A Regressor's Despair
"Ugh..."
Perhaps because he had lived alone inside a game for fifty-seven years, Lim Yunjae had a tendency to march to the beat of his own drum. Despite being the absolute epitome of introversion and social anxiety, his stubbornness was incredibly fierce, making him completely immune to persuasion.
"Anyway, let's go. We're finally heading to your hometown."
"Yes!"
After all, this was his return after fifty-seven long years! Yunjae nodded with a slightly excited expression, having never imagined he would be making his return on an airplane. As he and Mari Rose walked toward the boarding gate...
Who is that guy?
A man dressed in a pristine white suit, a white shirt, and white Birkenstock slippers tilted his head as he watched Yunjae.
I've never seen anyone like him before.
This handsome man, who had his long hair slicked back, was none other than Demian Lewis—one of the strongest hunters currently active in the world.
"Oh my god! Is he going to Korea?"
"To think we're flying with Demian! We're so lucky!"
His overwhelming presence was so reassuring that the other passengers let out sighs of relief, feeling that they would be perfectly safe even if a random portal opened in midair during the flight.
Fools! The future is not safe!
However, Demian knew something the ordinary public did not.
I must hurry to Korea and join forces with the Blast Guild. Only then can we defeat the Demon King Kadmus and save the future.
Indeed, he was actually a regressor who had traveled back in time from the future! In his original timeline, humanity had been pushed to the brink of extinction by the Demon King Kadmus, who had emerged from a portal. Demian had fought with everything he had, pushing his body to its absolute limits, but he had ultimately been defeated.
Please, just give me one more chance...!
In his final moments, his powerful comrade and lover, Ariel, had squeezed out the very last of her life force to send him back in time. Thus, he had been reborn—ten years before the fateful battle with the Demon King Kadmus!
Our greatest enemy is our own division!
The reason they had lost the war against Kadmus was because the various guilds had prioritized their own selfish interests instead of cooperating. In particular, the feud between Demian and Korea's Blast Guild had been severe. That petty emotional conflict had ultimately led to independent, uncoordinated actions, resulting in their total annihilation by the overwhelming power of Kadmus.
If we strike before he regains his full strength, we have a chance!
Demian knew that Kadmus had not crossed over in a perfect state; instead, he was currently recovering his power while entrenched inside a portal. Therefore, if he joined forces with the Blast Guild now and launched an attack before Kadmus could fully recover, victory would surely be theirs.
"We must succeed."
Reminding himself once more that the survival of humanity rested squarely on his shoulders, Demian passed through the gate with a solemn expression and boarded the flight to Korea.
"Um, this is my first time on an airplane!"
It was then that the figure of "Slender Forearms" caught his eye. For some reason, the boy looked incredibly excited...
Demian flinched. What on earth is that guy?
With that bizarre title floating above his head, he was clearly no ordinary person, yet Demian had absolutely no memory of him from the future.
"De-Demian!"
Meanwhile, Mari realized that Demian was sitting directly across the aisle from them in business class, and her eyes widened in shock. To think that the legendary hunter was on the very same flight!
"Oh my god! I can't believe I'm seeing the real Demian!"
While she was busy wondering if she should ask for an autograph, Yunjae, true to his anxious nature, grew nervous as the takeoff approached.
"Mari, what... what if I get motion sickness?"
He didn't seem to be doing it on purpose, but he always had an uncanny knack for disrupting the mood at the most exquisite moments.
"...Just shut up, will you?" Mari replied, slightly annoyed. "How can a game character get motion sickness?"
Yunjae's face immediately fell into a pout.
"I suppose so, but hearing you say it like that is a bit hurtful. Then again, a mere game character has no right to get motion sickness..."
Mari let out a heavy sigh at his passive-aggressive grumbling—another classic trait of his introverted, sensitive personality.
"There's a restroom right there. You can just go in there if you feel sick."
"Ah! Thank you. But does a mere game character even need to use the restroom?"
This guy really knows how to hold a grudge!
"...I'm sorry, okay? For calling you a game character."
"You don't have a title like 'Slender Forearms' floating over your head, Mari, so you'll never know how it feels! Imagine being called that instead of your actual name for fifty-seven years!"
"Phew..." Mari exhaled a long, exhausted breath.
Watching them, Demian furrowed his brow. Is he just an idiot?
He had never seen an ability user like this, nor did he have any memory of him. Since Yunjae possessed such a striking appearance that would be impossible to forget once seen, Demian concluded that he must have been some insignificant weakling who died early in the original timeline, and promptly dismissed him from his thoughts.
In any case, I don't have time to waste on useless thoughts. I must save humanity.
After all, he was a man who had returned with a grave mission!
"Mari, what should we do if the plane crashes?"
"Oh, then we die. We just have to die," she replied with a bright, sarcastic smile.
Yunjae chuckled softly. "I'm a game character, so I don't think I'll die!"
"Ugh, the grudge! Seriously!"
"Mari, how much longer until we reach Korea?"
"This damn game character... doesn't even sleep..."
"I can't help it! I'm max level, so my stamina doesn't drop even if I run at full speed all day!"
Mari realized she might have made a grave mistake. He was undeniably powerful, but as a partner, he was going to be incredibly exhausting.
"Well, my stamina doesn't just magically refill like yours, okay?"
"Ah, then let me refill it for you! Cure!"
At that exact moment, a brilliant light flashed.
"...Huh?"
Instantly, Mari's fatigue completely vanished, leaving her feeling entirely refreshed. Demian, who was sleeping right next to them with his eye mask on, seemed to have missed the spectacle entirely.
"Are you okay now?"
"I'm fine, but did you really have to use it right now?"
She had wanted to sleep, but now her fatigue was gone. And there was absolutely nothing to do!
"Ah-ah, I only used it because I was worried about you, Mari..."
"Please, stop pouting!"
"I guess it's because I'm just a thoughtless game character."
"Oh my god!"
Though her body felt light and refreshed, Mari felt her mental fatigue piling up. She sighed and said, "It's been six hours, right? That means we have about seven hours left. I could have arrived after a nice nap, but now I can't even sleep."
"That's great! I can't sleep anyway, so talking together will make the time fly, right?"
This guy is seriously annoying in the most subtle way!
"...You don't even have anything to talk about!"
"Ah! Actually, that's not true!"
Yunjae's tone shifted, indicating he actually had something serious on his mind.
"...What if I go back and my family isn't there?"
He stared out the window at the moon and stars passing by in the night sky.
Family. If his story was true, then his family would almost certainly be gone. As they drew closer to Korea, the reality of his situation seemed to finally sink in, leaving him with a heavy heart.
"If fifty-seven years have really passed, like you said... then the chances of them being gone are very high."
"It's so sad. I wasn't even someone who liked games that much, but because of a game, I wasted fifty-seven years and lost my family."
For once, Yunjae's words were deeply serious. The impending return to his homeland had clearly brought a flood of complicated emotions.
"But still, there's a possibility, right? A chance that they might still be alive."
Seeing him like this, Mari's expression softened into one of genuine empathy.
"I don't even have that..."
She had witnessed her family's death with her own eyes. As the painful memory resurfaced, Mari's eyes welled up with tears.
"Ah! I'm so sorry, Mari!"
Yunjae panicked and apologized profusely. Because of his introverted and timid nature, he had spent fifty-seven years constantly apologizing to NPCs, but this apology carried genuine, heartfelt sincerity.
"Well, it's nothing to apologize for. Anyway, yeah. Having that possibility is much better, isn't it?"
"Yes, Mari." Yunjae nodded.
"But... aren't you lonely, Mari?"
At his question, Mari let out a dry chuckle. "I don't know. I don't really know what loneliness is anymore."
"Actually, neither do I. At first, it was unbearable, but as time passed, having someone next to me felt more awkward. Even right now."
Having spent so long in isolation, Yunjae had become far more accustomed to solitude than companionship.
"I keep getting startled when people talk to me. Over there, unless I initiated the conversation, they would never say a word to me, even if it was the exact same line."
He had lived with NPCs for fifty-seven years; it was only natural. While Mari still couldn't fully comprehend if his story was entirely true, she couldn't help but smile at his cute verbal habits.
"Is that why you always go 'Ah!'?"
"Ah! That's just a habit!"
Mari shrugged at his defensive reply. Though she could be sharp-tongued, she was honest and possessed a deeply tender heart.
"Phew..."
Perhaps because they were sharing such intimate thoughts during a night flight, she felt a wave of sentimentality wash over her. She closed her mouth, her eyes still slightly misty.
"You'll adapt soon. That's just how humans are."
"Yes, Mari! I feel much better thanks to you! Thank you!"
Mari shrugged, glad she could be of some help.
"Then..."
She was about to ask him to be her hunter partner when—
Rumble!
"Ugh! W-What is that?!"
The airplane suddenly shuddered violently as if it had struck something.
"Kyaaa! What's happening?!"
Outside the window, giant black birds were emerging from a portal that had torn open in midair.
"Exotic Birds!"
Demian, who had ripped off his eye mask, recognized them instantly, his face pale with shock.
"No way!"
Exotic Birds were the signature monsters of Kadmus! Could it be that Kadmus had realized he regressed and launched a preemptive strike?
"Damn it!" Demian stood up and shouted. "We need to open the door so I can fight them!"
Demian's ability allowed him to discharge powerful lightning. While devastating, discharging it from inside the cabin carried a massive risk of frying the plane's electrical systems and rendering it completely inoperable.
"T-That's insane! We can't do that at this altitude!" the flight attendant protested, shaking her head in panic.
"But if we do nothing, we'll crash from their attacks!"
"We can just get rid of them from the inside," Slender Forearms said casually.
Demian flinched. What? What did he just say?
Though Demian had met almost every powerful ability user in the world, he had never heard of this "Slender Forearms" guy, and the sheer absurdity of his words left him utterly bewildered.
Rumble!
"Ugh!"
"Yunjae, do you have a plan?"
If they did nothing, the plane would crash before they ever reached Korea. While she had joked about dying, a real crash was no laughing matter!
"Do something, quickly!"
At Mari's desperate cry, Yunjae hesitated slightly.
"Just a moment."
"Hurry!"
"...I usually only do this when I really don't want to hunt."
At that exact moment, Yunjae uttered a name that made Demian's heart stop.
"Kadmus!"
What? Demian's pupils dilated in sheer shock. How does he know Kadmus's name?
Before he could even process the thought, a deafening roar echoed through the sky.
"W-What on earth is that?!"
A colossal Demon King materialized directly above the flying airplane.
"K-Kadmus?! Kadmus?!"
The sudden appearance of the Demon King who had brought about the end of humanity completely shattered Demian's mental state.
"Get rid of them," Slender Forearms commanded indifferently, picking his ear.
"Vanish. Into the void..."
Obeying the command, the Demon King Kadmus waved his hand. Instantly, the flock of Exotic Birds swarming the airplane was completely vaporized, erased from existence in a single breath.
The sheer, terrifying scale of the display left Demian, Mari, and every single passenger on the plane standing with their mouths agape.
"Alright, you can go now," Slender Forearms said, dismissing the terrifying Demon King as if he were nothing more than a pocket monster.
"W-What on earth was that...?"
"Ah, that's Kadmus. He has a massive health pool, so he's one of the essential boss monsters you have to Tame for Mamon raids. I wasn't really planning on using him for something like this, but we were in a hurry..."
"Just... who are you...?"
"Since I had to clear forty-man raids all by myself, Taming was absolutely mandatory! Do you have any idea how many times I died? Just resurrecting in town and running all the way back to the dungeon was a nightmare!"
Seeing the genuine exhaustion on his face as he recalled those memories, Mari was left completely speechless. But just like at Point 6, he had summoned an absurdly powerful entity to instantly resolve a crisis.
No matter how annoying he is, I have to make him my partner!
While Mari stared at the game-breaking power of the max-level "Slender Forearms" with a look of utter disbelief, Demian's mind was in a state of complete collapse.
"H-How... How can you command Kadmus?!" Demian screamed, staring at Yunjae. "To command the Demon King who destroyed humanity! How is this possible?!"
"Huh? But he just has a lot of HP. He's not actually that strong."
"What?" Demian staggered backward.
"T-That's impossible! Because of him...!"
Because of that very Demon King, the Nemesis Guild, the Blast Guild, and every single powerful ability user on Earth had been slaughtered. The extinction of humanity had been an absolute certainty!
"Ah! But I can solo him in about an hour. And that was a long time ago, so now..."
Demian collapsed back into his seat.
What was the point of it all? His lover, Ariel, had sacrificed her very life to send him back to the past, and yet...
"Just who are you...?"
For some reason, the ridiculous name "Slender Forearms" floating above the boy's head made Demian feel even more utterly defeated and frustrated.
"Ah, ah-ah... I'm just a useless human who wasted more than half his life inside a game."
Yunjae, feeling his social anxiety flare up under Demian's intense gaze, kept his distance and turned back to the window. Though he possessed a gentle and mild-mannered temperament, it seemed he still hadn't fully recovered from the trauma of losing his youth to the game.