As I tried as many variables as possible, I secured a few efficient routines.
Originally, I only had two Skills. Mimic, which copied other people’s Skills, and a Skill that incited people. However, after my very first death, the text appearing before my eyes granted me a “privilege.”
2. Provision of necessary Skills
A Skill I needed?
I was never particularly attached to fixed Skills anyway. B-rank Hunters were usually the level that actively cleared Gates, but I had never entered Gates that often to begin with.
It was only natural. I had no interest whatsoever in the byproducts that came out of Gates or the fame one could gain through them.
Even so, the reason I participated in Gate clears was simple: it was more entertaining that way. The distant terror stimulating my survival instincts, the dopamine and adrenaline naturally surging and forcing me to feel alive—only the catharsis of those moments had ever truly interested me.
That was why I had never been dissatisfied with my Skill. An ability that could be copied once whenever necessary, then replaced with something entirely new the next time, was naturally difficult to grow tired of.
But not anymore.
If I wanted to avoid wasting meaningless grace periods, it was far more efficient to stay alive somehow. I needed fixed Skills.
And the customized Skill provided to me was not some ordinary Skill... it was something truly “tailored” to me.
You have been granted the Usurper trait.
Copy and use the Skills you desire.
It was no different from the Mimic Skill I originally possessed.
Except for the fact that it activated only after killing someone.
The first Skills I laid my hands on came from a Special Response Team Hunter who entered the Dungeon that erupted immediately after each restart. Since I had already thrown myself into high-rank Dungeons repeatedly, by the time I arrived their death was already guaranteed.
An A-rank Hunter possessed a fairly decent Skill. I killed the bastard without hesitation and usurped it.
By the time repeated restarts made the process second nature, it no longer even felt like I was taking someone else’s ability.
After all, it had already been mine in previous timelines anyway, so why should I care?
Still, exceptions existed in everything.
To create variables, I tried several different things.
Among them, the timeline I remembered most clearly was the one where I merged with a beast.
Back then, when my body unintentionally fused with the beast brought from the ice cave, I could not help but laugh at the dopamine rush brought on by both the unfamiliar sensation and the unexpected variable. It was the first straightforward excitement I had felt in a long time.
At the time, faced with a truly unforeseen situation for the first time in ages, I had actually felt a little anticipation.
That perhaps this timeline alone would become a very special exception.
And if I used this properly... perhaps this time would not be deleted. Perhaps I could fill all plausibility for destruction and move on to whatever came next.
Of course, I still had no idea what “next” even was....
But unlike my expectations, that timeline ended after reaching only 53% plausibility. I cleaned up Kwon Taehan’s corpse with one hand and waited for the world to end once again.
After that, I never merged with a beast again.
The boring daily life continued several more times.
And while living through that dull routine, I adapted to it surprisingly well. The tedious life I had wanted. A quiet, uninteresting life without major variables.
My goal was also perfectly clear.
I would see what Kwon Taehan became after all plausibility had been filled.
If this truly was God’s intention, then I would personally witness Kwon Taehan overcoming everything and advancing beyond it all.
At the same time, however, it also meant I had begun wishing for the end of Kwon Taehan’s life.
Wasn’t a world that ended the moment Kwon Taehan died fundamentally absurd? I truly wanted to kill him.
I was sick of Kwon Taehan dying, everything being deleted, and even traces of my previous actions disappearing entirely. I wanted to bring an end to his true timeline.
Then what would count as undeniable proof that Kwon Taehan had truly died?
I established three conditions for that.
First, the number attached to the ever-present “0th round” would increase.
Second, if the timeline was not deleted and the world continued after his death, that too could be considered proof.
And finally, if I became capable of “usurping” Kwon Taehan’s Skill, that would also serve as evidence of his death.
Because usurpation was only possible after death.
Yet despite setting such goals, my pursuit of them never became particularly intense.
Strong emotions faded quickly, more than anything else. And endlessly repeating uncertain timelines for the sake of a single objective was even more tedious than I had expected.
Still, it was not necessarily bad.
Strangely enough, sometimes repeating this sort of apathy over and over again... simply felt fine.
After all, something like this was not enough to drive me insane.
The timelines piled up.
The current timeline has been deleted <700> times.
The current timeline has been deleted <788> times.
The current timeline has been deleted <831> times.
There were memorable timelines.
Rather than growing close to Kwon Taehan, I had intended from the very beginning to build a hostile relationship with him instead.
But just like always, I ended up drawing close to him out of sheer habit.
When the timeline drifted away from my expectations, I considered killing Kwon Taehan, but chose a simpler method instead. Since I could not perceive the grace period anyway, I planned to kill myself.
And that day’s plan was completely ruined because of Kwon Taehan.
Unluckily, he discovered me right before my suicide attempt and acted like an absolute fucking lunatic.
After I somehow wrapped up the situation, Kwon Taehan unexpectedly left me first. Had my sudden suicide stunt horrified him that much? Either way, it worked out well for me. If we split apart like this, it aligned perfectly with my original intentions.
In that timeline, I succeeded in filling plausibility to 98%.
After a massive S-rank Dungeon, most Hunters died, and I prevented the remaining S-rank Dungeons from being cleared, triggering Dungeon Breaks instead.
Eventually, Kwon Taehan realized I was the mastermind.
What was the remaining 2% of plausibility?
If Kwon Taehan cleared these damned S-rank Dungeons, would that count as saving the world from destruction?
But destruction was never something clearly defined.
Then how was the remaining percentage supposed to be filled?
Inside the Dungeon, Kwon Taehan witnessed me killing one of his companions and completely lost control.
It was the first time I had ever seen that level of furious rage from him.
Kwon Taehan grabbed me by the collar, then released me once before I realized half my body was engulfed in flames.
But honestly, the pain of my flesh burning was insignificant.
Because of the Status Window I saw while Kwon Taehan, consumed by fury, violently wrapped his hand around my throat.
Destruction is approaching.
Please discover compelling plausibility for destruction!
Plausibility for destruction...... 99%
So the one responsible for filling the remaining plausibility was not me....
Then the “destruction” Kwon Taehan had to overcome was—
“Ah.... This is interesting?”
In the end, the “afterward” Kwon Taehan would eventually reach was something I had never been meant to witness from the start.
When I realized that, had I been angry?
No.
But even then, Kwon Taehan still failed to kill me in the end.
His hands trembling violently, the bastard eventually broke down sobbing and begged me.
I quietly stared into empty space before ultimately choosing to restart again.
I had planned to restart anyway.
The current timeline has been deleted <888> times.
So the trial arranged by God was merely to kill me—the “destruction” that perfectly filled plausibility?
In a way, that was an incredibly generous evaluation of me.
As I looked at the familiar text, a brief thrill shot through me. The impulses and desires hidden deep inside me for so long awakened again for the first time in ages.
Yeah, God’s intention....
If the world God created amounted to nothing more than this, then perhaps God deserved to experience true “failure” at least once.
But how?
The current timeline has been deleted <896> times.
How could the God that created all of this possibly fail?
The current timeline has been deleted <912> times.
Did God’s intentions contain a blind spot? No—even if one existed, would I even be capable of noticing it?
The current timeline has been deleted <958> times.
A warm welcome to the beginning of ‘Seo Jehyun’!
“Ah, fuck. Seriously, this fucking bullshit....”
Repeating the exact same goddamn beginning over and over again, I finally established a perfectly clear goal.
I would truly destroy this world.
If the thing Kwon Taehan had to overcome was vaguely called “destruction”... then I would create a genuine “destruction” that Kwon Taehan could never overcome.
I would crush Kwon Taehan’s most fundamental goal itself and create a world where he failed to save it from destruction.
I would create Kwon Taehan’s “failure,” and after the world was destroyed....
Rather than killing him, I needed him to remain alive even after all of it.
I needed a Kwon Taehan who lived very well within a ruined world.
The current timeline has been deleted <966> times.
No more variables were necessary.
The current timeline has been deleted <979> times.
I would control every controllable variable and completely shatter Kwon Taehan’s will to save the world.
The current timeline has been deleted <998> times.
And that was how I arrived here.
Through incredibly subtle differences, the world became engulfed in Dungeon Breaks.
Removing key S-rank personnel was usually an extremely troublesome task, but given enough time, it was entirely possible.
I knew every single one of their weaknesses.
For those who valued family, I eliminated their families first.
For those who valued themselves, I destroyed their mana.
For those with a sense of duty, I gifted them catastrophic failures that shattered them.
And some I simply killed outright.
Officially, they were first reported as “missing,” but everyone already knew that was not the truth.
While I remained away from home carrying out all of this, Kwon Taehan, sinking into despair on his own, gradually neglected Dungeon clears, and in the end missed the golden time window for clearing this S-rank Dungeon as well.
Destruction occurred because of an incredibly minor error.
Just because of something so trivial....
Destruction is approaching.
Please discover compelling plausibility for destruction!
Plausibility for destruction...... 99%
There were two °• N 𝑜 v 𝑒 l i g h t •° things important to Kwon Taehan.
One was his conviction that he could save the world.
The other was me.
They could not coexist, but he could lose both.
“Taehan.”
Kwon Taehan slowly turned back toward me.
As I looked at the despair filling his face, I felt an extremely faint sense of ecstasy.
But even that feeling lacked true intensity.
Stretching a hand toward him, I asked softly,
“Should we just stop here...?”
Far away in the distance, Selene radiated an overwhelming presence that truly resembled a god.
No, from a mythological perspective, it probably really was one.
I stared directly at Selene while wrapping an arm around Kwon Taehan’s shoulders.
Then naturally lowering my hand further, I pulled him into an embrace from behind, my lips brushing against his ear.
The number displayed on the massive warning window floating in the air flickered.
99%.
The incomplete 1% that still remained....
Smiling faintly, I whispered into his ear.
“Go home, Taehan.”
At that moment, the text displayed before us changed.