Genius Wizard Takes Medicine [EN]: Chapter 1246

Kyunroe Subjugation (37)

Kaise Bajur

Among the colleagues who left Kaise before the project began, there was a lover who had passed away.

Unlike Kaise, who was growing younger by reversing his age, she was someone who was born with poor health.

It was only after she passed away that Kaise learned she had left behind a son.

[My name is Ethan.]

The frightened boy carefully looked at Kaise before speaking.

[Um, my mother said… if I look for Kaise… it would be okay…]

[……]

Ethan Bajur.

Kaise’s only son and the heir to the Bajur bloodline.

Since Ethan was born a few years before the project started, his birth was hardly affected by the regressions [time loops].

No matter how many times Kaise reversed time and repeated failures, he always stood with an anxious expression, yearning for his family.

[……You look a lot like your mother.]

Even for Kaise, who was gradually losing his memories at the time, Ethan’s mother remained a significant figure.

A mentor in life who taught the clumsy Kaise how to love and exchange emotions with others.

Even Kaise, who was repeating hundreds of iterations at the time, saw her in Ethan’s face and was briefly lost in thought.

[It’s nice to meet you, Ethan.]

Kaise knelt down to meet his son’s gaze and stroked his head.

[From now on, I will take care of you. Tell me anything you desire.]

[I don’t desire anything. But…]

The hesitant boy asked.

[Can I… call you father?]

Kaise tried to raise the son his lover had left behind with his friends.

It wasn’t just because of fatherly love or a sense of duty… or so it seemed.

He was curious if the possibility of a ‘next’ could arise from him, who had only been rewinding everything.

So, when he found out that Ethan had vaguely inherited the talent of defying the heavens [a rare, powerful ability], he was rather relieved.

If Ethan had inherited this cursed talent vaguely, he wouldn’t have to suffer like him.

[Father. I’m going to join the Shie Sword Sect with Songha.]

[Although it has lost its prestige now, I heard it’s the place that teaches the oldest sword principles on the continent.]

[I want to help with your plan, Father. There’s not much I can do, but…]

Ethan, who did not possess the magic of defying the heavens, had a talent for martial arts that was on a different level from Kaise.

Enough to quickly conquer the Shie Sword Sect with Songha and absorb all the sword principles there to grow.

In most iterations, Ethan quickly reached a high level of mastery and became a renowned powerhouse.

Ethan, who joined the guard led by Gilleon, quickly stood out and returned to Kaise’s side.

At times, Kaise was also helped by Ethan’s martial prowess to overcome difficulties.

Ethan also considered helping Kaise as his life’s purpose and did his best.

That’s why-

When Kaise, who had repeated tens of thousands of regressions, wanted Ethan, no one could have predicted the reason.

* * *

[I refuse.]

Ethan firmly refused.

[Me, taking over Father’s body and continuing the regressions instead…!!]

[Ethan. You, who inherited the blood of Bajur, are one of the few beings who can endure the repeated regressions.]

Kaise tried to persuade Ethan.

[No matter what time I return, you were always by my side. You are the colleague who has watched my plans most closely.]

[……]

[You are the only one who can continue the project. I beg you.]

[……I am not someone who can continue such a great challenge.]

Ethan’s expression clouded over.

[I just… am content if I can help Father with my colleagues. If I can do my best until the world’s destruction…]

Ethan, who vaguely inherited the talent of defying the heavens, was born with a weak body like his mother.

Although he possessed an astonishing talent for martial arts, it felt insignificant.

Perhaps that’s why his son, whom he had late in life, had an introverted and easygoing personality in every iteration.

Enough to find meaning in doing his best in the journey to pursue the goal, rather than the result of saving the world.

[I see.]

Kaise gave up on making Ethan succeed him.

He was already too tired to persuade someone for long.

The humanity he had been struggling to maintain crumbled easily, to the point of being futile.

[Then, I’ll take your body after you die. That’s okay, right?]

[Father…!!!!]

Ethan jumped up from his seat.

Kaise looked at him and spoke with an appraising gaze.

[If I take your body, I can endure a bit longer. I have to gamble on the talent you possess.]

[How could you, Father, do this to me…!!!]

His expression as he looked at Kaise was one of shock.

His father, who had been tired from the long regressions and always taciturn.

He didn’t have many memories of being loved, but he had always respected him as a great seeker of truth.

Only now did his son realize how broken he had become in the endless regressions.

And, as always, by the time he realized it, it was already too late.

Sometime when his relationship with Ethan reached an irreversible breaking point.

One day, while repeating regressions, asking Ethan the same question every time.

There was a decisive turning point.

[……Father.]

A botanical garden located in District 31.

The figure of a young girl holding Kaise’s hand.

Kaise turned his gaze towards Ethan, who was standing stiffly, looking at the two of them.

[Ethan. You’re late.]

[……How.]

He hands an ice cream to the child and returns her to her guardian.

The two of them watched the child, who bowed her head and turned away with a bright smile.

It was a short time, but it felt like the family was together for the first time in a long time.

[Baragan told me that the time you’re away from your post has become irregular.]

[……]

[Songha seems to have tried to hide it somehow, but that child has never disobeyed my orders.]

Kaise turned towards the frozen Ethan and said.

[She knew my face. She approached me, thinking I was the mayor of Balkan.]

[……]

[That was the Balkan recapture plan I attempted in the ‘previous iteration’.]

[……Father.]

[I never thought I would see a granddaughter at this age.]

Kaise said with a blank expression.

[And to see a granddaughter who was born with a talent that ignores my regressions.]

Kaise Bajur, who regresses by reversing the time of the world.

Ethan Bajur, who revives by reversing his own body.

And, born with a talent that ignores all those regressions-

[Zenithia… you gave her a pretty name. It suits her well.]

[……]

[I need that child.]

[Father!!!!]

For the first time, Ethan glared at Kaise with murderous intent.

A thick murderous aura spread like fog, and the people who had come to the botanical garden fainted without even screaming.

A genius who had already surpassed the Haback of the Shie Sword Sect at a young age and reached the level of an 8-star swordsman, comparable to Songha.

Even when Kaise said he would take Ethan’s body, his weak-hearted son, who couldn’t bring himself to hate him, was rebelling against him for the first time.

However, Kaise didn’t even flinch at Ethan’s murderous intent.

[This is the eighth time I’ve died by your hand. The last time, my heart was torn out, wasn’t it?]

[……!!]

[You don’t have to worry about it. I’ve been killed by other colleagues over hundreds of times.]

Kaise said with a blank expression, looking at Ethan, who was trembling.

[If that’s how someone can succeed in the end, what does it matter?]

[……Father.]

Kaise, who was exhausted from the repeated regressions, didn’t tell Ethan much.

Ethan always had to infer what Kaise didn’t tell him and also had to have expectations.

He wondered if his father might change his mind even now. If all of this was a lie for his sake.

He repeated vain expectations and disappointments, yearning and longing for the family love that was never given to him.

Perhaps that was why he hid the existence of his daughter, whom he had at a young age, from Kaise.

Even that, he couldn’t protect for long and had to give her back to his father.

At this moment, when he had to stand before Kaise after having even the happiness he had barely obtained taken away.

Ethan could no longer tell if his feelings towards Kaise were love or hatred.

Until the end, the relationship between the two was twisted and out of sync, becoming distorted beyond repair.

[I will… do it.]

Ethan lowered the sword from his waist and slowly knelt down.

Ethan knew that he could never go against Kaise’s will.

His transcendent martial prowess, the talent of defying the heavens he inherited from Kaise, and the guard he commanded.

All of them were just results that would disappear like bubbles and become meaningless with just one regression.

The moment Kaise recognized the existence of his daughter, everything became irreversible.

[Whatever you say, Father… I will do it.]

In the botanical garden, where thousands of people had fainted and a bizarre silence had fallen.

The figure of Ethan kneeling and bowing his head towards Kaise at the center.

[If you need my body, I will give it to you on the day you desire…]

[……]

[Instead, just one… promise me.]

That day, in that botanical garden, there was a deal between father and son.

A promise heading towards an irreversible breaking point, even after countless regressions.

A certain deal that completely ended the shallow father-son relationship.

After that, Ethan became Kaise’s most powerful sword, contributing to ending the long civil war and unifying Balkan.

Kaise’s guard, led by him, grew endlessly in power and became the strongest military force in Balkan.

During that long time, the two did not exchange a single word.

And, as time passed.

On the day the project failed and everything reached a breaking point.

“I see.”

The figures of the father and son standing face to face in the center of the burning laboratory.

Ethan holding a blood-stained sword, and Kaise turning away with a blank expression.

Lenok, holding a dark blue lightning bolt, was watching until the very end of the moment when everything ended.

* * *

The beginning and failure of the Black Consumer Project.

The deal between Kaise and Ethan that existed at the very end.

It was not necessary to ask what Kaise wanted and why he took his son’s body.

It was also natural to know what Ethan wanted and why he gave up his body.

Come to think of it, all the days spent chasing the truth of the project were like that.

Even though the more they dug, the more confused and bewildered they became because they couldn’t understand anything.

At some point, they could naturally look back at the confusion they had at that time and find the answer.

Even if they couldn’t understand it with just one aspect, they would eventually fit everything together like a puzzle.

There was a vast and irresistible providence there, like the flow of time.

“Was this… the end of the project?”

The end of the Black Consumer Project.

The tragic and splendid conclusion of its failure.

Kaise’s death was not an assassination by someone who aimed for the project’s failure.

The end of the reviver who yearned for his father, respected him, and finally gave up even his own body.

The moment when the two people who inherited the name of Bajur reached different endings and parted ways forever.

The last regression of Kaise Bajur.

“Are you satisfied with this?”

Lenok, who was standing in the back of the burning laboratory, watching the scene, asked.

“Is this… the end you wanted for Kaise Bajur?”

“……Why.”

Ethan, who was holding a blood-stained sword and standing with his head bowed, opened his mouth.

His face, which had been wet with tears, had become blank as if he had lost all emotions.

Kaise, who had taken Ethan’s body and repeated all these iterations, turned his creaking gaze.

“Why, you-”

“To give you an answer.”

Crack, crack…!!!

Lenok, holding an endlessly surging dark blue lightning bolt, said quietly.

“There are things that don’t change, no matter how many times you regress. There are desires that take precedence over any failure.”

“……”

“That’s why I just wanted to see the end of this story with my own eyes.”

In the end, Lenok didn’t get to see all the details of the Black Consumer Project’s failure or its full story.

Kaise’s regressions were so vast in scale and scope that they couldn’t be measured even in hundreds of years.

Beyond the severed timelines, there might be secrets that Lenok hadn’t yet uncovered, like pieces of a puzzle.

However, even without seeing all the memories, this was enough.

For this moment, when Kaise, who had been constantly moving to the next regression, turned back to look at Lenok.

Lenok had been waiting for this moment, the moment that would truly bring an end to Kaise Bajur’s story.

“No matter how much you repeat the past, you can’t change the future every time.”

Lenok moved forward, holding overflowing lightning.

“Even if you rewind a failure, it doesn’t always lead to a better outcome.”

“……”

“It’s meaningful because it’s a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. That’s why you can cherish even that failure and move forward.”

Lenok stopped in front of Kaise and looked down at him with a calm expression.

“It’s not that you get better through failure, but that you’re bound and trapped by the failed past… that’s why regression can’t be the answer.”

“…No matter how much I struggled, it was ultimately impossible.”

Kaise, who had been silent, raised his gaze.

Standing with empty eyes, he looked at Lenok and muttered quietly.

“No matter how much I turn back, no matter how much I regress… everything changes, breaks down, and goes wrong.”

“……”

“Kyonroe. You will also come to know. Even a seeker with genius like you. Even the great failures and ascenders… cannot endure forever.”

“Yes… maybe so.”

Kaise’s failure was so terrible that it was irreversible, but Lenok did not blame him.

He had already seen many failures even worse than that while uncovering the truth of this world.

The great and hideous failures who had killed millions, destroyed countries, and trampled the world.

Compared to them, what Kaise had wished for was closer to a pure and insignificant desire.

Therefore, Lenok didn’t find it strange that Kaise felt a lack of ability while regressing.

Lenok had always been like that too. Even with his genius, he had always craved for more.

Because he was weak. Because he was lacking. Because he was insufficient. That’s why he regretted, made mistakes, and wanted to turn back.

The talent of a regressor is a miracle that begins with a deficiency more intense than anything else.

He had struggled to hold onto the time that was slipping away like grains of sand.

Because he wanted to change everything, even that desire was eventually corrupted and broken.

Even so, he tried to maintain his original intention until the day he became a broken machine part.

Because that desperate heart resembled Lenok’s from a long time ago. Because that earnestness overlapped with Lenok’s from a long time ago.

Because he thought that the end Kaise had reached might have been the end Lenok might have reached someday.

Wasn’t that why he had been following him all this time, to confirm that ending that should never be the same?

“You’re right, Kaise.”

Lenok raised his gaze.

“Nothing is eternal, and everything keeps changing. All the challengers I’ve seen have been like that.”

“……”

“It’s arrogant to believe, without any basis, that I’m different, that I alone will be different. But-”

He knew that Kaise’s words were not wrong.

All the ascenders Lenok had faced were showing him what their end would be like.

Even Bangung, who was once Lenok himself, could not avoid such a fall.

Nothing is eternal, and everything keeps changing.

The end of this universe will surely come soon.

Eventually, everything will become sea foam and fade away, forgotten without any meaning.

But, that’s why-

Fwoooooosh!!!!!

A golden radiance exploded from behind Lenok, covering space-time.

A huge ring of light rotated with a magnificent resonance, creating a dazzling kaleidoscope.

The majestic kaleidoscope of light, illuminating the far reaches of the universe, rotated distantly and looked down at Kaise.

Self-Magnetic Field Deployment: Observation of the Branching Point

The past Kaise, left in the closed area, the aura of a miracle that he had once witnessed and been captivated by.

The answer of a seeker who took the possibility of a non-existent future as his origin, not the past or the present.

“…This is.”

At this moment, when Kaise’s mind, which contained the past, and Lenok’s mind, which contained the future, intersected.

Kaise’s body, understanding the meaning of the scene unfolding before him, froze as if it had been petrified.

Even Kaise, who had endlessly repeated regressions and edited all kinds of talents and destinies, was facing this for the first time.

The power of the future that even the outer gods of that sea could never dream of.

Kaise did not know that his past self had seen the same scene and had the same feelings.

The current Kaise, worn down by repeated regressions. A turncoat who had changed everything and even changed himself.

In the moment when he, for the first time, had the same feelings as his past self who had dreamed of salvation, and was captivated by the light of the kaleidoscope.

Lenok, standing with the magnificent golden kaleidoscope behind him, spoke quietly.

“But the choice is ours.”

“……”

“Even if everything changes, we can choose how it changes. That’s why… we shouldn’t undo the choices we made.”

“…That’s.”

Lenok slowly moved, following the rotating kaleidoscope.

“Kaise. Unlike you, I will not undo the failures that existed in this world. I can’t just turn back and forget all of that in the name of regression.”

“……”

“The wishes and desires of all those who challenged and failed before us… I will carry all those earnest hearts myself.”

In the distant memories of the past timeline, he repeats the same question and answer once again.

The meaning of the answer Lenok had given to the past Kaise.

He gives Lenok’s answer, which had not properly taken shape at that time, to the current Kaise again.

“I will create a non-existent fourth to save the world.”

“……”

“If there is no next for this world, if the end of this world is set, then I will become that next.”

Lenok said to the silent Kaise.

“Hoping that this entire journey will be a process only for that.”

Kwaaaaaaaah!!!!!

The golden kaleidoscope tilted, illuminating Kaise from all directions.

Numerous branching points leading to a non-existent future. The mirror reflecting the other side rotated with a myriad of charms, flashing.

A miracle that takes the opportunity to choose as its power. The qualification to choose the future directly is in Lenok’s heart.

“…I see.”

Kaise, who had been watching the scene, slowly closed his eyes.

“A non-existent future… you dreamed of seeking the path by taking your own choice as your origin.”

“……”

“You were the future itself that I had never found even once in my infinite regressions.”

Kaise, who only rewinds the past endlessly, is an existence on the opposite side of Lenok, who takes the future as his answer.

Even though they dreamed of the same thing and wanted the same thing, the two were standing in completely different places, looking at the same scenery.

Would something have changed if he had realized that a little earlier?

Would something have changed if he could have met Lenok a little earlier?

But Kaise decided not to answer that question anymore.

Because he understood how meaningless it was to predict a seeker who took a non-existent future as his answer.

Because he realized that the answer Lenok had obtained was connected to the ‘next’ that Kaise had so desperately wanted and wished for.

Just as the past Kaise had done, the current Kaise also understands and accepts the moment he faces the kaleidoscope.

The process, more important than the result, truly existed in this world.

Only this magician’s heart will reach the end of the universe.

But, even so-

“Even so…”

Kaise, who had slowly opened his eyes, staggered to his feet.

“I will continue to move towards the next regression.”

“……”

“Even if everything is wrong, I will repeat trial and error until the very end.”

In Kaise’s empty eyes, a clear focus returned for a moment.

“Because that’s the only way to give meaning to everything I’ve lost. Because that’s the only way to prove all the time I’ve devoted.”

It was too late to be moved by someone else’s answer and accept it.

He had lost too much to acknowledge and accept someone else’s path.

The opportunities Kaise had thrown away. The failures Kaise had thrown away. The timelines Kaise had thrown away.

All those things that had lost their meaning and disappeared were all that remained for him now.

Even though he knew it was wrong, even though he knew it was a mistake, there was only one thing Kaise could do.

To see his end while adhering to the answer and choice he had made until the very end.

It was not Kaise who would prove that Kaise was wrong, but the magician who stood in his way.

“Kyonroe. If your answer has reached the future beyond the past and present, if choice is all that we have-”

Wooong…!!

Kaise turned towards Lenok and raised his magic power.

“I too will move towards the past I chose until the very end…!!”

Bang!!!!

Charrrrrrrrk!!!!!

Beyond the infinitely accelerating consciousness, Kaise raised his magic power, and the Ideological Domain of the Reverse Calamity Leaf raged.

On the clock hands that were going wild and reversing, the tens of thousands of timelines that Kaise had turned back rose up and rotated violently.

A clockwork that rewinds the past, corresponding to the kaleidoscope that illuminates the future.

The method Kaise chose at the last moment to defeat Lenok, reflecting each other’s answers by colliding and canceling out the past and the future.

Kugwagwagwagwagwa!!!!!

Hundreds of thousands of failed Kaises turned to look at Lenok and walked forward.

The timelines, split and crushed into hundreds of thousands, collided with the kaleidoscope and flashed.

The upheaval of the past clockwork and the future kaleidoscope colliding and converging towards the present.

“Yes.”

Lenok, standing at the center of the shaking world line, said quietly.

“If it’s Kaise Bajur that I know, he would have done that.”

Kaise Bajur.

A seeker who failed to save the world, or a broken part that failed even to fail and was broken?

He had now forgotten why he wanted it, and only regret and remorse remained, moving like a clockwork.

Even so, at the last moment, Kaise decided to carry out his own choice with his own will until the end.

Even if it was broken, worn down, and changed, even that was one path that Kaise had chosen and moved forward on.

Could he respect and accept even that wrong choice as Kaise Bajur’s answer?

If he had stopped the broken machine part for a moment and made it look back, could he consider that meaningful?

In the end, the answer is unknown until the very end.

The correct answer is always far away, in the distant, faded past-

“Ban…!!”

“Kaise.”

They call each other’s names, just like when they were discussing magic theory together in the closed area.

In this moment, when they face each other head-on, unlike the past when they were looking for answers together.

They put an end to the failure of the Black Consumer Project, jumping over decades of time.

To the broken regressor who had been repeating regressions and searching for answers even after the project failed.

To the pioneer whom Lenok thought he could discuss the next step with for the first time from the same perspective.

Saying goodbye to all the days he had been following Kaise Bajur.

Kwawoooooooooooo!!!!

Dark blue lightning raged through the golden kaleidoscope, illuminating the dark universe.

The transcendent lightning that still existed in this space-time, even though the kaleidoscope had been unfolded.

At the same time as Lenok raised his hand, the Extreme Lightning responded to his call.

The lightning of the vanguard, which had stretched to the end of the universe, crossed the stars in an instant and was caught in Lenok’s hand.

Extreme Lightning Magic

Transcendent Manifestation

Heaven-Piercing Divine Technique

The dark blue lightning raged and was compressed in Lenok’s hand, and soon turned into a single streak of black-blue lightning.

The moment Lenok’s will pierced through all the world lines that Kaise Bajur had regressed through and descended.

The transcendent lightning that could not be erased from the world descended.

Fwoooooooooosh!!!!!

Beyond the overflowing lightning, everything that made up Kaise Bajur began to disappear.

Even the lingering regrets that he had not given up on after endless regressions. Even Kaise’s answer that he had tried to carry out until the very end.

All the memories and time that had accumulated in Kaise’s mind after regressing tens of thousands of times were burned away by the lightning and disappeared.

At this moment, when the lightning of the vanguard, which takes precedence over all causality, confirms Kaise’s annihilation in all timelines and branching points.

“…Ah.”

Kaise Bajur’s last memory, reflected at the end of the world line that was disappearing without a trace.

Kaise closes his eyes as he sees himself laughing happily with his colleagues while explaining the project.

Mind Alteration

Lightning Annihilation

The Ideological Domain of the Reverse Calamity Leaf was pierced and collapsed by the dark blue lightning, soaring into the barren sky of the 49th District.

Kwaaaaaaaah!!!!