Chapter 497: Emergency Meeting (4)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 497: Emergency Meeting (4)
Alexander.
Kim Pan-seok.
How was he, a man who had already lived two lives, now existing as the Mage in White?
He had definitely died.
Defeated by Roman Dmitry and abandoned by the Demon King, he had watched his own body dissolve as he plummeted into the Abyss. Yet, no matter how much time passed, his consciousness never faded. Though not a single trace of his physical form remained, his mind continued to churn, as if he still existed in the living world.
He fell into a state of deep confusion.
He couldn't comprehend what was happening to him.
Then, one day, his vision was dyed completely white as an endless, pure space unfolded before his eyes.
[Alexander. You have been afflicted with the Curse of Reincarnation.]
"...What does that mean?"
[Living as Alexander, you drove countless lives to their deaths, and all of that remains as heavy karma upon your soul. It is a sin that cannot be paid for with death alone. From now on, you shall live an endlessly repeating life. At the moment you deem most miserable, you will relive a time where not even a sliver of hope is permitted. Alexander. Crossing dimensions is not a blessing. Because you transcended human limits, you are no longer permitted a human death.]
It was a punishment.
For Alexander, who had violated the Dimensional Laws and thrown the world into chaos, God had handed down a fitting sentence.
However.
It wasn't entirely without a silver lining.
An existence afflicted with the Curse of Reincarnation was granted a single chance at atonement.
[If you truly acknowledge your sins and wish to die as a human, make use of this chance at atonement. You shall live as a new being in a new world. If you do not fully resolve your karma before that life ends, you must bear the Curse of Reincarnation. Keep this in mind. This is your one and only chance. The moment you waste even this final opportunity on your personal desires, your future will not be permitted even a shred of hope.]
Flash!
Rumbleeeee!
The world was engulfed in a massive explosion.
Alexander's consciousness was swept away by the blast, and when he finally came to, he was breathing in a brand-new world.
* * *
Park Min-woo.
That was his new name.
It belonged to a nine-year-old boy who was dying after being hit by a car. Alexander took over his body to live anew. It was an incredibly ordinary life. Though he was an orphan with no parents or relatives, Park Min-woo—having already experienced the lives of Kim Pan-seok and Alexander—quickly adapted to his new reality.
A new life.
And a clear goal.
To resolve his karma, Park Min-woo spent the years leading up to his twentieth birthday doing everything that even remotely resembled a good deed.
Whenever he saw the elderly pulling heavy handcarts on the street, he helped push them. He refused to turn a blind eye when he saw students being bullied in back alleys. He donated all the money he painstakingly earned from working day and night, keeping only the bare minimum for his own survival. The people around him called him an angel without wings. Seeing him give to others even while practically starving himself, they couldn't help but admire his flawless character.
However.
The truth was completely different.
Far from the public eye, Park Min-woo squatted in a secluded alley and lit a cigarette.
"...Damn it. How am I ever going to resolve all this karma at this rate?"
He held a pendant in his hand.
It was a gift from God, an artifact that displayed the weight of his karma through its color.
Right now, it was a deep, pitch-black.
It meant his nature was still heavily inclined toward evil. Despite performing countless good deeds for over a decade, the pendant's color showed almost no signs of changing. Sure, if he squinted, the edges had faded slightly. But since the pendant had to turn completely white for him to escape the Curse of Reincarnation, he couldn't exactly be thrilled with his current progress.
"Sigh."
A heavy breath escaped his lips.
Emperor Alexander.
How had he, a man who once ruled the world, ended up in such a pathetic state?
It was then.
As he blankly stared up at the sky from the dingy alleyway, the world suddenly shook violently. A massive change had occurred.
[Listen, humans.]
The Absolute.
It was the moment that transcendent being revealed himself.
He heralded the dawn of a new world, and the life that had been peaceful just yesterday instantly devolved into a living hell.
Screeech!
Growl!
It was the first Great Disaster.
Monsters had appeared.
Emerging all over the globe, including South Korea, these beasts tore into the flesh of people who hadn't even grasped the situation yet. The first Great Disaster was bound to be a massacre. Humanity didn't know how to fight these creatures, and modern firearms couldn't pierce their tough hides. People grabbed whatever makeshift weapons they could find. If they couldn't pierce the skin, they drove iron bars into the monsters' eyes, struggling desperately just to survive another minute.
And through that bloodbath, one by one, they awakened.
Those who gained new power through the deaths of monsters manifested supernatural abilities, becoming the superhumans who would later be known as Hunters.
At that time, South Korea was more miserable than almost any other nation.
Park Min-woo stood right in the middle of a scene where people were being butchered.
"Aaargh!"
"Save me!"
"U-Uaaah!"
It was a one-sided slaughter.
The public square, where people had just been going about their daily lives, was painted with blood and death. Yet, as Park Min-woo watched the monsters run wild, he only felt a strange sense of confusion.
Lately, he had been resenting God. He knew he had committed grave sins, but shouldn't he at least be given a solvable problem? With his karma remaining stubbornly black no matter how many grandmas he helped, he had actually started thinking that going rogue might not be such a bad idea.
If he couldn't escape the Curse of Reincarnation anyway, why struggle so desperately?
But now, everything was different.
Seeing the monsters, Park Min-woo felt his blood begin to boil.
'This is it.'
The resolution of his karma.
He was meant to resolve the Great Disaster.
Park Min-woo walked past the screaming, fleeing crowd and planted himself directly in the path of the monsters rushing forward like a tidal wave.
"All of you shall become the sacrifices to cleanse my karma. Chain Lightning."
Crackllle!
Mana violently surged.
For the past decade, Park Min-woo had never once neglected his magic training.
He simply hadn't revealed it because it was an alien power in this modern world, but in secret, he had been steadily rebuilding the strength of his past life.
Now was the time to unleash that power.
Donning his White Robe, an artifact that amplified his magical abilities, he effortlessly slaughtered every single monster that dared to charge at him.
On that day, the people named him the Mage in White.
The hope of South Korea.
The very first Awakened to usher in the era of Hunters.
Amidst the deafening cheers of the survivors, Park Min-woo quietly checked his pendant.
A tiny corner of it had finally turned pure white.
He was absolutely certain now.
This was the way.
Park Min-woo made up his mind.
To fully cleanse his karma, he would live the rest of his days as the Mage in White—a flawless champion of justice.
That was the new life Park Min-woo chose.
* * *
And now, back in the present.
Jo Dal-su spoke once more.
"Mage in White. Please lend us your strength for the future of South Korea. You know this well. If you, an elite even among the S-ranks, do not step forward, there is no way to punish Roman Dmitry—who is currently throwing South Korea into chaos—without suffering massive casualties. This is a matter where the Mage in White, where Baek-il, must step up."
His plea was earnest.
Normally, Park Min-woo would have readily accepted.
Even if only for the sake of his pendant, which was now one-third white, he couldn't tolerate an existence causing chaos in South Korea. It was free karma.
But not this time.
Because the opponent was Roman Dmitry.
A monster he couldn't defeat even at his absolute peak in his past life.
'This crazy bastard is asking me to face Roman Dmitry? That's just suicide. The moment I make an enemy out of Roman Dmitry, my head will be chopped off before I can even finish resolving my karma.'
Never.
He would absolutely never do that.
The Mage in White, Park Min-woo, spoke with a solemn expression.
"I am sorry, but I cannot accept this request. As Assemblyman Lee Jae-sik pointed out, we must preserve our forces with the Great Disaster looming ahead. The Incheon Government and Roman Dmitry are also valuable assets in the fight against the Great Disaster. We cannot afford to overreach and punish them over matters that haven't even been properly verified yet."
"But...!"
"I must take my leave now. I happen to have some urgent business to attend to."
Screeech.
He pushed his chair back and stood up.
He walked toward the door without looking back.
No matter what the assemblymen babbled about, he had zero intention of accepting, so there was no reason to linger.
The assemblymen were visibly flustered.
For the Mage in White to back out so decisively?
This was a completely unexpected turn of events.
As Park Min-woo left the meeting room, Jo Dal-su's face contorted in desperation, and he hurriedly chased after him.
"Mage in White! Please, wait a moment!"
He was the crucial piece of the puzzle for his revenge.
Jo Dal-su simply could not give up on the Mage in White.
* * *
Step.
Park Min-woo stopped in his tracks.
Jo Dal-su, panting as he barely managed to catch up, pleaded.
"Wait, how can you just leave like this? If you return to your seat, I will explain in detail exactly why Roman Dmitry must be punished. This is unlike you, Mage in White. It doesn't suit someone who has always vanquished evil for the sake of South Korea to turn a blind eye to reality like this."
He was deliberately poking at his pride.
The icon of good deeds.
By pointing out that this cowardly behavior was uncharacteristic of the great hero, Jo Dal-su tried to guilt him into cooperating with his plan.
"For now, please just come back inside with me..."
"Ah, fuck."
"?!"
Jo Dal-su's eyes bulged.
For a second, he genuinely thought he had misheard.
With such vulgar profanity casually slipping from Park Min-woo's mouth, Jo Dal-su's brain completely short-circuited, struggling to process the situation.
Park Min-woo took a step closer to Jo Dal-su.
Looking down at the man, he finally stripped away the benevolent mask he had worked so hard to maintain.
"Hey, you crazy son of a bitch. Do you actually want to die?"
"...Excuse me?"
"Know your fucking place and stop pushing it. I told you, I'm not doing this. Who the hell do you think you are to tell me what to do?"
Jo Dal-su's jaw went slack.
Who was Park Min-woo?
The Mage in White!
The absolute icon of justice!
He was the hero who represented all of South Korea, yet he was now wearing a terrifying, thuggish expression that completely shattered his holy image.
Jo Dal-su had no way of knowing the truth.
The true nature of Park Min-woo—a man born as Kim Pan-seok who later lived as Emperor Alexander—was infinitely more suited to a villain than a hero. He was human trash who had willingly sold out all of humanity just to fulfill his own selfish desires. Though Park Min-woo had violently suppressed his rotten personality for years just to cleanse his karma, Jo Dal-su repeatedly trying to drag him into a suicidal war had finally made him snap.
Roman Dmitry.
He had absolutely zero intention of fighting that monster.
Making stupid, life-ending mistakes once was more than enough for one lifetime.
"I've been playing along with your little political tunes on purpose, but if you keep ordering me around with that 'for the sake of South Korea' bullshit, I'll blow your fucking head off. Think I won't? Killing a piece of shit like you who only rules over Geumcheon-gu is child's play. So back off. Don't get on my bad side."
Jo Dal-su froze in sheer terror.
Seeing the politician's pale, trembling face, Park Min-woo smirked.
"Pathetic bastard."
He turned around.
That should be more than enough to make the idiot understand.
As he walked away, Park Min-woo glanced over his shoulder and tossed out one final threat.
"Oh, and everything you saw and heard just now is a secret. I'm warning you—if even a whisper about my true nature leaks out, I will automatically assume you're the culprit. I'll leave the consequences to your imagination. I've worn the mask of the Mage in White for twenty years. I won't let you off lightly if you ruin my hard work."
The warning was crystal clear.
Park Min-woo left a petrified Jo Dal-su behind and casually strolled out of the building.
* * *
Park Min-woo had a splitting headache.
He pondered for a long time after leaving the building, but he just couldn't figure out his next move.
Opposing Roman Dmitry?
Completely out of the question.
Roman Dmitry had been a peerless monster in his past life, and now, Park Min-woo couldn't even begin to fathom how much stronger he had become. Since Park Min-woo hadn't even recovered his own peak strength from his past life, he wouldn't be able to withstand a single blow from that man. So, logically, he had to align himself with Roman Dmitry somehow. The problem was, he absolutely couldn't reveal his true identity.
Alexander of his past life.
He had been utter trash.
He was the main culprit who had dragged humanity into the abyss, and several of Dmitry's loyal subordinates had died because of him.
Would Roman Dmitry forgive him?
Not a snowball's chance in hell.
The very second his identity was revealed, his head would be separated from his shoulders.
'I am truly caught between a rock and a hard place.'
His temples throbbed.
In truth, when the Absolute first appeared, Park Min-woo genuinely believed he had been chosen by God to defeat the entity. That arrogant belief had remained unchanged for twenty years—until the very moment Roman Dmitry appeared.
It had to be him.
Park Min-woo realized he was merely a supporting character. Roman Dmitry was undoubtedly the true protagonist destined to defeat the Absolute.
"Wait... if I'm not the protagonist..."
In that instant, a brilliant thought flashed through his mind.
Come to think of it, there was no reason for him to view Roman Dmitry as an insurmountable obstacle.
"Roman Dmitry thinks I'm dead. Right now, I've built a flawless reputation as the Mage in White, and there's absolutely no way to link this identity back to Alexander. If so, how would I look in Roman Dmitry's eyes? I'm a highly useful powerhouse with a stellar reputation—the perfect ally. In fact, if I offer to swear loyalty, I'm a subordinate anyone would covet."
Various world powers, including the USA, sent desperate recruitment offers to Park Min-woo every single year.
They offered him immense wealth and benefits just to reside within their borders, even if he didn't officially join their governments.
That was the sheer value of Park Min-woo.
The pristine reputation of the Mage in White.
"If I become Roman Dmitry's man... and help him defeat the Absolute, wouldn't my karma be fully resolved?"
Once, in his past life, he had been deeply envious of the loyal subordinates who stood proudly by Roman Dmitry's side.
Realizing that he could now take that spot for himself, Park Min-woo felt a thrilling surge of excitement.
"Yes! I won't approach him as Alexander, but as the Mage in White. I'll become Roman Dmitry's loyal right-hand man!"
To anyone who actually knew the truth of his past, it was a completely absurd, almost comical conclusion for the former villain to reach.