This Is Our Love Story That You Don't Know (1)
I woke up and immediately felt stomach acid surging up my throat. I bolted to the bathroom, clutching the toilet bowl as dry heaves wracked my body. Nothing came out. Just the twisting agony of an empty stomach.
I looked in the mirror. A woman with eyes like a dead fish stared back at me.
"......Five hundredth time."
I bit my lip until it bled. The pain felt real. This wasn't a dream. Another wretched morning of March 2nd. The humid air the day after the entrance ceremony, the sparrow chirps drifting through the window, the news anchor's identical lines.
"I'm so sick of this."
I collapsed onto the floor. I, Yoo Sia, am a regressor. Four hundred and ninety-nine lives spent desperately trying to save the world, to become a hero. There was nothing I hadn't tried. But the result was always the same.
That thing tearing through the sky and descending. An absolute calamity no human power could stop. I was always crushed like a bug and killed. I'd watched my comrades' corpses pile up into mountains and people turn to ash four hundred and ninety-nine times.
"I won't do it anymore."
I muttered to myself.
"I can't keep going like this..."
What was the point of trying? What was the point of struggling? Everything would be dead in a year anyway. I was exhausted from living a life of abandonment. I'd just breathe until the thing came and die first. Painlessly. Quickly.
I shoved my school uniform into the trash can. School? Training? None of it mattered. I stepped outside wearing only my tracksuit. A spring breeze blew past. People were laughing. Chatting about cherry blossoms blooming or what to have for lunch. Every time I saw their happy faces, my stomach churned.
You're all going to die. In a year.
Cursing them under my breath, I entered the convenience store. I rummaged through my pockets and pulled out a few crumpled thousand-won bills. My entire fortune as an orphan.
"Guess I'll have to eat a discounted lunchbox."
I picked up a lunchbox with a discount sticker because its expiration date was approaching. Cold rice grains. Rock-hard pork cutlet. This was how my five hundredth life began.
That was when it happened.
Ding-dong—
The convenience store door opened and someone walked in. The air inside instantly changed. A mix of cheap sweat and expensive cologne. I turned my head. And froze.
Black suit. A gleaming watch. A clearly wealthy man who didn't belong here at all.
Lee Dohyun?
I knew him. How could I not? The grandson of the Daeseong Group. In countless regressions, he always appeared as an annoying third-rate villain who died a meaningless early death like an extra. He'd pick a fight and get beaten up, or get eaten by a monster. Someone completely outside my interest.
But the Lee Dohyun in front of me right now was... strange.
He saw me, let out a surprised "Huh?" and acted like it was our first meeting.
"Anyway, all relationships are something only I remember and only I forget... This has always been my story alone."
He was staring at the convenience store shelves with a deadly serious expression. As if he were making a choice that would decide the fate of the world.
"......Should I get tuna mayo or Jeonju bibim?"
He muttered, frowning deeply as he weighed two triangular kimbap in his hands.
Is this guy crazy?
Why would a third-generation chaebol heir be agonizing over triangular kimbap? Just buy both. No, why was he even in a convenience store in the first place?
He eventually chose the Jeonju bibim and headed to the register.
The real choice was tuna mayo... Guess he doesn't have good taste.
He didn't even heat it up. He just ripped the packaging open roughly and took a huge bite.
Chew chew.
He plopped down right next to me on the bench. I shrank back warily. He chewed his kimbap while looking up at the sky.
His eyes. I stopped eating my lunchbox.
They were empty. No, not empty... They were horribly exhausted. Like an old man who'd lived for hundreds of years, or a prisoner who'd received a death sentence. That gaze... looked exactly like mine in the mirror.
"Hey."
He suddenly spoke to me. I jumped and looked at him.
"Is that any good?"
He pointed at my discounted lunchbox.
"......It's okay, I guess."
"Let me have one bite."
"Excuse me?"
"I'm hungry. Just one bite."
He didn't wait for my answer. He snatched a piece of my pork cutlet with his chopsticks and ate it.
I was dumbfounded. The grandson of Korea's top conglomerate, stealing a bite from an orphan's expired lunchbox.
"Mm. That's terrible."
He made a face, then pulled out his wallet. He tossed ten fifty-thousand-won bills onto my lunchbox tray.
"For the meal."
"......What is this?"
"Sorry for making you eat something bad. Go buy yourself something delicious."
He stood up. Then stretched and muttered,
"Ha, living is hard. Seriously."
He didn't get into a limousine. He just trudged off down the alley on foot. I stared blankly at his retreating figure. Then at the fifty-thousand-won bills on my tray.
A variable.
This had never happened in any of my five hundred lives. Was Lee Dohyun always like this? This desperate, this eccentric, this... human?
My curiosity was piqued. Before I died, maybe I should watch how this guy meets his end.
I cast an invisibility spell and began tailing him. Observing him turned out to be surprisingly entertaining.
He was completely insane. He'd spend his entire fortune buying weird junk. He'd shadowbox alone in the training room until three in the morning until his nose bled. He'd track down promising future S-Class hunters, throw wads of cash at them, and threaten, "Become my subordinate."
Does he know too?
The thought suddenly crossed my mind. Every single one of his actions seemed desperate... as if he were preparing for the coming future.
Did he know about the destruction like I did? Or had he just had a prophetic dream?
One night, he was lying spread-eagle on the training room floor, gasping for breath. His whole body was drenched in sweat.
"Ah... I don't want to die."
He muttered into the empty air.
"Seriously... I don't want to die. I want to live."
His voice was so desperate that my hidden heart ached. I want to live. I used to be like that once. I had fought desperately because I wanted to live, because I wanted to save others.
But now...
"It's pointless."
I smiled bitterly and turned away.
No matter how hard you try, it won't work. The world is going to end.
March 15th. The academy training grounds that should have been peaceful. But perhaps because of the butterfly effect I'd ignored, the sky tore open and an unscheduled gate appeared.
S-Class Gate Detected!
Monster Identification Code: Abyss Wolf
"Grrrrr..."
A house-sized black wolf descended upon the training grounds. An S-Class monster. A catastrophe that should never appear in the early stages.
"Kyaaaaah!"
"Run! We're all going to die!"
It was pure pandemonium. Students were being torn apart. The instructors were helpless. I hid behind a tree in the corner. I knew I should run, but my legs wouldn't move.
Ah, just as I thought.
I knew this would happen. I was destined to die anyway. I gave up.
My power from previous lives? My body couldn't handle it. Magic power? Since I hadn't sought any opportunities or trained, it was only at F-Class level. The wolf's gaze turned toward me. Its red eyes gleamed. It had found the weakest-looking prey.
"Don't come..."
I stumbled backward. I'd said I wanted to die, but when death actually approached, I was terrified. I want to live. I want to live too.
Boom—!
The wolf leaped. Its massive maw filled my vision. I instinctively raised my left arm to block it.
Crunch—!
"Aaaaaaaaagh!"
A horrific tearing sound. My shoulder burned, then went numb. My left arm... was being chewed inside the wolf's mouth. Blood sprayed like a fountain, soaking my face.
"Ugh... uuu..."
The pain made it impossible to breathe. No matter how many times you experience it, pain never becomes familiar. The wolf's shadow fell over me as I lay on the ground. It raised its claws to finish me off.
This is the end.
I closed my eyes. Looks like I'm going out painfully this time too.
That was when it happened.
"Hey, you son of a bitch!!"
A familiar voice slammed into my eardrums.
Kwaaaang!
Something smashed into the wolf's side. It was a bomb. With a tremendous explosion, the wolf staggered backward. I opened my blurry eyes. Someone was walking through the smoke.
The five-hundred-million-won luxury uniform was in tatters. In his hands were spent scrolls and artifacts. It was Lee Dohyun.
"Do... hyun...?"
The Lee Dohyun I knew should have been running away. He was a selfish third-rate villain. A third-generation chaebol heir who valued his own life above all else. Yet he was standing in front of me. His back. His legs were trembling. He was scared. He was terrified, but he wasn't running.
"Ugh, shit... my money..."
He cursed through gritted teeth as he pulled another item from his pocket. Rings, necklaces, scrolls... All the things he'd frantically bought with his entire fortune over the past few days.
"This stuff costs a fortune... and I'm using it all here."
"Run... away..."
I said in a crawling voice. "You'll... die too..."
"Shut up."
He didn't even look back.
"I just... really hate seeing people die right in front of me. It's bad luck."
He charged at the wolf. Without a sword. Trusting only in the firepower of the items he'd bought with money.
Boom! Bang!
The barrier shattered and his body flew through the air. He crashed to the ground and coughed up blood.
"Cough!"
Still, he got up again. Clutching his chest as if his ribs were broken, staggering, he stood in front of me once more.
"I'm not moving... you damn mutt..."
He bared his blood-stained teeth and smiled.
"I spent all my money. So... I need to at least get my money's worth."
That day, I witnessed a miracle. The miracle of an F-Class hunter slaying an S-Class monster using nothing but sheer spite, guts, and the power of capital.
When the final scroll exploded and the wolf collapsed, Lee Dohyun fell too. I crawled over to him.
"Dohyun... Lee Dohyun..."
He was covered in blood, gasping for breath. I touched his cheek with my remaining right hand. It was warm. He was alive.
"Hey..."
He opened his eyes slightly and looked at me. Then he saw my severed left arm and frowned.
"I'm sorry."
"......Huh?"
"I should have come sooner. Your arm... it must hurt..."
Tears burst from my eyes. His entire body was shattered, yet he was apologizing for me losing one arm. This idiot. This stupid, reckless, lovable man.
He had saved me.
After five hundred lives of despair, for the first time, someone had risked their life for me.
I have to live.
I tightly gripped his hand as he began to lose consciousness. The sound of ambulance sirens could be heard in the distance.