The Tales of an Infinite Regressor - Chapter 28

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Chapter 28 – The First Flame II

3

On the 17th run, Old Scho and I were running an academy. Old Scho was the headmaster, and I was the vice headmaster. It was one of the schemes to attract and nurture promising Awakeneds from various countries more easily.

We sincerely operated this academy for a while, and thanks to that, we were able to accumulate abundant data on Awakeneds. We’ll talk more about this academy later.

“Bring together the graduating class and the faculty!”

“I already did, you rascal! You’re the last one!”

Old Scho was bluffing. We had to roam around the dormitory in our pajamas to wake up all the combat squads.

After we finished preparing, we set out. To the predetermined meeting place with other guilds in case of an emergency.

“Guild Leader Three Thousand Worlds!”

“Oh, Doctor Jang. Is the Sword Master here too?”

We gradually joined other guilds on the way.

Three Thousand Worlds, one of Korea’s top guilds, also quickly brought only their elite. It was comical to see seventy Awakeneds all wearing conical hats and holding staffs, but their power was no joke at all.

“What in the world is going on?”

“We’re still trying to figure out the exact cause. The Constellations are telling me this and that, but I need to see it with my own eyes. That big tree there was observed since 2 a.m. today.”

“Suddenly sprouted?”

“Yeah. It grew to that size in less than an hour. It started glowing red like this only after it grew big. So, I guess we were a little late to the party.”

“…It’s ominous.”

“I agree.”

At that moment, a Three Thousand Worlds guild member approached and whispered to Tang Seorin.

All the guild leaders gathered at the meeting point, including us, turned to look at Tang Seorin. Although it was already the time when the Ten Clans were subdued, Tang Seorin was still expected to play the role of the leader. She sighed.

“Well, everyone should see it for themselves. Bring it.”

“Yes.”

The guild members brought something. It was a human, or more precisely, a human dressed in attire that clearly indicated he was a Shinbul Buddhist.

More accurately, he was a human who constantly murmured while biting into his own forearm.

“Hungry, hungry, hungry, hungry.”

Even though he was tied up with ropes, his teeth never stopped gnawing. Even as he forcibly bent his neck, even as he twisted his elbows backward, he somehow managed to devour his own flesh.

The darkness of the night concealed it, but now it was clear that both legs and the left arm had already been eaten away.

The guild leaders’ faces stiffened.

“…What’s that guy doing? Is he a zombie?”

“Still, he’s quite different from a zombie. He’s not attacking anyone else, just himself.”

“He might be a particularly humble zombie.”

“What’s he mumbling about?”

The sight of a person’s flesh being torn off in real time was gruesomely grotesque, but the courage of the guild leaders who had survived until now was not insignificant. Although their expressions were completely decayed, they observed the zombie with unwavering eyes.

“As far as we’ve observed.”

The guild leaders fell silent as Tang Seorin spoke.

“All Shinbul Buddhists are showing the same symptoms.”

“All of them!”

Shock spread around.

“Really, all of them?”

“Yeah. Oh, I misspoke. Even if they’re not Shinbul Buddhists, people infected with Shinbul Buddhism are all the same. No exceptions for ordinary Awakeneds.”

“I knew this would happen.”

Old Scho grumbled.

“Anyway, there’s nothing good about getting involved with cultists from the old days. What? You get an extra life for free just by getting infected? Is there such a good deal? Ugh! I was suspicious from the beginning.”

“….”

The guild leaders’ eyes poured disdain on the old German man’s stubbornness, regardless of time and place. I cleared my throat to seize the floor for a moment.

“Guild Leader, are these symptoms of the zombie all there is? Eating oneself like a monster? It’s certainly intriguing, but I’m not sure how it relates to the World Tree and zombies.”

“Huh? What’s a zombie? Anyway, let’s keep watching a little longer. Something fascinating is about to happen.”

The zombie didn’t stop its predatory behavior while we were talking.

“Hungry, hungry, hungry, hungry.”

Before long, the last remaining right arm in the center of its body fell off. Then the zombie stood upright like a matryoshka doll.

“….”

The zombie lifted its head and looked up at the night sky. It was the direction where the World Tree stood. As the zombie’s mouth slowly opened, a red flower bloomed instantly from its mouth.

The guild leaders each swallowed their breath.

“Unbelievable.”

“Damn, what the…?”

Someone muttered.

“It’s just like a cordyceps fungus….”

A fungus that parasitizes its host’s body and eventually sprouts mushrooms.

But in this case, it wasn’t mushrooms but flowers, and they were remarkably beautiful red flowers.

The red flower turned the zombie’s flesh into a flowerpot. And in the blink of an eye, it grew up to the height of a first-floor apartment. It seemed like time had broken down at an astonishing speed. We stared at the crimson flower’s stalk in silence.

Pop, and the petals burst like popcorn.

The red flower bloomed and withered like a single season in 10 seconds. However, unlike other trees, it didn’t drop its flowers downward.

The guild leaders gaped in astonishment.

“Oh, uh… What’s that…?”

“It’s going up?”

Not a falling flower but a rising flower.

The homeland of the red flower seemed to be not the ground but the sky. They fluttered longing for above, not below. Like a slightly lighter breeze, a slightly lighter firefly, or a slightly lighter cherry blossom.

It wasn’t just here.

In the dark night sky, countless red lights sparkled. They were much thinner than starlight but also much closer. From abandoned buildings, from open fields, from all directions, red petals spread out like a Milky Way into the night sky.

“Beautiful….”

That, too, was someone’s murmur.

The World Tree, gathering all the red from the ground, became even more tantalizing. The light emitted by the World Tree was so dazzling that it could only suffocate starlight and moonlight.

“Hmm.”

Old Scho sighed.

Turning my head, Old Scho was not looking at the night sky but staring intently at the zombie.

A lean body. No, it was more like the bark of a tree that had long since decayed. The human corpse, stripped of all its redness, now only left traces. When Old Scho lightly touched it with a sword, the zombie-flowerpot crumbled with a crackle.

“Doctor.”

“…Yes, Captain.”

“I guess we’re fucked, huh?”

I nodded. I didn’t want to agree, but it was the right diagnosis.

The boss-level monster that reappeared after the Ten Clans were subdued.

No, in fact, it appeared before the Ten Clans, but it had hidden its power for years, parasitizing its hosts, and finally revealed its true form.

The World Tree――its traditional name was ‘Udumbara.’

Udumbara.

A mythical flower revered in Buddhism. It was a phantasmal flower that didn’t exist in reality.

But now it did.

There was really no plan for the legendary being that descended to the earth. It was even more dangerous than the Ten Clans.

Above all, unlike the Ten Clans, Udumbara was extremely malicious. Not only did it parasitize its hosts, but it also made the hosts welcome the parasite. Quietly expanding its influence, it suddenly unleashed all its power at once.

At the moment Udumbara revealed itself, it was already game over. If many hosts were infected with the virus to the extent that the red World Tree bloomed, then the world’s destruction was certain from that point.

“Oh my, what are we supposed to do…”

“That’s right.”

Old Scho and I lamented together, scratching our heads.

By the way, it was now run 18. What about run 17 suddenly disappearing? Uh… Weeds sprouted from Old Scho’s beard, and grass grew from my eyebrows.

Thinking it was our last resort, we tried bringing all the guild unions and chopping the tree, but it was no use. What could we do? Old Scho and I just neatly toasted with poison in our glasses.

Even after Old Scho went on vacation, I couldn’t come up with a fundamental solution to Udumbara.

Suppressing Awakeneds’ superiority complex while being careful not to let the cult spread as much as possible?

But that was like trying to pee against the wind. Even if we somehow controlled it domestically, how would we control it internationally? No matter what measures we took, Udumbara would just bloom a little later.

But as time passed, in run 36…

“The Constellations… don’t exist anymore.”

“The Saintess of Salvation and the Conqueror of Alps, they were all just characters I created.”

――The situation changed in an instant since meeting the Saintess.

The clues to conquering the World Tree, which seemed hopeless, suddenly appeared.

Starting from the runs after forming an alliance with the Saintess, I actively engaged in the extermination of Udumbara. The key to the extermination operation was the request I made to the Saintess.

“From now on, please use [Heaven’s Eye] to observe the Awakeneds on Jeju Island.”

“Jeju Island?”

The Saintess tilted her head.

“Is there a reason for that?”

“Yes. If left alone, a cult called Shinbul Buddhism will start to emerge in earnest from the third year….”

I explained about the outbreak of the zombie virus, the spread of Shinbul Buddhism, the awakening of Awakeneds’ superiority complex, and, above all, the blooming of the red World Tree as the turning point.

The Saintess listened quietly from start to finish. And she murmured softly.

“I see. So, Doctor, you intend to find out who the initial outbreaker of the virus is.”

“That’s correct.”

The initial outbreaker, who was in a state of oblivion until the previous run. The first domino that caused the virus outbreak.

Alone, I could never have figured it out, but with my ability to regress and the Saintess’s [Heaven’s Eye], it was entirely possible.

“This time it’s Jeju Island. Next will be Gyeongsangnam-do. Then Gyeongsangbuk-do, Jeollanam-do, Jeollabuk-do… Each run, we’ll focus on one region of the country, sweeping from south to north. Then—”

“Someday we might witness the moment the initial outbreaker is born.”

The Saintess nodded.

“Got it. Originally, I mainly used [Heaven’s Eye] to observe prominent Awakeneds like you, Doctor. But if I push it a bit… While it’s impossible to observe all the Awakeneds in Korea in real-time, I can manage one region at a time. Somehow.”

“Shall I assign Yoo Jiwon to assist you?”

“No, it’s okay.”

The Saintess closed her eyes as if in prayer.

“It’s something I can handle on my own.”

At that moment, I couldn’t know how exactly she managed to observe so many Awakeneds. It was a ‘secret’ she didn’t reveal.

Perhaps she collaborated with figures like Awakeneds working for the remnants of the South Korean government (or rather, its scraps), or with individuals like Nodoha, I speculated silently.

I entrusted the quest to the Saintess and, on the other hand, dealt with the cult leaders who played the most crucial role in the establishment of Shinbul Buddhism. Even if these guys disappeared, similar beliefs would still arise, but at least I could buy another year or two.

And so, run 36 arrived.

“It’s not Jeju Island.”

Run 37.

“There are no initial outbreakers in Gyeongsangnam-do.”

Runs 38, 39, and 40.

Finally, when run 41 arrived.

“…I found it.”

The Saintess opened her eyes.

“Chungcheongnam-do. Asan. Onyang.”

More precisely, it was an old inn in Onyang.

Once prosperous, it had declined as the center of the city shifted. In the dilapidated downtown area, where weeds thrived more than people, the inn was barely standing.

The inn felt deserted. The paint, a murky beige, peeled off in places.

There was nothing much to take away from the dilapidated inn building, but in room 202 on the second floor, mother and son were dead.

The corpse under the hat looked untouched, as if he had just closed his eyes.

It was almost miraculous to find this place. A municipal center employee was an Awakened, and he had been patrolling houses and lodgings intensively in case any residents hadn’t evacuated (perhaps he didn’t even know if the Saintess had impersonated the Constellations to manipulate Awakeneds).

The moment the municipal center employee discovered the bodies, the Saintess witnessed the same scene.

The center employee moved on to the next patrol location without much thought. It was a challenging time just to take care of the surviving residents. However, the Saintess’s gaze remained fixed, and it was why I had come today.

There was a reason why my alias happened to be ‘Doctor.’

“Hmm.”

The mother leaned against the wall, clutching the baby tightly. The baby was a newborn. And ever so delicately, almost like young ferns in spring, red flowers bloomed over the mother’s shoulder.

The baby wore an amulet slightly larger than its wrist. It wasn’t difficult to imagine whose it was and who had put it on. The mother had thought momentarily about her feelings when she put her amulet on her child.

Perhaps it was a wish for her child to not fall into hell alone.

I stared blankly at the scene for a while, as if facing a statue.

[Doctor.]

The Saintess spoke telepathically. Unlike when dealing with other Awakeneds, she didn’t impersonate a Constellation to me. She used her own voice immediately.

I nodded.

“I understand. Don’t worry.”

I let out a sigh and swung my sword. A few red flowers scattered in the small room, too small to call it a world.

Udumbara was an illusionary flower.

After that day, each run starting meant I had one more thing to do.

Picking up Seo Gyu and Sim Aryeon at Busan Station. Going to the Baekje Hospital building to have coffee with Old Scho. Contacting the Saintess to establish an alliance. And then heading up to Chungcheong-do to see the red flowers.

Later, I found out that no matter how many times I regressed, it was impossible to get the hat. By the time the Gate Incident occurred in Seoul, the mother and son were already dead.

The cause of death was starvation.

Misfortune always struck at the right moment.

“Wow…”

Sometimes, due to a slight delay in the schedule, it took a few days to arrive at the inn. When that happened, the Udumbara, which was the size of a young fern, had already grown into a small cherry blossom tree.

“Wow, it’s so beautiful…”

Every time the run changed, I brought along a companion to enjoy the flowers. For example, the companion for run 96 was Sim Aryeon.

“Is this really the mysterious creature the Guild Master mentioned? The one we’re supposed to classify as continent-level danger and upload to the SG Net?”

“Yeah.”

“It, it’s such a fascinating sight. Makes me want to try drawing it.”

Not just in words, but in reality, Sim Aryeon had brought an easel all the way here and set it up. As he took out her paints, he exclaimed,

“Ah.”

“So, what kind of flower is that, Guild Master…?”

It’s a flower that has brought countless worlds to ruin.

Instead of explaining that, I tapped the flower stem and said, “It blooms once every run when I die.”

“Whoa.”

Sim Aryeon marveled at my sophisticated expression.

“Um, Guild Master, having teenage syndrome at your age is a bit…”

“…”

“Guild Master, having teenage syndrome at your age is a bit…”

Hmm.

Next time I bring him along, I’ll take him to some scary haunted spots.

– The First Flame. The End.

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