CH 289

Cheon Sa-yeon thought ahead of time about what he could do with Han Yi-gyeol’s A-rank wind ability. However, all plans fell apart the moment he met Han Yi-gyeol.

Contrary to expectations, Han Yi-gyeol was overly sensitive, emotional, and had a pathological obsession.

Cheon Sa-yeon, who had recruited Han Yi-gyeol into the guild and tried to fight with him, changed him to the role of luring Ha Tae-heon to not attending the gate meeting or gathering information from the Praus Cult.

It was different from Cheon Sa-yeon’s thoughts, but as a result, it was quite profitable to bring Han Yi-gyeol alive.

Thanks to Han Yi-gyeol taking care of the little things, Woo Seo-hyuk was able to go on a business trip to Japan to seek the cooperation of another physical-transforming person.

Cheon Sa-yeon was able to bring his SS-grade gate without touching Roheon’s pride.

In the beginning, it was difficult to control because Han Yi-gyeol kept committing suicide, but after taking his sister as a hostage, the problem was resolved and things got better… it was then.

From a certain moment, Han Yi-gyeol suddenly began to be overly obsessed with Cheon Sa-yeon. Because of his obsession with Cheon Sa-yeon regardless of circumstances or places, Cheon Sa-yeon had a scandal with a man for the first time among countless times.

「Things are getting annoying.」

It was the price of taking advantage of Han Yi-gyeol’s bad mental state. Even if he tried to get him to receive counselling or treatment later, it was difficult because he was entangled in the work of the Praus Cult.

Should he throw away the card called Han Yi-gyeol or continue to use it? At the crossroads, Cheon Sa-yeon finally decided to take on Han Yi-gyeol. It was better for him to be harmed than for the people around him to die.

Around that time, Cheon Sa-yeon made a new request to Elohim, who had come to him in the dream.

「I want you to take over Ha Tae-heon.」

Elohim, who stood for a moment with a strange expression, tilted his head at the sight of Cheon Sa-yeon, who brought out the main topic without explanation.

「You are going to introduce us to a person named Ha Tae-heon. Why? If that happens, he will have to pay the price for us.」

「That will be decided by Ha Tae-heon.」

It was to get more help from Elohim and Elahah through Ha Tae-heon, and at the same time, to make it possible for Ha Tae-heon to enter the gate and find the coat.

「You’re already leaving Ha Tae-heon’s record, right?」

「…I get it.」

Elohim, who didn’t deny what Cheon Sa-yeon said, agreed.

I noticed that Ha Tae-heon’s record that Elohim and Elahah left behind was ‘Abyss’ I would read later. He started a new record of Ha Tae-heon, who had collided with cult members several times at the location closest to Cheon Sa-yeon.

‘If this is the time of the Abyss…’

Abyss was the time period just before I became Han Yi-gyeol.

That soon… It meant that Cheon Sa-yeon’s book, which I was currently reading, was coming to an end.

“……”

I slowly looked at Cheon Sa-yeon, who had become similar to the time period we would meet.

It was a strange feeling. When Cheon Sa-yeon was having a hard time, I wanted to see Cheon Sa-yeon in the future time zone, but when the book came to an end, I felt rather regretful.

Was this what it was like to see a person’s life? I thought I would feel refreshed after reading the book to the end, but it was rather bitter and stuffy inside.

「With this… gasp, is enough…」

「……」

「For a long time… remember me…」

As I saw in Han Yi-gyeol’s book before, Han Yi-gyeol intervened in the fight between Cheon Sa-yeon and Abel and died right there.

Han Yi-gyeol, whose upper body was cut deeply by Karen’s scythe, spat out obsessive words until the end and died.

「Haa…」

Cheon Sa-yeon looked down at the corpse for a moment, then grabbed his sword again and let out a long sigh.

Even after Han Yi-gyeol died, Cheon Sa-yeon’s story continued. Elohim, who listened to Cheon Sa-yeon’s request, informed Ha Tae-heon, who came to him, various information, and thanks to this, Ha Tae-heon learned more about the identity of the Praus Cult than any other time period.

Unlike before, Ha Tae-heon, who didn’t share any acquaintance with Cheon Sa-yeon, tracked down and fought the cult to protect the world in his own way. Cheon Sa-yeon didn’t pay attention to his guild after Han Yi-gyeol died, as he went to find out about the cult. He left the scandals and dirty rumours about Han Yi-gyeol alone.

After her contract expired, Min Ah-rin moved to Roheon without renewing her contract, unlike many times she had been through. Cheon Sa-yeon didn’t hold her.

From Cheon Sa-yeon, I felt like I had reached the limit. The world, which had been repeated countless times, was gradually falling apart in spite of countless efforts, and Cheon Sa-yeon was quietly going crazy.

He’d rather have a hard time screaming painfully at the SS-grade gate. At the time he at least knew his feelings properly. But the current Cheon Sa-yeon… wasn’t good. In many ways.

「I can’t go on like this.」

On the day of visiting Kim Woo-jin’s funeral, Cheon Sa-yeon met Elohim in his dream. He said to Elohim with a sad expression on his face.

「There aren’t many chances left.」

Kim Woo-jin, who was taken away by the Praus Cult, returned as a corpse. During Kim Woo-jin’s funeral, Elohim noticed the conflict that Cheon Sa-yeon had been constantly fighting.

「To save everyone… you could be greedy, kid.」

It meant giving up on Kim Woo-jin.

In a way, Elohim’s choice might be right. If we protect the world, we can save hundreds of millions of lives, not just Kim Woo-jin.

「Only once…」

Cheon Sa-yeon, who stood for a long time without answering and looked at the black soil that covered the ground, raised his gaze.

「I’ll do it one last time.」

「……」

「After that, no matter who dies, I won’t start over. I felt that the world was coming to an end. So… this is the last time.」

Elohim took a step back after calmly reading the many thoughts floating around in Cheon Sa-yeon’s head.

「I get it.」

Cheon Sa-yeon, who woke up from the dream, stayed alone in the representative office and looked down at the night view. The rain poured down and the light shone through the window covered with water droplets.

After staring blankly at it for about 30 minutes, Cheon Sa-yeon took out Lilith’s sword from his inventory. And without hesitation, he brought the blade to his neck.

Cheon Sa-yeon had returned a total of 289 times so far. And he just filled number 290.

Cheon Sa-yeon, who woke up again in the representative office in October, moved as before.

He met Han Yi-gyeol and prevented his suicide, lied that his sister was alive, and sent Cha Soo-yeon to a hotel, not a guild, to do the kidnapping.

After work, Cheon Sa-yeon, who moved to the hotel room, ordered Kim Woo-jin, who was waiting in the hallway.

「Bring Han Yi-gyeol.」

「Yes.」

Cheon Sa-yeon went straight into the bathroom. Not long after that, the door opened and Kim Woo-jin, who had a frown on his forehead, pushed Han Yi-gyeol in.

「…what’s wrong with your arm?」

Cheon Sa-yeon, who had just washed up and came from behind Han Yi-gyeol, who looked around the room, found the wound and asked. Han Yi-gyeol faced Cheon Sa-yeon with a look of surprise.

Everything that unfolded in front of me was very familiar. I knew what Cheon Sa-yeon would say after this.

「Pull your eyes down before I pluck them out.」

Because that was what I had been through.

「I asked you what  was with your arm.」

Han Yi-gyeol responded with no change in his expression.

「Nothing.」

「……」

Cheon Sa-yeon narrowed his brow.

Cheon Sa-yeon, who had grasped Han Yi-gyeol to some extent by repeating time, was quite bewildered to see Han Yi-gyeol acting unexpectedly.

On the contrary, I became so embarrassed to the point my face was burning.

‘…did I do that?’

Still, I thought I acted like Han Yi-gyeol, but I didn’t know it was that obvious. As expected, if you do something that people don’t do, you only have problems.

Cheon Sa-yeon, seeing Han Yi-gyeol’s abnormal behaviour, immediately became suspicious. To Cheon Sa-yeon, who had met various talented people while turning back time hundreds of times, Han Yi-gyeol, who changed overnight, was very suspicious.

「I heard that the ‘Empress of the Red Flames’ will clear the G7 Area and come out of the gate tomorrow afternoon.」

That was why he deliberately mentioned the nickname ‘The Empress of Red Flames’ rather than ‘Cha Soo-yeon’. It was to confirm Han Yi-gyeol’s reaction.

However, just like when Han Yi-gyeol was told to pull his eyes down, there was no reaction.

‘I was thinking hard to remember who the Empress of the Red Flames was at that time…’

In the end, I couldn’t remember and found it by looking at the news.

「If you understand, why don’t you leave?」

Han Yi-gyeol just nodded at Cheon Sa-yeon’s order and quickly left the room because he could catch me.

Very obvious (아주 대놓고 광고를 해라, pardon me I don’t understand). I sighed.

Cheon Sa-yeon, who was staring at Han Yi-gyeol’s back, who had left without looking back, inadvertently bit a cigarette in his mouth and then realized that it was a hotel and broke it in half.

「…what?」

Han Yi-gyeol, who was different from usual, kept lingering in his mind for some reason. Unable to understand himself, Cheon Sa-yeon made an unpleasant face.

After pondering for a while, Cheon Sa-yeon decided that he should watch Han Yi-gyeol more.

「This is my last chance.」

Even minor issues weren’t easily overlooked. So this time had to be perfect and he would make it perfect.

Finally, as Cheon Sa-yeon’s thoughts filled with determination were heard, the surroundings gradually turned black. The space disappeared and Cheon Sa-yeon’s thoughts were no longer heard.

I knew instinctively that the book was over. My body tumbled backwards and fell helplessly into the darkness where I couldn’t see an inch ahead.

In the sense of falling, Cheon Sa-yeon, who was gradually getting farther away, came into view. Just before everything fell into darkness, I saw Cheon Sa-yeon suddenly looking in the direction I was in.

“Cheon Sa-yeon.”

When our eyes met, I called him without knowing. Finally, everything was swallowed up in darkness.

My body was falling endlessly. At a certain moment, a splendid group of lights passed me by and a shock came so big that I screamed.

The light flashed several times. I couldn’t stand the excessively strong light and pain, and my mind was cut off.

And…

“Wake up.”

A calm and quiet voice was heard. My fingertips flinched and my eyes blinked slowly.

“Uh…”

A painful sound came out of the tingling sensation. A cough erupted from my dry throat.

When I finally came to my senses, I could see a golden glow around me. Cheon Sa-yeon’s book was placed on my chest with the paper facing down, open in half, and my body was floating in the air.

“It takes a while to recover because you used a lot of energy, so don’t move too fast.”

As I looked around, that voice spoke to me again. Belatedly, I bowed my head to check the opponent and I couldn’t hide my surprise.