Yoo Yeonha tried to talk to Chae Nayun, but Chae Nayun didn’t have the strength to maintain her consciousness. When Yoo Yeonha put her hand on Chae Nayun’s forehead, she was shocked. Chae Nayun’s body was burning, so much so that the temperature would have been unbearable if Yoo Yeonha wasn’t a superhuman.

Chae Nayun insisted in hearing her out, but Yoo Yeonha forced her into bed.

As a Hero, Chae Nayun was several times stronger than Yoo Yeonha. Still, Yoo Yeonha dragged her effortlessly.

Chae Nayun was exhausted, both physically and mentally.

Yoo Yeonha gave Chae Nayun some medicine. Kim Hajin’s handmade bed tightly embraced Chae Nayun, and she soon fell asleep.

Seeing the soundly sleeping Chae Nayun, Yoo Yeonha thought about how to explain everything. Her skill, ‘Thought Circuitry’, was used in full force.

But the solution to solving this convoluted web of relationships wasn’t easily found. The only solution she could think of was to break through directly.

At that moment, moonlight entered the room from the window. Refracted by the windowpane, the moonlight shone like a jewel. Yoo Yeonha rubbed her eyes, mystified by the scene.

Her fingers became watery.

‘I thought my tear glands dried up. I guess I still had tears left to cry.’ Yoo Yeonha sighed as she pushed her hair up.

“Haa….”

She sat next to Chae Nayun and waited. She organized everything she wanted to say in her head.

Time passed by, albeit slowly. The moonlight brightened then dimmed, and the sky turned darker then a bit brighter. The sound of rain falling down echoed in the silent room.

Around dawn, the rain stopped. The world sparkled, as though the rain swept away every speck of dust. Around then, Yoo Yeonha felt a gaze on her. She moved her gaze from the outside scenery to the bed and saw Chae Nayun staring up at her.

“…Stay down.” Yoo Yeonha said gently.

Of course, Chae Nayun wasn’t in the mood to simply rest. She raised her upper body. Was it because of the bed, or was it Chae Nayun’s unique recovery power? She was undoubtedly in a much better condition than before.

“…Are you okay?” Yoo Yeonha asked Chae Nayun.

Chae Nayun nodded silently, then muttered, “…Tell me everything you know. I can take it. I can accept it. What you know, what I don’t know, and how things became like this.”

Her voice carried a substantive determination. However, Yoo Yeonha couldn’t believe her. It wasn’t because she was an untrusting person normally. It was because Chae Nayun was oblivious about so many things. She didn’t know about the Kwang-Oh Incident; that it was their family who took away Kim Hajin’s.

If she knew, would she be able to endure it?

“…Can you really handle it?” Yoo Yeonha asked worriedly.

Chae Nayun returned a confident smile. “Who do you think I am? I’m really serious right now. I might hit you if you don’t say it.”

Hearing Chae Nayun’s half-joking words, Yoo Yeonha made a bitter smile. With that, she carefully began to talk.

“Did that corpse… have evidence?”

“…Yeah, it did.” Chae Nayun replied with difficulty. That Chae Jinyoon’s right arm became a ‘devil’.

“…I see.” Yoo Yeonha nodded. Since that was the case, she could talk about the next thing. But before that, she needed time to ready her heart.

“Huu….” Yoo Yeonha let out a breath. Then, she looked at Chae Nayun.

“Why didn’t you tell me before?”

Looking at Chae Nayun who was asking such a thing… Yoo Yeonha began to explain why Kim Hajin killed Chae Jinyoon, and how she came to find out about it.

“That person told me not to.”

“…That person? Kim Hajin did?”

“Yeah, that’s what he said. You at the time couldn’t have handled the truth. He didn’t want you to break down, so he decided to endure it alone.”

—Don’t tell Chae Nayun. Regardless of the reason, I am the one who killed Chae Jinyoon.

Yoo Yeonha clearly remembered Kim Hajin saying those words with a sad smile on his face.

“…I couldn’t handle the truth?”

Chae Nayun clenched her teeth. ‘I’m the one who decides whether I accept the truth or not. How can you decide for me…?’ She scoffed at the idea.

Meanwhile, Yoo Yeonha continued, “Yeah, that’s what that person thought. And, he was right. He could handle it, and you couldn’t.”

Yoo Yeonha spoke with certainty. He had the courage to be hated, and his courage was rooted on his firm assurance of his conviction.

“Because he is a Returner.”

“…A what?”

Chae Nayun furrowed her brows. It was the reaction Yoo Yeonha expected, so she began to explain further.

While hard to believe, everything made sense.

Suddenly switching from a sword to a gun, saving Chae Nayun, Rachel, and even herself from Djinns, coaxing Chae Nayun to switch to a sword, knowing that Chae Jinyoon had a Devil’s Seed inside him, figuring out how to kill the devil inside Chae Jinyoon….

Every sacrifice he made couldn’t be explained if he wasn’t a Returner.

“…In the timeline he came from, you must have broken down because of Chae Jinyoon becoming a devil. That’s why he hid the truth from you and killed Chae Jinyoon alone.”

Yoo Yeonha grabbed Chae Nayun’s hands. However, Chae Nayun shook her off fiercely.

“Y-You, do you think that, that… makes sense?”

Chae Nayun couldn’t believe it. Even though many miracles had happened in the world, going back in time was the most improbable one.

But on the other hand, the image of Kim Hajin appeared in her mind. The way he was always confident in his actions and words planted a seed of doubt in her heart.

“I-It doesn’t make sense. How can he be a….” Chae Nayun couldn’t finish her sentence.

Seeing this, Yoo Yeonha slowly got up. Then, she took out a diary from her desk drawer.

“…Nayun, there’s something else you need to know.”

Yoo Yeonha brought the diary and sat next to Chae Nayun.

It was time to reveal the truth. But tears began to fall from Yoo Yeonha’s eyes. She didn’t know why.

“Have you heard of the ‘Kwang-Oh Incident’?”

The story now went back a bit further in time.

Chae Nayun nodded. The tragedy where dozens of civilians and about ten Heroes died. She had heard of it before.

Yoo Yeonha began to talk about this incident in more detail. That although the government announced that this incident was caused by monsters, it was actually a premeditated murder.

“…Kim Hajin was the sole survivor of the Kwang-Oh Incident.”

At that moment, Chae Nayun’s eyes widened. Kim Hajin’s past was something she knew nothing about.

“And this….”

Yoo Yeonha quietly handed her the diary. It was the diary she had asked to take from Yoo Jinwoong. The truth of that day was written in this diary.

Chae Nayun stared at it in a daze, then took it with two hands. Then, she slowly opened it.

“….”

Just as Yoo Yeonha had done when she first read the diary, Chae Nayun’s hands stopped after flipping over to a certain page. She then read the diary in complete silence.

Soon, her hands began to tremble.

“What… what does this….”

Chae Nayun raised her head blankly. Her eyes were red from all the tears she shed.

“Haa….”

A somber sigh left Yoo Yeonha’s mouth. She braced herself once more and talked about the main instigator of the Kwang-Oh Incident.

“…The person who ordered the death of Kim Hajin’s parents is Chae Joochul… and Yoo Jinwoong.”

Yoo Yeonha didn’t try to cover up her father’s sin. She confessed honestly and looked into Chae Nayun’s eyes which were flickering with grim loneliness.

Chae Nayun must be feeling the same emotions she once did. Yoo Yeonha hoped Chae Nayun wouldn’t break down under this wave of emotions. And with that hope, she continued.

“Your grandfather and my father.”

**

Korea – Seoul

I returned to Seoul. Although it was late, the bright lights of the city made the scenery as bright as day.

A nightless city on a tiny peninsula in East Asia, the global superpower of my world. I looked down at my creation in a daze.

The magic powered streetlights brightened up the roads, and restaurants and bars were bustling with people. ‘Monster attack’ was the last thing on the minds of the people of Seoul.

“Seoul’s population is 20 million, I hear.”

Boss, who was enjoying the night scenery with me, spoke. Perhaps because we were standing in a high-rise building, the blowing wind felt fiercer than normal.

“Nowadays, people are moving to Gyeonggi-do because of the barrier Essence of the Strait made.”

Recently, Essence of the Strait’s number one research facility, ‘Essential Dynamics’, announced a revolutionary technology. Its official name was ‘Essence Barrier’.

Although it was normally formless, it could detect the presence of monsters with sensors and form a barrier. If those monsters were under low-intermediate rank grade-7, the Essence Barrier could even strike them down.

It was a much more technologically advanced than in the original story. I had to thank Yoo Yeonha for following my advice.

In any case, this barrier was installed in a hill near Seoul for testing. After its effectiveness was proven, it was quickly expanded to practically every city in Korea.

“I’ve heard of it. It made headlines in the Violet Times as well. Other countries are dying to get their hands on it.”

“Y-Yes.”

Military technology was usually sold to contractors after giving them a sample, but this wasn’t the case for Essential Dynamics. China, Japan, Europe, America, and all other countries were practically begging for Essential Dynamics to choose them next.

“Monster attacks have been more common, so it can't be helped.”

With Essence of the Strait’s revolutionary invention, the entire world had gained strength to endure the future calamity.

For the record, this was well-known information to Violet Banquet users.

Because of the Tower of Wish, Violet Banquet began to sell something called the ‘Recent Hot Issue Magazine’. Each issue covered most of the major incidents going on on Earth, so it was easy for Players to catch up to everything that went on on Earth.

“Mm, it’s good that I listened to you before.”

At that moment, Boss suddenly mentioned something strange.

“…Come again?”

I tilted my head. What did I tell her? Just as I was wondering, Boss told me the answer.

“You told me to buy Essence of the Strait’s stocks.”

“Ah~”

I smiled.

Essence of the Strait’s stock value was unparalleled. It was miles ahead of any other guild, and its subsidiaries were considered unicorns in the business world. If I remembered correctly, 15 out of the top 50 businesses should be Essence of the Strait’s subsidiaries.

Because of this, Yoo Yeonha was starting to get called by that nickname.

‘Queen of Seoul’.

It was the perfect title for Yoo Yeonha. In a year, Essence of the Strait’s defense technology will cover all of Seoul, and Yoo Yeonha would reign supreme as the Empress of Seoul.

“Now that you mention it, the stocks I have must be worth well over 3 trillion won.”

“…What? 3… trillion?”

“Yeah, that’s about 2.5 billion dollars.”

Boss put on an expression of shock.

“Ah, that’s just my assets on Earth. Including the Tower, it should be… 10 trillion won?”

“W-What?!”

Boss’ eyes widened in shock.

10 trillion.

It was an astronomical figure, but it wasn't an exaggeration. I had a good amount of Essence of the Strait and its subsidiary companies’ stocks, and in the Tower, I owned half of Prestige and all of Genkelope Vessel. Of course, as I wasn’t a businessman, I was far from the richest man on Earth.

“I’m thinking about liquifying my assets now.”

The value of the Korean won was now more important than ever. I had to start building up my funds.

“You should start selling your stocks too. It should continue going up, but it’s important to have cash on hand.”

“…I, I see.”

Boss was still in shock. Seeing as how she kept murmuring, ’10 trillion, 10 trillion…’, it seemed the shock I gave her wasn’t small.

It was then.

A man appeared in the penthouse I’d been staring at for a while.

“…He’s here.”

Boss’ expression also stiffened. I told her what we were here to do today.

“Boss, you can see him, right? That’s Yoon Younghwa, a fourth-term member of the National Assembly.”

Yoon Younghwa. He was a cancer of society. That’s how I wrote him to be. I remember making him as corrupt as possible in my novel. He constantly hindered Kim Suho and Yoo Yeonha, all while betraying his country.

“He accepted bribes from Orden. So today, we’ll kill him.”

Orden gave Yoon Younghwa amazing presents like blood diamonds, Tower of Wish entrance tickets, and mana-infused gold. According to the Book of Truth, the price of everything he received was well over 5 billion won.

“…So it’s part of the revenge we’re taking against that mantis bastard.”

“Excuse me? Oh… uh, yeah.”

I didn’t think that far, but it’s true that dying last time made me angry.

Plus, for a week after reviving, I was constantly bothered by complicated thoughts, like if I was still me even after coming back to life.

“But why don’t you wait a bit? Not much is known about humanoid monsters and Orden right now.”

“Orden is the type to work in the shadows. We’re doing this to pull him up to the surface.”

I grabbed my bow as I said that. But at that moment, we were unexpectedly ambushed.

Before I could shoot my bow, dozens of monsters appeared on the roof of the building. The hyena-like monsters didn’t make any sound or give off any presence.

“—!”

Boss stepped out and swept through them. In her Yasha state, Boss’ shadow blade dismembered the monsters mercilessly. Judging by the monsters’ human-like cries, I figured they were probably Orden’s humanoid monsters.

—Kuak!

—Keuk!

Killing them wasn’t a problem but taking care of the aftermath was.

“Ah, shoot.”

Yoon Younghwa was no longer in the penthouse. He probably used a magic scroll to teleport out while we were distracted by the humanoid monsters.

Rather than that, I didn’t think he would have monsters as guards already….

“Are you okay, Hajin?”

“Yes.”

It seemed I underestimated Orden. I ended up letting my target go, but there was no problem. I had the Clockhand of Fate, after all.

…I instantly activated my unique skill, and the world began to wind back. The dismembered limbs of the monsters came back together, Yoon Younghwa appeared in the penthouse once again, and Boss and I moved until we were standing in the same spot we were just 3 minutes prior.

“…So it’s part of the revenge we’re taking against that mantis bastard.”

I immediately picked up my bow and nocked five Dark Ore Arrows onto it. Then, I infused Stigma’s magic power into Aether to search for my targets.

“Hmm.”

…Aether detected at least 200 monsters. I was surprised that so many monsters could fit in such a small space.

“Boss, that building is a fortress.”

“Hm?”

Transparent magic power formed a barrier around the building, and monsters were patrolling in the darkness for any sign of danger. For some reason, these monsters didn’t reveal even a shred of their presence or aura.

“…Boss, step aside a bit.”

I infused 3.5 streaks of Stigma into the five arrows. My arm heated up to a painful degree, but I could endure this much thanks to my increased physical stats.

Guoooo….

The bow began to glow white, and the dark ore arrows resonated with magic power.

I targeted all 200 monsters including Yoon Younghwa. With these five arrows, I planned to slaughter them all.

When I let go of the bowstring, the arrows shot forward like bolts of lightning. In the blink of an eye, the supersonic arrows quietly eliminated the monsters. In the dark night sky, the arrows moved like they had a mind of their own.

Three seconds later, all of the monsters were annihilated, and an arrow pierced Yoon Younghwa’s waist. He didn’t realize that he was attacked for a long time.

“…Hm.”

I planned on killing Yoon Younghwa but decided otherwise when I thought of what Boss said. It was true that I didn’t need to kill him right now.

—Kuaaaak!

Yoon Younghwa began to writhe in pain. Since I pierced his waist, his lower body should be completely unusable now.

“You aren’t killing him?” Boss asked.

“…Yes, I think it’ll be better if I kill him later.”

I decided to leave him alive for now as a warning from ‘Black Lotus’. Warning against siding with Orden, and warning Orden himself.

—Wh… what happened!?

—I don’t know, sir! Magic power suddenly…

—Wait, these are… monsters? They’re all dead! Why are there so many of them?

Heroes, who felt my magic power, began to arrive.

They discovered the monsters’ corpses, then entered the building and saw Yoon Younghwa. No, Yoon Younghwa saw them first.

—Ah, hey! Fuck! Over here! I’m dying! Help me first!

As expected of a congressman who was once a Hero, he didn’t die so easily.

“Spartan.”

I summoned Spartan.

—Pururu.

He quietly flew over and landed on my shoulder. I entrusted him with a single task.

“Reveal all of the evidence Yoon Younghwa has in his home.”

Spartan nodded and quickly infiltrated the penthouse. He found the safe where the bribes were kept and threw them on the floor.

—Kwang!

The penthouse door quickly opened. Heroes, who heard Yoon Younghwa’s cry, entered his room.

—…What’s this?

—Ah, wait, isn’t that a blood diamond?

His room was littered with treasures of unknown origin. What happened next was obvious.

For the record, items like the blood diamond were rare enough that each one had a ‘registration number’. Of course, a blood diamond received as a bribe had no such thing.

“Huu….”

I let out a sigh. My head hurt a bit and I was tired. But the real pain had yet to come.

“Huu, huu….”

I took deep breaths and started counting down. 30, 29, 28…

“Let’s go back, Hajin.”

“Yes, Boss. But…”

Koong—!

Once the three-minute mark passed, the side effect of Time Reversal arrived. My heart beat violently, pounding my chest.

I staggered and fell. Boss caught me before I hit the ground.

“Hajin! W-What’s wrong?”

“Ah, it’s fine… It’s just a little side effect.”

At that moment, a flash of light flared up in the night sky. It wasn’t anything threatening.

“…!”

But the startled Boss quickly unleashed her magic power and formed a barrier around us.

This flare was nothing to worry about. It would happen a lot more frequently from now, as it was the sign of the battle between Kim Suho and the Demon King.

“…Argh, Boss, carry me back. I’m sleepy….”

4 streaks of Stigma and one Time Reversal.

I used too much of my strength in one go.

I closed my eyes while leaning on Boss, and Boss gently stroked my back.

“Yeah, rest well.”

With that, Boss released her magic power. She achieved superspeed movement using her magic power and the various skills she learned in the Tower.

…The next day, Congressman Yoon Younghwa’s corruption and Black Lotus’ attack became a headline topic.