Returner
The Returner is the ancient Wizard who creates Avartin’s system, becomes an old god, and opposes the abuses that grow around his invention. His betrayal and death shape Aldin’s later choices and provide Choi Sung-Woon with the clearest precedent for resisting a divine order built on monopolized technology.
Biography
Return to Avartin and creation of the system
The Returner begins as the Wizard who finds a way back after Avartin’s ancient magical catastrophe. Spirits welcome him as someone capable of reaching places saturated with Demonic Magic, but returning does not end the world’s crisis. He treats himself as a technician rather than a chosen savior and builds the system to solve recurring failures. That work makes death obsolete and eventually raises him and other Wizards into old gods, while leaving him continually responsible for maintaining what he created. (Chapters 301–305)
Opposition, betrayal, and weaponization
Unlike the old gods who grow bored with immortal power, the Returner recognizes the moral failure in their treatment of mortals and the evil gods. His opposition makes him dangerous to companions who benefit from the system, and Aldin ultimately betrays him despite their love. The old gods torture him and use his suffering as a weapon in the war before he disappears entirely. Bifnen’s surviving fear of him and Aldin’s nightmares show that eliminating his body does not erase the judgment his resistance places on them. (Chapters 304–306, 311–313)
Legacy in Sung-Woon’s confrontation with Aldin
Sung-Woon encounters the Returner through museum scenes, reconstructed memories, and the staff Aldin has used for tens of thousands of years. The two men are not the same person, but the story connects their souls across possible worlds closely enough that Aldin recognizes the Returner’s appearance and voice in Sung-Woon. Sung-Woon uses that resemblance and the Returner’s technological example to expose the limits of the old gods’ monopoly, while the later self-developing Sanctuary surpasses the system its original architect left behind. (Chapters 303–313, 318)
Appearance and personality
The reconstructed Returner is male and resembles Sung-Woon closely in face, voice, build, and smaller physical details. The resemblance is explained through corresponding souls in different possible worlds rather than a direct alias or uninterrupted identity. He is characterized as technically minded and absorbed in solving the system’s problems; he does not initially regard himself as uniquely important despite becoming its creator and caretaker. (Chapters 304, 310–311)
His opposition to the other old gods shows a continuing moral concern that survives torture and attempted erasure. The corpus presents much of his late history through Aldin’s compromised memory and staged imagery, so the emotional substance of their love and betrayal is established while the precise presentation of every remembered scene remains vulnerable to manipulation by the old gods. (Chapters 304, 311–313)
Powers and abilities
Tuning and imagery
Before becoming a god, the Returner reaches Tuning, the Wizard stage that integrates waking consciousness with imagery worlds. A Tuned Wizard can exert will in reality and dream without the separation that limits earlier practice. The source establishes the stage and the Returner’s mastery, but does not provide a complete list of spells or combat techniques personally used by him. (Chapter 305)
System architecture
The Returner creates and maintains the ancient system that governs magic, death, and later divine authority. This is an engineering achievement rather than unlimited omnipotence: the system has recurring faults, depends on continued care, and eventually stagnates under old gods who cannot solve problems as he did. The Sanctuary’s later autonomous development demonstrates both the scale of his foundation and the limitations of technology kept unchanged after its creator’s death. (Chapters 304, 306, 313, 318)
Power progression
| Stage / Realm / Ability | Chapter(s) | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Tuning Wizard | Before Chapter 301; revealed 305 | His pre-divine stage is revealed as Tuning, integrating waking consciousness with imagery worlds and permitting will to operate across both. |
| System architect / old god | 301–305 | Creates and maintains the architecture that abolishes ordinary death and raises ancient Wizards into old gods; it remains a fallible engineered system needing upkeep. |
| Betrayed, weaponized, and erased | 304–306 | Aldin's betrayal enables the other old gods to torture him, use his suffering as a weapon, kill him, and remove his active presence; later traces are memories and inherited work, not resurrection. |
Relationships
- Aldin: Aldin loves the Returner, betrays him to the other old gods, uses his staff for millennia, and remains haunted by his torture and disappearance. Her conflict with Sung-Woon forces her to confront rather than suppress that history.
- Choi Sung-Woon: Sung-Woon is a parallel soul from another possible world, not the Returner under another name. Their resemblance lets Sung-Woon challenge Aldin with the moral and technical legacy of the man she betrayed.
- Bifnen: The Returner is one of the few opponents whose memory causes the otherwise undefeated judge lasting fear.
Items
The Returner creates and uses a calculation-assisting staff that contains crafted gems and internalizes an imagery world. Aldin later carries and operates the staff for tens of thousands of years, but it is not separately cataloged among the finalized notable-item pages. (Chapters 305, 310–313)