episode_0029

When Yunyoung opened his eyes, he was floating in a long tunnel-like place.

“Huh? What? I’m flying?!”

He was a bit flustered, as the sensation he had always felt as a human—that of stepping on something—was gone, but for some reason, it wasn’t difficult. However, there was something he needed to focus on first now.

“Anyway, where in the world is this place?”

Suppressing his heart, which pounded with shock and tension, he scanned his surroundings. This tunnel was strange and mysterious. The surrounding walls were not ordinary concrete, but swirled this way and that, moving like flowing waves.

Looking closely, the inner walls were rapidly flowing and changing, like a screen displaying various unfolding stories.

Numerous events came into view at a glance, and the images of various people flashed past. It was like a massive river formed by connecting time itself.

Yunyoung quietly raised his head and gazed intently at the end of the tunnel.

He instinctively felt certain that if he ran towards that place, he would be able to return to the past he desired.

‘But there’s no way things would resolve this easily. I feel an unknown fear approaching.’

Although he was worried about the anxiety lurking in his heart, he decided to advance through the tunnel first.

Although he was flying in the sky for the first time in his life, he could move as he willed, so there was no great discomfort.

‘Staying here would only waste time, and the first thing I need to do is get out of here.’

After he had gone some distance, Yunyoung’s dark and ominous premonition proved correct.

This was because a loud shout burst out from behind him.

“Chase him!”

“We mustn’t lose the time criminal!”

Along with boisterous shouts from behind, beings with white wings began to pursue him.

‘Are those the angels my ancestors spoke of who guard spacetime?’

Yunyoung could clearly discern the target of their pursuit without asking.

“They’re trying to catch me. I’ll be in big trouble if they do.”

Just then, a colossal energy projectile shot past right beside Yunyoung, like a bullet.

“Gah.”

He happened to dodge it, but if it had hit him, it would have been dangerous. He glanced behind him and saw them continuously firing such projectiles.

‘It looks like they intend to kill me.’

Dodging their magic that poured down like rain, Yunyoung dashed forward.

Cold sweat beaded on his forehead. Their offensive grew fiercer, relentlessly pressing him.

In such a perilous pursuit, Yunyoung desperately fled.

‘This opportunity my ancestors gave me, even at the cost of their lives, I can’t let it be taken away like this!’

But there were at least dozens of them. Even if most of the projectiles luckily missed, some of them hit or grazed Yunyoung. Each time, immense pain shot through his nerves, and blood dripped down.

Normally, it would have been pain enough to lose consciousness, but perhaps because he had gained divine power, he was able to maintain his consciousness somehow.

‘Ugh…’

Even so, it was true that it was difficult, and Yunyoung’s complexion grew darker and shadowed.

‘My speed is slowing. At this rate, I’ll be caught by them.’

He tried to concentrate his strength to move faster, but his body wouldn’t obey.

“He has little strength left. Unleash all your firepower!”

“Let’s show them the power of us Spacetime Administrators!”

Meanwhile, behind him, the angels, as if united, uttered fervent cheers, raising their momentum even higher.

‘Damn it… I can’t be caught in a place like this. I can’t accept a crappy future, a future I don’t even want to see. This opportunity I barely got!!!’

It was then. A motorcycle, appearing from who knows where, began running parallel to Yunyoung.

“If you want to live, get on me.”

“A motorcycle is talking…?”

“There’s no time to be falling over in surprise. If you don’t want to be caught by the angels, you’d better obey me quickly.”

It was hard to trust, but he felt he would be caught by the angels at this rate.

‘It’s all or nothing.’

For Yunyoung, struggling to live, there was no choice.

Whatever it was, he prayed the motorcycle wasn’t on the angels’ side, then threw himself onto it and quickly mounted.

“Hold on tight.”

The motorcycle warned him. Before Yunyoung could even ask what it meant, the motorcycle began to accelerate at an incredible speed.

If Yunyoung hadn’t immediately lowered his body and gripped the handlebars tightly, it was such an incredible speed that he might have been thrown off backward.

Yunyoung turned his head back, and the distance between them and the angels widened so significantly that the angels were no longer visible.

“We shook them off.”

As Yunyoung patted his chest and sighed, the motorcycle pointed out in a cold voice.

“It’s too early to relax—.”

“What?”

“The angels’ true powerhouses haven’t appeared yet.”

“Powerhouses? What are you talking about?”

“Speak of the devil.”

Yunyoung, tilting his head at the motorcycle’s words, looked back and was greatly astonished, his eyes trembling.

If the existing angels had 1-2 pairs of wings, the newly appeared angel was much larger in physique and bore 4-5 pairs of enormous wings.

Moreover, its speed was much faster. The distance between them and the motorcycle began to close. Anxious, Yunyoung shouted.

“Can’t you go any faster?”

“Unfortunately, this is my limit.”

The thought that he would be caught at this rate made Yunyoung anxious. He couldn’t let the divine power his ancestors had risked their lives to pass on be taken by the angels like this.

Even though he knew this was a crime, he couldn’t give up because it was the only option that could change his and Mira’s lives.

“These walls enclosing this tunnel. They don’t seem like ordinary walls.”

Just as Yunyoung had observed earlier, the walls forming the tunnel were like translucent screens that seemed to embody the flow of countless moments in time.

It seemed surrounded by a colossal air current, as if he could exit in the middle at any time.

“If I break through the wall, couldn’t I get out of the tunnel?”

“You’ve inferred that far. Impressive.”

“Then I can just escape quickly before those guys catch me.”

“It doesn’t work out that conveniently.”

“Is there a problem?”

“As you said, if you leave the tunnel right now, you can get out of here and be safe from their pursuit. However── you won’t be able to go to the point in time you desire.”

“What?!”

“You will fall into a random timeline. To be precise, you’ll go to the events currently being shown, but….”

“Ugh…”

He didn’t know where the tunnel walls led, nor could he precisely tell the timeline. Past and future were mixed, appearing dizzying.

For Yunyoung, spacetime travel only had meaning if he went to ‘that day.’ Strictly speaking, it wouldn’t matter if he went to a day before that, but could such a coincidence happen?

Going much further back would also be a big problem.

“For your information, don’t think you’ll be lucky. Leaving the tunnel midway and going to your desired timeline is impossible, as the probability is close to infinity.”

“Then what should I do? Fight those guys?”

Yunyoung clenched his teeth. Even if it seemed difficult, he had to fight if there was no other way. Even if it meant dying here, he didn’t want to be caught by them like a coward, tucking his tail.

If he released the power flowing within his body, he felt he could land one or two blows on them somehow.

“It’s not that there’s absolutely no way.”

“Is there another way?”

“Yes. In fact, this is what I’d recommend.”

“Why didn’t you say so sooner?”

“I wanted to test your condition a bit. I liked that you’re quite aggressive. For me, this isn’t an easy decision to make.”

“Don’t beat around the bush, just tell me!”

“Make a contract with me.”

“A contract…?”

Yunyoung uttered the word, blinking repeatedly.

“You are a soul possessing divine power. If you can send that powerful source of power to me, I can awaken my true power. If that happens, these kinds of problems will be nothing.”

“Then let’s make a contract.”

“Aren’t you going to listen to the downsides?”

“Whatever it is, it’s better than being caught by those guys, isn’t it?”

“You are quite a decisive man. Very well. I shall reveal my true name. I am Yustia, the 12th-ranked Archangel who raised a blade of rebellion against God!”

“Yustia…?!”

“What is your name?”

“I am Lee Yunyoung.”

“Is that so. Then, Lee Yunyoung…. I will infiltrate your body with my magic. Accept me, even if it’s painful. If even a little bit of refusal arises, the contract will fail!”

“Gah… You’re merciless.”

As soon as the words ended, at the pain that immediately pierced him, Yunyoung let out a groan. But his face held a hint of a smile.

“Ugh… Urgh…”

While agonizingly enduring the pain, Yunyoung accepted the colossal entity entering his body.

Each time, the sensation of his blood vessels bursting and his nerves overloading surged over him like waves.

Tingling electric currents seemed to flow through his entire body as if he were being electrocuted, but he endured by biting his lip.

‘If I can just change this crappy past, I can endure even more than this.’