Three Lives, Three Loves (Part 2)
I sat in the chair, staring blankly at the ceiling.
I remembered it all vividly. Three times. Three whole times.
Every time I fell in love and found happiness, I would wake up in another world.
They were painful days, yet I met new people, started new romances, and lived those lives fully.
In the end, I always returned to this reality where I had lost both legs in an accident, but those memories remained crystal clear in my head.
“Ugh, why are we on night duty again? What rotten luck… especially when the team leader’s on parental leave…”
“The Hunter Management Division is basically the same as a Grade 9 civil service job, so of course…”
From my left came the voices of Baek Ji-tae and Ok Jun-woo. Both were members of the Hunter Special Management Department.
The Hunter Special Management Department handled everything except actually hunting the monsters that poured out of gates.
‘The cleanup crew, basically.’
Most of the aftermath fell on us.
Even emergency response teams dispatched during crises like this one were mostly drawn from our department.
The three of us guys, including myself, sat in the situation room, praying that today would pass without incident.
“Anyway, Min-su, keep telling me about that dream of yours.”
Ok Jun-woo set down the book he was reading and asked. He was a fellow web novel addict like me, and the only friend who listened seriously to the dreams I described.
At those words, Baek Ji-tae clicked his tongue.
“Is that really that interesting? I’m sick of hearing it.”
I told them about the qi I had felt in the Murim world.
“The qi I felt in the Murim world… I can’t sense any of it here.”
“Hunters use mana out in the open. Maybe it’s a different kind of energy?”
“What else could it be? It’s just a dream! Three grown men in their thirties…”
But calling them dreams didn’t feel right. All three lives had been as vivid as if I had truly lived them.
And above all else…
I could see it.
WEEEEEEENG—!!
The sudden blaring alarm made me drag a hand down my face.
“Goddamn it…”
We immediately grabbed our gear and piled into the Starex van.
“Where is it?!”
“Ujangsan!! Floor it!!”
I took the wheel and slammed the accelerator.
Even with the siren screaming, these damn civilians still wouldn’t get out of the way fast enough.
“Why the hell won’t they move?!”
“It could be right in front of their house…”
I couldn’t help but admire Gu Cheol-su’s endless rage.
‘It’d be easier if he just gave up.’
There were even people who would lie down in the road and refuse to move for ambulances, whether someone was dying inside or not.
Because of that, we arrived at Ujangsan five minutes later than scheduled.
“Is that the gate…?”
“It’s huge.”
At the entrance to Ujangsan, a large crowd had gathered in front of the gate, probably to watch the spectacle.
“It’s dangerous! Everyone, please go home immediately!!”
While my colleagues set up barricades and herded the civilians away, I stepped up to the gate.
‘As expected, I can see it.’
A massive vortex of qi was pouring out from the gate. The problem was that even this much would be considered trivial compared to what I had felt in the Murim world or the other realm.
I set down the measuring device I had brought and carefully inserted the probe into the gate.
Measuring…
“This should be around E-rank… right?”
While I waited for the measurement to finish, I heard a commotion behind me.
“You can’t come in here! Please step back!”
“Hey, I’m a Hunter, damn it!”
When I turned around, a man who had only recently become an adult was forcing his way forward.
Whether his claim was true or not, he pushed past the two former firefighters with raw strength and kept coming.
“Show me your Hunter license.”
“My license?”
The man pulled out his Hunter ID.
‘C-rank Hunter Park Su-wan.’
“Confirmed.”
I handed the license back and pointed at the measuring device.
“You may enter once the gate’s rank has been fully measured.”
“Rank? It’s obviously an F-rank trash gate.”
It was certainly smaller than high-rank gates.
Even to my eyes, it looked like it was between F and E-rank.
The problem was that every inspection and procedure existed to prevent variables.
“You may enter once the measurement is complete.”
“Come on, old man. I’m telling you it’s fine.”
I spoke to the stubborn man.
“Then go right ahead.”
I pointed at the gate.
There was no reason to stop someone who insisted on going in no matter what.
“What the— you should’ve said that from the start.”
I watched Park Su-wan walk toward the gate.
‘I’ll just write it up in the report.’
If he went in and died cleanly without leaving a corpse, I wouldn’t even need to write a report.
In a place like this with no CCTV, no one could prove that a man named Park Su-wan had ever shown up.
If he came back alive, it would be a different story, but for now, a Hunter who skipped identity verification and forced his way into a gate would be the official story.
‘I’ll probably get chewed out by the chief, though…’
I sighed and looked back at the measuring device, then immediately shouted.
“Run away right now!!”
The screen of the device had turned blood red.
There were only two possibilities. Either the machine had malfunctioned, or—
“Unmeasurable!!”
It was an S-rank or higher gate that couldn’t be measured.
“Huh?”
At that moment, a massive hand shot out from the gate and grabbed Park Su-wan’s head.
Park Su-wan looked at me with eyes begging for help.
CRUNCH—!!
His skull was crushed like a watermelon. That was the last thing I saw before I turned and sprinted away.
Blood Demon Palace.
In front of the massive crimson palace, every single Blood Cultist of note knelt in perfect rows.
“So today is really the day…”
Since ancient times, a single legend had circulated among the Blood Cult.
Three sacred relics existed within the Blood Demon Cult.
The Blood Demon Sword—the blade once wielded by the first Blood Archdemon. It had absorbed the blood of countless Murim warriors and now housed a sword spirit.
The Blood Heaven Token—the heart of the enormous formation that covered the Blood Demon Cult, and a crimson moon-shaped iron plaque that symbolized the Blood Archdemon’s authority.
The Blood Soul Jade—a thumb-sized jewel that condensed the souls and blood of every Blood Archdemon from the first to the present.
The legend said that if these three relics were ever gathered in one place, the entire world would be washed away in a sea of blood.
“Ah… Even after conquering the Murim, you still seek something higher…”
“Blood is truth… and the Blood Archdemon is its incarnation.”
Jeok Hwa-ryeon, the Blood Archdemon, had defeated the Murim Alliance Leader Baek Mu-heun in just one year and completely annihilated the Heavenly Demon Cult.
In effect, the Blood Demon Cult had conquered the Murim. Yet even after obtaining everything, Jeok Hwa-ryeon had not stopped. Because the previous Blood Archdemon had been so overwhelmingly powerful, she had reclaimed every relic that the righteous faction had stolen.
And today was the day those three relics would finally gather in one place.
A woman walked through the rows of kneeling Blood Cultists, carrying something in her hands. She had short red hair and cold eyes that were an exact copy of Jeok Hwa-ryeon’s. Though beautiful, she still carried a hint of baby fat that gave her a squirrel-like charm.
Jeok So-ye. She reached the front of the Blood Demon Palace holding the Blood Soul Jade.
Then—
BOOOOM—!!
The great doors burst open with enough force to shatter, and crimson energy surged outward.
You have come.
The colossal voice echoed directly inside their heads. The Blood Cultists clutched their ears. A few who couldn’t withstand the overwhelming power collapsed, unconscious, their foreheads slamming into the ground.
“Yes, Mother.”
With an expressionless face, Jeok So-ye stepped into the Blood Demon Palace.
On the throne inside sat Jeok Hwa-ryeon alone.
The enormous palace held no maids or slaves—only her.
Though she had long passed forty, the hwan-gol-tae-tal had restored her youth. Her beauty was enough to captivate any man. One could call her a nation-toppling beauty without exaggeration.
Looking at her daughter, she opened her mouth. The words that left her lips were completely different from what the Blood Cultists had expected.
“At last… So-ye. The day has come for you to meet your father.”
Because in her heart, there was only one man—Namgung Cheon.
Any normal person would have frozen in terror, but I immediately shouted.
This was not something we could handle.
“Run!!”
Dozens of armored knights poured out of the gate.
“Kyaaaaaah!!”
“Evacuate immediately!!”
As people screamed and fled down the mountain, I slowly backed away.
‘Horned Knights.’
Knights distinguished by the horns on their helmets. They wielded primal, wild power. The problem was that they were strong enough to slaughter even A-rank Hunters with ease.
The knights drew their swords and assumed combat stances.
They closed the distance in the blink of an eye and swung. I threw myself aside with everything I had and barely avoided the blade.
“Ugh.”
I rolled across the ground and tried to stand, but something felt wrong with one leg.
My left calf was completely gone.
A normal person would have panicked, but I felt nothing.
“Ah… I paid a fortune for those…”
After all, both of my calves were prosthetic.
I staggered up on one leg.
The dragon knight glanced once at the severed high-grade prosthetic, then slowly approached me again.
As if to show he wouldn’t let his guard down, he took his time and carefully assumed a stance.
Just as I thought this was the end—
“Min-su!!”
A familiar voice rang out, followed by a blinding flash of light.
Gu Cheol-su and Ok Jun-woo had arrived.
“You guys have two perfectly good legs and you’re still here instead of running…”
“We’ve evacuated all the civilians. You’re the only one left.”
With a rough grip, Gu Cheol-su hoisted me onto his back and started running.
Ok Jun-woo kept throwing flashbangs and mysterious equipment behind us.
“Damn it, I’m using up all the supplies we just received. How am I supposed to explain this later?”
“We’ll just get yelled at anyway, so use mine too!”
From my position on his back, I kept staring at where the horned knights were.
“Shit…”
In the distance, one of the horned knights had sprouted golden wings and soared high into the sky.
“Scatter right now!!”
SHWEEEEEE—!!
A piercing sound tore through the air, followed by a massive explosion. My vision blurred, and gradually my senses returned.
“Ugh…”
My side hurt like it had been stabbed.
‘Pretty sure I broke a few ribs…’
Sling—!!
The sound of a sword being drawn made me look up. A horned knight was pointing his blade straight at me.
“Haa…”
There was no dodging this.
Both prosthetics had been destroyed by the impact, and one had already been severed long ago.
If only I still had my martial arts, I could have crushed these horned knights like insects.
In that final moment, the faces that rose in my mind were, of course, my wives.
The Blood Archdemon, Jeok Hwa-ryeon.
The Dragon, Rhea.
The Entity, N1—or Mother.
I remembered the names of the children born between me and the women I had loved across three different worlds.
“I miss you all…”
The sword moved.
As the flash of steel rushed toward me, I closed my eyes.
KWAAAAANG—!!
A deafening roar that felt like it would tear my ears apart rang out, and a familiar energy washed over me. At the same time, a powerful vibration surged from my lower abdomen.
“This is…?”
When I opened my eyes, a familiar sword was buried deep in the dragon knight’s chest.
The Blood Demon Sword. Jeok Hwa-ryeon’s blade, the divine weapon that symbolized the Blood Archdemon. Unlike what I remembered, it now radiated such overwhelming energy that the entire area was dyed blood-red.
When I looked to the side, an impossibly large crimson rift had torn open in the air.
“Namgung Cheon!!”