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[Translator - Helga ]
[Proofreader - Starfall ]
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Chapter: 01
“Kuh-heok.”
Blood gushed from my mouth.
Clutching the half-broken sword, I struggled to lift myself off the ground.
But all my strength had already been drained—I couldn’t even move a finger.
Barely managing to raise my head, I looked around at the devastation I had caused.
Corpses were scattered across the dungeon floor—dozens of them.
They were Hunters, dispatched by the organization to kill me.
To capture someone like me, an Unawakened, they had mobilized three elite Hunter squads.
By all rights, I should have died here.
But I kept swinging my sword until the very end.
Even Awakened Hunters are still human.
Cut them and they bleed.
Pierce their necks, and they die.
And so, dozens of the organization’s Hunters fell to my blade.
It was then I heard clapping from the other side of the cave.
Clap! Clap! Clap!
A man in a flashy pinstripe suit and black gloves stepped into view.
I glared at him with dimming eyes and gritted my teeth.
“Yang Ji-pyeong… you bastard…”
Yang Ji-pyeong, one of the three division heads in charge of the organization’s Hunters, had arrived with his underlings.
He removed his sunglasses, revealing a scarred face, and smirked.
“Well, well. What happened to our great Director Seo?”
I wanted nothing more than to leap up and slice off his head.
But my body wouldn’t move.
With a mocking grin, Yang Ji-pyeong stepped closer.
“Seo Woo-jin, I never liked you from the start… but to think you were the rat the Association sent in.”
I forced my lips to move, looking up at him.
“…What the hell are you talking about?”
The humor drained from his face, and his tone turned cold.
“Still trying to lie, even in this state?”
He raised his hand and pointed at me.
A magical item coiled around his wrist began to glow and a crushing force bore down on my body.
Rumble—!
“Gah…!”
Already unable to support myself, I collapsed under the weight of his magic.
Yang Ji-pyeong grinned with satisfaction as he watched me bowing involuntarily, then approached and stomped on the back of my head.
Crunch! Crunch!
With every stomp, he shouted in a crazed voice.
“An Unawakened loser like you thought he could play hero? You joined us just to stab the company in the back, huh?”
He removed his foot from my head, then flipped his wrist—
Whoosh!
Suddenly, I was yanked off the ground, floating midair like an invisible rope had tied me up by my limbs.
From his pocket, Yang Ji-pyeong pulled a knife and jammed it into my thigh.
Thunk!
I didn’t utter a single groan despite the pain searing through my leg.
His brow twitched, clearly irritated.
“You’ve been a thorn in my side for a while now. Fine. Let’s carve you up nice and slow and see how long you can keep that mouth shut.”
He motioned for one of his men to hand him tools.
But then—
“Sir.”
One of his subordinates approached and whispered something in his ear.
Yang Ji-pyeong’s expression immediately hardened.
He slipped his sunglasses back on and straightened his suit.
He and the others stepped aside in formation.
Footsteps echoed from deep within the cave.
Tap. Tap.
A tall young man with long hair appeared—clad head to toe in a white suit, overcoat, and shoes.
‘Baek Do-jin…’
To the public, he was the head of a seemingly legitimate Hunter guild.
But in truth, he was a high-ranking officer in Black Corporation, an international crime syndicate.
Even the vicious Yang Ji-pyeong stiffened and bowed his head as Baek Do-jin approached.
“Sir, welcome.”
Ignoring him, Baek Do-jin walked straight toward me.
His pale grey eyes looked down at me before he spoke.
“Seo Woo-jin. Black Agent of Hyeonwoldan. Codename: Blade Fiend.”
From his mouth came my true identity.
A special agent belonging to Hyeonwoldan, a covert ops unit under the Association President.
I had infiltrated the organization under deep cover to track down Baek Do-jin, whose crimes in the awakened world crossed international lines.
I’d earned his trust, survived near-impossible dungeons, eliminated rival groups, and became his right-hand man.
Looking up at his ghostly grey eyes, I spoke, “…It’s over, Baek Do-jin. The Association is tracking not only you, but every last remnant of your base. This ends now.”
Black blood dripped from my lips as I spoke.
Baek Do-jin shook his head.
“And you truly believed that? How naïve.”
He snapped his fingers, and a holographic screen appeared.
News footage showed a building engulfed in smoke.
My eyes widened.
‘The base…?’
It meant Hyeonwoldan’s secret headquarters had been attacked—and our agents compromised.
Baek Do-jin stared down at me, his expression smug.
“Our organization is far more vast and powerful than you imagined. If you thought your little Association could oppose us, you were sorely mistaken.”
Rumble…!
An overwhelming force gripped my body, as though my very cells were being torn apart.
But still, I didn’t scream.
Baek Do-jin stepped closer.
“Seo Woo-jin, I’ll give you a choice. Submit. Fully and sincerely. Do that, and I’ll grant you the blessing of Awakening—and welcome you into our ranks.”
A red light flickered deep within his pale eyes.
I stared back into his crazed gaze and clenched my jaw.
“Save your bullshit.”
He stared at me quietly for a moment—then turned away.
“Dispose of him.”
Yang Ji-pyeong, still waiting behind, let out a twisted smile and drew his knife again.
“Spat on the boss’s final mercy, huh? Dumb little rat.”
He floated the knife with magic, spinning it mockingly in the air.
I glared at him.
“You really think you can kill me with that pathetic magic?”
Yang Ji-pyeong’s face contorted in rage.
“Still trying to act cool, huh?!”
Fuming red, he stomped toward me, picked up the broken sword lying at my feet.
“Fine. I’ll kill you with your own damn sword.”
I waited for him to come closer—
One step… and another.
Close enough that I could feel his breath.
Just as he raised the sword—
Spat!
I spat a small shard of metal I’d been hiding in my mouth.
It shot forward and pierced clean through his sunglasses, embedding itself in his eye.
“AAAAARGH!”
Clutching his face, Yang Ji-pyeong collapsed.
His magic restraint shattered instantly.
I lunged forward, snatched up the sword he dropped—and charged in a straight line toward Baek Do-jin.
Whoooooosh—!
‘I’ll kill you. Even if it costs me my life.’
Even those who never awakened still possessed a trace of mana.
It was the faint, innate energy all humans were born with—-the "precelestial vital force."
I trained that small power relentlessly and overcame the limits of being an Unawakened.
KWAKWAKWAKWAKWA!
Feeling the friction of scorching air slamming into my body, I poured every last ounce of focus into the sword in my hand.
WUUUUUUUUNG—!
The broken blade began to vibrate.
Sharpened over ten years of daily swings, the sword—tempered through nothing but my meager precelestial vital force—had become sharper than any weapon.
I infused my will into the blade, became one with it, and invoked the ultimate secret technique that turned its wielder into a demon:
Demonic Sword: White Night.
The blade blazed white-hot with light as I swung it toward Baek Do-jin.
SHAAAAAA!
The sword strike, imbued with my final intent, slashed clean through Baek Do-jin’s magical shield and sliced across his instinctively raised left arm.
Shhk!
“…!!”
Baek Do-jin’s eyes widened as he stared at his severed limb.
That someone like me—an Unawakened—could wound Baek Do-jin, an S-rank Hunter, defied all logic.
But I had already surpassed that logic.
Just one more time.
Forcing my shattered body to rise again, I took another step toward him.
I channeled the last of my precelestial vital force into my blade.
Crackkk!
As I forged my final strike at the cost of all remaining life force, my body screamed as if it were being torn apart.
But it didn’t matter.
I dashed forward again to land one last blow on Baek Do-jin.
In that moment, our eyes met. His pale-grey irises began to shimmer—
WUUUUUNG—!
—and then turned a blood-red, glinting with madness.
Then I heard his voice echo in my ears: {Seo Woo-jin, you are too dangerous.}
TZZZZZ!
Just as the final slash was about to reach his neck, my body began to disintegrate.
Even as I was unraveling, I stared him down, teeth clenched tightly.
GRRRK!
Just before my blade could cut his throat, I turned to ash and scattered into the wind.
That was the final moment of my previous life.
“Now that I remember it… what a load of crap.”
Cheon Woo-jin frowned, annoyed by the memory that had surfaced so suddenly.
At the same time, he looked at the large mirror hanging on his wall.
Jet-black hair like polished ebony.
A face impossibly beautiful.
Pale skin that made him seem sickly.
‘To think I’d recall my past life the moment I believed everything was over.’
It dawned on him: twenty years had passed since his death at Baek Do-jin’s hands and his reincarnation into a new body.
The revelation was jarring, but Cheon Woo-jin quickly adapted.
After all, his self as Seo Woo-jin and his self as Cheon Woo-jin were one and the same—the only thing that had changed was the return of forgotten memories.
Now, with Seo Woo-jin’s memories restored, Cheon Woo-jin reviewed the life he had been living:
‘The youngest direct descendant of the Cheon Clan—known as the pinnacle of all Hunter noble families, the almighty Heavenly Sword House. That’s who I am now.’
On December 31st, 1999—at the stroke of midnight—the Millennium Gate opened, ushering in an age of ruin.
Hunters who had awakened to supernatural abilities joined forces to stop the invading monsters that poured out of the Gate.
The world was saved from destruction—but dungeons continued to appear around the globe, each one tethered to the Gate.
Dungeons became both humanity’s crisis and opportunity.
The rare items and resources obtained through dungeon raids redefined the world.
Soon, power centered around the Hunters.
First, they were hailed as heroes.
Then came the guilds—formed by those seeking instant fortune.
And finally, the Hunter Association emerged to mediate them all.
Fifty years later, the Hunter world is now ruled by bloodlines—the Hunter noble families.
And among them, Heavenly Sword House was known to possess the most powerful awakening potential, making it the undisputed supreme power in South Korea.
Cheon Woo-jin was a direct member of that very clan.
Perhaps thanks to his noble lineage, he awakened at the age of twelve and drew immense public attention.
But there was a problem.
“…Turns out having too many powerful traits isn’t always a blessing.”
He opened his Status Window:
[Status Window]
Name: Cheon Woo-jin
Class: Undetermined
Awakening Traits:
Heavenly Soundbone (S-Rank)
Solar Core Body (S-Rank)
Seven-Star Divine Pulse (S-Rank)
Emperor’s Severed Vessel (S-Rank)
Ninefold Sacred Blood (S-Rank)
└ Skills: None
Abnormality: High-Density Mana Collision Syndrome (HMC Syndrome)
Unlike other noble families, Heavenly Sword House doesn’t awaken abilities—they awaken constitutions.
They’re born with extreme aptitude: rapid learning, powerful mana, and inherent physical excellence.
That very talent placed the Cheon Clan at the pinnacle of the Hunter hierarchy.
And Cheon Woo-jin?
He awakened multiple S-rank constitutions—but their clashing natures triggered a condition known as High-Density Mana Collision Syndrome (HMC), a rare and dangerous mana disorder.
The clan elders, elite healers, even famed therapists all tried to cure him—but failed.
Tampering with the conflicting energies risked internal implosion, where Cheon Woo-jin could cough blood from all seven orifices and die.
So he was forced to withdraw early from the heir competition and live alone in a separate villa, under constant care.
From age twelve, after awakening, he had spent eight long years barely clinging to life.
He glanced down at his withered arms—emaciated from the condition.
And yet, violent forces simmered within, ready to erupt at any moment.
Because of this so-called “heavenly curse,” the clan treated him as if he didn’t exist.
He lived—but it was not a life worth living.
That was the destiny once assigned to Cheon Woo-jin.
But now that he had remembered his previous life—Cheon Woo-jin’s eyes glowed fiercely with blue flame.
“Only I… can overcome this curse.”
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[Translator - Helga ]
[Proofreader - Starfall ]
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