What's the Opposite of Suicide? (1)

A Unique Skill.

A skill no one else can have — one that exists solely for its owner.

Usually it is earned by undergoing a trial the Tower presents, or occasionally granted as a reward for a notable achievement.

Long ago, Salwang's skill Path of the Killer could be considered a kind of Unique Skill as well. Of course, the moment his trial became a public competition, the word "unique" no longer applied — but he had refused it, and so to this day he remains the only man in possession of it.

Eunho looked at his first Unique Skill.

'No. Why on earth is the name like that?'

-Well, you're the one who said it, Eunho.

'I asked what I should name it. I didn't tell it to pick that as the name.'

-Don't expect the Tower to have that kind of tact.

Regressor Arin covered her mouth and snickered.

-You can rename it now, actually.

Eunho tapped the Unique Skill window. Thankfully, an edit function existed.

-It's a skill meant for you and you alone. How you develop it is entirely up to you, so even the Tower gives you the chance to edit its description and such.

'A name, huh.'

After a moment's thought, Eunho changed the name of his Unique Skill.

Whirling Force.

A method of spreading one's mana out across the surroundings like ripples, setting it into a vortex — and then claiming the currents it generated as one's own strength.

And so Eunho named his skill Whirling Force. Nothing else came to mind.

-Pretty wuxia-style naming, isn't it?

'Isn't wuxia-style basically the unwritten rule for this sort of thing?'

-Fair. Fantasy-style names do feel a bit chuunibyou.

Something like Tempest of Mana — he'd feel almost embarrassed saying it out loud.

-Whirling Force. Hmm. I like it. It captures the skill's nature well, and it's not overdone.

'Right?'

Having settled on the name, Eunho lifted his head. A woman was walking toward him. Present-day Arin.

"Done already?"

"Yeah. Good work."

Eunho smiled and gave her shoulder a light pat. Arin pursed her lips, unable to quite meet his eyes.

-Aigoo. This is exactly the moment to claim credit and stamp your image into her memory for good. What is this boy even trying to do……

While Regressor Arin sighed like a maiden aunt lamenting his clumsiness, Eunho dodged every word with superior evasion maneuvers.

"Sorry about earlier. I was checking an item's info and…… I blacked out for a second there."

"…What? Are you — are you okay? Are you hurt anywhere?"

The moment the words left his mouth, all her shyness vanished. She whipped her head up and started patting herself down, checking every inch of her body.

For the record, that scene was being broadcast live to the entire nation.

Eunho, thinking it might be time to rein her in, was about to calm Arin down when Regressor Arin thrust both fists into the air and cheered her on with rapturous enthusiasm.

-That's it! Attaboy! Look! See, you can do it if you just try?!

'Please, please be quiet. What if someone hears you? This is mortifying……'

-More! More! You're settling the grudge I never got to! You've got a talent for this. Doooon't give up!!

'Oh, for crying out loud.'

Eunho finally covered both ears and shook his head. Was she normally this… sensible? Was she?

Anyway — once she got going, she had a tendency to ignore everyone around her.

He let out a long sigh and soothed present-day Arin.

"It's fine. Nothing happened. I just misread one of the rewards, that's all."

"…A reward?"

"Yeah. Apparently some kind of cursed item. But it's fine now."

Only when Eunho waved the Pitch-Black Spear in his hand did Arin finally nod and step back. Her ears had turned scarlet, and she still couldn't quite meet his gaze.

Honestly. If she was going to act like that afterward, why all the fuss in the first place?

For the record, that backstep of hers had footwork unlike anything Eunho had ever seen.

"Now then — time to check our rewards, don't you think?"

"? Didn't we already get the reward?"

"This thing? Isn't this just some gimmick we dug up? Hardly counts as a reward, does it?"

Eunho lifted his head, angling for Regressor Arin's agreement.

But what was this? Out of nowhere, one party actually agreed?

'What the—?'

‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠

Why was that thing suddenly chiming in?

The achievement that never once answered when called was now agreeing with his opinion. Eunho could only tilt his head at it.

And then, the very next moment, something strange happened.

'What the hell.'

Eunho's eyes narrowed as he scanned his surroundings.

The dust drifting in the air, the faint breeze that had been blowing, even the clammy dampness of the cave that clung to his skin — all of it was gone.

The only thing "existing" in this place was himself.

Eunho alone was breathing, alive, in this very spot.

'Where did everyone go?'

He turned his head. Regressor Arin was frozen mid-air, ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠and present-day Arin had stopped in the exact pose she'd been wearing while looking at him.

Even the comments that had been teasing him with such abandon had fallen silent in an instant.

Time had stopped.

───.

Then white noise rang in his ears.

The sensation of some high-frequency thing brushing against the eardrums. And a feeling of shattering into pieces, never quite able to settle back down.

Like a vacuum sucking up dust piled heap by heap, the Irregular moved.

And then, a single reward materialized before him.

"Huh? What's that?"

At the same moment, the world unfroze.

Both Arins, and the viewers too, all tilted their heads at the box that had appeared without warning in Eunho's hands.

"……"

Eunho had no idea what to say.

The achievement flexed its power, and suddenly everything around him froze solid?

What was this, some kind of comic book? How was that even possible?

Of course, even Eunho wouldn't have believed it had he not experienced it firsthand.

Still, he didn't hide it from Regressor Arin.

A regressor's experience would naturally be richer than his own, and she must have seen countless achievements in her time. At the very least, he might glean some hint from her.

But Eunho's hopes were mercilessly smashed to pieces.

-Nope? Never seen anything like it.

She shook her head vigorously, then put on a face that read what even is that... scary...

-Like I said before, the achievement you got is outside all precedent. There's nothing like it among the achievements I've seen or earned. Not even a similar vein. You're literally carving a new footprint. Even in a Tower stamped all over with countless footprints, you're setting yours down on pristine, unexplored ground.

'So in other words, you have no idea what just happened?'

-Yep. Oh! But there is one odd thing.

'What?'

-You said something stopped just now, right? Wouldn't you say it was somewhere between four and five seconds?

'…Yeah. That's right.'

-Thought so. Then my hunch was correct.

A hunch?

Eunho tilted his head at Regressor Arin. What on earth had she sensed?

-After we finished talking just now, I don't know why, but I felt a faint sense of wrongness. Like something had slipped past ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠me… it left me feeling uneasy. That feeling lasted about five seconds.

He glanced at present-day Arin, but she just tilted her head in confusion. Which meant she hadn't felt any wrongness at all.

'Regressor Arin and present-day Arin. Is there a difference between the two?'

If there was one, it was exactly one thing.

Whether or not a soul resided in her body.

'……Spiritual power.'

The conclusion came naturally.

Spiritual power — the force that drew on the strength of the soul.

And it had just conveniently risen a grade this very time. What if this was a side effect of that?

'Well, if that's the case, the secret will come out eventually.'

Eunho decided to shelve questions without answers for now. He absolutely despised twenty-questions with not a single hint to go on.

Better to look at the box he'd just obtained.

Only once he registered the box did those messages finally ring out — as if the sender itself had been flustered.

Eunho opened the box. Two items lay inside.

One was a pair of unidentified black pills.

And the other was a pendant glittering silver.

Eunho and Regressor Arin both went wide-eyed at the sight.

'Huh?'

-Wha—?! That's my ring!

That's right.

The ring Regressor Arin had carried on her person had suddenly appeared as a reward.

-Wait. That's gear you can only get on the 3rd Stratum, isn't it?

'Huh? 3rd Stratum? Then that's way above what humanity's climbed so far?!'

-Of course — it's gear I was wearing right up to the end! We're talking endgame item here!

At those words, Eunho pulled up the ring's information.

'Hooough!'

S-rank!

The sight of that dazzling grade made his breath catch for a moment.

-Breathe! Breathe! Sheesh, what's there to be so shocked about?

'…How could I not be? It's like Messi showing up at a neighborhood pickup soccer game.'

An outright ecosystem-wrecker. The likes of Messi or a bullfrog.

-…Excuse me? Calling my ring a bullfrog is a bit much, don't you think?

Setting aside Regressor Arin's complaints, Eunho examined the item's details.

An item bearing not one, not two, but a full three options.

He simply stared, dazed by the ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠radiant grandeur of an S-rank he'd never even seen on a Ranker's broadcast.

'Still, that last option — "your miracles grow vivid." This thing is basically a clergyman's personal property, isn't it? I should give it to Arin.'

Before that, though, there was one experiment Eunho wanted to run with this item.

-What is it? What are you testing?

'Whether it can hold spiritual power. It can store a stat, can't it?'

-Ooh? That sounds fun. Let's try it right now.

Regressor Arin, who knew just how valuable spiritual power's efficiency was, eyed the ring with gleaming eyes.

Eunho smiled faintly at her expectant look, gripped the ring, and drew his spiritual power up.

A vivid silver light lingered in his grip. And then, like water being sucked down a drain, the spiritual power bored into the ring in his hand.

Success.

He'd hoped for it, but he hadn't expected it to work this easily. Delighted, Eunho gifted it to Arin.

"Here."

"Wh-what?"

Once again the viewers stirred up trouble, trying to smear him, but Eunho was the sort of person who couldn't care less about that kind of thing.

He simply took Arin's hand and slid the ring onto her finger. Surprise flashed through her eyes, then gave way to something close to disbelief.

"Wh-what? Wait……"

She couldn't get the words out. Honestly, she didn't need to be that moved.

But then Regressor Arin tilted her head, as if something were off.

-Eunho. Her gaze is moving along with me? Can she see me?

'What?'

Eunho turned and fixed his eyes on present-day Arin's pupils. Even their tiniest tremors were visible to his gaze.

Sure enough. Arin's eyes were tracking this way and that, following Regressor Arin's every movement.

'Wow. So now we finally have two-way traffic.'

It was the moment when Arin of the future and Arin of the present were, at long last, about to meet.