He repeats hundreds of lives, continuing an endless sorting.
The more he did, the more he could vaguely notice that even his own mind was wearing down.
After passing four thousand repetitions, he stopped even counting the number.
But.
Even so.
‘Just a little more... a better result....’
Gritting his teeth,
he continued the infinite repetition to produce the best possible result.
And then, at some point.
“The number of confirmed survivors is about one million... is it.”
“Conquering the other regions will be only a matter of time as well.”
He saved as many as a million people,
and wiped out most of the monsters in Seoul without taking major losses.
In the end, as many as 90% still died.
But most of them were people who wouldn’t help even if they lived, or would only get in the way.
‘Were there really this many useless people among humans.’
Put another way—
the 10% of humans he saved were truly the cream of the crop.
Elite among elites, with not a single person who hindered survival.
There were buildings that had crumbled here and there.
But Seoul’s society did not collapse.
They used stockpiled materials to rebuild the broken scenery of Seoul.
‘To think I made it this far.’
A scene so unbelievable that even though he had achieved it himself, he couldn’t believe it.
With certainty that his repetition had not been in vain, Jang Youngwoong began the next repetition.
But then.
“The number of confirmed survivors is about one million... is it.”
“Conquering the other regions will be only a matter of time as well.”
From that point on.
No matter how much more information he gathered, how many more effective choices he made,
no matter how desperately he struggled to produce even a slightly better outcome—
“The number of confirmed survivors is about one million... is it.”
“Conquering the other regions will be only a matter of time as well.”
Even if he repeated hundreds more times.
‘Why.’
He couldn’t produce a better result.
Only then did he realize.
‘Ah.’
He looked back on what he had done.
He had used to the fullest the information he gathered through his ability.
He removed in advance those who hindered survival, and somehow saved those who would be helpful.
He died dozens of times against monsters to figure out their weaknesses,
and thought until his head felt like it would burst to exploit those weaknesses as efficiently as possible.
‘This was the best.’
And as a result,
he had arrived at the best possible outcome— one that could not be improved further.
And.
The moment he thought that—
[00:00:00.......]
the time that had been repeating endlessly
moved on to the next stage.
[Beginner protection system is lifted.]
“So that was what it said.”
Before he repeated thousands of ❀ Nоvеlігht ❀ (Don’t copy, read here) lives,
he saw again that system message he had seen at the end of his first life.
*****
“...Is it okay for you to reveal something like that to me?”
Jang Youngwoong and I were talking alone.
I expected it would be a secret conversation, but I didn’t expect it to be this kind of story.
“What, it’s not the first time I’ve revealed it to you. To be honest, I’ve revealed it to other people quite a lot until now. Wouldn’t it be well over a hundred times?”
“Yes?”
“Of course, at this point in time, you’re the only one who knows it. In the end, I learned it’s better not to reveal it. But... didn’t you already have a rough guess about my ability even if I didn’t reveal it. If anything, I feel lighter.”
Well.
If he’d been through that many repetitions, there must have been times he revealed his ability along the way.
“Alright, say you’ve revealed it before— then why are you telling me?”
“I told you. I started thinking that it might not be necessary to defeat you no matter what.”
He studied my face carefully as he spoke.
“I don’t know how it was possible, but you know about my power... and you can resist it to some degree, right.”
“For now, yes.”
“If you’re someone like that, you’ll understand even better. The power I was given... is absurdly powerful.”
Sure enough, just as he said.
It was a power so strong that even I didn’t have confidence I could win against him.
“But there are a few limitations.”
At that,
I opened my mouth because something came to mind.
“Awakened people.”
“Even if I turn back time with this power, someone who wasn’t awakened never becomes awakened. Even then, many of them stagnated at a certain level.”
That was why the number of awakened people in Seoul was unusually small.
“Somehow... it seems this thing called the System has no intention of cooperating with my ability.”
“...No intention of cooperating.”
“The enemy will only grow stronger as the days pass, but my forces stagnate at a certain level.”
No matter how infinite the chance is,
a single soldier can’t defeat hundreds of millions of monsters.
To make use of that chance, you need the minimum force that matches it.
If things continued like this, someday he would reach a point where he couldn’t even secure that minimum force.
And then.
‘Ah, I see.’
At that, I realized something and said—
“So that’s why you gritted your teeth and tried to recruit us.”
“That’s right. I needed... an extremely powerful awakened force to fill what I lacked.”
He acted like he had no interest in other factions,
and tried to recruit only us.
Now I finally knew why.
“In truth, there were a few other limitations. The second limitation was range.”
“Range?”
“As soon as the wall opened, I took unit members and went a little beyond Seoul’s boundary to take a look. There were a few battles then. But... even after repeating time, the traces from those battles remained. I realized that even this repetition doesn’t activate on land beyond my influence. On the other hand, if I brought that land under my influence, the repetition functioned properly there too. In other words.”
“You need to expand your territory?”
“And to do that, what I needed most... was you.”
A hollow laugh came out.
In the end, it came back to the start.
“The Legion has a strong reputation because of that radio. You also have abundant awakened forces that I don’t have. It was the place that met the conditions for territorial expansion best.”
Why did we come to Seoul in the first place?
Because we had to unify all surviving human forces,
and unify this peninsula.
“At our first meeting, I spoke with First Lieutenant Kim Hyeon-seok. He seemed to be quite the patriot. I thought if I dug into that point well, I could bring the Legion under me.”
“Is there a reason it has to be under you? If it were a normal alliance, we would’ve accepted.”
“If the Legion expands its territory as a normal alliance, that land would only be the Legion’s land, not land under my influence. I needed to make you a definite part of my forces. Well, in the end, it turned out like this.”
No matter how he dressed it up.
It meant he intended to absorb us without anyone knowing.
I asked, with a hint of displeasure.
“So? You’re talking too much— I asked why you’re telling me this.”
“Haha... You’re prickly. Well, I do understand it’s infuriating from your perspective.”
He put on a serious expression,
then spoke in a quieter voice.
“If you’ve heard it all, I believe you’ll understand. I... am someone who truly strives to overcome this collapse.”
“......”
“Last time, I invited you to my home. Do you remember that?”
“I remember. I was treated to a simple meal.”
“What I want is only to protect that scenery. To regain a world where my family can live safely... For that, I endured that endless repetition. I’m sorry that, in the process, I gave you an unpleasant experience.”
“So your intent itself wasn’t malicious.”
“That’s right.”
Honestly, he was right.
If I suddenly gained the ability to turn back time, I would probably end up making similar choices to him.
‘No— there’s a high chance I would’ve done far worse than him.’
From what I’m hearing, that repetition always returns to one week before the day the world ended.
I don’t know how long he survived on average inside that repetition, but there must have been many times he survived nearly a year.
‘At minimum, that’s thousands of years.’
Yeah.
If it were me, my mind might’ve collapsed around the thousandth repetition.
To be honest.
It was shocking that an ordinary human could go through something like that and still keep their mind intact.
“I believe you’ve understood my sincerity. So... what do you say to joining me.”
“Joining.”
And.
This was his real point.
“The ability given to me is absurdly powerful, but I was feeling some regret. Because my own ability wasn’t enough, I had to go through too many pointless trials and errors. But!”
He turned his gaze.
And while looking at First Lieutenant Kim Hyeon-seok watching our way from afar, he said—
“If someone like you, who has power free even from my ability, or a genius commander like First Lieutenant Kim Hyeon-seok, joins me, then everything changes.”
“A genius commander... hmm.”
“Just looking at how you succeeded in taking Gangwon faster than the ‘best’ I made, I can see what an incredible leader he is. If he’s that capable, I understand why he wouldn’t want to go under someone else.”
He was under a ridiculous misunderstanding.
But since that misunderstanding was something we intended on our side, I decided to let it pass.
“But this world is never easy. No matter how great you are, someday you’ll suffer failure at least once.”
He was right.
In reality, we had faced major crises several times.
Up to now we’d gotten through everything by luck, but someday we might lose.
And.
“This world isn’t kind enough to let you brush off that one failure.”
The moment we suffered one fatal failure,
regardless of all the victories we’d had—
we would lose to this damn world.
“I can make that failure never happen.”
Jang Youngwoong said, placing a hand over his chest.
“Think about it. First Lieutenant Kim Hyeon-seok’s genius command, the Legion’s hardened soldiers like you, plus the talent, supplies, and equipment I saved in Seoul.”
“......”
“You’d rarely fail in the first place. But even if you fail, it doesn’t matter. You just try again!”
He shouted in an excited voice.
“If your strength and mine combine, it won’t even take that long to take over the entire Republic of Korea. If it feels like it’s taking too long, we just start over. I’ve gained my own know-how too, so if we repeat only a few dozen times, we can conquer the entire Republic of Korea at the best speed. Then we’ll be able to turn back time for that entire land! And then, someday.”
He extended his hand toward me.
“In the end, we’ll overcome this collapse.”
Looking at his hand, I said—
“Wouldn’t you have to start over each time from near the day the world ended? Up to now it was a bit under a year, but from the next time on, every time you turn it back, you might have to live through years, decades, all over again.”
“It certainly won’t be easy. But I’m asking you to follow me. As a leader... I’m prepared to bear that responsibility.”
It sounds simple when you put it into words.
But for ordinary humans, it’s something where it wouldn’t be strange for their minds to collapse again and again.
To save his family in this collapse, he was saying he would endure that madness.
‘...Impressive.’
If what he said happened.
No matter what powerful enemy appeared, someday we would defeat them.
No crisis could truly threaten us.
“Take my hand. Join me.”
As he said.
Maybe we really could overcome this damned collapse.
“The offer is appreciated, but.”
...Of course.
“I refuse.”
“What?”
Truly.
Only if what he said really happens, though.
*****
“...Why?”
At my refusal,
he spoke with a suddenly darkened expression.
“Do you also think what I did is filthy.”
“Yes?”
“I selected the humans who would live, threw away the humans who weren’t needed... Are you refusing to cooperate because you feel my actions are filthy.”
“I didn’t say that.”
At that,
I let out a small laugh.
“Hearing you say it yourself... I guess that part’s been bothering you quite a bit.”
“......”
Sorting the living and the dead and all that.
To be honest, it’s a pretty unpleasant story.
But...
‘In the end, I can’t deny that it was the best.’
It’s true it’s a method I don’t like.
But that doesn’t become the reason to refuse cooperation.
“The reason I’m refusing to cooperate is... simple.”
“What is it?”
“Because the premise is wrong.”
I’d been debating whether to point it out from the beginning,
but I think I can finally say it now.
“That power of yours.”
“What?”
“Is it really turning back time?”
In my opinion,
it doesn’t seem like that big of a power.
