[Despite Desperate Efforts… Earth Remains in the ‘Dimension Cup’ Division 3 Relegation Zone.]
[Is This the End? Entire Dimension Representative Team Goes into Hiding.]
[D-3 Until the ‘Channel’ Is Shut Down. Humanity’s Future?]
One bleak, ash-gray article after another appeared.
“So it came to this in the end.”
“Why are you watching that stuff? You’re ruining the beer!”
Suhyeok, who had gone about half bald, gulped down his beer.
He used to be tall and handsome, but with the world in this state, he had failed to take care of himself and ended up like that.
‘Well… I’m not really one to talk, either.’
With a bitter smile, I looked down at the yellowish beer in my glass.
“The entire Dimension Representative Team has gone into hiding? That’s all bullshit! Other dimensions already scouted those guys and signed every last one of them!”
“Over a mere relegation fight in Division 3?”
“Even rotten, a prized fish remains prized, Jaeha. They probably figured that even if those guys can’t make the first team, they can still be useful on a second or third team.”
Perhaps it was because he had once coached a prestigious team.
His hair might have fallen out, but his brain still worked perfectly well.
“To betray the Earth they were born and raised on, then run away by themselves…! Those traitorous bastards!”
“……”
I could not argue with that.
Earth had been relegated from Division 3 of the ‘Dimension Cup.’
That meant the ‘Channel’ would be shut down, and that also meant—
‘Doom.’
It meant the dimension could no longer receive protection from the Outer Side.
Several decades ago, a system called the ‘Channel’ had suddenly appeared on Earth.
[‘Earth Channel’ is connecting.]
[Welcome, Players.]
The Channel was a civilization unknown in every sense.
Like a game, it could be accessed anywhere and at any time. People could die without truly dying, clear objectives in countless dungeons and dimensions, and receive rewards.
Scholars analyzed and studied it, but they achieved no meaningful results.
Still, one thing was certain.
Only ‘Players’—people who had awakened special powers—could access the Channel.
After the Channel appeared, human society changed rapidly.
The status of Players soared beyond measure, while sports such as baseball and football declined as something else surged to prominence.
‘Player League.’
A competition where teams of superhumans clashed.
Before anyone realized it, the Player League had become the public’s greatest interest. Players naturally became competitors, aiming to join good teams and win the league.
Furthermore, there was no greater glory than winning the ‘World Player Championship (W.P.C.),’ where national representatives from across the world competed.
But humanity would soon learn that it had all been no more than child’s play.
[‘Earth Channel’ has been compelled to participate in the 「Dimension Cup」.]
A league where various dimensions competed.
The ‘Dimension Cup.’
Humanity had been more or less forcibly invited.
It was a league divided into three divisions.
[If relegated from Division 3, the ‘Channel’ of the corresponding dimension will be shut down.]
[Once the Channel is shut down, the dimension will no longer be protected.]
Humanity assembled a dream team and formed a Dimension Representative Team, but—
It could not possibly keep up with the level of the other dimensions.
[Earth’s Representative Team Suffers Another Crushing Defeat! A String of Losses Since the Dimension Cup Began.]
[What Is the Problem? Losses Continue, Anxiety Grows.]
Humanity had been nothing but a frog in a well.
Then, amid all of that, another shocking piece of news arrived.
[South Korean Representative, Snow Sword Baek Hoyoung, Transfers to the ‘Labyrinth Channel’!]
Players with genuine skill turned their backs on Earth and transferred to other dimensions.
At first, the others had hesitated. But once they realized there was no hope for Earth, they all followed suit and left for other dimensions.
All that remained on Earth were those who had failed to awaken and Players with neither skill nor value.
Like me.
“Now that we’re all fucked anyway… don’t you feel wronged?”
“About what?”
“Don’t play dumb. Let’s be honest with each other.”
Suhyeok chewed on a squid leg that looked like leather.
“Honestly, your skill wouldn’t fall short even against the first-team roster of a Division 1 team.”
“……”
“If you’d been on Earth’s Dimension Representative Team, we wouldn’t be in the relegation zone! We might’ve even won Division 2…!”
“Suhyeok.”
I cut him off before he could continue.
I felt sorry for the man who had looked after me like a real older brother since I was young, but everyone had a past they did not want touched.
“…I’m sorry.”
“It’s fine.”
Suhyeok’s shoulders slumped.
To be honest, he was not wrong.
I thought about it sometimes, too.
‘If I’d been on the representative team…’
Would Earth have still ended up like this?
The more I thought about it, the more bitter I felt. Just as I was about to toss back my lukewarm beer—
RUMBLE…!
The entire bar shook as an ominous presence bore down on us.
“Damn it. Looks like Earth really is about to end. Monsters are showing up even in a backwater bar like this.”
When a dimension’s ranking fell in the ‘Dimension Cup’ and its league level dropped, the Channel’s protection weakened.
Then Gates opened everywhere, and beings from the Outer Side—monsters—appeared.
That was another reason we had to grit our teeth and win.
“Run, now…!”
“No, it’s fine.”
I slid my glass aside.
Then I picked up the massive battle hammer beside me.
It was far larger than my torso.
“I’ll handle it.”
“Even for you, this will be difficult, won’t it? Grade 1 monsters have formed a legion. Even the Dimension Representative Team couldn’t stop that.”
“That’s them.”
I slung the hammer’s shaft over my shoulder and smirked.
“I’m me.”
At the same time, I pulled a blue pill from my pocket and bit down on it.
CRUNCH!
A crisp energy spread through my mouth.
Mana seeped into my body, and superhuman senses awakened within me.
.
.
.
“This is insane….”
Suhyeok stared around in horror.
The monsters’ corpses had been crushed so badly that they no longer resembled their original forms.
They were Grade 1 monsters, each supposedly the match of a ‘Diamond’-rank Player, but—
“Whew.”
To me, they were merely somewhat firm tomatoes.
I shook the meat and fat clinging to the hammer free.
“It amazes me every time I see it… A Grand Master really is a Grand Master.”
Just as I was about to give Suhyeok a casual answer—
THROB!
A violent stab of pain tore through my chest. At the same time, my veins felt as though they were burning hot.
“Ghk…! Nghhh…!”
I bit down hard on my lip and rolled across the floor.
I should have been getting used to it by now, but this damned body always did this.
“Jaeha!”
“I’m… okay… Suhyeok….”
Once the pain subsided, all tension drained from my body.
This was the side effect of the blue pill I had taken before the battle: a ‘Mana Capsule.’
It was a medicine that supplied Mana the moment it was consumed.
Normally, Players in the ‘Mage’ position used it when they lacked the Mana Attribute needed for their skills.
But for me—
I did not use it to replenish Mana.
I used it solely to inject Mana into my body from an external source.
That was right.
I could not use Mana.
The cause was an illegal Mana Circuit expansion procedure recommended by the team I had once belonged to.
The team threatened that they would not renew my contract unless I underwent it, and eventually, I accepted the procedure.
The result was—
[The Mana Circuit has been permanently damaged.]
[The ‘Mana’ Attribute is fixed at 0.]
I became a defective Player incapable of using Mana.
Considering that even Players in the ‘Warrior’ position required Mana to use skills, my life as a Player had effectively come to a complete end.
The team naturally abandoned me, and I fell into the abyss.
Later, Mana Capsules were invented. Through sheer determination and several opportunities, I acquired the skill to reach the ‘Grand Master’ rank, but….
[In ‘Dimension Cup’ matches, the use of all items other than weapons is restricted.]
Unfortunately, there was no battlefield where I could step in.
Without Mana Capsules, I was nothing.
“To think that one of only five ‘Grand Master’-rank Players in all dimensions is fated to disappear alongside his dimension….”
Suhyeok helped me up, tears streaming down his face as though he were truly heartbroken.
They must have been tears mixed with pity for me, fear of Earth’s destruction, and terror of death.
“…I’m sorry, Suhyeok.”
“Why the hell are you apologizing? You’re the one hurting the most!”
Suhyeok’s jaw trembled.
“If I could return to the past, I’d fuck Sky Epic up first for making you like this!”
“Return to the past, my ass… Let’s drink.”
Once I had barely recovered, I poured lukewarm beer down my burning throat.
It was three days before Earth’s destruction.
[The grace period has ended.]
[This dimension has ended the season while remaining in the Division 3 relegation zone of the Dimension Cup.]
[It has been classified as a dimension with no further value of existence.]
[Therefore.]
[‘Earth Channel’ is shutting down.]
The day of doom was more peaceful than I had expected.
Except for people screaming as though their throats would tear, slaughtering one another, offering human sacrifices, and performing incomprehensible rites.
“Hmm, it’s actually a little quieter than usual.”
At least nobody was running around babbling about God and setting fires.
TZZZT…! TZZZZZZZZZT!
The blood-red sky split open, and unknown things began to come through.
Dozens of bundles of tentacles and vertically split eyes loomed beyond the rift.
***-■■■■■■■■■■■■■■!!!!!!!!!!!!***
They babbled incomprehensible sounds as they gradually destroyed the world.
“If today is my last day anyway.”
I was going to give it everything I had.
I tipped several Mana Capsules from my pocket into my mouth at once.
CRRRUNCH!
“…Ghk!”
Mana so immense that it stole my breath spread through every corner of my body.
Then my head spun, and amid the sensation of molten metal flowing through my veins, scorching pain seared my brain.
‘Mana Intoxication…!’
It was a fatal side effect that could lead to death, but—
I had already prepared myself to die today.
“Even if I die…! I’m going to hit you bastards at least once before I do!”
I kicked off the ground with all my strength.
BOOOOM!
The ground roared as my body shot high into the air in an instant.
I drew ever closer to the beings beyond the rift.
I poured every last ounce of strength into the hand gripping the hammer.
CREEEAK!
My muscles screamed, and every sense sounded an alarm.
I ignored all of it and simply flew onward.
“Diiiiiieeeee!!!!”
I bit my lip hard enough to taste blood.
BOOOOM!
I swung the hammer.
The force was enough to shatter space itself and shake the dimension.
CRACK!
One of its tentacles was crushed and torn clean off.
***-?!???!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!***
I could feel its bewilderment through my skin.
A savory taste spread through my mouth.
“Heh… How do you like that…? Huh….”
But something felt wrong with my body.
Why did I feel so light?
“…Ah.”
My arm was gone.
The recoil had blown apart my torso as well, and my guts were spilling out.
It seemed that the Mana inside my body had been agitated and detonated the instant I launched the attack.
‘I guess that much really was too much.’
But without it, I could not have destroyed that tentacle.
“I’m… sleepy….”
My consciousness flickered wildly.
All I could feel was the sensation of falling.
A message floated faintly before my closing eyes.
[You have dealt damage to ‘■■■’!]
[An Incomprehensible (不可解) Achievement!]
[The Channel Remnant is judging your achievement.]
[Congratulations! Your rank has advanced from ‘Grand Master (Grand Master)’ to ‘Challenger (Challenger)’!]
[The first Challenger has been born!]
Challenger.
The highest rank a Player could achieve, and a rank that no one had ever reached in the history of any dimension.
It might have seemed irrelevant when I was practically dying, but—
“Challenger… Hehehe….”
It was ridiculous, but it made me feel good.
I had lived a life of being abandoned and cast aside.
Countless times, I had tried to prove myself, but I never could.
And at the very end, I had been acknowledged.
As the dimension’s sole ‘Challenger’-rank Player.
Of course, that did not mean I could close my eyes in peace.
I was deeply dissatisfied with Earth ending like this, and it infuriated me that the people who had ignored and trampled on me would live comfortably in other dimensions.
‘If I could return to the past, as Suhyeok said….’
I would change all of this somehow.
Even if I had to stake everything on it.
I would create an ending different from this one.
“…F*ck.”
With that thought, my consciousness went completely dark.
.
.
.
Within a world consumed by darkness—
[At last, you have appeared, Contender.]
A warm voice knocked against my soul.
It was a soft, sweet voice that immediately brought angels and goddesses to mind.
[For eternal ages, I have waited only for you.]
[Therefore, begin anew.]
[Return here once more. Become a Contender.]
[For you have potential.]
A gentle warmth spread from my chest.
‘What…?’
[I will be waiting for you.]
[Contender, Shin Jaeha.]
At last, that warmth swallowed me whole.
“…Ha.”
What happened?
I had definitely landed one final blow on that tentacled bastard.
“…Jaeha.”
As I was falling and dying, some voice had suddenly awakened me.
At the end, it suddenly called my name, and I felt as though my body was being moved somewhere.
“Shin Jaeha!”
Yes, it had called my name like that.
Though not that irritably.
“Are you ignoring me? Shin Jaeha, you f*cking bastard!”
THUD!
Someone kicked me in the stomach.
The heavy blow shocked me fully awake.
“Ugh!”
My body rolled across the floor, and my eyes snapped open.
My surroundings came into focus.
This place, with sky-blue interior walls and state-of-the-art training systems, was—
‘Sky Epic Training Grounds?!’
It was the training grounds of ‘Sky Epic’—my former team and the place that had made me a Mana cripple.
And the bastard who had just kicked me down was—
Park Gyubo, Sky Epic’s first-team Warrior, who had bullied me day after day.
Even though it had been a long time ago, there was no way I could ever forget that infuriating face.
“You insane bastard. Sleeping in the training grounds? Third-team bastards are useless for a reason.”
“W-What…? I definitely died…?”
“Judging by the nonsense you’re spouting, I guess I haven’t hit you enough yet. I distinctly told you to clean the training grounds.”
……
“Oh? Look at that glare. An orphan bastard should be grateful just for breathing the same air as us. There are people who want to come here but can’t.”
Park Gyubo smirked unpleasantly.
If I remembered correctly, he had given me only three minutes to clean the place.
In short, he merely wanted to beat me up, so he was looking for any excuse he could use.
“Tsk, tsk. This is why you’ll always be third-team trash. That won’t do. Big brother will give you a proper lesson today.”
He flexed his fists as he approached me.
“…Ah, I get it now.”
“What?”
“This is that thing, isn’t it? A deathbed flashback.”
The thing people said you saw before you died.
“It’s a lot more realistic than I expected. I really thought I’d gone back to the past.”
“If this isn’t real anyway… I can do whatever I want!”
A decisive conclusion.
A brisk response.
SQUELCH!
I sprang forward and drove my finger into Park Gyubo’s eyeball.
“Aaargh?! Aaaaaah! You crazy—bastard!”
No matter how superhuman someone was, the eye was vulnerable.
Especially at the level people had been at before the Dimension Cup began.
“Aaaagh! Agh!”
“You fucking bastard! Die!”
I stomped on the groin of the man rolling across the floor and clutching his eye.
“S-Stop…!”
“Stop, my ass! You fucking bastard!”
Considering all the abuse and harassment I had suffered at his hands, this still was not enough.
CRUNCH!
When I pressed down harder on his groin—
“Gurgle….”
Unable to endure the pain, Park Gyubo foamed at the mouth and passed out.
A satisfying sweat dampened my forehead.
“Whew. That feels refreshing.”
I wiped away the sweat with my hand and smiled at the long-missed sense of liberation.
It felt as though a hundred years of indigestion had finally cleared.
But this deathbed flashback seemed to have a little too much freedom.
“W-What?!”
“Gyubo! What happened?!”
“Medical team! Medical team!”
By the time the other team members, who had arrived late, saw the wrecked Park Gyubo and called for the medical team, I had tested a few things and realized—
“Uh, um….”
This phenomenon was not a deathbed flashback at all.
‘Then… did I really return to the past?’
And the very first thing I had done after returning—
was jab my past enemy in the eye and thoroughly trample his groin?
“Perfect.”
It was the best possible regression.