It was quite a vivid experience, but it felt as though it had been lost in a long period of sleep, a dreamlike tale.

Actually, wasn't it a dream?

The idea that someone had traveled back in time countless times to save the world was something straight out of a novel or fiction.

Each time one turned back time, he had to sacrifice memories.

All the lives and memories accumulated so far crumbled away like a sandcastle.

How could one repeat this process not just once or twice but countless times?

If it were me, could I really do it?

‘Impossible.’

‘Even this one life is precious and personal, to repeat it twice, ten times, a hundred times, a thousand times... It would wear away and erode all my emotions and soul.’

"Ah..."

Eisel opened her sleepy eyes.

A red sky encompassed her vision.

The horizon tinted by the twilight was truly beautiful.

None of the three moons hanging in the sky were the full moon.

It also meant that a night had passed and evening had returned.

Struggling, Eisel managed to sit up and spotted Hong Bi-Yeon, lying beside her.

Though she appeared pale due to a day without nourishment, even in her sleep, she seemed noble and graceful.

"Ugh..."

Hong Bi-Yeon fluttered her eyelashes as if she was about to regain consciousness, and struggled to lift her eyelids.

Meeting her gaze, she lay still for a moment, then hurriedly got up from her position.

Eisel turned her head to look at the end of the altar.

There sat Edna, who had woken up earlier, holding her knees close.

"Are you awake?"

Despite the shadow obscuring half her face, her expression was notably dark.

Eisel exerted force to sit beside her with shaky legs.

Then, attempting a smile, she jokingly inquired, "Why do you look so gloomy?"

"It’s just.."

She hesitated for a moment and pursed her lips.

"... Because I witnessed something like that."

Edna exhaled deeply.

She felt boundless agony as if heart had been caught on fire.

At the same time, she felt a sense of relief since most of her questions, which had been haunting her, had been answered by the Star Archives.

Why were his memories and knowledge so intricately twisted?

Knowing everything yet not knowing the reasons behind it.

That was because he had lived through such an extensive amount of time, repeating it over and over again.

Initially, she thought he regressed for Eisel, then she wondered if it was for her.

Maybe both were right.

In the countless regressions, Baek Yu-Seol must have shared love, affection, and emotions with so many people.

However, all of them were also wrong.

He... strived on for everything, including all of them.

How profound a sense of duty did he carry to willingly thrust himself into a lonely battle at the edge of hell?

"... Hey, you guys know?"

Suddenly, when Edna spoke, Eisel and Hong Bi-Yeon stared at her silently.

Unlike her usual playful and lively self, she had a heavy mood, so no one interrupted her.

"Once... I seriously asked him. What is your wish? What is your purpose?”

Back then, he said, "I just want to live. Normally."

At that moment, Edna seemed confident about the regression of Baek Yu-Seol.

However, she hadn't fully felt the weight until now.

She thought anyone could say they wanted to live.

But... How much weight does the phrase 'I want to live' carry when it comes from someone burdened with such a cruel fate?

It felt so distant and unreachable that it hardly resonated at all.

"You don't have to act so inquisitive about it."

This time, it was Hong Bi-Yeom who spoke up.

Leaning against a pillar, she faced the sunset and said, "Now that we know about him... We should just stop Baek Yu-Seol from turning back time again."

"How... how is that even possible?"

"It's simple."

Her tone was quite indifferent.

"We've seen the end of the world. We just have to prevent that from happening."

"Ah..."

So that he won’t be drowned in the sorrow of losing everything again.

So that he won't have to force himself in a world where nobody remembers him.

Never again, would he have to turn back time.

They simply had to strive and save everyone so that the present world wouldn’t perish.

Baek Yu-Seol wasn’t alone now.

He had struggled through countless lives alone, but now the truth had been revealed to three talented girls who prided themselves to be the most exceptional mages in the world.

Hong Bi-Yeom slowly met Edna and Eisel’s gaze, then continued, "Until then, it might be regrettable... but maybe you two, who are unable to handle a cat, might be needed a little."

Her words softened the expressions of Edna and Eisel to some extent.

"Do you really have to make asking for help sound so impossible?"

"Yeah. I lost my appetite."

"What did you say?"

Though Hong Bi-Yeo scowled fiercely with her crimson eyes, Edna promptly stood up and stretched her back.

"Well then, I guess that settles it. I've been starving all day. Let's go grab something to eat even if it's tiring."

"Okay!"

Eisel rose too, and reluctantly, Hong Bi-Yeon followed suit.

Nevertheless, she couldn't help but wonder.

With this unlikely trio, how far could they really assist Baek Yu-Seol?

Maybe even Baek Yu-Seol didn’t know.

Throughout history, such a combination had never come to be.

———

Honestly, when a girl appearing to be a middle schooler approached him asking for an autograph, he was bewildered at first, but it felt somewhat nice.

The fact that he somehow managed to have some recognition in this current life, wasn’t that a good sign?

Such a simple and dumb thought sneaked up on him.

Turns out, his dumb thought was accurate.

The moment he faced the girl named Anella, his skill was activated.

[Trait 'Protection of the ‘Yeonhong Chunsamweol’ has been activated, and the trait ‘Rebirth of Nightmares’ has been detected]

[Rebirth of Nightmare is invading your mind. Would you like to resist?]

At first, it felt weird.

It was like the Yeonhong Chunsamweol popped up in the air like a firewall antivirus program, asking him to choose between 'Yes' or 'No'.

Logically, he should have chosen 'No'.

However, something about it bothered Baek Yu-Seol.

[Even if you resist, there's a 0% chance that the entity will invade your mind.]

This meant that even though he knew the original game, he wasn’t aware of it.

It wouldn't be able to do anything against him…

He got curious there, and when he snapped back, he had already pressed 'No'.

And now, here he was.

"Aaaahhh! Help, help! Heeelp!"

The girl's screams echoed loudly in his head.

He was vividly observing Anella's kneeling figure on the ground, crying for help.

‘Is this... inside my mind...?’

Baek Yu-Seol's mental landscape appeared almost like an ocean.

There, Anella triggered 'the most dreadful trauma' he ever experienced.

But in reality, for someone who had been living smoothly in the modern world, aside from an incident where the power went out suddenly during a three-day attempt to defeat a boss demon, there was nothing he’d consider as the most dreadful trauma.

Honestly, he hadn’t experienced anything particularly dreadful even after coming to this world.

However.

Oddly enough.

He had traumas too.

But those...

Crack!

Whoosh!

Argh!

Those countless, truly countless deaths were his traumas.

Even as an observer, the deaths were so dreadful that they made him feel nauseous.

Anella was experiencing that agony firsthand there.

‘What the... what is that madness...?’

Baek Yu-Seol had never experienced such traumas.

Those weren’t his traumas.

Thinking so, he turned his head away.

But this was undoubtedly his mental world.

The Protection of the Yeonhong Chunsamweol was proving that.

Therefore... he had to face his traumas again.

Thud!

‘He’ was being torn apart while held captive in the jaws of a colossal monster with crimson teeth.

Thud!

‘He’ failed to teleport and crashing into a wall meant dying.

Whoosh!

‘He’ engulfed in flames and died.

Crack!

‘He’ exploded upon being struck by a goblin's club.

Yet, in all those moments of death, 'Baek Yu-Seol' didn't scream or plead for mercy.

He just accepted death humbly, with an emotionless face.

Only then did he realize that those deaths were familiar.

‘Aether World Online.'

There, even after dying, one could revive with a slight penalty or return to a designated save point to replay the game.

Those countless deaths were... the deaths of the 'character Baek Yu-Seol,' played by the modern Baek Yu-Seol.

‘But why would that become a trauma?’

It was a phenomenon he couldn't fathom.

Weren’t those deaths just within the game world?

As it was a game for all ages, even the bloodstains were removed.

But those deaths he faced were so vividly horrifying...

What on earth were they?

‘Help, help me…’

Anella screamed before eventually passing out, and Baek Yu-Seol’s head throbbed so intensely that he couldn't hold on any longer.

‘... Stop showing them now.’

Then, like a dream, those traumas finally ceased.

Only then did he calm down, and started contemplating a way out of his mental world..

When he was just pondering.

He made eye contact with someone.

It was the other him.

He was not the Baek Yu-Seol from Earth, and he was different from the Baek Yu-Seol on the Aether World. He had a different aura around him.

… He might be what Baek Yu-Seol would become after about ten years of struggles.

He looked at Baek Yu-Seol for a moment, then turned and started walking away.

‘Hey, who are you? Wait, is that me?’

Despite Baek Yu-Seol’s calls, he didn't even pause and continued walking away.

In this endless expanse, no matter how much Baek Yu-Seol ran, it felt like there was no end, but strangely, he distanced himself from Baek Yu-Seol at an incredibly rapid pace.

‘Wait, who are you? Hey! Answer!’

Baek Yu-Seol sprinted towards him with all his might, but he didn't even turn back, and just went further.

Further.

As if it were an illusion.

And suddenly vanished.

"Hey! ...What?"

And when he came to his senses, he was back at the cafe.

Swoosh... slump!

And there was Anella who collapsed unconscious towards him.

He caught her in surprise, and stared blankly into the space.

‘What... what the hell was that...?’

There was just nothing he could comprehend.