“Well, I have never seen anyone like you in all my life.”
The white-haired old man sat collapsed on the ground, trembling as he barely managed to speak.
The weather was gloomy. Across the vast wasteland, where not a single blade of grass could be seen, heaps of concrete that had collapsed long ago lay scattered in disarray.
Behind the expressionless man standing there, dozens of monsters lay dead, continuously spewing foul-smelling bodily fluids.
“The contract has been fulfilled. Do you agree?”
“O-Of course....... But.”
Twitch.
The man’s brow moved ever so slightly at the old man’s next words, as though he had suddenly come to his senses. The old man continued, apparently failing to notice the change.
“Leave us just a few cores....... We have mouths to feed too. We need to survive, do we not?”
“Denied.”
“Please. Just a few cores would let the people in our group hold out for months.”
“Impossible.”
“Then we have no choice either.”
One by one, human silhouettes appeared along the wall of the small settlement the man and the old man had come from in the distance.
“We did not want to go this far either. Just hand over a few cores, and we will let you leave.”
“Core Guns?”
“You used such tremendous magic. You must be out of mana by now. Give us fifty percent of the cores you collected.”
Cores taken from monster corpses. In this ruined world, they were the only source of energy humanity could rely on.
Small though they were, they contained tremendous amounts of energy. The surviving scientists had racked their brains and found various ways to make use of these cores through technology.
“Fifty percent. Would it not be the better choice to demand all of them, kill me, and silence me?”
“You did us a favor by helping us.”
“Fools.”
The man suddenly grew irritated. The old man had just watched dozens of monsters get reduced to little more than bloody pulp before his eyes. And yet he still dared to do this.
Wherever he went, the repertoire changed, but what people wanted was always much the same. The man stopped thinking and raised a hand, exerting just a little force.
BZZZZZT.
“Gasp......!”
A brilliant blue orb formed in the man’s hand. The old man once again remembered the monsters that had been torn to shreds with a single gesture moments ago.
With a bored expression, the man swept his arm toward the utterly ramshackle wall in the distance.
BOOM—!
With a thunderous roar, the wall vanished without a trace.
“This is the last of my patience. Will you honor the contract, or will everyone die?”
‘He still has mana left?’
The old man made his decision quickly. He hurriedly dropped to his knees and prostrated himself on the ground.
“I-I am sorry. I must have lost my senses for a moment after witnessing something so incredible.”
Without so much as looking at him, the man approached the monsters’ corpses, which now looked like shapeless masses.
SLICE. SLICE.
Blue flashes burst from the man’s hand and cut the monster corpses apart. He dug through them and collected stones that resembled opaque pearls.
“The cores are mine. The corpses are yours. The contract has been fully honored. Now hand over the payment.”
“V-Very well. Follow me.”
Leaving the neatly severed monster corpses behind, the old man headed toward the wall the man had just blown away.
***
The man entered a tiny settlement of barely a dozen households, one scarcely worthy of being called a village. Whenever he turned his head, he could feel the gazes peeking at him from hiding all around hurriedly vanish.
When they entered a small house at the center of the village, the old man seemed to have calmed down somewhat and began grumbling.
“Where in the world do you complete a request first and sign the contract afterward?”
“A verbal agreement is still a contract, and it carries sufficient force. Besides, law in a world like this? Ridiculous.”
“Open your Personal Window. I would like to finish this quickly and have you gone.”
All the old man wanted was for this unwelcome guest to disappear as soon as possible. A large number of monsters had appeared, and in his panic he had merely asked a passing man for help. Of all people, that man had turned out to be a mercenary—and had even demanded a contract.
‘All because I tried to save a little core energy.......’
It was one of the ways settlements in the wasteland survived. They minimized energy consumption, defended themselves, and never hesitated when an opportunity presented itself. In the desolate lands outside the cities, cores—their vital energy source—were always scarce. So they hunted monsters and sold the cores they obtained to cities for daily necessities, or robbed passing travelers and mercenaries to secure cores that way.
CLICK.
The man took a small device from his clothes and manipulated it. A blue holographic window appeared above it.
“Good heavens....... How old is that thing? Does anyone still use such things these days?”
“I find it convenient. Begin.”
As the man gestured over the hologram projecting from the device, another hologram appeared before the old man’s eyes.
[Mercenary Contract]
[Contractor Information]
[Code Name: SIN]
[Class: Mage]
[Grade: ???]
[Affiliation: Shinhwa Company]
[Contract Details: Monster Elimination Request (Emergency)]
[Contract Transmitted]
“Ghk......! Sh...... Shinhwa!”
The old man’s jaw dropped as though it might come loose.
“S-Sir, I have offended someone of your stature. I-I apologize. Please take only my life and spare the villagers.”
“Just accept it.”
The man continued gesturing, paying no attention to the old man’s words.
[Contract Established.]
[Contractor “SIN” has requested confirmation of contract fulfillment.]
“What are you doing? Press Complete.”
At the man’s urging, the old man snapped back to his senses and hurriedly moved his hand through the air.
[Contract Fulfillment Confirmed]
[Mercenary Request Completed by Mutual Agreement]
“The reward.”
At the man’s words, the old man rummaged through a drawer and took out five small objects glowing with phosphorescent light.
“These are the old-model energy capsules you requested. Are these what you were looking for......?”
“They are. Then, if you are still alive, we will meet again.”
“A-Are you sparing me?”
The man paused at the old man’s words.
“Why would you ask that?”
“N-No reason.”
The old man’s back grew damp with cold sweat.
Shinhwa.
They were the ones who ruled the world. The atrocities committed by its members, from what he had merely overheard in the city, were enough to make it difficult to regard them as fellow human beings. And yet no one could defy Shinhwa. People simply wrote them off as natural disasters.
They were the saviors and rulers of the ruined world, humanity’s final bastion and its tyrants, the hope of the next world and its dark future.
The man waited a moment for the old man to say more, then turned to leave before stopping.
“Is there a city of decent size near here?”
“There is a city called Port Mine.”
“Port Mine...... Whereabouts is it?”
“About a hundred kilometers west of here.”
“Do you know its old name?”
“Its old name, sir?”
The old man desperately rummaged through the farthest reaches of his memory.
“I heard that people long ago called it Incheon.”
“Hmm....... Incheon.”
The man seemed to think for a moment, then looked the old man straight in the eye.
“How many years have you lived here?”
“Twenty years.”
“Have you ever seen, or heard about, a large-built mercenary passing through the area?”
“By ‘large-built,’ you mean......”
Mercenaries appeared and passed through all the time. Trying to identify someone by build alone was close to an impossible task.
“His name is Park Seong-jun. Code name Beast.”
“Yes....... Beast...... What? Why are you asking about that cursed demon......? The heroes dealt with him long ago.”
At the old man’s answer, the man gave a small nod. He turned to leave, paused, then took out his device and switched it on again.
The old man’s heart pounded even faster, and his eyes widened.
“Is there something else you wish to say?”
“Rating.”
“Pardon?”
“You are making me repeat myself.”
Soon, a new message appeared on the blue window before the old man.
[Please rate your satisfaction with contractor “SIN”.]
“Five stars.”
“Y-Yes. Of course.”
[Contractor “SIN” has been awarded ★★★★★ (10 points).]
[Write a contract review?]
The old man rolled his eyes toward the man.
“Um....... What should I write?”
“Write whatever you see fit.”
SNAP!
After finishing his words, the man snapped his fingers, turned completely around, and left.
A short while later, the villagers appeared from who knew where and entered the old man’s house one by one.
“What happened? We can take the corpses out in the field, right?”
“There was a flash, and the monsters disappeared in one hit. What kind of person was he?”
The old man’s gaze remained fixed on the reviews written by others in the holographic window.
[(Anonymous): The best.]
[(Anonymous): He is truly, incredibly strong, kind, handsome, and....... benevolent.]
[(Anonymous): Highly recommended. Seriously.]
[(Anonymous): I agree with the review above. Seriously, you absolutely have to hire him at least once.]
The reviews were all nothing but praise, as though everyone had agreed on it beforehand, and every single one gave him five stars and a score of 10.
The old man remembered the mercenary the man had been searching for.
“Beast, SIN....... The Final Seven. Humanity’s traitor?”
The villagers’ eyes widened at the sight of the old man mumbling incomprehensible words in a daze.
The old man stepped outside and stared for a long while at the man disappearing into the far reaches of the wasteland, then shook his head.
“That cannot be. That was already more than a hundred years ago.”
***
Late at night, the clouds cleared and the Milky Way poured across the sky. After the world ended and nearly all pollution disappeared, Earth revealed the beauty of the cosmos. But now, no one cared about such things anymore.
The devastated land was pitted with hollows, and along the roadside lay the weathered ruins of buildings that had collapsed long ago.
The only living creatures occasionally seen were vultures that fed on corpses.
The man sat quietly beneath a tree that had long since died and withered, a campfire burning before him.
A short while later, he took out the small device from his clothes and switched it on. A translucent hologram appeared before his eyes.
[Name: Kang Hyeon-woo]
[Code Name: SIN]
[Class: Mage]
[Grade: ???]
[Affiliation: Shinhwa Company]
[Life Force: -1 / ???]
[Mana: 100 / ???????]
[A total of ?? Passive Magic Skills are active.]
[S-Grade Magic Skill (Mana:Life Force Exchange) active]
[You will die when all Mana is depleted.]
[Fatal Error: Connection is inaccurate.]
[Fatal Error: Information not found.]
[Fatal Error: Status accuracy cannot be guaranteed.]
‘Not much left.’
Kang Hyeon-woo tossed the cores he had obtained from dismantling the monsters earlier that day into his mouth and swallowed them.
[20 Mana restored.]
[Direct core consumption has low recovery efficiency.]
[Use refined cores or a Recovery Station.]
[Fatal Error.......]
Kang Hyeon-woo toyed with one of the old-model energy capsules he had received as payment.
[S-Grade Magic Skill (Mana:Life Force Exchange)]
[Exchanges all of the caster’s Life Force with all of the target’s Mana.]
[The target must be nearby to deactivate the skill.]
[If the target dies, the caster also dies.]
[If the caster dies, the target also dies.]
[The target is not nearby.]
‘Park Seong-jun.......’
The final battle.
Countless buffs and support items had been used.
After all the dungeons that had suddenly appeared on Earth were dealt with, only one place remained. Before it, seven people carrying humanity’s hopes prepared for battle.
Kang Hyeon-woo used the S-Grade Magic Skill (Mana:Life Force Exchange) on Park Seong-jun, his friend who had grown up with him since childhood.
All of his own Life Force to Park Seong-jun, who filled the tank role.
All of Park Seong-jun’s Mana to Kang Hyeon-woo, who filled the mage role.
A skill that would kill them both if either one died.
But its effect was undeniable.
It was the greatest buff possible precisely because the two of them trusted each other completely.
But just before the battle, an energy explosion occurred as they entered the dungeon, and Kang Hyeon-woo was caught in it and flung somewhere else.
When Kang Hyeon-woo opened his eyes to the unfamiliar ceiling of a hospital, he realized that ten years had already passed. He learned that his friend had abandoned the dungeon assault and triggered an Outbreak that destroyed the world. And after that, he lived another ninety years.
Park Seong-jun was said to have triggered the Outbreak and been killed by the heroes, but Kang Hyeon-woo knew he was still alive.
The fact that Kang Hyeon-woo’s own buff remained active, and that he himself was alive, was proof.
‘I have to find that bastard.’
To deactivate the (Mana:Life Force Exchange) skill, he had to find him.
And he had to ask why Park Seong-jun had destroyed the world and make him answer for it.
As Kang Hyeon-woo sat lost in thought, new text appeared on his hologram.
[Passive Magic Skill: Stealth Detection]
But Kang Hyeon-woo had already turned his head toward empty space before the text even appeared.
“Whoa, whoa. Calm down, all right? I have no intention of attacking you.”
A voice came from the empty air. A moment later, a rat-faced man appeared with a foul grin.
“You are the bastard who has been following me since this afternoon. What do you want?”
A strange gleam entered the man’s eyes at Kang Hyeon-woo’s words.
“Heh heh heh. What a bluff....... I am only passing through here for the first time, you know?”
Twitch.
Kang Hyeon-woo’s brow twitched. The bastard had been nearby since before Kang Hyeon-woo dealt with the monsters earlier that day.
Kang Hyeon-woo had spent his entire life under the pressure of having to check every irregularity, and his instincts told him that the rat-like man before him was not a good person.
“You are making me repeat myself. What do you want?”
“Simple. I like it. I saw you fight earlier today. You were pretty good. An ‘Anomaly’ appeared nearby. What do you say? Interested?”
“Did you not say this was your first time passing through here?”
“Oh? Did I say that? Heh heh.”
Kang Hyeon-woo put away the device and capsules, then rose to his feet.
“A dungeon?”
“Dungeon? What do you mean?”
“None of your business.”
Dungeon.
That was what they called them in the old days. Now no one called them that anymore.
Kang Hyeon-woo spoke again.
“Are just the two of us going?”
“Why? Afraid?”
“Of course not. Lead the way.”
“Oh, my judgment was right after all. Heh heh heh.”
The man took the lead, walking ahead with that foul grin.
***
The man stopped, took out a device, and manipulated something.
“A Core Stream Scanner.”
“Oh, you recognize it. I suppose you are no mere riffraff?”
“But it is crude.”
It was the sort of scanner cobbled together in a back alley. It performed its basic function, but it had one major flaw.
‘It can’t tell you the dungeon’s Grade.’
Countless comrades had died. Even after all these years, their faces still surfaced in Kang Hyeon-woo’s mind.
“What about a party contract?”
“Oh, do we really need one? We do not know how much we will find, so let us settle the split afterward, shall we?”
The man took a device no bigger than a fingernail from his clothes and tossed it forward.
WHOOSH.
A brightly glowing portal appeared before them.
“What do you think? Impressive, is it not?”
Instead of answering, Kang Hyeon-woo murmured silently to himself.
‘Identify.’
[S-Grade Magic Skill (Identify) used]
[Dungeon Grade: F]
[Dungeon Progress: 50%]
[Clear Count: 10]
[Objective: Destroy Dungeon Core]
[If the dungeon is not cleared within 30 minutes, monsters will be released.]
[Wide-Area Curse applied. Combat Support System unavailable.]
‘A Scavenger.’
Kang Hyeon-woo understood everything now.
The man had opened a portal near the village Kang Hyeon-woo had visited earlier that day and deliberately left it alone so the monsters would be released.
Use the monsters to massacre the villagers, then take only the spoils.
Hyena-like bastards were everywhere.
‘He must’ve seen me kill the monsters and come out after collecting payment from the village.’
He intended to use the monsters to deal with Kang Hyeon-woo and take the spoils.
Kang Hyeon-woo looked the man straight in the eye and spoke.
“There is something I want to ask before we go in.”
“Ask me anything.”
“Are you a registered mercenary?”
“I am. Why do you ask?”
“Good. As long as you’re alive and can move an arm, you can still leave a star rating and write a review.”
“......?”
Leaving the baffled man behind, Kang Hyeon-woo strode through the portal first.