Chapter 1 I Dont Think it is a Dream.

Prologue.

Aigoo, Your Majesty Seo Tae-hyuk. Iapologize for bringingyou to this humble place.

Tae-hyuk narrowed his eyes and glared at the other person.

Son of a bitch.

He always called Tae-hyuk by that term.

It was a form of slang that inmates in a prison were called.

Those with a jail sentence of less than three years werecalledcommoners, whilethosethat receivedmore than 10 years in prison were nobles.Theprisonerswith a life sentence were called kings.

Of course, the meaning didnt indicate respect at all.

It was a very insulting nickname that was filled with scorn and ridicule.

I see.

Seo Tae-hyuk sat down in the chair in the middle of the room.

He was one ofthe fewinmates who didnt feel helpless in front of the guards.

Your Highness has nothing to say. Would you like the coffee that I have leftover?

Tae-hyuk drank it all at once.

Thank you.

Kuk. Your Majesty. You are still as free as always. Has it already been 10 years? Tears arefloodingmy eyes at the thought of not being able to see you anymore.

Yes yes. That day is here. It will happen in one week.

Tae-hyuks eyesviolently trembled.

A moan escaped from his tightly closed mouth. The last 10 years. He had thought that all his emotions had weathered away.

Your claims of innocence have flown away. Your lawyer has run away. In the end

It is like this.

The guard held out some documents.

What is it?

Write down themealthat you would like to have on your last night. If you also have anyone you wish to visit then write it down as well.

It was the so-called last dinner and last visit.

Tae-hyuk did nothing for one minute. However, his head was filled with thoughts of his life.

He slowly filled out the documents.

Hoh. Kimchi stew. It isalright for you tochoose a fancier meal.

This is my little brothers favourite food.

Additionally,to notput any pork in? This is quite an unusual order. Surely you dont mean you were poor? Oh, was I right?

Haha. Yes, I see. Youll be busy for the time you have remaining. Thiswill bethe first death penalty in 30 years so please excuseanyoneif they areinexperienced.

Tae-hyuk didnt move from his spot for a while.

Falsely accused.

He was falsely accused and imprisoned. Now, he was doing to die without seeing anything.

The guard had a strange thought that he found amusing.

Ah. I thought of something. Isnt a criminal who receives a life sentence called the king of crime? Then what should I call a criminal who is going to be executed?Perhaps,agod?Haha! In a weeks time, Your Majesty Seo Tae-hyuk will become theGod ofCrime!

In the room where the guard had left him, Tae-hyuk furiously roared for a while.

* * *

One week passed by quickly.

It seemedthathis name appeared on TV more than the celebrities.

The death penalty system had beenjustrevived after 30 years, so it couldnt be helped that the nation was interested.

Human rights organizations protested outside the prison every day but it didnt change athing.

Tae-hyuk satin a chair in the visitation room.

His mindcalmed downafter he had accepted his death. He was waiting for hisyounger brother and older sister,who he had asked to visit. It had already been over a year since he last saw them.

What would they talk about? He wanted to thank his younger brother for believing that he was innocent until the end.

Did his sister, who took over as a mother when their parents died when he was a child, live happily every after?

Tae-hyuk looked at the clock on the wall. The kimchi stew on the table was already cold.

Thump.

Tae-hyuk tried to make his expression as casual as possible as he heard the door opening.

Tae-hyukforgotwhat he was going to say when he saw the person who came in.

Aigoo, Your Majesty. Im not the one you have been waiting for. Im truly sorry.

It was the familiar guard.

He sat down on a chair in the visitation room.

You look very uncomfortable at my appearance.

Tae-hyuk didnt deny it.

Your family. Was it Seo Tae-min ssi and Seo Ha-ran? You wont be able to see the both of them.

Is that so?

Had they decided to give up everything?

He didnt mindthathe wouldnt be able to see his family in his last minutes.

Thank you for treating me as family, even though I was unable to get rid of the false accusations. He only wanted to say those words.

Yes.

This was what happened..

It would be best if theysawSeo Tae-hyuk as someone who never existed in the first place.

Then he would pray that his remaining family would live on happily. He decided to be satisfied with this thought.

Then the guard smirked.

Seo Ha-ran ssi, Your Majestys older sister, Seo Ha-ran,committed suicide last month.

Huh?

Is this surprising? No, not really. She had a murderer in her family,of whichthe media talkedabout every day. Reporters keptbothering the family. Then. by chance, the mosaic covering her facedidnt work properly, andwas revealed to her workplace. Oh dear, oh dear. In the end, she was fired. Furthermore, I was told that she had quite a large debt. She eventually lost her remaining assets in a multi-level marketing scheme. Thus, in the end

Kek kek!

The guard pretended to strangle himself.

T-that is ridiculous! Why would Noonim do that?

Anyways,what happened to your younger brother? Seo Tae-min ssi was it? He was truly smart,unlike a certain someone. Didnt he enter S Law University to save his hyung?He was thencaught looking for evidence from politicians and large corporations. Not long after, he disappeared. I guess he thought he was a detective. He should have known not to overrate himself.

My guess it that he is encased in concrete in a barrel drum at the bottom of the Yellow Sea. He should be getting friendly with his new neighbours. Well, what is the exact location of the Dragon King?

Kwang!

Tae-hyuk struck the table with his fist.

The prepared kimchi stew wasstrewn about,and the room became a mess.

Dont lie to me, you bastard! Are you completely crazy? What? My sister committed suicide after losing everything in apyramidscheme? Dont take me for a fool! And Tae-min went missing after trying to save me? Dont play around! I will kill you!

The guard held his side as he laughed.

Hahaha! Your Majesty Seo Tae-hyuk. What, you will kill me? You, who has never even killed a single ant in your life?

It was the right answer.

At thatmoment, Tae-hyuk thought it was strange.

Until now, he thought thatthiswas the guardthathe had known for 10 years; however,that wasnotthe case. There was no such guard here. In the first place, there was no way a prison guard could know that much.Why did he ever think that the person before was a prison guard?

You. You arent a guard.

Yes. Then what am I?

The guard laughed.

Tae-hyuk, who saw the mans face, screamed.

Aaaaack!

In the socketswhereoneseyeballswere supposed to bewas replaced bya hollow space.

The mouth was ripped from ear to ear and something red dribbled down his chinwhenever he laughed.

The thing smiled and said.

I have a very mouth-watering proposal. Would you like to hearit first?

Chapter 1 I Dont Think it is a Dream

Keok!

Tae-hyuk woke upscreaming.

It was a bad dream.

This happened sometimes.Sometimes there were dreams so real that he couldnt even distinguishbetweenthedreamandreality for a while after waking up.

Well, that was a shit dream.

Inhisdream, Tae-hyuk was a falsely accused criminal who received the death penalty.

Fuck.

Just thinking about it caused him to curse.

Tae-hyuk sat on his bed and didnt move for a while.

Wait a minute. So I was locked up for 10 years for a murder I didnt commit? In the end, I was sentenced to death.

Tae-hyuk certainly didnt kill anyone. However, the evidence was perfect. There was the CCTV taken at the crime scene. The weapon with Tae-hyuks fingerprints on them. An eyewitness also saw him escaping the crime scene.

This, damn!

His body started shaking.

Wait a minute. It is just a dream. Just think of it as a shit dream

But something was wrong. It was too real to be a dream. It felt like he really had been confined in prison as a death row inmate until yesterday.

If it was a dream then who was he now?

Tae-hyuk looked around.

It was a three pyeong room with a bunk bed and two desks. There was also a small bookcase with a simple structure.

The unique dampness and mouldy smell was still the same.

It was the room he shared with his brother Tae-min before he graduated from high school.

What? It feels like Im reminiscing about a memory that is more than 10 years old. Crazy. This is all due to that realistic dream.

15 years had passed by in his dream.

But in reality, only a single night had passed. Then what was this sense of incongruity?

Anyway, I am still ahigh schoolstudent, right? Not a death row inmate?

Tae-hyuk calmed his chaotic mind and wanted to check.

Yes, a mirror!

Tae-hyuk mindlessly searched the room for a mirror. He would resolve things after confirming his appearance.

If he didnt look like a high school student but a man in his 30s Just thinking about itcaused him to havegoosebumps.

Eventually, he was able to find a small handheldmirror.

Ugh. A bad taste.

The demon carved on the mirror gave off a bad feeling.

Did we ever have a mirror like this?

It might belong to his younger brother.

The place where he found it was in the bookshelf used by both of them.

Phew. Fortunately, Im still a high school student.

The man in the mirror seemed to be in his late teens.

Wait a minute. What is this?

Tae-hyuk looked around with a strange expression. However, there was nothing.

He looked at the mirror again.

There were a lot of strange letters on it.

[Seo Tae-hyuk]

-Title: God of Crime

-Rating: Commoner (Lacking conditions for upgrade)

-Skills Possessed: None

In addition to this, a status window filled the mirror.

Tae-hyuk laughed to himself.

This is a well made toy.

The contents were commonly seen in popular online games.

A person who liked things like this.

Inside the house, there was only Tae-min.

Either way, he was indeed a high school student.

Tae-hyuk sighed with relief.

He wasnt a falsely accused death row prisoner. He was Seo Tae-hyuk, a high school student in the 2nd grade who lived withhisolder sister and younger brother. Then he started to remember some things.

Unlike his brother, who was a good student, he had a slightly delinquent appearance.

He sometimes missed school and he couldnt exactly say that his grades were good.

Thus, he was treated as a troublemaker.

Still, at least he wasnt a high school gangster.

Um. Has Tae-min already left?

He could smellthe scent of rice cooking from somewhere.It seemedthathis sister, Seo Ha-ran, was preparing breakfast. He started to realize that he was hungry.

Tae-hyuk! Come eat!

His sisters voice was heard.

Tae-hyuk scratched his head and headed towards the kitchen.

* * *

Tae-hyuks eyes turned red.

Ha-ran asked with surprise.

What is it? Did you have a scary dream or something?

Tae-min, who was sitting opposite to Tae-hyun, stared at him before shifting his gaze back to the English words in the book before him.

There wasnt much time remaining for his exam, so even the preparation time while eating was precious.

Dust entered my eyes.

The menu for breakfast was kimchi stew. There was only a little bit of tofu, anddidnt contain a single piece of meat.

Ha-ran hesitated before saying.

Im sorry, Noona will cook you one with meat when I get paid.

It really is because dust entered my eyes. Also,Noonas kimchi stew really is the best in the world,so delicious that I would want to eat it before I die.

It was a sincere statement.

He put a spoonful into his mouth and could taste his sisters kimchi stew.

It was a dish that he couldnt eat in his dream, after all.

Oh my, this child. Youll be late. Eat quickly.

Ha-ran laughed as she moved her spoon. She didnt dislike Tae-hyuks praise.

Their parents had both died in an accident, soHa-ran became the sole guardian of Tae-hyuk and Tae-min. Despite being a flower in her early 20s, she was working double shifts at the factory.

She didnt wear any makeup but to Tae-hyun, she was more beautiful than anyone else in the world.

Tae-hyuk bit his lip.

Ill have to get a job straight after graduating high school so I can help Noona.

Then he was startled.

A memory from his dream of being a death row prisoner popped up.

I graduated from school. I obtained a job with a private security company because I had nothing useful,savemy body. And I worked there for two years. Then

He was framed and went to jail.

No! Its a dream, a dream! Damn!

Tae-hyuk turned on the TV to shake off the memories of the death row prisoner.

-The prosecution is looking for the whereabouts of Yoo Cheol-ho, a prisoner who escaped from Central Prison on the 9th

Ha-ran shook her head and made a fuss as the news of a horrible criminal was heard.

Omo. He still isnt caught. It was said that he might be near here. Tae-hyuk, if you go outside, then only go when it is still light. If someone goes up to you then dont follow them. Do you understand?

Noona. Im grown up. And why dont you say something to Tae-min?

Tae-min is steady.

Then Im bad?

Ohuhut!

Tae-hyuk and Tae-min were already high school students, but Ha-ran still viewed them as children.

Tae-hyuk smiled at his sisters worry and nodded.

By the way. That person still hasnt been caught? He was clearly caught

Yoo Cheol-ho. A familiar name.

He had stayed in the room next to Tae-hyuks for a while.

In order words, a neighbour.

Of course, that was just in my dream.

Tae-hyuk knew why he had such a dream. It was because he kept hearing these things in the news every day.

Hyung. Did you eat something bad? Yoo Cheol-ho was caught after committing seven murders three months ago, and broke out of prison just last week. So he hasnt been caught.

Tae-min, who was eating rice quietly, interrupted.

Tae-hyuk frowned. Tae-min was interested in such things. This time, he was wrong.

For sure

What are you talking about? Yoo Cheol-ho escaped for six months and was caught after committing three more murders.

Tae-min sighed and said.

Phew, Hyung. Dont just read manhwa. You should watch the news as well. Yoo Cheol-ho was caught? They are completely clueless. There is also a pretty good reward.. You must have dreamt about catching him.

Wait a minute.

Didnt Yoo Cheol-ho clearly get caught after his escape?

He was a complete psycho and quite talkative.

Furthermore, he didnt sleep so he talked about his story until dawn.

After two successful breakouts, he gained the nickname King of Jailbreaks. The place he went and how he escaped were all vivid in Tae-hyuks head.

So Yoo Cheol-hos nickname isnt King of Jailbreaks?

Tae-min moved his index finger to the side of his head and moved it round and round.

Hey. That isnt something you should do to your hyung!

Ah. Its already 8 oclock. You should hurry if you dont want to be late. The student manager said he would break your legs with a paddle if you are late again.

Tae-min got up and ran to his room.

Indeed, a terrible dream.

Not even the Pirate King but the King of Jailbreaks.

If the dream is correct then Yoo Cheol-hos accomplice should be caught in S City by now. But he isnt.

Tae-hyuk unwittingly said the thought that came to his head.

You must be half-asleep.

Ha-ran laughed.

A few minutes passed.

T-Tae-hyuk.

Ha-ran, who was eating while watching the news, starting shivering like she had seen a ghost.

Huh?

You were just talking about Yoo Cheol-hos accomplice right?

Yes. Why?

L-look at that.

Ha-ran pointed to the TV with a trembling hand.

-Breaking news. The accomplice to Yoo Cheol-hos escape was caught in S City.

Tae-hyuks mouth gaped open. He was so surprised that he didnt notice the falling spoon.

Wait. What is this? What is this?

The content of the news was the same as his dream. The evidence was the same as Yoo Cheol-hos first escape.

A dream. Its a dream! Then why is it happening in real life?

Noona. Is that a rerun? This actually happened yesterday, or the day before, right?

That a live broadcast

The words stabbed at Tae-hyuks chest like a dagger.

It was a dream, so what was this?

A foresight dream? Returning to the past? Or was it just a coincidence?

Ha-ran gazed at Tae-hyuk with worried eyes.

Tae-hyuk tried to look bright.

Haha! I just said it. It came true by chance. Maybe I should go and buy a lottery ticket?

Hey ~ you really scared me.

I have to go to school. Doesnt Noona come home late at night? You should be careful at night.

Prince-nim doesnt have to worry, Ill be careful. Have fun at school.

Yes, Noona.

Tae-hyuk left the house with his bag.

His laughter instantly disappeared from his face.

According to his dream, Yoo Cheol-ho shouldnt be far from here.

I need to confirm if Yoo Cheol-ho is really there. Only then will I know if that was just a dream.

He felt sorry for his sister but he wouldnt be able to go to school.