In a dimly lit abandoned building.
A hooded figure dressed as a “Dark Knight” had dragged Park Hayeon to this place.
Her name is Hosokawa Hitomi.
She was an outsider who had crossed the boundaries of time and space.
Park Hayeon, tied to a chair, frowned.
The hooded figure was putting on some sort of overly dramatic act.
“Hnnnng. This can’t be happening.”
Hosokawa Hitomi was frantically carving her own arm with a dagger while wailing.
There was no one more tragic than her.
After tying Park Hayeon to a chair upon returning to her hideout, Hitomi stood in front of a table and compared the photo in her possession to the one she had taken from the other Hitomi.
One picture was crumpled and had a torn corner, while the other was worn and faded but still intact.
Both photos depicted the same scene.
A memory of an old statement from a high-ranking Chinese official flashed through Hosokawa Hitomi’s mind.
“Omega’s skill, Time Travel, has no guarantee it’ll work, you know? Such a convenient skill should never exist.”
“You’re really clueless. There were many cases where skill descriptions were just wordplay. I’d say they’re pretty nasty tricks.”
She realized it the moment the photo in this world’s Hitomi’s possession tore.
“If this is the same world, then when the Hitomi from the past’s photo was torn, the one brought from the future should have torn too.”
If that wasn’t happening, it was a contradiction.
A so-called time paradox.
Hosokawa sensed the malice of the system.
Any person clinging to time travel is someone who has messed everything up in their past.
And there’s no way one can’t believe it’s real.
Because it has to be real.
“So much for the Chinese bastards who want to start a war. They’re at least proactive.”
She bitterly chided herself with a forlorn expression.
The fault was hers; she had been obsessively clinging to a past that had already passed.
“Should I die?”
At the end of a road with no way forward.
Her entire journey was over here.
No matter what she did here, her familiar Shinoda and Park Hayeon won’t return. Neither will her country’s collapse be prevented.
Hosokawa’s life was filled with bad judgments and mistakes, with no redemption in sight anymore.
She was nothing more than a defeated soldier who fled from the battlefield, someone with no way to return to the frontlines.
Hosokawa fastened a rope to the ceiling, completing her own makeshift gallows.
Then she stepped on a chair and placed the noose around her neck, intending to die this way.
“God sure is cruel.”
Ever since monsters poured out of the gates and status windows began appearing, the existence of ‘God’ had become an academic consensus.
Even the most profane atheists couldn’t deny there existed something far above humans, something akin to a god, because there was proof—the status windows.
Hosokawa closed her eyes and thought.
Omega’s skill was akin to Eldorado, the mythical place that past conquerors had relentlessly sought.
From an all-knowing perspective, how ironic it must be. How foolish she has been for longing for something that doesn’t even exist.
She thought that if there truly was a god, it must be mocking her.
Also, Omega’s skill was a trap that gathered those like her—people who have failed.
“So this is how it ends. I’m sorry Shinoda. I’ve achieved nothing. I’ve been nothing but a burden to the end.”
Right as Hosokawa was about to kick the chair.
“Hold on, don’t do it!”
Park Hayeon, who had removed the tape covering her mouth using her tongue and saliva, shouted out loudly while struggling against her bindings.
“I don’t know what’s going on, but don’t give up! I’m not good with words so I can’t say anything profound, but just please listen to me.”
“Hmph. You don’t understand anything…”
Hosokawa ignored her, sneering. A life filled with regrets is not something that could be consoled by a mere high school student’s words.
“The Park Hayeon in front of you just wants you to live. She thinks that way.”
“…You’re not even the real Park Hayeon.”
Bang.
At that moment, the door was forcibly kicked open.
“Hey, Hayeon!”
A dark night.
Following the signs on the map app, Shinoda eventually arrived at an old, abandoned building.
He entered and used a skill.
“Polymorph.”
Red scales began to sprout on his skin, growing larger until they tore apart his school uniform and formed a suit of armor.
“That’s a skill, Shinoda?”
Hitomi, who had been chasing after Shinoda, was startled upon witnessing his sudden transformation into a dragon knight.
“Yeah. There’s an enemy inside that building. Get ready.”
He quietly warned her and then continued with his preparations.
“Overload.”
With the incantation, the magical runes on his armor activated, red light seeping through the cracks.
“Wow—amazing.”
Hitomi was genuinely impressed.
The skill that formed the armor was astonishing, but the armor itself was no less impressive.
The faint red glow made it seem like an artifact from an upper-tier dungeon.
Its appearance was like a red light in the darkness.
Hitomi had an impulse to take a selfie for her social media, but resisted the urge because this was a pre-battle situation where Hayeon had been kidnapped.
They carefully entered the abandoned building.
“Third floor.”
Shinoda had sensed the kidnapper’s magical energy. Thanks to that, he could pinpoint his location.
In a corner room on the third floor, there was an approximately A-rank Awakened One.
“Laura, it’ll be tough to engage from the front with your body condition. Give me the buffs and stay back.”
“Understood. But this spell will require a lot of mana as well, so it’ll be impossible for me to offer further support.”
Shinoda nodded.
‘Perhaps it’s better to fully rely on me instead of the water elemental wizard entering this confined space.’
Laura began chanting.
“Endurance.”
“Strength.”
“Enchant weapon.”
“Resistance.”
The spear wielded by Shinoda glowed with a faint blue light, a similar effect to when a sword was imbued with magical energy.
And his physical abilities had also enhanced.
“Status window.”
To confirm the effects, Shinoda spoke.
————<Status Window>————
◈ Name
n̶̡̡̛̟̠͈͎̟̍͜͝͡͠ų̢̰̭̲̋͒̓͊̀̒́͘͡l̴̳͙͓̞̻̝͇̥͆̋͂̉̕͡͠͠l̨̛̫̖̝͓̮̳͓͆̃̈̈́̈́͆̈̕
◈ Stats
[Strength 441 A](+1400)
[Agility 084 A](+1400)
[Intelligence 459 C](+800)
[Luck 519 F](+800)
[Overall C]
◈ Skills
[Succession 012 S]
[Dragon Heart — A]
[Telekinesis 841 C]
[Enchant — B]
[Polymorph — S]
[Overload 114 F]
———————————–
‘The increase from Polymorph is 800, so I must have received a 600 buff in Strength and Agility.’
The numbers were quite satisfactory for him.
Considering his opponent was an A-rank Awakened One, this should be sufficient.
“Entering.”
Shinoda and Hitomi immediately broke down the door of the corner room on the third floor and rushed in.
Bang.*
“Hey, Hayeon!”
The moment they entered the room.
The sight was clear: Park Hayeon tied to a chair, with a hooded figure hanging by the rope tied to the ceiling.
Shinoda was momentarily stunned.
‘Did Park Hayeon acquire some kind of mind-control skill? Why is the kidnapper suddenly trying to…?’
Upon seeing Shinoda, Park Hayeon wriggled her body and shouted.
“Shinoda! That person’s about to die!”
“Did you do it?”
Despite his calm demeanor, Shinoda couldn’t help but ask.
“NOOOO!”
“Still, you did kidnap her.”
Despite Park Hayeon’s passionate denial, Shinoda smirked and stealthily approached the hooded figure.
“Urgh… gurgh…”
The knot designed like a noose tightened further when weight was added to it.
Even an Awakened One would find it difficult to untie the noose around their neck while struggling for breath. Especially if the will to live was absent.
“Do I really need to save them?”
Shinoda muttered under his breath with his lips pouting out.
But internally, his heart was pounding.
‘Shit, what if they’re a pursuer from the Gospel of Salvation? That would be problematic.’
He sharply pulled back the hooded figure’s robe.
“What? YOU?!”
The face of the hooded person was exactly like Hitomi’s.
To be more precise, she looked a little older, making her seem like Hitomi’s older sister.
Her face, red and flushed from the stagnant blood, was dripping with saliva as she gasped for air.
She looked extremely distressed.
“Looks like you’re about to die.”
“Yes… let me die.”
Upon hearing Shinoda’s words, the figure seemingly begged for death with an earnest expression.
Shinoda’s hesitation deepened.
‘I don’t want to kill anyone who’s already on the verge of dying…’
‘
