“Turning back time.”

Suji shut her mouth tight at the unbelievable story.

Even though she thought that maybe nothing was impossible if the hunter system was artificially created, she simultaneously felt it was a preposterous claim.

After staring at the speechless Suji for a while, Elaine sat up straight with her legs crossed. Then, with a bitter expression, she interlocked her fingers.

After a long silence, she opened her mouth.

“Whether you believe it or not, I understand. From here on is the reason why I’m only telling this story now.”

“Since I really don’t understand any of it right now, tell me the reason or whatever.”

“The 100th floor reward, ‘Deviation’, exists in each tower. Each ‘Tower of Sages’.”

“……”

“A used ‘Deviation’ is directly consumed. Since there are as many as the number of countries in the world….”

“After the First Wave, there has been a lot of integration between countries… There are 102 countries. Then….”

“That’s right. That is… the number of ‘Deviations’ that exist.”

An item that turns back time, ‘Deviation’.

There are 102 of those?

It made no sense at all.

If there were that many incredible items, there would be endless ways to utilize them.

Perhaps it could have been the beginning of preventing that hellish destruction.

If something that great truly existed, it was no wonder the ‘Great Beings’ were so arrogant.

‘…Wait a minute though.’

102

102

Suji repeated that number for a moment.

It was a strangely familiar number.

‘Because it’s the number of countries in the world?’

No, rather than that, it felt like a number she had heard recently.

– This time they really did an incredible job with the system maintenance, I tell you.

“What do you mean by ‘this time’? Does that mean they’ve done this several times?”

– That’s right. It’s 102 times 101 losses now.

When she thought she wouldn’t be able to remember it at all, a snippet of the conversation she first had with the Lord of the Rings struck her mind.

Suji furrowed her brow.

What was this coincidence in numbers? Was it just by chance?

If not?

She organized the information floating in her head and spoke it out loud.

“Let’s say everything Elaine is saying right now is true. You’ve been to the 100th floor, and there’s an item called ‘Deviation’ at the top of each tower. And that item has the power to turn back time.”

“Yes.”

“There’s such a great item, and Elaine knows all the strategies to reach the 100th floor?”

“Yes.”

Even as Suji questioned him, Elaine only answered docilely.

She ruffled her hair roughly. Purple hair flowed messily over her shoulders.

Glaring at the hair tangled around her fingers, Suji asked.

“Even in such an advantageous situation, you only managed to reach this state?”

“Until now, it was not me but Daphne who had been using ‘Deviation’. That’s why she was able to climb the tower more easily with accumulated experience and obtain another ‘Deviation’.”

“…Me?”

“Yes. To be exact, I don’t understand how Daphne felt. After all, I only heard the story. Anyway, Daphne told me that even after conquering all 101 towers, she couldn’t solve the ‘End’.”

All the pieces fit together.

In the most unpleasant way possible.

The miraculous-sounding item called ‘Deviation’ had 101 out of 102 already consumed.

And even after doing all that, the gameboard toyed with by the ‘Great Beings’ hadn’t changed one bit.

Suji pressed her lips tightly together.

She could have just dismissed all the preposterous things Elaine was saying as nonsense, but all the pieces fit together too well.

Thinking she hadn’t properly accepted it, he explained once more.

“The reason we were able to climb the 100-floor tower until now was because the one using ‘Deviation’ was Daphne. The first time was difficult, but from the next time on, it was climbing floors that had already been climbed once, so it was easy, she said.”

“…Elaine.”

“Yes.”

“If this is all a lie, that would be really terrible too. But if it’s all true, I don’t know how disappointed I’ll be in Elaine. Tell me why you kept your mouth shut until now and why you pretended not to know when our team was struggling so much. I’ll hear you out.”

Elaine didn’t seem bothered by her anger.

He just continued speaking in a calm but desperate voice, as if confessing to a god of some religion.

“There is a problem with ‘Deviation’.”

“…What is it?”

Elaine spoke while hiding his arm with his other hand as if wiping away a bitter smile.

“The person who used ‘Deviation’ will eventually return to the point where they started.”

“…Time paradox?”

If it was possible to turn back time to the past, of course there would be a problem with time paradoxes.

Even if Elaine went back to the past and changed something or learned something new, it wouldn’t carry over to the future Elaine. There would be various issues.

At Suji’s words, he shrugged his shoulders.

“It’s similar but a little different. In the first place, two of the same person can’t exist in the same time period.”

“Then what?”

“Because of that, the time that can be utilized gradually decreases as the person who used ‘Deviation’ repeatedly uses it. Because you have to use another item before the point when you used the item once approaches.”

She nodded her head.

If they were increasingly pressed for time, no matter how much information the past self had, the difficulty would only rise.

Then what about this time?

As if reading her mind, Elaine spoke.

“Since I took the baton once, this time it’s fine for Daphne to use the item at the point she wants.”

“Are you telling me to use ‘Deviation’ now?”

“I just opened up the possibility. Personally, I hope we can succeed without using it.”

“…Why?”

“I thought it was impossible to succeed in this round. There was one more item left anyway, and I thought it would be more efficient for Daphne to use ‘Deviation’ rather than me. I was just going to buy time for Daphne to cool her head.”

“Keep talking.”

“Anyway…”

He glanced at Suji’s eyes as if observing them, then opened his mouth again.

“…Anyway, since it’s a round that will fail. I didn’t want to put unnecessary pressure on you. I thought it would be good if Daphne could face it with a little more peace of mind. I had never seen Daphne’s face as bright as this round. In every moment I remember, Daphne blamed herself for not trying hard enough even while covered in blood. That’s all.”

Suji examined the gaze with which he stared at her.

Compassion?

Admiration?

Guilt?

No.

It contained straightforward affection, nothing else.

But there was no way all of this could be explained by something like that.

‘Did you think I would feel good if you said that?’

Unable to fully contain the frustration and anger boiling up inside, she abruptly stood up from her seat.

He wanted to see a bright face?

So he kept his mouth shut?

It meant he already knew all the gimmicks with each floor they climbed. How could such an absurd excuse work when he hadn’t even told them in advance and kept it to himself?

He could have prepared for instances where team members got hurt.

But before she could bring such questions to the tip of her tongue, a shudder or goosebumps – she wasn’t sure which – ran through her whole body.

The scars that had fully covered his bare body, which she had seen at the beach, automatically came to mind.

It was always Elaine who suffered from traps that popped out from unexpected places or sudden changes in boss monsters.

She had thought it was a coincidence.

That he, who had the ability to rarely get even small wounds, was repeatedly played by variables like that.

Her head was spinning.

“Then why did you talk if you were going to keep your mouth shut?”

“I came to want to see success in this round. I became convinced that we gained something this time that we couldn’t obtain even after turning back time like that.”

“…Overcoming the end?”

“Yes.”

“…No, how. Why…”

As Suji stammered out words that didn’t connect well, he muttered as if to himself.

“I should have told you a little earlier. I’m sorry.”

She stared into Elaine’s black eyes and suddenly realized.

One thing was missing.

It looked like it was composed with perfect logic, but one thing was missing.

Suji approached Elaine, grabbed his collar, and pulled him up. Then, pushing him against the wall, him who was a head and a half taller than her, she said.

“There’s more you’re hiding. Right?”

“…Daphne.”

“You said it so naturally that I almost let it slide. You just said it. That two people can’t exist at the same time. If Elaine used ‘Deviation’, what happens to Elaine?”

“…The reason I judged that I have no choice but to tell you now is because the point where I turned back time is coming soon.”

“When?”

“A week from now.”

“When that time comes…”

Elaine answered in a tone as if comforting a child.

“I don’t know. Another me will exist. But my current memories won’t carry over. Because it’s clearly a different being. Maybe that’s why this body seems to be reaching its expiration date.”

The strength naturally drained from the hand grabbing his collar.