I never thought the protagonists I've met so far were particularly special.
Viola's older brother, the siscon hero.
He wielded his sword with immense power, cutting down demons like paper.
Luna's childhood friend, Louis, who had a natural talent for magic.
His skills were still growing, but by the time he graduated from Stura, his magical power might even surpass the dean's.
Cho Seo-hyun's younger brother and Sung Suah's fiancé, the top-tier hero, Cho Kang-hyun.
I haven't met him directly, but according to the information, he's said to possess abilities stronger than the hero.
...Looking at them, all I thought was, "They're talented and strong."
Special?
They're protagonists, so that much is expected... or so I thought.
But then, a truly special guy appeared.
[He's a regressor. This is the fifth time I'm telling you this.]
'...'
Assuming the opponent is a regressor and I know about it, the most important thing is how I act.
After regressing, the initial actions must not show any difference.
Hiding the fact that I know about the regression is crucial.
I kept my composure and stood as naturally as possible.
I was about to ask Armonia how I had acted before.
'Armonia, first, next...'
[Just stand there casually for now. And in 10 seconds, the protagonist and his party will come out of the coliseum.]
Armonia already knew what I was going to say.
She must have experienced this situation five times already.
[I'll explain everything later. When the protagonist's party comes out, stare at Min Ha-yeon for about 7 seconds, then walk straight ahead and leave the area.]
'Okay.'
As soon as I answered, the protagonist and Min Ha-yeon came out of the coliseum.
I stared at Min Ha-yeon as Armonia had instructed.
But at that moment.
The protagonist was also staring straight at me.
'What's up with this guy? Why's he looking at me like that? Is he gay!?'
[No. His behavior has changed. It seems the events before the regression have influenced him. Just leave the area for now.]
'Damn... what's going on...'
I followed Armonia's instructions and left the area.
When I was a good distance away from the coliseum, Armonia spoke.
[Just keep walking straight, and you'll reach a place called 'Zephyrum Inn.' Rent a room for 3 hours and go inside.]
'Damn, renting a room without a girl... Oh, there it is.'
I grumbled as I entered the Zephyrum Inn.
Inside, a woman in her mid-50s greeted me warmly.
"Oh, welcome! You're the first customer today."
"Can I rent a room for 3 hours?"
"Of course! It's 150 points."
"Uh... how do I pay with points...?"
"Hehe, you must be new. Hold out your left hand."
I held out my left hand, and the innkeeper grabbed my wrist.
After holding it for about 3 seconds, she let go.
I was bewildered by what had just happened and looked at the back of my left hand.
A small fluorescent number, 850, was written there.
"When making a transaction, just cross your wrists like this."
"Ah, thank you."
"Be careful, though. Don't get distracted during transactions and accidentally give away all your points. Hehe..."
"Haha... thanks."
I was led to a room on the second floor by the innkeeper.
As soon as I entered the room and closed the door, a hologram appeared on the door, and a countdown began.
"Wow... it's like a messy mix of medieval, modern, and futuristic."
[You'll get used to that part quickly.]
Armonia began explaining in earnest.
[Suho, you've been caught in the fifth regression loop. Five days have passed since it started.]
'Crazy... I've lost a whole week.'
I had no memory of it, but time had completely evaporated.
[The problem isn't just the time. The protagonist, who couldn't even survive a day at first, is gradually surviving longer.]
In the first loop, the protagonist died during the first day's battle.
It was ridiculous.
He tripped during a fight, fell, and hit his head on a rock on the ground, dying instantly...
'...Is he an idiot?'
[His abilities are severely lacking... but his survival time is gradually increasing.]
After that ridiculous death, he improved with each loop, and in the previous fifth loop, he survived for three days.
Armonia began sharing information about the protagonist.
[This protagonist's name is Han Yeo-reum. He's 23 years old, the same age as Min Ha-yeon, who was summoned with him.]
'Did you find that out in the first loop?'
[Yes. Han Yeo-reum happened to ask you about your job and then invited you to join his party.]
According to Armonia, in the first loop, I visited a potion shop about 3 hours later, where I coincidentally met Han Yeo-reum and his party.
When Han Yeo-reum heard I was an alchemist, he immediately invited me to join the party.
The reason was that they needed a support role to provide potions.
Fortunately, during battles, Han Yeo-reum didn't pay much attention to me.
In fact, he was too incompetent to even bother with me...
The battles had many variables, so each loop played out differently.
In other words, if I could get through the early stages, there wouldn't be a problem.
Moreover, Han Yeo-reum wasn't particularly smart, and his memory wasn't great either.
'Wow, he seems like the biggest idiot among the guys I've met so far.'
[But he's the most troublesome among the people you've met.]
'Yeah... what should I do?'
A regressor... no matter how much I thought about it, I couldn't come up with a solution.
The opponent would keep growing, while I would remain stagnant.
The opponent would keep accumulating memories, while I would keep resetting...
An absurdly overpowered ability.
'Wait! But how does he regress?'
Regression itself, being an ability, didn't make sense.
There must have been some external factor involved...
[Based on what you've thought about so far, it's likely a blessing.]
'...Damn, they must have poured Enels into it.'
Blessings were essentially passives that could be written to apply anything within the planet.
It was clear that regression had been added to a blessing.
But...
'That's weird too. No matter how many points he has, how did he come up with regression right away? That's not a concept you'd know unless you've played a lot of web games.'
[He's played a lot of games, though the genres are different from yours.]
'Damn, why is a guy who looks like that playing games? It's annoying...'
He should be out there getting STDs from one-night stands...
I roughly understood the situation.
Now, I needed to know in detail what had happened before.
'By the way, the coliseum entrance is the regression point, right?'
[Yes.]
'You sounded really regretful earlier. What happened at the end?'
[Well...]
***
Armonia showed me a video of what had happened before the regression.
In the final battle, the party I was in with Han Yeo-reum was fighting a tutorial boss.
The boss was shaped like a human torso.
Its name was Shock Bee. When the battle started, as many Shock Bees as there were party members would appear and engage in combat.
But during the fight, when a few Shock Bees landed on the ground, everyone around me froze.
Except for me....
'What's this?'
[It's a skill called Paralysis Wave. When three Shock Bees land, it activates, freezing the time of all organic beings nearby.]
And the reason I wasn't affected by the Paralysis Wave was due to my magic resistance.
'...? I don't have magic resistance.'
My magic resistance is zero.
I never raised it.
[You had unlocked magic resistance, but it was reset after the regression.]
'Crazy... what about the Enels I used?'
[...They're all gone.]
'Wow, I'm screwed.'
10,000 Enels gone.
No matter how perfect Enels are, once used, they're meaningless.
Everything learned is reset when regression occurs.
No refunds either...
I started watching the video again.
The protagonist and the party members were frozen in time, and I, the only one who could move, ran away.
But the Shock Bees targeted me and flew towards me.
I, driven by the will to survive, threw a punch at the mob and shouted.
"Ah, damn it, I'm screwed! What kind of tutorial boss has a skill like this!!"
[Suho! If they use Paralysis Wave one more time, your time will freeze too! Just run away for now. Even if we regress again...!]
"Wait! Freeze?"
And at that moment, the me in the video shouted at Armonia.
"I've found a solution! Armonia! The blessing!"
My handsome face, the kind you'd see in a bathroom mirror, was displayed.
Frozen...
'...The end?'
[Yes, at that moment, Han Yeo-reum died, and the regression occurred.]
'Freeze... blessing...'
Even after watching this, I still had no idea what I was thinking before the regression.
'Let me write it down.'
I decided to try writing a blessing related to regression.
-Regression retains all memories and abilities.-
I was about to write that, but Armonia immediately stopped me.
[Suho, that's meaningless. The amount of points required is beyond what we can afford with our Enels.]
'...You've already tried it.'
[Yes.]
Even though it's not direct regression, the points required are 10 billion.
The Enels needed for conversion are 1 billion.
That's insane.
Wait...
'What if I make it a one-time use?'
Even if it's one-time, wouldn't the blessing reset during regression?
But it was rejected.
[The Enels required remain the same, likely because loopholes don't work.]
'...Damn.'
He's really smart, that damn tree kid...
Past me, what brilliant idea did you come up with?
'Armonia, play the other videos for now.'
[Understood.]
I spent the remaining time watching the other videos.
***
Watching the videos, I gained some insights.
Thanks to Han Yeo-reum inviting me to the party, I could at least talk to Min Ha-yeon.
And I figured out Han Yeo-reum's personality.
'He's such a jerk... ugh, I hate people like him.'
[You've said that four times now.]
'...'
Armonia kept saying things like, "You've said that X times now."
It felt like she knew my future, which was frustrating.
Han Yeo-reum's personality was beyond annoying—he was downright insufferable.
He melted women's hearts with a bright smile and a deep, soothing voice.
But to me, a guy, he gave condescending looks and spoke in a high-pitched voice that grated on my nerves.
His attitude towards men and women was blatantly different.
And the most ridiculous thing...
'That guy openly went into other women's rooms.'
[It's strange. He never went to Min Ha-yeon's room, though...]
In the fourth loop, I learned stealth and followed Han Yeo-reum at night.
And every night, he went in and out of the rooms of the women in the party.
Except for Min Ha-yeon's room...
Thanks to stealth, I gained useful information.
Though the stealth I learned was reset after regression...
Another 10,000 Enels gone.
'Wow... it's weird. In the videos, he acted like a jealous jerk.'
I hadn't met him yet, but I could tell.
Han Yeo-reum clearly loved Min Ha-yeon.
He acted like a jealous husband whenever I even briefly talked to Min Ha-yeon.
But why didn't he go to her room...?
'Let's find out more.'
With that thought, I headed to the potion shop.
As I was heading to the potion shop Armonia had mentioned, something occurred to me.
'But that guy hasn't said a word since entering.'
-Channel Visitors: 1-
From the start, one person had entered and was watching, but they hadn't said a word.
They could chat, not just sponsor.
[...They'll start chatting soon.]
'Oh! I'm so excited!! I used to love streaming games!'
I thought this material could make for an amazing streaming game, especially with tags like TS or reverse world.
I tried to chat cheerfully, like a novice streamer.
"Hey~ Don't just lurk, say something~"
[....]
Strangely, Armonia was silent.
And then, the moment the first historic chat message appeared on the my channel.
└Guardian of the Gay Dick: Hey, go jerk off.
***
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