After Gi-Gyu got Heo Sung-Hoon’s message, he returned to Eden.

Sung-Hoon greeted him with a smile, “Hello.”

“You found Tae-Oh?” Gi-Gyu asked impatiently.

His first meeting with Kim Tae-Oh wasn’t that long ago, but it now felt like such a distant memory. Tae-Shik had introduced him to Tae-Oh when he worked as a Tower guide. At the time, Gi-Gyu was weak and could barely support his family.

‘We only confirmed Andras’ identity thanks to Kim Tae-Oh,’ Gi-Gyu thought grimly. He had been searching for Kim Tae-Oh, who had disappeared, and the truth about the Caravan Guild was revealed in the process.

Tae-Shik used to blame himself for what had happened to the young player, so he also wanted to find Tae-Oh.

Sung-Hoon replied, “Yes, I did.”

Unfortunately, he didn’t look too happy about it.

“Where? Where is Tae-Oh?” Gi-Gyu demanded.

“Please come this way…”

Tae-Oh, the man Gi-Gyu was looking for, was in Eden. Gi-Gyu followed Sung-Hoon quickly.

As they walked together, Sung-Hoon explained, “It was a coincidence that we found him. We never expected him to be here, so we never thought to look.”

Sung-Hoon walked a little faster and became quiet. It looked like he wanted to continue once Gi-Gyu met Tae-Oh.

Gi-Gyu recognized the area Sung-Hoon brought him to. After the Iron Guild and the Caravan Guild’s attack, they had tried to rehabilitate as many enemies as possible. But this didn’t mean they killed everyone they couldn’t rehabilitate. Some were kept alive to study the First Potion’s effects, while the others were used to learn how the demons stole the players’ bodies.

“Here.” Sung-Hoon stopped before the area with the live enemy players; Gi-Gyu felt his heart fall.

Sung-Hoon said quietly, “I’ve made sure he’s safe now. He was about to be eliminated. If I hadn’t found him in time… You should go see him now.”

Sung-Hoon entered the building. At the entrance, Hart stood waiting.

Hart bowed deeply and ruefully whispered, “Grandmaster… I apologize. I had no idea he was your friend.”

Gi-Gyu tapped Hart’s shoulder as he walked by. He replied, “It’s all right.”

He knew this was no one’s fault. They hadn’t ever suspected that Tae-Oh might be among the enemy army. And it was Gi-Gyu who had ordered the experiments to be carried out.

Hart quietly followed behind Gi-Gyu, who was following Sung-Hoon.

***

“Ackkkk!”

“Kekekeke.”

“Hehehehe.”

As they entered deeper into the area, they heard gruesome moans and groans. Some screams sounded so strange that they couldn’t tell if they were of pain or pleasure. As he listened, Gi-Gyu continued to walk.

When they reached the end of the hallway, Sung-Hoon explained, “He wasn’t in good condition, so we couldn’t move him out of this place.”

After all the experiments were done and nothing more could be learned from a prisoner, they were eliminated. These players, who had done terrible things, were finally given true death.

Sung-Hoon stood before a metal door and announced, “It’s going to smell a bit.”

Creak.

Sung-Hoon opened the metal door. As forewarned, a horrible stench stabbed Gi-Gyu’s nose. He was used to the smell of rotting corpses, but this was so bad that it made him frown.

“Hehehehe!” The moans, laughs, and screams were even louder in the dark room.

Sung-Hoon turned on the light, and Gi-Gyu saw a creature laughing most grotesquely. Nearly all of his body was rotting, pus was seemingly leaking from every orifice, and even his face looked like it was melting, but Gi-Gyu recognized him.

Gi-Gyu hadn’t attended school regularly, so he had gotten no chance to make friends. He had some acquaintances, but he was never close to anyone.

However, there were a few people he could call friends.

“Tae-Oh…” Gi-Gyu called out his friend’s name.

“Hehehehe.” Only a strange laugh came out of the creature’s mouth.

Gi-Gyu had no doubt the creature was Tae-Oh, but he understood why others couldn’t recognize him. The changes in his appearance were just too great. It was a truly fortunate coincidence that Sung-Hoon found Tae-Oh.

Sung-Hoon explained as if trying to make an excuse, “He isn’t like this because of our experiments. Players under sorcerous energy’s influence just turn out this way…”

“I know,” Gi-Gyu whispered. He knew the experiments weren’t entirely at fault, but Gi-Gyu also knew using players like lab rats was inhumane.

But he had no other choice.

‘These players couldn’t be rehabilitated. They were either too evil or too far gone because of the sorcerous energy.’ 

The captured players had been divided into two groups. The first one contained demon players who had committed murders and rapes on their own and without the demons’ directive.

The second group had players far under sorcerous energy’s influence and beyond recovery.  

The first group was used to learn how the demons stole players’ bodies.

The second group was…

‘We were trying to help them return to normal…’ 

Gi-Gyu couldn’t save them all. Even he couldn’t save those whose bodily components, including their bone marrow, had been poisoned with sorcerous energy. If he extracted the sorcerous energy, these players would die instantly. Syncing with them would also not save their corrupted minds or stop the sorcerous energy contamination.

Hart explained, “If we leave him like this… it won’t be long before he’s gone.”

Tae-Oh didn’t have much time left. Gi-Gyu tried to reach out to him but ultimately just shook his head. He didn’t know how to save Tae-Oh.

“How’s the research going?” asked Gi-Gyu despite knowing the answer.

“We… still don’t know how to return them to normal,” Hart replied sadly.

Suddenly, a thought popped into Gi-Gyu’s head. “I have an idea.”

“...!” It seemed that Sung-Hoon realized what Gi-Gyu wanted to try.

Gi-Gyu turned toward Hart and ordered, “Bring Paimon here.”

Paimon was deeply connected to this situation, and Gi-Gyu suspected that he knew all the secrets of this process. Hart seemed surprised because his eye sockets wavered, but he silently left.

Everyone remained quiet except Tae-Oh, who laughed while scratching the wall like a ghoul.

***

“Hyung.” Paimon—no, Min-Su walked in.

When Gi-Gyu gave Min-Su the signal, the look in Min-Su’s eyes changed as Paimon appeared.

“Did you need me?” Paimon asked. He had heard the gist of the situation. It would have been better if he had been involved in the experiments from the beginning, but he was busy fine-tuning his body.

Gi-Gyu asked, “Did Hart explain everything to you?”

“Yes… So this is your friend.” Paimon walked toward Tae-Oh. His movement somehow seemed more awkward than before. He looked at Tae-Oh nonchalantly, who continued to scratch the floor with seemingly no will to fight.

Paimon studied Tae-Oh, and Gi-Gyu asked, “Do you think… you can do this?”

“Please give me a moment. I still haven’t finished tuning, so it’s taking me longer to concentrate.”

Gi-Gyu nodded, and time passed in the silent room. After a while, Paimon finally stood up.

“The First Potion was used here,” Paimon announced.

“...”

“I’ve already told you a bit about the First Potion before… Hmm…” Paimon seemed to be thinking deeply about something.

Gi-Gyu asked again, “Is it possible?”

“No,” Paimon replied quickly. “It isn’t possible. We can’t return this man to the way he was before. The First Potion has reached his bone marrow as well as his brain. This man can’t be healed anymore. I’m actually more curious about why he’s… still alive.”

Paimon turned toward Tae-Oh and continued, “I understand how you must feel right now, but letting him go would be the kinder thing here. If I was already done tuning and this man had about a month left to live, perhaps it would have been different. But…”

Paimon looked up at Gi-Gyu again and added, “One day at the longest.”

“...”

“This man will not survive the 24-hour mark.”

Gi-Gyu begged, “Are you sure there is no way to…”

“No, there isn’t. Please don’t ask me again.” Paimon walked up to Gi-Gyu. “I feel partly responsible for this. I can see that I have caused pain to a lot of people.”

Paimon looked unhappy, and Gi-Gyu watched Tae-Oh with sadness in his eyes. Paimon mumbled, “We can’t save him, but… if we use whatever time he has left, you might be able to talk to him for a moment.”

“Is that possible?”

“It is a complicated process, but maybe. We’ll extract the sorcerous energy from this man and give his remaining life force one last boost. That might be enough for him to talk normally for a moment. But of course, he will die immediately afterward. He has a day to live, translating to about a minute of conversation time.”

Paimon looked into Gi-Gyu’s eyes and asked, “So what would you like to do? By the way, don’t bother trying to sync with him. Even if you do, nothing much will change. Sync is a connection, not an all-powerful healing ability. Even if you kill and egofy him to sync with him, you’ll get an Ego far too damaged to function normally. His soul and mind will be stuck at the time of egofication. You can’t heal ruined minds. You can’t do that like some others.”

Gi-Gyu didn’t have to contemplate long. At this point, it was clear that Tae-Oh couldn’t be brought back to normal. In a day, he would die in this monstrous form. Therefore, Gi-Gyu had only one choice.

“Please go ahead.”

“All right.” Paimon approached Tae-Oh again. He placed his hand on top of Tae-Oh’s head and began mumbling.

“Ackkkkkk!” For the first time, Tae-Oh screamed instead of laughing.

Gi-Gyu’s face crumpled uncomfortably. It was a difficult thing to hear one’s friend scream like this.

“Ackkkk!” Tae-Oh continued to scream. Sung-Hoon and Hart left but not because they couldn’t tolerate the screaming. They just wanted to give Gi-Gyu some privacy to talk to Tae-Oh.

“This man has a lot of angst in him,” Paimon whispered as he took his hand off Tae-Oh’s head. “His resentment and obsession kept him alive for this long. You’ll have more time than I thought, but… it still won’t be more than two minutes. It’s not much, but try to give his troubled mind some respite. Oh, and you should know that he can’t see you.”

Paimon walked away. As he passed by, Gi-Gyu could feel their strong connection, and he was glad of what he felt. Paimon’s words may have been cold, but he was genuinely guilty. Gi-Gyu could also sense Paimon’s renewed determination.

“It hurts…” Words began to pour out from Tae-Oh’s lips.

“Tae-Oh…” Gi-Gyu whispered.

Tae-Oh’s head moved. His eyes looked cloudy, but he was now facing Gi-Gyu.

“G… Gi-Gyu?” It seemed that Tae-Oh recognized Gi-Gyu’s voice. “Gi-Gyu, I can’t see anything… My body hurts so bad… Why… Why…?”

“...”

“Oh…” Tae-Oh mumbled to himself for a while before pausing. It seemed that he remembered what had happened. Without a word, Gi-Gyu held Tae-Oh’s hands.

“Hng… Hng…” Tears and pus leaked from Tae-Oh’s eyes.

Gi-Gyu didn’t know what to say to him.

“Gi-Gyu… What have I done…? I…” Tae-Oh sobbed. “I just wanted to live with my mother happily… I never had true talent, and I thought this was how I will make…”

An ugly smile appeared on Tae-Oh’s ruined face, but it was quickly replaced by guilt and worry.

“M-my mother?! Do you know what happened to my mother? Please tell me. Please, I’m begging you!”

Gi-Gyu didn’t let go of Tae-Oh’s hands and wondered what he should say.

The truth, perhaps?

Tae-Oh’s mother was dead. Since Tae-Oh had been deep in the Caravan Guild, his mother was neglected and died from starvation.

Should Gi-Gyu tell him the truth? Or should he lie?

“She passed away.” Gi-Gyu chose to tell him the truth, but not the full one. “She died of illness. By the time we found her, it was too late.”

“Ahh…”

Her illness was also a result of being neglected, but it sounded better than dying of starvation.

“Ah… Ugh… M…Mother…” Tae-Oh seemed to be having a hard time breathing. “The Caravan Guild… Ahh… What have I done…?”

Tae-Oh squeezed Gi-Gyu’s hands. He grabbed hard enough to make Gi-Gyu flinch a little.

Tae-Oh begged, “P-please avenge me. I’m begging you, Gi-Gyu… I’ve heard about you… I heard that you’re becoming stronger… When I heard about you, I felt hopeful… No… I was jealous… No… I… I wanted to be powerful like you… That’s what I wanted… Ohh… Ahh… You have the power to do this, right?”

Gi-Gyu squeezed Tae-Oh’s hands.

Tae-Oh continued, “Couldn’t you… avenge me…? I know… I don’t have the right to ask, but… I…”

Tae-Oh’s voice became quieter and weaker.

Gi-Gyu replied, “I will. I will get your revenge. And I swear it will be a painful one.”

“Thank y—” Tae-Oh stopped breathing. He lasted a lot longer than Paimon had predicted.

When Gi-Gyu let his hands go, Tae-Oh fell to the ground. Gi-Gyu stood up and clenched his fists. This reminded him that he was doing the right thing. He was fighting for world peace, and he didn’t need a special reason for doing this.

It was all for the safety of his friends and family.

And…

‘Revenge…’ 

He was doing this to avenge so many people. Gi-Gyu didn’t need others to recognize his achievements or sacrifice.

‘I…’ 

He was just doing what he knew was right.

Creak.

Gi-Gyu left Tae-Oh’s cold corpse behind and walked out.