Chapter 7

“

Urgh...

Kurgh

!”

Seong-Hwi stared at Hyun-Tae vomiting blood in agony. The shadow of death had been looming over the struggling Hyun-Tae for six hours straight. People wore hazmat suits, goggles, oxygen masks, and oxygen tanks because they couldn’t survive without them, like a freshwater fish in the ocean.

The destruction of worldwide nuclear power plants caused by extreme natural disasters such as earthquakes and tsunamis resulted in the inability to survive without indoor air purification technology.

“

Hurgh

,

urghhh

. Stop... Please stop... I’m... I’m sorry,” Hyun-Tae repeatedly apologized with his head on the carpet, no energy left even to struggle to free himself.

He had been repeating the words

stop

and

I’m sorry

for two hours.

“You don’t... want to become a killer, do you?

Urghhh...

The Korean police are... very competent.”

“Are you worrying about me? I’m touched.” Seong-Hwi chuckled and continued, “Why do you think I rolled you up with a blanket before I tied you up?”

“

Urgh...

Why?”

“Because it’ll minimize signs that you were restrained. On top of that, you’re a schizophrenic and are constantly experiencing hallucinations. A perfect case for an accidental death, wouldn’t you agree?”

Hyun-Tae panted heavily as he shook his head. “N-no! It was... all a lie! I bribed the doctor to give me a fake prescription! That doctor will testify that there’s nothing wrong with me!”

“Nothing wrong,

huh

?

Hah

! Then I’ll buy a taser and short-circuit this smart home’s control unit. Death by electronic malfunction sounds believable, right?”

“Do you... seriously believe such a poor trick...

Kurgh

! Will work?”

“Don’t worry.” Seong-Hwi leisurely looked out the window at the garden and said, “It just needs to work until the first snow.”

“What... do you...

Kurgh

!

Urghhh...

N-no! Spare... Please, spare me...

Sniff...

Please! I’ll do anything...

Hurgh

! Forgive me!”

Hyun-Tae, realizing Seong-Hwi would not let him live, begged for forgiveness as he burst into tears from the fear of death. He seemed to have reached his psychological limit.

Seong-Hwi whispered like the devil, “You want to live?”

“Yes! Yes! Please!

Kurgh

! Please—”

“Then do as I say,” Seong-Hwi interjected.

“What do you need me to do?”

“Nothing difficult. You just have to write a letter of apology. You’ve written a few in your school days, right?” Seong-Hwi placed a sheet of A4 paper and a ballpen he found at Hyun-Tae’s home in front of Hyun-Tae. “Write everything you’ve done in detail, and wish for So-Eun and Dong-Hyun to forgive you at the end.”

“Okay... I’ll do it... Please untie me.”

Seong-Hwi untied the garden hose around Hyun-Tae once he agreed. He was not worried about Hyun-Tae fighting back since he was armed, and Hyun-Tae was practically a living corpse.

He wouldn’t have been a match for me even if he were in optimal condition.

“

Urgh...

”

Hyun-Tae, realizing he couldn’t win in his current state, tremblingly grabbed the ballpen and began to write down his crimes chronologically, and that he kept So-Eun’s hairband as a trophy. Seong-Hwi watched him the entire time with eyes as cold as ice.

“I’m... finished.”

“Lastly, write down that you are sincerely reflecting on your actions and wish for So-Eun and Dong-Hyun’s forgiveness.”

Hyun-Tae nodded and wrote it on the piece of paper.

“

Urgh...

I’m done. Now, please close the doors and call an ambulance.”

Seong-Hwi grabbed the letter of apology and read it thoroughly. He snickered and asked, “Did you not even have a flicker of doubt while writing this?”

“What? What do you—”

“Letters of apology like this could be interpreted as a will from their flow. A criminal feels intense guilt from his crimes and commits suicide. I don’t like the part that scum like you had the gall to feel guilt, but I suppose this is good enough.”

Hyun-Tae’s eyes widened. “Y-you... You’re not—”

“

Kekek

. Did you think I’d let you live? Thanks for the will. I can only hope this sincere apology eases Dong-Hyun’s suffering.”

But I doubt anything could give him peace

, he said inwardly.

“

Argh...

YOU MOTHERFUCKER!”

Hyun-Tae, realizing he was tricked, stood up to charge at Seong-Hwi. However, his vision was blurry, and his body felt as heavy as metal. Hyun-Tae fell all too easily as Seong-Hwi tripped him. He squirmed like a bug, sprawled on the floor. It reminded Seong-Hwi of his dismembered self under Regnator.

Yeah, there’s no difference between Earth and the Mirror World. Power is all that matters. Enough to grasp one’s destiny! For that, I will do whatever it takes.

Seong-Hwi’s eyes filled with even more determination.

“

Urgh,

” Hyun-Tae groaned.

People could only know despair after tasting hope. Hyun-Tae, whose sliver of hope was given and then taken away, despaired. Seong-Hwi tripped him each time he tried to stand up. He even tried to kill himself several times, but Seong-Hwi somehow noticed and stopped him from doing so.

Three more hours passed, and Hyun-Tae was freed from the living hell, dying as painfully as one could. Seong-Hwi stared apathetically at the corpse in silence. He had fast-forwarded the day that his destiny changed. The time and method were different, but the result was not.

Seong-Hwi, staring at the man’s face filled with fear, agony, frustration, and regret, whispered, “I never thought I’d be happy to see your face.”

***

The greatest revenge is to be happier than your foes.

Immanuel Kant[1]

***

“

Huff, huff

!”

Seong-Hwi was exercising in his living room. After completing his military service, he bought some exercise equipment to maintain his physical fitness. He took out the equipment that had been in a corner to prepare for the Mirror World.

[Raising Strength by F(1).]

[Strength F(9) → F(10)]

“

Fuuu...

” Seong-Hwi exhaled as he saw the message of his Strength stat rising.

The average human man’s Health and Strength stat was F(10). He had heard elite athletes could raise their stats to F(17) through sheer effort.

However, that was the upper limit of the human race. They were not born with immense Health and Strength like giants. Humans could never surpass their limits even if they trained nonstop for years. Stat cubes, purchased with Karma, needed to be opened to break those limits. However, albeit not as high as F(17), Seong-Hwi could save on Karma if he raised his stats as high as possible through training.

I earned Karma through sheer luck, but I need to minimize wasting it,

Seong-Hwi thought as he recalled the Akasha Messages he received after killing Hyun-Tae.

[You hunted an individual with

Murderer Karma

on Earth.]

[Hidden Quest:

Killing a Killer,

complete.]

[1,000 Karma obtained.]

With no Chaos or dungeons, hidden quests were the only way to obtain Karma on Earth. Seong-Hwi knew a lot of hidden quests in the Mirror World, but none on Earth. However, he had luckily completed one.

A thousand Karma, no less. The same amount I got for clearing the First Act of Bravery quest. It’s a lot for my first quest.

For F-rank cubes, it was enough to buy either ten stat cubes, five skill cubes, or three item cubes.

I won’t buy any right now, but it’s a nice amount for a start. Looks like I’ll be able to fast-forward my plans a little.

All races used the Cube System to boost their growth with the Karma they earned. There were seven ranks of cubes from F to S in human units. There were stat cubes, skill cubes, and item cubes.

An F-rank stat cube was worth 100 Karma, 1,000 for E-rank, 10,000 for D-rank, 100,000 for C-rank, 1,000,000 for B-rank, 10,000,000 for A-rank, and 100,000,000 for S-rank. Skill cubes cost twice as much as stat cubes, and item cubes cost three times as much. Hence, an S-rank item cube was worth 300,000,000 Karma.

But of course, they were worth the price. Skills or items from S-rank cubes had S-rank

potential

, allowing them to grow far higher and more efficiently than low-potential items.

Regardless, I should use this 1,000 Karma purely for growing my D Weapon.

Seong-Hwi already knew what he would use his Karma on. All races acquired skills and items the same way, but D Weapons were unique to humans. D Weapons were rated so highly because they had no limit to their

potential

.

The more desperately its user clashed against their destiny to survive, the more the Mirror World raised their D Weapon’s potential as if goading them to keep trying. In other words, every human possessed a growth-type weapon that had the

potential

to become S-rank.

But the majority give up, unable to figure out how to develop their D Weapons correctly. Hector Jameson, for example; he gave up on mastering his D Weapon. Though, he became a Ranker despite that.

Hence, Seong-Hwi would invest his Karma into his D Weapon first and then his Magic stat. As for the other stats, he would try to raise them as high as possible through effort and then raise them with cubes once he arrived at the Mirror World.

After his workout, Seong-Hwi got a water bottle from his fridge and drank. He could feel the refreshing water flowing down his throat, but did not feel refreshed because the object he had carefully placed on his table caught his eye. It was the hairband with a large cherry ornament. He had brought it with him because he did not want to leave it in Hyun-Tae’s house.

Seong-Hwi could have left it there. It would have been found at the crime scene along with Hyun-Tae’s body and will, and would have naturally been delivered to Dong-Hyun as the family of the deceased. However, that would take too long, and most of all, he couldn’t bring himself to leave the hairband around Hyun-Tae’s rotting corpse.

Seong-Hwi closed the water bottle and thought,

Should I just mail it tomorrow?

It might quicken the discovery of Hyun-Tae’s body. Seong-Hwi had taken measures so it would look like suicide. It would look like the culprit, unable to endure the weight of his guilt, opened the doors leading outside to kill himself.

Although it wasn’t a perfect plan, he wouldn’t be an immediate suspect since he had no contact with Dong-Hyun and So-Eun. Besides, he had the overwhelming advantage since he only needed to stay free until the first snow.

I should mail it.

Seong-Hwi decided to mail the hairband to the Calasanz Home for Children tomorrow, and the children’s home would contact Dong-Hyun. Most of all, the hairband was far too burdensome for Seong-Hwi to keep. After all, it belonged to a mother who had the miracle of life inside her.

1. This is my translation of the quote. I looked everywhere for the exact quote but couldn’t find it. ☜