Chapter 1
’These bastards beat me up from hell to breakfast, damn it.’
The man spat out bloody phlegm and on dragging legs entered an empty space that was supposed to be a center hall, but now there were just some steel frames. Here, at this empty place exhausted Kang Yu-sik collapsed on the floor. Then he put his hand in the armor, looking more like tatters and took out a crumpled pack of cigarettes.
‘And they said even an egg wouldn’t break, freaking touts’.
With trembling hands, Kang Yu-sik opened the pack and checked if there were any intact cigarettes. Among crumbled he found the sole intact one. Rising up the corners of his bloody lips he grinned.
Argh!
Flames sprang up as he lit a cigarette, and red lights glistened under the dark night sky as he took a drag.
Blankly looking at the white smoke, spreading softly, Yu-sik muttered in a languid voice.
’Quit watching and come out.’
Five men stepped out of the dark. Top-notch heroes, who protect mankind also were those bastards who beat me black and blue a few minutes ago. Looking at them, Yu-sik twisted his lips with a cigarette still in his mouth.
´Kang Yu-sik, you’d better surrender now.’
Bluntly spoke Kim Jin-hyuk, a man in the front. Kang Yu-sik couldn’t help laughing at his strident voice.
’Frankly, Imma crack your heads open like walnuts. Surrender?… Fucking curs.’
The faces of four men distorted as they heard the threat. Only Kang Yu-sik and blonde-haired woman Wilhelmina kept straight faces. The latter snapped icily.
“There’s no need to blame you for your hugger muggery with Maine and causing great harm to mankind.”
‘What do you mean harm…It was just good business.’
‘You call stealing thousands of holystones and selling them to Maine a business? Can you even imagine how many people you’ve got affected and how much damage you’ve done?’
Appalled by Kang Yu-sik’s shameless answer, Wilhelmina shouted, without hiding her contempt.
Holystone was the most effective means of enhancing power, and the most valuable resource for people. By the way, hundreds of thousands of holystones of the highest quality, have been sold to Maine through the black market for years! It was as selfish as it was to reverse the development of humanity and support terrorists.
‘Fuck it.’
But Kang answered without blinking an eye.
‘There were a lot of masonry-taking bastards everywhere, and it was a legal market under the permission of the Black Dragon God. I was just a poor latecomer who touched some money, you idiots.’
Shin Chang-lao En, a man with glasses, intervened in Kang’s rebuttal.
‘That doesn’t mean you are innocent. Stop making excuses and behave…’
‘No, you prick. Look on the small part of your brain, if you have one.’
´What did you say?’
Then Kang Yu-sik took another drag and looking at Lao En face burning with anger, said.
‘I earned good money. But why did you chase me and drop sanctions for other jerks doing the same thing? Have you thought about that?
There was a great silence. It was not like they haven’t thought about it. Of course, they have. And more likely they must have questioned themselves in their own way. But as usual, they would have come up with a ridiculous excuse, followed by a stupid nod.
‘Bastar… ahem’
Kang Yu-sik was about to curse again when he had was taken with a fit of coughing, throwing up big clots of blood. He developed chronic lung disease in previous battles, and it would be natural for him to vomit blood once he takes even a small drag.
’Damn cigarette, fuck.’
He muttered with giggle Kang Yi-sik wiping the blood off his mouth, and Frey, a blonde woman, who kept silent until now, spoke in a soft voice.
’Mine Escar, who bought the best holystones you stole, slaughtered hundreds of heroes and destroyed the city, causing heavy consequences. That’s why you have been considered being a dangerous person.’
’Holy crap. Is that Escar? He’s buying only the holystones I sold? You say it’s me who supplies Escar with holystones, right?’
’…’
This little cutie shut up her mouth and stood there with a sad face.
’Shameless bastards. That’s why this jet-set fucking with me.’
’You scumbags, let’s see…!’
When Kang Yu-sik laughed at her, Ma Cheol-Han, a giant fat man with jiggling cheeks came forward.
Wow-whoa!!!
As he took a step towards Yu-sik, the whole wobbly lot shook, and the poorly built steel frames screeched.
’Why are you even listening to that son of a bitch’s bullshit! Let him have it but good!’
Whether his patience was at its limit, Ma Chul-Han looked as if he would rush at any moment.
Despite the growing tension, Kang looked at the ash burning of the cigarette with ease.
‘That’s what I mean. You, bastards, have already shown your real face but are still pretending to be nice. Just like you said, morons who don’t know anything.’
‘You son of a bitch…’
As Ma Chul-han with eyes wide open, tried to attack, Kim Jin-hyuk reached forward. This simple movement immediately made the fat man stop. All five men were incredibly strong, but Kim Jin-hyuk was undoubtedly the fiercest of them all.
“…Kang Yu-sik. Why did you do such a thing?”
Kang Yu-sik smiled at Kim Jin-hyuk, as he called his name and said
“I have nothing to say. I was just trying to make money.”
”Why would not you be satisfied with the amount that equals to what 30 Hunters could make? Why would you want to have even more?…’
’Satisfied? Who are you to decide that?’
Dumbfounded Kang Yu-sik gazed at Kim Jin-hyuk.
’Just some amount of money is enough for a bitch to be satisfied. Whether it’s a million or a billion only a man could decide if it’s enough.
That’s why I was trying to earn more. It was more expensive to sell holystones to Escar than to make a living as an ordinary hunter.
Lots of them just keep living like that, but nothing remains the same as you return to a normal life. And you are left with helpless confidence and out at heels.´
“…crazy.”
A lust for money that can only be called abnormal was the reason Kang Yu-sik was known as ”golden devil” among the people.
‘Whoo… It’s working. It’s working.’
Kang Yu-sik sighed as he realized that he finished the cigarette, and bit the filter.
‘If those bastards had understood me, they wouldn’t have beaten up a wrongful man in a place like this. What the hell is wrong with you, idiots…”
As the five men seemed to be slowly retreating, Kang Yu-sik spat out the rest of the cigarette. Then he glanced at the system window that only he could see and then asked.
‘By the way, don’t you, guys, know that?’
‘…?’
Just a moment ago the Black Dragon God was checking on us. Even the boss doesn’t know about it. So that means, even if you wanted to root it out, you with that thick head of yours for the rest of your life couldn’t have figured out how to do it.
It was an undeniable fact, and the five already knew it was true before they heard it, though they didn’t want to admit it. And the moment they realized they had “acknowledged” Kang’s help. Their faces hardened as they tried to move in a hurry to overpower Kang Yu-sik.
Keying —
But before that Lee Myeong blocked his way, and Kang Yu-sik clenched his teeth when he saw it.
‘You owe me.’
[follow the debt conditions.]
[“Kim Jin-hyuk,” “Bill Helmina,” “Lao En,” “Frey” and “Ma Chul-han”. Enforce an agreement. Five seconds of restraint.]
Unique skill ‘bonders’ was awakened by Kang Yu-sik.
The ability of this unique skill, which is likely to be used in the financial world, creates a “debt” and forms a “debt relationship” as soon as another person gains some form of profit from him or her and acknowledges it.
Then, he could bet as much of his debt as his bond; this nefarious skill was Kang’s main tool to attract a huge amount of money.
‘Now I’m fucked by it, but…’
Perhaps the background of this is the kiss-and-greet of high-ranking officials tied to their debts.
If it weren’t for that, all those powerful idiots wouldn’t have come and beat themselves up.
’You’ll be caught and end up dead. It’s a fucking life.’
Life is a misery without money, so I’ve lived to make money and get out of it. But when that twisted life was about to unfold, I played the deuce with it.
Kang Yu-sik smiled at the five people watching him. Time kept jogging on. And then I saw a hint.
If I set fire here, the whole place will be blown sky-high as the hallow construction is full of holystones.
‘I’m just trying to use it for something important. Though it turns out I use it to kill myself…’
Hundreds of billions of bombs that would fly at once but it is too easy death for those idiots.
The fire was about to rise from his fingertips, shedding its regret for useless money.
Whoo
Like in slow-motion one person started moving, narrowing the gap between him and Kang Yu-sik. The hero of the heroes, he was emitting indomitable power even in the midst of restraints.
“A devil of a fellow…”
Admiring Kim Jin-hyuk, Kang muttered something.
‘By the way, Jin-hyuk. Don’t you remember?’
It’s been twenty-eight years, but the memories are still vivid. A soft face, which no longer resembles the present stony one, was wrung. When we were attending the same Hunter Military Academy. Kim Jin-hyuk, who was still immature, accidentally stabbed him during a mock hunt.
Although his life was saved, the lung disease was developed as a cause of aftereffects, and he had to drop out of the Academy, which was hard due to pressure from officials and transfer to a lower level.
Since then, he should have given up on martial arts, which he majored in, and turned to magic, but his skills have been reduced and his life has fallen into a state of chaos due to various harassment and incidents.
In other words, the accident of that day was so big that it knocked the bottom of Kang’s entire life.
‘You owe me, you cheater.’
It was that day when Kim Jin-hyuk went into the biggest debt in his life.
[I define the debt conditions.]
[Enter compulsory execution of debtor ‘Kim Jin Hyuk’. Full stop 10 seconds]
Kim Jin-hyuk’s body, which was moving in an indomitable spirit, was completely stiffed, and only in his eyes, where his will was burning, there were surprise, enlightenment, resignation, and loneliness changing one another.
Seeing the change, Kang Yu-sik gave him a ghost of a smile and clicked his fingers.
Tik.
Flames flashed immediately rising up.
The moment the explosion began. Nothing could be seen, nothing could be heard. All five of them, including Kang Yu-sik, probably evaporated as soon as they saw the flash.
But why can I think like this? In a mysterious life, Kang Yu-sik felt like a dick.
I tried so hard to make my life work out well, but now I can’t believe it ended like a dog.
His body has already turned into powder, but he was gibberish with rage. But just for a moment, Kang Yu-sik gave up that fucking feeling.
‘What can I do… fuck.’
What could he do if he had nothing to lose?
But still, he couldn’t just give up like this. Kang looked at the white glare and he cried with anger at the world that had made his life such a wreck.
‘You owe me, bitch!’
A word that would mean nothing; an utter void.
[I define the debt conditions.]
[Enter Force Debt Relationships ‘World’ [Extended capacity after returning to the point of debt.]
A new light flashed before me at that one word.
*
“Gasp!”
Kang Yu-sik’s eyes opened wide with frantic pain, and he saw a hospital room.
A strange but familiar scene.
‘Yu, Yu-sik!’
A Woeful call that seems like someone was about to burst into tears. Kang, frowning, turned his head to a familiar and yet unfamiliar sound.
He saw a jumble of emotions on a young man’s face. This man was Kim Jin-hyuk. 28 years ago.
‘I’m sorry, Yu-sik! I’m so… so sorry!!´
Kim Jin-hyuk kept crying even when he saw me woke up. I was already sick enough, but on top of that, I was irritated by the noise of a crying unlucky man.
If this is the afterlife, he is torturing himself properly from the beginning.
“Fucking… son of a bitch…”
Why must I look at the face of this wretch, even after he dies?
With that thought, Kang Yu-sik held onto slowly fading consciousness and looked at Kim Jin-hyuk, their eyes met.
´Kim… Jin-Hyuk.’
His eyes widened as Yu-sik called him, then he, wringing his hands, came up to the side of my bed. He looked terribly pitiful.
Only
‘You… owe me…Son of a bitch…´
As Yu-sik said that he fainted, his neck was snapped, and Kim Jin-hyuk, who thought he was out of breath, opened his eyes even wider and burst into tears again.
“Yu, Yu-sik!”
Kim Jin-hyuk, a classmate of Kang Yu-sik, who has yet to develop his power.
[I define the debt conditions.]
[Enter compulsory execution of debtor ‘Kim Jin Hyuk’. Collect skill (F+).]
He took away all the talent that would make him shine.
< You owe me! > End.