“Wow, that's crazy. Seriously?”
“Hahahaha, both of them are getting all their leave canceled.”
Sergeant Kim Yong-hun and Corporal Park Ji-young. I remembered both of them. If I recalled correctly, they'd been caught by the Supply NCO while naked and having sex.
“How'd they get caught?”
“They thought the Supply NCO had gone home, but then he suddenly walked in.”
“Heh heh, that Supply NCO has one hell of a temper. They really got caught by the worst possible person.”
That's right.
“How worked up do you have to be to do that in a supply warehouse?”
“Guess they must've loved each other fucking passionately.”
“Look at them, acting like the leads in some melodrama.”
Funny enough, that melodrama would turn into a sordid soap opera a month later, when Sergeant Kim Yong-hun cheated on her with a newly assigned female Private Second Class.
Corporal Park Ji-young rushed over as soon as she heard and slapped him around fifteen times, maybe more.
And it wasn't just romantic problems.
Differences in tendencies between the sexes caused friction too.
They'd argue forever over something as simple as whether to watch soccer or a drama on TV.
Even so, this system remained in place for one reason alone: the efficiency of force composition.
Would a unit function properly if every squad had only swordsmen and shield bearers, or only mage soldiers and archers?
They'd become a ragtag bunch that couldn't even take down an orc properly.
Our squad alone had all sorts of specialties—swordsmen, shield bearers, spearmen, archers, mage soldiers, and more—with two people assigned to each as a primary and an assistant.
Of course, my primary was Corporal Byeon Ji-tak, so I was practically on my own.
The barracks stayed noisy for quite a while. Listening to all the explicit talk about what positions they'd used started making me uncomfortable, so I busied myself with the chores assigned to the lowest-ranking soldier.
There was nothing complicated about them.
Straightening the combat boots and slippers.
Cleaning up the senior soldiers' lockers.
Returning the weapons locker key.
Memorizing the dinner menu in advance.
They were easy, just annoying.
Haaah.
I'd made it all the way to Master Sergeant, and now I was back to doing the youngest soldier's chores.
Reality hit me hard.
I'd spent the entire trip back to base thinking about how I might return to 2055.
And this was the conclusion I reached.
It was impossible.
I hadn't passed through some dimensional gate that transcended space and time.
I'd simply opened my eyes and found myself twenty-five years in the past.
If this were a dream, I would've woken up long ago. If it were an illusion, it would've dispersed ages ago.
More than half a day had already passed since I regressed.
In other words, I had no choice but to live as the me from twenty-five years ago.
That was the fate that had been decided for me.
‘….’
An emotion I couldn't put into words made nausea rise in my throat.
My chest felt tight, and my head was numb as if someone had smashed it with a hammer.
I hadn't even felt like this when my girlfriend dumped me.
I felt hollow. Regressing meant everything I'd accomplished over twenty-five years was gone.
There was no answer.
How was I supposed to start all over again from the beginning?
Of course I could do it if I didn't know what was ahead.
But I remembered everything clearly.
To make Master Sergeant—no, even just to earn those four stripes—I had suffered enough to make me want to puke.
I'm human too.
I can't do that twice.
Should I just give up now?
Should I live as an ordinary office worker instead of a Hunter in this life?
I lowered my head deeply.
I couldn't do that.
Becoming successful as a Hunter had been my dream for a long time.
And I'd actually succeeded to some extent, gaining enough strength, power, and honor that I didn't have to bow my head anywhere.
I didn't want to give those things up.
“Hey, Yun-ho.”
Just then, Corporal Kim Jeong-gi from the neighboring squad, who had come over because of the supply warehouse incident, called out to me.
“Private Second Class Gu Yun-ho.”
“I heard you wrecked the gnolls today. You were the only one who heard a sound nobody else could hear and figured out where they were, and then what? I heard you threw your sword and took out the ones that were hiding. Is that true?”
“Yeah, it's true. Another one was nearly dead after he kicked it in the side. I saw the whole thing.”
Corporal Jeong Ye-som, lying down and tapping away at her phone, answered for me.
Corporal Kim Jeong-gi let out an impressed sound.
“You've been holed up at the training grounds like a man possessed, Yun-ho. Guess it's finally starting to pay off. Anyway, good job, man.”
As I quietly listened to the conversation, goosebumps rose all over my body.
Regression hadn't taken everything from me.
My instincts and memories.
Those were still completely intact.
Everything I'd done in the gnoll dungeon today had been thanks to them.
In that instant, something flashed through my mind.
‘The investigation at Song-su Station tomorrow. There's a rune hidden there…!’
Normally, that rune wouldn't be discovered for another three years and two months.
But I already knew about it.
I'd learned where the rune was before I regressed.
‘Regression... come to think of it, it's not all bad.’
My body, which had sagged under emptiness and frustration, suddenly heated with exhilaration.
If I could exploit the advantages of regression like this.
If I could use them as a springboard to leap ahead.
‘I can live as a richer, better-connected, and stronger Hunter than I was before I regressed.’
Gulp.
I swallowed without realizing it.
First, I just needed to get discharged.
If I could monopolize all sorts of runes and hidden items until my discharge, a new path would open before me.
I could move to a private guild and join for a massive signing bonus.
I could found a guild of my own.
Or instead of making the military my career like before, I could aim for an even higher rank.
I could do anything.
Because my growth rate would be completely different from before I regressed.
‘This isn't just “not all bad.” This is a heaven-sent stroke of luck.’
My life wasn't ruined.
It was the exact opposite.
“Gu Yun-ho, what's for dinner tonight?”
A rough voice pulled me out of my thoughts.
I snapped back to my senses.
Corporal Byeon Ji-tak was swaggering out of the barracks.
“Taro soup, brown rice, kimchi, seasoned spinach, seasoned shredded radish, and steamed eggs. There were no supplementary rations.”
“Garbage. Hey, Seong-jun. Let's hit the PX and get some frozen food.”
“Private First Class Kang Seong-jun! Understood!”
Honestly, judging by the menu alone, it wasn't very appealing.
But just like in the regular military, skipping meals was a disciplinary offense in the Hunter Corps too.
You had to make at least Corporal before you could get away with ditching a meal and going to the PX instead.
I was a little different.
Even after making Sergeant, I almost never skipped meals.
That was because the food prepared by Hunter Corps cooks was different from ordinary food.
The mess hall behind the company building.
“Enjoy your meal.”
“You too, Yun-ho.”
“Yes.”
I could feel the effect from the very first bite.
The fatigue that had built up from fighting the gnolls slowly began to melt away.
My heavy body gradually grew lighter too.
“Whatever you think of the taste, the effect really is great, isn't it?”
Even Corporal Jeong Ye-som, a mage soldier who had spent relatively less stamina, could feel it.
“Yes. It's incredibly effective.”
All the cooks had unlocked cooking-related abilities.
Their food restored the body in various ways, replenishing stamina and energy and relieving fatigue.
That was why getting a good night's sleep after hard training was important, but so was eating a hearty meal like this.
You recovered quickly.
“What are you doing after dinner? Going to the training grounds?”
“I think so.”
“Aww, I was hoping you'd come to the movie room with me.”
Corporal Jeong Ye-som had unlocked abilities too, of course.
Mana, Spell Power, Element—every one of them was related to magic.
Even after leaving the military, she would join a fairly large guild and work as a professional mage.
Much later, she'd even end up leading a guild herself.
“I'd drag you there by force if I could... but your training finally showed results today, so I'll let it go.”
“Haha, thank you for being considerate.”
I was different.
Other than Strength, Agility, and Stamina, the three abilities everyone unlocked, I didn't have a single ability.
For a Hunter, abilities were talent.
In other words, I didn't have even the tiniest speck of talent.
That was why I'd always stayed holed up at the training grounds.
If I wanted to grow, I had to develop abilities somehow.
Fortunately, my efforts hadn't betrayed me.
I'd eventually managed to develop several abilities.
The painful part was that it had taken a long, long time before that happened.
Now, though, a hope circuit was starting to run in my head.
If my body remembered twenty-five years' worth of training too, couldn't I bring that point forward by a huge margin?
That hope.
It was the reason I headed straight for the training grounds as soon as I finished dinner.
I briefly steadied my breathing, then activated Simulation Mode.
‘Let's use a simulated battle to figure out exactly where I stand right now.’
Compared to the version from 2055, it was extremely outdated, but it should still work fine for training.
I'd become outdated too, after all.
WHIRRR.
Once the machine finished activating, it soon spat something out.
A dog-headed humanoid monster.
A Deriphon.
It resembled a gnoll, but it was slightly taller and bulkier.
It wielded the same weapon I did.
A sword.
“GRAAAH!”
My body didn't tremble in the slightest at its guttural roar.
I'd fought these things until I was sick of them.
I was confident I wouldn't flinch even if that long sword swung right in front of my nose.
But the reality I faced was nothing like what I'd imagined.
CLANG—!
The force crashing into my blade was far too strong.
And its movements were so fast it might as well have been a nimble squirrel.
SWISH!
CLANG—!
I barely blocked the diagonal slash.
My eyes could read the entire path of its sword, but my body simply couldn't keep up.
That was the limit of my physical abilities in this period.
‘Yeah. This is what I was like back then.’
If that were all there was to it, the future would've looked bleak.
But after our swords collided more than twenty times, I realized something.
CLAAANG—!
SWISH!
Without a doubt, I could grow faster than I had before regression.
The sense of combat.
The rhythm.
My body remembered those things, and because of that, I kept the fight going against a Deriphon I should never have been able to stand against.
I couldn't win, but I wasn't losing either.
SWISH!
I blocked another attack and countered.
My sword shot straight out and thrust into its upper body.
If it had been real, the blade would've pierced its hide.
That was more than enough to satisfy me.
The fight continued for about as long as it took to drink a cup of tea.
Sweat poured down me like rain, and just as I finally lowered my sword—
DING!
A notification suddenly rang out.
《A new ability, [Parry], has been unlocked.》
《From now on, you can effectively parry an opponent's attacks.》
I stared at the message with my mouth hanging open.
[Parry].
An ability that normally wouldn't have unlocked for another three months had unlocked in just fifteen minutes.
And that wasn't the end.
I did nothing but spar with the Deriphon over and over until it was time for assigned cleaning duties, and as a result, I reached the next stage of growth as well.
《Your understanding of [Parry] is very high.》
《[Parry] has awakened into [Efficient Parry].》
《From now on, you can parry an opponent's attacks even more effectively.》
[Efficient Parry] was an ability I hadn't awakened until three years later.
And now it had returned to me in less than two hours.
“…!!”
Faced with something I couldn't believe, I froze where I stood.