regressor—I was nothing more than a human drill.

After digging for so long I lost track of time, I had gone so deep that I wouldn’t have been surprised to hit upon magma. Sweat had begun to pour down my forehead.

“Your Excellency, please hydrate yourself.”

“Ah, thanks.”

Ji-won pulled out a bottle of water from the trunk and brought it to my lips.

For the record, while I was digging, Ji-won stood by, illuminating the area with Aura. If it weren’t for her lack of humanity, she would’ve been the perfect assistant.

Spent on words, I continued silently breaking through the earth until finally—

“Phew, phew... Huh?”

Fsss!

There was a strange sound as the shovel pierced through something. It seemed I had finally broken through to a hollow space after digging through what felt like an endless layer of rock.

“Is this another layer of bedrock?”

“I’m not sure, Your Excellency.”

“Could be a cave. Let’s widen the hole and take a look.”

As I expanded the hole, a faint light began to seep through.

The larger the hole grew, the stronger the light became, and by the time it was big enough for a person to pass through, we no longer needed Ji-won’s illumination.

Then, like sticking your head out of a Mario pipe, I poked my head through the hole and looked outside.

“......”

“......”

I fell silent.

Ji-won poked her head through the hole beside me, then froze as well in a rare display of “shock” and “astonishment.”

We were both silent for a long time. The sheer visual impact of what we saw left us speechless.

“Ji-won. Is that...?”

“...Yes.”

Deep beneath the ground.

No, beyond the hole.

“By any measure... that’s the sun.”

There was a sun.

A massive underground space stretched out before us, on a scale beyond comprehension. It wasn’t just as large as Korea. No, the space defied imagination.

In the middle of this vast, empty space, there was a small sun illuminating the underground world.

In other words—

“No way...”

‘The Earth is hiding a sun.’

“This is insane... That’s not something you hide.”

It was the Hollow Earth Theory.

This was the anomaly that had descended in this cycle.

Footnotes:

[1] Occam’s razor is a philosophical principle that essentially boils down to the simplest explanation is usually the most accurate.

[2] The Taeguek symbol is the symbol found on the South Korean flag, similar to a yin-yang symbol.

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