Last Hope
“Mr. Lee Jihan, thank you for everything.”
It was an oddly calm thing to say for someone facing the end.
Looking at the demon army gathering in the distance, Kim Younghoon shrugged.
Thwack.
I drove my fist into the top of his head.
“Mr.? I told you to call me hyung.”
Younghoon groaned dramatically and clutched his head.
“Ow, there’s more than twenty years between us. What kind of hyung is that? And what does it matter? It’s all over now anyway.”
“At least call me uncle or something. What’s with ‘mister’?”
Yeah.
Truthfully, it was a meaningless argument now that everything was over.
Whether he called me hyung or mister, what difference did it make?
Gates and hunters had suddenly appeared a little over twenty years ago.
The miracles that had once been regarded as blessings eventually became poison that devoured humanity.
Demons crossed through the gates, bringing humanity to the brink of extinction.
The last procession of humanity numbered roughly a thousand people.
At least in South Korea, we were the last.
Younghoon and I were among them.
All we could do was watch the approaching army as ordinary people.
Perhaps because the end was so obvious, I almost felt numb instead.
Younghoon continued.
“I wish I’d become a hunter like you.”
“Ha. You can look at the state I’m in and still say that? I can’t even kill a single demon. What good is being a hunter?”
I had been a hunter too.
And yet here I was, standing among civilians and watching the end approach.
Maybe that was only natural after spending twenty years as nothing more than an F-rank hunter.
My abilities had been hopelessly inadequate for keeping up with the demons in a rapidly changing world.
And it wasn’t just me.
There weren’t many hunters capable of keeping pace with enemies that grew stronger by the day.
The Levels and abilities of the monsters appearing without warning had become absurdly high.
Hunters who failed to accumulate enough experience were gradually pushed out of combat altogether.
“You never had any talent, though. Me? Who knows. My talent as a hunter is still an unknown. Maybe if I’d awakened, I would’ve been an SSS-rank hunter, running around chopping the heads off demon commanders.”
Hearing that I had no talent didn’t particularly bother me.
It wasn’t as if we’d only known each other for a year or two.
Still, even if hearing it from him didn’t really upset me—
Thwack.
I smacked Younghoon on the head again.
“Ow! Why do you hit so hard? You’re going to make me stupid.”
“It pisses me off hearing that from someone who never even awakened.”
There was nothing wrong with what Younghoon had said.
Unfortunately, I really was exceptionally untalented.
I was so devoid of talent that I had practically become famous for it.
In any case, mediocre talent wasn’t enough to survive in this ruined world.
The ones who had swaggered around with half-baked ability had died long ago.
You could say I survived because I was weak.
In the end, the people who had led humanity this far were five SSS-rank hunters.
The Last Five.
That was what we called them, with all the respect the name deserved.
We were still alive because of them.
There had been around eleven of them at first, but their numbers gradually dwindled until only five remained.
That was when—
“Oh, looks like the Last Five are about to announce something?”
Younghoon turned toward the crowd.
A commotion began spreading beyond the procession.
“Looks like they have something to say.”
Despite the noise, people gathered in an orderly manner.
The demon army was drawing closer with every passing moment.
It was a hopeless situation.
And yet there was a reason no one had lost order.
The expectation that, just as they always had, the Last Five would do something.
That was the reason.
I spoke to Younghoon in advance.
“I might be ruining the mood, but don’t get your hopes up too much.”
I wasn’t saying it for no reason.
I had heard something from someone I knew.
The situation had already grown too serious even for the Last Five to handle.
There were far too few people left capable of fighting, and countless enemies were advancing toward us.
Younghoon gave a bitter smile.
“I know. But you never know.”
Younghoon and I pushed through the crowd toward the front.
One of the Last Five was shouting something from atop a rock that could barely be called a platform.
A fierce-looking man with red hair.
That was Cheon Seongho, the hunter known as humanity’s strongest.
“This world is finished.”
The moment he said it, deep sighs and groans erupted throughout the crowd.
“Unfortunately, there is no other way left. If things continue like this, humanity will meet its end here.”
Those words had come directly from the man leading everyone.
It was the moment despair became confirmed fact.
And yet, for someone announcing the end, Cheon Seongho’s voice and gaze were resolute.
They were not those of a man awaiting death.
Cheon Seongho continued.
“…However, do not give up. We still have something that can be called hope.”
At his gesture, another member of the Last Five standing behind him stepped forward.
A beautiful woman clad in brilliant white armor.
Chae Yunah held a golden hourglass in her hand.
Swoosh.
At Cheon Seongho’s command, Chae Yunah threw the hourglass onto the ground.
Crack!
A burst of pure white light erupted with a tremendous sound.
The light flowed around Chae Yunah like liquid before gathering into a brilliant white mass in front of her.
A gate?
I recognized it the moment I saw it.
It was the same kind of gate I had seen until I was sick of them.
The same damned things that had caused one disaster after another.
The obvious difference was that this one was white instead of black.
Could something like that really become our hope?
Before the crowd’s murmuring could grow any louder, Cheon Seongho spoke first.
“This is a gate created using a Unique-grade item we happened to discover not long ago. According to its description, whoever passes through that white gate can return twenty years into the past. There is no reason to doubt whether it is true. The System has never lied.”
People’s faces began to brighten at his words.
Could we really return to those peaceful days?
To a time before the demon invasion or any of this had happened?
Even I swallowed dryly.
A deep crease formed between Cheon Seongho’s brows as he looked at the people beginning to hope again.
“However, only one person can pass through. And even if that person changes the past, no one knows what will happen to those left behind here. Even so, we have to try.”
At that moment, I understood the complexity in Cheon Seongho’s expression.
The situation wasn’t that simple.
“Then who should go? I… still haven’t decided.”
The entire crowd fell silent at once.
The silence continued as though everyone understood his dilemma.
His voice, amplified by a Skill, must have reached even those at the very end of the procession.
Cheon Seongho had his own concerns.
Who should bear the responsibility of overcoming that uncertainty and changing this world?
Wouldn’t it perhaps be more likely to succeed if he simply stayed and fought alongside everyone until the end?
Cheon Seongho had lived the life of a hero itself.
Perhaps those were the kinds of thoughts going through his mind.
But if only one person could return to the past—
The answer was obvious.
“Cheon Seongho! Who else could it be but you?!”
“If not you, then who the hell is supposed to go?!”
“Cheon Seongho! Cheon Seongho! Please change the past!”
People began chanting his name.
The momentum spread uncontrollably until the entire crowd was shouting Cheon Seongho’s name in unison.
“Cheon Seongho!”
“Cheon Seongho!”
Younghoon and I joined them, shouting his name as members of the crowd.
Cheon Seongho, the SSS-rank hunter considered the greatest in the world.
If not him, then who could possibly return to the past and change the future?
Everyone who knew his legendary deeds shouted his name without objection.
Only then did another member of the Last Five, who had been standing silently behind him, step forward and calm the crowd.
“We understand how all of you feel. We had already come to the same conclusion. Cheon Seongho is the only one who can change the future. You need to accept it now too. You’re the only one who can return to the past.”
All five members of the Last Five were qualified to pass through the portal.
The fact that even among themselves they had reached that conclusion meant that both Cheon Seongho’s character and ability were beyond question.
It was truly a moving sight.
Taking advantage of the momentary silence, Younghoon spoke to me.
“Going back to the past… I’m kind of jealous.”
“If it’s twenty years ago, you’d just be a little runt. What would you even do there?”
“I never awakened anyway, so even if I went back, it probably wouldn’t change much… But if I could go, I think I’d like to at least remember my parents’ faces.”
“Ah…”
With nothing to say, I turned my head away.
Why did he suddenly have to say something like that?
Of course Younghoon didn’t know what his parents looked like.
I had found him wandering the streets amid the chaos and taken him in.
Calling it raising him might be a stretch.
It would probably be more accurate to say we had simply lived through everything together.
His parents.
Of course he would wonder about them.
I raised my fist toward his head—
But instead of hitting him, I roughly ruffled his hair.
“Everything will work out.”
“What’s with you? That’s creepy.”
“Our great hero Cheon Seongho will fix everything. Who knows? Maybe the whole world will change in the blink of an eye. You might get to live happily with your parents, and I might get to live happily eating warm meals every day.”
“I hope so. But what about you, mister? Don’t you want to go back to the past? You’ve never thought about it?”
Go back?
Ever since I awakened as an F-rank hunter, all I had were memories of hardship.
Still, there were things I missed.
“If I went back, the first thing I’d do is cook spicy mixed noodles. With pork belly on top.”
“You always say that. They weren’t that amazing.”
“You know nothing about the profound aesthetic beauty contained in spicy mixed noodles… Forget it. There’s no point talking to you. You’d have to actually have eaten them properly to understand.”
But the burden was still too heavy for me.
The responsibility of saving the world was simply too much.
Well, not that I would ever be the one going anyway.
I had far too little talent.
The thought of carrying humanity’s future on my back and returning to the past was absurd.
Someone like Cheon Seongho, with both exceptional ability and outstanding character, was exactly the sort of protagonist who should go.
Cheers erupted from the crowd.
The hands of the other four SSS-rank hunters were all resting on Cheon Seongho’s shoulders.
It was time for him to leave.
Cheon Seongho looked at everyone with a solemn expression.
“No matter what it takes, I will change the future.”
The words were brief, but his sincerity was unmistakable.
Everyone fell solemnly silent.
All of us genuinely wished for it.
We desperately hoped he would save us from this hopeless future.
That was when—
Someone in the crowd shouted.
“What’s that?!”
“Something’s falling!”
“Watch out!”
Everyone’s gaze shot toward the sky.
I looked up as well.
Whoooosh!
Something tore through the barrier the Last Five had erected in advance.
A mass of black magical energy flew toward us in a high arc.
“…?”
The assumption that we were safe inside the barrier had just been shattered for the first time.
People realized what was happening too late.
This wasn’t something we could simply stand there and stare at.
If we wanted to survive—
We had to run.
“Move!”
“G-get out of the way!”
That applied to me too.
“Damn it.”
Unfortunately, the black mass was falling directly toward me.
The people around me desperately tried to flee, but trapped in the crowd, they could barely move.
“Mister, I think this is really bad…”
Everyone around me was a civilian.
But I was still a hunter.
I even had one Skill.
Strength Lv.1.
If I wanted to save myself alone, I probably could.
But…
“M-mister?”
“Hup!”
Without thinking, I hoisted Younghoon up.
“What are you—?!”
Then I hurled him toward the crowd.
Even a talentless F-rank hunter had more than enough strength to throw one person.
The look on his face was really something.
This was enough.
BOOOOM!
At the same moment, the black magical energy struck the ground and exploded.
The world shook with a tremendous vibration.
No.
Maybe I was the only thing shaking.
“Ghh…!”
An indescribable agony assaulted me.
Of course, I didn’t even have time to worry about the pain.
The explosion had blasted me upward, and I was flying through the air.
I needed to position myself properly before I fell.
Otherwise, I could die.
“!”
As I tried to assume a posture that would minimize the impact, I realized something.
One of my arms and one of my legs were gone.
There was no way I could land properly like this.
I swallowed a bitter laugh.
Looks like this is as far as I go.
“Mister! Mister!”
Far away, among the people fleeing in panic, I could see Younghoon desperately calling for me.
There was no life flashing before my eyes.
But as I flew through the air, time somehow felt as though it were moving slowly.
Brat. I told you to call me hyung…
My luck really was rotten right to the very end.
Still.
Maybe.
If Cheon Seongho returned to the past and saved the world—
If the future changed in an instant because of that—
Then my death.
No.
The very future in which the world was destroyed—
Might become something that had never happened at all.
Perhaps everyone would be able to live their own lives in a peaceful world.
***
A single magical projectile had fallen when no one was prepared.
The repercussions it caused were enormous.
“Aaaagh!”
“S-save me!”
“Someone help!”
People lost all sense of order and began scattering in panic.
The Last Five shouted for everyone to calm down, but it had little effect.
No one knew how a magical projectile had managed to pierce the barrier.
The barrier was reconstructed almost immediately, but the chaos remained.
“Everyone, calm down!”
Cheon Seongho shouted at the people once again.
That was when something came flying over his head.
Whoooosh!
Something that had been blasted high into the air by the explosion was now falling back toward the ground at a moment no one could have anticipated.
If that had been all, it might have been fine.
But—
Ssssh!
The object fell directly toward the brilliant white portal.
Into humanity’s final hope.
Ding.
The System displayed a blue message window.
『 Unique-grade item ‘Return Point’ has been fully activated. 』
『 The distorted flow of time is being corrected. 』
Flash.
“W-wait, just now…”
The portal swallowed something and vanished.
“Who went in?”
The face of Chae Ayeon, one of the Last Five, turned deathly pale.
She quickly looked around.
One, two, three, four—
And herself made five.
Every member of the Last Five was still here.
This couldn’t be happening.
At least one of them should have gone through the portal.
If not—
Then something had clearly gone wrong.
While all five members of the Last Five stood frozen in shock—
“Hyung! Jihan hyung! Give me my hyung back!”
A young man came running toward the platform, screaming through his tears.