Seongjun Lee

**Seongjun Lee** was an antagonist turned supporting character in **The Warrior Returns**. He was the *Resurrection Warrior* and a former member of the 9-Warriors, being the group's actual leader who was manipulating Minsu Kim from behind-the-scenes.

It was later revealed that he was stuck in a time loop that can only end if he is killed by a Demon Lord, and he was trying to turn Minsu into one. After succeeding in this goal, he defected to the Resistance Warriors and trained Jeongsu Park to defeat Minsu after he is slain by him.

## Appearance

Lee is a calm, strategic man with a handsome look. He has short black hair with a pair of bangs sticking out. He had gray eyes, but normally, kept his eyes closed. He also normally opened his eyes whenever he sadistically expressed his true self. Lee sports a black suit with a blue outline, a diagonal pattern tie mixed with black and blue, and he had black pants.

Lee's eyes when opened
## Personality

Seongjun Lee acts as a calm individual and is always close to Kim Min-Soo as his right-hand man in order to earn his trust. He seems to be always calm and loyal to his own team throughout the entire story.

Seongjun Lee is notably known for being a highly intelligent and strategic individual. He appears to be calculative, although, thanks to this, he is also deceptive when it comes to eradicating humanity. Due to his ability, He is extremely persistent, willing to endure re-doing moments in time for hundreds of thousands of attempts until he gets his desired outcome. Due to his ability to create time loops, effectively undoing his death, he is condescending toward his opponents.

It was only revealed in Chapters 61-62 that Lee isn't inherently evil, but all of his actions were in fact for the goal in order to save the world from being trapped in the constant time loop caused by his ability to return every time he dies of old age. As revealed, due to his return ability activated upon his death of old age, Seongjun was continuously returned to the point of time where he had just returned from saving his other world, resulting in him being forced to do everything and endure all the hardships he had done all over again. As shown, Seongjun had exhausted every other possibility he had as a “Hero” in order to escape his time loop prison, slowly eroding and destroying his mind as he was forced to return over and over millions of times. This eventually caused him to decide to become a “villain” instead in order to find a way he could finally die.

As shown, after the millions of loops he had to endure, Seongjun now operates without moral restraint or remorse as long as the methods achieve his ends to create a Demon King for Earth, as being killed by one is the only form of death that Seongjun's ability can't rewind. He befriends and grooms the corrupted Heroes to have them accumulate the necessary massive karma and destruction so one of them could transform into this world's Demon King, and in addition manipulates events and government organizations for the good Heroes that fight for humanity to ensure they don't group up, overpower and kill the corrupted Heroes before they can become a Demon King.

However, even though Seongjun came close numerous times in creating a Demon King, Minsu Kim would always kill them off before they could complete their path. And unable to kill Minsu himself no matter how many loops he tries due to the vast power difference between them, Seongjun decided to turn Minsu into a corrupted Hero and a candidate for the Demon King. Over the course of three hundred and seventy thousands returns of trial and error, Seongjun killed Minsu Kim's parents, bribed his school, and spread nasty rumors to his friend's parents and to the police to prevent Minsu Kim from finding any happiness or help in the world. Furthermore, he prevents all events that would lead to Minsu from either repenting from evil, being killed, or committing suicide. All to turn Minsu into the Demon King of Earth and have him kill Seongjun to put him out of his misery and allow the world to progress forward into the future.

Likewise, as revealed in Chapters 46 and 83, Heroes are summoned from Earth by otherworlds due to it being the "World of Void": a world without its own Hero or Demon King, making it the only place the otherworlds can use to summon Heroes. By having a Demon King be born on Earth, Heroes can no longer be drafted to the otherworlds and thus prevents Earth from being threatened in the future by ever-stronger corrupted heroes that return from other worlds or from Heroes with uncontrollable powers such as Seongjun's Return power trapping the world in a time loop.

As shown, despite everything he had done and everything he had to endure, Seongjun still bears a strong sense of responsibility for the “Hell” he created, with his top priority after transforming Minsu Kim into a Demon King to find and prepare someone strong enough to kill him to prevent the world's total destruction, then go fight and weaken the Demon King himself as best he can before dying by Minsu’s hand to ease the burden on the hero.

## History

### Other World

It is unknown what Seongjun's life was like before he became a warrior. At some point, he was transported to another world with game-like elements by a Goddess to defeat that world's Demon Lord.

Being allowed to pick whatever abilities that he wanted, Seongjun chose the S-Rank skill "Infinite Return" to be the cornerstone of his build, allowing him to go back in time to a specified point when he died. However, the Goddess also warned him that this ability would not activate when killed by a Demon Lord. With his build set-up, Seongjun went on to defeat his Demon Lord and return to his own world.

### Original Timeline

In Chapters 61-62, it is revealed that Lee was originally from an alternate timeline where the events of the series' main story played out slightly differently. Particularly, he was friends with Minsu Kim and togeth, r they fought against their world's version of the 9-Warriors.

Because he and the Sword Hero were part of the Hero Resistance faction, the outcome of taking down the entirety of the 9-Warriors was far more smooth than in the current New Timeline. In particular, by going back in time 111 times, Sung-Jun was able to use his ability to minimize casualties, although he could not save everyone.

After the end of the war, Seongjun Lee became one of the saviors of humanity and he married the *Spear Warrior* of that timeline, Somin Jeong. He lived a fulfilled life with the rest of the heroes until the day he was on his deathbed. However, after he died from old age, rather than passing on, Lee instead found himself back in time before the war with the 9-Warriors had taken place.

### Various Alternate Timelines

Lee soon caught up with the situation and realized it was his ability of Infinite Return. At first, Lee thoughted that there could be a potential solution to neutralize his Infinite Return without sacrifices, however, it ends in futility, as many loops passed by, Lee grew desperate and resorted to using extreme measures to achieve his goal, going as far as to spare one of the 9-Heroes to turn him into a cyborg, or seeking the elder heroes to seal him, only to end up going back to the start, he even sided with the 9-Heroes in his next loop in hopes that one of the Hero Resistances could kill him, but it failed, in the end, Lee was broke and stopped trying after so many attempts, living the rest of his life as a hikikomori and watching the news of the Resistance Hero putting an end to everything.

This was when an idea came into his mind, remembering what the goddess said, that his power would not activate when killed by a demon lord, Lee decides to travel back to the beginning, research, and learn about the possibilities of whether a Hero can become Demon Lord, and end up gathering the 9-Heroes in hopes he could turn one of them into a Demon Lord. Despite all of his efforts, Kim Min-Su and the Hero Resistance always stood in his way and constantly prevented him from accomplishing his goal of creating a Demon Lord on Earth, causing the Hero of Return to fail multiple times. Upon realizing how powerful Minsu Kim was and how in every timeline, he failed solely due to Kim’s interference, Lee decides that if he can't defeat him no matter how many loops he does, he'll make Min-Su the potential demon lord instead.

As shown in the various other timelines he had created, Seongjun was shown to have successfully talked down and stopped the rampage of the original incarnation of the fallen heroes, instead helping them deal with their individual problems and traumas and thus preventing them from becoming evil.

### Current Timeline

Taking advantage of himself returning before Minsu Kim, Seongjun killed his mother and drove his father to suicide. He then approached his remaining relatives and his friends' parents and proceeded to blame him for the deaths of his parents. He also bribed Minsu's teachers and pretended to the police that he had been attacked by the homeless, causing shelters to be shut down. This resulted in Minsu being completely isolated until he finally snapped and began his campaign of destruction.

To ensure Minsu's survival, Seongjun also eliminated any possible future obstacles. By demoting competent government workers through unknown means, he ensured that they would use the 'Fighting Ring' plan against Minsu, where they would send in each of their Warriors one by one. This resulted in most of the Rebel Warriors being wiped out. He would also use rewind whenever something did not go according to plan like Minsu committing suicide or when the *Shield Warrior* managed to redeem him. Like this, Seongjun gradually killed off all 'happy' endings for Minsu.

At some point, Seonjun would also gather the 9-Warriors in this timeline, with them mainly acting as Minsu's followers. On Seongjun's part, however, they were only there to further aid Minsu's survival until he became a Demon Lord. While Minsu is technically in command, it was obvious that Seongjun, who acted as the group's strategist, was calling the shots. About a year later, the 9-Warriors had conquered all of South Korea, with Seongjun and Minsu together controlling Sheol and the Gyeonggi district.

## Synopsis

### Spear Warrior's Arrival

Lee appeared in now apocalyptic destroyed Sheol, informing Kim about two of their members dying fighting against the returned Park, destroying his "Chain of Misery". He was delighted to see Kim is ready to eliminate the Spear hero.

### Reconstruction Government Raid

After Garam Lee tracked down the location of the Reconstruction Government while Seongjun went through trouble cracking the Reconstruction government security system while dying seven times in the process, later Kim and his gang went in for a killing spree that killed in a total 13,000 remaining government officials in under 3 minutes, Lee took out most of the Horseshoe Bat Intelligence unit which he also congratulates them for killing him twice. While Kim was up against Park, he got attacked by one of the Intelligence units hiding behind him to choke him to death, Not long after he got resurrected again and killed the person who strangled him.

### Reconstruction Government Raid Aftermath

Lee wasn't seen after the Hero of Magic betrayed the faction or they successfully fled with Park, only to appear to let Kim know that most of the survivors in the base were all eliminated. When Kim asked them all to search for Park, Lee suggested that Park wasn't the only threat, but the entire world was against them.

When Garam Lee uses her ability to make a Hologram screen of the conference being held in the White House they all heard that the government will use the latest technology called  ***Gods Hammer***  that a nuke was launched at their location and no one can fend it off, Lee was devastated and failed to hack it earlier. However, the Iron Arm Hero told them all there was nothing to worry about because they have a great "Reset button" on their side.

After settling in waiting for the nuke to arrive in order for Lee to reset and informed them about the God Hammer. Lee had a final little chat with Kim Before the nuke hit Korea Soil and let him know that they will lose their memory upon his reset, but at the turn of the event he also revealed that he's the one who killed Kim's beloved parents as he started to disintegrate to ashes. Kim was outraged, and before he could do anything, Lee had already reset to the point where the US received the report about Park from Son Han-Gil. He overwrites most of the report about Park's existence, but it's unknown whether the U.S. receive the same report before Lee resets.

### Old Generation

Seongjun Lee remains in the ruined underground city of the Reconstructed Government. He occupies his time watching world events on TV and keeps track of which heroes are still alive. He pays particularly close attention to Minsu's activities. He contemplates creating a time loop but holds off on it to observe Minsu's struggle against Ivan Pushkin. It is implied that Seongjun Lee ran a time loop several hundred thousand times to try for a different outcome. Eventually, he witnesses Minsu become Earth's Demon King, and breaks down in tears, having achieved the goal he worked so hard for.

## Powers and Abilities

### Infinite Return

Seongjun Lee can resurrect himself after dying by rewinding time through the skill he selected from the options offered by the Goddess of the Resurrection World, who summoned him and sent him to his otherworld and gave him **S-Grade Unique Skill - Infinite Resurrection**  as his special skill.

To make it more understandable, the ability that Seongjun Lee wields can "save" the current moment in time and "reload" (or go back to) that point. For everyone else, the time between saving and the moment he decided to return simply didn't happen, as such only Lee Sung-Jun would keep the memories of what happened. Unlike normal time loops, which replay the exact same events as they happened if the time traveler does not interfere, events can change every time the loop is running. For example, Seongjun ran a time loop over Minsu Kim's battle against Ivan, and the path of time changed without Seongjun having to do anything to influence the course of fate. Oftentimes, however, Seongjun needs to directly interfere with the natural passage of time to steer history towards his own goals.

In practical terms, it could be considered a highly accurate foreknowledge of the future. Just like in a video game, this power gives Lee the unique ability to simply "come back and try again" after death; as such, his own death is a concept that's unimportant to him.

Seongjun seems to be able to determine which save he is able to load. During battles, he would "reload" the world to moments before the fight, but other times, if he kills himself or if the situation requires traveling further back in time, cannot load an even earlier state.

This ability effectively makes it near impossible to kill Seongjun or thwart his plans, as he can undo any failure as much as he likes until he gets the desired results.

However, the ability has some weaknesses. The first and primary weakness is that it is ineffective against Demon Lord. If Seongjun is killed by a Demon King, he will truly die and will be unable to reload. The second weakness of the ability is related to the first in that Seongjun can only be killed by a Demon King. Any other cause of death, including old age, will activate the ability, even if it’s against Seongjun’s will, trapping the world in a timeloop.

In a Q&A conducted by Yongdol Gallery, it is revealed that Seongjun's Return ability affects not just his world, but all timelines and otherworlds with their respective Gods/Goddesses are in the timeloop as well, and not even the Goddess of the Resurrection World who gave Seongjun this ability is immune to its effects, nor is she aware of the timeloop sideeffect.

There is also a limit to how far back in time Seongjun can go, that limit being the day he was transported back to the human world. Thus he cannot change events that had already happened before his return or choose to return to a point before he obtained his ability.

### Game System

Other than his Infinite Return he gained as his bonus skill from the Goddess of his other world, Seongjun Lee has also shown to have access to the unique game-like abilities he gained from his other world. Namely, him being able to access a “System” notification-status board that showcases his states, abilities, and powers, having access to an Inventory-like ability where he stores various weapons he gained from the other world and can project blue-digital cube-like screens.

* **Status Window:** Seongjun’s possess the game like ability system of his world, including the status window that allows him to view his stats, abilities and equipment.
	+ **Item Storage:** The Window itself also allows him to view his **Item Storage**, where he is able to store various items and weapons he obtained from his other world and other items he gained.
		- **+99 Sword of Beginning:** A beginners weapon given/obtained by Seongjun when he first started in the otherworld. While its base stats aren’t very impressive (ATK 13, Def 3), it was stated to possess a unique trait to it. And that is its ability to reduce all types of defenses by 1%, and with every time it is upgraded and enhanced, that percentage increases. Seongjun himself capitalized in this unique trait and after dying over 10,000 times in the Forge to upgrade it over and over, the sword now possess the ability to reduce the defenses of any target by 99%. Regardless if its a Demon Lord’s defensive magic or the blessings of a goddess, the sword now possess the ability to pierce through any and all defenses, allowing him to damage Demon Lord Minsu Kim. According to the Yongdol Q&A, when asked about its attack power at +99, the author responded that "with its defence added, attack power loses all meaning".
		- **+99 Lightning Forged Axe:** A powerful double sided pole axe with the lightning element.
		- **+99 Frost Sickle Sword:** A curved sickle sword with the frost element.
		- **Dual Katana:** Two Katana swords able to create powerful blue flame slashes.
		- **Spear:**
		- **Spiked Ball Mace:**
		- **Ballista:** Used to kill the Taeil Choi (Combination warrior) and Mareum Yoon (Plague warrior)
		- **Legendary - Purified Demon Armor - Tartarus (Cannot be Upgraded -Soulbound):**  The armor of the Demon Lord Seongjun defeated and killed in the otherworld.
* **Livestream Window:** As shown during his final duel against Demon Lord Minsu Kim, Seongjun can record a video livestream via one of his window screens to his allies, showing him his battle against him in real time.
* **Barrier:** Seongjun was able to save Somin Jeong from the destruction caused by the 9-Warriors rampage in the Reconstruction Government’s underground shelter by putting her inside a rectangular barrier.

Sepngjun saves Somin
* **Dungeon Cube:** A blue cube like item said to be dropped in random intervals by the Dungeon Masters in the otherworld’s dungeons. The Cube items themselves possess the ability to enhance and upgrade the abilities of his weapons. However, upgrading weapons works on a chance-based system; as the weapon's level increases, the chance of the upgrade being successful lowers, with failing resulting in the weapon and material exploding and becoming a material called "Blue ash". The probability of a +99 weapon being successfully reinforced is 0.2 to the power of 100.
	+ **Dungeon Master Summon:** However, as stated by Seongjun, there is a “bug” in the cubes. If smashed together, there is a very low chance the cubes can instead summon the Dungeon Master themselves to the location of whoever smashed them. As shown where Seongjun was able to summon multiple high level dungeon masters from the otherworld he was summoned and bring them to Earth to his battle with Minsu Kim. As stated by Seongjun, the Dungeon Masters themselves automatically attacks the strongest “player” in the vicinity, seemingly ignoring the weaker ones until the strongest are dead.
		- **High Demon Lord - Lvl. 87 - Master of the 37th Floor:** A skeletal demonic/undead creature that possess the ability to “lock” a targets limb using puppet strings.
		- **Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse - Lvl. 201 - Masters of the 62nd Floor:**  Four gigantic demons riding horses. As shown, the red horsemen wields a huge broadsword, the tannish brown horsemen uses a bow and arrows, the green and black horseman uses a scythe and the dark blue uses a scale.
		- **Unnamed Dungeon Masters:** During his fight against Minsu Kim, Seongjun summoned numerous other Dungeon Masters to fight him.

High Demon Lord - Lvl. 87 - Master of the 37th FloorFour Horsemen of the Apocalypse - Masters of the 62nd FloorUnnamed Dungeon Masters
### Other Equipment

* **Heart Bomb:** Created under his instructions by Garam Lee using her knowledge of the technology from her otherworld, this bomb is monitors Seongjun’s vital signs and detonates the second he starts dying. This Bomb was created specifically to allow Seongjun to die by not being killed by the Demon Lord Minsu Kim, as his return ability is nullified by the condition that he is killed by a Demon Lord. Allowing Seongjun to continue gathering information on how to weaken Minsu Kim without permanently dying and continue using his return ability.

## Trivia

* According to the author, Seongjun Lee's character is based on "Hunter" manhwa, which is the opposite of "Isekai", where the other world invades the real world.
	+ He also shares similarities with Subaru Natsuki, the protagonist of the light novel series *Re:Zero: Starting Life in Another World*, both having the ability to go back in time upon their deaths.
* The Other World Seongjun Lee was summoned to was showcased to have qualities similar to that of a video game, with the world possessing dungeons, concepts of levels for the powers of monsters and him being able to access a statues-notification screen.
* Seongjun seemingly didn't have any companions to assist him in defeating his world’s demon lord.
* According to the Yongdol Q&A, the author never figured out a way for Seongjun to become a Demon Lord himself, and did not comment on if his Return ability would change to "does not work against Heroes" or if it would remain as "does not work against Demon Lords".
* According to the Yongdol Q&A, before Seongjun decided to make Minsu Kim the Demon Lord and he was attempting to make other corrupted Heroes turn into Demon Lords, the most likely candidates for being the Demon Lord's "adversary" were the Shield Hero and the Transformation Hero. This is because the "potential" within Jeongsu Park was only discovered after Minsu Kim was corrupted and killed him, letting him become the Spear Hero.