The Savior's True Concern
If such an incredibly powerful ability user—one who confidently claimed he could defeat Kadmus in a single hour—were to help, they would have more than enough of a chance, even without the backing of the Blast Guild!
"I have regressed from the future to the past!"
"Ah! What a cool backstory! I'm just a useless game character...!"
On top of being tall and handsome, he even had an amazing backstory! Seeing Yunjae choke up with envy, Demian spoke in a tone that suggested this was hardly something to be happy about.
"...Ten years from now, the Demon King Kadmus will descend upon this world through a portal."
"Kadmus?"
The Demon King Kadmus.
Hmm.
Was that why Demian had reacted so shockedly when he saw Kadmus on the plane? Honestly, Mari had wanted to ask Demian if he was out of his mind, but with Yunjae sitting right next to them, she felt like she could accept almost anything at this point.
"What happened after Kadmus appeared?"
Yunjae didn't really want to talk about hunting, but since Demian was asking so politely, and the mention of the Demon King Kadmus appearing in the future piqued his curiosity just a bit.
"Because of him, humanity was utterly destroyed."
At that moment, everyone's eyes widened in shock.
"Humanity was destroyed?"
"No way! Is he really that strong? What about the military?"
"The military's overwhelming firepower didn't work on him."
"Ah, that's because Kadmus has physical attack immunity."
The sudden testimony from the walking strategy guide brought an instant silence to the room.
"Ah, a-ah! But it's the truth...!"
Sensing that he should probably stay out of it, Yunjae quickly shut his mouth. Demian offered a polite nod of gratitude and continued.
"...In any case, only ability users were capable of damaging him. We tried to form an alliance with the Blast Guild, but that alliance failed, and we were ultimately picked off one by one."
The cause of defeat was, in the end, their failure to unite. As Demian let out a deep sigh, everyone's expressions grew solemn.
"To think that's the future ten years from now... How tragic..."
Akemi hadn't been in the meeting room earlier, so she didn't know his full story, but true to her eccentric nature, she seemed to believe Demian's words without a shred of doubt.
"Then how did you manage to return here, Demian?"
When Yunjae asked, prompted by curiosity, Demian's face darkened with a sorrow so deep he looked on the verge of tears.
"My lover, Ariel, used the absolute last of her strength to send me here."
"Ah! That backstory is so cool too! I only managed to crawl back here after throwing a massive tantrum!"
Seeing the pure envy shining in Yunjae's eyes, Demian looked utterly bewildered, wondering, Is this person really the overwhelmingly powerful ability user I've been looking for?
"A-anyway, to be precise, she linked my consciousness to the future. Through that connection, I became aware of everything that happens in the future—at least, up until the point where Kadmus trampled over everything."
He hadn't physically traveled back in time; rather, he had witnessed the entire future timeline. Yet, even that was an incredible feat, and everyone stared at him in awe.
"Why didn't we know about someone with such an incredible ability?"
"She wasn't a combatant."
Linking the past and the future! It was indeed a miraculous power, but because it lacked direct combat utility, she might have slipped under the radar.
"That is truly tragic."
"I know! It's so sad!"
In any case, the bleak future of humanity and the sacrifice of his lover to warn them of the impending disaster was more than enough to tug at the women's heartstrings. Leaving the two teary-eyed women behind, Demian turned his desperate gaze back to Yunjae.
"Please, help me! If we don't stop Kadmus, who is currently preparing for his resurrection near Sumatra Island, humanity has no future!"
"But was it really just Kadmus?"
"Yes! Kadmus alone destroyed everything."
Hearing this, Yunjae also looked quite shocked.
"Really? Just... Kadmus?"
"But I have one question."
Mari had been quietly listening to the unbelievable tale of Demian, the man from the future, but something didn't add up.
"...What is it?"
"Well, if you came from the future, shouldn't you already know about Yunjae?"
Indeed. If he had returned from the future, it only made sense for him to know about Yunjae's existence. Even if Yunjae didn't actively hunt or participate in hunter activities, there was no way his overwhelming presence and power could have gone unnoticed.
"I don't know the answer to that either."
"What?"
"I have never seen him, nor have I even heard of him before."
That was a mystery to Demian as well. Even as a regressor who knew everything that was to come, he had never once caught a glimpse of Yunjae in any of his visions of the future.
"Ah! That must mean I'm going to die soon!"
"Eh? Why would you say that?!"
"Because I'm in my seventies! My days are surely numbered!"
As Yunjae brought up his seventy-something theory yet again, Mari let out a heavy sigh.
"You dummy, I don't think that's it."
"Ah! Then why...!"
"Well, the moment Demian learned about the future, the timeline diverged from the original one, right? Couldn't your appearance be a butterfly effect of that?"
Hearing Mari's highly logical explanation, Demian nodded in agreement.
"Regardless, the important thing is that you, Yunjae, could be humanity's only hope! Please, come with me to Sumatra and defeat Kadmus!"
At his desperate plea, Yunjae's face turned somewhat serious. Demian, despite having seen the future, was not yet fully matured in his own power and looked frustrated by his own limitations.
"...I know this is a difficult request to accept. But if we don't, the future...!"
"Yunjae."
Mari knew better than anyone how much he detested hunting. He had finally landed the office assistant job he had wanted so badly today, and now they were asking him to go to Sumatra! Yet, knowing his personality, she knew it would be incredibly hard for him to turn down such a plea.
"It's a bit hard to believe, but still..."
Akemi hesitated, hinting that it might be worth looking into. Yunjae let out a deep sigh and muttered, "Does old age usually hit you all of a sudden?"
It seemed Kadmus wasn't even on his mind.
"You idiot, were you still worrying about old age?! You didn't die of old age!"
"Ah! But if I'm not in the future, it must be because I passed away from natural causes...!"
"I told you, that's not it, you dummy!"
"But I'm at an age where I absolutely must prioritize my health! To think my life would end from old age after doing nothing but playing games!"
To spend fifty-seven years forced to play a game, only to die of old age in his seventies! Seeing Yunjae absolutely refuse to accept such a fate, Demian stared blankly.
"What in the world..."
He had felt it on the plane too, but this person was truly impossible to believe as an overwhelmingly powerful ability user.
"Anyway, did you ever meet Akemi or Mari in the future?"
When Yunjae asked with a relatively serious face, Demian looked at Akemi and replied, "I know of Akemi."
"Ah, so that's how you knew about my ability!"
"Yes."
"Then what happened to Akemi...?"
Demian didn't answer.
"That is..."
No, he couldn't. With the person in question sitting right in front of him, he couldn't bring himself to say it.
"Eee..."
Sensing her own fate just from the heavy atmosphere, Akemi's playful demeanor vanished, replaced by a solemn quiet.
"Well, I suppose in a future like that, ordinary people would have all died anyway."
"No, it's a bit different in your case."
"Eh? What do you mean?"
At her tilted head, Demian shrugged.
"You went missing before Kadmus even appeared..."
"Eee?! Me?!"
"Well, maybe you just quit before then."
"True! I don't plan on doing this hunter stuff for long anyway!"
"Must be nice."
In any case, wouldn't the same apply to Mari? No, she might have already been dead long before then. After all, she was just a C-class hunter with no special abilities.
"Still, to think everyone dies..."
It was a bleak, unimaginable future. As Mari and Akemi wore solemn expressions at the thought, Yunjae let out a sigh.
"Well, if I'm going to die of old age soon anyway, it seems there won't be anyone left to stop Kadmus."
"Why would you die of old age?!"
"Ah! No one knows what life has in store, Mari!"
Then, Yunjae looked at Demian, who was anxiously awaiting his decision, and spoke.
"Anyway, even if it was just a game, I am still a hero who saved the world a thousand times."
"A thousand times?"
"Ah! Because the only thing left for me to do was that ultra-hard quest!"
At those words, everyone stared at him blankly. Compared to him, Demian, who claimed to have regressed from the future, suddenly felt like a perfectly ordinary person.
"Eee~? A thousand times?! I get sick of doing the same quest even ten times. That's amazing!"
As a fellow gamer, Akemi gasped in admiration. Yunjae, perhaps recalling those days, swallowed hard before replying.
"Ah... If I didn't at least do the quests, I felt like I would have gone completely insane all by myself..."
Though he was smiling, his eyes held a complex swirl of emotions. Looking at his still-trembling gaze, one could easily tell just how incredibly difficult of a time he had endured.
Fifty-seven years all alone...
Perhaps because of that, Mari found herself seriously reflecting on the sheer amount of time Yunjae had spent. Honestly, she hadn't believed him at first. She had thought he was a madman, but now she had no choice but to believe. Because his behavior was so silly and his appearance was so cute and pretty, it was hard to take him seriously, but if he really had been forced to play a game all by himself for fifty-seven years...
I could never have survived that.
She didn't know what kind of world it was, but surely anyone's mind would have shattered. The fact that Yunjae was easily startled by the smallest things and acted so cautious in every aspect of life was likely the lingering trauma of that isolation. Fifty-seven years was more than double the time Mari had been alive. To spend that long entirely alone...
Squeeze.
Her heart aching for him, she unconsciously gripped her collar tight.
"Anyway, so if I die of old age, that means Akemi and Mari will die too, right?"
Even in this moment, Yunjae was still hyper-focused on dying of old age!
"I told you, you're not dying of old age! You dummy!"
Overwhelmed by emotion, Mari yelled, but Yunjae raised his voice in return, which was highly unusual for him.
"Ah! But still!"
His subtle stubbornness was likely another side effect of his long isolation. How could he know any better when he had been deprived of normal human relationships for so long?
"In any case, yes, that is what will happen. If we cannot stop Kadmus..."
Leaving the bickering duo aside, Demian answered with a grave expression, prompting Yunjae to nod.
"Alright! Then let's go and wipe him out!"
He had agreed surprisingly easily!
"R-really?!"
"For real?!"
Even Mari and Akemi looked shocked, but Yunjae merely shrugged as if he had no choice.
"Ah! I don't have much time left anyway, but you two still have your whole lives ahead of you!"
He was still thoroughly convinced he was going to die of old age. Because of that, he wanted to pave a new path for the futures of these two women, who were so much younger than him.
"Yunjae..."
Though his reasoning about old age was ridiculous, both Akemi and Mari felt a sudden lump in their throats. Mari, especially, felt tears welling up in her eyes, so she shouted with exaggerated annoyance to hide her emotions.
"You look like the one with the most life ahead of you!"
"Ah! How can you say that! I'm seventy-seven! I've got one foot in the grave!"
Hiding her tears behind her outburst, she crossed her arms and tried to sound nonchalant.
"Anyway, so what now? Are we going to Sumatra right this second?"
"If we fly to Jakarta and take a boat, it will take about eleven hours. After that..."
Demian couldn't guarantee what would happen next, given what he remembered of Kadmus's resurrection.
"Portals really are convenient at times like this. To think we have to travel for eleven hours for something that won't even take an hour..."
But Yunjae's perspective was entirely different.
"Wait, is it really that easy?"
From the moment they met, Yunjae had maintained a remarkably consistent attitude toward Kadmus. It was enough to make Demian, who had returned with grim determination, feel somewhat embarrassed.
"Ah! I'm worried I might sound like I'm bragging, but I'm just a good-for-nothing who did nothing but play that game for fifty-seven years... So that might be my only redeeming quality..."
Sensing Demian's mood, the socially anxious Yunjae shrank back as he answered, which caught Demian completely off guard.
"N-no! I didn't mean it like that!"
If what Yunjae said was true, he was a being who could rule this world like a god, yet he was so introverted and timid that he could barely stand his ground!
"...You're very kind, Demian. I'm so glad I've only met good people since coming back!"
In any case, Yunjae clearly had zero desire to show off his power to others.
"So, should we head out right now...?"
Perhaps saving the future would be incredibly simple! At Demian's expectant question, Yunjae hesitated.
"...Is there something important you need to do?"
"Ah! I actually need to go buy some Provence bedding right now..."
Demian froze.
"Pardon?"
"You idiot, is that really so important right now?!"
Mari burst out laughing, having never expected him to bring up the Provence bedding again in this situation.
"Ah! In that case, since you're tired, Mari, I'll go buy the Provence bedding, so please go home and wait for me!"
Mari fell into thought for a moment. She was indeed exhausted. But still...
"If I buy it on my own, you'll just grumble that you don't like the color! That's even more exhausting! Besides, my taste is more Nordic style anyway."
Letting him buy it alone might actually turn out to be more troublesome!
"Ah! How could you!"
For some reason, Mari felt like accompanying him to Sumatra. Perhaps there, she would finally get to see his true worth.
"But you do have a point. You and I have very different tastes, Mari. Besides, if I wanted pink and you wanted blue, that would be a very serious issue."
"You want pink?"
"Ah! It's just that it was my mother's favorite color...!"
Seeing him look twice as serious about this as he did about facing Kadmus, everyone wore incredibly awkward expressions.
"Can't you just let it slide for once?"
"But if the color bothers me, I won't be able to rest comfortably!"
"No! Just how long are we going to keep talking about this Provence bedding?!"
"Then let's go pick it out together after we get back from Sumatra!"
Seeing him treat bedding as infinitely more important than some Demon King, Mari let out a hollow laugh and nodded.
"Fine, let's get this over with! That damn bedding!"