The First Regression
The dream-like feeling. A dreamy and alien aura enveloped my entire body.
“Hyung, did you hear what I said?”
‘Where am I?’
I slowly lifted my eyelids.
With blurry vision, the shape of a person started to appear. As time passed, the vision became clearer and clearer.
Snowy white skin, fine hair cascading past the shoulders. The eyes sparkled as if they had large obsidian embedded in them.
My younger sister, Chaewon. No matter how distracted I was, I couldn’t not recognize my sister. However, her appearance was quite different from what I knew.
If the usual sister had a delicate and restrained feel, now it was the opposite—she looked young and lively.
“Hyung! Did you hear what I said?”
Gradually, my senses returned. The dazed feeling disappeared completely.
“Yeah, I heard.”
‘It really works.’
Broken Pocket Watch EX.
A regression ability that can turn back time to the desired time once.
[Legendary EX-rank artifact. Can be used once to regress to the past.]
[Already used—cannot be reset.]
Since it was written in the status window, I knew it would work, but confirming it with my own eyes made the feeling different.
I had regressed.
‘Status window.’
[Broken Pocket Watch EX]
There was a red underline on the pocket watch. It had already been used, meaning it could no longer be reset.
“So, what’s the reason for quitting the noodle shop?”
‘This day.’
The decisive moment when my relationship with my sister deteriorated.
In the past, around a week before this day, I had awakened.
Rank: S-rank. Skill: Instant Death.
Activation condition: ‘Die.’
Simple and clear scam.
Of course, I got this unbelievable skill, so there was no point in running a noodle shop.
That was why.
I said I was quitting the noodle shop. I entered the Hunter world.
I abandoned a 50-year family business in an instant.
Thinking about it now, this day was the beginning of everything. That’s why I regressed to this time.
“Why suddenly like this?”
Chaewon crossed her arms and looked at me displeased.
I smiled slightly and said.
“No, I’m going to run the noodle shop.”
“Eh…?”
Chaewon looked at me with a dumbfounded expression.
“Until just now, you said you were quitting.”
“Thinking about it, Hunters are dangerous.”
“…Wow, really unbelievable.”
Chaewon sighed, but there was a small sense of relief in her expression.
“I was joking to make you laugh.”
“Jokes should be funny to laugh at.”
“It’s not funny.”
She blinked her sleepy eyes.
I just smiled.
Seeing my sister’s disgusted expression, some memory surfaced.
- You don’t know, right? This isn’t living, it’s barely surviving.
- Did you think locking me up and suppressing me would make me happy?
I was S-rank, but unlike other Hunters, my pure physical ability wasn’t strong. When I fell asleep.
I couldn’t deal with assassination threats or threats from people around me.
I was afraid. Afraid of losing precious people.
So, I locked my sister in the mansion and hired many bodyguards and Hunters.
I knew it was wrong.
That was why.
Out of guilt, I scolded my sister.
- Hey, what’s the problem? I’m doing everything for you, giving money, giving house! Others can’t even do this.
At that time, it was the first time I cursed at my sister.
- What’s the problem, you bastard.
After that…
“Hyung, why is your expression like that? Did you get upset because I said it’s not fun?”
Chaewon’s question pulled me out of the memory.
Unlike previous rounds, she looked worried about me.
“Yeah, I got upset. Did you eat breakfast?”
I decided not to repeat the same mistake.
From now on, I wanted to actively support whatever my sister wanted.
“I didn’t eat. Make me noodles!”
Chaewon shouted cheerfully as if it was nothing. She was like a Chihuahua drooling over food in front of it. If it had a tail, it would be wagging.
I looked at her figure vaguely and muttered.
“I’ll make it for you, so let’s not fight anymore and live well.”
I lifted the corners of my mouth.
Chaewon, who had been staring at my face blankly for a moment, burped.
“Uweek. I need to throw up, let me go throw up for a bit.”
‘…Well, that makes sense. Yeah, this is my sister.’
This girl… doesn’t help at all.
**
A pot boiling vigorously.
The savory smell rose to the tip of the nose.
A suitable space, neither too big nor too small.
Everywhere was filled with blackened marks as if showing traces of time.
“Unbelievable… it’s delicious.”
Chaewon took a bite of the noodles and looked at me repeatedly as if she couldn’t believe it.
“Why are you saying obvious things?”
I said that, but secretly I felt proud.
“J-just a few days ago, it wasn’t this good.”
I sighed and lightly ruffled Chaewon’s hair.
She made a sound like ‘ack’ and grabbed her head.
“You have no words you can’t say to Hyung?”
While saying that, she sucked the noodles with one hand.
“Mmm.”
(Sorry)
‘She immediately understood.’
Chaewon’s words were right. I wasn’t particularly good at cooking noodles.
Whether I lacked talent or the skill was insufficient, the taste of the noodles was ambiguous.
However, while roaming through various dungeons while living as a Hunter, I naturally acquired the handiwork trait.
Even after regression, the abilities remained the same, so it would be delicious.
“Kraaang, I ate well.”
Chaewon, who had finished the noodles, put the bowl down with a clack.
“Hyung ate well! I’m going out!”
“Alright, well…”
Before I could finish my words, my sister opened the door and left.
‘This girl is really…’
But my sister is my sister. There are things that don’t change even as time passes.
- Hehe
I smiled while looking at the empty noodle bowl.
‘She ate everything, even the broth.’
It was exactly Chaewon’s appearance that I knew.
Not the delicate and restrained image.
This is fine.
Killing S-rank monsters and getting recognition from Hunters is better than giving my sister a hearty meal and living ordinaryly.
That’s my only wish.
[Breaking News. A Hunter Who Solo-Killed a Disaster Monster in Front of Seoul City Hall Has Become a Hot Topic.]
At that time, quite interesting words came from the TV that was turned off.
Naturally, I fixed my gaze.
[Interview time.]
[Yes! This is Reporter Han Dae-gi. I’m currently at the front of Seoul City Hall. In the midst of a large crowd gathering, the corpse of the disaster-class monster ‘Achilles’ is visible here!]
[From the traces, it seems like a mild battle. That is, the Hunter who killed this is judged to be at least S-rank.]
[Currently, the 4 S-ranks in Korea are confirmed not to be in Seoul, so it’s a hot topic. Who exactly is the person who solo-raided this monster?]
‘That’s me.’
It was probably the monster I hunted right after awakening to test the Instant Death ability.
I was so surprised to see it die with just one word.
I was immersed in the superiority of being able to kill any monster alone.
No matter how strong, one word ‘Die.’ and it dies.
‘All pointless.’
Games with cheats aren’t fun.
The tension of pouring everything into life-saving, the urgency to not die, wasn’t felt.
It was really just fun at the beginning.
- Drruk.
At that time, someone opened the door of the noodle shop.
Unfortunately, it was still before opening.
I wasn’t thinking of receiving customers.
“Excuse me, but since it’s before opening… In an hour…”
“Hyung.”
The person who opened the door was not a customer, but Chaewon.
“You weren’t going to school?”
“Ah, that…”
“Hello.”
A short while later, a female high school student wearing the same school uniform as Chaewon entered.
“My friend, she said she couldn’t eat because of me.”
She was quite pretty.
Long hair reaching her waist, overall calm impression.
“Nice to meet you. I’m Yoo Sia.”
She was a face I knew well.
‘Yoo Sia.’
In the future, she would become a close friend that Chaewon thought was more family than me.
The only support.
- Where are you going again?
- To Sia. She said let’s live together. So, Hyung. Let’s not see each other again.
She would become an S-rank Hunter in the future and live with Chaewon.
And that was.
The decisive reason I regressed.
**
“Noodles are ready.”
I placed the steaming bowl in front of Yoo Sia.
“Thank you.”
I had a satisfied expression. However, suddenly, sadness appeared on my sister’s face.
“Um… Hyung.”
“Hm?”
“I…”
I looked at her with a dumbfounded expression.
“You ate it earlier…?”
“No, that, it’s different from usual Hyung’s noodles…”
“……”
“So, I was thinking of tasting a bit… Can I have another bowl?”
“Are you going to become a pig?”
“Ch, okay then.”
I smiled and poured the broth into the bowl to the brim. Noodle amount and toppings doubled.
“Sit down.”
“You’re already sitting?”
She had already seated herself as if she knew this would happen.
Yoo Sia smiled with eyes as if this situation was fun.
“She looks a lot like Chaewon.”
“Is that so?”
“I look like Hyung?”
“The words and actions are the same as yours.”
“…Really not.”
Chaewon ate the noodles with a pouty face.
She ate so deliciously that she didn’t even notice something on the corner of her mouth.
I pulled out a tissue and wiped the corner of her mouth.
‘If it was the old me, I wouldn’t have done it because it would be embarrassing.’
Is it guilt over the previous sister? It makes me want to take care of her.
This small selfishness to leave behind and repent for the sin.
Chaewon glanced at Sia and twisted her expression.
“Uweek, why from morning!”
And covered her mouth and whispered.
“…What are you doing in front of a friend? Ah, I got it. Han Seonghun! You’re deliberately making fun of me!”
‘……’
Who does she look like to act like this?
Han Seonghun to Hyung?
And what… making fun of me?
Well, mental education might be needed a bit.
I clenched my fist and brought it close to her head.
My sister closed her eyes tightly at my sudden action.
“U… Don’t hit!”
However.
“…Eh?”
Instead of hitting her head, I gently stroked it.
“What, what are you doing really!”
Sometimes, mental shock therapy is more effective than physical pain.
If your friend in front of you has her arms crossed, what would you do?
Anyone with a brother would know.
It’s a terrifying thing.
“…They are really close…”
“No! Sia, Hyung is deliberately teasing me. Don’t think that!”
“…I’m envious.”
‘Eh?’
Chaewon seemed not to hear Sia’s words as if she was panicking.
She must have said ‘envious’ in a small voice.
…No way.
Yoo Sia was also a person who had everything in the previous round.
Golden spoon. Harmonious family.
She lives a life so grateful that one might think she doesn’t know unhappiness.
“I ate well. It’s so delicious, Hyung.”
“Yes, live well with Chaewon.”
“Hyung, you’re not my grandfather! Don’t say weird things. Come on Sia, let’s go. Before you say more weird things!”
“Why? You like it…”
Chaewon pushed Sia’s back with both hands and sent her out the door. Then she turned back and said.
“I’ll get revenge on Hyung!”
Chaewon’s face was slightly red.
That look… was a bit cute.
I looked at the two empty bowls.
‘Did it suit my taste.’
She looked skinny but ate all the broth. Especially my sister, how did she have something in her stomach to eat two bowls of noodles from morning.
I cleaned the empty bowls and thought.
‘Now it’s opening. Let’s prepare to receive customers.’
I changed the shop pamphlet to ‘Open’.