Chapter 1: You met the Prologue condition.
You met the Prologue condition.
Everything fell apart.
A man strolled on the remnants of the building.
“Sorry. I thought I was dying this time.”
I tried to raise my body, but it didn’t move.
I turned my head to see my legs crushed by rubble.
“Damn it!”
“In the guild, only five people are more threatening … Your talent is terrifying.”
With that, the man threw something he held.
It rolled like a ball, bounced, and fell in front of me.
“I thought it was evil when you dealt with the father of the human race, the god of gods, that you raised.”
It was a human head.
Blinded, staring straight ahead and dying, it was the head of a man who was one of the most powerful.
“What… Even he would have been implausibly strong without you.”
I looked up slowly while I listened.
The man was approaching, sneering me with his downward gaze.
His pupils were empty, so empty that I wondered whether it was a living creature.
Overlord (大 君主).
‘Disaster,’ the deadliest man since the Cracks, the man who killed all the hunters and superhuman corps, had finally come to this place.
‘It’s over.’
Humanity will be destroyed if this place is opened.
There were no more hunters or superhumans left.
If he released even one of his monsters, the city would be devastated within hours.
He lighted a cigarette as he glided towards me.
Whoo.
He sighed deeply, sending out thick clouds of smoke.
Long before I was born, cracks appeared in the world, and monsters spewed out from them.
Along with that, some of humanity awakened and became superhumans. They gained the power to face monsters.
I was also a superhuman.
That path didn’t seem right to me.
I was superhuman in only name. My powers were ridiculously weak.
But I did not give up.
The monsters that crushed my mother and father were living in this world; they were breathing the same air as me; that was infuriating, driving me not to give up.
So I chose a different way.
“Sung-woo Jeong, the Analyst.”
Since I couldn’t kill them myself, I found another way to slay monsters.
To help others find their weaknesses and kill more monsters.
I grew to be a legend in that field.
“History would have changed if I had an E-class or F-class skills.”
Of course, none of that meant anything now.
“… It’s too bad. “
I looked into his eyes and opened my mouth.
“I’ve only dug up your principles of power and the ability to play monsters, but now I’ve formulated what mana techniques dominate the mind and take control of space…”
“… Yes?”
“It took too long for it to be six months old. Even though it was only two months earlier, the head that is rolling now must have been Seunghyun’s, not your brother’s.
The Overlord’s face gradually became white.
“I knew roughly the composition of the monsters, but I think there will be even a light dragon there. Had I expected it, there would have been more time… Yes, I truly am sorry for what you said.”
Chijik.
The cigarette continued to burn.
“Even if I had only one F-class skill, this wouldn’t have happened now.”
“… … .”
“It’s not just one disaster that happens; it happens several times. In the monster wave, in the returnee’s situation, how much more am I supposed to do?”
Tuwook.
A cigarette bounced with a finger flies away.
I said, looking at the fading cigarette.
“I will kill you, bastard. I will figure out how your skills are structured, how your traits are woven, how to neutralize the powers of monsters, and where you want to hear all your weaknesses …”
Kwajik.
Something flew towards me and plunged into my head before I could finish.
My vision became cloudy, and my consciousness faded.
I felt the back of my head hitting somewhere, and the entire world went quiet.
I saw the face of an overlord staring at me with a tired look.
He smiled as I died.
The face of a man who was always expressionless cracked. It was worth seeing.
T-ring!
Then something different came into view.
[You have analyzed all of the five plagues.]
[You achieved an incredible feat with No Class.]
[You achieved an incredible feat with No Skill.]
[The greatest ‘analyst’ in human history.]
[The user who registered the most ‘information’ in human history.]
.
.
.
[You have met the conditions.]
Several more notification windows popped up with unintelligible content.
[‘Akashic Records’ is open.]
[→ The first open reward is given.]
[→ Return to the first moment registered in the Akashic record.]
My sight, darkened during the notifications, slowly returned to normal.
“… Song… Ooh!”
I heard a new beeping sound.
“Second-grade student Jung Si-woo, get up!”
Chapter 1:
The Second Year Cadet Jeong Woo (1)
Monsters crawling out of the crack smashed our house, tearing my mother and father to pieces.
So I decided to become a hunter.
20% of those who became hunters were orphans.
So I was luckier than others.
[You have awakened.]
Not everyone got a chance to wake up at the age of fifteen and enter the Superman Academy.
[Jung Si Woo]
[class] [→ None]
[characteristic.] [→ Superior Insight (F): Sharp observation makes sense of seeing through the subject sensitive. You can look at a wider range than others.]
[skill][→ None.]
But when I entered the academy, luck was not on my side.
I didn’t have any class or skill, and the fact that I only had one F-class trait of the lowest rank was humiliating. It was a gross overstatement to call me superhuman.
Although he wore the modifier superhuman, he was no different from the general public.
That was Jung Si-woo, a 16-year-old cadet at Choin Academy.
* * *
“Second-grade student Jeong Si-woo.”
I saw a familiar face, followed by a familiar voice.
What happened?
I must have died, but the word ‘regression’ came to my mind as I came back to the academy.
Is it a dream? Or was I engulfed in the fantasy powers of the Overlord?
… If not, did I go back in time?
“Do you know why I brought you here?”
I couldn’t figure out what it was. So, first things first, I had to deal with the situation at hand.
“I do not know.”
I said, looking at the man sitting in front of me.
He was Seong-Hyun Lim, the second-year professor at Choin Academy.
I recognized him.
“Theoretical test scores are good. No, it’s not just good. It’s the best in the entire academy. Especially, the answers submitted to ‘Monstrous’ and ‘Phenomena Analysis’. Even the professors were impressed.”
“…”
“But even if you knew everything about the monsters and memorized all the phenomena, to what benefit would it be if you don’t have the power to penetrate the monster and stop it?”
He was staring at me with a sad look.
As I looked into his eyes, I remembered Sung-Hyun Lim.
“Jung Si-woo, I remember that you were a hunter-aspiring cadet. You said you wanted to be on the front lines, not the support team.”
“… Yes.”
“To be honest, even if you spend 20 more years at the academy with your abilities now, it would be onerous to be a third-class hunter.”
“…”
“I used to be a hunter. Even the porters who are ignored were stronger than you. The minimum condition for entering a crack is the ability to take care of your body. And, as far as I can see, you will not live for more than five minutes of entering the crack.”
Those words may have been harsh. But it was what I needed to hear during this time.
If I had insisted on continuing to be a hunter despite the recollections of my near-death experience, I would have died within five minutes, as Sung-hyun said.
“I think your talent can be a great help in fighting monsters. But that’s not a talent for hunters.”
“…”
“What about moving the lessons to analytics? I’ll give you all the support I can give.”
I considered Sung-Hyun Lim’s suggestion to move my lessons to analysis.
If I moved to analytics, no one would regard me as incompetent.
It was not uncommon for academy cadets to produce papers that could overturn the academic community. Also, it was not unusual for them to receive calls from the three guilds and the government before graduation.
Seong-hyun Lim saw my talent, and thanks to that, I would be a better hunter than I was in my past life.
If I accepted his proposal, things would be good; there will be no harm.
However …
“I will think it over.”
“Okay. I understand that it’s not an easy decision. You must have applied to the Hunting Division because of your circumstances… I hope you’ll think it through.”
“Yes. Thank you.”
I walked down the hallway, leaving Lim Sung-Hyun behind.
“… Why was that child, Jung-woo Jung, in Professor Lim’s room?”
“Probably because the guy doesn’t have the talent to even brush his teeth.”
“Oh, if we could bother you for the strange story…”
I barely heard the gossip as it brushed over my head.
* * *
The cadets of Choin Academy each had a single room.
The room wasn’t cramped. It was spacious enough to accommodate about four people and boasted excellent facilities.
I was not too concerned about the facilities or the spacious interior, but I was glad to have the room to myself.
“Hmm.”
Red blood was scattered inside the bathroom, and the smell of blood was strong. A small knife was placed on the sink, sticking to the blood.
“I’m right back in the past.”
Did anyone try to commit suicide?
I tried to confirm that these landscapes are not fantasy or dreams.
If you break your finger, or when you have hallucinations through mana, you should try stabbing the area that is paralyzed, or touch the mana nerves of your body with a knife.
However, whatever I did, my gaze held steady, not shaking in the least.
A transparent window popped up in front of me.
[‘Akashic Records’ is open.]
[→ The first open reward is given.]
[→ ‘Return’ to the first moment registered in the Akashic record.]
The phrase ‘regression’ was written on it.
[Jung Si Woo]
[class][→ None.]
[characteristic][→ Superior Insight (F): Sharp observation makes sense of seeing through the subject sensitive. You can look at a broader range than others.]
[→ (NEW!) Akasik Record (?): You can freely browse the super-dimensional information collection that contains all the records of the universe and humanity. You can search for the information you want or communicate with other dimensions. The spirit of the soul is low, and the full power of the Akashic record is not yet available.]
[skill][→ None.]
The ‘status window,’ updated with many new things, was telling me that this is now a reality.
‘Any hallucinations cannot manipulate the status window, and the status window never lies.’
It was a meticulous personality, and it was hard to think that I came back to the past, so I checked with a knife on my body.
“… Really, I’m back to the age of sixteen.”
I murmured, wiping off the blood scattered in the bathroom.
There were no scars or wrinkles in the mirror, but only the face of an attenuated boy.
“Literally, regression.”
I’m back in the past.
That meant that there were a lot of options.
It would not be wrong to be an analyst again based on future memories.
I knew precisely the dangers, as well as information about the five plagues that brought the world to destruction.
However…
‘Will the result be different if I walk the same road again?’
I have already failed hopelessly as an analyst. It might have changed if I had more time, but honestly, I was unwilling to make the same choice.
Analyzing monsters, finding and nurturing superhuman talents, giving orders to them …
I always felt thirsty when working like that.
I could do better. Why not do what I want?
With my own hands, I want to tear and kill the monsters myself.
I want to crush the monsters that killed my mother and father.
I could see my eyes in the mirror, burning bright.
‘I don’t want to go through that.’
Did it make sense to throw myself into death after being crushed by rubble?
This time, it won’t be over.
Besides, this time I was not incompetent. The unknown power of ‘Akasik Record’ has also been created.
If so, there was only one choice.
‘I destroy all five plagues with monsters and save the world myself.’
Only
One bad ending was enough.
Thump.
“Hey!”
And the moment I firmly decided, someone called me.
“Jung Si-woo, come out! Training started!”
“Don’t you want to keep training?”
Training.
A word I haven’t heard in a long time.
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