This world has already ended seven times.
Not an exaggeration.Not some pretentiously poetic metaphor. The world truly stopped, concluded, then collapsed—seven full times, each with a different variation of death.
And in every one of those endings,humanity lost.
That's why,when I opened my eyes and saw the cracked ceiling of my rented room above my head, the first thing I felt wasn't panic.
I was just tired.
The smell of dust and instant coffee was still the same.The wall clock showed 6:12 AM. Even the stupid promotional notifications from a shopping app still popped up on my phone screen.
I slowly sat up on the bed,staring at my own hands. Intact. No blood. No burns. No traces of the poison that once ate away at my lungs until I died choking on the third floor of the tower.
"Hah…"
A long sigh escaped my mouth.
Back again.
To this day.
A short vibration from my phone cut through the silence.
Not a normal notification.
My phone screen went black,then a transparent window appeared right in the middle of my field of vision—not on the screen, but in the real world.
[Welcome, Player.]
I closed my eyes for a moment.
It was still the same.
Nothing had changed.
[The World Scenario has begun.]
[Synchronization in progress…]
The walls of my room trembled faintly. From outside, the sound of people shouting began to be heard—panicked, confused, not understanding what had just happened to their lives.
I stood up and walked to the window.
The usually pale morning sky was now cracked like glass. Black lines crept through the air, and then—without a sound—a gigantic structure appeared.
A tower.
Embedded from the ground, piercing through the clouds, like a giant nail pinning the world to a single point of fate.
Some people on the street knelt. Some cried. Some immediately started recording with their phones, hoping this was just some stupid viral content.
I have seen all this before.
Seven times.
[Player registration complete.]
[Assigning initial status…]
Another window appeared.
[STATUS]
Name: Noah Kade
Level: 1
HP: 120
MP: 40
Title: None
I gave a small snort.
Still Level 1.
Still"None."
If only they knew.
If all these people knew that the world had died seven times,and I remembered every bit of it—maybe they would stare at me like I'm a monster. Or a savior. Or insane.
I stared at the corner of that status window,waiting.
And as usual,after a split-second pause—
[Hidden data detected.]
[Access condition met.]
Something moved, like text hidden beneath a thick layer of glass.
Title (Hidden): Last Reader of the Ruined Ending
Skill (Passive, Hidden): Memory of Collapse (S)
Effect: Retains knowledge of past scenarios, choices, and outcomes from collapsed timelines.
I smiled faintly.
It's still there.
That means this isn't a dream.
In the first timeline, I panicked. I joined the loudest screamers. I entered the initial scenario without a plan. Died.
In the second timeline,I hid. I thought staying quiet was the safest choice. Died too.
Timelines three through six,I tried being a hero, a coward, neutral, an opportunist.
They all ended the same.
Defeat.
The seventh... I lasted the longest. That's when I finally realized, the monsters weren't the problem.
It was the story.
[First Scenario will begin in 00:09:59]
[Location: Residential Zone A]
[Objective: Survive]
I glanced at the clock.
Nine minutes.
Enough.
I grabbed a light jacket from the hanger and slipped my phone into my pocket. Outside, the shouting grew louder. People were already running aimlessly.
Some could still be saved in this phase.But not everyone.
And not all of them should be.
The boarding house stairs were crowded. A mother almost fell, a student was screaming his girlfriend's name, and a large man was shoving others aside while swearing.
I passed by them without stopping.
Not because I didn't care.
But because I knew,those who stop now, die first later.
The boarding house door was open. The morning light was blinding.
In the distance,the sound of a heavy thud echoed—not an explosion, but something falling. The first monster usually appears within a five-hundred-meter radius of the mini-tower.
Yeah.Mini.
Because this is just the opening act.
I walked briskly towards the small park at the end of the block. Many people avoided it because it was "too open." A classic mistake.
In the middle of the park,the air rippled. Then a creature appeared, as if dragged out of a narrow hole.
Its body resembled a large,eyeless dog, its skin was slick and black, and its jaw split unnaturally wide.
Several people screamed.
[Monster Detected: Lesser Hound]
I stopped three steps away from the creature.
Still the same.
Still dumb.
Still prioritizing linear movement.
A desperate man attacked it with a broomstick.The monster's jaw snapped shut, and blood sprayed.
I sighed.
"Don't move straight at it,"I muttered, not to anyone in particular.
The monster turned toward me.
I stepped to the left—one,two—then rolled just before a claw swept through where I'd been standing.
[Skill Activated: Precise Dodge (C)]
For a moment, my body felt light. I picked up a sharp piece of rubble from the ground and slammed it into the side of the creature's neck—that soft spot rookies always miss.
The creature shrieked, staggered, then collapsed.
[Monster defeated.]
[EXP acquired.]
I stood up, my breath a little rushed.
Still weak.
Still could die if careless.
A slow clap came from behind.
I turned.
A woman stood a few meters away, a simple bow in her hand. Her hair was tied back low, her eyes sharp—not the gaze of someone panicking.
It was the gaze of someone calculating.
"You're not your average newbie," she said.
I looked back at her.
"And you're not the type to stand in the open without a plan,"I replied.
The corner of her mouth lifted slightly.
"Lyra Quinn."
I nodded. "Noah."
She glanced at the monster's corpse on the ground, then back at my eyes.
"We have less than eight minutes before the bigger ones show,"she said. "If you want to live, don't go it alone."
I fell silent for a moment.
In the old timeline,Lyra died in the mid-scenario. Her last arrow missed by half an inch.
I looked at the cracked sky above the tower.
"Alright,"I said finally. "But listen to one thing first."
"What?"
"I don't play hero."
Lyra gave a faint smile.
"Good.Neither do I."
Above us, silently, something recorded.
[Probability Drift: 6%]
And for the first time since this world began—
the story shifted,just a little.