Lee Young-sik, chairman of Taeseong Group, and his only daughter, Lee Seo-a.
The father and daughter clung tightly to each other.
As Joo Do-gyeom watched them, a strange sensation seeped into one corner of his heart.
Paradise Illusion.
The faces of his parents, whom he had seen there, surfaced in his mind.
-Do-gyeom.
-Joo Do-gyeom. Our son.
Even though he knew they were fake, their voices remained in his ears.
Longing was not the kind of emotion that disappeared simply because it was swallowed.
All one could do was fold it neatly and tuck it away deep within the heart.
Seeking a gap in the place where he had tucked that longing away, the unwelcome guest inside his brain began to creep and stir.
‘Get out.’
One word.
That was enough to make the madness subside once more.
His inner world fell silent.
When he opened his eyes, the room was filled with nothing but the joyful sobs of the reunited family.
One small voice slipped through them.
“......Thank you.”
It was Kang Tae-woo.
Without even turning his head, he murmured the sincere words so quietly that they were barely audible.
Joo Do-gyeom heard him, but did not bother responding.
He was not the main character in this room.
***
Lee Seo-a fell asleep again.
She had exhausted herself after crying for so long.
However, this was not another loss of consciousness like before.
It was merely ordinary, natural sleep.
They returned to the reception room.
No sooner had they sat across from one another than Lee Young-sik rose from his seat.
Then he dropped to his knees.
“Chairman......!”
Kang Tae-woo cried out in alarm.
Instead of answering, Lee Young-sik restrained him with a look.
Kang Tae-woo froze where he stood.
Only then did Lee Young-sik look at Joo Do-gyeom. Bowing his head, he spoke.
“First, I owe you an apology. I threatened my benefactor’s life far too many times.”
“It’s all right.”
Joo Do-gyeom answered calmly.
Lee Young-sik continued.
“And thank you. My daughter was able to open her eyes again because of you. I consider it a debt of gratitude that nothing could ever repay.”
The head of a major conglomerate was kneeling on the floor.
To be honest, Joo Do-gyeom felt strangely as he looked down at him.
‘Lee Young-sik.’
In his previous life, the man had been known for his ruthless cruelty.
Why else would he have earned the epithets Hunter Slayer and Golden Fiend?
Those names had come from Hunters themselves.
Most of the people he had murdered in horrific ways had been Hunters.
Joo Do-gyeom could understand why.
If events had followed their original course, Lee Seo-a would ultimately die three years from now.
Countless Hunters would attempt to cure her, only to achieve nothing.
Exactly two years after that, when Joo Do-gyeom had only just begun his life as a Hunter, the Garden of Eden and Adam’s Apple would become known to the world.
It would have been stranger if Lee Young-sik had not gone mad.
Back when South Korea was still intact, one of the Hunters who had encountered Lee Young-sik had even said this to Joo Do-gyeom in the future.
-If South Korea hadn’t collapsed back then, wouldn’t Chairman Lee have ended up on the wanted list as a Villain, no matter how much money he had?
And yet, that same man.
During the Seoul Invasion Battle, while the other tycoons raced to flee, Lee Young-sik remained in Seoul until the very end and died fighting.
At the time, Joo Do-gyeom had found it ironic.
A man who despised Hunters so much had died doing something more befitting a Hunter than anyone else.
But now.
As he looked down at the kneeling man, he finally thought he understood.
‘Back then, in Seoul......’
That was where Lee Seo-a’s ashes had been enshrined.
Lee Young-sik had not refused to run away.
He had been unable to leave his daughter behind.
He was not merely a ruthlessly cruel chairman.
Until the very end, he had been a father protecting his daughter.
Joo Do-gyeom contemplated that fact for a moment before rising from his seat.
Then he extended a hand toward the kneeling man.
“Please, get up.”
“Will you accept my apology and gratitude?”
“There is nothing to accept. As I told you before, I came here because there was something I wanted.”
His words were so plain that they bordered on emotionless.
Nevertheless, Lee Young-sik felt his chest stir once more at that dry response.
Ironically, that very attitude was a comfort to him.
At last, Lee Young-sik raised his head and stared at the extended hand for a moment.
Then he gripped it tightly.
He used the hand to rise naturally, and just as he was about to bow once more, Joo Do-gyeom asked a question.
“Would it be all right if I asked for several things?”
Lee Young-sik paused.
A moment later, he nodded.
“Of course. As long as it is within my power, I will grant whatever you desire.”
“Then......”
Joo Do-gyeom calmly began listing the things he wanted.
Originally, he had intended to take only Formless Armament, Myriad Forms.
However, he had changed his mind.
After meeting Lee Young-sik, he realized that maintaining a long relationship with the man would benefit both of them.
Therefore, he also made several requests substantial enough to leave him owing Lee Young-sik a measure of goodwill.
In doing so, he subtly signaled that the two of them could become partners.
Lee Young-sik, a businessman, caught on immediately.
His response was favorable.
“If this is how it will be...... then we are as good as passengers in the same boat.”
“It would seem so.”
“This is a joyful occasion. To think I can share a boat with my benefactor. Heh heh......”
A conglomerate tycoon guaranteed to become a Villain in the future?
It did not matter.
That had never happened in this world.
If anything, Joo Do-gyeom welcomed it.
Once the world started down the road to destruction, only those like Lee Young-sik, who could go mad for what they desired, managed to survive.
‘This affair has yielded far more than I expected.’
He was in a rather good mood.
***
By a window in Chairman Lee Young-sik’s mansion.
Lee Young-sik and Kang Tae-woo watched Joo Do-gyeom’s retreating figure.
He had adamantly refused their offer to escort him all the way home.
He had said that he did not like a fuss.
Thus, they had allowed him to leave alone.
Yet the retreating figure Lee Young-sik was watching seemed strangely peculiar.
In what way?
‘He looks lonely.’
And yet, it seemed immense.
Lee Young-sik was not referring to the breadth of Joo Do-gyeom’s shoulders or his height.
Of course, Joo Do-gyeom was large in those respects as well, but what Lee Young-sik was looking at was his presence.
Usually, that kind of presence came only from someone with a great deal resting upon his back.
As the head of a conglomerate, Lee Young-sik prided himself on having seen many such people.
But among them, had anyone possessed a presence as immense as Joo Do-gyeom’s?
No one.
At least, not in his recent memory.
‘Ah......’
Exactly one person.
A face came to mind.
His father, whom he had seen long ago during his childhood.
Lee Tae-sung, the previous chairman of Taeseong Group and the man known as a legend of Korean corporate history.
Taeseong Group itself had been named after him.
The back that had single-handedly borne the livelihoods of tens of thousands overlapped with that of the young man before him.
No.
‘......If anything, his looks even larger.’
His instincts told him so.
It was difficult to believe.
Even setting aside the fact that Joo Do-gyeom had been an ordinary person until recently.
Joo Do-gyeom was not even in a position where he bore responsibility for anything, was he?
For Lee Young-sik to feel this way regardless meant only one thing.
“......It must mean there are many stories I don’t know.”
The words slipped quietly from his mouth.
Kang Tae-woo, who was standing beside him, cautiously spoke.
“Shall I have someone follow him?”
Lee Young-sik laughed.
Then, with no laughter in his eyes, he shot Kang Tae-woo a sharp look and asked,
“Chief Secretary Kang, are you trying to turn me into an ungrateful jackal?”
“......I apologize.”
Kang Tae-woo immediately bowed his head.
As though he understood, Lee Young-sik lightly patted him on the shoulder.
“I understand how you feel. But let us not live that way.”
“......I will take it to heart.”
“I trust you will.”
His smile returning, Lee Young-sik turned his gaze back outside.
Joo Do-gyeom had already disappeared.
For some reason, the street down which he had passed felt empty.
***
Chairman Lee Young-sik’s mansion was located in the Green Zone.
It was the safest and most heavily guarded region in South Korea.
Joo Do-gyeom silently passed through it, took the subway through the Blue Zone, and traveled farther toward the outskirts of the city, finally reaching his residential area in the Red Zone.
Perhaps it was because he had just visited the Green Zone, which reminded him of how the world had looked a little over ten years ago, before it became like this.
The dim interior of the subway station, where even the lighting barely functioned, and the scenery of the Red Zone as a whole felt strangely unfamiliar.
Even as he thought that, Joo Do-gyeom maintained his indifferent gaze and spoke quietly.
“Why don’t you just come out?”
A brief silence followed.
Then it happened.
From somewhere within the subway station, which was empty except for Joo Do-gyeom, came the sound of footsteps.
It was followed by the sound of something spinning.
WHOOSH, WHOOSH, WHOOSH—!
The object was cutting through the air.
Joo Do-gyeom turned his gaze.
A man was descending from the top of the stairs leading aboveground, whirling a long iron chain with a pitchfork attached to its end.
He was not alone.
The station’s closed metal doors opened, and several burly men emerged at once.
Each of them gripped a weapon at the ready.
Their gazes were filled with murderous intent toward Joo Do-gyeom.
Joo Do-gyeom thought, ‘Who are they?’
It was not Lee Young-sik.
He had no reason to do this, and if he had wanted Joo Do-gyeom dead, the mansion would have been a much more convenient place.
More importantly, Lee Young-sik would not have sent such clumsy men.
With his money, he could have hired far more formidable Hunters.
The problem was that once Lee Young-sik was ruled out, no other face came to mind.
Of course, the Red Zone in present-day Seoul had become the kind of place where something like this did not necessarily require a reason.
“The grudge in your eyes is obvious.”
At Joo Do-gyeom’s quiet words, the man caught the spinning pitchfork in midair.
CLACK—!
“You know Im Jeong-yeol, right?”
Joo Do-gyeom shook his head.
“It seems you’ve found the wrong person......”
“The Zombie Burst Dungeon. The guy with the crossbow. You really don’t know?”
“......”
He did not know the name, but he thought he knew who the man was talking about.
One of the raiders who had targeted him had been carrying a crossbow.
The man with the pitchfork spoke.
“My name’s Im Jeong-su. Jeong-yeol was my little brother.”
“I see.”
Joo Do-gyeom understood.
How they had acquired information about what happened inside the Dungeon and how they had found him were not important.
He could ask about such things after everything was over.
“Then there’s more than enough reason for us to fight.”
WHOOSH—!
Im Jeong-su swung the pitchfork in a wide circle and shook his head.
“Wrong. It’s not a reason to fight......”
SWOOOOSH—!
At the same moment, the pitchfork shot toward him.
“It’s the reason you have to die, you f***ing bastard.”
Joo Do-gyeom evaded it with ease.
At the same time, he drew the Great Axe from his Inventory and swung it in a broad arc.
The bodies of the four or five burly men who had charged at him the moment he avoided the pitchfork were split in half simultaneously.
Blood scattered through the air.
Faces twisted in shock.
As he watched them, Joo Do-gyeom abruptly halted the Great Axe he had swung with such force and spoke quietly.
“It can’t be helped.”
He was not merciful enough to spare enemies who had openly come to kill him.
The Great Axe cleaved through space once more.
It sliced through people as it passed.
Blood and screams erupted together.
Within his mind, the madness of the Heavenly Killer danced with joy.
Joo Do-gyeom did not stop.
『Skill, Five-Senses Qi Circulation Art, advances to 3-Star.』
『Skill, Lightning Flash Flight, advances to 3-Star.』
***
The next morning.
Joo Do-gyeom picked up his smartphone and checked the news.
[A horrific scene inside Red Zone District 5 subway station.]
[The Management Bureau has decided to close the case as a conflict between local organizations......]
[Red Zone District 10 subway service to resume normally after 14:30. We apologize for the inconvenience caused to residents.]
That was all.
Despite all the chaos he had caused the previous night.
In just over a decade, the world had changed this much.
Of the three articles, the one announcing the resumption of subway service had the highest number of views.
Joo Do-gyeom regarded the screen with an indifferent gaze before lowering his phone.
He closed his eyes and thought,
‘I should go grocery shopping later today.’
He wanted to test his newly acquired Class Skill, All-Things Restorative Soup, as soon as possible.
Other than that, he intended to get plenty of rest.
‘Come to think of it......’
Despite the incident the previous night, the madness of the Heavenly Killer had been much calmer than he had expected.
Even when he turned his awareness inward, it was so tranquil that it felt like a perfectly still lake.
‘......Could it actually be satisfied?’
Joo Do-gyeom set aside the thought.
He had been lucky throughout the previous day, so he figured it would not be strange for some ill fortune to creep in at the very end.
‘Come to think of it, I forgot to ask how they found me.’
He had killed them so indifferently that it had slipped his mind.
Well, it was not as though he had no guesses.
There could have been a magic item that transmitted its user’s final moments, or they could have formed a contract with a Necromancer that allowed them to see the scene of the death.
Such things were surprisingly common.
To prevent such methods, it was useful to have at least one mage companion.
‘A mage......’
A mage would not be a bad candidate for his next companion after Kim Han-yul.
Other than that, he felt nothing in particular.
For now, incidents like this still made the news.
In the future he remembered, the world had become a place where an incident like this could happen anywhere without surprising anyone.
‘......I should get some more sleep.’
He was unusually tired, so he simply closed his eyes and went back to sleep.
***
Late at lunchtime.
An unexpected spectacle appeared at the entrance to the alley where Joo Do-gyeom lived in the Red Zone.
A jet-black luxury sedan.
An object that was difficult even to catch a glimpse of in the Red Zone these days stood prominently at the mouth of the alley.
The residents murmured among themselves from a distance.
Unaware of the commotion, Joo Do-gyeom picked up a shopping bag and was just leaving his home.
He intended to experiment with his newly acquired Recipe Skill, All-Things Restorative Soup.
The moment Joo Do-gyeom appeared, the closed door of the sedan opened.
A man in a suit stepped out and bowed.
It was Kang Tae-woo.
Everyone who had been murmuring recognized him.
“Huh? That man......”
“Isn’t he Taeseong Group’s chief secretary? I saw him on the news.”
“Yeah, that’s him. But what’s a man like him doing in the Red Zone......?”
The commotion grew louder.
Without paying it the slightest attention, Kang Tae-woo approached Joo Do-gyeom and spoke.
“Could we speak in the car for a moment?”