Chapter 1
I closed and opened my eyes just once.
Certainly, after finishing a celebration party with my colleagues.
I returned home completely drunk and lay on a vast bed.
What was I celebrating?
It was a gathering to commemorate blocking the ‘great disaster’ that was predicted for humanity after the massive upheaval of 2010.
I am 56 years old.
A complete liberation was reached in 2052.
Known as the ‘Nine Lord’ with the leader at the forefront, I was a hero of humanity.
For me, who saved the world with my colleagues, not only wealth and glory but also a comfortable and prosperous life until the day I die was guaranteed.
Bravo my life!
I was supposed to just enjoy my remaining years peacefully and comfortably…
The world unfolding before my eyes right now is somehow strange.
‘Has my body gotten younger?’
The body I looked down at was incredibly foreign.
My hands, which were developing deep wrinkles, had completely lost their aged appearance and regained the firmness of youth.
Moreover, my left ring finger, which I had lost like a medal in the ‘Sindorim Battle’ when I was thirty-three in 2030, was perfectly intact. All ten fingers were there.
“…..”
I quietly looked around my surroundings.
Swish! Swish!
A technician wielding a rough butchering knife is seen dismembering monster corpses on site.
Although the surroundings are a cold space where no sunlight enters, the damp smell is unmistakably the scent of a cave.
“Oh… It’s cool.”
Furthermore, there’s a man crouched in the corner of the cave, smoking a cigarette and actively engaged in bowel movement.
‘This is a dungeon!’
Moreover, it’s definitely a cave-type dungeon and clearly the rear area.
That’s why they can comfortably perform physiological activities and butcher monsters. Otherwise, they couldn’t be so relaxed.
Just in case, I looked at my body.
Then I noticed cheap, water-resistant green rubber boots.
The clothes are a worn-out cotton t-shirt and training pants, apparently worn casually, anticipating they’ll get dirty anyway.
‘A porter?’
A combination of ordinary clothes called the ‘uniform’ of porters in the dungeon’s rear area, along with green water-resistant boots.
‘How on earth is this….’
I was definitely just drinking a high-end wine that costs over 100 million won per bottle.
This was absolutely not a place filled with such disgusting and musty air.
Right at that moment.
“Hey, Kang Shin-hwa. What are you daydreaming about?”
A rough hand strikes the back of my head and passes by.
When I turn around, I see a familiar face. Someone who had long passed away.
“Team Leader Kim? Team Leader Kim has passed away….”
“This kid, just because you’re new doesn’t mean you can say nonsense! Passed away? I’m alive and well, you punk!”
Whack!
“Ack!”
After a fierce slap, I touched my reddened forehead and stood up.
Is this a dream or a hallucination?
For now, it seems to be neither.
I am completely immune to mental manipulation abilities. Which means it’s definitely not a hallucination.
Yet it cannot be a dream because all senses are too clear and vivid.
Swoosh.
Habitually putting my hand in my work clothes pocket, I grasp a protruding communication device.
A smartphone!
The ‘foldable screen’ device that was released in South Korea in 2019 and gained explosive popularity.
Incomparable to the 2050-style hologram phone, but at the time, it was called cutting-edge civilization’s technology.
[January 25, 2020]
The date on the smartphone’s main screen was undoubtedly 2020. There’s no room for doubt.
‘XX…… This can’t be happening? I was about to enjoy wealth and glory after becoming middle-aged, but I’ve returned to the worthless past?’
Curse words burst out first.
Me in 2020.
This was a time when I had awakened a year ago but had no special skills, only doing physical labor.
A low-tier F-rank awakener with a slight aptitude for physical enhancement, but with clear limitations.
This is my current position.
From F to EX.
Meaning I’m at the lowest level in the 10-tier pyramid classification of awakeners.
“Kang Shin-hwa, aren’t you working? Won’t you get paid today? Just finish up and move the Black Cow’s corpse, you punk!”
“Yes? Oh, understood.”
Without time to think deeply, I was immediately deployed to the front lines.
The space wasn’t unfamiliar at least.
Although I don’t know exactly what’s going on, I have definitely returned to the past of 2020.
This was one of the numerous dungeon sites where I worked at the time, and those memories are still vivid in my mind.
Time may have passed, but the body remembers its past.
I focused on the current work without any particular thoughts.
* * *
Two hours later.
“Kang Shin-hwa, tomorrow gather at Sindorim Station’s Exit 2 at 8 AM. Got it?”
“What? Sindorim Station? Isn’t that place gone?”
“It’s a White Zone, what nonsense are you talking about? Kang Shin-hwa, what’s wrong with you today? Did you eat something wrong?”
“No, no.”
“See you tomorrow. Good work.”
Team Leader Kim throws me an envelope of money and disappears.
Sindorim Station.
The place where ‘Magos of Rampage’ broke through dimensions in 2030 and completely devastated the area.
A place where not just the station, but the surrounding area completely melted away, becoming a massive sinkhole.
The site of one of South Korea’s top 10 disasters, known as the Sindorim Battle.
“It really is 2020.”
I quickly shook off the mind still lingering in the 2052 swamp and synchronized with the present.
No matter how much I think and worry.
The regression was certain.
Too much time has passed to call it a dream, and hallucinations don’t work on me. Drugs are the same.
The only strange thing is.
“I’m not the regression protagonist?”
Although I was included among the nine heroes of humanity called the Nine Lords, there was a separate leader.
Nicholas Hagan.
He had consistently claimed himself to be the ‘regression protagonist’.
He knew so much and showed me all the means for growth, so I received a lot of help.
Yes, Nicholas was the regression protagonist.
‘Then Nicholas should regress, so why am I doing it?’
I had never missed the past, not even once!
I was guaranteed a perfect retirement where I could enjoy wealth and glory.
Yet, disgustingly, I’ve returned to the most insignificant time of my life.
“Ha, if you’re going to turn back time, at least set it to 2010. Why the ambiguous 2020….”
My expression instantly darkened.
2010, when I was 14 years old.
A global massive upheaval changed the world, and I suddenly lost my parents to monsters emerging through gates.
A painful memory that remained as a deep sorrow, unable to even recover my parents’ bodies even as time passed.
But what can I do?
No matter how much I regret, the current time won’t change.
Anyway, I casually stuffed the envelope of money into my back pocket and took out my wallet.
During this time, I frequently moved for porter work, so I couldn’t immediately remember where I lived.
Looking alternately at my resident registration card and awakener registration card, my residence became clear.
“A one-room apartment in the Red Zone. The era when I tasted all the bitterness, dirty taste, and taste of disgrace. XX.”
Spitting out curses I couldn’t hold back, I first moved towards the direction of my home.
Although numerous skyscrapers and civilization’s products rise high in the north,
The place I must go now is a slum on the outskirts of civilization, where it’s hard to find even a single streetlight.
Red Zone.
A lawless area located outside the legal boundaries, where the security order restructured by the great upheaval doesn’t reach.
‘Damn.’
I must go there.
* * *
Clunk clunk. Clunk clunk.
The subway was shaking so severely that I wondered if the repairs were done properly.
The sky at sunset felt particularly desolate.
“…..”
Kang Shin-hwa’s expression was dark.
A face clearly showing the disappointment and sadness of falling from life’s peak to its lowest point overnight.
-This train will soon exit the White Zone and enter Geumjeong Station of the Yellow Zone’s Line 1.
-No traces of the recently rampant ‘Black Cross Unit’ have been detected. Proceeding without separate slowdown.
“It’s precarious.”
Kang Shin-hwa muttered while looking at the scenery outside the window.
Guards responsible for the Yellow Zone’s security were gradually preparing to clock out, gathering their equipment.
They are guardians during the day but become thorough bystanders at night.
Returning to their accommodations in the safe White Zone.
‘So much has changed since the great upheaval.’
The existing order completely collapsed due to the 2010 upheaval, and a new order of awakeners was established.
Non-awakened soldiers and existing military equipment that couldn’t use dimensional energy became useless.
The power of awakeners became desperately needed to protect people from monsters and maintain order.
The problem was the number of awakeners.
No country, regardless of nationality, could perfectly protect their entire territory with only awakeners.
So the internationally launched ‘World Awakener Association’ first took measures to divide residential areas.
That was the birth of zones.
“Was it like this?”
Kang Shin-hwa pulled out a crumpled piece of paper from his pocket. It contained an introduction to each zone.
<White Zone: A safe area where security is definitely maintained through the Awakener Association’s headquarters and branches.
Yellow Zone: A place where awakeners receive legitimate compensation and work as mercenaries called ‘Guards’.
Safety is guaranteed from sunrise to sunset, but it becomes a high-risk area after sunset.
Red Zone: An area located outside the protection radius of the Awakener Association and Guards. Follow the order of the established consortium in the area.>
‘Talking about a consortium, my foot.’
Kang Shin-hwa scoffed.
There was an organization that self-managed and supervised the Red Zone’s order.
But eight out of ten were criminal organizations. In other words, the Red Zone was a hellish world where criminal law prevailed.
<Black Zone: Restricted area. Cannot guarantee safety under any circumstances, and any incidents occurring inside are solely the responsibility of the individual.>
The Black Zone was essentially a lawless area worse than the Red Zone. A land of death abandoned by gods and people.
‘I lived in the Red Zone for 5 years.’
Five years of porter life.
Before meeting Nicholas Hagan, all Kang Shin-hwa could do was carry heavy loads.
The compensation was incredibly low.
Obtaining even a single room in the White or Yellow Zones, where housing prices had skyrocketed, was unimaginable.
In his previous life, Kang Shin-hwa lived in Dogok-dong in Gangnam, famous for being the most expensive land even in the White Zone.
He had even bought all the land and built an ultra-luxurious detached house in the middle of the street!
But now?
“I really can’t adapt.”
Clunk clunk. Squeak squeak.
Surrendering to the subway swaying at the winter’s cold wind, he was heading home desolately.
-This train is entering Byeongjeom Station, the entrance of the Red Zone.
-A subway terror attempt by the ‘Black Cross Unit’ occurred 1 day ago. Please be sure to pay attention to the surrounding area.
-The exit doors are on the right.
A vagrant who stepped out of the opened door pointed at Kang Shin-hwa and laughed.
“Kiki, welcome to Hell Joseon. Looks like you’re a Red Zone person too. Wishing you survival.”
The moment of arriving at a genuine hell.
“I just wanted to enjoy a wellness life! Is that a crime? Is that wrong? Aaaaaah!”
Kang Shin-hwa screamed.
