Chapter 1 - What Did You Just Say?
This damn cursed fate.
Firefly still can’t forget it.
“Hah, I’ve never seen someone with a fate this nasty.”
Back when Firefly was still ‘Lee Do-jin’, that’s what the fortune-teller had told him.
“You’ve got a ‘Yeokmasal.’”
In simple terms, it meant he was destined to wander—never able to settle down. A drifter’s fate. At its worst, it foretold separation from family, and even a lonely death in some faraway land.
So he laughed it off.
“Actually, in this day and age, that sounds like a good thing. You practically need a wandering curse just to get a visa nowadays.”
Of course, even as he said it, he knew better than anyone—his fate wasn’t something to joke about.
【The Wanderer's Curse (Yeokmasal)】
Brings misfortune. A curse that dooms both oneself and those around them.
A cursed life that had even consumed his parents and younger sibling. That was why, no matter how much he wanted to settle somewhere, he never could.
“Well, I’m used to it. My job’s unstable anyway. Every time I go somewhere, weird crap happens, so I’ve just gotten used to moving houses and workplaces.”
Or maybe…
“Wait—are you saying I’m fated to die far from home?”
But the fortune-teller had just grinned, flashing yellowed teeth.
“If all you do is die far from home, consider yourself lucky. Listen up, you dumb brat. Your Yeokmasal? It doesn’t go away, even after you die.”
“…Haah.”
That smug smile had pissed him off. So he snapped back.
What a load of crap.
“Wait, what? Even after death? What, am I supposed to become some wandering ghost?”
“Exactly. You’ll keep wandering even after death.”
“Then maybe I’ll start by haunting you first.”
“I’d love that. But your fate’s so screwed, you probably won’t even have a ghost to haunt people with. You’ll just keep drifting from death to death.”
Back then, he’d thought the guy was a total quack—but damn it all, he’d been right.
Not long after, Lee Do-jin had died young in a foreign land.
And woke up in another world.
As ‘Ruin’.
Now, sure, reincarnation sounded nice in theory… but he’d been reborn as a monster. Settling down wasn’t just hard—it was a joke. His daily routine was humans barging in and stealing his house.
Even when he built one from scratch? Didn’t matter.
“You damn forces of nature in human skin! Could you not destroy someone else’s home for once?!”
Every time, some disaster or curse destroyed his house. So eventually, he gave up and joined the military—the kind that at least provided housing. That’s how he got scouted by the leader of the Demon Tribe, the Demon Emperor, and became an undercover agent.
Looking back, that damn fortune-teller was right—Yeokmasal is practically the perfect trait for a spy.
After all, a spy can’t stay in one place.
If anything, it was like fate had been training him for this job since birth. It made sense now. A career with absurdly high risk, absurdly high return.
Yeah. He even understood the whole you’ll always be where death is bit.
But this?
“Professor! I have a question!”
“What’s the most painful way to kill a demon?”
“Would ripping out their tongue and bashing in their skull do the trick?”
– The Hero Foundation’s Hero Training Academy: Haven.
– Motto: Annihilate without mercy.
– Demons must be eradicated to the last.
…Okay, no. This was not it.
Long story short, the demon Firefly had ended up becoming a professor at a Hero Academy.
All because of his retirement fund.
- - -
A few days ago—
Ruin had heard something absolutely ridiculous from his superior.
“…Excuse me? What did you just say?”
“I said, your retirement is no longer approved.”
“…What?”
“More precisely, you’re no longer able to retire.”
Ruin couldn’t believe his ears.
His codename was Firefly.
Even children knew who he was. That’s how infamous he was across the continent. Humanity ground its teeth at his name; demons worshipped him like a living god.
And rightly so. Firefly was the one who backstabbed countless heroes and princesses, decimated imperial forces, and brought ruin to entire nations. He was a legend.
And now, that legend had asked to retire. To be exact, after completing one final mission—50 years ago during the war with the Hero.
“I said I’d retire after that last job.”
Of course, something unavoidable had happened after that mission.
“Goddamn it! Why’s a dimensional portal opening here?!”
A spatial rift had appeared above Firefly’s head.
“Damn it all, I’ve got better odds of winning the damn lottery!”
A full-blown natural disaster had tossed him into another dimension. A freak accident with odds lower than getting struck by lightning ten times while winning the lottery.
Dragged into the rift, he barely survived.
That’s why Firefly had vanished for 50 years.
And when he finally clawed his way back—
What was this?
‘I can’t retire?’
Sure, he was only around thirty now. Technically still too young for retirement. But he just wanted to settle down already.
“Do-jin, I hope you’ll be happy.”
His grandmother, who had raised him alone in his past life, had worried about him until her final breath.
“Wandering invites misfortune… don’t wander, my dear…”
Ruin wanted to fulfill that wish. He wanted it for himself, too.
Yeah. Being homeless sucks.
He was the best agent there was—but that didn’t mean he had to let some stupid superstition rule his life. A curse that had left him penniless and even taken his family… there was nothing endearing about it.
So he’d scraped together every coin he had and bought land. Built a house. To him, owning a home meant he’d finally escaped that cursed fate.
That damn fortune-teller had said:
“You think a house’ll mean anything with Yeokmasal? Even if you’ve got skills, you’ve got a beggar’s fate! You think you’ve got money for a house? Just let me sell you a talisman and fix your luck!”
…Whatever.
What, was he supposed to give up on owning a home because of some old man’s superstition?
‘I’ll prove that crap wrong myself.’
Of course, he still had a mountain of debt. That’s why he’d stayed in the military as a spy. But now it was over. That massive retirement bonus would finally buy his freedom.
And then…
“I completed the mission to annihilate the Hero’s army, as ordered. Every task was carried out perfectly. So why am I not being sent home? Sure, the spatial accident took three years of my time, and fifty years passed here, but still… don’t tell me I failed?”
“No, calm down. Your mission was a resounding success. Thanks to you, the Hero and the Allied Forces suffered severe losses.”
“Then is it HQ? Are they holding out over the retirement bonus—?”
“No. The bonus was massive, equivalent to decades of the Demon Army’s entire budget, but considering your contribution, it was well-deserved. And as per your request, we stored the retirement funds in the secret vault in your home.”
“Then—!”
So what the hell was the problem?
“Well… after you disappeared, there was an incident. You can’t go back to your house.”
“…What?”
“Your house became a Hero Academy.”
……What?
“The Hero built an academy on your land.”
…………Excuse me??
“I assume he thought it was abandoned. But now, fifty years later, it’s become the main base for a premier Hero Force.”
“……”
“In other words, your entire fortune is buried under that academy.”
“Then… a reissued retirement bonus—?”
“You’ve already been paid.”
“…Son of a—”
“What was that?”
“Nothing, sir.”
In short: no second payout.
So what, he was supposed to just give up and go back to working like a dog for decades? After already earning his retirement?
They’re insane.
That bonus had only been possible because of that special mission. He’d never be able to earn that kind of money again.
“Then it’s simple. I just have to go in and retrieve my money.”
“Don’t be rash. It may be called an academy, but in reality, it’s the Hero Army’s highest-security base. Even the Demon Emperor himself would struggle to infiltrate. The secret vault likely hasn’t been discovered yet, but even you wouldn’t last a second inside. The moment you step in, your head’ll be skewered.”
Meaning—
“The only way in is either to get captured by the Hero Army… or go in as someone affiliated.”
“……”
“A student’s out of the question, but a professor… that could work.”
“……”
Hero, you bastard. I’m going to kill you.
