Chapter 1

Why?

She couldn't remember, Kim Minji couldn't remember why she had agreed to this. This system was originally designed in order to protect. The purpose of the system was to protect the world, however, why was it like this now?

She couldn't understand where it had gone wrong.

[Congratulations! You have successfully killed the monster 'Serpentis'.]

[You have earned the title 'Dragon Slayer'.]

[You have successfully attained all skills of the 'Serpentis'.]

"Shut up..."

She knelt down onto the ground, burying her head between her knees and chest. It felt so horribly, terribly useless now, this system, this world...

How many times had they attempted and failed?

How much more failures would she be able to endure.

'Damn you...'

She couldn't understand, why did they need to go through this effort?

Why couldn't they leave the world to die out on it's own?

[The rewards for single handedly clearing the boss room have arrived.]

[Please choose your reward:

Gate stone X5

Wishstone

A-rank ointment X5]

"Leave me alone..."

She groaned out a little, finally lifting her face back up to read through the screen. Only the wishstone caught her eye.

"Item rank evaluation; Wishstone."

[Wishstone rank evaluation.]

[Loading...]

[Wishstone

Item grade:???

Type:???

A seed of the 'world tree' capable of granting an owner's desired wish.

All fragments of the 'world tree' contain powerful magic and thus, can be used as a consumable or ingredient to immensely boost stats or heal injuries and disease.]

She already knew exactly what the properties of the thing were, as she read through the evaluation presented before her however, eyes slowly drifting towards the dead body belonging to her brother and back to the holographic screen.

She knew, even if it said things like that, even something as powerful as a world tree's seed had it's limits. She pressed onto the slab of the item, selected it, and as she does so, a bright light forges in front of her; emitted by the small, almost strawberry seed sized jewel which she her hands reached forward to wrap around.

She was aware she couldn't wish for revive the dead; it was an unspoken rule no matter who it was, the ancient laws which forbade the intercession within the natural cycle of the world; the natural cycle and relationship between life and death.

However, there were always loopholes, ancient laws was something which always contained loopholes.

"Hey."

The jewel's light glowed a little brighter at her call, as though understanding that it was being called out to.

"Turn back time, take my brother's soul with us."

The troubles her wish would cause, but she didn't care in the least so long as it meant her brother would live.

"Take us to 5...no, 7 years back, to before I became an awakened. I'll protect him this time, I won't let him die."

She would just live off her brother's money this time and she would not cause her brother any trouble either. This time she would figure out how to stop things from happening without interfering with him, she wouldn't let the man die next time.

[Will you turned back time?]

"Yes."

Kim Minji answered back calmly to the notification which appeared in front of her. She didn't care what it would take. It was already too late, she had already grown too attached to him and couldn't turn back. That's why she had to save him along with everyone else.

Just as she spoke, the seed of the world tree grew brighter and stronger. Everything became bright red and her eyes burned, and then, everything became white.

After that, it didn't take long for the setting of the dungeon to settle in front of her restored vision, and in it's place, was replaced by a regular room, a lounge room which belonged to her brother's guild building. 

She glanced at her smart phone screen which held the date.

-08/07/20XX-

Exactly 7 years into the past.

'Kim Joon, even back than that kid was popular.'

Museoun guild which was currently within the top 5 guilds of South Korea would eventually grow to become the best in the entire globe within the next 7 years. Some would have thought the growth rate was unrealistic, but was plausible in several ways.

Museoun Guild was led by a handsome young guild master who was in many senses perfect in every way, his position as an S-rank was also the cherry-on-top. His guild consisted of a small number of elite hunters; the guild climbed to the top after 7 years of rapid development.

Of-course Kim Minji herself never got into the guild. Aside from acting as a non-awakened, there were many guild members who didn't particularly like her.

She had heard the same things continuously; that she should just leave and stop being a burden to their guild master. At one point however, Kim Minji had completely lost interest. 

She still kept tabs on him through news and social media outlets, however, she had only ever contacted him directly when she was in need of money; something which took place perhaps once within a year at best.

That was until the dungeon incident though.

Of-course, she didn't plan to change things now, however, it wouldn't hurt to keep closer tabs and ask for more money. 

Kim Minji thought it wouldn't be any trouble, she'd think of it as compensation for several things which the man had and would put her through to keep him alive. Her train of thoughts were cut off when the door to the lounge room she was in burst open to reveal a very disheveled looking Kim Joon.

'Wow, S-class environmental adaptation is really great.'

Even if it was the data coding of stats and abilities which she herself had set up, it really was great no matter who looked at it.

"Noona..."

The man stared at her, as though taking in certain facts. Those facts likely consisting of: one, he was alive. Two, he was younger, and three, he was no longer within a dungeon.

'He's not thinking he's gone crazy, right?'

It would become a problem if an S-rank suddenly thought he was going crazy after his death. 

"Joon-ah-"

Kim Minji was effectively cut off when Kim Joon ran towards her and hugged her, much to her own surprise. 

"Noona, noona...I'm sorry."

For several long moments, the now younger S-rank didn't release his hold on her, continuously uttering out apologies and what-not. Slowly, Kim Minji raised her hand and patted his back in attempt to comfort him.

"I't's okay Joon-ah, it's okay..."

Kim Minji gently soothed him while patting his back. Her mind raced with thoughts, as the enigma of weight that landed atop her brother's shoulder's finally settled into her.

Maybe it was because she had spent so much time with this child that she had grown soft, but she couldn't help but think that it must have been difficult for him to process this all after suddenly dying. Originally, Kim Minji could have simply reset the data of the world, however ,there were no methods to restore 'deleted' data, and so, it would not have brought Kim Joon back, that was why she specifically made the wish to return his soul as well.

Knowing Kim Joon, the man would attempt to keep the future to himself, so there was no reason to let him know she had been the one to reset the world's data using the world tree's seed.

"Joon-ah, why are you apologising?"

Kim Minji acted confused and questioned why Kim Joon was apologising. One person knowing was enough, but currently, there were two of them that knew the future; placing them in a difficult position.

"I'm sorry, noona. I was wrong."

"Yes, you were very wrong."

Kim Minji easily agreed to his words even though she was sure that he didn't know what she was agreeing to - In all her honesty, she didn't know what she was agreeing to either - Kim Joon had so many things to apologise for that she didn't know what the boy's apology was for. Kim Joon refused to release his hold one her.

After several more moments, Kim Minji called to him to let her go.

"Joon-ah, you can let go now..."

However, his hold only tightened. And Helplessly, Kim Minji simply let him continue to hug her. while continuing to pat his back. It was understandable, it must have been traumatic for the child who would currently believe that Kim Minji; his noona, was dead within the future.