ReLife Player

[Windless Day (17)]

A strange yet familiar sensation.

When I emerged from the white-washed world, I felt a surge of power through my body.

I didn’t know what to do with this power.

Despite being new to the power, my mind and body accepted the <Miracle> as if I had known it all along.

Yes, <Miracle> .

The gift of rebuilding the world against the laws of nature.

She unlocked the gift with emotion, not reason.

The power leaked through her fingers and dispersed as wind.

She squeezed her left hand. The leaking wind coalesced into a single point, forming a fist.

She swung her left hand. The fist formed by the wind struck down Ishimi’s army as if to punish the world.

The ground collapsed, buildings crumbled.

Players who were beneath the collapsing buildings were rescued as she swung the fan randomly.

She wanted to protect them. The people.

She elevated her altitude.

From the elevated position where Uijeongbu Station was visible at a glance, she looked down to the west.

The military force led by Gwoshini was charging toward the players.

It was a dogfight. Players who had lost their weapons tried to fight back with punches, while the monsters were ferocious, aiming to kill them even by biting.

It couldn’t go on like this.

She interfered with the laws of the world.

Understanding the principles was unnecessary.

The principles were already within her.

Just imagining was enough.

This power was connected to the core of the world.

She extended her left hand horizontally in front of her chest. She dropped the flame from the tip of her elbow into the air above the city hall.

A sea of fire spread in an instant.

A world-devouring flame engulfed them.

The players weren’t caught in the fire.

The flames only burned the military presence of the deceased, soothing the wounds of the exhausted players and setting fire only to the military force of the dead.

Meow, meow.

It’s time for the cat to go home and sleep, get lost already.

The army of monsters burned to ashes and vanished.

Gwoshini, who was controlling the military presence of the dead, entered her sight.

She enveloped it in flames that burned even death.

With a flick of its wings, it rose into the air, dodging the flames.

At that moment, Ishimi, who had fallen to the ground, flew up with a wild roar.

She had to dodge.

She slapped the flying creature with her fan. With just a little force, the third-rank monster crashed to the ground.

She wanted to protect them. The people.

She turned her attention to the army coming from the east of the station.

Despite the loss of the Rank 3 monster Gigant, they hadn’t dispersed and were pressing the players.

She could see the players who had built the barricades standing their ground.

She wanted to protect them.

She clenched her fan and raised her right hand above her head.

She heard the sound of waves.

A sound different from the wind.

Listening to the sound, she summoned waves into the eastern sky.

Suddenly generated waves turned into a tsunami, sweeping through various roads, pushing aside the players and annihilating the monsters.

Then, the monsters came charging at her.

Airborne monsters flew fearlessly, only to lose their strength and fall.

Who do you think you are, trying to resist the wind before me?

In my hands, there is the Three Thousand Realms in My Palm.

They couldn’t do anything against me, who possessed the power to dominate nature.

Gwoshini attempted to attack her from below.

She struck back at the flying creature with the fan. A countless number of masks that emerged from the ground were pierced.

She couldn’t let them be.

They were dangerous.

Gwoshini who control armies of the dead, Ishimi who is impervious to conventional attacks, and the Hundred Faces who make people be suspicious.

They must be defeated.

Meoww!

Grrr!

What the heck is this?

The vortex compressed around Gwoshini.

Gwoshini struggles to break free of the vortex, but the flames don’t let it go.

With a flick of her wrist, she creates a bolt of lightning. Dozens of lightning bolts silenced Ishimi’s screams.

She deployed her detection net. The power defying fate captured the countless faceless beings scattered throughout the city.

She hurled rocks at the captured creatures. Sharp rocks, like arrows, pierced through the fleeing beings.

Uckkhhhhh!

Eventually, the it vanished.

Gwoshini didn’t even flinch at the crumbling of its body and escaped from the pillar of the vortex.

Ishimi burrowed into the ground and ran away from the lightning.

As if to protect them, forces surrounded them.

The consecutive waves unleashed new monsters.

The creatures surged back in reverse.

It can’t be allowed.

Frantically, she deployed her magic. She summoned winds, conjured flames, shot rocks, and rained down thunderbolts.

She wants to protect.

Protect what?

Dozens of gusts of wind blew past the roadside, sending monsters flying.

I will protect.

Protect who?

Waves pushed the players back to distant locations.

Yet the forces did not retreat.

They were marching toward Uijeongbu Station, facing her, as if chasing a giant current.

She swung her magic at them.

She killed and killed and killed.

To protect.

Huh, what?

I want to protect.

What, who?

Why did I want to be a player?

Because I want to protect.

The world has been turned upside down.

Her vision was reversed.

The power to defy nature was slipping away.

Somehow, she had to muster what remained and stop the forces.

She wanted to protect the people.

Why?

Because I became a player to do so.

Really?

You wanted to become a player to protect people?

For people who are strangers?

To be a hero?

A jumble of thoughts cluttered my mind.

No, it wasn’t like that.

I just wanted to protect people.

I became a player to protect them.

Is that true?

I froze at the question that slammed into me.

Did you really want to be a player to protect people?

You weren’t the one you really wanted to protect?

Was it me?

When she woke up, the mana that made up her body was flying through the air like fireflies.

Her mana was disappearing.

Her life was disappearing.

A sight so sad, yet so beautiful.

And a girl, silhouetted in the receding world, a shape that could no longer be held.

…It was her.

The girl who couldn’t withstand the world’s malice and succumbed to reality.

The girl of the past was looking at the woman of the present.

What I wanted to protect, was it not the determination to live my life wanting to protect people?

The moment I denied it, I would deny my whole life.

That’s why I pretended.

A protector of humanity.

Even though my heart had surrendered long before.

In truth, that feeling didn’t even exist from the beginning.

─It didn’t?

The girl in front of me blurred, and a small child came into view.

That child was me, too.

Abandoned by my mother, by that woman.

In that moment,

I realized.

I-I didn’t want to protect people.

Do you understand now?

You just didn’t want to be abandoned.

You just didn’t want to be told you weren’t needed.

So you pretended.

You wanted to be a hero, a player, saving people.

Because everyone needs a hero.

Because heroes are never abandoned.

I just wanted to be recognized.

That I’m indispensable.

I just wanted to be loved.

I don’t want to be abandoned again.

…Is that it?

I only realized it when my life was gone.

Stupid, stupid, stupid.

I just wanted to be accepted.

I just wanted to be loved.

I hadn’t even realized that I’d been abusing myself all this time.

I feel so, so stupid.

Why didn’t I realize it until now?

The child who had been told she was unwanted, who had been abandoned by her only parent, smiled faintly.

Mana disappears into the sky.

The time I’ve accumulated.

The path I’ve traveled.

My stupid, foolish life.

A life of foolishness and stupidity.

Loved by no one in the end.

Really?

It was then that I heard voices.

My vision fading.

Slowly closing eyelids.

My consciousness was slipping away, but I kept hearing someone shouting at me.

«Nunim, wake up! Hey, don’t just stand by and watch, come here and protect her!»

«Player Shin Seoyoung, thank you for your efforts, we’ll take care of the rest.»

«Hye-rim, what’s Shin Seo-young’s status?»

«Unnie, you can’t do this, I’ll do something about it, so…!»

The sound of praise, comforting me.

A voice calling me, filled with concern.

What is this…

I was already accepted.

I’m allowed to be here.

I was loved.

To the point of causing so much worry.

And I’m sorry.

For not answering.

☆

<Miracle>.

It is a gift that touches the world’s providence and rebuilds the world.

At first, those fighting monsters, and later, those fighting despair, shed tears witnessing this supernatural event.

They were saved from the flashing light soaring into the sky.

«…Noona, you were the owner of a <Miracle>?»

Kang Cheol was one of the tearful ones.

As he pushed back the monsters with his blade, he was speechless when he saw her floating in the air.

He hadn’t expected her to be the owner of the Gift of a <Miracle>

He had only heard of the Gift of <Miracles> in stories from other countries, but had never seen one with his own eyes.

This was the first to manifest in Korea.

«…That’s ridiculous.»

It wasn’t until he saw her take on three armies in a single bound that he realized what it meant to rebuild the world.

The flames she wielded with a wave of her hand incinerated the forces of the deceased.

Raising her hand, the movement alone swallowed the forces rushing from the east.

Lifting her fan, she caused pressure, and with a swing, dozens of gusts rushed forth.

[Confirmation of the destruction of masked monsters!]

[Fourth Rank Overrank, confirming the destruction of the fourth rank monster!]

[Death Cat! It’s escaping!]

[Ishimi has hidden underground!]

Monsters dominating the forces all over were disappearing, fleeing from her.

Kang cheol couldn’t take his eyes off her as he heard the telepathist, someone he didn’t even know, pouring information into his mind, talking about her manipulating nature at will.

The name <Divine Wind> wasn’t enough to describe her power.

She was the <Queen>.

Her power over natural disasters was undeniable.

«No, but, wait, must be….»

Kang Cheol then remembered the words of the wielders of <Miracle> .

Those who rebuilt the world with human bodies always paid the price.

However, Shin Seoyoung had been able to control natural disasters and single-handedly defeat military forces.

He could intuit that the price she would pay was indescribable.

Is it any different?

As she landed on the ground to face Ishimi’s forces, she lost her balance and stumbled.

Dozens of gusts of wind followed, and she fell to the ground, dazed.

«-Noona!!!»

Startled, Kangcheol rushed to her.

Mana was pouring out of her body.

The sight of fragmented mana emitting a blue light and rising into the sky was incredibly beautiful.

But Kang Cheol realized that this was a manifestation that had cost her life.

«Noona, wake up! Control your mana!»

If she let her mana leak out, she would die.

She had to get the leaking mana into her body somehow.

Kang cheol desperately tried to wake her up.

Still, she didn’t regain consciousness.

He couldn’t stop the mana from leaking out.

«Hey! You bastards! Come back in, not out! Why are you leaving?»

He couldn’t help but cry.

Grabbing Shin Seo-young’s shoulders and shaking her, Kang Cheol screamed at the fucking beautiful world.

Naturally, the mana didn’t answer.

The mana in her body was draining away, as if she was being paid for it.

«No….»

Kang Cheol realized she was running out of mana.

If this continued, even the mana moving her heart might disappear, a fear engulfed him.

Still, he couldn’t do anything.

All he could do was curse the damned world and call out to her unconscious body.

«…Wait, Kang Cheol Player.»

«…Huh?»

It was then.

Kang Cheol looked up as Do wanjun, who had already approached her, placed a hand on her shoulder.

He was pointing his finger at her heart.

«That’s….»

«…Huh?»

The mana leaking from her heart was crystallizing.

The remaining mana began to stick to her, forming a thin film.

«This is…, it’s a Hell Hound trait….»

Do wanjun muttered as he analyzed what was happening to her.

A sixth-rank monster, Hell Hound.

It possessed the ability to crystallize the mana on its body.

When a Hell Hound felt its life was in danger, it would crystallize its remaining mana to form a barrier around its body.

It was happening to her now.

«…Kang Cheol Player!»

«I know!»

It was almost simultaneously that both of them came to the same conclusion.

Kangcheol, who had a shield attached to his mechanical arm, planted it on the ground, expanding a barrier centered on the area.

It was a magic belonging to advanced control technology.

A magic that trapped mana, not materials.

It prevented mana from leaking out.

It trapped her mana, preventing it from merging into the world.

«…I see.»

Do wanjun nodded.

Currently, Shin Seoyeoung’s body was in a life-threatening situation and was using the remaining mana to create a barrier.

Mana is omnipresent.

The mana that was about to dissipate began to gather into the mana that formed the barrier.

She had not yet regained consciousness. She would not be able to absorb the escaping mana into her body.

But the mana that was once hers was merging with it, becoming part of it.

«…Not yet. Do you think I’ll give up here?»

The <Miracle> seemed to be trying to collect the price, her mana that had been captured by his magic was somehow rising into the sky.

Kang cheol swore bitterly.

If he couldn’t block it with one layer, he would block it with two layers, he expanded the second barrier.

Even so, holding onto the disappearing mana was futile.

«Damn it!!»

He yelled at the mana slipping away from him.

Right at that moment.

Holy Barrier

Divine Protection of the God

Sacred Warrior’s Veil

Only One

Endless Courage

Ending That No One Wants

Ending After Ending

Magic was piling up on the magic he had cast.

Guardians, casters, and supporters were chanting, squeezing the last of their mana.

«─I won’t give up.»

The sound of cracking stone echoed in the air.

Kim Yoo-jin and Park Hye-rim, who had recalled their troops as soon as they witnessed the manifestation of the , were casting large-scale protective spells with their supporters.

«Don’t worry about the troops, we’ll do whatever it takes!»

Guyeounsu, who had stabbed the monster, shouted to the protective spellcasters.

The dealers and hunters were holding off the army with only the help of the rangers and snipers.

«Who do you think you’re attacking!»

A burst of flame interrupted the monsters’ advance.

Kang Hyun-cheol, who had awakened from mana exhaustion, had come from Hoeryong Station to lead the supporters.

Everyone’s hearts were united.

There was no doubt in their minds that they wanted her to live.

Magic is the combination of emotional mana and concrete imagination.

Imagination is the act of conjuring something up in your mind.

«─Don’t die.»

The combined power of the mind and heart becomes concrete imagination, and the mana they unconsciously shed becomes the driving force, touching the providence of the world,

It is not strange if a miracle greater than the <Miracle> could happen.

☆

When Eunha returned home, the news of the first reclamation of Uijeongbu was being reported on television.

Unlike Euna’s miracle, Shin Seo-young’s miracle was easily observable from anywhere in Seoul.

There was no way it wouldn’t be reported.

«Eunha, did you have a good time?»

«…Eh? Uh, I had a good time playing….»

Eunha, who was watching television, felt a little guilty at his father’s words.

I’m sorry, dad.

Feeling guilty for lying, he poured a beer into his father’s glass.

Returning to his seat, Eunha sat Eunae on his lap and turned his attention to the television.

The television was busy reporting on the failure of the first Uijeongbu reclamation and the heroics of Shin Seo-young.

She was officially the first South Korean to perform a «miracle» and was currently being treated at Hoeryong Station.

«I hope it turns out well.»

«Oppa, what are you talking about?»

«It’s nothing.»

Eunha hugged Eunae, who was demanding an explanation, and silently wished for Shin Seoyoung’s safety.

Her story was not over yet.

It’s just beginning.

Not long after she was praised as <The Queen>, there was news of her death.

The clan member’s name was definitely… Kang cheol, wasn’t it?

Changhae Clan Guardian Kang cheol.

There were remaining crimes that he had yet to atone for.