The Boy's Own Hand
The moment he regained consciousness, the thick metallic stench of blood filled his nostrils.
When he narrowed his eyes, he realized he was inside a corpse decomposition facility.
It was a place where the carcasses of beasts or monsters were fed into machines and converted into leather and meat.
“Wh-what the hell?”
He tried to get up, but he couldn’t.
Lee Minchan realized his body was tightly bound with ropes.
Shaking his entire body, the boy screamed until his throat felt like it would tear.
“What is this? What the fuck! Let me go!”
There was no answer.
Only the lamp hanging from the ceiling swayed, casting a faint glow.
The corpse decomposition facility was silent, as if no one else was there.
“Ugh… ughhh.”
From the dark side of the room, a man walked forward.
It was Kang Yoonsoo.
Lee Minchan’s face turned deathly pale as he shrieked.
“S-save me! Please, spare me!”
“Shut up.”
It was a cold, dry voice.
Lee Minchan held his breath and swallowed hard.
Struggling against his bonds, he begged desperately.
“P-please spare me! I’m begging you! I won’t do it again! I won’t kill anyone, and I won’t use brainwashing magic either! I’ll live like a good person from now on! I’m still a minor, just a kid who didn’t know any better! So please, forgive me!”
No reply came.
Only silence.
Having apparently found what he was looking for, Kang Yoonsoo stood up.
In his right hand was a whip.
Goosebumps erupted across Lee Minchan’s entire body.
It was the exact same whip he had been using all this time.
Trembling violently, the boy screamed.
“S-save me! Please don’t hit me!”
“I have no intention of killing you with my own hands.”
For a moment, Lee Minchan’s expression brightened.
Though the man’s face was as blank as a mask, it seemed he was reluctant to take a life.
Just as the boy began to feel relieved, Kang Yoonsoo slowly raised the whip.
“You’re going to die by your own hand.”
Lee Minchan felt every hair on his body stand on end.
What the hell did that mean?
At that moment, Kang Yoonsoo’s whip lashed fiercely across the boy’s cheek.
“Aaaaaagh—!”
Kang Yoonsoo’s whip work was incomparably more precise and painful than anything Lee Minchan had ever done.
The whip skillfully tore only at the flesh, deliberately avoiding vital points.
It didn’t kill him, but the pain was enough to make him want to die.
“It hurts! It fucking hurts! You bastard!”
Biting his bloodied lip, Lee Minchan snarled through gritted teeth.
Tears and blood soaked the boy’s cheek.
Yet Kang Yoonsoo did not stop whipping him.
“Why? Why are you trying to kill me! You fucking dog! You could just report me to the investigators or throw me in prison! I know I did wrong, but you have no right to kill me! Fuck…!”
Kang Yoonsoo continued the lashes.
When Lee Minchan was on the verge of losing his mind, a low voice finally answered.
“How far can a man’s rage go against the boy who raped and murdered his wife?”
“Wh… what?”
“The enraged man has killed the boy over and over. Sometimes instantly. Sometimes through torture. Even if the emotion called rage grew faint. Always. Every single time. He has killed the boy hundreds of times over.”
The long tip of the whip savagely tore into Lee Minchan’s cheek.
Feeling a pain like his face had been burned, the boy gasped for breath.
Kang Yoonsoo spoke in a low voice.
“You asked why I’m killing you?”
Kang Yoonsoo leaned close to Lee Minchan’s face.
Close enough for their breaths to mingle.
A voice far too cold and still pierced his ear.
“When you killed Shanette, that woman was my wife. That is the only reason you are dying now.”
Lee Minchan’s body shuddered violently before he screamed in pure malice.
“What kind of bullshit is that! You crazy fuck! You’re really going to kill me? Then you’re a murderer too!”
“I know.”
Kang Yoonsoo stepped back and raised the whip again.
The vicious lash struck the boy’s chin once more.
Overwhelmed by unbearable agony, Lee Minchan burst into tears and shook uncontrollably.
“You bastard. You fucking bastard! You goddamn bastard!”
Despite the boy’s curses, Kang Yoonsoo pointed at the objects on the floor as if to show them off.
Lee Minchan’s face turned deathly white.
A riding crop. A club. A dagger.
They were the very tools Lee Minchan had used to torture women.
Kang Yoonsoo drove the dagger into the boy’s wrist and swung the club against his cheek.
Thud—!
The excruciating pain left Lee Minchan unable to think straight.
The boy could endure no more.
Lee Minchan flinched, clamping his mouth shut, then his body began to tremble violently.
Blood poured from the boy’s lips as extreme terror overtook him.
He had bitten off his own tongue.
Lee Minchan’s tear-filled eyes shook wildly.
“F-fuuuuck… it hurts too much… if I’m going to die being tortured anyway… ugh!”
The bitten tongue must have curled back into his throat; Lee Minchan couldn’t breathe.
The boy thrashed for a moment, then his convulsions stopped.
He had killed himself.
Kang Yoonsoo stared at the boy’s corpse with indifferent eyes.
“The world does not revolve around you alone.”
◈ Corruption Level: Medium
◈ Remaining Uses: 3
Kang Yoonsoo extended his right arm.
The Ring of Life Oppression on his finger gleamed with a dark luster.
“Soul Collection.”
[KYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYAAAAAAAAAA—!]
The soul of Lee Minchan was sucked into the black ring, screaming endlessly.
You have collected the soul of the corrupted boy.
Corruption Level — Medium
Remaining Uses: 3
Kang Yoonsoo touched the edge of the ring with his finger.
It was cold.
A soul with high corruption could be used as material for a necromantic weapon or infused into a doll for curses.
I need to destroy the evidence. If the corpse remains, the investigators will find out.
Kang Yoonsoo dragged the corpse of Lee Minchan, whose soul had been completely extracted, and embraced it.
He stuffed the equipment used for the killing into the boy’s clothes and pockets.
Then Kang Yoonsoo shoved the body into the sharp intake of the decomposition machine.
His movements held not a trace of hesitation.
Soon the savage sound of bones and flesh being ground echoed through the room.
……
“…So, Sir Kang Yoonsoo, you need to tell me more. Especially last night—that was too much. There’s a limit to how indifferent and curt you can be. We’re traveling together, aren’t we? So don’t handle everything alone. Share it with me… Are you even listening to me right now?”
Kang Yoonsoo slowly lifted his closed eyelids.
The fragrant aroma of coffee tickled his nose, and the morning sunlight stung his eyes.
Shanette sat across from him, wearing a discontented expression.
He said,
“No.”
“……”
She puffed her cheeks slightly before speaking.
“Sir Kang Yoonsoo, you’re so honest it’s annoying.”
The morning at the Golden Alchemy Inn was warm and peaceful.
The breakfast brought by the server was generous, and the apple wine was fragrant.
Kang Yoonsoo didn’t touch the food and simply drank from his cup.
“You’re drinking from the morning already?”
“I usually skip breakfast.”
“That’s bad for your health.”
“I know.”
“……”
Kang Yoonsoo poured himself another drink.
Lee Minchan had a terrible personality and was young, but his brainwashing magic had been a real threat.
If left alone, he would have become a major enemy later on.
Now that Lee Minchan is dead, it’s time for proper hunting.
Monster hunting.
The most basic method of growth to build strength.
Travelers usually searched for monster habitats or accepted requests from continentals to go hunting.
But hunting in ordinary places held no meaning for Kang Yoonsoo.
There’s a hunting ground in Hilledan that will become the starting point of a legendary quest.
Legendary quest.
Unlike regular quests, these were demonic-difficulty requests that only those who had reached the pinnacle could undertake.
Yet they also provided a path to grow faster and more smoothly than others.
Shanette paused her breakfast and looked at him.
“So, how do you plan to spend today?”
“I need to go hunting.”
“Where?”
“The Alchemist Clan building.”
Clan.
An organization created by many people with a special purpose.
On the Silfia Continent, there were also many clans founded by travelers from the original world.
But hunting inside the building of such a clan?
“What do you mean by that?”
Shanette tilted her head with wide eyes.
Kang Yoonsoo stared at her quietly.
He had seen Shanette’s death hundreds of times across his repeated lives.
It had been the same in his previous life.
The world had collapsed because of the Demon Lord, and Shanette had died with her body shattered.
Yet the woman who had vanished along with the world was once again sitting before him.
In exactly the same appearance as before.
Kang Yoonsoo said,
“Thank you.”
“For what?”
He spoke what was, to him, the most obvious thing.
“For being alive.”
The two left the inn and walked through the streets.
Finding the Alchemist Clan building in the center of the city was not difficult.
Shanette tilted her head again.
“Can you really hunt inside the Alchemist Clan building instead of a monster habitat? I’ve never heard of such a thing.”
“It’s possible.”
Kang Yoonsoo answered curtly in his usual manner and entered the building.
A blonde woman who appeared to be a staff member greeted them with a kind smile.
“This is the Hilledan branch of the Alchemist Clan. How may I help you?”
“We’re here to hunt chimeras.”
She looked momentarily flustered before replying.
“Ah… are you referring to the Chimera Dimension?”
“Yes.”
“You must have completed a secret request from the alchemists. The password, please?”
He had never even entered an Alchemist Clan building before, let alone completed any secret request.
Yet Kang Yoonsoo spoke the password as if it were the most natural thing.
“Creating a world is harder than destroying one.”
You have proven eligibility to enter Grade A sealed zone — Chimera Dimension.
The blonde woman spoke in a businesslike tone.
“The Chimera Dimension is a space inhabited by ferocious chimeras and is extremely dangerous. However, it also offers reliable growth and rare rewards. Please note that our Alchemist Clan bears no responsibility whatsoever for any human rights violations or deaths you may suffer.”
Kang Yoonsoo nodded.
These were facts he already knew without needing to hear them.
The Chimera Dimension was indeed an incredibly dangerous place.
When he had first learned of its existence in a previous life, hundreds of adventurers had already died there.
“New applicants may begin from the first floor. The Chimera Dimension consists of five floors total, and a powerful boss monster resides on the top floor. Please keep in mind that once the boss monster is slain, the Chimera Dimension will automatically close.”
The problem was the timing of that automatic closure.
Originally, the Chimera Dimension had been a freely accessible area.
One could leave if their life was in danger while hunting or if their condition worsened.
However, an incident occurred where the entrance became sealed even though the boss monster had not been killed.
In the end, everyone trapped inside was massacred without being able to escape.
The alchemists had feigned ignorance at the time, but in reality, it had been an intentional accident.
They had secretly used the people hunting inside the Chimera Dimension as research materials.
Similar Chimera Dimensions had been opened in other branches besides Hilledan.
All because one alchemist wanted to use human corpses to create even stronger artificial life forms.
Lumiere Kizan. The imperial genius alchemist.
Kang Yoonsoo looked at the blonde woman.
She was merely an employee. The truly evil ones were certain alchemists.
In the past, he had burned with a sense of justice and blocked their evil deeds with his own body many times.
But now he had no such obligation.
Kang Yoonsoo stated another matter.
“There is someone I need to meet.”
“Who might that be? If it is an important appointment, we can send a messenger pigeon for a small fee.”
“He is currently carrying out an alchemist’s request. His name is Han Sehyun. A man wearing ash-gray armor and a cloak embroidered with a white lion.”
Kang Yoonsoo handed over one gold coin.
The blonde woman checked her documents and nodded.
“We have information on him in our clan records. We will send the fastest messenger pigeon to him. You should receive contact by tonight at the latest.”
Kang Yoonsoo walked toward the corridor.
Shanette followed and asked,
“Who is the person you just mentioned?”
“A guy who’ll be useful later.”
A fragment of memory surfaced, and unlike himself, Kang Yoonsoo frowned.
It was someone he inevitably encountered in every regression, yet he could never erase the memory of how annoying the bastard was.
If it weren’t for his level and power, I wouldn’t have contacted him. But things go much smoother with that guy around.
Shanette looked curious.
“By the way, what is the Chimera Dimension?”
“The alchemists’ trash bin.”
“Huh? What does that mean?”
“I don’t feel like explaining at length.”
Shanette pulled a liquor bottle from her backpack and shook it hard.
Her intention was clear—she was ready to smash it at any moment.
Only then did Kang Yoonsoo open his mouth.
“When you conduct alchemy experiments, you end up with many failures that must be discarded. But if you throw failure products anywhere, you’ll cause serious trouble. So one alchemist created a dimension just to dump the failures. The alchemists have been throwing their experimental failures into that dimension for a long time. Over the years, the failures accumulated and mixed together, eventually turning into a chimera habitat.”
“And people willingly go to such a dangerous place?”
“Because it’s a hidden hunting ground.”
In truth, the Chimera Dimension was a place where corrupted alchemists prepared sacrificial lambs for artificial life creation, but there was no need to explain that.
Still, the rewards are decent. Especially the sword dropped by the boss monster on the top floor—it can be used for quite a long time.
Kang Yoonsoo stopped in front of a soot-covered fireplace.
It was an old, shabby fireplace.
Just as Shanette tilted her head in confusion, Kang Yoonsoo suddenly grabbed her wrist.
“Don’t throw up.”
“What?”
Kang Yoonsoo stepped toward the fireplace.
His body was instantly sucked in as if the small fireplace had swallowed him whole.
Shanette opened her mouth in shock, but her body was also pulled into the fireplace.
“Kyaaaaaaaaaah!”