Chapter 444 – Part 2 – Side Story 1. Second Round (1)

A path walked for the first time is new.

You walk carefully, looking around in all directions.

Then when you reach a dead-end alley, an unfamiliar tension arises.

You also worry about whether the path you’re taking is correct.

But if it’s a path you’ve walked once before, the story is different.

Hesitation disappears from your steps.

Your stride also lengthens.

There’s no need to go to dead-end alleys, so there’s nothing to be tense about.

There’s no need to worry about whether this path is correct.

Rather, optimal routes that couldn’t be seen when walking for the first time come to mind.

That was how Choi Seong-min was now.

‘I don’t need to find and kill the Great Heroes one by one like before. I just need to mind control Woo Seong-jae and then call the others to deal with them all at once.’

One year of struggling to kill the 8 Heroes.

Choi Seong-min had no intention of repeating that year again.

‘Two months at most. I’ll finish within that time and return to the underworld.’

Two months was honestly a generously estimated timeframe.

His prediction was that it could probably be finished within a month.

Because he had the cheat-like trait of Mind Control.

‘Though my stats and items have all been reset and I’m just an F-rank body…’

Only the traits remained the same.

The 1,004 traits imprinted on his soul hadn’t gone anywhere.

‘The starting point is vastly different from the previous round.’

He had turned back the time axis and his family had been revived in the underworld.

The purpose of saving his family had already been achieved.

Yet Choi Seong-min was still planning to kill the 8 Heroes once again.

For none other than preventing humanity’s end.

‘As the master of the underworld, I can’t just watch the specimen world perish.’

Since he was also human, there was no way he’d want to see humanity perish.

Of course, the bigger reason was wanting to continue earning Divine Force.

‘But I won’t indiscriminately annihilate souls like Derkius did.’

All this time, Derkius had thrown all souls ascending to the underworld into the Spring of Oblivion.

Because of his greed for Divine Force.

But Choi Seong-min had no intention of being that greedy.

‘I just need to earn Divine Force moderately. It’s not like I’ll collect it to trade for something later.’

He had a plan for how to handle souls ascending to the underworld, but for now he had blocked access to the Spring of Oblivion.

‘That’s something to gradually resolve after returning to the underworld… Right now, eliminating the 8 Heroes takes priority.’

What needed to be done in this second round of the specimen world was killing the 8 Heroes and turning the world upside down.

That task could be easily finished with just Mind Control alone.

If only he could mind control Woo Seong-jae with 10 million combat power.

‘But it’s true that it’s difficult to face Woo Seong-jae at my current level.’

Of course, if he made eye contact with Woo Seong-jae, he could immediately mind control him even with his current shabby body.

‘But meeting Woo Seong-jae isn’t easy.’

As an F-rank, there was no way Woo Seong-jae would meet him, and if he was attacked, he had no power to defend himself.

‘In the end, I have no choice but to build up power to match Woo Seong-jae.’

Anyone hearing this would dismiss it as nonsense, but it was possible for Choi Seong-min who had countless S-rank traits.

‘I’ll make B-rank in a short time. And exceed 10 million combat power.’

Once he became B-rank, he could use Stealth.

Then he could approach Woo Seong-jae without being detected and mind control him.

‘With so many traits, making 10 million combat power is nothing.’

Having raised it to 3.3 billion before, surpassing Woo Seong-jae was easier than eating cold porridge.

‘First, I need basic items. Especially daggers.’

Since items couldn’t be brought back through regression, Choi Seong-min’s inventory was completely empty.

Fortunately, he knew well where to obtain them.

As Choi Seong-min prepared to leave home, his mother Jung Hee-seon asked worriedly:

“Seong-min. Your health isn’t good, where are you going?”

“I’m going to drop by the factory where Ah-yeon works to surprise her. She doesn’t know I woke up yet.”

“But you just woke up from a coma today, and instead of resting…”

“I’m fine, so don’t worry mother and go to the restaurant. You just stepped out briefly to see me.”

“That’s true, but… are you really okay?”

“Of course. As you can see, I’m perfectly fine.”

When he smiled broadly, his mother’s thoughts came through.

*They say people change when they come back from the brink of death… Why is this kid suddenly acting like this? He wasn’t originally a child who smiled so well…*

He had smiled to reassure her, but it only made her suspicious instead.

Since the original Choi Seong-min had been quiet and timid, it was understandable that she’d find it strange.

‘It doesn’t matter anyway. I’ll have to erase it from their memory before I leave.’

Just like last time, he planned to erase his family’s memories before departing.

To return to the underworld, he had no choice but to die, and if they knew he committed suicide, his family would suffer.

When his mother turned toward the restaurant, Choi Seong-min moved his body.

As he had told his mother, he was heading to Ah-yeon’s factory.

Of course, he wasn’t going there to surprise her.

‘On the day I woke up from my coma, that bastard Oh Nam-gi was bothering Ah-yeon.’

Oh Nam-gi was the culprit who had beaten Choi Seong-min into a coma.

On the first day of his possession, he had gone to Ah-yeon’s factory and coincidentally met and beaten him up.

‘I need to beat that bastard up this time too. Then Nam Dong-il, the arsenal manager behind him, will come as a set.’

His plan for the early stages was to kill both of them and raid the F-rank arsenal, just like in his previous life.

‘I can’t let the bastard who made Choi Seong-min like this go free.’

Arriving at the factory, he could see Oh Nam-gi loitering nearby.

He was waiting for his younger sister Choi Ah-yeon to come out.

“What are you doing here?”

“Huh? You, who are you?”

Seeing Choi Seong-min, Oh Nam-gi’s eyes widened.

“How is a bastard who should be in a coma… kek!”

When he threw a surprise punch, the nose bone broke and he collapsed helplessly.

‘He fainted in one hit.’

Indeed, the current Choi Seong-min had a body on a different dimension from before.

Even though he was F-rank, his potential combat power reached 200,000.

His agility was already over 100.

Starting stats that should have been 3 were inflated due to hundreds of traits.

‘At least it’s fortunate he didn’t die in one hit.’

Choi Seong-min left Oh Nam-gi on the street and waited for his sister.

“Brother?”

Choi Ah-yeon, who had been surprised, soon became tearful.

“B-brother! Are you awake now?”

“Yeah. I woke up.”

“I’m so glad, really glad.”

Looking at his tearful sister, Choi Seong-min smiled.

It felt as welcoming as meeting real family.

* * *

“Kuk…!”

Nam Dong-il, who had let out a death scream, collapsed with a thud.

Normally the cold arsenal floor should have been soaked with blood.

Swoosh-

Due to the Vitality Recovery trait, the corpse disappeared without a trace.

“Huh? U-uaaah…!”

Oh Nam-gi looked at Choi Seong-min with fear-filled eyes.

“H-how could someone like you kill an E-rank manager…!”

“Isn’t that the same line you said before?”

“What are you talk… keoek!”

Choi Seong-min’s dagger sliced through Oh Nam-gi’s throat as well.

In an instant, two corpses disappeared and traits entered.

Naturally, synchronization rate no longer increased.

‘Still, duplicate traits came in.’

He was already strong, yet traits were duplicating.

Of course, with 1,004 traits, a few more additions didn’t mean much.

‘What’s important is quickly achieving B-rank to learn Stealth.’

Exceeding 100,000 combat power would make him B-rank.

His potential combat power had already far exceeded the standard, but his measured combat power needed to rise for it to be meaningful.

‘I have no choice but to raise combat power through hunting.’

Fortunately, he found a usable dagger in the arsenal.

Though it was an F-rank dagger, when equipped he could feel his potential combat power soar to 400,000.

‘My potential combat power is 400,000 but my actual combat power is only 200.’

The gap was enormous, but if he entered dungeons, he could catch up quickly.

‘Dungeons will open in two weeks. Until then…’

Choi Seong-min’s eyes flashed with killing intent.

‘I need to kill everyone who deserves to die.’

* * *

Until dungeons opened, the only way to raise combat power was murder.

Therefore, Choi Seong-min spent those two weeks massacring trash.

They were trash he had hunted before, people he had some familiarity with.

‘Kim Gi-hong, Park Gwang-jin, the Bucket Gang, Norikane Jigoro, Yang Jo-yeong and so on, I killed quite a lot.’

He killed various targets from F-rank to B-rank.

Killing itself was easy.

In both combat power and experience, they were no match for Choi Seong-min.

Thanks to Vitality Recovery, no traces remained so there was no need to dispose of bodies.

‘The actually difficult part was killing without leaving witnesses.’

If he had Stealth it would have been easy, but without it he had to be mindful of surrounding gazes.

Of course, not getting caught until now after two weeks meant he had successfully assassinated without witnesses.

‘Maybe because I killed them too cleanly, my combat power didn’t rise as much as expected.’

Choi Seong-min’s current combat power was 4,000.

Though he had already promoted to E-rank before dungeons even opened, it wasn’t a very satisfactory result.

‘Still, I should be able to avoid the draft.’

When dungeons opened, F-rank hunters were forced to enter training camps.

But having become E-rank, association staff wouldn’t come barging into his house like before.

Choi Seong-min checked the time.

’10 minutes left until dungeon opening.’

Soon the seals on dungeons worldwide would be lifted.

The hidden dungeon where Choi Seong-min was currently waiting was the same.

‘Here I’ll collect the Rune of Agility and Assassin’s Bloody Dagger like before, then immediately go hunting.’

Since the association was monitoring all dungeons, soloing wouldn’t be easy, but it wasn’t impossible.

He could manipulate the dungeon manager’s entry records and delete their memories.

As he was leisurely waiting for the dungeon’s seal to be lifted.

[Administrator ‘Dayna’ requests communication.]

Contact came from Dayna.

[Min Do-jun-nim. Is your work going well?]

Dayna’s form of address had changed from Min Do-jun-ssi to Min Do-jun-nim.

It was acknowledgment that she had now completely come under Min Do-jun’s command.

[Of course it’s going according to plan. Haven’t you been watching from above?]

[I’ve been immersed in Elsis research lately so I haven’t had time. You did throw me a task before leaving.]

[I did.]

Choi Seong-min had asked Dayna for one research project.

Research to place restrictions on Elsis functions according to set grades.

The reason for this was simple.

It was to make his family into transcendents like himself.

‘That’s why there need to be restrictions on each function. Elsis has many dangerous functions.’

He planned to make them transcendents like himself, but only able to use functions in a limited way.

[So, are there results?]

[If things go well, it seems possible.]

[That aside, you didn’t contact me just to ask how I’m doing, right?]

[As expected… Min Do-jun-nim’s insight can’t be ignored.]

[What’s the matter?]

[It’s not that, but your wife said she had something she wanted to tell you.]

[Wife? Ah, Ye-rin?]

It seemed Cha Ye-rin had something she really wanted to say through Dayna.

[What does she want to say?]

[Just a moment. I’ll record it and relay it to you.]

Shortly after, a speaker-shaped window appeared in the Elsis system, and when touched, Cha Ye-rin’s voice was heard.

*Do-jun oppa, I heard the story. You turned back time to save me who had been annihilated? And you struggled in someone else’s body all this time until you could do that.

I don’t remember, but thank you for reviving me. For protecting the memories between you and me, oppa, and our children.

You don’t know how reassuring it is to have you, oppa. Don’t get hurt, and don’t worry about me. Thanks to you, I’m staying safe and well.

I don’t remember the pain from when I was annihilated, so I hope you don’t worry about that. Then when you finish work and come up to the underworld, let’s meet then! I love you!*

It was truly a voice he hadn’t heard in a long time.

Though it had only been a year, somehow it felt like decades had passed.

It was probably because of how precious and desperate it was.

[Did you hear the recording?]

[Yeah. Tell Ye-rin not to worry about me and to stay well.]

[Understood. When do you think the work will be finished?]

Though he couldn’t gauge exactly, Choi Seong-min’s insight told him.

[One week.]

[What?]

[I’ll kill the 8 Heroes and return within a week.]

Soon the scheduled time of 9 AM arrived.

[I’m hanging up.]

A portal to the temporary dungeon opened before his eyes.

It was the moment dungeons worldwide opened.

“I’ll finish this as quickly as possible.”

Choi Seong-min stepped into the portal.