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HEL SCANS
[Translator – Jjsecus]
[Proofreader – Gun]
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Chapter 64 – Sleepwalker II
I barely managed to hold onto my sanity, which was on the verge of escaping my skull.
“Assassination… wasn’t the cause…?”
So my Level 6 security base, which I had constructed using all my knowledge as a regressor, was utterly useless?
What about the constant-poison-monitoring system, painstakingly set up by gathering every awakened person with medical abilities like Uehara Shino and Sim Aryeon?
And the Ultimate Weapon—Train Fortress—Galaxy Express 999, which I created despite causing immense stress to Tang Seorin?
That’s right. It was all useless. Every bit of it was a waste.
In hindsight, from the perspective of the 1183rd regression, I was simply an excellent fool in the 24th regression.
Among these, especially the train fortress is something I never want to mention again. It’s such an embarrassing black mark in my history that I’ll never bring it up in any future stories.
“So why did I die? What caused my death?”
Confusion. Anguish. Pain.
My brain was still hard and stuck in preconceived notions. To arrive at the realization that “perhaps monsters don’t need a fixed shape; the starlight in the night sky, as a phenomenon, could be a monster; the term ‘monster’ itself might be wrong, and ‘anomaly’ might be more appropriate,” my brain needed to become more flexible.
Of course. You have to learn the hard way.
However, even the me of the 24th regression wasn’t too much of an idiot to realize that “something incredibly strange happened that night.”
And so, again in the seventh year.
“Wow. Doctor Jang, look――.”
“Yeah, it’s a meteor shower. It usually appears around this time. You’re seeing it well.”
“…What? Aren’t you a bit edgy today? What’s been bothering you all day?”
Because the day the meteor shower falls is the day our deaths are sealed.
But I couldn’t share that regressor knowledge with Tang Seorin. Naturally, Tang Seorin, who couldn’t get a reasonable explanation, got pretty pissed and walked off.
I promised myself to apologize someday, but I couldn’t handle my tension and irritation, so I kept staring at the night sky.
“I won’t fall asleep tonight.”
Click.
I drank the last can of Let’s Be coffee I had saved for this day, carefully keeping watch over my surroundings.
I chose the location meticulously: the top of Bongnae Mountain in Yeongdo, Busan.
To get up here, one would have to step on the threads set by the Puppeteer like a spider’s web, alerting me immediately to any intruder. Unless, of course, the intruder fell straight from the sky.
The meteor shower continued to fall beautifully in the night sky.
…….
“What?”
Wait a minute.
When I went for a walk with Tang Seorin, it was 9 PM. Based on that, it’s already…
Hasn’t it been six hours since the meteor shower started?
“Do meteor showers usually last this long?”
Moreover, it wasn’t just a few scattered streaks of light. It was a torrential downpour of stars, like summer monsoon rain, with bright streaks constantly crossing the night sky.
And the rain of stars was getting thicker.
“……”
A chill ran down my spine.
I involuntarily disassembled my camouflage and stood up.
“Shit. No way, right?”
Of course, that “no way” was true.
Thus, humanity now faced the cosmic starlight as their new enemy, and this became the quest bestowed upon the regressor.
Yeah. What could I possibly expect from this shitty game?
3
Few people can accurately describe the moment the world ends.
To be precise, from what I know, there are only two people in this vast world capable of such a feat.
The Saintess of [Clairvoyance]. And me, the [Infinite Regressor], the Doctor Jang.
No matter how sudden the event, the Saintess could call for a ‘time-out’ and meticulously record the incident, while I could simply turn the wheel of regression.
Unfortunately, at that time, I hadn’t even been formally introduced to the Saintess.
Therefore, the scene of the world ending due to the meteor shower had to be witnessed by me alone.
“Stars… are getting closer?”
Boss Battle, vs. Meteor Shower. Phase 1.
First, countless streaks of starlight begin to pour down from the night sky.
If you are far from the impact site, your survival chances are high. The meteor shower is not a true meteor shower. It is an anomaly. Compared to real meteors, these fall exceedingly slowly.
If you are near the impact site? All I can do is express my condolences. You are already 99% dead.
In the 25th regression, that was exactly my situation.
Because the first place this anomaly decided to crash after appearing in this world was, unfortunately, Gyeongsangnam-do, South Korea.
“Fuck this.”
Between the myth of the Udumbara, the Ten Clans, and now a meteor shower, my respect for Grandfather Dangun surged involuntarily. Is the geographical positioning of the Korean Peninsula for real?
The only consolation is, well, you get to experience something incredibly mysterious right before you die.
– Twinkle, twinkle, little stars.
A melody gently plucking the heavens.
– Shining beautifully.
Phase 2 of the boss battle began.
I quickly descended Bongnae Mountain.
Despite it being the middle of the night, people were outside, or sticking their heads out of windows, watching the night sky.
It was probably due to the utterly surreal spectacle and music.
“What is this? A song?”
“Where’s it coming from?”
“A speaker…? No, that can’t be.”
Murmuring.
Since civilization collapsed, humanity’s biological rhythms had reverted to those of the prehistoric era. Almost everyone was forced into the lifestyle of a well-behaved child, falling asleep by 9 PM.
Considering this, the scene before my eyes was certainly abnormal.
– From the eastern sky, and the western sky.
The song couldn’t be called superb, even out of politeness.
For one, the pitch was off. Intermittent noises similar to TV static, which sounded like human sobbing upon close listening, interfered with the lyrics, making them difficult to understand.
Yet, despite all that, anyone could immediately recognize it as a song. Even if it was muddled with noise.
Exaggerating a bit, the celestial song the meteor shower was singing held a rhythm ingrained in modern human DNA.
“Doesn’t it sound familiar?”
“This is a lullaby!”
“What? A lullaby?”
“Yeah! It’s hard to hear because of all the static, but it’s a lullaby. What was it again? Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star!”
“Ah.”
Mozart’s lullaby, “Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star.”
Despite the variations in lyrics across countries and cultures, it is a universally recognized and beloved classic.
– Twinkle, twinkle, little star.
Listening to the starlight getting closer and the cozy lullaby flowing down from the heavens, one might almost forget that they are currently being invaded by one of the most dangerous anomalies in the world.
But in the very moment when all humanity is absent-mindedly gazing at the night sky, the melody shatters, and the world’s flesh begins to be torn apart.
– Ree-ee-ee-ee-ing!
“Ah! Fuck!”
“Is that… an air raid siren?”
“No, the government is down and all speakers are broken, so how…”
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HEL SCANS
[Translator – Jjsecus]
[Proofreader – Gun]
Join our Discord for release updates!
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People covered their ears and grimaced at the sudden siren sound. Fortunately, it stopped after a short while, but that was no reason to relax.
That sound signaled the anomaly entering a new phase.
Phase 3, commence.
– Twinkle, twinkle, little star.
– Shining beautifully.
The meteors that had been falling so slowly all simultaneously converged over Busan’s skies.
It was an elegant and white curve, distorting here and there, each streak of starlight spreading out like wings while retaining its own tune.
This was around the time I arrived at the headquarters of the Guild of the Three Thousand Worlds. Some guild members, including Tang Seorin, were outside the train station.
I shouted urgently.
“Tang Seorin!”
“Huh? Doctor Jang? Why are you here at this hour…”
For a moment, Tang Seorin’s face showed a displeased expression. She must have remembered our argument earlier.
But there was no time to worry about that.
“It’s a monster!”
“What?”
“That! The starlight! It’s a monster!”
“…!”
Upon hearing my words, Tang Seorin’s face also changed instantly. Not as a friend on a food tour, but as the leader of the Korean Guild Union and the Guild of the Three Thousand Worlds, she wore a fierce expression.
“That’s absurd! It’s just a phenomenon.”
“What phenomenon? Even if all the scientists got jobs inside the monsters, they’ve never announced the existence of meteors that sing lullabies from space and fall slowly for over six hours!”
“Wait. Then how on earth…”
I understood the meaning of the words Tang Seorin had swallowed.
[Then how on earth are we supposed to stop that?]
It took just a few words to break the preconceived notion about monsters, showing that Tang Seorin was faster than anyone else in understanding. But we were already too late in every other aspect.
– From the eastern sky, and the western sky.
Thud.
Tang Seorin and I turned our heads simultaneously. Thud—one by one, the guild members of the Three Thousand Worlds, who had formed a circle around us as if to guard us, began to collapse to the ground like scarecrows.
Even Tang Seorin was shocked by this.
“What the—”
“Damn it.”
It wasn’t just the guild members.
Thud.
Thud.
The citizens who had come out to watch the rare night sky scene, and those who were eavesdropping on the low-quality lullaby through their windows, were all collapsing as if fainting.
“Did they all… die? Just like that, so suddenly?”
“No.”
I approached the nearest guild member to check their condition.
“…They’ve fallen asleep.”
The realization hit hard. The lullaby was a sleep-inducing anomaly, knocking people out as they listened to it. This was an unexpected and incredibly dangerous power, as it left everyone vulnerable and defenseless against whatever might come next.
“Tang Seorin, we need to move. Now. Get everyone who can still hear me to cover their ears and retreat inside. We need to find a way to counteract this lullaby or we’re done for.”
Tang Seorin nodded, her face a mix of anger and determination.
“Alright. Let’s move. We can’t let this anomaly take us down without a fight.”
“What?”
“I mean exactly that. They’re in a state of sleep. It’s hard to believe, but the entire city is falling into slumber right now.”
Even after slapping a guild member’s cheek, there was no reaction. I tried channeling aura, but still no response.
I groaned.
“It seems that not only the starlight but also the lullaby itself is a monster.”
“……”
“I don’t know for sure, but it likely has a [forced sleep] effect. As soon as you hear the song, it’s over. We’re in a dire situation. We need to flee.”
I immediately decided to abandon the city.
“Flee?”
“Yes, Tang Seorin. We need to get out of this city quickly.”
I grabbed her wrist. She felt unusually light.
“If we stay here, we’ll fall asleep too. Then there will be no one left to report on this phenomenon, this monster.”
“……”
“We have to keep fighting until the end. It’s not over yet. Let’s go, Tang Seorin. Hurry.”
Then it happened.
The night sky turned white.
Blindingly, dazzlingly white.
Tang Seorin, whose wrist I was holding, looked up blankly.
“Ah…”
White night.
Boss Battle Phase 4.
And the final phase.
“…It’s too late, Doctor Jang.”
“……”
“I thought something was strange lately. Usually, you’re calm, but recently you’ve been anxious and irritable. You knew this would happen, didn’t you?”
“No, I didn’t know. I just suspected something would happen tonight. I never imagined the starlight would be monsters.”
“Hmm, sorry. I should have paid more attention.”
“…I’m sorry too.”
I mumbled.
“I promise I won’t let this happen again.”
“Heh, okay.”
Tang Seorin chuckled as if she heard a funny joke. I held her tightly.
The sky, bleached white by the darkness, echoed with a distorted lullaby, accompanied by static noise.
– Twinkle, twinkle, little star.
– Shining beautifully.
The light was right in front of us.
Even though the brightness should have kept us awake, my eyelids grew heavy.
Tang Seorin might have felt the same. She blinked and wrapped her arms around my back. Perhaps she wasn’t hugging me but falling towards me.
“Doctor Jang.”
“…Yeah.”
“The truth is.”
Flash———―.
Everything turned white.
The night sky, the city, the coast of Busan, the collapsed bridge, the beach. Tang Seorin’s face. Shadows. Breaths.
Even the world itself.
That was the 25th time my world ended.
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HEL SCANS
[Translator – Jjsecus]
[Proofreader – Gun]
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