It was money he had saved up tooth and nail over ten years since he was a snot-nosed ten-year-old kid.
And he had blown all of it in a single stroke on the battle in the dungeon just now.
Items such as top-grade traps purchased from the Hunter-exclusive shop had made up the expenses.
SMIRK.
"...Good. This is it."
Even so, the corners of his mouth were curling endlessly toward the sky.
With the entire fortune Gyeom-shin had saved up anyway, buying a single high-grade Magic Stone would have been the absolute limit.
Yet now, he had the Demonic Sword and even ten high-grade Magic Stones.
"As expected, a bastard who's meant to make it will succeed in the end no matter what crazy stunt he pulls."
For a man who needed initial capital for growth, it was nothing short of a massive jackpot.
His fortune had increased tenfold.
"With this, my initial war chest won't be a problem."
Even so, he did not care about the Magic Stones.
What mattered was that he had gotten his hands on a level in just a single day that would have taken him over two years of grinding as a Hunter to reach.
"From now on, I'll become a reaper and come take the heads off your necks, you bastards."
And the only other thing that mattered was the Demonic Sword Ades, which had made all of that possible.
"Look forward to it, my lovely sworn enemies."
Now, his preparations were complete.
Preparations to go sever the necks of the traitors.
Extraordinary, unimaginable plans were already in full swing inside Gyeom-shin's head.
Just thinking about executing those blood-stained plans step by step made his heart swell with excitement.
As long as he set the stage properly, he would be able to not only take his revenge, but also devour everything those enemy bastards possessed.
<Riiing-♪>
Just then, the ringtone on his cell phone rang off the hook.
Accompanied by a threatening text message from someone swearing to kill him without fail if he did not pick up this time, either.
***
He had died after having his internal organs stabbed blade by blade by the comrades he had trusted.
To Gyeom-shin, the sensation of that moment when he died so unjustly was still vivid.
However, Gyeom-shin had miraculously pierced through that darkness and regressed.
It had happened just a couple of days ago.
He intended to bring ruin upon those who had betrayed him over mere greed.
"Lee Gyeom-shin, you son of a bitch...!"
"Ohh, hyung...!"
However, long before he could get to those goddamn enemy bastards, Gyeom-shin was in a position where he was about to be beaten to death by someone else first.
"...I'll give you ten seconds. Talk."
Even so, the other man had a face Gyeom-shin was so glad to see that it nearly brought tears to his eyes right then and there.
"What the hell were you thinking when you did that?! Why did you do it?!"
"Haha, it really is you, Jang-pil hyung."
Jang-pil.
That was the name of this hulking, muscular man glaring at Gyeom-shin as if ready to kill him.
"I'm going to kill you...!"
He was Gyeom-shin's loyal retainer, who had never betrayed him right up until the moment he died.
Not only that, he was a man who had treated Gyeom-shin like a real brother ever since his wandering childhood days.
He was a gracious benefactor who had enabled the current Gyeom-shin to live true to himself.
"Whoa there, calm down, hyung."
To Gyeom-shin, Jang-pil's face glaring at him with murderous intent was simply a joy to behold.
In a world filled with nothing but discrimination, he was the only person who had told him to try overcoming that discrimination.
Had it not been for him, Gyeom-shin would have gone down the path of a ruined life.
"I'll explain, so just listen first. So, what happened is..."
"One... two... ten!"
POW—!
"Kugh...!"
A fiery temper he was experiencing for the first time in a long while.
Gyeom-shin took a fist of fury straight to the face from this hulking man of monstrous strength.
He was so hot-blooded that he could beat down a bull with his bare hands, yet his convictions were upright and unyielding.
His strength was also that of a strongman.
After all, he was a former Ssireum Grand Champion who had originally wanted to become a detective.
"Wait, are you crazy? Ten comes right after two? Hyung, do you even know how to count properly...?!"
His face throbbed where the fist had struck him.
"Shut up! I held myself back from beating you to death on the spot!"
Even so, Gyeom-shin had nothing to say for himself.
Because overnight, he had turned the benefactor who had gone out of his way to give him an opportunity into an unemployed man.
Yet Gyeom-shin was simply so happy to see him that laughter escaped him of its own accord.
"Because of you, even my standing in the Kaiser Guild has been put in jeopardy!"
"Hahaha. Ah, really...?"
Because the only man in the world who had treated him like family would die five years from now.
For Gyeom-shin, it had been the saddest day of his short life.
In front of his grave, he had stood for several days with vacant eyes in the pouring rain, weeping along with the raindrops.
However, now he could prevent that accident.
That was why he was even happier to see him, to the point of tears.
"Those bastards told me to leave the guild, too. For recommending a crazy bastard like you."
SMIRK.
"That worked out great, hyung."
Moreover, this had actually turned out for the best.
Sooner or later, the Kaiser Guild would go under.
There was no reason for him to suffer through two years of grueling work at a guild with no future.
It was a well-timed opportunity to change jobs.
For Gyeom-shin, it meant a strong comrade who would join him in his revenge had also been brought back to life.
"...You crazy bastard, what are you grinning about?"
"Never mind that, hyung. Just leave that place, then, hyung."
However, persuading him was the hardest part.
"What...?"
"That place won't last long anyway. It's a guild that'll go under in just a few years."
The words Gyeom-shin spoke were facts that would inevitably come to pass in the future.
However, no matter how well he knew the future, there was no way to explain it logically.
Normally, it was only natural not to believe it.
"Haa, and here I was wondering what you were going to say."
No, in fact, getting angry when someone insulted his guild was the natural reaction.
The Kaiser Guild, in particular, was a guild that emphasized immense pride in its guild members' sense of belonging.
Furthermore, its future prospects as forecast by industry experts were bright and promising.
"Are you crazy? The Kaiser Guild is a guild that broke into the top ten rankings. It's not some third-rate guild that's going to go under any day now."
Jang-pil did not believe him, either.
For him as well, it was a guild he had barely managed to enter after working hard to build up his skills.
Moreover, Jang-pil even had a precious family he needed to support, and the Kaiser Guild was the workplace of his dreams.
"That's why I'm telling you, right now is the only prime those bastards will ever have. Going forward, there's no future or anything else at that place."
"......"
And yet, he was about to be kicked out of such a place because of Gyeom-shin's rude attitude.
"No matter how diligently you work at the Kaiser Guild, hyung, it's no use. Because those jerks will only use you."
Jang-pil could not understand it.
"...I don't know why a bastard who was begging on his knees until just yesterday to be let into the Kaiser Guild is saying things like this."
He wondered if this was really the same Gyeom-shin who, just a few days ago, had pestered him so badly for an introduction because he wanted to get in.
"On what grounds are you..."
If he were talking like this because he had failed the interview, Jang-pil could have at least understood.
However, Gyeom-shin had skipped the interview of his own accord.
Not only that, CCTV had captured evidence of him personally tearing up the guild application form inside the Kaiser Guild's elevator.
"Have you... really lost your mind...?"
Jang-pil wondered if Gyeom-shin had finally gone mad because he had lived such a grueling life full of nothing but hardship.
However, Gyeom-shin's mind was completely sound.
No, in fact, he was wide awake and sharper than ever.
"Forget it. Since you've been asked to resign anyway, just walk out, hyung."
His eyes were shining with vitality, as though he could see clearly into the future.
Brimming with confidence and triumphant in spirit, his face looked as if he could pull off anything.
And no wonder—in stock market terms, he already knew better than anyone which guilds would skyrocket and which would plummet in the future.
"With your personality, hyung, you wouldn't be able to stay there long after being treated like dirt anyway, right?"
In his past life, the Kaiser Guild had not been ruined solely by Gyeom-shin's revenge.
Because the guild had already been in decline long before Gyeom-shin even laid a hand on it.
It was because all of its Rankers had transferred to other guilds due to the shabby treatment from the guild's management.
Gyeom-shin had simply delivered the finishing blow to sever the windpipe of a guild that was already on the verge of collapse.
That was why, even after his revenge, it had not felt 100% refreshing like a gulp of cold cider.
"So just listen to me and leave."
"Haaa..."
Only an awkward silence settled between them.
He had known full well for a long time that Gyeom-shin did things his own way, but Gyeom-shin had never been the type to force his will onto others.
He never started anything he could not take responsibility for.
Seeing Gyeom-shin urge him so strongly like this gave Jang-pil a throbbing headache.
However, Gyeom-shin had a brilliant plan that made full use of the advantages of his regression.
"Hyung, just trust me."
That was also why he had decided not to create a guild of his own.
He did not want to waste time on pointless turf wars.
Nor did he want to repeat the past and cause hundreds of guild members to be injured or killed all over again.
"I'll take you somewhere much better."
The answer was simple.
All he had to do was go to a guild that would hit it big in the future and take control of that place.
Devouring that guild alone would be more than enough.
***
Just because he had regressed to the past did not mean Gyeom-shin was the only one moving in this world.
"Hey, punk! Where the hell are you going?"
The sworn enemies who had betrayed him were also currently moving and working hard to grow.
In order to kill Gyeom-shin ten years from now.
That future would not change.
No, even if all of those bastards turned over a new leaf and intended to live good lives, Gyeom-shin was in a position where he had to kill them anyway.
"Hyung, if you have the leisure to ask that, start thinking about what you're going to say in the interview right now."
Therefore, he had to move even a single step faster than those bastards.
Creating another guild would only lead to mutual competition and slow down his growth.
Instead, Gyeom-shin chose to use that time to make his own power even stronger.
As for a guild, claiming a spot in a blue-chip stock that looked shabby and unimpressive right now, but would grow tremendously in the future, was more than enough.
After all, revenge was something he had to carry out alone.
"Because this is my first time going to meet them like this, too."
"W-what did you say...? Haa, you crazy bastard."
Jang-pil had expected that Gyeom-shin would use some special connection to take him to a good guild.
However, upon realizing that was not the case, he went beyond disappointment and glared at him with eyes full of contempt.
It was a resentful gaze asking if Gyeom-shin had turned him into an unemployed man just for this.
"Hyung, don't look at me with such a loving gaze. You're making my heart flutter."
Gyeom-shin, on the other hand, was happy.
Simply to reunite alive with the loyal retainer who had died fighting for him.
Deep in his heart, he fiercely vowed never to let him meet such a hollow death again.
"T-this... crazy bastard..."
And then they arrived at this place.
It was a deserted alleyway.
At the very end of it stood an old, rundown abandoned house.
"...We've finally arrived."
That place was the passageway leading to this guild.
Any guild with even a shred of reputation would never set up its office in a place like this.
In other words, it meant the guild had no money.
"You... don't tell me this place is...?"
Jang-pil thought it surely could not be what he was suspecting.
Because no matter how crazy a bastard might be, no Hunter with a head on his shoulders would try to join 'that guild' at a time like this.
However, his worst fear turned into reality.
"You know this guild very well too, right, hyung?"
The problem with this guild was not merely that it had no money.
The biggest problem was that it was being targeted by a certain faction.
"...Of course I know it."
And by the very guild Jang-pil had belonged to until just yesterday, no less.
"Do you have any idea how much of a fuss the Kaiser Guild made about launching a large-scale absorption operation because this guild is on the verge of going under?"
This place had once done fairly well for itself, but now it was completely broke and being targeted by the Kaiser Guild.
"...Well, just wait and see."
Not only was it financially ruined, but the few Rankers it still had were being poached left and right.
Because the Kaiser Guild was the very one spearheading its downfall, Jang-pil knew the situation better than anyone.
And Gyeom-shin had chosen such a place.
"Even if it's like this right now, later on it'll revive on such a massive scale that a place like the Kaiser Guild won't even dare look down on it."
[ GladiXX Guild ]
The Gladius Guild.
It was a place where one could feel right from its battered sign that it lacked even the strength to maintain the guild itself.