Iron Blooded Regressor - Chapter 122

[Translation]

Above the Earth.

[Time Remaining Until Task Completion: 09:47:12]

With less than 10 hours left until the apocalypse, there wasn’t much people could do.

They could spend the remaining time with their families,

Go outside and unleash their repressed desires,

Or simply watch the desperate fight of one man unfolding in the sky.

―Boom boom boom boom boom!

It was fortunate that the battle was taking place on an abandoned planet.

Otherwise, dozens of nations, ethnic groups, and entire civilizations would have been completely wiped out.

Flesh and blood, shattered bodies were scattered everywhere. All of this was happening around Hyun-su.

“Cough.”

Hyun-su was not unscathed. Magical spells cast by nine races at the cost of their lives, suicide attacks from those who sacrificed themselves to charge at him.

Such attacks left numerous wounds on Hyun-su’s body and soul.

People all over the world were watching him.

“Please, please…”

“Don’t lose!”

“Win! Win!”

People clenched their fists tightly, cheering for Hyun-su.

They would cheer when Hyun-su killed the mighty dragon tribe, and sigh with sorrow when he was injured.

Hyun-su himself had an indifferent expression, but the faces of those watching him changed every moment.

[Time Remaining Until Task Completion: 05:31:48]

The fight continued for hours.

But hardly anyone took their eyes off Hyun-su.

The man’s battle seemed so painful and lonely.

They couldn’t reach out and help directly,

But watching till the end seemed like the least they could do.

And when that long battle finally ended,

Everyone stood up abruptly from their seats.

No one told them to do so.

No one had instructed them to do so.

They all did it on their own.

“Woah, woah…”

Overwhelmed with emotion, tears burst forth.

“Euh euh…”

They raised their hands high into the air.

“Woah woah…”

A mix of sobs and cheers leaked from their mouths.

After a few seconds of controlling their emotions,

““Wooowaaaaaaaah―!!!””

People all over the world simultaneously let out a victory cry.

And they chanted Hyun-su’s name.

Administrator Match

Koo-woong!

The last of the dragon tribe fell.

The dragon tribe leader, who had managed to claw into Hyun-su’s chest through a gap created by his colleagues, muttered with a resentful face.

“Why do we have to fight like this?”

Looking at his increasingly blurry eyes, Hyun-su sighed.

“This is the last battle. For both you and us.”

“……?”

The dragon tribe leader threw a questioning look with his eyes, and Hyun-su sent him a telepathic message.

“…Thank… you.”

Soon, the dragon tribe leader’s expression relaxed. Slowly, his eyes closed.

Hyun-su turned and began to walk. The wound in his chest from the dragon’s claw slowly healed.

Step by step.

Though he seemed like he could collapse at any moment, Hyun-su walked without faltering.

After a while, Hyun-su arrived in front of the statues of his old colleagues.

They were just as Hyun-su had last seen them before leaving. Hyun-su stared silently at them.

“……”

There had been many events leading up to his return here. Hyun-su called out each of his colleagues’ names.

“Baekho. Bill. Alice.”

There were only three. Louis was not visible, but Hyun-su didn’t find it strange.

Because this was the truth.

When Hyun-su waved his hand in the air, cracks began to form on the statues.

Creak, crackle, crackle crackle!

The statues broke apart, and the colleagues inside collapsed to the ground.

“Huff, huff…”

“Where is this…?”

Looking around, they soon spotted Hyun-su. Surprise, astonishment, and joy rose on the faces of the three.

“…Did you, did you succeed?!”

Hyun-su nodded.

“Hyun-su-!!”

The first to run forward was Baekho. Baekho hugged Hyun-su tightly and burst into hearty laughter.

[Translation from Korean to English]

“I knew you could do it! Hahahaha! Well done! Well done! Should I give you a kiss as a reward?”

Hyun-su smirked and pushed Baekho away. Bill approached from the side, grinning and said,

“You really went through a lot. But… didn’t you create that transcendent-class airborne fortress in my memories?”

“I did, but it was destroyed.”

Bill’s expression immediately turned sullen. However, he quickly shook his head and patted Hyun-su’s shoulder.

“Well, we can always make another one later. Anyway, it’s so good to see you again. Let’s go back and have a party or something…”

“It’s not over yet.”

“What?”

“There are still things I need to check.”

Leaving Baekho and Bill behind, Hyun-su walked forward.

“Hyun-su…”

Behind the two men, Alice stood with her head bowed down like a sinner. Hyun-su called out to her.

“Alice.”

Alice, barely lifting her head, showed two conflicting emotions on her face.

Joy. And guilt.

“Thank you. And I’m sorry…”

“Why did you do it?”

At Hyun-su’s question, Alice bowed her head again. Hyun-su asked once more.

“Why did you create such a thing?”

“……”

As the atmosphere turned strange, Baekho and Bill approached with awkward, stiff expressions and asked.

“Hey. What’s wrong with you guys?”

“What happened?”

Hyun-su didn’t look back at them. His gaze was fixed solely on Alice.

Hyun-su spoke in a voice devoid of emotion.

“Lewis Carroll. The author of ‘Alice in Wonderland.’ Alice creates Lewis… An interesting idea.”

“……”

“Do you find it amusing to play with people?”

The atmosphere turned cold in an instant. Baekho and Bill wore faces of confusion.

“What are you talking about? Who is Lewis?”

“What are you guys talking about?”

From their reactions, Hyun-su realized that neither of them was in collusion with Alice.

-Lewis was a ‘non-existent’ person from the beginning.

The only thing left in Hyun-su’s memories after sealing them was a voice saying, ‘Let’s meet again.’

The scribbles Hyun-su saw in the hole of Babylon,

Planting magical parasites in Sejun to betray him,

Provoking Cheonjaehu to steal other players’ items,

Making Hyun-su fervently chase after the illusory existence of Lewis…

All of these were Alice’s magic and illusions.

“Really, I’m sorry…”

Although her body was trapped in a statue, her mind was awake, and she continued to influence Hyun-su with the magic she had cast, controlling it like a thread from afar.

Only possible because Alice was a genius at magic. All the magic thought to be Lewis’s was actually Alice’s.

Hyun-su said coldly.

“No need to apologize. Just tell me why. Depending on your answer, I might kill you right here.”

At those words, Baekho and Bill’s eyes widened.

“Kim Hyun-su! I don’t know what’s going on, but that’s harsh!”

“Explain it to us. If there’s a misunderstanding, let’s clear it up…”

“Misunderstanding?”

At that moment, Hyun-su turned to them for the first time. A massive darkness burst from his body.

-Whoooosh!

The two men, wrapped in a deep darkness like a swamp, gritted their teeth.

“Ugh…”

“Gah…”

An unbelievable power, incomparable to the Hyun-su they knew from the past.

Just by standing on their shaky legs without kneeling, the two men proved their strength.

Then Alice finally opened her mouth.

“I thought you might give up.”

“……”

Hyun-su continued to stare at Alice, signaling her to keep talking. Alice continued.

“Back then, you were on the verge of breaking down. You had been fighting for 10 years. The moment you heard you had to start all over, you already had a half-defeated look on your face. I knew exactly what would happen if you went back to the tutorial with all your memories intact.”

“……”

[Translation]

“How could I make you not give up and come back here again? You needed motivation. So I mostly erased your memories, and planted the suggestion that you had to come here to find out who you are. As you moved to the next area, your memories would gradually return… But that alone wasn’t enough.”

“So?”

“…I created Lewis. An entity you would hate enough to want to kill, or even more. Whenever you felt like giving up, whenever you wanted to settle for reality, an entity that would add fuel to the fading fire. That was Lewis.”

“All the words in Limbo were lies then. Pretending to care about me.”

“…I was worried. Worried that your soul might shatter, that humanity might never be saved.”

The desire to know who he is.

The endless hatred for the entity called Lewis.

That was the fuel that brought Hyun-su this far.

“……”

Alice’s long story had come to an end.

Baek-ho and Bill, having learned the truth, could only sigh without saying a word.

Alice looked at Hyun-su and smiled sorrowfully.

“I wouldn’t mind if you killed me. I thought this was the best, and I would do the same if I went back to the past. After all, we have met again.”

Tears welled up in Alice’s eyes. Hyun-su looked at her indifferently.

“I won’t kill you.”

At those words, Alice closed her eyes. Baek-ho and Bill sighed in relief.

But Hyun-su’s words were not yet finished.

“But I have no intention of forgiving you.”

Hyun-su reached out and grabbed Alice’s head. The painful moments he had experienced were vividly transmitted into her mind.

“Ah… Aaaaaahhh!!”

Alice convulsed as if electrocuted, her body flailing, eyes rolling back, frothing at the mouth.

“Stop it! She’ll die!”

“Hyun-su, please…!”

Baek-ho and Bill pleaded from behind, but Hyun-su didn’t heed and continued to impart his pain onto Alice.

After a while, Alice collapsed limply. Only then did Hyun-su let her go.

Thud.

“This is what you did to me. It’s not even half of it.”

Alice, heavily traumatized mentally, stared blankly at the sky, her pupils unfocused.

“……”

Alice might never recover. Hyun-su looked at her for a moment, then turned away.

“Hyun-su!”

“Just wait a moment!”

Baek-ho and Bill called out to him from behind, but Hyun-su didn’t stop.

***

The overall administrator of Armageddon.

Blacksmile was waiting for Hyun-su.

[Yawn! Are you done talking with your old colleagues?]

Smile yawned as he spoke. Hyun-su nodded.

“Thanks for waiting.”

[Well, we’re on a commercial break anyway. There was no time to insert ads during the battle because it was so intense. But you know what? The audience is going crazy asking for the broadcast to resume. Hyun-su, you are now the universe’s top star! Ahahahaha!]

“……”

Hyun-su silently looked at Blacksmile.

[Tsk. Boring.]

At his unresponsive reaction, Blacksmile pouted his lips and threw something at Hyun-su.

It was a living, pulsating heart.

The artifact of the last of the seven great demon lords

[If you eat it, you can get the same authority as me. You can interfere with the Armageddon system, create new rules, or modify them.]

As Hyun-su brought the heart to his mouth, Smile’s smile deepened.

Hesitation.

Hyun-su stopped the heart in front of his mouth and asked Smile.

“Any problems?”

[Ahahaha! I’m just happy. It’s been 400 Earth years since we had a new administrator candidate.]

“……”

Hyun-su narrowed his eyes and looked at Smile. The guy didn’t avoid Hyun-su’s gaze and grinned cheekily.

[Won’t you eat it? Then you can’t be an administrator.]

“…I’ll eat it. As much as you want.”

[Translation]

Crunch, crunch.

Hyun-su chewed and swallowed the “Heart of Satan” without leaving anything behind.

The smile on Blacksmile’s face, as well as those of the hosts watching Hyun-su in the party hall, deepened.

Ssshhh.

There were no outward changes. Instead, a flood of information about Armageddon filled Hyun-su’s mind.

Blacksmile said,

[Being the head administrator involves a lot of work. Basic information is being infused into you now, but the practical aspects of the job are different, right? You’ll need a handover…]

“I’m not interested.”

Hyun-su cut off Smile’s words sharply and waved his hand in the air.

Ziiiiing!

A portal appeared in front of his old colleagues who had followed Hyun-su from a distance.

“It’s a portal to the lounge. There are other players there.”

“Hyun-su…”

“Go in.”

Bill and Baekho looked like they wanted to say something, but Hyun-su didn’t allow it.

As the three entered the portal, Blacksmile twisted his neck side to side and said,

[Well, you won’t need a handover. After all, you’re not going to make it as an administrator.]

Blacksmile’s mouth tore open into a wide grin.

At the same time, the advertisement ended and broadcasting resumed throughout the universe.

The camera captured Hyun-su and Blacksmile in a full shot, facing each other.

Blacksmile said in an exaggerated tone,

[Now! Hyun-su has cleared the administrator mission. But what will we do? I have no intention of stepping down from my position.]

The Earthlings, who thought all the battles were over, looked bewildered,

while the viewers across the universe who had been waiting for part two erupted in ecstatic reactions.

Squeak! Squeeeak!

Blacksmile’s tuxedo ripped, and his body swelled grotesquely.

[I asked the higher-ups about it… They said to decide between yourselves. Ahaha! I always get stuck with the cleanup.]

Grinning wickedly, Smile sneered.

And a similar smile formed on Hyun-su’s lips.

“One of us is enough.”

It was an answer that didn’t disappoint. Blacksmile opened his mouth wide and laughed.

[Ahahahaha! I knew it would be like this!]

Whoosh!

Hyun-su and Blacksmile simultaneously drew power. Like beasts released from their cages, their unleashed magic charged at each other.

Crack! Crack!

Their powers collided and kept disintegrating and regenerating. The fearsome clash of power began to cause the planet to crumble.

Even though they hadn’t moved an inch from their spots.

[By the way, I was the first player in the universe to awaken irregular traits! Like Hyun-su, I went through the same process to become the head administrator and have since defeated five challengers!]

Whoosh!

All the powers Hyun-su possessed manifested above Blacksmile.

It was a show of being capable of everything Hyun-su could do.

Hyun-su appraised his opponent in one sentence.

“You’ll be the second irregular to die at my hands.”

[Ahahahahahahaha!! So arrogant!!!]

Blacksmile’s hearty laughter shook the entire planet. In his laughing eyes, immense rage flickered.

[So, dear viewers, starting now~!!]

Boom!

The ground screamed and the sick planet groaned. Blacksmile’s resounding voice spread across the universe through the broadcast.

[The final match of the Armageddon Endgame begins now―!!]

With that cry, Blacksmile and Hyun-su charged at each other.

Boom!

That day, a planet vanished from the universe.

The End

After all the broadcasts ended,

[Ahahahahaha!]

Blacksmile laughed heartily.

Even though his head was being torn from his body, Smile seemed unperturbed, feeling no pain.

[I guess I lost? Ahaha…ha!]

Hyun-su, clutching Blacksmile’s neck, looked at him with an indifferent gaze.

[Translation]

“This guy was once a player too. Like Hyun-su, suddenly dragged into the Armageddon game and thrown into it, surviving to the end to become the chief administrator.”

Blacksmile let out a long sigh.

“[Well, I’ve been at it for a long time too. I lived dozens of times longer than my kind… Now, I’ll transfer all my authority to you.]”

Smoothly.

All sorts of information flowed into Hyun-su’s mind.

Blacksmile’s old memories,

Including the existence of the ‘sponsors’,

And the images of the universal tycoons watching them from the current party venue.

Gritting his teeth, Hyun-su muttered softly.

“So, killing those guys is how this game ends.”

“[Ah… Haha. That’s impossible. They are like gods. And…]”

Blacksmile hesitated for a moment and then sent telepathy to Hyun-su.

Since he was soon to die anyway, there was no loyalty to keep for the sponsors.

-“The ‘Heart of Satan’ you consumed earlier contained ‘bugs’ that will paralyze you. By now, they must be spreading throughout your body.”

-“Is there no way to stop them?”

-“If I had known, I wouldn’t be in this state.”

Blacksmile wore a bitter expression.

Even the irregular traits that only two in the universe had ever blossomed could not expel the bugs inside the body.

-“I tried secretly a few times, but they all failed. Just give up and accept it. Holding onto hope only makes despair grow.”

The painful advice of an experienced one. However, Hyun-su had no intention of meekly accepting his fate.

As he had always done, Hyun-su was going to find a way out this time too.

-“Give me your traits.”

-“I told you it’s useless. Even if you’ve received the traits of Quintra, you’re the same as me…”

-“Different. Mine and yours are different.”

Hyun-su pointed out Blacksmile’s misunderstanding.

Although they were collectively called , they were traits that couldn’t be precisely defined.

They shared only the properties of rebelling against the system and breaking the rules.

Having read both Quintra and Blacksmile’s memories, Hyun-su knew this.

-“What if two undefined traits merge into one?”

-“Maybe a miracle… could happen.”

-“That miracle might end everything.”

“[Ahahahahahaha! That sounds incredibly fun!!]”

Smile’s laughter spread far beyond the fragments of the planet where the two stood.

And then,

-“I’m looking forward to it.”

Whoosh-.

Blacksmile, the chief administrator of Armageddon, turned to dust and disappeared.

“……”

Hyun-su watched the dispersing dust indifferently. Then, an unfamiliar voice was heard.

“[Player Kim Hyun-su! You have overcome all trials and become the new administrator. Congratulations on behalf of all viewers of the universe!]”

Loud fireworks and cheerful music. Amidst that, an excited voice was heard.

“…Thank you.”

Hyun-su bowed his head. Pleased with his gesture, the voice of the sponsor softened.

“[You’ve become a new administrator, so you deserve congratulations. I specially invite you to my party!]”

Ziiiiing!

A portal opened in front of Hyun-su.

At the same time, the ‘bugs’ that had entered his body began to wriggle.

Ssssss-

One by one, Hyun-su’s powers were sealed and his magic scattered. The darkness that had enshrouded him like pitch black washed away.

Hyun-su, with all his abilities neutralized, stepped into the portal.