Chapter 420: Reunion - Kang Joo-Han and Goh Yoo-Joon’s story (6)

[All the players unanimously prepared themselves to make sacrifices for the target.

As a result of the players' sacrifices, the target Suh Hyun-Woo will now live as a regressor in another timeline.

The regressor will face trials for a new life, and the actions of the regressor will determine the route of this scenario.

Scenario Completion Reward: The complete revival of Suh Hyun-Woo in another timeline.]

"Exactly as I thought!" Jin-Sung exclaimed brightly.

The price of their sacrifice was indeed Suh Hyun-Woo's revival. With this, Suh Hyun-Woo could live again. Of course, he himself had to overcome the trials given to him after coming back to life, but if anyone could handle it, Suh Hyun-Woo could absolutely pull it off.

"Hyung! Hyun-Woo hyung can live again!"

"…Keep it down, Jin-Sung."

Unlike Lee Jin-Sung, Kang Joo-Han and Goh Yoo-Joon were still reading the text with serious faces. People said to always read contracts carefully. Of course, what they were reading wasn’t a contract, but they needed to check thoroughly to make sure there were no odd parts that could cause problems later.

Moreover, this was a proposal from a transcendent being, not even from a human. Even if the conditions seemed good, they couldn’t make any hasty judgments.

Luckily, Suh Hyun-Woo’s revival and life in another timeline were just as Kang Joo-Han and Goh Yoo-Joon had expected.

When Kang Joo-Han pressed the NEXT button, the text in the window changed.

[If the regressor completes all three trials, the players' scenario will automatically restart, and you can choose one of the options from the second condition.

What kind of sacrifice will the players make?!

A sacrifice without return? Or a selfish sacrifice?

- Caution! You cannot advance until the requirements are met once the scenario begins.]

"What does this mean?" Goh Yoo-Joon and Lee Jin-Sung naturally looked at Kang Joo-Han. Only Kang Joo-Han could interpret such cryptic text.

Kang Joo-Han adjusted his glasses and, after reading the window’s contents several times, said, "Something has already started. I don’t know what exactly, but Hyun-Woo has to go back to a time before he died in another timeline and overcome three trials."

Kang Joo-Han was honestly still guessing,

‘Is that even possible? Can this really be happening?’

He still couldn’t believe it. Suh Hyun-Woo had crossed into another timeline, and he was alive.

No matter how much they thought about it, this was reality now. An unrealistic event had truly taken place. They had to keep explaining this unbelievable situation to themselves, even if they couldn’t believe it.

Hearing Kang Joo-Han’s words, Goh Yoo-Joon's face grew gloomier. "So even if Suh Hyun-Woo is alive, we can't meet him. He was revived in another timeline."

"That’s not necessarily true. If Hyun-Woo is alive in another timeline, maybe we can meet him someday. If not…" Kang Joo-Han said casually, with a bit of sarcasm, "Maybe that’s the sacrifice."

Being able to save Suh Hyun-Woo but not being able to meet him... The players had to continue living in a world without Suh Hyun-Woo, and had to be satisfied just knowing that he was alive in another version of reality. If this gut-wrenching situation could be called a sacrifice, then it was a sacrifice.

Kang Joo-Han cleared his head and continued, "If Hyun-Woo overcomes all the trials, then we will have to make a choice." He then pointed to the text at the top of the window.

- [Second Condition: Choose] Unlocked!

- You can view the options!

'Pretty considerate to let us see the options.'

Kang Joo-Han laughed weakly. "When our choice is made, the scenario the creator god talks about will end, and Hyun-Woo will be fully revived."

"That’s so surreal," Goh Yoo-Joon commented.

Kang Joo-Han nodded. "Well, that’s what it says. When Hyun-Woo overcomes the trials, our choice will probably be this." He reached out and clicked on the option to view the text.

- Accompany the regressor

- Keep your world

※ The details of the options vary depending on the route of the scenario.

※ The route of the scenario is determined by the regressor’s choice during their third trial.

Unfortunately, the detailed contents of the options could not be viewed until Suh Hyun-Woo's third trial was completed.

Kang Joo-Han sighed. At first glance, accompanying the regressor seemed like the best option if it meant they would be together with Suh Hyun-Woo. However, the premise of the choice was the sacrifice.

It was unclear what constituted a sacrifice without return and what a selfish sacrifice was. Seeing the members fall silent, Kang Joo-Han turned off the options window. "Let's not worry about the options for now. Even if we look at them, we won't understand anything right now."

If they waited a bit longer, they might learn more about it, and they couldn't consider the options until Suh Hyun-Woo took some action after all. Therefore, it was too early to worry about it now.

Goh Yoo-Joon glanced at Kang Joo-Han as he closed each floating window. "So, what do we do now?

Lee Jin-Sung also spoke up, his voice quivering. "When will Hyun-Woo hyung come back to life?"

Kang Joo-Han scowled. "I don't know! I only know as much as you do!" He sounded annoyed.

Ding!

Another clear notification sound rang out, and text appeared in the blue window.

[The first trial of the regressor Suh Hyun-Woo has begun!]

"..." Silence fell. The three stared at each other blankly.

"This means..."

"Hyun-Woo hyung has really regressed, right?"

"It seems so, according to the blue window."

It wasn't like in the movies where a great miracle occurred with a huge light coming down, and nothing seemed that different except for the text window floating up.

But according to the text in the window, Suh Hyun-Woo had regressed and started his first trial.

‘Am I understanding this correctly?’

It felt oddly deflating, like watching a game character revival message window.

In this strange atmosphere, Kang Joo-Han said, "We've done what we could for now. We have no choice but to trust whatever the creator god is doing."

As long as this creator god, who wasn’t human, hadn't harmed them yet, they had to consider them a benevolent entity.

"From what the text said earlier, there is nothing we can do until Hyun-Woo finishes all three trials."

All they could do was believe that Suh Hyun-Woo had truly regressed and pray he would overcome the trials.

"It seems like they will kindly notify us whenever Hyun-Woo starts a trial. Let's just trust that."

Goh Yoo-Joon glanced at Kang Joo-Han, who was constantly speaking to keep the silence at bay and to prevent his younger friends from feeling anxious. He looked very tired.

They had joined forces due to the unexpected turn of events, but all of them had been mourning Suh Hyun-Woo's death and struggling alone just a few hours ago. Even now, only a small hope that Suh Hyun-Woo could be revived had emerged. He was still dead in this world.

"Joo-Han hyung."

"What?"

Goh Yoo-Joon and Lee Jin-Sung hesitated and then slowly hugged Kang Joo-Han.

"..."

"Come here, everyone. Yoo-Joon, give me a hug."

"Let’s give a hug to Jin-Sung."

Kang Joo-Han's voice seemed to echo in their minds because he always gathered the members for comfort whenever they struggled, reminding them not to suffer alone. Now was a time when they all needed someone to lean on. The members hugged each other tightly while murmuring, 'It will be okay. It will be okay,' comforting each other for a long while.

***

After that event, there were no more significant changes for them. The members gradually became accustomed to a life without Suh Hyun-Woo. They spent their time going to schedules or working on music tracks. It was an unremarkable everyday life.

If there was one difference, it was that occasionally a blue text window would appear in front of their eyes. Sometimes, when the regressed Suh Hyun-Woo started or completed a trial in another timeline, a blue window would pop up. This allowed the three players to gauge that he was doing well.

It was still unclear whether these texts were tricks of the creator god or if they were really relaying Suh Hyun-Woo's current situation.

And quite some time after Suh Hyun-Woo had become a regressor, they got this message.

[The third trial of the regressor has been completed!]

"Oh, Hyun-Woo hyung!" Lee Jin-Sung spoke loudly and then flinched. He glanced around nervously.

Park Yoon-Chan looked at him with wide eyes. "Did you just say Hyun-Woo hyung?"

"Ah, no…"

Kang Joo-Han looked at the flustered Jin-Sung with disdain. "Ahaha..."

"What's wrong with you both?"

Watching Kang Joo-Han and Lee Jin-Sung's meaningful glances with a puzzled expression, Park Yoon-Chan smiled gently and got up from his seat. "Anyway, Joo-Han hyung, Jin-Sung, I’ll get going now."

"Yeah, yeah, Yoon-Chan. Good luck with your filming."

"Yes! You too, hyung. Have a nice day."

As soon as Park Yoon-Chan left the house, Kang Joo-Han smacked Lee Jin-Sung on the back.

"You idiot! I told you not to react to it if there’s others around!"

"Ah, hyung! It just appeared out of nowhere! It's not like these notifications pop up all the time!"

"Didn't you see how shocked Yoon-Chan was? He looked at us like he saw a ghost, man."

Among the members, Park Yoon-Chan was the only one who hadn't encountered the text window. The creator god had chosen the player based on strong empathy and regret. Thus, it was natural for Park Yoon-Chan not to see the text window.

But since he often met with Lee Jin-Sung and Kang Joo-Han, it created awkward situations where they had to pretend not to see the text window that sometimes appeared.

"Anyway! Hyun-Woo hyung has already completed the third trial."

Kang Joo-Han closed the text window. "I wouldn’t exactly use the word 'already.' It's been two years since his regression started."

It had been a long time, already two years since that day. Fortunately, Suh Hyun-Woo seemed to be doing well on his trials according to the text window, and now he was done with the third trial, the last one.

With a sly grin, Lee Jin-Sung said, "Hey, hyung. We don't know what kind of trials they are. Maybe two years is actually an impressive amount of time for him. Anyway, it's really fortunate. I thought the third would take even longer since the second one was particularly lengthy."

"Yeah, it's fortunate. But we shouldn’t celebrate too early, right?"

"Uh…? Ah, right."

Lee Jin-Sung's expression became more serious.

Kang Joo-Han chuckled. "The completion of Hyun-Woo's third trial means we also have to prepare to make our choice now."

When would the scenario start? They needed to be mentally prepared for it to start at any time. Having spent every day tense and wondering when Suh Hyun-Woo's trials would end, Kang Joo-Han felt somewhat relieved when he saw the notification that the three trials had been completed.

'We have to make whatever choice Hyun-Woo wants.'

Then, the text windows began to appear suddenly in front of Kang Joo-Han and Lee Jin-Sung once again.

[All trials of the regressor have been completed.]

[The scenario route has been determined by the choice of the regressor Suh Hyun-Woo.]

[The players' scenario will now begin.]

[Synchronization is starting. (As determined by the regressor)]