I Burned the Regressionist Alive
I lost the time traveler's memories.
But during the process, I fried the time traveler with electricity.
I'm seriously screwed up, aren't I?
【The time traveler's memories have been read.】
【The regression process has been completed.】
【Warning: Excessive energy overload has occurred.】
I was sitting in the apartment I rented for the sake of research, staring blankly at the screen of my laptop.
The information I had been gathering from the future—gates, monsters, hunter ranks, economic shifts—was finally all here.
I had been reading them like a story, but somehow the screen started sparking.
Blue electricity shot out from the ports, and then... nothing.
When I came to, my fingers were tingling like I had been shocked, and my head felt like it had been scrambled by a high-voltage line.
The memories weren't mine anymore. They belonged to someone else, someone from the future who had already died.
I was the regressionist now. The one who had to prevent the apocalypse.
【Class: Regressionist】
【Role: Time traveler who has returned.】
【Special Trait: 「I Burned the Original Regressionist's Memory」】
【Warning: Your memories are now unstable. Proceed with caution.】
I opened my mouth and let out a dry laugh that echoed in the empty room.
“The future's memories just fried me with electricity. This is some next-level karma, isn't it?”
The apartment felt too quiet. No one else was here. Just me, the guy who had lost everything and somehow ended up owning the world's most dangerous secret.
One year after the gates appeared, monsters had already started pouring through like locusts.
The hunter association had formed ranks, and the economy had completely collapsed under the weight of it all.
But now that I had the memories, I was going to break all of that.
I stood up from the chair, stretched my arms over my head, and sighed heavily.
“Alright. First things first, I need to figure out how to survive the next week without getting eaten by some gate-rat.”
My stomach growled in agreement.
I walked over to the mini-fridge, opened it, and found it almost empty.
“Crap. No beer left. Guess the apocalypse hit the liquor stores first.”
I grabbed a package of instant ramyeon, popped it into the microwave, and set it to 3 minutes.
While it cooked, I sat back down and started skimming the memories again.
The first gate had opened right here in Seoul, in what used to be a subway station.
It was rank 3, and the monsters that came out had torn through the first hunter squad in under ten minutes.
I remembered the screams. I remembered the blood on the floor. And I remembered how my past self had died that same day.
The electricity had burned my old memories away, but the new ones stayed crystal clear.
“One year from now, the gates will start appearing every week. By the end of the year, half the city will be gone. And if you don't stop it, the whole world ends.”
I rubbed my temples.
“Well, great. Just great. I burned the original guy and now I'm stuck with this job. Time to change the script.”
The microwave dinged. I pulled out the steaming ramyeon and ate it standing up, staring at the laptop screen.
The timer was already ticking. I had to use the knowledge before the next gate opened in my area.
But first... I needed to figure out what the hell had just happened to me.
I touched the ports on the laptop again, just to make sure it wasn't still sparking.
Nothing. Just warm metal and the faint smell of burnt circuitry.
“Okay. This is gonna take some adjusting.”
I smiled to myself in the dark window reflection. The guy staring back at me was the same Yoon Siwoo I had always been... but the memories inside my head were completely different.
I was no longer the weak guy who got killed in the first gate. I was the one who had lived long enough to remember how to stop it.
“Let's do this.”
I closed the laptop, shoved it into my backpack, and headed for the door.
The night outside was quiet, but I could feel the weight of everything coming.
One year from now, Seoul would be half rubble and full of monsters.
But not if I had anything to say about it.
📍 Location: Apartment, Seoul
【Current Quest: Survive the first week.】
【Reward: Knowledge of the future (partial)】
I stepped out into the hallway, locked the door behind me, and started down the stairs.
The weight of the memories made every step feel heavier than usual.
But I was ready.
I had already burned the old version of myself to ash.
Now it was time to write the new story.