The Player Who Must Kill the Regressor to Survive.

Chapter 1

—–CROW—– 

A young man opened his eyes.

The place where he opened his eyes was his studio apartment.

The young man, having opened his eyes in the studio apartment, spoke.

“I’ve returned.”

He had returned.

That phrase is commonly used when someone goes somewhere and comes back.

But the young man hadn’t gone anywhere and come back.

He had simply opened his eyes where he was.

Then, the young man looked for something.

What he sought was his smartphone.

Taking out his smartphone, the young man checked the date.

‘December 31, 2029.’

The young man knew very well what this date signified.

‘It’s starting soon.’

The young man anticipated something beginning.

It couldn’t be helped.

The meaning of the young man saying he had returned was none other than having returned from the future to the past.

People commonly express this with one word.

‘Regression.’

It’s highly unlikely for an ordinary person to regress.

Then, was this young man not an ordinary person?

Since he had actually regressed, he couldn’t be called ordinary anymore.

However.

Although the young man had regressed, he wasn’t a Regressor.

Therefore, right now, he was indeed an ordinary person.

Except.

Soon, he would inevitably cease to be ordinary.

The reason was…

“It’s appeared.”

The young man said.

What the young man was currently looking at was the electronic billboard visible outside his studio apartment window.

An electronic billboard in the sky, visible to everyone.

The young man knew well what that meant.

‘Trial Grounds.’

As soon as the young man thought of the ‘Trial Grounds,’ the unidentified electronic billboard that had appeared in the sky began to display a message.

“[Greetings, everyone on Planet ‘Earth’.]”

“[From today onward, every month on the 1st, you will each face a total of 30 trials.]”

“[If you survive until the very end there, the Great One will grant your wish.]”

“[However, the participation criteria are limited to those possessing the soul caliber designated by the Great One.]”

The contents of the electronic billboard were visible to everyone, regardless of whether their eyesight was good or bad, or whether they were far or near.

No one could understand the participation criteria mentioned last.

Even the young man who had regressed had never seen who this ‘Great One’ mentioned by the electronic billboard was.

In any case, after seeing what the electronic billboard wanted to say, the young man spoke with a bitter smile.

“Survive until the end, my foot.  It’s more like they’re agonizingly obsessed with making sure we don’t die.”

Trial Grounds.

These were the words the young man had thought of before the contents of the electronic billboard appeared.

The system window before his eyes also mentioned this.

“[Guidance complete! Now that the individuals going to the Trial Grounds have been specified, you will be transported.]”

Seeing this, the young man thought.

‘It’s time to go. Then… it’s time to start the plan with ‘Joo-hyuk’ hyung.’

Immediately after the young man thought of the name ‘Joo-hyuk,’ his vision blurred.

The interior of his studio apartment, which was visible in his blurred vision, changed.

Into a pure white space.

*

A pure white space where countless boxes and weapons floated around.

Arriving there, the young man thought indifferently.

‘I’ve arrived.’

A system window appeared before his eyes.

“[The Player can choose their desired Alias.]”

“[Alias : ]”

“[The Player can choose their desired weapon.]”

“[Once the Alias and weapon selection are complete, one Rune will be randomly given to the Player.]”

The young man smirked at the system’s explanation.

It was because he already knew the contents, having read them twice already.

He quickly ignored the electronic billboard and muttered inwardly.

‘An alias…’

Aliases had various effects.

First, there were times in the ongoing Trial Grounds when one had to reveal their name, and at that time, they could use their ‘Alias,’ an external name, instead of their original name, their ‘True Name.’

If both the True Name and Alias were hidden, and it was revealed that a false name was used, the person would become a target of suspicion or elimination by others, increasing the probability of death in the Trial Grounds.

So, since it was a name that would be used continuously from now on, the alias had to be chosen carefully.

Second, if the alias was chosen to match the main weapon or ability the person intended to use, they could receive a synergy effect.

For example, if someone who used a sword used the alias ‘Swordsman,’ their proficiency with the sword would increase faster, or their affinity with sword-wielding NPCs they would encounter would increase.

But none of that mattered to Hae-jin.

The reason was simple.

The young man decided on his alias.

[Alias: Park Hae-jin.]

The young man set his name, ‘Park Hae-jin,’ as his alias.

That was because it was the young man’s true name.

Hae-jin, who intended to use his true name as his alias.

The system window asked him.

“[Will you use ‘Park Hae-jin,’ your true name, as your Alias?]”

“[You may experience disadvantages if you do not have an Alias.]”

There could be disadvantages if there was no alias.

It could be an explanation of the points mentioned earlier.

But Hae-jin thought about it.

‘Pretending to be concerned, huh? Quite a few people must have fallen for this, right?’

The system window warned of risks if an alias wasn’t used, inducing users not to make their true name and alias the same.

It was a gesture as if it was concerned for him, but Hae-jin knew.

He knew about the ‘perk’ that could be obtained if the true name and alias were the same.

Therefore, he had no intention whatsoever of changing his appearance or his name.

Hae-jin spoke to the system window.

“No, I’ll go with this.”

Park Hae-jin said he would go with his true name as soon as he saw the window for setting his alias.

Then, a message appeared before Park Hae-jin’s eyes.

“[You have achieved an achievement.]”

“[The Player ‘Park Hae-jin,’ the first to not hide their name, is granted the title ‘Courageous One’ and an additional bonus stat point.]”

Having thus obtained a bonus stat point, Hae-jin followed the next instruction from the system window.

‘Choose a weapon? Of course, it’s this one.’

Hae-jin had already decided on his weapon.

Since he had regressed, he knew very well what weapon suited him best.

Hae-jin approached a greatsword as large as himself and grasped it.

“[Item! You have selected ‘Rusty Greatsword’ as your desired weapon.]”

Then, all the surrounding weapons disappeared.

As for weapons, the selection process ended as soon as one grabbed them without a second prompt.

As Hae-jin finished selecting his weapon, the system window appeared.

“[A Rune will be randomly given.]”

Whirr! Whirr! Whirr!

The boxes that covered the outer walls of the space where the weapons had disappeared began to rotate frantically.

At the end of the rotation, one box flew towards Hae-jin.

Whoosh!

The flying box stopped in front of Hae-jin, and seeing it, Hae-jin opened the box.

Inside, he saw a red orb.

“[You have obtained the ‘Rune of Absorption’.]”

‘It’s the Rune of Absorption again, as expected. But the Rune I need to use this time is…’

Having regressed, Hae-jin knew very well that the Rune he would receive was the ‘Rune of Absorption.’

But Hae-jin said that the Rune he needed to use this time was somewhere else entirely.

As Hae-jin selected his Rune, the system window announced.

“[Player setup complete.]”

“[Moving to the Trial Grounds.]”

Afterward, the scenery around Hae-jin changed again.

When he opened his eyes, he was in a vast grassland.

There was no one else in sight yet.

No, one person had been added.

Hae-jin, who had moved to the Trial Grounds faster than anyone else while everyone was still preoccupied with setting their aliases and choosing weapons, and the man who appeared after him.

Making eye contact with him, Hae-jin murmured.

“Leader…”

Leader.

Hae-jin called the man who met his gaze that way.

It was a face he was seeing for the first time in this life, but Hae-jin knew his identity.

Naturally.

His identity was none other than ‘Nam Joo-hyuk,’ the leader who had led the final raid team alongside him for the past two lifetimes.  Furthermore…

He was the ‘Regressor’ whom Hae-jin had to kill in order to survive.

*

Nam Joo-hyuk.

He was a Regressor.

A Regressor who had obtained the ‘Rune of Regression’ in the random draw, allowing him a total of 216 regressions.

“[216 times? What’s with this neither here nor there number?]”

Hae-jin had questioned this when he first heard it; the number of regressions was indeed a rather vague number.

216 times.

Not a clean 100 or 200, and not 300, but 216.

Why such a clunky number?

But Joo-hyuk just smiled bitterly upon hearing this.

It was only natural, because there was a reason why that number was so vague.

‘It wasn’t designed for solo regression in the first place.’

It was a fact he realized far too late.

The Rune of Regression that Joo-hyuk, the leader, possessed was not a rune meant to be used solely by him.

It was a blind spot he hadn’t been aware of when the Rune of Regression was at a lower grade, allowing only solo regression.  However, the Rune of Regression had a characteristic where, each time its grade increased, it could bring along one additional person besides himself.

When fully evolved, the Rune of Regression could allow 6 people, including himself, to regress.

Joo-hyuk, the leader, said that it was only then that he finally understood the meaning of the vague number 216.

Multiplying ‘6’ people by ‘6’ times, and multiplying by ‘6’ once more, resulted in the number ‘216.’

In other words, the ‘Rune of Regression’ was a rune that, from the beginning, assumed maximum evolution and guided players to form a 6-person party to tackle the trials.

‘Joo-hyuk hyung tried to make the most of that to create the best roster.’

However, by the time he realized this, Joo-hyuk had already wasted a number of regressions.

It was because…

‘To bring the Rune to its final evolved form… you have to reach the latter half of the trials.’

However, due to the extremely high difficulty of the trials, Joo-hyuk spent a considerable amount of time raising the Rune’s grade when regressing alone.

As a result, he realized the truth hidden within the Rune too late.

But after learning about the hidden characteristic of the Rune of Regression, he devoted himself to gathering party members to regress with.

If he regressed with party members each time, the roster he had chosen could become stronger from the early stages.

However, despite countless regressions, Joo-hyuk failed to overcome the end of the trials.

In the end, Joo-hyuk had only 2 out of 216 regression attempts left.

And those 2 remaining regression attempts were intentionally saved for a certain strategy.

Specifically, for the ‘last resort.’

Hae-jin remembered the will he had left in his past life.

“[Kill me, Hae-jin-ah. And become the leader in my place.]”

Hae-jin shook his head with a hardened expression as he looked at him.

However, Joo-hyuk smiled wistfully, making it impossible for him to refuse, and said,

“[I know it’s a difficult thing. But you’re the only one.]”

A will asking him to kill him and take his place.

Joo-hyuk, the leader, believed that among the five best party members, only Hae-jin could replace him.

Firstly, because only Hae-jin maintained a strong mental fortitude amidst the countless trials that were drying up everyone’s emotions.

Secondly, because Hae-jin, who obtained the Rune of Absorption at the starting point, had even greater potential than Joo-hyuk himself due to the Rune’s characteristics.

And so, now.

Facing Joo-hyuk, the Regressor who was waiting for death with a faint smile, Hae-jin thought.

‘Don’t worry, Joo-hyuk hyung. I’ll finish this damned survival game so your death isn’t in vain.’

—–CROW—– 

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