A rough but pale hand appeared before Old Man Hwang, who had been staring blankly up at Veylord.
"How long do you intend to sit there?"
Veylord was offering his hand to help the old man, who was still sitting on the floor, to his feet.
Taking Veylord's hand, Old Man Hwang stood and looked around for a moment.
The protective Barrier Veylord had created made the two sides seem like entirely different worlds, completely separated by a single pane of glass.
"To think I'd be seeing this magic already."
"You seem to know what this is?"
At Veylord's puzzled question, Old Man Hwang touched the transparent wall and answered.
"Isn't this a defensive technique called a 'Barrier'? No, should I call it magic? Still, this one seems far more sophisticated and sturdy."
He already possessed a vague understanding of the existence of magic.
The terminology was simply different. He understood what kind of ability it was.
'How does he know about this? No matter how I look at him, he's an ordinary human.'
In a world where Mana was so scarce, how many people could possibly wield magic?
Just then, Old Man Hwang began recounting what would happen in the future, almost as though muttering to himself.
"One year from now, doors leading to other worlds, known as Gates, will open across the globe. And because of them, this world will become hell."
"Hell. An interesting description. Just what kind of world was it?"
Veylord had already experienced losing a nation that had once embraced him, the people who had placed their faith in him, and everything he had loved.
Afterward, he had even come to be known as the Calamity of Death and become the target of a campaign of extermination.
That was precisely why he was even more curious.
What kind of world had this man experienced that he would describe it as hell?
"Rather than hearing you describe it, I'll read your memories. It may sting a little."
"What?!"
Before Old Man Hwang could respond, Veylord's hand, imbued with Magic Power, seized his head.
[Memory Reading]
It was the same magic he had previously used to forcibly tear Choi Jung-myeong's memories from his mind.
Unlike before, however, this time he enveloped the old man's head gently, like the tentacles of an octopus, to avoid causing pain.
***
Immediately after the Gates appeared, creatures that were extremely familiar to Veylord began emerging from within them.
'Goblins, Kobolds, Orcs, Trolls, Ogres, Gargoyles, and even Drakes, the lesser dragons. Creatures that should never coexist are appearing together.'
Their arrival plunged the once-ordinary modern world into pandemonium.
"AAAAH!! RUN!!"
"KYAAAAAH!!"
"S-save me!"
For some reason, the creatures launching these merciless attacks harbored intense hostility toward humans.
[GRRRAAAH!!]
[SKREEE!!]
Driven by nothing but an instinct for destruction, they pursued every human they saw, tearing flesh, crushing bones, and quenching their thirst with flowing blood.
The military eventually arrived and began fighting back, but their firepower was barely effective against the smaller monsters roaming the ground.
Drakes and Gargoyles that flew freely through the skies were difficult to catch even with mechanically propelled aircraft.
Even missiles that managed to hit their targets failed to inflict particularly fatal damage because of the thick, hardened scales covering their bodies.
And there was Old Man Hwang, watching the scene while trembling uncontrollably.
He appeared to have sprained his ankle while fleeing and could no longer move.
Just then, an Orc approached him and brought down a club smeared with human blood and flesh.
-WHOOSH!!
A sharp sound cut through the air, followed by a thunderous explosion.
"AAAAH!!"
As Old Man Hwang's belated scream rang out, the Orc collapsed, black smoke rising from its body.
"Are you all right?!"
Turning toward the man's voice, he saw someone standing there with blue flames blazing from both fists.
-This was the hero who appeared in a world consumed by chaos.-
Old Man Hwang's thoughts echoed from somewhere within the memory.
'A hero, is it? Come to think of it, the Mana here seems quite dense now.'
Unlike the present, the world of the future was so abundant in Mana that it almost seemed visible to the naked eye.
And Veylord suspected that the man had Awakened by unconsciously responding to that Mana.
-That's right. Back then, we called people like him the Awakened. And we foolishly believed their power would be enough to protect the world.-
The memories rapidly advanced to the second year after the Gates had appeared.
Although plenty of time had passed, rather than stabilizing, the world had suffered even greater destruction.
The problem was that the monsters emerging from the Gates had grown increasingly powerful, while the strength of the Awakened remained unchanged.
'They don't know how to handle Mana properly. Far from controlling it, they're still wielding it in such a primitive manner.'
Watching their battles, Veylord immediately recognized the problem.
'They had neither enough time to train nor a teacher who could instruct them in the use of Mana.'
And among them stood Old Man Hwang, his body now covered in bulging muscles, displaying his strength by swinging his fists in a primitive fashion.
-CRASH!
"SKREE!"
The battle finally ended when his punch reduced a Goblin Shaman to a bloody pulp.
The terrible scars covering his body revealed just how fiercely he had fought throughout the intervening years.
At that moment, a loud alarm sounded from his phone, announcing that another Gate had appeared somewhere.
Upon checking the notification, the expressions of the Awakened grew increasingly gloomy.
Once again, time rushed forward, and another two years passed.
It was now the fourth year.
[Receive the baptism of death!]
For the first time, a creature capable of speech appeared, its voice resonating deeply enough to shake the soul.
The creature was an Undead familiar to Veylord: a spellcasting Undead known as a Lich.
Liches were fundamentally capable of using necromantic magic to raise the dead, as well as freely wielding curses and other spells.
Furthermore, even if one were killed, it possessed a spare life known as a Life Vessel, making it nearly impossible to kill a Lich in a single attempt.
When the Lich suddenly appeared in Korea, every available Awakened rose to confront it, but none could stop it.
One by one, the Awakened died under its magic, only to be raised again as Undead through its necromancy.
With the appearance of a Lich that could manipulate the world however it pleased, every remaining trace of hope began to disappear.
Then the sky turned orange.
'Hmm?! This is!'
Veylord's brow furrowed deeply as he sensed a terribly familiar power that filled him with revulsion.
'Why is that thing's Divine Power here?!'
It was the power of the one he called the false god, the being that had swallowed the world where he once lived.
Then, behind the surviving Awakened, Paladins clad in sturdy armor marched forward with imposing dignity.
Behind them stood priests wearing ceremonial robes unstained by a single drop of blood, quietly radiating orange light.
[SKREEEE!!]
For the first time, a scream of genuine agony escaped the Lich as the priests' Divine Power engulfed it.
At that moment, the Paladins drew their swords, shields, and spears and began charging forward.
"CHARGE!! Grant the Calamity of Death eternal death!"
Veylord's eyebrow twitched at the familiar title.
'To call a lowly Undead like that the Calamity of Death. How absurd.'
Before coming to this world, he could have annihilated such a pathetic Lich with a single wave of his hand.
'They're attacking it as though they're facing the Demon King himself.'
The inability of the Awakened to defeat such a creature was troubling enough, but the arrival of those people, almost as though they had been waiting for precisely this moment, was another problem.
'What a familiar pattern.'
Back when the new religion first emerged in his former world, the world had been trapped in an unending series of disasters.
Demons had appeared from nowhere, forcing humanity to unite and fight together for the first time.
Strangely, however, the Divine Power of the established faiths had no effect on those demons.
Instead, the power of the existing saints grew progressively weaker.
As humanity was gradually driven back, the Exorcists of the new religion appeared and began defeating the demons.
People hailed them as the hope of the continent, but the Empire refused to trust them.
Their arrival had been far too perfectly timed.
The demons also seemed strangely immune to the existing Divine Power.
Furthermore, when attacked by the newcomers, they melted away as though they had been administered precisely the right medicine.
These peculiarities had aroused the Empire's suspicions.
And by the time the truth was finally uncovered, the Empire had already been destroyed by the newly established Holy Empire, which had arisen with everyone's trust.
'And now they've used that same pattern again. Those damned bastards.'
Veylord felt there was no need to watch any further.
He could already foresee the future that these people had called hell.
'I've seen enough.'
He immediately withdrew his Magic Power and ended the Memory Reading spell.
When he returned to the present, Veylord's expression was twisted into something that could only be described as utterly dreadful.
"Hah! To think I'd find traces of them even after coming all the way here."
His bitter laugh contained an intense fury that he was struggling to suppress.
The being that had destroyed his world.
'World Eater. And even the Church of Salvation. So that bastard's influence has reached this world as well.'
Having witnessed this, simply returning to his original world was no longer the only issue.
Just then, Old Man Hwang regained his senses. Seeing Veylord's expression, which had hardened considerably from his earlier dignified composure, he grew concerned.
"Are you all right?"
"Ah. I've worried you, it seems. I'm fine."
A brief silence fell between them.
Both men seemed to have plenty to say about what they had witnessed in the memories of the future.
Old Man Hwang was the first to speak.
"You… called yourself the Calamity of Death. Do you have anything to say about that?"
"Nothing in particular. However, I must object to being placed on the same level as such a pathetic creature. I had reached the realm of a Demigod. Comparing the title I earned to that worthless imitation is an insult to me."
After seeing the counterfeit created by the Holy Empire, his pride had been thoroughly wounded.
And so, he decided to ask Old Man Hwang about his objective.
"So, what is your goal?"
If their objectives aligned, Veylord was willing to join forces with him.
"I want to prevent the Gates from appearing. And to accomplish that—"
"We'll need to find that organization you mentioned, Those Who Drifted In."
Veylord immediately understood what Old Man Hwang was trying to say and finished his sentence for him.
"But why start with them? Is it because they threatened you?"
"If I'd been afraid of their threats, I'd already have handed everything over. It's simply that an organization capable of causing a phenomenon like the Gates would possess this sort of power."
Indeed, they had gone so far as to plant such a curse in his body, so it would hardly be surprising if he harbored ill will toward them.
The unfortunate part was that there still appeared to be no connection between them and the Holy Empire that wielded orange Divine Power.
"I see. Well, even the smallest trace might eventually lead us somewhere."
"Then! Will you help me?!"
But Veylord drew a clear line between himself and Old Man Hwang.
"I'll decide after I've met them."
"What?! Does that mean you won't help?"
"It means exactly what I said. I'll meet them first and then decide. If they're people I can reason with, I should make use of them."
If they had already been researching magic in this world, he would also need to discover why they had not appeared in the future.
"So, if possible, I'll draw their attention toward myself. That way, they won't trouble you any longer."
Hearing Veylord make such a confident declaration, Old Man Hwang looked puzzled, unable to guess what the man intended to do.
***
Afterward, the gold transaction with Old Man Hwang was completed, and the proceeds were immediately deposited into a new account at Veylord's primary bank, with a bankbook and credit card issued to him.
As payment for lifting the curse placed upon him, Old Man Hwang had waived his commission.
Moreover, whatever methods he had employed, the money had been perfectly laundered. He assured Veylord that there would be no problems regardless of how he used it.
On top of that, Old Man Hwang's granddaughter had given him another gift in gratitude for saving her grandfather.
'As expected, money and power simply cannot be separated.'
Having once stood at the center of power as a high noble, Veylord understood that principle all too well.
Just then, Choi Jung-myeong, who was standing beside him, cautiously spoke.
"Master. Will you be returning to Seoul now?"
"Yes. It's time to return."
"Then I'll prepare the car."
The two made preparations to leave as they walked among the security personnel who were still unconscious.
Although the guards had sustained various injuries, fortunately, none had died.
'He followed my orders in his own way.'
Age might have made him increasingly cunning, but the Taebaek Gang's action leader, who had once carried out orders with unwavering determination, had not changed in that respect.
"You can take the car back by yourself. I'll go ahead."
"Pardon? What do you mean, Master?"
"I only came by car because I didn't know the location. My magic is faster."
At that moment, Veylord disappeared.
"Huh!? M-Master!"
Old Man Hwang and his granddaughter, who had been watching, also looked around in bewilderment, but they could find no trace of him.
"What?! Find out where that man disappeared to!"
"Yes, Grandfather!"
While his granddaughter contacted someone, Veylord appeared high above the skies of Seoul.
He was already using Flight magic, looking down at the brightly illuminated city beneath the dark night sky.
'I don't know about anything else, but I do like how the city sparkles even at night.'
After admiring the cityscape for a while, he raised his palm and unfolded a magic circle.
The curse that had been lodged in Old Man Hwang's heart appeared, giving off a faint black flame.
-FWOOOSH…!
He began manipulating the curse, which barely maintained its form, flickering on the verge of extinguishing like a candle in the wind.
[Disassembly]
Keeping the curse suspended in midair, he channeled Magic Power into all ten fingers and touched it with the delicacy of someone handling a piece of pottery on the verge of shattering.
It was painstaking work.
He stripped away the unnecessary portions, preserving only the essential core, as carefully as drawing an unbroken thread from a silkworm's cocoon.
Finally, he discovered a tiny remaining mass that resembled a precious jewel.
Upon closer inspection, however, it was not a solid mass. It was a viscous liquid that writhed and undulated.
'So this is the core of the curse. But did they use blood? That's rather old-fashioned.'
Curses performed through blood were the most common, but they also possessed the greatest power.
Of course, their strength varied enormously depending on whose blood was used, what conditions triggered the curse, and what restrictions or agreements were imposed upon it.
'A blood-based curse, is it? Then tracking its source should be simple.'
[Blood Tracking!]
The spell was quickly completed, and the blood formed into a thread.
But just as the thread was about to slowly connect to his little finger, it suddenly snapped.
-SNAP!
"Hmm?!"
At the same moment, the blood that formed the core of the curse evaporated into the air and vanished.
'Damn. I don't know who it is, but they're perceptive.'
The disappearance of the curse's core meant that the owner of the blood no longer existed in this world.
The person who had created the curse had probably used the blood of a specially raised animal rather than a human.
Although casting a curse on someone meant preparing one's own grave as well, those people would certainly know how to divert the backlash of a failed curse.
'Human blood would be somewhat more powerful, but it isn't particularly cost-effective.'
Still, the caster would probably be quite irritated.
After all, they would have been forced to kill a partner they had likely spent a long time raising, with their own hands.
'It's unfortunate, but I'll have to try again next time.'
Having decided to pursue another opportunity, Veylord no longer wasted any attention on the broken spell.
Instead, he contacted Old Man Hwang on his phone.
-Where are you right now?!-
Given Veylord's sudden disappearance, it was only natural for Old Man Hwang to ask where he was.
Apparently, the old man had never imagined that Veylord could travel from Daegu to Seoul in a single instant.
"Never mind that. Immediately investigate whether anyone you've met recently has suddenly become seriously ill or died unexpectedly. That person is the one who cursed you."
One reason Old Man Hwang's curse had progressed so slowly was that the price of failure had been shifted away from the creator of the curse and onto the one who carried it out.
Alternatively, given how thin the Mana was in this world, the Curse Mage responsible might simply have lacked sufficient ability and been too weak to create a stronger curse.
'But I certainly hope that isn't the case.'
Whether they eventually became enemies or allies remained uncertain, but nothing could be more disappointing than discovering that the other party was hopelessly weak.
***
The following morning, a minor piece of news received prominent coverage on television and YouTube.
A city councilor in Daegu was reportedly under investigation by prosecutors for corruption and violations of the Special Act on Prostitution.
Veylord, however, was busy preparing to move.
If anyone asked when he had managed to find a new home, the answer was that it had been a gift from Old Man Hwang's granddaughter, with whom he had formed a connection during their previous meeting.
"It's an officetel I own in Seoul. As it happens, the penthouse on the top floor is vacant, so you can move in immediately. Of course, don't worry. This doesn't mean I've fully repaid you for saving my grandfather."
She could easily have made a point of reminding him that this was part of fulfilling her promise to do anything for him, yet for some reason, she had not.
'If anything, it felt as though she didn't want to sever her connection with me.'
Of course, rather than giving the impression that she had fallen in love with him at first sight, her attitude seemed far more calculating.
"Still, I might as well make use of whatever I can."
First, he gathered all of Kang Chan-seong's belongings from the small boarding house.
There were not many to begin with, and everything was so old that throwing it all away would hardly have been a great loss.
"Still, these are things that fellow treasured and used. I shouldn't throw them away so carelessly."
Out of consideration for Kang Chan-seong, Veylord stuffed every last possession into his subspace.
Then, with both hands empty and unburdened, he stepped out of the room and locked the door with his key.
"So, you're finally leaving?"
Just then, the phlegmy voice of an elderly woman came from behind him.
'That voice… It's the owner of the small boarding house.'
Kang Chan-seong's memories immediately reminded him who the voice belonged to.
He turned around and greeted her with a gentle expression.
"Yes. That's how things turned out. Thank you so much for everything you've done for me."
"What are you thanking me for? If only I'd managed to stop that woman from stealing your money, you could've moved out much sooner."
Apparently, she still felt troubled by the incident when Hong Jang-mi had broken into the place and stolen his money.
"Actually, that incident turned out to be a blessing in disguise. I'm moving somewhere much better now, so please don't worry."
"Is that so? Well, that's a relief. And here, take this."
She held out a roll of Korean rice roll wrapped in aluminum foil, which she had apparently prepared beforehand.
"Don't go living on an empty stomach. And if things ever get difficult, come back here. You'll always be welcome."
As he accepted the still-warm Korean rice roll, Kang Chan-seong's soul, which had been resting in a corner of his own soul, trembled with a tingling sensation.
"Thank you for everything."
Words of gratitude flowed from Veylord's mouth.
But they were also the words Kang Chan-seong himself had wanted to say.