Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Part 2

“It really is here.”

Grab.

A small pouch with not even a speck of dust on it.

In this place where enormous clouds of dust rose with every step, only this item remained perfectly clean without a trace of dust.

【Endless Golden Pouch】

Rank: Rare

Type: Summoning Item

A money pouch without end.

A pouch that bestows wealth upon you.

[Item Effect]

Once per day.

A random amount of money comes out.

[Special Notes]

It comes out converted into the currency of the user’s country.

If the user wishes, instead of currency, an item equivalent to the amount may come out.

Grin.

“This is definitely what I was looking for.”

Endless Golden Pouch.

An item that endlessly spits out money.

Of course, even though it was endless, the amount it produced was not very large.

In its current state, at most one million won.

“‘In its current state,’ that is.”

This item could be forcibly grown.

In the future, this item would become Mythic rank.

And when it was in its Mythic state, the maximum amount it could produce at once approached one trillion won.

‘Of course, once it grows to Mythic rank, there is a usage limit.’

It would be limited to five uses.

But he knew.

He knew how to input the desired value into this pouch.

‘Thanks to that, the guild that owned this pouch instantly rose to become a wealthy guild.’

Swoosh.

After putting the item into his bag, Yugeon immediately left the space.

There was nothing else to obtain from this hidden place.

At most, it could be used as a safe zone.

Monsters did not enter this space.

“There’s no point in leaving it open.”

After all, there were hardly ever situations where the second floor became dangerous.

___________

Creak.

“It’s been a while.”

Having retraced his memories and returned to his home, Yugeon looked around inside and gave a faint smile.

The home where he had lived together with his family.

It had been decades since he had been here.

‘Eight years from now, was it...’

Monsters would swarm into this area, and the place would end up in ruins.

Because of that, Yugeon had been forced to move elsewhere as well.

“I’m home.”

After setting down his belongings, Yugeon moved toward his family.

“It’s been a while.”

Tap.

With a bitter smile, Yugeon picked up his family.

No, the photograph containing his family.

His family members were smiling brightly in the picture.

“Back then, the alarm suddenly went off, so I couldn’t even take the photo with me.”

Swoosh.

Yugeon took the photograph out of the frame and slipped it inside his clothes.

His father, mother, younger brother, and younger sister.

All four of them died during the second monster wave.

At the time, he had been pushed by the fleeing crowd and fallen into a sewer.

Thanks to that, he had survived the monster attack unharmed.

But his family had all died.

The other three had gone shopping to buy a present for his youngest sister and were swept up in the wave.

And his grandmother, who had been at the senior center, had also survived with the help of Awakened.

He had been raised by his grandmother.

Later, his grandmother had also passed away due to her advanced age.

Tap.

Putting the now-empty frame back in its place, Yugeon turned his head.

Saying he missed them.

Saying he wanted to see them.

He did not have time to sink into grief while whining like that.

He needed to use that time to carry out what he had planned.

Only then would he truly be able to see his family alive again.

For a very brief moment, the thought crossed Yugeon’s mind that it would have been nice if he had been sent back fifty years, to when his family was still alive.

But he soon dismissed the thought.

Returning forty years into the past was already something to be grateful for.

He had to be deeply thankful that he had been given another chance to correct the past.

‘I don’t know how I regressed, but...’

He now knew that regression was possible.

After all, he was experiencing it himself right now.

So if he used the Holy Grail, he should be able to achieve a proper regression,

A regression that would return him to the exact point in time he desired.

____________

Creak.

Bang.

After resting comfortably at home for a full day, Yugeon came outside early the next morning.

From now on, he had to move quickly.

‘There’s a sword I need to obtain within a month.’

If a month passed, that sword would fall into the hands of another Awakened.

However, as he had said before, he only needed to secure the sword within a month.

‘So for now, I need to go obtain another weapon.’

Yugeon smiled.

In this life.

A being who would become his sword and shield.

The first companion who would become a member of the Godslayers.

It was time to recruit Heavenly Slaughter Star Cha Mincheol.

_____________

The destruction of the world.

The primary reason among the many causes of destruction was, of course, the monsters spewed out from the towers.

Powerful monsters that suddenly emerged without any warning.

However, there were also clearly several factors that accelerated the world’s destruction.

There were roughly ten representative ones.

One of them was Genocide.

An international group of psychopaths and one of the main causes that accelerated the world’s destruction.

Genocide was a group made up of powerful Awakened.

They were lunatics who claimed they would reset humanity and usher in a new divine age.

Because of them, the number of Awakened killed by Genocide piled up like mountains.

Eventually, as the number of Awakened available to stop the monsters dwindled, nations gradually began collapsing.

‘And the one who would later become the leader of Genocide.’

That was Heavenly Slaughter Star Cha Mincheol.

To be precise, Cha Mincheol’s unique ability.

He did not possess only the trait Heavenly Slaughter Star.

Mount Tai.

That was Cha Mincheol’s other alias.

Originally, his alias was Mount Tai, while his hidden trait was Heavenly Slaughter Star.

Possessing both Heavenly Slaughter Star and a tanker trait at the same time, Cha Mincheol became an unstoppable great evil.

In the end, he was betrayed by Genocide and met his death.

‘So this time, I’ll bring Cha Mincheol over to my side...’

He would turn him into someone who saved the world.

Dash.

After checking the time, Yugeon quickly moved on.

The moment when Cha Mincheol would soon turn into a Murder Fiend was approaching.

_______________

The basement of an old commercial building located near Gwangmyeong City Hall.

Smack!

“Ghk!”

Inside the dark office, a groan burst out along with the dull sound of a blow.

“Hey, Cha Mincheol! Why are you making me into the bad guy? Agree while I’m still asking nicely.”

Thud!

“Ugh...”

A heavily built man lay face down on the floor with both hands bound behind his back.

Cha Mincheol.

Even though it had not been long since he awakened, he had already reached level 50.

A man who had made it this far through sheer experience without a master.

Because he had formerly worked as a fitness trainer, his entire body was muscular, but after being starved and beaten for several days, he looked terrible.

A tattooed man stood in front of him.

Grab.

Lee Hyeoksu, the boss of Guseongpa, grabbed Cha Mincheol by the hair while exhaling cigarette smoke.

“Your big brother here thinks you’re too valuable to throw away, so I’m willing to keep taking you along a little longer. Why do you keep acting so aloof?”

“...How many times do I have to tell you that I don’t want to?”

Cha Mincheol spat out the blood running from the corner of his mouth and glared at Lee Hyeoksu.

“I told you I don’t work with gangsters!”

“Hey, we’re not gangsters. We’re businessmen too!”

Lee Hyeoksu shrugged as though he felt wronged.

“Human trafficking, organ trafficking, and drug distribution count as business?”

“If there’s demand, there’s supply. If someone needs people, we supply people. If they need organs, we supply organs. And when life gets rough and exhausting, we supply drugs so they can indulge in a little deviation. It’s not like we force anything on people who don’t want it. They want it, so we just sell it to them! If that isn’t distribution, then what is?”

They were no different from ordinary merchants.

They sold weapons to people who needed weapons.

If someone needed mana stones, they sold mana stones.

If someone needed armor, they sold armor.

He had merely expanded the range of items he sold a little.

“Organ trafficking? Yeah, sure. We sold a few organs. But among the people who bought organs from me, there’s someone who saved his daughter. Another man saved his father. Do you know what those people call me? Their benefactor. They contact me every day to thank me. To those people, I’m a hero. Do you know what that means? It may look like evil to you, but to someone else, it can be salvation and a blessing.”

“...”

“So stop looking at it through tinted glasses and change the way you think. When the world is this chaotic, people like us need to exist so that more people can survive.”

Spit.

Splatter.

Cha Mincheol sneered and spat the blood in his mouth onto Lee Hyeoksu’s chest.

“You think I’m going to listen to that kind of bullshit that doesn’t even make sense?”

Anyone listening would think he was some great man saving humanity.

He killed people, thoroughly laundered the organs afterward, and sold them, yet what?

A hero?

“Do you think those people would have accepted the organs if they knew they came from innocent people you murdered?”

“...”

“When you sold them the organs, you disguised yourselves as a hospital and lied that a donor had appeared. You think I don’t know that?”

“...Sigh... You really do insist on making me into the bad guy.”

Brushing the blood off his clothes, Lee Hyeoksu let out a deep sigh and straightened his crouched legs.

Flick.

Then he gestured toward the subordinates behind him.

Creak.

The inner door opened, and a subordinate dragged someone out.

An older woman.

Her hair was disheveled, bruises covered her face, and both hands were bound behind her back.

It was Cha Mincheol’s mother.

“Mom!!”

Cha Mincheol struggled desperately to rise.

Thud!

Lee Hyeoksu’s foot kicked Cha Mincheol in the stomach.

“Whoa, whoa. Calm down, calm down.”

“You fucking bastards!! How dare you lay a hand on my mother?!”

“See? If you’d just gone along nicely, neither of us would have had to go through all this trouble. I’m only asking you to clear the forty-fifth floor with us! I’m not telling you to kidnap people or rip out organs. You just need to help us clear the forty-fifth floor. We need a tanker. How about it? I’m already making a huge concession here.”