Chapter 6
Look, if you had one shot or one opportunity
To seize everything you ever wanted in one moment
Would you capture it or just let it slip?
The intro of Slim Shady’s hit song Lose Yourself, which dominated the 2003 and 2020 Oscar Academy Awards, played on Seong-Hwi’s smartphone. Although it was a little too old to listen to when the year was heading toward 2031, it was such a classic that it did not feel old-fashioned.
Seong-Hwi did not pick up the receiver despite Dong-Hyun standing outside his home for thirty minutes.
Don’t worry. I’ll ease your pain, he said inwardly.
It was better not to make contact with Dong-Hyun since the police might think Dong-Hyun hired him to commit murder. Chief Inspector Ma Sang-Sik was a persistent man.
Seong-Hwi waited until Dong-Hyun left and examined his status.
“Status window.”
[Cheon Seong-Hwi
Health: F(10) Strength: F(9)
Dexterity: F(9) Sense: F(8)
Magic: F(1)
Karma: 0
Destiny Weapon: Old Tarot Deck F(0)
Skills (0) Traits (0) Items (0) Cubes (0)]
The Akasha Message opened a message window that he could interpret through his soul.
“What a mess,” he said.
The stats he had raised by risking his life to kill the Chaos, completing quests, and accomplishing feats, had been reset.
I’m Penta-F now.
It was as if someone had hacked into Seong-Hwi’s game account to take all his items and then infinitely PK’ed his character for drops. Stats were applied to the five basic stats and one’s D Weapon, skills, traits, items, and more.
It was said that stats could be raised from F(0) to S(99), which was true for humans and all races. Although the unit of measurement was different for other races, the fact that there were seven ranks was the same for all races.
The average physical stat of a human adult man was around F(10). Although Seong-Hwi had undergone a preliminary awakening, his stats were average.
However, the F(1) Magic stat stood out. The Magic stat was usually very low in humans because humans never had the chance to use it like the other four basic stats. Seong-Hwi suspected it was F(1) because he had experience using magic.
Magic and secondary force are some of the main reasons why humans were deemed an inferior race.
The other races had more or less used magic in their previous world, or were gifted in using it. For example, dragons possessed B-rank Magic—or Tryce-rank in their language—from birth. Hence, it was clear that every race had immensely different starting points.
Seong-Hwi recalled the immense mana pool of the Third Lord, Dragon King Regnator. He was forced to realize that an individual could be stronger than an entire race, and experienced that the weak couldn’t even choose their destiny.
A race far above us from birth... and the king standing at the pinnacle of that race.
Regnator was a colossal wall, but Seong-Hwi did not think he was an unbeatable foe now that Seong-Hwi had returned to the past. Destiny was weak to the brave and strong to the cowardly. As proof, Seong-Hwi had charged at Regnator with no regard for his life and managed to injure him through his dragon scales.
As long as I take the right path... he’s not insurmountable!
Seong-Hwi had extraordinary talent with his D Weapon, but even he had to go through countless trials and errors to develop and master it. But now that he had returned to the past, there was no need to go through those trials and errors. All that remained was to take the most well-developed path and surpass his former self.
Seong-Hwi believed the entire human race needed to become stronger before meeting Regnator. He thought the rise in humanity’s power would prevent the other races from disrespecting humans. One of the main reasons he created Clan Calasanz was to promote human rights, remove the monopoly of information, and standardize it. However, he changed his mind.
I have to become stronger—much stronger! Strong enough to grasp not just my destiny, but the destiny of humankind!
Humans were an inferior race in the Mirror World. Those without power couldn’t complain even if they were treated unjustly. But what if an absolute being was born from the human race? What if they became one of the Ten Lords and Fiends?
The Fourth Fiend was human, but they did nothing for their fellow humans. But not me, if I become one of the Lords or Fiends!
If he cared for humanity as one of the Ten Lords and Fiends, the other races would think twice when dealing with other humans.
And if I acquire the power of the Destiny Stone, take the Race Stones of the other races, and ultimately obtain the Master Stone...
Seong-Hwi clenched his fists as if grasping his destiny and preventing it from escaping.
“I can do it. It’s my second opportunity. The only one I’ll get. I can get everything I ever wanted with this opportunity. I need to make the best of it!” Seong-Hwi muttered resolutely.
Slim Shady said to him as if his choice was the obvious one:
This world is mine for the taking.
Make me king as we move toward a New World Order.
***
—Well, okay. Come in.
The sound of the gate unlocking echoed. Seong-Hwi pushed open the gate and entered. It was the house of Kang Hyun-Tae, the man who killed So-Eun. He used the same method as last time to get permission to enter. He crossed the garden of trees and flowers and stood before the front door.
Seong-Hwi had looked for ways to raise his stats before coming to Hyun-Tae’s home because what he was about to do would become infinitely easier. He needed Karma to buy cubes, which were opened to raise stats. Karma could only be earned by killing the Chaos or clearing quests.
There are no Chaos monsters on Earth, and the Akasha Message isn’t notifying me of any quests.
There were countless types of quests. Ordinary Mirror World inhabitants could give quests to others, known as common quests. Trait quests were generated by meeting certain conditions, dungeon quests only appeared in dungeons, race quests could only be conducted by certain races, and world quests were open to all Mirror World inhabitants.
There were so many different types of quests, but Seong-Hwi couldn’t do any of them at the moment. Not only were there no Chaos for him to hunt on Earth, but there were no preliminary awakeners to give him quests. The only quests left were hidden quests whose conditions were hidden, and he couldn’t do them either because, as the name suggested, he had no way of knowing what the quests or their conditions were.
What the hell is the point of preliminary awakening? There’s no way to earn Karma.
Seong-Hwi’s eyes behind his goggles sank deeply as the front door opened and the air purifier turned on.
Well, it doesn’t matter. You don’t need high stats to kill someone. Malice is all I need.
The interior door opened. Seong-Hwi removed his hazmat suit and entered.
“Excuse me,” he said.
“Come in. Bring your oxygen tank with you.”
“Okay.”
Like last time, Hyun-Tae was sprawled on the couch and focused on his Go-Stop game. He pressed his remote to close the interior door once Seong-Hwi entered with his oxygen tank.
He said, “The oxygen machine is in the kitchen, next to the water tank.”
“Thank you very much. You’re too kind.”
“Haha, I pride myself on being an upstanding citizen. I’m simply doing my duty. “Oh, lamb with no oxygen! Come to my house!” Something like that, haha. It’s Christmas, after all.”
Seong-Hwi connected the familiar-looking oxygen machine tube to his oxygen tank as he listened to Hyun-Tae’s chatter. He then opened the valve as far as it could go, and the loud noise of oxygen filling the tank sounded throughout the house. It sounded like steam gushing out of a rice cooker.
The noise concealed Seong-Hwi’s footsteps. He left the kitchen and went into a blind spot from the couch. He saw the fruit knife he had used last time on the table, but did not grab it. Those who used a knife to kill others in the Mirror World were considered merciful.
“Hey, I think you opened the valve too much—”
Once Hyun-Tae turned to the kitchen, Seong-Hwi interrupted him by punching his solar plexus like a sandbag. His strength control was perfect.
“Kurgh! Gurgh!” The wide-eyed Hyun-Tae’s drool wet the couch, and he stopped moving. He was unconscious.
Seong-Hwi looked down at him and mumbled, “An upstanding citizen, huh? There are two kinds of upstanding citizens. One sets an example for others to follow, and another is willing to get their hands dirty for the sake of others. I’m also an upstanding citizen.”
***
“Mm... Urgh...” Hyun-Tae woke up and found himself lying on the carpet floor.
What happened? he wondered.
He had accepted a man’s request to fill his oxygen tank at Hyun-Tae’s home.
Why did I let him?
It was his duty. It was also Christmas, or it might have reminded him of his first Go-Stop game.
That son of a bitch!
Hyun-Tae’s eyes widened once he returned to his senses. The man had punched him in the solar plexus—it stung even now.
“Huh?”
Hyun-Tae tried to stand up but couldn’t move. He looked at his body. He was wrapped tightly in a blanket, exposing only his face. A garden hose used to water the flowers wrapped around the blanket, leaving him no room for movement.
Who did this?
Just then, Hyun-Tae heard breaths from an oxygen mask.
“Who’s there?!” Hyun-Tae shouted, turning to the source of the sound.
He saw the man wearing a hazmat suit, an oxygen tank, and an oxygen mask. He was sitting at the living room table. Hyun-Tae did not know why he was in that attire when they were inside.
“These look pretty good,” said the man in the hazmat suit, smiling as he lifted the prescription packets on the table.
“Y-you motherfucker! Who the fuck are you?! Untie me right now! There’s no point hiding your face! I already saw what you look like! Don’t even think about getting away with this!” Hyun-Tae shouted.
Seong-Hwi smiled and answered, “Why? You got away with murder. Why can’t I? Did your former-chief-judge lawyer not tell you about what it’s like on the other side?”
“What? Who are you?”
“Seo Dong-Hyun.”
Hyun-Tae thought about the name. Seo Dong-Hyun... Seo Dong-Hyun... who’s that?
He asked, “What’s your relationship with that woman? Are you here for revenge?”
“You don’t need to know more than I’ve told you. If you have questions... You can just die with them.”
Hyun-Tae momentarily stared at Seong-Hwi blankly and cackled. “Kehehe, you’re going to kill me? Ahaha! Do you think it’s easy to kill someone? Huh? It’s art! It’s not something anyone can do!”
Seong-Hwi did not answer.
“Do you follow the stock market? You can tell just from the graphs that this world is going insane. The market is over. The world is ending, and the era of savages is coming! It has already arrived for some nations!”
Hyun-Tae continued madly, “That was... just a practice run. The only way to survive in an apocalyptic world is to follow your instincts and pursue as much pleasure as possible! I-I’m simply adapting to the new world!”
“So, that’s why you have such a large stock of weapons you’d only see in apocalypse movies,” Seong-Hwi replied as he raised a Bowie knife he found in Hyun-Tae's bedroom to show him.
“Hehe, I custom-ordered it because I knew I’d need it one day. I didn’t get the chance to use it when I killed that woman, though.”
“You would’ve done quite well for yourself in the Mirror World,” Seong-Hwi mumbled and stood up with the Bowie knife. “But you’re wrong about something. It’s not Earth that’s ending, it’s the human race. No humans will be left on Earth in a few years because they will all be sent to the Mirror World—Baptists and Lambs.”
Hyun-Tae snickered at Seong-Hwi’s nonsensical words and said, “Kek, you’re as crazy as me, huh? What disease is that? Megalomania?”
“You must feel special after killing one person, huh? Taking someone’s life as you please is fun, isn’t it? Just like Go-Stop.”
“What? Haha, you too? You were the same as me? Hahaha! We’re the same, my friend! Let’s work together, you and—”
Seong-Hwi did not let Hyun-Tae finish and approached him with the Bowie knife.
Hyun-Tae shouted, “Stop, you fucking son of a bitch! The law still exists in our country! I-If you kill me, you’ll get the death penalty! Put down the knife!”
“Oh, this? Don’t worry. I won’t kill you with this. It’ll be too quick and easy.”
Seong-Hwi dropped the knife and walked past Hyun-Tae to the couch.
He grabbed the remote on the couch and mumbled, “Killing people is an art? You’re wrong. It’s a skill. Novices who haven’t even killed a hundred people always glorify murder.”
“What?”
“Why do you think I’m wearing my hazmat suit and oxygen tank? Inside, no less.”
“Y-you wouldn’t!”
Seong-Hwi pressed a button on the remote, opening the interior and exterior doors.
“This is a nice place. You can do almost anything with just one remote. Is this what you call a smart home?”
“AAAAAAAAAAHHH! STOP! STOP, YOU MOTHERFUCKER!”
The cold air blew in from outside. Seong-Hwi was wearing his hazmat suit and oxygen mask while Hyun-Tae was bare-faced.
“URGHHH! NOOOO! CLOSE THE DOOR!” Hyun-Tae shouted in terror, bursting into tears and snot.
Seong-Hwi smiled and replied, “Smile, motherfucker. It’s Christmas. Don’t you want a gift from Santa?”
Merry, merry Christrmas!