Chapter – 01
The Wastrel Returns
Trash.
Yes, that was exactly what my life had been—complete and utter trash.
[Potential: F]
F-rank Awakened.
No matter how hard I struggled and trained, I was born with a ceiling that prevented me from ever rising above E-rank.
‘Why even bother training when I’m just F-rank anyway?’
I knew my limits.
Or at least, I thought I did.
‘Monsters? That’s for A-rank or S-rank Hunters!’
Trapped by that prejudice, I did nothing but run away.
After all, I believed my life was set on easy mode.
I was the heir to a powerful corporation.
I thought that pathetic status would last forever.
‘Just don’t do anything. Please, for the love of God, stop causing trouble.’
My father, who sighed every time he looked at me.
‘Having you as my blood relative is truly shameful.’
My younger brother, who treated me worse than a stranger.
‘……Hmph.’
My younger sister, who wouldn’t even speak to me.
‘Someday… I believe you’ll return to the person you used to be.’
And my mother, who kept me alive despite everything.
I was hated by my entire family.
No.
I thought I was hated.
Then the ‘Cataclysm’-level Gate Break occurred in South Korea.
In less than a month, the Korean Peninsula was destroyed, and every human on it was reduced to ashes.
Everyone except one person.
Me.
That day, my father took the goblin’s sword meant for me and said with his dying breath:
“Live. Survive no matter what. I… never truly hated you, Tae-hyun.”
After fleeing to America, I desperately fought to survive.
Ironically, I only decided to become strong after losing everything.
In the end, I gained power that made the label of “F-rank” laughable.
[Name: Lee Tae-hyun]
[Potential: F]
[Owned Skills] (1)
▷ Reinforcement €
[Status]
▷ Stamina: 21
▷ Strength: 25
▷ Agility: 32
▷ Magic Power: 13
▷ Wisdom: 11
▷ Resistance: 15
▷ Luck: 10
Even so, my stats were only at the tail end of D-rank.
But acquiring this much had cost me a great deal.
“Ugh… AAAAAAAAARGH!!”
Side effects from consuming excessive elixirs.
My right eye had almost lost its vision, and piercing headaches struck like knives from time to time.
‘Thanks to that, I now know more about elixirs than most doctors.’
I had used my own body as a test subject.
Which combinations were effective, and which were lethal poison.
Because of that, I managed to survive quite stubbornly even in this ruined world.
The Cataclysm-level Gate Break that started in South Korea.
Its boss, the ‘Iron Blood Lord.’
The hundreds of millions of knights he commanded could not be stopped even by the world’s top Hunters.
[(Breaking News) India has fallen.]
[African Union dissolved.]
[Recruiting rescue team for Chinese survivors.]
One powerful nation after another collapsed.
No one could halt the march of the knights.
Not the leaders of Korea’s Four Gates.
Not even China, the Hunter superpower.
Not Britain’s Golden Generation and their invincible fleet.
Not the hero who had blocked the first Cataclysm.
They all died.
“Haa… Haa…”
In this hopeless situation, the one who survived until the very end was, unfortunately—
- Humans are such frail creatures.
—me again.
From the last survivor of South Korea to the last survivor of humanity.
What a fucking achievement.
“Ptui.”
I spat out the fishy liquid in my mouth.
A dark clump of blood came out along with chunks of flesh.
- Your body is in bad shape.
I painfully turned my head and looked at the pitch-black armored figure before me.
A massive body over 5 meters tall. The master of destruction who turned everything he stepped on into a sea of blood.
‘The Iron Blood Lord.’
The bastard who had taken everything from me was standing right there.
- Interesting. Usually, the ones who survive until the end possess remarkable strength.
He tilted his head.
- But you are weak. Perhaps the weakest in this world.
“…Ha!”
A laugh unknowingly escaped my lips.
“Yeah, I’m weak. My mind was made of glass, and my body would shatter if someone so much as bumped into me. I couldn’t sleep without alcohol, and I was crazy about women and food.”
That was who I was before the apocalypse.
Ironically, it was the apocalypse itself that changed me.
Clank—
The Lord lightly shook the greatsword in his hand and muttered.
- What an amusing specimen. You pushed your limits to the extreme.
I didn’t know what he was saying, but this was my only chance to land a hit.
‘Anyway, I can’t survive any longer.’
Even if I survived this, the land was crawling with the knights he commanded.
My body was already screaming for death.
So—
“Before I die!!”
I’ll at least land one blow!
Grip!
I poured every last drop of magic power into the spear I was holding.
[Reinforcement €]
▷ Increases all performance of the targeted object by 10%.
A pathetic effect fitting for an E-rank skill.
The chipped spear blade became slightly sharper.
‘And on top of that…’
I added my ultimate spear technique.
A style I had created by modifying secret manuals I found while scouring the ruined South Korea. A spear art made solely for me.
Ghost Spear Limitless
A technique that far surpassed the physical limits of my body.
The price for using it, of course, was my life.
Shiiiiiiiing!!
A dark-red blade of magic power gathered at the tip of the spear.
- …!
I didn’t give him time to dodge.
‘Even if my legs break, it’s fine.’
I squeezed every ounce of strength into my feet and knees planted on the ground.
BOOM!
And unleashed it!
“GO TO HELL!!”
All the years of my past life.
A single strike filled with a life of nothing but regret shot forward.
Stab!
A clear sound of flesh being pierced rang in my ears.
Unfortunately, it wasn’t from my spear.
“Guh… Huk……”
Fresh blood poured from my nose and mouth.
The Iron Blood Lord’s greatsword had pierced straight through my chest, crushing my heart.
My spear stopped right in front of him.
“Haha… So it ends like this…”
The last resistance of humanity, and it was me.
I wondered what kind of expression my father would make if he saw this.
Would he pat my shoulder and say I did well?
Or would he scold me for doing something so dangerous?
‘I don’t know, Father.’
If I could start over.
If I could see my father, mother, and siblings again.
‘I’ll apologize.’
I would apologize for all the pain I caused and fix everything I had broken.
‘And…’
I would prove it.
That limits can be overcome.
Crack.
In my remaining left eye, an amusing sight appeared.
One of the decorations on the Lord’s helmet had broken off.
- How…!
For a once-in-a-lifetime strike where I bet everything, the result was shabby, but not bad.
“Ah……”
My consciousness flickered into darkness.
I could feel my body growing cold from the tips of my toes.
My body felt unbearably heavy.
Before I could feel anything more, my mind sank into the abyss.
[Potential detected in this individual.]
[Qualification review… Complete]
[Conditions… Satisfied]
[Re-evaluation of ‘Humanity’ has begun.]
[Rewind initiated… Complete.]
[Inspection in progress… 1 issue detected]
[Attempting to resolve issue… Failed!]
[Attempting to resolve issue… Failed!]
[Attempting to resolve issue… Failed!]
[Issue cannot be resolved.]
[Forcibly commencing]
[Restarting from registered point.]
***
[Lee Tae-hyun in seclusion for 3 months… Is the death rumor true?]
[Chairman Lee Jin-seong’s hardened expression — sorrow or rage for his son?]
[The once unshakable Cheonseong Group is now faltering from an unexpected blow.]
[‘Wastrel’, ‘Tyrant’. Just who is Lee Tae-hyun?]
Chairman Lee Jin-seong swept a hand across his wrinkled face as he looked at the disturbing headlines on the monitor.
“Ha…”
His life had been smooth sailing.
Even during the turbulent era of Gates, monsters, and Hunters, he had moved forward without hesitation, eyes fixed only on the path ahead.
Thanks to that, he had built Cheonseong Group — Korea’s number one conglomerate and ranked 12th in the world.
Perhaps because he had lived a life of constant success, he never dreamed he would face such agony in his later years.
“Chairman… There’s still no contact today…”
“Of course there isn’t.”
Secretary Kim in his black suit wiped cold sweat from his forehead with his sleeve.
Chairman Lee Jin-seong’s heavy voice pressed down on the entire room.
“If that bastard still has any sense of shame, he’s probably doing his best to avoid me right now.”
The eldest son among three sons and one daughter.
The young master who was supposed to lead the next generation of Cheonseong Group.
No — the former young master, that wastrel bastard, Lee Tae-hyun.
“Heaven truly is heartless.”
Chairman Lee Jin-seong let out a pained sigh while looking at the clear blue sky.
He had believed people could change, but it seemed that was nothing but nonsense.
He could understand if his son was just a lazy good-for-nothing who liked to play around.
But—
‘You fucking piece of shit!’
‘Ack! B-blood!’
‘Say that again, you bastard! Are you saying I’m still dumber than my little brother?!’
‘Argh! Aaaargh!’
He never imagined the boy would go around beating people up.
He had secretly covered it up until now, but half a year ago, the person Tae-hyun beat was a popular star from a famous Hunter guild.
People found it strange that a Hunter got his nose broken by an ordinary person?
The public was far more interested in the fact that the son of Cheonseong Group had assaulted someone.
[(Breaking News) Cheonseong Group’s heir clashes with ‘Super Prospect’ Yoo Seong-wook?]
[Petition for Lee Tae-hyun’s execution… Is it a joke gone too far, or public outrage?]
- Pouring alcohol on someone’s face? That’s crossing the fucking line;;
└ These chaebol kids really are something else lololol
└ This only blew up because the victim was Yoo Seong-wook. He probably beat random people before and just paid them off.
- If anyone scars my oppa Seong-wook’s face, I’ll actually kill them
- So rich people can just beat others up? Must be nice living life on easy mode lololol
Public sentiment was at rock bottom.
‘Yeah, I could somehow understand even that.’
At least no one had died back then.
But what happened three months ago was on a completely different scale.
[B-rank Gate Party Annihilation Incident]
Out of a 6-person party that entered a B-rank Gate in Asan, Chungnam, only one person survived.
Since Hunters dying inside Gates was common, it would have normally ended with a few short articles.
If only—
‘Hiiiiiiik! Save meeeeee!’
—Lee Tae-hyun hadn’t been there.
“When I heard that bastard had awakened as an S-rank, I thought the hardship was finally over. I believed he would finally come to his senses.”
One day, Lee Tae-hyun had proudly marched up to Chairman Lee Jin-seong, puffing out his chest.
‘Father! Do you know what I just did? I awakened! And it’s S-rank! Wahahaha!!’
‘I’ll repay you for all the trouble I’ve caused until now!’
To get straight to the point, the awakening itself was real.
Except it wasn’t S-rank. It was F-rank.
He had falsified the data to make it look like S-rank and deliberately entered a high-difficulty Gate.
All because of the stupid, rotten idea that clearing a high-level Gate would make his father look at him differently.
The result: the entire party was wiped out, except for Lee Tae-hyun, who had fled long before.
[(Breaking News) Son of Cheonseong Group Chairman abandons party and escapes alone from Gate?]
[Hunter Association remains silent on rank forgery.]
[Hunter Association: “We have no involvement. This was entirely Lee Tae-hyun’s personal actions.”]
[Tears of the victims’ families… “Lee Tae-hyun hasn’t even shown up at the memorial, let alone apologized.”]
After barely surviving that near-death experience, Lee Tae-hyun had locked himself in his room and lived like a shut-in.
Three months had passed like that.
Rumors were now spreading that Lee Tae-hyun had actually died in the Gate and that Cheonseong Group was covering it up.
“This can’t go on.”
Chairman Lee Jin-seong tapped the table with his fingers, steeling his resolve.
“Drag him out by force if you have to.”
“B-but he still seems to be under severe mental stress. Lately, he’s been muttering strange things to himself…”
“So are you suggesting we keep cleaning up after that damn boy forever?”
He had been patient long enough.
No matter how much he was his son, he would no longer allow him to damage the name of Cheonseong.
“Throw him into a mental hospital, parade him at a press conference, or hang him at Gwanghwamun for all I care.”
There was no longer a warm father named Lee Jin-seong.
Only the Chairman of Cheonseong Group, Lee Jin-seong.
“Bring Lee Tae-hyun outside.”
