“No, Seo U-jin-ssi. If you had a plan, you should have told me beforehand. You have to consider the Raid Manager's position too.”
“I suppose so.”
“Even if you’re the team leader, people are bound to worry if you just stand there spacing out. We were already short on personnel for this Goblin Village raid, so your role was significant, and for you to just……”
“Yeah, yeah.”
“I mean……”
November 3rd, 2021.
One day before the Stairway Transcendence.
In other words, the final day of the Goblin Village raid, located on the slopes of Geomdeok Mountain, South Hamgyong Province.
It seemed I had somehow managed to achieve my goal of regressing to a point before the <Stairway Transcendence>.
…It was a bit disappointing that I only had a day to spare, though.
Still, you could call it a success.
‘I wanted to rest a bit when I got back… but it looks like there’s no time.’
“Are you even listening to me?”
“Yeah, yeah… Huh?”
“Hah… There’s no point in talking about it now that it’s over, but… you’re a veteran. You haven’t been doing this for just a year or two; you’re a 5th-year Hunter. Why are you acting like this? You, of all people, know best that one wrong move can get people killed in this line of work.”
I must have looked truly precarious, as the Raid Manager kept nagging me even though the raid had concluded successfully.
It was a common occurrence in the world of Hunters.
After all, if someone died during a raid, the person who suffered the most in the guild’s performance review was the Raid Manager in charge of that team.
Perhaps the me before the Regression would have been genuinely sorry.
‘What was this person’s name again?’
Well, of course… that was a story from before my Regression.
“This won’t do, Seo U-jin-ssi. I’m going to report to the higher-ups and cancel the Gangneung raid scheduled for the day after tomorrow. If you continue raiding in your current state, it’s not just you; your team members will be in danger too.”
Shaking her head, the Raid Manager spoke with a frown.
Saying she would cancel the scheduled raid.
So.
“Okay.”
“…I understand. This will be reflected in your team’s evaluation, so instead of canceling, we could postpone it to a later date… What? What did you say?”
I told her to go ahead.
“Let’s cancel it.”
“…Wait.”
I could see the Raid Manager’s dumbfounded face.
It was understandable.
This woman probably said that without any real intention of canceling.
It was obvious, but canceling a scheduled raid benefited neither the manager nor the team leader.
There was the issue of cancellation fees, and of course, it would have a negative impact on our performance reviews within the guild.
The reason the Raid Manager had pushed for cancellation was likely to heighten her own standing within the team.
She was using the fact that I had seemed dazed as an excuse to seize the initiative in the raid team.
To put it simply, she was initiating a sort of ‘power play’.
Her plan was probably for me to beg her to reconsider, at which point she would feign generosity and settle for a postponement.
However, I had no intention of playing along.
…Because tomorrow, I…
“Then I’ll be on my way.”
“Wait, Seo U-jin-ssi!”
“Ah, right. And I’m going to fax my resignation letter to the guild, so put in a good word for me. I’m retiring as of today.”
“What? Seo U-jin-ssi, wait a minute!! A resignation letter, what are you……”
…won’t be here anyway.
* * *
There was a lot to do.
I had made more than a few promises before my Regression.
Just thinking about handling all of them while steering the War against Demons to a better outcome than before was already giving me a headache.
“So unnecessarily nosy…”
Of course, strictly speaking, the promises weren’t legally binding.
I was the only one who regressed, and those who made the promises with me wouldn’t even remember.
But I couldn’t just pretend I didn’t know and ignore the promises I’d made with the guys who had trusted me with everything.
I didn’t want to deny my life’s creed: ‘I always keep my word.’
That was probably why they chose me as the one to regress.
“…This should be enough.”
In any case, that was why I first organized the things I had to do in the form of a <Bucket List>.
It was a list of things to do to change the course of the War against Demons and the promises I’d made to my comrades, roughly arranged in chronological order.
After writing it all down, I had a completed list of 519 bucket list items filling a black notebook.
Even though I had tried to summarize and group them, it still came out to that much.
“Is this really something one person can do…”
In particular, the tasks needed to change the flow of the War against Demons were so immense that a sigh escaped me just from looking at them.
“…I really shouldn’t have come back. I should have just sent someone else.”
Objectively speaking, they were tasks the me from before the Regression couldn’t have even imagined.
Most of the things written there were what the vanguards of the War against Demons had achieved by sacrificing their lives, or things they had failed to achieve even then.
“Hah… this is tough…”
…Of course, giving up was not an option.
If I gave up, nothing would change.
And if that happened, the very reason for my Regression would disappear.
[Bucket List]
These were things that simply had to be done.
A list of tasks I absolutely had to accomplish before I died.
“For now, then… shall we get going?”
There was a lot to do, but I had no intention of tensing up and rushing from the very first day of my Regression.
Ultimately, I was the only one who could do all this, and if I didn’t want the dimension of Earth to be destroyed due to our defeat in the War against Demons, managing my own mental state was also a pretty important item on the list.
Therefore, I decided to use the one day left until the Stairway Transcendence for myself.
I had returned with a heavy sense of responsibility to lead the War against Demons to victory, but.
Even I had something I had decided I would do first if I ever regressed.
Hooo-
Leaving the monster field in the northern part of the Korean peninsula, I returned to Seoul and soon reached my destination.
As I let out a sigh in front of the building and pushed open the door, a familiar greeting came back.
“Hello~ Welcome to S*bucks~.”
A smile unknowingly spread across my lips.
Just how long has it been since I’ve been to a Byeoldabang?
I walked up to the counter with a stern, solemn, and serious expression, and the manager spoke in her characteristically cheerful voice.
“I can help you with your order!”
At her words, I gave a light nod.
“…Java Chip Frappuccino.”
“Yes. One Java Chip Frappuccino. For here or to go?”
“For here. And I have a few customizations…”
“Ah, yes! Go ahead.”
I dredged up the old recipe from my mind, not even remembering the last time I had ordered it.
“Uh… for the Java Chips, please blend half and leave the other half whole. And please change the whipped cream on top to espresso whipped cream. Add three pumps of hazelnut syrup and two pumps of mocha syrup, and finish it with a hazelnut drizzle.”
“……”
“Ah, and I’d appreciate a mug without a handle.”
Smile-
The employee was still smiling.
But one thing had changed from before I ordered: her eyes were no longer on me.
Her gaze was fixed on the POS machine, her right index finger hovering aimlessly in the air.
She put on an even brighter smile and said to me.
“…Sir, I’m so sorry, but could you please repeat that one more time?”
After repeating the order to the manager a couple more times, U-jin finally managed to leave the counter and opened his bucket list notebook.
“Well, that’s one down.”
And he drew an X over the first item written there.
[Bucket List #1]
『Eat an S*bucks Java Chip Frappuccino with half the chips blended and half whole, topped with espresso whip. (Size: Grande. Add two pumps of mocha syrup, three pumps of hazelnut syrup. Finish with a hazelnut drizzle).』 X