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“Jae Heon, your expression isn’t so great.”

Yu Da On looked at me with concern.

“Well, that’s because I’m worried.”

The golden light that resembled a sunset, along with the melted people, lingered in my memory.

I couldn’t even grasp why those things happened, and even if they were to occur again, I couldn’t see a clear way to stop them.

However.

“That’s not what’s important right now.”

One step at a time, slowly, like climbing stairs.

If that’s the case, I would eventually reach my destination.

“Don’t worry too much!”

Yu Da On smiled softly at me.

“And the fact that it’s just the two of us means…”

Her smile deepened even more.

“…Da On.”

I opened my mouth before my strange thoughts could take over, but Yu Da On interrupted me.

“I suppose that means I need to die several times. It’s dangerous for the others.”

“…”

I was momentarily speechless at her unexpected words.

She was right.

To execute the plan we had just set, Yu Da On would need to make the greatest sacrifice.

So I had to get her agreement, or else I would have to resort to Plan B I had thought up.

And Yu Da On’s smile deepened as she looked at me.

I found myself unable to meet her gaze, recalling how she had melted away.

“That’s right?”

She looked at me, still with a smile on her face.

“…That’s correct.”

“I see.”

“If you feel uncomfortable, Da On…”

“No.”

Before I even finished speaking, Yu Da On shook her head.

“I—”

Her smile was,

“That would be just perfect.”

It was undoubtedly similar to the smile I had seen before, yet remarkably different.

*

“In the end, it’s just the two of us who will stop that person, right?”

“That’s right.”

After obtaining permission from the Branch Chief, Yu Da On and I stood in the Branch Chief’s Office.

“So what about Chae Yeon and A-Rin?”

“The two of them have their own separate tasks.”

I recalled the snowy day.

Events that began to unfold as if promised, and the incidents that followed.

“We’ll stop it first.”

While the wedge takes place, Song A-Rin and Aileen head to the Gangdong Branch and subdue the fish.

Lastly, the Branch Chief and Jang Chae Yeon will hold back the dark clouds.

In the meantime, we will take him down.

“But will that really work?”

Yu Da On murmured, looking anxious.

“If it gets blocked too easily, he might not act at all…”

“That could happen.”

“What do we do then?”

“Well, that’s fine.”

“Huh?”

Yu Da On stared at me in confusion.

“Buying time is a good thing.”

“But…”

“However, that won’t happen.”

This felt like a declaration of war against the Reincarnator.

I know what you did, and I can block your plans at the right moment.

“How terrifying would that be?”

The source of fear comes from the unknown and the unexpected.

The fear of something lurking in that darkness hurting me, and the fear when a seemingly harmless being suddenly turns to kill me.

For him, the situation unfolding right now meets both of those fears.

Fear limits a person’s choices completely.

He might either step back and ponder future plans or decisively implement his own plans.

“But he won’t run away.”

The battle among Reincarnators is like an infinite game where each knows the other’s next move.

If someone emerges with a perfect grasp of the future they’ve drawn, what would they do?

If they realize they’re not the only one who can know the future and act, what will happen then?

“He’ll try to resolve it before he gets used to it.”

In a game that infinitely grows stronger, the easiest way to defeat your opponent is to strike when they’re still inexperienced.

“So he’ll try to eliminate this variable at all costs.”

The advantage of reincarnation lies in overwhelming information warfare.

This means that if there are mistakes in the information, the meaning of the reincarnation is lost.

“Then…”

“Yes, we just need to wait for the one coming here.”

“But how will that person know it’s us?”

“That’s why I sent Chae Yeon and A-Rin.”

The HR team members who appear skillfully, as if they know everything and solve the incidents.

It’s a declaration of war.

I’ve seen the future and I’m challenging you to come fight me.

“And Da On, you’re my bodyguard.”

“Ah!”

Yu Da On nodded as if she understood.

“So I…”

“It might get a bit painful from here.”

Should I really be asking Yu Da On for this?

I pondered while looking at her, and upon seeing my expression, she shook her head.

“It’s okay.”

“Da On.”

“…It’s what I’m best at.”

Yu Da On murmured, smiling as she raised her arms.

“So leave it to me!”

“…Understood.”

I took a deep breath and began explaining to Yu Da On.

“You won’t be able to defeat that man, no matter what.”

“…”

My opponent holds the answer to combat. No matter how immortal Yu Da On might be, he will take her down countless times.

“But, even if you can’t win, you can kill him.”

Their battle will be a bloody one.

He returns to the past using his future self as a sacrifice.

And Yu Da On uses her present self as a sacrifice to try again and again.

“It’ll be a tough task, but what you have to do is to kill him as many times as possible.”

“Can I… really kill him?”

“To be precise, a different Da On kills him.”

The current Yu Da On will only keep facing defeat.

But the Yu Da On of the past surely caught him off guard and defeated him.

“The reason for doing this…”

“Ah. You know it without me saying.”

Yu Da On smiled as she looked at me.

“I know exactly what that feeling is.”

“…Understood.”

I nodded slowly.

“Then, will Jae Heon be hiding?”

“Well, rather than hiding, I’ll need to prepare for the next phase.”

“Oh, do you not need me?”

“I do need you, but…”

By the time he came over, he would definitely have incapacitated Yu Da On in some manner.

“I think that should be the right time.”

Just like always, I’m the one who just swoops in for the finishing blow.

“Got it.”

Yu Da On nodded.

“Well, then…”

“Yes, see you later.”

Yu Da On went up the stairs, leaving me alone in the cold basement.

-Swish!

I opened the manual.

[Manual for Office Staff]

PO – Containment Objects

1. A containment object refers mainly to beings that fall outside the bounds of human common sense.

2. This encompasses various laws, including scientific reasoning, and indicates a scale of how far it deviates from common sense rather than the presence of danger.

3. As a result…

Time fades away.

*

“…”

Yu Da On sat alone in the Branch Chief’s Office chair.

Will he really come here?

No, let’s not doubt it.

With my eyes closed and sniffing, a familiar scent tickled her nostrils.

The scent of cheap perfume.

No, it’s an old perfume.

She didn’t wear makeup during her time in the hospital.

Thanks to that, the hospital room she was in was unsanitary, and many people frequently visited her beside or underneath.

Of course, none of them had stayed longer than she had.

As a result, she met many people, allowing Yu Da On to judge them by their scents.

And this scent…

“It’s the scent of grandma’s perfume.”

Yu Da On mumbled to herself, beginning to look around.

The Branch Chief.

He was someone with whom she had little connection.

But he was connected to that man.

-Swoosh…

Before long, it started to rain outside.

And there were sounds of something colliding, noisy sounds.

But none of that mattered to Yu Da On.

As she swayed to the background sound of breaking, she stared at the door.

-Creeeak…

The door opened, and a man appeared.

The man she had seen on the bus.

He looked tired, with a faint impression.

-Bang!

Before Yu Da On could even reach out, a sharp pain struck her forehead, causing her head to jolt back.

‘Da On will keep losing.’

The man’s words automatically replayed in her mind.

So that’s what it meant.

As she understood the man’s words, she kicked her chair, rolling her body at the same time,

-Bang!

“Agh…”

A bullet lodged into her thigh.

Unfazed, she stood up, grabbing a pick.

-Thud!

As something came crashing in, she was knocked back, embedding her into the wall.

Variable.

As her bones realigned inside her body, a sound echoed that shouldn’t originate from the human form, but she disregarded it, picking up the pick and charging forward.

The reason for this.

‘Fear.’

Swiping the pick at the man, Yu Da On observed his expression.

With a minimum amount of maneuvering, he evaded her attacks, locking eyes with her.

No words were exchanged.

But she understood.

Death comes with pain.

Especially, death from injury is even more so.

Though time makes one numb to pain, the pain leading to death is not easily dulled.

That’s what she, who had died more than anyone else, knew well.

-Swish!

Yu Da On kept swinging the pick, while the man dodged, continually piercing her body with bullets or knives.

When the tendons in her arm snapped, she used her legs. When the Achilles tendon tore, she crawled and stabbed his foot with the pick.

At this rate, she must’ve died at least 40 times.

Frowning in pain, she zoned out in thought.

But she understood.

This is a war of attrition.

A war of mental endurance.

That man must have spoken to her with that meaning in mind.

Many deaths tend to wear a person down.

And what she had to give him was.

“The same thing happened during the Dream of the Butterfly; truly relentless…!”

The man shuddered and yelled out.

His voice contained annoyance and a hint of fear.

“Hey.”

In disregard, the man shoved a bullet into Yu Da On’s forehead.

Her head jerked back before snapping straight again, and he asked,

“How many times have you died?”

“Shut up.”

Hearing those words, a bright smile spread across Yu Da On’s face, while the man’s expression darkened.

*

[Manual for Office Staff]

[KL – The relationship between mental state and abilities]

Thud, I closed the manual with a snap.

“You remember.”

The manual said nothing in reply.

“Fine. What’s the point of saying it? Next time, if you pull this again, I’ll really toss you in the water.”

I glared upward, a blend of reprimand and frustration in my expression.

-Clack.

As always, I drew my pistol and began preparing.

There’s a lot to figure out.

Numerous organizations and the golden light that had fallen from the sky.

Not once did I think about giving up.