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Chapter 2
There is an old saying:
“Life is like Sai Weng losing his horse.”
It means that misfortune may lead to fortune, and fortune may lead to misfortune.
But Shin Juha believed there was a contradiction in that saying.
What if a tiny stroke of luck was followed by overwhelming tragedy?
Or if, after a lifetime of suffering, fate tossed you only a crumb of happiness?
Just as every person’s life is different and unfair, luck and misfortune are never equal.
And in Juha’s life…
Misfortune had always outweighed fortune.
He had been born into wealth as the son of parents celebrated as heroes.
Yet before he even turned five, both of them disappeared inside the Abyss.
Branded as traitors, all of their assets were confiscated.
He and his three-year-old sister were thrown into an orphanage.
As if that weren’t enough, the orphanage director ruled through violence and abuse.
Then his only remaining family—his little sister—contracted an incurable illness of unknown origin.
Just when everything seemed hopeless…
He was blessed with Awakening.
For a brief moment, he thought his life had finally turned around.
But reality was cruel.
As a Hunter, he had no talent whatsoever.
His life became nothing more than scraping by each day killing Goblins to survive.
And in the end…
That tiny miracle was swallowed by the greatest misfortune of all.
Death.
“…It’s warm…”
His consciousness slowly returned.
It felt as though he were wrapped inside a giant egg, surrounded by comforting warmth.
Moments later, eyelids he thought would never open again slowly lifted.
“Gasp!”
“Cough! Cough!”
Juha shot upright, taking huge gulps of air.
“W-Where… am I?”
The room was incredibly familiar.
A tiny rooftop apartment barely large enough for a single person to sleep in.
The place he’d lived just before Awakening.
“Why am I here?”
No…
How was he alive in the first place?
Those wounds had been fatal.
Without the intervention of a Saintess—the miracle worker among the world’s highest-ranked Hunters—there was no possibility he could have survived.
And there was no way someone like that would appear inside another country’s Tutorial Zone.
“Then…”
“…I’ve gone back?”
There was no mistaking this room.
After admitting his sister to the hospital, this had been the cheapest apartment he could afford.
“…Did I really regress?”
With trembling hands, Juha grabbed his phone.
The date made his eyes widen.
Ten years.
Time had reversed by ten full years.
At that exact moment, as he accepted the truth—
System messages appeared.
《Regression complete.》
《Awakening complete.》
《Your hidden Unique Ability has been revealed.》
Status Window
Name: Shin Juha
Title: None
Level: 0 (0%)
Stats
- Misfortune (Legendary): F- (1/100)
Remaining Points: 0
Authority
- Tower of Gold Lv.1
Unique Ability
- Curse of Misfortune (Legendary) Lv.MAX
Skills
None
“…Authority?”
“The Tower of Gold?”
His hidden ability had finally appeared.
A completely new category had also been added.
Authority.
“…Wait.”
Wasn’t that almost the same name as the Hidden Stage he’d entered before dying?
As if answering him—
《Authority: Tower of Gold is generating an Inventory System.》
《First Floor: Golden Treasury has been unlocked.》
《Current ownership of the Tower of Gold: 0.01%.》
“What is this…?”
A new inventory window opened before him.
And inside…
Gold.
Treasure.
Countless priceless objects overflowing like an endless sea.
First Floor – Golden Treasury
- Purple Coins ×9,999,999
- Blue Coins ×9,999,999 (Locked)
- …
- Common Rank F- Magic Stones ×9,999,999
- Common Rank F Magic Stones ×9,999,999
- …
- Pure Gold Ingots ×9,999,999
- …
- Brilliant Nectar ×3
- Primordial Spring Water ×1
The First Floor was packed with consumable items beyond imagination.
Coins.
Magic stones.
Potions.
Elixirs.
Treasures.
Juha swallowed hard.
“…This is insane.”
Was all of this…
Really his?
He reread the system messages.
Then burst into laughter.
“I killed… 9,999 Golden Goblins?”
Just one Golden Goblin was said to provide enough wealth for three generations.
Even inside the Abyss, where countless legendary monsters existed…
Golden Goblins were considered rarer than myths.
“So basically…”
“I barged into their home…”
“Blew it up…”
“And stole the house.”
Along with every treasure they’d accumulated over countless years.
Of course, he felt no guilt.
Humans killed monsters.
Monsters killed humans.
That was simply the Abyss.
Even the system had acknowledged his ownership by granting him the Authority.
“If I have this many coins and magic stones…”
Juha immediately reached into the inventory.
Only to be stopped.
《Current ownership: 0.01%.》
《You may withdraw only one item.》
《Withdraw one Purple Coin?》
“…Only one?”
Everything above Purple Coins was locked.
Magic stones above F- Rank couldn’t even be selected.
Even the higher-grade treasures were unavailable.
He had assumed he could at least freely take the lowest-rank items.
Apparently not.
“So that’s how it is.”
His excitement vanished instantly.
“I expected too much.”
Then how exactly was he supposed to increase ownership?
Just as he prepared to inspect his status window—
BANG!
BANG!
BANG!
Someone pounded violently on the apartment’s steel door.
A voice he would never forget echoed through the room.
“Shin Juha! I know you’re in there! Open the damn door before I kick it down!”
BANG!
The steel door visibly bent under another kick.
Juha frowned.
“…Damn.”
“I have to see this bastard again.”
A loan shark.
His former high school classmate.
One of the people responsible for at least ten percent of his miserable life.
“Hurry up!”
Juha stood before the door.
Memories flooded back.
To pay his sister’s hospital bills, he’d borrowed money from loan sharks.
They had treated him like a fish caught on a hook, demanding impossible interest while tormenting him endlessly.
“…Right.”
“So today was the day.”
The day he truly became their slave.
In his previous life, he’d Awakened on his birthday.
Overconfident, he’d tried to fight back.
The result…
A complete defeat.
Although they weren’t Awakened, they were experienced street fighters.
He, despite Awakening, had yet to unlock any stats or abilities.
He was no stronger than an ordinary person.
They learned he had Awakened.
Then forced him to work under them for over five years under the excuse of paying off his debt.
If their organization hadn’t eventually collapsed after crossing the family of a B-Rank Hunter…
He would’ve remained their slave until the day he died.
Crunch.
His teeth ground together.
“…But not this time.”
He took a deep breath.
Then opened the door.
The instant it swung open—
BAM!
A kick slammed into his stomach.
“Ghk!”
With nothing in his stomach, only bitter bile rose into his throat.
The loan sharks looked down at him with amused expressions.
“Whew, you stink. Clean your room once in a while.”
Kick.
Kick.
Kick.
They vented their frustrations by repeatedly stomping him.
Endure it.
I have to endure.
He still had no strength.
He could beat these five men.
But afterward?
These thugs were merely underlings.
The real boss was far worse.
He couldn’t afford to become their slave again.
Not until he possessed enough power to destroy them completely.
“Our Juha’s pretty patient today.”
Kim Musik squatted before him.
Juha’s former bully.
The very man who’d dragged him into debt.
“I told you to bring the interest. Didn’t I?”
Juha glared at him.
“…Do you honestly think charging ten times the principal as interest is legal?”
Of course it wasn’t.
Everyone knew it.
Slap!
Musik struck him across the face.
Juha endured it.
Compared to everything he’d suffered…
This was nothing.
“If you want to save your sister, pay up.”
Musik smirked.
“…Actually…”
“I’ve wanted to have some fun with your little sister for a long time.”
“So let’s make a deal.”
“Sell her to us.”
“I’ll erase your debt.”
“We already know exactly where she is.”
“…You son of a bitch.”
Musik grinned wider.
“Oh?”
“You agree?”
“The boss already told us there’s nothing left to squeeze out of you.”
“So…”
“We’ll clean you up.”
“And take good care of your sister.”
“We’re friends, after all.”
Snap.
Something inside Juha finally broke.
He could tolerate insults.
Pain.
Humiliation.
But…
Not anyone insulting the only family he had left.
“…Inventory.”
“The hell did you say?!”
Musik kicked toward him.
Juha caught his leg.
Pain shot through his arm.
But his rage drowned it out.
Using the momentum, he threw Musik across the room.
Then stood.
“Select…”
“…Primordial Spring Water.”
Musik climbed back to his feet, glaring murderously.
Juha wasn’t afraid.
The Hobgoblin that had butchered him was far scarier.
His sister was enduring far greater pain than this.
A tiny bottle materialized in his hand.
The lowest item in the Golden Treasury.
One of the very few that wasn’t locked.
He uncorked it.
And drank everything.
《You have absorbed the purest divine elixir created at the beginning of creation.》
《Because of the Curse of Misfortune, the possibility that should have disappeared blossoms even more brilliantly.》
《Authority acquired: Heavenly Fortune.》
《Stat awakened: Heavenly Fortune (Mythic).》
The overwhelming misfortune that had crushed him his entire life…
Finally met its equal.
《The immense fortune that had long been suppressed bursts forth!》
《Heavenly Fortune temporarily rises to EX+ Rank!》
《Remaining Time: 1:00》
For one minute…
Every action he took would be blessed with impossible luck.
“You bastard! Die!”
Musik threw a punch.
Juha merely wished to dodge.
A tiny crack in the flooring caught Musik’s foot.
He tripped.
“Aaaagh!”
At the same time, Juha’s ordinary punch landed perfectly between his legs.
Musik collapsed unconscious.
“W-What the hell?!”
“You got lucky…”
“Yeah.”
“Lucky.”
“You damn bastard.”
The remaining thugs froze.
Whether it was fear…
Or disbelief…
The momentum had completely shifted.
Every attack aimed at Juha somehow missed.
Every punch Juha threw landed directly on a vital point.
Five punches.
That was all.
Only Juha remained standing.
Then…
Stomp!
Stomp!
Stomp!
He repeatedly stomped on Kim Musik’s unconscious body.
Breaking bones.
Making sure he’d carry those injuries for life.
Crack!
Crack!
Crack!
Heaven itself seemed to grant his wish.
Finally…
Juha stopped.
“…Damn it.”
Reality returned.
Knocking these men down solved nothing.
Their boss would soon learn everything.
Then even stronger men would come.
Just like before.
“No…”
“Not this time.”
He spat onto the floor.
Turned away.
《Overwhelming fortune fades away like dust.》
《Having experienced transcendent fortune, Heavenly Fortune increases by 30.》
《Misfortune reacts, increasing by 31.》
《Misfortune awakens.》
《Warning! Great misfortune is approaching.》
The blessing vanished.
Misfortune immediately rushed in to take its place.
Then—
Another message appeared.
《Tower of Gold ownership increased by 0.99% through growth.》
《Golden Treasury ownership has reached 1%!》
**《Special Privilege Unlocked!》
Certain items (Purple Coins, F- Magic Stones, etc.) may now be withdrawn without quantity restrictions.《Current withdrawal limit: 3 items.》
At last…
The path that would make him stronger had finally opened before him.
