Before his regression, Jin-Hyeok had been obsessed with strength.

Being the first to conquer unconquered dungeons and slaying dangerous monsters were great pleasures for him. He knew that a single wrong move could lead to his demise, but that only served to thrill him.

There was no pleasure greater than challenging the most difficult dungeons and clearing them. Finding hidden fields no one knew about and being the first to conquer them was also a big motivator.

As time passed, Jin-Hyeok was eventually called the ‘Sword King’ of Korea. If he recalled correctly, people used to say that he was a true hero that led people forward against fear and trepidation with his self-sacrificial spirit… or something like that. Jin-Hyeok said that he just loved playing, but no one ever really believed him. That was the honest truth, though.

Jin-Hyeok was employed by the NIS[1]. In other words, he was a Player that served the government. There wasn’t a particularly grand reason or noble purpose for which he became a government-affiliated Player. He simply thought that with the support of the government, it would enable him to become stronger sooner; or that he would be the first one sent into the most difficult dungeons.

‘Well, at least I’ve come to my senses right before regressing.’ 

Jin-Hyeok had a change of heart on how he should have led his life at the last minute when he was on the verge of death in the Banyan Tree dungeon. This change was brought about in part by the curse unleashed on him by the final boss of the Banyan Tree dungeon, the Empress of Hell. Looking back on his life in these last moments, he realized that it had been pretty brutal.

‘What with the threat of being assassinated day in and day out….’

There were no all-powerful Mary Sues in this new world. The top rankers’ skill levels were a hair’s breadth apart from each other—and the top assassins' attacks were always sharp and life-threatening.

‘Why did that excite me so much back then?’

The tension he felt from the fact that someone could assassinate him at any time had always thrilled him. Moreover, those targeting him were more than just assassins; amongst those that sought his life were those that hunted down certain Players for the abilities they had earned after their Awakening, and likewise wanted his abilities for themselves. He couldn’t remember the last time he had a good night’s sleep.

‘Looking back, I have no idea why I just went for the dangerous and deadly dungeons all the time.’

Jin-Hyeok used to think that there was no point playing unless he risked his life fighting. There wasn’t a moment where his life wasn’t on the line.

What was more, he had often been forcibly mobilized by the game’s conscription measures and made to participate in dangerous Quests just because he was an outstanding fighter class Player.[2] Everyone hated this rule, but he liked it.

Looking back, Jin-Hyeok realized his way of playing had been pure insanity—but he hadn’t realized it then, because he had been surrounded by people that were all like him. In other words, he and his friends had all been a bunch of lunatics.

Thanks to the curse from the Empress of Hell, he was finally able to see himself objectively. It made him come to his senses in a way, in those last moments.

When Jin-Hyeok opened his eyes, he saw that he had returned to the past.

He didn’t know why he had regressed. He remembered being on the brink of death after getting struck by the curse of the Empress of Hell, but he couldn’t remember anything after that.

When Jin-Hyeok first properly realized that he had regressed, that familiar feeling of excitement overtook him again.

‘I can become much stronger this time.’

Jin-Hyeok had all the accumulated know-how and experience as the Sword King. His heart pounded as he thought about becoming a top ranker before anyone else. He wanted a sword in his hands as soon as possible.

On the second day after his regression, Jin-Hyeok shook his head.

‘I won’t repeat this insanity. Not again.’

He was lucky(?) to have died in the Banyan Tree dungeon. Had he been just a little unfortunate, he would have kicked the bucket way before that. Jin-Hyeok could look at his situation pretty objectively now, and all things considered, it was clear seeking batshit crazy things was just in his nature. He could tell because he was still eager at the prospect of becoming stronger even after breathing his last—actually, even after being on the brink of death multiple times before that.

He needed to take a firm stance against his inner desires.

‘No… I don’t want to become stronger.’

Jin-Hyeok recalled his horrible past that he had long buried and forgotten about.

‘Right. If I go crazy over power this time around too, I don’t deserve to call myself a good person.’

Back then, he had been so focused on playing that he hadn’t taken proper care of his family. While Jin-Hyeok had gone off to conquer a dungeon, his family had been murdered at the hands of the twisted serial killer, Jeon Nam-Gil. By the time Jin-Hyeok returned home from the dungeon, all of his family were already cold corpses. After that, Jin-Hyeok had tracked down Jeon Nam-Gil and killed him.

In other words, Jin-Hyeok had all the strength to save his family, yet still could not. If he had paid just a little more attention to his family, he could have saved them for sure.

Jin-Hyeok resolved never to lose his mind again. If he did, he truly had no conscience.

‘I will get strong, but I won’t go overboard this time.’

Jin-Hyeok determined as if he was brainwashing himself.

‘The Cataclysm will be in seven years.’

He began to make plans of his own.

***

Seven years passed since his regression.

“Damn, you’re a terrible son. When will you grow up?”

Jong-Cheol, Jin-Hyeok’s old friend, gave Jin-Hyeok an earful from the moment they met.

Jin-Hyeok didn’t have a thing to say in retort even as he was scolded like a bad son. It had been seven years since Jin-Hyeok left home to live in the gosichon[3], claiming he was going to prepare for the national civil service exam.

‘Why does this restaurant's seasoned bean sprouts taste so good?’ Jin-Hyeok thought absentmindedly.

“It’s been seven years since you’ve entered the gosichon saying you’d become a government official, but here you are streaming your game for just one viewer, if even that. What the hell are you doing?” Jong-Cheol chastised him again.

“…”

“How old are you now? Huh?” Jong-Cheol demanded.

Jong-Cheol blabbered on, but it fell on deaf ears—Jin-Hyeok was not paying any attention to him as usual.

“So what if you’re ranked number one in a dead game no one plays? I mean, for fuck’s sake… even if it’s a dead game, don’t you think there’s something wrong if no one is watching when it’s the number one ranker playing? Do you even remember when was the last time you met another user on there?” asked Jong-Cheol.

‘This stir-fried chili pork is tasty, too.’ Jin-Hyeok thought.

“Thanks for the meal,” he said.

“Where are you off to?”

“To stream.”

“Man, this guy has lost it…”

“You should pay for the meal, since I listened to your nagging,” Jin-Hyeok said as he left.

“Hey! Hey! Cha Jin-Hyeok! You bastard! Stop right there!” Jong-Cheol shouted after him.

After his meal with Jong-Cheol, Jin-Hyeok returned to his gosichon room and sat back at his desk, only to find a hundred thousand won in his bag. It seemed that Jong-Cheol had snuck it in without him knowing.

Although Jong-Cheol spoke bluntly at times, he really cared about Jin-Hyeok—not just in life this time around, but the last time as well. For that, Jin-Hyeok was pretty grateful to his buddy.

‘I will make it up to you.’

Jin-Hyeok logged into the Eltube streaming platform and checked his streaming hours thus far.

‘Roughly 49,998 hours.’

There were only two hours to go until he reached fifty thousand hours. He could reach that by the end of the day.

After a deep breath, he turned on the stream and went on air.

His streaming equipment merely included an ancient camera and a desktop computer. His streaming content of choice was The Dark Hill, an old game that was a shell of its former self.

‘Can I even say there was a former self?’

Like Won Jong-Cheol had said, it was a doomed game.

The Dark Hill was an MMORPG. There were rumors that a third-generation chaebol[4] used to run this game as a hobby, but it had become neglected. It certainly seemed like the owner had a lot of money, seeing as how this server was still running even though there were very few users playing this game aside from Jin-Hyeok.

Jin-Hyeok started streaming as usual. There were still zero viewers.

“Today, I’m going to be raiding Balongdua.”

Balongdua was a monster that looked like a huge black bull, and it was not easy to raid alone. However, Jin-Hyeok had already played this game for almost fifty thousand hours, so it wasn’t all that difficult for him.

[YY has entered.]

[YY: wtf, this moron is still streaming? ROFLPMP. My annual income is now 70 million won. ROFLPMP. I guess I respect your effort tho ROFLPMP. You earning enough to eat at least? LOL]

[YY was forced to leave.]

It was this bastard again. This crazy son of a bitch visited Jin-Hyeok about twice a year—the times when he got a salary increase or a bonus.

[pissoffwithyourban has entered.]

[pissoffwithyourban: Am I riling you up, little piggy? Am I pissing off your insecure ass? There’s nothing you can do about me, huh? Lmaooo.]

What a show of effort from that bastard. He had rejoined with a new account and IP.

Jin-Hyeok was about to kick him out again, but decided not to.

[pissoffwithyourban: Why don't you kick me?]

“Today is my last time streaming.”

Today was the day Jin-Hyeok was going to quit doing these meaningless streams. He checked his total time streaming again on the Eltube settings.

‘49,998 hours...’

Just two hours to go. It had become a little dicey toward the end whether he could reach his target before the Cataclysm, but he was near the finish line. ‘Babyshark,’ Jin-Hyeok’s only regular viewer whom he had been grateful to have, didn’t show up today. Perhaps they were busy.

‘Damn… I wanted to say goodbye.’ 

That was a shame, but it was what it was.

This had been a long and arduous journey of seven years. Jin-Hyeok had spent more than eighteen hours per day solely streaming.

[pissoffwithyourban donated 100 won.]

[pissofwithyourban: There you go. You might not get to join a good company like me, but at least be a functioning member of society.]

[pissoffwithyourban was forced to leave.]

Jin-Hyeok ended his stream and lay down on his bed.

He only slept for two to three hours nearly every day, because he needed to spend the rest of his time working to earn the bare minimum to pay his bills. It had truly been hellish, but he was finally done.

Jin-Hyeok watched a cockroach crawl on his ceiling. He was exhausted, but he couldn’t sleep because his heart was pounding.

It was currently 7 May 2022 in Korea—the 2,782nd day since his regression.

‘It will be midnight in four hours.’

Eventually, midnight came at last. It was exactly 12am, 8 May 2022 Korean Standard Time—2,783 days after Jin-Hyeok’s return.

A message window formed from thin air in front of everyone at the same time.

[A new Server, 「Earth」, has been incorporated into the game.]

[The Open Beta service has begun for the new Server, 「Earth」.]

And with that, the world they knew had changed.