#023.
In my previous life, humanity fell into great chaos along with the Ritual of Awakening.
Little wonder, as an immense power beyond humanity’s imagination had been bestowed upon each individual.
Surely, some may have used it for good, to maintain law and order.
But they were clearly the minority.
The majority, excluding the few, utilized it for their own gain and plunged the world into chaos.
If there was one fortunate fact, it was that those who had bloomed their Traits did not move as groups.
Because only a chosen few had bloomed their Traits in the extremely short span of half a year, they had failed to recognize each other’s existence.
‘If they had recognized one another and formed factions, then countless blood would have been spilled even before the End drew near.’
It was something I had imagined once or twice.
What if the Awakened had gathered early on and formed groups to pursue their mutual interests?
But that terrible imagination had become reality.
The two men before my eyes.
No matter how I looked at them, a foul stench wafted from these bastards who seemed to have come here to rope Jeong Dohwan in.
That much was clear just from the slit-eyed man’s actions moments ago.
If I had been no more than an ordinary person, I would have failed to endure that single blow from earlier and died.
There hadn’t been a moment’s hesitation in that attack.
Killing intent.
It was an aura felt only from those who had killed someone before, one exuded by those who had grown accustomed to the End.
Of course, compared to them, I was no different from a minnow, but the nature was similar.
“Strange.”
The man in the suit’s gaze reached me.
“Why are you so calm?”
“Is there a reason I shouldn’t be?”
“When someone speaks of the End, everyone should treat them like a madman or a cultist, yet you aren’t like that at all.”
Seeing that he was fairly perceptive, he certainly seemed to be the slit-eyed one’s superior.
“I was surprised, but how should I put it. It’s almost as if you already know about the End, or rather, you seem surprised that we know about it.”
“You’ve got quite the eye for detail.”
“Huh?”
The slit-eyed one voiced his doubt.
“You know about the End? Come on, you lying?”
“That’s what I want to say.”
“Whoa!”
He truly wears his emotions on his sleeve.
“Then are you affiliated with some faction too?”
And how simple-minded he is too.
Asking if I’m affiliated with a faction—
“Means you yourself are affiliated with one.”
Because it proves he belongs to a faction.
The middle-aged man’s sharp gaze—those reproaching eyes—fell upon the slit-eyed man.
“...Uh, um….”
“Why are you cowering like that? Anyone with sense could figure out that much.”
“Hmm.”
The middle-aged man’s gaze, which had been directed at the slit-eyed man, turned to me.
“I’ll ask you one thing.”
It’s oppressive.
He must be accustomed to this current attitude of giving orders to others.
“You, what Trait have you bloomed?”
See this?
He even knows about the blooming of Traits.
No, if I dig a little deeper here,
‘He acts like he knows other Awakened.’
No matter how I look at it, he doesn’t seem to have any acquaintance with Jeong Dohwan.
Yet he came here looking precisely for him, who had bloomed his Trait.
What does that mean?
It means the faction they belong to has grasped the identities of those who have bloomed their Traits to some extent.
‘One thing is certain.’
These bastards are not a group I can take lightly.
“Is it a difficult question?”
To the repeated question,
“It’s not difficult, it’s rude. Asking about another’s Trait so brazenly is no different from a provocation.”
Had I said this during the End, blades would have been drawn immediately, but now... well.
“Let me make this clear: if you wish to join us, what Trait you have bloomed….”
“Not interested.”
“...Not interested?”
“I don’t know what gives you such confidence, but what made you think I’d join hands with you? I’m not interested in the slightest.”
I understand what faction they belong to and that it is gathering Awakened.
‘In a way, gathering this early might be more helpful for survival.’
If they prepare with someone who knows the End as their focal point, they might be able to greet a future far better than what I experienced.
However.
‘At the very least, these bastards aren’t ones who would be of any help.’
In the early days of the End, factions formed around those who had bloomed powerful Traits.
But those factions never entered Ogang, the preeminent faction of the End.
Because factions built solely for their own strength and profit, without goals or ambition, did not last long.
I had seen countless cases of them collapsing not from external forces, but from within.
And each time, chaos followed.
‘If these kinds of bastards multiply, that too is a loss.’
That is why I had no intention of cooperating with them.
Rather, there was a need to neutralize that group with black intentions.
“You don’t think you can overcome the coming End, that great change, alone, do you?”
“I do think that, actually?”
“Foolish.”
The suit-wearing man furrowed his brows.
“Well.”
He smirked.
“It’s an arrogance possible only because you haven’t yet heard that person’s prophecy.”
“That’s right. What would a little bastard like that know?”
The slit-eyed one chimed in.
Just from that, their hierarchical relationship was clear.
“Elder.”
Withdrawing his gaze from me, he stared at Jeong Dohwan.
He seemed overflowing with confidence that he could eliminate me at any moment.
“What about you, Elder?”
“….”
Eyes that looked completely dead turned toward the suit-wearing man.
“...Can you really do it?”
“Yes. That person is beyond the realm of humans, truly someone who can be called a superhuman. If you join hands with that person, your lifelong wish shall be fulfilled, Elder.”
“Then….”
Jeong Dohwan.
It seemed he had been persuaded by them.
Had I not been here, they probably could have easily achieved their goal.
“Mister.”
But did I really look like I’d let that happen?
“Don’t believe those gentlemen. Whatever angle you look at them from, they’re typical con artists with nothing but smooth talk, aren’t they?”
What?
A superhuman beyond the human realm?
Before my regression, not even the seven of us, including myself, had transcended the human realm.
We were still nothing more than weak humans, and ultimately had to face failure at the wall of the End.
And yet, what superhuman is someone who has just bloomed their Trait?
Judging by their smooth talk, they were likely just another one of those unremarkable villains.
Let a talent who would later become one of the Ten Lords slip to bastards like them?
Not a chance.
“...And you?”
Jeong Dohwan, his pupils reached me.
They were a kind I had seen all too often.
Fish displayed at the seafood market.
Eyes that felt not a single spark of vitality, dead eyes that seemed dyed gray.
‘Because he lost everything.’
I know.
His unfortunate past.
Why he was hostile to humanity, and why he joined hands with the Queen of Hearts.
That is why I came here.
To eliminate him, or to pull him in as an ally.
Of course, the priority was to make him an ally.
Of course, before my regression, we had been hostile, arch-enemies.
‘If I lead him well, he will be of great help to humanity’s survival.’
I set aside personal grudges.
Had he been a monster pursuing slaughter, I might have leaned toward elimination, but he had his own circumstances.
Of course, just because he had circumstances didn’t justify it.
But taking his situation into account, I wanted to give him a chance to repent.
“Do you truly wish so badly to save your granddaughter?”
“….”
His eyes widened at my words.
“Y-you….”
“Please don’t ask how I knew. I cannot tell you that, but one thing is certain: I can complete a physical body to transplant your granddaughter’s soul into.”
“What!”
They widened so much they practically bulged.
He couldn’t help it.
Because I had found out a truth no one else had (ah, though these shady bastards seem to know it too).
‘Jeong Dohwan. His wish is to revive his granddaughter who died in an accident.’
He lost his wife early at the age of thirty.
The daughter he had raised with painstaking care alone was lost in a traffic accident a year ago.
The unfortunate thing was that those caught up in the accident were not just his son-in-law and daughter, but also his granddaughter.
The two beings who had been his only peace and light in a life dark as pitch black had died at the same time.
And just before his daughter died,
‘Dad. Please, save our daughter, Seoyeong….’
She had barely managed to utter those words, terribly slurred.
But it was a wish Jeong Dohwan could not fulfill.
Because his granddaughter Kim Soyeong too was in a state modern medicine could do nothing about, with every bone in her body broken and her internal organs damaged.
‘That is why he kept that corpse preserved for so long. To fulfill his daughter’s final wish.’
The reason Jeong Dohwan joined hands with the Queen of Hearts was because she possessed the Droplet of Resurrection.
Originally, it was something obtainable only by killing her, but Jeong Dohwan obtained a trial where he could gain it in exchange for cooperating with her.
Of course, that dream was thwarted by the attacks of me, William, and Baek-ui.
But if he had harbored a ruthless heart from the beginning and attacked strategically, everyone there, including me, would have died.
That was how much Jeong Dohwan was a figure who had bloomed a fraudulent Trait, one who would have a profound impact on humanity’s survival and destruction.
“What do you think? Does it not pique your interest?”
Because I knew all of those circumstances, I could propose a negotiation.
“I-is that true? You can really save Seoyeong again…?”
For the first time, his dead eyes sparkled.
“Elder.”
But it was the suit-wearing man who interrupted.
“Surely you don’t believe this rascal’s words? What could such an unsightly fellow, and alone at that, possibly accomplish?”
He emphasized “alone” while trampling all over me.
“Please join hands with us. That person shall achieve the resurrection of the granddaughter you so desire….”
“Tsk, tsk. Nonsense.”
I counterattacked once more.
“We’re not gods; how could we revive the dead?”
This made it certain.
They don’t accurately know Jeong Dohwan’s circumstances.
And that would work as a very favorable advantage for me.
“What the Elder wants is not resurrection. Isn’t that right, Elder?”
“...That’s right.”
It seemed trust was gradually tilting toward me?
“Your work. I can help with it.”
“….”
His eyes grew wide.
Because I know the work he is doing.
One more decisive blow here.
“You don’t believe the words of those who know nothing of your circumstances, who moreover claim they will revive the dead? Well, it’s obvious. They won’t do it right away; they’ll string you along with promises of ‘someday,’ work you to the bone, and then discard you.”
I had lived through the End for twenty years.
I had survived until becoming one of the Final Seven, but there had never been a case of a human bringing another person back to life.
Ah, of course, there was exactly one time.
The Droplet of Resurrection that Jeong Dohwan had tried to obtain at the risk of his life.
Through that treasure dropped by the Queen of Hearts, we had revived William, who had died in the battle at that time.
At the very least, performing the miracle of reviving the dead through human power is impossible.
So the words of those bastards who came here are lies.
And if there is one characteristic of liars,
“Insolent!”
“You bastard!”
it is that they get angry when their lies are exposed.
And the suit-wearing man and the slit-eyed one were angry exactly according to that formula.
It was not simple anger.
Naked killing intent.
‘These bastards have killed quite a few people.’
That killing intent is not something ordinary people can emanate.
Only those who have had the experience of killing can emit it.
That is how I know.
These bastards, and the force behind them, are no different from those idiots who ran rampant in the early days of the End.
“You were planning to do this anyway, weren’t you? Let’s stop wasting time with words and get right to it.”
In the end, what they wanted was a show of force.
And I was someone who was ready to answer that at any time.