At the hotel’s sky lounge, Seo Jun-Ho zoned out as he watched the initialization process.
‘Just now, what... Why? Why did I come back again?’
Each question brought up another one, filling his head. He gripped his skull, as he felt as if it were overheating. He could not believe his eyes.
‘I don’t even know why. This has never happened before.’
The Players had killed Erebo together. Of course, Seo Jun-Ho had already realized that Erebo may not be the Floor Master.
But what did that have to do with being sent back to the past?
‘I only get sent back to the past when I die, don’t I?’
Was there another trigger he was unaware of?
He realized what he had done wrong.
‘I was too impatient.’
He had grown impatient after returning twice, which was his downfall. He should have used Confession of the Dead after killing Erebo to confirm things.
‘I was too focused on the endgame and ended up rushing like an idiot just to kill him.’
Seo Jun-Ho didn’t think he would make this kind of mistake.
Seo Jun-Ho squeezed his eyes shut and started walking to his hotel room like a programmed robot.
Shwaaaa.
He started to sort his thoughts under the cold downpour of water.
‘Yeah. When Erebo appeared, I didn’t get the message that should have appeared.’
When he faced the Frost Queen and Janabi, he received a message saying that he had encountered the Floor Master.
However, that wasn’t the case with Erebo.
‘Does that mean he’s not the Floor Master of the 4th Floor?’
On the one in million chance that was true, it was hard to connect it to his return.
“Maybe...”
Perhaps something had killed him instantly? That, he could understand.
‘But I can’t be sure.’ It would be too much of a waste to try a completely different method simply because that was a possibility.
Rahmadat’s plan was the only way to kill Erebo, after all.
“...”
He gently closed his eyes and made a decision.
“Let’s try this again.”
Using the same method.
***
“So... Are you telling me to go to the next city and bring the Players from there?”
“Exactly.”
Chun-Hak fell deep into thought, but he eventually said that he would do it.
“And there’s one more thing you should keep in mind,” Seo Jun-Ho started.
“There is?”
“Yes.” Seo Jun-Ho glanced at Mio and explained the views of Sky Soul. “If they happen to refuse, tell them this. If they do not fight with us, things will get ugly the next time we see each other.”
“Woah. I knew that you guys don’t get along, but... can I really say that?”
“Yes.” On top of that, Seo Jun-Ho also sent a message to Shin Sung-Hyun and Milphage, asking them to stop the Players planning on going back down through the Save Points.
‘The more Players we have, the fewer sacrifices there will be.’
Wei Chun-Hak left the city, but Seo Jun-Ho didn’t share everything with his party members.
‘It would be better not to tell them that I came back, even though we managed to kill Erebo.’
There was no need to make even more changes to the timeline.
***
“Wow.” The Frost Queen clapped loudly like a seal. “So you truly have come back from the future.”
“What do you think? Doesn’t it sound pretty good?”
Seo Jun-Ho could finally use her instrument without any problems. The Frost Queen nodded and held out her hand.
“Give it to me.”
“This? Why?”
He handed it to her readily, and she broke it before creating a new one.
“...”
“...”
It looked the same as the instrument he had been using before.
However, it was several times bigger.
“Now, practice with this.”
“You never said this before,” Seo Jun-Ho protested.
“Then, you must not have produced a decent sound like you did just now.”
“...”
Seo Jun-Ho held up the instrument and played it gently.
Pshhh...Toooo...
He produced a similar sound to the one he had made on his first day.
“Do I really have to practice like this?”
“You must,” Frost said firmly. “Once you are able to maintain the sound until your final breath, then you will be done with this at last.”
“Well, if you say so... I trust you, I suppose.”
Seo Jun-Ho didn’t complain and practiced his instrument in silence. After being heavily injured by Moon Eye, his faith in her teachings greatly increased.
‘Now that I think about it...’
Seo Jun-Ho paused for a moment.
Even though his stat points were reset, his memories were perfectly intact. In other words, in the process of repeating these attempts, his techniques would improve over time.
“I should practice other stuff in my free time, too.”
Even though it was the same amount of time, spending it productively would still help him in the future.
‘Let’s just think of it as a long-term investment.’
Yes, that was what it was.
***
As expected, Seo Jun-Ho easily fixed the mistakes he had made last time. Wei Chun-Hak brought back a lot more Players this time around.
“I was surprised. As soon as I told them that Specter had returned and was looking for Players to help him clear the Floor... The Players gathered like a swarm of bees.”
“Your timing was good. If you hadn’t contacted us through Community, thousands of them would have returned to Earth already.”
There were 12,854 of them. It was more than double the original 5,281.
“Dad!”
“Arthur!”
In Seo Jun-Ho’s previous return, Arthur and the Watchguards had gone back to earth, but this time, they managed to join the party.
Gilberto pulled his son into a strong hug and patted Arthur’s back. “Everything’s okay now. I’ll protect you.”
Seo Jun-Ho watched them quietly, then turned to Wei Chun-Hak. “Is Sky Soul not here?”
“I even told them what you asked me to tell them, but they only snorted.”
However, Wei Chun-Hak didn’t seem to care that much. Shin Sung-Hyun also didn’t look as displeased as he had looked last time.
“Ease your worries, Specter. Our numbers are more than enough.”
After all, they had more than ten thousand of the most elite Players in the world.
***
Erebo wriggled, then stilled. Previously, Seo Jun-Ho instantly relaxed at this moment, but this time, he didn’t dare to relax. On the contrary, he even raised his guard up and sharply scanned the area.
‘Someone could be targeting me.’
It could be the Floor Master hiding somewhere around here, or it could be a Player harboring a grudge against him.
‘Let’s check him first.’ Seo Jun-Ho used Night Walking, which erased the entirety of his presence. Hidden from the others, he placed his hand on Erebo’s head.
“Confession of the Dead.”
‘Please work... Please, anything.’
Perhaps his desperation was heard because a familiar message popped up.
[Confession of the Dead has been activated.]
[An error has occ#$&red.]
“...What’s up with this?” Seo Jun-Ho muttered, perplexed.
This was the first time he saw a glitch in the System messages.
However, it didn’t end there...
The memory projection suddenly started playing on its own. Occasionally, it would become pixelated, speed up by several times, or become muted.
[Not enough. Not enough. With this, it’ll take forever to @#(hbn! F2$#?s...]
[If I want to reach them, I have to become much, much stronger than I am right #39Qf...]
[A dol#$Y? I just thought of a good idea.]
...
Crackle!
The playback continued despite the glitchy screen, but it eventually stopped.
[An unknown error has occurred. The skill has been deactivated.]
[Checking System error code.]
[The Administrator $#*(y~kf please wait...wait...for...]
“...”
Seo Jun-Ho gulped.
He waited for a long time, but there was not a single word from the Administrator.
“This is insane.” Seo Jun-Ho had no clue why this was happening. The only good thing was that a few of his questions had been answered, and he quickly sifted through his thought.
‘First of all, the guy we killed is without a doubt Erebo.’
And he was the Floor Master. However, there was something they had misunderstood.
‘Clever bastard. The bug we fought wasn’t his real body.’
Indeed, Seo Jun-Ho felt that something was off a few times now. Erebo wasn’t weak, but he didn’t have that unique, overwhelming pressure the Frost Queen and Janabi had given off when he faced them.
‘So it’s because he usually goes around using the body of a special entity.’
This pest was truly, truly crazy. His cautiousness wasn’t just prudence—it bordered on insanity.
“His real body is at the final city.”
No Player had reached that place just yet. If Seo Jun-Ho went there, his questions would be answered.
‘But...’
He still hadn’t figured out why he was being sent back to the past. And it was even weirder how a lot more time had passed since Erebo died when compared to the previous timeline, but he was still here.
Gyaaaa!
“S-Sword Saint!”
Suddenly, a scream pierced through the battlefield.
Seo Jun-Ho turned. “...Huh?”
Time seemed to have slowed down to a crawl as Kim Woo-Joong stumbled forward. His knees hit the ground, and he looked utterly perplexed.
However, the confusion instantly vanished from his face as blood started pouring from his eyes, nose, ears, and mouth.
“What happened?!” Seo Jun-Ho quickly dispelled Night Walking and caught him.
The female Player next to him shook her head. “I-I don’t know either. He just suddenly... suddenly started bleeding a lot, and—”
“Bullshit!”
Seo Jun-Ho’s magic power instantly shot out and covered the battlefield.
‘Who was it? Who the hell was it?’
There was nothing. No matter how he searched, he couldn’t find anything. There was not a single suspicious person in this large city.
‘Then, who...’
Who did this, and how?
The violent shaking in his arms eventually slowed down.
“...Woo-Joong?” he asked nervously.
There was no answer.
Seo Jun-Ho held Kim Woo-Joong with a vacant look in his eyes. All of a sudden, Seo Jun-Ho realized something.
‘So it was this.’
Kim Woo-Joong died the same way Seo Jun-Ho died on his fourth time around, and the latter’s face grew dejected.
‘But why did it kill Woo-Joong instead of me?’
Even the battle remained more or less the same, and his participation this time also wasn’t so different from how he participated in the previous battle. The only thing that changed was what happened after the battle...
Seo Jun-Ho froze as soon as the thought hit him.
‘Was it... because of Night Walking?’
If this was some kind of powerful curse from the real Erebo in the final city, the target should have been Seo Jun-Ho.
‘But Night Walking concealed my presence...’
Did Erebo kill Kim Woo-Joong because he couldn’t find Seo Jun-Ho?
“...Shit.”
Regardless, the Sword Saint’s death was a massive loss. Moreover, the former died in Seo Jun-Ho’s stead. Guilt and pain washed over Seo Jun-Ho knowing that he was supposed to die instead of Kim Woo-Joong.
“Contractor?” The Frost Queen quickly grabbed his sleeve, sensing that something was off about him. Unlike her usual voice, she sounded dead serious.
“I’m okay. Really, I’m okay, so don’t worry.” Surprisingly, Seo Jun-Ho reassured her. “I still have more than three hundred chances, so it’s not a problem. I can just start over again.”
“...What? You...!” The Frost Queen’s face contorted. Before she could say anything else, Seo Jun-Ho stabbed the Sword of Ambition through his heart.
His friends, Cha Si-Eun, Kim Woo-Joong, Shin Sung-Hyun, Wei Chun-Hak, Milphage...
And the Players...
They were all captured in his fading vision, and as they did, he promised.
‘Unlike how I have been doing things, I won’t give up on anyone anymore.’
He could do it.
With the blessing of his extra lives, there was no need to sacrifice anyone at all.
Seo Jun-Ho truly believed that he could do it.
At the hotel’s sky lounge, Seo Jun-Ho zoned out as he watched the initialization process.
‘Just now, what... Why? Why did I come back again?’
Each question brought up another one, filling his head. He gripped his skull, as he felt as if it were overheating. He could not believe his eyes.
‘I don’t even know why. This has never happened before.’
The Players had killed Erebo together. Of course, Seo Jun-Ho had already realized that Erebo may not be the Floor Master.
But what did that have to do with being sent back to the past?
‘I only get sent back to the past when I die, don’t I?’
Was there another trigger he was unaware of?
He realized what he had done wrong.
‘I was too impatient.’
He had grown impatient after returning twice, which was his downfall. He should have used Confession of the Dead after killing Erebo to confirm things.
‘I was too focused on the endgame and ended up rushing like an idiot just to kill him.’
Seo Jun-Ho didn’t think he would make this kind of mistake.
Seo Jun-Ho squeezed his eyes shut and started walking to his hotel room like a programmed robot.
Shwaaaa.
He started to sort his thoughts under the cold downpour of water.
‘Yeah. When Erebo appeared, I didn’t get the message that should have appeared.’
When he faced the Frost Queen and Janabi, he received a message saying that he had encountered the Floor Master.
However, that wasn’t the case with Erebo.
‘Does that mean he’s not the Floor Master of the 4th Floor?’
On the one in million chance that was true, it was hard to connect it to his return.
“Maybe...”
Perhaps something had killed him instantly? That, he could understand.
‘But I can’t be sure.’ It would be too much of a waste to try a completely different method simply because that was a possibility.
Rahmadat’s plan was the only way to kill Erebo, after all.
“...”
He gently closed his eyes and made a decision.
“Let’s try this again.”
Using the same method.
***
“So... Are you telling me to go to the next city and bring the Players from there?”
“Exactly.”
Chun-Hak fell deep into thought, but he eventually said that he would do it.
“And there’s one more thing you should keep in mind,” Seo Jun-Ho started.
“There is?”
“Yes.” Seo Jun-Ho glanced at Mio and explained the views of Sky Soul. “If they happen to refuse, tell them this. If they do not fight with us, things will get ugly the next time we see each other.”
“Woah. I knew that you guys don’t get along, but... can I really say that?”
“Yes.” On top of that, Seo Jun-Ho also sent a message to Shin Sung-Hyun and Milphage, asking them to stop the Players planning on going back down through the Save Points.
‘The more Players we have, the fewer sacrifices there will be.’
Wei Chun-Hak left the city, but Seo Jun-Ho didn’t share everything with his party members.
‘It would be better not to tell them that I came back, even though we managed to kill Erebo.’
There was no need to make even more changes to the timeline.
***
“Wow.” The Frost Queen clapped loudly like a seal. “So you truly have come back from the future.”
“What do you think? Doesn’t it sound pretty good?”
Seo Jun-Ho could finally use her instrument without any problems. The Frost Queen nodded and held out her hand.
“Give it to me.”
“This? Why?”
He handed it to her readily, and she broke it before creating a new one.
“...”
“...”
It looked the same as the instrument he had been using before.
However, it was several times bigger.
“Now, practice with this.”
“You never said this before,” Seo Jun-Ho protested.
“Then, you must not have produced a decent sound like you did just now.”
“...”
Seo Jun-Ho held up the instrument and played it gently.
Pshhh...Toooo...
He produced a similar sound to the one he had made on his first day.
“Do I really have to practice like this?”
“You must,” Frost said firmly. “Once you are able to maintain the sound until your final breath, then you will be done with this at last.”
“Well, if you say so... I trust you, I suppose.”
Seo Jun-Ho didn’t complain and practiced his instrument in silence. After being heavily injured by Moon Eye, his faith in her teachings greatly increased.
‘Now that I think about it...’
Seo Jun-Ho paused for a moment.
Even though his stat points were reset, his memories were perfectly intact. In other words, in the process of repeating these attempts, his techniques would improve over time.
“I should practice other stuff in my free time, too.”
Even though it was the same amount of time, spending it productively would still help him in the future.
‘Let’s just think of it as a long-term investment.’
Yes, that was what it was.
***
As expected, Seo Jun-Ho easily fixed the mistakes he had made last time. Wei Chun-Hak brought back a lot more Players this time around.
“I was surprised. As soon as I told them that Specter had returned and was looking for Players to help him clear the Floor... The Players gathered like a swarm of bees.”
“Your timing was good. If you hadn’t contacted us through Community, thousands of them would have returned to Earth already.”
There were 12,854 of them. It was more than double the original 5,281.
“Dad!”
“Arthur!”
In Seo Jun-Ho’s previous return, Arthur and the Watchguards had gone back to earth, but this time, they managed to join the party.
Gilberto pulled his son into a strong hug and patted Arthur’s back. “Everything’s okay now. I’ll protect you.”
Seo Jun-Ho watched them quietly, then turned to Wei Chun-Hak. “Is Sky Soul not here?”
“I even told them what you asked me to tell them, but they only snorted.”
However, Wei Chun-Hak didn’t seem to care that much. Shin Sung-Hyun also didn’t look as displeased as he had looked last time.
“Ease your worries, Specter. Our numbers are more than enough.”
After all, they had more than ten thousand of the most elite Players in the world.
***
Erebo wriggled, then stilled. Previously, Seo Jun-Ho instantly relaxed at this moment, but this time, he didn’t dare to relax. On the contrary, he even raised his guard up and sharply scanned the area.
‘Someone could be targeting me.’
It could be the Floor Master hiding somewhere around here, or it could be a Player harboring a grudge against him.
‘Let’s check him first.’ Seo Jun-Ho used Night Walking, which erased the entirety of his presence. Hidden from the others, he placed his hand on Erebo’s head.
“Confession of the Dead.”
‘Please work... Please, anything.’
Perhaps his desperation was heard because a familiar message popped up.
[Confession of the Dead has been activated.]
[An error has occ#$&red.]
“...What’s up with this?” Seo Jun-Ho muttered, perplexed.
This was the first time he saw a glitch in the System messages.
However, it didn’t end there...
The memory projection suddenly started playing on its own. Occasionally, it would become pixelated, speed up by several times, or become muted.
[Not enough. Not enough. With this, it’ll take forever to @#(hbn! F2$#?s...]
[If I want to reach them, I have to become much, much stronger than I am right #39Qf...]
[A dol#$Y? I just thought of a good idea.]
...
Crackle!
The playback continued despite the glitchy screen, but it eventually stopped.
[An unknown error has occurred. The skill has been deactivated.]
[Checking System error code.]
[The Administrator $#*(y~kf please wait...wait...for...]
“...”
Seo Jun-Ho gulped.
He waited for a long time, but there was not a single word from the Administrator.
“This is insane.” Seo Jun-Ho had no clue why this was happening. The only good thing was that a few of his questions had been answered, and he quickly sifted through his thought.
‘First of all, the guy we killed is without a doubt Erebo.’
And he was the Floor Master. However, there was something they had misunderstood.
‘Clever bastard. The bug we fought wasn’t his real body.’
Indeed, Seo Jun-Ho felt that something was off a few times now. Erebo wasn’t weak, but he didn’t have that unique, overwhelming pressure the Frost Queen and Janabi had given off when he faced them.
‘So it’s because he usually goes around using the body of a special entity.’
This pest was truly, truly crazy. His cautiousness wasn’t just prudence—it bordered on insanity.
“His real body is at the final city.”
No Player had reached that place just yet. If Seo Jun-Ho went there, his questions would be answered.
‘But...’
He still hadn’t figured out why he was being sent back to the past. And it was even weirder how a lot more time had passed since Erebo died when compared to the previous timeline, but he was still here.
Gyaaaa!
“S-Sword Saint!”
Suddenly, a scream pierced through the battlefield.
Seo Jun-Ho turned. “...Huh?”
Time seemed to have slowed down to a crawl as Kim Woo-Joong stumbled forward. His knees hit the ground, and he looked utterly perplexed.
However, the confusion instantly vanished from his face as blood started pouring from his eyes, nose, ears, and mouth.
“What happened?!” Seo Jun-Ho quickly dispelled Night Walking and caught him.
The female Player next to him shook her head. “I-I don’t know either. He just suddenly... suddenly started bleeding a lot, and—”
“Bullshit!”
Seo Jun-Ho’s magic power instantly shot out and covered the battlefield.
‘Who was it? Who the hell was it?’
There was nothing. No matter how he searched, he couldn’t find anything. There was not a single suspicious person in this large city.
‘Then, who...’
Who did this, and how?
The violent shaking in his arms eventually slowed down.
“...Woo-Joong?” he asked nervously.
There was no answer.
Seo Jun-Ho held Kim Woo-Joong with a vacant look in his eyes. All of a sudden, Seo Jun-Ho realized something.
‘So it was this.’
Kim Woo-Joong died the same way Seo Jun-Ho died on his fourth time around, and the latter’s face grew dejected.
‘But why did it kill Woo-Joong instead of me?’
Even the battle remained more or less the same, and his participation this time also wasn’t so different from how he participated in the previous battle. The only thing that changed was what happened after the battle...
Seo Jun-Ho froze as soon as the thought hit him.
‘Was it... because of Night Walking?’
If this was some kind of powerful curse from the real Erebo in the final city, the target should have been Seo Jun-Ho.
‘But Night Walking concealed my presence...’
Did Erebo kill Kim Woo-Joong because he couldn’t find Seo Jun-Ho?
“...Shit.”
Regardless, the Sword Saint’s death was a massive loss. Moreover, the former died in Seo Jun-Ho’s stead. Guilt and pain washed over Seo Jun-Ho knowing that he was supposed to die instead of Kim Woo-Joong.
“Contractor?” The Frost Queen quickly grabbed his sleeve, sensing that something was off about him. Unlike her usual voice, she sounded dead serious.
“I’m okay. Really, I’m okay, so don’t worry.” Surprisingly, Seo Jun-Ho reassured her. “I still have more than three hundred chances, so it’s not a problem. I can just start over again.”
“...What? You...!” The Frost Queen’s face contorted. Before she could say anything else, Seo Jun-Ho stabbed the Sword of Ambition through his heart.
His friends, Cha Si-Eun, Kim Woo-Joong, Shin Sung-Hyun, Wei Chun-Hak, Milphage...
And the Players...
They were all captured in his fading vision, and as they did, he promised.
‘Unlike how I have been doing things, I won’t give up on anyone anymore.’
He could do it.
With the blessing of his extra lives, there was no need to sacrifice anyone at all.
Seo Jun-Ho truly believed that he could do it.
