The sound of cheerful chattering filled Ethan's ears, a stark contrast to the heavy silence he had grown accustomed to during the apocalypse. Outside his window, the low hum of machines whirred and the rambunctious roar of vehicle engines blended into a symphony of normalcy he had longed for. Slowly, he opened his eyes, sunlight streaming into the room and illuminating the chaos of scattered clothes and remnants of his former life.

What first entered his view was the white tail of a cat sitting squarely on his face, its furry rear inches from his nose.

It was an unpleasant view, but for some reason, Ethan felt an unexpected sense of relief wash over him. The familiarity of the moment anchored him, pulling him back to simpler times before everything spiraled out of control. With a resigned sigh, he pulled the funky cat off his face, gently scratching its head as it let out a disgruntled *meow*.

“Sorry, Leo,” he murmured, a smile breaking through the anxiety that had built in his chest. The cat blinked up at him, unimpressed, before sauntering away with a nonchalant flick of its tail.

Reaching under his pillow, where he always kept his phone, Ethan pressed the power button. The screen lit up, revealing the time and date—along with a picture of a gravure model as the screensaver, a remnant of his less complicated past.

January 2, 2017, 7:33 a.m.

"I succeeded..." he muttered, his voice barely above a whisper. “I really returned to before everything went spiraling downwards… to a month before the apocalypse began!”

Overjoyed, he felt a rare second chance swell within him. Though he had returned to a time before the apocalypse started—before skills were even granted to the citizens of Earth—Ethan felt a flicker of hope. “My skills are still with me!”

A rush of adrenaline surged through him. Initially, he had thought his abilities would vanish with the jump to the past. However, to his surprise, they came with him, as if they were a part of him from the beginning. Both Rewind and No Cost were still available for him!

Ethan was so surprised and happy that he quickly tried it out, jumping to a specific moment—a minute ago, when he was still lying on the bed.

Unlike the first time he activated it, no flashy light show occurred. “Does it only flash if the time rewound was too long?” he wondered aloud, excitement bubbling within him. “But with this… wouldn’t failing my task be harder than succeeding?”

The stakes had never felt higher. He wanted to help humanity beat the apocalypse, and he was determined to do it without a single life sacrificed. Of course, it was impossible to reduce deaths around the world to zero; after all, over a hundred deaths occur worldwide every second, many from natural causes.

But he wanted to prevent "death from the monsters," which dominated the headlines for the first month of the apocalypse.

Ethan could still vividly remember how, during the beginning of the apocalypse, a staggering 75% of the world's population fell victim to the monsters, unable to properly fight back. The terror and despair etched in his memory felt all too real, a nightmare he was desperate to rewrite.

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“But this time, I’ll change this fate!” he declared, clenching his fists in determination as the weight of his mission settled on his shoulders. He envisioned the chaos of the world he had left behind, a swirl of fear and destruction, and felt a renewed sense of purpose ignite within him.

Achieving zero deaths from the onset of the apocalypse in just a month would be no small feat. To do that, he would need an astounding plan!

*Meow!*

Leo, the white cat, jumped down from Ethan's face, stretching before leaving his room. The feline was so free-spirited that it only came home when it was time to eat or sleep. Ethan ignored his pet, shifting his focus back to the task at hand.

His mind churned out ideas, trying to formulate the best way to disseminate crucial information to the masses. In the end, he landed on a single, electrifying idea. “A Quiz Game on a worldwide scale!”

Ethan remembered all types of monsters by heart, each one a vivid memory etched into his mind, necessary for survival. Even with his eyes closed, he could picture them all—their terrifying forms and deadly abilities. Thus, he would create a Quiz Game where the questions would revolve around information about monsters that emerged during the apocalypse, including their names, weaknesses, special traits, and danger levels.

“But I can’t just publish the information as is, like an encyclopedia,” he mused, frustration bubbling to the surface. Who would bother reading books as thick as dictionaries?

“Thus, I should do it in the modern approach. The thing called Vlog!” he exclaimed, the concept igniting excitement within him.

Vlogging, or Video Blogging, had surged in popularity from 2010 to 2015, a time when smartphones began to boom, and the trend still thrived even in the present. Ethan himself watched and followed a few vloggers, mostly due to their engaging personalities, "sensual" beauty, and the sometimes entertaining content they produced.

Starting a Vlog, then a Quiz Game, seemed like a foolproof plan to gather interest. However, just "a few" viewers wouldn’t be enough; he needed to capture the attention of half the world to ensure that the rate of survival would be higher.

“And nothing is better at getting attention than… big money!”

Ethan decided he would offer a $1 billion reward for whoever could win the Quiz Game in the end! With a prize that substantial, there was no doubt a significant number of people would be drawn in.

However, Ethan wasn’t a billionaire; he was just a simple office worker at a nearby newspaper company, barely scraping by on a salary of $600 a month. The weight of his bills loomed heavily on his shoulders—mortgage, loans, and daily expenses constantly gnawed at his meager income.

But he already had a solution to his dilemma. He grabbed his phone, dialing a certain number as he quickly changed into clothes that would suit a man on a mission.

After about six rings, the other side picked up.

{Hello? Ethan? Why did you call?} The voice of an old man echoed, confusion lacing his tone.

“Ah, boss?” Ethan raised his voice, facing the mirror while tying his necktie with a practiced hand. “I’ll be resigning effective today. It’s been a pleasure working with you. Adios!”

He dropped the call, not giving the other party time to absorb what he had just said. Quickly, he turned on airplane mode, grinning as he did. “Good riddance!”

In the past, he had wanted to do just that, to deliver a slap to his bastard fat boss’s face. Yet, until the end, he had never found the courage, fearing he might lose his only source of income for a few months. Now, with his newfound perspective, he realized it didn’t matter anymore. He would be turning into a billionaire in just a week, after all.

Finishing changing into his rarely used old suit, Ethan quickly packed a few changes of clothes into a bag and ran out of his room. As for Leo? The cat was resourceful enough to survive by itself. Even during the apocalypse, it had managed to thrive for half a year until Ethan returned to his apartment.

After jumping down the stairs, Ethan quickly hailed a cab. He threw his baggage onto the backseat and climbed in right after.

“Where to, boss?” the driver asked with a friendly smile.

Ethan mirrored the driver’s smile, his excitement bubbling to the surface. “To the Airport! I’m going to America!”