The First Reader
I muttered.
“What?”
“These people want to turn back time.”
Harin nodded her head.
“You too, oppa.”
I couldn't deny it.
Three years ago.
The moment I was about to press the publish button.
If I could go back to that time.
This time, without hesitation, I would press the button first.
No, I could prepare to run away even before that.
Save the people I couldn't save.
Catch the extinguished light.
Create a different ending.
What I want.
What they want too.
Regression.
But just returning to the past isn't enough for a story.
What to do when I return.
Live the same life again?
No.
That's just a record.
The story needs choices.
Returning to the past while remembering the ones who took everything from me.
This time, I won't be betrayed.
I move first.
Save the dead.
Catch the missed opportunities.
Reclaim the stolen power and name.
In the end, twist the predetermined fate, reclaim the empire I built and the throne I should have sat on.
Regression.
And revenge.
This wasn't plunder, but revenge for recovery.
The two words intertwined.
Click.
An invisible gear turned in my head.
I looked at the original manuscript.
The protagonist was still listening to the neighbor's guitar and starting a normal morning.
It wasn't a bad story.
The prologue was well written too.
But this wasn't the story I needed to write now.
Total choice.
Delete.
The shining sentences disappeared all at once.
“Really throwing it away?”
“Yeah.”
“I waited three years for this.”
“Writers write for the readers.”
“It's a waste, right?”
“I feel bad.”
I didn't take my eyes off the blank screen.
“Still, my current readers are those people.”
Harin looked at me quietly.
She didn't tease me as usual.
I chose the genre.
Genre: Fantasy
Subgenre: Regression / Revenge
Now, the first scene was needed.
The start of a web novel must be strong.
If it's martial arts, fall from a cliff.
If hunter, awaken hidden ability on the day talent is judged useless.
If regression, die.
But not just die.
Who.
Why.
What was stolen.
What to do in the next life.
I had to show everything in a short scene.
My fingers moved.
— Leon knelt in front of the guillotine of the empire he built.
The sentences shone.
It wasn't faint candlelight.
It was clear light, as if pulling out a sword from the darkness.
Harin leaned her head over my back.
“Why are you dying when you built the empire yourself?”
“Good question.”
“You wrote it, oppa.”
“The readers will be curious about that too, so they'll read the next sentence.”
Leon was the founding contributor who made the prince into the emperor.
On the battlefield, he led the army.
In the court, he eliminated enemies.
He gave the prince things he couldn't have one by one.
Crown.
Empire.
Continent.
And peace.
The emperor got everything.
At that moment, Leon became unnecessary.
No.
He became a person who shouldn't be alive.
A person who knew who helped the emperor ascend the throne.
A person who received the people's trust more than the emperor.
A person who remembered all the emperor's cowardice and weaknesses.
So, he was taken away one by one.
Military power.
Title.
Territory.
Comrades.
Finally, even his name.
The history of the empire recorded all victories as the emperor's.
What was left for Leon was only the crime of being a traitor.
Then, why did Leon surrender willingly?
Because of hostages from family?
Common.
Because of loyalty?
After being betrayed, being loyal is frustrating.
He fought.
To the end.
He split the palace in half and defeated the knight squad coming to arrest him.
Yet he lost.
Because the emperor used everything he taught Leon to kill Leon.
Himself, the people he raised.
In the empire he built.
According to the laws he made, he was executed.
Cause and effect intertwined.
The light grew stronger.
Under the execution platform, many people gathered.
Some threw stones.
Some bowed their heads.
Those who fought with Leon were already dead or silent.
The emperor personally climbed onto the execution platform.
Wearing silk clothes.
Wearing the crown Leon gave him.
Smiling with the same face as when he took everything.
— “The last words?”
Leon lifted his head.
Should I be angry?
Should I roar?
No.
That wouldn't take the eyes of thousands of years of galleries.
Thirsty.
Sweaty.
I didn't notice that and kept writing.
Now, he had lost everything.
Nothing more to be stolen.
So, he smiled.
Leon raised the corners of his blood-stained mouth.
— “If there is a next life..."
Their eyes met, and the emperor's gaze trembled.
The emperor knew that gaze.
It was impossible.
Before the war he thought was inevitable, every time they all assumed defeat, Leon always looked at the enemy with that gaze.
And that gaze was directed at the emperor.
Leon was bound.
No power.
Soon, his head would fall.
He knew better than anyone that he couldn't harm him.
Yet the emperor's body trembled.
As if the person standing on the execution platform had changed.
— “Start the execution!!”
The axe sparkled in the sunlight.
Even as the axe approached his neck, he didn't take his eyes off the emperor.
Sweat falling from his forehead created a small stain on the floor.
— “I will take everything from you.”
The blade fell.
The vision flipped.
Death was short.
The next moment.
Leon opened his eyes.
The smell of blood disappeared.
The cold blade touching his neck was gone.
The ceiling of an old inn.
Hands before rigor mortis.
A calendar on the wall.
The time when the emperor hadn't yet entered the succession competition.
Then, when did Leon return?
It should be the time to change everything.
Too late, it would be meaningless.
Too early, the readers would have to wait.
The day Leon first met the emperor.
The day he realized his talent and reached out.
The very day all tragedies began.
A knock sounded from outside the door.
Knock.
Knock.
I heard a familiar voice.
I couldn't forget it.
The person Leon had protected and cherished all his life before death.
And the one who gave him the final farewell.
The past emperor said in a young voice.
— “Leon. Become my person.”
In the previous life, I held that hand.
Leon looked at the door and smiled unconsciously.
He didn't know the reason for the regression.
Nor the supernatural phenomenon.
But he knew the answer to this question.
This time, it was his turn to give a proper answer.
“No.”
The first fate changed.
At the same time, the period of the story was marked.
No.
The sentence ended with a strong elasticity.
My breath was rough.
My clothes were soaked with sweat and stuck to my back.
The room was already dark.
I didn't know when the sun had set.
In that darkness, Harin overlapped her arms and was looking at me right next to her.
She wasn't smiling as usual.
Her eyes, revealed between her pink hair, looked at me quietly.
“Why are you looking like that?”
Harin blinked a beat later.
“You seem different from oppa.”
“Too cool?”
“Yeah.”
The mouth that was about to reply playfully stopped.
Harin turned her gaze to the screen.
“So, it's a bit annoying.”
“Why?”
“These people will know oppa when they read this story.”
“I'm writing it to make it happen.”
“I don't like that.”
Harin smiled.
“Oppa only knew me.”
She tries to monopolize the qualification to appreciate the readers with a cute face.
Completed story detected.
Evaluating the work.
Current Stage: 1st — Resonance
Locked Stages:
2nd — Synchronization
3rd — Erosion
4th — Manifestation
5th — Materialization
1st stage 'Resonance' evolves to 2nd stage 'Synchronization'.
The light flowing from the sentences gathered into one point.
Work grade: Hero
The growth path of the unique ability 'Immersion' is opened.
Current stage: 1st stage — Resonance
The locked stages below floated up.
2nd stage — Synchronization
3rd stage — Erosion
4th stage — Manifestation
5th stage — Materialization
Completed the first Hero-grade work.
Met the evolution condition of 'Immersion'.
1st stage 'Resonance' evolves to 2nd stage 'Synchronization'.
The light enveloped my body.
I returned to the work registration window.
Please enter the work title.
The story of the man who lost everything returning to the past to take everything back.
The Regressed Avenger Reclaims
The hand that was inputting the title stopped.
Something didn't sit well in my throat.
What Leon was trying to take wasn't originally the emperor's.
Leon’s victories.
The people who followed Leon.
The empire Leon built.
And the throne Leon should have sat on.
Returning to the original place.
That's not taking.
It's just...
Ta-da—
The Regressed Avenger Reclaims
It's reclaiming.
It didn't specify what to reclaim.
Because the readers had to check it themselves.
Finally, I checked the author name.
Silence
I pressed the registration button.
The work "The Regressed Avenger Reclaims" has been registered.
The prologue "Next Life" has been posted.
I refreshed the work page.
Views: 0
Pressed again.
Views: 0
One more time.
Views: 0
And when I pressed it again.
The number next to the work changed.
Views: 1