Ch.16756. The Last Hope (2)

Silence fell simultaneously.

All three people were looking at me as I regained consciousness. But they seemed to have too much to say, so no one could speak.

Then a voice came through the speaker above the seats in the transport’s passenger area where the four of us were sitting.

“We will be taking off shortly. Please fasten your safety belts and stand by.”

Everyone froze at those words. Arin hurriedly rushed to me and supported my body.

“Senior. Stay still. I’ll help you.”

The other two women’s eyes widened momentarily when they saw this, but since takeoff was imminent, they had no choice but to sit in nearby seats.

Being a military transport, the seating arrangement was different from a commercial airliner. Seats were arranged along the walls on both sides of the transport’s interior.

Yuri and Soso sat on the opposite side. Arin and I sat side by side in seats facing the same direction.

“Ugh… cough…”

A groan escaped me involuntarily as I fastened my safety belt.

My entire body felt as if it had been severely beaten, with no part uninjured. Arin, who immediately read my thoughts, said:

“No. That thought is correct. It hasn’t even been six hours since the battle with Seomun-yeom ended.”

The battle with Seomun-yeom, or rather the Great Demon Amon, had been that intense. It would have been strange if my body were unharmed.

“Arin, you and the other two…”

“We’ve all taken plenty of recovery medicine. And I’ve used healing spells too.”

The atmosphere between the three was tense, but it seemed Arin hadn’t forgotten her duties despite personal feelings.

‘Then… even with Arin’s healing spells, my body is beyond help.’

Arin quickly shook her head, having read even that thought.

“It’s only thanks to the healing spells that you’ve barely regained consciousness. Otherwise, you would have been rushed to intensive care with your life in danger.”

At Arin’s words, I remembered the last spell I had used.

‘Prometheus. A three-element resonance spell, so the recoil…’

I could feel my mana roads, torn and tattered.

As Arin said, without the high-level divine spells created by the Saint, I might have already died on the spot.

‘So it is the power of the Saint after all.’

But even with that power, there was no sign of recovery for the permanent damage to my mana heart and mana roads.

My body was already terminally ill with a time limit.

‘Still, I should be able to… use mana.’

I called to Hongok internally. Fortunately, the flame mana moved, but even that slight movement caused terrible burning pain.

I grimaced at the intense pain.

“Cough… hack…”

I could see Yuri and Soso’s expressions turning pale in real time. Blood was mixed with my cough.

Arin urgently grabbed my body and said:

“Senior, no!! You absolutely must not overexert yourself and need to rest! You absolutely must not use spells for the time being! Only the power of the Black Tortoise among the divine beasts can help you now…”

She hurriedly used a healing spell and pressed her body close to mine.

Just as she had always done after I regained consciousness, Arin nursed me from beside me.

I wanted to recall the sensation of Prometheus that had successfully incinerated Amon, but with so many eyes watching, I obediently followed Arin’s instructions.

‘Only with the Black Tortoise’s power…’

Soon, the power of that divine beast, the cold and solid power of frost, began to calm my mana roads again.

The Black Tortoise’s power temporarily sealed the cracks in my mana heart and roads. Only then did the pain finally subside.

But without Arin’s divine spells, I wouldn’t have been able to withstand even the recoil of using the Black Tortoise’s power.

Arin didn’t say much, just looked at me with worried eyes from beside me. Then she suddenly made a surprised expression and unconsciously opened her mouth.

“This memory… regression… novel?”

It seemed Arin had read all of my subconscious through the powers of the Saint and Ayel.

Arin was momentarily flustered, but then looked at me with a worried expression and said:

“I’m fine. No matter who you are, Senior, you’re still my senior.”

With that, Arin firmly grasped my hand.

After the tragedy of Ains, I had lost consciousness for a year before waking again. The warmth that had helped me forget that terrible PTSD was transmitted to me once more.

With Arin’s warmth, I found the courage to reveal my identity.

It was something I had to do to properly conclude the novel.

At that moment, the aircraft seemed to have reached a stable altitude, as the signal lamp indicating it was safe to unfasten seat belts lit up.

Yuri and Soso hurriedly approached me.

***

Yuri looked at me and urgently exclaimed:

“Are… are you okay?”

Despite Arin and Soso being nearby, Yuri was so worried about me that she hurriedly came close without caring.

Yuri firmly grasped my hand.

Soso also urgently stood by my side. Yuri’s eyes grew cold looking at Soso, and Soso’s did the same, but both seemed to prioritize worrying about me over their animosity.

Arin watched this scene and quietly moved to a seat several spaces away.

She probably didn’t want to see the two of them close to me from nearby. Still, she didn’t prevent them from approaching me, which was fortunate.

Ignoring the persistent pain, I opened my mouth and spoke:

“I have something to tell all three of you.”

“Something to tell us…”

“What could it be…”

Yuri and Soso’s eyes trembled. Having already seen me coughing blood, they probably anticipated what I was going to say.

But I had already decided to tell the two of them the whole truth, so I continued speaking calmly.

“As you can see, my physical condition is quite serious.”

At those words, tears welled up in both their eyes. Yuri fell to her knees, covering her face with both hands as she cried out:

“No… don’t… don’t say such things…”

Soso also looked dumbfounded. But she quickly shook her head in denial.

“That’s… that’s not true! Somehow… somehow if we just defeat the Evil God… Yes… with the miracle of the god… of Ayel, you’ll definitely get better, Minsu…”

I calmed the two of them down.

“Relax. There’s something… I need to tell you before discussing my remaining lifespan.”

“Something to say before… that?”

It was truly a complicated story to tell.

That the current reality was the world inside a novel called “The Academy’s Omnipotent Hunter.”

That I was an outsider who had possessed a nameless minor character in that novel. That this had caused the tragedy of Ains and the death of Siwoo, the original protagonist.

Not only that.

That I still had memories of Ailetan, memories of a past life. And finally, the fact that I was regressing through this novel.

The truth about me was too absurd and unrealistic. But now I had to reveal that truth to these three people.

‘Especially the fact that I’m regressing.’

The memories of those regressions were fragmented like thousands of puzzle pieces.

I had been recovering those memories bit by bit whenever I lost consciousness, like just before, and now the puzzle was somewhat complete.

‘Moreover, the end of every regression was a bad ending. Just those memories alone number in the triple digits…’

So I had repeated bad endings more than a hundred times, continuously repeating from the starting point of “Aka Hunter.”

‘And in all of them except the original, I was involved in every cycle.’

Since I was naturally the subject of the regressions, I had to be involved in every bad ending. And in those memories, I had continuously formed relationships with the three people before me, as well as with Seohwa.

But there was a clear difference between those numerous regressions and the current reality.

There had never been a cycle where I formed relationships with all four of them simultaneously.

Of course, in previous cycles, there were cases where I fell in love with Yuri or Soso.

‘In my memories… I saw how deeply those two loved me.’

The same was true for Arin and Seohwa.

But those relationships were always with just one person at a time.

Not once had all four people been together with me at the moment of confronting the Great Demon Amon.

‘Yes, just like in the original, despite repeating regressions, I never managed to defeat Amon.’

Or to be more precise, the original was even worse. In the original, it ended prematurely before properly confronting Amon.

Moreover, given the strength of Siwoo that I remember from the original, even if Siwoo’s Justice had directly confronted Amon, it definitely wouldn’t have been able to defeat Amon.

So the conclusion is one:

The reason we’ve created this new future beyond the original’s premature ending point is:

‘Probably because all three—Yuri, Soso, and Arin—came to love me.’

Because of that fact, all four of us are together now.

Thinking about the battle that just took place in Sumidagu, if even one of them had been missing, we absolutely couldn’t have caught Seomun-yeom who had become Amon.

‘The same goes for what lies ahead.’

With everyone together now, we could draw a new future for this novel.

So to dedicate my remaining life to these four people, to stay with these four until the end, it was time to tell the truth.

Anyway, I quickly organized this complicated story in my head.

‘There’s still time before we reach the Vatican.’

Since we’d have to fly for at least 10 hours, I began a long story for the three people who had been waiting for me to speak.

***

The long story that took nearly two hours finally came to an end.

When it was over, all three remained silent. Since it was an unrealistically absurd story, their reaction was natural.

‘If someone tells you that the reality you’ve lived in is a novel, no one would easily accept it…’

But Soso showed a reaction completely different from what I had worried about.

“Novel… regression…? Bad endings… is such a thing possible?”

Her eyes trembled for a moment. Then she smiled with surprising coldness.

It was the smile of the Blood Demon that I knew.

“I see. There is a way! A way for you to survive without dying, Minsu!”

She summoned her aura throughout her body.

“What are you doing?!”

Yuri shouted. At that moment, Soso exclaimed:

“Saint Arin, the Saint of Ayel, predicted it! That no matter what, Minsu would definitely die! But… if Minsu is really regressing as he says, then if we make him regress again, he can survive without dying!”

“What are you thinking?!”

Soso drew her Payeong Sword. She might have been thinking of cutting the transport in half from the inside.

Soso looked at Yuri and said:

“I mean exactly what I said. If Minsu is really a regressor, we can forcibly create a bad ending and end it all. After that, Minsu can regress with a healthy body and find a new future. Then Minsu can survive.”

I realized why Soso was acting this way.

As she said, if we returned to the starting point through regression, my terminal condition would also return to the healthy beginning.

But Soso was misunderstanding something. Yuri shouted:

“Don’t talk nonsense! If we regress like that… not just you, but… everyone’s connection with Minsu could be severed! It means Minsu might not come to love… no, like… no, even pay attention to you!”

“I don’t care. I can remain just friends with Minsu… or just be his classmate from Ains. As long as Minsu can survive.”

“But even if Minsu survives again, if it heads toward a bad ending…”

“I said I don’t care! Minsu will definitely create a proper ending! So as long as he’s not terminally ill like now, it’s fine. As long as we can create even a small possibility for Minsu to survive, unlike now where his death is certain!”

Tears began to flow from Soso’s eyes. The hand holding the Payeong Sword was trembling.

I finally realized. Soso wasn’t misunderstanding.

Even if it meant erasing the connection between her and me as it is now, she wanted to bring me back to life.

‘That’s… Soso’s heart…’

I took Soso’s hand.

“No. That’s impossible. If I die like this… or if the end of the world is realized through the Evil God’s revival, there won’t be another regression.”

“What… what do you mean?”

At Soso’s words, I briefly opened the status window I had kept closed.

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「System error」

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Error code : 1713E0529:CE

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XXX : Good job, Player!

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[Warning! Warning! Warning!]

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[You have used up all your remakes.]

[Regression]

[Impossible]

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As the status window message showed.

It seemed that the current reality was my last chance to exist in the novel.

I continued speaking to calm Soso down.