Chapter 53

The memory ended there.

'The kid's' face had been silhouetted from start to finish, so I couldn't see it — but I could easily tell whose memory it was, and what it was about.

"What, that's it?"

'The Selreg bastard's memory, obviously. The reason that punk started regressing.'

Right, this kind of regression usually has a clear purpose. Running through the regression stories I'd read, everyone was either:

Getting revenge on their own enemy

Getting revenge on someone else's enemy

Turning over a new leaf after living dirty

Fired up to make something of themselves after living like a doormat

Guess the question I'd thrown at the System wasn't multiple choice — it was an essay prompt. A sweet 'chance' arriving at the unhappiest moment. Even without seeing what happened to that kid afterward, I could guess.

[Even if you go back, you'll fail. That's your future.]

[Don't you want to live inside a happy memory?]

A life spent inside a happy memory. A life where, whenever something unhappy or hard hit you, you could turn back to yesterday without a shred of regret. Put like that, the random, patternless spin of my own life's merry-go-round up to now started to make sense too.

The memory ended, but I didn't get back to reality. In a bright, transparent space — a dimension the exact opposite of the vast, dark one I'd been in only a few hours earlier — a familiar blue window popped up.

To have a smooth conversation with Fixed Regressor (Mr. Kang Hajin), we ended the memory a little early and borrowed Mr. Kang Hajin's unconscious. We don't have much time!

So ask what you want to ask fast, then. No clue what was going on, but I knew this wasn't the moment for 'agh, wh-what on earth is happening?!'

"That memory you just showed me — that was the Selected Regressor's, right?"

That's correct.

"Been meaning to ask — can you just tell me who the punk is?"

Forget quests and all that — just tell me it's so-and-so from such-and-such neighborhood, done, right? But that was apparently easier said than done — the System, going so far as to float a sweat-drop emoticon, looked flustered.

The 'Selected Regressor' is currently jumping across countless timelines, running from 'fate.' The timelines have gotten so tangled that the 'Selected Regressor's original timeline and record are entirely lost!

"In plain terms?"

We don't know who they are eitherrrr!! ˚‧º·(˚ ˃̣̣̥⌓˂̣̣̥ )‧º·˚

"Real gift you've got there — delivering devastating news chirpy as hell."

Seriously, this System. Is it actually helping in my Fixed Regressor life?

"What even are you people? What is it you do? You and that red thing both."

…To put it simply, we are Time Administrators.

Inside the transparent space, elegant lines in individual colors unfurled. Some arced downward like burnt-out shooting stars; others uncurled, freshly blooming. Countless stretches of time, blooming and fading over and over.

The life flashing before your eyes, the panorama moment, déjà vu, that sense of having seen it before. All of that is our work. We administer every timeline that comes into being. Our role is to help each one walk its own time properly.

As it spoke, blue lights sparkled through the space. It connected countless threads of time so they wouldn't tangle or clash, and sometimes untangled them again. Some of the lines crossed. Others were cut.

Watching it was a fairly strange feeling.

'That thing' Hajin-nim met earlier was, at one time, also a Time Administrator like us. The details of why he made a 'Selected Regressor' are still under investigation!

"Then me? How the hell did I get dragged into this crazy time war?"

At the question, the aurora-like space wiped clean again and two new lines appeared. Threads of light — one yellow, one purple — that from some point midway got so tangled and twisted they looked like a single strand.

The details are still under investigation, but… for some reason, from a certain moment on, the Selected Regressor's timeline started tangling with Hajin-nim's timeline. That's why, whenever the 'Selected Regressor' regresses, Hajin-nim's timeline regresses along with it! In the original plan, we were going to find the 'Selected Regressor,' stop the regressions, put the timeline back, and then erase Hajin-nim's memory….

The rest, I could guess without hearing.

"But in the end you couldn't find the Selected Regressor either, and you couldn't fix the timeline."

The voice I'd first heard came back to me.

[I asked whether you could stop the kid.]

—Kid or no kid, right now there's nothing I can't do except re-enlist.

[Ha, that's fun.]

[Alright, then — I'll try a little bet myself.]

—What are you talking about, spit it out.

[I'll give you a chance too. To set all of this right.]

—What?

Now I was starting to get a rough picture of how this whole thing actually worked. So in the end, you couldn't handle it, and you outsourced it to me?

"Then what about all that 'access denied,' 'you don't have permission' from the start?"

What we show you through this 'System' guise is personal information logged by our Time Administration department. Ordinary humans naturally cannot access….

"……"

Th-there's just too much that's too vast and too far beyond what a human is meant to know! For Hajin-nim's own protection, access to the records has to be limited…!

"……"

But within the permissions that don't violate causality and the rules of the human realm, to the fullest possible extent—!

"……"

…we were making an effort! And going forward, we promise to do our very best for the smooth progression of Hajin-nim's quests and missions!!!

"Uh, thanks. But if it's not too much to ask, I'd like a slightly more concrete 'best.'"

……. (I'll throw this body into the fire! （〜^∇^)〜)

You changed the speech bubble, punk.

A-anyway, once you leave this unconscious space, the rules of the human realm kick in, and communication will be restricted again. If there's something else we need to walk you through, we'll borrow the unconscious space like this to deliver it! We'll have to close the space soon. Any last questions?

Like waking from a dream, I could feel my consciousness in reality slowly waking too. A last question, huh… all kinds of things floated through my head, and I asked just one.

"How the hell am I supposed to find a Selected Regressor even you don't know? And even if I found them, how would I know it's them?"

♪♩—♬♩♪—

A familiar phone ringtone. Seo Taehyun, probably. The soundproofed walls of the individual practice room started sliding back into view. The System, after a pause, answered.

You'll be able to recognize the kid. For a human's timeline to get tangled up isn't an easy thing. …is what he says to tell you.

"Who?"

And I woke up.

---

I picked my body up off the floor of the tiny individual practice room, where I'd been lying like I'd collapsed there. My whole body felt stiff, like I'd actually been asleep.

♪♩—♬♩♪—

With no time to adjust to reality, I grabbed the phone that had been ringing nonstop. Caller: Seo Taehyun. Three missed calls, no less. When I picked up, Taehyun's composed voice came through.

—Hyung. Sorry, but I have no intention of tracking you across all eight provinces.

"What are you talking about."

—You didn't run because you lost to Han Seongwoo and got embarrassed, did you?

What, you little punk?

"Am I you?"

—You went off saying you needed alone time and then you don't pick up, so.

"…Must have switched it to silent for the recording. Didn't hear it. Sorry."

—As long as you didn't run. Get down here quick, apparently you're up as soon as this one wraps.

"Yeah, coming right now. Thanks."

After hanging up, I quickened my pace toward the interview room.

On the way back, I tried calling the System — but all that came up was 'currently under maintenance, unavailable today.' Said it'd do its best and then the first thing it does is hang up a closed sign — some nerve on that administrator. Really, there's not a single System you can trust.

"Seongwoo-ssi, great work!"

"Yes, thank you for your hard work, writer-nim. I'll head in."

"Not at all, you worked so hard, Seongwoo-ssi— oh? Hajin-ssi, you're already down here? Your writer just went up to grab you."

I was heading up to the waiting room when I spotted Han Seongwoo and the writer coming out of the interview room — apparently the interview had just wrapped — and stopped in my tracks. Right, this issue was still hanging.

"Ah, I stepped out for a call. Hyung, your interview's done?"

"Yeah. We talked a lot about you, Hajin-ssi. You're in trouble."

"Haha, no worries. I'm going to talk about you plenty today too, Seongwoo-hyung."

Deliberately stepping in closer, I slung an arm around Han Seongwoo's shoulder — he was about a hand shorter than me. Playing up the friendly act, cracking a joke — I could feel Han Seongwoo laughing along while trying to shove me off, clearly uncomfortable.

"……!"

Whatever — I clamped my arm down and gripped his shoulder tight. Han Seongwoo looked up at me with a face that said, has this guy lost his mind? Hold still, punk. Hyung's got something to say to you.

"Oh my — you two close?"

"Hyung used to be Class B rep. From the day I got here he really looked out for me."

"Ah, is that right?"

"Though hyung probably had it easier once I got here, right? At least there's less of an age gap with me than the others…. He was working himself to death looking after the kids. Lining them up, making them clean."

Meaning: is it fun playing drill sergeant among high school kids at twenty-two? Hope that came through.

"Out of all the B-class guys, I'm probably the only one who talks down to hyung."

"Oh, really? Just you?"

"Yeah. We agreed to drop formalities."

Which was, of course, something Han Seongwoo had never agreed to.

"H-Hajin-ah?"

"Hyung said he talked about me a lot to the Team B guys too."

"……"

Meaning: I know full well you pulled that stunt with the Team B guys to stitch me up.

"Ah, writer-nim. Seongwoo-hyung has a nickname too. Did you know?"

"A nickname? No, what is it? Something the trainees call him?"

"This one's really only known by the people who know…. But it's kind of a mean nickname, so I don't know if I should."

"Oh my, if it's mean now I really want to know!"

"Ah, should I say it? Is it okay if I say it, hyung?"

"H-Hajin-ah. What nickname do I have."

At Han Seongwoo looking up at me with a face that clearly said, what in the world is this crazy guy on about, I gave him the brightest smile I could manage. As if to ask his permission, I leaned down and whispered into his ear.

"{Parachute}(#6cl69oblufil)."

"……!"

"That's you, right? A real parachute."

"……"

"So — can I say it?"

Meaning: you walking bomb — from here on, hyung's setting you off properly.