Chapter 1
To Regress.
The wind cuts to the bone.
“Dammit….”
Kim Jun was falling. A plunge that began from the 100th floor—a hopeless spiral with no end in sight.
“Is this it….”
The summit of the Tower, the limit of human reach. What awaited him there was nothing but despair.
‘The Almighty?’
The being called the Destroyer of Worlds. Everything ended with a single gesture.
The strongest Hunter? An EX-rank existence?
‘How laughable.’
Kim Jun smiled bitterly. He finally realized how hollow the title of ‘Humanity’s Strongest’ truly was.
Before the ability called ‘Almighty,’ he was nothing but an insect.
Decades of honed skill, the experience gained from countless battles, the power obtained through his comrades’ sacrifices—everything crumbled in an instant.
Rumble—
The Tower was collapsing.
Kim Jun fell helplessly.
“Cough!”
Coughing up blood, even as he tumbled, Kim Jun looked into the void. Amidst the chaos where sky and earth swapped places, he prayed desperately.
“Just once. If I had just one more chance….”
As he plummeted towards the destroyed ground below, he wished and wished again.
If given just one more chance, he could prevent Earth’s downfall. He could do it.
And so, in his final moments, denying it with his rationality yet clinging to it from the depths of his heart, he begged that something—be it god, fate, or a miracle—for help. For the first time in his life, the man who had believed only in his own strength knelt before a greater existence.
“Can you not hear my voice? Can you not hear the people’s screams?”
The debris of the collapsing Tower was falling to the ground with him. He could see countless people being crushed and dying under those massive fragments.
“Mom, mommy!”
“It’s okay, it’s okay….”
A child, holding their entire world in their arms, and a mother, covering the child’s ears as she trembled.
“Ah, ah… I’m dying….”
People resigned to their fate as massive meteor fragments fell.
“Hoo~.”
Others simply smoking, waiting for the end.
‘It’s all my responsibility. I failed to save everyone.’
Kim Jun screamed.
But there was no one to listen.
Only the wind clawed at his body as it passed, and the ground grew steadily closer.
‘Is this how it ends?’
Kim Jun closed his eyes. There was nothing more he could do. Regret, anger, despair—none of it mattered anymore.
It was simply the end.
But at that moment—
『—–. — — —-.』
A sound heard, yet unheard.
Snap!
“Jun-i Hyung! Snap out of it!”
“Guild Master? What’s wrong?”
Someone was shaking his shoulder.
Kim Jun slowly opened his eyes.
The damp cave floor. Cold air. And faces looking down at him with concern.
“Ha, hyung, you almost gave me a heart attack! Why did you collapse all of a sudden!”
Park Min-soo. The Tank. The sturdy shield who never lost his smile. The comrade who died shielding him on the 70th floor.
“Are you okay?”
Han Soo-in. The Assassin. Nimble and quiet, but with a warm heart. The comrade found with his throat slit after an ambush by villains on the 32nd floor.
“Oppa?”
Ryu Ji-ah. The Mage. The cute youngest member who followed him. The comrade who sacrificed herself to create an escape route on the 80th floor’s dragon plain.
“Did the Guild Master hit his head or something!”
Lee Seo-yeon. The Healer. The gentle, caring mother figure of the team. The comrade who was annihilated protecting him on the 95th floor.
Kim Jun placed his trembling hand on the ground. The cold, damp sensation. The distinct smell of mold in the cave. And the sound of dripping water from far away.
‘Is this… the Red Gate?’
It was real. He had returned.
And to a time before everything began.
“Hyung, want some water? You collapsed right after drinking from that spring earlier.”
Park Min-soo handed him a canteen.
‘The spring?’
The spring. Yes, the spring.
Kim Jun turned to look behind him. A giant statue was carved into the cave wall.
A statue of a woman with a benevolent expression. Transparent liquid dripped drop by drop from her eyes, forming a small puddle on the floor.
The memory from before his regression was vivid—the curiosity that led him to drink that water and the brief loss of consciousness that followed.
“No, why did you drink that? Drinking an unidentified liquid inside a Gate.”
Park Min-soo sighed.
“Really, that was too reckless. Unlike you, Guild Master.”
Lee Seo-yeon also wore a worried expression.
Kim Joon slowly stood up. His legs felt weak, but something more important occupied his mind.
“What’s the date today?”
“April 15th! Hyung, are you sure you’re okay?”
April 15th.
Three days until the Tower appeared in his previous life.
The moment they cleared this Red Gate and exited, they had witnessed the gigantic Tower erupting from the ground.
“This time will be different. This time.”
He didn’t know why he had regressed, but one thing was clear: this time, he could change everything.
Kim Jun summoned his status window.
[Name]: Kim Jun
[Grade]: S
[Stats]:
Strength: 60
Agility: 42
Intelligence: 28
Health: 9430/10000
Mana: 20
Just before regression, he had been EX-rank. Humanity’s strongest Hunter had returned to being S-rank.
But it didn’t matter. His experience, knowledge, and memories of the future remained intact.
“Seems like we’ll have to do this without this hyung? We’re enough on our own anyway.”
Kim Jun looked at him. The younger brother who had followed him to the very end after the Tower appeared.
The man who died saving him on the 70th floor.
“Min-soo.”
“Yeah?”
“Thank you.”
“Wha, what? You’re really in trouble now!”
Park Min-soo was flustered. These were words the usually taciturn Kim Jun would never say.
Kim Jun looked at Han Soo-in, Lee Seo-yeon, and the remaining comrades one by one. They were all people who had sacrificed themselves for him.
‘This time is different. This time, I will protect you. All of you.’
Making this vow in his heart, Kim Jun walked deeper into the cave.
“Where are you going?”
“To kill the boss.”
“The boss? We haven’t even properly explored yet? It’s way more vast than we thought.”
“It’s fine. I know the way.”
The deepest part of the cave, a massive space.
There, the boss monster of the Red Gate, the ‘Guardian of the Ruins,’ would be waiting.
An S-rank boss monster. In his previous life, they had struggled against it because they arrived after fighting all the monsters along the way, but Kim Jun knew a hidden route.
It had taken a full two days just to explore this ‘Lost Ruins’ Red Gate back then, and he had even made a map in anticipation of similar Gates appearing in the future.
One hour of taking the shortest path, avoiding traps and monsters.
“This way.”
Kim Jun pointed to a small crevice in the cave wall. It looked like an ordinary crack.
“Hyung, can we fit through there?”
“Trust me and follow.”
“No, I mean, can my body even fit through there…?”
“Ah.”
Park Min-soo looked down at his own burly physique. Nearly 2 meters tall with a muscular build. It wasn’t uncommon for him to get stuck in doorframes.
“…It gets wider inside.”
“Ugh!”
Squeezing through the narrow crack, a wide passageway surprisingly appeared. Ancient characters were engraved on the walls, and the floor was spotless, without a speck of dust.
“Wow, it really is the boss room!”
In just 1 hour and 10 minutes, they had reached the boss room. A giant circular space, in the center of which knelt a giant clad in golden armor.
And lining the walls on both sides were dozens of stone soldier statues, standing in a row, swords in hand, heads bowed as if dead.
“Grrrrr….”
The Guardian raised its head. Only empty darkness was visible through the helmet’s visor.
“Who… who dares invade the ruins?”
A low, eerie moan echoed. As the Guardian slowly began to rise, the sound of cracking stone came from various points on the walls.
Crick—
“Hyung! Look out!”
The figures that appeared to be statues poured forth all at once.
Kim Jun and his comrades immediately fell into formation.
“Kuuooo! Over here! Here!”
The Tank, Park Min-soo, let out a booming roar, drawing the monsters to one spot. He blocked their sword strikes with his massive shield, creating a perfect wall.
“「Inferno」!”
A pillar of fire erupted from Ryu Ji-ah’s fingertips. A mage’s signature wide-area attack swept through the stone soldiers at once.
Slash—
Sssssss—!
“…”
The monsters that survived the area attack fell to the ground, daggers embedded in their backs.
“Guild Master!”
Lee Seo-yeon stretched her hand toward Kim Jun. A warm light enveloped him, applying both a protective shield and a movement speed buff simultaneously.
Swoosh—
Kim Jun drew his sword.
Step, step—
And he walked.
Staring at the boss ahead, he walked, greatsword in hand.
Whoosh—
The greatsword soon began to blaze with flame following Kim Jun’s hand.
“Come.”
“Insolent….”
The Guardian fully stood up, raising its giant axe.
An intimidating frame reaching 5 meters, ancient magic seeping through the gaps in its golden armor vibrated the air.
“Pay the price.”
BOOM—!
The axe struck the ground, and a massive shockwave spread outward. Kim Jun was already gone from the spot.
‘Just the same as before.’
Just as he remembered from his previous life. The Guardian’s patterns, attack timing, everything.
Swoooosh—!
The Guardian’s axe swung horizontally. Kim Jun dropped low, sliding under it while simultaneously raising his greatsword high.
The moment the axe blade whistled past overhead—
Crunch—!
The flaming greatsword dug into the gap in the Guardian’s left shoulder joint, beginning to incinerate its insides.
“Grrreee! How dare a mere human! Just you wait—,”
“Trying to enter phase 2? Sorry, but I won’t allow it. Die right here.”
In his previous life, this Guardian was a nightmare of an opponent that stubbornly revived across a total of 5 phases.
Just when you thought it was dead, it would rise again, plunging the raid team into despair.
That grueling battle had cost them several days of recovery time even after the Tower opened.
He had no intention of letting that happen this time.
His comrades, himself—they all needed to ascend the Tower as soon as possible.
“Ah, there were five phases, right?”
“Huh, how did you—?”
He wouldn’t give it an opening.
Thud—
Kim Jun pushed the greatsword deeper, focusing all his mana into the blade. It didn’t matter if his head spun or his body staggered.
‘I’m ending this in one go. Before it transitions.’
“Im, impossible! Who are you! How do you know all my—,”
The Guardian shrieked in a voice filled with terror. But Kim Jun didn’t give it time to finish.
“「Explode.」”
Whoosh—
Whoosh—
KABOOOOOOOM—!
Ding!
[Guardian of the Ruins Defeated.]
[Hidden Clear Achieved.]
[Additional Rewards Granted.]
.
.
.
[‘Key of the Ruins’ Acquired.]
.
.
.
[Exit Generating.]
“It’s cleared! They cleared it!”
“Red Gate clear! Get the breaking news out!”
It was chaos outside the Red Gate.
Reporters thrust cameras forward, soldiers shouted into their radios. Spectators buzzed with disbelief.
The Red Gate that no one had dared to touch.
It was confirmed to be at least an S-rank dungeon, so even the major guilds had turned a blind eye.
Yet a mere 5-member guild had cleared it.
‘Han,’ as always.
“Th-They’re out! Guild Master!”
“Hunter Kim Jun! What was it like inside?”
“You cleared a Red Gate in just 2 hours! How do you feel?”
Kim Jun and his comrades walked out amidst the barrage of questions.
Han.
Korea’s 5th ranked guild. Just 5 members. But an elite group, all S-rank.
“Why do you think other major guilds didn’t participate?”
A reporter asked pointedly.
“Gates are opening nationwide. Besides, the Red Gate is dangerous. They must have had their reasons,” Kim Jun replied calmly.
“But ‘Han’ guild has always taken on these dangerous Gates, haven’t you?”
“Haha…”
It was true.
Sudden Gate appearances, Gates that turned into disasters, Red Gates no one wanted to touch—’Han’ always took responsibility for them, even when the Hunter Association offered extra bonuses.
“Will you be donating half of today’s earnings again?”
“Yes. We believe it’s because of them that we are who we are today.”
‘Han’ never hesitated to support the Hunter pioneers—those who fought against unknown entities before any information or systems were established.
The first-generation Hunters who risked their lives at the forefront during an era with no framework or intel.
The current safe Hunter system was built upon their sacrifices.
That’s why reporters praised ‘Han’ even more and poured out articles criticizing other guilds. After all, that side got more clicks.
The benevolent minority guild vs. the selfish major guilds. A cliché narrative, but the public loved it.
“Okay, okay, direct your questions to Park Min-soo here! Hahaha!”
As the reporters swarmed Park Min-soo, Kim Jun quietly slipped away.
“Three days.”
He unconsciously looked in the direction of Yeouido.
