NOVEL WEB Chapter 4 - Return (4)
Episode 4
Episode 4: Return (4)
『December 31, 2023』
I regressed.
You can tell just by looking at the dirt-covered right arm in front of you. I tried moving each finger one by one. The bones and muscles are clearly moving.
When I looked down, I saw that my crouching left leg was also fine.
While I was out of my mind, I touched my left eyelid. I felt smooth skin tissue without any blemishes.
Now I have two eyes.
That’s for sure.
Thud! Thud! Thud! Thud!
It has regressed.
‘I never thought it would end up like this… … .’
I never expected that I would be forced to regress as soon as I made the decision.
Still, thanks to that, I was able to organize my thoughts more clearly.
There were many questions, but the moment the return became a reality, they all disappeared without a trace.
It felt like a story that had seemed so far away had finally reached my skin.
Thud! Thud! Thud! Thud!
If this moment is truly real, and if I have truly regressed.
I can now change the past.
By destroying the enemies of the past, we can prevent the destruction of the Earth and even protect those who have already died.
What more thought is needed?
The more I think about it, the more I realize that it is a dreamlike opportunity.
therefore.
Thud! Thud! Thud! Thud!
“Stop hitting me, kids!”
I couldn’t bear it any longer and jumped up from where I was crouching. Those who had been trampling on me took a step back with embarrassed expressions on their faces.
“Look at this kid? He still has some strength left.”
I wiped the blood from the corner of my mouth with the back of my hand.
Through the bitter pain, familiar faces came into view. There were three of them in total. Their names were vague. But I didn’t really want to remember them.
Given the circumstances, they will probably be my classmates from the academy.
“I’m trying to organize my thoughts, but you’re annoying me so much.”
Why did we have to regress to this point in time?
“Is this crazy?”
“Did you eat something wrong?”
My provocative attitude gets met with absurd reactions.
I stretched my stiff body by twisting my neck from side to side.
How long has it been since I had my limbs intact?
It was a new experience.
But there was no sense of discomfort.
My whole body moved as I wanted. It was as if I had never been half-X.
But on the other hand, it is also strange.
I’m really excited.
I savored that strange feeling for a moment.
It felt like my now healthy body was talking to me.
‘It’ll be different from now on.’
Yeah, I’m sure it will.
I was also convinced.
It was in that situation now.
It was an important time to accept the regression while also preparing for the future.
That means there’s no time to mess around with trash.
“Let’s finish this quickly.”
I kicked the ground straight away.
The face of an unknown man is filled with a heavy, extended fist.
Kwajik!
The sharp impact was engraved on the surface along with the sound of a crash. The thing that flew over there rolled around on the floor unsightly.
It was one room.
‘In battle, physical abilities aren’t the only thing that matters.’
In my consciousness, there existed a perfect experience of clearing the main quest to the end.
The gap between me in the past, lying down and being trampled, and me who has regressed is further than the gap between heaven and earth.
This means that with just a handful of force, you can easily sweep away these guys.
Shhh!
As he lowers his head, a sharp rustling sound passes by.
I bent my knees to lower my posture and bounced them up like a spring, and raised my fist vertically.
Another guy’s chin was caught in that orbit.
Boom!
The floating guy falls to the ground in a parabolic arc.
Then the last guy devoted to evil came swinging his fist.
“Get out!”
It was a very bland blow.
I turned my head to dodge the attack diagonally, and at the same time I thrust my fist into the enemy’s face.
A perfectly timed counter.
Kwajik!
The body of the guy with the sunken face spun around like a millstone and then fell over with a thud.
And that was the end.
The room suddenly became quiet.
Blood dripped from his fist.
The corners of my mouth naturally go up.
“Still, it’s nice to meet you.”
Besides these guys.
Just being able to encounter a living human being.
After sorting out the situation, I looked around.
A forest covered in white snow comes into view.
I admired the scenery for a moment.
An inexplicable sadness spread through my heart. The corners of my eyes trembled.
Then suddenly a question comes to mind.
“Why was I getting hit?”
I knew where I was, but I couldn’t remember why I had come here and was being stepped on.
‘Well, does it matter?’
I stopped guessing why.
It doesn’t matter, the answer is obvious.
however…….
‘Why is he doing that?’
I looked at the Earth floating in the air.
The guy existed like a black dot on a white sheet of paper.
It stands out because it is in a snow-covered forest.
But it wasn’t easy to talk to him.
● : Mumble, mumble, mumble.
He looked so shocked that he lost his mind while looking in the hand mirror.
I could easily guess the reason.
‘Why is the Earth the same?’
As I returned, I became younger.
The lost limbs were restored to health, the scars that covered his entire body were all gone, and even his youth was restored.
But the Earth was still not blue.
●: Sigh! I’m going crazy!
The Earth looked into space and scratched the northern hemisphere.
Something didn’t seem to be working out.
“why?”
●: No, I don’t know why. Why am I still like this?
The angry Earth made a move that seemed to turn the pages of a book.
I guess you’re looking at the system window.
Since it didn’t seem like it would end anytime soon, I thought I should check my condition first.
[System is being updated.]
[Not available at this time.]
uh?
This was the message that appeared when I opened the status window.
My eyes opened wide on their own.
The system has been updated… … .
This was something I had never heard or seen before, even though I had cleared all the main quests.
●: Eight! I don’t know! I won’t do it!
At that moment, the Earth declared that it had given up, swinging its cloud fist. It seemed that it had not found the answer.
●: You damn system bastard! If you’re going to filter it like this, why did you give me the manual?
I looked at the angry Earth.
“I think I need some explanation too.”
Whether it’s a manual or filtering.
There were some words that I couldn’t understand.
I guess my regression isn’t just a simple regression.
It was clear that there was something more to it that I didn’t know about.
I asked a question that came to mind intuitively.
“Weren’t you the one who created the system?”
●: System? I am a separate entity from that. If the system is software, then I am hardware. I cannot help but belong to the system. Damn it.
A cloud bridge suddenly appeared and covered the snow field.
“ah…….”
It was different from what I expected.
I used to think that the Earth created the system.
“I heard the system is currently being upgraded. Do you know about this?”
●: No, I don’t know anything either. I guess it’s because of the regression privilege I gave you.
I continued to ask several other questions.
For example, there were fundamental questions about this situation, such as what the manual was, whether they knew about the being that gave it, and whether that being was God.
But I never got a proper answer to any of my questions.
When I looked closely, it seemed like I didn’t know much about Earth either.
“You are no different from me.”
●: All I know is what happens inside my body!
The Earth flares up and its surface turns red.
It makes sense since I always carry a hand mirror with me.
●: But it’s a bit strange now.
The Earth’s appearance is more serious than ever.
●: No matter how much I look in the mirror, I can’t see this moment.
The Earth can watch everything that happens in its own body through a hand mirror.
But what the Earth can see through the mirror now is not the moment we are staying in.
The body of the Earth still contained the destroyed world.
What it meant was perhaps clear.
“I guess you’re still in that time zone.”
The Earth, unlike me, has not completely regressed.
●: I think so too. I wonder what happened… … .
It wasn’t immediately clear what that meant.
Because all the possible cases we can think of are just guesses.
“Let’s go down and think about it slowly.”
The conversation was going around in circles because there was no answer, and the day was getting colder.
There was no way we could find the answer here, so we walked along the forest path.
* * *
Step by step.
The footsteps echoing down the hallway stop in front of an old door.
No. 303.
This is the house I lived in.
I was away for a very long time, but I was able to come back right away.
There was a bouquet of flowers in front of the front door, and a lunch box hanging on the doorknob.
I lifted the letter that was in the bouquet.
[Today was your graduation ceremony, right? Sorry I couldn’t go! Enjoy your meal! My sister is paying!]
There was no sender written on it, but I knew who it was.
Kim Ji-yu.
It’s a familiar name. So familiar that it’s heartbreakingly vivid.
The hand holding the letter naturally gained strength.
In the past, Kim Ji-yu died before the world war even broke out.
It’s a relationship that goes back a very long time to me.
I read the letter several times with joy.
And this is the conclusion I reached.
“Regression is good, isn’t it?”
That you can see the dead again.
That alone would be a miracle.
Squeak.
I opened the front door.
The interior, softly illuminated by the light from the hallway, was a small one-room apartment measuring about 6 pyeong.
I stood in the light, trampled and reduced to rags.
A familiar yet unfamiliar space unfolded before my eyes.
●: If you regress twice, there will be chaos.
I grumbled as I watched the Earth standing still.
I was lost in my thoughts for a moment, then nodded obediently.
“therefore.”
I definitely can’t do it twice.
Do people become this sentimental just because they’ve regressed once?
Everything I encountered made my heart ache.
It’s not easy to take a single step.
Even on my way here, I had to stop several times.
‘What can I do when everything that catches my eye brings back a strong sense of nostalgia?’
I steeled myself and went in and turned on the light.
A simple life is depicted under bright lights.
It is a very simple interior with only what is needed, or more precisely, only a few things that are needed.
Swaaaah.
First, I took a shower.
●: No, what are you showering for, for two hours!
After that, I went out to the balcony with a can of cola that I bought on the way here. I wanted to drink beer, but I couldn’t help it because I was still a minor.
But where is this?
I thought I would never drink cola in my life.
Click. Chi-ik!
The sound of opening a can causes peripheral nerves throughout the body to react.
What a luxury of a can of cola after a refreshing shower.
If there is heaven, it is probably here.
Gulp, gulp.
To the cola that goes over the neck.
“Wow.”
I couldn’t help but exclaim in admiration.
Yeah, this is the taste.
I looked out the window, feeling completely happy.
And at the same time, it became cold and hard.
I could feel my excitement cooling down.
Before I knew it, a thick darkness had fallen over the world. But it wasn’t dark. The lights that were on everywhere were shining like stars.
Let’s look into the distance and see a tall building on the other side. And the full moon hanging over it is also clearly visible.
It’s the yellow moon I remember, not the blue moon of the destroyed world.
“Changwol… … .”
I chewed the name under my molars.
The year 2023, when the regression began, was a time when state power was functioning normally.
This was the time when Changwol was just a very large guild.
That doesn’t mean they are easy targets.
From this time on, Lee Seong-hun was already called the world’s strongest player and was called the Sword Master.
In South Korea, there was a strong cartel of large guilds centered around Changwol.
Even now, there are only a handful of forces in the world that can challenge their stronghold.
‘The world’s strongest family without a doubt.’
That was Changwol’s current location.
They were still hanging in the sky 20 years later.
And I’m trying to bring it down.
For me too.
● : The moon is still fine.
For the Earth too.
Shouldn’t we prevent the disaster they will bring?
“Is there a little over 3 years left?”
●: Maybe it could be a year.
“That’s right.”
Three years remained until the outbreak of World War III.
But the Earth’s condition was the same as before the return.
The remaining life span is at most one year.
●: I think there might be a way, but for now we have to assume the worst case scenario.
“I think so too.”
1 year… … .
Time is very tight.
So much so that it seems like it might be possible to stop them.
That wasn’t the only problem.
Will stopping them really revive the Earth?
We weren’t sure about that either.
But it must be done nonetheless.
Because it was the only thing we could do, and it was what we wanted so badly.
So even if my whole body breaks into pieces and turns to dust.
Even if all your efforts are in vain and you gain nothing in the end.
‘I intend to go all the way.’
I got to know it more clearly through this opportunity… … .
On my walk home, I saw many things.
I saw living trees.
I saw a civilization built high.
I saw people.
Laughing and chatting, walking busily, sitting leisurely.
I have seen countless people living their own lives like that.
In my memories, they were all as distant as the stars in the night sky.
And as I look at the lights pushing away the darkness, I realize once again.
What they took from us.
It was life itself.
It was our ‘everything’.
Kkwaduk!
The can crumples in his hands.
●: Let’s not give anything this time.
“Okay. Let’s not give it away even a little bit.”
I still vividly recalled those faces one by one in my mind.
Even the words Lee Seong-hun said to me on the day the ark set sail.
Even though it was a long time ago, those words were still vivid in my mind.
‘You did that.’
Deciding on someone’s life is also the privilege of those in power.
The powerless always have no choice but to follow that decision.
There is no choice.
So if you want to live like that, live like that, and if you want to die like that, die like that.
He definitely said that with that snout.
I don’t want to deny those words, even if it costs me my mental strength.
So I plan to return it as is.
This time, I intend to gain immense power, enough to decide your lives.
‘I’m going to lose everything this time.’
It won’t be us.