Looking back, my regression era was quite turbulent.
There were times when I had hope and times when I lost it.
There were times when I still had feelings, and times when they were completely gone.
Still… in the early stages, up until the ninety-ninth cycle, I remember things being quite bright.
Starting with the death of Soeun Yu, which led to my regression, I was focused on saving people.
What I mean is that every time people around me would die, I would rewind time and try again.
Jade Flower, the Divine Monk, Dongfang Bubai, and my comrades and friends… Every time they were killed by the Blood Cult, I would resolve to prevent it in the next cycle and rewind the timeline.
It was a naïve time when I could only see what was in front of me.
How foolish I was, believing that if I just held on a little longer, light would come.
The change in this immediate rewind style came during the thirteenth cycle.
When I succeeded in saving someone from an incident called ‘A’ but lost them in the following ‘B’ incident, I realized that this wasn’t something that could be solved with just one or two regressions.
From then on, I chased ‘information’ like a madman.
The information that I hadn’t known about while I was instantly rewinding time to save people around me—future knowledge.
There were no geographical limits. The world was vast, and the more information I knew, the more useful it became.
Most of all, time was infinite to me.
Even if one cycle failed, I would live with the hope for the next, only to be killed by the Blood Demon at the last moment.
Living as a Blood Demon’s slave with my limbs severed was also a struggle to gather as much information as possible from inside the Blood Cult.
My time wasn’t limited to just Jungwon.
The great grasslands and deserts in the north, the North Sea Ice Palace in the northeast, Japan and the Sun-Moon Holy Church in the east, the southern Namman, the heavenly nation of Tianzhu and Lamaism beyond the Silk Road in the southwest, and the holy country reachable only after years of travel in the northwest—all these places I visited, always with the promise of the next cycle, gathering as much information as possible.
That information actually helped me immensely.
In this cycle too, I used information about ‘the Ice Seal of North Sea Ice Palace’ to steal the Ice Seal from the North Sea Ice Palace with So So Namgung.
I identified the locations of countless elixirs scattered around the world and planned the quickest route to power.
Of course, no matter the cycle, in the end, I would die. The evil grip of the Blood Demon wasn’t limited to Jungwon’s martial arts world; no matter the cycle, I would ultimately meet my end.
Even if I hadn’t died, for the sake of my family and Jungwon, I would have rewound the time.
Thus, the cycles endlessly accumulated…
Yet, I couldn’t defeat the Blood Demon. More than anything else, the difference in martial arts was too vast.
The wall of ‘Xian Jing Zhi Bi’—that absolute height, above even the ‘Five Best of the Heavens’—I could never surpass it, no matter what I did.
After hundreds of years of frustration and struggle while kneeling before this immense wall of martial arts…
There was a moment when I lost my mind.
Could I really surpass this wall? Could I really save everyone? These doubts led me to endlessly commit suicide in the madness of heart demons.
Suicide, rewind, suicide, rewind.
I grew tired of going back and forth, but because there were people I couldn’t give up on, I couldn’t abandon that horrific repetition. Even as I threw myself into the abyss, I would recall the faces of the people I had to protect and rewind the time forcibly.
A change found me around thirteen times, I believe.
I remember it was the ninety-eighth cycle.
Enlightenment.
That cruel and inhumane insight, which seemed so distant when I tried to achieve it, came unexpectedly to my lost mind.
To all things I had let go and offered endlessly, it gave me ‘Kong’—the ultimate realm of emptiness.
Like emptying a cup and filling it with new water, in the repeated deaths, I attained the mysteries of emptiness.
In the ninety-eighth cycle, I finally broke through the ‘Xian Jing Zhi Bi’ and entered the realm of Xian.
Becoming an entirely different being, I gathered all the knowledge, information, and experiences accumulated until then and devoted every effort to salvation.
Actually, nothing else mattered. The most important thing was whether I could defeat the Blood Demon.
To cut to the conclusion, I failed against the Blood Demon in the ninety-eighth cycle.
By the slimmest of margins.
It was the first time.
It was also the first time I had fought with the Blood Demon for a month, and pushed the formidable woman to her deathbed.
Seeing ‘hope’ was also a completely new experience for me.
Lastly, in the ninety-ninth cycle.
Stronger than before in the ninety-eighth cycle, after a month of life-or-death combat, I finally defeated the Blood Demon.
The glorious moment when the endless cycle of regression ended.
The historical moment when peace came to Jungwon and the light of salvation covered the world.
The best cycle, where my family and friends did not have to die.
The hardships I endured during the ninety-nine lifetimes came rushing to my mind like a whirlwind, but at that moment, I was merely filled with joy.
For exactly three days…
My name is Kim Taeyang, age thirty-four.
I don’t have much to say about myself. At best, I graduated from a prestigious university and now earn my living by making ‘NTR videos’ and sending them to the lovers or boyfriends of the women involved. Honestly, I think I’m quite useless.
Still, I think my life is alright. When the exhausting day ends and I board the bus home, and I glance at web novels on my small phone, there’s no time I’m happier.
The novel I’ve recently been indulging in is called ’99 Ways to Save the Doomed Martial World,’ a newly completed novel. As the title suggests, it’s a rare combination of martial arts and loop narratives.
Because of that, it’s not exactly a top-ranked novel in the daily rankings. But the author has a strong core fan base, and those who read it love it a lot. There’s even a fan cafe.
I’m one of those fans too. I became a fan because of the author’s previous work.
The title of that one was ‘9 Ways to Save the Corrupted Martial World,’ another story where the regressing protagonist saves the martial world. But to be honest, I mostly enjoyed it because of the awesome side character, Woo-yong Jin, more than the self-sacrificing protagonist who gives up his life in the end.
Anyway, thanks to the author’s distinctive dark style, the utterly hopeless world of martial arts with no dream or hope, and a plot unfolded with realistic dark fantasy without the traditional chivalry often found in martial arts stories, I started reading the new book as soon as I heard about it.
…And I shouldn’t have read that novel.
’99 Ways to Save the Doomed Martial World’ takes place five hundred years after the previous work, where the protagonist struggles to prevent a catastrophic disaster called the Blood Cult.
The story where the protagonist gradually loses humanity, grows stronger in martial power, but begins to despise life was extremely despairing. In short, it was right up my alley.
Though it was somewhat disappointing that any heroine who appeared stayed loyal to the protagonist from start to finish.
Still, because the detailed depiction was solid and the world of martial arts was closer to dystopian dark fantasy, I could go all the way through the story.
In particular, the protagonist, who was just a junior expert, reaching the ultimate level of martial arts in the late stages and defeating the Blood Demon was very memorable. It felt like a reward for all the hard work and suffering endured up until that point.
The ending was a bit unique. The protagonist saves the martial world after going through great suffering, but just three days later, an unimaginable entity called ‘Heaven Demon’ descended on the Ten Thousand Spirit Mountain, leading to the doom of the martial world. The protagonist regresses again to stop it, and the novel ends with the beginning of a new loop.
Though it’s a rare ending among web novels, it’s not uncommon among loop stories.
I didn’t like that ending much. My taste is for happy endings, and more importantly, the power inflation is very severe.
Just a flick of the Heaven Demon’s finger sweeps away things that were previously described as absolute, like the Blood Demon and the Five Best of the Heavens, as if they are ants. How could I enjoy that?
But really… with the novel already finished, does any of it matter? So I left a comment on the newly released final chapter’s comment section.
– Keep it up! Great job!
Then while happily reflecting on the conclusion of the novel, I was about to turn off my phone when a reply notification came.
“Huh? What is this?”
Maybe the final chapter had great meaning to the author as well, so he was probably keeping an eye on the comment section. He probably thanked everyone for reading.
With that thought, I opened my phone to confirm the reply.
What I saw in my eyes was something I never expected:
– Words alone?
Before I could even wonder about it…
I lost consciousness.
My name is Bin Namgung, age twenty.
I was possessed by the younger brother of the protagonist from a newly completed novel.
Ironically, it wasn’t a light novel brimming with dreams and hopes but one with a dystopian background set for impending doom.
In short, utterly screwed.
No matter how I try to harbor hope, I can’t find it.
Because no matter how the Blood Cult is driven back, the world will still face doom as soon as the ‘Heavenly Devil’ with overwhelming strength arrives.
It must be because I’ve teased fate too much. My life has turned to absolute crap.
But something seems strange.
‘This is a little different from the Cheolbin I know…’
Now, this is my older brother Namgung Cheolbin. Someone I’ve read about countless times in the novel.
Though we are from the same household, and we have interacted several times, he is somewhat different from the version in the novel.
He is even more decrepit and inhuman.
Emotions… aren’t just dried up; they seem to not exist entirely.
And his actions are slightly different too.
In the novel, up until cycle 99, he maintained a sweet relationship with Soeun Yu. It used to be the only healing part of the story and would always bring a paternal smile to my face.
However, the current Namgung Cheolbin doesn’t even make contact with Soeun Yu; in fact, he seems to be avoiding her.
From this, I derive one hypothesis.
The cycle I have been reincarnated into is not the one in the novel but one after ‘the arrival of the Heavenly Devil,’ where Namgung Cheolbin has regressed countless times in order to stop the Heavenly Devil.
That would explain why even his remaining humanity has been nearly eradicated.
And as I spent a few days with Namgung Cheolbin, I noticed something else.
His treatment of me, his supposedly reincarnated younger brother, shows no sense of unfamiliarity.
Even if I managed to mimic the original Namgung Bin accurately, I wouldn’t be exactly like him.
Yet he treats me as if I’m truly his younger brother.
This allows me to form another hypothesis:
‘Maybe… this cycle isn’t the first for me, either.’
The point of regression for Cheolbin was the moment when he saved Soeun Yu, Su-a Namgung, and his son from the Blood Cult’s raid.
In other words, there’s a possibility I’ve experienced Cheolbin’s regression countless times already.
Once he rewinds time, I should lose all memories of what happened, so the change in my character wouldn’t surprise him much.
Namgung Bin was probably like this from the beginning.
Then, what should I do now?
How can I survive in this screwed-up world destined for doom?
The answer was clear.
‘Help him.’
I’ll help Cheolbin.
Since he’s the only one who can save the world, I will utilize all my capabilities and support him as the reincarnated being that I am.
Even if this cycle ends in failure, Cheolbin will rewind time yet again, and helping him will eventually lead to survival some time in the future.
Why? Because Cheolbin is destined to be the ultimate winner.
Because he’s the type of character who creates such an outcome. Just like when he defeated the Blood Demon, he will surely block the Heavenly Devil someday too.
‘Then, how can I help?’
In terms of physical prowess, there wasn’t much I could do. The ‘Namgung Bin is overweight’ setting didn’t let me lose weight or gain strength no matter how much exercise I tried.
My internal energy didn’t improve at all either. Despite all my attempts at cultivation, there was no improvement from the original setting of being a master.
Thus, I could only offer advice.
The one thing I had changed from the original Namgung Bin was my mind.
The fortunate part was that this world had a meticulous setting. Leveraging my university education that had lain dormant all these years, I used the debates among readers at the fan café and their imaginative strategies based on “If I were Cheolbin…”.
For the first time, my brain was being put into good use.
Cheolbin was the blade, and I was the brain wielding that blade.
Judging from his quiet and steady following despite my extreme plans, it seems that the previous cycles’ ‘me’ must have tread the same path.
Thus, year after year passed…
And the long-awaited day of final battle arrived.
