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Chapter 30
The world’s fate could now be measured in numbers—thanks to the strange artifact known as the Fate Score.
On its wooden surface, glowing digits shone bright orange, like those of a nixie tube. And at that moment, they plummeted sharply into the negatives.
【-1,478】
Damn it… what’s going on? Why did it drop so much more than before?
Jang Sunam frowned deeply, his eyes fixed on the shifting numbers.
【-1,482】
【-1,499】
The score continued to fall, bit by bit.
Whatever the cause, it was still unfolding—something massive, something disastrous, still ongoing in the present.
“Khuk… khuhuhu…! Cough! Cough!”
Hong Taegyun laughed through bloody coughs. He clearly knew something.
“Judging by your face… another plan must have gone off without a hitch.”
Blood dripped from the corner of his mouth as he grinned.
“…That plan you’re talking about—what is it?”
“Heh… I don’t know the details. It wasn’t the White Authority itself, but one of its sub-organizations. I only overheard a project name…”
CRACK!
“Guaaahhh!!”
Sunam’s spear-axe drove through the man’s thigh.
“Talk. If you want to live, tell me everything.”
“…If I want to live?”
Hong Taegyun chuckled darkly.
“Kahaha! You lie so smoothly! Don’t act like you were ever going to spare me. I can see it in your eyes—you never intended to let me live!”
He laughed madly, almost unhinged.
“You think yourself righteous, killing in the name of justice… but all of it is meaningless! You are nothing but a puppet thrashing in the grasp of the Great Evil God!”
“…And why do you believe that?”
“Because the Evil God is great! To ask for reasons is itself blasphemy!”
His answer was hollow. Blind, fanatical faith—it was just like staring at a cultist.
So this is what brainwashing looks like.
Unlike Pi Gwangseok, who hadn’t been indoctrinated, Hong was a zealot to the core. That was the difference.
“…Enough. Just tell me the project name.”
“Heh… You won’t be able to do a damn thing about it, but I’ll indulge you.”
His complexion grew worse as he forced the words out.
“Project… Ironspell.”
“…!!”
“You will never overcome—”
SHRRK!
His words ended with a wet sound.
Sunam swung, severing his neck with a clean strike. The head rolled across the ground, not disappearing—proving it had been his final life.
Project Ironspell…
The name echoed in Sunam’s mind, heavy and grim. He remembered it.
During his third regression, there had been a terrorist attack by an unknown group.
Through a specially crafted artifact, a curse was unleashed across a two-kilometer radius. Everyone within—tens of thousands—was turned to living metal, sealed in place like statues.
Damn it.
Back then, it had taken humanity fifteen long years to break that curse.
But why… why has it begun so early this time?
In the third cycle, the incident hadn’t occurred until five years after the first trial. Now, it had erupted after just 114 days.
So the so-called “Seeds of the Evil God” were behind that cold case too…
If so, then many of the other mysterious tragedies of that timeline must also have been their doing.
“Mini-Ha’il. Open a portal to the base camp.”
“…I cannot.”
“…What?”
Sunam whipped his head toward the tiny construct, startled.
“…Explain.”
“All communication with the Mini-Ha’il stationed at base camp has been severed.”
Damn it!!
A sharp chill ran down his spine.
“Then open the nearest portal.”
“Connecting to Mini-Ha’il at Seodaejeon Station intersection.”
The portal shimmered into existence. Sunam stepped through immediately.
…Better leave some food for that one, at least.
He turned back briefly, tossing a bundle of rations into the prison where Pi Gwangseok was locked.
“Jelly. Dispose of the corpse.”
“Got it, nya.”
Jelly’s shadow stretched, swallowing Hong Taegyun’s body into darkness. Then, together, they stepped through the portal—
—And froze.
“What… the hell, nya…?”
The sight was staggering. The large mart near the intersection marked the boundary. Beyond it, every tree lining the streets had turned to solid metal.
Not only that—the monsters and hunters caught within had also become lifeless statues of steel.
“Tch.”
Sunam grimaced and broke into a run.
“Wait, wait for me, nya!”
After ten relentless minutes of sprinting, they reached Eunhaeng-dong’s Culture Street.
Climbing the overhead Sky Road, Sunam’s worst fears were confirmed—an entire district frozen, people transformed into metallic husks mid-stride, as if time itself had stopped.
…All of them, caught.
At last, he arrived at his base.
Every NPC of the Lainsis Guild—figures he’d seen countless times—stood there, transformed, their bodies gleaming with cold metal.
“……”
His fists tightened, teeth gritting audibly.
Once again, the Seeds of the Evil God had struck, blocking his path forward.
The Lainsis Guild… all lost, just like that…
Not dead—no, the metallization was a sealing curse. With the right artifact, they could be freed.
But with tens of thousands frozen across a two-kilometer radius, lifting it one by one was almost impossible. The items required were rare, prohibitively so.
That was why, in his third cycle, it had taken fifteen years to resolve.
Quietly, Sunam pulled out the Fate Score once more, rubbing its surface. The numbers updated.
【-1,521】
Still falling.
And the reason was obvious.
“H-Honey!!”
“What’s happening?! What’s going on?!”
Those outside the cursed zone, spared by chance, were now in despair—watching family and friends petrify before their eyes. That despair bled chaos into the world, dragging the score further down.
This isn’t good.
Left unchecked, the score would plummet into irrecoverable territory. The world would edge closer to a Bad Ending.
I have to resolve this fast.
There was a way.
In the third cycle, after the curse had finally been broken, humanity had discovered a countermeasure through sheer desperation: a rare reward known as the Liberation Ring.
The catch?
Only five people in thirty years had ever succeeded in earning it.
It lay beyond one of the most notorious dungeons of all—the gate called Abyssal Defense.
Sunam himself had only cleared it once, after nine grueling attempts. The place was brutally unforgiving.
But there was no choice.
If he wanted to free the Lainsis Guild and the countless innocents, he needed the Liberation Ring.
But this time… there’s another problem. The Abyssal Defense gate requires a five-man party to enter.
Counting Jelly and Mini-Ha’il, that left them two short. And everyone else Sunam trusted had been turned to metal.
As he pondered whom to recruit, voices called out:
“Mr. Sunam!! You’re safe!”
“Thank goodness!”
From the opposite street came Aria, the twin maids, Domael the elf, and Ha’il—rushing toward him in relief.
“You—! You avoided the curse?!”
Sunam looked around, but saw no others.
“…Where are the rest?”
“…It’s just us. Everyone else… they were taken.”
“The metallization curse… I never thought I’d see it again, in this world…”
Aria held up her hand. On it gleamed a ring—clearly a powerful artifact from her own world.
“This ring grants resistance to curses. The five of us were drinking tea outside when it happened, so we were spared.”
“…But the others weren’t.”
Their faces fell.
“If it were just our guild members, perhaps we could lift it within a year. But to free everyone…?”
“Without resources from a higher zone, it would take decades…”
“…No. Three months. I’ll solve it within three months.”
All eyes turned to Sunam.
“Is there a way? Tell us what we can do—we’ll help!”
“Anything at all—just say the word!”
“I’ll give everything I have!”
“Please, let us fight by your side!”
Their determination was clear. With them, the five-man requirement was more than satisfied.
“You’ve all entered gates before?”
They nodded firmly. Though doomed in their original timelines, each of them had been a hunter once. They knew combat.
“Good. We’re heading into the Abyssal Defense gate. If we clear it, we’ll earn the Liberation Ring.”
“The Liberation Ring!!”
“With that… we can save everyone!”
They knew it by name, and their eyes lit with hope.
“Make no mistake—it will be brutal. I can’t promise survival. If any of you want to step back, do it now.”
“…No. I’ll go.”
Aria was the first to step forward, resolute.
“A nation is nothing without its people. As the representative of the Lainsis Guild, I will never abandon my people.”
The twins, Rina and Risa, and the elf Domael stepped forward too, nodding firmly.
“The Princess speaks for us all!”
“We’re ready to die if need be!”
“If this body can save even one more life, I’ll offer it gladly.”
Hearing their resolve, Sunam’s grim expression softened into approval.
“Excellent. Then prepare yourselves. You’ll need sturdy packs and proper gear—large ones. In the gate, inventories are sealed.”
“““Yes!!”””
“We depart in three days. Two to prepare, one to rest. On the third day, we enter the gate.”
