Chapter 725 – Wait (1) #PART1
“!”
He’s here. Grandfell—you’re on the top floor.
My legs hurried up the steep staircase.
It wasn’t just any sound I’d heard.
Click.
There was no way I could’ve mistaken that sound.
‘Besides, who else could it be?’
Just looking at the place was overwhelming enough. In a place this extravagant, there was only one person who would casually sip tea like it was nothing.
What was I even supposed to say when I saw him?
Hey, Grandfell. Have you been well?
Should I at least ask how he’s been?
‘…No. I can’t do that.’
I haven’t been doing well myself. And more than anything, if he looked straight at me with that shameless expression of his and said he’d been doing fine…
I felt like I’d lose my temper.
The corner of my lips lifted without me noticing.
‘Honestly…’
Ttogak. Ttogak.
I wanted to punch his arm at least once. Wouldn’t anyone feel that way? The guy went and made a wish he couldn’t fulfill for all eternity—just because he never bought me a single cup of green tea.
‘The more I think about it, the cheaper it feels.’
And he knew everything. Yet he still pretended not to know anything at all. Seriously, the thickness of his shamelessness deserved recognition.
Ttogak.
At last, the final step. The view of the top floor came into sight.
The grin on my face froze instantly.
All I saw was a teacup sitting on the table. A faint warmth still lingering within it. The only thing moving was the green tea bag swaying slightly inside.
“…That’s just cruel. Right until the end.”
Just moments ago, Grandfell had been here.
He must’ve sensed my presence and left the moment he did.
‘Damn it.’
Was I Pavlov’s dog or something? I hadn’t even drunk the tea, yet just looking at the tea bag made my mouth bitter.
“So now you hate seeing my face that much, huh?”
Grumbling to myself, I walked toward the table and picked up the teacup. No matter how I looked at it, he was the only one who would drink bagged green tea in a place like this.
A sigh slipped out naturally.
“Hoo…”
That was honestly shocking.
What had he said before? That he wouldn’t avoid any trial? That he would always face them head-on?
“So what, am I a trial worse than any trial to you?”
For someone who usually carried himself with such confidence, Grandfell had left in a hurry the moment he sensed me.
I glared resentfully at my shoes.
“Is it because of this damn clicking sound…!”
Even as I snapped irritably, my gaze returned to the teacup.
Why did he avoid me?
Countless possibilities crossed my mind, but only for a moment.
“Whatever. I don’t even understand myself—how would you be any different?”
If that’s what you want, then do as you please. But everything has give and take. You were always the one who said that.
“So I’ll do as I please too.”
Ttogak.
With that familiar sound of my shoes echoing again, I walked toward a bundle of scrolls placed at one side of the top floor of the Spacetime Social Hall.
Though… calling them mere scrolls didn’t quite feel right.
The Spacetime Social Hall was divided into lower, middle, and upper levels. The higher you climbed, the more luxurious everything became—so extravagant it bordered on excessive.
The scroll displaying available Spacetime quests was no exception.
Soon, a magnificent sight unfolded before my eyes. As I reached toward the scroll, it unfurled in midair with a rustling sound—
[■■ ■■■ : ■■■]
In other words, it displayed a broken quest window.
‘There’s no way I can understand anything like this.’
Right now, there was only one system message I could see.
The Demon Hunter class quest.
If you asked how that one remained intact while everything else had been reduced to ruins—
‘There’s nothing strange about that, is there?’
Just look at those related to Akshan. Starting with me, who had reversed time countless times without remembering it. Bael, who followed me and turned back time. Even the seniors residing in Hell.
‘This class was never normal to begin with.’
Since the quests themselves exceeded ordinary standards, maybe that was why they were still visible.
…Wait.
Thinking about it made something Grandfell always said come to mind whenever I checked the system window.
“You’re trying to measure me with nothing but a few measly words.”
As expected, he never failed to live up to expectations.
He treated even the system as beneath him. Never stopping his silent battle of pride. Arrogant in a way that was uniquely his.
Truly, our Lord Grandfell…
Back then, I had only thought of it that much.
‘But maybe…’
Maybe I just needed to change the way I looked at things.
If Grandfell preserved memories from previous cycles through Spacetime quests, then that meant—
Even though he wasn’t a player, Grandfell understood Spacetime “quests” perfectly.
‘Well, he spent countless years with me.’
Even so…
People of Arcana had something that could replace the system, which was supposedly exclusive to players. Magic, sword aura—things that surpassed the system in their respective domains.
I rubbed my chin and muttered,
“Nothing to lose by trying.”
I couldn’t see the system window even if I wanted to.
“You said it yourself. What could the system possibly understand, right?”
There was no way our regression could be expressed through mere text.
I focused my senses. Just like when I concentrated to feel my stats growing. I didn’t try to understand recklessly.
‘If I can just feel it, that’s success.’
Rustle…
“!”
At that moment, letters began flowing out of the scroll floating in midair. Like a quest window appearing, the characters written on the scroll scattered through the air.
But that wasn’t all.
‘…I can see it.’
If the system provided quest information through limited text, this contained everything. Quest-related information flooded into my mind like a video.
Only after completely abandoning my attachment to the system window…
Was I finally able to draw out potential that surpassed the system itself…?
A dry laugh escaped me.
“If you hadn’t shown me something like this, how would I have ever known?”
Feeling grateful to Grandfell all over again, I kept my focus on the supreme Spacetime quest information still pouring in.
Thanks to it, I discovered a new option—one that could lead to a different ending from the previous cycle.
Click.
Lifting the teacup, I murmured,
“See? If it’s not you and me, but us… things turn out differently.”
.
.
.
…