Reversal of Good and Evil
A cool dawn breeze filtered into the room. Kim Jin-woo, grimacing and groaning, jolted awake from a nightmare.
“Gasp!”
His heart thundered in his chest. He shot upright, hands frantically patting down his body. All intact.
“Phew...”
Relief washed over him at the sight of his unmarred skin. He’d seen something utterly terrifying—something so horrific he couldn’t bear to even imagine it. Something that had no business existing on this earth, in South Korea of all places.
Yeah. No way something like that’s lurking in Seoul.
His body felt blissfully cocooned in clouds right now. If that murderer had caught him, could he savor this comfort?
A chill prickled his skin unbidden. He curled up tight, then stretched out. Wait—this bed. He’d never seen it before.
As he puzzled over the unfamiliar sheets, fiddling with the edge of the blanket—
“You’re awake.”
A sultry voice slithered into his ear. For some reason, it brought an inexplicable wave of relief.
·····He couldn’t help turning to look.
“Ughhh!”
His eyes locked with Sertina’s. She sat demurely, sipping from an antique porcelain teacup perched in a leather armchair, utterly unfazed.
Kim Jin-woo’s heart kicked into overdrive once more.
Why? Why the hell is Sertina here?!
Cold sweat trickled down his spine. His trembling pupils betrayed his panic.
Sertina, oblivious or indifferent, set her cup on the side table and dabbed her hand with a napkin.
Her expression blank, she fixed him with a steady gaze. “You were groaning a lot in your sleep. Something hurt?”
Kim Jin-woo couldn’t respond. Terror multiplied relentlessly, dulling his thoughts.
Something hurt? Was that the line from the monster who’d brutally slaughtered his comrades?
Absurdity sealed his lips. Then Sertina rose from her chair.
The sight amplified his dread tenfold.
“You’re scared of me?”
He stayed silent.
Her blood-red eyes gleamed fiercely. “Because I killed all your comrades.”
Instead of words, he bit his lip hard. Rage surged at the casual desecration of his friends’ deaths—and terror that his own torture loomed next.
“Do you resent me?”
Fear ebbed from his eyes, replaced by boiling fury. Like an ordinary man stripped of everything, seething with helpless wrath.
Sertina took it in, then withdrew her gaze knowingly and closed her eyes. “As expected. You know nothing.”
A smartphone tumbled from her inventory into her hand. She tapped the screen briefly before flicking it toward him.
“Catch.”
He snatched it in a daze. By the time he looked up—
·····Sertina was already gone from the room.
Should I bolt now? The impulse gripped him.
The door yawned wide open. A cracked window let in fresh air. Outside lay the Seoul skyline. He could leap and flee from here.
·····Sertina’s senses would detect his escape instantly and pursue—but Kim Jin-woo had no inkling of that.
Still, he couldn’t move. He stared down at the phone clutched in his hand.
A single video glowed on the lit screen. One of Sertina’s phrases nagged at him.
—As expected. You know nothing.
He exhaled raggedly. What’s her game?
His mind reeled. Why spare him? Why leave him in this defenseless setup ripe for escape?
He swallowed hard, curiosity overriding caution as he tapped play.
—You all set?
The video showed his now-slain comrades. Seeing them stirred an inexplicable lump in his throat.
Kim Jin-woo recognized the spot instantly: the intersection near Hyeonwol Guild headquarters. Their rendezvous for the operation.
·····The camera angle screamed hidden vantage point.
Bastards...!
He squeezed his eyes shut, grinding his teeth. His curiosity had been a mistake. How could that damned demoness shove this in his face? Was she mocking their deaths to the bitter end?
His teeth gnashed. Fists balled tight. He yearned to rip that loathsome monster apart right then.
But he couldn’t. He was too weak.
Even with the S-rank Player title reserved for level 6,000 and above—even that paled against a sliver of the Blood Queen’s power.
Like an ant thrashing against a lion.
He’d witnessed it: Hyeonwol Guild’s top elites—Korea’s number one ranked—vanish without a trace at her indifferent flick of the wrist.
Challenging such a monster was sheer madness. His eyes and ears had burned that truth into his bones.
The comrades’ banter droned on. Each word twisted the knife, a reminder he’d never hear them again. His free hand crushed the bedsheet.
Then Jang Jin-cheol’s voice pierced his ears.
—Remember the op details? Jin-woo, we nail that bastard for sure.
—Yeah, hyung. I hit first with my skill, Hansol binds him.
—Right. Then mages unleash—fall back.
—That gunner punk has no clue it’s his last day, huh?
Affection vanished from Kim Jin-woo’s eyes in an instant. “What the fuck?”
The curse slipped out cold and low. From then on, he gripped the screen with both hands, eyes glued.
The camera shadowed them stealthily en route to the regional boss.
Every word, every move of the strike team captured in vivid detail.
When Kim Jin-woo cracked a joke to ease the tension, they laughed up front—but behind, Lee Han-yul flipped him off. The others stifled giggles, hands over mouths.
Indescribable rage boiled within him.
Finally, the boss fell.
—Huh? What’s that noise? One more and we’re done for today.
—Nah, let’s head back quick.
Lee Han-yul patted his back, nudging him along.
·····Straight from his memory.
In that trusting moment of turning away—
Lee Han-yul raised his sword!
The camera burst from its hiding spot.
A girl’s voice at the video’s end.
—Stop.
“······.”
Kim Jin-woo was truly speechless. He just stared blankly, replaying the final scene on loop.
The camera’s position—it was exactly where the doll-masked girl had emerged.
He replayed the moment in his head.
·····Right, the doll girl had pocketed her phone into inventory as she stepped out.
And that girl’s true identity...
·····Sertina, harbinger of doom.
His mouth fell slack in hollow shock. Reality refused to compute.
The convictions he’d clung to shattered in a heartbeat.
His jovial comrades, backs trusted—had smashed him without mercy.
The ultimate monster, the Blood Queen, had saved him instead. Let him rest easy. No chains, no guards.
She wasn’t the blood-crazed slayer from Astria Online’s lore, butchering all life in madness.
Sertina had reason to slaughter Hyeonwol’s members. A justified one.
Good was evil.
Evil was good.
His head drooped.
Sertina’s silhouette appeared beyond the door. “Reality’s cruel. Doubly so when it crushes your ideals.”
He had no rebuttal. Just a dazed, hollow stare amid swirling confusion.
Her footsteps drew near. She perched on the bed’s edge and reached out, gently clasping his despondent hand.
Minutes ago, he’d have recoiled in horror.
·····Now, he simply accepted it in silence.
“I’ll step out for a bit. Calm down, make yourself at home. I’ll bring someone you know.”
Someone he knew...?
Sertina rose, easing the door shut behind her.
Silence.
Kim Jin-woo’s mind blanked. Like he’d lost all zest for life.
“Someone you know” barely registered amid the shock.
Why the hell did I bust my ass protecting these scumbags?
The thought looped like a relentless whisper, rattling his skull.
Sleepless nights slaying monsters. Charging to save civilians in need. Skipping meals in grueling efforts...
Why? What had he done wrong?
How many minutes passed?
Frozen like a statue in shock, footsteps crossed the floorboards toward him.
The door flew open.
“Jin-woo!”
His eyes bulged. No sound escaped his gaping mouth.
There, before him—
Cha Eun-joo. The world’s number one Techno Master. Reported dead just a day prior.