Chapter 2
Chapter 2
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Translator: Ace
Chapter: 2
Chapter Title: Part 2. Bom (1)
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Yoo Ji-tae pulled the uniform out of the closet.
He slipped on the awkward dress shirt and pants. The clothes were too small in length and size to fit properly, but the moment his hand touched them, they stretched out on their own to conform perfectly to his body.
This was the power of one of his skills.
An advanced skill that allowed him to wear items originally impossible for a human. Right now, it was being used for something as trivial as resizing a too-small uniform.
Finally, he tied his necktie and looked in the mirror. It felt strangely nostalgic.
A police uniform. About a hundred years ago, there had been a time when wearing this had filled him with pride.
Now, it was just a distant memory he could barely recall.
He glanced at the clock. 7 a.m.
Time to head to work.
Even at this early hour, Gangnam was bustling with people. Salarymen in suits making calls somewhere. Or superhumans in combat gear smoking cigarettes.
Everyone living their own daily lives. It made the space feel a bit awkward for him.
He boarded a bus headed for the Portal Management Bureau.
Large magic stones floated inside the building. This was where one could use teleportation.
"Heading to Lair?"
"Yes."
As Yoo Ji-tae stepped onto the portal, his body began to be enveloped in light.
When he opened his eyes again, he was in 'Lair'.
The 21st century. Gates opened worldwide, centered on South Korea, and monsters began pouring out. At the same time, superhumans armed with 'blessings' and 'skills' were born.
A dimensional connection between Earth and another world called 'Ascalifa'.
In this era known as the New Epoch, South Korea had been relatively fortunate. Dungeon lines rich in intelligent species and demonkin had formed more abundantly than in other countries.
Places abundant in demonkin and intelligent species yielded hefty profits from raids. South Korea was treated like the oil-rich nations of old, and thanks to that, it now possessed military power ranking among the top three in the world.
About ten years ago in such a South Korea, they began gathering and training the world's most promising young hunters.
The establishment of the academy city 'Lair'.
The Korean government secured astronomical investments from around the globe, recruited top-tier mages, magitech engineers, architects, and the like, and successfully built a massive floating island called 'Hate Ling' roughly one-tenth the size of Seoul. Hate Ling slowly orbited the world like an artificial satellite and was currently flying over the Atlantic region.
Lair was the name of the academy city built atop that Hate Ling.
And at 27 years old, Yoo Ji-tae was a police officer with the Lair Local Police Station.
He looked outside. Because it floated in the sky, clouds were visible in the distance.
He exited the Portal Management Bureau and strolled through the academy city. Cadets in uniforms walked here and there.
There was the station not far away.
"Sunbae Ji-tae, hello!"
"Ji-tae, you're here? We ran so hard yesterday."
As he entered, his team members greeted him. They were all unfamiliar faces.
That made sense. After regressing, he had never once come to work.
But this time was different. Yoo Ji-tae wanted to blend into everyday life.
Until now, he had believed in power and fear.
He thought most problems could be solved with force, and that fear was the most efficient way to bend others to his will. So in his repeated lives, he had amassed omnipotent power. He had uncovered the world's hidden secrets and monopolized the information.
But when his sixth life—strong enough that he couldn't even grow stronger—ended in failure, his mindset shattered.
That approach was wrong.
So now, he had to change.
But perhaps because he had come back too far, the situation wasn't favorable. In his repeated lives, he had lost much.
He could leap across nearby dimensions if he wished, yet taking the bus to work felt unfamiliar.
Twisting the Demon King's neck to threaten him was simple, but sharing a drink with friends was difficult.
And ironically, to avert the apocalypse, what he needed was that very mundane 'daily life'.
This job wasn't bad, at least.
He could legally eliminate those who hastened the end, and it had close ties to Lair, an educational institution.
So as long as it wasn't too bothersome, he was willing to play along.
He planned to slowly reclaim the 'daily life' he had lost while pondering world-ending matters and apocalypses.
"Hello."
Yoo Ji-tae greeted them and found his seat.
Files scattered haphazardly. A desk cluttered and disorganized. It was like facing his self from a hundred years ago.
He quietly cleaned his spot.
Even as he slowly started doing things one by one, faint memories surfaced like old film reels.
"Huh?"
His team members looked at Yoo Ji-tae in surprise.
"Why?"
"Sunbae Ji-tae, don't you seem kinda different somehow?"
"Yeah? Oh, yeah...!"
"Right?"
"What? Was he always that tall?"
His already somewhat tall stature had noticeably grown. Nearly 187 cm. Moreover, the muscles on his shoulders and arms visible over the uniform showed unfamiliar contours that made one doubt if it was the same person.
A junior who couldn't stand it anymore went over to ask.
"Sunbae Ji-tae. Did something happen?"
Yoo Ji-tae turned his head to look at him. What was his name again? His name tag was handy. Kim Min-su.
"Why."
"No, you just seem taller all of a sudden. And your build... it looks insanely better."
"Nothing happened."
The junior flinched at the low, curt voice.
It wasn't just the height and voice. The somehow hazy gaze. The inscrutable expression. Everything felt unfamiliar.
He had always been the quiet type who didn't talk much, but the current atmosphere was somehow different.
It was as if the whole person had been replaced.
"Are you okay?"
"I said I am."
"Or, uh, did you maybe Awaken your eyes or something?"
The process of a person harboring mana in their body to become a superhuman was called 'Awakening'.
And receiving a 'blessing' from the world as a superhuman was called 'Eye Awakening'.
Strictly speaking, he had indeed undergone Eye Awakening. He'd been getting blessings since a hundred years ago.
Yoo Ji-tae nodded roughly.
"No wonder! Wow, congrats, Sunbae."
The response came from behind him.
"Congrats? What congrats? You're talking nonsense like grazing cows. Do you think you have time to celebrate among yourselves right now?"
A loud voice echoed through the office. It was a middle-aged man weathered by experience—Inspector Park, captain of the Superhuman Investigation Division.
As he entered, the office fell silent like water had been poured over it. The team leader shot to attention, and the team members hurriedly lined up beside him.
Right. This place had this kind of culture.
Yoo Ji-tae casually stood somewhere in the middle.
"How many weeks has it been now? Even with Jo Ho-sik on the loose, they dragged away our already short-staffed team, and you're still causing chaos with no results?!"
The captain vented his anger.
Jo Ho-sik?
Even rummaging through his memories, no such name came up. Probably some small-time crook who committed a crime in Lair and vanished.
The stiff team leader let out a shrill whine.
"We've almost tracked him down now! Just give us a little more time..."
"A little? A tiny bit?"
The captain approached and prodded the team leader's forehead with his finger.
"You don't even know what Team 1 is saying about you guys, do you?"
"Pardon?"
"Of course not. And you won't in the future either."
"W-what did they say?"
"They said they'd rather do it themselves. That it'd be faster for them to go catch Jo Ho-sik starting now. But you know what pisses me off more? I couldn't even tell those bastards to hold back. Know why?"
"Th-that's..."
"Because everything they said is true! Argh! You worthless fingers!"
Then he began prodding each team member's forehead one by one.
"You're the thumb."
"Ow."
"You're the index."
"Ouch."
"You're the middle!"
"Eek! Why me harder?!"
"Don't know middle finger? It's fuck you, punk. And you! You...?!"
But at the fourth person, Yoo Ji-tae, the captain's hand stopped. He widened his eyes in surprise.
"Huh?"
From a higher vantage, Yoo Ji-tae stared straight into his eyes.
"Huh? Who's this guy standing here?"
"What do you mean? It's Ji-tae. Yoo Ji-tae."
"Huh? You're Yoo Ji-tae?"
Yoo Ji-tae nodded lightly without retort. Captain Park scanned his face and body, then muttered 'Huh?' in confusion.
"Well... you seem different somehow. Anyway! I have to go somewhere right now, so I'm giving you a hard deadline."
"Pardon? Deadline...?"
"One week, exactly. Catch Jo Ho-sik or give up within that. Got it?"
"C-Captain! One week?!"
"Figure it out yourselves!"
Captain Park said just that and vanished.
It was like sparks flying onto the team.
"Sigh. We couldn't catch him in three months, and now one week...?"
"The captain's too harsh."
"We're not catching ordinary punks. Jo Ho-sik, that slippery bastard."
"Exactly."
The team members sighed deeply. Their faces were full of worry, as if it were such a big deal. The regressor speculated: probably fretting that their three months of effort might go to waste.
Was a mere few months of effort worth agonizing over like that? No matter how many times he thought about it, the emotion didn't resonate.
Perhaps the gap he felt now was proof of how much he had lost.
Still, he understood the situation perfectly.
When necessary. As much as necessary. Without disrupting his daily life.
For the sake of his own routine, he was willing to help them.
Of course, he wouldn't do it personally.
Daily life was daily life, but necessary tasks had to be done.
That evening, Yoo Ji-tae pierced the skies near the Mediterranean in southern Europe.
Florence, Italy. On a street lined with Renaissance-style buildings. Where street musicians played beautiful music, Yoo Ji-tae encountered a girl.
She looked about seventeen or eighteen.
"......"
The girl stopped walking and stood there.
Yoo Ji-tae also halted and stared at her for a long while.
Olive-toned hair like a gemstone. And eyes that sparkled like jewels.
After living through long ages, he had lost all interest in women. Yet his gaze lingered on her face because, no matter how many times he looked, it wasn't a human face.
It held a beauty so transcendent of race that it evoked a slight sense of rejection.
She was the Green Dragon.
"......"
As if sensing something, she gazed at him with a slightly stiff expression.
Yoo Ji-tae pondered. Meeting her was good. But now what?
In past regressions, there had been no need to chat long with the hatchlings, so he had kidnapped them outright and locked them in underground labyrinths.
It had proven a fatal mistake.
So this time, a bit more.
More daily.
"Hello."
He greeted her.