Prologue (2/2)

”Tell them to wait.”

”Countless lives are being..”

”There are others besides me!! The Flowing Mountain, Sword Saint Arken, Saintess Sariah! Tell him to ask these guys for help.”

”They're all dead sir.”

Ahh… right.

I was the only individual left who could be t.i.tled a hero. The Demon Lord. He annihilated everyone. I was the sole survivor amongst the 500 heroes of our world. I refrained from cursing out loud. And at that moment, I felt a sudden chill across my head.

”.... Although we chose to walk different paths, he was the only person who remembered me. Korea, my home country,  was wiped off the map, my parents were killed… He was the only one I had.”

Was this how it felt to be the lone survivor of this calamity? This mad world…. It made me want to go mad. I turned my eyes towards the carca.s.s of Mins.h.i.+k.

”Foolish b.a.s.t.a.r.d.”

I've known him since we were a kid. He was compa.s.sionate to the point of being selfless back then. I grabbed a ring off from Mins.h.i.+k's palms. Even in death, he was tightly holding onto this ring. This was the ring he had always treasured as his own life since forever.

'Being a hero. What good will that do.'

If I could go back in time, I will never become a hero again. Would he realize that it was harder to forcefully smile than kill monsters?

”Let's go.”

I stood up. My responsibility as the last hero was complete.

Phewwww!

I let out a long-winded breath while coughing out a mouthful of blood.

Cough!

My half-mottled chest was wildly beating. The heaven reaching serpent-shaped calamity, Andannaius, was successfully eliminated, but in the process I ended up taking fatal damage.

Death.

I've always prepared for this in the back of my mind but I wasn't able to fully come to terms with it now that I was right at its doorstep.

What a coincidence it was that I would die on the same day I saw Mins.h.i.+k pa.s.s away.

The lower-half of my body was blown away; my heart was half-destroyed, and with only my upper torso remaining, there was no hope even if it was me.

I let out a dry smile.

After my death is confirmed, the people of this world will probably descend into chaos. Maybe… the extinction of mankind that I had been working so hard to prevent would arrive in an instant now that the final barrier protecting Earth was gone.

Despite this thought, I somehow felt an odd sense of relief. I had let everything go. I didn't feel the colossal weight on my chest anymore. In the city where there was not a single building left intact and countless people perished, I laid myself on the ground.

And as I closed my eyes…

Shooos.h.!.+

The ring within my robe discharged a bright glow of light.

My head was hurting.

I opened my eyes to the intense rays of sunlight s.h.i.+ning on to my face.

”What the h.e.l.l is…”

I couldn't help but gasp in astonishment. My surroundings seemed familiar… A messy desk on the floor where all kinds of trash were rolling around, a musky odor that implied having no ventilation in the room for weeks as well as a computer and various packs of open ramen noodle cups lying around…

If my memory was serving me correctly… this was my old room! A place that I lost several dozens of years ago!

'Is this a dream?'

I pinched my cheeks.

There was a sensation; I felt pain.

But I could not sense the powerful abilities that were hidden within my bodies at all. This was a first. I definitely knew I was dealt a fatal blow, so was this the infamous flashback of one's life that occurred at the moment of death?

'No.'

I shook my head. Death was the end. It symbolized the finish line of every journey. Even if I didn't know what was going on, I could confirm this fact at the very least. After the descent of the Demon Lord, a level 10 calamity, where a plethora of heroes had perished, I was able to familiarize myself with what came after death: Nothingness. Endless Impunity!

So, the reality that I was currently experiencing wasn't a fantasy or an illusion… And…

'The ring'

The ring that I took from Mins.h.i.+k was on my left hand. On the exterior of the ring was the faintest traces of a mysterious energy that was not present before.

'I can't take it off my fingers.'

The ring refused to budge even though I pulled on it with all my strength. It was as if a curse was taking my index finger hostage.

”I… traveled back in time?”

After a short period of reflection, I realized that my current situation was far from ordinary. But I quickly regained my composure.

'March 2nd, 2015.'

I grabbed my phone that was lying on top of the desk and checked today's date. March 2nd, 2015. Ah! My eyes turned watery.

Even though I returned, I still possessed the horrific memories of the past.

'Mother, father.'

I remembered exactly what happened today.

Specifically speaking, I remembered everything that happened in the past 10 days from today.

It was a car accident. On the way home from work together, both my parents were caught in a major car accident that made the news. My parent's faces were mutilated beyond recognition.

It… was my birthday that day. Inside the car was a pair of sneakers that I had been singing about leading up to my birthday.

'Even though you reversed time for me, you didn't give me what I truly wanted.'

I looked up at the ceiling, knowing fully well that there wouldn't be any reply. G.o.d was cruel. There was no such thing as a free wish.

Creeaak!

It was at this moment. The person that squeezed in through the narrow cracks of the half-opened door was…

”Hansung!”

I was slightly taken aback.

It was Mins.h.i.+k. However, I did not recall seeing Mins.h.i.+k until several months after my parent's deaths.

'Because I cursed him out of my life.'

The day of the accident. It was me who swung my fist at Mins.h.i.+k and told him to get the h.e.l.l out of my sight. I had cursed him out to never contact me ever again.

I was too young then. After that incident, I moved. It wasn't until the start of the calamity that I would reunite with Mins.h.i.+k again.

But right now… tears came flooding out of his eyes after seeing me. He grabbed both my shoulders and opened his mouth.

”Hansung. I'm so sorry. If my desire to return was a little more stronger, we would've been able to arrive at an earlier date and prevent the accident.”

Mins.h.i.+k started weeping uncontrollably. I lifted my hands up and paused for a moment before patting him on the back. After a while, he was able to barely lift his head up and speak.

”Don't worry. From here on out, I will take care of everything. You… just watch me. I will take care of you, alright?”

”What are…”

”Also, do not follow Mr. Yang. Those b.a.s.t.a.r.ds; they're the type of trash who will go after your insurance money. Okay? Don't you ever follow them!”

With that, Mins.h.i.+k left the room abruptly as if he was being chased by something. I couldn't help but crinkle my face. The words he left me with, they weren't events that he could possibly have known about at this point in time. As if he knew what was to come in the future… At that instant, the scene of Mins.h.i.+k's death appeared in my mind.

Kronos… The G.o.d of time…

The grand ceremony that took place in the holy ground of Alethea!

'Could that ritual have something to do with the flow of time?'

But I stopped their ritual without a doubt. We killed every last Apostle of Alethea, and I had personally slit the throat of the head priest myself.

I felt a chill creep up my back.

I looked at the ring that was on my left hand. It was Mins.h.i.+k's item in the beginning, and this very ring had emitted energy right as I began dying. Surely, there had to be a connection between my return and this ring. As the original owner, Mins.h.i.+k must somehow be related to this ring as well.

'Mins.h.i.+k traveled back in time with me.'

To put it more specifically:

'I was tagged along Mins.h.i.+k's return.'

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