Chapter 2 - Department Store Terror Attack
Department Store Terror Attack
Lee Jeon-seok stepped out of his room.
Just as he was about to grab Han Yuri, he suddenly halted.
Nothing came to mind—no words he could say.
If you go out today, you’ll die?
Would she believe that?
She would obviously dismiss it as nonsense.
‘Then…’
He had to find another way.
At that moment—
“Why, son?”
Han Yuri turned back and asked.
Lee Jeon-seok remained silent, but only briefly.
Soon, he shook his head and replied.
“It’s nothing.”
Then he turned his body toward the front door.
“I have plans. I think I need to go out for a bit.”
“All of a sudden? What plans?”
“A friend called me.”
A lie.
But a necessary one.
“I’ll probably be back soon.”
Saying that, Lee Jeon-seok opened the front door.
At that moment, he ran into his younger sister, who had just returned home.
Her expression was vicious, irritation creasing her brow.
She had gone out earlier, saying she had a blind date—
it seemed things hadn’t gone well.
“What?”
Had he stared too intently?
Lee Ji-hye snapped irritably.
“Why are you staring at people like that?”
“What?”
“Your eyes—ugh, never mind.”
She sighed as if giving up mid-sentence.
“Whatever. Just move.”
Her tone was heavy with exhaustion.
There wasn’t a shred of courtesy to be found.
Ironically, Lee Jeon-seok felt a deep sense of longing toward his rude little sister.
Look at that attitude.
How long had it been since he’d seen her like this?
After their parents died, Lee Ji-hye never smiled again.
Not only that—she never once snapped or complained.
She lived carrying depression in her arms.
Soaked in medication and alcohol, she lost her laughter—
And eventually, she drove herself to death.
A suicide jump from the rooftop of a 52-story building.
That was the last image of Lee Ji-hye that Lee Jeon-seok remembered.
Even after falling into hell, how much had he yearned for her…
“Alright.”
With a wistful smile tinged with longing, Lee Jeon-seok stepped aside.
Then—
“…?”
Lee Ji-hye froze, wearing a dumbfounded expression.
Why was that?
“…You’re crazy.”
She looked utterly shocked.
“Mom! I think Oppa is seriously sick!”
She hurried into the living room, shouting.
Bang—!
The front door slammed shut loudly.
Muffled voices could be heard from inside.
Was it really that shocking for her brother to smile?
In the past, he would’ve scoffed.
So now even smiling is a problem?
But now—
Even this messed-up little sister of his felt lovable.
Ding—.
Lee Jeon-seok stepped into the elevator and pressed the button for the first floor.
‘…I have to protect them.’
Scenes both familiar and dearly missed.
He couldn’t lose them again.
And to do that, he had to prevent his parents’ deaths.
Step—.
With firm resolve, Lee Jeon-seok headed off somewhere.
※ ※ ※
The back seat of a city bus.
Lee Jeon-seok sat there, lost in thought.
‘It was called the Dawn Society.’
The villain organization that took his parents away.
Even after an eternity had passed, he still remembered.
Their appearances.
Their location.
The powers they wielded as Awakened.
Everything was vivid.
Impossible to forget.
Because of their terror attack, Lee Jeon-seok lost his parents—
And more importantly, awakened the Heavenly Slaughter Star.
‘…They planted mana bombs in the department store.’
He traced back his memories one by one.
The department store his parents would visit.
The Dawn Society detonated dozens of mana bombs there.
The casualties totaled more than 720 people.
A catastrophe rivaling the Sampoong Department Store disaster.
Countless people lost family, friends, lovers.
And among them—
Were Lee Jeon-seok’s parents.
Back then… how much had he cried and raged?
—
Oppa… what are we going to do now…?
—
His sister’s face, clutching his sleeve with trembling hands—
Even after thousands of years, it had never faded.
Thinking of that time made anger surge again.
“Whew…”
Lee Jeon-seok took a deep breath, suppressing his emotions.
He organized the chaotic plans swirling in his head while waiting for the bus to arrive at the department store.
Then suddenly, his gaze met a reflection in the window.
A faint silhouette of himself.
His sister’s words from earlier resurfaced.
—
Why are you staring at people like that?
—
‘My eyes…?’
Was it really that strange?
Lee Jeon-seok smiled again.
‘Doesn’t seem that strange.’
Maybe it was because the window was opaque?
He couldn’t understand her reaction at all.
While he was thinking that, the bus stopped, and Lee Jeon-seok stood up belatedly.
Immediately afterward—
A massive building filled his view.
The department store targeted by the Dawn Society.
This was where all the hell he remembered began.
‘…There are a lot of people.’
Lee Jeon-seok looked around.
From the entrance to the inner hall, crowds were everywhere.
Soon, this place would be stained with blood.
Where are the bombs?
‘Six in the main hall alone.’
He quickly grasped their locations and numbers.
No one else noticed.
Even the security staff seemed unaware.
That was only natural.
Mana bombs were small and difficult to spot—
And their special waves distorted perception.
Unless you already knew a bomb existed, noticing it was impossible.
‘Disarming them is impossible for now.’
Lee Jeon-seok glanced at a bomb attached to a pillar.
A bomb no bigger than his pinky finger.
Easy to miss if you weren’t looking carefully.
But its power was nothing to scoff at.
Roughly ten times the explosive force of a fragmentation grenade.
And they were scattered throughout the building.
If even one malfunctioned, the Dawn Society would notice—
‘And they’d detonate everything immediately.’
Disarming them all at once?
That was too risky.
Even a slight delay would trigger a chain explosion by design.
There was only one known way to deal with mana bombs.
The death of the controller.
Kill the one who planted them.
For all their power and complexity, mana bombs had a clear weakness—
The controller had to be nearby to trigger them.
If they left a certain range?
The bombs wouldn’t function at all.
The controller personally supplied mana to detonate them.
That was the basic structure of mana bombs.
‘The underground parking lot, right?’
Recalling his memories, Lee Jeon-seok entered the elevator.
Ding—.
He pressed the B2 button.
Soon, the dim underground parking lot appeared.
Nothing seemed out of place here either.
But—
Swish—.
Lee Jeon-seok pulled something from his pocket.
A small yellow utility knife.
A blade he had bought at a mart before boarding the bus.
Holding it, he headed deeper into the parking lot.
Whirr— whirl—.
The knife spun fluidly between his fingers.
He looked extremely familiar with bladed weapons.
Even after spending an eternity in hell, his combat skills from his previous life were engraved deep into his soul.
‘Here.’
His steps stopped in front of a wall.
He placed his left hand against it.
Ziiiing—.
Mana waves spread outward.
‘My mana is lower after the reset, but…’
It was more than enough.
Formations made of mana.
They surfaced across the wall.
A massive magic circle formed of blue letters, dots, and lines.
Swipe—.
Lee Jeon-seok moved his hand once.
The formation twisted.
Like an unlocking mechanism, its structure warped.
Then—
Crack—!
The formation shattered like glass, revealing a massive space.
An artificially excavated cavity.
Without regard for structural balance, an entire wall had been hollowed out like a cave.
“…What the hell?”
A voice came from inside.
A silhouette emerged.
A man with a grimy impression.
He sat on the ground, wearing a gray cloak.
He was likely coordinating all the bombs in the building from here.
“How did you find this place—”
The man frowned in shock.
But before he could finish—
“You got it wrong.”
Clack—.
Lee Jeon-seok gripped the end of the knife’s handle.
A grip that maximized reach.
And—
“You shouldn’t be asking who I am.”
“You should’ve killed me on sight.”
In an instant, he kicked off the ground and lunged forward.
A surprise attack.
Not blindingly fast.
After all, he was still Level 1.
Only slightly superior to a normal human.
Fast enough to track with the eyes.
But the problem was complacency.
The man hadn’t expected an immediate attack.
Slash—.
The knife sliced through the man’s right eye.
“Gaaah!”
Blood sprayed into the air with a scream.
“You bastard—!”
The man staggered as he tried to stand.
Lee Jeon-seok stared at the blood on the knife, wiping it with his thumb.
‘…I don’t hear it.’
Nothing.
In the past, just seeing blood would’ve made voices scream inside his head.
—
Kill.
Kill him.
Tear flesh and muscle and drink the blood!
—
But the instinct of the Heavenly Slaughter Star was silent.
“…I don’t know how you found this place, but I won’t let you die easily!”
The man shouted.
At the same time, flames ignited from both his arms.
It must’ve been his trait.
However—
Before the flames could fully take shape—
“…?!”
The knife went straight for his neck.
It happened in an instant.
A moment too fast to even register.
The blade opened its jaws to tear his throat apart.
“Ghk—!”
The man panicked, but only briefly.
He spread the flames over his entire body.
A wall of fire that repelled all approach.
Lee Jeon-seok had no choice but to pull back his arm.
“…What a shame.”
A quiet mutter followed.
His words, face, and eyes didn’t match.
There wasn’t the slightest hint of regret.
If anything, his smiling expression was chilling.
And at the slightly scorched tip of the blade—
Drip.
A drop of blood fell.
“…You’re insane.”
The man touched his neck.
Just barely—
The skin was cut.
A trivial wound, but proof that Lee Jeon-seok’s attack had reached him.
If his reaction had been even a little slower—
His neck would’ve been pierced clean through.
A chill ran up his spine.
The man stared at Lee Jeon-seok.
The speed wasn’t extraordinary.
The strength wasn’t overwhelming.
Yet he had lost track of his movement for a moment.
A terrifying level of technique.
“…Are you an assassin sent by the Association?”
The man asked cautiously.
His attitude had clearly changed.
Every movement now radiated vigilance.
“Who knows?”
Lee Jeon-seok replied ambiguously, wiping the blood off the blade.
At that moment—
The man unconsciously stepped back.
Cold sweat soaked his arms.
He felt goosebumps.
Those eyes.
The dried-up pupils.
The smile tinged with pleasure.
…Twisted.
Like a corpse grinning after rising from the dead.
Lee Jeon-seok touched his mouth.
Thanks to the man’s reaction, his sister’s words resurfaced.
—
Why are you staring at people like that?
—
‘Is it really that strange?’
He didn’t know.
And frankly, he didn’t care.
Other people’s gazes—
He was already used to them.
He had endured them countless times in his previous life.
Whatever they said or thought—
It didn’t matter anymore.
Whoosh—.
Then—
Boom—!
The man fired a fireball like artillery.
Lee Jeon-seok had been momentarily distracted.
A blazing mass flew toward him at high speed.
Lee Jeon-seok dodged it effortlessly.
His footwork was like the wind.
The man clenched his teeth in disbelief.
Where did this monster come from…?!
He reignited flames across his body.
But—
“Sorry, but I’ve had more than enough of fire.”
At some point, Lee Jeon-seok was already right in front of him.
The knife cut through the flames.
His right arm blackened with burns.
A searing pain crashed down like a hammer.
Yet Lee Jeon-seok acted as if nothing was wrong.
Pushing through the heat, he sliced the man’s throat.
Earlier, he had dodged reflexively.
This time, he intended to finish it.
“Ghk—!”
Blood erupted with a short scream.
The raging flames extinguished.
Thud—.
The man collapsed, clutching his neck.
He twitched briefly while vomiting blood—
“…M-monster…”
With those final words, he died.
A system message appeared.
[You have taken a life.]
[A random trait will be acquired.]
[You have acquired Ignition (B)!]
Due to the Heavenly Slaughter Star’s effect, he stole the man’s trait.
Fire—
The very thing he had grown sick of.
And yet, the first trait he gained after returning to the past was fire-related.
The irony was almost laughable.
‘I’ll check the details later…’
Lee Jeon-seok dismissed the system window with a swipe of his hand, as if pushing away a smartphone screen.
Then—
Throb—.
Pain surged through his right hand.
A sensation like burning flesh.
He looked down.
Burn scars remained where the flames had vanished.
Likely the aftereffect of Ignition.
Pain stabbed into his mind.
But it was bearable.
He had endured hellfire—this was nothing.
After calming the pain with a short breath—
‘I should head back.’
With his objective complete, Lee Jeon-seok turned around.
No—
Just as he was about to.
[You have killed an evildoer.]
[Your good karma increases.]
“…?”
A strange window appeared out of nowhere.