Player who Returned 10,000 years Later

Side Story Chapter 116: Endless Eighth (2)

“Was the delivery delayed…?” asked Oh Kang-Woo with a frown.

Feelings of uneasiness and displeasure traveled down his back.

“Huh?” Echidna tilted her head as if Kang-Woo was talking nonsense. “The clothes were always scheduled to arrive tomorrow.”

“What do you—”

“More importantly, Kang-Woo! Guess what kind of clothes I ordered!! It’s something you would love a lot~!!!” Echidna shouted excitedly.

“...”

Kang-Woo remained silent. His mind was jumbled; he had no idea what was happening.

‘Did I have a dream or something?’

His first thought was the possibility of him having dreamed everything that happened “yesterday.” In other words, the wedding dresses and the engagement ceremony could have all been in his head.

“Hm! Come on, guess, Kang-Woo! They’re not just mine. They’re for me, Yeon-Joo, Seol-Ah, and Lilith!” Echidna shouted as she proudly placed her hands on her waist.

Her expression was the same as the one Kang-Woo had seen yesterday— no, in his dream.

“Wedding… dresses,” answered Kang-Woo in a low voice.

“Huh?” Echidna’s eyes widened. “H-Huh? How did you know, Kang-Woo? Did you take a peek at my tablet?”

“...”

Kang-Woo did not know how to answer. He wondered if Echidna would believe him if he said he saw it in his dream.

‘No, in the first place… was it a dream? Could everything that happened yesterday have been simply a dream? It was way too vivid for that to be the case.’

He remembered everything too clearly to brush it off as a dream. The wedding dresses Echidna ordered, his pinky promise with her, the reddened Cha Yeon-Joo at the mention of the engagement ceremony, Lilith acting calm but being the most excited, and the crying Han Seol-Ah…

‘There’s no way all of that was a dream. If that’s the case, what the hell is going on?’

“Hmph… I wanted to surprise you! It’s ruined now!”

Echidna pouted as she turned away. He paid her no mind and picked up his smartphone on the table beside the bed.

‘November 8th.’

That was the date written on the smartphone display. He was sure that it was November 9th before he went to bed.

“What the hell is going on?”

‘Was time rewound? How is that possible?’

Not even Kang-Woo, who possessed hundreds of Authorities, could rewind time. The only entity Kang-Woo knew who could rewind time was Nostrian, the Titan of Time.

“Kang-Woo…? What’s wrong? Are the wedding dresses… not to your liking?”

“Hm? N-No… It’s just that I’m still a little tired. Let’s talk a little later.”

“Hmm. Okay! I’ll come back in a bit!!”

Echidna looked at him in slight worry and then left the room.

“Eve.”

Riiing!

[Yes, Sir Guardian Deity!]

“What the hell happened?”

[Pardon? What do you mean?]

Eve sent a message window full of question marks as if she had no idea what Kang-Woo was talking about.

“...”

‘Not even Eve remembers. No, I can’t be sure of anything yet.’

Kang-Woo shook his head and stopped thinking. He couldn’t be sure of anything at this stage. It could even be possible that the events from yesterday could truly have been in his dreams.

‘One day.’

He needed to wait and see for one more day.

Clack.

“Kang-Woo… Can I come in now?”

“Yeah, come in.”

Kang-Woo spread his arms to greet Echidna as she opened the door again.

“Hm! Hm! You see, Kang-Woo! I’m thinking of us holding an engagement ceremony—”

Echidna mentioned the engagement ceremony just like last time and Kang-Woo also pinky promised again that he would marry her if her feelings didn’t change after becoming a mature dragon. Kang-Woo also brought up the engagement ceremony the same way he did last time and his three lovers also showed the same reactions.

He spent all night discussing the ceremony with the excited women and checked his smartphone.

‘November 9th, 5:37 AM.’

It was still pitch black outside because it was almost winter.

“Hngh… Are you not going to sleep, Kang-Woo?”

Seol-Ah slightly got up from the bed and embraced Kang-Woo. He slowly raised his hand and gently caressed her head.

“You can sleep, Darling. I won’t even get two hours of sleep if I go to bed now.”

“Hehe. That’s more than enough. Oh, I love it when you caress my head like that,” Seol-Ah mumbled drowsily.

A few more minutes of caressing and she fell back asleep.

‘It’s…’ Kang-Woo checked the time on his smartphone again. ‘5:57 AM.’

It was still November 9th.

“Was it… really just a dream?” Kang-Woo tilted his head and looked down at his smartphone. “Well, I might as well stay up today to make sure of it.”

He usually slept at least an hour or two to recover from mental fatigue but staying up for one day did not significantly affect him in any way. He was planning on waiting until the sun came up.

Kang-Woo saw sunlight through the partially open curtains after about two hours of sitting on the bed. The fresh morning air tickled his nose.

“Urgh, looks like it just became the 9th—”

Just then, Kang-Woo’s vision flickered black.

“Huh?” He lost all strength in his body and was suddenly struck with vertigo as he swayed. “Wha

He was slowly losing consciousness. He reflexively checked the time on the smartphone he had been holding.

‘8 AM sharp.’

“Shit…”

Kang-Woo lost consciousness the moment he checked the time.

***

Sunlight beamed between the partially closed curtains.

“Urpp!”

Kang-Woo covered his mouth the moment he sprung up from the bed. He felt nauseous as his vision blurred.

“What the…” He turned to look at the smartphone on the table next to the bed. “November… 8th.”

It was 8 AM; the day had been rewound by twenty-four hours.

Slam!

“HM! KANG-WOOOOOOOOOO!!! GET UP!!”

The room door violently swung open and Echidna entered. She charged toward the bed and jumped on Kang-Woo.

“Hm! Kang-Woo! Tomorrow!! They’ll finally be here tom—”

“The wedding dresses you ordered, right?”

“Huh?” Echidna’s eyes widened. “H-Huh? How did you know, Kang-Woo? Did you take a peek at my tablet?!”

She pulled on Kang-Woo’s clothes in confusion.

“...” Kang-Woo closed his eyes in silence.

‘It wasn’t a dream.’

There was no way such a vivid memory would replay twice.

“Shit…”

Kang-Woo frowned intensely and swept his hair back.

‘November 8th is repeating itself.’

To be more exact, the twenty-four hours between November 8th, 8:00 AM, and November 9th, 8:00 AM were in a loop.

“Echidna.”

“Hm? What is it, Kang-Woo?”

“Do you remember what happened yesterday?”

“Yesterday? You called Yeon-Joo, Si-Hun, and everyone over to awaken new Traits in them!” Echidna pouted and continued, “I wanted the thing you guys call Traits too… You have to give me one too next time, okay?”

“Okay…” Kang-Woo nodded with an awkward smile.

‘I knew it. They don’t remember.’

Neither did Seol-Ah, Yeon-Joo, or Lilith— no one else but himself knew the day was repeating.

‘Not even Eve.’

Since not even the AI of the Law of Titans was aware of the time loop, it was safe to say no one on Earth was aware of it.

“Hm! Kang-Woo! So, about the engagement cerem—”

“Oh, sorry. Could we talk about that later?”

“Hmm… Why?”

Kang-Woo had no time to think about the engagement ceremony. He consoled the dejected Echidna and fell into thought after sending her to her room.

‘How is this possible?’

Even Seol-Ah, when she was given the power of Nostrian, the Titan of Time, used all of her power to rewind time for the dead Balrog. Kang-Woo wondered if it were truly possible to rewind time by twenty-four hours for every human— no, every creature on Earth.

‘First, I have to find out who did such a thing.’

Kang-Woo got up from the bed.

“Eve.”

[Yes? What can I do for you, Sir Guardian Deity?]

“The day is repeating.”

[Pardon? What are you talking about?]

A message window full of question marks popped up. Kang-Woo explained to her what he had been going through as detailed as possible.

[The twenty-four hours between November 8th, 8:00 AM, and November 9th, 8:00 AM are… looped?]

“Yeah.”

[Only Nostrian could do such a… no, not even Nostrian can control time to such a massive degree.]

“I thought as much.”

It was exactly as he had thought.

[Moreover, Nostrian has no reason to rewind time on Earth.]

That was also true; Kang-Woo couldn’t think of any benefits to doing such a thing.

“Haaa,” Kang-Woo sighed deeply.

‘Am I gonna be repeating the same day over and over again?’

He would be in an endless loop of November 8th if he did not find what was causing it.

“Wait a second, that means…”

Kang-Woo’s eyes widened after realizing a crucial fact.

‘I can never get married?’

He could get married today if he wanted to, but that was meaningless.

‘Their memories would be reset the next day!!’

Kang-Woo stomped his foot. He gritted his teeth and his eyes filled with madness.

“How dare they…? DO THEY HAVE NO FUCKING SHAAAAAAAAAAAME?!!”

‘How could they get in the way of my first marriage in ten millennia?’

“Eve, let’s focus on finding who did this, whether it be Nostrian or whoever the fuck.”

[Yes, Sir Guardian Deity!!]

Kang-Woo opened the window and flew up to the sky above the city. He activated the Authority of the Beholder to search the area.

“Tsk.”

He didn’t find anything out of the ordinary anywhere throughout the city.

‘It must be related to the Titans.’

Kang-Woo couldn’t detect traces of Titans with the Authority of the Beholder.

‘It was never possible in the first place unless a Titan were involved.’

No, it was impossible even for Nostrian according to Eve.

“Then… who?”

‘Who could have created this endless eighth?’

“...”

Kang-Woo sat on top of the highrise building and blankly stared into space. He couldn’t think of anything no matter how hard he thought.

Ding!

[Where are you, Kang-Woo? Aren’t you having dinner with us?]

A message from Seol-Ah came.

[I have something I need to deal with. Eat without me, Darling.]

Kang-Woo went back to searching after replying to Seol-Ah. He even contacted Lilith and mobilized her informants, but nothing.

“Shit.”

It was November 9th, 7:58 AM. The sun rose and the fresh morning air tickled his nose. Kang-Woo, who had been searching all night, stopped in the middle of the bustling crowd. The street was filled with students walking to school and workers heading to their workplaces. Kang-Woo blankly stared at the fatigued people getting ready to start their day.

The clock struck 8 AM.

“Kurgh!”

Kang-Woo’s consciousness flickered black. His vision blurred and intense nausea hit him. He tried to stay conscious with all his might, but as if mocking his efforts…

[November 8th, 8:00 AM.]

Slam!

“HM! KANG-WOOOOOOOOOO!!! GET UP!!”

The morning of the eighth brightened.