Chapter : 06
The Witch’s Failure
Broker Cha Baek-jin had lived a turbulent life.
Abandoned by his parents the moment he was born, he was dumped into an orphanage. From then on, he found himself tangled in endless conflict. The reason? He was a mixed-race child of Southeast Asian descent.
It was absurd. He was born in South Korea and held Korean citizenship. Yet, the discrimination persisted. Was he truly meant to be treated like this just because his heritage was slightly mixed?
Life at the orphanage was a blur of brawls, hunger, abuse, discrimination, and jealousy. Even as a young child, he constantly agonized over how he would survive once he grew up. His childhood forced him to.
Then came that fateful day.
“…His mana reaction isn’t bad at all. Awakening a Power—and even obtaining an Epithet—seems entirely within reach. Director, if it’s alright with you, may we take charge of this child?”
Those were the words of an official from the Government Academy who had visited the orphanage. Cha Baek-jin was seven years old at the time—an age that desperately required care. Though he had scraped by in constant fights, he was still just a child whose growth had been cut short, meant to spend his youth in the embrace of peers.
However…
“Haha! Director, yes, please do not worry. We will take great care of young Cha Baek-jin. Oh, and as a small token of my appreciation, I will ensure the orphanage receives monthly government support.”
He was sold off for dirt cheap. The director didn’t hesitate for a single second. A troublesome, mixed-race child was far beyond the scope of the director’s goodwill.
Cha Baek-jin accepted his fate. If it was a destiny he couldn’t resist, he at least wanted to feel as though he had chosen it himself. He wanted to claim it was his own choice, not someone else’s.
“…Fuck.”
It was absolute garbage. Come to think of it, had he ever been given a proper choice in his life? He had been kicked around his entire existence. Even after awakening his talent as a Hunter and striving to build a proper life, he hit the wall of talent and was forced to retire.
It was a damned life. In the end, returning to what he knew best, he fell in with the lowlifes who hovered around the Tower and started working as a broker. He needed money—enough to prove that he hadn’t been wrong about himself. But soon, even that felt hollow.
That was just the kind of life he lived.
“…Sigh.”
He pulled out a cigarette and lit it.
Clack— Sizzz—
Lukewarm smoke filled his lungs. Cha Baek-jin exhaled a long trail of smoke and fiddled with the silver rings on his fingers.
“Are you going to kill me?”
At Cha Baek-jin’s low murmur, the wall in front of him writhed.
Gurgle— Slurp—
The entity staining the entire wall pitch-black resembled a massive, dark slime. Crashing through the office wall, the black form surged, briefly stretching its viscous body back and forth.
It didn’t take long. In the span of a few blinks, the slime began to shape itself into a human form.
What emerged was a female mage of striking beauty, her deep black robe pulled low.
“…What business does a mage of Ahihil have in a humble place like this?”
— I came to retrieve the agreed-upon item, Cha Baek-jin.
“Didn’t I explain over the phone? The captured monster specimen was destroyed.”
Cha Baek-jin feigned composure, responding in as calm a tone as he could muster. He didn’t expect much, but he was trembling. He had heard all too well what happened to those who made mistakes while dealing with the mages of Ahihil.
The fact that a mage dwelling in that ominous abyss had left her nest to come here carried immense weight. Still, he couldn’t just sit back and die, so he spouted whatever words came to mind.
“…Didn’t I show you the corpse? A high-level powerhouse came through here. Do you really still have to kill me?”
— It is the law of Ahihil. You know what it means to breach a contract, Cha Baek-jin.
“Dammit. You’re pretty touchy for someone dealing with a non-Ahihil dark mage.”
The only reason he could spit curses out loud was simple: he was a dead man walking anyway. What was the point of filtering his words?
Cha Baek-jin raised his gaze. The mage cloaked in black pulled the corners of her lips into a gentle, twisted smile.
Flawless white skin, crimson lips, and dark red eyes gleaming like jewels from beneath her hood. Spreading dense waves of killing intent that made his skin crawl, the dark mage faced him, her silver hair spilling down to her waist.
The 7th Priestess of Ahihil.
Lee Eun-rim.
Rumor had it she was a Hunter who had reached the late Rank 6 realm. She was on an entirely different level from ordinary Rank 6 Hunters—a true powerhouse of an absurd magnitude. An existence deserving of the title “superhuman” in the truest sense.
Feeling Lee Eun-rim’s chilling gaze, Cha Baek-jin recalled a memory from just a short while ago. He had received a phone call.
It was from the young man who had barged into his office yesterday—the black-haired monster.
「…Do you know how to restore the expunged identity of a Returner? I’d like to handle it as quietly as possible. If it’s doable, I’ll compensate you handsomely.」
Only then did Cha Baek-jin understand how that man he met yesterday possessed such absurd strength.
A Returner (歸還者).
It referred to those who were swept into a Rift and returned after many years had passed. There were quite a few Returners scattered across various nations. Those who survived that hellish phenomenon known as the Rift-Swallow numbered several dozen even on a global scale.
Every single one of them was a monster. From the moment they returned, despite not possessing a body blessed by the Tower, they operated at a minimum of a Rank 5 Hunter.
At any rate, Cha Baek-jin had decided to offer a “suitable solution” to this new Returner. The man had promised good pay, didn’t he? There was no reason to decline—it wasn’t like the man was going to wipe his mouth and walk away without paying.
Regardless, that commission was now impossible to keep. Even if that Returner were to drop by his office right now, the situation wouldn’t change.
‘…A fresh Returner who hasn’t even restored his expunged identity would hard-pressed to face a Priestess of Ahihil.’
Even if Returners were monsters to a man, they needed time to build power matching their talent. Re-climbing the Tower from scratch, clearing scenarios, receiving rewards, growing… that entire process was necessary.
No Hunter was complete from the start. Such a thing couldn’t exist—not even for a Returner.
In short, even if Do Min-hyuk stepped in to help, there was no way out in this current situation. They would just die useless deaths together.
“Though, dammit… I’m jealous.”
Cha Baek-jin watched as Lee Eun-rim reached out her hand. The moment the Priestess of Ahihil unleashed her mana, the threads wrapped around her robe began to unravel, taking the shape of serpents.
An overwhelming sense of hierarchy pressed down on him. It was an overwhelming talent—a surge of unearthly power so vast it almost felt beautiful. A ridiculously blessed talent.
‘…Why don’t I have talent like that?’
Cha Baek-jin stared at Lee Eun-rim with a dazed expression.
Skreeee— Screeech—
He watched as the threads took the form of snakes: seven serpents boasting brilliant white scales. Pure white vipers.
Ssss— Sssss—
The snakes slithered up Lee Eun-rim’s slender arms, spiraling together at her fingertips to form a long spear.
Grumble—
Cha Baek-jin let out a bitter smile at the freezing mana radiating from the completed White Serpent Spear.
“Dammit all.”
The sheer pressure was immense enough to make his legs tremble, even though she had merely manifested her weapon. He couldn’t believe such a vast gap existed between two people who were both Hunters. It felt like standing before a massive fortress wall.
Priestess Lee Eun-rim was binding the mana in the entire area through the sheer intimidation of her presence alone.
Late Rank 6. A living disaster capable of wiping a small city off the map without a trace simply by reaching out and crushing it. Even within Ahihil, that ominous collective of mages, there was only one Priestess per country.
A Ranker of the Tower. She was that kind of monster.
“Fuck it. Sounds like you’re going to kill me no matter what I say. Then do you mind if I make one quick phone call? I’m not calling the cops.”
Though his words asked for permission, he didn’t wait for an answer. Cha Baek-jin roughly ruffled his hair and dialed a number, reaching one of his few remaining friends.
“Looks like today’s the end of the line for me. You know where my safe is—liquidate everything in there and take care of it for me. You know those three orphanages, right? There’s more than enough money to support them for ten years, so I’m counting on you.”
That was the end of the call. He could hear his friend spouting curses from the other end of the line, but he ignored it.
“Dammit. Thanks for waiting.”
Cha Baek-jin tipped his head to express his gratitude and drew a dagger. It was a dagger engraved with geometric patterns, featuring a slender blade reminiscent of a stiletto, characterized by its long blade and ornate hilt.
It was a Penta-Numbered Artifact—No. 99921, Asilph’s Regret—which had saved his life multiple times back when he climbed the floors as an active Hunter.
It belonged to a woman who, unable to overcome poverty, turned to contract killing. One day, after unknowingly assassinating her own son, she used it to take her own life.
It was an item Cha Baek-jin cherished. Somehow, it felt poetically similar to him—the connection between the woman who originally owned it and himself, its new master.
He hated poverty.
He hated being alone.
He hated loneliness.
He simply wished there would be no more poor, abandoned children living the way he had.
Cha Baek-jin looked at Lee Eun-rim pointing the White Serpent Spear at him and tilted his head back.
“I’m not dying without a fight.”
The moment the words left his mouth, Cha Baek-jin thrust his dagger forward.
As the owner’s mana flowed into Asilph’s Regret, hundreds of fingers sprouted from the weapon, spreading out like a net to cover the empty air.
Snap— Craaaack—
The fingers shrieked—a powerful blow capable of shattering the limits of a low-tier Hunter, if only for a split second.
However, Cha Baek-jin’s attack…
Clang—!
…was deflected by Lee Eun-rim’s casually extended spear.
To be precise, it was knocked back before it could even get close to the White Serpent Spear—deflected simply by colliding with the shockwaves of mana radiating from the weapon.
A gap so vast it was staggering. Cha Baek-jin let out a hollow laugh at the absurdity of it.
“So I can’t even put up a struggle, huh?”
Surprisingly, he didn’t feel despair. In fact, he felt relieved. Though Do Min-hyuk—the culprit who had dragged him into this situation—crossed his mind, he didn’t particularly resent the man.
“…Ha. Is that how it was?”
A sudden thought struck him. Looking at Lee Eun-rim as she thrust her White Serpent Spear forward, Cha Baek-jin cracked a bitter smile.
Only now, on the verge of death, did he realize it: all this time, he had just wanted to rest. Living in this shitty world pretending to be full of desire, he had actually grown sick of this life long ago.
Cha Baek-jin let out a faint chuckle.
This wasn’t so bad either. If death was the only escape from a life he was thoroughly sick of, then this wasn’t bad at all.
His only regret was his promise to Do Min-hyuk. He had promised to find a “suitable solution” for him, but that seemed out of the question now. Dead men tell no tales, after all.
Yet, at that very moment…
Someone stepped in front of Cha Baek-jin, blocking the way.
Crunch—
It was a man with black hair.
With an indifferent expression, Do Min-hyuk grabbed the tip of the White Serpent Spear extended by Lee Eun-rim.
His grip was light—even while holding the tip of a terrifying treasure that had deflected Asilph’s Regret with mere residual mana.
And then…
Screeech! Screeeaaaach—!
The spear formed by seven snakes spiraling together—the grand treasure of Lee Eun-rim, the 7th Priestess of Ahihil—began to scream.
Whoosh—!
Dark black flames blazed into existence. The chaotic power flowing from the flames swallowed the White Serpent Spear, melting it away.
And along with it…
Do Min-hyuk, who was holding the spear, finally released his grip and spoke in a quiet, low voice.
“Why is a failure cast aside by the Witch of Envy here?”
It was a light, offhand question, asked almost casually in passing.
At the man’s voice—which carried an air of absolute weariness—the surrounding sounds died down in an instant.
Neither Cha Baek-jin, who had prepared himself for death, nor Priestess Lee Eun-rim, who had come to enforce the laws of Ahihil…
Neither of them could open their mouths at this moment.
