Chapter 2
Setting Things Right (1)
I’ve returned to the past!
Those few words carried unimaginable meaning.
He had gone back twenty years—to when he was nineteen—before the era when humanity had been driven to the brink of extinction by the Three Calamities.
At this point in time, that still didn’t exist.
The so-called Byproduct Industrial Revolution.
It was the age before the upper floors of the Tower were properly conquered, before countless byproducts poured into the world as rewards, were refined, and sparked Earth’s final golden age of technological advancement.
Back then, people simply cleared Gates and climbed the Tower to delay the world’s countdown to destruction.
Even that alone brought Hunters immense wealth and fame.
But the real era had yet to begin.
“No… more importantly…”
For Jung Hyunsoo, this meant something even greater.
He had been given another chance to save his family and the Garam Guild, who had been falsely accused by the Association President of collaborating with the Gate invaders and were ultimately wiped out.
And this time…
He could finally take revenge on Sun Woohyun, the man who had used him until his dying day.
Crunch.
For a moment, he wondered how returning to the past was even possible.
But he quickly dismissed the thought.
Time travel was something far beyond his understanding.
Rather than wasting time thinking about it, if he truly had returned…
Then all that mattered was correcting the past and taking revenge.
“But before that…”
Before protecting his family…
Before taking revenge on the Association President…
Before making the Garam Guild the leader of the coming Byproduct Revolution…
There was something he had to do first.
He had to correct his own mistakes.
Back when he was a student at the Cradle Academy, he had idolized a delinquent gang and desperately wanted to be accepted by them.
Trying to become one of them…
He had committed countless foolish acts.
But thanks to the scheme of the eldest son of the Songgwang Guild—one of Sun Woohyun’s lackeys—the Garam Guild suffered devastating damage.
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The media unleashed relentless attacks.
His father publicly apologized to the nation.
But that wasn’t the end.
Society turned against the Garam Guild through a coordinated campaign.
One incident piled upon another until they were repeatedly framed.
Eventually…
They were branded as the masterminds behind the invading forces and exterminated.
Even if this single incident alone hadn’t destroyed the Garam Guild…
Hyunsoo had no intention of overlooking such a stain ever again.
“I’ll deal with them properly this time.”
He wanted to move immediately.
Even so, everything had its proper order.
Although it was his own body…
To be honest, Hyunsoo barely remembered anything about himself at nineteen.
“Status Window.”
He naturally summoned his status.
Name: Jung Hyunsoo
Affiliation: None
Stats:
Vitality: 10
Strength: 5
Technique: 4
Mental Power: 3
Endurance: 5
Skills:
Five Kings Martial Arts – Heavenly Tyrant Ghost King Art (1-Star)
Hwancheon True Qi (1-Star)
“…”
Seeing it with his own eyes left him speechless.
“Only one star?”
The Five Kings Martial Arts was his family’s unique martial art, inherited from his grandfather ever since awakening.
The Garam Guild had become one of Korea’s Top Ten Guilds with nothing more than a guild master who mastered this incredibly difficult art.
“Still… one star is just pathetic.”
Complaining wouldn’t change anything.
After all…
He was looking at himself.
Rubbing the back of his neck, Hyunsoo quietly sat down.
The Heavenly Tyrant Ghost King Art, one of the Five Kings Martial Arts, was a combat technique that unleashed overwhelming destructive power.
Originally, it was meant to be paired with the Paecheon True Qi cultivation method.
However, because Paecheon True Qi was extraordinarily difficult, he had instead learned Hwancheon True Qi, a cultivation method that was easier to grasp while maintaining balance.
“It’s easier and more harmonious… yet it’s also the hardest one to truly master. But reaching perfection isn’t what matters right now.”
Hwancheon True Qi possessed one invaluable ability.
Because it emphasized harmony, it excelled at restoring and stabilizing the body’s internal state.
It was the only cultivation art he truly understood.
Even after becoming known as the Dark King, he had focused solely on it.
Ding!
[Your proficiency in Hwancheon True Qi has increased.]
[Your proficiency in Hwancheon True Qi has increased.]
Developing mana circuits throughout the body was essential.
Those mana circuits formed the foundation that allowed Hunters to battle monstrous creatures with their own bodies.
[Your proficiency in Hwancheon True Qi has increased.]
[Your proficiency in Hwancheon True Qi has increased.]
[Your proficiency in Hwancheon True Qi has increased.]
He sharpened his concentration.
His lower abdomen—
The space known as the Mana Core—
began swelling rapidly.
[Your proficiency in Hwancheon True Qi has increased.]
[Your proficiency in Hwancheon True Qi has increased.]
The mana gathered there surged outward.
Gentle…
Yet tremendously heavy.
It flowed through every mana circuit in his body.
[Your proficiency in Hwancheon True Qi has increased.]
His heart swelled as though it might burst.
Then the mana spread to his shoulders…
His neck…
His arms…
Finally reaching the tips of his fingers.
[Your proficiency in Hwancheon True Qi has increased.]
His skin darkened into the color of a rotten tomato.
The tight pants he had worn for style suddenly ripped apart.
Bang!
At the same time…
Streams of blood poured from his closed eyes.
Blood also flowed from his nose and ears.
Unlike the rest of his body, the head was extremely delicate.
The sudden concentration of mana there ruptured countless tiny blood vessels.
Dizziness washed over him.
But Hyunsoo didn’t stop.
He had to push just a little further.
[Your proficiency in Hwancheon True Qi has increased.]
With the wisdom gained from countless years of experience…
Though it felt like using an entirely new body…
It was still his own body.
At last—
He successfully broke through.
A faint blue-black aura leaked from his body.
[An incomprehensible result has occurred!]
[Due to an unknowable phenomenon, Hwancheon True Qi has reached the 10-Star Realm!]
[Impurities have been expelled from your body, cleansing your mana circuits.]
[Mana circulation efficiency has increased by 10%.]
“At least I look somewhat presentable now.”
Hyunsoo carefully examined his body once more.
His physical strength and total mana hadn’t increased.
However…
His mana circuits had expanded.
Even the microscopic pathways that had previously been blocked were now fully opened.
He had finally met the minimum physical requirements needed for real combat.
“Though I’d still barely be able to clear a single Gate…”
Going from being almost an ordinary person overnight to becoming a Hunter capable of entering Gates was an incredible improvement.
But someone once known as the Dark King had no reason to be satisfied.
“This is only the beginning.”
To prepare for the great war that lay ahead…
To crush the Association President long before then…
He needed explosive growth.
If he wanted to raise both his starting point and his ultimate potential…
He couldn’t afford to waste even a second.
Just as he was about to take a shower—
Bang!
The bedroom door burst open.
His younger sister, Jung Hyuna, rushed inside.
“Happiness, why do you always like coming to see that idio—”
“KYAAAAAAAH!!”
Holding the leash of their pet magical beast, Happiness, Hyuna froze.
Standing before her was a horrifying monster.
It wasn’t her troublesome older brother.
Its face was covered in blood.
Its clothes were torn apart.
It looked exactly like a monster that had crawled out of a Gate.
“M-Monster! A monster ate my brother! Dad!!”
During the process of instantly mastering Hwancheon True Qi to ten stars, Hyunsoo had bled from all seven facial openings.
Blood mixed with expelled impurities flowed from his eyes, ears, nose, and mouth.
He truly resembled a Gate monster.
“A monster?!”
“Hyuna! What’s wrong?”
Jung Cheol, leader of one of Korea’s Top Ten Guilds, appeared on the second floor as though he had teleported.
Inside his son’s room stood a blood-covered stranger.
“Young Miss, are you alright? Huh?! Who are you?!”
The old butler arrived a moment later and immediately took a defensive stance.
“That monster ate Jung Hyunsoo!”
“I told you it didn’t!”
“What do you mean it didn’t?! Can’t you feel that power?!”
“The Young Miss is right… That mana is no ordinary thing. Somehow… it also feels strangely familiar…”
As the butler and Jung Cheol faced off against him…
Happiness suddenly dashed forward.
“Huh? Happiness! No! It’s dangerous!”
Hyuna tried desperately to stop it.
But the fluffy little creature gracefully spun through the air, avoiding her hands.
With astonishing footwork, the tiny ball of fur leaped directly toward the monster.
It landed in the stranger’s arms.
Then it enthusiastically licked his face over and over.
As the blood was cleaned away…
His real face slowly emerged.
“J… Jung Hyunsoo?”
“Young Master!”
Hyuna stared blankly at her brother’s face.
“Can you lower that sword now?”
Hyunsoo casually flicked the flat of Hyuna’s thin rapier with his fingertip.
“What exactly happened?”
Jung Cheol finally asked.
Hyunsoo smiled.
There were many meanings hidden behind that question.
Perhaps his father was asking how Hwancheon True Qi had suddenly matured.
Back then…
When his relationship with his father had been terrible…
He probably would have interpreted it that way.
But now…
He could finally see it.
Worry.
His father had never truly believed Hyuna’s claim that a monster had eaten him.
He was simply worried after seeing his son covered in blood.
“I gained a sudden insight while cultivating Hwancheon True Qi. Things got a little messy, that’s all.”
Hyunsoo answered casually.
Jung Cheol naturally couldn’t accept such an explanation.
“If you don’t believe me, check for yourself. I’m perfectly fine.”
“Do you think that’s something you can simply say?”
Jung Cheol wasn’t a fool.
He had risen to the top of Korea through his own strength.
He could clearly perceive the change in his son.
“Hwancheon True Qi has reached complete mastery.”
Even now…
Hyunsoo deliberately concealed the truth that he had actually reached the 10-Star Realm.
Simply revealing what appeared to be around the 7-Star level was already shocking enough.
“Explain yourself properly.”
“The wall that had blocked me finally broke. I got a little greedy afterward.”
What an absurd answer.
“A little greedy?”
Bleeding from all seven facial openings meant he had forcefully opened every mana circuit in his head.
“So what? The result turned out well, didn’t it?”
“…”
Was my eldest son always like this?
To begin with…
He had poor talent for martial arts.
His personality was troublesome.
There was always something to worry about.
Yet now…
His attitude had suddenly become easygoing.
His mastery of Hwancheon True Qi had advanced overnight.
“Tell me the truth.”
“What else is there to tell…?”
“What do you mean ‘what else’? Everyone knows you only act nice when you’ve caused some huge disaster!”
Hyuna interrupted.
Hyunsoo quietly recalled the past.
“When you forged your Cradle Academy grades, you acted exactly like this.”
“And when you secretly tried to sell your Gate hunting permit, you acted like this too.”
Hyunsoo had no response.
“…I have no excuse.”
His unexpected apology stunned not only Hyuna…
Even the old butler’s eyes widened.
“…Young Master… just what kind of trouble have you gotten yourself into this time…?”
“See? Normally he’d yell at us for bringing those things up. But now he’s admitting it. Something’s seriously wrong with him.”
She wasn’t wrong.
Meeting these long-lost memories filled him with nostalgia.
But for them…
This was simply reality.
To them, he had always been more than just a troublemaker.
He had been the hopeless heir who constantly created disasters.
“Since we’re already talking…”
Hyunsoo smiled awkwardly.
“Would you teach me Paecheon True Qi?”
It was the cultivation method that best complemented the Heavenly Tyrant Ghost King Art.
Since his father was already here…
He figured he might as well ask.
