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Translator: penny
Chapter: 1
Chapter Title: Regression
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⚙ SYSTEM NOTIFICATION ⚙You have passed the final trial.
I let the blade, soaked in blood, hang limply toward the ground.
Raising my head, I saw the notification blinking right in front of me, proclaiming the end.
'It's over?'
⚙ SYSTEM NOTIFICATION ⚙Congratulations on passing the trials.
'I see. So it's finally over.'
The news that all the trials were complete brought a wave of exhaustion crashing over me.
Part of me wanted to hurl this heavy lump of metal to the ground, but the habits ingrained over ten years wouldn't allow me to discard my sword.
⚙ SYSTEM NOTIFICATION ⚙As promised, Player 'Kang Min-jun,' who has passed the trials, is granted the right to transfer to Otherworld Elysia. Settling 'Destruction Dragon Galegos.' Highest Contributor Among Survivors: Kang Min-jun
I silently watched the holograms appearing and updating one after another before my eyes.
⚙ SYSTEM NOTIFICATION ⚙As promised, the highest contributor 'Kang Min-jun' is granted one wish.
A wish, huh.
⚙ SYSTEM NOTIFICATION ⚙What wish will you make?
I looked up at the sky, thick with storm clouds.
"What a shitshow."
That was my quiet at the end of ten years of trials.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
Kang Min-jun.
That's my name.
A common, ordinary name, by any measure.
I'd spent my days in just as mundane and tedious a fashion as that plain name suggested.
"Ugh, this sucks. When the hell does school end?"
Dragged to school half against my will from elementary through high school.
『★Military Service Agency Notice』
After graduation, I became an ordinary college student facing the same fate as everyone else—being hauled off to the army.
"Hey, Dickhead. Where you going?"
Occasionally tormented and teased by high school classmates. Nothing special about my life at all.
Then one day, an uninvited guest shattered that daily routine.
⚙ SYSTEM NOTIFICATION ⚙Announcement.
No—all of humanity's daily lives vanished that day.
⚙ SYSTEM NOTIFICATION ⚙Earth's lifespan has now come to an end. Unfortunately, there are no plans to revive Earth, and exactly 5 hours from now, Earth will undergo the annihilation process.
"Huh? What the hell is this?"
"Some asshole pranking us!"
The bizarre hologram that appeared before our eyes.
I still can't forget that moment.
Every person walking the streets of Seoul froze in place, staring blankly into empty space.
'Earth is going to be destroyed?'
Was it because the announcement was so absurd?
Or just too out of nowhere?
"What bullshit."
People denied it, refused to believe.
"Pfft, what kinda nonsense is this?"
"I think I know what this is. Like those webtoons where the novel becomes reality and apocalypse hits or whatever."
"Quit talking crap. That's just writers spewing their delusions into fiction. Can't you live in reality for once?"
"Hey, how about rock-paper-scissors? Loser has to shout 'status window' at the top of their lungs. Heh."
Some even took it as a joke.
The world was far too peaceful to seriously accept that Earth would end in two hours.
⚙ SYSTEM NOTIFICATION ⚙Transfer to another world is now possible.
But the march toward destruction was steadily progressing.
⚙ SYSTEM NOTIFICATION ⚙However, those wishing to transfer must undergo evaluation. Through the Selection Process, you must prove that you are useful vermin.
No one took it seriously yet.
But then a blinding light flashed across the sky.
Whoosh—
A curtain of darkness fell and lifted, shaking the ground with an ominous tremor. People's expressions began to shift subtly.
Rumble rumble rumble.
⚙ SYSTEM NOTIFICATION ⚙An asteroid has collided. Earth will be destroyed in 4 hours, 53 minutes, and 21 seconds.
"...."
Silence blanketed the city.
Countless people filled the streets, but in that moment, it was as if time had stopped—no one moved.
The chime that awakened the frozen world was another notification.
Ding.
⚙ SYSTEM NOTIFICATION ⚙Will you participate in the Selection Process?
"Wh-what the hell is this?!"
"Is this real? Is Earth really gonna blow up?"
Everyone could feel the air prickling against their skin, something different now.
Too strange to dismiss as a prank.
As time passed, that eerie feeling took shape, and one piece of news spread rapidly through online communities.
—Communications cut off with Africa, Middle East, Europe.
—Fr real?
—No way, bait right?
All contact severed with certain regions—an ominous report.
Naturally, attention focused on one thing.
—Anyone actually entered the Selection yet?
—I'm in right now, nothing much.
—For real?
—Idiot, you believe that? I saw someone go in and poof, vanish into thin air;; They were wearing clothes but guess electronics don't work, smartphone just dropped to the ground.
People began accepting reality.
Not because of asteroids or comms blackouts, but because they could see people vanishing one by one right before their eyes, proving it was all real.
⚙ SYSTEM NOTIFICATION ⚙Will you participate in the Selection Process?
And so began the Selection Process—also called the Trials—a frenzy where over four billion people scrambled to survive and transfer to Otherworld Elysia.
I was one of them.
…I glared at the overcast sky before slowly lowering my gaze to the hologram still floating in the air.
⚙ SYSTEM NOTIFICATION ⚙What wish will you make?
Blink blink, the screen nagged as if urging me to speak up.
'I cleared all the way to the final trial.'
The sole survivor. The only one allowed to go to Otherworld Elysia.
'So what's the point?'
What was I supposed to do, heading alone to a strange land with no connections?
Off to a place with no familiar faces, just me—what for?
So my one wish was simple.
"I'll regress. Send me back ten years with my memories intact so I can replay this fucked-up game from the start."
⚙ SYSTEM NOTIFICATION ⚙You wish to repeat that arduous journey?
"Yeah."
A decade-long odyssey.
Through countless battlefields and hellish frontlines, I'd reached this point.
And with this knowledge and experience, if I regressed, I knew I could do better than before—hell, I could save at least one more person.
⚙ SYSTEM NOTIFICATION ⚙Admirable. We have heard your noble intent. However, such altruistic choices are never wise. Why not end the trials here and start a new life in a new land?
"No."
It's not about sacrificing myself to save more people.
I just hate being alone. Hate heading to a foreign place by myself.
If even one other person—one Earthling besides me—had survived, I wouldn't have made this choice.
"I'm going back purely for myself."
For my own bright future.
"So send me back to the past."
⚙ SYSTEM NOTIFICATION ⚙We understand your intent. You hopelessly selfish bastard! To fulfill that ugly desire, we will proceed with regression. May the trials you face again bring you joy.◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
I've read novels where regressors run rampant.
How light must the steps be for one who treads a future already walked once before?
⚙ SYSTEM NOTIFICATION ⚙Your wish has been granted. Error. An abnormal interference has been attempted on the world. Checking error… Confirmed as higher-dimensional access. Correcting error to match the modified conditions.
A pure white light enveloped my vision.
The light faded quickly, but in its place, my body grew heavy, as if I'd plunged into water.
Frowning at the suffocating sensation, I opened my eyes.
'Where am I? Feels heavy, so probably back in the past.'
But the air was too warm for the Tutorial area.
As my sight cleared, I felt a twinge of bewilderment.
'University?'
The scene behind the university's main building, now a hazy memory, came into view.
Leaves and flowers blooming wildly in the full bloom of spring.
'I really went back? Ten years?'
Disorienting.
The regression point I'd wanted was the Tutorial, not Earth.
I quickly realized my critical mistake.
'I said ten years ago, and it took that literally.'
As soon as I grasped the situation, I moved to check the exact date.
Was it because it had been ten years since I'd last touched a smartphone?
My movements felt awkward.
The feel of the device in my hands after a decade was both familiar and alien.
『May 27th』
Thinking maybe I'd misread, I turned the screen off and on repeatedly. The date didn't change.
'Everything started on May 30th. So three days left.'
I'd aimed for the Tutorial, but this wasn't bad.
No, it was actually better.
Far better to prepare even a little before diving in empty-handed.
'I can prep for three days. Make plans for what to do next.'
My heart raced.
Honestly, I hadn't been sure if regressing with memories was even possible. Half of it had been a petulant demand.
But the wish came true, and I got an even better starting point than expected. I felt good, so I smiled…
"This fucker's lost his mind."
Thwack.
"?"
A stinging pain bloomed on the back of my head, accompanied by a woman's voice.
But oddly, the voice felt familiar.
"Dickhead. Empty your pockets in front of your big sis here before you get your ass beat."
Turning around, a bob-haired beauty glared at me.
"…Shin Seo-yeon?"
"You really snapped, huh? Now you're calling me by name?"
Shin Seo-yeon.
Same class in our senior year of high school. We'd gone to the same schools from elementary through university—a fated bad match.
We'd gotten along okay in elementary, but by third year of middle school, she veered down a rough path and became a full-on delinquent troublemaker.
"Fuck, what're you staring at? You trying to get beat straight?"
But the reason I'd been shocked to see her wasn't that.
Rubbing my throbbing head, I recalled a memory I'd forgotten.
'Right, at this time, Shin Seo-yeon didn't give a damn about her image—she was a total bitch.'
Closing my eyes, I immediately pictured her as I'd seen her just days ago in the future. And the voices gossiping about her.
—Look, it's Shin Seo-yeon.
—Body's insane. How's a girl with such slim wrists and ankles Rank 19?
Crimson Flame Witch, Shin Seo-yeon.
Rank 19.
No one among fire mages could rival her.
Opening my eyes again, the beauty who would become an S-Rank mage in the future stood there cockily, her pretty eyes narrowed.
Her arms propped under her ample breasts, thrusting them out prominently.
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