True Nature

"I'm going to burn it all."

This was a vile place, home to a filthy creature, and I had decided to reduce every last scrap of it to ash. From the oppressive gloom to the test tubes crammed with grotesque specimens, not a single corner of this place sat right with me.

It resembles its master to a tee.

Had I killed him too easily...? If I could manipulate souls, I would have locked him in a room with his ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠victims for a few hundred years.

I had called the President of Joseon Pharmaceuticals, so he would be here soon. In the meantime, Samsaek had taken a camera and begun wandering every nook and cranny, filming as he went.

"Master, I found something!"

Samsaek's voice called to me from a room tucked away in the corner.

"What's this?"

Following his voice, I found what appeared to be Wang Chun's bedroom — a single bed, and a room in complete disarray.

"Does this guy even clean?"

It couldn't have been easy to scatter dirty underwear and clothes this thoroughly across every inch of the floor.

"Here, here!"

Samsaek flipped up the blanket that had spilled down beneath Wang Chun's bed, and a square safe came into view.

Thump, thump.

He tapped it with a front paw. The door wasn't particularly thick. I started "picking" the lock with the mace I happened to be holding.

"Kku-ing, if ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠you force it open, won't whatever's inside catch fire or something? That's what happens in the movies."

"Let it."

I couldn't have cared less about money. I was just curious what this lunatic had been keeping in there.

Bang. Bang.

I smashed the lock mechanism over and over, deciding to just destroy the whole thing. It seemed he hadn't used the safe for actual security — forcing it open caused no trouble at all. It was closer to simple storage than anything else.

Then again, who would sneak in here to steal anything?

If he hadn't underestimated me and stupidly brought me here himself, I never would have found this place.

There'd been a secret passage, too.

He wasn't just stupid — he was arrogant. Sure enough, right behind him ran a hidden passage leading out of the mountain, in case I decided to bring hunters along.

"But he's already dead, so... let's see what's inside."

Creeeeak.

The safe held out for a decent while, but in the end it yielded before the mace with a shy little groan.

"What, papers?"

"Kku-ing, boring."

Well, I had expected gold bars or cash, but it was nothing but documents.

"Let's see... hmm? This is... I should've asked him before I killed him."

I skimmed through them briefly. They were covered in strange formulas I couldn't make sense of at all.

"I'll hang onto these for now..."

I stuffed every document from the safe into the subspace in my necklace. Outside, a commotion suggested the President of Joseon Pharmaceuticals had arrived at the hideout.

"Good heavens..."

The president couldn't close his ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠mouth, stunned at the sight of Wang Chun's laboratory.

"All of this..."

Ordinarily I would have given him time to marvel or look around, but I was in no mood to wait for him today.

"We're burning it all."

"Hmm? But surely some of his research might be worthwhile?"

The president said this while looking around. The experiments had been unforgivable, but paradoxically, it was precisely because the man had shed his humanity that he had achieved remarkable results. Who else would take a teleportation technique that supposedly only worked on inanimate objects and implant mana stones into the bodies of chimeras to make it function?

If we developed this biological data for pharmaceuticals, or even sold it to another company...

Naturally, major ventures and enormous profits flooded the president's mind. This was a jackpot that needed no deep thought at all.

"No. Research like this needs to be cut off at the root."

Even if it looks fine on the surface, if meat is even slightly rotten, you throw the whole thing out. Cut it away sloppily and mold will bloom again in no time. I had seen it often enough — mages who went to suppress a public enemy, only to become fascinated by the very results that enemy had produced. For me, there was no compromise.

"Isn't it such a waste? For the sake of humanity's progress..."

"If this is what it takes to progress, then humanity can go to hell. Burn it all in front of me. Or I'll do it myself."

"But... very well."

The president had been about to try persuading me again, but one look at my set expression and he gave up, gesturing to his staff.

Glug, glug, glug.

Oil poured across every surface, and I sent everyone out. Then I tossed the lighter the president had handed me and stepped into the open air.

What a goddamn wretched place.

"Didn't you say you had something bitter on the drink menu? What was it called?"

Oh Yeongjun, the cafe's manager, was caught completely off guard by the boss's unexpected order.

Did something happen?

He had gone off somewhere and come back in a different mood than usual. That characteristic ease was still there, but he looked faintly angry.

"Would you prefer an espresso or an Americano?"

"The bitterest you've got."

"Understood."

Yeongjun took out beans he had roasted himself over an open flame. The flavor of coffee split dramatically depending on the roast, so he had prepared and aged beans at every stage just in case Karen ever placed an order.

I never thought I'd actually have to make this.

It was a roast almost no one used anymore — even less so in Korea. He had made the batch himself, but he had never expected to actually serve it.

Whirr.

Roasted in the Italian style, the beans were as close to black as coffee could get. He loaded them into the ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠machine, and a dark liquid soon began to flow.

"Your coffee, sir."

At a glance, it looked closer to ink than to any coffee most people would recognize. Karen touched the small cup to his lips. The finest beans and a rather skilled barista's craft had come together, and yet...

"It's bitter."

At first it was bitter beyond words, and then the aftertaste rolled back in, leaving a heavy, lingering finish.

"I'm sorry. If you'd like, I can make an Americano instead, or add a little milk for a cafe latte..."

"No. You've got nothing to be sorry for. I came here to taste something bitter."

Karen downed the small cup in a single swallow.

It stung — every bit as bitter as its color promised.

It brings back filthy memories.

Back when I was in Belial, there had been an Opposer among those spawned by the balance who was just like Wang Chun. I hadn't known it then.

A godforsaken thing a god had once said rose in my mind, and with it came every feeling I had carried while killing those chimeras.

Why did I do that?

I could have killed them faster without lifting a finger. Because they had teleported inside my barrier?

That's a pathetic excuse.

All I had to do was reinforce my body, step back, and raise the barrier again. So why did I pick up the mace?

Was I angry?

It had been a different kind of anger from when Wang Chun provoked me. Not rage directed at someone else — a feeling aimed at myself. The mace had been swung at me, not the chimeras, and the blood I had gone out of my way to wear was my own irritation. No. It was closer to guilt.

"Master, you okay?"

Samsaek was watching me from across the table with a look of worry that did not suit him at all. So that face was in his repertoire.

"I thought they were the villains."

The mad mage who had first created chimeras in Belial — an Opposer who had come into being because of me. He had been nothing like the last Demon King, that easy opponent barely born. He was someone worth staking your life against.

The number and strength of those chimeras had been so overwhelming that Wang Chun's creations looked like child's play. He had started with the fighting force of a single village, widened his reach by degrees, and in the end turned an entire kingdom into his limbs.

"But I was the villain."

This was before I had met a god and spoken with one. Before I even knew Opposers existed. I had no intention of saving anyone, and no will to try. When that mage destroyed a kingdom, when he spread his power, I did nothing. But in the end he invaded the kingdom I ruled, and only then did I step forward.

"I never wanted some noble, heroic virtue to begin with."

But at the very least, it should never have happened because of me.

"Kku-ing, Master's being an idiot."

"What?"

"Getting dumped in Belial out of nowhere wasn't your fault, and getting strong was just so you could survive."

I was seeing a lot of Samsaek's faces today. Worry earlier — and now he was fuming, practically bristling with anger.

"An Opposer? That thing shows up whenever it wants — what's Master supposed to do about it? We're human."

No, you're not human... but if I brought that up right now, Samsaek would claw my face off.

"Humans can only struggle with everything they've got."

"Haa..."

I looked up at the ceiling, spread my chest wide, and let out a long breath. The bitterness of the coffee I had just drunk rode the air out with it.

"Yeah. I'm no god."

There was a time I had thought that way. But afterward, when another Opposer appeared, that arrogance was shattered to pieces along with everything I loved.

"Let's go. The coffee was good."

I roughly ruffled Samsaek's head and scooped him up. He had definitely gotten bigger — soft as a slime in my arms.

"Kku-ing! If you want to know why Master's being all maudlin, check the footage I shot."

Nestled in my arms, Samsaek patted his own wrist and signaled Yeongjun to check his watch.

"You sent them the video?"

"The barista's your subordinate too, isn't he?"

"He is. Good work."

They had been working so hard that the ones who had started at F-rank had already climbed to D-Rank. Granted, growth came faster at the lower ranks, but even accounting for that, the speed was staggering.

"So where are we going?"

"We've got to visit Manager Kang. Ah! You're a cat, so you can't go into the hospital. Plus you've gotten so fat you couldn't sneak in even if—"

"Master!"

Once the two of them had gone, Yeongjun and his friend, left behind in the cafe, started watching the video Samsaek had sent.

"Good god..."

Only then could they begin to understand how Karen felt.

"We have to get stronger."

They had missed their chance to tell Karen, and the pride of hitting D-Rank had let them ease off, just for a moment.

Someday, I want to stand beside him.

The two of them took out the small cases they kept close to their hearts. Inside were the little pills Karen had given them — Magic Power Pills.

Gulp.

"Let's go."

They swallowed the pills at the same time, changed into workout clothes, and started running again. The heat that had not yet left the season was there to welcome them back.

"Aigoo, Karen! What brings you all the way out here?"

"Stay down. You're not well."

Manager Kang tried to sit up, and I caught his shoulders and pressed him firmly back onto the bed.

"I'm perfectly fine, but they insist on keeping me admitted. If you would be so kind as to have a word with the hospital and the president..."

In truth, Manager Kang had not been injured at all. The sudden turn of events and the tension had simply locked his muscles tight.

Hard to blame him.

How many people in a lifetime ever get kidnapped, the way you only ever see on the news? And he had shared a room with chimeras, besides.

"Manager Kang. You've done well."

"Pardon?"

A bewildered look crossed his face, and then he caught my meaning and answered without a hint of hesitation.

"No, sir. I intend to stay by your side."

"Don't worry about the formula. I'll give Joseon Pharmaceuticals the fifty-percent recipe up through B-Rank."

"I have no need of it."

"What?"

I was genuinely surprised. Unlike the lower-grade potions, a B-Rank potion would have given Joseon Pharmaceuticals enormous influence over the hunter world. The man who brought that home would have become the company's greatest hero overnight.

And he's turning it down?

"That sort of thing is nothing compared to my bond with you."

"What are you..."

"Honestly, at first it was half gratitude and half business. But yesterday, you came to save my life."

"If you stay with me, days like today might happen again."

"Then you'll just have to protect me, won't you?"

Manager Kang looked at me and smiled. The muscle pain made it a little forced, but there was nothing comical about it in my eyes.

"And this was not your fault."

"That lunatic came because of me."

"A lunatic, you say — then he came because he was insane. That makes him the villain. You're the good guy who saved me... no, I apologize. The good person."

"Hahaha."

The last of the coffee's aroma must have gone, because no bitterness rode in on the laugh. I was starting to feel better.

"I'm still giving you the formula."

"Thank you! And Karen — I'm not Manager Kang anymore."

"Huh? Then what are you?"

"The president just came by and told me. Please call me Director Kang from now on."

"Congratulations. Director Kang."

"Director, managing director, president — whatever the title. If you call, I will come running."

That's right. The world no longer needs me to protect it. I'll live a little selfishly, the way I was always meant to — with my eyes only on the people around me.