The moment he saw the black text densely filling the white screen, dizziness washed over him. Sung Ji-woo staggered back a step—but the system window followed him, the distance between them unchanged.
“What is all this…?”
“Hm… doesn’t seem that important.”
Yu Hiro already looked like he’d lost interest in reading. Ji-woo barely managed to steady his spinning vision and began reading slowly.
“Uh… so basically. Because the energy of the Gates became unstable, spacetime in this world was twisted as a side effect…”
The explanation dragged on in vague, roundabout language. True to its title, The Regressor’s Secret, it felt closer to mythology than reality.
As the words kept circling without getting to the point, Ji-woo’s patience ran out.
“So what are they even trying to say?”
At that moment, an alert sounded.
[SYSTEM: Would you like to use the 3-line summary function?]
“Obviously. If you had this, you should’ve brought it out sooner.”
Muttering, Ji-woo immediately selected Summarize, then told Yu Hiro that he had the same option.
[<3-Line Summary>
-
Regressors are created under the influence of Alphabet Gates. This regressor is the first in 100 years.
-
Only one regressor may exist in the world at a time.
-
If neither becomes the Final Regressor within 100 days, both regressors will be permanently erased.]
“What… the hell is this supposed to mean?”
Ji-woo froze, recalling the quest pinned at the top of the system window.
[Quest. Survive in this world.]
So this is what it meant by “survive”?
As if responding to his thought, a massive number filled the screen.
[D-99]
One hundred days to become the Final Regressor. Which meant only ninety-nine days remained.
Ji-woo’s face drained of color.
“H-Hey… Yu Hiro…”
He called out cautiously. Yu Hiro, too, was staring into the air with a grave expression—clearly seeing the same message.
“This… this isn’t real, right?”
“……”
“It’s too sudden. This is insane. No—let’s read it properly again.”
Ji-woo canceled the summary and began reading the full text, desperately hoping he had misunderstood.
But aside from the origin of regressors, the entire explanation repeated the same conclusion: only one regressor could exist at a time.
Meaning—
Between Yu Hiro and himself, only one could survive.
Ji-woo’s reading slowed.
[…In conclusion, only one regressor may exist within the same timeline. The existence of two or more is a clear error. If such an error occurs, all regressors in this world will be erased simultaneously. To prevent this, all regressors except oneself must be eliminated. The last survivor will obtain the title “Final Regressor.”]
Since regressions were caused by Alphabet Gates, then the gate that affected both him and Yu Hiro had to be the X Gate.
While Ji-woo spiraled into confusion, Yu Hiro remained silent, deep in thought.
Ji-woo dismissed the system window. The story felt too unreal—his thoughts refused to move.
“What… what’s the problem, exactly…?”
“You can’t kill it, right?”
Yu Hiro asked, pointing at the space in front of him. Ji-woo couldn’t see it, but it was clearly Yu Hiro’s system window.
“…You can’t even touch it. How would we kill it?”
His brain felt overloaded. Ji-woo slumped back in his chair, staring blankly at Yu Hiro.
After ninety-nine days… either one of us dies, or both of us do?
The little food he’d eaten felt like it was sitting heavy in his stomach. Breathing became difficult.
“Should I go destroy the X Gate?”
“No. Sit here first.”
Ji-woo dragged Yu Hiro’s chair closer and tapped it twice. Yu Hiro obediently sat. A heavy silence settled between them.
From somewhere, Sunrye waddled over, whining, and clung to Ji-woo’s thigh. Ji-woo picked him up.
Recently, as Yu Hiro and Sunrye’s synchronization progressed smoothly, Ji-woo had realized something.
Sunrye was a clone born entirely from Yu Hiro.
When Sunrye whined to be held, it meant Yu Hiro himself wanted to be held.
Perhaps thinking Ji-woo still didn’t know their connection, Sunrye whimpered sadly even in his arms. Yu Hiro, meanwhile, looked calm—too calm to read.
Ji-woo slowly met his eyes. Realizing how anxious Yu Hiro truly was, Ji-woo’s own heart settled instead.
“Hero.”
“…Yes.”
Yu Hiro listened quietly to Ji-woo’s voice. Their gazes locked, fitting together like puzzle pieces.
Seeing Ji-woo’s face, Yu Hiro felt a conclusion settle inside him. There was nothing left to consider.
“It’ll be okay.”
Ji-woo was never wrong when he said that.
Yu Hiro nodded slowly.
“Yeah. It’ll be okay.”
Hyung will—
He swallowed the rest of the sentence. If only one of them could survive, the answer was obvious.
Yu Hiro thought this life was a punishment meant for him.
It felt laughable that he had ever allowed himself to hope. From the start, this wretched system had dumped him into a broken point in time—and then sent Sung Ji-woo to him.
Realizing that all of it was part of the system’s plan made his mind go cold, like ice water poured over it.
The price for trying to destroy this world—for trying to erase billions of lives—had come at last.
With his own life, and the life of the person he cherished most.
Life had never been on his side. The world always moved as it pleased.
Yu Hiro stared at the quest window floating before him.
[Quest. Protect this world.]
He didn’t care what happened to the world—but he wanted to protect one person’s world.
“For now, Alphabet Gates… it said Alphabet Gates were the cause. Do you know anything? Anything at all.”
“You mean the X Gate?”
“Yeah. We need at least some information. The system window is nothing but myth-like nonsense.”
“Hm…”
Yu Hiro hummed thoughtfully.
“You’ve been to the X Gate before too, haven’t you?”
“In my previous life, yeah. And… I don’t remember much. I don’t really want to.”
“…Because of me?”
“Huh? No, no—not because of you. It’s just that… there was something rough there.”
Ji-woo hesitated.
“I went through something hard.”
The simple words seemed to hide countless unspoken sentences.
“Back then, I was so exhausted that I didn’t even care if I lived. If you hadn’t blown up the Gate, I might have.”
Yu Hiro knew Ji-woo wouldn’t have done that. And he also knew those words were meant to ease his guilt, so he only nodded silently.
“So… what should I talk about?”
“Hmm… anything that was different last time and this time.”
If they knew the differences, Ji-woo said, they might understand the cause of the regression.
“Well… first, the people who entered the Gate were different.”
“Right. Last time, you went in alone.”
“And the timing of entry was different.”
“Yeah.”
“The time it took to clear the Gate was different too.”
“Mm.”
Ji-woo already knew all that—but he didn’t rush him.
“And… one more thing.”
After listing surface-level differences, Yu Hiro finally sighed and spoke.
“The final floor.”
“……”
“The final floor was different.”
His eyes darkened. No matter how much he tried not to think about it, he couldn’t avoid it.
In fact, ever since he saw the system message saying one of them had to die, Yu Hiro had been thinking of the X Gate’s final floor.
It felt like it had been foreshadowing this very moment.
“The last floor of the X Gate has…”
Meeting Ji-woo’s worried gaze, Yu Hiro slowly opened his mouth.
“…a nightmare. Last time, it—”
If You Notice any translation issues or inconsistency in names, genders, or POV etc? Let us know here in the comments or on our Discord server, and we’ll fix it in current and future chapters. Thanks for helping us to improve! 🙂