“Siwoo.”
“I won’t make things difficult for Hyung with things like this again.”
“Siwoo, wait a moment.”
Raon tried to catch Siwoo belatedly.
But Siwoo moved too quickly for Raon to grab.
Raon, who was about to chase him and enter the room, stopped dead in his tracks.
To reject Siwoo’s confession and unilaterally dismiss his feelings, yet still try to catch him—even he thought it was too shameless.
“Whew…”
Raon turned his steps and went out onto the terrace.
Although it was summer, a lukewarm breeze blew as night fell. It cooled Raon’s head a little.
“Damn it.”
No matter how flustered he was, should he have said it that way?
Raon, who regretted it belatedly, wanted to bite his tongue.
But still, the answer of how he should have spoken in that situation didn’t come to him.
Because Siwoo’s mention of Imprinting was something he had to refuse anyway.
‘Still, I shouldn’t have said he was young and confused.’
Raon bit his lip and paced the terrace alone.
“If only the System issue had been resolved…”
Raon glared at the air with bloodshot eyes.
If he only had the certainty that the System wouldn’t return, he might not have rejected Siwoo’s Imprinting proposal in such a way.
“…No, I was just being stupid.”
He could have said that Imprinting was a serious matter and they should think about it more, but he was flustered and spoke too harshly.
This wasn’t something to blame on others.
Raon grabbed his hair tightly, lost in self-reproach for a while.
Then, suddenly, something flashed before his eyes.
[Congratulations! You have cleared the Tutorial! (/\^▽\^)/]
“…What?”
Raon, who had been blinking foolishly at the sudden System window, instantly crumpled his face in a burst of emotion.
“It’s not a joke, but now…!”
The System window, which hadn’t appeared no matter how much Raon called for it, now popped up right after he fought with Siwoo, as if mocking him.
Raon couldn’t look kindly upon it and glared at the pale blue System window as if to kill it.
“What do you mean ‘Tutorial’? Do you think this is some kind of game?”
Perhaps because he was angry, no kind words came out.
Raon frowned and pressed the System window with his hand.
Yet, the System window seemed completely unaffected, its screen not distorting at all.
[As a reward for clearing the Tutorial, a special perk will be granted (,,>\^∇<\,,)]
“What? A special perk?”
Raon reacted sensitively to the word ‘reward.’ Because nothing good had ever come from the System giving him a reward.
He didn’t need money anyway, as he already had plenty, and the reward he received after dying was merely a regression, forcing him to repeat this dreadful life again.
Of course, this life had changed a lot from the original due to the System’s absence, but Raon still felt repulsion just at the System’s appearance.
[Reward: Will of the Star (S)]
“Will of the Star?”
Raon tilted his head.
What was this? Was it an item?
The System had previously provided auxiliary items to help Raon perform the role of the real Han Raon well, so he thought this was another one of those.
He just thought it was an item with a slightly unusual name.
Typically, an ‘S’ attached meant it was a rare item, and he was a little curious about its purpose.
However, there was a high probability that it was an item meant to bring him back to the original storyline.
Therefore, Raon tried hard not to let go of his tension from the moment the System appeared.
“Ugh!”
The moment he thought that, everything before his eyes turned white.
Raon raised his arm to cover his eyes.
“This is…”
When he opened his eyes, the surroundings had all turned white.
Raon was floating in the air, confused.
Did the System do this?
He wanted to find out where he was, but it was impossible.
There was nothing around Raon.
“Ugh.”
But then, a memory flowed into Raon’s head.
Raon gripped his throbbing head with his hands.
“This is…”
It was a memory. Literally, the memory of the Star.
It was the memory of the past that this Earth he lived on was holding onto.
Raon naturally turned his head.
And there, something glittered.
A green light flickered and gradually grew larger.
Gates were created to invade a different dimension from a world other than Earth.
They were literally used as passageways.
The first Gates opened on Earth were simply connected to only a tiny part of another dimension.
Even those who created the Gates couldn’t control them and connect to the desired location.
Then, the difficulty of the places the Gates connected to gradually increased, and soon, the places where the creators of the Gates resided also began to open.
And one by one, the invaders began to cross over to Earth using the Gates.
“…!”
Surprisingly, some of them were the leading figures of Apophis.
They weren’t just a simple criminal organization, but invaders who had infiltrated Earth through the Gates.
Raon gritted his teeth.
The invaders formed their own power and manipulated each country, waiting for the right time.
The time when the worst region would connect to a Gate.
That was the perfect moment for a total attack.
‘That must have been the Black Gate…’
Raon clenched his fist.
As soon as the Black Gate opened, the invaders revealed their true colors and began causing chaos even outside the Gate.
This was the ending part of the novel that Raon hadn’t finished reading.
‘Wait, was that really a novel?’
Raon covered his throbbing head with his palms.
His head began to hurt more and more.
A scene flashed before his eyes. It was when he entered the Dark Blue Gate.
The real Han Raon, who had approached Hamin from behind, was glaring at him with venomous eyes.
It was a situation where just a small push would expose Hamin to the monster, putting him in danger.
Even then, Raon had acted as if possessed by something.
Believing his mother was still held captive by Hanmyunghoon, he merely obeyed his words.
At that time, he just thought that everything would be better if Hamin disappeared.
‘Wait, why was I thinking like the real Han Raon…’
Raon, confused, shook his head.
Then the scene changed.
“Cough…”
“…”
Raon, who had tried to kill Hamin but was instead attacked by the monster, was lying down in a disgraceful state.
Raon looked down at that figure quietly.
‘After dying like that, I…’
The scene changed again.
Raon was born again and living in a new world.
The life of ‘Min Raon.’
‘A parallel world?’
He somehow naturally knew where that place was.
The world he was currently transmigrated into was the world that had been targeted by the invaders, where he had lived as ‘Han Raon’ in the past.
And the world he was reborn into after death was a parallel world where Gates did not exist.
‘But why did I return to Han Raon’s body… Ugh!’
But the real question remained unanswered. Before Raon could question it, a strong wind blew.
Raon was pushed back by it.
[The video received as a reward has ended!]
“…!”
Raon was back on the terrace.
For a while, Raon couldn’t regain his senses and only blinked his eyes.
“What the…”
Raon pressed his throbbing head again with his hand.
He wondered if what he saw was really true.
The idea that Gates were passageways created by an outside world was something others in this world had also guessed.
But the fact that invaders had already come through the Gates and were present everywhere.
Moreover, he hadn’t just transmigrated; he had returned to his body from his previous life.
Raon quickly raised his head and glared at the System, asking.
“Why did you bring me back? Huh?”
[…….]
But the System didn’t answer the questions Raon was truly curious about.
Raon just looked at the pale blue floating System window and gritted his teeth.
‘In any case, the System is back, so I have to be careful.’
As always, the System would cause a fuss if he didn’t act like his past self.
Just thinking about it already gave him a headache.
“Whew.”
Raon slowly exhaled. Too much information rushed in at once, and his head hurt.
It seemed he would have to think about the System more later.
‘…It’s a relief I rejected Siwoo’s confession.’
Then, that thought came to him belatedly.
If he had made even the slightest mistake and Siwoo had confessed after the System returned, he would have had to reject him with even more cruel words.
It was an immense relief that it hadn’t come to that.
Raon pressed his racing heart with his hand and let out a long sigh.
The next day, Raon awkwardly went to work at the Center with Siwoo.
Since the confession yesterday, Siwoo had been acting as if nothing happened.
Everything was the same, except for a subtle coldness in his attitude and tone compared to before.
“Then I’ll go supervise the Espers’ training.”
“Uh-huh, okay.”
The one who was more awkward than Siwoo was actually Raon.
Raon even felt self-conscious when saying goodbye and turned away.
‘Come to think of it, the System is too quiet?’
After parting with Siwoo, Raon tilted his head.
The System window, which should have by now displayed a red ‘Warning!’ and pointed out his words and actions, was silent.
Was it too difficult for the System to fix things since he had changed so much already?
Or…
“Team Leader, you’re here?”
“Ah.”
“Good morning!”
Juwon and Taehyuk greeted Raon warmly.
Raon looked at them and slowly nodded.
“Good morning.”
Again, the System was silent.
Raon realized his guess was correct.
‘The System no longer interferes with my actions.’
