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Chapter 2
“I’ve returned to the past.”
Those simple words carried unimaginable meaning.
He hadn’t merely gone back before the appearance of the Three Calamities that nearly destroyed Earth.
He had gone back twenty whole years, to when he was nineteen.
At this point in time…
That didn’t exist yet.
The era known as the Byproduct Industrial Revolution.
It was still before humanity had properly conquered the upper floors of the Tower and received the rewards that flooded the world with miraculous byproducts—materials that sparked unprecedented technological and magical advancements, ushering in Earth’s final golden age.
Back then, humanity did only one thing.
Clear Gates.
Climb the Tower.
Delay the countdown to Earth’s destruction.
Even that was enough for Hunters to enjoy immense wealth and fame.
But the truly prosperous era had yet to begin.
“…More importantly…”
For Jung Hyun-soo, returning to the past meant far more than that.
He now had the chance to save his family and the Garam Guild, who had been falsely accused by the Hunter Association President and branded as collaborators with the invading races.
And this time…
He could finally take revenge on Sun Woo-hyun, the man who had manipulated him until the day he died.
Crunch.
For a brief moment, he wondered how it was even possible for him to travel through time.
But he quickly dismissed the thought.
A phenomenon like time regression was beyond his understanding.
There was no point wasting time trying to explain it.
If he had truly returned…
Then all that mattered was correcting the past and getting his revenge.
“But before that…”
Before saving his family…
Before destroying the Hunter Association President…
Before leading the Garam Guild to the forefront of the coming Byproduct Revolution…
There was something else he had to do.
He had to correct his own mistakes.
When he had been a cadet at the Hunter Academy, he had desperately wanted to fit in with a group of delinquent upperclassmen.
Trying to earn their approval…
He had committed an unforgivable mistake.
In reality, it had all been a trap orchestrated by the eldest son of the Songgwang Guild—one of Sun Woo-hyun’s pawns.
The consequences had been devastating.
Breaking News
Hunter Guild Heir Suspected of Illegal Artifact Distribution!
Was the Entire Garam Guild Involved?
Public Trust in Hunter Guilds Crumbles
Citizens ask,
“Who are we supposed to trust now?”
The media attacked relentlessly.
His father was forced to issue a public apology.
But it didn’t end there.
Society gradually turned against the Garam Guild.
One accusation piled onto another.
Eventually…
The guild was framed as collaborators with the invading forces and wiped out.
Perhaps that incident alone hadn’t destroyed the guild.
But Hyun-soo had no intention of letting even a single stain remain.
This time…
I’ll deal with it properly.
He wanted to move immediately.
Yet he also knew everything had to happen in the correct order.
Even though this was his own body…
Hyun-soo realized he knew almost nothing about his nineteen-year-old self.
“Status Window.”
The familiar interface appeared before him.
Name: Jung Hyun-soo
Affiliation: None
Attributes
- Vitality: 10
- Strength: 5
- Skill: 4
- Mental Power: 3
- Endurance: 5
Skills
- Five King Martial Arts — Heavenly Tyrant Ghost King Art (★1)
- Hwancheon True Energy (★1)
“…”
He was speechless.
Only one star?
The Five King Martial Arts had been his family’s unique martial inheritance for generations.
The Garam Guild had become one of Korea’s Ten Great Guilds with nothing more than a single guild master who had mastered those techniques.
They were notoriously difficult.
But still…
One star? Seriously?
Complaining wouldn’t change anything.
It was his own past, after all.
Massaging the back of his neck, Hyun-soo sat cross-legged.
The Heavenly Tyrant Ghost King Art was a martial technique focused entirely on overwhelming offensive power.
Originally, it was meant to be cultivated alongside another technique known as Heaven-Tyrant True Energy.
However, because that cultivation method was so difficult, his younger self had instead learned Hwancheon True Energy, a gentler internal art that was considered much easier to master.
It’s easier to learn…
But the hardest to perfect.
Still, perfecting it isn’t the important part right now.
The greatest strength of Hwancheon True Energy wasn’t raw power.
It excelled at restoring harmony throughout the body.
Its true purpose was stabilizing and refining the body’s mana pathways.
In his previous life…
Because it was the only cultivation method he possessed…
He had continued training it until the world came to know him as the Dark King.
Ding!
Hwancheon True Energy proficiency has increased.
Hwancheon True Energy proficiency has increased.
Developing the body’s mana circuits was absolutely essential.
Those circuits were what allowed Hunters to fight monsters using nothing but their own physical strength.
Hwancheon True Energy proficiency has increased.
Hwancheon True Energy proficiency has increased.
Hwancheon True Energy proficiency has increased.
Hyun-soo focused his concentration.
The mana core in his lower abdomen began swelling.
Hwancheon True Energy proficiency has increased.
Hwancheon True Energy proficiency has increased.
Mana slowly gathered inside his mana core.
Heavy.
Gentle.
It flowed into his body’s mana circuits.
Hwancheon True Energy proficiency has increased.
His heart swelled as if it would burst.
Then the mana spread into his shoulders…
His neck…
His arms…
His fingertips.
Hwancheon True Energy proficiency has increased.
His skin turned the color of rotten tomatoes.
His tight-fitting pants suddenly exploded apart.
Rip!
At the same moment…
Blood streamed from his closed eyes.
Then from his nose.
His ears.
Every opening in his face.
The mana had surged into the delicate blood vessels of his brain, rupturing countless capillaries.
A wave of dizziness struck him.
But Hyun-soo didn’t stop.
He needed to push even further.
Hwancheon True Energy proficiency has increased.
Years of accumulated experience.
Although this was technically a new body…
It was still his own.
At last—
He broke through.
A faint blue-black aura seeped from his body.
Impossible result detected!
Hwancheon True Energy has reached the Tenth Star due to an incomprehensible phenomenon!
Impurities have been expelled from the body.
Mana circuits have been purified.
Mana circulation efficiency has increased by 10%.
“That should be enough.”
Hyun-soo examined his body.
His overall mana reserves hadn’t increased.
Nor had his physical strength.
But his mana circuits had expanded dramatically.
Even the tiny, previously blocked pathways had opened.
His body now possessed the minimum requirements needed for serious combat.
Though…
At best, I could barely clear a single Gate.
Going from almost an ordinary person to a genuine Hunter overnight was an enormous improvement.
But to someone who had once been known as the Dark King…
It wasn’t remotely satisfying.
This is only the beginning.
The coming great war.
His revenge against the Association President.
To achieve both…
He needed explosive growth.
He had to raise both his floor and his ceiling as quickly as possible.
Just as he was about to wash the blood from his body—
Bang!
His bedroom door burst open.
“Happiness, why do you insist on seeing someone like hi—”
“KYAAAAAAAH!!”
Holding the leash of the family’s pet magical beast, Happiness, Jung Hyun-ah screamed at the top of her lungs.
Standing inside the room wasn’t merely her troublesome older brother.
It looked like a monster.
His face was drenched in blood.
His clothes had exploded apart in places.
He looked like a beast that had crawled straight out of a Gate.
“A m-monster!”
“The monster ate my brother!”
“Dad!!”
During the process of forcing Hwancheon True Energy to the Tenth Star, every opening in Hyun-soo’s face had bled.
Blood mixed with expelled impurities flowed from his eyes, ears, nose, and mouth.
He genuinely resembled a terrifying magical creature.
“A monster?!”
“Hyun-ah! What’s wrong?”
Jung Cheol, the leader of one of Korea’s Ten Great Guilds, appeared on the second floor almost instantly.
Looking into his son’s room…
He saw a blood-covered figure.
“Young Miss, are you alright?”
“…Who are you?!”
Even the old family butler, arriving moments later, immediately became wary.
“The monster ate Jung Hyun-soo!”
“I didn’t!”
“What do you mean you didn’t?”
“Can’t you feel that power?”
“The Young Miss is right.”
“I sense extraordinary mana…”
“…Though somehow it feels familiar…”
For a brief moment…
The two sides faced each other in tense silence.
Then—
Happiness suddenly dashed forward.
“Happiness!”
“No!”
“It’s dangerous!”
Hyun-ah desperately tried to grab the fluffy little magical beast.
But Happiness nimbly spun through the air and avoided her.
Using surprisingly elegant footwork…
The tiny ball of fur leaped.
Straight into Hyun-soo’s arms.
Then began enthusiastically licking his face.
As the blood was cleaned away…
His features gradually became visible.
“…Jung Hyun-soo?”
“Young Master?!”
Hyun-ah stared blankly.
Hyun-soo casually flicked the flat of the thin rapier she had already drawn.
“Mind putting that sword away now?”
Jung Cheol looked directly at him.
“…Explain.”
Hyun-soo smiled.
That single question carried many meanings.
His father might have been asking about the sudden mastery of Hwancheon True Energy.
His younger self probably would have interpreted it that way.
But now…
He saw something else.
Concern.
His father hadn’t actually believed he’d been eaten by a monster.
He had simply been worried after seeing his son covered in blood.
“I had a sudden breakthrough.”
“I pushed Hwancheon True Energy a little too hard.”
“That’s all.”
He answered casually.
Jung Cheol, however, wasn’t convinced.
“If you don’t believe me…”
“You can examine me yourself.”
“I’m perfectly fine.”
“Do you honestly think that’s something you can say?”
Jung Cheol wasn’t a fool.
He was one of Korea’s strongest Hunters.
He immediately recognized the truth.
His Hwancheon True Energy has matured…
Hyun-soo deliberately concealed the fact that he had actually reached the Tenth Star.
Merely displaying the aura of someone around the Seventh Star was already shocking enough.
“Explain properly.”
“I finally broke through the wall I’d been stuck at.”
“I may have pushed myself a little.”
“A little?”
Jung Cheol looked dumbfounded.
Bleeding from all seven facial orifices wasn’t “a little.”
It meant he had forcibly opened every mana pathway in his head.
“…Well.”
“The results were good, weren’t they?”
“…”
Jung Cheol frowned.
Was my eldest son always like this?
The boy had never shown much talent for martial arts.
His personality had always been troublesome.
Now…
He suddenly seemed far more mature.
His cultivation had advanced overnight.
None of it made sense.
“I told you to tell me the truth.”
“What else is there to tell?”
“What do you mean ‘what else?'”
Hyun-ah interrupted angrily.
“Whenever you suddenly start acting nice, it’s because you’ve done something huge!”
“Remember when you forged your academy report card?”
“You acted exactly like this.”
“And when you secretly tried to sell your Gate hunting rights?”
“You smiled just like this then too.”
Hyun-soo had no defense.
“…I’m ashamed.”
Everyone froze.
Even the old butler’s eyes widened.
“…Young Master…”
“…What exactly have you done this time?”
“See?”
“I told you.”
“If this were normal, he’d already be yelling at us.”
“Something is seriously wrong with him.”
Hyun-soo could only smile bitterly.
For him…
This reunion was filled with nostalgia.
But for them…
This was simply reality.
They were people who had spent years cleaning up after the disasters caused by the Garam Guild’s delinquent heir.
“Since we’re already talking…”
“I’d like to start learning Heaven-Tyrant True Energy.”
“Would you be willing to teach me?”
It was the cultivation method perfectly suited to the Heavenly Tyrant Ghost King Art.
And since his father was standing right in front of him…
Hyun-soo decided it was worth asking.
