Ch.5Chapter 5: A Strange Change Happened to My Body

#

“You must… come. There’s about 30 minutes left.”

“I got it, so hurry up and go. If you’re late, you’ll really forfeit.”

“…Okay.”

After a long persuasion, Shizu finally stood up from her seat.

With footsteps that visibly dripped with reluctance, she painfully began to move.

Creeeeak

She barely opened the hospital room door and stepped outside.

“You promised.”

Those were her final words before leaving, turning her head to meet my eyes one last time.

“Phew…”

As a sigh of relief escaped my lips, I ran both hands down my face, savoring the sense of accomplishment that I had finally done something for her since turning back time.

There would certainly be people who would point fingers at me for feeling accomplished over such a trivial matter, but what could I do?

“…That’s major progress, Cal. You’ve managed to do something you wouldn’t have even dared attempt in the previous timeline.”

Yeah. Good job, you idiot. You really stepped up.

In the previous timeline.

When I think about how I only stabbed you with verbal daggers when you approached me out of concern, trapped in my inferiority complex… well, I guess this much is…

“…There’s still time.”

Next time, I’ll do everything for you with sincerity, not just these trivial words and actions.

After offering an apology that couldn’t reach Shizu as she moved away from the hospital room, filled with regret,

I needed to prepare to head to the spectator seats where the martial arts tournament would unfold—where Shizu would take her first proud steps as a hero.

She had tried to stick by my side with no intention of caring about the tournament, but my efforts of spinning the lecture wheel for about 10 minutes, following a flick to her forehead, had paid off.

…Actually, the lecture itself hadn’t worked.

“…In the end, she only left after I told her I’d watch from the closest seat in the audience.”

She showed no particular reaction to my nagging about why she was refusing the fastest path to being recognized as a hero.

She remained unmoved even when I asked her to let me go see her win in the finals.

But when I promised to watch from the closest spot in the audience—not just watching, but from the closest place where I could run to her first and congratulate her the moment she won—only then did Shizu finally relent and head to the contestants’ waiting room to prepare for the finals.

Recalling those footsteps that had been overflowing with reluctance just moments ago, the corners of my mouth involuntarily began to curl upward, but then—

-So just lie there and quietly watch me reclaim my light. Don’t even think about running away.

As I remembered the ice-cold voice Shizu had directed at me before I turned back time, my curling lips returned to a straight line.

It wasn’t because I was recalling the coldness of her words that had felt like they were stabbing into my very core.

It was just…

In my previous life, I had caused you nothing but pain without ever doing anything right for you, leading to that outcome.

And now, after turning back time and meeting you again, I felt the weight of conscience seeing how happy you became at even the smallest changes in my behavior.

“Sigh…”

Exhaling heavily, I recalled every moment I had seen of you throughout my not-so-long life.

My first life—where I kept making all the wrong choices until I broke down and tried to conclude everything with death.

In that life, I finally realized my feelings for you as you refused to give up on me even when my own family had, but I lived as a coward who only wanted to protect you and tried to escape—no, take responsibility for everything through death.

But the momentary relief of taking responsibility through death was short-lived.

Catching the eye of a demon god, I was given unwanted life and reborn as a monster that set the world ablaze, and when I finally regained my senses, I saw you maintaining only cold determination to kill me.

In my second life, I was a monster who deserved to die dozens of times over.

You wouldn’t know.

That your cold demeanor as you tried to pass judgment on me on behalf of the entire world…

Was a blessing to me.

If it hadn’t been for you, I would have certainly continued destroying everything around me until I eventually destroyed the world itself.

I’m so sorry that I couldn’t even thank you for stopping me before turning to ash and disappearing.

And I despise myself for not even being able to fathom the pain you must have gone through until that point.

Throughout my two lives, the image of you that entered my eyes…

While perhaps not as a hero, but as Lillian Shizu Proxian, the individual…

Was pushed to the extreme of unhappiness because of the impurity that was me.

That’s why I make this pledge.

I don’t know what miracle occurred, but time has been rewound and everything has returned to the beginning.

I will be the catalyst for you.

For the life of a hero that a girl named Lillian Shizu Proxian should enjoy as she grows up.

And for the life of an individual who can enjoy ordinary pleasures and everyday life.

I will be the catalyst that leads both aspects to a happy life without the slightest deviation.

For that, I will fulfill this pledge even if it means making any sacrifice.

“Well… time to get up.”

So let’s fasten the first button for that purpose.

Starting with keeping my first promise to watch Shizu’s performance from the best seat.

In my previous life, I couldn’t keep my promise to you—to lie there and watch—because I breathed my last.

In this life, I want to keep even the smallest promises.

As I steeled my resolve,

And hardened my heart, the faint pain that remained disappeared as if washed away.

It was as if the heavens were blessing a man who had only come to his senses after receiving a second chance, not just one.

#

On the first day after turning back time.

I had to prepare to keep my promise to Shizu, which I had never been able to keep in my previous life.

After steeling my resolve, I rose from the bed without hesitation and began preparing to go outside.

“I need to hurry and get the best seat in the audience to see Shizu win with my own eyes.”

In my previous life, I had wasted this time lying in bed, bemoaning my inability to awaken and just breathing heavily.

Now that I had turned back time, I had no intention of wasting time in a place like this.

Thud

My body rose from the bed and headed toward the floor, with both legs touching the ground accordingly.

I braced myself, recalling the shock I had felt an hour ago when my feet had touched the ground without knowing what to expect, but…

“…It feels light?”

After an hour had passed, despite making the same movement, my feet could touch the ground smoothly without any pain signals.

Moreover, it would have been enough to rejoice just from not feeling pain.

But as I got up after an hour, I felt that my body was so refreshed that it couldn’t easily be described as merely feeling “light.”

It was as if the pain that had weakened as I resolved to live a new life wasn’t just due to psychological factors.

Even if this hospital room was said to be filled with healing energy that maximized the body’s natural healing power, this was an unbelievable rate of natural recovery.

What was happening?

I was puzzled by this recovery rate, which should only be possible with healing spells, but…

“I guess that hour of rest had an effect.”

It seems that unlike my previous life, where I just lay in bed with my eyes open and breathed heavily, the brief rest I got in bed this time had an impact on shortening my recovery time.

“This means I can go to the audience without limping?”

I was puzzled by the sudden improvement in my condition, but now wasn’t the time to worry about that.

“First, let’s remove these bloodstained bandages and put on new ones.”

Regardless of how refreshed my body felt, I needed to change the bandages wrapped around my head, which were slightly bloodstained from the wound inflicted by Shizu’s sword.

Who would appreciate someone entering the audience with not just bandages, but bloodstained ones?

With that thought, I stood in front of the mirror and reached for the bandages wrapped around the wounded area to remove them.

The experience I had gained in my previous life as a bottom-tier mercenary after failing to awaken as a hero seemed to come naturally to my time-reversed body.

My hands unwrapped the bandages without any hesitation.

One layer, two layers.

As I watched the bandages disappear from my head, I prepared to wrap new bandages with my other hand, but…

When the bandages were completely removed and my head was revealed,

“…Huh?”

I couldn’t help but drop the new bandages I was holding.

“The wound… has disappeared without a trace?”

Surprisingly,

Even though it was a training sword without a sharpened edge, and I had been hit with the flat side rather than the edge, the wound had bled enough at the moment of impact.

But where the bandages had been wrapped, there was no trace of the wound, not even dried blood.

Even considering the hospital room’s environment that enhanced natural healing, my head had recovered at an unusually fast rate.

Wait… could this be…

“…A sign of awakening?”

One of the benefits that cradle hero candidates receive after awakening is physical enhancement, which not only upgrades the physical body but can also grant several additional benefits depending on the person’s qualities.

Among these, one of the most outstanding benefits is the ability to instantly heal wounds that bleed, leaving no trace—super regeneration.

This was just an example, but among superhumans with this maximized regenerative ability, some possess the highest-ranked survival awakening benefit—the ability to resurrect perfectly even if their entire body burns to ash, given enough time.

If this had been me from the previous timeline, I would have not just rejoiced but shouted with excitement at such a change.

But really.

How could that be possible?

My briefly excited mind and body had already regained their composure.

I know my body well.

In the previous timeline, I never awakened.

Before my first death, I was nothing special except for the sturdy body inherited from my family and exceptional martial arts utilization abilities that anyone could learn.

And in my second life, when I was forcibly awakened from death and became a monster named the demon god’s agent, I know better than anyone…

That this body was not born to be a vessel for becoming a hero.

Surely, when I passed out for about an hour, Shizu must have provided appropriate treatment for my head.

‘I should thank Shizu later for treating the wound.’

I was relieved that I wouldn’t have to wear unsightly bandages when entering the audience, but…

“Oh…!”

I was so startled by the voice that came from behind me without any warning that I leaped in place like a surprised cat.

“Uwaaah!”

…The somewhat embarrassing scream was an added bonus.

But as I watched my body jump lightly and nimbly despite the awkward posture from my surprise,

Combined with the instantaneous disappearance of the head wound, I sensed that some change, whether awakening or something else, had occurred in my body.

#

“Ahahahaha!!”

Right now, I’m directing a cold gaze toward the person who’s laughing hysterically at me for jumping in surprise.

“Hey, hey. Cal, I’ve told you before, never make that expression.”

It’s been a while.

A slightly rough tone for what should be a woman’s voice maintaining an appropriate level of tension while containing cheerfulness.

“…What’s wrong with my expression?”

“There you go again. Didn’t I tell you that with that expression, no one except your fiancée would approach you?”

“What’s wrong with that? As long as Shizu comes to my side, it doesn’t matter…”

Oops.

In my excitement, I got caught up in her pace again.

“Oh…”

Hearing my words, she stopped her cackling and her eyes sparkled like a predator spotting prey, making me lament.

Damn it.

Even after being forcibly given life after death, and even after turning back time to live a third life…

“As I thought, your body has always been honest, but now even your mouth is being honest…”

“Aaaah!!! Stop!”

I couldn’t maintain my composure in front of this person who was teasing me while displaying an appropriate level of tension.

“Hehehe.”

The name of the woman laughing frivolously while teasing me is Grace Rabin.

She’s the physical training instructor at the Cradle, the hero training institution, and the top authority in the field of physical enhancement awakening research within the institution, as well as…

“I was trying to surprise you from behind to congratulate you on your awakening, but as expected, Cal, you have the best reactions among all the kids who’ve passed through my hands…”

“…What?”

She’s also a human awakening detector who can easily identify whether a hero candidate has awakened just by looking from a distance within the institution.

“Hm… should I say it again?”

I can’t think straight.

“Congratulations on your awakening. It’s super regeneration ability.”

…It’s already astonishing enough that I’ve turned back time, but to think that I now have a different physical condition than back then.

Undisguisable surprise is swirling in my mind.