His entire body froze at the situation, which was even more absurd than he had imagined. What the hell was he supposed to do with this insane system?
His expressionless face hardened further, and a thick vein bulged on his forehead. Cha Eui-sung struggled desperately not to grab the sink. If he did, he knew without a doubt that he would crush it into dust.
Cough! Another cough sent up the last traces of blood from his throat. He forced his jaw, trembling with rage, to stay still, cleared his throat roughly, and washed his hands again.
‘Is the penalty a one-time thing?’
The description had left plenty of room for interpretation—mentioning additional “burden” suggested it might be cumulative—and that was still bothering him. But for now, his body seemed fine.
“Haaaah…”
Though his body had returned to normal, his mind felt shredded to pieces. He hadn’t even recovered from the scorching memory of the Meteor, and yet another shock had just hit him.
It was already stressful enough that the system, which should have operated like a simple AI pushing notifications, kept trying to play with absurd concepts. But to make things worse, it only ever came up with disadvantages for him…
That’s when it happened.
Step.
A footstep echoed beside him—deliberately made, no doubt. Cha Eui-sung quickly extinguished the fierce glint in his eyes, but the other person had surely already seen it.
The more often that mask slipped, the more it irked him.
“You were taking a while, so I thought something might be wrong.”
Moon Tae-young spoke first. A plain tone, but the content was far from ordinary. Really—someone had just coughed up blood and walked out. How could there not be something wrong?
The fact that he pretended not to know while obviously knowing everything made it clear—this guy wasn’t normal.
“And so you came all the way here? You shouldn’t have bothered.”
“How could I not bother? You suddenly started coughing up blood in the middle of our consultation.”
“That’s not what this is…”
Cha Eui-sung tried to wave it off with a carefully chosen phrase, meaning it wasn’t a big deal and to please ignore it—but his words trailed off. He wiped his face as droplets of water fell.
There wasn’t a single crease on that face. This man… for someone who’d just witnessed someone vomiting blood, he looked way too calm. As if he’d seen it more than once before.
‘What the f—…’
He’d seriously misjudged this. Cha Eui-sung cursed internally.
Before stepping foot in the school, he’d been riding high, planning to fill his Savior Gauge and dissect the Demon King piece by piece. But those thoughts had evaporated like they’d been tossed into a bonfire.
He hadn’t even been fully convinced that the other man was really the Demon King. Moon Tae-young had seemed strict but otherwise normal, and based on that, he’d assumed the man was likely unaware of his own identity.
Why else would someone like that be living in this remote corner of nowhere?
…It had been a mistake. Even an S-rank like himself had ended up in this backwater, so what was stopping the Demon King? He’d underestimated this countryside village—where buses only came twice a day—far too much.
‘Scary bastard, this one.’
This wouldn’t do. Knowing when to retreat was one of the keys to survival.
Thinking that staying here any longer would get him completely exposed, Cha Eui-sung dropped the pretense without hesitation.
“Seems like I’ve got a stomach ulcer or something. I appreciate the concern, but let’s just forget about it.”
“…”
“Anyway, I’ve more or less been briefed, so—when should I submit the transfer date?”
“About two weeks. But if you’re in a hurry, just let me know and I’ll try to accommodate.”
As he spoke, Moon Tae-young’s eyes flicked briefly down toward Eui-sung’s thigh. That’s when Eui-sung realized—he’d been scrubbing at his bloodstained hand, and the patchy marks weren’t exactly a pretty sight.
Still, he didn’t want to drag this out any longer. Thankfully, Moon Tae-young’s face no longer wore that smile from earlier.
While trying to come up with a way to end the conversation, Cha Eui-sung suddenly recalled a line from earlier that had flashed through his mind.
“Oh, right. Earlier—you asked why I came down here, didn’t you?”
“I did…”
“Well… it just seemed like a good place to settle some things. As you said, I’ve got ties to the area.”
Maybe he shouldn’t have added that last part. A brief silence followed. Cha Eui-sung’s head, which had been tilted up from washing his face, slowly lowered again. And as Moon Tae-young quietly watched him, something unreadable flickered through his eyes.
Pop!
A sound rang out—cute if you wanted to call it that, or maybe creepy, depending on your perspective.
‘The gauge?’
Bad feeling. He should be happy that the gauge was full, but all he felt was dread. Ever since he coughed up blood, the system had been acting up, and just the thought of it made him uneasy. Still, he didn’t have time to check the system window—Moon Tae-young was still standing in front of him.
Before he could even shift his gaze, Moon Tae-young suddenly extended a hand.
Eui-sung glanced down—thin summer sweatpants were dangling from the man’s grip.
“Take them.”
…Out of nowhere?
He’d clearly sensed Cha Eui-sung’s wariness from the hallway earlier, and now he was offering spare clothes? What kind of shift in attitude was this?
Granted, walking around in his current state was a bit much…
Even if it hadn’t been intentional, coughing up blood in front of him seemed to have had some sort of effect. Whatever that effect was…
‘Sympathy? Or maybe he misunderstood something.’
Either way, it worked in his favor. At this rate, if things spiraled again, he might have to bite his tongue just to keep the upper hand.
While Cha Eui-sung’s mind raced, Moon Tae-young turned away with an unreadable expression and walked out of the bathroom. Eui-sung watched the door after he left, then for no reason stepped into a stall and unfolded the black pants.
‘Goddamn, he’s tall.’
Cha Eui-sung himself was over 180 cm, but this guy’s legs were even longer. In a countryside town where tall young people were rare, that kind of height was practically unheard of.
Did those glasses of his have some kind of special function? If not, maybe it was some Demon King perk that let him blur his presence. The fact that someone like that had been living unnoticed in this place was nothing short of bizarre.
Creaaak—
After hastily changing, he stepped out. The bathroom was still empty. He peeked his head out into the hallway—also clear.
Moon Tae-young must’ve returned to his office. Not that he was exactly grateful, but for a moment Eui-sung considered going to say thanks…
***
[SAVIOR GAUGE]
■■□□□□□□□□
□□□□□□□□□□
10%
‘Ha.’
Seeing the gauge window at last didn’t bring relief—only a wave of fatigue.
A nemesis appearing in the most unexpected place, the sudden burst of blood, the gauge rising out of nowhere, and the muddled memory from his second life…
‘All I wanted was a peaceful life.’
It felt like he’d dodged a lion only to fall into a tiger’s jaws, and the back of his neck tingled at the thought.
The walk back, keeping his footsteps silent, was soaked in the crimson light of the setting sun. As he lightly kicked a pebble forward, Cha Eui-sung thought of the Demon King—the white-haired man who’d once brought about the end of the world, and the black-haired man who had just handed him clothes. And that peculiar glint that had suddenly flickered in his eyes during their last exchange.
What bothered him most was that the line which had drawn that reaction from Moon Tae-young had come from the Faded Photograph Fragment skill.
That awful, suspicious, and unsettling memory fragment that had forced him to cough up blood… might very well be the key to defeating the Demon King.
“Damn it, everything just keeps getting more complicated.”
Still, it wasn’t like he’d come out of it empty-handed. His head throbbed a little, but he had gathered some possibly useful info.
First—his Savior Gauge rose every time he encountered the Demon King.
Second—that the Faded Photograph Fragment skill, which randomly showed him memories, might somehow help him in targeting the Demon King.
‘Assuming that gauge is tied to preventing the world’s destruction…’
The conclusion was clear: he’d have to keep meeting the Demon King periodically and wring every last drop of use out of that passive skill that only activated on a whim.
Brrr—click.
“Yes, Kim Jeong-baek. It’s me.”
—Ahem, huh, I figured you’d call the moment you got there, but it took you a whole day? So? Is this one a hit?
“Hmm… Yeah. Uncannily accurate. The more I see, the more impressed I am.”
—Well, naturally. That’s my gift, after all, hmhm…
The call had been sudden, but now that he’d stroked the man’s ego a bit, the sourness in Kim Jeong-baek’s tone completely vanished. Cha Eui-sung let out a soft, deliberate chuckle and stared down at the hem of the borrowed pants with an impassive face.
He shouldn’t let them drag on the ground and get all ragged—maybe he should cuff them.
“Tsk.”
—I mean, if the intel had been a bit better, we could’ve found him sooner…
“That wasn’t directed at you, Mr. Kim. Don’t worry. You’ve been a huge help this time.”
—Really? Heh, well, in that case, um… remember that question I asked before—about investing more in Shinjun Electronics stock? Can I go ahead and buy more~?
“That’s a no-go. I told you not to get greedy. You’ll get caught.”
A sulky voice. Cha Eui-sung silently arched a brow. A grown man, thirty-six years old, still acting like this over money with zero self-control.
“And again—if you ever come across the name ‘Oh Se-dan,’ just drop whatever gold, diamonds, or whatever the hell you’re holding and run.”
—You’ve said that so many times my ears are bleeding…
“I want your ears bleeding. If you’re asleep and even hear the slightest whisper of the name or something about the Hunter Association, you jump out of bed and hurl yourself out the window. Got it?”
—…Fine, geez.
Only after hearing his grumbling but firm agreement did Cha Eui-sung let out a long sigh. Honestly, if Kim Jeong-baek got arrested, it’d be inconvenient but not exactly tragic—but just showing that he cared a little was enough to make people stick to him.
If he wanted to squeeze more decent intel out of the guy, he’d have to reel him in tight like he did with the Hunter Association folks.
Cha Eui-sung glanced once at the Savior Gauge in his system window, then turned to take one last look at the distant school. He pressed his fingers to his temple and opened his mouth.
“Anyway, I’m calling today because I’ve got a favor to ask. It’s about the last person I found—Moon Tae-young.”
—Ah, right. That teacher, yeah?
“I need more detailed intel.”
He needed information on Moon Tae-young.
