So It’s Not A Dream?

Ro-un could not believe it even after seeing it with his own two eyes.

“That I triggered . That happened. Does that mean I really activated my trait? Does that mean I really activated my trait? I’d never once managed to trigger since awakening.”

Lee Ro-un’s SSS-rank trait ‘Caller of Miracles’.
It was a trait that greatly increased the effectiveness of all healing- and support-type skills, reduced holy power consumption, and raised the activation chance of .
This trait, ranked as high as SSS-rank, did not activate easily at all.
With the appearance of a trait identical to that of the Awakener known as the Saintess in Europe, the Republic of Korea had been in an uproar.

‘But even the Saintess in Europe had properly used this trait only once.’

Before his regression, when an otherworldly duke drove France to near ruin, the trait that had only barely activated was precisely .
Using that trait which activated only that one time, the Saintess had sealed the otherworldly duke and revived France, which had been half destroyed.
Thanks to that, France had barely been able to continue its existence.

“And yet I activated that?”

Ro-un, who had brought about the miracle of regression, wavered like a small boat on the waves in the face of a reality he could not believe with his eyes.
In the columbarium where his family’s remains were, Ro-un finally realized the fact of his regression.
Ro-un called up his status window.

Ro-un possessed the special stat Holy Power, whereas other Awakeners had Magic Power.
Thanks to his absurd amount of holy power and his trait, he had received worldwide attention as a prospective ranker to succeed the Saintess, who was active as an SS-rank ranker in Europe.
Yet that holy power had now been raised to EX, beyond the system’s measurement range.

“Is this a dream?”

Ro-un used [Purification] once more.
After using the skill that removed all status ailments, Lee Ro-un checked the status window once again.
Other than his stats and trait rank having risen far beyond what they had been before the regression, everything was the same, right down to the error in the Constellation Sponsor field.

“So it’s not a dream.”

He moved his arms this way and that.
The body that had barely slept properly for three years and had been driven to its limit trying to stop the calamity felt so light it was hard to believe.
Swinging his arms around, he looked at his family’s remains and photos enshrined behind the glass.

“The columbarium is safe too.”

If that was the case, then the point to which he had regressed was the moment just now when he had been about to give his speech at the academy.

‘I did say that if I only had time before the Big Wave swallowed me, I could have stopped the calamity. But who would’ve thought that would actually turn into ?’

He had not imagined he would return to the moment when, as student council president, he welcomed the new students and gave a speech.
The system messages that were never wrong and the vivid memories in his head made Ro-un accept reality.

“I really did come back to the past.”

He had to acknowledge what he had to acknowledge.
I have regressed.
In that case, what is it that needs to be done?

“I have to stop the Big Wave.”

I was eighteen when I was about to give the entrance ceremony speech as student council president, so have I gone back three years?
At this point, I can stop the Big Wave.

“Wait a second. If I have gone back three years, that means it’s still before that incident.”

Now he could build things up step by step and be able to stop the Big Wave.
As hope began to appear, Ro-un looked over his status window once again.

“First, let me get a clear grasp of my condition.”

He could see his Strength stat, which he had achieved beyond the limits of a healer, and his Agility and Endurance stats, which had dropped because of the regression.
On the other hand, there were stats that had gone up even more than before his regression.

“EX-rank, seriously. Wasn’t SSS-rank supposed to be the highest rank?”

In the past, there had been occasional theories that EX-rank might truly exist among the Constellations, beings and gods recorded in history and known by name, but among those on earth, there had never been a single report of such a rank appearing.
Yet that very EX-rank was now boldly stamped on Ro-un’s status window.

“EX-rank, huh. I should first report this to the Association and the academy, and…”

Smack!

Realizing that he had almost gone off to report his stat increase without even thinking, Ro-un slapped his own cheek.

“What are you saying. Lee Ro-un, are you crazy? You’re going to go report to those bastards again? Have you still not come to your senses after being used like that? If they find that your trait evolved into EX-rank, imagine how much bastards will try to work you to the bone. Get a grip. Don’t you remember how those guys used you and threw you away?”

Because of the SSS-rank trait, they called him the future saint that would succeed the Saintess of Europe, the treasure of the nation, and spouted all those fine words, but what did he end up getting back in return?
It was nothing but betrayal, despair, and regret!
Before he was swallowed by the Big Wave, Ro-un had noticed the signs of the Big Wave, warned them of the coming calamity, and shouted that they should join forces to stop it, but when the Big Wave came and the wave that devoured the land surged in, Lee Ro-un was alone.
The resentment, blame, injustice, and regret from that time, all of it was still stuck like thorns in Ro-un’s heart.

“If I let those bastards know that my trait evolved into EX-rank, I do not even need to see it to know. They will dump every bothersome job on me.”

Then I will end up alone before the Big Wave again.

Once was more than enough for that kind of experience.
For the present Lee Ro-un, who had been betrayed and used and yet sacrificed his own body for everyone until the very end, all that was left was the wounds he had received from humans and the Status Ailment .

“From the beginning, what I needed was time. I do not need anyone else’s help.”

He would stop the calamity with his strength alone.
Clenching his fist tightly, Ro-un hardened his resolve.
Having come to his senses, Lee Ro-un looked back on how he had almost gone to report to those pigs and dogs without realizing it and gave a bitter smile.

““So this is what people mean when they say habits are scary.”

I need to stay completely on my guard.
I can’t let myself get screwed over like an idiot again like back then.

Ro-un looked over his status window again.
For the past three years, his status window had been crammed full of things like , , and . Now, with only sitting there, it looked downright clean to Lee Ro-un, who had once been carrying around more than a dozen status ailments.

‘More importantly, . Has there ever been a status ailment like this?’

Seeing this type for the first time, Ro-un touched and checked the detailed information.

The negative value was not even minus 100% but minus 1,000%?

At this level, I probably wouldn’t believe them even if they told me they were making soybean bricks out of soybeans.

“I did decide that I wouldn’t trust anyone anymore, but for that to be treated as a status ailment? Even after the regression, I still don’t understand how the system works.”

I had thought it was just a mental issue, but I’d never imagined it would be such a tremendous debuff that it would be boldly recorded even in my status window.
Seeing that it didn’t disappear even after using the Purification skill that removed status ailments, it seemed I would have to either raise the skill level further or take some special potion to get rid of it, but was there really any need to go that far?

“I’m not going to trust anyone from now on anyway, so why should I even bother?”

Ro-un decided to leave the status ailment as it was.
If it had been another debuff, since those were related to his stats, he would have tried to get rid of it, but something like would not interfere at all with his stopping the coming calamity.

“This time I’ll drive them down so thoroughly that they’ll not even be able to run away.”

Before the Big Wave came, they would rot and disappear from this land.
Those dogs.
Anyway, people who went on about how they were doing it for the country or for the people were not the sort to be trusted.
Those kinds of bastards were always the first to run away.

‘The way they tucked their tails and ran in front of the calamity. Even people with the Dash skill at Lv.10 would be slower than that.’

Ro-un looked at the photo of his family smiling happily together.

“Mom. Dad. Hyung¹, Noona². I won’t let myself be used like a fool anymore. From now on I will live thinking only of myself.”

Ro-un’s hand traced the glass faintly.

“This time I will do my very best so that I will not lose them.”

So that he would not realize only after he had been abandoned, like before the regression, that he had lost everything precious and then regret it.
This time, I will live for myself and for the things that are precious to me.
Firmly resolving himself, Ro-un gazed at the family photo with eyes full of longing.
His family, whose appearance had frozen on that day years ago, stared back at Ro-un with smiling faces as if they were cheering him on.

After taking his family’s remains from the columbarium that would collapse a year later and transferring them to a new columbarium, the place Ro-un ultimately returned to was the academy.

“If I had known it would be like this, I wouldn’t have donated everything and would’ve left some money for myself.”

If he had, he would not have had to set foot in this wretched place ever again, and stopping the Big Wave would have been a bit easier too.
Ro-un let out a sigh as he looked at his empty balance.
After moving his family to a safe place, his already empty bank account had become even thinner.

“Forget it. I can earn money again.”

Whatever the case, he had come back, and he had gained a chance to start over.

“What matters now is that I have obtained the ‘time’ I wished for.”

Even if his account balance only had five digits for the moment, there were ways to multiply that money hundreds and thousands of times, and he could gradually prepare means to stop the Big Wave as well.
Ro-un took out a marker pen.
Pulling up an empty hologram window, Ro-un wrote ‘Big Wave’ in large letters in the center.

“This time I will definitely stop the Big Wave.”

If he could not stop this, both Ro-un and his family’s new resting place would all be finished.

“First, I need money.”

Under ‘Big Wave’ Ro-un wrote ‘Money’.

“I also need people.”

A little away from the word ‘Money’ he wrote ‘Awakeners’.

“There were at least a few usable guys, but they all died before the Big Wave. First, I’ll save those guys and hire them as mercenaries…”

Ro-un steadily wrote down his plans on the hologram window.
In the room where he was alone with the door firmly locked, Ro-un spent a long time scribbling with the marker pen, then finally put it down.

Tap!

“For now, this should do, right?”

Ro-un looked at the hologram window filled with all kinds of information.
He had only meant to write the major branches, but he had not thought it would be enough to cover an entire wall.
For now he would take his time later to think through the details, and the very first thing he had to deal with was that incident coming at the end of this year.
Ro-un looked at the incident among those he had ranked by importance that had five stars and was scheduled to happen the soonest.

“Four major incidents including the Big Wave. The first of those major incidents happens this winter.”

It was an incident that happened around his birthday.
As Ro-un carefully examined the major incident that was not far off now, his gaze moved to the side.

“Among the people I need to save right away, there is even someone who dies in just a few days.”

Having confirmed from the information laid out in chronological order that the death of a person marked as highly important would occur in a few days, Lee Ro-un narrowed his eyes.
Time was even tighter than he had thought.

“Just because I regressed doesn’t mean I have a lot of time. I need to start moving quickly.”

He had to move in a hurry right away.
Staring at the hologram window covered in information all the way across one wall, Ro-un picked up the marker pen again.

“There’s no time to put the pen down. Get moving, Lee Ro-un.”

He would set his priorities and keep as many options alive as possible.
Ro-un moved the marker pen once more.
This time, a line was drawn in red.

“This person’s personality is a bit rotten, but I need to keep him alive at least until the second major incident.”

There were times when his head and his heart did not quite align, but Ro-un suppressed his feelings and kept his hand moving.

“There are guys I have no choice but to keep alive because of their traits, but I also need means to do things on my own without other people.”

Since there was no guarantee that those guys would not run away irresponsibly again before a major incident.
Even if he prepared alternatives from A to Z, he still felt uneasy.

“This item will not be any help if it ends up in this guy’s hands. It’ll be better if I keep it and lend it to someone else when they are stopping an incident.”

His hesitation about snatching away items that others would have obtained was gone.
Because it was not just once or twice that he had thought ‘If only I had had that item,’ Ro-un made a plan to snatch them all so that he could place them in the hands of the right people at the right time.
Of course, he was even more cautious in this part, since humans whose eyes had turned red with greed might run off with the items or refuse to return them.

“It would be nice if I could do all of this alone…”

Ro-un’s eyes were tinged with regret.
At times like this he could not help but wonder what it would have been like if he had awakened as a combat-type instead of a support-type.
When he had been going around guiding(?) the students, he had thought he had a fair aptitude to be a combat-type too.
As he recalled the times he had gone around leading the academy students, Ro-un’s eyes grew faintly hazy. After reminiscing for a brief moment, Ro-un returned to the main point in the face of the tight schedule.

“Let’s narrow down the most urgent tasks first.”

After spending about two days holed up in his dorm room making plans, Ro-un finally emerged. The first place he headed was the school headquarters.

“First, should I try dropping out?”

With confident steps, Ro-un headed toward the school headquarters.