Chapter 352
Chapter 352
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 352
Chapter Title: Future Diary (2)
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Adora held her breath and turned the page.
The major exploits of Park Chan-woo that she had either experienced firsthand or heard about through Lee Hyuk-soo or others were all chronicled there in detail.
Like a perfectly scripted play, he had anticipated future events in advance and tackled them one by one, acquiring exactly what he needed with precision.
'Was he really a prophet?'
Adora shuddered anew at the realization that it was all based on such meticulous and detailed future information.
He hadn't just foreseen the future—he had meticulously planned and executed changes to steer it toward his desired path.
It wasn't merely a list of things to secure in preparation for the future.
『Second Night. Doppelganger appears. Perform 'Fugitive' role. Acquire Masterpiece Map. Exclusive Contribution. Legendary Quest (Khan's Palace) triggered and cleared. Encounter and persuade Ataraxia.』
『Mountain of Cultivators. Encounter Chui and learn swordsmanship. Meet Heavenly Demon Taebaek in the Immortal Realm.』
『Fourth Night. Casino Abyss. Bankruptcy of the Demon King of Karmic Flames. Great Rift.』
『……』
Some entries simply recorded events as they happened.
From meeting Chui on the Mountain of Cultivators and learning swordsmanship, to encountering Heavenly Demon Taebaek.
Details she hadn't known were described there plainly, as if recounting her own journey.
And toward the end, Adora discovered passages that felt different—short, yet brimming with intense emotion.
『Everything is progressing too quickly.』
『If I let go even a little, it feels like it will spiral out of control.』
For a moment, Adora stopped breathing.
These lines were worlds apart from the cold calculations, analyses, and lists of future intel she had read before.
This wasn't a plan or information.
It was closer to a raw confession of anxiety or desperation bursting from deep within him.
Park Chan-woo, who always charged ahead single-mindedly.
Overflowing with confidence, forging his own path.
But perhaps, inwardly, it had all been festering.
'Park Chan-woo…….'
The Park Chan-woo she knew was always strong, seeming to see through everything, and sometimes even displaying a ruthless side that hid his emotions.
At times, he felt like a machine walking a predetermined path without a single deviation.
But these brief sentences laid bare the human anguish and pressure hidden behind that mask.
Because he knew everything, had the weight of it crushed him?
To evade a fated destruction, or to forge the future he desired, had he relentlessly whipped himself onward?
In constant fear that a single moment of carelessness might unravel it all.
Suddenly, she recalled the faces he had shown her.
Sometimes indifferent, sometimes playful, sometimes moments of genuine concern.
Perhaps all of it had been a temporary refuge from this suffocating anxiety—a place to lean, if only for a moment.
For the first time, Adora felt something akin to pity for the being that was Park Chan-woo.
The burden he carried, the solitude and anxiety he had shouldered alone.
She turned to the next page.
Hoping, perhaps, to glimpse even deeper into his heart.
And there it was.
『I must defeat Sepiro.』
『This time, perfectly.』
『The price of turning back time was too great. Since I staked everything... I can't fail again.』
Adora's mind went blank.
What she had just read shook the very essence of who Park Chan-woo was.
Turning back time? What did that mean?
Wasn't it like returning to the past to live life over?
'This isn't... a prophecy.'
Adora shuddered.
This was no prophet's record of foreseen futures.
She reset her perspective and began reading the book from the beginning again.
Now, everything looked different.
Not preparing for futures foreseen.
But like... a desperate revenge plan and survival manual scrawled by someone who had personally experienced a failed past and returned from it.
The Park Chan-woo she knew. Human. Prophet. Powerful mage. All of it might have been mere surface.
His true nature, the secret he bore, was far deeper and grander than she had imagined.
With trembling hands, she tried to turn the page again.
Terrified of what shocking truths lay beyond, yet unable to stop.
She had only just begun peering into the abyss that was Park Chan-woo.
And at that moment.
'Park Chan-woo's memory.'
Some memory, some vision, flashed through her mind.
Long ago, before the world changed, Park Chan-woo was a shadow of a man.
Securities firm.
In the corner of the bustling trading floor inside a gleaming glass building filled with people coming and going, he huddled as always, trying to make himself as small as possible.
His shoulders slumped, his gaze forever fixed on some spot on the floor.
He clearly dreaded making eye contact with anyone or having someone approach him.
"Hey, Park Chan-woo!"
A sharp voice called his name.
Park Chan-woo flinched and looked up.
His direct superior, Team Leader Kim Byung-han, stood there with arms crossed, glaring down at him with disdain.
"Y-yes? Team Leader."
Park Chan-woo's voice was barely a whisper.
"Can't you see this typo? Huh? Are your eyes just for show? Didn't you pick up the phone from the client because of this?"
Kim Byung-han irritably slammed a stack of documents onto his desk.
Park Chan-woo scrambled to gather the papers, fumbling for an excuse.
"S-sorry. I should have double-checked..."
"Forget it! Fix it quick and report back! And you're working overtime tonight—no question. Everyone else can go home, but not you. Got it?"
"Y-yes... Understood."
Under the sidelong glances of his colleagues, Park Chan-woo's face burned red.
He never even considered arguing or protesting.
He just hung his head, blaming his own incompetence and bad luck.
One small mistake had led to yet another late night.
It was always like this.
What others brushed off easily always boomeranged back on him with harsh consequences, and he knew no other way but to endure it.
After quitting time had long passed, alone in the empty office, Park Chan-woo wrestled with the documents Kim Byung-han had dumped on him.
His head throbbed, his stomach churned. He hadn't eaten lunch properly.
He had nearly been late that morning and rushed out without his wallet.
There was no colleague he could borrow from.
Or more accurately, he lacked the courage to even ask.
'How long do I have to live like this......?'
He stared blankly at the dazzling city lights beyond the window.
Somewhere in those lights, people were probably laughing and chatting happily.
A world utterly unlike his own.
He had been unlucky from birth, had nothing to his name, and was riddled with fears.
He lacked not just the power to change the world, but even the ability to manage his own daily life.
Then the 'Abyss' appeared.
"W-what is that?!"
Far from changing, he was too busy fleeing.
When the world flipped upside down and monsters emerged, Park Chan-woo's first reaction was pure terror.
Some others awakened suddenly, gaining power, or picked up weapons to survive amid the fear—but not him.
His mind was filled only with thoughts of 'How can I hide without being noticed?' and 'How can I avoid those monsters?'
Awakening?
No such luck came his way.
Or perhaps he had some faint talent, but not the courage to manifest it.
In the early chaos, he moved purely on survival instinct.
At night, he sought the deepest corners of abandoned, darkened buildings to hide.
He lay awake through the nights, listening to the monsters' howls outside, sporadic gunfire, and distant screams.
Terrified of when his turn would come.
He was no hero.
Certainly no savior.
Before his regression, facing the world's end, Park Chan-woo was just one more terrified, unlucky human flailing to survive.
Despairing at every looming threat and his own powerlessness, he wished only to last one more day.
But he couldn't run forever.
Even while hiding, the world kept crumbling, safe havens dwindling.
To survive, he needed another way.
Information.
Monsters' weaknesses, Abyss structures, survivors' records.
He scoured ruins for barely functioning terminals or picked up strategy notes left by the brave, desperately absorbing knowledge.
That's when he met people in similar straits.
"It's been tough, hasn't it?"
"Join us from today."
"This place won't be easily eroded by the Abyss."
"We have a holy relic blessed by Saint Yujinseo herself."
A small community clinging together, lacking power but supporting one another day by day.
He was wary at first, but gradually opened up and joined them.
He had nothing to offer, but sharing food and watching each other's backs brought a fleeting human warmth.
For the first time, he had people he could call 'precious.'
But that time didn't last.
"Aaaagh!"
"W-why?"
"It was supposed to block Abyss erosion...!"
"R-run, everyone!"
A powerful monster assaulted their makeshift shelter, and Park Chan-woo froze in terror, unable to fight properly.
As he hesitated, the first people he had opened his heart to were slaughtered helplessly before his eyes.
Even those who bravely stood to protect them were torn apart gruesomely.
Park Chan-woo was left alone again.
"Why, damn it, why!"
Alone in the ruins, he screamed.
Loathing for his own weakness and cowardice, guilt for failing to protect the precious, rage at everything that had wrought this world—it all erupted together.
He had to change.
Running alone couldn't protect anything anymore.
From that day, Park Chan-woo transformed.
Beyond mere survival, he yearned for 'strength.'
Using the strategy info he had gathered, he began dissecting and exploiting the Abyss more efficiently than anyone.
Strangely, he showed uncanny talent in understanding the Abyss system and monster patterns.
His direct combat skills and magic talent were abysmal, but he instinctively knew how to exploit weaknesses, turn traps against foes, and maximize experience with minimal resources.
He leveled up rapidly.
While other Awakened surged ahead with powerful skills and talents, he caught up through ruthless calculations, intel analysis, and death-defying tightropes.
Finally, he reached level 99—the highest for any human.
But that was the end.
'Can't I overcome the wall of talent?'
Level 99.
He had hit humanity's limit, yet still couldn't surpass the fundamental 'talent' barrier.
He couldn't wield mighty magic or overwhelming force.
Just basic spells, clumsy swordplay, and exceptional Abyss攻略 knowledge—that was all he had.
Not even reaching the toes of other races.
And at last, the final moment arrived.
Midway up the Dragon God Temple.
Park Chan-woo poured everything he had into it.
Refining basic spells like Fireball and telekinesis to their limits and combining them, he achieved the miracle of piercing one of Dragon God Sepiro's hearts.
"Impressive, human!"
Sepiro marveled, but that was it.
Losing one heart to a twelve-hearted Dragon God was no great blow.
Park Chan-woo exhausted his final card.
Only overwhelming despair and death awaited him.
He was defeated utterly.
His knowledge, levels, desperate will—all powerless before innate talent and might.
On death's doorstep, Park Chan-woo cried out one last time.
"Anything! If what I have isn't enough, I'll sell my future! If that's still not enough, I'll offer my soul as sacrifice...!"
Please.
Just one more chance for him.
Please, just once.
To this foolish, cowardly fool—a chance to change.
This time... to reclaim all that was taken, to protect what was precious, just one chance.
If he could have that, he would give everything he had.
He prayed desperately, over and over.