[Would you like to open the ‘Hero’s Weapon Box’?]
A box appeared in midair.
Its design was crude.
A plain box without even a metallic sheen.
Only a half-heartedly engraved weapon emblem decorated its surface.
“It looks worse than a Bronze Box.”
“On the contrary, this is a great sign!”
“Why?”
“If ‘Hero’s’ was just a grade descriptor like ‘Bronze’ or ‘Silver’, the box would be much fancier. But this gives the impression of being above ‘Silver,’ doesn’t it?”
“Oh?”
That made sense.
“The fact that it’s this plain means it’s not just a descriptor—it’s a real hero’s weapon!”
If that were true, something familiar might appear.
“I can’t wait!”
Aden shifted restlessly, her blue eyes sparkling.
‘What will come out?’
Unlike usual rewards, this one filled Kang Hyun with a different kind of anticipation.
He immediately selected the button.
[Opening ‘Hero’s Weapon Box.’]
There were no flashy effects or sound effects.
Only the soft click of a box unlocking.
That made it feel even more special.
“Ahhh—!”
“…Hm? Wait a second.”
Something familiar emerged from the box.
A sword just as plain as the box itself.
Ding!
[You have obtained ‘Kyle’s Dark Slayer’.]
“Uh, what!?”
His first emotion was nostalgia.
It was the sword he had first wielded as a child.
But that was immediately followed by deep embarrassment.
Especially after seeing its name.
Because he had been the one to name it—when he was a kid.
[Kyle’s Dark Slayer]
[A sword first wielded not by the great hero Kyle, but by the mercenary Kyle.
He swung it countless times, soaking it in the blood of demons, growing alongside him.
It is heavy, dull, and worn.
A weapon so crude that calling it a blade is embarrassing.
However, the history imbued in this sword was more than enough to elevate it to a treasured weapon.
It has become the ideal sword for Magic Swordsmanship.]
The more he read, the more his face twisted in a grimace.
‘Why the hell is that name in the system?’
Only he had ever known it.
‘Which bastard put that in there?’
“Hah…”
He rubbed his burning face.
Aden, meanwhile, had approached and was examining the sword.
As soon as she finished reading the description, her eyes widened so much they looked like they might rip.
“Wh-what, whaaat?! M-Master, this…! This is real…! It’s real!”
She trembled, hesitating to touch it as if it were sacred.
“I—I can’t believe it! This is truly Kyle’s sword! The real deal! The genuine article!”
…Wait, she recognized it?
This was just something he used in his obscure mercenary days.
Had it somehow become famous in modern times?
“You know what this is?”
“Of course! This is Kyle’s training sword! The origin of the concept of ‘Sword and Body as One’!”
“…That actually became famous?”
“But…!”
She was rambling in excitement but suddenly stopped.
“Dark… Slayer…?”
Ah, shit.
“Uh… The name is, um, kind of…”
“Ahem, well! The system’s naming sense is, uh… questionable, to say the least.”
“But last time, the ‘Garam Butterfly Wing Pair’ wasn’t like this…”
“Ahem!”
Damn, it was hot in here.
Was the heater on too high?
“Well… Names don’t matter! What’s important is its performance and the fact that Kyle himself used it!”
“Its performance is definitely solid.”
“The description only says it’s ‘the ideal sword for Magic Swordsmanship’, but do you know what that means?”
Kang Hyun nodded.
“Magic Swordsmanship has a unique trait—its weapons grow alongside their wielder.”
Words of Power manifest the will of the caster into reality.
If the same weapon is imbued with Words of Power repeatedly, it gradually resonates with its wielder’s will.
Kyle’s Dark Slayer was proof of that.
When used with Words of Power, this sword dramatically reduced mana consumption and amplified their effects.
“Wow…! A sword that grew alongside Kyle himself…!”
However, by the time he was known as a hero, he no longer used it.
By then, he had acquired plenty of powerful swords.
No matter how much this one grew, at its core, it was still just a crude stone blade.
But that was only when compared to the continent’s finest divine weapons.
‘Right now, there’s nothing better than this.’
It was a sword that had helped him survive countless near-death experiences.
He had lost it in the war.
And now, here it was again.
But…
“Huuuup!”
“Stay strong, Master!”
Damn, it was heavy.
He could lift it—barely—but swinging it was another matter entirely.
‘Man, I must’ve been freakishly strong as a kid.’
How the hell did he even swing this thing?
Ah, the power of youth.
“Hah… I can’t use it right now.”
“That’s such a shame….”
Tch, he had gotten his hopes up for nothing.
“This is stressing me out. I’m gonna go slice up some traitors.”
“Leave that here, Master!”
“Why would I?”
Aden approached, eyes gleaming in a way that made him uneasy.
Her hands twitched eagerly.
“…What are you planning?”
“J-Just let me play with it for a bit! Just a little!”
“You can’t even lift it with your strength. Go train.”
“Aaah, come on!”
Kang Hyun stepped out of the academy and into the dark city streets.
###
That night, Kang Hyun set his sights on eliminating corrupt high-ranking officials.
‘Gotta conserve mana. I’ll take them out bit by bit so it doesn’t affect my Blessing setup.’
Tonight’s target: Representative Park Jung-ho.
A politician who had aggressively pushed for the extermination of Ghost.
And a man who had stuffed his pockets with bribes from just about everywhere.
‘Let’s see… demons, Japan, China, Russia… Wow. Disgusting.’
He stashed the documents he had brought.
There was nothing more to check.
Dressed in black combat gear.
Drew his Black Blade.
Infiltrated Park Jung-ho’s residence.
A luxurious private house.
The timing was perfect.
Park was retrieving a ledger from a hidden floor safe, muttering to himself as he recorded something.
With a grimace, he grumbled.
“Tsk. Now that things are turning bad, they want to run without paying? That’s why those damn Japs are—”
“Do you talk to yourself often?”
“U-UWAAAHH!”
“Hand that over.”
Park Jung-ho fell back in shock.
Kang Hyun took the ledger and skimmed through it.
“Wow, this matches exactly with the intel. The CIA really knows what they’re doing.”
“Y-You! Y-You’re—G-Ghost!”
“Got any useful information before you die?”
“P-Please spare me! I’ll never say another arrogant word! I swear, I’ll spend my life worshipping—”
“If you don’t, then forget it. 【Blind, Silence, Forget】.”
Darkness flooded the room.
Park Jung-ho’s mouth opened and closed, but no sound escaped.
His body trembled at the eerie, soundless void.
“I heard you were retiring soon, so I came for you first. Hope you left good instructions for your successor.”
Truth be told, it was still a little early to start killing them off.
For when the Countdown came, the country’s administration needed to be at least somewhat functional.
But something felt off.
Leaving them alive until the Countdown just didn’t sit right with him.
There was precedent.
Traitors had sparked catastrophic events before.
Kang Hyun trusted his instincts.
So he decided to clean them up early.
Schlick—
He placed Park Jung-ho’s severed head on the table.
The now-iconic mark of Ghost.
Then, he opened his inventory.
Took out the printed CIA reports.
And stuffed them into the lifeless mouth, twisted in agony.
“【Burn】”
Whoosh—
Flames devoured the mansion.
###
The next day.
[World Quest]
[Time Limit: 3 Days, 23 Hours, 37 Minutes]
The media jumped on the story, as if they had been waiting for it.
<Ghost Strikes Again!>
<Representative Park Jung-ho of [XX Party] Found Slain in His Home…>
<A Severed Head on the Table, A House Consumed by Fire, and No Evidence Left—Undoubtedly the Work of Ghost!>
<An Untouched Head, Holding Evidence of Betrayal in Its Mouth… A Truly Bizarre Sight…>
<Three More Victims Besides Representative Park……>
“Heh. Clowns.”
The funniest part?
The media outlets that used to be fiercely anti-Ghost were now the most enthusiastic in praising him.
It was obvious why.
Park Jung-ho had been one of the leaders of the anti-Ghost movement.
His sudden death must have rattled them.
└ Ghost has finally unsheathed his blade against the rotten National Assembly!
└ We’ve been waiting for this day!
└ Please, make Korea normal again.
└ The world has gone mad. How can people support this filthy murderer…?!
└ Look at the reported evidence. Park Jung-ho was a traitor, a communist, a sellout to Japan—it was a disaster.
└ Damn right! That commie bastard got what he deserved!
└ Look at Grandpa switching sides real quick.
Ghost’s first assassination of a National Assembly member sent shockwaves through the nation.
What the ruling class had feared was now reality.
Of course, the politicians reacted immediately.
This time, they were truly terrified and rushed to pass a “Special Ghost Law”.
A bill filled with various laws designed to suppress Ghost.
But it was shut down the very next day.
<Representative Yang Cheol-jung, who proposed the Ghost Special Law, found dead.>
<Once again, evidence of treason clutched in the victim’s mouth.>
<Shocking! Representative Yang Cheol-jung was a traitor!>
He hadn’t planned to go this far.
But without fail, every single politician pushing for Ghost’s suppression turned out to be a traitor.
└ The bounty is going insane. Holy sh*t.
└ And just like that, the Special Law is gone!
└ Damn, Yang Cheol-jung actually seemed like a decent guy…
└ These traitors were hiding right under our noses…
└ Where does Ghost even get this information?
└ No one knows. That’s why he’s Ghost.
Even Chief Choi wasn’t sitting still.
<If you send me a list of targets in advance, I’ll try to minimize the chaos.>
“Sounds good. You sound quite pleased, by the way.”
<Is there a single citizen who isn’t? Maybe you should start suspecting anyone who is unhappy about this.>
As expected of Chief Choi.
The man had a knack for saying exactly what needed to be said.
Ghost—the dark hero—was practically his creation.
<You’re getting famous not just here, but internationally too.>
“Internationally?”
<The people in the countries where you installed the Blessing are going crazy over EX. Especially in the U.S.>
“Really?”
The home of heroism, America.
A country with more hero statues than anywhere else.
Apparently, Americans even had a distinct term for Awakened individuals.
‘”Hero”, was it?’
The name had a nice ring to it.
Who came up with that?
Even Hollywood’s biggest blockbuster franchises were hero movies.
<Just yesterday, there were parades in Washington, New York, and Silicon Valley. I guess you’re not the type to check the internet often.>
“…Huh?”
Chief Choi sent over some news articles.
“…Well, as long as it’s not happening right in front of me, I don’t mind.”
<One day, when you reveal your identity and travel to America, it’ll be quite the experience.>
“Reveal my identity, huh.”
Yeah, that would be something.
If his true identity ever came to light…
It wouldn’t just be America.
The whole world would flip upside down.
<Are you heading out tonight as well?>
“Yeah. Gotta go.”
<A true workaholic—saving Korea one execution at a time. I’ll do my best to assist.>
“Much appreciated.”
Tonight’s Target: Representative Cho Hyun-seok
A young and ambitious politician in his early thirties.
<By the way, Cho Hyun-seok is a D+ rank Awakened. Just a heads-up, though… it feels ridiculous to even suggest you be careful.>
“True, but….”
Kang Hyun’s gaze drifted toward Aden.
Or rather, toward the crude stone sword that she was hugging.
“Sniff, Sniff. Haaaah… Lord Kyle’s scent…!”
Something about Cho Hyun-seok felt off.
<Something wrong?>
“No, it’s nothing. Anyway, keep up the good work.”
He had to take that with him today. Kang Hyun had a good sense for these things.
[World Quest]
[Time Limit: 2 days 16 hours 45 minutes]
