Grab the Regressor by the Collar and Debut - Chapter 510

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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510. How to Awaken from the Butterfly’s Dream (4)
I’d anticipated even Thirteen’s true nature, but I hadn’t foreseen an answer like this.
My expression crumbled in that instant—my features contorting as though they’d come unhinged—and I found myself asking Thirteen once more.
“…Nothing? There’s nothing at all?”
[System Notification: Yes. There is nothing. Nothing at all.]
“Why?”
I couldn’t comprehend it. In that brief moment, my mind churned relentlessly, searching for a rational explanation for this output.
“Ah, wait—is it already complete? That gauge from before? Was filling it the Quest? It seems like I cleared it too easily for something like that… Well, anyway, can I go back now? I can just leave right away, right?”
[System Notification: No. The timeline is still undergoing restoration.]
“Then why―.”
[System Notification: Kang Ha-jin.]
The entity that had addressed me with meticulous formality as “the Fixed Returner” except in certain moments suddenly shifted its tone by speaking my name directly.
Though it possessed no physical form, those white characters against the pale blue window somehow emanated an indescribable pressure that left me speechless. I could only wait for Thirteen’s next words.
[System Notification: Do you know precisely how long you have been confined to this “September 15th”?]
“I haven’t counted exactly… roughly a hundred days? Maybe a bit more?”
[System Notification: Calculated in physical time by human standards, the number of days you were trapped totals 1,352 days.]
“What…?”
[System Notification: Yet until you “awakened” to this truth, you were completely unaware. Naturally.]
“….”
[System Notification: Because I ensured it remained that way.]
Though written in Korean characters, the more I read those words, the less they made sense.
But Thirteen, indifferent to my bewilderment, continued its explanation with clinical precision.
[System Notification: Yet this time as well, you managed to “awaken” to the truth on your own. Thanks to that, I’ve had quite the ordeal setting aside everything else just to locate your timeline coordinates….]
[System Notification: Well, that was something I’d have to do eventually anyway.]
“…?”
[System Notification: Then, what do you suppose is the reason I’ve gone to such lengths to find you?]
Why would it have come looking for me?
The question struck at something far more fundamental than I’d expected, and words escaped me. I scratched my cheek and answered with whatever came to mind.
“Well, I suppose… to tell me how to escape this loop…?”
[System Notification: That answer is partially correct, but not the full truth.]
“Look, what exactly have you been trying to say this whole time―.”
[System Notification: The reason I mobilized all my strength to locate your timeline the moment I learned of your “awakening” was….]
[System Notification: To erase the fact of your “awakening”.]
“…What?”
What in the world was any of this supposed to mean?
Faced with Thirteen’s incomprehensible stance, my furrowed brow—which had been creased with tension all this while—twisted even further without relief.
* * *
Our conversation resumed only after some time had passed and I’d managed to regain my composure.
“…Explain it to me. What you mean by saying I don’t need to do anything. And what you mean by coming here to erase the fact of my awakening.”
My voice, which had been unusually animated upon meeting Thirteen, had by now settled into a dry, measured tone.
No matter how loudly I shouted or demanded a proper explanation, Thirteen kept dodging the conversation, insisting he’d explain once his excitement died down.
[System Notification: …guidance room?]
[System Notification: (;´・`)>]
“…That’s because you threw nothing but strange remarks at me earlier and didn’t explain anything properly.”
[System Notification: /( ´△｀)/]
“…I won’t complain. I won’t say anything, so just explain it in a way I can understand.”
Faced with this obstinate creature taking a completely wrong turn, I gave up halfway and exhaled a sigh, pressing my forehead. Then Thirteen, who’d been nervously gauging my reaction (which annoyed me even more), bristled defensively and began his justification.
[System Notification: First of all… as I mentioned, the current situation isn’t so bad.]
[System Notification: Finding ‘The One Who Returns’ again after he hid himself within the timeline is certainly a problem, but….]
[System Notification: In any case, we now know his identity and have caught him once before, so tracking him is becoming somewhat easier.]
[System Notification: Timeline restoration isn’t something that can be accomplished overnight either, but thanks to Kang Ha-jin and Dan Ha-ru working so diligently, it’s progressing quite smoothly.]
I already knew all of that. It wasn’t a sufficient explanation.
As I raised one eyebrow to show my displeasure, Thirteen quickly continued.
[System Notification: Moreover, this current ‘false timeline’ is in an extremely unstable state.]
[System Notification: All the past timelines are jumbled together in a complete mess, and The One Who Returns has deliberately set ‘the worst possible time’ for you and everyone around you.]
[System Notification: In such circumstances, it’s actually more dangerous for you to move recklessly and create variables.]
“….”
I nodded quietly. There was nothing more foolish than moving on impulse in an unstable environment.
Now that I understood, at least somewhat, what Thirteen was trying to say, I exhaled sharply, feeling oddly frustrated. My bangs, which obscured my eyes with that frustration, fluttered in the breeze.
“So then? From now on, I’m supposed to do nothing? Trapped in this September 15th?”
[System Notification: You’re simply dreaming for a while. If I erase your awareness, you won’t even realize you’re ‘trapped here’ anyway. Just as you haven’t until now.]
“…Yeah, I suppose so.”
Just as I have been for approximately twelve hundred days.
Thinking about it this way, I found myself contemplating anew how fleeting human existence truly is in the face of ‘time.’ Nearly three years had passed physically, yet I’d only experienced something close to three months.
And still, I remained trapped in merely ‘today.’
[System Notification: Once everything is restored, you’ll naturally open your eyes in the ‘real reality.’ Believing all of this was merely a dream.]
[System Notification: You won’t have any memory of waking up as twenty-nine-year-old Kang Ha-jin, nor of being endlessly isolated and trapped on September 15th.]
[System Notification: You’ll simply awaken that way. I’ll make sure of it, no matter what it takes.]
From Thirteen’s solemn tone, I could sense a resolve that transcended mere determination.
And somehow, that resolve seemed to carry a rather deep story behind it.
“Kim Thirteen.”
[System Notification: Yes?]
“You’re suddenly acting strange. Why are you being so grim all of a sudden?”
[System Notification: ….]
“Did you go through something while I was gone? When did you grow up so much?”
They say people die when they change suddenly, and there was no reason a system should be any different.
Thirteen clearly seemed to have experienced something I couldn’t remember, so I gave him a look that said he should just come clean since I already knew everything.
Then, after displaying nothing but ‘….’ for a long while to avoid answering, Thirteen, now thoroughly timid, shrunk the system window and displayed some text.
[System Notification: …because.]
“What? Hey, is this a regression side effect or something? My eyes have gotten worse lately and I can’t read the text well. Wait, didn’t you say my eyesight got better back then?”
[System Notification: …that’s why it’s like this.]
“Hey, this is real. You can’t see it because I’m making it smaller. Can you press Ctrl+T to force the size up? No, wait, this is text so should I press Alt+Shift+R instead….”
[System Notification: I’m seriously so fed up with treating the System window like a word processor, I really am. I have this thing called Time Management Authority too, and seriously….]
“Could you please not revert the text size to 9 points when you’re actually talking?”
[System Notification: Kang Ha-jin, your perception is seriously the worst!]
[System Notification: 。ﾟ(ﾟﾉД｀ﾟ)ﾟ｡]
“What exactly has this kid been through while I was gone…?”
I’d left him at Headquarters for a bit because I was busy, and now he’d picked up some strange habits. I made a mental note to have words with the Headquarters people about this later, then leaned back comfortably against the sofa armrest.
As I tilted my head to the right as if inviting him to speak, Thirteen, who had been grumbling, finally gave in and instead enlarged a new System window to full screen, then played a video.
“…?”
One corner of that dark narrow room—so familiar now that I could recognize it from a single pixel.
With the sound of rain pattering in the background, a man sat blankly in the corner of a small bed without a single light on, his face bearing the expression of someone who had lost everything.
“That’s….”
It was me.
Eyes devoid of focus, staring into empty space, my lips moving dryly and stiffly.
A man as gloomy as a living corpse.
[System Notification: I….]
From one corner, Thirteen displayed a chat window in a slightly darker tone than usual and slowly typed out the words.
[System Notification: I can’t tell you how much I regret dragging the Fixed Returner into this.]
[System Notification: The Fixed Returner won’t understand, even if they die and wake up.]
Though it was merely text, somehow Thirteen’s complicated emotions seemed to transfer to me.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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