ALL NOVEL Chapter 67
Chapter 67. System Update (2)
[System Notification: The user’s entry keyword has been designated.]
[System Notification: Entry Keyword (I hate mint chocolate)]
[System Notification: The entry keyword can be changed later, but please be aware that a complex procedure is required due to security issues.]
“Hmm, let’s try it out first.”
If it doesn’t work well, I can change it later.
Nodding my head as I thought simply, it was too long a journey to waste time arguing about such an entry keyword.
“Okay, let’s go quickly. Update 1, 3, 4. Explain them all briefly.”
[System Notification: What kind of simple yet complicated explanation is that?]
“Just try it. When you outsource something, the client has to give a proper briefing from the start. Don’t you know that?”
Bullshit, that’s a lie.
A client giving a kind briefing is as elegant yet cheap-looking as a beautifully ugly thing.
In other words, it makes no sense.
[System Notification: …It’s a very difficult task, but since I’ll lose if we argue, I’ll just give it a try!]
“Oh, you’re getting quite detailed in expressing yourself?”
[System Notification: This is also a capability of the authority update!]
[System Notification: In the space of the subconscious, I can communicate more freely! ᕕ( ᐛ )ᕗ]
“Good, then please explain freely now.”
As I leaned back on the sofa and nodded, the system window disappeared with a popping sound, and soon, the lights in the space went out with a thud, thud, thud.
“What the, that’s scary.”
With a bang! a spotlight turned on in front of me. A large monitor was now hanging there, displaying something like a PPT presentation.
The first text visible on the monitor was…
FinalFinal_ThisIsTheRealCompleteFinal_Final22222>
“…Ah, PTSD, I can’t watch this.”
[System Notification: Endure it. (＃｀д´)ﾉ]
Then, the slide clicked over against my will.
[System Notification: To understand this authority update, you need to understand the existing system.]
[System Notification: As explained last time, Hajin, under normal circumstances, you should not be able to interfere with the human timeline for any reason.]
“I know. Unlike the chosen regressor, I just happened to become aware of my regression.”
[System Notification: That’s correct. But as the search for the chosen regressor has been delayed, our time management department decided that this could not continue.]
[System Notification: We determined that the help of a human living on the same timeline was necessary.]
“That was me.”
[System Notification: I believe you understand the reason without me explaining.]
Naturally, the distant memories of that time came to mind. The repeated regressions, the day I first encountered this system.
– Ah, please. I can’t live like this.
The emotions from that time when regression was unbearably tedious were still vivid.
“No one would have been more sincere about stopping the regression than me.”
[System Notification: That’s right. In fact, ‘stopping the regression’ is… a much more difficult task for humans than it seems.]
“Well, turning back time is quite an enormous ability.”
Even for me, during the first regression, I didn’t think of it as an opportunity to rehabilitate my life.
Anyway, I understood that was why I was chosen. But I was still an ordinary person with no abilities, and to find the chosen regressor, someone like me…
Thinking up to that point, I could see the whole picture.
“So you gave me quests. To let me find out the clues.”
[System Notification: It was a bit of a workaround.]
“What’s the basis for quests or rewards? You said you still don’t know who the chosen regressor is.”
[System Notification: There is a time energy that only occurs from the chosen regressor. We are currently tracking it based on that.]
[System Notification: Quests were provided based on the information we could offer you about events and people related to the chosen regressor’s time energy occurring in the current timeline.]
I nodded, recalling the quests so far.
“So there are two types, right? Quests arising from events related to the chosen regressor that I need to solve, and quests created to share information or clues that you’ve discovered with me.”
[System Notification: That’s correct.]
“Then what about that cat’s grace or whatever last time? It doesn’t fit into either category.”
[System Notification: …….]
What’s this uneasy reaction?
“You might as well tell me now; it’s better to get it over with quickly.”
[System Notification: It was a device to add a bit of vitality to the boring life of a fixed regressor. Since having various anecdotes and good stories before debut is very important for an idol…]
“The truth?”
[System Notification: I just wanted to mess with you a bit…! Let you suffer! Work hard!! Keep rolling!!!]
“I appreciate the honesty.”
I didn’t intend to nitpick, but hearing that made me feel spiteful.
Next time I need something from them, I’ll pretend to be hurt by this.
“Okay, I understand so far. Now explain this system update.”
[System Notification: It’s simple. Hajin, you have been granted the Time Manager Zero (0) level.]
[System Notification: This is a temporarily granted ability, and it will disappear as soon as you find the chosen regressor and their regression ability is revoked.]
[System Notification: Of course, not all permissions are granted… For now, the reward system through current quests will remain as is!]
“Is that possible? Why didn’t you do that earlier?”
[System Notification: For security reasons.]
With a click, the PPT turned another page, revealing the profile of a faceless person. As soon as I saw the text
[System Notification: We are currently referring to him as ‘the returning one.’]
“You mean that red bastard?”
[System Notification: Up until now, our time managers have been repeatedly hindered by this person in the search for the chosen regressor.]
[System Notification: Granting you any authority was also to prevent you from being exposed to him.]
[System Notification: But since he has already noticed your existence, it was deemed appropriate to grant you this special level for your safety!]
All I could see were the blue windows with white text, but I vividly imagined a passionate new employee waving his fist in the air.
Looks like scolding him last time had some effect.
[System Notification: From now on, direct communication regarding the human timeline and clues about the chosen regressor is possible.]
[System Notification: However, please note that you must use the current space for this!]
“Is that all? No skill penalty removal or anything?”
[System Notification: That is not possible. (-∧-；)]
“Tsk.”
Just when it was getting good.
Still, it meant more direct communication was possible, which was welcome. I didn’t want to be caught off guard like last time.
[System Notification: Explaining every detail about the human timeline is too broad and vast.]
[System Notification: Therefore, it is deemed efficient to answer Hajin’s questions.]
Then, with a click, large text appeared on the white screen.
“What, we’re doing Q&A after just three slides?”
[System Notification: If you dislike it, we can force an immediate awakening….]
“Why are things always so drastic with you? Hold on, I had a lot of questions anyway.”
Where to start.
There were so many things I wanted to ask, but taking in too much information at once is exhausting in many ways. And this isn’t the only thing I need to do today.
“Then… first, tell me about the fixed events.”
This was the most urgent.
So far, I had thought that the stability of my family’s situation was a guaranteed event, but now you’re saying it can be deleted or altered?
‘That’s absolutely unacceptable.’
“You said Sarin’s fixed event was deleted and the timeline was altered. Is that possible? Can a fixed event disappear?”
[System Notification: Hmm, how to explain this simply ( •́ ̯•̀ )]
The screen filled with the text
[System Notification: Do you believe in fate, Hajin?]
“Not really.”
[System Notification: If someone went back 10 years without realizing they had regressed, would they make different choices?]
“…I don’t know.”
[System Notification: Most people, even after hundreds of repetitions of the timeline, make the same choices.]
[System Notification: Every moment of life is a series of choices, and those choices are the result of all the moments a person has accumulated.]
[System Notification: Let’s make it easier with an example.]
Another profile appeared on the monitor.
This time, it was easier to recognize. It was Seo Taehyun’s profile picture from his time on Boy’s World.
[System Notification: Seo Taehyun, including the five lifetimes you remember, made the same choices in all the timelines the chosen regressor experienced.]
“That would be debuting as an idol.”
[System Notification: Correct.]
[System Notification: However, the way he debuted was not always the same.]
The next screen displayed five different versions of Seo Taehyun.
[System Notification: In the timeline you refer to as the first round, Seo Taehyun signed with a small agency that offered the highest signing bonus after Boy’s World ended.]
[System Notification: But as you know, the end was not good.]
The first screen showed the Seo Ta
ehyun I was familiar with. He moved from one small agency to another, eventually debuting as a solo artist in his early 20s and fading into obscurity.
[System Notification: In the second round, he signed with a foreign agency due to pressure from Director Son Hyeong-gu and the burden of debuting.]
[System Notification: In the third round, he avoided the director, left Miro, lived as an ordinary person, and then signed with a new agency he encountered as an adult.]
As the system explained, the different versions of Seo Taehyun moved on the monitor.
I guessed this was possible because Seo Taehyun was my ‘companion.’ Since I had more influence on the timelines of my companions.
‘If I convert other guys into companions, I’ll be able to see their past lives too. And through that, I can get clues about the chosen regressor.’
It seemed that the ‘companion’ system could be a key more important than I thought.
Seo Taehyun’s tearful life story was coming to an end on the monitor. The system window flashed again.
[System Notification: As you can see, there are unchangeable choices in a person’s life.]
[System Notification: Additionally, there are conditions that must be met due to the laws and rules of the world.]
[System Notification: Such as human death, failure, and frustration.]
[System Notification: Not every human can be successful, safe, and happy at all times.]
Various human figures appeared and disappeared as effective visual aids.
[System Notification: These are the events you refer to as fixed events.]
Soon all the images disappeared like candle flames. In the dark space, a question mark appeared on the monitor.
[System Notification: But what if, in the countless repetitions of the timeline, a person makes different choices each time?]
[System Notification: For example, someone like you, Hajin.]
[System Notification: Someone who remembers all the past timelines and tries not to repeat them?]
My face was reflected on the black monitor.
“…Go on.”
It seemed like this conversation wouldn’t end easily.