Regime Change (1)
“Urk...!”
Jo Hwi tumbled across the ground with a massive crash, collapsing to his knees and vomiting blood.
“Is that... Jeonghu?”
Even Jo Yun, who had brought Jeonghu here, couldn’t recognize him. Mana surged through Jeonghu’s body with breaths faster than his own, and the punch he threw pierced straight through Jo Hwi’s chest in the form of a stake—befitting an Epic Weapon.
“He won’t die.”
Jeonghu spoke in a cold voice, ruthless enough that no one would believe he was attacking his own father.
“Cough...! You little shit...!”
Setting aside their father-son bond, Jo Hwi’s pride as the strongest fighter shattered. He struggled to rise and tried to circulate his mana again, but—
“!!!!”
Crunch!
Pain like every muscle in his body was being pulverized engulfed him, forcing him back to his knees.
“I didn’t aim for his heart. I ruptured all his mana vessels. He’ll never use Storm Dragon Fist again.”
“What are you waiting for?! If you all team up, you can take him!”
Clutching at straws, Jo Hwi looked to his children and adopted kin, but—
“...We won’t help a minion of the Demon King.”
“To think you used us...!”
The members of the Jo family guild had already turned their backs on him, not a single one remaining loyal.
“Kuhuhu... Yeah. Kill me! Better to die by my own spawn’s hand than fall out of favor with the Demon King—it’s all the same to me!”
Jo Hwi screamed, veins bulging in his neck.
The man who had lorded over humans for so long, maintaining his hegemony, was gone. All that remained was a pitiful old middle-aged wreck crawling on the floor, unable to wield even a scrap of mana.
“I want to kill you. But I won’t.”
“Haha...! Abandoned by your own kids, feeling pity now? For scum like you? They’re all blinded by power and authority anyway! Even the bastard you follow will betray you the moment he slips...!”
Wham!
Before Jo Hwi could finish, Jeonghu kicked him square in the face.
The crack of his brittle cheekbone—devoid of mana, aged and frail—made even the remaining Jo family members flinch.
“I’m just following orders not to kill.”
“What...?”
Jeonghu turned and walked toward Jeonghyeon.
Through his half-ruined vision, Jo Hwi glimpsed Jeonghyeon’s silhouette gazing down at him from the light.
“My orders.”
Jeonghyeon crouched in front of Jo Hwi.
“I’ve got exactly two questions. Answer well.”
“You think I’ll answer you?!”
Jeonghyeon casually jammed the Blood Dissector into Jo Hwi’s shoulder.
Squelch!
“Guhk...?!”
“I’m asking even though I don’t have to. Do it again, and I’ll make you beg for death.”
Unlike Jeonghyeon’s calm eyes, the sheer menace in his words rang true. Jo Hwi, who had dealt with countless people and could spot bluster from a mile away, felt it bone-deep.
“Do you manage the entire West Branch?”
“Y-Yeah...”
“Then where’s the central office you report to?”
One of the Jo direct descendants answered in his place.
“Th-the Jo family building is nearby! They manage the locals, hunters, and dungeons from there!”
“You bastard Jo Junhwan! Don’t tell them that...!”
A wail like a death cry erupted from the surroundings at timid Jo Junhwan’s words, but no one dared act under Jeonghyeon’s pressure.
“Yeah?”
It was a decent answer, but Jeonghyeon hadn’t asked him.
‘Philip.’
Jeonghyeon’s mana flowed into Philip’s left eye.
Boom!
Philip swung his mace down on the man’s head.
Thud. The man, trembling in fear moments ago, crumpled from a single blow.
“Listen up, all of you. I never kill humans. No matter how much of a piece of shit they are—they’re people I have to protect.”
Jeonghyeon ground his teeth, rising and yanking the Blood Dissector from Jo Hwi’s shoulder like drawing a sword from its sheath.
“Urk...!”
As Jo Hwi groaned in agony, Jeonghyeon pointed the bloodied blade at the rest of the Jo family.
“But you fuckers? You’re not human.”
He fixed his hate-filled, demonic gaze on the nearest Jo family member, spitting each word like venom.
“Now you think your dad’s a bastard? You’re the ones who lived fat off turning humans into slaves for your arenas, breeding dungeons instead of clearing them.”
“...”
The rest of the Jo family fell silent.
No, they had nothing to say, even with ten mouths.
“Don’t pretend to be pure now, acting like you hate your father. Without scum like you...”
‘Humanity wouldn’t have fallen this easily. You bastards.’
Jeonghyeon swallowed his boiling rage and the final words.
“Whether it’s traitors sucking up to the Demon King because he looks like the winner, or spoiled brats gorging on the spoils under them—I don’t treat you like humans. Won’t.”
Perhaps lower than mindless monsters he’d been forced to kill as enemies.
That was the Jo family.
“Worse than goblins, you vermin.”
Jeonghyeon was furious.
Memories of his past life kept surging up.
The Demon King’s first invasion started in the west, and Jeonghyeon in Afraksas heard the news late.
Lazy Hunter Association humans, innocent civilians, hunters who couldn’t hold the line. Countless lives lost, and the guilt of failing to save them kept Jeonghyeon from a single peaceful night until he reached the Demon King’s Palace.
If only he’d been a little faster, a little earlier...
He could have saved a few more.
Tormented by those thoughts daily, learning the invasion succeeded so easily because of betrayals from scum like these filled him with nauseating revulsion.
“Answer.”
“J-Junhwan’s right...! The guild building’s nearby.”
“Tch.”
Jeonghyeon snorted. No doubt a tower built on exploited wealth.
“Next question.”
He pressed the gleaming Blood Dissector against the shoulder he’d just stabbed.
“Where do you send the stockpiled mana stones?”
Jo Hwi’s face hardened instantly.
It’d be hard to say. It meant exposing not just his cash flow, but whoever was above it.
“Obvious, right? You exploit to hoard mana stones, but you need buyers to make money. There’s gotta be a place buying them.”
“Th-that’s...”
“Don’t bullshit me.”
Such desperate lies wouldn’t work on Jeonghyeon. He had his past life memories, the ultimate trump card.
In his previous life, this era wasn’t prime for mana stone profits.
You could make money off them, sure, but no company bought enough to sustain a whole city.
Mana stones only skyrocketed in value a year later, after Jeonghyeon and his party first entered Afraksas.
Intel and artifacts from Afraksas—magitech machines and magic stones—all ran on mana stones.
In 10—no, 5 years, enough mana stones meant expanding mana veins or buying skill scrolls easily.
Jeonghyeon had shared it all for humanity, not hoarded it, so he knew full well.
No one gained absolute power from mana stones alone right now.
“Answer.”
“...”
Jo Hwi stayed silent.
Jeonghyeon sighed at him and spoke first.
“The Hunter Association, right?”
“?!”
Jo Hwi’s pupils shook. He couldn’t control his body with mana anymore, so the tell was obvious.
“Yeah, that makes sense. After I left for Afraksas, certain guilds exploded out of nowhere.”
Kingdom led by Serin, Royal Loader by Ma Chang-sik, Holy Unity of all healers. Those three were at the center.
“What are you...?”
Jo Hwi looked up at Jeonghyeon, trembling hands on the ground.
But in his eyes, Jeonghyeon’s face was replaced by the incoming Blood Dissector.
Splat!
No mercy intended. No need for more answers. He could recall it all anyway.
But Jeonghyeon’s questions to Jo Hwi were purely political theater.
A public execution to show the remaining Jo family: ‘The moment you’re useless, your head rolls this easily.’
“Anyone know where the mana stone warehouse is?”
Jeonghyeon was the sole player on this brutal chessboard.
Jo family members clamored to spill what they knew.
“It’s under the guild building!”
“No! Further west, near the old dungeon site!”
“Wrong! I handled the warehouse!”
“Shut up! Only Uncle—no, Jo Hwi knew!”
Watching these whelps, who’d lorded over the West well hours ago, grovel so pathetically—it was pathetic beyond measure.
Jeonghyeon summoned Nus from his inventory.
“Nus. Still sensing mana?”
Nus peeked out.
“Concentration’s dropping in real-time... but the whole area’s still thick with dungeon aura.”
“So?”
“Means I can exit your inventory no problem.”
“Ah, perfect. Take the guild building first, then raid their mana stones after.”
Nus perked up at the promise of a cut, and Jeonghyeon slung it over his shoulder, heading slowly for the arena exit.
“Jeonghu, follow me. Oh, right—Philip.”
“Yes?”
Jeonghyeon turned back as if remembering something, calling Philip.
Tension like walking on thin ice leaked from the Jo family remnants.
Jeonghyeon waved casually at them, utterly nonchalant.
“Kill ’em all. Leave none.”
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