A large resort where countless college students loved to gather.
Instead of the scent of fresh grass, the garden reeked of alcohol and cigarettes, and I sipped water from a spot slightly removed from the crowd.
"......."
My mind was hazy.
I was sure I had been doing something, but I couldn't recall what had happened before.
"Senior, what are you doing here?"
"...Who?"
A female student with a brown bob cut approached me amiably.
"You didn't hear when they introduced me earlier? I'm Yu Hanbyeol!"
"...Ah, right. That's how it was."
Hearing the name jogged my memory.
The girl that the department president and the others had been fussing over since before she even enrolled, while preparing the freshmen welcome party.
With an incredible face and figure, and having come up to Seoul from the countryside to live alone, she was someone who had instantly become popular among the guys.
And within my memories, another scene flashed by.
—Uaaack, run!
—Kyaack!
A forest.
A place like a real, wild forest, completely different from here.
Screams rang out indiscriminately regardless of gender, and within those screams, the distinct sound of blades tearing flesh pierced my eardrums.
"Senior? Are you okay? Should I... call someone?"
"No, I'm fine. It's not because of the alcohol."
My head just hurt more from something other than alcohol.
"Yu Hanbyeol. Your father is a provincial assemblyman, right?"
"Ah, I see!"
The conversation wasn't connecting.
"I gave up on other places and came here too! After all, this is... Minjok University, right? Ehehe."
"Do you remember what happens after this?"
"Senior, do you use social media? I looked for you on Byeol Star, but I couldn't find you!"
A woman with the kind of looks that wouldn't have been out of place debuting as an idol long ago had she entered the entertainment industry was only rattling on about her own things.
Of course.
Because this situation right now was my 'memory.'
"Did you check in advance which seniors were here through social media?"
"Of course! I had to learn the seniors' names beforehand so I wouldn't lose the drinking games and get passed over. Thanks to that, I've only had three drinks. Hehe."
"If you were going to look into things that much in advance, you should have also checked what kind of bastards you'll be following along with later."
"Senior, I'm curious about something... do you really not have a girlfriend? Ah, d-don't misunderstand! I came out here because those guys up there sent me as a penalty to bring you along... well, I did, but there are a few missions tied to it!"
"Yeah, missions. Missions with your life on the line."
How had I responded back then?
Hmm.
"Who gave you that mission? Jeonghak? Or Choi Junhak?"
"Ah, no! It's not those seniors...."
Thank goodness.
They were names of people who had died quite a while ago, so my memory had been hazy, but fortunately the words flowed smoothly because this was something like a 'flashback' scene.
"Ah, fuck...!"
While I was talking with Yu Hanbyeol, the building door opened and a blonde female student stormed outside hurling curses.
A female student wearing a tank top and hot pants with a thin cardigan over them—the perfect outfit to catch a cold on this late night.
"Ah."
"......."
Yu Hanbyeol flinched in surprise, and the female student glanced back and forth between me and Yu Hanbyeol before ducking her head and leaving for somewhere else.
"Fuck...."
As she left, perhaps because her anger still hadn't subsided, the female student spat out curses and departed.
"Her name is Sin Yuhui."
Yu Hanbyeol pointed at her and lowered her voice.
"The other seniors said she used to play around a lot in the past... I guess the rumors were true."
"......."
What had I said at this time?
Ah.
I remembered.
"It's about time."
"Huh?"
Yu Hanbyeol was surprised, but she wasn't responding to what I had said.
Because at this time, I had spoken while wearing an appropriate social mask, saying, 'You shouldn't judge people by their looks alone.'
"It's here."
"...Huh?"
The ground rumbled.
The building shook, and a powerful earthquake struck, strong enough that I couldn't keep my balance.
"Kyaack!"
Yu Hanbyeol grabbed onto me and clung tight, forcing my body back.
Even so, since she was a female junior—a female junior rushing at me begging to be saved—I had tried to grab and support her, attempting to evacuate to a safe place.
But there was no such place.
The earthquake was no ordinary earthquake; it was powerful enough to split not just the building but the very ground itself.
A smartphone fallen on the ground.
The last numbers I saw before the screen broke were 7.6.
A powerful earthquake that I couldn't even keep my balance in occurred, and all sorts of screams echoed from inside the building, but.
Kugugugugu!!
Those screams were swallowed as the building collapsed with a thunderous crash into the fissure below, and everyone was buried in a pile of dirt.
Death by earthquake.
That was the cause of my—rather, 'our batch's'—death.
And there was one reason this memory was surfacing now.
[You have died.]
It was the plan of the 'tutorial angels' to implant the awareness of my death more firmly.
* * *
"Kyaah!"
"Uwaah! S-save me!!"
A space with nothing but white.
A world with nothing, where men and women in their early-to-mid twenties screamed and floundered in panic.
'I'm back.'
My memories had completely returned.
The replayed memory, like a game's prologue, was a device to show us how we had died.
'They said you need to accept death to gain the justification to participate in the game.'
All 108 people standing on this platform—everyone except me—were in a panic.
And no wonder; until just now, everyone had been at the resort for an MT—a freshmen orientation retreat for new students—or had been nearby, and had died in an earthquake they had never experienced before in their lives.
And the place they had been dragged to was here, a space with nothing but white.
"Wh-what is this...?"
"Wh-what about me...? D-did I die...?"
"Se-senior!! What is this?! There's no way... this is some kind of event...."
Simply put, it was the afterlife.
Strictly speaking—
[Welcome, people of Earth. To get straight to the point, you are all dead.]
From the sky above, a being with blonde hair and white wings—a being that fit the stereotypical image of an 'angel'—descended and spoke to us.
[I am Estiel, the angel who will guide you to this world by the command of the great Goddess. You are currently in a state of spirit....]
"What kind of fucking bullshit is this!!"
A man shouted.
The most imposing-looking muscular man who seemed the oldest among the college students in their early-to-mid twenties.
Kim Gwan-gyun.
I remembered.
He had been a third-year department president.
"Cut the bullshit!! The fuck do you mean, die! I'm not dead!"
[You must have clearly recalled your memories before death. I see, then you are denying death. I understand. Because except for original sinners who chose death themselves, no one can accept death.]
Angel Estiel nodded without changing her expression even once at the cries of Kim Gwan-gyun and the other deceased.
As if she were a civil servant who had studied the human species theoretically and then been put into actual service, dealing with her work subjects.
'Looking at it now, she was really humane.'
It might have been awkward to call such an appearance humane.
But considering the average angel, the angel in charge of our sector right now truly possessed a personality befitting an angel.
[It's alright, everyone. Even if you don't acknowledge it, I can wait.]
"Fucking bitch! What the hell is this!"
"What the hell are you! We died! What kind of nonsense is that!"
Elsewhere, they would show the difference in status by slicing someone up or burning them as an example, yet even when lowly beings hurled profanities at her, an angel, and expressed their doubts chaotically, she only nodded as if she understood everything.
[Hmm?]
Ah.
Our eyes met.
'Did she notice?'
I had reset, but Estiel and I hadn't met since the tutorial.
Other angels might be different.
Moreover, there was no way she could have memories from the reset, from the regression.
If there existed someone other than me who retained their memories, the Goddess would immediately rush here and tear my soul to shreds.
[How interesting. It seems each human accepts this differently. It seems there are already those who are aware of this situation.]
"So what is it!!"
[Do you not wish to live again?]
The angel asked.
No one could answer immediately.
Of course they doubted, but they all had a certain conviction about themselves.
Ah.
So I'm dead.
Whatever this situation was, a scene straight out of a fantasy movie was unfolding.
[The Goddess has collected your souls and brought you to this world. By the Goddess's grace, you have been given the chance to live again in the other world.]
Live again.
Whatever it was, everyone had died once, so their desire for life had clearly heightened.
Especially since they had died in a sudden accident, no one would want to end their story here and have all their memories erased.
Losing memories is the loss of ego, and that is no different from the annihilation of 'me.'
Even if one were to be born as a new existence in the other world according to the Goddess's arrangement, what meaning would there be if all memories and traces of having been an Earthling disappeared?
There was a high possibility of being born as a different race rather than human, and if one failed to fulfill the price of the contract given by the Goddess, one might even be born as a demon.
[We shall prepare vessels of flesh for your souls. In exchange, you must form a contract with me.]
"Contract?"
[Yes. In exchange for living again in the other world, please defeat the Demon King.]
A simple contract.
The Goddess had gathered the souls of those who had died in the other world, unable to defeat the Demon King, and made a deal by forming a contract in her name.
[To those who topple the Demon King, I promise a return to Earth in the Goddess's name.]
A contract stating that if you kill the Demon King, you can return to Earth.
[Therefore—]
"Skip."
I raised my hand toward the angel.
"Enough with the explanation. The contract."
[.......]
The angel descended toward me.
She stretched out her hand before me where everyone could see.
[In the name of the great Goddess—]
A screen appeared.
I immediately placed my hand on the screen and pulled it down as if scrolling.
"I'll sign."
Tap, tap.
The fastest contractor in history!
# Acquired 1 Goddess Point.
"What. Why."
[.......]
"You said signing the contract gives me a chance to live again? Then that's enough."
There was no time to hesitate.