The majority of Koreans thought poorly of Choi Yu-Seong. He was regarded as an unlikeable rascal, someone who abused their power and wealth, and a disgrace to their country.

Although most thought poorly of him, there was one good thing about him that no one could deny: his looks. With long arms and legs, a small face, and a tall height of 183cm, he resembled a supermodel. Because Yu-Seong’s pale skin was soft and unblemished, despite drinking every night, Yu-Seong even received offers from cosmetic companies to star in advertisements.

Although he wasn’t muscular, he had a nice body that wasn’t too fat or too skinny. Some would say he held a rude and hostile demeanor because he was always frowning, but that he also gave the impression of an elegant young noble.

The public referred to such Yu-Seong as a thorny rose or the devil. After all, the devil’s temptations appeal to us in a more attractive way than God’s.

For Chae Ye-Ryeong, this was the first time she saw Yu-Seong smiling brightly. The Yu-Seong she originally knew was always frowning in the news or on TV. The Yu-Seong that smiled in the interview room today seemed to be standing on formalities and looked rather tired.

Was that why? Yu-Seong looked different than before.

‘...He really is handsome.’

Without realizing it, her hair-covered cheeks slightly reddened. She was surprised when Yu-Seong’s eyes shimmered with a blue flame, but forgot about the surprise soon after.

‘So it was true that Yu-Seong-nim[1] became a player.’

She easily accepted this fact after she saw Yu-Seong in person. While Ye-Ryeong was thinking through her encounter with him, he was coming up with a plan to persuade her to join him.

“Ms. Ye-Ryeong, don’t you need a job?”

Yu-Seong felt strange as he said this out loud. His voice was somewhat tense as this was the first time he proposed anything like this.

But he didn’t think she would refuse. She wasn’t the head of the family for nothing. Although she was 19 years old, she had three younger siblings to take care of. Naturally, she couldn’t attend school. Considering her circumstances, he didn’t think she would decline a job offer. Her visit to his interview today was also perhaps because she saw a way to easily earn a large sum of money.

“...I already have a part-time job.”

“Oh, is that so?”

Yu-Seong tried to respond airily when she broke his confidence without trying.

‘Oh, is that so? What the hell are you doing, idiot.’

While Yu-Seong was thinking that and wanting to hit himself in the head at the same time, Ye-Ryeong put her hands together and bowed and bowed to him.

“Yes. Thank you for the offer. If I quit my part-time job, I’ll let you know.”

Even though the character details of the original novel stated that her parents disappeared when she was ten, she was still very polite.

“Is that all, sir?”

“Not quite. Um… So what I’m asking is, are you inclined to actually have a regular job instead of a part-time job.”

“I beg your pardon?”

“I mean, a part-time job isn’t a regular job. If you accept my offer, you will be hired as a permanent worker, with benefits that also cover your insurance.”

“...”

Although Yu-Seong considered it to be a decent offer, Ye-Ryeong still didn’t seem that interested. Nevertheless, he wasn’t discouraged.

‘She… seems to be wanting something.’

Her eyes covered under her hair reflected her curiosity. She wasn’t simply the polite girl he thought her to be.

“You will be paid sufficiently.”

“How much?”

As expected, this was what she was really curious about.

“For a year…would 80 million won be enough?”

80 million won was more than enough to live off of in this world. In fact, people who are at least a deputy manager in a large firm could only earn this kind of money.

“It’s not the normal amount of money a drop-out 19-year-old F-ranked non-combat player like me would receive. You’re not going to make me do anything illegal, are you?”

Tilting her head with doubt, Ye-Ryeong’s hair slid down. Looking at her curious but suspicion-laced big eyes beneath her curtain of hair, he thought she was quite cute.

“I assure you there will be nothing illegal.”

He might ask her to undergo the Awakening again, but there was no need to say anything questionable right now. He decided to first build her trust.

“It seems suspicious.”

“We will sign an official employment document that is legally binding. If you want, you can hire a lawyer to go through it. I will provide you with the expenses.”

“No way.”

Listening to Ye-Ryeong speak bluntly with surprise, Yu-Seong didn’t respond. He didn’t display any change in his expression. This is because he also knew the conditions he offered were difficult to believe. In such circumstances, he thought that showing a somewhat formal and trustworthy face was much better than talking eloquently.

“It won’t work even if you put up that kind of face.”

“Well, that’s a bummer,” Yu-Seong responded.

“Why are you being so nice to me?”

As expected, she wouldn’t be convinced he was just giving her a decent job offer. Yu-Seong decided to tell her the truth.

“You probably won’t believe me … But Ms. Ye-Ryeong, you have an extremely special ability that you, yourself, don't even know.”

“I’m sorry?”

Ye-Ryeong’s eyes narrowed beneath her hair.

“Don’t give me that look. I’m telling the truth. Actually, as you may know, I have become a player. You saw the blue flames in my eyes, didn’t you?”

“Oh…so was the flame some sort of foreseeing ability”, Ye-Ryeong asked with wide eyes.

“It’s not exactly like that, but it is very similar.”

As always, a lie has to have a kernel of truth inside it.

“From what I see, You are very special. No one noticed it right now, but you’re like a diamond in the rough. So investing 80 million won a year to recruit you would never be a waste of money.”

Recalling that the original novel showed Ye-Ryeong was equally matched with Kim Do-Jin in single combat, Yu-Seong wouldn’t regret making an offer worth a hundred times more than the 80 million.

His voice became more sincere as he started to tell the truth. And this time, Ye-Ryeong sensed the honesty.

‘I have that kind of potential?’

She still didn’t trust him completely. Although she was lucky enough to become a player, she was an F-rank and had weird skills like Sweat Gland-Contraction that would harm only herself if misused. But she wasn’t sad about it.

After all, she never actually had any good luck come her way before.

She was satisfied with her F-rank status, as her stamina and strength increased and chronic illnesses disappeared. Even though she couldn’t become an amazing player and do extraordinary things, she was thankful, as she was able to sleep less and work more.

But now, Yu-Seong told her that she had hidden potential. This time, he didn’t urge Ye-Ryeong, who was still contemplating his offer. She still showed doubt in her face, but the reason was different this time.

‘It’s not me that she can’t trust; it’s herself.’

If someone like Yu-Seong, who didn’t know her personally, kept on about it more, wouldn’t it be obvious that she would think he was trying to scam her? It was up to Ye-Ryeong to choose.

And truthfully, he wasn’t in a hurry. He had enough time to watch over her and seek another opportunity. And after pondering for five minutes without moving from the place she was standing, she bent her head downwards.

“I’m sorry.”

She rejected his offer? Thinking that it couldn’t be helped, Yu-Seong tried to nod.

But Ye-Ryeong continued her words more quickly than he could respond.

“I was taking a while to answer because I had a lot on my mind.”

“Ah…”

‘So this was what her apology was for?’

Yu-Seong naturally smiled as he once again realized she was a really polite girl.

“Then do you mean…?”

“Honestly, I can’t give you a definitive answer right now. But I am really considering it. Although you said I possessed potential, I never recognized that and…”

She was clearly a clever girl, but she was also a minor that was facing an unexpected situation. Even if she was considering taking the offer, she would obviously be confused to think of the right words to say and would find it difficult to calm her racing mind.

But Yu-Seong didn’t press her.

‘It’s understandable she’s taken aback.’

He was simply thankful that she said she was considering it positively.

“You don’t need to give me an answer right now. I’ll give you my number, so call me later after you think it over. If you will give me your email, I’ll send you the contract first. You can take a look at it and call me whenever you’re ready.”

“Oh, would that be okay?”

Answering brightly, Ye-Ryeong’s long bangs slid to the side and revealed her entire face as she raised her head. Her passionate eyes sparkled like gems. Thinking that she was quite cute, Yu-Seong smiled, this time without any intentions, and nodded.

“Of course.”

“Thank you. Then I’ll check your email and reply to you as soon as I can!”

Ye-Ryeong thanked him by repeatedly bowing her head. Looking at her, Yu-Seong smiled inwardly.

‘Bingo.’

Weren’t there always some cases when one knew something would be successful before even knowing how things would end?

Ye-Ryeong would probably accept his offer. In fact, two days after he sent the contract, he was able to confirm his assumption when Ye-Ryeong visited him in person. That was the moment when Yu-Seong hired the future EX-rank player, the Sorceress of the Flood.

* * *

Shrieking horribly, a huge monster that was taller than a man by at least three heads swung his iron club toward the ground. A part of the ground caved in with a large noise.

Although it moved quickly despite its massive size, the monster swinging the club didn’t achieve its goal. It tried to eagerly crush an annoying human but failed as the human vanished into thin air. If the human had been hit by the club, a bloody, horrific corpse should be lying in the crater. It was confused by the lack of the corpse.

“What are you looking at?”

An indifferent voice that resembled a blade spoke. After identifying its target, the huge monster frowned and looked up. Standing upside down on the dungeon’s ceiling was Do-Jin, pointing his sword like an arrow.

“Orc Warchief, Krutak”

Krrrraa-!

Incomparably more powerful than ordinary orks, the orc warchief howled at the ceiling.

Although the orc warchief was believed to be only able to be knocked down by an attack team of at least ten D-rank players that are over level 80, Do-Jin wasn’t fazed as he faced it alone. There were two reasons why.

First, Do-Jin had complete faith in his skills. He had no doubt that he could match ten players with the same rank and level as himself.

Whereas the first reason was enough, he also had a second one. He had already experienced the named monster, Orc Warchief Krutak, in another universe, where he was even weaker than he was now.

‘It’s weird how monsters that died in the other universe are appearing here on Earth as dungeon monsters…’

For Do-Jin, who had already beaten them and returned to Earth, it wasn’t anything problematic. They simply became a delicious source of experience points for him to level up.

The moment Kurtak threw his club at Do-Jin, he moved away and dashed forward.

Swoooosh-!

After stepping into an extremely small gap that almost burned him due to its friction, the club crashed into the hard ceiling. The ceiling crashed down with a thundering noise of the rocks raining like hail. Frowning at the falling stones, Krutak covered his face with his outstretched hand. Although the rocks continuously fell, it barely had any effect on Krutak's solid palm.

During the split second Krutak removed the hand that was blocking the falling stones, a silver flash sparked. Sensing the chill and then erupting into flaming pain, Krutak’s world went black as he could not see.

Kuuaaaa-!

Do-Jin licked his lips with the tip of his tongue as he jumped down to avoid Krutak, who was struggling with a bloody wound to both of his eyes. A blue flame shimmered within Do-Jin’s eyes.

‘It’s over.’

To Do-Jin who could read his opponent’s movements by Insight, Krutak was just a large target as it leaped around blindly with no eyesight. First, Do-Jin severed the Achilles tendon that wasn’t covered by muscles and then broke all of Kurtak’s bones as he kneeled. When Krutak fell down with nothing to rely on to help him stand, he started squirming desperately. Do-Jin struck a blow on the back of Kutak’s neck, close to his brain. After that, Do-Jin sat on the dead Krutak’s head as he wiped the blue blood that splattered on his face with his left hand. It was when he was catching his breath that a message appeared:

- The Lord of Seocho[2] is amazed at player Do-Jin’s battle. 35 Karma points have been sponsored.

- The Friend of Thunder and Hammer laughs with joy at player Do-Jin’s battle with Kurtak. 700 Karma points have been sponsored.

- The Crying Witch of Grief watches player Do-Jin. 200 Karma points have been sponsored.

- The Green Spring of the East eye’s sparkle. 380 Karma points have been sponsored.

- The Cold Wind of the West puffs its smoking pipe while looking at player Do-Jin. 350 Karma points have been sponsored.

The messages from the gods flooded in incessantly. Everyone paid attention to Do-Jin—from gods that were cautious to declare themselves because of their high-class to low-class gods that weren't able to express themselves.

‘Hmm… A god.’

Do-Jin shortly thought of those somewhat disparate existences and snorted.

‘There were also gods in the continent of Aliode.’

Although they had many skills, they were extremely useless, weak, and unable to solve their problem themselves. That was why Do-Jin was summoned to those worlds. And as he was forced to travel across dimensions to defeat the Devil Lord, he could finally triumph only after suffering terrible wounds and being left covered with scars.

Of course, the gods back then and the ones that sent him messages now were entirely different. But that didn’t mean Do-Jin’s opinion toward gods changed drastically.

‘Gods weren’t mighty as we thought them to be.’

Also, they were extremely indifferent to people’s wishes and valued their own safety more than anything. For example, the fact that they weren’t helpful right now when Do-Jin wanted to rip Woo-Jae apart to pieces was proof.

‘Even Choi Yu-Seong is more useful than them.’

Then, Do-Jin’s lips twitched as he recalled meeting Yu-Seong at his house a few days ago.

‘He sure took a swipe at me.’

It was unbelievable that he was made a fool by a brat that was barely 20 years old, but Do-Jin didn’t mind it at all. He could undergo any kind of humiliation if he could use Yu-Seong to exact revenge for his family. This persistence itself was how Do-Jin was able to survive in an alternate universe and return home safely.

One of the gods that helped him return to Earth had told him that revenge was only a futile act that would only lead to more revenge, and wished Do-Jin would live peacefully once he returned to Earth. Unfortunately, that was impossible.

‘I can’t stand it.’

Every time he saw Woo-Jae appearing on the front page of the newspaper or magazine, his heart ached. The face of his dead father would appear in his head, whispering to him as a vengeful ghost would do.

‘Kill him.’

Do-Jin wanted to do just that. He hoped he could soon lead a peaceful life after he saw Woo-Jae’s blood dripping from his hand. He wanted that badly.

* * *

A month has passed since Yu-Seong hired Ye-Ryeong.

Although she was nervous and excited for her first day at work—and determined to leave if she was ordered to do something she felt uncomfortable doing—her job was basically the same as the other housekeepers for Yu-Seong’s house. She was shocked at first, but she did it anyway.

In the original novel, Ye-Ryeong earned the strength to be named as the Sorceress of the Flood through the re-Awakening. And it was common knowledge that one could experience the Awakening again only in extremely special cases.

But of course, Yu-Seong had no reason to give up on Ye-Ryeong’s re-Awakening just because the present public consensus was that it was impossible. Although not much was known about the re-Awakening at the present time, many secrets were revealed in the future. Yu-Seong, the reader of the original novel, clearly remembered those secrets.

However, enforced re-Awakening was problematic and a gamble because of the ridiculously high risks associated with it. In fact, the conditions for the re-Awakening were simple. One just had to receive a large shock and take in a massive amount of mana similar to the amount a dungeon break would produce.

But it was clear that this method could harm the player unless they were mentally and physically stable. Although Ye-Ryeong possessed the talent to one day overcome all those hardships and become the Sorceress of the Flood, he didn’t want to take the risks.

If he hurt or killed someone just because he was greedy, then wouldn’t he be fulfilling his role as a villain too well? He definitely didn’t want that to happen. Therefore, he initially gave Ye-Ryeong simple chores so she to get used to everything and relax.

The only thing that he somewhat forced her to do was, after two weeks she started working for him, to drink a juice brewed by diluting a gray-colored mana stone that was worth over ten million won. Even though Ye-Ryeong was overwhelmed by the price, Yu-Seong first drank it in front of her and then threatened that he wouldn’t pay her if she didn’t drink it. He was actually a little nervous that she might quit instead, but fortunately, that didn’t happen.

A considerable amount of salary, a stable environment, and the healthy mana stone juice was an investment from him that greatly enhanced her quality of life. Naturally, Ye-Ryeong’s doubt towards Yu-Seong dwindled while gratitude and fondness took its place.

Nevertheless, it was Yu-Seong’s life that changed the most dramatically in the first month Ye-Ryeong started to work.

1. -nim is a Korean suffix that is added at the end of an elder or respected person’s name ☜

2. Secho is a kingdom of ancient China that existed from BC 206 to BC 278 ☜