The entrance to the village, still choked with acrid smoke. Hazy silhouettes emerged one by one.
'What the hell, is this a cockroach concept?'
Men draped in black robes walked in over the ashes.
Their outfits looked like something straight out of a medieval monastery. Nothing particularly stood out as a weapon. Well, they probably had a dagger or an axe hidden inside their robes, at least.
The man at the front was tall and broad-shouldered.
Black tattoos climbed from below his neck to his wrists, and he wore a thick leather coat with a dagger tucked into each side of his waist. Arms crossed, his eyes swept over the village interior with the expression of a site manager checking to see if the job had been wrapped up neatly.
The man nudged the spot where the well had turned to ash with his toe.
"Looks like it's all done."
He spat out the words and looked at me.
His gaze started at my feet and slowly crept upward. It wasn't the look of someone sizing up a combat opponent. For some reason, an unpleasant expression.
"Damn, kid, you're pretty. You'll fetch a nice price."
Just as I thought, the eyes of a man appraising merchandise.
"You alone?"
"Yeah. Still single."
A short silence.
"What's your name."
"Ire."
"Where'd you come from."
"Where do you think, bastard. Here. I was digging just now."
The man's gaze briefly drifted toward the ashes before returning.
"Digging? You mean this kid buried them all? All of that?"
"There was no one else to bury them."
"Alone?"
"Ah, you stupid bastard. How many times do I have to say it, I'm still single."
The man jerked his chin toward the group without replying. One of them knelt and placed a hand on the ash.
"The Heukjeok traces all point in this direction. They were driven from inside the village."
"Sharp eyes. Block the exits first, then push from inside out. No way to survive that. So the 'alone' part wasn't a lie."
Watching them exchange words among themselves, I slowly walked toward the group.
"Did you guys drive the Heukjeok here?"
"'Drive' is a bit rustic. We'd say 'command.'"
"Command? Personally?"
"That's our ability."
Another one from the group strode over. His robe was neatly worn, but his face was a completely different story. A slovenly, sallow complexion, with the kind of greasy film unique to someone who hadn't washed properly in a long time. No sword scars or scars were visible. He gave off the impression of an errand boy rather than a fighter.
"But the brat's been speaking rudely since earlier."
"Hey, that's enough. What are you nitpicking with a kid? Hey kid, it's dangerous here alone. Come with mister."
There wasn't a hint of tension. Of course. Why would they be wary of a single little girl standing on ash?
I slowly swept my eyes over the group.
"They say people who command the Heukjeok are called Main."
I paused for a moment.
"Is that you?"
The corners of the men's mouths twisted into smug smiles.
"If only. Those ones already went somewhere else. We're in charge from here on."
These bastards are cleaners. A professional cleanup crew. People who dispose of corpses, erase traces, and make it like nothing ever happened. Just like in John Wick. On top of that, they loot dropped items and sell any survivors into slavery. Busy little bastards.
My sudden gloom lessened a bit.
They say joy shared is doubled, sorrow shared is halved. Or in other words, share sorrow and you get two sad people.
I'm ready to share my sorrow right now, and they are more than qualified to receive it. What a beautiful meeting.
Meaning, in the end, only my burden gets lighter.
That's why math is honest.
I forcibly suppressed the corners of my mouth that were secretly creeping up.
I slowly walked into the midst of the group.
No one paid me any mind. The fact that not a single gaze properly followed me was probably because I was young enough. To think there are people who don't feel a shred of wariness when a lone child without a single injury walks into the middle of their group in a ruined village. It's so foolish it's almost touching.
I spotted a longsword at a man's waist.
I approached.
"What!"
"Just adjusting the workload."
I drew the sword. Before the man's hand could react, I pulled it out sheath and all and slashed horizontally.
Guns don't not exist in this world. However, the Fear that flows from monsters destroys gunpowder and electronics and causes explosions, so in areas thick with Fear, firearms are no different from scrap metal. That's why cold weapons became the final armament. In a sense, the Middle Ages had returned in this post-apocalyptic world.
So then, if you ask whether I have skill with a sword.
Not particularly.
But I do have technique. The technique of killing people. In my previous life, I reached the top of the industry with that, and even started a company based on it.
The field may be special, but I'm a professional in my own right.
"Kuhk... th-this is..."
The man clutched his throat and fell to his knees. Bewilderment and terror simultaneously filled his eyes before his focus blurred in an instant.
Did I feel guilt? Not at all. Did a moral dilemma arise? Not that either. I barely felt that way in my previous life; why would this one be different? Besides, that man was on the side that had used the Heukjeok to kill and burn the people of this village just moments ago.
The man standing next to him had his eyes go wide because I was already right under his chin before he could pull his hand out from inside his robe.
I slashed sideways with the stolen sword, stealing his sight while simultaneously piercing his heart. Maybe because my strength was too great. It punched straight through his torso, and no matter how hard I pulled, it wouldn't come out, so I had no choice but to just break it.
Crack.
Holding the sword with its sharply broken cross-section, I dove into the side of a man reaching for a machete, grabbed his wrist, and twisted it against the joint.
Crack.
The sensation of a bone dislocating traveled into my palm. I stabbed his throat with the broken sword just before a scream could come out. No scream came.
The group reacted all at once. Various weapons emerged from inside their robes.
Iron clubs, throwing knives, chains, iron hooks.
A chain flew at me. Without dodging, I wrapped it around my left arm and pulled. The bastard holding the end lost his balance and was yanked forward, his face smashing into my knee exactly as it came. I thrust a hand-knife into his heart.
"Wh-what—"
"Kuhk."
"Th-that bastard—"
"Kheuk."
Along with the brief screams, things gradually grew quiet.
The bastard who had boasted about blocking the exit tried to flee.
I tripped his ankle and he fell. I stomped on the shins of the bastard trying to get up. Both of them. Putting my weight into it.
Two sounds rang out.
After confirming he couldn't move, I slowly cut his throat.
At that moment, I almost licked the blade. My tongue was coming out before I barely stopped. Whoa, whoa. No matter how excited I got, I couldn't do that.
As I picked up speed, the world slowed down and my body burned up. Whether it was adrenaline or mana or something else, uncontrollable power overflowed throughout my entire body.
Even in the later years of my previous life, this state sometimes came upon me. When pushed to the extreme, it turned out like this. I'd reached a realm I could never have attained through meditation by killing people with guns and knives.
The last bastard.
He knelt, raised both hands, and begged so hard his palm prints might disappear.
"I-I just did what I was told. It was an order from above. I'm just a low-level grunt. Really, taking it out on me won't... No, not taking it out... I mean... Yeah, there are bigger guys than me. I'll tell you everything I know. Everything. So please, please. Save me. I don't want to die like this. Please."
"I want to live a long time too. Of course I don't want to die. But you know."
I took a step forward.
"In both my previous life and this one, anyone who touched me ended by my hand. Not a single exception, and there never will be. That's how I've survived so long."
"P-please... please."
But since I'm not a crazy bastard, I thrust my hand-knife into his temple as painlessly as possible. Very deeply.
With the talkative man as the last, everyone now lay upon the ashes. Quietly.
"Is it over now?"
The moment I said that.
*Kakakakakak.*
A sound a human throat couldn't make. Neither machine nor beast, a sound from somewhere in between. A low vibration crept up through the soles of my feet.
"What timing. Ah well, it's a death flag cliché."
*Kwang.*
The sound of a fence breaking rang out behind me.
I slowly turned around.
Heukjeok (Black Red).
The monster that had first attacked me on the 7th day after my reincarnation.
The one before me was about 5 meters. Roughly twice the size of a polar bear.
Not building-sized. But not a size to be ignored, either.
There are more behind it. Three smaller ones.
Approaching in a loose semicircle. I could tell without thinking long.
Pincer tactic.
Not particularly intelligent monsters, but not a bad method.
'Hand knives won't cut it.'
My eyes went to the debris. One longsword with a cracked handle, one blunt axe.
I quickly picked them up.
*Kakakakaka. Kakakakaka.*
The cry of the large Heukjeok.
It wasn't the same resonance as before. Much bigger.
The moment the waves of vibrating air traveled through my skin, something inside my body crackled.
The old flashlight tucked at my waist.
I pressed the button, but no light came on.
I also saw a field mouse near me freeze stiff on the ground.
Fear.
A type of domain domination used only by medium-sized or larger monsters. It destroys electronics and freezes living beings in place.
I'd heard of it, but this was my first time experiencing it.
But.
What about me?
I'm completely fine.
I clenched and unclenched my hand. Perfectly fine.
My heart was beating normally, and the strength in my legs hadn't drained away.
It wasn't that I felt no fear; it was closer to Fear not working on me.
'Strange.'
I cut the thought short.
The blood-red eyes of the Heukjeok looked at me.
Reflected in those pupils was a tiny little girl, sword in her right hand, axe in her left. The Heukjeok seemed to hesitate for a moment, but it must have been my imagination.
'First, let's go for the small ones.'
Small Heukjeok have speed itself as a weapon. That's why when people hunt Heukjeok, they always break the legs first.
Though it's not a method I particularly need to follow.
The small ones circling around sprang forth. All three, almost simultaneously.
It was fast, but the directions were simple, making them easy to read.
Heukjeok 1, digging in below the chin.
I swayed half a beat faster to the side while drawing the blade across its neck.
Black blood drenched the left side of my face.
'Went deeper than I thought. My strength has increased from before.'
This body really is amazing.
The more I fight, the more my strength and speed change. I do the same movements, but the depth of the cut differs and my reaction speed is faster. Like a gauge ticking up one by one. Steadily growing stronger bit by bit.
Etching the sensation from just now into my body, I used the recoil of my spinning momentum to quickly raise the axe.
As Heukjeok 2 came under the axe blade, I struck down without even breathing, and bisected Heukjeok 3, which was charging at my left flank, with the sword.
"Huuuu."
I caught my breath.
And wiped my face.
As I wiped the blood from my face with my sleeve, black bloodstains streaked across my forearm and fell.
All that remained was the big one.
Standing still and motionless, countless blood-red eyes all fixed on me.
'Seeing it from the front, it's much bigger. Completely different species, even.'
Just the circumference of its neck is the size of my torso. I doubt the sword would go in properly.
At that moment.
The large Heukjeok suddenly moved.
I only perceived that it was fast after it had already reached right in front of me.
A speed that made no sense considering its 5-meter frame.
As its foreleg flew toward my head, my body reacted first.
Inside, as deep as possible.
As the massive leg swept over my head, my flank was torn open.
Without hesitation, I pushed the blade in.
It didn't go in.
"Damn it."
Before the burning, numb sensation in my wrist could even finish, the bastard's torso barreled straight into me.
*Kwaang!*
"Kuhuk!!"
I flew almost ten meters and was slammed into a wall.
The impact of a head-on collision with a truck swept through my entire body, and immediately after, something sharp among the debris dug into my back.
Air escaped from my lungs entirely, making it hard to breathe.
"Huup. Huup."
Forcing air in, I leaned against the wall and stood up.
I'd check what was lodged in my back later. Even if I checked now, I couldn't pull it out anyway, and confirming something I can't remove would only ruin my mood.
Fortunately, the bastard was observing the situation without launching a second attack.
'Is it being cautious?'
No, it's probably looking down on me.
Either way, a sword won't cut it.
The torso's thickness and the toughness of its hide are beyond the limits of my arm length and strength. If the blade bounced off its flank, the front is utterly impossible. The only place with any chance is the neck. If I put my weight and gravity behind an overhead chop with an axe, it might bite. But to strike downward at a five-meter neck from above...
I ran a few simulations in my head.
Leap, angle, trajectory, and timing.
The answer came out.
Death.
I can feel my heart racing. My fingertips tremble slightly too. I don't know if it's from the debris lodged in my back, or simply because the situation is that bad. What's certain is that I'm feeling fear for the first time since my reincarnation.
'Fuck... this is fucking hilarious.'
Laughter bubbles up with death staring me in the face. There's no reason. I was just like this in my previous life too. Pressure I haven't felt in ages. Moderate threats can be handled outright, and anything too much can be put off for later. But this gap where I could die without being able to do either...
I don't know if my body is strange or my mind is unhinged, but.
Good! Great!!
The laughter dies.
And.
Little by little. Slowly. Like background noise fading into static, it all disappears. The pain in my back. The taste of blood in my mouth. One by one, in order, they melt away faintly. The world before my eyes begins to narrow. It's not that the surroundings blur—only a single entity becomes clear. As unnecessary things are erased one by one, leaving only what should remain.
That bastard.
And me.
There is nothing between us.
Heukjeok moved again.
Its speed is beyond what 'fast' can describe. It's the kind of movement where it's simply there, then suddenly over there. A speed that makes your eyes give up trying to follow.
But.
The moment its movement is captured, my feet move first.
To the right. Half a step.
Its front paw scraped horizontally through where I'd stood, and the wind slapped my cheek hard.
The second strike followed.
Heukjeok's tail swept in low. It wasn't faster than the paw, but the range was wider instead. I kicked off the ground and leaped. My body rose higher than I expected. I felt the tip of the tail brush past beneath me.
Third strike.
The instant I landed, I threw my body to the side. Hit the ground with my shoulder. Rolled and got back up. Spat out the dirt that had gotten into my mouth.
"Hoooo."
Only after letting out a long exhale did the thought occur.
My body is moving faster than expected. A sensation like some force is squeezing my muscles and pushing them upward. I didn't understand it. But I decided not to care. This body had been inexplicable from the start anyway.
Heukjeok looks at me. It has so many eyes that I can't tell which one is its primary gaze, but.
I looked at it too.
I have to end this now. There's no time to think at length, no leeway to find a better way. I have no choice but to finish it with the hand I've got.
At that moment.
My breath stops. It isn't intentional. I simply forgot to breathe. As every sensation in my body converges to a single point. My vision narrows, narrows, narrows further.
At the end of that.
The wind stopped.
Grass blades stiffened mid-tilt, and everything that had been swaying was preserved in that very spot. Its red pupils too. The air brushing past my ears too. The world stopped as if someone had pressed the pause button.
Except for me.
Something had changed.
'Huh, what is this?'
It wasn't blood vessels or bones.
From deeper inside, from a place not found on any anatomical chart, came a snapping sound. No—rather than a sound, it was a sensation. The feeling of something long blocked bursting open all at once.
The next moment, my arm grew hot.
Something neither water nor fire, something that couldn't be named, traveled down my arm and spread to my fingertips. As I re-gripped the axe, a bluish light enveloped the blade.
Leap.
The moment I put strength into my feet.
Far faster than I thought. Far higher than I thought. Far steeper than the trajectory I had drawn. In an instant, I was above the bastard's head. It felt as if I were watching myself from the outside in slow motion.
I brought the axe down.
The exchange from just moments ago ended meaninglessly as its neck was severed without a sound. Unable to even resist once, in a single breath. When my knee touched the ground, I paused briefly in that posture.
'This... could it be?'
I'm out of breath.
My hands tremble slightly too.
It's not from fear or tension. The sensation from just now is still vibrating at my fingertips.
Mana.
A word from somewhere in my previous life's memories surfaced naturally. That thing you only read about in novels, that only appears in fantasy.
And I realized.
That it had been there from the start. That this body was stronger than it had any right to be, that it remained fine through impacts that should have hurt—it was all because mana had been inside my body from the very beginning. I had used it without knowing. Since it had been in my body since I opened my eyes in this world, I took it for granted and never noticed. Only one thing had changed. What had only stayed inside had begun to flow outside.
To only realize this now.
To have used mana without even knowing it was mana.
Even after reading all those web novels.
"Ah."
I looked up at the sky for a moment.
The purple aurora called Seonghwi hung faintly even during the day, gloomy as ever. The sky of this world was always like this. In a world where satellites fall, seas are blocked, and demonic beasts walk, even the sky is always stuck in that state.
But.
Today it was just pretty.
"So I've become a mage now."
Absurdity and excitement.
Those two emotions coexisted side by side for a moment. Not awkward in the slightest.
I lowered my gaze.
Both shoes had burst, the toes completely split open and the soles twisted. The worn-out shoes couldn't handle the power loaded into my feet during the leap.
"What a waste."
I'd had the soles patched twice and replaced the laces three times.
And they had held up even then.
I looked down at them briefly, then just took them off. There's no point in lingering attachment when they're not fit to be worn again.
Come to think of it.
I remembered what I'd heard from Mr. Go. That demonic beasts of mid-size or larger have mana stones. Embedded somewhere in their body, and the larger the creature, the larger the stone.
I walked over to the big one.
Fumbling at its chest, I cut away flesh with a knife.
"It's buried deeper than I thought."
I had to plunge my whole arm inside and root around before it came out.
A mana stone the size of two thumbs.
Something slowly moves within the deep red light, radiating brilliance.
I stared at it for a while, then smirked.
"I've changed my mind."
I'm going to kill every Heukjeok in this vicinity.
If Park saw this, they'd nag me again. Say I'm getting cocky for no reason.
Sorry. Can't be helped.
No, maybe they'll even thank me.