Chapter 338 — I'm an Infinite Regressor, But I've Got Stories to Tell

Chapter 338

The chapter begins by describing the collapse of civilian society and the pet industry following the onset of the apocalypse. While many refugees cling to their animals, the spread of Void Poison causes most pets to mutate into monstrous forms, leading to owners being killed by their former companions or forcing them to euthanize their pets. However, a rare 1% of pets remain safe from Void Poison, becoming highly prized commodities. Entrepreneurs in Busan exploit this scarcity, creating high-end pet shops with safety ratings from '1 Day' to '10 Years.' Among the few 'safe' pets is Papanya, an unusually articulate scarlet macaw that speaks with eerie intelligence, blurring the line between animal and Anomaly. The narrative then shifts to the internal dynamics of the National Road Management Corps (NRMC). The Undertaker, acting as the narrator and a regressor from previous cycles, seeks to understand Noh Do-hwa’s emotional capacity by giving her a pet. He presents her with a giant, white Maltese, far larger than its breed standard. Do-hwa, the cold Commander, is initially baffled by the dog's size but accepts it. The dog, named 'Doctor' or 'Professor' by the staff due to its association with the Undertaker ('Doc'), becomes a beloved mascot and provides Do-hwa with unconditional affection, despite her emotionally blank exterior. In a future iteration of the 511th cycle, Do-hwa confronts the Undertaker about Doctor’s unnatural 20-year lifespan, which far exceeds that of a real Maltese. She reveals her suspicion that the dog was a deliberate test or a lingering artifact of his past cycles. Pressing on the dog’s throat, she demands that in future runs, the Undertaker not simply impose a pet upon her, but provide her with the choice to adopt one herself, effectively creating a 'final will' from her past self. She argues that humans can reconsider mistakes, and this agency is necessary for her to move forward without being trapped by a predetermined emotional state. Consequently, in the 512th cycle and onwards, Do-hwa begins visiting pet shops herself. She ignores the safe, premium animals and instead chooses mismatched, deformed, or short-lived pets. She explicitly instructs the Undertaker to handle the burials of these animals. The Undertaker realizes that Do-hwa is not merely adopting pets; she is carefully curating her own memories and the Undertaker’s recollections of her. By choosing pets that die young and suffering genuine grief in each cycle, she ensures that the 'Noh Do-hwa' of each run remains distinct from the previous one. She refuses to be a static 'copy-paste' existence. The chapter concludes with Do-hwa smiling as she holds a new puppy, acknowledging the Undertaker’s accusation that she is 'twisted,' while he silently accepts her method of preserving her unique identity across the infinite loops.

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aaj3qdjh2d

Chapter number

338

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17:27

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