“Even if time were to turn back again, I'd still choose you as the regressor, Hyun-Sung,” I unknowingly said. Of course, the moment I said it, I flinched. It wasn’t something First Life Ki-Young would say. In fact, it had come out in the voice of Second Life Ki-Young.

‘Damn it.'

“...”

‘Damn it.’

There had been times when my inner thoughts almost slipped out, but this was the first time they actually slipped out. I froze, and if I hadn’t been wearing the mask, my expression would have given me away.

No, if I hadn’t been wearing the mask in the first place, he would have already realized that I was Second Life Ki-Young, so that assumption was meaningless, but still, the fact that those words came out of my mouth so suddenly was unsettling.

‘This is all because this bastard suddenly started calling me "hyung" and all that.’

The change in how he addressed me had to have played a part in this mistake. It did not seem like a big deal, but whether Kim Hyun-Sung intended it or not, I couldn’t deny that it made us feel a bit closer.

I was certain that if he kept calling me things like “you” or “idiot,” I wouldn’t have let my guard down. Moreover, wasn't the air between us somewhat lighter than before?

Before he brought up the bread hyung and the twenty-two-year-old Kim Hyun-Sung, there had clearly been an indescribable tension hanging in the air. But now? Rather than tension, it felt like we were setting aside our past emotions to talk normally.

The air between First Life Ki-Young and Kim Hyun-Sung, who had gone through so much in the first life, had become something like that.

Of course, I wasn’t actually First Life Ki-Young, but as someone acting in his place, I thought I had been maintaining a certain line.

‘Or maybe I’m not really keeping that line...’

I could be leaning slightly toward Kim Hyun-Sung’s side. Of course, whether that bastard First Life Ki-Young would pull out an axe and charge at him or not was like Schrödinger’s Ki-Young, but it was true that his anger had already died.

Then again, after actually talking to Kim Hyun-Sung, there was always the possibility that those dying embers could come back to life. Still, that one word, "hyung," had a high chance of acting as a shield to prevent that kind of sudden outburst.

‘Is this guy actually a genius?’

Instead of letting all the conflict explode and then talking, he brought things back to the very beginning, to when they first met, to a time when there was still faint goodwill and trust between them. 𝑓𝘳𝑒𝑒𝓌𝘦𝘣𝘯ℴ𝑣𝘦𝑙.𝘤𝑜𝑚

I felt like even First Life Ki-Young could get swept up in his pace, but I had no intention of dragging him away from the happy time he was spending with that pig.

It would be taking away his time, and it could easily end up stirring up a hornet’s nest for no reason. No matter how I looked at it, my choice was the right one. The problem was that a single mistake right now could render that choice meaningless.

“...”

‘He hasn’t noticed it, has he? He hasn’t figured it out.’

I had like a million thoughts at once, but in reality, only a moment had passed.

If I were to speak again right now, it wouldn’t seem unnatural.

“As ironic as it is, the title of hero doesn’t suit people who never waver,” I said.

‘He didn’t notice, right? Tell me he didn’t notice.’

“You were someone who never stayed down. No, even if you did fall, you were the kind of person who would always get back up eventually. Kim Hyun-Sung of Lindel, Count of the Empire, the hero of the continent, there are many titles that describe you, but among them, I think the word 'hero' represents you best,” I said.

“...”

“Your life has been a struggle, Hyun-Sung. It sounds ridiculous coming from me, but I probably like people like you. If Altanus still existed here, and if she decided to help me... I'd still choose you as the regressor,” I continued.

“...”

“Yeah, I suppose I did want to give you another chance as well. Of course, more important than that was my certainty that you won't repeat the same mistakes...” I added.

‘He didn’t notice.’

I had been worried that I delivered the line about choosing him as the regressor too warmly, but it seemed he was fully focused on carrying this conversation forward and speaking with First Life Ki-Young.

Once I confirmed that there wasn’t even the slightest hint of suspicion in him, I nodded again.

Then again, how could he possibly imagine that I had switched places with First Life Ki-Young and appeared here in his stead? Just moments ago, that very First Life Ki-Young had been crying in Mikael’s arms.

‘All the better.’

“Of course, that’s not the only reason. There were probably too many reasons to list here and now, but in truth, those reasons aren’t what matters. What matters is that I was right. The fact that you’re standing here before me right now is enough proof,” I said.

“...”

“You said that if you were placed in harsh circumstances again, you might repeat the same mistakes, but I can say with certainty that you won't make the same choices. You’ve already made those mistakes once. You know how much they hurt you and how much they made you suffer,” I continued.

“...”

“Yeah, if you had never made mistakes... if you were truly a flawless person, I wouldn't have chosen you as a regressor. It doesn't seem like much, but that was probably the most important factor in my decision. So, how was it?” I asked.

“...”

“When you first regressed, I mean. What were you thinking?” I clarified.

“I’m not sure,” Kim Hyun-Sung answered.

“What?”

“There were too many thoughts to sum up in just a few words. At first, I remember it being unbearably difficult. I was simply confused, and I think I was too busy trying to accept my situation. And after I realized that I had regressed, I probably...” he said, trailing off.

“Probably?”

“I think I wanted to fix everything,” he continued.

“What do you mean?” I asked.

“Everything I had done. In the tutorial, the Blue Guild, Rahel, Lindel, the Empire, and all the big and small things that happened while I lived on this continent. I wanted to fix everything. I wanted to fix even things I hadn't done myself.

"I think I wanted to make sure nothing like that would ever happen again. To be honest, I didn’t even have the room to think about some grand goal like saving the continent,” he explained.

“...”

“...”

‘I see.’

It seemed a little trivial to call it the mindset of a hero, but I could say with certainty that for First Life Ki-Young, this was the most important factor. If people like me, Commander Jin, or Ji-Hye noona were given a second chance—no, we would never even entertain that possibility.

It was not the most fitting example, but hadn't Ji-Hye noona said it herself? She said that right after she fell into this new world, she laughed for a long time. She said it felt like she was given another chance to rise even higher, and while others were crying, she stood behind them laughing.

Of course, applying her story directly could be a stretch, but it probably wouldn’t be much different for others.

There could be people who, like Kim Hyun-Sung, wanted to fix their past mistakes and vow not to repeat the same things again, but it would be hard to find anyone who would focus on that completely.

Some would seek personal glory, some their own safety, some love, some someone precious, and others would simply desire great power and authority.

‘He really isn’t very clever about this.’

When given another chance to take a test, instead of focusing on the results or what he could gain, he focused entirely on the wrong answers. Even if he got other questions wrong, he resolved never to get the same question wrong again.

It was a bit foolish, and at the same time, he acted almost like a model student, but that was probably exactly the kind of person First Life Ki-Young wanted to become the regressor. He wanted someone who would never miss the same question twice.

‘Though for that, he sure repeats the same mistakes a lot. Especially with me. That damn bag is the perfect example.’

“I thought it wouldn’t be difficult since I knew the future, but honestly, it wasn’t easy. Even building a survivor camp in the tutorial was a struggle. I knew from the first life that I wasn’t good at dealing with people, but despite knowing the future, I still ended up making so many foolish mistakes.

"What I could do was limited, and you probably can’t even imagine how much I doubted my own abilities,” Kim Hyun-Sung explained.

“...”

“To be honest, I wanted to run away. It felt like too heavy of a burden for me. It was absurd. I lived through the first life for a long time, and I thought my mind had matured more than others, but I hadn’t matured at all.

"It wasn’t that I didn’t have the time or the chance to mature. It was all because I was never the kind of person who could mature in the first place,” he said.

“...”

“There were many times along the way when I almost gave up. No, there were times when I actually gave up. I thought all of this was meaningless, as even though I wasn’t repeating the same mistakes, I was still making different mistakes over and over again.

"In the end, the mistakes weren't the problem. It was me; I was the problem,” he said.

‘At least he’s self-aware.’

“You said I’m someone who doesn’t stay down and someone who eventually gets back up, but that’s not true. I’m not someone who gets back up, and I’m even less of a hero. In the first life, my hatred toward you and my guilt over those who died were the reasons I was able to stand back up.

"In the second life, the reason I was able to stand up again was entirely because of Mr. Ki-Young. He lifted me up, not the other way around. I never got up on my own,” he said.

“...”

He looked straight at me and said, “If it weren’t for Mr. Ki-Young, I'd stay down and give up on everything.”

“If it weren’t for Mr. Ki-Young, I wouldn’t grow until the very end. I'd become someone who couldn’t take responsibility for anything. Of course... even now, I don’t think I grew, but what do you think? Have I become a better person than I was in the first life?

"What do you, who witnessed everything in the first life, think of me?” he asked.

‘I don’t know either, damn it.’

Perhaps First Life Ki-Young would say that he hadn’t changed at all. He would probably call him an idiot and criticize him for being shameless, but I couldn’t bring myself to criticize Kim Hyun-Sung.

I could curse at him, but I couldn’t condemn him. After all, people tend to side with their own. It was absurd, but I even felt sympathy for him. Pure sympathy for the person named Kim Hyun-Sung, for everything he had gone through, for his anguish and guilt.

If First Life Ki-Young could look inside my head, he'd want to smash me with an axe, but there was nothing I could do about it. This was how I felt. Little by little, the thought that I was beginning to understand him filled my mind.

I had no idea if he instinctively realized I was Second Life Ki-Young, but it felt as if he was telling me his thoughts and worries directly. Of course, I already understood Kim Hyun-Sung completely.

I had a general idea of what he had been thinking and what kind of thoughts he had been living with. To put it bluntly, this guy was in the palm of my hand.

There was nothing new about what he was saying. From the moment he regressed until now, he hadn't said anything unknown to me.

However, people change, and even if it was something I already knew, both the one speaking and the one listening could interpret it in a different way. As I said earlier, perhaps I had simply been refusing to accept it until now.

It was something I already knew, and it had been piling up in my inbox, so I thought that there was no need to open it at all. After all, we had been communicating without actually talking to each other, so there was no point in opening those messages.

Kim Hyun-Sung thought that I had been replying to him, but in truth, he had probably just been waiting for me to read the letters piling up in my inbox.

Perhaps he had already assumed that I would never read them, not even in a lifetime, which was why he said all that to me, who was borrowing First Life Ki-Young's appearance.

I thought Kim Hyun-Sung was the one who wasn’t communicating. It turned out that I was no different from him. From the very beginning, I believed that there was no need for communication at all.

Right now and at this very moment, I was finally opening that inbox.

I found myself looking at Kim Hyun-Sung’s face and saw that one of his eyes was shining again.

I believed that one of my eyes was probably shining as well.