Chapter 1: The Great Cataclysm
The Great Cataclysm
The Demon King of Annihilation.
The Sovereign of Calamity.
The Endbringer.
By whatever terrifying epithet it was known—the colossal, undying evil had finally fallen.
THUD—!
The earth trembled as an impact heavier than a mountain collapsing shook the land.
This was humanity's victory.
Yet the man who had severed the Great Cataclysm's unending breath did not raise his head.
With his broken sword driven into the ruined earth, he remained kneeling, unleashing only a howl laced with unbearable grief.
"Aaaaagh—!"
A voice steeped in bitter regret.
The man staggered forward.
His body riddled with gaping wounds, blood pouring freely.
Like a balloon swaying in the wind, he lurched unsteadily.
He crossed mountains of corpses and rivers of blood.
All of them—
Just moments ago, they had been his comrades. His friends. People who had laughed, eaten, and drunk with him, vowing to survive the next battle so they could share another night like this.
And the families of those friends.
The man lowered his head, his hollow eyes taking in the unrecognizable remains.
He wanted to ask someone—
"Can this... really be called victory?"
Everyone was dead.
Humanity's last hope.
The final stronghold—the Unified Asian Fortress City—had been invaded by the Demon King of Annihilation and his legion.
The only one left alive was the man himself.
Everyone else...
...was gone.
"Haah..."
An involuntary sigh escaped him.
At the same moment, his legs gave out, and he collapsed where he stood.
"Joo... Do-gyeom..."
A voice reached him.
The man—Joo Do-gyeom—whipped his head around.
Amid the mangled corpses and pools of blood, one person was still breathing.
Do-gyeom crawled toward them.
Up close, their condition was even worse than his own.
Their lower half was completely gone. The remaining torso was charred beyond recognition.
Closer to death than life.
Unrecognizable—yet Do-gyeom knew immediately who it was.
"Vivien. Vivien Ashcroft!"
The moment he heard her voice, he was certain.
Vivien laughed weakly in response.
"Haha... What's this? Calling me by my full name like we're strangers?"
"Damn it... You're alive. You're... alive..."
Do-gyeom's head dropped.
Tears splattered against the ground.
Vivien watched him with an odd expression.
"I never thought I'd see the day you cried. Didn't think you knew how."
"Thank you... Thank you, Vivien. For staying alive. Really... thank you."
"Hey, Do-gyeom."
"Vivien..."
"Sorry to pour cold water on this, but... I'm about to die."
Do-gyeom's head snapped up, his eyes locking onto hers.
She was humanity's greatest archmage.
Even with half her body gone and burns covering the rest—
She could come back.
Unless her head was severed or her heart destroyed, nothing could truly kill her.
That was what Do-gyeom knew.
Vivien smiled and continued.
"My heart's already melted. My Mana Core will stop soon. The brain I barely managed to keep active will shut down with it."
A complicated, unbearable explanation.
Even in despair, Do-gyeom processed it rationally.
So he bit his lip and asked:
"Then... how much time do you have left?"
"In hours... about six?"
"..."
"Ahaha—!"
Vivien laughed at Do-gyeom's stunned expression.
He managed a faint smile in return.
Six hours.
Now that he thought about it—
For humanity's final conversation, it might not be enough.
It wasn't suffocatingly short, but...
Just as he thought that—
Vivien spoke again.
"But we probably only have five minutes to talk."
"What do you mean?"
Do-gyeom frowned.
"Pfft...!"
Vivien laughed at his reaction, then raised both hands weakly.
"Ta-da~! Turns out I've got one last grand spell left. Surprised, Do-gyeom?"
"Don't joke around."
"I'm not joking. It's real."
Her eyes, now deadly serious, flickered weakly.
Then she spoke again.
"Honestly, I can't see well... but everyone's dead, right?"
"...Yeah."
"Just you and me left. Everyone else."
Grind—!
Vivien's teeth clenched involuntarily.
Do-gyeom answered quietly.
"...That's right."
"And yet you still killed the Demon King of Annihilation. As expected of our God of War."
"It's a meaningless victory."
What had they fought for?
Why had they endured this far?
Honestly, Do-gyeom still didn't know the answer.
He had fought to survive.
To keep living.
But one thing was certain—
He had never wanted to be the sole survivor, watching humanity's end alone.
"It's not meaningless. By killing the Demon King, you've prepared the final ingredient for my spell."
"Vivien. What the hell are you even—"
"Listen. Do-gyeom. We don't have time, so I'll explain as simply as I can."
The Vivien Do-gyeom knew was rational, calculating.
But the human Vivien was bright, cheerful.
She loved teasing jokes.
Yet never—
Never once—
Had she ever joked with this tone, this expression.
Do-gyeom fell silent.
He listened.
Instinct screamed that he had to.
Vivien's lips parted again.
"I'm sending you back."
"...!!"
"The grand spell I've prepared... is a Time Regression spell."
"Then you should go, not me—"
"I can't. Even ignoring the fact that I'd do worse than you and my body's wrecked... I have to be the final sacrifice for the spell."
"What do you mean, Vivien? Sacrifice?"
"It's necessary. Like I said, no time to explain."
Do-gyeom could feel it.
As they spoke—
Mana was gathering around Vivien.
Not just natural mana—
But dark mana, drawn even from the dead.
All converging toward them.
The spell had already been cast.
Too late to stop.
Realizing this, Do-gyeom asked with sunken eyes:
"Vivien. Honestly... even if I go back, I'm not sure I can stop this."
The damage could be reduced.
With regression, he could gain so much more.
But the Demon King was stronger than anticipated.
Frankly, even this victory had relied heavily on luck.
And the Demon King wasn't even the end.
Across the world, new monsters and calamities were still being born.
Who was to say something worse wouldn't appear?
In this situation, absolute confidence was impossible.
Do-gyeom didn't want to make such an irresponsible claim in the face of her sacrifice.
Vivien, sensing his thoughts, smiled.
"But you'll do it anyway."
"What kind of reckless—"
"Do-gyeom. You can. Honestly, if it were anyone else, I'd have forced myself to go instead. Really. But you... the man I've watched all this time..."
As the spell took effect, her consciousness seemed to waver. Her voice grew faint, repeating fragments.
Then, abruptly—
Light flashed in her eyes.
At the same time, Vivien shouted:
"Heaven-Slaying Star!"
"What?"
Before Do-gyeom could question the sudden outburst, a spark of understanding flared in his mind.
"Vivien... Are you telling me to become Heaven-Slaying Star?"
"..."
Vivien didn't answer.
Or rather, couldn't.
Whether due to the regression spell or not, her lips moved soundlessly.
Instead, she nodded repeatedly.
Do-gyeom let out a hollow laugh.
"Heaven-Slaying Star, of all things..."
He had forgotten, but—
It wasn't a bad idea.
Ah.
The term Heaven-Slaying Star shared the same name as those from old martial arts novels, but it wasn't quite the same.
Closer to a Hunter's unique trait.
Something a man who could have been the strongest—had death not claimed him—once possessed.
Its effect was simple.
The wielder of Heaven-Slaying Star—
"Can kill anything."
The countless battles he had fought.
The most tormenting power humanity faced was the undying resilience of calamity-class monsters.
The Earth Drake. The Witch of Gluttony. The Golden Serpent. The Abyssal Lord.
And finally—the Demon King of Annihilation.
How many times had he pierced its heart?
How many times had he severed its head?
Yet it refused to die.
It kept surviving, trampling humanity.
Mocking their desperate struggles.
Do-gyeom's final strike had only landed after hundreds of fatal wounds from his comrades.
But—
If he obtained Heaven-Slaying Star...
"I might be able to kill their immortality."
No.
He was certain of it.
He would kill them.
The problem was—
"Those who obtain Heaven-Slaying Star... inevitably fall into madness."
The nature of that madness varied.
Unpredictable.
The man who once possessed it in the past—
He too succumbed to madness and became a villain, branded as the worst adversary in human history.
Though he ultimately met his end at the hands of a special forces team including Joo Do-gyeom, the horrors of Heaven-Slaying Star he experienced at that time remained unforgettable even now.
To wield that power of Heaven-Slaying Star in his own hands.
It was dangerous.
If the godless Joo Do-gyeom obtained Heaven-Slaying Star and was consumed by madness.
He would be reborn as a calamity more terrifying than the Demon King of Annihilation.
But.
'There's no other way.'
To prevent humanity from repeating its catastrophic failure.
'I...'
He would.
'Become the master of Heaven-Slaying Star.'
Having made his resolve, Do-gyeom's eyes gleamed as he surveyed his surroundings.
A chaotic vortex of black and white magical energy swirled wildly.
At its center, his consciousness.
His soul.
His body.
Everything was being pulled in.
Fully aware of this, Do-gyeom stared straight ahead with wide eyes.
Vivien was waving at him.
At the final moment.
Do-gyeom, sensing her, waved back.
There was no great turmoil.
Though it was farewell, it didn't feel like goodbye.
'Let's meet again after the regression. Vivien.'
As Do-gyeom watched Vivien's face grow increasingly distant, he suddenly saw her expression change as if she'd remembered something. She urgently opened her mouth to speak.
Her voice still didn't reach him.
Do-gyeom asked again.
'What?'
His voice too no longer emerged.
And then.
With unbelievable speed, his consciousness faded.
A jolting vibration-like impact.
Do-gyeom's eyes snapped open at the sensation.
Quickly surveying his surroundings, he saw the spacious interior of a rapidly moving vehicle and outside the window, the flowing blue waves of a river.
Do-gyeom knew that river, knew its exact name.
'The Han River.'
A sight he'd grown sick of seeing before his country's destruction, being originally from South Korea.
The interior?
'It's a bus.'
The moment he realized this, he frantically checked his pockets.
Out came a bar-shaped smartphone that might as well have been an ancient relic from Do-gyeom's perspective.
The date displayed when he touched it:
February 5, 2026.
Without realizing it, Do-gyeom clenched his fist and spoke.
"Vivien, you did it."
He'd realized her regression magic had succeeded.
'Now that I think about it...'
February 5, 2026 was five years before he became a Hunter.
'I've come back further than I expected.'
It was a good situation, honestly, though some regrets remained.
Five years ago, his mother had died in an accident.
And last year, his father who'd been battling cancer passed away too.
If possible...
It was only human to wish for more.
Do-gyeom shook his head to dispel that regret.
However fickle human emotions might be.
As he'd just thought, this was fundamentally a good situation, wasn't it?
'2026 means that incident hasn't happened yet.'
Earth's condition was still relatively intact.
Ah, of course, that was by the standards of the future Do-gyeom knew.
Truthfully, even the current situation wasn't exactly great.
Anyway.
Setting aside his regrets about his parents, Do-gyeom focused on his current circumstances.
'Let me think carefully.'
What was I doing around this time?
Fortunately or unfortunately.
His memories from this period remained unusually vivid, as clear as yesterday.
He'd been working at a logistics center for a delivery company.
Though he'd graduated college, having failed to find proper employment, he was living paycheck to paycheck while waiting for another opportunity.
He had no savings.
His family had already been poor, and what little they'd had was spent on his father's medical treatment.
Looking at it this way, five years later...
His decision to become a Hunter despite knowing the extreme dangers hadn't been coincidence but near inevitability.
Seeing no future in continuing as he was, he'd staked his life on that gamble.
'At that time, Hunter mortality was around 20%.'
By current standards five years earlier, probably around 30%.
A staggering figure, but this was actually an improvement.
During the early days of the Great Upheaval, Hunter mortality had reached a whopping 68%, nearly 70%.
Meaning out of ten who challenged becoming Hunters, seven died.
Those who survived are now living legends in this world.
'This didn't change much in the future world either.'
Cases like Do-gyeom's - starting late yet rising to the top - weren't nonexistent, but extremely rare.
Anyway.
How did he know such detailed statistics?
From Hunter communities online.
Though they required verification that kept ordinary people out, with his future memories, he couldn't not know.
'Even so, my memories are unnervingly clear.'
He dismissed the question quickly.
He'd regressed regardless.
Rather than waste time on unnecessary thoughts, it was better to act.
The first step was already decided.
The logistics center part-time job no longer mattered.
So immediately after arriving at work, Do-gyeom left and returned to his goshiwon (small rented room), recalling an email address from memory to send a message.
The recipient:
'Vivien Ashcroft.'
The archmage who'd sent him back.
For unknown reasons, in the past she frequently changed phone numbers.
But she'd consistently used one email address, so a reply should come.
He kept the content simple yet clear enough for her to understand the situation.
Now all that remained was waiting.
A Hunter born during the early Great Upheaval.
One of the living legends.
If he could secure her help starting now...
'We could advance much faster and further.'
Still, it would take time.
'Given how often she changed numbers and how slowly she checked emails.'
He'd wait patiently.
There was plenty to do in the meantime.
Do-gyeom's second action after regression was borrowing money.
He had no choice.
'Current bank balance: 2.5 million won.'
For this time period and Do-gyeom's frugal lifestyle, enough to live on for a month.
But considering what he needed to do now, it was woefully insufficient.
'First, I need to obtain Heaven-Slaying Star.'
Just the preparation process would clearly require well over 10 million won.
The problem was that no legitimate financial institution would lend to someone with no proper assets or even steady employment.
Friends?
He'd cut contact while caring for his father.
Even if he still had connections, few friends at this age could lend such large sums.
So Do-gyeom sought out a notorious loan shark.
A long scar running down his left eye.
A small but densely muscular man cocked his head and asked:
"So... you just show up asking to borrow 10 million won?"
This was Oh Jin-seok, owner of the loan operation.
"Isn't that what this place is for?"
"Hmm..."
While making this sound, his eyes rapidly scanned Do-gyeom up and down.
A barrage of questions followed:
"How often do you drink? Smoke? Exercise?"
"Drink about once a year. Don't smoke. Haven't exercised properly but I'm healthy from the logistics work."
Oh Jin-seok's eyes gleamed.
'Just harvesting his organs would cover the principal.'
Here, "harvesting" meant selling people's organs and body parts.
He doubled as a broker selling defaulters' bodies overseas.
Seeing this healthy young man pleased him, but he couldn't show it.
Instead, crossing his legs with a displeased expression, he said:
"But friend, you're pretty curt. I'm clearly older, and shouldn't someone borrowing money show more respect?"
"I'll look elsewhere if you're unwilling."
Do-gyeom rose without hesitation.
Instantly, a flustered Oh Jin-seok spoke up:
"Hey hey, hear me out first. Sit down."
"You'll lend it?"
"I'll lend it, so sit the fuck down, kid. Damn brat's got a short tongue, tch."
As Do-gyeom sat back down, Oh Jin-seok jiggled his crossed leg and continued:
"But 10 mil's too much. No family, no close friends. You live around here too, right? Could get mauled by monsters or robbed any day. 10 mil's pushing it."
His narrowed eyes tried reading Do-gyeom's emotions.
But nothing showed.
Just an impassive face and glassy black eyes radiating utter indifference.
'This really a logistics temp?'
Rather than harvesting him, maybe he could be useful with some training?
Might become quite valuable if raised right?
As these thoughts spun:
"So what's the maximum possible?"
Finding this reasonable, Do-gyeom asked.
Oh Jin-seok smiled a fishy smile.
Licking his lips, he extended five fingers.
"5 mil. Monthly interest: 70%. Can't be helped - we're taking a big risk not knowing if we'll recoup our investment."
The legal maximum interest was under 20% annually.
But 70%?
An outrageously predatory rate, yet Do-gyeom nodded without hesitation.
"Deal."
Why?
Oh Jin-seok.
He and all his men would be mysteriously murdered by a Hunter in two weeks.
As a vicious loan shark with enemies everywhere, the case went unsolved.
Perhaps rival gangs wanting his turf, but frankly Do-gyeom didn't care.
The key point was that even if Oh Jin-seok died before repayment, Do-gyeom felt zero guilt toward this villain.
At this moment, 5 million more won entered his hands.
"Good choice. Later you'll thank me for only lending this much. Remember you owe me, kid. Haha!"
Oh Jin-seok laughed.
Do-gyeom laughed too.
Such was the day.