#111
The sixteenth iteration flowed differently from all expectations. Hwi-kyung, who was weak at improvising and became flustered when things didn’t go according to plan, found himself increasingly wondering, ‘Is this right?’ as time passed.
Yoon Se-young and Lee Sung-ha? At least from Jung Hwi-kyung’s perspective, it was a bewildering combination. How did you two end up together? It was like the final episode of a dating show where two contestants with no previous connection ended up as the final match.
“This iteration seems to have particularly… strange things happening.”
“Really? I think this is quite ordinary.”
“This?”
“At least you haven’t suddenly been fired or faced a crisis where your existence disappeared…”
“…”
“Still, I think the thirteenth iteration when you met me was probably the most absurd. You said you didn’t know there were other regression travelers besides yourself.”
That was absolutely true—in terms of absurdity, the thirteenth iteration was overwhelming. To think that the parachute Executive Director who had been constantly pursuing him was a fellow regression traveler. Such a coincidence was practically a miracle.
Lee Gyo-ha’s intrusion in the thirteenth iteration thoroughly demolished Hwi-kyung’s regression routine. From the thirteenth onward, everything went beyond Hwi-kyung’s expectations. Like a stone recklessly thrown into calm waters, Hwi-kyung’s life was thrown into turmoil because of Gyo-ha.
Of course, thanks to that, he was able to eliminate the system window, and forced regression also came to an end. Hwi-kyung now had a body that couldn’t return to the “beginning.” Even if he was in a place with “inadequate conditions,” he could only quit and change jobs.
Though he had wanted an ordinary person’s life, he sometimes missed regression when his workplace colleagues were annoying. Now he couldn’t act recklessly with the thought that if something went wrong, he could just regress.
If Ok-ja died, that funeral would now truly be the final one, and if he hit his superior at work or poured coffee on them, it would definitively make his career path or company life a thorny one.
In gaming terms, this was the final round. The “restart” button had disappeared, and saving and loading were also impossible.
With the absence of the system window, he had become a body that could die, so he had to be careful not to work himself to death like before. The things he could do by sacrificing his body were restricted by Gyo-ha.
Though Hwi-kyung himself had wanted an end, he couldn’t be entirely happy that the regression function of the system window had disappeared. Hwi-kyung had lived as a regression traveler longer than as a non-regression traveler, and like Ji-ae, at some point he had unconsciously used “regression” as a last resort.
As an ordinary human, it was inevitable. There were too many exploitative companies in the world, and Hwi-kyung wasn’t particularly exceptional except for his diligence. Unable to control his environment and people through his own will, at some point he came to view forced regression as an escape button, even if it meant losing everything he had built up.
If things deviated slightly from expectations, he would wait for the next iteration, and when unpleasant colleagues appeared, he would guess they were the cause whenever the [Inadequate Conditions] window appeared.
Resolving never to work at the same place in the next iteration, his understanding of the company would drop sharply after joining.
Just as college freshmen find it difficult to solve university entrance exam math problems after taking the exam, Hwi-kyung lost all enthusiasm after being hired. He simply endured for the sake of honorary retirement.
The same was true for people. How could he remember all the people he wouldn’t meet in the next iteration? As iterations repeated, Hwi-kyung distanced himself from colleagues. When he thought of them as people he would only see once, their flaws became more visible than their merits.
Whenever something unjust occurred within BK Entertainment, Hwi-kyung unconsciously thought about [Inadequate Conditions]. This feels like regression territory. This iteration is ruined… Such thoughts didn’t disappear overnight.
Even though the talkative Manager Kim and Deputy Lee had separated, BK Entertainment was still full of strange people. It was hard to tell whether the company made people strange or strange people gathered at the company.
Even in the sixteenth iteration where regression had ended, workplace colleagues were complex. They would act decently but make unpleasant remarks at the slightest lapse in attention.
The department head who liked Hwi-kyung would say nice things but frequently engage in unconscious harassment and appearance evaluations, and Deputy Lee, having lost Manager Kim, dumped all sorts of overtime work on Hwi-kyung as if venting his frustrations.
Yet they weren’t perfect villains. The department head was well-respected, and Deputy Lee had talent in collecting rumors and conversational skills, making him excellent at managing partner companies. Most people had a mix of good and bad points.
It was just that Hwi-kyung hadn’t been able to see the long term due to forced regression, but the other workplace colleagues he had seen over the years were probably similar. Yes-man Park Bong-joon from the twelfth iteration, who Hwi-kyung thought was a good person, or Manager Kang Moon-chul from the fourteenth iteration, who eventually betrayed Hwi-kyung, were prime examples.
Everyone was partly [Inadequate Conditions], but in other aspects, they were decent enough to make up for those [Inadequate Conditions].
But Hwi-kyung only realized this after entering the sixteenth iteration. This was now his reality. A real life without restart. An ordinary life where one doesn’t come back after death.
Once he couldn’t escape, he finally saw the people around him properly. Everyone was living as busily as Hwi-kyung. They resented the company yet felt a sense of belonging, and on payday, they briefly wore happy expressions.
Even people he thought were truly strange occasionally took his side, and those he thought he could trust sometimes stabbed him in the back.
People appeared flat but moved three-dimensionally. The same was true for the incidents they caused. The fixed events he thought would definitely happen were illusions, and extreme villains or saints were very rare.
Even though it was the sixteenth repetition of the same segment, everything felt new to Hwi-kyung. It was like discovering a mise-en-scène he had never noticed in a movie he had watched dozens of times.
Hwi-kyung now knew there was no “next.” Because the system window was gone.
But he wasn’t afraid or fearful. Even though the question had changed from “What if the end never comes?” to “What if the end comes too quickly?”, even though life had instantly become ordinary…
“The most absurd iteration was the fifteenth. And the thirteenth was, what should I say…”
“The most annoying iteration?”
“That’s not wrong either. I did consider strangling you…”
“How could this be… Was I that nasty?”
Hwi-kyung turned his head to look at Gyo-ha, who was feeling around his own neck. The thirteenth iteration barely lasted a year, had many humiliating incidents, and eventually ended with forced regression.
“But looking back now, it seems like the best iteration.”
“In what way?”
“Because you, who were on the opposite side of the earth, eventually found me.”
“…”
“A miracle happened. So from a broader perspective, it was a good iteration.”
Gyo-ha’s hand, which had been repeatedly feeling his neck, suddenly stopped at those words. He looked at Hwi-kyung with a startled gaze, as if he had heard some profound confession.
“Why are you looking at me like that?”
“I’m just so surprised to hear something positive coming from your mouth.”
“Come on.”
Like others, Hwi-kyung was also complex. He was calm and diligent, but also sensitive. He quickly noticed others’ flaws but didn’t know himself well due to a lack of objectivity.
Hwi-kyung experienced forced regression due to his own mistake in the twelfth iteration, and in the sixth iteration, he hanged himself because he wanted to escape. For smooth company life, he pretended not to notice most injustices, and acted as if he had no ego to please his superiors.
One can’t call a person normal who obsesses about going to work even while disoriented from a concussion. So Hwi-kyung had been abnormal all along. He was imperfect and incredibly weak. He had no outstanding merits except being good with Excel.
“I think I’ve picked it up from you. Living a bit thoughtlessly.”
But just as people change, Hwi-kyung eventually changed too.
He’s still not exceptional besides being diligent, a bit sensitive, and doesn’t want to stand out. However, because “next” has disappeared, because he has become a being that can die, he’s no longer as consumed as before.
In the world of [Inadequate Conditions], Hwi-kyung finally realized that this “inadequacy” was not a defect.
* * *
Kim Ok-ja liked Kim Tae-pung even in the sixteenth iteration. Hwi-kyung disliked Kim Tae-pung, who had stolen his grandmother’s love. Whenever he saw Kim Tae-pung, the notification “This seat has already been selected” would come to mind first. The enemy of ticket booking! I will have my revenge!
But since Ok-ja was so fond of that Kim Tae-pung, he couldn’t speak badly of him. Wow! Kim Tae-pung is the best! The idol of the elderly! This was the best response Hwi-kyung could manage.
“Is this concert really the final, final of finals, final of final of finals?”
“Final, truly final, this time for sure the final.”
“I will definitely see the concert without coughing up blood or fainting.”
The main quest of the sixteenth iteration, “Going to Kim Tae-pung’s concert with Ok-ja,” had begun. The quest completion conditions were simple.
First, Ok-ja must not collapse.
Second, Hwi-kyung must not collapse.
Third, both must remain safely standing until the end of the concert.
Though the conditions seemed simple, Hwi-kyung had failed to properly see Kim Tae-pung’s concert until the sixteenth iteration because of this. Kim Tae-pung of love and hate… If it weren’t for Ok-ja, Hwi-kyung would have avoided even summer typhoons because of Kim Tae-pung.
“Is the Shaman coming too?”
“My maternal grandmother doesn’t usually go to such places.”
“Why? I thought she liked Kim Tae-pung…”
“They say there are so many ghosts at concert venues. The energy is not good at all, I hear.”
“…”
“She said Olympic Park area is especially like that and gave me talismans. Take this for now.”
Gyo-ha rummaged through his pockets and pulled out two talismans. Hwi-kyung, who would normally have been flustered by such Korean shamanism, seriously accepted the talismans Gyo-ha offered.
Somehow it was harder than dying to see a concert once, so it must have been because the concert venue had bad feng shui… Hwi-kyung blamed his past inability to attend Kim Tae-pung’s concerts due to poor ticket booking skills on geomancy.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
