The Tales of an Infinite Regressor

[Proofreader – Gun]

Chapter 81 – Questioner III

4

To get straight to the point, Koyori’s plan to “get perfect information by smashing the fairies’ heads 100 more times” didn’t work out.

It’s not like my soft heart suddenly felt sympathy, thinking that was too cruel.

Just looking at my brother, Seo Gyu, who’s struggling with anger management issues, he’s already been on the receiving end of the fairies’ head-bashing express delivery service more than 50 times. Sympathy? What sympathy?

I, Doctor Jang, who might oppose racial discrimination but proudly consider myself a thorough species-ist. My emotions are reserved solely for Homo sapiens.

The only reason Koyori’s solution failed was simple.

“Initiating extermination.”

“Initiating extermination.”

The fairies swarmed Koyori as soon as we stepped out of the interrogation room.

“What the…?”

Dozens of fairies attacked from the hallway, ceiling, and all directions without any warning. They all had the same expressionless faces, making the scene feel like something out of a cosmic horror movie.

But my attention was elsewhere.

‘The fairies aren’t using the [formal speech]?’

My goodness. This was a cultural shock.

Is that even legal?

Before my tongue could express its shock, my seasoned reflexes as a regressor kicked in.

“You little bastards! Where do you think you’re going!”

Bam!

I wrapped my thighs and calves in aura and kicked away the three fairies charging at Koyori head-on.

But that wasn’t the end.

Though the fairies were knocked away by my kick, they instantly swelled up like red balloons.

Their small bodies rapidly filled with red liquid, the sight unfolding in slow motion right before my eyes.

A chilling warning surged down my spine.

‘Suicide bombing!’

Their goal wasn’t to harm us directly but to close the distance.

I quickly enveloped my entire body in protective energy and pulled Koyori tightly into my embrace.

“Ah—”

Koyori’s lips moved, but her voice was drowned out by the explosion that followed.

BOOM!

The explosion was powerful enough to shake the entire Cheongsong Prison. Despite extensive modifications to imprison fairies, even the thick protective walls couldn’t fully contain the blast.

Of course, they couldn’t penetrate my shield either.

“Damn it…”

Everything was demolished. The hallway walls, columns, ceiling—all of it.

Chunks of concrete fell and pounded against my aura-covered body.

“Whew. Koyori, are you okay? Can you hear me?”

“Yes, thanks to you, Guild Master. You’re amazing.”

Though she said that, the coughing that followed as dust rose from the building’s debris suggested otherwise.

Gently… Through the cloud of dust, the surroundings looked like they’d been hit by red water bombs. It must have been the LCL liquid released when the fairies exploded.

In the middle of the chaos, a single fairy, still intact, floated in the air.

“Hey, you little…”

“I would like to request a conversation.”

As if nothing had happened, the fairy calmly spoke.

“However, there’s a condition. I request a conversation with you alone――.”

BAM!

I leapt forward and crushed the fairy’s head in my grip.

I wiped the sticky, blood-colored goo from my fingers.

“Don’t make me laugh. After attempting a suicide bombing, you think you can just talk it out now that we’re still standing? Seriously, these insane mass-murdering bastards have the most twisted logic.”

-Note. No questions will be accepted.

Then, an astonishing thing happened.

The liquid from the surrounding puddles began to bubble and rapidly formed into fairy shapes.

But they were incomplete. Only heads, mouths, and fingers emerged from different puddles, each trying to form a body. This was seriously messed up.

-No requests will be accepted either. There must be no one eavesdropping on our conversation through any means, such as recording, filming, or spying.

-You are also forbidden from disclosing our conversation to others in the future.

-If we don’t quickly secure a private space, we will destroy this area and all similar entities that encounter you.

“……”

-I’ll give you 30 seconds.

I frowned deeply and looked to the side.

Koyori had a puzzled yet amused smile on her face, as if she found the situation intriguing.

“Hmm. It’s fine. You don’t need to worry about me, Guild Master.”

“Really? …Thanks for understanding.”

“Haha. In return, could you take me to Busan next time? I’d like to meet your friend Tang Seorin… I’m quite interested in her.”

“Hmm. Sure, let’s do that.”

In reality, I had no reason to feel indebted to Koyori.

Of course, there was no reason to bring Koyori alone to the [Reversed World of the Tutorial], leaving other guild members behind. Besides, it was obvious that Tang Seorin would hate having someone else join our foodie adventures.

Despite everything, even though Koyori laughed ‘haha’ while witnessing this chaos, all I felt was ‘Oh dear, I’m sorry to leave such a kind person out of the conversation.’

My brain is fried, doctor.

Thud.

Koyori’s footsteps sounded like a rattlesnake slithering through the debris.

Thud-

The snake’s tail disappeared behind a reinforced concrete pillar, and only then did the fairy speak.

-28 seconds have passed.

-I have confirmed your willingness to converse.

“…You can speak normally, too.”

I turned my gaze from where Koyori had disappeared and tried to glare at the fairies… tried, because damn, there were more than a few fairies bubbling up like pot foam around me.

“Were you just pretending to be cute with that ‘formal speech’ this whole time?”

-Is that your first question?

The liquid fairies stared at me. Despite their emotionless expressions and tone, I could sense a hint of “Are you serious?” It was rather fascinating.

“Yes.”

-The speech style of our units is set by configuration.

-Location: Korean Peninsula, Language: Korean, Target: Koreans, Environment: Apocalypse.

-We chose the speech style that would lower people’s guard the most.

“What? That kind of speech? …Hmm, well, yeah. I guess it does sound pretty weak.”

-Margin of error.

-Reactions to our units’ speech vary among individuals due to the average setting.

-Suggestion. How about we take turns asking and answering questions?

-What do you think?

“……”

I shrugged my shoulders.

It was a gesture meant to convey indifference, but more than that, I wanted to test how well “those things” could interpret non-verbal cues.

– Confirmation received. To prevent any misunderstandings, we want to clarify that our objective was not your extermination.

“So, what then? Were you trying to kill my teammate? What’s the point of killing someone who’s just bones?”

– It is our turn to ask a question.

– Why are you accompanying the pink entity?

The liquid masses’ eyes bore into me from all directions.

“Pink entity… Are you talking about Koyori?”

– Affirmative and negative.

– The entity does not adhere to any proper nouns or specific technical terms. For neutrality, we temporarily refer to the ‘pink-haired entity that accompanied you in Cheongsong Prison’ as the ‘pink entity.’

– Please answer the question.

I furrowed my brows.

“Entity this, entity that… I don’t understand why you can’t just use names. Koyori is my guild member. She serves me as her Guild Master. Do people need grand reasons to associate with each other?”

– …

– …

The distorted shapes of the fairies, the “Fairy Lord,” stared intently at me.

A brief silence followed.

– Understood.

“Now it’s my turn to ask. You, who call yourself the Fairy Lord, why did you bring areas like the Void into our world? And why did you force innocent people into the Tutorial, making them play survival games?”

– …

“Was it for fun? Entertainment? Like in so many stories where humans are used as toys?”

This wasn’t just my question. It was the question of every awakened individual who experienced the Tutorial, and, by extension, all of humanity.

I was merely the one voicing it.

I waited for the Fairy Lord’s answer, feeling like the first human to question a god.

– We will break down your question.

– First. There is a misunderstanding on your part.

“Misunderstanding? What kind of misunderstanding?”

– We did not bring the entire Void into this world. We merely controlled the phenomenon known as the ‘Tutorial.’

Ah.

Instead of anger, a sense of disappointment filled my chest. So the entity before me wasn’t the master of all anomalies.

In my 89th turn, I was a fool, but unlike the 1183rd turn me, I still believed the world could be restored to its original state.

– Second. Our experiments are not for entertainment. Our goal is to observe survival, literally.

[Proofreader – Gun]

“What?”

– We would like to ask you instead.

– Without any preparation, without undergoing the ‘Tutorial’ process we provided, what do you think your survival rate would be if you were thrown into the Void?

“….”

– Calculating over a span of 365 days, your survival rate would be only 1.76%.

– Conversely, the average survival rate for awakened individuals in the Tutorial is nearly 31%.

– Once someone survives the Tutorial, their survival rate for the following 365 days rises to 69%.

“So, what? Are you saying you organized these death game parades for our sake? That’s really touching. I’m almost moved to tears.”

– We have no good intentions, nor do we have any malice.

– Please judge if our ‘experiment’ goes against your objectives.

At that moment, I sensed movement behind me. Turning quickly, I saw about ten fairies sneaking up on me, having somehow resurrected.

Our eyes met.

– ….

“Damn it!”

I quickly gathered my aura and decapitated the fairies. Their heads burst like strawberry juice.

“You ambush me while we’re talking? You’re worse than Nazis!”

– Operation failed.

– Reassessing your threat level.

“Hey! Are you seriously planning to go all the way with me? Fine. Bring it on. Let’s see this through to the end!”

– Correction needed. It was not us who first showed hostility but you.

– You kidnapped our entities with abnormal hostility and subjected them to extremely primitive experimental conditions.

– Besides the poor environment, the experiment’s purpose was unclear. It was you who kidnapped intelligent beings for ‘entertainment.’

“What… Ha.”

I almost snapped back that they were the ones tormenting humans from turn 1 to turn 89, but I held back. I didn’t want to reveal that I was a regressor to this bizarre entity. Even a small hint could be dangerous.

– Suppressing you by force is highly unlikely.

– It would be preferable to establish a relationship of continuous interaction with you.

“As if I’d agree to that.”

– Instead, we will disclose information you haven’t asked about. It’s directly related to your survival.

The Fairy Lord’s mouth moved slowly, perhaps too slowly.

– The҉ entity҉҉ you҉҉҉҉ call҉҉҉҉ by҉҉ that҉ name҉ is҉ not҉ really҉ that.

A static noise echoed in my head like an old radio as the fairy spoke.

I furrowed my eyebrows.

“What did you just say?”

– The entity҉҉ you҉҉ call҉ that҉ name҉ is҉ not҉ really҉ that.

The noise grew louder, deepening the furrow between my brows.

“Stop it. It’s annoying. If this is some sort of joke, quit it now.”

– ….

Dozens of Fairy Lords poked their heads out from the building debris, looking at each other.

– Failure. The contamination level of the entity exceeds 99%.

– Abandoning Operation B. Redirecting anger by antagonizing a specific entity is deemed ineffective. More potent mind control than the subject possesses is impossible.

– Initiating Operation C.

“….”

I began to think about how to completely obliterate this collective entity called the Fairy Lord.

“If you keep disregarding and looking down on humans like this, I’ll….”

– Sharing information. Although we did not bring the entire Void into this world, it is true that we are among the highest-ranking entities you refer to as ‘monstrosities.’

– There are currently seven confirmed top-tier monstrosities.

I blinked.

Right. This was the first time I learned about level 5 ‘Abyssal God-tier’ monstrosities according to the Library Association classification system.

“The highest-level monstrosities number seven?”

– Correct. These top-tier monstrosities exert significant influence over humans, leading to contamination without their knowledge…

– If we liken a monstrosity to a god, it inevitably creates ‘followers,’ whether they are objects, plants, animals, or humans. This phenomenon occurs regardless of whether the subjects actually worship the monstrosity as a god.

– Faith is unnecessary.

– Among these followers, some become powerful enough to be called ‘apostles.’

– Naturally, there are human Awakeners who serve as ‘apostles’ for the entity known as the ‘Fairy Lord.’

I tilted my head.

“That’s interesting information, but… why bring this up all of a sudden?”

– It is likely that you already know the person who serves as this entity’s apostle.

– Cheon Yohwa.

I froze.

Numerous fairies, the collective Fairy Lord, stared at my face from various angles like a spider’s eyes.

– Tutorial Dungeon Baekhwa Girls’ High School.

– The survivor from there, Cheon Yohwa, is the chosen apostle of this entity, the ‘Fairy Lord.’

[Proofreader – Gun]