The Unwinding Ball of String

The first task is completely unwind this ball of string. The fact that there's another task that then goes back on the original task seems very devious. I would have wondered, does that mean I don't have to do it in the first place? That's what I'd imagine it would say. Has this negated the initial task? So therefore, if I read the whole thing, I just go bang. And I say, Alex, and get zero time. Would that be doing so? I think so. We live in a universe. Two parallel universes. One with which task never ends. And one with the task is never begun.