Chapter 2

"Hey...? Where am I...?"

Before I knew it, I was standing in an unfamiliar place.

I was sure that... I had heard about the 100 million year button from that suspicious old man, the Sage of Time... and then...

"...That's right, I pressed the 100 million year button."

So, this must be the 'other world' the Sage of Time talked about, right?

Looking around, I saw healthy soil and a large white house.

And one more thing—there were large numbers floating in the air.

00000000 years, January 1, 00:01:31.

It was probably a clock for this world, ticking away second by second.

I had to leave this world when it showed exactly 100 million years.

In other words, this was my time until then.

"Alright... Alright, alright! Alright!"

I did it, I really did it...

With this much time, I'm sure I can beat Dodoriel.

I was so happy... I clenched my fists tightly.

(Still, I never thought that story would be true!)

When I get out of here, I have to thank the Sage of Time.

(No... but, I think my memory will disappear when I leave this world, right...)

Well, it should be fine.

Even if I lose my memory, the sword techniques I learn here won't disappear.

The me in the real world, 100 million years later, will surely thank him.

(Oh no, no, no)

I immediately drew my sword and started practicing.

Time seems long but is actually short.

100 million years will probably pass in a flash.

(With such a great opportunity... I can't waste a single second...)

After that, I continued swinging my sword with all my might.

The next time I checked the time was when my stomach growled.

"Already this late..."

Looking at the floating digital clock, it was already past 8 PM.

Since there's no sun in this other world, it's hard to tell the time.

"Well then... time for dinner"

I stopped practicing and headed towards the only large white house in this world.

"Wow, it's so big..."

It's much, much bigger than my mother's house or the dorm I'm currently living in.

And it's incredibly clean, not a speck of dust.

"Um... where are the ingredients...?"

According to the Sage of Time, there should be a magic food storage that endlessly supplies food.

After exploring the house a bit, I found a huge refrigerator next to the kitchen.

"Is it in here...?"

Opening the large double doors, I saw—

"Wow..."

Meat, vegetables, fish, milk—every possible ingredient was packed tightly inside.

I grabbed a large tomato that caught my eye and took a bite.

"...! It's, it's delicious..."

It was as fresh as if it had been harvested this morning, with a sweet flavor that filled my mouth.

After that, I ate some dried meat and vegetables that didn't require cooking, and immediately headed to the bathroom.

"So big..."

The bathroom was about ten times bigger than I imagined.

And—

"Ah... what a nice bath..."

I don't know how it works, but the temperature was perfect without any adjustments.

Not too hot, not too cold—just the right temperature, and I could feel my muscles relaxing.

After getting out of the bath, I prepared for bed and headed to the bedroom.

I don't intend to spend too much time on things other than training.

If I did, 100 million years would pass in a flash.

"So soft..."

The large bed in the bedroom was so soft it didn't seem real.

And it wasn't just soft.

It also had the strength to support my body firmly.

Wrapped in a light and warm blanket, I muttered softly.

"Perfect..."

Delicious food.

A comfortable bath.

A soft bed.

And most importantly—100 million years of time.

It can't get any better.

This is truly the best environment.

"Hehe, try training for 100 million years in a place like this... I'm sure I'll become an amazing swordsman..."

With bright hope and strong ambition in my heart, I slowly fell asleep.

■

Ten years after coming to this other world, I continued swinging my sword every day.

After ten years of continuous sword practice, I began to understand the principles.

(Maybe you could call it optimization...)

Anyway, I understood how to swing a sword.

When swinging a sword vertically, I knew exactly when to apply force and when to release it. I finally grasped the techniques of swordsmanship.

By the time 100 years had passed, I had mastered various techniques.

For example, like this,

"First Strike—Flying Shadow!"

I could release flying slashes.

I even named the various techniques I mastered.

It felt like I had become the founder of a new school, and it was very enjoyable.

Three hundred years later.

I was a little... tired.

Not physically, but mentally.

The same routine every day.

Swing the sword, eat, sleep.

For 300 years, day after day, the same routine.

I think my heart was tired of this life.

A few days ago, I took a walk around this other world to clear my mind.

To my surprise, it was much smaller than I thought.

In conclusion, this other world is a small sphere.

If I walked straight from the house, I would soon reach the back door. It was a small sphere, much smaller than the schoolyard.

It was kind of... lonely.

Five hundred years later.

Recently, everything tasted the same to me.

Meat, fish, vegetables—everything tasted the same.

It felt like eating tasteless rubber.

I could clearly tell that my mind was troubled.

But there was no way to release my frustration in this closed world.

The bitter thoughts in my chest wouldn't go away, and my dissatisfaction grew day by day.

The bath didn't need to be so big.

A space to stretch my legs would have been enough.

The bed was the same.

A futon and a blanket would have been fine.

I didn't need such excessive facilities.

I didn't need them—so, bring me someone.

I wanted to meet someone.

I wanted to talk to someone.

I wanted to be exposed to different thoughts.

Maybe you could call it a desire for social interaction... such feelings were bubbling up inside me.

"Mom... I wonder if she's doing well..."

Seven hundred years later.

I was just lonely.

Desperately lonely.

I was about to break.

I wanted to get out of here as soon as possible.

My hatred for the Sage of Time, who sent me to this hell, was growing.

"...He knew."

He knew how cruel and hopeless this world was.

That's why he begged so desperately.

To make me press the button.

"...I will never forgive him."

With a heart full of vengeance, I continued swinging my sword today.

One thousand years later.

I no longer understood why I was swinging my sword.

I think there was a purpose.

There must have been a reason for me to swing my sword so desperately.

But I couldn't remember what it was.

Five thousand years later.

I thought to myself,

"If I choose to commit suicide here... can I escape this world?"

The Sage of Time said,

"Never, never commit suicide. Even though this is another world, your body is the only one. If you die, it's over."

Yes, I could always end it.

It's simple.

Just stab the sword in my hand into my chest.

That's all it would take to escape this hell.

"It can end... it can end!"

I immediately pointed the tip of the sword at my chest and closed my eyes.

All I had to do was stab it.

The pain would surely be just a moment.

That's all.

That's all... but...

"Why can't I move...?"

My hand was as if it had turned to stone.

I was just scared.

The fear of death had surpassed my current suffering.

That's what I thought at the time.

Ten thousand years later.

I had stopped thinking.

I just raised and lowered my sword.

I had become a conceptual existence, repeating the same action.

Why I was swinging the sword.

Why I was living.

What 'I' even was.

I no longer understood anything.

Even in that state—I never let go of the sword.

I thought I shouldn't let it go.

It might have been a kind of obsessive-compulsive disorder.

After ten thousand years, a hundred thousand years, a million years, and ten million years, I continued swinging my sword.

Finally, it was 99,999,999 years, December 31, 23:59:59... and one second later, this world began to slowly collapse.

"It's... over..."

I could feel myself being pulled back to reality.

(Never... never again will I press it...)

I engraved that in my soul.

That was a cursed button.

A button that should not exist in this world—a cursed button.

(When I return to the real world, I'll destroy it first...)

I will never forgive the Sage of Time.

I will never forgive that old man who sent me to this hell.

I will beat him up like a rag.

Yes, I will make him press the 100 million year button with his paralyzed arm.

I will make him experience the same hell I did.

I will make him spend 100 million years in this empty, hellish world.

I gently closed my eyes, careful not to extinguish the burning, dark light in my chest.

■

A few seconds later—I was back in that white world.

Unbelievably, the floating clock in the air was pointing to 00000000 years, January 1, 00:00:01.

"......What?"

I couldn't believe my eyes.

No way, no way, no way...!?

"Did I... press it again...!?"

It was undeniable. The me who returned to reality... pressed it again.

The cursed 100 million year button.

Was I going to spend that insane amount of time... all over again...?

"Ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh, u