Intro

I used to enjoy hanging out with my friends. Even though I had the worst family—my dad was a drunk and my mom left us for another man—at least I had my friends.

But that was a few years ago. It wasn't like we had a big fight or anything; we just drifted apart.

After my dad died from drinking too much, the only person left in my life was the girl I liked. But it turned out she didn't feel the same way.

She wasn't a bad person; she just told me that she liked someone else and saw me as a friend.

So I didn't even get the usual 'betrayed by his friends' or 'heartbroken by the girl he likes' tropes—it was just a quiet, uneventful life.

That's how I, Arlon, became a loner and started playing the game EVR. If I could, I wouldn't have logged out for a second since the game capsule took care of all your biological needs.

However, to prevent people from becoming too immersed in the game, the developers—who we thought were behind it back then—limited playtime.

You could only play for 15 hours before being forced to log out when the day was starting.

I had been playing this MMORPG for the last 10 years, and I was the best at it. But even I had to log out and return to this ugly reality.

Believe me, I tried everything to stay logged in. Even the in-game items didn't help.

The money my father left me wasn't enough to get by, so I spent most of my time watching sports games and betting on them while I wasn't logged in—and I even won big once.

But today was different. For the first time in I don't know how long, I had to leave the house to prove to the government that I wasn't dead.

Ironically, I'm dying right now because some thieves decided to rob a bank and hit me with their car while fleeing.

The worst part is that the only thing I can think about while dying is my game character.

Over the past 10 years, we learned that EVR wasn't just a game—it was another world under assault by a different race.

Simply put, EVR was the name of the force of nature that governed the universe, and its purpose was to maintain balance.

So, when the Keldar race decided to assault the Trion planet—both physically and with the help of Zeno, what we thought were just game capsules—EVR sent some capsules to Earth to enlist our help in defending the Trionians.

Since EVR wasn't a person, this was done under the name of a gaming studio, and we all thought it was just a game.

Everything, including the NPCs, was real. But unlike the players, NPCs didn't respawn after dying.

There was also a myth that said whoever killed the endgame boss would be granted a wish by the universe.

I was so close to fighting the endgame boss.

Dying a dogshit death worse than my father's isn't acceptable. Since EVR is real, there should be compensation for my shitty life and death—otherwise, where's the balance?

That was the last thing I thought before closing my eyes...

---

When I opened my eyes, I was in my old bed, in my old room. I had moved out of my family's house after winning big in sports betting.

Why am I back here?

Then I remembered getting hit by a car and dying.

I had read a lot of reincarnation and isekai novels, so, while hoping this was real and not a dream, there was only one thing that came to my mind.

I instantly went for the nearest calendar and...

It was about 10 years before the day I died at the age of 33, and one week before the release of EVR.

It seems like I regressed.

Of course, it was a shocking event.

But after everything that happened over the last ten years in the previous timeline, it was easier to calm down and think:

Is there anything I should do before the game is released?

The game, of course, impacted Earth even before we knew it was more than just a game since everyone wanted to try this new technology.

Zeno wasn't expensive, and even the happiest person wanted a second life.

But I never liked this world all that much, so even though I knew the big events, I didn't know every detail. What I did know was the outcome of nearly all the sports games.

"Sigh... I can get rich on Earth and grow even stronger in EVR now, but what am I going to do when I'm not logged in?

The only thing I enjoyed was watching these games and betting. But since I know every outcome now, there's no point in watching them..."

My family and friends were already gone and I was 23 this year. 

"I think I'll figure out what to do when the time comes. For now, let's get rich and move out."

With that thought, I immediately checked which games were on this week and bet all my money.

To avoid suspicion, I would make a big win on one game and keep the others as smaller bets. I would also need to save some money for the capsule and the supplies it would need.

---

It had been six days since I regressed. During that time, I left my old house. It wasn't small or anything; I just didn't like it.

Most of my memories there were sad, and I didn't even know if my mother was alive. Even if she was, she didn't have any rights to the house, so I sold it and moved out.

Since I didn't have any friends, my new apartment was much smaller. All I needed was one room to sleep in and one for the capsule.

EVR was officially released today.

The players could create their characters once the capsules were delivered, but since the servers would open tomorrow, we would be logged out right after character creation.

Everyone was talking about the game on TV—and probably everywhere else—since it was based on groundbreaking technology.

Looking back, we should have realized something was strange; a leap in technology like this was almost impossible.

---

As soon as the Zeno capsule was delivered, I logged in.

There wasn't a separate character creation screen; you just appeared in a randomly chosen starting town and saw the class selection screen.

I ended up in the same town as I did in the last timeline. I didn't know if this was luck or if it was something that would stay the same even though I regressed.

While the starting town wasn't the best in terms of mobs and hidden secrets, it was the one I knew best. And I could go to other towns whenever I want.

In the last timeline, I didn't even think about which skills I wanted—I just logged in and chose Warrior.

Coincidentally, it was the best choice I could've made. Throughout most of the "game", only a few players were stronger than me, and that was only until I surpassed them.

There was just one player who got lucky and became a magic swordsman. If he hadn't been so bad at it, no one could have outdone him.

So this time, I would be the one to become the magic swordsman so that talent didn't go to waste. But that was further down the line.

For now, I'll choose Warrior again.

Since the in-game appearance and name were the same as in real life, I didn't need to make many adjustments. The surname wouldn't be shown anyway.

Our real-life body didn't affect in-game stats, so even though I was a normal 23-year-old guy with a slightly muscular build, I started at the same level as a 15-year-old in the game.

At least, that's what we thought.

Even though our stats were identical, our physical appearance affected things like arm reach and height.

This was the difference between the game and real life.

Shorter players were better suited to being assassins, and bulkier ones made better tanks. So for me, at 1.82 meters, a sword-wielding Warrior was the best fit.

After choosing my class, I stayed a while, looking around. I knew that once I completed character creation, I'd be logged out, so I wanted to linger here a bit longer.

I couldn't move, but just looking at the entrance of the town was more than enough.

Tomorrow feels so far away, and I have nothing to do on Earth.

After some time, I decided it was finally time to complete the process.

I closed my eyes, waiting for the capsule to open—but no matter how long I waited, I didn't feel the change in the air. When I opened my eyes, I was still outside the starting town.

But the character selection screen was gone.

"Is this a bug?"

I looked around and realized that I could move. If this was a bug, it was the best bug ever. So, I entered the town to look around since I didn't know when I would be kicked out.

I saw NPCs going about their tasks. I even left the town to look around, only to find monsters were there too.

Not wanting to do anything risky before confirming the capsule wasn't faulty, I headed back to town.

I noticed players spawning outside the town to choose their classes, only to log out right after completing the process. There's no way all of them clicked "exit" that quickly.

I checked the menu and saw the exit button.

I would definitely regret it if I could exit but couldn't log back in, but it was something I needed to try.

After hesitating for a moment, I clicked it and found myself back on Earth instantly.

So, I wasn't trapped in the game world after regressing.

Naturally, I logged back in to try if I could, and found myself back in the starting town, Istarra. That's when it hit me:

"I don't need to log out!"