― O lonely Queen of the Snowfield, sunlight will embrace you. ―
Blood splattered across his face.
Blackish-blue blood.
SPLASH.
More blood splattered across his face.
The blackish-blue blood on his cheek vanished in the scorching heat.
Beneath the feet of the man clad in armor of light lay a five-meter-tall black mass.
A black mass shaped like a man.
A monstrous mass with enormous horns sprouting from its head and shoulders.
That monstrosity was now broken and cracked.
“Hero! You have won. But this is not the end!”
The black mass writhed as though making one final struggle and shouted.
A curse brimming with hatred shook the air.
Unconcerned.
SQUELCH.
The man drove his blazing Sun Sword into the monster’s heart.
“I curse you, you bastard! You shall never be free of this curse!”
SKREEEECH!!
The black monster, the Demon King, screamed and thrashed.
Before long, it fell still.
FWOOOSH.
The monster’s body scattered away as black ash.
The scattering black ash burned away, just like the blackish-blue blood that had stained his face.
“……”
“……”
Countless Hunters had participated in the Demon King Raid alongside him.
There were cameras broadcasting the event and billions of viewers watching it.
Many people were present, but none dared approach. They could only watch this decisive battle from afar.
The Hero’s searing aura could burn their bodies away.
The Demon King’s profound darkness could corrupt them.
All they could do was watch from a distance, offering their cheers and prayers.
Was it because everyone’s wishes had wrought a miracle? Or because the Hero’s ability was so exceptional?
Amid everyone’s wishes, the battle between the Hero and the Demon King ended in humanity’s victory.
HURRAAAH!!
The desperate silence became hopeful cheers.
“W-We won!”
“We won! Humanity has won!”
“Long live Hunter Tae Gwang-hwi!!”
All humanity praised the Hero who had saved Earth from the Demon King.
Ten years ago.
Gates had opened, and the Demon King had invaded Earth.
The Gates spewed forth legions of monsters. Many people died, and cities were destroyed.
Humanity’s advanced science was helpless before the Demon King’s army, which wielded mana.
The internet was cut off, and infrastructure disappeared from the world.
Along with this, the Awakened and Hunters were born.
The blessing of Awakening was random, and Tae Gwang-hwi, an archetypal homebody who spent most of his time outside work gaming and exercising, also became an S-Rank Awakened.
Becoming an S-Rank Awakened alone was remarkable, but Tae Gwang-hwi received the Blessing of the Sun, the strongest blessing among S-Ranks.
To restore the once-peaceful Earth, even the homebody Tae Gwang-hwi took up a sword and fought.
As he slew monsters and saved people, grand titles such as Sun Sword naturally followed him.
And so ten years passed.
Assistant Manager Tae Gwang-hwi, once quiet and competent at work, had become the Guildmaster of Earth’s greatest Hunter Guild, the Sword Dragon Guild.
After he killed even more monsters and defeated the Demon King’s Four Heavenly Kings, he naturally became Earth’s Hero.
And at last, the final battle had ended.
Tae Gwang-hwi—the (acting) Guildmaster of the Sword Dragon Guild, the (acting) President of the World Hunter Association, and the Hero who wielded the Sun Sword—had killed Demon King Sephiros.
‘A curse……?’
After killing Demon King Sephiros, Tae Gwang-hwi examined his body.
The bastard had cursed him at the end.
Yet there was nothing particularly wrong with him.
It seemed to have missed.
“Now that you have eliminated the Demon King, I suppose people will call you EX-Rank?”
A lovely voice sounded beside him.
“What are you going to do now?”
The moment he slew the Demon King and dismissed his armor of light, a woman approached him.
A beautiful female Hunter—an S-Rank healer who bore the title of Saintess—stared intently at Tae Gwang-hwi.
“I’m going to retire.”
Tae Gwang-hwi answered her question with a weary smile.
“……Pardon?”
She asked again.
“The transport helicopter is here.”
Without another word, Tae Gwang-hwi walked toward the helicopter.
“Gwang-hwi! Wait……!”
The Saintess called out to him from behind.
HURRAAAH!
Sun Sword! Sun Sword!
Tae Gwang-hwi! Tae Gwang-hwi!
But her voice was swallowed by the cheers calling his name.
‘I want to rest.’
His body and mind were both utterly exhausted.
It was not fatigue from this battle alone. All the exhaustion that had accumulated over ten years was bursting forth at once.
As Tae Gwang-hwi walked toward the helicopter, the only thought in his mind was that he wanted to rest.
And so, the world regained peace.
The Gates closed, and Hunters became civil servants, mercenaries, or celebrities.
With their common enemy gone, humanity’s remaining enemies were the nations that had once been hostile.
High-Rank Hunters became their countries’ asymmetric military power, living grandly and comfortably.
***
Two years later, during a cold winter.
A country house somewhere in Gyeonggi Province, South Korea.
WHOOOOOSH―.
Although a severe cold warning had been issued, the windows of the house stood wide open.
Tae Gwang-hwi, who had gained blond hair and golden eyes after Awakening, sat before his computer with an indifferent gaze.
Enjoying the frigid cold, he stared at the monitor.
[No!! Sola, Solacius!!]
Watching and listening to the anguished cry coming from the monitor, Tae Gwang-hwi furrowed his brow.
“The difficulty is too high.”
The ending of the game, which had ultimately led to a bad ending, was hollow.
“Hmm…….”
At the moment, he looked like an unemployed bum.
Because he valued cleanliness, he showered every morning and evening.
Yet unlike his clean body, he owned only a single tracksuit.
While other Hunters became high-ranking government officials or worked as mercenaries earning annual salaries in the billions, Tae Gwang-hwi did not.
He reveled in his stay-at-home life to his heart’s content, living off a government pension and rewards so vast that even three generations could spend lavishly without exhausting them.
He had refused the government’s request to serve another term as Association President, ignored his subordinates’ pleas to remain Guildmaster of the Sword Dragon Guild, and deliberately lived almost like a shut-in, enjoying the stay-at-home life he had been unable to enjoy during the Great War.
‘If the Queen had opened her heart a little earlier, I could’ve cleared it easily…….’
‘The problem is that she was too wary and hostile toward my character.’
‘More than anything, the character I chose was too weak. I thought he’d be strong because he was a knight, but he was a complete dud.’
‘Trying to raise the Queen’s affection with this character is insane. Next time, I should try a different route instead of raising her affection.’
With a serious look in his eyes, he reviewed his playthrough.
His golden eyes, filled with the seriousness he had shown only during the Demon King Raid, turned toward the monitor.
The game’s bad ending was unfolding on the screen.
[Sob……! Sola!!]
The Queen on the monitor cried out desperately for Tae Gwang-hwi’s character.
It was an old game, so it used pixel graphics.
An old game stored on a USB drive he had happened to find at a flea market.
“…….”
Yet Tae Gwang-hwi felt an inexplicable, poignant ache that could not be conveyed through illustrations and pixel graphics alone.
SQUELCH.
The Demon King then approached the Queen and drove a sword into her heart.
Even as she died, the Queen held the blond, golden-eyed knight in her arms and would not let go.
The knight in the Queen’s embrace was the character Tae Gwang-hwi had played.
He was only a game character, but the blond, golden-eyed knight resembled him. His attributes were also light and wind, making him similar to Tae Gwang-hwi. Perhaps that was why he had been drawn to choose this character.
“I’m not that weak.”
Thinking of all the hardship he had endured to raise that Queen’s affection rating with this character made him frown.
The character’s past and status were the problem. Because of them, the Queen had remained hostile and wary of him until the latter half of the game.
Then, near the end, she learned of his sincerity and opened her heart to him, if only a little.
It had been truly difficult to raise her affection. But that, too, was over now.
[AAAAAAH!!]
The Queen’s voice, weeping, crying out in anguish, and screaming, sounded heartrendingly real.
“It’s an old game, but it’s well made.”
The game was called Luhan’s Royal Consort. He had never heard the title before.
Where on earth had it been made? He had never seen or heard of such a game before the Great War.
After watching the bad ending, Tae Gwang-hwi nodded and was about to retry it.
Then.
“……?”
The screen did not change.
Soon, the Demon King, who had stabbed the Queen to death, turned his gaze and looked at Tae Gwang-hwi.
― Hero! You shall never be free of this curse.
“?!”
The Demon King’s voice from within the monitor echoed beyond the speakers and into his head.
It was the voice—and curse—the Demon King had left behind at the end.
Even after two years, Tae Gwang-hwi could never forget that unsettling feeling. He shot to his feet.
‘What?!’
As he stood, a sudden wave of dizziness struck him, and he collapsed. He lost consciousness on the spot.
***
A familiar sound.
CLANG, CLAAANG, CLANG!
The sound of weapons colliding.
AAAAH!
HURRAAAH!
ARGH!
Cheers, shouts, and screams.
Tae Gwang-hwi opened his eyes with a frown.
“?!”
Then he froze in surprise.
A battlefield stretched before him.
TRICKLE.
His forehead throbbed. When he touched it, his hand came away bloody. It seemed he had injured his head.
‘What is this?’
With a bewildered look, he rose to his feet.
The body he was in—whether he had possessed it or been summoned into it—wore fantasy-style light armor. It held a sword in one hand.
‘Solacius……?’
The memories of this body then washed over Tae Gwang-hwi like a tide.
“I’m inside the game?!”
His baffled voice escaped his lips.
As the memories settled into place, he grasped the situation before him.
Enemies who could have been thieves or assassins were robbing a merchant caravan. It seemed that he, a wandering knight, had been traveling with the caravan when it was attacked.
The mercenaries hired by the caravan seemed to have either died or fled.
“Eeeek…….”
The merchants who had failed to escape hid on the floors of their wagons, trembling violently.
“One’s still alive!”
“Kill them all!”
The enemies, who had been in the midst of slaughter and looting, spotted Tae Gwang-hwi—or rather, Solacius—and raised their weapons.
Then they swung clubs, spears, axes, and more at him.
SWIPE.
Solacius wiped the blood from his forehead and swung his sword with an eerily flawless form.
A sword strike of brilliant light flew from the blade.
BOOOOM!
It blew apart the five bandits who had raised their weapons against him.
“……?!”
“Huh?”
“Wha?!”
The merchants who had hidden beneath their wagons, trembling in fear.
The bandits who had been slaughtering and looting while letting out savage cries.
Everyone’s gaze turned to the blond, golden-eyed wandering knight.
***
At around the same time.
The Palace of Pure White in Wintella, the royal capital of the Kingdom of Luhan.
The bedroom of Queen Lucifurne of Luhan.
“No!! Sola, Solacius!!”
Queen Lucifurne awoke from her sleep with that cry.
“Gasp…… gasp……!”
She drew rough breaths as she looked around.
‘……?’
Just moments ago, she had been in the ruined royal palace.
Painful shackles that bound her mana had covered her entire body.
The Demon King’s sword had pierced her heart.
Tremble, tremble, tremble…….
The horrific pain from then still lingered like an afterimage.
More than anything.
“Sola……!”
The knight who had given his life to protect her until the very end.
Solacius’s pale face lingered before her eyes.
“Solacius…….”
The Queen’s shoulders trembled.
‘This is……?’
Calming the trembling in her shoulders and chest, she assessed her situation.
Was this the afterlife?
Then where were her father? Her mother? Vanessa, the Head Maid? Haimar, the Captain of the Knights? And…… more than anyone else, where was Solacius?!
She wanted to tell them thank you, words she had been unable to say while alive.
Most of all, she desperately wanted to tell Sola that she was sorry.
“Your Majesty, are you all right?”
At that moment, the Head Maid’s voice sounded from outside.
“I will enter, Your Majesty.”
GASP!
Then came the sound of the Head Maid and maids drawing in their breaths.
CREEEAK,
As the door opened, the Head Maid and maids entered, fully bundled in all manner of fur garments.
They maintained a distance of exactly ten meters from the Queen.
Tremble, tremble, tremble…….
“Are you all right?”
The Head Maid and maids asked, shivering from the cold.
The north. A land where winter lasted for more than half the year.
Everyone here had resistance to the cold. But the cold Queen Lucy radiated was on another level.
“……?!”
Lucy’s eyes widened when she saw the maids entering her bedroom, trembling.
“Vanessa……?”
Vanessa, the Head Maid who had died, was standing there.
Yet Vanessa’s face looked far younger than when she died—the face of a woman in her thirties.
Lucy hurriedly looked into the crystal mirror.
Blue-silver hair and blue eyes gleaming like sapphires. A face as white as freshly fallen snow.
There was not much difference from before her regression, but the person before her looked younger.
“……What year is it now?”
“It is Imperial Year 964, Your Majesty.”
Vanessa answered with a puzzled tilt of her head.
“……?!”
It was ten years ago.
The Queen was confused.
“Are you unwell?”
Seeing Lucy like this, Vanessa looked at her with concern.
Lucy was the lonely Queen who bore the Curse of the Snowfield.
She did not fall ill. But in exchange, an icy aura that froze everything always blew around her.
Even the bed where Lucy lay was a hard sculpture carved from crystal and ice.
“I will summon the royal physician.”
Vanessa spoke carefully from about ten meters away.
But what physician could examine a Queen who bore a curse?
Anyone who came too close would freeze to death.
“I-I merely had a nightmare.”
Noticing the maids’ concern, Lucy spoke quickly.
“I am all right. Leave. You must be cold…….”
“Yes…… then…….”
Before Lucy had even finished speaking, the maids shivering from the cold hurried out of the room.
“If you need anything, you must call for us, Your Majesty.”
Only Vanessa, the Head Maid, endured the cold long enough to speak.
“I understand.”
Lucy smiled as she looked at Vanessa.
“!!”
The Head Maid Vanessa’s eyes widened at the Queen’s smile. Then she quickly bowed her head and disappeared.
The Queen’s bedroom was empty once more, with all the maids gone and the Queen alone as always.
For the first time in a long while, a cold sweat ran down her forehead.
It was called cold sweat, but in truth, it was slivers of thin ice running down her brow.
Feeling the ice against her skin, she carefully pinched her cheek.
She felt pain in her cheek.
Then she noticed the bracelet around her left wrist.
‘A bracelet?’
A bracelet passed down from the previous Queen, her late mother. It was woven from unknown leaves. It was the only bracelet that neither froze nor withered within the Curse of the Snowfield. Yet even it had eventually broken.
‘It definitely was destroyed?!’
How heartbroken she had been when it was destroyed. Yet as though it had never broken, it gave off the vivid scent of life from the Queen’s wrist.
“I’ve returned……?”
Only then did the Queen realize that she had regressed.