Episode 2: Regressed After Only Doing the Tutorial

Episode 2: Round 1

A Story Spanning 50 Years

It was an ordinary day, just like any other. But within that ordinary day, something extraordinary suddenly arrived.

- [All inhabitants of Earth have been selected as tower entrants.]

[Earth is a world untouched by mana.]

[To maintain fairness, you will enter the tutorial sequentially.]

[1,000 individuals will be selected.]

[You are the first entrant.]

“…What the hell is this nonsense?”

Maybe it was because I played games too long yesterday?

Before my eyes, system messages that you’d only see in a game began to scroll up one after another.

Had the alcohol I drank still not worn off? Was I hallucinating?

Just as I shook my head to regain my senses, my vision wavered.

And then—my room vanished without a trace, and a vast plain stretched out before me.

“…What?”

I gasped roughly for air.

It felt like I had shifted into another dimension.

A wide, breezy grassland spread out beneath my feet, and an endless expanse unfolded under a deep blue sky.

“What the… is this a dream?”

Panicked, I pinched my cheek.

Ouch.

A sharp pain spread through it.

This was… definitely not a dream.

And the moment I realized it wasn’t, people began to appear around me.

It was as if they had been invisible and suddenly regained form, standing there like they’d always been. Did I appear like that to them too?

“…What the hell is going on?”

Before I could even take a step back, the number of people exploded.

In an instant, nearly a thousand people had gathered.

The murmurs and chatter grew louder. Maybe it was because I hadn’t seen this many people in a while, or maybe it was the overwhelming noise, but my head started pounding and nausea swelled up inside me.

Then, a familiar voice reached my ears. The pain in my head eased, and my stomach calmed.

“Yeomyeong!”

A voice I could recognize instantly, even in a crowd.

Other than my parents, it was the voice I’d heard most often in my life—familiar and comforting.

“…Soeun?”

I saw her waving from afar. Yoo Soeun was pushing through the crowd, running toward me.

“Uh… you’re here too?”

Even as I spoke, it didn’t feel real.

The situation was so surreal that I simply couldn’t believe it.

But… at least I could breathe.

“Haah… thank god…”

Seeing a familiar face helped me relax a little.

“What the hell is going on..? Letters appeared before my eyes, and then I was suddenly here.”

“Yeah. What kind of disaster is this?”

Maybe someone would say this situation resembled a scene from a web novel or a game, but saying something like that now would definitely get me labeled a lunatic.

They’d probably scold me—asking how I could joke around at a time like this.

Just as the murmurs and chatter among the crowd grew louder—

Suddenly, the sky lit up.

Mysterious beings with white wings descended from above.

It looked like something straight out of mythology. A dazzling glow painted the sky.

They radiated a soft light, those winged beings.

Perfectly balanced physiques.

A divine aura, as if they didn’t belong to this world.

As each one descended, the noise around us died down.

Some were in awe, others were terrified.

Then, in that moment, the angels each extended a hand toward one person.

And in an instant, people began to vanish.

“W-What the hell!?”

Chaos erupted.

Some flailed their arms in the air, trying to resist, but their bodies were already being drawn into the glowing light.

“Yeomyeong!”

When I turned my head, Yoo Soeun was reaching out toward me.

But before our hands could touch, her body was also wrapped in light.

“Soeun!”

Before I could even reach out my hand, she disappeared.

On the vast plain, only I and a single angel with two pairs of wings were left behind.

My mind went blank. The only person I knew was gone. The only person I could rely on.

Panting heavily, I glared at the angel.

“…Where did everyone here disappear to!? My friend…!”

I shouted the question harshly, but the angel simply looked at me calmly.

Her gaze was unwavering—so cold, serene, and divine.

That cold stare only made the anxiety tighten in my chest.

Maybe she noticed the fear in my eyes, because the angel finally spoke in a calm voice.

“There’s no need to worry. Each person has been taken by their respective guardian angel to be educated about the tutorial. I am Estelle, your guardian angel, Player Han Yeomyeong.”

Her tone was quiet but firm.

Yet, for some reason, her words brought a strange sense of relief.

“Then… when can I meet the others again?”

“Once the tutorial is finished, all players will be moved to their lodgings. You’ll meet them soon, so please don’t worry.”

As soon as I heard that, a sigh of relief escaped me. That meant I’d be able to meet Soeun again once the tutorial was over.

These beings with such transcendent powers had no reason to lie to me. If they didn’t like me, they could just kill me—so the fact they were putting in this effort must mean there’s a reason they had to.

If I were left alone in this mysterious and unfamiliar place with just this angel forever, without knowing a single soul… how lonely and hard would that be?

But that relief didn’t last long—Estelle’s next words followed immediately.

“Shall we begin by opening your status window?”

Now that I was a little more relaxed, I couldn’t help but think—

‘…This really feels like a web novel now.’

At this point, I decided to just accept it.

Even if this situation felt like a game or a web novel, it was my reality now. The best thing to do was to follow the instructions.

“Status window.”

Name: Han Yeomyeong

Title: None

Age: 24

Constellation: None

[ Stats ]

Strength 1 / Stamina 1 / Willpower 1 / Agility 1 / Intelligence 1 / Mana 1

[ Traits ]

None

[ Skills ]

None

‘…This is kind of pathetic.’

Forget fancy abilities—this was basically the default starting point. A plain, dull status window with no real stats, traits, or skills. I doubted everyone else started out like this.

“Have you checked it?”

“Yes.”

“If you had trained a bit beforehand, you might have had stats around 2 or 3, but if you didn’t exercise, then 1 is likely,” Estelle explained calmly.

“And the traits or skills you start with in the beginning are very important. So we recommend you don’t reveal your status window information to anyone.”

‘…But I have nothing to reveal?’

No traits, no skills—this was basically a dirt-poor start.

Still, the fact that she was saying this must mean some people did start with traits or skills. Looks like I already started off on the wrong foot.

“Next, you’ll be given a skill provided by the tutorial. If you say ‘Tutorial Skill,’ a list will appear, and you’ll receive a guide on how to learn the skill you choose.”

“Tutorial Skill.”

[ Tutorial Skill List ]

Beginner Swordsmanship (Lv1), Beginner Spearmanship (Lv1), Beginner Archery (Lv1), Beginner Blunt Weapon Mastery (Lv1), Beginner Martial Arts (Lv1), ···

A huge list of skills appeared before my eyes.

It was so overwhelming that I felt dizzy just looking at it.

“If you want to dismiss what’s in front of you, just think ‘Disappear,’” she said.

Following her instructions and focusing my thoughts, all the windows floating in front of me vanished.

‘…This is surprisingly convenient?’

“If you say ‘Tutorial Monster,’ a list of monsters you can summon will appear. However, even the weakest monster may be too much for you at the moment, so we recommend training before attempting a summon.”

“What happens when you summon a monster?”

“If it doesn’t inflict significant damage within 10 minutes, it will be automatically unsummoned. Also, if you don’t touch the monster’s corpse, it will disappear after 10 minutes.”

‘Oh…’

So that means you can gain real combat experience without worrying about cleanup. I’m starting to get a sense of what this tutorial is about.

“In the tutorial, each stat has a maximum limit of 20. There’s no limit to the number of skills you can learn, but you can only level them up to Intermediate Level 1 at most.”

“And also…”

Estelle added one final important detail.

“In the tutorial, even if you die, you’ll return to the state you were in six hours prior. You’ll resurrect after 10 minutes, so you can train without worrying about your body. Is there anything in the explanation you didn’t understand?”

‘Resurrection…?’

An even more transcendent power than expected. I was momentarily surprised but didn’t show it outwardly.

Being able to resurrect means you can throw away something as precious as life like coins in a game to train. Not that I plan on doing that.

‘She explains things really well.’

“I understand. Your explanation was clear, so I have no questions.”

“Then I’ll send you to your room. If you need a larger space to train or have any questions, just call my name.”

As Estelle snapped her fingers, a flash of light engulfed my vision, and the scenery changed.

A cozy space appeared before me.

“Is this the room?”

A spacious and clean house. The roughly 100-square-meter room was fully furnished with everything one could need.

Training clothes perfectly sized for me were in the wardrobe. The fridge was stocked with food and ingredients. There was a microwave, induction stove, and air fryer too.

There didn’t seem to be much to complain about. The only thing missing was entertainment.

‘What’s outside the door?’

Aside from the window for ventilation, there was one ordinary-looking door. When I opened it, a hallway appeared, and many people were chatting inside.

“Han Yeomyeong!”

A familiar voice called out. When I turned my head, Yoo Soeun, whom I had parted with earlier, was waving at me.

“You got here faster than I thought.”

“They said they’d send you to your room right away if you didn’t have any questions, so I just came.”

She smiled familiarly and lightly tapped my shoulder.

“If this noona doesn’t take care of Yeomyeong, who will?”

“Why do you keep calling yourself noona when we’re the same age?”

To be honest, we were barely a year apart. Her birthday was January 1st, and mine was December 31st.

Still, we were technically the same age, but at some point, she started acting like an older sister.

“Let’s go inside and talk. It’s too noisy here.”

She naturally slipped through the open door, and I let out a small sigh as I closed it.

“This place has amazing soundproofing.”

“Right? It’s like they installed a soundproof booth or something.”

Despite all the chatter outside, it was completely silent inside. This room definitely seemed to use some kind of magical technology—or maybe special materials.

“Aren’t you hungry?”

Now that she mentioned it, I hadn’t eaten anything all day. The moment I realized that, hunger hit me.

“I’m hungry.”

“Sigh… Hold on. I’ll whip something up real quick.”

Yoo Soeun pulled ingredients out of the fridge and started chopping swiftly. Watching her skilled hands reminded me of something.

Back then, she suddenly started learning to cook, saying she wanted to be a good wife. And a few months later… she ended up getting four cooking licenses.

‘She’s practically a semi-professional chef.’

Even back then, when I asked who she wanted to be a wife for, she never told me.

I’d never heard of her dating anyone, and she never gave off that kind of vibe, so I had no idea who the potential groom could be.

While I was lost in thought, a completed dish appeared before me.

…And as I’d expected.

“Again with the stir-fried pork?”

I muttered with a bit of a grumble. Not the nicest thing to say to someone who cooked for you, but somehow I always found myself whining in front of her. Maybe that’s why she treated me like a little brother?

“But you like stir-fried pork, don’t you?”

“…Yeah, I do.”

I love stir-fried pork. Especially the delicious kind. She handed me chopsticks with a proud look, and I took a bite without complaint.

“Mmm.”

The familiar taste. The spicy seasoning whetted my appetite just right. We naturally started chatting about this place as we ate.

“I don’t even know where to start. I don’t know why we were brought here either.”

Yoo Soeun let out a sigh. For someone who had lived diligently her whole life, this situation must have felt like a bolt from the blue.

Thanks to all the web novels and games I’d consumed, I could somewhat predict where this was going. But for her, this would be a completely different story.

“It does feel like some god-like being chose us or something. But for now, I guess we have no choice but to go along with it. I doubt… they’ll send us back home.”

Exactly.

The bastards who dragged us here like this wouldn’t just let us go back home so easily. At least… not until I get my hands on something powerful enough to change the game.

“Yeah.”

She nodded.

“Then let’s decide together which skill we should learn first. If we have to do it anyway, we might as well give it our best shot.”

“Okay.”

We looked over the skill list as we ate and discussed which one to learn first. By the time we made our choice, the meal was already finished, so I decided to call the angel.

“Estelle.”

Shff.

The moment I called her, Estelle appeared in front of me. Not even a second passed before she showed up.

“Yes. Did you call for me?”

The angel’s calm voice echoed gently.

“Could you send us to a place where we can train together?”

“Of course.”

With a brief reply, she snapped her fingers.

Snap!

In an instant, my vision shook. The next moment, a vast plain spread out before our eyes.

“Will this be sufficient?”

“Yes, it’s perfect.”

“Then please call me again when you wish to return.”

With just those words, she vanished just as quickly as she had appeared.

As the angel disappeared, Yoo Soeun spoke up in awe.

“Wow… Your angel is seriously beautiful.”

I looked at her quietly and thought to myself.

‘…She really is beautiful.’

Long, flowing blonde hair. Golden eyes that sparkled like jewels. A perfectly proportioned body.

‘She’s on a whole other level.’

“Yeah, she is.”

I replied casually, and suddenly, Yoo Soeun leaned in close.

“You like her? Huh? You do?”

Then she bent down and poked me in the chest.

“Hey, that’s not—”

Honestly speaking, this girl in front of me was ridiculously pretty too. Even among celebrities, I could hardly think of anyone I thought was prettier than her.

If we hadn’t been childhood friends, I probably wouldn’t have been able to say a single word to her if we met as adults.

“Honestly, she seems a bit too intimidating for my taste. I’d take you over her any day.”

At that, her eyes sparkled.

“Re~ally..?”

“Uh…?”

At that moment, I felt like I had said something wrong. Yoo Soeun smiled meaningfully and slowly moved closer.

“This guy… Knows how to butter people up, huh?”

Then she tickled under my arms without mercy.

“Ah! Hey! I told you not to do that!”

“Hehehe.”

Only after she had her fun did she step back, looking satisfied. I sighed and opened the skill list.

The two of us chose Basic Hand-to-Hand Combat as our first skill.

Without any weapons, the only way to protect ourselves would be to use our own bodies.

[ Initiating guide for Basic Hand-to-Hand Combat. ]

[ Please mimic the movements shown. ]

Once we made our selection, a hologram appeared before our eyes. Inside, the fundamental movements of the skill were repeated like a video.

“Oh. This is cool. It’s basically augmented reality.”

“Yeah. I think we can just follow along.”

We slowly began mimicking the holographic movements.

About ten minutes later, Yoo Soeun suddenly stopped and said in surprise:

“Huh? It says I’ve learned Basic Hand-to-Hand Combat?”

“…What?”

She already learned the skill?

I hadn’t even managed to follow a single move properly yet!

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