**[I regressed as a Paladin and then changed classes to Warlock. My traits changed when I regressed, so I’ve been following the main quest as the system told me… but if I fail even one, I cough up blood or just collapse. The Emperor is so worried he even locked me in solitary confinement. Has anyone gone through something similar? How do you explain this to the people around you?]**
â”” Hi. I don’t explain.
â”” Then what do you do?
â”” I just leave it. Usually, nobody explains. Sometimes it’s beneficial to pretend you’re sick.
└ I’m in the entertainment industry, so I feel like I can’t get caught. I try to hide as much as possible, like in the bathroom or somewhere like that.
└ Is your mana circle okay? Since I regressed, I have two circles. At this rate, I’m afraid I’ll be dragged to the Magic Tower as a test subject.
└ It’s personal information, so just don’t give it to them.
**[Some people get stat boosts as rewards if they do well on missions while following the main quest. Does the system tell you beforehand that it’s a mission? I haven’t received anything like that yet, so I don’t know what to do first.]**
└ If you look at other posts, there are explanations, but the success routes for most missions given by the system are already set. Most people say that if you think of the shortest route from your remaining memories, you’re usually heading in the right direction.
â”” Thank you!
â”” No problem~ Have a successful regression ^^
**[It’s f*cking hard. Sh*t, seriously. Living with memories only I know is hard, and I don’t even know how many regressions this has been. I feel like it would be better to die, but this damn system won’t let me go, saying my soul is ‘pure and clean.’ You f*cking bastards, does a foul-mouthed jerk look like that to you?]**
â”” Hang in there.
â”” Hang in there…
└ Sigh, sometimes when people regress, they say things like they’re overwhelmed by their blessings. You’re living a second life that others would kill for. Stop using profanity. Most regressors are currently in their early twenties or thirties. It’ll have a bad influence! Please be aware of that!
â”” How old are you to be lecturing me? This is my thirtieth turn, so I’m probably older than you. Just listen to your elders and go on your way. And did we ask for this? The system regresses us and won’t let us go as it pleases. Did we ask to be regressed? Just give it to someone who needs it.
Thinking my mental state would shatter if I read any more, I quietly closed the system window.
I quickly scribbled the information I gathered into my memo app before I forgot.
**[There are penalties even if I follow the main quest. Some cough up blood. The difference is they don’t get hurt if they do well, while I get hurt more the better I do. Stat level-ups? None for me. There are crazies on the board. I could end up like that too. Are the people who regress multiple times chosen? If they fail, do they regress infinitely? I still don’t know that part. Reverse Quest: zero search results. It seems like I’m the only one doing it. Rewards and penalties are given based on quest progress. Rewards are things like access to the board or the shop. The Reverse Quest penalty is a reproduction of the pain from the time of death. Maybe in the future, the reward will be memories from the ‘trash can’?]**
I was just scribbling in a stream of consciousness rather than organizing it properly, so it was uncertain if it would be helpful later, but I saved it for now.
Word must have spread that I was awake because Ha Je-ban came to visit the next afternoon.
“What about your filming?”
“It’s all finished. My schedule was the one moved up while you were sleeping like the dead for the past two days, Brother.”
Ha Je-ban habitually pulled over a chair and sat next to the bed.
Perhaps because of what happened before the regression, he seemed used to coming to the hospital.
As soon as he sat down, he opened the refrigerator, took out an apple, and began to peel it skillfully.
“Did the doctor say anything special?”
“He said I’m healthy. I’ll be able to return to filming soon.”
“I’m not worried about that. Filming isn’t the issue; you need to manage your health if you want to work for a long, long time.”
“I’ll take care of it. Anyway, Ha Je-ban, you said you didn’t have a specific quest… no, a goal for your regression, right? Like the system telling you to achieve something.”
“Huh? Well…”
Ha Je-ban nodded lightly.
“Didn’t I tell you before? Why ask all of a sudden?”
“What about system intervention in the middle?”
Ha Je-ban handed me a piece of apple he had carved into a rabbit shape, poking it with a fork.
“There wasn’t anything like that either. To begin with, all the system did for me was let me regress. Why are you asking? Don’t tell me this injury had something to do with the system?”
When I neither confirmed nor denied his question, his face turned pale in an instant.
“Your injury wasn’t just an accident? The system did it on purpose?”
“Jeban, keep your voice down.”
“Explain first.”
“You would know if you saw the board yourself. The regressors there have a few penalties too, don’t they?”
Ha Je-ban raised his voice once more.
“The most I saw was someone coughing up blood. Even then, it was just on the surface; it was rare for someone to actually be in pain or injured. Even if they really became weak, that was mostly only for Paladins, Mages, or people from the martial arts world.”
“My only regressor little brother is useless.”
“Yeah. Sorry about that.”
I glanced at Ha Je-ban.
His eyes were darting around, his lips were pouting, and the hand holding the fork was trembling. I realized I had made a mistake this time.
Ha Je-ban was still a young man in his early twenties who was sensitive to death.
He was a young man who had just saved his parents from death and no longer had to face a mountain of debt.
‘He’s still a wet-behind-the-ears kid.’
I gave a vague answer to reassure him.
“Hey. It’s okay. My penalty is similar to that. The medical staff even said my recovery speed is much faster than others. I think that’s also thanks to the system.”
“Still… it’s completely like giving the disease and then the medicine.”
Ha Je-ban let out a deep sigh and crossed his legs.
“Anyway, the system actually does things like that. To be honest, I’ve never seen it with my own eyes. For me, the system only spoke to me at the very beginning and the very end.”
It seemed Ha Je-ban had never actually seen how the system suggests quests or offers rewards and penalties.
‘Isn’t this complete discrimination against regressors?’
“But do you know any other regressors besides me? Anyone you suspect?”
I asked while putting the apple Ha Je-ban had peeled into my mouth.
It was sweet, crisp, and delicious.
They were apples Brother Gido had bought. He said he was the son of an orchard owner, and he certainly had an amazing eye for fruit.
Ha Je-ban crossed his arms, let out a groan, shook his head from side to side, and then spoke.
“Even before I regressed, I only knew about actors. Honestly, unless it’s someone whose life is as well-known as yours, wouldn’t it be hard to notice even if they did regress? In your case, I noticed something was strange because of the works you’ve done, but for a regular person, you wouldn’t know what college they went to or what they did unless you were close to them.”
“I suppose so…”
Everything Ha Je-ban said was absolutely right.
“Living life twice is still damn hard.”
In any case, since Ha Je-ban was the only one who knew I had regressed, we talked about the incidents that had changed slightly due to our intervention.
Ha Je-ban said he was watching the press conference live when I cried and ended up spitting out his water.
‘What on earth is that senior thinking?’
The scene of the noble, cold-blooded, and rude actor Jeon Yeo-hoo sniffling and wailing was being broadcast live across the country.
Ha Je-ban proudly mentioned that he had even screen-recorded it on his phone so he wouldn’t miss the scene, so I snatched his phone and deleted the video.
That crazy little tiger…
After Ha Je-ban left.
“Hey! Your big brother is here!!”
Starting with Jeong Yun-woo.
Joo Tae-gang, Han Se-rang, Kim Un-yul, Lee Young-bin, and even the *Exorcist* filming crew all came to visit one by one.
I had to stay hospitalized for a few more days just in case, but thanks to them, it wasn’t lonely.
I had been in a car accident before the regression, but compared to that time when no one came to see me, these days felt like a very noisy vacation.
***
After my treatment was finished, I immediately returned to the set of *Exorcist*.
The director, the person in charge of location scouting, and the art directors all came to me and apologized repeatedly.
I knew it wasn’t their fault anyway, so I laughed it off, and a rumor started circulating on set that I was an angel descended from heaven.
If Hyeon Saeng-sa had heard this, he would have been horrified and shook his head…
Wait, no, he wouldn’t.
‘Because he’d be dead by my hand.’
Hyeon Saeng-sa had also come to visit me. Seeing how he surrendered his phone, recorder, laptop, and tablet to me as soon as he entered the room before trying to talk, it seemed he was certain I would bring a significant benefit to his life.
Otherwise, no matter how much Hyeon Saeng-sa had changed, there would be no reason for that man to visit me or act that way to stay in my good graces.
At this point, having filmed up to nine of the twelve episodes, the atmosphere on the set of *Exorcist* was quite relaxed, excluding what had happened to me.
Today’s filming location was a graveyard.
It was a scene where Jeong Chan-yul pours alcohol in front of the grave where he buried his grandfather with Choi Taek and has a conversation.
The scene was meant to be inserted into episode twelve, but after several meetings, it was decided to film it in advance.
It was content that would never change, and the director was firm in his desire to film it while the emotions could still be captured, as he considered it an important scene directorially.
“Yeo-hoo, you’re here.”
“Senior.”
“How’s your body? You okay?”
“You saw me when you visited. I’m perfectly fine.”
“Still, managing aftereffects from an accident like that is important. I once fell during a horse-riding scene and returned to work immediately, but three months later, my ankle started throbbing.”
“Ah, is that so?”
I already knew that, but I pretended to listen intently.
Having a senior in the industry who viewed me favorably was a good thing for me.
“Anyway, I’m glad you could return so soon. From now on, you’ll be even busier with promotion schedules than filming. You’re really okay, right?”
“Yes.”
The rehearsal proceeded quickly.
The director returned to his position, and Choi Geon-hyeong and I stood before the grave.
The atmosphere of the set.
“Three!”
The air of the set.
“Two!”
It hadn’t been long, but I missed it dearly.
I realized once again the reason why I chose this profession, even while enduring penalties I shouldn’t have to face.
“One!”
Right before the final signal, I slowly opened my eyes.
It’s fun. I like it.
Truly.
Even though I almost died because of the system.
“Cue!”
I could never give up this damn acting, even if it kills me.