The dragon vanished. So did the stone arena.
In its place was a burning sky.
Ash rained down from above. The ground was fractured, seething with flame. Monsters roamed freely, howling, devouring. Corpses littered the world, and the air was polluted with despair.
The apocalypse.
A familiar one.
Jinhyuk stood at the center of the chaos, alone.
The battles came like waves, one after another, with no time to breathe. Monsters howled through the flames, and the sky itself bled red.
But it wasn't the fire that tormented him.
Not the enemies, nor the endless violence.
It was the people.
Comrades he had once fought beside. Friends who had smiled at him through the apocalypse. Now, they died before his eyes, again and again and again.
Their screams echoed in his ears. Their blood painted the ground. He reached for them each time, only to arrive too late.
Desperation. Hope. Heroism. All of it meaningless in the end.
Because no matter how hard they struggled, the ending never changed.
This wasn't some illusion crafted to torment him.
It was memory seared into the deepest part of his soul.
And now, it was playing back like an endless film reel, looping a tragedy with no pause button.
"You cannot escape the ending waiting for you," a voice whispered. "This is your fate."
"This is the fate of the world."
No... I already changed it. I reversed everything... I...
Was that even true?
How many times had he gone back?
Had he actually regressed? Or was this all just another loop, another layer of the illusion?
Maybe I already died.
Maybe this is where it ends.
His thoughts fractured.
His grip loosened.
His vision blurred.
Bit by bit, the nightmare consumed him.
"You can't save anyone," the voice whispered again.
And this time...He agreed.
I can't save anyone...
His eyes dulled and the determination in his eyes had vanished.
·•—–٠✤٠—–•·
The dragon observed, entertained.
The human had gone still, locked within his own mind. No resistance. No movement.
How pitiful.
A single illusion was all it took.
To the dragon, it was a beautiful, an elegant collapse.
Humans were always like this.
So quick to burn.
So easy to break.
They chased greatness, but lacked the spine to carry it.
This, the dragon thought, was why they would never reach the stars.
Why they could never become constellations.
Why they belonged beneath his feet.
A cruel smile tugged at the edges of his maw.
But just as he relished the scene, a violent pull tore Jinhyuk from the illusionary nightmare.
The dragon's smirk vanished.
"Tch. Damn system," he growled, wings twitching with displeasure.
His claws curled into the stone floor.
Outside, Jinhyuk exhaled shakily, his vision adjusting to the dull light of reality.
The dragon was gone. So was the scorched world, the illusion, the endless noise of battle. Now, he stood on solid ground with Elena quietly holding onto his arm.
It took him a moment to process that it was real.
The illusion had shattered.
And with it, everything came flooding back...His descent into the nightmare, the mission he couldn't complete, the skill that slipped through his fingers.
His jaw tensed as the realization settled in.
He failed.
Despite all his strength and experience, he hadn't been able to overcome it. The dragon remained undefeated, and the system denied him the reward.
"...Was it impossible from the start?" he muttered under his breath.
『 There will come another chance. 』
Jinhyuk let out a slow breath, frustration tightening his chest.
He had regressed more times than he cared to count, clawing his way through timelines, sacrificing everything just to make it a little further than the last. And yet, no matter how far he advanced, the system never granted him a skill like this. Not once had the gods given him a fragment of their own power.
This had been the first real chance.
And he blew it.
"Jinhyuk-ssi?"
Elena's voice broke through the haze in his mind. He looked at her properly this time. Her features were soft, with an unassuming presence. She was just an F-rank, weak enough that if he so much as flicked her, she might collapse.
He could kill her without lifting a finger.
But he didn't want to.
There was something strange about her.
And despite everything, despite the risk... he found himself choosing not to push her away.
"...Let's go," he said.
They walked together without speaking. Somewhere along the way, she invited him to try her coffee.
He agreed without thinking. It was easier than pretending he didn't care.
But as they continued down the street, a faint itch stirred in the back of his mind, like static.
Something was off.
He glanced behind him casually, his senses on alert, but there was nothing unusual.
Probably just one of the constellations watching again.
He dismissed the feeling and kept walking.
But he was wrong.
It wasn't them.
It was her.
Seo Elena, still walking beside him with a pleasant expression, eyes bright with innocence.
And at that very moment, she was reading his status window.
·•—–٠✤٠—–•·
I opened the door for Jinhyuk-ssi, feeling strangely awkward for a reason I couldn't quite name.
Well... not that strange. He was technically the first person I was letting in. The first person to ever sit inside this space. And, more importantly, he'd be the first to taste my coffee.
Considering I'd somehow cleansed his curse with just one cup, I could only assume the man loved coffee. Right? The skill wouldn't have worked otherwise. That's how it's supposed to work... probably.
"How do you like your Americano?" I asked.
He took the seat directly across from the counter, his long legs folding in effortlessly.
"Americano is fine," he said with his usual strict tone.
But I caught it, just the tiniest shift in the corners of his mouth, and the way his eyes seemed to slightly brighten. Like something eased in him.
...Is it weird that I'm proud of that?
I turned back to the machine, fighting off a weird flutter in my chest. Get it together. You're just making coffee. Like a normal person.
As the espresso brewed, I glanced over my shoulder. "Jinhyuk-ssi," I began carefully, "you're pretty strong for a B-rank. Are all B-ranks like you?"
He paused for half a beat. "Yes. Though, I'm probably closer to lower A-rank than B."
Wah... this man. Saying that with a straight face? That's impressive.
If I hadn't seen his system panel, I'd believe him, too. Anyone would.
"A-ah, is that so?" I said, fumbling with the cups. "Would you like more Americano?"
He nodded. "I wouldn't mind."
Ahh....This is kind of awkward.