Prologue.
Humanity was going extinct.
The reason was simple.
It was because he had been a pushover.
***
There was a world that had been reduced to ruins.
A world where everything had turned to ash, where not a single tree remained, where the long, long passage of time had brought everything crumbling down.
A man stood looking upon that world.
“F*ck.”
A primal curse burst from his lips. The man's eyes wavered as he stared at the ruins.
“You are angry.”
An old monk stood behind him. The eyes forged through his profound cultivation were infinitely serene.
“You have returned, Venerable Milarepa. Did you find anything?”
“Our world was the only place in the universe where life remained. Regrettably.”
“It is what I expected, so I cannot say I am surprised.”
The man spoke indifferently. Venerable Milarepa calmly asked him a question.
“What has made you so angry, Kang Junhyeok?”
“You already know, do you not?”
The man called Kang Junhyeok clicked his tongue.
“This goddamn situation. That is what.”
“Is that so?”
The venerable monk smiled bitterly.
One day.
A message had arrived throughout the universe.
It said there was a new master of the universe.
It said the current universe would be abandoned and a new universe created.
And so, all of them would disappear.
But at the same time, that being had spoken.
It would give them one more chance.
Climb the Tower, reach the objective, and prevent the destruction.
Every being in the universe had done everything in their power to prevent the end. An unfathomable span of time had passed since then. After countless sacrifices, they were nearing the end.
They could win. They had gathered enough power to do so. In terms of sheer strength alone, it was possible.
Yet Kang Junhyeok was also certain.
It was impossible.
“Come to think of it.”
As if something had suddenly occurred to him, Milarepa asked.
“What are our heroes doing?”
Among the beings of the universe, there were those who were exceptionally powerful. Mighty figures capable of overturning the course of the war.
They were called heroes. Milarepa asked where one of them was.
“What is the Hero, the wielder of the Holy Sword, doing?”
The great Holy Sword. A gift bestowed upon the mortal realm by defeated gods who had gathered the last of their power. Its wielder gained the power of every god. It was power worthy of one called a hero.
“Is he not right over there?”
Kang Junhyeok raised a finger and pointed to the far side of the world. Despite the tremendous distance, they could see him without any difficulty.
Venerable Milarepa murmured in understanding.
“He is clutching the Holy Sword and muttering ceaselessly to himself.”
“He was already a spineless bastard, and he became even worse after obtaining the Holy Sword. He spends all day clinging to it for comfort. It is impossible to hold a normal conversation with him.”
“Is that so?”
Venerable Milarepa murmured sorrowfully once more.
“Then where is the owner of the Lemegeton, the half-human, half-demon?”
The grimoire of dark magic. The Lemegeton. It was said that its owner could wield every form of dark magic. They could possess power on an entirely different level from an ordinary mage—power that could reach the Demon King.
Kang Junhyeok spoke indifferently.
“They could not endure the fear and killed themselves just yesterday. No one but its owner can read the Lemegeton, so it has been reduced to an attractive collector's piece.”
“Is that so?”
Venerable Milarepa once again murmured in sorrow.
Venerable Milarepa continued asking questions after that.
“Where did the high elf's bastard child who contracted with the Four Great Spirit Kings go?”
“Where did the Greatest Martial Artist Under Heaven, who consumed the Empty Azure Stone Milk, the Great Restoration Pill, the Ten-Thousand-Year Fleeceflower Root, and an Imoogi's Inner Core, go?”
“Where is the psychic who reached the end of evolution and can wield every psychic power?”
Kang Junhyeok answered every question.
“They fled to the Spirit Realm. Do you not think they are like an ostrich? The Spirit Realm will disappear when the universe does anyway, but they seem to think burying their head means they are hidden.”
“They fled into their inner world through meditation. They had stretched the flow of time inside themselves to the extreme so they could live forever, at least in there.”
“They bolted, saying they would flee to the end of the universe.”
Every last one of those called heroes had fled. Kang Junhyeok lamented.
“Why did bastards like them end up with such power?”
“What an amusing thing to say.”
Venerable Milarepa laughed softly as he spoke.
“Was it not you, and no one else, who handed that power to them? The one and only player in the entire universe to clear the 100th Floor. Conqueror of the Tower.”
The Tower laid before them was monstrously difficult.
No one had reached the 100th Floor. Everyone had given up before then.
Everyone except a single person. Kang Junhyeok, the man before him.
He was strong.
So strong that he could look at the pathetic weaklings around him, take pity on them, and yield his power to them.
“And I am now regretting it immensely.”
Kang Junhyeok grumbled.
“I should not have done it. I should not have pitied them and yielded the power they needed to survive. I should have taken all of it for myself. Then I would not have had to witness this.”
The vast universe was being destroyed. The life that remained was not even enough to fill a single planet.
“I understand.”
Milarepa murmured.
“The target of your anger is yourself.”
Why had he yielded something like power?
Why had he felt something like compassion for them?
If he had not, if he had taken everything for himself, the universe might not have been destroyed.
“It is a belated regret. The world has already come to this, and those useless bastards have fled.”
“......Indeed. It has already happened, so it is a regret that cannot be undone. Unless time itself were turned back, that is.”
Milarepa murmured in a peculiar tone.
And at that moment.
CRACKLE.
The sky split apart. Countless monsters began to reveal themselves beyond it.
[Quest started.]
[Wishing you victory.]
The survivors swiftly prepared to attack. Kang Junhyeok rose to his feet.
“Then, Venerable Milarepa, if there is an afterlife, I will see you there.”
“I shall attain nirvana, so you will not be able to see me there.”
Venerable Milarepa smiled as he murmured. Kang Junhyeok chuckled and moved.
“Get up, you bastard.”
“Ugh, uhhh.......”
He smacked the Hero across the head. The Hero staggered to his feet.
[BUOOOOOOOO!]
The first to appear was a twisted monster with a gigantic face. Kang Junhyeok frowned.
“A monster that devoured the Demon King.”
The lord of hell and king of demons. A monster that had devoured that being. Kang Junhyeok swiftly made his assessment. Even in this situation, he devised the optimal path to victory.
‘That monster's power consists of demonic energy.’
And demonic energy's counter was divine power.
The moment Kang Junhyeok reached that conclusion, he charged straight at the monster. The monster unleashed its power at the onrushing Kang Junhyeok.
Horrifically foul demonic energy crept toward him. Watching it approach, Kang Junhyeok activated a skill.
[Lost God's Majesty.]
Light arose.
It was radiant light that erased every shadow in the world. It melted and burned away the onrushing demonic energy. A path to the monster opened in an instant.
Kang Junhyeok raised his weapon and drove it into the monster's body.
“Blow up and die.”
He detonated divine power through his sword. Cracks instantly began spreading across the monster's body.
[BU! O! O! O!]
But the monster did not die. In agony, it violently sprayed demonic energy everywhere. That alone threatened to kill the planet.
‘Damn it!’
Kang Junhyeok ground his teeth. He possessed divine power, but not enough to kill a monster that had devoured the Demon King. He needed even greater divine power, so he shouted.
“Hero! Finish it!”
The Hero wielding the Holy Sword could kill this monster.
But no answer came to his cry.
Kang Junhyeok hurriedly turned his head and looked down at the ground.
There stood the Hero, trembling as he hugged the Holy Sword to his chest. The sight made Kang Junhyeok lose his reason for a moment.
“You fucking bas.......”
THOOM—.
He could not finish. The rampaging monster sent Kang Junhyeok flying.
BOOOOM—!
He slammed into the ground, groaned, and raised his head.
[BU! O! O! O!]
The monster that had devoured the Demon King let out a roar. The spatial rift grew even wider, and more monsters appeared.
“We should have killed at least one before it came to this.”
All because of that goddamn Hero bastard. Kang Junhyeok let out a hollow laugh.
[BUOOOOOO.......]
The monsters that appeared immediately fixed their gazes on Kang Junhyeok. They had instantly identified the greatest threat to them.
All of them unleashed their power at Kang Junhyeok at once.
RUMBLE—!
Their power crashed down on him all at once. Every single blow was an attack from a monster capable of tearing a planet apart and ending a world. Space collapsed and the axis of time twisted. It was quite literally enough power to split the planet.
“This is seriously fucked.”
Kang Junhyeok gripped his sword with a lament.
[Martial Extremity [Martial Extremity].]
The sword carved a diagonal line.
CRUNCH—.
At the same moment, a line was carved through the world.
The mighty attacks of the monsters twisting space and the axis of time were sliced apart like a torn painting. The long sword strike left upon the world devoured everything. The monsters thrashed to keep from being sucked in.
Kang Junhyeok raised a finger and pointed at a monster.
[Existence Erasure.]
“Die.”
Power filled his word. The monster designated by his fingertip began to be erased in an instant.
But at that moment, a monster composed of countless magical tools swiftly moved to protect it. The immense power was drawn into the monster of magical tools. Kang Junhyeok clicked his tongue.
“The Mystery Devourer?”
A monster that had grown by voraciously devouring the master of the great Tower of Aspiration.
“The owner of the Lemegeton would have dealt with it under normal circumstances.”
That bastard had long since fled responsibility in the name of suicide.
Kang Junhyeok shook his head.
“Enough. Let us see this through to the end.”
***
Kang Junhyeok fought desperately.
Even with annihilation right before his eyes, he did not lose hope and pressed forward in pursuit of victory. He poured out every shred of power he possessed against the monsters.
But it was not enough.
He succeeded in overloading the Mystery Devourer until it exploded, but his mana ran dry.
He succeeded in killing an extradimensional monster, but exhausted even his true qi.
He succeeded in shaking off the clinging aberrant insects, but his psychokinesis broke down.
Because he had yielded power to others, he had no choice but to expend his strength killing the monsters one by one.
This was the result.
[Quest failed.]
“We lost.”
He murmured softly as someone entered his field of vision. A long-haired man in martial robes. The greatest martial artist under heaven was meditating with his eyes closed. He had fled into his inner world.
Kang Junhyeok frowned.
“Useless bastard.”
SLICE—.
Another monster that had silently approached sent the Greatest Martial Artist Under Heaven's head flying. Kang Junhyeok let out a dry laugh.
“Hahaha.......”
He had lost.
For no other reason than his own weakness.
He should not have done it. He should not have yielded his power because they looked too weak to survive, because it seemed they would die if he left them alone, because he already had enough and did not need it. He should have devoured it all. Every last bit.
Then he might have won.
“You regret it.”
“I am sorry, Venerable Milarepa. It was all because I was weak.”
“No. It was not your fault.”
Venerable Milarepa, dying in a state much like Kang Junhyeok's, spoke softly.
“Your heart was merely soft. You merely felt compassion for others. If that is called a sin, who in this world would be without sin?”
“Even so.”
If he had not done it, they might have won.
Kang Junhyeok lamented. The venerable monk who had been watching him opened his mouth.
“If the person you are now returned to the past, you would leave no regrets behind.”
“It is already over. That is nothing but a futile fantasy.”
“No. It is not futile.”
Milarepa slowly approached Kang Junhyeok. He extended a hand and gave him something. It was a small jewel.
“What are you suddenly doing......?”
“I shall attain the state of nirvana. This is of no use to me now.”
Milarepa smiled.
“So I shall give it to you.”
[Jewel of Reversal.]
[Returns you to before the event occurred.]
Kang Junhyeok's expression changed when he read the item's description.
“Milarepa?”
“Please, do not make choices you will regret this time.”
Milarepa smiled. The life faded from his face.
“.......”
Kang Junhyeok silently stared at the jewel. The monsters were slowly approaching him.
“......Regret, you say?”
GRIND.
Kang Junhyeok ground his teeth. Anger wavered across his face.
“I have no intention of doing that.”
[Jewel of Reversal.]
[Returns you to before the event occurred.]
The world transformed. Everything began racing backward. The monsters that had borne down upon the world, Milarepa's figure, and even the Hero still lying on the ground bawling his eyes out—all of them faded away.
And at the end of it all.
“......What is this?”
Kang Junhyeok had returned.
To before it had all begun.