As soon as my vision recovered, I yearned to see the most critical moment from my past life. Just like before, a specific moment suddenly appeared and began to play back slowly.
However, seeing this scene, both I and Piece couldn’t bring ourselves to speak.
[……What on earth is this.]
‘……Where is this.’
The place in front of my eyes was so horrific. It looked like a battlefield.
Instead of the loud blasts of shells and gunfire, only silence and stillness prevailed, which was a departure from the usual battlefield.
But it was hard to determine exactly where I was.
Flames flickered here and there, and thick black smoke rose into the air.
Nonetheless, there were two definite things that could be inferred from this gruesome sight.
One was the presence of a half-destroyed giant gate, standing as if to assert its proximity to the gate.
The other was the numerous piles of bodies, implying that at least dozens of people had died.
Blood flowed between the corpses, forming several pools of various sizes, like a river of blood.
Judging by the color of the blood, it seemed they had died recently.
And amidst this surreal scene, a being was holding a knife plunged into the ground.
This being stood alone, eyes fixed on the sky without looking elsewhere, on the piles of corpses littering the ground instead of the earth.
The more I looked, the more a sense of déjà vu enveloped me, as if I had seen it somewhere before.
As I drew closer to see it more clearly, the figure’s appearance began to come into focus.
A tattered black Defensive Coat that had lost its effect.
A vertical scar running down the left eye.
A black right pupil and a red left pupil.
The figure was covered in blood with disheveled black hair.
And though the expression was blank,
it was a face I recognized all too well from a mirror.
[That is…]
‘What the…’
Yes.
The being standing alone was none other than ‘me.’
Of course, there were differences from my usual self.
A strange face was embedded in my chest, grinning and looking around.
The tentacles extending from that face were spreading densely over my body.
As if to use my body as a host.
At that moment, the surroundings began to flash red, warning me that my time limit had been exceeded.
I started to feel an inexplicable chill.
It was a gut feeling.
Though it has only been 21 years of life, I had honed a sharp intuition, just slightly lacking.
That intuition was warning me.
To absolutely not look around.
I prayed for that intuition to be wrong as I slowly began to turn my head.
But they say that bad feelings are usually right.
When I looked around, there were many people I knew and unknown faces near ‘me.’
Correction.
They were things that had once been humans.
All of them were now cold lumps of flesh, no longer breathing.
Ryu Kang-hyuk. Cheonma. Numerous professors. The Holy Knights. And many unfamiliar hunters and various beastmen.
A variety of beings lay cold, rolling on the floor as corpses.
But that wasn’t all.
Even the people I didn’t want to see in such a tragic space entered my view.
My precious connections.
Hyeji. Elcia. Jeong Ahyeon.
They too lay quietly at ‘my’ feet, having lost their warmth and stopped breathing.
In this horrid scene, I wanted to deny it, and I surely hated to accept it.
But I could draw one clear conclusion.
It was none other than ‘me’ who had killed everyone here, including her.
At first, I doubted my eyes and denied the thought.
I tried to win over my mind with a false victory, but I had no choice but to acknowledge this obvious fact.
Because in their bodies,
were all the weapons that I could manifest with Magical Power Tattoos.
Most importantly,
‘my’ knife was not stuck in the ground.
It was piercing through Hyeji.
I glared fiercely at ‘me,’ who was still stabbing Hyeji.
“Pull out the knife, you fcking btch…”
“……”
But ‘I’ seemed not to hear my words and did not react at all.
Just continued to gaze at the sky.
Having given up trying to talk to ‘me,’ I tried to remove the weapons lodged in their bodies with my trembling hands.
Even if it was pointless, I moved my hands endlessly.
As if pulling it out would bring them back to life.
Once.
Twice.
Thrice.
……
But my hands could only pass through everything aimlessly.
As if I had no influence whatsoever.
Each time, my hands moved faster, repeating the same actions several times.
In that false hope that removing just one weapon would bring her back before that life disappeared.
That kept my body moving.
[My dear! It’s a cruel word, but you can’t do anything right now!]
‘Please shut up!……. Please.’
[……I’m sorry.]
So instead of pulling out the weapon, I attempted to hold onto their bodies.
I wanted to believe that if I could grip even a small warmth, they would still be breathing, however faintly.
But my fingertips felt nothing but a cold void.
Not even a trace of warmth.
I couldn’t feel anything.
I felt tears slowly welling up and bit my lip.
Then I couldn’t hold back my emotions and howled.
“F*CK!!!!!!!!”
With anger in my trembling hands, I clenched my fists hard enough for my nails to dig into my skin.
The tears that had been rising overflowed.
Without wiping away the flowing tears, I spoke to ‘me,’ who was still gazing indifferently at the sky.
“Who…… are you?”
“……”
“What were you doing here?”
“……”
“No, just pull out the knife.”
At that moment, ‘I’ turned to look at my position.
“Ugh….”
“…….”
Specifically, I was looking at Caressy, who was groaning and trying to rise just behind me, and that was what ‘I’ reacted to.
But even though that gaze was not directed at me,
it felt as if it only recognized my existence and was looking at me.
Meanwhile, a strange face was bursting with laughter from my chest.
It was truly disgusting and ominous.
And contrasting with that, the expressionless face of ‘me’ was chillingly eerie.
As if time had passed, it had turned completely red around, but I didn’t care and ran towards ‘me’ to throw a punch.
“Pull out the knives from them, you son of a b*tch!!!!!”
– Pwoosh!!!
But nothing changed.
My punch passed through ‘me,’ cutting through empty air aimlessly.
And ‘I’ stabbed the knife straight into Caressy’s body instead.
Caressy fell desperately, bleeding without a word.
That was the last thing I saw.
*
I returned to reality.
A heavy sense of exhaustion enveloped my body as a price for exceeding the time limit, but that didn’t matter much.
There was something more important.
I had to catch my breath and ask Caressy.
“Hey…… what was that just now?”
“You came back too?”
“It’s a bit different. Anyway, what was that just now.”
I didn’t have the luxury to be polite with Caressy.
Instead of answering me, she was giving orders to the Holy Knights.
“Capture him! We can interrogate later!”
“Three of you tie this guy up. The other two contact the interrogators!”
“””””Yes!”””””
But no one could even move a single step.
Because at some point, Elcia’s sky-blue butterfly and white thorny vines had ensnared the Holy Knights’ bodies.
“What are you all doing to my husband?”
“Grrk!!! What is this!!”
“Answer before I kill you.”
Elcia was uncharacteristically serious.
When Elcia snapped her fingers again, the thorny vines started squeezing the Holy Knights even tighter.
Among the ominous sounds of armor being crushed, Hyeji glared at everyone expressionlessly, holding a rifle in one hand and a grenade in the other.
And Hyeji aimed her rifle at Caressy, opening her mouth.
“The reason. Explain.”
“We have to capture that one-”
– Bang!
Hyeji’s bullet grazed Caressy’s cat ears.
“Tell me the reason, you f*cking cat.”
“Hi-ih!!!”
“Hyeji, it’s okay.”
I grabbed the barrel of Hyeji’s rifle.
To Hyeji, who looked at me with a puzzled expression, I forced a smile.
“First, put the gun down.”
“…Alright.”
“Elcia, you too.”
“Yes.”
I released Hyeji and Elcia from their powers.
Maintaining a forced smile, I spoke to the still trembling Caressy.
“I’ll see you this afternoon. We have a lot to talk about.”
“Y-yeah! Let’s all go back!”
Caressy, having composed herself, began to limp out of the classroom with the Holy Knights.
Once they completely exited the classroom, an uncomfortable silence fell upon us.
However, I ignored that silence and requested the girls to follow me.
“Guys, can you come with me for a moment?”
“My husband? Where to?”
“Shinwoo, where are you going!”
“Gongja! Wait!”
“Just for a moment.”
There was no more class anyway.
I took them to my dorm room and locked the door so no one could enter.
After locking the door and kneeling, I collapsed in the center of the room, and they sat around me with worried expressions, unsure about the current situation.
But before they could speak, I hugged them all at once.
“Oh my! Husband?”
“Shinwoo?”
“Gongja?”
Unlike before, I truly felt their warmth in my arms and at my fingertips.
Not cold corpses or empty air, but truly alive people.
The warmth of living beings.
Only then did I tremble with a sense of relief and start to sob.
Then they quietly hugged me back without saying a word.
Saying it’s okay. That we are still here.
Through my tears, I swore deep within my heart to escape this disastrous future.
“I will never let you die.”
I kept murmuring as if suggesting to myself and squeezed them a bit tighter.
In response, their embrace slightly tightened as well.
You only realize the preciousness of something after you lose it.
And just moments ago, I had lost them all by my own hands.
So right now, I felt the importance of them acutely.
With a determination to never lose that preciousness again, I hugged them even tighter.
The warmth we created together was small.
That slightly ambiguous warmth that might not be enough to make something warm.
Yet it was.
Very warm.
Warm enough to help me rise again.
*
In the end, I spent the entire morning explaining my ability to them.
That I could see someone’s regression count.
That everyone except me could regress.
That I could vaguely know when someone near me regresses.
And finally, details about the future I had seen when Saintess Caressy regressed.
It took quite some time to explain in detail, but it was worth it.
When I finished explaining, Elcia finally spoke with an expression of understanding.
“So that’s why you said that at the Forest of Elves.”
“That’s right.”
“But now it doesn’t matter whether it’s regression or anything!”
Elcia, hugging me from behind, exclaimed.
“Because now, what matters is that you are here!”
“Thank you.”
“And.”
Elcia smiled and hugged me even tighter than before.
“You’ll change that future, right?”
“…… I have to change it, I will change it.”
“Then there’s no problem!”
Meanwhile, Hyeji suddenly stood up and kicked me.
“Ugh! My gut!”
“Hey, you crazy b*stard!”
While I couldn’t snap back to reality, Hyeji seized me by the collar.
“From now on, say things right away! Got it?”
“Yes.”
“Don’t keep grumbling to yourself!”
Then Hyeji plopped herself onto my lap in a cross-legged position, leaning slightly towards me.
“Let anyone come at me. What you saw will never happen.”
“Really?”
“I’ll make sure of it.”
[That’s impressive.]
‘Wow, f*ck. It looks so cool no matter how many times I see it.’
Meanwhile, Jeong Ahyeon had a slightly dazed expression.
It seems she found it hard to believe.
“Hey, Jeong Ahyeon. What’s wrong?”
“Ah……there’s just so much information that I momentarily malfunctioned.”
Then, after some thought, she cautiously opened her mouth.
“Gongja, what if about the future of a certain girl….”
“Go ahead.”
“…….No…. I made an imprudent remark.”
Surprisingly, Jeong Ahyeon moved past it casually.
Of course, her expression was not casual at all, but I decided to let it slide, thinking she would tell me later.
In the end, I revealed all the secrets I had kept tightly wrapped and shared them with them.
The content was certainly hard to digest.
They might doubt if what I said was true.
However, instead of doubting me, they chose to trust and follow me.
So I too made a vow for them.
For them.
And to end that worst conclusion.
A small vow to keep struggling without resting.
[As all futures yet to come depend on you. You can change that future.]
‘It won’t merely end with just changing it.’
I will claw my way toward a happy future.
That has been the way I’ve lived so far,
And it will be the way I live on.
I imprinted a new resolve deep within my heart.
Meanwhile, while Jeong Ahyeon was lost in thought with her head down, Hyeji and Elcia approached me.
“Shinwoo, what are you planning to do now?”
“I’m going to meet that cat.”
“Husband! Let’s go together! The beast cubs are weak against hawks!”
Just as we stepped outside the dormitory, there were animals waiting for us in front of it.
Five Holy Knights. One Leader Holy Knight.
And one Saintess Caressy.
In total, seven beastmen were waiting for us.
They were glaring at me fiercely, but now with my mind steady, it didn’t matter.
[Are you feeling better now?]
‘Yes, I’m sorry about earlier.’
[It’s alright. More than that, it’s a relief.]
I tilted my chin towards Caressy and said,
“Let’s go, you f*cking cat.”
“…… Follow me.”
We started moving with Caressy when we veered off to another direction midway.
“Where are you running away to!”
“We need to eat.”
“Ah…”
At least it made sense to eat first.
Food comes first.
The beastmen and I drifted towards the dining hall and finished a simple meal.
As we were about to leave the dining hall, a cold mechanical voice from the register stopped me in my tracks.
[Your balance is insufficient.]
“…….Cat, give me your card.”
“…….”
Caressy handed me the card with a look of disdain.
As soon as I received the card, I paid for everyone’s meal.
“…Why are you paying for everyone else’s, you crazy cat.”
“You have plenty of money.”
“That doesn’t mean you should prepay our meal!!!”
I quickly finished the payment and returned the card to the fuming Caressy.
With a big sigh, she began leading us again.
After a while, we arrived at an abandoned, dilapidated warehouse on the outskirts.
Here, the interrogation between us and Caressy would begin.
