It was an unnervingly perfect motion.
Gong Isu moved like he’d practiced it, flowing like water—and shattered my spell before it had even finished forming.
Bzzzzzzzt!!
The backlash born from mana that had lost its path.
Parried?
A parry is an effect that occurs when you block an attack with perfect timing. You don’t just deflect the strike; with a bit of flourish, you can also halt the enemy’s action.
It’s a technique skilled players use to topple foes—yet right now, Gong Isu had parried my magic.
It rattled me, sure, but I could recover from that much.
What actually stopped me wasn’t his precise guard or the turbulence of mana from his parry—
It was the short sentence he spat out.
"Stop killing me," huh?
Damn it.
No more words needed.
Before my Intelligence stat could even kick in, my gamer’s sense told me what his words meant.
So that’s why it had to be today?
And that’s why it had to be now.
This wasn’t some sudden impulse.
If it hadn’t been exactly now, exactly today—I wouldn’t have been stopped this easily.
I had something of my own I’d been preparing.
This was no time to be gaping at a parry.
Shit. I’ve been getting speedrun-stratted, haven’t I?
It’s what every gamer does, what the guides recommend.
Repeat play.
You lunatic. Since when, and how many loops?
Whatever happened, it must have required today.
Today.
Which means this instant is the most favorable point for Gong Isu.
Or else...
Right.
Maybe even this moment is just one attempt on his path toward that “most favorable point.”
Vmmmmmmmm—
[System: The golden hairpin activates.]
I realized why Gong Isu had given up such a crucial piece of information—
Namely, that he can “replay as many times as he wants.”
It was a threat.
Do whatever you want. I’ll just go back. So give up.
Or it was a gamer’s choice to observe my reactions and the situations they’d trigger.
You know how it is.
The kind of player who raises affection or kills an NPC just to see all the events that NPC can offer.
If I had that power, I’d pull similar stunts. I get it. Senior, here’s your Diligent Player Award. Damn it.
That creeping sense of despair from far, far away.
He acted like he didn’t get my game metaphors, but Gong Isu is playing a game.
One with quicksave and quickload; die and you restart indefinitely.
No matter how I respond—
He’ll remember it, practice it, repeat it—until he beats me.
To reach the future he wants most.
He’s even stripped me of the freedom to give up or die.
If I kill myself—he’ll check why I did, study the counterplay, go back to just before I die, and stop it.
Damn... How far back can he roll? What are the limits? No—how many repeats has he already done? What is this scammy nonsense? How can he use a power like that without limits!?
No—there must be limits.
I’ve got ridiculous abilities too—
But I also have penalizing traits...
I’m gonna lose it.
It’s laughable.
I personally prepared everything Gong Isu needed.
The [Hounds of Tindalos] that were hunting across spacetime? I killed them.
The [Veil-Ripper] who interfered whenever he used his power? I banished him.
The [Golden Hairpin] that grants broad time travel and amplifies his strength? I prepared every material.
I even—
Remember Akiyama’s [Golden Hairpin]? How, colliding with the [Underground Ruin] in Busan, it opened a door to the Abyss?
We’re in the [Underground Bomb Shelter] at Tanhyeon.
Not identical, but sufficient mana has pooled here too.
If Gong Isu wants, he can open a gate of spacetime right here—
Vmmmmmm—
The golden hairpin thrummed, disgorging absurd mana.
Of course he’s opening it here.
It was meant to pierce the wall between dimensions—but now it has the power to pierce the wall of time itself.
What now?
Facing a “player” who can rewind time and reset the enemy’s experience and state—the optimal counter is...
"Planning to become an Abyssal entity?"
It was just stalling for a few more seconds—but Gong Isu turned his head for a moment and said:
"You asked me not long ago where my home is, remember?"
[System: The Gate of Time opens.]
Zzzzzzzzzkt—
In the end, Gong Isu opened the gate of time.
Home, huh—what was that supposed to mean?
No more talking.
My body wouldn’t move. The golden hairpin had fouled time.
We’d passed the point where I could stop him.
While the hairpin pinned us both to a single point—the flow of time rushed left—left at a tremendous speed.
The future drew near.
With four eyes blazing, Kim Sinhwa glared at Gong Isu.
That was all.
It had been a wretched stretch of time.
His resistance had been fierce enough to exceed Gong Isu’s power, varied enough to outstrip his repertoire—
But through endless repeats and fine adjustments, Gong Isu forced Kim Sinhwa into a position where he could do nothing.
He’s immobilized.
Vmmmmmmmm—
The golden hairpin radiated a colossal volume of mana.
Time suffered a ghastly wound, and, bound to the hairpin, Kim Sinhwa and Gong Isu were sliding right—right.
No matter how great a being is, it needs time’s assistance to create an event.
Time is a current; the mother of change and occurrence.
And in this moment, Gong Isu and Kim Sinhwa had slipped from time’s embrace.
Until time took them back, neither could do anything.
It worked today.
Realizing his attempt had finally succeeded, Gong Isu smiled bitterly.
One more day. And one more day.
One more hour. And one more hour.
Or minutes? Maybe seconds?
Had it been any later—Kim Sinhwa would have stopped him.
Any later a date—
Not only would Kim Sinhwa have stopped him, he would have built a trap so meticulous and perfect he could have turned Gong Isu’s plan against him and detained him.
Gong Isu knew this wasn’t guesswork or prediction.
These were seventy-six futures he had lived in his own body and personally erased from existence.
Kim Sinhwa. No matter the time slot, you’re dogged and terrifying.
No special sound, no flashy effect.
In quiet composure, the golden hairpin pierced layered walls of time—grasped the marked targets and ferried them to the set point.
Tsz-tsz-tsz-tsz—
The wound in time was knitting closed.
The current of time reached to gather Kim Sinhwa and Gong Isu.
Vmmmmmmm—
Their movement stopped.
A new event began. A situation even Gong Isu was facing for the first time—now.
Still, he felt confident he could counter whatever Kim Sinhwa tried. He’d practiced seventy-six times. Even if the situation shifted, it’s hard to change a familiar attack pattern.
"Kim—"
He started to say something to Kim Sinhwa—but a bizarre effect flew in faster and rattled Gong Isu’s mind.
Waaaaaaaaak!!!
A gut-churning, hideous blare.
Waaak!! Waaaaaaaaaak!!
Directionless and absurd, the sound left him stunned for a heartbeat.
What is this? What kind of attack!?
Before he even realized it was a heron’s cry—and an effect from a spell Kim Sinhwa had cast—another spell came screaming for him.
[System: The golden hairpin ceases operation.]
Time, which had been racing left at insane speed, stopped.
Time’s malfunction settled back to normal, and at last I—nailed in place—got my freedom back.
"Kim—"
Gong Isu tried to say something to me, but—damn.
Time is not on my side. I need a second. No—a tenth of a second.
If my hunch is right—Gong Isu can’t rewind to before he used the golden hairpin. Or he won’t.
Either way, he just fired a huge event!
If I were the player, I’d save here and start looping from here! Please make the same call I would!
If he doesn’t, against my expectation?
I don’t know. That’d be a hard no-hope scenario.
If that’s possible, I can only hope another me in another time slot makes a better choice than me.
[Benu’s Cry]
He’s probably mapped most of my offensive spells.
But [Benu’s Cry] is a low-tier enchantment usually used to rouse the fainted.
It’s friendly, instant with a tiny motion, not a projectile, so there’s no reaction window—and it has a nasty side effect.
Waaaaaaaaaak!!!
"—kh!"
Gong Isu’s grunt.
Normally you’d clap your hands to your ears, but he senses sound differently than others—so he made a slightly odd gesture.
He waved a hand as if to swipe away a pop-up blocking his view.
"How’s that, senior? Surprised?"
The moment the spell fires, a deafening heron-cry tears through your head.
I chained similar effects right after.
[Blazing Roar]
[Thunderflash]
[Body Control: Localized Itch]
[Body Control: Localized Tickling]
[Body Control: Localized Sting]
Flame with brutal noise.
Lightning with blinding glare.
And then—various tactile games.
KWHOOOOOOOM!!
Bzzzzzzzt!!
The flames were easy enough for him to block, but sound and light—those non-attacking side effects—seem to slip through. As he staggered, I drew breath and—
[Sonic Shock]
"You bastard, senior! What the hell are you doing!!!"
KRRRRRRRRRRRM!!!
[Mirror Image]
[Blink]
[Invisibility]
I didn’t stop—kept firing a stack of spells.
While [Mirror Image] scrambled his targeting, I pulled out beyond his engagement range.
Damn it. Please let this be his first time seeing this pattern.
Where am I? No—when am I?
The place hadn’t changed.
We were still in the [Underground Bomb Shelter].
But the time?
A look around told me a lot had changed.
The big bones were intact, but the shelter had decayed and been fouled by time. Rats and bits of bone lay where none had been before.
Looks like it’s been left untended a long time.
I roughly know how it looked in the past—so this is the future.
How far?
The shelter’s a few rooms and vertical shafts—plenty of cover, anyway.
But large-scale magic would be risky here.
Botch it and I could be buried with him.
You know what—just get buried!
[Jade Dragon’s Maw]
[Earthquake Slam]
KRRRRRRRRM!!
Earth-and-stone control twinned with a massive tremor. This won’t kill him anyway. At the same time, I—
[Phasing]
[L-grade Garment ‘Night-Veil Wingcloak’ unique function ‘Heaven-Demon Wings’ activates.
// Heaven-Demon Wings: auto-casts ‘Flight.’]
Whrrrrrr—
Using phasing to pass through matter, I ignored the collapsing debris and shot upward.
My sensing flared sharp and wide.
Now... night?
Ah, you lovely thing.
If we’d arrived in daylight—I’d have been stuck fighting down there.
KRRRRRRRM!
Watching the soil pour down, Gong Isu shouted:
"Listen to me, you idiot junior!"
No reply.
[Left Hand of the Destroyer]
Bzzzzzt!
Kim Sinhwa’s mirage vanished in a blink. Did he already slip outside? This time it’s misdirection then escape.
"Your tricks never end."
He’s a mage.
He pays penalties to body and mind, but in exchange wields a versatility and destructive power no one can match.
No matter how many repeats, he can spin up a new pattern.
"Doesn’t matter—you can’t beat experience."
[Right Hand of the Creator]
KRRRRRM!
Stabilizing the collapse of the [Underground Bomb Shelter], Gong Isu summoned the [Golden Hairpin] by sheer will.
Vmmmmmm—
Responding to his call, the hairpin answered with power.
Good. Synchronization successful.
A part of him resides inside the golden hairpin.
As long as his strength holds, the hairpin will move to his will.
There it is again—the explanatory tone. Did the observation target switch back to me?
He abruptly halted what he was doing and gestured into an empty corner—so sudden it felt impulsive.
"Hey, you. You’re watching, aren’t you?"
No answer.
"You’ve only ever watched Kim Sinhwa win, right?"
He was gesturing at a void no one—even he—could observe.
"Don’t lie. There have to be observers looking this way."
Still nothing. To anyone else, he just looked like a weirdo.
"But today I decided I win. No—more precisely, I’ll rewind until the situation is one where I beat Kim Sinhwa. Unless you want to see the same scene again—and again—and again—and again—you should probably side with me."
Even so, he kept talking to no one. He’d be better off chasing Kim Sinhwa with this time—
Maybe this is the bubble-head’s brand of mania.
