BXBX NOVEL Chapter 109 – A Companion of Past Journeys I
1
If I were to pick the most fundamental power I’ve awakened, it would be [Time Seal].
Not only did it lay the foundation for my alias as the Doctor Jang, but it was also the first skill I awakened. However, the skill I use most routinely, almost as naturally as breathing, is undoubtedly [Complete Memory].
Without this skill, how could I possibly share stories spanning thousands of years with you all?
But the truth is, [Complete Memory] doesn’t mean I remember everything with absolute perfection.
In my long life as a regressor, there is a single spot, like a forcibly deleted data file, that remains a 0.01% blank.
Today, I’ll talk about the ‘incomplete Memory’ of my ability.
This is the story of the 173rd turn.
2
One day, the Saintess said,
“Doctor Jang.”
“Yes?”
“Perhaps I’ve been working with preconceived notions about the Constellations all this time. Don’t you think we should refresh their image to be more familiar and kind?”
“Oh, sure. Whatever you wish.”
“Last night, I suddenly came up with a great idea.”
Some of you with exceptional memories might find this dialogue familiar.
“Hello, hello! Greetings to all the Awakened in Korea! Nice to meet you, meow!”
“From now on, I’ll be constantly watching over you as the Constellation, the Saintess of Salvation, meow!”
“Meow! I look forward to working with you, meow!”
“…….”
Yes, that’s right.
The 173rd turn was when I deliberately chose not to subdue the ‘Butterfly Effect.’
The flapping wings in Beijing didn’t travel to the US or Brazil but instead moved next door to Korea, greatly impacting the mental world of the Saintess, a staple figure in the region.
“Saintess.”
“Meow?”
“That’s not it. Please stop…….”
“Yes.”
The Saintess’s deviation left countless ‘?’s on the SG Network before it was suppressed.
Anyway, the Butterfly Effect caused random anomalies that could never be seen in previous turns.
By creating an ‘unpredictable future for the regressor,’ the Butterfly Effect might actually be my greatest adversary. But conversely, in creating ‘new events that I couldn’t get bored of,’ it was quite a beneficial anomaly.
After all, it’s not every day you can hear the Saintess talking like a cat, right?
I formed a folder labeled ‘173rd turn Saintess – Cat Constellation Transformation’ on the desktop of my mind and saved the recording file before returning to my daily routine.
A regressor has a strictly set schedule to follow. Since this was only the seventh month of the turn, I had a lot to do.
After subduing the World Tree Udumbara in Onyang, Asan, I headed to the rehabilitation hospital where I was supposed to meet Noh Doha for the first time to propose the creation of the National Road Management Corps.
Noh Doha was dead.
“…….”
The location was a national hospital, which also served as a rehabilitation center.
Hospitals, pharmacies, and supermarkets were the most prone to raids in the apocalypse. Being a public institution with weak security, rehabilitation hospitals were seen as good prey by looters.
While the service at national hospitals may not be superior to that of private hospitals, government subsidies allowed them to provide reasonably good treatment to patients.
The ratings were high. Part of that high rating was thanks to the craftsmanship of Noh Doha, a prosthetic device technician working at the assistive device center.
Noh Doha’s corpse was sprawled at the entrance of the inpatient ward, far from his usual workplace at the assistive device center.
If it had only been a looter’s raid, the damage wouldn’t have been this severe. This was still early in the apocalypse; even looters weren’t completely unhesitant to commit murder.
The looter’s raid coincided with the rampage of anomalies. When the hospital began to be destroyed, Noh Doha left his original workplace and ran to the inpatient ward. And he died.
The raid seemed to have occurred just a day earlier. The blood on the white coat Noh Doha liked to wear hadn’t entirely lost its red color.
“Why…….”
I muttered and then swallowed the rest of my words.
This was a first. Never before had Noh Doha died so early in a turn.
Therefore, I immediately understood what had caused this outcome.
The Butterfly Effect.
When left unaddressed, this anomaly deviated from the existing causality and produced random anomalies. One of those anomalies had triggered a looter raid and an anomaly attack.
As a result, Noh Doha died.
If the Butterfly Effect was left alone, such routes could also be observed.
“…The gift is useless now. Master Artisan.”
I sat down next to Noh Doha’s corpse, leaning against the wall. I also set down the gift box I had brought from China beside me.
Puer tea. Bingdao Lao Zhai, first harvest. A luxury item worth about 20 million won (approximately $20,000).
It wasn’t a fake. Using my knowledge and connections as a regressor, I had obtained the genuine article. Noh Doha, who preferred tea slightly more than coffee, received this gift at the start of each turn.
Noh Doha was extremely reluctant to open up to others. But when he received this gift, he would furrow his eyebrows and say, ‘…Well, shall we have a talk?’ allowing for a conversation to begin.
Just like that.
“Huh? A Regressor? Excuse me, but are you seriously asking me to believe such nonsense?”
“Proof? I have plenty. We’ve already had this conversation countless times. That’s why there’s a set of questions you personally devised: [100 Questions You Must Know to Prove You’re a Regressor – ‘I Believe, You Must Be a Regressor’ Guide].”
“What kind of bullshit is this…?”
“I’m not a prophet, nor am I from the national intelligence agency. Let me start with what the Noh Doha from previous turns wanted to convey to the current Noh Doha.”
“What is it…?”
“Are you enjoying the easy life?”
“What…?”
“The material I just gave you contains not only the question guide but also records of failures from previous turns. In other words, the current Noh Doha is standing on a much more advantageous ground compared to the previous turns’ Noh Doha. And about that, the Noh Doha from previous turns is pointing out: Are you enjoying the easy life?”
“….”
“By the way, this sentence is followed by an expletive: ‘You piece of shit.’”
“Fuck.”
After talking through the night, Noh Doha would accept the duty of becoming the chief of the National Road Management Corps.
But today, that conversation didn’t happen.
“Regressor Doctor Jang….”
“Yes?”
“Your specialty is funeral services, right? If I die, please don’t hold a funeral for me. Ah, this isn’t just a request for this turn, but for all future times as well.”
“That’s not difficult, but why don’t you want a funeral?”
“Hah, because I don’t want to be embalmed by you… Just leave my body where it is and move on. Don’t look at it, don’t check on it, and don’t see me off. Got it…?”
“Hmm.”
“We’ll meet again anyway. When we do, just tell me how I died….”
Sitting beside the corpse, without looking at Noh Doha’s dead face, I stared up at the hospital corridor.
For a while.
“…See you next time, Master Artisan.”
There was no response.
But I would take this scene and memory intact to the next turn. At that time, Noh Doha would surely react with his characteristic laughter, saying, ‘Hmph.’
Imagining that scene made me smile a bit.
I left the gift behind and exited the hospital.
Afterward, with the Saintess’s help, I tracked and killed the looters who had raided the national hospital. It might not be crucial, but the looters operated in a network similar to the 72 Green Forest Strongholds in martial arts novels, and one of the groups involved Yi Bai.
People don’t change easily, it seems.
After wiping out the large looter group trying to take root in the country, I crossed over to Beijing and subdued the Butterfly Effect as well.
[It seems that person was important to you, Doctor Jang.]
“Yes. Although he probably found me quite repulsive.”
[……]
From then on, the Saintess and I never mentioned Noh Doha again. We continued the 173rd turn as if nothing had happened.
To add a note, the idea of starting a new turn by committing suicide never crossed my mind.
Even with Noh Doha gone, living diligently was my way of holding a funeral and paying respects to his death.
Instead, I would seize this variable as an opportunity to gather data even in areas that couldn’t be collected normally.
So I could deliver it to the next turn’s Noh Doha, to elicit the sentiment, ‘Hmm, well, at least my death wasn’t in vain….’
That’s why.
I pursued a slightly more radical route in the 173rd turn.
3
“National Road Management Corps?”
Tang Seorin tilted her head.
“I don’t know much about it, but are you saying you want to create such an organization and make me its leader?”
“Yes.”
Noh Doha was the top candidate to lead the National Road Management Corps. And where there is a first choice, there is always a second choice.
Naturally, Tang Seorin was always my second choice.
“Hmm… I have many questions, but let’s start with this.”
“Feel free to ask.”
“Why me?”
It was a simple question.
There were many reasons why Tang Seorin was suitable to lead the National Road Management Corps.
“I knew you’d ask that, so I prepared some materials.”
“Materials?”
“Yes. Please take a look at this PPT.”
“…Wait, suddenly I have a bad feeling that I asked something I shouldn’t have.”
(1) Leadership.
Tang Seorin had already made Three Thousand Worlds the strongest guild in the Korean Peninsula in numerous turns.
Not only that, she managed the large city of Busan excellently, which had become practically the capital since the fall of Seoul.
Even when other guild leaders relied on AI judges, Tang Seorin governed Busan’s judiciary using her “Equivalent Exchange” magic in her own way. Both the guild members of Three Thousand Worlds and the citizens of Busan accepted this governance style.
In terms of leadership, no one could match Tang Seorin.
(2) Noblesse Oblige.
While some guild leaders focused on building their own kingdoms in occupied cities, Tang Seorin threw herself into the battlefield without hesitation, fighting on the front lines against the anomalies.
She sang the songs of magic on the battlefield, literally at the cost of her own lifespan, each time powerful anomalies like the Ten Clans, Udumbara, and Meteor Shower swept through Korea.
Dedication to the public.
The skill to turn dedication into results.
The charisma to package those results, attract supporters, and establish authority.
These rare and precious qualities were all possessed by Tang Seorin.
In this post-apocalyptic world, there was a peculiar notion of “Awakened Supremacy.”
I, like Noh Doha, always referred to the Awakened simply as “Awakened.” However, many people called them “Transcendents” or “Ascendants.”
Tang Seorin never let such wordplay define her identity. She bore endless responsibilities proportional to her immense power.
In the role of the head of the National Road Management Corps, who needed to unify not just the Awakened but all humans on the Korean Peninsula, it was hard to find a more suitable candidate than Tang Seorin.
(3) Personal Charm.
Not only did she have the charisma needed to lead a group, but even on a one-on-one basis, Tang Seorin was…
“Wait, wait, stop! Stop!”
“Hm?”
As I was passionately explaining “101 Reasons Why You Should Lead the National Road Management Corps,” Tang Seorin waved her hands.
“Doctor Jang, enough! That’s enough! Please stop!”
“Why? I haven’t finished yet.”
“I told you to stop, didn’t I?! Are you trying to embarrass me to death? Huh? Do you want me to die of shame? Seriously, you’re crazy!”
Given her habit of carrying a pointy hat and a witch’s broom, one might guess that the part of Tang Seorin’s brain that governs feelings of embarrassment and shame was underdeveloped.
Nonetheless, bombarding her with compliments in areas unrelated to magic, witches, and songs caused her brain to go into panic mode, much like atrophied thigh muscles trembling after a strenuous squat.
And at times like these, unreasonable requests often worked remarkably well.
“Alright. So can I understand that you’ll take on the role of head of the National Road Management Corps?”
“Yes! I’ll do it. I’ll take the position, so please shut up before anyone hears!”
See? This is the technique of a former Tang Seorin manager.
Thus, Tang Seorin’s Three Thousand Worlds Guild merged with the National Road Management Corps. Or rather, it would be more accurate to say that Three Thousand Worlds evolved into the National Road Management Corps.
This whole process went smoothly.
Few worried that too much power was being concentrated in what was just a guild. Tang Seorin’s reputation had the power to turn concerns into expectations.
If you ask why I hadn’t entrusted the National Road Management Corps to Tang Seorin in previous turns despite its simplicity—besides various trivial excuses—there was one core reason.
-If possible, don’t reveal to the next turn’s me that you are a regressor.
I couldn’t tell Tang Seorin that I was a regressor.
Because of Tang Seorin’s own dying wish.
In the turn where we first successfully exterminated the Ten Clans, the 10th turn when I revealed I was a regressor, Tang Seorin made me swear an eternal oath.
-I’m a greedy and impulsive person. I can never think like, “I’ll sacrifice this turn for the next one.”
-If I know I have hundreds of years of lifespan left, I’ll definitely use it up for the current turn.
-Until the real final crisis comes, guide me to accumulate lifespan.
I kept that promise.
From the 10th turn to the 173rd, I never revealed my secret to Tang Seorin.
And this meant that unlike Noh Doha or the Saintess, Tang Seorin could never join our regressor alliance.
While I could share the information I gained from regression with Noh Doha freely, I always had to wrap it up with a bit of acting and lying for Tang Seorin.
Lies. Something I would never do to Tang Seorin under normal circumstances.
But the 173rd turn, shaken by the early departure of Noh Doha, prompted me to experiment with the “What if Tang Seorin leads the National Road Management Corps?” route.
As expected.
In this newly explored route, Tang Seorin showcased her talents without reservation.
“Doctor Jang. You know the Equivalent Exchange magic you helped me develop last time? After thinking about it, I realized this magic has endless potential.”
“Yes. When sending National Road Management Corps members to patrol other regions, always include someone who participated in the Ten Clans extermination. That way, if any disputes arise with other guilds, we can settle it by reminding them that we were comrades-in-arms.”
“The AI judge provided by the Baekhwa Guild leader is convenient, but people sometimes reject its rulings. So, the final judgment should be made here at the National Road Management Corps headquarters in Busan….”
My judgment was correct.
Although supported by the data accumulated by Noh Doha and my advice, Tang Seorin led the National Road Management Corps quickly and naturally.
Before long, Tang Seorin even came up with ideas that neither Noh Doha nor I had ever considered.
“Hey, Doctor Jang.”
“Hm?”
“Can’t we record the songs I perform with Spiritual Singing and play them softly throughout the city? For example… developing a magic that makes people feel a bit happier.”
That was the beginning.