Regression Failure
Yes, I am great. This isn’t some drug-fueled nonsense. It’s definitely not a joke, either. Other people—no, the surviving remnants of humanity—call me that. Humanity’s hero.
So I have a tiny little flaw of looking down on people a bit. But what can I do when I really am that amazing? It wasn’t always like this, though. My beginning was… utterly miserable and insignificant.
Twenty years ago, the world met its end. Tens of millions of colossal monsters rose from the sea and destroyed every civilization humanity had built. We called that day the Great Catastrophe. Before it happened, I was a parasitic NEET who leeched off my parents’ hard work. Not that I wanted to be.
During my school years, my entire world was the square space in front of my desk. I never once did any of the normal rebellious things other kids did. I stayed up every night sacrificing sleep to study like my life depended on it. But the world laughed at me with its cruel wall called talent. My report cards never escaped the lower-middle ranks. After all the twists and turns, I somehow got into a third-rate mountain college. Romantic campus life? That was a luxury I couldn’t afford.
I buried myself in the library and absorbed every useful piece of knowledge I could find, major subjects included. I even worked out regularly to keep my mind healthy. After surviving that brutal college life and graduating, I became a NEET as naturally as breathing. I must have gone to a hundred interviews. Society simply didn’t want me. I even thought it would be better if the whole world collapsed. At least then everyone would be equally miserable.
Well, the world really did collapse. At first I thought it was a blessing, but that was a terrible miscalculation. Once the national economy completely crumbled from the Great Catastrophe, the lives of ordinary civilians at the bottom of the hierarchy were driven to the edge of a cliff. My previous NEET life seemed like heaven in comparison. Civilians chewed on tree roots in the mountains to stave off starvation and lived under the constant threat of monsters. Simply surviving was hell itself.
Maybe I should just kill myself. I thought that dozens of times every night. That was when it happened. Out of nowhere—poof—I awakened. And not just as any awakener. I became an Ultra S-class awakener.
Only 0.1 percent of all humanity awakened, and among them there were only three S-class awakeners in the entire world. I was Korea’s one and only S-class, humanity’s hope, the greatest hero, and a walking heartthrob. That was me.
I slaughtered monsters like a madman. Thanks to my heroic dedication and effort, South Korea quickly regained stability. Sure, the other awakeners helped a tiny, microscopic amount. I’ll admit that much. At the very least, they deserve credit for not standing in my way.
And now, twenty years after the Great Catastrophe, here I stand—the Ultra S-class hero, the strongest hero, humanity’s hope, the heartthrob bomber. Along with nine others who are hard to call heroes but are at least the strongest among the remaining awakeners. (Humanity’s one and only hope and hero is me alone, of course.)
Why? To regress to the past.
This whole mess started five years ago with the discovery of a suspicious book called the Heaven-Shattering Divine Power Art beneath the ruins of Gyeongbokgung Palace. The name was grandiose, but this “divine art” was a miraculous tome that could turn even non-awakeners into awakeners. According to the description, it was a method of accumulating something called qi in one’s muscle fibers. Honestly, I don’t know the scientific principle behind it. No one does. I suspect even the explanation “accumulating qi in muscle fibers” is nonsense.
I tried learning it myself. There was no special effect—just the feeling that all my fatigue from staying up all night gaming disappeared. Not that an Ultra S-class like me needed any recovery items anyway.
But as the saying goes, good fortune brings misfortune. Right after the Heaven-Shattering Divine Power Art was discovered, an overwhelming number of monsters attacked the surface again from the depths of the ocean. Five years ago, in 2042, the stable lives of humanity were once again plunged into the crisis of total annihilation. It was the beginning of the Second Great Catastrophe.
In complete secrecy, the government spent five years mobilizing the most advanced micro-technology to create a time machine. I don’t know exactly who built it. Not my problem. The plan was simple: time-warp back twenty years, before the Great Catastrophe, and teach the Heaven-Shattering Divine Power Art to every citizen. Raise humanity’s baseline physical level and completely bypass the crisis of destruction. A simple yet perfect idea.
So here I am, standing in what the scientists call the “time machine activation zone.” Except… the thing that’s supposed to be the time machine over there is missing. All I see are a few huge rocks. To anyone looking, they’re just ordinary boulders that rolled in from somewhere. They’re massive and round, like giant dice abandoned after a game.
“Um… am I seeing things? Or did the government embezzle the budget, dump a few rocks here, and go ‘Ta-da! It’s a time machine!’?”
I spoke with a smirk. Behind me, one of the nine top awakeners—a burly man known as the Steel Shield—swallowed audibly.
“Hero, sir… I was told that is correct. It’s a relic of an ancient civilization, and the principle by which it leaps through spacetime… is beyond our scientific understanding…”
“I know it’s beyond understanding. But no matter how I look at it, those are just rocks.”
I snorted. Then again, there was no scientific explanation for how I obtained S-class powers either. In this absurd world where everything could be explained away with the single word “talent,” even claiming a pile of stones was a time machine made sense.
Ah, I don’t want to think about it. They said we’d be leaving soon, so how much longer do I have to wait?
As if reading my mind, the lead scientist looked at us and spoke into the microphone.
“Preparation is complete. All personnel, please step onto the platform ahead.”
The platform. What he called the platform was the very thing I had just mocked as “rocks.” A massive circular stone roughly ten meters in diameter lay embedded in the floor. From a distance it looked like a smooth boulder, but up close its true nature was revealed. Across the dark gray stone surface were intricate patterns—whether pictures or letters, I couldn’t tell—carved as if scraped out by a blade. The patterns intertwined in a precise, delicate design that was far too sophisticated and unreal to be advanced technology. If anything, it looked like an ancient magic circle or some alien shamanic tool.
“Wait, this is really it?”
A sigh escaped me before I could stop it. Humanity’s last hope, built with hundreds of billions in funding, was nothing but a stone magic circle. The absurdity was off the charts.
Still, as the one about to embark on a grand mission, I needed to offer warm encouragement to the rest of the awakeners—who looked like they had insignificant abilities in my eyes—so they wouldn’t be afraid. That was what a true leader did. This was when Ultra S-class leadership shone.
I turned to the nine awakeners with a bold laugh.
“I offer a modicum of respect to you all, who possess insignificant abilities yet have summoned the courage to join this great undertaking.”
“……”
I saw their expressions twist slightly, but I paid it no mind. It was the truth, after all.
“Let’s go! For humanity!”
With that, I thrust my clenched right fist high into the air. A heroic pose befitting the title of humanity’s hope.
“We’ll eat dinner in hell!”
Silence fell.
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Oops. Maybe I put too much sincerity into that one? Wasn’t that line a cliché in hero stories? Pathetic fools. Oh well, nothing to be done. I’d just have to lead them properly myself. Even after going back to the past, I had a bad feeling I’d end up solving everything alone instead of being dragged down by these talentless idiots.
I shrugged and stepped boldly onto the stone magic circle where the awakeners still hesitated in fear. The stone beneath my feet began to glow faintly.
“Everyone is now aboard. We will activate the device. For smooth consciousness transfer, please close your eyes.”
I closed my eyes with a firm resolve to save humanity. Of course, the most important part was that I would be the one saving them.
This science-defying time machine couldn’t send our physical bodies to the past. It could only transmit our consciousness to our past selves. Whether that was even possible was one thing, but what would happen if it failed? What if my consciousness fell into hell instead of the past? The scientists had sworn it was impossible, but seeing the actual device filled me with growing anxiety. No matter how strong an Ultra S-class’s mental fortitude was, it would be a lie to say I wasn’t nervous.
“Commencing countdown. 5, 4, 3, 2…”
Well, thinking about it more wouldn’t change anything. Let’s go—back to my young, fresh NEET days!
With a low woong sound like machinery spinning up, a brilliant light poured through my closed eyelids. A moment later, I felt a strange sensation—not my body falling, but my consciousness plunging deep underground. Soon the bright light and the humming mechanical noise both vanished.
Huh? Did it work? Am I there?
Doubtful, I cracked my eyes open. Since only my consciousness was being sent to my twenty-five-years-younger self, the nine useless pseudo-heroes who came with me should have been scattered to different locations. There was no need to call out.
As I slowly opened my eyes, I expected to see the familiar sight of my old room—the peaceful NEET days where I slept in and ordered delivery. But when I actually looked, my vision was filled with hundreds of strange men in bizarre, varied outfits.
“…What the hell?”
I rubbed my eyes in confusion. This was not the Korea I knew. Hundreds of men dressed like they’d stepped out of a Chinese wuxia drama stood before me. They were charging straight at me with all kinds of gleaming weapons—swords, spears, even staffs.
Wait, even bald monks with fierce expressions were running at me? This really looked like a wuxia movie set. The problem was my strong conviction that the destination of all those murderous weapons seemed to be me.
What the hell is going on?
Confused, I shouted desperately. Whether I had taken over my past body or not, this situation was beyond common sense.
“Fuck! Who the hell are you people?!”
But my cry was swallowed by the bloodthirsty roars of the hundreds of men. They charged at me with ferocious momentum all at once.
“These pathetic, worthless pieces of—”
I adjusted my words to maintain my public image, then immediately raised my right hand toward them.
Heh. My magnificent Ultra-Ultra-Ultra S-class ability is gravity manipulation. Within a hundred-meter radius, I can apply or remove gravity on a massive scale. I can completely suppress enemies or crush and destroy them with overwhelming gravity. And that’s not all—I can apply gravity to my entire body or specific parts.
Imagine applying ten thousand times gravity to my fist or leg. What would happen if I struck an enemy with a fist carrying ten thousand times the force of gravity? Total destruction! That was the greatness of me. Of course, even if I swung a body under ten thousand times gravity, I could wield it freely without being affected by that powerful gravity myself. At speeds too fast for the eye to follow, no less! I could even erase gravity’s effect on my whole body and fly around like Superman, but why bother explaining?
How was that possible? I didn’t know either. After all, humans using unscientific powers didn’t make sense in the first place. It was easier to just call it one of the universe’s mysteries.
Anyway, with the intent to subdue these middle-aged men in weird wuxia cosplay, I shouted while preparing to spread gravity over a wide area.
“Kneel!”
The cosplay uncles flew toward me with enraged expressions.
They’re actually flying? Are they awakeners too?
Feeling extreme bewilderment inside, I pulled on the gravity. Two times! Three times! Four times! Five times, six times…
“Why aren’t you kneeling???”
Before I knew it, the lead monk among the exhausted group swung a huge staff at me. It was a weak, tired strike, but I had to maintain the dignity of an Ultra-Ultra-Ultra S-class. Pretending not to be flustered, I raised my right hand—now infused with ten thousand times gravity—to block his staff.
[CRACK!]
“Aaaargh!!!! My arm!!!!”
The staff I was trying to shatter remained perfectly intact. So why was only my arm broken cleanly and neatly?! Enduring the pain, I rapidly used negative two hundred times gravity to attempt an emergency evasion maneuver.