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Join the ServerIf Yu Hiro were to realize that everything Sung Ji-woo had done wasn’t by choice but by circumstance,
Ji-woo couldn’t help but hesitate. He had questioned countless times in the past whether his actions were truly right.
From the perspective of the greater good, what he did was necessary—but from Yu Hiro’s perspective…
He could never be a good person in Yu Hiro’s eyes. That had been set from the start. Ji-woo had come to the past to stop Yu Hiro, after all.
And Ji-woo believed that Yu Hiro from his previous life and the current Yu Hiro were completely different people. Yet Yu Hiro had always been, and still was, the same person.
Vroom.
The engine hummed as the car started. Yu Hiro hadn’t pressed for an answer, as if his earlier question had been casual.
Ji-woo turned on the radio. A DJ was laughing uncontrollably as they introduced some story, then promised to play a requested song—soon, upbeat music filled the car.
Ji-woo whispered, hoping Yu Hiro wouldn’t catch it.
“Save the world.”
Unfortunately, Yu Hiro heard him perfectly. He had always paid full attention to Ji-woo, missing nothing.
“Hm, I see.”
A lukewarm response. Ji-woo glanced at him, but Yu Hiro’s expression remained unchanged.
“So… did you save the world?”
Yu Hiro asked, as if unaware. He hadn’t even considered the connection between the quest he received and himself.
Of course, I never told him that I regressed because of him…
Ji-woo felt awkward for overthinking. He matched Yu Hiro’s casual tone.
“No. I didn’t.”
In truth, he had run away. He never wanted to relive it—X Gate had been too exhausting.
He had left everything for Yu Hiro, planning never to meet him again.
So in effect, he hadn’t saved the world. The absurd system had credited Yu Hiro’s actions as if they were his own, but Ji-woo didn’t care about the rewards, which were trivial titles anyway.
The traffic light turned red. The car smoothly stopped as pedestrians crossed.
Yu Hiro lowered the radio; the music blended softly with the engine hum.
Just as Ji-woo was drifting into thought, Yu Hiro spoke with a faint smile:
“Well, what you saved wasn’t the world—it was me.”
Ji-woo snapped back to reality.
“…Huh?”
“Really, there’s no need to save the world, is there?”
Yu Hiro shrugged lightly. As the light turned green, the car moved again. His words about not needing to save the world were also his answer regarding today’s meeting.
“You’re not going into Z Gate, huh?”
“Of course not.”
Cooperating with the International Hunter Association would have been a huge honor for any hunter. Especially with the U.S. association, ranked number one worldwide.
Most hunters would have volunteered eagerly, even without pay.
But Yu Hiro, and even Ji-woo, were hardly enthusiastic. Even though the proposal was more of a help request than a demand.
“Honestly, I don’t feel like it either.”
“Then that’s settled. We’ll pass.”
“But… a quest popped up.”
Yu Hiro frowned, confused.
“And if we fail to defeat Z Gate, we die.”
“…So the floating text basically threatened you?”
“…Exactly.”
Not only death—the system would destroy this world Yu Hiro had preserved, strip the titles it gave, and erase all regression records. It was forcing the quest like a shove off a cliff.
Ji-woo wanted to ignore it all. He didn’t want his life to get more complicated.
He carefully read the system window again and found a special reward he hadn’t checked yet.
The Regressor’s Secret…
“Huh?”
“The system will tell us the secret of the Regressor. You probably got it too…”
Yu Hiro pressed the accelerator.
“Then we’ll check it at home, I guess.”
At home, they sat across from each other at the table, cups of water from the dispenser before them, staring into space.
It seemed they couldn’t see each other’s quest windows.
“You check first. We need to see if we got the same quest.”
Yu Hiro scanned the air silently and let out a soft chuckle.
“Why? What is it?”
Ji-woo leaned toward him. Of course, there was nothing to see—just dust floating in the air.
“It says… update.”
“What? It even updates?”
Yu Hiro narrowed his eyes, staring straight ahead.
“Should take about thirty minutes.”
“Ha… unbelievable…”
“Let’s start with your quest first.”
Ji-woo nodded.
“There’s a bit of a complication.”
He pointed to the air; only he could see it, not Yu Hiro.
“It says to defeat Z Gate, yes. But that’s not the main quest.”
“…Really? Another ‘save the world’ thing?”
Ji-woo shook his head. If it were simply to save the world, it would have been easy to understand.
“No. It says survive in this world.”
‘Survive’? Ji-woo frowned at the cryptic message. The system window didn’t change.
“Survive?”
“Yes. Why give such a dramatic quest… makes it sound like something’s going to happen.”
Even claiming the condition as “Z Gate recognized” felt suspicious. Ji-woo had known about Z Gate for a long time. Any rational person in this era would.
Suddenly detecting it now?
Does that mean something unusual is happening with Z Gate…?
He felt uneasy but couldn’t pinpoint it. Ji-woo searched Z Gate on his phone, seeing familiar info—and beneath it:
[<Breaking News> Abnormalities at U.S. Z Gate… Residents Evacuated]
[Z Gate Situation Critical, International Hunter Association Emergency Meeting]
[U.S. Hunters Urgently Summoned Due to Z Gate Abnormalities]
Articles confirmed Morgan wasn’t exaggerating. Everything was indeed in emergency status.
This time, there was no preventive measure—this was a real disaster. Now the system’s “survive” message made sense.
“At this point… maybe this world was always meant to end.”
Ji-woo sighed, handing his phone to Yu Hiro. Yu Hiro’s expression darkened as he skimmed the headlines.
“Interesting. How the world turns.”
He said it without a hint of amusement, staring into space.
“Update’s done.”
“Then check the quest. Check it first.”
“Protect this world. Defeat Z Gate.”
“Protect the world…?”
To give such a paradoxical quest to someone who once nearly destroyed it—it was absurd, as if trying to make Yu Hiro into a hero.
“Figures they’d say nonsense.”
Yu Hiro shrugged, unsurprised.
“What exactly are they doing, leaving it to you to protect the world?”
“They probably want to punish me. Annoyed that I ruined the world they created.”
“What? Then they should’ve done it properly from the start.”
Ji-woo grew more incredulous as he scanned the system window for any clue about the entity behind it.
Nothing—just notifications.
“Then let’s start with this… ‘Regressor’s Secret.’ Did it pop up for you too?”
“Hm, yes. Seems like it.”
[<The Regressor’s Secret> has been unlocked. View contents?]
Both Ji-woo and Yu Hiro clicked ‘View.’
The text filled the screen.
The excitement doesn't stop here! If you enjoyed this, you’ll adore The Shining Knight’s Odd Eyes. Start reading now!
Read : The Shining Knight’s Odd Eyes
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