The Error Remains

"Augh, this is a pain." I wasn't too surprised that they had guns—I'd expected as much. After all, guns are just direct-fire weapons. If you catch the moment they pull the trigger and twist the barrel away, they're not much of a threat. The real danger is getting ambushed from behind or freezing up in panic. Facing them head-on? That's nothing. My power might still be underdeveloped, but handling something like that is well within my capabilities.

The only real worry was whether the redirected barrels would hit Ji Seoeun. I still had no idea why she was even here, but we were on ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠the same team. It'd be awkward if she died over something like this. Because of her, I ended up pointing every gun straight up. That meant missing out on any accidental team kills or lucky breaks, but it wasn't a big loss. I didn't need tricks like that against small fry like these.

Dealing with the superpowered villains was a bit trickier. Even low-tier villains, they had some decent abilities. Fireballs were nothing special, but lightning and wind blades were genuinely annoying to deal with. At least they weren't complete psychopaths—they avoided hitting their own allies. That made their attack paths easy to predict. If ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠they'd been the real deal, they would've blasted everything without caring who got caught in the crossfire. In that case, cleaning them up without taking any damage would've been a lot harder.

After taking out a decent chunk of them, a path opened up. I charged straight in and dealt with Dr. Oh first. Honestly, I would've liked to have a proper conversation with him, but with Ji Seoeun right there, I couldn't risk him taking her hostage. I had to wrap it up quickly. A bit of a shame, but it was the best call at the time. Whether he'd actually been researching dimensional rifts or not, his data would tell me soon enough.

I blew his head clean off, which unfortunately sprayed quite a bit of blood on Ji Seoeun. Still, better than letting him use her as a shield, right? I'm sure she understood.

"...Shit. That bitch is a monster."

"Yo, the doc's dead! Just run!"

"Fuck!"

Once the superpowered villain leading the charge and Dr. Oh both went down, the surviving small fries turned tail and ran without looking back. With only one body, I couldn't stop them all. Easier to just let them go than waste time chasing. Besides, our faces were covered, so it wasn't like they'd connect this to us. No way anyone would link idol trainee Na Yeri to a massacre like this.

The only problem was Ji Seoeun being here. She was just a kidnapping ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠victim—what could possibly go wrong? It's not like she was planning to call the authorities anyway.

"Whatever. First things first..."

I ignored the fleeing nobodies and started rifling through Dr. Oh's things, looking for his laptop. It was the same one I'd found in the first timeline. He probably didn't have another hideout, so if he was working on anything, there'd be clues here.

"Damn it, password."

Of course it was locked. Now... what was it again? Something ridiculously simple, I remembered that much.

"The Great Cause."

"Ah, right. The... huh? How'd you know that?"

"That crazy bastard used to say it all the time. Idiots who think they're geniuses usually go for the simplest passwords."

"Oh..."

I'd been racking my brain over the password when Ji Seoeun spoke up. Perfect timing, perfect advice. It was the first time she'd actually talked to me directly, which felt a little strange. So she could speak. Her tone, though... She was a year younger than me, so technically still a kid, but that clipped, noun-heavy way of talking? Really? Maybe that's why she didn't talk much. It clashed hard with her refined appearance.

"You okay?"

"...Fine."

"Yeah?"

She'd been kidnapped out of nowhere, witnessed a bloodbath, and even got covered in blood because she was standing next to Dr. Oh. I'd expected her to be shaken, but she seemed surprisingly steady. Tougher than she looked. With that face, you'd think she spent her days sipping brunch in downtown New York. Still... why were her eyes like that? Did she take something weird? They were way too bright and sticky-looking...

"Anyway, let's check the data first..."

Details could wait until we got back. Right now, the urgent stuff came first. I opened Dr. Oh's laptop and started digging.

"...Seriously? He didn't even fix the error?"

Right before I died last time, I'd seen a meaningful message.

The moment I saw that, I regressed. So I could only assume my regression was caused by this error. There were two things I could think of that counted as errors: the fact that Na Yeri, who should've become an idol, got dragged into the Special Task Force, went through hell, and died on a mission—and the fact that those damn dimensional rifts were still polluting the world. If I had to pick one, it was obviously the rifts. They'd completely destroyed the entertainment industry.

This world ran on idols as its foundation. After the rifts appeared, concerts and events vanished, and entertainment companies went bankrupt one after another. Even the protagonists probably couldn't properly promote as a group. No matter how talented they were, if the market itself died, there was nothing they could do.

That's why I'd considered the possibility that Dr. Oh wasn't researching dimensional rifts. If the regression happened because of an error, then naturally there should've been a fix. But looking at this, Dr. ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠Oh had clearly been preparing research related to dimensions. If that research succeeded, it would eventually lead to opening dimensional rifts. No—to be honest, I'd genuinely hoped Dr. Oh wasn't working on dimensional rifts. If this regression had corrected a fatal error, it meant there wouldn't be any more regressions caused by errors in the future.

Of course, if the author found another error and decided to regress me again, I couldn't complain. But if the author had any sense as a human being, they wouldn't repeat something as extreme as dimensional rifts. That kind of thing wasn't something just anyone could pull off. People were supposed to have common sense.

Yet from the looks of it, Dr. Oh was still researching dimensions, and the error hadn't been fixed at all. Then why the hell did I regress? Don't tell me... the appearance of dimensional rifts wasn't the error? Was the fact that Na Yeri didn't debut considered more fatal than the rifts that wiped out the entire entertainment industry?

"If that's the case, that's seriously messed up."

While I was grumbling about how ridiculous this was, something else occurred to me.

"Or... don't tell me this bastard sent me back to fix the error himself?"

It was possible. Even if I was a possessor, regressing with memories from the first timeline wasn't normal. If that was true, then the author really wasn't human. Making a side character like me, one of seventeen extras, deal with this kind of crap?

"Ha, disgusting."

I still didn't have any solid answers, but I needed to stay on guard. If I was unlucky, I might end up experiencing another annoying regression. This time, I was definitely going to live a carefree, easy life. Me.

"Now I need to clean this place up."

"What're you gonna do?"

"Gotta get rid of the evidence. I brought some stuff, so just wait a bit."

Error or not, I'd at least stopped the dimensional rifts early. But I'd caused a huge mess, so I had to clean it up. There were over ten bodies left in this abandoned factory, and blood was everywhere. Even if this place was remote, this would cause problems. I needed to erase as much evidence as possible, and I'd come prepared. From the start, I'd planned to burn this entire place down.

The cleanest way to handle something like this was to tidy up and launder the scene. But I didn't have nearly enough manpower for that. Right now, it was just me, and cleaning this place alone would take forever. So I chose arson. If I burned everything, even small traces of evidence would disappear.

From my experience, when the Superhuman Bureau found burned bodies and guns in some remote abandoned factory, they'd usually investigate half-heartedly and conclude it was a power struggle between villain organizations. There wasn't any special evidence, and checking these guys' identities would only turn up minor criminal records. This world was pretty strict about that sort of thing. If a bunch of civilians had died, it'd be different, but small fries killing each other was way too common. That's why I'd brought some kind of accelerant—gasoline or something similar. Gather the bodies, torch the factory, done.

It was a bit much for an innocent(?) idol trainee to do, so I was trying to keep Ji Seoeun out of the way while I worked. But she kept sticking close, trying to help. It was surprising how energetic she was after everything that happened, and the fact that she'd watched me butcher those guys and was still acting like this made me wonder if there was something wrong with her head. She didn't seem like she needed to be silenced, but I had no idea why she was suddenly so clingy. It was a little unsettling. I did need to talk to her properly at some point.

"You..."

"Whoa~ Yeri Yeri~ What the heck is all this~ Wow wow. It's a total mess in here, huh?"

"...Yu Hana? Why are you... And who are all those people behind you?"

Just as I was thinking I needed to have a proper conversation with Ji Seoeun, the factory door suddenly opened and Yu Hana appeared out of nowhere. And she wasn't alone. There were about twenty burly, rough-looking men with her. They didn't look ordinary at all. A few superhumans mixed in, and the rest looked well-trained. At a glance, they were at least a level and a half above the small fries I'd just fought. At this point, I'd believe it if someone said they were from a villain organization.

How the hell did Yu Hana know about this place, and why did she show up here with these guys? And how could she still be grinning like that in this kind of situation? I was speechless. Our team's squinty-eyed member was definitely not right in the head.