Arel has completely no idea how it came to this. He'd awaken inside a plain white room, but he doesn't exactly feel… awake. The room was way too plain, and white, and broad, almost like an open space. He'd ascertain this wasn't anywhere he was supposed to land if he was in fact time traveling. Maybe death had caught up to him sooner before he could change his fate.
Is this Hell? But this isn't.. hellish.
Then, is this paradise? No. He's not a man for heaven.
Arel and Yusol were ambushed. A rocket launcher had attacked them while the two shared a moment of companionship. Two men, stuck in a forsaken country, were bound to seek kinsmanship with others who shared the same fate. Romance had been a long forgotten thought, love was just a concept, but companions were almost bound to be yearned by everyone abandoned.
The colonel's red pupils dilated in distress when he realized. His mission.. He failed before he could even start. Before he could even process any single weight that he had promised to uphold. The soldier had already laid down on the solid white ground, defeated.
Ding.
[System - online]
[Individual registration complete - Welcome,
What, the fuck. Arel's wayyyy too old to imagine this. What, is he in a regression manhwa? He's not fucking Korean, nor was he written by a Korean. The man sits up straight, seeing a translucent blue screen that was recognisable as being those that show up in those regressor manhwas, like S*l* L*v*ling, but maybe Arel won't say the actual title because copyright MIGHT still exist.
[Opening quest - loading.
: Player
Being an addicted reader to regression manhwas, because he would always read anytime he could, Arel must admit that he was quite happy to be able to experience such a weird thing. The premise is slightly different from his cup of tea, but this isn't in his control.
Let's see.. Usually.. regression MC's (main characters) can check stats and objectives.
"Check stats."
[Player
stats.]
HP : (+)50000/55000
ATK : 3000
DEF : 25000
SPD : 3500
[Available skills : 0]
They seem bad. Way too low for a top-dog's "equal". But they were never equal in any way. There just wasn't anyone that could reach the General's ability that everyone alluded to Arel's achievement in tanking attacks from left and right.
"Ugh.. shit, what is going on? System?"
[System 100% available. Audio contact available.]
[QnA system - pending]
Good morning, please wait on hold as we will respond once available.
"Of course customer service is a thing.."
Arel grumbles annoyedly, coming up with a question to ask.
"What's going on?"
Our service is not available right now, please wait until we're online.
[QnA system - offline]
[System - offline]
Is this a joke?
—----
After some light fiddling with the system, Arel got the gist of the situation. Yusol was vague with the explanation, but some thinking occured and essentially..
This is a load of bull. Arel's mind was processing everything going on when the system came back online, this time an audio playing.
[System - online]
[Audio recording - synced. Volume 60%]
"Hello soldier. ..Or Colonel, if the pill receiver is you, Arel."
Pray tell. Yusol's slightly deep, resonating voice was almost the last thing the colonel expected to hear from the 'system'.
"Anyone receiving this message is the one who got the pill. This pill was supposed to turn back time and prevent a lot of catastrophes from happening. This system was.. implemented in order to keep the soldier from wandering away from the objectives, so forgive us for burdening you."
Intently, the red eyes trail on the transcript of the audio, paying attention to details.
Arel swallowed a pill that travels him back in time, he knew that much. He's supposed to just.. prevent a catalyst for the war to happen. Easy Peasy.
"Save our nation, Arel. Good luck."
Yusol can be very encouraging, if not for the fact that this is a bunch of information dump that the older soldier was trying to crumple into just a list in his jumbled up mind.
[Audio recording - finished.]
[Sending player
Teleportation? Sweet.
…
Year 202x
Arel's eyes open wide inside a 1 bedroom apartment. His home, 12 years ago from the future, or now, 12 years to the future.
A roughed up apartment, with bottles and canned food just scattered around. Carpeted seating and sleeping areas with questionable food stains that's been there since how long. Store-bought paintings as if to make the house more homey, but it just comes off as cheap.
He misses this, almost. He hadn't seen his apartment in six years, because it was destroyed in the future. The war had gone on for around 8 years, it was political until it just escalated, wiping out a majority of the citizens of the country.
He forgot he sleeps on a sofa-bed, feeling around the stiffly bouncy bed to lay down and rest. Until again, a ding from his system bothers his mind.
[Teleportation- successful.]
[Goal one -> Teach and lead.]
Arel could feel his jaw drop from the sheer thought that comes to his head. A teacher? That's such a 25-year old Arel thing to want to do! Then again, he's 25 now. Oh. So that's why Yusol made him of all people? Because of that conversation?
His general wants him to go back to the past and teach, presumably high-schoolers from the context, because he wanted to be a teacher 12 years ago (now)? He would've been moved if it weren't for the absurdity of the situation. Then again, Yusol did say the war was caused at a school.
The pile of books on 'how to become a teacher' was what caught his attention, which led Arel to grumble in annoyance. He'd been training to be a teacher until Yusol invited him to the company. Hey, how does Yusol even know him anyway?
He sighs, frustrated at what he has to do. Physical books were a foreign concept 12 years from now, phones were far more advanced the upcoming years, so obviously, Arel's going to have to adjust again.
And again, and again.