Chapter 1
Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 1
Chapter Title: Regression (1)
A black sky.
In the darkness where the sun had died and even the moon had faded,
a hill covered in countless corpses stretched out before him.
One heavy step after another,
a young man climbed that seemingly endless mountain of corpses.
Staggering.
Wavering precariously with every step.
Death.
Everywhere he looked, there was nothing but crushed and mangled bodies.
Entrails spilled across the ground, and brains oozed from shattered skulls.
And then—
Vwoooom!!
A ray of starlight descended upon him, illuminating the darkness.
[Well done, Awakened Lee Shin-hyeok.]
A woman with silver hair cascading down to her waist floated gently in the air, her dress woven from starlight itself.
“…Vega.”
The blood-soaked young man uttered the name of the woman before him.
No—the name of the goddess.
Vega.
The celestial sovereign of Lyra.
Among the countless Star Sovereigns who illuminated the night sky, she was one of the most radiant. Now, she gazed down at him with cold, indifferent eyes.
[You have slain the Heavenly Demon and saved this world.]
Her tone was stiff, her speech mechanical, as though she were merely reading from a script.
“…Saved it?”
Lee Shin-hyeok's lips twisted.
Kekeke.
His shoulders trembled as he burst into laughter.
“Saved it? You're saying I saved this world?”
A hoarse voice escaped his parched lips.
“Bull—”
BOOM!
He stomped violently on the ground and let out a scream of anguish.
“—SHIT!!!!”
Clear tears streamed down his cheeks.
“What kind of salvation is this?! Everyone died at that monster's hands! So what the fuck are you talking about?!”
Thump.
He collapsed to his knees, screaming in despair.
“The Apostles of the Twelve Zodiac Constellations! The Seven Stars!! And every last one of those damn Star Sovereigns!!”
Countless lives.
Thousands upon thousands of Awakened had joined forces.
The Star Sovereigns, who had spent their existence fighting and competing against one another, had finally stood side by side.
All to kill a single Heavenly Demon.
All to stop that monstrous being known as the Sky Demon.
And yet—
“Every single one of them…”
“They all…”
Were dead.
Every last one of them.
“They… were all devoured….”
His head drooped lifelessly.
The memory returned in vivid detail: the monster tearing through an army of tens of thousands all by himself, swallowing an entire Star Sovereign whole.
[But in the end, the Sky Demon has been slain.]
That was right.
Thousands upon thousands had sacrificed their lives.
Kind-hearted Apostles. Valiant warriors. Noble Star Sovereigns.
Most of them had perished.
But even so, in the end—
He had killed the Heavenly Demon.
[Awakened Lee Shin-hyeok, you are the one who killed him.]
He was the one who had done it.
“……”
Lee Shin-hyeok raised his head, his eyes hollow.
There lay the Heavenly Demon, collapsed on the ground with a spear piercing his heart.
His face was concealed behind a pure white mask.
Beyond the mask, his lifeless blue eyes stared into nothingness.
Gulp.
Lee Shin-hyeok swallowed dryly before quietly uttering the monster's name.
“…The Heavenly Demon. Kwon Oh-jin.”
The Sky Demon. The Master of Black Sovereignty. The Star Mark Devourer.
He had been known by many names, but they all inspired the same feeling.
Fear.
Overwhelming. Absolute.
Fear.
The very name of the Heavenly Demon had once made an entire world tremble.
Of course, it hadn't always been that way.
Once, Kwon Oh-jin had been nothing more than another Awakened, just like Lee Shin-hyeok.
No—he had been even weaker.
But…
The power Kwon Oh-jin had awakened, Black Sovereignty, possessed the ability to absorb the Star Marks that Star Sovereigns bestowed upon the Awakened.
Using that power, he devoured the Star Marks of countless Awakened. Eventually, he even consumed the Star Sovereigns themselves—the very beings who had bestowed those marks.
And this was the result.
A hill covered in corpses.
The final sight of a planet called Earth.
[Awakened Lee Shin-hyeok. In accordance with the Star Pact, I shall grant one wish to the person who saved this world by slaying the Heavenly Demon.]
The goddess's low, subdued voice echoed in his ears.
Lee Shin-hyeok's eyes turned cold.
“…Grant me…”
As though forcing the words out of his throat,
he parted his parched lips.
“Send me… back to the past.”
[…What?]
Vega raised an eyebrow.
[Are you asking to regress?]
“Yes.”
[…Do you wish to relive that horrific past?]
“Things will be different.”
Grit.
Lee Shin-hyeok ground his teeth.
“This time, things will be different.”
He would make sure of it.
No one else could do it.
Only he could change the outcome.
[Hmm.]
The goddess narrowed her eyes.
[You wish to become the Star That Defies Fate yourself.]
The one capable of defying the destiny of the world.
The sole existence capable of rewriting the pages of a story whose ending had already been decided.
A Regressor.
The human standing before her had just expressed his desire to become one.
[Once a world's fate has been decided, it is not easily changed.]
“I know.”
[A future even more painful and despairing than the first may await you.]
“I'll change it.”
[There will be no second chance.]
“One is enough.”
Lee Shin-hyeok's eyes blazed with fierce determination.
[…….]
The goddess closed her eyes and fell into thought.
A short while later,
her golden eyes, seemingly holding the light of the stars themselves, turned toward Lee Shin-hyeok.
[Very well. In accordance with the Star Pact, I shall send you back to the past.]
Clench.
Lee Shin-hyeok clenched his fists tightly.
“And one more thing.”
[The wish granted under the Star Pact may only be claimed once.]
“This isn't a wish, Vega. It's a proposal.”
He continued in his hoarse voice.
“Bestow upon me the Star Mark of Lyra.”
[…….]
The goddess's golden eyes wavered.
[You know what that means, do you not? No human can withstand my Star Mark.]
Just as she had said,
no human had ever survived receiving Lyra's Star Mark.
Its power was so immense that no one had ever managed to wield it.
Not even that Heavenly Demon.
He had never succeeded in obtaining Lyra's Star Mark.
[Even as the hero who slew the Heavenly Demon, your chance of surviving my Star Mark is one in a thousand… no, not even one in ten thousand.]
“If I can't be that one, then there's no point in going back in the first place.”
Lee Shin-hyeok answered firmly.
[…….]
Vega closed her eyes once more, deep in thought, then slowly approached him.
[I understand, Star That Defies Fate. I shall bestow upon you the Star Mark of Lyra.]
She placed a hand on Lee Shin-hyeok's shoulder.
[The moment you return to the past, the Star Mark of Lyra will reside within you, as stipulated by our pact. And… I shall seek you out myself.]
“You'll seek me out?”
How?
If he returned to the past, wouldn't her memories of this world disappear as well?
[Yes. Only you will retain your memories of this world. However, if you possess my Star Mark, my past self will at least be able to recognize that you are a Regressor.]
In other words, her Star Mark would serve as a kind of sign—a means of informing her past self, who would have no memories of this world, that he had returned from the future.
[If you can withstand my Star Mark, my past self will make you her Apostle.]
“That's… quite reassuring.”
The corners of Lee Shin-hyeok's tightly drawn lips softened.
He had tried to sound casual, calling it reassuring, but his heart was pounding as though it might burst from his chest.
Becoming Vega's Apostle was something countless Awakened had dreamed of. She was one of the Star Sovereigns known as the North Star.
[Then, I shall begin fulfilling our pact.]
“Wait.”
Leaving Vega behind, Lee Shin-hyeok turned around.
He walked toward the place where the Heavenly Demon lay collapsed.
“Hoo.”
With a trembling hand, he grasped the pure white mask covering the Heavenly Demon's face.
And then—
he removed it.
“…Ah.”
Revealed beneath the mask was the face of a young man with slightly drooping eyes.
“So this… is Kwon Oh-jin's face.”
His features were far too gentle and mild for someone who had made the entire world tremble in fear.
“…Hm?”
Lee Shin-hyeok furrowed his brow as he stared intently at the dead Heavenly Demon's face.
Where… have I seen him before?
He rummaged through the hazy storehouse of his memories, but nothing came to mind.
Well, whatever.
What mattered now was that he had seen the Heavenly Demon's face.
When Kwon Oh-jin first appeared, he wasn't nearly this strong.
His strength had grown at an astonishing rate after he began devouring Star Marks through the power of Black Sovereignty. But when he had first revealed himself to the world, he had been nothing more than an ordinary Awakened.
I'll return to the past and kill Kwon Oh-jin.
If he could kill him before he became the monster known as the Sky Demon—
…I can save them.
Everything he had lost.
Everyone he had failed to protect.
All the regrets that had haunted him countless times.
This time—
[There is not much time left, Awakened Lee Shin-hyeok.]
The goddess's voice urged him onward.
Lee Shin-hyeok nodded and rose to his feet.
I still know nothing about him except what he looks like.
It didn't matter.
He knew where Kwon Oh-jin had first registered as an Awakened.
As long as he remembered his face, he could wait there, find him, and kill him.
“All right. Send me back to the past.”
Lee Shin-hyeok approached Vega.
A massive halo of light enveloped his body.
Heavenly Demon.
You, of all people.
You, who took everything from me.
I will kill you. Without fail.
With that as his final thought,
his consciousness faded away.
***
Ah…
He felt as though he were floating through an endless sky.
Amid that distant, dreamlike sensation, a memory from the past flashed through his mind.
That day.
The day he lost everything.
“The sky is so dark.”
The Heavenly Demon standing before him gazed up at the sky with a bitter smile.
Yet the sky that day was a cloudless blue, and dazzling sunlight poured down from above.
“Don't you think?”
As though he couldn't see the brilliant sunlight at all, the Heavenly Demon asked him a question.
In the hand of the Heavenly Demon, whose shoulders shook with quiet laughter—
No.
It was his brother's severed head.
Woo-hyeok… Woo-hyeok…
Lee Woo-hyeok.
His brother had been so strong that one of the Twelve Zodiac Constellations had chosen him as an Apostle.
Brilliant and wise, his brother had been everything Lee Shin-hyeok was not.
And now, that brother was dead.
Right before his eyes.
“Why? Why are you doing this?!”
He screamed.
He wailed.
Through his tears, he begged for an answer.
“Why the hell are you doing this to me?!”
Smile.
The Heavenly Demon smiled brightly and tossed his brother's head toward him.
“Who knows?”
Behind the pure white mask,
blue eyes stared directly at him.
“If you hadn't… abandoned me back then, perhaps things would have turned out differently?”
Those eyes burned with icy fury.
“Kugh!!!”
The sensation of floating came to an abrupt end, and dizzying, excruciating pain tore through his body.
T-ring!
[The Star Mark of Lyra has taken residence within Awakened Lee Shin-hyeok's body.]
[As the Star Mark of Lyra settles in, the existing Star Mark of the Compass Constellation disappears.]
[Warning! The Star Mark's power is too strong! Awakened Lee Shin-hyeok's body is collapsing!]
[Entering Demonic Backlash state.]
A clear, bell-like chime rang out as a blue message appeared before his eyes.
But he had no time to read it.
“Keoheok!! Kahaak!!”
Crackle! Crackle!!
Blue lightning erupted, scorching his body.
A torrent of pain coursed through him.
“W-what? What's suddenly wrong with this bastard?!”
Just then, a voice reached his ears.
“—Ah.”
It was so familiar.
A voice he could never forget.
What the hell?
Lee Shin-hyeok turned his head, his eyes trembling.
There was no mistaking it.
The face he had confirmed with his own eyes just moments ago, when he removed the mask.
A face he could never forget—and could never afford to forget.
There.
Right before his eyes.
Stood the Heavenly Demon.
“Ah… ugh.”
The moment he saw the man alive and breathing,
a maddening torrent of emotions surged through him.
[Emotional turmoil is aggravating the Demonic Backlash state!]
Why was the Heavenly Demon here?
Why was Kwon Oh-jin standing right in front of him?
After returning to the past, was the first person he had to face really the enemy who had taken everything from him?
“Kahak! Keoheok!! KRAAAAAAAH!!!”
Lee Shin-hyeok collapsed on the spot, his limbs trembling as though he were suffering a seizure.
Crackle!!
His body convulsed violently, jolting each time a blue spark flashed across his skin.
[Due to Demonic Backlash, the Star Mark of Lyra is running rampant!]
[The body is collapsing completely!]
Crunch! Craaack!
Lee Shin-hyeok's convulsing body began to twist unnaturally.
“Kahak!! Krrk! Krrrk!!”
Blood surged up his throat and poured down his chin.
Ah.
As his consciousness began to fade, the goddess's warning suddenly resurfaced in his mind.
“Your chance of surviving is one in a thousand… no, not even one in ten thousand.”
The reason was simple.
The cause and effect were almost absurdly straightforward.
So… I wasn't that one.
A crushing sense of futility overwhelmed him.
His consciousness flickered weakly.
He could no longer even feel the excruciating pain that had been tearing his body apart.
“Why… did I…?”
That quiet question was his final thought.
Lee Shin-hyeok drew his last breath.
***
“NOOOOO!!! WHY IS THIS BASTARD SUDDENLY ACTING LIKE THIS?!”
Kwon Oh-jin roughly seized Lee Shin-hyeok by the collar. The man had suddenly collapsed into a violent seizure.
“Hey! Breathe! I SAID BREATHE!!”
Of course, he wasn't grieving over Lee Shin-hyeok's death.
They had only met a few hours earlier. Their acquaintance had been far too brief for even a love-hate relationship to develop.
The problem wasn't Lee Shin-hyeok's death.
It was—
“IF YOU'RE GOING TO DIE, AT LEAST TAKE THOSE BASTARDS WITH YOU, YOU SON OF A BIIIIITCH!!!”
—the pack of two-star monsters surrounding them.
“Grrrrrr.”
The low growl of a beast echoed around them.
The ferocious eyes of the surrounding monsters were fixed on Kwon Oh-jin.
Things might have been different if Lee Shin-hyeok had fought desperately and died a heroic death.
But what was Kwon Oh-jin supposed to do when the guy had simply dropped dead at the worst possible moment, leaving him surrounded by a pack of monsters?
And to make matters worse—
“Damn it! Damn it! DAMN IT ALL!!!”
He wasn't even an Awakened capable of fighting monsters.
“There has to be some way….”
A way?
As if!
There was no need to contemplate the fate of a powerless civilian surrounded by a pack of monsters.
Still…
He couldn't just lie down and wait to die.
Kwon Oh-jin searched Lee Shin-hyeok's body for anything that might prove useful.
“What's this…?”
Just then, something caught his eye.
A Star Mark carved into the left side of Lee Shin-hyeok's chest.
It was a Star Mark unlike any he had ever seen before.
Driven by instinct, he reached out and touched the mark with his fingertip.
And then—
T-ring!
[Black Sovereignty begins its first bloom!]
[Black Sovereignty is absorbing the Star Mark of Lyra!]
“…What?”
Black Sovereignty?
What was that supposed to mean?
Rumble!
Before he could even process the message, a black cloud flowed from his fingertip and enveloped the Star Mark on Lee Shin-hyeok's chest.
And then—
“Kugh!! Keoheoeoeok!!!”
Crackle!! Crackle!!
Blue lightning raced along the black cloud and seeped into his body.
“SHIIIIIIIT!!!! THIS FUCKING HUUUURTS!!!”
To put it mildly, it felt as though his balls were about to explode.
“GYAAAAAAAAAAH!!!”
Oh-jin screamed in the most undignified manner imaginable, writhing on the ground.
How much time had passed?
T-ring!
[The Star Mark of Lyra has been successfully absorbed.]
[The absorbed Star Mark's power is too immense!]
[The Star Mark's power is being adjusted to match Black Sovereignty's current bloom stage.]
A blue message window appeared before his eyes, and the pain finally subsided.
“Hah… hah!”
He pushed himself upright, panting heavily.
In disbelief, he reached toward the blue message window floating in front of him.
This is…
Wasn't this the system window that only the Awakened could see?
Why is this happening to me…?
Had he just become an Awakened?
Flustered, he touched the left side of his chest, feeling for the Star Mark—the symbol that identified an Awakened.
This was definitely on that guy just a moment ago….
It was a Star Mark unlike anything he had ever seen before.
As he frowned and ran his fingers over it—
Vwoooom!!!
Space tore open, and brilliant starlight poured down from above.
And within that cascading light appeared—
[Hmm. I certainly sensed the energy of my Star Mark here.]
A woman with silver hair as beautiful as the Milky Way.
She surveyed her surroundings. Then, her golden eyes sparkled as she approached him.
[The fact that you possess my Star Mark, which I have never bestowed upon anyone… I see.]
What did she see?
The woman who had suddenly torn through space and appeared before him stared at him and nodded as though she had reached some conclusion.
[The Star That Defies Fate. The one who defies destiny. The sole savior of a world whose ending has already been written—]
What on earth was this woman talking about?
[You are the Regressor.]
“…Excuse me?”
I'm not?