abcnovels
Chapter 217
Chapter 217
Chapter 217
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The Unclaimed ???
4
Let’s clarify something: I and Endless Hell have a perfect hierarchical relationship.
In other words, there’s no cliché where “the sealed Endless Hell was actually secretly gathering strength with perseverance and one day ambushed me and Cheon Yohwa!” That just doesn’t exist. It’s simply not there.
“No, no, senior. Can’t you at least allow a 0.02% chance? Being the destined heroine who never wins is just too sad for my life, no, for my weird life.”
“Who’s supposed to be whose heroine here?”
“Well, I’m yours. Being the alter ego of a dual-personality heroine could be a cult favorite among certain fandoms, don’t you think?”
“Leaving aside the claim that Yohwa is the heroine, Endless Hell, did you perhaps... drop this?”
I took out a piece of paper from my pocket and handed it to her.
Endless Hell, who accepted the paper with "self-awareness" written on it, made a peculiar expression.
“What the heck? Why are you carrying around something like this?”
“Why do you think?”
“Hmm, maybe because you’re crazy? Preparing for a Korean language proficiency test with a vocabulary notebook? Or because you knew I’d say something like this someday...?”
Endless Hell’s expression twisted even more mid-sentence.
With her outstanding analytical ability, she reached the answer.
“That’s exactly it.”
Every alien god has their specialty. Their strengths.
And, of course, weaknesses.
Endless Hell is particularly vulnerable to 'regression' compared to other alien gods. Despite claiming to be the deity of random numbers, she can only act the same way in the same situations.
Moreover, as the 267th turn of the Saintess froze Nut’s domain herself, my regression became even more solid.
At least, Endless Hell cannot break through that.
“Damn it, this is unfair! Regression is such a cheat!”
Endless Hell stomped her feet.
It was a pattern I had seen many times before, so I wasn’t moved.
Even the tempo and speed of her stomping were identical to those I had observed in previous turns.
However.
Seeing her do it in Yohwa’s form felt a bit off.
“Change your clothes.”
Endless Hell tilted her head at my sudden remark.
“Huh?”
“The white sailor uniform is the symbol of Baekhwa High. You’re not a human affiliated with that school. So wear something else.”
“Eh... wait. That’s why I untied the ribbon?”
“Just do it.”
“Geez...”
She muttered, “Isn’t this a bit too strict?”
But despite her grumbling, the so-called “lousy alien god rocket” lightly touched her uniform.
A faint noise spread across the sailor uniform.
Soon after, the characteristic white uniform of Baekhwa High turned pitch black.
A black sailor uniform, a color perfectly opposite to ‘Baekhwa.’
“Is this okay now? Seriously, this is too much...”
Endless Hell pouted her lips.
The way she trailed off her words and the angle at which she pouted her lips were exactly the same as in similar situations during previous turns.
Given this, it was impossible, at least for someone like me with perfect memory, to mistake Endless Hell for a human.
She was merely 'forced to act like a human' by Cheon Yohwa and me.
“So, what will you do, Senior, Doctor Jang with no family, relatives, or friends? How will you approach it now that all routes are blocked? I’m curious to hear the wise thoughts of the Human King.”
“I’ll trace my memory back to the 4th turn.”
I pointed to the Han River.
There was a bench just perfect for lying down. Although the bushes had grown waist-high due to a lack of maintenance, one could still lie down there.
“I’ll enter the dream and revisit the turns I’ve gone through in reverse order. The 250th turn, the 200th turn, the 150th turn, and so on.”
“Huh? Why? Why not just jump straight to the 4th turn?”
I sighed.
“Endless Hell, consider the possibility that I’m a ‘being that suddenly fell from the sky in the 4th turn.’ Some kind of anomaly.”
“Hmm.”
“If that’s the case, then there’s no guarantee that I wasn’t an anomaly suddenly appearing in the 266th turn as well, right?”
“…Huh?”
Endless Hell blinked.
I explained.
“I may have full memories up to the 267th turn, but that could merely be a delusion. I could be an anomaly that only began to exist in this turn, with memories ‘manipulated up to the 267th turn.’”
“Oh…? Oh.”
“If I could suddenly emerge in the 4th turn with such memories, then by the same principle, I could suddenly emerge in any turn. I need to confirm that possibility too.”
“Ah.”
Endless Hell made an impressed expression.
“Right? You’re correct. It’s the same possibility, like the 'brain in a vat' or the 'five-minute hypothesis.' Hmm.”
“You seem to have dropped this too.”
Endless Hell accepted the piece of paper with 'intelligence' written on it and tore it to shreds, throwing it in my face.
“You crazy human! You’re the one who stole my intelligence! Right now, my brain’s like a computer with only 64MB of RAM!”
“That’s enough to run Romance of the Three Kingdoms III.”
Isn’t that enough? You sure are asking for a lot.
We laid down on the bench.
Strictly speaking, it wasn’t exactly “side by side.” I laid on the bench, and Endless Hell offered me a lap pillow.
A white fingertip covered by a black sleeve touched my forehead like a compass point.
“By the way, senior, it’s funny. You talk about cherishing the bonds you’ve built, thanking the 267th turn Saintess with all your heart, yet at the same time, you’re considering the possibility that all of it could be fake, right?”
“Move your hand.”
“Oh, sorry. Did it scratch?”
I gripped my cane sword tightly.
The white jest in the form of a fingernail fell from my forehead.
“Scary. I’ll dive into the dream quickly then, senior. Please close your eyes.”
I did so.
And then we entered the dream.
The destination was the 250th turn.
The previous master of the Incubus, Endless Hell. The current master of the Incubus, me.
Given the dangerous combination forming a temporary alliance, accurately targeting the desired dream was no big deal.
Thus, the moment we entered the lucid dream.
-Hmm?
A man turned to look at us.
He was Doctor Jang of the 250th turn.
He was sitting on a bench at Jamsu Bridge, reading a book. Phenomenology of Spirit. A book that he and the Saintess had read together around this time.
“Yohwa? And... me?”
Doctor Jang arched an eyebrow.
“A doppelgänger?”
“No, the 250th turn of Doctor Jang. This is a lucid dream, and you are a figure within the dream. The presence with me is not Yohwa but Endless Hell.”
“Ho.”
Doctor Jang's lips curved into a smile.
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HELHEIM SCANS
[Translator - Jjescus]
[Proofreader - Gun]
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