Chapter 1
Chapter 1
The World Is Not Equal
I first realized that immutable truth on the birthday when I turned fifteen.
"Powerless?"
"Yes, yes. We've run the tests over and over, but it's certain. Young Master Chang-un has no aura…"
My father glared at me and the test results alternately with an expression like he wanted to devour us both. It took him a long time to finally speak.
"The fault of tainted blood."
Tainted blood. That short phrase plunged my life and my mother's into the abyss.
The illegitimate son born of lowly origins. The Andong Kim Clan's dirty little secret. The shame of a nobleman who couldn't even inherit the most common aura.
Amid all those gazes, I nearly broke countless times. But I didn't give up.
Or rather… I couldn't afford to.
"I'll do anything!"
On a drizzling day, I knelt in the main house courtyard and shouted it.
That I'd become their dog. That I'd take on all the filthy, degrading work they ignored but desperately needed. That I'd devote myself to them until they acknowledged me as one of their own.
And the result…?
"Phew…"
Yeah, the result was this—a total fucking mess.
I spat out the pipe clenched in my teeth and surveyed my surroundings.
Joseon, shattered by revolution. The clan's elders had all fled overseas, leaving me with nothing but the empty title of clan head.
"Kim Chang-un. From the day you first resolved to fight the revolution, we've clashed countless times…"
And right in front of me stood the "hero of the revolution," thrusting a massive sword at my throat.
"But today marks the end of you blocking my path."
"…Yeah. The end."
Just as he said, everything was over.
The end of the Sedao politics that had dragged on for over three hundred years since the Rift Catastrophe at the start of the 20th century. And with it, the end of Joseon, a nation that had endured for eight hundred long years.
"Congratulations, hero."
I mocked him with an exaggerated tone, and his sword hand twitched.
But his gaze wasn't on me—it was fixed on Hanseong, shrouded in smoke and flames. Watching the ant-hill nightmare of a city burn, I twisted my lips.
"This country is done for because of the revolution you started."
"…You sure talk big."
But of course. The revolutionary in front of me looked like he had plenty to say too.
"You, who called yourself the dog of those corrupt Sedao scum and oppressed countless people! You, who spent your life as their lackey! You think you have the right to judge this revolution?!"
"…"
"From the beginning, it was your kind who drove this country to ruin…!"
"Yeah. Us nobles… the so-called Sedao clans."
Who else? I added that before stuffing tobacco into my pipe.
"We ignored the monsters rampaging across the mainland and the islands, obsessed only with our own power struggles. We drove away any decent talent with our petty politics."
Pathetic fools who cared only about clinging to power, scrambling to flee only when shit hit the fan. I warned them revolution was coming, but they wouldn't listen—until blades were at their throats, then they tucked tail and ran.
"But you know."
I know better than anyone that I'm a bastard. Doesn't mean we bastards have nothing to say for ourselves, though.
"And the revolution you waged against us? What did it amount to in the end?"
"…!"
Hey, hey. Don't make that face already.
He ground his teeth, unable to find a retort.
-Aaaagh!
-Spare me, please!
I was just following orders…!
-Gahk?!
-No prisoners. No trials. Everyone in the palace is a cancer on the nation, an enemy of our fallen comrades!
-Kill them!
Even now, explosions and screams rose from below the palace. I didn't need to see it.
The revolutionaries, drunk on victory, were out of control. Down there right now… it was hell on earth.
"You bombarded innocent civilians with cluster bombs just to take down the suppression forces. Your vengeful underlings? Blindly firing everywhere, not caring who they kill. With the combat troops long dead, they're rampaging through Hanseong, slaughtering any merchant or noble they find!"
"…!"
"The revolution's ideals? The resolve to save Joseon? Yeah, great job! Is burning the whole country down what you called your glorious revolution? Rounding up anyone with money or power without reason—is that your 'new Joseon'?!"
Kwang—!
The blade whistled past my head and embedded itself in the wall I was leaning against.
Normally, terror would have frozen me solid. But now? Nothing.
I'd already sensed death coming.
Didn't matter. This life was already dead, a colossal failure. Might as well vent my mouth off before the end.
"You started it first…!"
In the meantime, the hero's face twisted as he grabbed my collar.
Beneath the mask of revolutionary, the title of hero… lurked an orphan from some slum gutter. A dime-a-dozen vengeful ghost burning with hatred for the Sedao who took his parents.
"You killed first…! Drove us out first…! To polluted lands crawling with monsters! Told us to die fighting them! And yet you…!"
"…Haha."
There it was. All that talk of revolution and saving the nation? Just fancy excuses.
In truth, it was nothing but blind, seething revenge.
"Because I lost everything, you all have to lose too. You have to suffer like I did! So… so I…!"
"Then do it right. Do it thoroughly."
What the hell had I been expecting from this immature kid?
With a hollow laugh, I slowly extended my hand.
In it was a small data shard. Seeing the hero's puzzled look, I kindly explained.
"Information on the Sedao clan members who fled… no, are fleeing overseas."
"…!"
"Their locations, the sources of the wealth they hid through crimes I handled for them. Even what they're doing right this moment. All of it, right here."
Send pursuit teams, and in three days—a week at most—they'd all be caught.
As I added that, the hero eyed me suspiciously and asked,
"…Handing this over won't make me forgive you. You know that."
"I know."
Dropping the formalities now that his true colors showed. I sneered through a puff of smoke, and he scowled, asking again.
"Then… what? Sudden change of heart? Trying to repent now?"
"Repent? You nuts?"
That's the kind of bullshit priests spout. If I was gonna bawl about regrets now, we never would've reached this point.
"The strong devour the weak—that's the law of the world. I still believe that."
"…!"
"You won not because you're good, but because you're strong."
Ugh, look at that disgusted glare. Like he'd spotted a bug.
I chuckled at his face before opening my mouth again.
"I'm pissed off. That's the reason."
"What the…?"
"Things came to this, and if I die alone, it's bullshit. If we're going down, everyone goes. Right?"
Hearing that, the hero slowly reached out and took the data shard.
The info was real, of course. How'd I get it? I planned their escape routes and arranged transport.
Never dreamed I'd use the backup copy like this. Never thought those crazy bastards would abandon me without a plan.
"Kill them all. Joseon's in your hands now—money won't save them for long."
"…"
"That's all your revolutionaries have left to do now, isn't it?"
I was the same. Nothing left to do, nothing I could do.
All that remained? Praying this revenge-crazed hero dragged a few more down with him.
As that thought crossed my mind, he yanked the sword from the wall and swung.
Slice—!
The next instant, my vision spun.
Falling sight. Watching my head detach from my body was a grotesque experience.
"…What a fucking pathetic way to live."
The more I thought about it, the more worthless it all seemed.
Nobleman, yangban, exalted status. I envied those fancy titles so much, I drowned in their shit just to earn their approval.
I took on their dirty work, groveled as their dog, did everything to please them.
That's why, now, I regretted it.
'If only…'
If I'd known it'd end like this, I'd have chosen differently.
If I'd known you'd win, I wouldn't have clung to the rotten Sedao rope—I'd have rolled under you instead.
But that regret was brief.
Thud.
I met my end before even finishing the thought.
Wastrel, human scum, demon, corrupt official.
A miserably fitting death for the man I'd been called all my life.
That's how it should have been.
"…Huh?"
My eyes snapped open.
My head, flying toward the hero, was still attached. The ruined city gleamed brilliantly as before.
What… what the hell is this?
That very moment—
"Powerless?"
A voice branded in my memory yanked my gaze.
"Yes, yes. We've run the tests over and over, but it's certain. Young Master Chang-un has no aura…"
My father, glaring murderously at me and the results.
…I just said all this, didn't I?
Why's it playing again?
Looking around, it wasn't a flashback.
The family elders stared in shock, my brother smirking like he'd known all along.
The malice in their eyes was even sharper than in my memory.
"Explain in detail."
"N-No anomalies in the aura test! It spiked explosively for a moment, then the waveform suddenly distorted…!"
My brain refused to accept what my eyes saw.
This scene, this sight. Every detail matched my memory perfectly.
"…No way. Don't tell me?"
My confusion lasted only a moment.
"The fault of tainted blood."
That phrase. Hearing it, I knew exactly where—and when—I was.
Solar calendar 2224. Joseon year, Gwangmu 327.
The aura testing hall where all the Sedao clan's promising youths gathered.
"A powerless in our Andong Kim Clan…"
Realizing that, I let out a sigh.
"Bullshit, for real."
I'd returned to the past—to my fifteen-year-old self.