Chapter 2 — Only My Status Window Levels Up

A searing headache slammed into my brain.

"Ugh, haaagh—" A thirst followed, scraping my throat like sandpaper.

"W-water...!"

I was going out of my mind. Had a single glass of water ever felt this desperate? Half-blind, I dragged my swimming vision into focus and stumbled through a near-death scramble for something to drink, running purely on instinct. 'The fridge!' I yanked the door open, pulled out a bottle, and pressed it to my lips. *Gulp, gulp!* My throat heaved like waves crashing. It was the coldest, sweetest water I'd ever tasted in my life. Even that legendary elixir, the Spring of the Silent Forest, hadn't been half this refreshing.

"Pwah—!"

Only after draining the two-liter bottle did the fog in my head begin to clear. I took a deep breath, and the bitter scent of alcohol lingered on my tongue.

"...Alcohol?"

It's a sensation I could never forget, no matter how hard I tried. Back in my days as a degenerate, I drank so much that the smell never left my body. 'Come to think of it — this headache, this thirst, this stomach-turning nausea...' That's a hangover, isn't it? Since when did I drink? 'No way.' After the apocalypse began, I hadn't touched a drop of alcohol — hadn't even had a soda. I'd wanted to stay as far away from physical and mental pleasure as possible. Eventually, my body couldn't drink even if I'd wanted to. All the elixir doping had obliterated my liver; alcohol became more lethal than most poisons.

"Now that I look around...?"

A living room so vast it could have hosted a soccer match. Clothes and liquor bottles strewn carelessly across the floor. A balcony sealed tight behind blackout ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠curtains.

"This is my house."

Half hoping, half dreading, I nudged the blackout curtain aside. The sprawling panorama of Gangnam that unfolded before me...

"Ha..."

Impossible. This is Korea. Korea *before* its destruction. I scrambled to dig the smartphone out from where it was buried in the couch and pressed the power button. [2025/3/17] The date displayed in the upper left corner. 2025. Eight years before the appearance of the 'Apocalypse'-grade gate. I had regressed — back through time, back before the end.

The first thing I did was cross-reference information. Because I couldn't be certain this regression was a true 'regression.' If I'd been dropped into some other world that merely resembled my own, eight years of memories might be worthless. Fortunately — or unfortunately. "It matches the past I remember." This really was the world I lived in. Internet articles floated across the screen.

Every single one lined up with my memory. And especially this one.

"......" Of all the moments to return to... quite a poetic coincidence, really. This was right after the incident that sent my life plummeting straight into the basement. The me of this era had locked himself in his room doing nothing but drinking. To forget the horrific memories from inside that gate, I'd chosen the closest, dumbest escape available. "What a pathetic bastard." After throwing that one jab at my past self, I opened my status window.

Still a miserable spread of stats. F-rank potential and one pathetic E-rank skill. But then, one skill caught my eye more than anything else.

"Limit Break... Program?"

A skill name I'd never heard in my life. I'd never even *gotten* a skill other than Reinforcement to begin with. There were two ways to acquire skills. Either attain enlightenment through your own insight, or use a skill book — an extremely rare drop from inside gates. And since that enlightenment was itself a product of talent and potential, an F-rank like me couldn't produce a skill no matter how I struggled.

"And it's EX-rank, at that."

I slowly examined the skill's detailed information.

"Hmm...?"

I still couldn't glean any precise information. But there was one change that stood out. [Status Window Level: 1 (0/1) Exp] "The status window has a level now."

Presumably an effect of this skill. '...The status window *grows*?' Was that even a thing? The number underneath it was probably experience. Like a game — accumulate a certain amount and you advance to the next level... something like that, I figured.

"So how do I earn experience?"

As if answering ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠my question, a window popped up.

A catalog laid out in numbers, each with its conditions and rewards listed. "Ahh, I see. Like this." More intuitive than I expected. And the first achievement was ridiculously simple. A tutorial, basically? 'Nothing ventured, nothing gained.' I brushed off my knees lightly, gripped the front door handle— *Beep-ring! Doo-ro-rong~* The digital lock chimed a cheerful melody as the door swung wide open. And the moment I took a single step outside—

A window appeared. At the same time, number 1 vanished from the achievement list. [The experience required for a level-up has been fully met.] [Your Status Window Level has increased!] [Status Window Level: 2 (0/100) Exp] "What the—!"

The requirement had suddenly jumped a hundredfold. The experience bar had swollen enormously, as if that first taste had been nothing but a freebie.

"Tsk..."

Clicking my tongue, I checked the contents of the additional window flashing *ding-ding-* beside me. And before long, I had no choice but to doubt my own eyes.

"Wh-what?!" My eyes went round as I checked the status window again.

My jaw trembled. I couldn't believe what had just happened. Forget the fact that the status window itself had leveled up — 'My potential rose.' The Potential Rank, fixed at the moment of awakening and never supposed to change, had *increased*. I couldn't believe it. And with good reason — potential wasn't merely a measure of how strong or weak an awakened person was. It was literally 'potential': nothing more than a numeric display of how far you could grow. In other words, having S-rank potential didn't automatically raise your stats. And someone with low potential could train themselves to the brink of death and still hit a wall. It simply showed the limit that person possessed. *That* was potential. 'In my first playthrough, the thing that held me back most was my F-rank potential.' F-rank. The lowest ceiling there was. No matter how desperately I struggled, I couldn't cross a certain threshold. To overcome it, I guzzled every elixir I could get my hands on and pushed my body to the point of self-destruction, training over and over. And even then, D-rank was my limit. Just how desperate an F-rank body was — even swallowing an S-rank elixir, my absorption rate fell short of 3%. You can't squeeze water into a sponge that's already soaked through. 'But things are different now.' D-rank. I'd leapt two whole rungs at once. Compared ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠to the overall average of awakened people, that was still on the low end — but in my last playthrough, with this same F-rank body, I had clawed my way up to the level of a D-rank hunter. And that wasn't all.

"I can still level up...!"

The experience bar had ballooned, yes, but it wasn't an impossible number. The status window's level didn't end at a measly 2. If leveling the status window kept raising my potential like this— "...Hnnngh!"

I forced myself to calm the surging feeling in my chest. My insides itched. My heart, my muscles, my bones all thrashed wildly. My whole body was screaming at me to train *right now*. But this wasn't the end of it yet. 'Stat unification.' Stamina, Strength, and Agility became Body. Magic and Wisdom became Technique. Resistance and Luck became Mind. Seven separate stats had collapsed into three. Which meant— 'Every time a single Body stat goes up, stamina, strength, and agility all grow at once.' Each stat had its own conditions for growth. Focused training used to mean dedicating yourself to just one of the seven — but now there was no need. Training any one of the three would raise every stat it contained, all at once.

"And this is only the effect of level 2?"

The corners of my mouth lifted on their own. If level 2 did this much, what would 3 and 4 bring? 'This is a stroke of fortune that came with my regression.' Surely some chain of cause and effect had delivered it into my hands. I couldn't afford blind optimism, but... 'I'll squeeze it for everything it's worth.' If it could make me stronger. If it could let me stop the coming apocalypse. If it could make me strong enough to kill the Iron Blood Monarch— "I'll use it as much as I damn well please."

This wasn't like me at all. The agony of the hangover had long since evaporated, so it was time to start training. I threw on the most comfortable clothes I could find in the closet and headed out. It was early morning. I was just stepping into the apartment complex, lungs full of crisp air, when— "Young master."

Men in black suits appeared. Emblazoned on their chests: the Cheonseong insignia. The Cheonseong Group's security team.

"Where might you be off to at this early hour?"

"For a bit of exercise."

"Ex... exercise, you say?"

"Yes. I've been cooped up in the house so long, my body's all stiff."

The bodyguards exchanged flustered glances. To be fair, they'd probably assumed I'd die in that room before ever imagining I'd walk out on my own two feet.

"Ahem."

No reason for my face to be going red like this. A few seconds later, the man at the front spoke up.

"My apologies, young master. But I'm afraid the exercise will have to wait."

"...Why?"

"The Chairman requests your presence."

"Ah."

That's right. I'd forgotten the very first thing I needed to do. The reason I'd crossed over the apocalypse and returned to this place. I had to apologize to my father — to my family — and prove ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠myself. 'That I've changed.' Though naturally, I'd have to keep quiet about the regression and the apocalypse. One wrong word and I could end up committed to an asylum for awakened individuals.

"......"

The guard beside me must have noticed my face hardening, because he took a step forward.

"Young master, you truly must go this time. The Chairman is a generous man — if you offer your apology now—" "I'll stop by my place for a moment."

"Young master...!"

"I'm not running away."

I stretched out a hand and gestured at my sorry state. A rumpled hoodie, hair matted stiff with grease.

"I can't exactly greet my father looking like this, can I?"

"U... understood."

"I'll wash up quickly. Could you wait ten minutes here?"

"Y-yes, of course..."

I gave them a light smile, then rode the elevator back up.

After washing up, I dug out the plainest, most presentable suit I owned. No point wearing something worth tens of millions of won. I rode the car the bodyguards drove, weaving through the dense thicket of skyscrapers. The top floor of the tallest among them.

"Hoo."

I took a light, steadying breath and knocked on the firmly closed door.

"Come in."

Thankfully, nothing came flying at my head the moment the door opened. Instead, a gaze far colder and sharper than before carved into my heart.

"...Father."

The father of my living days — the one I'd longed so desperately to see — was sitting right there. The man who looked cold to everyone else but loved me more than anyone. My father, who died protecting me until his very last moment. His lips, gazing silently at me, began to move. At the sound of that voice after so long, tears welled up in an instant...

"Hey, you little piece of—" ...Father?