NOVEL ONLINE FREE Ch. 3
Scrape, scrape-
A layer of crushed ice granules settled at the bottom of the finished Frappuccino cup.
This part was relatively tasteless.
It was the only thing I disliked about a Frappuccino.
Of course, that didn't mean my special Java Chip Frappuccino, my first in decades, wasn't delicious.
“Well, that’s one down. One bucket list item.”
[Bucket List #1]
『Eat an S*bucks Java Chip Frappuccino with half the chips blended and half whole, topped with espresso whip. (Size: Grande. Add two pumps of mocha syrup, three pumps of hazelnut syrup. Finish with a hazelnut drizzle).』
It was ironic, but it was only after drinking the Frappuccino that the reality of my Regression truly sank in.
The two elements seemed completely unrelated, but at least for me, they were.
It was a symbol of a peaceful era, in a way.
This cup of icy slush, which cost only about 8,000 won, filled my chest with the pleasant leisure of peace.
Well, of course, from my perspective, it was a peace that would only last one more day.
That made it all the sweeter.
“Can I do it?”
Suppressing the rising sense of peace, I looked down at the notebook with my bucket list again…
Suddenly, the conversation from the next table drifted into my ears.
- Hey, did you hear? They said the A-Rank Hunter, Jang Han-u, went missing this time, too…
- Hah… this is serious. Isn’t this the work of the Illuminati or some other group pulling something big?
- I don’t know, man… No matter how I think about it, it’s strange that not a single clue has turned up yet.
- No, this is seriously weird. It’s also true that these incidents started happening on the 15th anniversary of the Rifts…
‘…Right, this was the atmosphere.’
Beginning in early 2020, the 15th year since the first Rift appeared, High-Rank Hunters began to disappear for unknown reasons.
It was a worldwide phenomenon, yet no country could find its cause or any clues.
The most plausible theories circulating online were ‘contract killings by an anti-hunter group presumed to be a pre-rift establishment,’ or ‘identity erasure due to the expansion of the Hunter underworld,’ but as someone who had seen the future, I could tell them that both were wrong.
‘…Back then, I thought it had nothing to do with me.’
The cause of this incident was something one could never know without experiencing it.
There was a good reason why the entire world was so helpless against something as major as the disappearance of High-Rank Hunters.
This was an affair related to the
For the
“…Who would have known? That the Rifts we risked our lives to block were nothing more than degraded versions of monsters that had leaked from above.”
Around this time, the media was probably trumpeting humanity’s victory in the ‘War against Monsters.’
Even countries like North Korea or those in South America, which had been virtually annihilated during the first Rifts, had reclaimed some territory in the form of Monster Fields. On the surface, it looked like we were dealing with monsters in a manner closer to hunting than war.
Furthermore, mana engineering technology, which converted the mana stones from monsters into energy, had begun development.
It was a time when there was even talk of a ‘Fourth Mana Revolution,’ so it was easy to imagine how arrogant and conceited humanity had become.
But I knew.
The monsters they prided themselves on defeating were degraded versions, not even on par with the monsters that appeared in the entrance to the Upper-Dimensional Plane, the ‘Gateway Zone.’
Monsters that were considered ‘High-Rank Monsters’ in the Lower-Dimensional Plane were treated as nameless mongrels in the Upper-Dimensional Plane.
Goblins and Gnolls were prime examples.
Goblins and Gnolls were classified as B-Rank hunting difficulty, and special variants like the ‘Goblin Chieftain,’ ‘Goblin Mage,’ or ‘Blue-Mane Gnoll’ were classified as A-Rank.
In other words, in the Lower-Dimensional Plane, they were considered high-rank monsters that could only be hunted by teams.
But their treatment in the Upper-Dimensional Plane was different.
The green skin and distorted face of the Orc race.
The long ears of the Elf race.
The short stature of the Dwarf race.
A lowly crossbreed created by patching together the flaws of three Upper-Dimensional Plane Magical Beast races.
That was the ‘Goblin.’
And the mongrel Magical Beast that discarded the overwhelming physique and combat instincts of the Beastmen race in favor of crude intelligence was the Gnoll.
The very fact that they were forcibly transferred to the Lower-Dimensional Plane when the dimensional Rift occurred was proof that their nature was more suited to the Lower-Dimensional Plane.
There was no need to further explain how inferior the monsters that came down to the Lower-Dimensional Plane were.
- I heard there aren’t many top 20 Hunters left in any country…
- Where on earth did they disappear to?
- No idea… Well, it’s none of my business.
…The ongoing case of the disappearing High-Rank Hunters was happening in the exact opposite context.
Humans who had adapted to the mana that flowed down from the Upper-Dimensional Plane after the first Rift, whose very nature had become more suited to the Upper-Dimensional Plane than here, were moving to the Upper-Dimensional Plane.
That was the full story behind the High-Rank Hunter Disappearance Case happening around this time.
…However, there was one difference: the
But the context and pattern were nearly identical.
Anyway, in that context.
“The time I underwent the Stairway Transcendence… I was at the end of B-Rank, I think.”
I, too, would be ascending soon.
“…It was at midnight. Just four hours left.”
To the Upper-Dimensional Plane, where the War against Demons was raging.
* * *
The Stairway Transcendence wasn’t particularly bound by location or other factors.
As long as the target was confirmed, the body would automatically move, no matter where it was.
…In other words, whether the person was in the bathroom, eating a meal, or doing whatever else.
They would be transported in that exact state.
‘…I think I was holding a pig’s trotter when I got transported.’
Heh-
Before my Regression, I remembered feeling wronged because I had been transported in my underwear, just as I’d ordered a large platter of pig’s trotters and lifted one of the pieces.
Compared to that state, my current situation was not just good, it was luxurious.
Even if I didn’t have anything else special, I could at least take my basic hunting gear and attire.
This was enough.
The Gateway Zone wasn’t a place you could pass through just by having good weapons, and once you fully entered the Upper-Dimensional Plane, gear from the Lower-Dimensional Plane became meaningless.
Stubbornly packing other luggage would more likely just slow me down.
[11:59]
The clock indicated the imminent hour.
“I’m not leaving anything behind, am I?”
I did a quick check to see if I had forgotten anything, and for a moment, I retraced my memories of the ‘Gateway Zone.’
With a familiar notification sound, a translucent window appeared before my eyes.
[System is activating.]
[Confirming list… Seo U-jin. Registration complete.]
[You have been selected as a Plane Transcendent.]
[Entering the ‘Rift of Dimensions’.]
“……”
Simultaneously, my vision blurred and flickered into a hazy black and white.
* * *
After a brief moment of daze, I opened my eyes to a pure white space.
An awkward space where only a dazzling white existed, its width and height unknowable.
In my past life, I had been quite flustered by this strange background that appeared so suddenly… but I wasn’t particularly flustered now.
It was only natural, as this wasn’t my first time.
“…To think I’d come here again.”
Instead of bewilderment, the emotion I felt was quite complex.
The joy of meeting my friends again.
A strange loneliness from the memories that only I now possessed.
A bit of curiosity.
Tension, excitement, desperation, dread.
And… hopelessness.
Various emotions washed over me, one after another.
“……”
Fumble, fumble-
With the instinctive thought that I had to push away this strange mix of feelings, I reached into my pocket, took out a cigarette I had prepared, and placed it in my mouth.
Click- Hooo-
And before any more regret could surface, I expelled the emotions along with the white cigarette smoke.
As I drenched my overwhelming heart with smoke, the turmoil of emotions subsided along with a familiar daze.
“…A post-Regression high is a first, though.”
…Still, I couldn’t help the lingering bitterness I felt towards this damn fate.
But I had been prepared for that much.
“I have to do it… somehow.”
After pushing away all those emotions, the stark sense of responsibility that remained within me began to choke me, but it couldn’t be helped.
I had to bear it, endure it, and somehow succeed.
After all, if I couldn’t do these things, no one could.
“I have to do it… have to…”
It was then.
As I steeled my resolve over and over, a halo of light suddenly formed before me.
The shimmering, multicolored halo of light soon formed a single human figure.
The figure, with long black hair and dressed in pure white clothes, appeared and spoke to me in a clear voice.
[Plane Transcendent Seo U-jin. You have been chosen as a Hero to be active in the Upper-Dimensional Plane’s War against Demons…….]
And that figure’s voice was.
“……”
An exceedingly familiar and missed.
“It’s been a while.”
The voice of my first companion.