After erasing the Dimensional Inhabitant who’d caused such a massive accident, the Watcher was about to leave when a red light caught his eye.
He turned to see a warning window pop up on the screen.
On it was grim news: an important figure responsible for the dimension’s safety had died.
“Ah.”
The Watcher placed both hands on the screen and bowed his head low, a heavy sigh escaping his lips.
‘Focusing too much on punishment, I neglected the dimension.’
All status windows appeared before Dimensional Inhabitants only under the Administrator’s command. So, from the moment he’d entered this place, the status window hadn’t shown up.
He hadn’t given the Administrator any time to work, busy holding her and lecturing her about her mistakes.
“Hmm…….”
A deep wrinkle formed between the Watcher’s brows. He was undeniably responsible for the death of such an important figure.
He racked his brains, burdened by the responsibility to fix the situation. The right timing to use the resurrection skill had already passed.
But even with his authority, he couldn’t just bring back someone who’d died so suddenly.
If they’d been revived right after dying, it could have passed smoothly with the resurrection skill. But since some time had already passed, suddenly bringing the person back would only create massive chaos.
It wasn’t enough that their identity as an outsider to the dimension had been revealed—if someone confirmed dead suddenly came back to life, how would people react?
‘Humans tend to fear the unknown. Anyone with powers so out of the ordinary would be shunned.’
The Watcher pressed his forehead as if he had a headache.
If only he could rewind time as if nothing had happened, or reset everything with a Restoration Reward and manipulate people’s memories—then maybe.
No other solution came to mind for fixing this mess.
“So, I just need to turn back time, right?”
He muttered the first solution that came to mind and reached his hand toward the screen.
But as his hand hovered over the screen, his expression turned irritated and he clenched his fist.
‘Time’s already been turned back once.’
He remembered that the Administrator who had been erased had already reversed time before. The dimension’s timeline couldn’t be recklessly rewound whenever one wished.
It was something to be done with the utmost caution, and only once.
The Administrator must have turned back time because Danaa, whom she’d been watching with interest, was about to return to her original dimension—and she’d wanted to stop that.
She’d probably left one person’s memory intact, too, to provide a hint about the future.
“Really, what a pain until the end.”
He had no choice but to use the second method.
It was much more troublesome and tedious than simply rewinding time.
But what else could he do? He was also responsible for the death of an important figure in the dimension, so, bothersome as it was, he had to solve it.
The Watcher stared into the screen where the red warning window had appeared, among countless other screens.
He settled in for what was sure to be a long and dull process.
First, he decided to erase all the monumental events that had occurred in such a short time, as if they never happened.
That meant manipulating the memories of all the Dimensional Inhabitants.
As if the Gate had never opened, and peaceful daily life had continued as before.
But there was a problem.
He couldn’t tamper with the memories of the humans who had crossed between dimensions.
“Well, it can’t be helped. There are only two of them, after all.”
Besides, since they were the main parties involved, it wouldn’t be a huge problem if they retained their memories.
After wrapping up one side of things, he turned his eyes to the next screen. He could see the chaos in the dimension after the number one-ranked Awakened went missing.
“Hm, this one’s impossible to fix.”
Because Danaa’s body remained intact, he could make it seem as if nothing had happened and bring her back to life. But the other Danaa, who had become a monster as a dimensional intruder, vanished naturally when the S-Rank Gate disappeared.
There was no way to bring her back after she was gone.
‘That’s unfortunate.’
But it couldn’t be helped.
Besides, the Administrator had definitely warned her when she crossed dimensions, and she hadn’t stopped even after hearing she’d turn into a monster.
So she bore some responsibility as well.
‘Well, this should be enough for the New Administrator to take over without trouble.’
Having finished everything, he left the Administrator’s Room without regret.
Click—the door closed, and the screen displayed a peaceful school scene.
After the CSAT ended, a loud commotion broke out in the 3rd-year classroom of Gamsung High, where everyone was watching a movie instead of taking classes.
“Danaa!”
With a loud crash, Ban Eunhyeol knocked over his chair, his eyes wide as he looked around.
Danaa had clearly died after a fierce battle.
He’d been carrying her out of Seoul Forest on the way to the hospital.
So why was he at school now?
All eyes in the class turned toward the source of the disturbance in the midst of quietly watching the movie. Ban Eunhyeol, completely flustered, looked beside him.
Danaa, whose body had been cold as ice, was now next to him with a bewildered expression, checking herself all over.
Tears welled up in Ban Eunhyeol’s eyes and rolled down his cheeks.
“Hey, are you crying……?”
From behind, Yeon Hayeon dropped her mechanical pencil and spoke in a dumbfounded tone.
On the monitor at the front of the classroom, a popular movie known for its signature B-grade sensibility and fun—one that had attracted ten million viewers—was playing.
There was nothing at all sad in the movie, so seeing Ban Eunhyeol in tears shocked his classmates.
“Did something happen?”
Eun Bada asked anxiously, grabbing Ban Eunhyeol’s arm.
Even Ji Ganghan, who had been dozing off, and Han Jibin, who had been engrossed in the movie, turned around with puzzled faces to look up at Ban Eunhyeol.
“What is………… all this?”
He had no idea what was going on. Just moments ago, he’d been walking through a ruined city.
Now Danaa was perfectly fine, and the school was utterly peaceful.
The neighborhood visible through the window was as undamaged and unbroken as before the S-Rank Gate had ever appeared.
‘Was I dreaming?’
No, it definitely wasn’t a dream.
He wasn’t so much of a fool as to be unable to tell the difference.
“Where are you going?!”
Ban Eunhyeol grabbed Danaa’s hand and rushed out of the classroom. Voices calling after him echoed behind, but he didn’t have the mind to care about any of that.
He kept checking Danaa’s face over and over as they made their way up to the roof, unable to calm down.
Click—he opened the rooftop door, and, worried someone might follow, he locked it behind them.
He let go of Danaa’s hand and gently placed both hands on her shoulders. Danaa, who had been absentmindedly touching and pinching her cheek since earlier, was acting oddly.
Seeing this, Ban Eunhyeol became certain.
Danaa must have gone through the same experiences he did and retained the memories.
He hesitated, searching for the right words to say.
He kept trying to start but couldn’t bring himself to speak, finally just pulling Danaa into a hug.
“Thank you for being alive…….”
Feeling Danaa’s warm body in his arms, tears welled up again.
Just then, Danaa asked in a dazed voice,
“How am I alive? No, more importantly, what’s going on right now?”
The two of them sat on the desk and chair left on the rooftop, trying to piece together what had happened.
Relieved that Danaa was alive, Ban Eunhyeol focused more on hugging her than talking, but Danaa tried to calmly retrace her memories and figure things out.
“Did you see the others’ reactions earlier?”
“I did.”
“They all seem to remember nothing, right? Even the S-Rank Gate seems like it never happened.”
Danaa scrolled through the latest news articles on her phone. The last article mentioning the opening of a Gate was from several months ago.
“Is this the quest completion reward, maybe? The Restoration Reward?”
“That seems likely. I didn’t expect the Restoration Reward to work like this, though.”
“They even erased memories… But why are we the only ones who remember?”
Ban Eunhyeol checked Danaa’s back several times before replying.
“Well, it makes sense for you since you saved the dimension, but I don’t know about me. Maybe you need someone to remember with you?”
“Hmm, well. I like it, though.”
Resting her chin in her hand, Danaa tilted her head and, glancing to the side, stroked her back.
“Is it because you were stabbed? Don’t worry, see? I’m perfectly fine.”
As Danaa laughed and spoke, Ban Eunhyeol gazed at her for a moment, then hugged her again.
“I really thought I’d have to hold your funeral………….”
“I thought I was definitely dead, too. I tried to use the resurrection skill, but the status window wouldn’t show up.”
“So you came back to life without the resurrection skill?”
“Seems like it. I don’t know. Maybe I just can’t remember.”
Danaa shrugged, deliberately brightening her tone.
The two of them talked for a long time about the things only they could remember, not leaving the rooftop, their hands tightly clasped.
Even when their palms got a little sweaty, they kept their fingers interlaced as they continued to talk.
On the way home after school.
I passed through the school gate across the bustling field, looking around at the perfectly peaceful surroundings.
‘Thank goodness.’
All those deaths and injuries, the horrible experiences that could have left everyone traumatized, even my secret being discovered—everything had been erased.
‘So Iedanaa must not remember any of this, either?’
Suddenly, I recalled the last image of Iedanaa. It wasn’t a memory I wanted to keep, but it had seared itself into my mind—I’d probably never forget.
‘I kind of hope she remembers, though.’
At least she’d live with some guilt. If she had a conscience, anyway.
I walked home through the peaceful neighborhood, as if the Gate had never appeared.
‘Thank goodness my parents don’t remember, either.’
If my secret as a possessor had been revealed and my parents’ memories weren’t erased… just thinking about it was terrifying.
“I’m home!”
I stepped into the entryway, purposely greeting in a bright voice.