Chapter 1: Prologue
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 1: Prologue
Ten years had passed since I was dropped into this world—a world of magic, of different races, and even monsters, just like the ones I’d read about in comics and fantasy novels.
I sat alone on the street, quietly tapping a cheap steel sword that barely deserved the name against my shoulder. A truly sharp blade would have cut me on contact, but I’d never even touched such a high-quality item.
A third-rate swordsman. I’d been rolling around in this gutter for a long time, but I still hadn’t managed to crawl out of the dregs. Here, the gap between the rich and the poor was even more extreme than on Earth, and finding a place to live was like reaching for the stars.
For a third-rate swordsman like me, a typical day ended sleeping on the streets with the beggars. In truth, you could call me a beggar and I wouldn’t have a word to say against it. I was watching the people looking to form parties when a murmur rippled through the crowd.
“It’s the Sword Saint…”
“The Sword Saint…”
A woman with flowing black hair walked toward us. I’d heard she wasn’t even twenty-five, yet she was already hailed as one of the continent’s top ten warriors, praised by summoners across the land. She was the Sword Saint, Ha Yuri.
The sword at her hip was magnificent. I’d heard she found it in a ‘dungeon,’ an old, holy sanctuary. Comparing it to the steel scrap in my hand felt like a sin in itself.
She looked so damn cool, walking down the street surrounded by the guards of her ‘Saint Knights Order.’
‘Guess some people are just born to make it.’
I was sure I wasn’t the only one thinking it. Everyone was staring at the Sword Saint, Ha Yuri, with eyes full of envy. Like an idol responding to her fans, she slowly greeted the people around her as she made her way to her guild house.
I naturally shrank back, afraid of drawing the wrong kind of attention from her guards. But then, I saw the Sword Saint, Ha Yuri, slowly approaching me.
‘Why… this way…?’
The sight of her breaking through her own security cordon to walk toward me was surreal. Ha Yuri came to a stop before me, then casually pulled a gold coin from her robes and slipped it into my hand.
“One day, I will create a world where people like you can live well. Please keep working hard.”
It was a cliché, but her voice was like a songbird’s. Her pale skin, unbefitting a combat class, looked as if she’d never left her room, and her large eyes seemed even bigger than a deer’s. But what stood out most was her genuinely holy aura.
“Th-Thank you.”
“Not at all. If you ever need help, please feel free to stop by the guild house.”
“Ah… yes…”
It wasn’t the first time I’d seen the Sword Saint bestow her grace upon other summoners when she left her guild house. But it was, of course, the first time I’d been the one to receive it. I glanced around and saw everyone staring at me with envy.
“Lady Yuri, it is time to go.”
“Ah… yes… Well then… farewell…”
As I blankly watched her walk away, I felt like I’d truly hit the jackpot today. Her voice kept echoing in my ears. ‘Please keep working hard.’
“Ha… ha…”
For the first time in a long while, I was able to leave the city. As if afraid someone might see, I hastily used the gold coin to buy a load of supplies like jerky and bread, crammed it all into my cheap bag, and gathered the few clumsy companions I knew. I had decided to go hunting. Of course, I stuffed what was left of the money deep into my bag as well.
After ten years here, I knew a few people. The problem was that they were all useless connections, but they were better than nothing… My first companion was Choi Seulgi, a thief who frequented the back alleys. In reality, thievery was her side job; selling her body was her main source of income, but she much preferred being called a thief.
“Hey! What’s up? Haven’t seen you in a while. Come into some money? Heard you got a gold coin from the Sword Saint. How about it?”
“Ugh… That’s not why I’m here today.”
“Then what? Wanna grab a bite? Or… are you asking me on a date?”
“That’s not it either…”
I never dreamed it would be this hard to ask her to go on an expedition together. I scratched the back of my head. As if she finally understood what I wanted, the thief Choi Seulgi smiled and spoke.
“Aha… Thinking of going hunting for the first time in a while?”
“Yeah… I’ve bought plenty of food… I was thinking of hitting a decent monster settlement nearby if there is one.”
“Hmm… Well, I did hear the Green Goblin Clan has been quiet lately. The timing is pretty good.”
The Green Goblin Clan was a monster group composed of goblins. Among the monsters that had formed clans, they were relatively weak, but being made up of goblins, they were incredibly fast—a real headache for novice adventurers.
“So, what do you say? You in?”
“The pay?”
“Fifty-fifty, of course.”
“I’ve already got the old magician who lives near the sewers and that warrior guy to come along.”
“A priest?”
“As if.”
At my words, Choi Seulgi nodded and immediately spoke up.
“Alright. Business has been slow lately anyway… It wouldn’t be bad to make a nice chunk of change for a change. Who knows? Maybe we’ll hit it big.”
“The chances of that are slim… but it’d be nice if we got the opportunity.”
As I spoke, staring off into the distance, Choi Seulgi grinned at me. She seemed to find the situation amusing.
“Did you fall for her?”
“Wh-What are you talking about?”
“The Sword Saint… you fell for her, didn't you?”
“Of course not.”
“You’d better not have. They say you shouldn’t even look at a tree you can’t climb. She’s in a different league from you.”
It wasn’t that I’d fallen for her, but I didn’t think she needed to state the obvious so bluntly. I already knew all that. When I turned my head away, Choi Seulgi spoke again, her voice quiet.
“Well… the only one who’d suit a guy like you is someone like me, right?”
“I guess so.”
Her face flushed as I replied with a smirk.
And so, we clumsily made our way out of the city.
Our party had four members. The Grandpa Magician who lived near the sewers, an idiot who hadn’t shed his novice magician title in decades. Still, for a third-rate party like ours, a magician was a valuable asset.
He could start a fire, which was convenient, and his shield magic could block an arrow, making him more reliable than the clumsy tanker next to him, Shin Duk-ho. I wasn’t particularly close with Shin Duk-ho, but I brought him along because I figured he was at least usable among the third-raters.
After walking for a full day and talking a little, we realized we had come quite a long way from the city. We were just about to enter what we considered monster territory.
“Wow… People go hunting with gear like that these days…”
“Well… I’m still curious what’s in that bag.”
Voices echoed from all around.
“Shit…”
I could see my party members tense up. The ones who had revealed themselves so suddenly were probably Murderers—vicious bastards who lived outside the cities, surviving by backstabbing fellow summoners.
“Talk about bad luck…”
Choi Seulgi’s expression was also tense as she readjusted her grip on her dagger. If they were any good, they wouldn’t be waiting in a place like this to ambush us. They were clearly third-raters, too. At best, they couldn’t have gone through more than a few class changes.
‘And they definitely won’t have any unique abilities…’
There were about five of them. One more than us, but it was a fight we could win.
The moment I thought that, an arrow flew through the air and embedded itself in the Grandpa Magician’s forehead.
“Fuck… The old geezer should’ve at least chanted a spell…”
I drew my sword and charged. I might be called third-rate, but I had experience. They hadn’t expected us to be so aggressive, and I could hear panicked voices from their ranks.
“Get that bastard!”
Since an arrow had hit the old man’s forehead, I knew the archer’s position. Thankfully, the idiots were trying to surround us from all sides, so there was no warrior protecting the archer. I rushed forward as fast as I could and plunged my sword straight into his heart.
Thwump.
With that sound, I pulled my sword out, and blood splattered across my face and clothes. One for one. We still had a decent warrior on our side. And Choi Seulgi had been here long enough that she wouldn’t die so senselessly.
The moment I turned around, a scream pierced the air. “Aaaaaaaargh!!” It was definitely Seulgi’s voice. And there, the man I had brought along, Shin Duk-ho, was plunging his sword into her stomach.
Betrayal.
“Fuck… Fuck… You fucking son of a bitch!!!!”
“Sorry about this… friend.”
“You piece of trash…”
It seemed he was their inside man. For a moment, the thought of running crossed my mind, but seeing Choi Seulgi collapsed on the ground, bleeding, there was no way I could flee.
‘Shit…’
I started running. Four of them immediately moved to surround me, but my goal wasn’t to kill them. It was to rescue Seulgi. I swung my sword wildly as I advanced, and Shin Duk-ho, seeing me as a threat, began to back away.
I ripped the bag from my shoulders and threw it at him.
The bag with all my important belongings went flying, but while their attention was diverted, I grabbed Choi Seulgi and started to run. Shouts erupted behind me, but there was no way I could stop. In the end, I even threw away the cheap steel sword that had been with me for years and ran with all my might.
“Fuck… fuck… fuck… fuck… I’m sorry… I’m sorry.”
“Idiot… bastard… The way you were acting up… not like your usual self… I had a… haa… a bad feeling… Leave me, you idiot… They’ll catch you.”
“Shut up… Shut up, you bitch. Ugh!!!”
A sharp pain shot through my back. I could see a short spear piercing through my chest. But I couldn’t stop. I wanted to collapse right then and there, but if I did, we would both die. I grit my teeth and snapped the shaft of the spear embedded in my chest. If I pulled it out now, I would surely bleed out and collapse midway.
Fortunately, I still had the strength to move. The reason was the unique ability I had coincidentally awakened: ‘HP Increase.’ Who would have thought that this useless ability would be helpful in a situation like this? Thanks to it, my feet could keep moving.
“Get that bastard!!!”
“Stupid… pigs… so damn slow…”
“Puh… hee… ha…”
My words seemed to make Choi Seulgi laugh, and she smiled weakly. Even though it was hard, even though I felt like I was dying, I kept running to survive. It seemed the Murderer bastards didn’t care what happened as long as they got the bag. Or maybe they were planning to move to another city after this. They chased us for a while before finally disappearing from sight.
“Fuck… Seulgi… Seulgi, you can hear me, right?”
The reason I didn’t stop running was because of Choi Seulgi in my arms. I was in the same state, but her wound was fatal. In fact, without the boost from my trait, she was in far more danger than I was.
“I hear… I hear you…”
“Just a little further… to the city…”
She had held on for a long time, but it seemed a wound this severe was too much to endure. I roughly wiped the blood flowing from my mouth and ran even faster. Fearing that someone might mistake me for an undead, running with a spear sticking out of me, I shouted with a voice that barely came out.
“The gate! Open the gate!!!”
“Identify yourself.”
“Someone is dying! Quickly… please!!! Fifth-grade summoner Kim Taesung, and also fifth-grade summoner Choi Seulgi.”
“Fuck… what’s all this racket in the middle of the night… Hey… did you confirm Kim Taesung and Choi Seulgi left today?”
“Yes. The four of them.”
“Shit… Go open the gate.”
His voice was full of annoyance, but since he’d confirmed our identities, it seemed he would open the gate. As the city gate began to open, I started running again.
“The temple… the temple… we can live if we just wait a little longer… just hold on a little more.”
But it was already too late. Even if I ran to the temple, the doors would be locked, and more importantly, I had no money. Just then, a voice came to mind. The voice of the Sword Saint, Ha Yuri, whom I had met today, began to echo in my ears.
‘Not at all. If you ever need help, please feel free to stop by the guild house.’
Thinking I had no time to spare, I ran straight for the Saint Knights Order’s guild house. As expected, the lights were still on, meaning they were still working. I ran up and started pounding on the door. The guards of the Saint Knights Order rushed out and kept trying to stop me, but I was truly out of time.
I could feel Choi Seulgi’s body, which I had been holding, growing colder.
“You crazy bastard!! Do you know where you are?”
“Help… please help me! My… my companion was attacked by Murderers… Please, help me.”
“Get the fuck out of here, you crazy bastard. Are you going to take responsibility if you wake up the higher-ups?”
“Please, just a priest… if you could just call a priest… The… the Sword Saint definitely told me to come here if I needed help. Ugh…”
There was a bit of a scuffle, but mentioning the Sword Saint, Ha Yuri, seemed to have an effect. I clutched the searing pain in my chest and watched the situation unfold.
“You fucking bastard… if you’re lying, you’ll die by my hand. Hey, go check.”
“Yes, sir.”
Thankfully, a guard from the Saint Knights Order went inside the guild house. But the answer that came back was completely unexpected.
“She says she doesn’t know him.”
“That… can’t be. She’ll probably know if she sees me. Probably…”
“Get lost, you fucking beggar. You fucking bastard. Now I’m going to get chewed out tomorrow because of you. She said she’s never met a bastard like you and has never seen you before. You son of a bitch.”
“That can’t be…”
I was furious, but this was no time for delay. I bit my lip hard and started running toward the temple again. Blood kept pouring from my mouth, but my situation was obviously not as critical as Seulgi’s.
“Seul…gi!! Seulgi…ya!!!!”
“…..Ya….. s-so loud. I think… I’m really going to die…”
“Fuck… fuck… if you’re alive, then say something… you’re making me nervous…”
“It’s… hard… to… talk…”
“Just hold on a little longer…”
I started running again. The thought that it would have been better to run to the temple from the start kept circling in my head. As I ran, I could still hear Choi Seulgi’s voice.
With great effort, she was forcing out the words she wanted to say, little by little.
“Hey… when this is… over… should we live together..? I’ll… quit this life… and let’s try to live… like people.”
The sudden proposal made me incredibly anxious. I could see Choi Seulgi’s eyes faintly trying to close, so I had no choice but to give a rough answer.
“Yeah… let’s live together… Let’s live… So don’t die… Stay with me… We’re almost there…”
And then.
I felt Choi Seulgi’s hand, which had been holding onto me, fall away limply.
“Fuck… Hey… Hey!”
“Choi Seulgi! Choi Seulgi!!”
I screamed, but no answer came from her. It seemed even my unique ability, ‘HP Increase,’ had reached its limit, as blood started gushing from my own mouth. I couldn’t feel any strength in my legs anymore. I had hit my limit.
“………You… sons of bitches…”
Tears welled up in my eyes. It wasn’t because of Choi Seulgi, who had already become a cold corpse. It was because I was furious at this life—dragged to this godforsaken place for no reason, living like a dog, only to die like this.
‘One day, I will create a city where people like you can live well. Please keep working hard.’
‘Not at all. If you ever need help, please feel free to stop by the guild house.’
‘Fucking bitch… Fucking bitch…’
It was so absurd I was speechless. What made me even angrier was that I had believed those words like a complete idiot. My entire life had been ruined by her saint cosplay on the streets.
‘Fucking bitch… Kim Taesung, you stupid bastard…’
I continued to hug Choi Seulgi’s cooling body. More than my hatred for Shin Duk-ho who had backstabbed us or Ha Yuri who had turned me away, my guilt toward Seulgi and my own self-loathing were far greater.
“Wake… up… Please… You have to… wake up… Now… fuck… let’s live like people for once…”
“We’ll have… kids… and live like that… I’ll… I’ll provide for you…”
My vision grew blurrier. They say that before you die, your life flashes before your eyes like a revolving lantern. Absurdly, God didn’t even grant me that.
There was nothing to see.
In the middle of a dark, empty city. There, holding Choi Seulgi, I died.