Prologue: Ten Years of Servitude
Ten years. I'd been used like a slave for ten years. Unable to bear it any longer, I resolved to take revenge—and I carried it out.
"If I live as a tool again, I'm a dog. A fucking dog." I swore it. In this life, I won't be anyone's tool.
#Chapter 1
"What a mess."
My body was in the worst possible state. My left arm was gone—I didn't even know when it had been blown off. Blood gushed from the gaping hole in my stomach. Most of my gear was destroyed; the only thing still usable was a sword broken to a third of its length.
A laugh escaped me.
"Heh… heh heh heh!"
Lee Hyun screamed curses at me, his voice raw with rage.
"Cha Eun-seong, you son of a bitch! What the hell did you do?!"
His condition was even worse than mine. His lower body was completely gone, and his ruptured abdomen spilled intestines onto the ground.
"Looks good on you."
A smile spread across my lips.
"Answer me, you bastard! What the fuck is this?!"
Even in that state, he was still bellowing at the top of his lungs. He must have been furious beyond words.
"Can't you tell just by looking?" I snorted, blood bubbling at the corner of my mouth. "I decided to drag all of you down with me. Heh… heh heh. Urgh."
The effects of the potions I'd doped with earlier were wearing off. Pain was finally starting to register.
"So what the hell did you do?! You fucking dog! Why would you do this?! Why?!"
"You really don't know? Still can't figure out what's happening?"
"What the hell are you talking about?! Gah!"
"I can't kill you bastards myself. How could a mere tool like me lay a finger on such illustrious rankers? So this was the only way to take you with me. Heh heh heh!"
Thirty-six hours earlier, we had entered the Dragon Lord's Nest. The boss, the Dragon Lord, was an 11-star monster capable of reducing an entire country to ashes on its own. France had fallen that way. So had Japan, everything except Hokkaido.
Our raid party, made up of Korea's top rankers, had fought through hell to reach the Dragon King's Chamber. Just as the battle reached its peak, I executed the plan I'd been dreaming of for so long.
First, I drove the Instant Death Dagger into the neck of the mage Ra Si-hyun, who had been binding the boss.
Thud!
"Kuh!"
She collapsed with a single cry and died instantly.
"How dare you, insignificant insects!"
The Dragon Lord, freed from its bindings, went berserk.
"KRRRAAAAAARGH!"
Tanker Kim Kang-min was reduced to a charred lump by the dragon's breath. Distant dealer Chae Gwang-jin nocked an arrow and aimed at me, but I had anticipated that. How could I not, after planning this so meticulously?
Whose arrow was that again?
Boom!
The arrowhead exploded violently.
"Aaaagh!"
Chae Gwang-jin, whose defense was naturally low as a ranged dealer, had his entire face blown off. The Dragon Lord closed the distance in an instant and swallowed his upper body whole.
"Just wait a moment!"
Healer Baek A-young tried to pour life force into him, but that reaction was also within my calculations.
Her healing magic did nothing. Of course it didn't. Before entering the chamber, I'd laced the doping potions with Death Leaf juice, which nullified healing. And one more thing—
A swarm of bees appeared from somewhere and descended on Baek A-young. Eternal Hell Bees, denizens of the 4-star dungeon Primordial Jungle. I'd spent quite some time beekeeping them.
"Kyaaaaaaaah!"
Good. Die. Die screaming.
"Lululala."
Watching her get stung and devoured, I found myself humming.
She had done the same to me once.
The twin support dealers Moon Dae-han and Moon Dae-seong charged at me, cursing, but they weren't my problem anymore.
"Die, worthless insects."
The Dragon Lord chased after them.
Main dealer Lee Hyun ran around desperately trying to salvage the situation, but it was already over. Without a mage, tanker, ranged dealer, or healer, how long could they possibly last?
The entire party was wiped out in less than five minutes.
I was left a wreck as well, but that was fine. If it meant screwing over these inhuman bastards—if it meant killing them—my own life was a small price to pay.
I was a non-combat supporter. Alone, I could never have scratched them. Even as an SSS-rank, a supporter was nothing but a tool. The only way to bring them down was to drown the entire raid in shit.
Because of my choice, Korea—and the world—would walk the path of destruction. But I didn't care. Humanity could go to hell. This world was already broken beyond repair. What did it matter if it ended now?
"So this was all for revenge? Your pathetic grudge drove you to this madness?"
"Pathetic? What's pathetic about it?" Anger surged through me. "You used me like a slave for ten years. Was that not pathetic?"
At first, I thought it was teamwork. Camaraderie. But it wasn't. The longer it went on, the clearer it became—they only exploited me. They ignored me, looked down on me, discriminated against me simply because I was a supporter. Yet it was thanks to me that they became the world's top rankers.
But that alone wasn't why I decided to do this.
"Then what about my mother? You left her to die. Was that not pathetic either?"
Lee Hyun fell silent.
Three years ago, monsters had overrun the area where my mother lived. I begged them. Just once—help me save my mother. But they chose to clear another high-profile dungeon instead. For the greater good, they said. They ignored my desperate pleas.
So my mother died.
How could the mother of a top-ranked hunter be killed by monsters? They came to her funeral and offered empty condolences.
'We're sorry. It turned out that way.'
'Hold the funeral well.'
'That's the weight of being a hero. You have to endure it.'
The media praised me with flowery words like "a noble sacrifice for the nation." All of it was orchestrated by them, of course.
After that, everything changed. Afraid I would hold a grudge, they used my younger sister as leverage to keep me in line. They watched me, blocked me from contacting other hunters. Even as a tool, I was still an SSS-rank supporter. I had value.
So I made a vow. I would have my revenge. Today was the anniversary of my mother's death. This was the best funeral offering I could give her.
'I'm sorry I couldn't protect you to the end.'
I worried about my sister, who would be left alone, but she would be fine. I'd made arrangements. It would be hard, but she was strong. She could manage without her foolish older brother.
Lee Hyun laughed.
"Cha Eun-seong, you idiot. Do you really think your dead mother will come back because of this? Heh heh… fine. Let's say you got your revenge. But your precious little sister—do you really think she'll be safe…?"
He never finished the sentence.
Crunch!
The Dragon Lord's jaws closed around his head.
It chewed loudly. The Dragon Lord must have been very hungry.
The creature turned its gaze toward me. A chill ran down my spine—my very soul felt like it was shrinking.
Don't be afraid. I still had a trump card.
"You… are someone I cannot kill."
As expected of an 11-star boss, the Dragon Lord instantly recognized what I held.
"That's right. You can't kill me."
I pulled three stone orbs from my inventory. They glowed red, yellow, and blue, revealing their true forms.
The Dragon King's Cintamani. This was the final piece of the plan I had completed through countless hardships.
According to an ancient text found in a dungeon, gathering three Cintamani and offering them to the Dragon Lord would grant a wish.
Time to find out if that was true.
"I will make a wish."
"In accordance with the covenant passed down since the beginning of creation, I shall grant your wish."
"My wish is—"
Thud!
The Dragon Lord's hand pierced straight through my chest, through my heart.
"Guh…!"
I couldn't even speak, only gasp for air.
You said… you'd grant… my wish…
"What you truly desire will only be fulfilled through death."
What kind of bullshit is that, you lizard bastard…
'Hah… so this is how I die. Without even making my wish.'
My consciousness faded.
And when I opened my eyes again—
"Son. Son."
"…?"
"Even if you're sleepy, eat before you sleep."
My mother was looking down at me.