After being left alone once again, Cha Uijae found himself revisiting the encounter every day, every hour. Whenever loneliness washed over him like a tidal wave, he clung to the stranger's voice, the sensation of the coat that had wrapped around him, and the conversations they had shared. That faceless stranger's promise became a shackle—a binding chain that prevented Cha Uijae from succumbing to death.

How powerful a promise could be.

Time passed—how much, he couldn’t say. He was counting the bones scattered around him when suddenly, a series of pure white system messages materialized before his eyes.

[Checking for survivors...]
[1 found.]
[Entity Cha Uijae has conquered solitude.]
[Congratulations! Executing the return of entity Cha Uijae.]
[Error! Possesses information values incompatible with the current era.]
[If left unchecked, critical error occurrence probability... 99%.]
[If left unchecked, premature apocalypse advancement probability... 99%.]

[Executing memory deletion protocol.]

Before he could react, his body was engulfed in a brilliant white light. It felt as though he was being sucked into somewhere, his entire being spiraling away. Instinctively, he squeezed his eyes shut.

The next moment, Cha Uijae opened his eyes.