Episode 1.
I opened my eyes.
“….”
When my blurry vision returned to normal, I looked around.
The first thing I saw was.
Shwaaaang!
Cars speeding past on the road.
Shhhheeeek—
And a bus noisily coming to a stop at the station.
It seemed to be waiting for the light.
Judging by the red traffic light and crosswalk right before my eyes.
“Nostalgic.”
A cityscape some might find bleak.
But to me now, that sight was like a hometown I hadn’t visited in ages.
The thick smell of exhaust fumes, even that nauseating stench.
But I had no time to lose myself in sentiment.
Because soon, the apocalypse would arrive—the great upheaval that would overturn the world.
The Great Upheaval, the end, the beginning of what is commonly called the Apocalypse.
I had returned to the past to divert the path of predetermined fate.
Through the sacrifice of my comrades, through the opportunity earned by it.
Rustle.
I rummaged through my pocket and pulled out a smartphone.
A modern device.
Though I had forgotten it for 15 years, I familiarly swiped the screen and unlocked it.
「Ta-da~♥」
A small sound.
On the small screen appeared a character from the anime Love Dive that I used to enjoy in the past.
Ah!
I had completely forgotten.
That my past hobby had been like this.
“Phew.”
I swept my hand across my face and erased the rising dark history from my mind.
I am not an otaku from the past.
I am a regressor, a hero who has returned to the past to prevent the apocalypse, the destruction of the world.
「A love dive for my master~♥」
Fuck, that surprised me!
I reflexively pressed the home button.
You damn weeb bastard.
Did I seriously set this kind of notification sound to play every time the phone unlocked?
“….”
I could feel the burning stares around me.
Stay calm.
Those gazes that seem contemptuous will soon change.
Besides, what I need to worry about now isn’t the stares around me.
I carefully opened my smartphone.
Of course, this time with the sound settings turned off so no voice would ring out.
『June 6, 2023』
The date displayed on the screen.
“Crazy!”
Curses spilled out reflexively.
June 6th.
It’s today.
Today the Great Upheaval begins, and the world falls into great chaos.
Law and order, the collapse of everything—the era of the law of the jungle will begin.
Goddammit!
I thought I’d at least have some time to prepare.
I urgently scanned my surroundings.
To find a weapon I could immediately get my hands on, but.
“…That’s strange?”
It happened so long ago that I had momentarily forgotten, but there were no omens.
The omens that began in the morning should have turned this city into utter chaos.
But it was too peaceful.
As if there had been no omens at all.
“Wait!”
A scene suddenly flashed past.
I checked the smartphone screen in my hand again.
『June 6, 2023』
June 6th.
That was the same.
The problem was the front part—the year.
2023.
No, why?
The start of the Great Upheaval was supposed to be 2024?
“Don’t tell me…?”
I looked around again.
The everyday city center unfolding as if nothing was wrong.
This… I think I’m fucked.
It seems I’ve returned to one year before the Great Upheaval began.
***
『The Apocalypse, and 20 Years Later.』
Kwaaaaah!
A tearing sound ripping through the atmosphere.
The bizarre roar of Behemoth, one of the Five Great Supremacies who governed wrath.
An ordinary person—or even a trained one—would lose their mind to that roar which pierced the psyche.
However.
“Wow, that’s one hell of a sound?”
“Hell of a sound my ass. Sounds like a neighborhood dog barking.”
To the seven gathered around the campfire, it was different.
Though their appearance and complexions were haggard from long battles, their eyes shone like stars embedded in the night sky.
Heroes of seven.
The Seven Stars.
There were countless words to describe them.
Though the words differed, what they pointed to was ‘the last survivors.’
The gears of fate that began like coincidence brought about the predetermined apocalypse.
It wasn’t hard to realize that their struggles, all their howling, were futile.
But they did not submit to this damned fate.
“The mutt’s barking, so it must be time.”
Six of the seven gathered their gazes in one place.
Everyone had broken weapons or armor, each equipped with their own armaments, but he was ordinary.
A white t-shirt with holes, and torn jeans.
A middle-aged man with an appearance unbelievable for someone who had survived until the end of the apocalypse.
“Ready?”
At the question of the one holding two broken swords, one black, one white.
“Of course I’m ready.”
He rummaged through his pocket and pulled out a red-stained stone.
“The Stone of Regression.”
An unidentified treasure obtained by slaying a monster that, while not reaching the Five Great Supremacies, was called a calamity in its own right.
Its effect was regression, something that would only appear in novels—literally turning back time to the past.
“So what’s the probability?”
At the question of the man whose skin had melted from using large amounts of poison.
“Ten percent.”
The probability of returning to the past by shattering the Stone of Regression was merely ten percent.
But.
Ziiiiing—
Light suddenly burst from the man’s hand and enveloped the Stone of Regression.
“With this, if we just shatter it, the regression probability is one hundred percent.”
The ten percent probability had become one hundred percent before anyone knew it.
But no one showed doubt or a negative reaction to this.
Because they knew well what the man’s ability was.
“…But shattering this…”
What stopped the man’s words was a woman with crimson hair.
She held a broken spear, and a huge hole was pierced through her abdomen.
A wound severe enough that dying immediately would not be strange.
Yet she somehow still held onto her life.
Thanks to her astonishing mental strength holding onto the thread of life.
“A very powerful energy. That our sacrifice is needed.”
Regression is a forbidden act that twists all laws.
Of course, no matter how forbidden, it ultimately cannot escape the absolute order of equivalent exchange.
Therefore, to wield the forbidden art of regression, one must pay an appropriate price.
That price was the lives of the six gathered here—a powerful energy using life as its medium.
“I’ll ask again at this point.”
The man spoke.
“Why me? Aren’t you better than me?”
He stared at the man who had lost one eye and held a broken sword.
“No, you’re the right one.”
The de facto leader of the group, the man with the broken sword, sent an intense gaze.
The emotion contained in those eyes was trust.
The same went for the other comrades.
Though the depth of emotion differed, they all trusted the man completely.
“So stop filming a needless melodrama and just go.”
The burly man who felt dissatisfied with this situation itself spoke.
“Well, if you say so.”
Along with the man’s words as he shrugged his shoulders.
Oooong!
The six of them began concentrating energy into the Stone of Regression held in the man’s hand.
Kwakwakwakwakwa!
The pouring energy far surpassed the realm of humans.
And finally.
Crack!
The Stone of Regression, which had seemed indestructible, shattered.
Psssss—
Red light powder scattering around.
“Kuh!”
Along with it, pain that felt like tearing his whole body apart dug in.
The pain, as if splitting the flesh at a molecular level, was not something a human could endure, but.
“….”
The man raised his head with astonishing endurance and swept his gaze over his comrades.
Thud, slump.
Bodies losing strength collapsed.
“…See you later, you bastards.”
Now was the time to part.
But knowing this wasn’t the last time, he swallowed his sorrow.
“Good Luck!”
A final farewell.
The man with the broken sword raised his thumb and formed a faint smile.
Along with that.
Hwoooah—
An enormous light swallowed the area.
*
“Huh!”
He gasped for breath.
A dream?
No, that was reality.
The reality I had been in until just moments ago.
But not anymore.
Because I have returned to the past before the Apocalypse began, through the Stone of Regression.
But.
“Why, why one year ago?”
An error occurred in the regression point.
I had fallen into a peaceful era with no omens of the apocalypse, a full year ago.
This… was unexpected.
Honestly, it’s not like the Stone of Regression came with a manual. Who would have thought I’d come back to a year ago.
The scenario I had envisioned was a day or a week—a busy situation where I had to prepare for the apocalypse immediately.
But having regressed to a year ago, I was left hanging.
Changes, authorities, monsters, and the apocalypse.
An ordinary everyday where none of those things were happening.
Even the slightest omens would take half a year to appear.
“Sigh—”
After sorting out the situation, my head ached.
“…I’m a high schooler.”
Gone was the middle-aged veteran who had fought against the apocalypse for 20 years.
Now that I have returned to the past, I am merely an ordinary high schooler, a third-year suffering from college entrance exams at that.
“Training is out of the question.”
Usually, novel protagonists would train to prepare for the apocalypse, but bullshit.
I wasn’t born with a martial bone.
If it were Yuhyeon, that guy might reach a certain level through this year’s training, but in my case, I’d only get sick.
For about a week, I tried to come up with some grand, productive plan, but all failed.
In the end, there was only one thing I could do.
“I need to change the future a little.”
In half a year, changes are scheduled to occur.
Before that, if there’s something I can do, it’s to bring a little positive change to this twisted, anxious future, as much as I can.
“Let’s go.”
To stomp out the sprouts of the apocalypse.
*
Sliiide!
As the sliding classroom door opened.
“….”
Eyes gathered.
But once they confirmed it was me entering, they quickly dispersed.
Of course.
My school days were extremely ordinary.
No, rather than ordinary, should I say they were closer to gloomy?
Shaking off past memories, I scanned the surroundings.
As soon as the scenery inside the classroom entered my eyes.
Ssssh!
As if someone was inputting data, memories of high school began to surface.
Perhaps this… is an ability of the Stone of Regression.
A consideration so I wouldn’t panic and could adapt quickly upon returning to the past?
Thanks to that, school days I didn’t want to recall came to mind.
Including the seat I should sit in now.
Screech.
I pulled out the chair and sat down.
The front seat where the blackboard was right before my eyes—that was the space permitted to me.
“Ah, hello.”
The seat next to me, he greets.
Let’s see.
A guy with a small stature, dark skin, and thick black-rimmed glasses.
‘Right. Kim Jinho.’
A name that immediately came to mind.
Looking at him, bits of the past came surging up.
Fragments of the past that I had wanted to erase from memory, that only brought displeasure.
“You…”
The moment I was about to speak.
Thwack!
A milk carton flying quickly struck the guy’s back.
“Boss, nice shot!”
Along with the cheering that immediately rang out.
Tok, splat.
A white lump flowed out of the carton and down his uniform.
It wasn’t liquid but a lump—thick, curdled cheese.
At the same time, a foul stench.
“Ugh! What is this smell?”
The crowd holding their noses at the foul odor resonating in the classroom.
“What smell? It’s the smell coming from that orphan bastard.”
“Anyway, bastards without parents always make it obvious.”
The very back of the classroom.
They had somehow altered the identical school uniforms to look different—short and tight-fitting.
Even wearing luxury cardigans and shoes on the outside—it wasn’t hard to guess who these guys were.
‘Thug bastards.’
The apex predators ruling the animal kingdom called school.
“S-sorry.”
Jinho, hit by the rotten milk, apologized.
It may seem irrational, but that’s the law of this world.
If you’re low in the hierarchy, you must apologize no matter what is done to you, and lower your eyes.
“Sorry? Is sorry enough? It reeks, so shouldn’t you go wash up quickly? Right?”
“Y-yeah. Y-yeah. I-I’ll wash up quickly.”
Screech.
He urgently pushed his chair back and stood up as if it were an absolute command.
And.
“Let’s go.”
“Kihkik!”
The guys moved, following Jinho.
It was obvious.
The milk was bait.
Bait to commit their acts in a place without other eyes watching.
Probably what would happen in the bathroom from now on would be incomparable to a rotten milk carton—malice that couldn’t be called a prank.
“Hey, did you see that?”
“Kik—my stomach, ah, I almost died laughing.”
The thug guys were coming back.
Smiles blooming across their faces.
As if they had blown away all the stress they had accrued.
Drip, drop.
And Jinho following behind.
His hair was completely soaked.
Foreign substances visible here and there—I could roughly guess.
They probably dunked his head in the toilet, or something like that.
“Urk.”
But it seemed that wasn’t all.
Water spat out along with gagging.
It was black.
Seems they made him drink mop water.
Anyway, sometimes youngsters can be worse.
Jinho, who had been walking powerlessly, sat down at his seat.
Eyes dead and dark without focus.
And.
“…….”
『This bastard is a parricide who killed his parents lololol』
The content written on an A4 paper fixed with clear tape.
“Hey, you know what happens if you take it off, right?”
I think I know why his eyes had died.
They weren’t just tormenting him physically—they were annihilating a young man’s personality.
That was clearly crossing the line.
But.
“….”
Silence.
Anyone with intelligence could tell that the line had been crossed.
But they only stood by and watched.
Why?
Unlike thugs of the past, most thugs these days have solid families and backgrounds.
Fearful of what harm might come to themselves if they intervened, they dared not step forward.
Even if reported, they wouldn’t receive any punishment anyway.
Then it’s better for everyone if one guy becomes the target rather than sparks flying pointlessly.
Everyone was thinking that.
“If you touch that too…”
A gesture of slitting the throat.
It may be incredibly childish in its own way, but the effect was perfect.
Everyone turned their heads as if nothing had happened. Silently doing what they had to do.
As if a person named Kim Jinho did not exist in this class.
“Kuh, keugh…”
The broken young man sobbed.
“Stop that.”
“Ah, fucking bad luck.”
Just before a ballpoint pen left the thug’s hand and lodged in the guy’s back.
Snatch!
I raised my hand and blocked it.
“Ha…? What are you doing?”
The thug growled threateningly.
But I had no talent for listening to the words of things that weren’t people.
I reached toward Jinho’s back.
Seizing the A4 paper fixed with tape in my hand.
Crunch.
I crumpled it just like that.