Chapter 66

‘No Death.’

The rain-soaked outdoors came into view.

“You’re here?”

As planned, he used No Death’s Dark Ring mark to arrive on the rooftop of a building across the street from the construction site.

Looking down from above, the first thing he saw was a building at the construction site that had been reduced to a mere skeleton by the disaster.

Below, the shattered remnants of cement walls were piled up like a mountain, showing just how severe the catastrophe caused by the Dungeon’s appearance had been.

“Well, would you look at that. Strange.”

“What about the Death Knight’s Helmet?”

“I gave it to Hyun-jung, just as planned.”

All the plans were complete.

But he didn’t want to end it there.

The fact that they had tried to use the workers’ lives as a key to open the Dungeon was too infuriating.

So he had added one more plan.

An additional plan that could also appease Hyun-jung, whom he hadn’t brought along because her skills weren’t perfect yet.

“Seeing as Hyun-jung isn’t here, she must have left right away.”

“It seemed like she’d been waiting for a while. I guess she doesn’t even worry anymore.”

“Is that so?”

“The moment she got the helmet, she used stealth and took off.”

A smile escaped him as he pictured Hyun-jung rushing off, eager to be helpful.

“Here.”

He took the black orb, the Dungeon reward, from No Death.

Before curiosity could set in, a surge of emotion welled up.

‘What the hell is this thing…?’

For a moment, irritation washed over him as he wondered if his family in his past life had really had to die for this one measly thing.

If he hadn’t stopped it in this life, innocent workers would have died.

And thinking of those workers’ families brought back the hellish moments from his past life.

‘If this turns out to be nothing, I’ll kill them.’

KABOOM!

A heavy explosion erupted from within the debris at the construction site.

The large crowd flinched, and screams rang out from all over.

“Looks like the clear phenomenon is just now appearing. For that Dungeon, it seems this was the main event, not the boss.”

No Death’s index finger pointed at the black orb in Hyuk-min’s hand.

It made sense. Normally, when a boss dies, the Dungeon’s symbol of power disappears, triggering the clear phenomenon immediately.

But since the clear phenomenon was only happening now, it seemed that for a forcibly opened Dungeon, the black orb—not the boss—was the source of its power.

“How strange. Usually, the boss is the linchpin, but for this one, it’s an object.”

“To me, it’s an object of love and hate. Both good and bad.”

He opened the System again, which had paused due to the Dungeon clear phenomenon.

An interface labeled [Information] floated above the black orb.

==========

[Unmeasurable] Sealed Rebellion.

This is an item not registered with the System.

This is an item that cannot be explained by the System.

Please discard or destroy it.

==========

The baffling content made his brow furrow on its own.

Having already seen the message, No Death tilted his head.

“I saw that earlier, too. What kind of item is this? The System itself is telling you to destroy it.”

He had never heard of—let alone encountered rumors of—such an item in his past life.

‘Chung-ho had this item in my past life?’

No matter how he thought about it, it was strange.

Even after combing through his memories, he had never seen Park Chung-ho possess or use an item like this.

‘Wasn’t the System an omniscient, omnipotent god?’

An item not registered with the System.

And it couldn’t even destroy the item itself—it was asking him to do it.

Faced with this unprecedented phenomenon and a completely unexpected item, Hyuk-min couldn’t hide his bewilderment.

It was then.

Crackle.

For a moment, the black orb in his hand blurred like static on an old, broken TV before returning to normal.

To be precise, it wasn’t so much a blur as its pixels breaking and shifting around—like an error on a monitor or in a game—before snapping back into place.

But the world Hyuk-min was breathing in right now wasn’t a game.

‘Again.’

This wasn’t the first time.

He had experienced this in a Dungeon before, which only made it more puzzling.

His confusion was short-lived.

BEEEEEP!

“Keuk!”

He clutched his head as a powerful warning sound from the System rang inside his brain.

“What’s wrong? What is it!?”

‘What is this?’

It wasn’t just a simple warning sound.

It was an insane alarm that came with a headache so violent it felt like his skull was splitting apart.

“You don’t hear it!?”

“What are you talking about?”

The sound seemed to be audible only to Hyuk-min, because No Death stared at him with complete incomprehension.

When he slowly forced his tightly shut eyes open, the System displayed a chilling warning message in a red text he had never seen before.

[Warning! Warning!]

[Warning Quest has occurred.]

[Warning Quest has occurred.]

BEEEEEEEP!

“Kuaaaargh!”

The warning, now blaring even louder, made Hyuk-min collapse to the ground.

This wasn’t the kind of pain he could endure.

Clutching his head, he slammed it against the floor.

A groan tore out of him—pain he had never felt before, so intense it drained all the strength from his body.

“Keeeeuuuk….”

“Hyuk-min! Hyuk-min!! Are you okay!? What’s wrong?!”

‘Is this what it would feel like if my head actually exploded?’

No, it felt a hundred times worse.

He had experienced death when he became a Revenant, and in his quest for revenge, he had clashed with the world and suffered every kind of pain imaginable.

But this was incomparably more powerful than any pain he had ever endured.

It felt as if every single cell in his brain that could feel pain was trembling in agony.

“I don’t know! Suddenly… Suddenly….”

“It’s because of that. Let go of it! Let go of that thing!”

Through the pain, he forced one eye open.

He wanted to throw the orb away immediately.

But along with the pain, his muscles had started to spasm, making it difficult to move his hand.

With all the concentration he could muster, he tried to slowly let the black orb in his palm fall.

Just as the black orb rolled down his palm and was about to drop—

An unfamiliar voice echoed from somewhere.

[Information verification complete. A suitable candidate has been confirmed.]

It carried the System’s tone, but the voice was different.

Unlike the previous System, which had the voice of a beautiful woman, the voice he heard now was that of a young man.

“What are you talking about!!”

Just as he screamed in pain—

[Beginning synchronization.]

With those words, the consciousness he was barely holding onto began to drift far away.

His vision slowly darkened.

The last thing Hyuk-min saw before losing consciousness was the black orb—about to fall from his palm—shattering with a crack!

“Hyuk-min!!!”

= = =

He opened his eyes with a sudden, sharp jolt.

“Ugh!”

An unfamiliar ceiling came into view, but a familiar scent told him where he was.

After a brief, static-like pain, there was nothing more.

“Uncle!!”

It was Hyun-jung, hugging him tightly, her eyes swollen from how much she had cried.

Looking to the side, he saw No Death watching Hyun-jung and shaking his head.

“Anyone would think there was a funeral. I told you, there’s nothing wrong with him. He’s healthy.”

“That’s because you’re a quack! How can a perfectly fine person suddenly faint! And not just anyone, but the strongest person, my uncle!”

No Death answered with a look of pity.

“You’ve really got it good. I’ve never seen a fanatic quite like you.”

“What happened?”

“How’s your body? Does your head still hurt like before?”

A memory he had briefly forgotten resurfaced.

He remembered everything—the pain right before he fainted, and the sight of the black orb shattering before it even hit the ground.

“The orb?”

“You dropped it and it broke. It’s a relief, really. The System also…”

No Death, who was about to speak, glanced around and then pressed his index finger to his lips.

“Anyway, are you okay? I was so surprised when you suddenly started screaming your head off.”

Hyuk-min moved for a moment, then shook his head hard.

“I’m fine. Perfectly fine.”

“Why did that happen? So suddenly.”

No matter how much he thought about it, he couldn’t figure out the reason.

Then he remembered the unfamiliar male voice.

“No Death, was there anyone else near us?”

“What kind of nonsense is that right after waking up?”

“I heard an unfamiliar voice before I fainted. It was a man’s voice, an adult man’s voice.”

“Did you see a ghost or something?”

“Was there really no one?”

“Not at all! In that heavy rain, who else besides us would be doing that on a rooftop?”

It was, indeed, an absurd thing to say.

If someone had been nearby, not just No Death but Hyuk-min himself would have noticed.

But then what was it?

That man’s voice—using the System’s tone—that he heard right before he passed out.

“You’re sure there was no one?”

“I’m telling you there wasn’t. This is really strange. More importantly, I was in such a rush I couldn’t ask, but Hyun-jung.”

“Yes?”

Hyun-jung’s arms, still wrapped around him, showed no sign of letting go.

She barely turned her head to look at No Death.

“Sigh. What was it. What happened with the sniping?”

“Ah, that? I hit the Western Shaman in the thigh with one shot.”

“What!?”

Neither Hyuk-min nor No Death could hide their surprise.

This was the Western Shaman, of all people.

The final line of defense protecting Park Chung-ho—and in this Dungeon raid, a trickier opponent than even Park Chung-ho himself, because he was willing to do anything.

And Hyun-jung had put a bullet in his thigh.

“Actually, I was aiming for that Western Shaman person’s head, just like you planned, Uncle, but strangely, blood burst from his thigh. I think the bullet was deflected by something.”

Hyun-jung’s sniping skills, nearing Gun Mastery 20, were accurate beyond compare.

If she had missed, something else had interfered.

“Wow, that bastard’s insane. Does he walk around with a Barrier active all the time?”

He really was a troublesome foe.

This time, Hyuk-min asked,

“And that happened even though you shot with the Railgun?”

“Yes, that’s how I knew it was deflected. It leaves an afterimage in your eyes. Ah! I fired two shots. One hit the Western Shaman’s thigh, and the other was deflected and hit the Yaksha in the stomach.”

“Then the Yaksha?”

“Since I shot it with the Railgun, it should have been a penetrating wound. I ran away after seeing it collapse. You told me to run because they could detect my stealth skill….”

Not just the Western Shaman, but the Yaksha too?

No Death couldn’t help being amazed.

(T/N: Gahd I love Hyun-jung)

“Wow, even if you were shooting from a great distance so they couldn’t sense you, to land a blow on both of them… you’re insane.”

Choi Hyun-jung.

Hyun-jung, who would later be called Sogoe, was the real deal.

To single-handedly inflict serious injuries on the two arms protecting Park Chung-ho.

It was no wonder Jeonsin had acknowledged her.

“In the end, your plan worked out. You saved all the workers and got the Dungeon reward.”

Even the final additional plan had succeeded.

“What are you going to do now?”

At No Death’s question, Hyuk-min gave a satisfied smile.

“Now it’s time to take the next step.”

This plan was only a part of the plans to come.

He sat up fully and said,

“We’ve put out the most urgent fire, so shouldn’t we get a little stronger for the next plan?”

They must have all felt it while carrying out this plan.

They hadn’t fought a guild, only clashed with Park Chung-ho’s splinter group.

Even so, No Death—who found it far from easy—and Hyun-jung, who couldn’t even join the fight, silently nodded, deeply sympathizing with Hyuk-min’s words.

A gentle smile formed on Hyuk-min’s lips as he looked at the two, whose moods seemed to have dampened.

“No Death, I’ll give you information on four Hidden pieces. They’re things you and Hyun-jung will need. Go find them when the time is right as you clear the Tower, just as I tell you.”

“What about you, Hyuk-min?”

No Death looked surprised at Hyuk-min, who spoke as if he wouldn’t be going with them.

Hyun-jung, who had been hugging him, released her arms and looked at Hyuk-min with a worried expression.

Faced with the two burdensome gazes, Hyuk-min’s smile only widened.

“I’m going to be away for a little while. In the meantime, clear the Tower, find the Hidden pieces, and wait for me.”

“Uncle…?”

Hyun-jung looked as gloomy as if she had lost the whole world.

In contrast, No Death nodded like an adult and asked,

“How long will it take?”

“Three months.”

“What? That long?”

Hyuk-min nodded.

At that, No Death waved his hand.

“Hey, no way. Three months will put you so far behind in clearing the Tower that you won’t be able to catch up to us. If you’re going to do something, we should do it together…”

“It’s something I can only do alone.”

“What on earth are you doing that you have to?”

“I have some homework I couldn’t do because I was busy putting out an urgent fire.”

Seeing Hyuk-min’s firm resolve, No Death finally sighed.

“So what changes after you finish this so-called homework?”

“I’ll be twice as strong as I am now. Without finishing my homework, I’m just an empty shell.”

“What? It’s that significant?”

Hyuk-min’s eyes went to his skill window.

“You have to give me time to fill my shell, don’t you?”

A skill that had been sitting in his skill window for a long time, but one he had never used properly.

The skill that comprised the highest category among the main skills of the past life’s Rank 2, All Master.

The skill that could be called the essence of the Hidden skills Hyuk-min possessed in his current life.

[Immortal Demon Art]

He had let it sit for far too long.

Now, the time had come to learn and master the main skill he had temporarily set aside to deal with the fire at his feet.

In his memories of his past life, the image of All Master standing amid countless high-grade monsters and slaughtering them all single-handedly surfaced.

The skill and martial art he had called the most powerful and profound among everything he possessed.

That Immortal Demon Art was now dormant in Hyuk-min’s skill window.

“Don’t worry. After three months, I’ll climb up to the floor you’re on in just two weeks.”

The time had come.

It was time to become the All Master—who had seemed like a monster among monsters in his past life.

And by the time he took on that form—

‘Park Chung-ho.’

‘That bastard won’t be a person of this world anymore.’

[Synchronization 77.5% complete.]