"So you repeat the same day over and over again? Very strange..." Dira slowly stroked his chin.
"...Wait here for a few minutes." The white-haired man said.
Dira slowly stood up and got out of the classroom.
A few minutes later, he returned.
He was holding a stack of books.
Dira threw the books on the table and sat down.
"...I think I once read about something just like that happening before. Wait a moment."
"It must be in one of them..." The man quickly flipped through pages after pages.
Eventually, he stopped on a single page.
"...Kid, is it possible that you are lying?" Dira looked at Zed with tiredness in his eyes.
After staring at Zed for a few moments, he sighed.
"...We might be in trouble, big trouble.".
Dira explained the situation.
There are many creatures in this world, and most of them are not friendly.
Over the years, some creatures have seemed to disappear.
On the other hand, creatures like demons only appear more and more frequently.
"A legend-class demon, I didn't think I would see that in my lifetime." The white-haired man slowly took out a cell phone from his pocket.
"...Of course, no signal." He let out a sigh and returned the device to his pocket.
"..."
Dira got quiet for a while.
"Listen, kid. Have you heard about parallel dimensions?"
After Zed nodded, Dira continued.
"In simple terms, every human in a thirty-kilometer radius is stuck within his own dimension. Each of the dimensions probably has different rules. In other words, this is a game where everyone except you is not from the true reality."
Dira continued.
"... There is no point for a full explanation. The important stuff to remember is that you can escape from this dimension. "
Dira was thinking for a while before continuing.
"...If you figure out the rules and know how to escape your dimension, come to me. If you can do this, you might be able to save us."
The reason why Dira explained so much to a little child was simple.
'The more people try to escape, the more chances we have. The others probably decided to do the same as me.'
Usually, Dira would not trust children with such a heavy responsibility.
But, to save himself and humanity is his responsibility.
After all, their opponent is terrifying.
A legend-class demon is not just a simple creature. It is a being that transcends the physical realm, a creature that can destroy a country within a single move.
The way they fight is incompatible with humanity.
Usually, they only fight against the laws of the universe like the [Heavenly Law].
Sometimes they make simple bets that their consequence might be the destruction of an entire continent.
In short, this is a must-win battle.
But, what is the game exactly? Even that is not certain.
'The last time a being like that appeared was over a millennium ago. Why now?'
After Zed learned about his situation, his suspicion grew.
'Is this a present for me? Surely, the system is not stupid enough to allow me to die that easily. '
'Maybe... the system made someone mad?'
Zed had no idea if his guess was accurate or not. However, his mood was great.
He was still not sure if he should try to solve the puzzle.
'Maybe a monster will appear in the end?'
'I will test it. If just a few more days until it is over, then great. However, if it takes too much time...'
Zed was optimistic about his chances.
'It is trivial for me to die from such a monster!'
From that day on, Zed had the same routine.
Wake up, write the number of rewinds on a piece of paper, and waste the day away.
It was boring. Extremely boring.
As time went by, Zed began studying the world.
From science to cooking, he learned everything that he could find.
Over time, his skills drastically improved.
However, there was one subject he knew to avoid.
Magic.
Zed knew better than trusting some random demon.
It might be that this is all part of the system's plan, so he avoided the word.
At some point, he even stopped looking at the familiar screen.
Slowly, Zed was losing his patience.
"Come on... just kill me already, you piece of shit!"
After enough time, he was also losing his respect.
"Legend-class demon? Who are you kidding? Come and fight me, scrub!"
At other times, he complained about his situation.
"This must be a joke. We have been through this shit like three hundred times already. How the hell has no one escaped by now?!"
Zed slowly lost his sense of time.
It was early morning.
After opening his eyes, Zed slowly raised from the bed.
From the drawer, Zed pulled out a pen and paper.
After he wrote a number on the paper, he sighed.
'10537'
He made a decision.
'I won't wait any longer.'
Zed felt regret for not stopping earlier.
It was all because he fell into the sunk-cost fallacy.
He had a feeling after the first thousand times, yet he couldn't just stop.
'All this waste of time... and nothing! How is it possible that no one could solve the demon's shitty puzzle?'
More importantly, why is he still alive?
According to Dira, this was a game of some sort.
What about the time limit?
'At this point, how did the demon not win already?'
Zed concluded that if the game is still ongoing, there is only one reason.
They were all waiting for the conclusion of the game inside his dimension.
The ones who started this game still waits for the end.
'I see... If you want me to play the game, I'll play it, don't worry. However, I'll make you regret it if you don't kill me.' Zed was pissed off.
He wanted to punch the demon right in his face. If he wasted all this time, why not tell him?
'Are you a respectful demon or not? Don't waste my time!'
In his mind, he saw a robot laughing at him.
When he thought about the system watching him all this time, he felt embarrassed.
"..."
Zed let out a deep sigh.
"Ok, let's start."