A line worthy of a street thug shaking people down came out of Pyo Haram's mouth. After everything absurd that had happened since earlier, Seo Munhyeok, who had spent his entire life as an upright young man, felt like he was about to lose his mind.
"As you can see, I'm hungry right now. And I'm broke."
Was he actually proud of that?
He barely swallowed the mutter that had risen to his throat. Meanwhile, Pyo Haram kept chattering away.
"Anyway, if you buy me something to eat, I'll answer one question you're curious about for each thing you buy."
Grrr...
His stomach growled again.
Seo Munhyeok hesitated. Was the man in front of him actually sane? Everything he'd done since earlier had seemed just slightly disconnected from what any normal person would do. Was he simply imagining it?
The dilemma didn't last long.
It wasn't as though he lacked money.
More importantly...
Pyo Haram looked just... just a little pitiful.
'Let's feed him first, then try having a proper conversation.'
No matter what, he was the one who needed something here.
He nodded.
"Very well. What would you like to eat?"
"I know exactly what I want."
"What is it? I didn't bring my car today... I'll grab us a taxi first."
"That's unnecessary."
"...Excuse me? Don't we need to go out to the main road to get something to eat?"
"The alley over there is enough."
Pyo Haram groaned as he pushed himself to his feet.
Seo Munhyeok briefly considered helping him up before abandoning the idea. The memory of his mana being drained when he'd touched him earlier still bothered him.
"Tch. You're annoyingly perceptive."
"...Pardon?"
"I was talking to myself."
That was awfully loud for talking to yourself.
Just in case, Seo Munhyeok took another step back, widening the distance between them.
Still, suspicious or not, he obediently followed behind the limping Pyo Haram.
If it came down to it, he was confident he could subdue him without laying a finger on him.
Following Pyo Haram into the side alley, he found...
"Fish-shaped pastries...?"
A fish-shaped pastry stand.
"The lady here makes excellent fish-shaped pastries. One pastry, one question. What do you say?"
Was he really...
Actually...
Simply insane?
His vision swam for a moment.
The man who had saved his life stood there smacking his lips while staring fixedly at the pastries.
"Hurry. I'm hungry."
"...Hah."
A helpless sigh escaped him.
He gave up expecting any meaningful answers from Pyo Haram. Still, they'd already come this far. The least he could do was buy the starving young man something to eat.
"All... right..."
Was this seriously happening?
"...Let's start with twenty fish-shaped pastries."
Well, Pyo Haram's face had brightened immediately, so perhaps it was the right decision after all.
The question-and-answer session, bribed into existence by fish-shaped pastries, took place at Pyo Haram's house.
Although the front door had been blown off and the walls looked ready to collapse at any moment.
Since what they were about to discuss was confidential, it seemed better than talking outside.
Fortunately, Pyo Haram wasn't nearly as crazy as Seo Munhyeok had feared.
He no longer acted hostile toward him or said bizarre things like before.
His entire attention was fixed solely on the bag of fish-shaped pastries in Seo Munhyeok's hand.
Thanks to that, Seo Munhyeok was able to ask everything he wanted without much difficulty.
And, unexpectedly, he received sincere, detailed answers.
"So... you're saying you're a soul from another dimension?"
"That's right. I keep telling you. Have you spent your whole life getting fooled by everyone?"
"..."
Haran replied arrogantly, lifting his chin.
Seo Munhyeok's eyes drifted toward the crumbs clinging around Haran's mouth.
'That... was the great archmage?'
In the blink of an eye, ten fish-shaped pastries had disappeared into Haran's stomach.
Seo Munhyeok now understood Haran's true identity, how he had saved his life, and why he had caused such a commotion earlier.
'The knowledge he demonstrated really wasn't something anyone in this world should possess. The Dragon Heart alone proves that. If that knowledge could actually be put to use...'
Summoning his status window, Seo Munhyeok stared at his titles.
The system had granted him exactly two.
Title: Ruthless Hero, One Who Escaped Reincarnation (5th Pilgrimage in Progress)
The infuriatingly unhelpful system never explained what either title meant.
The system in this life was no different.
Interpreting them was entirely up to him.
'Hero...'
As far as he could tell, the system wanted him to become exactly that.
A hero who slew monsters.
Saved people.
Ultimately, a hero who prevented the world's destruction.
'Though I still don't know why it had to be me.'
The system kept rewinding time until Seo Munhyeok successfully fulfilled that role.
'Which means... if I want this damned cycle of regression to end, I have to become the hero the system wants and save the world.'
He had only reached that conclusion moments before dying during his second life.
Afterward, he recruited companions he could trust, founded a guild, collected powerful items using knowledge from previous lives, and constantly strengthened himself.
Yet despite all that effort, the results had always been disappointing.
In his previous life, he had finally discovered the first being the system officially recognized as Evil—the traces of the Demon King.
He had pursued them.
Then died.
He had finally begun making real progress...
Only for everything to reset once again.
The emptiness he had felt then was impossible to describe.
Unlike before, the Seo Munhyeok of his fifth life suffered from overwhelming apathy.
The passion and determination that had once driven him had all been worn away by countless previous lives.
The only thing left inside him was a longing for eternal rest.
'And then... someone like him appears.'
He looked at Haran with fresh eyes.
If this man truly was the great archmage from another world...
If he truly was the one variable capable of bringing his endless life to an end...
"Are you not going to eat that?"
Haran asked, licking his lips while staring at the bag of fish-shaped pastries.
Seo Munhyeok let out a quiet laugh before awkwardly touching the corner of his own mouth.
He couldn't even remember the last time he'd smiled this comfortably.
"Any more questions?"
"You want more?"
"Yeah. I'm still not full."
Seo Munhyeok looked down at the bag.
Of course he wasn't.
Fish-shaped pastries were a snack.
They were never meant to be an actual meal.
"If you'd like, you can have the rest. I'll also treat you to a proper meal afterward."
The Haran sitting across from him was still filthy and painfully thin.
According to what he'd heard, he hadn't even managed to eat a proper meal since arriving in this world.
Sure enough, Haran's eyes sparkled with anticipation.
Seo Munhyeok extended the bag toward him...
Then, just before Haran grabbed it, swiftly pulled it back.
"...?"
Haran's expression immediately soured again.
Feeling strangely refreshed, Seo Munhyeok said something he normally never would have.
"In return... I'd like you to listen to my story as well."
"What?"
Was it during his second life?
Back then, one of the companions who had faithfully followed him in the previous timeline no longer recognized him.
It had hurt more than he'd expected.
All the memories they'd shared, all the laughter...
Gone in an instant.
As though they'd never happened.
At the time, he'd still been confused by his first experience with regression.
And terribly lonely.
So he'd confessed everything.
He told that companion he had experienced regression.
'It didn't go well...'
The companion had only looked bewildered.
He'd laughed it off as though it were something out of a novel or comic.
Later, he even spread ridiculous rumors that the nation's S-class Hunter had developed a mental illness.
After that incident, Seo Munhyeok swore never to rely on anyone again.
His secret would remain a secret forever.
Yet now...
That resolve was wavering.
All because of a man who practically drooled over a single fish-shaped pastry.
'Because he's gone through something similar.'
Transmigration.
Possession.
Wasn't that even more unbelievable than regression?
Maybe...
Just maybe...
He would believe him.
No...
Even if he didn't...
That was fine.
Perhaps Seo Munhyeok had simply wanted to tell someone.
And the slightly unhinged man sitting before him seemed like the perfect person to entrust with such an impossible secret.
"The pastries are getting cold. If you've got something to say, hurry up. I'll give you exactly five seconds."
"If they get cold, I'll buy you as many fresh ones as you want."
"In that case, I'll give you five minutes. Take your time."
The moment Seo Munhyeok handed him another fish-shaped pastry, Haran immediately snatched it and stuffed it into his mouth.
Seo Munhyeok chuckled before beginning his story with a tense expression.
His family's deaths.
The horrific Great Cataclysm.
The betrayal of someone he'd trusted.
Regression.
And the endless repetition that followed.
Die.
Return.
Die again.
Come back again.
His life was far too long and complicated to summarize in only a few sentences.
Even so...
Haran listened without interrupting.
Not because he was compassionate.
Nor because he pitied Seo Munhyeok.
It was simply because every time he finished another fish-shaped pastry, Seo Munhyeok would immediately hand him a fresh one.
Eventually...
The bag was empty.
"...And that's how it happened."
Seo Munhyeok's story came to an end.
Haran merely stared regretfully at the empty bag without showing much reaction.
His usual sullen expression revealed nothing.
'...As expected.'
'He doesn't believe me.'
A faint sense of disappointment washed over him.
Still, his heart felt lighter.
After a brief silence, Seo Munhyeok was just about to laugh it off as a joke and bury everything he'd confessed—
"I see. Finished talking?"
"...Yes."
"Then hand it over."
"My Dragon Heart."