He wakes up from his state

[Recalling of trauma finished.]

Youngwoo suddenly felt some gravity press on him. Wait, since when was he floating? This was very weird. He turned his head around, and the blackness he was in dissipated like it was a lie. His head was spinning for a moment as he saw the entire world literally bend in a spiral pattern briefly, and then immediately coming back to its proper shape and size. He was standing on a walkway, suddenly frozen mid-movement.

A strong pulse of his heart brought blood to his head, where the pressure suddenly caused him to close his eyes for a moment in fear of his eyes bulging out. In his head, the fireworks that silenced Dragon Witch's cries still ringed. At least, until his mind suddenly became clear. Like a switch that turned light on and off, the exploding sounds were silenced in an instant. Unbeknownst to him, he breathed a little sigh of relief and opened his eyes to be greeted with a new message.

[Due to effects of skill 'Calm Mind (passive)', strain on your mentality has been nullified.]

So, that was it. The crime and punishment, the scorching hot and soothing cold, the... wait, why was he thinking like that? No, he should focus. What just happened? Was that all real?

He looked around himself. There were some people walking here and there, on the streets some magic-powered machines were moving around (people agreed to utilize magic rather than oil, since they could just export it to the Earth thanks to Merchant Guild's guildmaster). Some were going towards the Gate to go on their raids, some others were moving in different directions.

Youngwoo started walking forward (or rather, resumed). His mind might've calmed down, but he still needed to think. And for that, he needed some space and loneliness. But first, he had to check something.

Walking into first empty alley he came across, he took out his phone and looked in the Internet. Reaching the 'Tower's Daily', he started scrolling newest posts. He then started filtering the results, intending to find everything about Magician Guild. How were they doing at the battle? Could they raid the banshee when they were on their own? He searched and searched, until he found a single post.

@: What is happening at Floor 20?

Today, Magician Guild took all its forces to tackle the floor 20. The infamous Iron Maiden has been undefeated for nearly 2 years, but it seems like they finally got pissed off. Does anyone know why now and not earlier???

This was it. It wasn't even an informative post, just somebody posting a question. But, Youngwoo couldn't wrap his head around one thing.

'Why didn't they mention the other guilds? Not even in the comments...' He scrolled through the comments, and there was nothing. Hell, it seemed as if nobody even knew that 3 other major guilds entered the floor 20. No, wait, why was that?

Youngwoo returned to main page of the news site and started searching again. This time, he wanted to see the post treating about the massacre that happened yesterday. But, after some minutes, he found nothing.

'What?' He scrolled on and on, unable to understand. This was literally the hottest news just this morning, what happened to it? Did Magician Guild threaten them to delete the post? No, they wouldn't do that, would they? It was mostly Knights Guild that cared about their image, not them. Well, Youngwoo had no idea what happened, until he wanted to scroll up the page and accidentally pulled down the tab that had some options. And, in top right corner of the screen, white letters were staring at him, reading Mon, 16th Mar.

'16th...? No, it was 17th already...' Youngwoo was certain of this. He knew full well that it was Monday just yesterday, and now his phone wanted to tell him the same thing? No, this couldn't be. He checked a few posts anew, this time reading their exact date, and was astonished to find that nothing was from 17th of March, 2043 yet. This was weird... Until, he recalled to himself one of sentences that he saw back when he chose a skill card.

[Rewinding time 24 hours back.]

Wait, but there was no way, was there...? No matter what way he looked at it, this seemed surreal. There never once was a skill that could turn back time, not even for a minute. And now, here he was, an entire day in the past? He then remembered what the Tower said.

'Mortal, you focus too much on what is, and not enough on what was.' Those were the exact words. Did it seriously mean this? This was just unreal, by any means. 'But wait... if, and only IF i really came back in time, then... I won't have it in my skills anymore. So it was a single-use skill, then.'

However, just to ensure and not assume, he summoned his status and opened his skill list.

[Skills:

[Leather Hide full of Poison (passive) (C)]
[I want to do better! (SSS)]
[Calm Mind (passive) (S)]]

'...WHAT?!' He was dumbfounded. No, actually, it was more of a shock. He struck himself on his cheek just to check if he was dreaming. Nope, the skill of SSS-rank was still in there, smiling at him in white letters on the blue panel. ‘No… no way… isn’t this good?’ He thought for a moment. 'Or is it very bad?'

Gaining a new skill through such a method didn't sound half bad. That is, only half, because it still meant **** for him, and that wasn't exactly nice. But then again, wasn't he going to return to life anyway? Youngwoo had to think about this.

'I need to test if only I remember what happened... but how?' He pondered for a moment.

His options were not very limited. The first, most obvious way would be to wait for Magician Guild's failure and see if Abigail remembers him at all. But, this had a few issues. First was, he'd need to wait. Second, the guild returned at about 2 in the morning, if he recalled correctly. So, until that happened, he had to wait.

Another option would be to do something that'd make people chase after him. There were actually quite a few options here. He could simply steal something from a shop, run up to a random person and strike them, either armed or unarmed, or, if he dared, go and do something indecent to some random passersby. That being said, he always wondered what a pair of nice breasts would feel in his hands... But then again, if this happened, he'd need to die again to check if the skill made everyone forget. And even worse, if it didn't, he'd probably be chased again.

Youngwoo shook his head. This wasn't time to think about options that were too questionable. He really needed to try the first option. It seemed much, much safer than anything else. Besides, there were other things he needed to check about this skill. Because what if Abigail would regain her memories of the past that happened before his **** if the time advanced enough? This was why he couldn't go for the alternative option.

He looked at the exact time. 15:43. If he waited until next day and at least attempted to dispel his doubts, he'd get some answers, no? Well, Youngwoo was too much a thinker anyway.

Now, the question lied, how did he want to do this? Did he want to wait and approach Abigail right after the raid? Or did he want to try and do it the same way it happened originally? He thought of the pros and cons on his way back home.

Pro of doing it the way it already happened was, he already knew how to get her attention and where he'd find her at what hour.

Con was that he'd need to lie to her again. While he didn't feel particularly bad when twisting the truth somewhat, when he admitted to his sin he could feel it weighed on him somewhat. Even now, it was sitting in the back of his head, and he'd need some time to come to terms with that.

On the other hand, if he wanted to go and see her immediately...

Pro was that he'd know where she was. There was only one Gate, and he knew the hour (more or less, that is). But... that was all.

Cons were simple to state. She'd be probably tired after the failed raid, and quite possibly shaken by what had happened. It was doubtful she'd be able to speak with him. He still didn't know how it came to be that someone so young was so calm on battlefield, but he didn't want to bet it on a skill. Another con was that, if his ability would restore her memories after the time he died previously, he'd still need to wait, effectively wasting time and possibly ruining his night (and Abigail's too, likely).

Either way, he'd need to get on the raid and endure with Abigail long enough until the hour of his **** came around. What was it? Had he been fighting with Dragon Witch's zombie for what, 10 minutes? Maybe not even. Looking at the time, he concluded.

'15:35. I died around that hour, quite possibly a little earlier.' He thought. This was only based on the message he saw in the 'limbo' stating that he'd be going back in time exactly 24 hours. But, he was willing to bet it on that. Tower be Tower, but if the skill sent him even a minute in either way, it'd have said so.

'Lastly, I need to check this skill... I'm way too calm for this. Is it this powerful?' Youngwoo came to a conclusion as he entered his room. It was true; all the time he thought of his plan, he didn't get nervous one bit, not even when he thought that he'd likely die to Dragon Witch's zombie again. He swiped his hand, bringing up the info.

[Calm Mind (Passive)

Rank: S

You will keep your cool most of the time, even during most stressful situations.
However, expressing positive emotions will become difficult, and there is a chance that the negative feeling(s) will instead be strengthened.]

Yes, this was indeed a skill worthy of S-rank. And, in retrospect, it also explained a lot about Dragon Witch.

'She always acted so calm. Hell, even when people were booing her for sacrificing a few teammates, she looked like it didn't even reach her... To think it was all thanks to this skill... I like it. I like it a lot.'

He smiled a little. Yes, this was actually a skill that was worth dying for. He was certain of it.