Chapter 5
Chapter 5
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Translator: uly
Chapter: 5
Chapter Title: True Evil of Humanity (5)
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"Come to think of it, when I was a kid, I hated villains who put on that poignant act like they had some tragic backstory."
"Pardon?"
Jong-sik responded to the quiet mutter that slipped out as Sa-yoon emerged from his drawn-out, sticky flashback of the past. Sa-yoon briefly pondered whether to praise or scold him for replying to every single one of his soliloquies, then chose to ignore it.
"That's why people need to watch their mouths."
There was a saying that life doesn't go as planned, and it really seemed true. Back in middle school, the future he'd imagined for himself was a stable life as a civil servant. But now that he was grown up, he'd somehow become the kind of deranged villain he'd despised.
The very type with a backstory, no less.
He let out a hollow chuckle bordering on self-mockery, thinking his fate was truly twisted. As vague, unnostalgic memories—not quite worthy of being called "recollections"—flickered through his mind, they arrived at the guild. Jong-sik's car pulled into the parking lot.
Sa-yoon got out, shrugged off the bloodstained robe that disgusted him, and handed it to Jong-sik, who was finishing parking and catching up.
"Launder it?"
"That?"
Sa-yoon recoiled at the casual question. Jong-sik, who had draped the robe over his own arm while following, examined it and nodded innocently, noticing nothing amiss. His expression was the picture of pure naivety.
"Yeah."
"...Jong-sik, are we beggars or what?"
"It's still a decent D-rank robe, though."
"If E-rank blood got on it, it's E-rank now. We bought low-rank stuff to throw away anyway, so just toss it."
Sa-yoon clicked his tongue in reprimand, and Jong-sik looked down at the robe with lingering regret, like a turtle inching along, before slowly nodding. Sa-yoon eyed him dubiously and spoke up.
"Don't wash it on the sly and reuse it."
"...!"
Jong-sik's sturdy shoulders twitched at the offhand suspicion. Sa-yoon swallowed a laugh as the man clutched the robe tightly, his face giving away everything.
"How did you even become a Night Rat executive?"
"You told me to, Hyungnim."
"Don't go around saying you're from Night Rat. I'd be too embarrassed to show my face."
What top guild in the world laundered and reused blood-soaked D-rank robes?
Night Rat wasn't just any top guild, either.
They operated in the shadows and didn't receive official rankings, but their earnings put them among the world's elite.
Sa-yoon shook his head at the miserly sight, utterly at odds with an executive of such a guild.
Anyway, he's too soft and kind-hearted.
It'd be great if he worked as hard as he looks, but his tender heart was a problem. His thrifty, penny-pinching nature was another. He looked ready to strip and wash enemy guilds' clothes too.
Sa-yoon pitifully regarded Jong-sik—who appeared like a burly gangster on the outside but had a teddy bear-soft personality inside—and waved him off dismissively.
It meant he was tired, so handle it himself.
"Whatever, do what you want—wash and reuse it, give it away, I don't care. What's the status with Yongho Guild?"
"Sun-jae and Hyeong-in went."
"Report?"
"They haven't come back yet, so either things went south or they're tied up there. Should I put pressure on our guys?"
Sa-yoon frowned at Jong-sik's question. Three months ago, when Chun-bok—their guild leader—had personally met them about the merger because they kept piling up debts without paying, Yongho had groveled and watched his every move. Sa-yoon had ignored their pleas for time, given them three months to sort themselves out as a courtesy, and now they'd changed their minds.
Showing pity for their prostrating misery had been a mistake.
This was why you couldn't be flexible or soft. In situations requiring firmness, you had to show zero leniency.
Chun-bok's obnoxious face floated into his mind, twisting his expression further.
The guy had no skills but a spine stiffer than anyone.
The guild was utterly useless.
"Call them. If Chun-bok won't bend, tell him to come. I'll go myself."
"Hyungnim, even so, Baekryong and Chun-bok..."
"Baekryong my ass. He's so stuck on his concept. Tell him to use his real name proudly. Is Song Chun-bok that embarrassing?"
"Baekryong's real name is Park Chun-bok, Hyungnim."
"Right, Park Chun-bok."
Sa-yoon couldn't fathom why someone would ditch a perfectly traditional, easy-to-say name like Chun-bok for nicknames like Baekryong or Blue Dragon. The guy was pushing forty—did he want to act childish? Even the guild name Yongho screamed outdated middle-aged uncle vibes from that era.
Yongho's naming sense was trash from the start, Sa-yoon grumbled, and Jong-sik, overhearing, cheekily pointed out that Hyungnim's wasn't much better. Sa-yoon shot him a glare for needlessly inviting trouble when silence would have sufficed, then stepped into the elevator.
"I'll go, so check the A-zone Gate clear timeline again, gather the kids, and report."
Tossing him work to stop the nagging—since he seemed bored—made Jong-sik's lips quiver with delight. Sa-yoon brushed him off lightly, sending him away, and leaned against the elevator wall as it ascended to the top floor, beeping rhythmically. The moment it arrived and he stepped out—
Woooong—
His phone buzzed in his pants pocket, where he'd shoved it carelessly. It was word that they'd won the bid on the A-rank Gate from the illicit auction in Ulsan. No surprise since he'd expected it, so he pocketed it again. Then a familiar chime rang in his ears.
"...What?"
The quest alert he'd forgotten was somewhat understandable, but the following system window was not. Sa-yoon's eyes widened at the unfamiliar phrasing for his own system window, leaning forward instinctively to peer closer at the blue panel.
Status Window.
It was the hallmark of hunters—second only to the System itself—and something Sa-yoon hadn't glimpsed in 10 full years.
Not 1 or 2 years, but a whopping 10.
Everyone else got it upon awakening, but he'd never seen one. It was only natural. No matter what it was called, the System hadn't shown it to him.
With his sense of respect and decorum apparently tossed into the Styx, he resented the System. Envying, resenting, and jealous of normal hunters could only last so long. After years of the same, he'd eventually abandoned hope of ever getting one.
Now it was finally granting it? Sa-yoon's first reaction was suspicion.
"They're scamming me again, aren't they."
He'd fallen for the System's dirty tricks countless times. Wary of some cowardly trap, he read the blue window with distrust, but no matter how many times he parsed it, it clearly said it was giving him a Status Window.
His misfortune-sensing intuition—which usually blared red—was silent today. Sa-yoon raised a hand to his mouth. His lips were twitching upward.
If he claimed it, it was pure profit.
Though it was from his own System, which made him wary, the fact that it'd withheld it for 10 years meant it had to be something rare.
Convinced, Sa-yoon moved his hand.
‘True Evil of Humanity does not view ordinary Status Windows.’
The expected phrasing made him chuckle.
Not wanting to check his first-ever Status Window in a place like the elevator hall, Sa-yoon entered his quarters, washed up, and sat on the bed with a somewhat reverent mindset. He tensed his body, preparing for potential ambushes like last time when a monster might pop out mid-reward claim.
He couldn't let his guard down until the reward was fully secured.
"Status Window."
At the soft whisper, a tall vertical window materialized before his eyes.
Kwon Sa-yoon's Status Window
Age:26
Gender:Male
Rank:S-grade
Disposition:‘True Evil of Humanity’, ‘The Resistor (Deactivated)’
Titles:‘Watched by Gods(?)’, ‘Perhaps God’s Descendant?(?)’, ‘Follower of Evil God(?)’, ‘Night Rat Leader (A)’, ‘Dragon Slayer (S)’, ‘Leader (S)’, ‘Lord of Frost (SSS)’...
Skills:[Communication (A+)], [Sharing (S)], [Vituperation (A)], [Murder Game (SS)], [Self-Justification (A-)], [Assassination (S)], [Disruption (B)], [Deception (SS)], [Berserk Transformation (B)], [Curse (SS)], [Frost (SSS)], [Fear Induction (S)], [Stealth (S+)], [Insight (SS)], [Formless Dagger (SS)], [Kin Shield (A)]...
Exclusive Skills:[Voice of Spirits (S)]
Unopened Skills:Exclusive Skill [Eye of the Prodigy (L)]
Perks:‘Humanity’s Worst Prodigy(?)’, ‘To the Most Unfortunate You (L)’, ‘Forced Execution(?)’, ‘Even Demons Weep (A)’, ‘Survival of the Fittest (S)’, ‘Master of Ambush (S)’, ‘Frost Resistance (SSS)’...
💪 Stats
🍀 Luck:A- (F-)
🛡️ Other
So much information unfolded that he couldn't take it all in at once. The Status Window was so long he had to scroll down three times.
Beyond the skills he'd memorized from acquisition alerts, unfamiliar ones appeared. It felt like peeking at someone else's Status Window.
Sa-yoon made a subtle face but soon pulled himself together, committing the blue window's contents to memory. With his bone-deep distrust of the dog-like System, he had to memorize as much as possible before it deleted it.
As he fervently burned the info into his mind—
His scanning eyes halted. Sa-yoon tilted his head slightly, double-checking a section he'd nearly glossed over. A strange, alien string of text caught his gaze.