Behind Kang Hyun, the commotion of citizens outside reached his ears.
They must have been startled by the massive explosion.
“Hmm.”
Park Cheol-woong brushed the dirt off his shoulder.
“Suits are too easy to get dirty; that’s the downside.”
“I’ve always thought this—suits don’t suit you at all.”
“I know. But running a business leaves me no choice.”
As he said this, he clenched and unclenched his fists.
Kang Hyun felt a tightening sensation around his finger—it was the Heartbeat of Prey.
‘Was the power he used to break the wall just a punch?’
The destructive force was enormous.
If he took two direct hits, he’d be finished.
Kang Hyun quickly assessed the situation.
Escape? Could he even have time to use 【Open】?
Even against B-ranks, he had barely managed to create an opening with all sorts of stunts.
Above all, Kang Hyun had already involved Oh Hyuk-jun.
Now that Park Cheol-woong recognized Kang Hyun’s threat, he wouldn’t let him go.
‘This difficulty level is no joke.’
Agh, his throat was stiff.
“…Weren’t you supposed to be overseas?”
“The plane happened to pass through the skies near here.”
“What nonsense is that?”
“I heard the news and jumped off.”
“…?”
Jumped off?
From a plane?
‘Crazy bastard.’
He’s insane—both mentally and physically.
“You actually did that?”
“I half-expected to die, but surprisingly, I survived just fine.”
“Why go to such lengths? What’s so important about that guy?”
He had gathered the intel.
Park Cheol-woong’s target was a half-sibling.
But even that didn’t justify his actions.
“There are things in this world you can’t afford to regret once they’re lost.”
“Don’t try to sound cool when you’re playing the villain.”
“I’ve decided never to regret anything again.”
Yet, surprisingly, he didn’t attack immediately.
He wasn’t the type to waste time with chatter.
He must be waiting for something.
“By the way, Kang Hyun, you—”
“Hold on. Pay upfront.”
“What?”
“Give me one turn, and I’ll answer your question.”
“…”
Park Cheol-woong’s expression was incredulous, but silence meant agreement.
Kang Hyun pulled out a Dried Sacred Water Elixir and popped it into his mouth.
Munch. Munch.
“Oh.”
“Ugh. What a healthy taste.”
“Interesting. To survive even after doing that—you must have a unique skill.”
“Huh?”
A skill, suddenly?
“Alright. My turn now.”
Park Cheol-woong took out a small crystal orb from his coat. Kang Hyun recognized the item.
“Wow, you carry around something that expensive?”
“Answer to the <Crystal of Truth>. You, Kang Hyun, the Perfect Clear Awakened and Ghost”
Park Cheol-woong’s eyes glistened with fervent desire.
“What kind of skills do you have? What makes someone with such low stats like you so strong?”
His gaze betrayed a thirst for power, mingled with regret.
Well, this worked out. Kang Hyun had been curious about something, too.
“Two skills. One is Level 6.”
“As expected! A skill at Level 6 in that rank would certainly—”
“The other is ‘Max+2’ level.”
Park Cheol-woong, who had been brimming with excitement, froze in place.
His brow furrowed.
“This is the <Crystal of Truth>. If you make another joke, I’ll kill you immediately—”
The crystal emitted a green light, signifying the truth.
Park Cheol-woong’s eyes wavered violently.
“…What did you just say?”
“That crystal orb—it’s a three-minute duration, right? If you answer my question, I’ll tell you the name of my skill.”
“A level like that shouldn’t… No, fine. Let’s hear it.”
Unable to hide his excitement, Park Cheol-woong’s eyes gleamed with bloodshot veins.
His gray suit groaned under the tension, a faint creak, crack filling the air.
“I heard that not only Oh Hyuk-jun but you too turned traitor.”
“Yeah, that’s right. So what?”
“Whoa, whoa, calm down. What were you lacking—wealth? Fame? What made you cross the line? What did they promise you?”
“Power.”
“Be specific.”
“A skill. The skill of a hero.”
Park Cheol-woong smirked wickedly. He seemed to savor just the thought.
Wait a second.
What did he just say?
“They promised me the martial arts of Detorion, one of the seven heroes from 100 years ago, the strongest of them all.”
“That’s impossible—”
The crystal orb glowed green.
Truth.
It was the truth?
“Now, tell me. What exactly is your skill?”
“…”
“Speak up!”
No way. Detorion’s martial arts were a single-line inheritance.
‘That guy died in front of me without passing on his skills.’
After the war ended, Kang Hyun had promised to carry on the martial arts himself. He’d vowed to preserve the legacy. But the promise was broken.
Detorion’s martial arts had disappeared.
No doubt about it.
There was no way he’d secretly trained a disciple.
He wasn’t the type to hide something like that so thoroughly, especially from his comrades.
A creeping sense of unease overtook Kang Hyun.
This felt filthy.
“Answer me! What is the identity of the ‘Max+2’ level skill?”
“Just one more thing. What do you plan to do with the skill once you know?”
“You son of a… Fine. Don’t answer. When I hand your corpse over to the demons, your skill will become mine anyway.”
Park Cheol-woong clenched his fist tightly.
A corpse as a medium for skill extraction.
If that was the case…
‘They extracted the skill from Detorion’s corpse.’
The corpse they’d buried together in his homeland.
What became of his homeland, then?
Is his corpse still in their hands?
After the extraction, did they return him to rest?
Or did the demons desecrate the hero’s body?
‘Ah.’
Disgusting.
“Die, Kang Hyun!”
The blood in his veins ran cold.
He wanted to kill every last demon.
When Kang Hyun snapped back to reality, a massive fist filled his vision.
It was unstoppable.
A punch packed with overwhelming power.
At that moment, Kang Hyun’s murderous intent locked onto something.
A sinister force lurking within that power.
‘Demonic energy.’
In a flash of rage-fueled clarity, Kang Hyun traced the source.
He sensed the presence of demonic energy in Park Cheol-woong’s heart.
“…You filthy traitor.”
The words escaped his lips unbidden.
He wanted to kill Park Cheol-woong.
“Die and become my power!”
The massive fist slammed into Kang Hyun, a devastating blow that knocked the wind from him and sent his consciousness spiraling into oblivion.
When he came to, he was hurtling through the air outside the building.
“…【Open】.”
Shrrrak—!
A portal opened in the trajectory of his flight.
“You’re not getting away!”
Park Cheol-woong reached out, but Kang Hyun disappeared through the portal, vanishing beyond his grasp.
Their eyes met.
Park Cheol-woong saw the cold, piercing gaze of Kang Hyun.
Eyes filled with murderous intent—a gaze that sent primal alarms ringing in his head.
Kang Hyun was retreating, but those eyes were anything but the eyes of someone running away.
They were the eyes of someone who had decided to kill.
Unbelievable as it seemed, it was the gaze of a true predator—something only the strong could possess.
Instinctively, Park Cheol-woong raised his guard.
It was a reflexive action.
And then the portal closed.
Kang Hyun was gone.
‘…’
He didn’t run away.
He’ll come back.
He needed to be ready.
Park Cheol-woong couldn’t pinpoint the exact source of the unease, but he no longer let his guard down.
Without hesitation, he turned toward his half-brother, Oh Hyuk-jun.
“Tell me everything about his abilities. Quickly.”
###
A deserted place on the outskirts of Seoul.
A portal opened, spitting out Kang Hyun onto the ground.
Kang Hyun tumbled for a long while before finally coming to a stop.
“Ugh…!”
Damn it. That punch hit like hell.
Blood poured from every part of his face—eyes, nose, and mouth.
Even as he struggled to rise, his arms shook uncontrollably.
He was already halfway to death.
And yet, Kang Hyun staggered forward, mumbling ominously under his breath.
“Filthy traitor scum…”
An S-rank. An opponent he couldn’t possibly defeat right now.
But Kang Hyun’s mind was consumed by a single thought.
Kill the demons.
He limped toward a Gate, step by step.
Toward the Providence Dungeon, an anomaly among dungeons.
Kang Hyun entered the Gate.
###
“You’re telling me he just said ‘die’ and then people die? Are you joking?”
“No, I swear, Guild Master! I saw it with my own eyes!”
“You idiot! Are you still drunk from last night—”
“Look! Look at Song Hyun-soo lying there! She’s dead! It really happened!”
Park Cheol-woong grimaced as he checked Song Hyun-soo’s pulse.
‘She’s dead, alright.’
He examined the corpse.
A few shallow cuts, nothing fatal.
No traces of poison or internal injuries.
Too clean.
How did she die?
“A power to manifest words into reality…?”
He’d seen it.
When Kang Hyun said “Open”, a hole appeared in thin air.
Vera.
Blind.
Gara.
Open.
Die.
It was almost like…
‘Word Magic.’
But that was impossible.
Word magic had been lost after Hero Kyle.
‘Some theorize that an S-rank Word Mage inherited Kyle’s legacy, but…’
Could it be him?
No, that didn’t make sense either.
Whether Kang Hyun was S-rank or not, ‘Open’ and ‘Die’ weren’t Words of Power that should exist.
Even Kyle himself had never been recorded using them.
An individual surpassing Kyle as a Word Mage?
That’s absurd.
‘Then what was that open space? Was it the nature of his skill?’
His opponent was a Perfect Clear Awakened.
It would be foolish to judge him by common sense.
Words of Power.
An S-rank Word Mage.
Kyle’s legacy.
Open. Die.
‘What on earth is he?’
Then, a phrase Kang Hyun had muttered earlier came to Park Cheol-woong’s mind.
Filthy traitor scum.
A famous line.
It appeared in every movie, fairy tale, and legend featuring Hero Kyle.
It was a phrase Kyle was known to utter habitually.
It had also been Park Cheol-woong’s favorite line.
Back when he was younger.
Before he had a demon’s heart transplanted into his chest.
Back when he still had regrets.
From his F-rank days, Park Cheol-woong had pursued strength.
He had idolized the power of the seven heroes, the strongest figures in history.
‘…But why now? Surely he’s not trying to be dramatic.’
The more he thought about it, the more mysterious Kang Hyun seemed.
But then—
Shraaak—!
“…!”
That sound from earlier.
Above him.
Park Cheol-woong immediately looked up.
A hole much larger than before.
From it poured an intense, blinding light.
“Gah!”
Park Cheol-woong crouched down instinctively.
As the light bathed him, his heart began to constrict violently—the transplanted demon heart.
“Ugh, arghhh!”
What was this now?
It wasn’t over.
“…!”
A primal alarm resounded through his senses.
He forced himself to endure the pain and looked into the hole.
A colossal light.
No, a sword of light.
An enormous blade of radiant energy was descending toward him.
He rolled away in haste, but the light had already slowed his movements.
The sword grazed his chest, tearing through it.
“Kuhhh!”
The blade extended endlessly from the void, ripping through the building floor.
BOOOM!
Clutching his chest, Park Cheol-woong was flung out of the building by the shockwave.
He clenched his eyes shut as the force carried him away.
The sword stretched down with the power to cleave the building in half.
On its shining surface, Kang Hyun stood.
Blood streamed from his eyes, nose, and mouth.
But he wore a chilling smile.
He glared down at Park Cheol-woong.
“Die, you filthy traitor scum.”
