[The Return by Death Awakens]

My vision twisted. The forest vanished, replaced by a plaza. It felt like a colosseum, with spectator seats ringing all around. But there were no spectators—only players of various races being summoned in droves.

Yoo Dahui had reached death. The fact that I woke up here meant she had died for some reason or another.

Return by Death. In the story, it was the authority that reset the entire world to its starting point every time Yoo Dahui died. It was a common ability in other works too, and not a bad one for a protagonist to have. In fact, its performance was overwhelmingly strong.

The important point here was that in this novel, there was no character who followed her regressions. The world reset, and she simply started over. So what the hell did that make me, on my third regression already?

Especially this time—I hadn’t even died, yet I was pulled along with Yoo Dahui’s regression and starting the tutorial anew. Right after violating the protagonist and running away, a fresh start. It was fucking sweet.

Having to repeat similar shit every time was annoying as hell, but the merit of being able to come back to life even after dying was something no one could trade away. I’d awakened inside the novel and, rationalizing that maybe I possessed the protagonist’s authority, I’d been terrified of dying in the first round.

Tzzt, tzzt, tzzt—

At first I’d been dazed here too, but not anymore. This ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠was already my fourth tutorial start. I had plenty of time to look around.

The sight of people right after being summoned to the tutorial was just hilarious. Was this the composure that came from having the first-mover advantage?

I quickly scanned for Yoo Dahui.

…She looks murderous.

Yoo Dahui was observing the players with cold, sharp eyes that made it hard to breathe. It was only natural—she’d been getting railed by me just five minutes ago before choosing death and regressing. She was probably looking for me.

I pretended not to notice and averted my gaze. Yoo Dahui’s head was already turning in my direction. Perfect timing.

And then the helper fairy appeared out of thin air. As soon as it showed up, it greeted the players.

A rather polite greeting. Considering there were bastards who blew people’s heads off right from the start, this one was actually quite courteous. It did pop heads, but at least it didn’t do it before saying hello. A proper gentleman, you could say.

“W-where are we?”

“Send me back! The war isn’t over yet!”

“Is this hell? Is this hell?”

The players who spotted the fairy started blurting out whatever came to mind. Their words were all over the place. It wasn’t about language. These were beings from beyond the scope of foreigners—aliens from entirely different dimensions.

The players who would climb the Tower of Struggle were summoned from completely different worlds. It wasn’t different races; the species themselves were different. As many dimensions as there were, so were the cultures and personalities. If there were already so many incomprehensible bastards living on a planet of seven billion, how much worse would it be here? You just had to give up on understanding. That was the most comfortable way to live in this world.

A burly greenskin warrior with rippling muscles and a huge axe, roaring at the top of his lungs. A frail female student trembling like a leaf. A bald middle-aged man in pure white priest robes, and so on… Even though they were from different dimensions, I could understand what they were saying. The words coming out of their mouths were clearly different languages, yet the meaning registered directly in my head. I could comprehend what these people were saying.

It had been insanely fascinating at first. Honestly, it still was. Even after spending about a month here, it never got old. It was always fresh.

The space known as the “Tower” was a boredom-relief arena created by a god. Players had to pass various trials and reach the end. Right now, this was the 0th floor—the adaptation space called the tutorial. Of course, once you reached the 1st floor you’d have to start adapting all over again.

At the current point in the story, no one had reached the end of the Tower. Everyone was stuck on the 7th floor, unable to progress further. Only the protagonist, Yoo Dahui, had succeeded in clearing it through repeated regressions. She reached the end of the Tower, saw the god, made her final wish, and that was how the novel ended.

What the wish was? I had no idea. It was an open ending.

The greenskin warrior flexed his massive muscles and threw a tantrum.

“Tower? Struggle? I don’t need any of that shit! Send me back to the battlefield right now! The God of Battle, Waron, is calling me!”

“Bullshit!”

The greenskin warrior couldn’t contain his boiling blood. He’d been like this in the first round, the second, and the third. And of course, his head exploded.

With a single flick of the fairy’s finger, the muscular male’s head burst apart. Our hot-blooded fairy from the very beginning. It kindly removed any thoughts of rebellion.

Crunch!

“Kyaaaaaaaah!”

The greenskin warrior’s flesh splattered down. The dark red blood soaking the plaza floor made everyone realize just how fucked this place was. I had already accepted it long ago. The other players were screaming or shouting, throwing absolute fits.

The fairy looked at them and spoke firmly. It wasn’t quite a threat, but it might as well have been.

What I’d learned through my regressions was that every time I regressed, my equipment and items disappeared. Even the white mask I’d used while fucking Yoo Dahui was gone. I could get it again soon enough, though.

The good thing was that skills and stats didn’t disappear. If those had vanished too, just thinking about it was horrifying. The items in the inventory were probably missing because ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠this was the 0th floor starting point.

The moment the fairy finished speaking, I opened my status. The things I had accumulated over three tutorials were visible.

There were countless species in the Tower of Struggle. Among them, humans were close to the weakest. The only species weaker than humans were the goblins among the greenskins. If you had to find a human advantage, it was that they faced fewer species restrictions when learning skills. They could learn various skills from many different species relatively easily. Naturally, the power was far weaker than the original species’ version.

Not bad.

By following Yoo Dahui’s regressions, I had accumulated a whopping three rounds’ worth of experience. On top of that, as a reader who had followed the novel to the end, my head was packed with all its settings. Where to get what, what effects it had, and how much it would help me… The proof was right there in my Strength Lv.2. A Strength Lv.2 stat was nearly impossible unless you’d eaten something like the Twisted Hell Spear of the Underworld.

A hidden piece… Well, something similar anyway.

Whatever. I knew more than the first-round regressor. It was the same now. Until Yoo Dahui reached the end, I would probably still know more.

The helper didn’t tell them much. The information players discovered inside the Tower was also part of their ability and value. The helper fairy disappeared, and the players began to murmur.

Amid the war-like noise, I looked for the protagonist Yoo Dahui first.

Yoo Dahui…

There were countless players, but finding her wasn’t that hard. She shone even from afar. Fair skin, a perfect figure, a pretty face. Just looking at Yoo Dahui made blood rush to my lower half. She was an incredible beauty, and the fact that we’d already pressed our bodies together made it even more arousing.

I casually drifted toward Yoo Dahui. I had no intention of making an enemy of a regressor. I’d rather become her ally.

…Still, if I’ve fallen into a novel and the protagonist is a woman, of course I should fuck her first and think later.

Covering her had been pure greed. I’d simply marked her with my scent before any other bastard could stick to her. It wasn’t that I’d lost my mind and jumped her because she was dazed. My looks weren’t bad, but I didn’t think they were good enough to catch Yoo Dahui’s eye. It had been a necessary choice.

“…Yoo Dahui…?”

Yoo Dahui had wandered around and joined a certain group. It was the 1st-round hell-party made up of Koreans.

“Um, excuse me…”

As I followed her, a woman’s voice came from the side.

“You’re Korean, right?”

“No?”

I scanned the approaching player in an instant. A familiar face—she was one of the women I’d traveled with in the first round. She was part of the group Yoo Dahui had joined.

“That military uniform. It’s the Republic of Korea Army combat uniform, isn’t it?”

“……”

Fuck. I’d been summoned while heading home after being discharged. After regressing three times and spending nearly a month here, I’d completely forgotten.

“So?”

“Let’s stick together with the Koreans. There ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠are other people over there too.”

The woman pointed at a group of Asians. It was the same pattern every time in the first, second, and third rounds. Since it wasn’t only humans here, the humans—especially Koreans—looked smaller and weaker than any other group. If you traveled with that group, it wouldn’t be strange if you died at any moment.

“…Sounds good. Being with Koreans would be… safer, I think.”

“Right?”

Safe? Because I’d fallen for that word and joined that group with Yoo Dahui, I’d suffered like a dog in the first round. It was much more comfortable to trust the information I knew and go alone. It was better for my mental health too.

But the regressor had already joined that party. In that case, following her was only natural. I immediately joined the Korean party.

“Hello.”

I approached the group and greeted them. But in my eyes, only Yoo Dahui existed. For some reason she looked furious, continuously glaring at the men.

“H-haha…”

“Dahui, why are you looking at us like that…? Is there something on my face…?”

Seeing the men laugh awkwardly, I felt a little sorry.

“Looks like all the Koreans are here. There’s no way we wouldn’t notice because of this guy’s military uniform.”

In the tutorial, the Republic of Korea Army uniform served as an ID card proving you were a Korean citizen.

“So… what should we do now?”

One man muttered. It sounded like he was asking for opinions, but he clearly knew better than anyone that no opinions would come. It was a question born of frustration.

Yoo Dahui knew the answer. So did I. It was best to leave the plaza first. Staying here any longer was just wasting time. We needed to see something, obtain something. I glanced at Yoo Dahui. I wanted to figure out whether she was subtly trying to take the wheel or just planning to ride the bus.

Looks like she wants to leech off us.

She was only watching the party and didn’t seem inclined to step forward. In that case, it was up to me to drop the hint.

“How about we go somewhere else?”

“Somewhere else…?”

“Yeah. There’s what looks like an exit over there. People keep heading that way.”

Various species were gathered in the plaza. From the commonly known greenskins like goblins and orcs to elves, dwarves, lamias, and more familiar races. The players were forming their own groups. At first, there was a strong tendency to stick with the same species. They formed parties and all headed out of the plaza.

“Shall we head out then? Everyone okay with that?”

The people nodded.