Chapter 2
[Game Reset Complete.]
[Initializing Player Lee Do-jin's Status Window...]
[Error! Error!]
[Failed to initialize Player Lee Do-jin's Status Window.]
[Unique Skill <Death Energy (EX)> cannot be deleted.]
[Retrying. Failed.]
[Retrying. Failed.]
[Retrying. Failed.]
[...]
[Unique Skill <Death Energy (EX)> cannot be deleted.]
[Errors predicted in multiple areas, including Class Selection and Skill Acquisition.]
[Searching for alternative.]
[...]
[Search Complete.]
[Hidden Class Selection has been unlocked.]
“Ugh...!”
Breathing heavily, Do-jin snapped his eyes open.
“Huff... Huff...!”
After gathering his thoughts, Do-jin slowly looked around.
Yellowed walls and ceiling.
A single small window in the cramped room.
An old mattress.
A folding table.
“This place...”
Do-jin searched his memories for a moment before slowly nodding.
It was so far in the past that he had not recognized it immediately.
But there was no mistake.
This was the one-room apartment in the hillside neighborhood where he had lived eight years ago, back when he was still an ordinary person.
“I'm back... I really came back.”
Could this be a hallucination?
No.
Everything before him was real.
During the five years of the Main Scenario, Do-jin had constantly walked the line between life and death.
His senses had long surpassed those of an ordinary human.
The Reset was real.
This room was real.
He had returned.
“Heh... Hehehe...!”
How many minutes passed like that?
Eventually, the quiet laughter filling the tiny room disappeared without a trace.
Do-jin reached for the phone lying carelessly on his bed.
At that moment, a notification appeared.
[Regression Successful.]
[Current Date: August 25, 2026.]
The old Do-jin would have nearly fainted in shock.
Or perhaps he would have been thrilled that he had awakened.
But the black eyes of the current Do-jin remained cold.
[Congratulations.]
[You have awakened as a Player.]
[Name: Lee Do-jin]
[Level: 1 (F)]
[Class: X]
[Title: Regressor]
[Strength: 5]
[Agility: 5]
[Mana: 5]
[Stamina: 5]
[Attribute: X]
[Unique Skill: <Death Energy (EX)>]
“...<Death Energy> remained?”
Why?
But Do-jin could not focus only on that.
There were more notification windows.
He calmly read the next ones.
[Incredible Achievement!]
[You are the first Player to regress.]
[A reward will be granted.]
[Would you like to check and receive it?]
[Yes / No]
“...”
Do-jin pressed [Yes] without hesitation.
[Reward Confirmed.]
[1. Additional Skill Slots x4]
[2. Quadruple Composite Attribute]
“That's pretty good.”
A smile appeared at the corner of Do-jin's lips.
It was closer to a cynical smirk, but it was definitely a smile.
There were four things important to Players.
Class.
Skills.
Items.
Attributes.
Among them, Skills followed one strict rule for every Player.
Each Player normally received only three Skill Slots.
Some lucky Players received extra Skill Slots as rewards, but there weren't many of them.
Attributes were even rarer than Skills.
Do-jin had never even heard of someone gaining an additional Attribute later.
Most Players are naturally born with only one Attribute.
This would clearly help him greatly even after he selected his Class.
So Do-jin immediately tried to choose one.
Then something unexpected happened.
“What's this?”
A glowing window appeared before him.
It was something that had never existed before his regression.
[Hidden Class Unlocked.]
[Would you like to check it?]
[Yes / No]
“A Hidden Class?”
Was it because he was a Regressor?
Or because his Skill had not disappeared?
Either way, there was one iron rule during the Great Transformation.
When a strange change appeared before your eyes, accept it first.
Thinking yourself in circles and doubting it would not make the window disappear.
The moment Do-jin selected [Yes], another window appeared.
[Hidden Class - Necromancer]
[To you who possess the fate of defying Heaven, the truth is hereby declared.]
[Do not deny your destiny.]
[Walk the path prepared for you.]
[The dead whose grudges remain unresolved will gladly become your army.]
[Those who die before you shall kneel before you regardless of race.]
[They shall become blades and shields that will never betray you.]
“...”
Necromancer.
Even Do-jin, who had experienced practically everything, had never imagined such an option.
“...Necromancer was a Class Players could actually choose?”
It was almost absurd.
If other Players saw him, they might immediately mistake him for a monster.
Before the regression, there had been monks, mages, spirit summoners, and tamers among the Players.
But there had never been a single Necromancer.
Necromancers had appeared only as monsters.
“...It must be because of <Death Energy>.”
Before the regression, Do-jin had been the only Player who possessed <Death Energy>.
If so, the System had probably detected it and offered him the Necromancer Class.
More importantly, Do-jin could not take his eyes off the wording in the Class description.
A personal army just for you.
Blades and shields that will never betray you.
Perhaps because of what had happened before his regression, Do-jin could not look away from those words.
“...”
Before the regression, most Players had been helpless against enemies that grew stronger and stronger.
Eventually, intelligent monsters began appearing.
At that point, Players themselves became prey.
Some Players tried to surrender to those intelligent monsters.
They infiltrated Player communities.
Assassinated promising talents.
Created division and conflict.
By the time the other Players finally discovered the traitors and eliminated them...
“...Those things appeared.”
The Players had already suffered devastating losses because of the betrayals.
They could only be pushed back helplessly.
And in the end, humanity walked the road toward destruction.
Those things.
The monsters.
Shapeless beings covered in countless eyes and mouths.
They were the decisive reason Do-jin needed to choose Necromancer.
Without <Death Energy (EX)>, the other Players had practically no way to kill those monsters.
Even Do-jin had obtained <Death Energy (EX)> only through a miraculous coincidence after repeatedly crossing the border between life and death.
Some Spirit Summoners and Golem Masters could share magic with their spirits or familiars.
And every Necromancer monster I encountered fought while commanding huge numbers of undead.
If that was true...
What if Lee Do-jin, the owner of <Death Energy (EX)>, became a Necromancer?
Could the undead army under his command also use <Death Energy (EX)>?
“If that's possible...!”
Then he would never be pushed back by the monsters appearing in the later stages of the real game.
“Good.”
Do-jin made his decision.
[You have selected the Hidden Class 'Necromancer'.]
[Would you like to proceed?]
[Yes / No]
His hand selected [Yes] without hesitation.
“...!”
At that moment...
Pitch-black darkness wrapped around Do-jin.
It seeped into his body.
And at the same time...
■■■■■■■■■■■■!
A strange sound that could not be expressed through human language echoed out.
Every person in the hillside neighborhood suddenly felt an inexplicable chill.
[Class: Necromancer]
[Attributes: Bone, Poison, Blood, Soul - Quadruple Composite Attribute]
[Basic Skill: Necromancy (E / Lv.1)]
[Active Type / All Attributes]
[Can turn small animals or monsters among the dead into minions.]
[Mana Cost: 5]
[Minion List: 0 / 5]
As soon as Do-jin finished selecting his Class, he stood.
“Shall we go make some minions first?”
His eyes now shone green.
Do-jin immediately left the one-room apartment.
“There used to be dead wild animals on the mountain behind this neighborhood from time to time.”
