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I sat on the bed and just looked at the floor.
That took a long time.
This time I clenched and unclenched my fist.
Repeat this several times.
It’s white. It’s clean. So it’s unfamiliar.
But this hand that moves according to its own will cannot possibly belong to someone else.
“Are you really back… …?”
When I say it out loud, this unrealistic situation feels a little more real.
I’m back.
Before getting hurt.
Before life fell apart as it could.
If so, there is only one answer.
You can’t waste an opportunity that comes like a miracle.
The next question is why, how, and for what reason this miracle occurred.
Fearing to accept reality, Dojin picked up his smartphone.
I had to figure out the situation I was in.
That way, I won’t waste the opportunity I’ve been given again.
‘The most important thing is the date.’
Since you’ve regressed to before the accident, you need to avoid traffic accidents first.
Dojin’s movements stopped as he checked his smartphone screen while thinking that.
‘… … ?’
This was because the date was three days after the day of the traffic accident.
‘It’s already passed… … ?’
Dojin moved his stiff head and looked at the bed.
Then, the memory of the day of the accident that I couldn’t shake off for even a moment came back to me.
Three days ago… no, that day. Dojin opened his eyes right in that bed and checked the time.
“Oh, you’re late!”
I realized I was late for my shift at work and left the house in a hurry.
I ran down the stairs as if I was flying and then arrived at the crosswalk.
The signal turned green as if it had been waiting.
I avoided the worst. I ran, smiling at the small stroke of luck that came my way.
There was a loud noise. KWANG. My consciousness flew away along with the feeling that I could hear the sound with my body.
And when I woke up, everything was already messed up.
It was such a horrific incident that just thinking about it makes me break out in a cold sweat and my breathing become ragged.
But that incident, that moment that threw his life into the abyss, has already passed.
Dojin absentmindedly checked the messages piled up on his smartphone.
[It’s way past shift change time. Where are you?]
The first message was from a former convenience store worker who worked in the morning.
Then, there were traces of Dojin being found in the convenience store owner, then in the cafe where he worked in the afternoon, and then in the capsule room where he worked only at night every other day.
Was I really this hard-working? Dojin muttered in frustration and dropped his hand.
And then he started laughing.
The laughter that started small gradually grew louder.
In the end, I hold my stomach and laugh with all my might.
It was a curse that had tormented him for 15 years.
A truly terrible curse that completely shattered, torn, and torn apart the life of a human named Dojin.
I wondered if such an incident could be brushed aside so easily.
I couldn’t help but laugh when I thought about how fate, so called, could change so quickly without any integrity.
So Dojin laughed with all his might for a long time.
Dojin let out a lot of laughter.
Despair, sadness, regret, resentment, joy… … so many things that have piled up over time.
* * *
I feel at ease because I poured out all my emotions.
Maybe that’s why my body, which had been starving for three days, complained of hunger.
It was funny to feel hungry in this situation, but I still felt like I would die if I didn’t eat, so I rummaged through the fridge.
But all we had was chicken breast, broccoli, and tomatoes.
Looking at the bleak interior of the refrigerator, Dojin remembered that he had worked three part-time jobs in the past and exercised in between.
“… I think it was better when I lived only on energy packs.”
Dojin, who was tired of the unfamiliarity of the situation, just took out some tomatoes and closed the refrigerator.
No matter how young and fresh my body was, I thought I would get sick if I put chicken breast in my stomach after starving for three days.
I guess I’ll have to boil it later or something.
‘I have to return the text first.’
While chewing on the tomato he took out, Dojin replied to the piled up messages one by one.
An apology for being absent for three days and an explanation that he would have to quit work due to urgent circumstances.
“An urgent matter is an urgent matter.”
Having come all the way back in time, it’s rare to find something worse than this.
Dojin, who had been grumbling about pointless thoughts, began to think about how he would live from now on.
No, before that. I looked back on what kind of person I was at the time of my regression.
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Now, after leaving the orphanage, Dojin is saving money by even reducing his sleeping hours.
The reason was to buy capsules.
No, to be exact, to live a better life.
Like everyone else, Dojin was thirsty for success.
It’s been like that since I was very young.
Maybe it was because I had nothing and no one to lean on.
But, apart from Dojin’s thirst, reality was harsh.
It is only natural that if you try hard and live similarly to others, you will end up with a higher probability of living a worse life than them if you start off without anything.
So Dojin gave up on entering the university he had finally been accepted to.
After reading an article about LOST, a virtual reality game that was said to have amassed hundreds of millions of users in just three months since its release, he decided to bet his future on it.
But the problem is.
‘He was just saving up money to buy capsules when he got hit by a car.’
The rest is a predictable story.
Despair came when he realized that his body was so thoroughly damaged that even prosthetic limbs and arms could not cover it, let alone rehabilitation.
I wasted more than two years of my life staring at the ceiling day and night, thinking that my life was over.
Then, before I die, I logged into LOST to relive the feeling of when I was walking normally for the last time… … .
When I came to my senses, I had already become a loser who had put everything in reality, including my settlement money, insurance money, and disability pension, into a game.
But it came back.
Before the misfortune began.
Now you have the opportunity to try anything.
Dojin was worried.
Let’s put aside the thoughts about how and why we regressed.
What matters is what you want to do for yourself.
How can I use my new life without regrets?
After much thought, Dojin’s conclusion was simple.
“Even though I came back, there was only one thing that came to mind.”
Everything you want to do and everything you are good at is LOST.
Even achieving the goal of a ‘successful life’ that I had been longing for seemed easiest to achieve through LOST.
I have little idea how the real world will function 15 years from now, but I have been gathering information about LOST to an obsessive degree.
In my previous life, I started three years after opening while lying in a hospital bed, but now it is also fortunate that it has only been five months since LOST started its service.
If you start under these conditions and fail, you’re clearly an idiot, and Dojin had no intention of living as an idiot this time.
Even with one more life, Dojin decides to head to LOST.
‘If we do that, the secret of regression will be naturally revealed.’
Let’s leave the problems that are unsolvable and for which there is virtually no way to solve them to the future.
If you go upwards in LOST, you will be able to solve the puzzle.
However… different from before.
Don’t do stupid things like ignoring reality and ruining yourself.
Let’s aim to live a wonderful life that we can be satisfied with.
It would be a shame to waste a miracle that has come at last.
Dojin looked at his white, clean hands quietly and made a promise.
* * *
Dojin looked at the capsules filling the one-room apartment with a moved expression.
Although it was a large, cheap model, it was the most precious thing to Dojin right now.
‘There’s no way something over 3,000 wouldn’t be precious.’
Even though I invested all of my assets, excluding the minimum living expenses, of 9 million won, I still had about 25 million won left to repay the lease including interest.
After deducting the cost of purchasing the LOST ticket, my bank account balance was only 240,000 won.
To this extent, it was not just a bold but a desperate investment.
However, Dojin wasn’t too worried even though he spent almost all the money he had.
For Dojin, who knows what will happen to LOST in the next 15 years, money is no longer an issue.
In my previous life, money was the standard and goal of success, but from now on, money was just a means to achieve fun, happiness, and convenience in life.
But for life to be fun, you need to have short-term, yet specific goals.
Aren’t vague ideas like a happy life, a successful life, and a fulfilling life too abstract?
What would be good?
Dojin thought seriously while preparing to connect to LOST.
But that worry was actually meaningless.
He was crazy about games so he didn’t really need any other goals.
“Since I’ve already started… I have to do it this time.”
Nothing really comes to mind other than standing at the top of LOST.
It’s so simple, I like it.
Crunch.
Dojin, lying in the capsule, closed his eyes.
At the same time.
[Welcome to LOST.]
A new world has opened up.
* * *
【The star of creation that illuminates Rostania is fading away.】
The prologue of LOST began with a woman’s voice filled with sadness.
A burning continent, black clouds, and a sky filled with red lightning.
The final moments of the world called Rostania unfolded before my eyes.
【Since the power of the Creation Star began to weaken, monsters have been born endlessly in Rostania. You are the only ones who can save us from those who continue to threaten us as if they are trying to carry out a predetermined destruction.】
A being from another world summoned to Rostania. That is, scenes of users swinging swords and magic to defeat monsters quickly passed by.
【You, adventure-loving warrior. If you hear the voice of Rostania, please respond. We invite you to Rostania, a land full of adventure. We will reward your devotion with thrilling adventures!】
Dojin thought as he listened to the desperate yet powerful voice of a woman.
‘Every time I see this, it looks like propaganda material being distributed to young people to enlist in the war zone.’
Actually, it wasn’t a wrong idea.
Because the power of the Creation City has weakened, we users are called in as adventurers to deal with the endless growth of monsters.
[Please set the appearance of the new body that the soul will reside in.]
Anyway, in exchange for watching the entire unskippable prologue, character creation became possible.
‘No change in appearance.’
Dojin set the appearance to be realistic without hesitation.
Dojin’s appearance, which resembled a mannequin made of white clay, changed into that of a tall, handsome young man with sharp eyes.
[Please set a name to use in Rostania.]
This time, there were no worries.
‘Dojin.’
This is because in my previous life, although my appearance was different, my name was the same as my real name.
With just two settings, you’re done with creating your LOST character, which only gives you one chance.
“I never thought I’d walk this road again.”
The path of light I walked in my past life.
The feeling of walking that road again, yes.
It felt like I was regressing again.
