Ha Saetbyul.
That was his lover whom he had imagined the future with for the first and the last time ever.
When the Regressor’s head was about to be muddled with various thoughts, status messages came one after another.
[The Authority, [Vintage Clock(EX)] reads hostility sent from the other side of the Horizon of Providence.]
[The Authority, [Vintage Clock(EX)] observes an existence that has escaped the boundaries of time.]
[Opponent: [Superhuman Ha Saetbyul]]
[Explanation: There has been interference from the existence on the other side of the Horizon of Providence, who holds hostility against the regressions. The life of Ha Saetbyul the superhuman has changed immensely.]
[Ha Saetbyul of the Seventh Iteration: In this iteration, Ha Saetbyul was unable to work at the orphanage for a long time. Due to a firing error of superhumans under the International Hunter Association, the orphanage was destroyed, and Ha Saetbyul was reborn as a demon by signing a contract with the existence of abyss out of her hatred against superhumans. The existence contracted with Ha Saetbyul is [The Seventh Lord of the Abyss, Lakshata]. Although Ha Saetbyul had felt doubt at the intense hatred that came to her from the other side of the Horizon of Providence, she forgot most of it while contracting with Lakshata. One of the memories that reached her from outside the timeline includes a portion about you, the Regressor.]
[The Authority, [Vintage Clock(EX)], reveals extreme hostility against the existence that hates you!]
[The Authority, [Vintage Clock(EX)], wishes for you to solve this problem as soon as possible!]
[The Authority, [Vintage Clock(EX)]…]
The Vintage Clock showed animosity against the hostility that had arrived from the other side of the Horizon of Providence, to the point that it seemed to be in a seizure. It was firm and resolute.
Even in the previous regressions, never had the Vintage Clock been this vehement.
After reading through the change that had happened to Ha Saetbyul, Yu Jitae went back to the profile in silence and viewed the data related to Prototype X again.
Other profiles had pictures of the superhumans, but there weren’t any for this one. In doubt, he asked Ryuunosuke who was vacantly sitting down in a corner of the office.
“Why does Number 42 not have an image.”
“…Who knows. Someone must have forgotten to put it on.”
“Do you remember this woman’s face?”
“I do. It was a cute face, but she didn’t show her face for that long. Though rare for an operator, she was wearing a full-plated armour.”
A full plate armour? Ha Saetbyul in the past wasn’t wearing something like that.
That wasn’t the end to the odd situation. After floating up a status message, [Searching…] for some time, the Vintage Clock opened up another window.
[The Authority, [Vintage Clock (EX)] observes an item that is outside the world’s timeline.]
[Opponent: [Arma’s Longsword]]
The target pointed at by the Vintage Clock this time, was the protector’s sword which was hanging on Yu Jitae’s waist. It was the object which had been handed over by Bom earlier that day.
[The Authority, [Vintage Clock (EX)] will stop the hostility sent from the other side of the Horizon of Providence before it could reach you.]
[The Authority, [Vintage Clock (EX)] is fighting the hostility…]
He unsheathed the protector’s sword and raised it. As the authority of the Vintage Clock was influencing it, the sword was filled with the invisible aura of Vintage Clock. After contemplating about the current situation for some time, the Regressor returned the sword back to its sheath.
Then, he spoke to Ryuunosuke.
“Change my position from wing guard to operator.”
“…It’s nothing difficult, but why?”
It was because Ha Saetbyul was an operator.
“Your family is in Tokyo right?” While speaking of Ryuunosuke’s weak point, Yu Jitae left the office as his clone followed him from behind.
***
There was a mountain with no human presence inside a certain conflict zone. Yu Jitae, who had been carrying his steps forward with no real objective, stopped his feet after reaching that place.
His clone likewise stopped its feet.
Yu Jitae sat down on a tree stump. Then, he took out the protector’s sword and filled his fingers with killing intent before sharpening the blade with it.
Shink, shink…
His index and middle fingers followed down the blade. There were no abrasives or whetstones present, but the sword was nonetheless getting sharper and shaper. With a cloudy gaze, the Regressor stared at the sword and sharpened it slowly for a long time.
The existence beyond the Horizon of Providence.
Someone who was dissatisfied with his regressions and thus held hostility.
It was hard to guess who it was and what made it do this. Besides, the extent of its power, was still hard to judge.
But now he had a gist that he could understand what it was thinking.
Literally. It was ‘hostility’ itself.
It was leading him to annoyance, despair, or ruin.
As the proof, that guy had bothered to increase the strength level of Wei Yan and made Ha Saetbyul into Prototype X. ‘Your ex-lover, who was tortured and killed by your own hands a long time ago – kill her once again with your hands’ was what it was saying.
Shink…
His hand grinding the sword gradually accelerated.
The blade was already sharp, but Yu Jitae did not stop his hands.
After the second round of regression,
So after he killed Ha Saetbyul and killed himself, Yu Jitae had never gone looking for her. He avoided bumping into her when they happened to be near each other. In the early iterations, it was from guilt and in the recent rounds, he just had no reason to face her, and thus kept his distance. Perhaps that was why that guy had misunderstood.
‘That guy’ doesn’t know me very well.
That was Yu Jitae’s conclusion.
If that guy really knew me well, it wouldn’t have worked in such an inefficient way.
Maybe it had heard or seen some random stuff somewhere. Despite that, that guy was pretending to know him very well, and he found that to be impudent.
When he thought deeply about it, he slowly started feeling angry from inside.
That was when his clone interrupted his contemplation.
“My lord. If you have anything to order, please do so.”
The only existence that remembered a portion of Yu Jitae’s repeated history – [Shadow of an Archduke (S)] speculated what it had to do.
“If you so wish, I will take care of this, and will keep everything that happened inside my own memory without taking it out.”
Yu Jitae shook his head without saying a word.
* * *
Early the next morning.
The 71-man raid team gathered together.
As the squad had been brought together in a hurry, the members had different nationalities and associations, and in turn, they weren’t very close to each other. This was why Prototype X was able to fit in.
There was no-one who would seriously question the addition of one superhuman into the operator position and the name value of Ryuunosuke, one of the 12 Zodiacs of Japan, had enough power as well.
“…So you’re not going to cause any problems right?”
“Yes.”
“Please take care of your work and leave quietly. I really feel pressured with you around.”
Realising the position he was in, Ryuunosuke did not make a commotion about it.
Yu Jitae, who already knew the type of person Ryunosuke was, had been expecting this. He was the kind that understood the authority of power. Perhaps by now, he was hoping that Yu Jitae would finish his business quietly before disappearing without a word.
Soon, the raid squad headed for the South Pacific Ocean via a warp station.
On an unnamed island was a 20-meter crack drawn horizontally. The closed dungeon was all black at the entrance and the moment one entered through that darkness, they would instantly be welcomed by a new world.
“Ready yourself.”
At the words of Ryuunosuke, the operators gathered together. From now on, they were going to lead seven combat squads.
Yu Jitae also headed to the squad he was assigned to and met his squad’s front guards, wing guards, healers, and sharpshooters.
“Oh, you’re the operator that recently joined the team? Please take care of me.”
Several people walked up and greeted him.
And one step before them,
An operator was standing alone.
Thick full metal armor covered the body from head to toe. However, the person was quite short, and the magic-tailored armour revealed a feminine body.
Yu Jitae approached her and the eyes behind the metal helmet faced him as she gave a faint bow.
“I’m the operator, Ha Saetbyul.”
In that instant.
– Ah, I, I’m Ha Saetbyul. I was appointed as an operator.
Funnily enough,
– Should I call you Captain…?
As if he was dreaming,
– Uakk! Y, you’re bleeding!
The forgotten memories came back to life.
“I look forward to your cooperation.”
“…”
As if someone was injecting him with memories, the forgotten memories started flooding in crazily through a broken dam.
“Why aren’t you responding?”
Her voice was a bit different,
“Ah… umm, that doesn’t mean you have to stare scarily like that.”
But this was definitely the same shell as that Ha Saetbyul.
The reason she couldn’t recognise Yu Jitae even with the portion of memory that deviated from the timeline was because the persona inside the shell was different.
“…I’m sorry.”
Yu Jitae nodded as he pushed back the flood of memories. He then said, “I look forward to your cooperation,” and only then did Ha Saetbyul reveal a small smile from her previous nervousness. Her laughter echoed inside the helmet.
“Enter!”
Soon after, the operation began under Ryuunosuke’s instructions.
Entering the crack, a world full of sea and reefs awaited them.
This was the dungeon, ‘Hetheia’s Ocean’.
The superhumans walked on the water, by injecting mana into their feet. It was a commendable feat, but was not something difficult for those who had been gathered here.
“…Huu. I’m a little worried.”
That was when Ha Saetbyul muttered towards Yu Jitae.
“About what.”
“This is the first time I’m operating on an ocean-terrain like this. It’s not like we’re going to swim but deep water is scary…….”
A faint memory budded up inside him.
Ha Saetbyul had a lot of fears. She was afraid of blood, afraid of heights, nervous in front of water and would whinge about being wounded – those memories brushed past his head.
“If I fall in the ocean, you can’t leave me behind okay? I’m heavy so I’ll definitely sink.”
She laughed, “Ahaha” inside the helmet.
“….”
For a split second, Yu Jitae felt irritation soaring up inside him.
The person standing next to him wasn’t Ha Saetbyul – it was the servant of a devil wearing the skin of Ha Saetbyul, and yet it was mimicking her, using the memories of the main body.
An urge to tear it apart into death struck him. It was a very intense impulsiveness, and felt as if someone was striking him on the head as hard as they could with a hammer.
Even then, the Regressor endured the urge that threatened to burst out like a volcano. It wasn’t Ha Saetbyul whom he had to kill and doing that would be playing into the hands of that guy who wished for his misfortune.
That guy probably made this change while taking Yu Jitae’s second iteration into account.
However, that Yu Jitae, who was swayed around by the world during the past rounds, had died in the second round.
He had killed him.
Now there was no such being in this timeline.
“Let’s go!”
With the guidance of Ha Saetbyul, the squad started its movement while Yu Jitae followed behind after calming himself down.
As far as he remembered, there was one pattern in the test run of Prototype X.
1. Secretly participate in a large-scale raid.
2. At first, pretend to be a member and attack the boss.
3. When the battle is over, quickly strike the allies who have built-up exhaustion.
4. Like that, the military power of Prototype X would be measured.
5. When everyone dies, monopolise the boss drops and take the bodies of the dead superhumans.
From here, Step 3 which was where ‘the full strength of the demon was brought out’ was crucial.
Like how Oh Minsung the teacher turned into a beast similar to a wolf – that process was called [Extrication] and in order for Yu Jitae to kill the ‘enemy’ lying in the ‘depths’ of Ha Saetbyul, it was important for her to enter Step 3, where she extricated.
Thus, he quietly led the squad forward with Ha Saetbyul. They killed the monsters hiding between the rocks and avoided the monsters sniping from the depths of the ocean.
After around half a day, the combat squad gathered in front of the boss, Kraken.
“He’s showing up! Everybody, ready for battle-!”
Right after the main operator shouted, a black shadow gradually grew bigger from beneath the water. All the members of the attack team watched on as the silhouette grew bigger and bigger.
But Ha Saetbyul was staring at the raid members through the gaps of her helmet;
While Yu Jitae was looking at Ha Saetbyul.
As their gazes focused on different targets;
Within that volatile situation;
Yu Jitae slowly raised the protector’s sword.