Chapter 185 – The Chosen Ones (10)

‘Du du dudu, du du dudu’
He could hear the sound of subway in the distance . Soon he was able to see a 17 m^2 apartment with worn out wallpaper pasted over moldy walls . Anyone who saw such a place would not have a positive reaction, but for Sungjin who was looking into the future shouted internally
‘Yes! I’m alive!’
This was a rooftop apartment in the middle of Seoul Jung-ju district (1) . It was the place Sungjin had lived before being dragged off to the raids . Him being here means that the final 256 hunters had successfully completed the last Raid .

‘So it’s finally over!’
Sungjin cheered internally . Finally, the death game of carnage and mayhem was finally over .
‘But… where is… me?”
Sungjin searched for his future self . The room was too dark and the lights were off .
‘Am I… sleeping already?’
But then,
‘Zzzzt’

A cell phone ringing could be heard . Above the worn out bed, which took up a third of the room, a cell phone lit up . His self was lying in bed looking at the cell phone . Sungjin wanted to shout at himself
‘Great work Sungjin . You have become the savior of mankind . ’
But it was then
“Ha…”

His future self let out a long sigh . Sungjin was surprised
‘Hmm?’
He came back from a successful raid, so why was he sighing? Something wasn’t right . Sungjin peeked a look at the old cellphone his future self was holding . There was a text message open .
‘Hey, rooftop young man . I’m sorry to say that if you don’t pay your rent by this month then it really can’t be helped . I’ll wait just one more week . I hope that you’ll be able to pay during that time . Either that or move out . ’
The future Sungjin read that and let out another long sigh .
“Haa…”
He threw his phone on the pillow . And then he stood up with great difficulty to grab his crutches . It was then that the Sungjin from the past saw the cast around his right leg .
‘Oh… right . It was like that’

Back in reality, Sungjin was barely meeting rent from month to month with a part time job . But not too long ago when he was running a delivery on his motorcycle, he hurt his leg in a hit-and-run accident . And for that reason, he was unable to do his part time job and had been laying in bed ever since . His entire savings went into paying for his medical fees and he was terminated from his part time job . That’s how rent begun to stack up . His legs were healed at the time he was summoned so he had forgotten about it .

‘…if I go back… I will come back to this kind of environment…’
Sungjin thought to himself while staring at tomorrow’s Sungjin .
‘But… did people all lose memory of the raids…?’
It was a topic of interest for previous life’s final 10 members, or with the Chosen Ones .

‘We’ll become heroes of humanity once the raids are over . ’
‘It wouldn’t be strange if we become superstars with companies begging us to appear in their commercials . ’
‘Once the raids are over, we will become rich . Unimaginably so .
It might be to a point where we no longer need money in our lives . ’

It was a beautiful dream . The Hunters shared stories like these to help cope with the terror of the raids . Sungjin was always off to the side during one of these discussions, but that didn’t mean he had no expectations . He had grown up in such a deprived environment that, more than becoming a hero or super rich, his simply thought that his living circumstance will improve . But from what he saw, he comes back to life being worried about paying rent . It was very different from what he had imagined .
‘…So… I’m going back…to exactly where I started…’

It made sense . Becoming ‘Savior of mankind’ as the Hunters imagined was only going to come true if ‘The whole of mankind returned to Earth with their memories intact’ . If the Operator erased everyone’s memories before returning them to Earth, there was no savior, nor hero or whatever .
‘Haa… . ’

Seeing himself in 24 hours later made Sungjin sigh, much like his future self had done . The future self waddled over with the crutch and opened the door of the fridge as tall as himself . The only edible thing in there was Banana Milk (3) . He took it out of the fridge, opened the lid, and drank it all . Sungjin who was drinking the milk looked filled with worry . And Sungjin who was watching wasn’t exactly all that happy .
‘…It’s not that I wanted acknowledgement or something but…’

The thought of going back now and having to immediately worry about rent was horrifying .
‘Hell after hell…’
He then remembered Igor’s words .
‘This place is similar to reality’
Thinking of such thoughts was making him depressed . Sungjin, as of now, carried four different swords and clad his entire body with legendary gear, but back in reality, he was wearing an old white shirt and sweatpants .

‘Master Hunter Kei’
‘Kei nim’
‘Kei sensei’
He was treated like a hero here, but if he were to go back then he returns to life of being unemployed and in poverty . Sungjin thought to himself while looking at his future self .
‘…Wait a moment… what about me… do I go back without my memory as well?’
There were many terrible memories within the raid, but there were lots of good memories as well . He just didn’t want to go through it all again, but there were experiences from going through the Raid that he didn’t want to lose .
‘But… if that’s what the Operator does… then I guess that’s that…’

When Sungjin was thinking of that, the future self hobbled over towards the desk and opened a drawer . There, Sungjin’s eyes grew wide . Between books, scissors, batteries and other miscellaneous items was a small cube given by a Dragon .

‘That…?’
The future Sungjin had no items from the raid with the exception of the cube . The future Sungjin picked it up and rubbed it as he said,

“Archae’ard…”

That was the name of the dragon that had given him the cube . He had memory of the raids; he did not lose his memory of the past . The future Sungjin opened the lid to the cube . But there was nothing in there . The future Sungjin on seeing it sighed deeper than before .
“Haaa…”

‘Is Keeping tradition . ’
‘Tradition?’
‘Yes . Tradition . ’
‘What do you mean by that?’

‘You know as well . Humans who defeat avaricious dragons… They rescue the kidnapped princess or… Take the treasures in the Dragon’s Lair… Stories like that . Human . Since I lost, I’m giving you a reward . ’
‘I have a bigger cube . Just where am I supposed to use this one?’

The Dragon’s eyes shone once he heard Sungjin’s question . He gestured to the Operator’s Cube as he said,

‘That Cube is something you’re using, but it’s not yours . Right? However, this cube that you’re holding, this one is yours . Do you understand what I’m saying?’

‘What?’

Well, just know that this is the case . Anyways, when the time comes, you’ll understand . ’
Sungjin stared at the cube as he thought .
‘Wait…’
Meanwhile, the future Sungjin threw the cube into the drawer and returned to bed . And when he did, the background suddenly turned dark and the vision of the future disappeared .

*

“Hah!”
Along with a shout, Sungjin stood up from the bed of Ninety Nine Nights . All sorts of thoughts came and went .
‘What’s left… is just one cube…’
“Operator . ”
[Yes?]
“That… give me that small cube . ”

Soon the small cube the dragon had given him popped out of the Operator’s cube . The small cube with the engraving of a blue dragon . Sungjin opened it . There was nothing in there . Just like he had seen from the future . While he was holding it, he suddenly got a thought and so he raised the star shaped accessory over his head again .

Ios – The Revelation of the Stars
Mythological Accessory

Active Skill
Starlight (I) – You can see what will occur 24 hours in the future from now . If the user exerts his will, then it is possible to change the future . Can be used once a day .

I hold within me the Vision of the Gods
On this day, a new pair of eyes opened from within me .

Sungjin read the message there again .
‘If the user exerts his will, then it is possible to change the future’
“Possible to change the future…”
Sungjin stared at the cube while mumbling to himself . The cube was small enough to hold in one hand comfortably . Large enough to hold a single item .
‘…wait…no way’

If he were to do as he thought, he might be able to change his own future . It’s just, the cube’s size being what it was, only small items could fit in there . Sungjin checked his fingers . On the fingers were the best quality rings he had been collecting . But of all the rings he had, the one he had the most interest in was the ‘Ring of the Great Sage’ . It was a ring that allowed him to use magic freely .
‘What if I could use magic when I go back to the present?’

Sungjin’s heart began to beat faster . He placed his hands on the ring and,
‘Unequip’
Was what he was about to say when
‘Oh… right . ’
He remembered that he needed to use this Ring tomorrow . He could only reverse time if he had this ring .

‘If the user exerts his will, then it is possible to change the future . ’
This meant that the future could change for the worse . If he failed the raid because he unequipped this ring then he won’t be able to return to the rooftop room .
‘Thats… no good…’
Sungjin took his hands off of the ring . Then he checked around at the other rings . But now that he took a look at them, all of them were combat focused . It was possible that removing them and putting it in the cube would result in him losing during combat .

‘These… I can’t take them off yet…then… what else is there…’
Sungjin then recalled the conversation he had with the Black Market merchant as he left .
‘When you have to choose one thing, choose that . The truth is always precious . ’ Sungjin brought his hands over his ear . ‘Eye of Jeremiah’ allowed him to see the thoughts in others .
‘If it’s this…’
This would not have utility for combat tomorrow . It’s the last raid so there was no need to peek into the thoughts of others .
“Unequip”

Sungjin took off the earring and placed it into the cube . The earring went right into the cube .
‘With this… I won’t have to worry about being scammed…well… not that I have money to be scammed out of…’
Sungjin thought as he was about the close the cube . But then, he saw the star shaped accessory he was still holding with his other hand .
‘…Eh…?’

Sungjin put the star shaped accessory next to the cube to check their size . It looked like it might just fit . But then the earring in the cube would get in the way . Sungjin first took out the earring and tried to place the star inside . It didn’t fit right away, but after several tries, he found a configuration that let the accessory fit the walls exactly and the accessory fell right in .

“It worked!”
Sungjin yelled in happiness . Sungjin then tried to put the earring back into the cube, between the arms of the five pointed star . Luckily, the earring fit right in . Sungjin yelled again
“This is it!”

Jung gu is the least populated, smallest, and perhaps the poorest part of Seoul .
In korea, especially on poorer districts with smaller buildings, there is a practice making a tiny apartment on top of existing structures to rent out . Google rooftop living in korea . It is where the poorest residents lives .
Banana Milk is famous in Korea . Google Banana Milk advertisements .