“You’re here!”
Cha Eui-sung tightened his carefully chosen tie and stepped confidently into the spacious banquet hall.
“I’d like to thank everyone who’s gathered here today…”
As the champagne popped and glasses were filled, attention converged on him as he raised his toast.
The most famous S-Rank Hunter in the country. Not only was he a master of combat, but he also excelled in administration and politics—so much so that, despite his youth, he had taken control of the Hunter Association.
The moment this towering figure appeared, talented Hunters scattered throughout the hall sparkled with ambition in their eyes.
Awe and admiration poured onto him from every direction.
Cha Eui-sung wasn’t just competent—he was visually arresting. In a society obsessed with appearances, being handsome was practically a skill in itself, but he surpassed even that. He possessed a unique aura that made his looks all the more irresistible.
In a word: perfection. As a colleague, a superior, a dream partner, a role model!
There was no one who could resist following him. Whether Awakened or not, man or woman, young or old—everyone liked him.
Today’s event, held on the vast grounds of the Hunter Association, was a celebration. And the beloved star of this joyous occasion—what was going through his mind right now?
Curious and admiring gazes converged on him. Amid all the interest and anticipation, Cha Eui-sung…
‘Fuck yeah. I finally own the Hunter Association.’
Slipping into the building under the excuse of going to the restroom, he cheered silently to himself.
How much had he suffered to get here? How much! A hint of moisture gathered at the corners of his squinting eyes.
He had made it this far through sheer, back-breaking, soul-crushing effort.
There were countless times he wanted to give up. But every time, he clenched his teeth so hard it felt like they’d shatter, and clawed his way through the despair.
Because he never forgot.
The poverty, the filth, the humiliation, and the wretched life of an F-Rank porter.
That pitiful “past life” where he was ignored and left to starve, just a breath away from dying.
Ten years ago, Cha Eui-sung had returned to the past. In his first life, he’d been an F-Rank porter.
He had been crushed under the weight of debt incurred from taking care of his sick mother. No matter how hard he worked, it was barely enough to cover the interest.
At twenty-eight, driven to the brink, he finally took part in a dangerous dungeon raid… and of all places, that’s where disaster struck.
But just before dying, something miraculous happened to Cha Eui-sung.
[Your rank is being adjusted. (F) → (S)]
[SYSTEM: A unique skill has been created.]
—Feathered Blade that Pierces the Sky (S)
—Qi Sense (A)
Just as he was on the verge of death, he was reawakened as an S-Rank!
The problem was, he came to his senses right in front of a monster. His shattered body had no time to recover.
In those final moments, he wasn’t sad or angry—just endlessly resentful.
He’d dragged his mangled body 300 meters, survived long enough to awaken again, only to die anyway. That made it all the more unfair.
Blink.
When he opened his eyes again, it wasn’t to heaven—but to a cramped, coffin-like goshiwon room.
He picked up the cheap phone lying next to his head: 20XX.
In the mirror, his face wasn’t just youthful—it was downright baby-faced.
‘I’ve gone back in time.’
The feeling that hit him then wasn’t joy or relief at being alive—it was pure, electrifying euphoria.
He had been given another chance. A chance to wash away his past and live the most extraordinary life imaginable.
As soon as he confirmed his S-Rank through a Hunter evaluation, he abandoned sleep and skipped meals, focusing solely on climbing higher, higher, and higher.
‘And now finally!’
The moment he’d dreamed of had arrived. After tonight, Cha Eui-sung would become synonymous with the Hunter Association.
‘Maybe I’ve been gone too long for just a bathroom break.’
Even as he reined in the overwhelming surge of emotions and straightened his ruffled hair, Cha Eui-sung laughed and cried inwardly.
After taking a few deep breaths, he finally calmed his flushed face.
“Alright. Time to get back to work.”
As if none of that crazed joy had ever happened, an air of ease and dominance returned to Cha Eui-sung’s expression.
Just as he dusted off his sleeves and made his way toward the building’s main entrance—
Screeeeech!
Keeeehh—KYAAAAAH!
A sudden, bone-chilling screech rang out, and in the same instant, the world trembled.
Crash! Rumble!
“Aaaaahhh!”
“Evacuate everyone!”
Even from far away, the sound of something massive collapsing reached their ears, and people began to scream.
‘……?’
What the hell is going on? Just as Cha Eui-sung, sensing something was seriously wrong, tried to flee the Hunter Association building—
BOOOOOOOM!
A deafening explosion tore through the air as an enormous building came crashing down directly over his head.
……
By the time he regained consciousness beneath the pile of rubble—What unfolded before his blurry eyes was a world reduced to ruins.
Monsters prowled in every direction.
Corpses of civilians scattered everywhere.
Hunters with limbs torn off.
The sky was cracked and stained blood-red, meteors raining down from above.
And at the center of it all—floating high, like the bringer of the world’s end—stood a single figure.
Whoooosh—
Pale white hair fluttered ominously. The long tails of a coat flared out behind him like a demon king’s cloak.
As the cold-eyed man turned his head and locked eyes with Cha Eui-sung, now a battered wreck—A long, suffocating silence fell, as if time itself had stopped.
“What the actual fu—”
Just as Cha Eui-sung muttered a dazed curse with a stunned expression—
BOOM!
A meteor the size of a boulder crashed down and pulverized his skull.
***
GASP!
Clutching his head, Cha Eui-sung jolted upright—only to find himself once again lying in a dark goshiwon, not in heaven.
A truth he didn’t want to accept stabbed through his chest.
This exact same thing… He had experienced it once before.
…He had returned. Again.
All his achievements dissolved like spun sugar in a river. Again.
“Fuck. No.”
He couldn’t believe it.
Cha Eui-sung hurled the phone—displaying a date from ten years ago—at the wall with a crack.
“This can’t be happening. It’s not real.”
He tore the pillow in half with nothing but the grip of his bare hands.
“Nooooooo—!”
His guttural scream shook the tiny goshiwon like it might collapse from the force.
But the thing he desperately wished for—a sudden awakening from a nightmare—didn’t happen.
THUD!
Someone banged on the wall from the next room, telling him to shut up. But he didn’t even hear it.
“AAARGHH! AAAAAGGGHHH!!”
He slammed his head against the wall, shredded the mattress with his bare hands like a madman—but nothing changed.
Finally, he collapsed into the ruined room, dropping like a puppet with its strings cut.
“Ahh… uhhhhh…”
He felt like he was losing his mind.
Ten years.
Ten. Years.
Ten years of relentless effort without a single proper rest.
He hadn’t slept, hadn’t taken a break. He trained whenever he could. Whenever a dungeon appeared, he threw himself in like a lunatic, ignoring every damn safety regulation.
And on top of that—he maintained his image.
Even when exhaustion had him seeing double, he forced his eyes wide open, pretending to be warm, considerate, self-sacrificing, noble, loving—just pure bullshit.
Every time annoying reporters and broadcasting pricks barged in unannounced for interviews, he fought the urge to smash their faces in and instead put on a polite smile.
After consecutive dungeon runs, nerves frayed and on the verge of collapse, he held back from punching a camera shoved in his face.
He played politics to kiss up to those manipulative old foxes!
Every time there was an opportunity, he seized it. When there wasn’t, he made one.
He didn’t spare his body. He tossed aside his mental health.
And so, after living and struggling for ten years, pouring every last drop of effort into his climb, he was finally on the verge of becoming the head of a colossal organization.
But now—what the hell was this?
The tower he had built with his blood and sweat had crumbled. No—crumbling wasn’t enough. Even the land it stood on had been swept away and erased.
And worse…
Thud! Cha Eui-sung collapsed flat on the wrecked floor, staring blankly at the ceiling.
What drove him even more insane was the fact that he had witnessed the end of the world.
Ten years from now, the world would fall.
No matter how hard he worked, no matter how high he stacked his colosseum or tower of Babel, in ten years it would all be for nothing.
He had awakened as an S-Rank, for fuck’s sake. In a Hunter world obsessed with rank and power, he had become the best of the best!
“Uhh… ughhh…”
All he could feel was the gut-wrenching, dog-shit unfairness of it all.
Since his first regression, he hadn’t cried even once—but now, for the first time, tears welled up in Cha Eui-sung’s eyes. He didn’t even have the energy left to sob; only dry, broken noises rasped from his lips.
And then it happened.
Ding!
A strange sound snapped him out of his spiral of despair.
[$YS+E∑: The world has been destroyed by the Demon King ░░░.]
No fucking way.
Had anyone ever seen a system window gilded with gold along the edges? Cha Eui-sung hadn’t—until now.
[Following an encounter with the Demon King, ░░ has been updated in the system.]
Parararam-pam!
[New! A mission has been added.]
SAVE THE WORLD
—Protect the Earth!
A retro fanfare straight out of an old pixel game blared in his ears, and a bizarre update appeared.
Cha Eui-sung stared blankly at the system message with a hollow look, then wiped his face with the back of his hand.
‘……?’
Then, it hit him.
That strange man… the one who had been staring at him just before the meteor cracked his skull open.
‘What the fuck… Demon King?’
The moment he muttered that to himself, a familiar interface appeared at the edge of his vision, as if it had been waiting.
The same empty gauge bar he used to see occasionally before his regression.
[SAVIOR GAUGE]
□□□□□□□□□□
□□□□□□□□□□
0%
Open your eyes, [Hero]—
[Protect the Earth!]
Without even giving him time to breathe, a cascade of text filled his vision like the intro to a game.
Episode 01. The Birth of a Hero.
In a dimension ░░, not happy, but peaceful—
One day, the interference of an external entity, greedy for Earth, throws the world into crisis… In response, dimension ░░ designates the external entity’s proxy as the [Demon King], and chooses a Hero to save the world.
Administrator 01: The external force is beyond our reach—
[Bzzt—crk—]
Administrator 01 King: The external force is beyond our reach.
King: But its proxy is human—of this Earth.
King: Our only remaining hope is to strike back against that proxy.
King: We’ve spent every last ░░ point to turn back time one final time.
King: Please… save this world, save Earth from the [Demon King].
King: You are our last cha—[Hero]!
♪BAM BAM BAM♪
