"My name is Yu Jisung. And I am a Regressor. The first Regressor actually. I dunno, my System doesn’t really tell me anything."
Ding!
[Jisung Is a Liar]
’Oh, shut up.’ He sighed and kept going.
"Nobody remembers exactly when the Awakening Trials became mandatory. It just always felt like it had been there, the way taxes and elections had always been there. When you reached the ripe age of twenty-two, your district head summons you for your trial."
"Whatever you faced, no one could tell. And that was the thing. Whatever you faced was yours alone. No two trials were ever the same. And whether you survived or died, it was never announced."
"My time came and I went in. But then, something happened that was completely out of the ordinary."
"I remember it like it was yesterday. Because in fact... it was."
****
The congratulations notification was still at the corner of his vision when Jisung stood up abruptly from the bench and started running in the opposite direction of the registration line.
"I have to go." He blurted out weaving between people as he ran.
"I have to get out of here! I’ve seen it all. I’ve seen everything. I can’t die a second time." He kept screaming as he ran.
He was headed for the gates. He was almost there when two guards materialized out of nowhere and caught him on both sides by the arm before he could make it.
They were the two guards from earlier. ’Damnit.’
"Hey, weird kid." The first guard barked. "Get back in line."
"You don’t understand." Jisung looked between them with complete sincerity. "I have been in there. I don’t want to go back. I don’t want to die. Let me go!"
He wiggled and struggled with all the strength he could muster, but it was all aimless. They dragged him effortlessly like he weighed nothing and put him back in line with the others.
He stood there shaking, arms wrapped around himself with the number ’34’ printed on the tag clipped to his shirt.
Around him the other participants were nervous in the normal human way, shifting from left to right, checking their phones and whispering to each other.
But none of them knew. None of them had any idea what was waiting on the other side of those doors. But he did.
Jisung knew everything. And all he wanted was to get away from here.
But then the strange feeling from earlier, before he spoke with Seojun-hyung, returned. Faint at first... then it grew stronger.
’Why...’ He started to think. ’...do I feel like I already know what is about to happen?’
Jisung looked up slowly, scanning the line ahead of him. If he remembered clearly, a small chaos occurred. It was so bad, the culprit had to step out of line to apologize.
’Who was it again?’ he thought, scratching the back of his head.
’Aha! It was participant 24.’
He wasn’t exactly sure of what happened, but if this was right. Then, just maybe... He held a breath.
As Jisung stood, arms folded and still thinking to himself, a quiet commotion rippled through the front of the line.
Participant 24 caught his toe on nothing, lost balance completely and stumbled forward into the person ahead of him. The chain reaction continued clumsily, all the way to the front of the line. Several of the participants began to murmur and even throw hands at each other until the officials nearby had to step in.
"Who is at fault?" One of the officials barked out, studying every single person on the line. The whole place went dead quiet.
Jisung swallowed. ’Still as tense as I remember.’
A few seconds passed. And then the culprit awkwardly stepped out of line, bowing his head in apology.
"S-Sorry." He said it to everyone at once. "I’m s-sorry for c-causing you trouble."
For a brief second, Jisung’s eyes met his. Then the man looked away as the official dismissed him with a wave.
’Okay.’ Jisung thought. ’I knew that would happen.’
He exhaled slowly. There was something else. He didn’t know how to describe it but his mouth suddenly began to move.
"Do not fear. With strength and faith, you shall..." He heard himself whisper those words and clapped a hand over his mouth.
He gasped. ’What the hell am I saying?’ he thought.
’But strangely, why did they sound so familiar?’
Almost immediately, the speaker above the registration desk crackled to life. A half second of static, then Head Commander Kim’s voice came through the microphone.
"Do not fear. With strength and faith, you shall prevail in your Trials."
The line stirred. A few participants looked up at the banner as some of the officials cheered at the commander’s encouraging words.
But Jisung’s head was spinning. He wasn’t listening anymore. He couldn’t even try.
’That’s two in a row...’ he gasped.
’I knew exactly what would happen...’
He lowered his gaze to his hands and they felt... unfamiliar.
’But why don’t I feel scared...?’
"Why do I feel like I know what’s going on... and who I am... all of a sudden?"
Ding!
[Yu Jisung Has An Identity]
He froze as soon as the message rang in his ear.
’...what?’
His head snapped up. Another sound followed immediately.
Ding!
[The System Is Analyzing Your Identity]
"..."
[...]
A long pause followed. Jisung was growing impatient too, but he was intrigued.
A new message appeared before him suddenly. His breath caught slightly, scanning through the message, line by line.
[PARTICIPANT PROFILE]
[NAME: Yu Jisung
AGE: 22
CLASSIFICATION: Participant
STATS: Strength Lv.0, Speed Lv.0, Agility Lv.0, Stamina Lv.0, Mana Lv.0
UNIQUE ABILITY: Regression Lv.1, ???, ???, ???
ACTIVE STORY: None
RECORDED STORIES: The Sole Regressor, I Am God Class
A NEW ABILITY IS ABOUT TO UNLOCK]
He was silent for a bit. Then suddenly, everything felt too real. Curiosity was creeping in slowly but he didn’t know how to react. Everything that had been happening since the moment he woke up had been out of the ordinary.
But this... this was completely extraordinary.
He wondered for a long time trying to make sense of everything, trying to find a logical answer. But he couldn’t. He sighed and smiled softly when he remembered how low his stats were.
’I mean... I’ve never exercised a single day in my life.’ he chuckled.
He looked up at the sky and closed his eyes, feeling the warm breeze on his skin. For a split second, he let himself worry about nothing else except the peace and gratitude he was feeling in this moment. The strange, impossible fact that he was here, alive in a second life he couldn’t explain made him smile.
But somewhere deep down, he knew this peace wouldn’t last.
The lines were moving slowly. He was a little nervous just like the other participants. But he was smiling.
"As long as ’that’ doesn’t happen." The thought of it alone terrified him. He shoved the thought aside, refusing to let it kill the mood.
More Participants were stepping in for their trials so the lines were moving again.
"I’ll live well this time around," he assured himself as he walked on. But within minutes, that familiar sense of déjà vu crept back in again.
He rubbed his chest feeling the sensation circulate round his entire body. He could feel it everywhere. Then a not-so-random memory popped into his head.
’In life there were things you just couldn’t avoid. It may be delayed but it’s always guaranteed.’
Jisung remembered that saying from Ms Song’s speech on their graduation day from highschool and felt uneasy.
’Why now?’ he thought.
Before he could think any deeper, a voice called from somewhere behind him. Followed with a quiet laughter.
"Yah, Jisung."
The moment he heard that familiar voice, his shoulders pulled inward as he felt his entire body beginning to quake.
And he knew Immediately that the one thing he had been praying to avoid, had finally arrived.
"So you really pretended not to see me huh?"
A few people near the back of the line instinctively stepped aside, giving way for the group to pass through. Jisung stood still, completely unable to move like his feet were stuck to the ground.
He swallowed hard.
A loud, carefree laugh cut through the murmur of the crowd.
"Yah, Jisung-ah!" The voice called out again.
Jisung shut his eyes tightly.
’I knew you’d come.’
’’’
Author’s Note: If you’re enjoying the novel, don’t forget to add it to your library and show some support. It really helps!
’’’