Running away (1)

At the same time, in other places, the individuals deemed as 'too strong' like Yoo Jonghyuk and his group, the hunters and the Tarot Club members also faced similar difficulties.

Thus, the sunfish died, forcing the world to reset due to the mechanism previously put in place instead of creating other world lines.

The Oldest Dream looked at the situation in puzzlement.

"Why did Han Sooyoung cause this?"

The message to the Star Stream from its 'creator' saying to eliminate all the abnormally strong individuals under the pretext of gathering probability was sent by Han Sooyoung, leading to the early end of the round.

In response, Xin Jian simply stared at him.

Then, she turned her gaze away and seized the opportunity when time was briefly stopped to visit someone.

"See you later, I'm gonna be OP for a while."

With this absurd farewell, the Oldest Dream saw her appear in Secretive Plotter's domain.

His expression became complex.

Then, he simply shook his head and decided to enjoy the show.

***

Secretive Plotter felt the strange phenomenon happen again, as if time was put on hold for a while.

Since he was an Outer God, he was situated outside the world line and wasn't affected by its reset. Thus, he also remembered the previous regressions.

Suddenly, a figure was sketched in thin air.

Her feet appeared first, then her legs and her torso to her head.

It was the mysterious constellation 'Believer in Mysteries' that could strangely bypass the laws of probability.

With a mischievous smile on the corner of her lips and emotionless eyes, the constellation was sitting cross-legged next to him. Her long brown hair cascaded down her shoulders and her pupils didn't reflect anything, as if her eyes were absorbing all the light around it.

The constellation's face didn't stand out and could be easily forgotten, but it was undoubtedly the same as when she descended into the scenarios before.

How did she come here? And why?

Secretive Plotter narrowed his eyes, waiting for the constellation's next words.

Believer in Mysteries hummed and tilted her head.

"You must have quite a few questions, right?"

Secretive Plotter didn't deny it and Believer in Mysteries' smile widened.

"Then, Yoo Jonghyuk, what do you think of this world line?"

Secretive Plotter didn't react at being called by his name and answered with another question.

"Are you the ones who made the current world line in a strange state?"

Believer in Mysteries nodded. Indeed, the Oldest Dream and her had made that specific world line reset at each regression.

Secretive Plotter then contemplated the meaning of her words.

"The current world line… is weird. It contains a lot of individuals that weren't here before, they are unusually strong too. Are you resetting the world because they wouldn't be present if other world lines were created?"

This wasn't hard to guess.

Believer in Mysteries nodded once again in approval.

"What is your goal?" He continued.

Believer in Mysteries stared at him.

Their 'goal', huh?

She thought about Secretive Plotter's purpose. Was it to complete the scenarios? No, she recalled the very reason why Yoo Jonghyuk was regressing and finally made a wry smile.

"It may be the exact opposite of yours, unfortunately."

If Believer in Mysteries could successfully achieve what she wanted, the opposite of what 'Yoo Jonghyuk' would have wished would happen.

Fortunately, this Yoo Jonghyuk did not know all this; he didn't even remember the 0th turn.

Secretive Plotter frowned.

This exact opposite of his goal? What did it mean?

"Then why did you come here? Was it to become an enemy? And if you already know my name, isn't it only polite to introduce yourself as well?"

Believer in Mysteries made an innocent face.

"What do you mean? I'm 'Believer in Mysteries', you already know that."

What a useless answer.

"I've come to ask you for a favor, actually."

She then explained the situation in detail, about her goal and what she wanted him to do. When he heard it, Secretive Plotter didn't understand why it would achieve the opposite of what his goal was.

Seeing that time was starting to come back to normal and Believer in Mysteries had to leave, he put forward his condition.

"I accept, but in exchange I'd like to know something."

Believer in Mysteries began to disappear, as if she were erased by an eraser.

"Who is your 'boss'?"

Who could be the constellation supporting such a strong individual as 'Believer in Mysteries'?

Someone who could interfere with the word lines and reset them effortlessly, successfully fooling the Star Stream.

He already had a guess as to who this could be.

Believer in Mysteries' body already been erased up to her neck, leaving only her head as she stared at his eyes.

"Don't you already know?"

Maybe she could be the answer to all his questions.

"Isn't there only one constellation that can grant a regression skill in the universe?"

Secretive Plotter's eyes widened.

[The constellation 'Most Ancient Dream's Successor' has revealed their modifier.]

She laughed.

He had never been able to find the Most Ancient Dream, but a clue had finally presented itself.

"Wait-!"

He had so many questions to ask. Why did his constellation choose him? What happened in the 0th round? Who was his constellation? Why was he regressing?

Secretive Plotter reached out his hand to try to grab her but it was too late.

She had already completely disappeared.

After waiting for so long, Secretive Plotter had found the trail of his constellation, whom he had barely managed to learn the name of until now.

Secretive Plotter put down his hand, her laugh still echoing in his ears.

Meanwhile, Xin Jian went back to the Oldest Dream, who was currently deadpanning after his name was sold so easily.

(Oldest Dream: You do know I'm keeping my identity secret, right?

Xin Jian: There is no secret between a married couple.

Oldest Dream: Married couple…?

Oldest Dream: …Are you still talking about Secretive Plotter?

Xin Jian: Secretive Plotter is a part of Yoo Jonghyuk.

Oldest Dream: …)

***

After being attacked by the probability, Zhou opened his eyes in the subway.

He covered his face with his arm, tired, and sighed.

The only good point was that there was no weird guy laughing to themself while probably thinking of ways to 'become one' with Yoo Jonghyuk next to him.

Zhou Mingrui wondered what happened to Anderson, but ignored it. It didn't matter anymore now.

He didn't know what would happen to people who died in a regression.

Were these people truly brought back to life when time was rewound or were they simply an empty shelf possessing the memories they had before the scenarios began?

Were the Tarot Club members already dead since a long time ago without him knowing? Were they truly still themselves?

And him, was he still himself too?

Before Zhou Mingrui also falls into a regression depression (+existential crisis), let's switch to Cale and Yoo Jonghyuk's cabin.

His last memories being dying in the last regression's first scenario, Cale opened his eyes in the subway.

[The constellation 'Believer in Mysteries' asks what you intend to do.]

Cale's gaze paused on the regressor.

Eventually, he would have to let him know that he was also regressing.

With the man's caution, it was also sure that Yoo Jonghyuk wouldn't stop at checking his state in only one regression, but would verify if he survived the first scenario this time too.

So the question was, did he want to reveal that he regressed as well now, or not?

Cale sighed and looked through the window, staring at his star in the distance.

His constellation seemed to understand his meaning and gave back the coins they were safekeeping.

Then, when the scenario started, he took a step forward toward the terrorist under Yoo Jonghyuk's suspicious gaze.

Rumble!

He sent down a bolt of lightning, killing him with one attack.

Yoo Jonghyuk's widened slightly, stunned, before the crimson-haired teenager turned to his direction and met his gaze.

The regressor knew that it was indeed the teen he had seen during the constellations' banquet. For an unknown reason, Cale had indeed survived in the previous regressions.

Cale felt the burdensome glare of the regressor on the back of his head but decided to ignore it.

As expected, after the regressor also killed someone to complete the scenario, he called out to the crimson-haired teenager.

"You."

Feeling the man's murderous intent, cold sweat appeared on Cale's back.

"Why did you kill this man?"

Cale: ?

"To survive?"

His answer sounded more like a question. However, he knew that it wasn't what Yoo Jonghyuk wanted to hear.

Annoyed, Yoo Jonghyuk continued to interrogate him.

"But why did you survive?"

Cale: …

The crimson-haired teenager frowned.

"…Why wouldn't I want to survive?"

Seeing that the regressor was losing patience, Cale went straight to the point instead of Yoo Jonghyuk.

"Yes, I indeed remember the previous rounds."

Even if Yoo Jonghyuk wanted to attack him, he felt confident that he could protect himself and confidently turned his back to the regressor.

At that moment, the timer came to an end and a dokkaebi interrupted them.

After they chose their constellations (or didn't choose since they already had one), Cale heard Yoo Jonghyuk's voice again behind him.

"You…"

However, he ignored him and began to break down the cabin's door with his Ancient Powers. After all, how impolite was it to call someone 'you'? He had a name.

As for himself, he was already a trash so he didn't need to be polite.

Bang!

The door was successfully opened, revealing the sight behind him.

When Cale saw the other people that didn't survive before with Zhou Mingrui, his lips curled up.

It seemed that someone else also retained their memories of the previous rounds here.

Cale bypassed them and went through the exit.

Now, it was time for him to hunt down some hunters…

Meanwhile, Han Sooyoung coldly looked at her surroundings. She noticed that the world had been reset once again.

"Tsk."

The ones resetting the world wouldn't be able to keep this up forever. If she continued to kill Yoo Jonghyuk again and again, they would eventually run out of probability and another world line would be created.

Han Sooyoung had a determined look in her eyes as her gaze turned icy.

She was going to prevent Yoo Jonghyuk from reaching the end of the scenarios, whatever it takes.

She would be the villain of this story if she had to, but Yoo Jonghyuk was absolutely not allowed to survive until he arrived to the Final Wall.

Han Sooyoung created some avatars, preparing to indirectly cause trouble for the regressor.

From the subway train, the Oldest Dream looked down at the writer. He couldn't understand why she would make this choice.

'What happened after that sunfish died?'

He could only remember dying then appearing in this subway train and realizing he was the Oldest Dream. However, he wasn't able to see further than Yoo Jonghyuk's death in front of Han Sooyoung a few scenarios after he died himself, so he didn't know what she went through to make such a radical choice.

The Oldest Dream was thoughtful.