Ch.5050. The Future He Knows

When the darkness that filled my vision cleared, I saw a familiar landscape.

Rubetia. It was the empire where I lived.

But the perspective from which I viewed this landscape wasn’t familiar. I was floating in empty space.

And I existed only as consciousness, without a physical body.

‘What in the world is happening?’

Though confused, I tried quickly to understand the situation.

The last thing I saw before losing consciousness was the text “Checking the future.”

The scenery was familiar but somehow chaotic.

And most importantly… I could see a slightly more mature version of myself in the distance.

‘…I see.’

I understood. I was currently seeing a future version of Rubetia.

Life is full of surprises. To think the day would come when I’d see the future.

Of course, it was an absurd situation, but not to the point where I needed to rationalize it by denying what I was seeing.

‘But wait… did it say I would check the future that the subject knows?’

The subject of the favorability system was definitely Ludion.

This is a bit embarrassing to admit… but he was the only person I had feelings for.

The future… thinking about his actions, I could easily tell he knew something.

But he didn’t seem particularly concerned about it, and since he didn’t bring it up first, I just pretended not to notice.

But to think what he knew was the future.

I hadn’t particularly wondered about the future, but I was quite interested in what kind of future he knew about.

It probably wasn’t anything too serious. From what I could see, Ludion didn’t seem like a man driven by some grand mission.

I’m not belittling him. Rather, it was a conclusion I reached because I knew him so well.

Despite his exceptional abilities, he seemed to want almost nothing, and it wasn’t like he was acting with some purpose either.

He just focused on and enjoyed the “present.” As if there was no need to think about the future.

That’s why I didn’t have high expectations about the future he supposedly knew.

At most, I was curious about what kind of relationship he and I would have in the future.

‘Hmm… let’s get closer first.’

What was I doing in the future he knew?

To satisfy my curiosity, I moved toward where my future self was.

The sensation of only my vision moving according to my thoughts, without any physical form, was incredibly strange… but it wasn’t much different from surveillance magic, so I could handle it somewhat familiarly.

When I reached where my future self was, it was a place just before leaving the empire.

For some reason, numerous knights were gathered there, and judging by their focused expressions, they seemed to be preparing for battle.

And… I saw familiar faces beside me.

Ms. Lilith and Ms. Alkine. Both looked just as I knew them, only slightly more mature.

There was something subtly different about the atmosphere or distance between us… but they were definitely those two people.

There was also Harold, a classmate from the advanced class, and Artes, who was from the lower class… no, he had been promoted to the middle class during the midterm exams.

Anyway, he was the man Ludion had helped train in a way that wasn’t really training.

…But no matter how much I looked, he wasn’t there.

‘Where could Ludion be?’

The situation seemed quite urgent, but I couldn’t find Ludion anywhere.

No one was even looking for him. In a situation like this, Ludion’s presence would be essential.

It was hard to imagine him being absent when his presence was clearly needed.

But my expression was too calm for him to have gone off alone to do something else…

As if I didn’t know someone named Ludion.

‘…Huh?’

Could it be that in the future he knew, we never met?

Then that subtly different atmosphere and distance…

Just as that thought crossed my mind, the sky suddenly turned red.

It happened so quickly that I didn’t even notice when it changed.

“L-look over there!!”

“The sky…!”

Everyone there looked up at the changed sky with shocked expressions, as if they hadn’t expected this at all, and that was the last reaction I could see.

CRACK-

The sky that had turned red opened its mouth.

That’s the only way I could describe the scene unfolding.

Inside the sky’s mouth was emptiness itself. A pitch-black darkness that seemed like it would disappear upon contact.

‘…Huh?’

An extreme sense of fear I had never felt before washed over me.

Though I clearly had no physical body here, I felt as if my entire body had frozen and couldn’t move.

Before I could think of anything else, the sky swallowed the world.

That was the end.

‘What is this….’

Everything disappeared and was dyed in darkness.

The vibrant, colorful image of Rubetia was gone, replaced by a world of only black.

In that darkness, text began to appear before my eyes.

Though the format was familiar from the favorability system, the content was anything but.

[The end is coming.]

A statement that bluntly described the current situation.

It was direct and easy to understand, but difficult to accept.

‘This is the future?’

All of us dying helplessly to a sudden apocalypse?

Judging by the last glimpse of myself, it wasn’t even that far in the future.

Ms. Lilith and Ms. Alkine still had youthful features, so it was probably around graduation from the academy at most.

How could this be? I still had so many things I wanted to do.

And not just me. Everyone living in the world would feel the same.

Such a meaningless end. I couldn’t accept this at all.

As I was thinking this, new text began to appear.

[A new story begins. Good luck.]

As those words appeared, the darkness surrounding me turned white…

“Huh!”

Thud!

In an instant, my consciousness returned to reality.

I almost fell over from the shock while sitting in my chair, but that wasn’t important right now.

[You have confirmed the future that the subject knows.]

“What was that just now…?”

The end, a new beginning.

My mind wasn’t working properly after facing such absurdities.

But one thing was certain.

The scene I had just witnessed was definitely not a lie.

The sensation was so vivid that I was convinced of it.

At that moment, text appeared before my eyes again.

[The subject is changing the future.]

[Calculating current progress.]

Progress? Changing the future?

My mind was already confused, and these words showed no intention of being considerate.

[…]

[…]

[…]

From the beginning, it wasn’t something that could be fought against. Having seen the moment the world itself disappeared and what came after, I could say that with certainty.

It wouldn’t be strange to go mad after facing such a thing. Honestly, I felt like giving up on everything right now.

‘But how does Ludion…’

How could he live so normally while knowing such a future?

[Calculation complete.]

[Current progress: 21%]

.

.

.

[Current progress: 34%]

[Current progress: 35%]

And what was he doing now that was supposedly changing such a future in real-time?

His focus on and enjoyment of the “present” suddenly began to look different.

He wasn’t ignoring the future.

For him, who knew about the sudden end, the present was actually the most brilliant moment.

I couldn’t tell where he was or what he was doing right now, but one thing was certain.

He was fighting alone for the future.

…I thought I knew him well, but suddenly I felt very distant from him.

‘How did Ludion see me?’

My heart grew complicated.

Later, as I sat in the chair lost in thought for a while, Ludion suddenly appeared before me.

Seeing Ludion appear suddenly from thin air, I felt a different kind of gladness than usual.

“Where did you just come from?”

But wanting to hide the fact that I had learned something, I spoke somewhat curtly.

Somehow… I felt like I understood a little why he was hiding what he knew.

Ludion just made a slightly embarrassed expression without continuing, but suddenly I noticed one of his arms.

He quickly hid it behind his back when he noticed my gaze, but his delayed reaction only made it more suspicious.

When I immediately pointed it out and checked, surprisingly, a torn wound was revealed.

‘….’

For a moment, my mind went blank.

It was the first time I had seen him injured.

Unconsciously, I had believed he wouldn’t get hurt.

Watching him mysteriously avoid any attack naturally created such a belief.

But that wasn’t the case. He was an ordinary person who could be attacked.

Of course, it was just a simple injury now, but the fact that he could be wounded was enough to shatter what I had vaguely believed until now.

Realizing this, my complicated feelings were instantly sorted out.

I wanted to become someone who could help him.

I couldn’t even gauge what level I needed to be to stand beside someone who was preventing the apocalypse in real-time, but at least I wanted to become someone who could protect him.

He might not know it, but I now shared the same future with him.

Wouldn’t he need at least one person by his side who completely trusted him?

That’s why I stopped him when he tried to explain something.

Of course, I was curious about how he would explain it… but I didn’t want to see him lie and feel hurt.

[You gain the ‘Concept Materialization’ bonus as a favorability reward.]

[Your exclusive ability ‘Time’ increases.]

[Current Time value: 1]

For now, I decided to think about how to use what I had gained to be with him.

…Really. If only I hadn’t accidentally mentioned that I had placed a tracking spell on him.

The slip of the tongue due to my complicated thoughts was the problem.

With my exclusive ability being Time, I wonder if there’s a way to take back what I said?

I tried hard, but there was no sign of success.

In the end, unable to take back my words, I could only leave the room as if escaping.