I died watching humanity fall.
Not quickly. Not mercifully. I died slowly, bleeding out on the ruins of Seoul's last stronghold, watching the Eternals tear through our final defenses like tissue paper.
They were beautiful.
That's what made it worse. These weren't mindless monsters. They were perfect—ethereal beings with crystalline wings and eyes that glowed like distant stars. They moved through our world like angels, leaving only corpses in their wake.
"Yuto..."
Mina's voice. Weak. Fading.
I turned my head—even that small movement sent agony lancing through my broken ribs. She lay three meters away, her sword still clutched in one hand. Blood pooled beneath her, too much blood.
"Don't talk," I tried to say, but it came out as a whisper. "Save your strength."
She smiled. Even dying, Lee Mina smiled at me.
"We almost won, didn't we?"
No. We never had a chance.
Three years. That's how long humanity lasted after the first dimensional gate opened. Three years of desperate fighting, of watching nations fall one by one, of hoping that maybe—just maybe—we could find a way to survive.
I'd been so stupid. So arrogant.
They called me the Void Blade. The youngest S-rank Hunter in history. The man who'd cleared a thousand dungeons without a single casualty. I'd thought that meant something.
It meant nothing.
"Kang Yuto."
That voice. I knew that voice.
I forced myself to look up. The movement felt like drowning.
She stood above me on a pile of rubble that used to be the Hunter Association headquarters. Her wings—six of them, translucent and geometric—spread wide enough to blot out the burning sky. Silver hair cascaded down her back like a waterfall of starlight.
Eternal Queen Seraphine.
The most powerful being I'd ever encountered. The monster who'd personally killed fifty S-rank Hunters. The one who'd burned Tokyo, Moscow, and New York in a single week.
She was looking at me with something that might have been curiosity.
"You fought well," she said. Her voice was soft, almost gentle. "For a human."
I wanted to spit at her. Curse her. Scream at her for everything she'd taken from me.
Instead, I just laughed. It came out wet and broken, blood bubbling in my throat.
"Go to hell."
"Perhaps." She tilted her head, studying me like I was an interesting insect. "But you're going there first."
She raised one delicate hand. Light gathered in her palm—the same light I'd seen erase entire city blocks.
This was it. The end.
I thought about all the choices that had led me here. Every dungeon I'd cleared. Every monster I'd killed. Every person I'd saved.
Had any of it mattered?
"If I could go back..." I whispered, barely aware I was speaking out loud. "If I could do it all again..."
"Yes?" Seraphine's hand paused. She actually looked interested.
"I wouldn't play hero," I said. The words came easier now, like a confession I'd been holding back for years. "I wouldn't save everyone. I wouldn't follow the rules. I'd become the monster you fear."
Her eyes widened slightly. Then she laughed—a sound like crystal bells.
"Brave words from a dying man."
The light in her hand grew brighter.
I closed my eyes.
Mina. I'm sorry I couldn't protect you.
The world went white.
And then—
Pain.
Not the pain of dying. This was different. It felt like my entire body was being pulled apart and stitched back together, like someone was rewinding my existence frame by frame.
My left wrist burned. The tattoo—the strange mark I'd gotten from my first dungeon clear ten years ago—felt like molten metal pressed against my skin.
Words appeared in my vision, glowing blue text that shouldn't exist:
[ETERNAL CORE DETECTED]
[REGRESSION PROTOCOL: ACTIVATED]
[CONDITION MET: DEATH + REGRET THRESHOLD EXCEEDED + ETERNAL PROXIMITY]
What...?
[TIME REVERSAL INITIATING]
[AVAILABLE TIME: 2000 HOURS]
[WARNING: THIS IS YOUR ONLY REGRESSION]
[FAILURE = PERMANENT DEATH]
[ACCEPT REGRESSION?]
[YES] [NO]
I didn't understand. None of this made sense. But I understood one thing:
This was a second chance.
I didn't hesitate. With the last strength in my dying body, I reached out toward the glowing [YES] button.
My finger touched it.
The world exploded into light.
---
I woke up screaming.
My hands clawed at my chest, expecting to find the gaping wound where Seraphine's attack had punched through my sternum. Instead, I felt intact skin under a thin hospital gown.
"Mr. Kang! Mr. Kang, please calm down!"
A nurse rushed into the room, her face a mask of concern. She was young, maybe twenty-five, with kind eyes and—
I knew her.
Na Ji-Won. In my original timeline, she'd died in the first week of the invasion. A dimensional gate had opened right outside this hospital.
But she was alive now. Standing right in front of me.
"You had a nightmare," she said gently, placing a hand on my shoulder. "It's normal after what you went through. Just breathe, okay?"
I forced myself to breathe. In. Out. In. Out.
My hands trembled as I grabbed the phone from the bedside table.
**June 15, 2025**
**9:47 AM**
Eighty-three days before the apocalypse.
"Oh my god," I whispered.
"Are you okay?" Nurse Na asked. "Should I call the doctor?"
"No. I'm..." I swallowed hard. "What day is it?"
She frowned. "June fifteenth. You've been unconscious for two days after your dungeon raid. Don't you remember?"
I remembered. This was the day I woke up after clearing my first S-rank dungeon. The raid that made me famous. The beginning of my career as the Void Blade.
In my original timeline, I'd spent this day celebrating. Doing interviews. Basking in the attention.
What a waste.
"I need to leave," I said, swinging my legs out of bed.
"Mr. Kang, you can't! The doctor hasn't cleared you yet—"
"I'm fine." I stood up. My body felt strange—younger, lighter, weaker than I remembered. In my original timeline, I'd had three more years to train, to level up, to grow stronger.
Now I was back to level 47. Pathetic.
But I had something more valuable than strength.
I had knowledge.
The tattoo on my left wrist pulsed with a faint blue light. When I focused on it, new text appeared:
[REGRESSION SYSTEM - ACTIVE]
[TIME REMAINING: 1999:23:47]
[FIRST QUEST AVAILABLE]
[URGENT: KILL YOUR FIRST ETERNAL]
[TIME LIMIT: 48 HOURS]
[REWARD: UNLOCK REGRESSION ABILITIES]
[FAILURE: PERMANENT DEATH]
A smile spread across my face. Not the smile of a hero.
The smile of a predator who'd just spotted his prey.
"Nurse Na," I said quietly, pulling on the clothes that had been left in my room. "What's the date of the next scheduled S-rank gate opening?"
She blinked, surprised by the question. "Um... I think there's one tomorrow night? In Gangnam district?"
Perfect.
In my original timeline, that gate hadn't been cleared until a week later. By then, the Eternal inside—Duke Vareth—had established a foothold. He'd gone on to kill thousands.
But he didn't know I was coming.
He didn't know what I'd become.
I walked to the window and looked out at Seoul. The city was peaceful, bustling with normal life. People going to work. Students heading to school. Families eating lunch together.
None of them knew what was coming. None of them knew that in eighty-three days, most of them would be dead.
I could save them. Maybe. If I made the right choices. If I was willing to sacrifice the few to save the many.
If I was willing to become the villain.
My phone buzzed. A message from Director Han Seo-Joon of the Hunter Association:
*"Congratulations on your S-rank promotion. Let's meet tomorrow to discuss your future."*
I stared at the message. In my original timeline, I'd been so eager to work with the Association. To be an official hero.
Han Seo-Joon was corrupt. I knew that now. He'd been working with the Eternals from the start, selling out humanity for promises of power.
But I could use him.
I typed back: *"I have information about tomorrow's gate. Meet me tonight."*
His reply came instantly: *"What kind of information?"*
I smiled.
*"The kind that will make you Director-General. And the kind that will let me kill what's inside before it can escape."*
Three dots appeared as he typed. Then:
*"Midnight. My office. Come alone."*
I pocketed my phone and turned away from the window.
Eighty-three days. Two thousand hours. Not enough time to save everyone.
So I wouldn't try.
I'd save who I could. Sacrifice who I must. And if the world called me a villain for it?
Good.
Villains were the only ones who survived.
I walked out of the hospital room, leaving Nurse Na calling after me. My body was weak. My mana was depleted. I had no allies, no resources, no plan beyond the next forty-eight hours.
But I had died once already.
And I'd be damned if I'd let it happen again.
The regression clock in my vision ticked down:
[1999:21:33]
Time to hunt.