The most important thing in life is appearance.

When I was young, the old man next door told me that.

He said that while having a lot of money, being smart, or being healthy is good, the most important thing is to have an outstanding appearance.

And since I was so ugly that it made him want to curse, he said my life would be full of hardships.

The moment I heard those words, I scoffed.

There was only one reason.

Even though I was young, I already knew.

There are many things more important than appearance in this world.

I admitted I was ugly, but I thought things like love, success, and happiness—everything that makes life fulfilling—could be achieved with enough effort, regardless of looks.

And that was true.

Many people besides the old man next door mocked me for being ugly.

During my school years, I gritted my teeth and studied hard, sweeping through various competitions and maintaining first place in my high school.

It was all thanks to relentless effort.

Especially as the world changed, effort became more important than appearance.

The Great Cataclysm.

Dungeons and monsters suddenly appeared in the once peaceful world, and people awakened as hunters.

Hunters were granted unique talents that allowed them to fight monsters.

Amid the chaos of cities being destroyed and countless people dying,

I awakened as a swordsman and repeatedly trained and fought life-and-death battles.

As a result:

《Status Window》

[Title: Sword Emperor]

The title of Sword Emperor.

The highest-ranked title granted to those who have mastered the sword.

Fifteen years after the Great Cataclysm, I finally reached the pinnacle.

I risked my life to obtain this title.

I slaughtered countless monsters in dungeons and became a Sword Demon.

Even after reaching level 600 and obtaining the Sword King title, I didn’t stop striving.

I searched the entire world, completed hidden missions no one else had found, and ascended to the rank of Sword Emperor.

The first man in the world to obtain the Sword Emperor title—Kang Hyunsoo.

This incredible achievement was all thanks to my effort.

There were many people better looking than me, but their strength was all beneath my feet.

I had proven that the saying "appearance is the most important thing in life" was nonsense.

Yet now, as I teetered on the edge of death, I couldn’t help but recall the old man’s words.

“Cough! Why…?”

“I’m sorry, Hyunsoo oppa.”

“Hyunsoo, just accept it.”

In the boss room of the final dungeon,

two people—a man and a woman—were looking down at me with cold expressions as I lay on the ground.

Seo Jieun, my girlfriend, and Choi Taehun, my best friend.

The two comrades I had fought alongside since the early days of the Great Cataclysm had betrayed me.

I couldn’t believe it.

I didn’t want to believe it.

At first, I thought it was a prank taken too far.

After we defeated the boss monster and were gathering the drop items, the two of them took attacking stances, and I assumed they were just trying to scare me.

They’d pulled stunts like that before.

But they were serious.

Even though the boss monster was dead, they used their most powerful skills against me, targeting my back.

Boom—!!

A massive explosion filled my vision.

I rolled dozens of times across the ground before I understood what was happening.

They had betrayed me. They intended to kill me.

Normally, even a surprise attack wouldn’t be enough to kill me, but they had waited until I was exhausted after fighting the boss monster.

Of course, I didn’t die instantly.

I had a skill called Pain Deferment, which delayed damage over time.

But even so, it didn’t change the fact that I was taking damage.

“Cough!”

Blood spilled from my mouth.

The overwhelming force of their attacks seeped into me like poison, gnawing away at me from the inside.

Death loomed close.

I had been betrayed by the people I trusted most, but instead of anger or resentment, the emotion that overwhelmed me was confusion.

I used my sword to support my body as I struggled to my feet and looked at Seo Jieun.

“Why…?”

“Oppa, I like handsome guys.”

“What…?”

“I’ll be honest since this is the end. I don’t care too much about looks. But you… you’re just too ugly. I couldn’t… I just couldn’t love you.”

Was this a dream? Or a joke?

It was so absurd that my mind went blank.

But Seo Jieun’s expression was cold and serious, proving she wasn’t joking.

Rage boiled inside me.

“Cough!!”

But instead of curses, only blood came out of my mouth.

Choi Taehun picked up where she left off.

“We’ve been together a long time. Right after you started dating Jieun, she started seeing me. We originally planned to end things quickly… but you know. We needed you to grow stronger. So we used you until now. But now that we’ve gained ultimate power, we don’t need you anymore.”

“What…? Cough!! You filthy bastards…!”

“It sucks, but what can you do? I’m better looking than you, so I was chosen.”

“That’s not just a little, Taehun oppa. You’re a hundred million times better looking.”

“Haha, you’re right. Hyunsoo, you’re the king of ugliness.”

Insults rained down on me, going beyond mockery into pure humiliation.

From the people I thought were my lover and best friend, came truths I never wanted to hear.

I wanted to stand up and fight back, but I couldn’t even move a finger.

No, I could barely speak due to the pain consuming me.

But I couldn’t let them have the last laugh.

I lifted my head and glared at them.

“If I die… do you think the Hunter Association will let you get away with this? They’ll investigate you both immediately.”

“You don’t need to worry about that. There are people in the Association who want you dead too.”

“What…?”

Even the Hunter Association wanted me dead? What nonsense…?

Taehun’s words were hard to believe, but I couldn’t verify the truth.

“You don’t need to know the details. Goodbye, Hyunsoo.”

“Thanks for everything, Hyunsoo oppa.”

With their parting words, the two of them swung their weapons at me.

Whoosh—! Whoosh—!

The sword energy came flying toward me with fierce intensity.

And even worse:

‘Purple aura…?’

Their attacks were different than usual.

The skills were the same, but the aura was an unfamiliar purple color, and the power was several times stronger.

In my current state, there was no way I could block it.

But…

“Arghhhh!!”

I refused to die like this.

I summoned every last ounce of strength and swung my sword.

Boom—!!

A massive explosion erupted before my eyes.

Even though I gave it everything I had, I was swept away by the blast and sent tumbling off the cliff at the edge of the boss room.

“Let’s go, Taehun oppa.”

“Yeah.”

They turned their backs on me without hesitation.

I wasn’t dead yet, but they assumed I was and exited the portal.

I had bought myself a little more time.

But the situation was dire.

Thud—Thunk—Crash—Boom—!!

Even though I survived falling into the abyss,

“Grrr…!”

hundreds of monsters surrounded me.

If I stayed still, I’d be torn apart and devoured.

“Cough… Bring it on, bastards.”

I summoned my sword and got to my feet, kneeling on one knee.

It took every ounce of willpower to stand up, even though I couldn’t move a single finger properly.

‘Endure. If I endure, an opportunity will come.’

Although my body was in tatters, as long as I could fight, there was still hope.

By dodging the monsters' attacks and using the weapon's equipped Vampiric Skill to absorb life force, I could heal my wounds.

Of course, that wasn’t an easy task.

I had to kill hundreds of monsters while injured.

But.

‘They deceived me for so long? I will survive and make them pay back!’

With the fire of vengeance burning in my heart, there was nothing I couldn’t do.

“Shaaaaah!!”

“Gyaaaahhh!!”

“Hup!”

Hundreds of monsters rushed at me in the blink of an eye.

But I didn’t panic and swung my sword, taking them down one by one.

Even though my movement was limited due to a severe injury to one leg, I still had mana left. I wiped out the approaching enemies with ranged skills.

‘Just a little more. I just need to hold on.’

There was hope.

They were numerous, but they were still just regular monsters. Even in my injured state, I could defeat them.

The plan to survive this dungeon and exact my revenge was no longer just a delusion but was becoming a reality.

But then, when I thought I had nearly wiped out all the monsters…

Gooooooh—.

“Grrrr….”

A portal opened in the distance, and a massive monstrous creature emerged.

Glowing crimson eyes gleamed in the pitch darkness.

A wyvern? Or a hatchling?

Considering its shape in the darkness and the size of its glowing eyes, those were the only conclusions I could reach.

After all, there were countless monsters here, but since we were inside a dungeon, only weaker monsters appeared, never anything stronger than the dungeon's boss.

But the creature that appeared before me was no such weakling.

[Lv ???]

“What… is that?”

Its elongated snout, sharp eyes, and massive wings entered my vision.

It looked just like a dragon.

But it wasn’t a dragon.

The overwhelming size and the power radiating from its entire body surpassed that of a dragon.

Even its identification label was something I’d never seen before.

I instinctively realized.

That monster was something I could never defeat, even if I were to die and come back to life.

Chwaaaak—.

“Kuaaaaaa!!”

The creature tore through the portal, opened its jaws wide, and unleashed a glowing purple beam crackling with lightning.

“This is insane…!!”

The breath attack was so massive and powerful that there was no way to block or dodge it.

“Uaaahhhh!!”

I gripped my sword with both hands, planted my feet on the ground, and charged forward.

Instinctively, I knew I couldn’t block that attack. But even if I were to die, I had to do everything I could.

The red beam approached.

The overwhelming mana and the fear of death weighed down on my entire body.

But I overcame the fear and swung my sword.

Perseverance.

That old habit, which had brought me this far, pushed me to act even in a situation so terrifying it felt like my body would freeze.

Whoooooosh—! Claaaaang—!!

The sword I swung with all my might cut through the air and met the breath attack.

And then.

Kwaaaaang—!!

At the moment when the beam and the sword collided and exploded—

[Conditions have been met.]
[A Hidden Skill has been activated.]
[Reverting to the past.]
[Causality is being adjusted.]

With those messages, my vision went dark.

＊ ＊ ＊

‘Did I die…?’

As my darkened vision returned, that thought flashed through my mind.

It was only natural to think that.

Before darkness consumed me, my body had been in a state where dying wouldn’t have been surprising, and I’d even been hit by a breath attack from that unknown monster.

But something felt strange to say I was dead.

I still had my consciousness, and I could hear sounds.

Bzzzzzt—! Bzzzzzt—!

A vibrating noise buzzed near my head.

“……!”

I reflexively opened my eyes.

A white ceiling and a switched-off fluorescent light came into view.

Soon after, a musty smell entered my nose.

“How… how did this happen?”

My voice leaked out as I spoke.

With a bewildered expression, I looked around.

Just a moment ago, I had been fighting monsters, but when I opened my eyes, I found myself in a studio apartment.

For a moment, I thought it might be a dream, but it didn’t seem like it.

Bzzzzzt—! Bzzzzzt—!

The phone alarm vibrating on the mattress was far too vivid.

Moreover, the surroundings felt very familiar.

A wardrobe, a laundry rack, and a mattress—that was all the room contained.

At first glance, it was no different from any other home, but I realized immediately.

‘This… this is the room I used to live in?’

I had woken up in the studio apartment I had lived in during my twenties.

What had happened?

I got up and walked over to the full-length mirror next to the wardrobe.

My face hadn’t changed.

It was the same face I had seen for 35 years.

Small eyes, a flat nose, an angular face with scars from countless battles, and pimples everywhere.

The ugly face that had made people turn away and laugh at me stared back from the mirror.

But something felt off.

“I… I look younger?”

My skin, which had been dry and rough, now seemed somehow firmer, and the wrinkles had faded slightly.

Come to think of it, even my voice sounded a bit younger.

‘Wait, what’s the date…?’

I turned my gaze to the calendar hanging on the wall and hurriedly grabbed the phone on the mattress.

“It’s really 7 years ago…?”

Checking the date confirmed it. It was exactly 7 years in the past. The phone model was also an older one.

I wondered if I was mistaken, but I wasn’t.

《Status Window》

[Lv 51. Kang Hyunsoo]
[Title: Swordsman]

When I opened the status window, my level had dropped, and my title had reverted to the lowest rank, Swordsman.

Moreover:

[Regression Successful.]

A message popped up in the top right corner of my vision, declaring that the regression had succeeded.

Staring blankly at the message, I mumbled to myself.

“I really regressed….”

Whatever the reason, the conclusion was clear.

I had been betrayed by my comrades and encountered a mysterious monster, but I hadn’t died. Instead, I had returned to the past.

Seven years into the past, to be exact.

“This is insane. Regression actually exists….”

Regression—a phenomenon that only happened in novels or movies.

I never thought it could be real, but experiencing it firsthand left me speechless.

Returning to the past with my memories intact.

If it could be repeated, it would be an absolute cheat-level ability.

‘Will it trigger again?’

Unfortunately, there was no guarantee that it would activate again.

I checked the skill window, but there was no skill that allowed me to regress to the past.

For now, I had no choice but to assume it was a one-time miracle. I couldn’t test it by dying, either.

If regression didn’t activate again, I would just die in vain.

It was a bit disappointing.

Currently, I had gone from 35 years old to 28 years old—7 years younger.

This was 7 years after the Great Cataclysm had occurred.

If I had regressed just 8 more years into the past, I might have been able to meet my parents, who had gone missing during the Great Cataclysm.

But still.

“This is better than nothing. Hah, those bastards are dead meat.”

Although there was regret, I was somewhat satisfied.

I had been betrayed by my lover and best friend and died a dog’s death, but now I had the chance to get revenge.

Clenching my teeth, I picked up my phone and prepared to call out Seo Jieun and Choi Taehun.

But just as I was about to set up a meeting for revenge—

[Settlement Complete]
[Based on your previous achievements, you have gained a new talent.]
[Special Talent: Handsomeness acquired.]

“What… what is this?”

I had gained a talent I had never seen before.