He sent me flying with a mere punch without any magic power, but only pure strength. I couldn’t understand how. The pain sweeping through my body couldn’t convince me of that fact.

How?

I learned to not arrogantly let my guard down after my first encounter with him. I investigated him thoroughly. He was only a sharpshooter from what I saw with my own eyes and from what others knew. I couldn’t sense the state of magic power from him that distinguished a master from a rookie. It didn’t look like he practiced any special techniques either.

That should be the case, so what the hell is this?

Such a thought flashed across my mind as his punch broke my armor and sent me flying. However, even that thought didn’t last long. He appeared from the thick cloud and caught up to my body in flight.

“I told you last time.”

His coarse hand clutched my face and stopped my body. I saw him through the gap between his fingers. His icy glare weighed heavily on my mind and body. Soon, a low whisper rang in my ears.

“That I’ll kill you if I ever see you.”

His voice filled my head and his grip felt like it would crush me. I tried to raise a hand, but my body wouldn’t move.

“That it’ll be the same inside and outside the tower.”

His lips curved into a cold smile and my heart stopped for a moment.

“Why didn’t you listen?”

Immediately, he smashed me into the ground. My body felt like it shattered, but this was only the beginning. His combat technique lacked individuality and fundamentals. He simply pulled me off the ground and slammed me again on the opposite side. Then he tossed me to the other side. Like that, I swayed like a pendulum until he threw me into the air and kicked me.

KOONG!

His kick crushed my ribs and sent me flying through the air. Then he caught up to me again and punched me in the opposite direction. I didn’t give up on fighting back as he toyed with me. I formed a barrier and shot my magic power weapons at him.

However, an unbelievable sight unfolded. My magic power shattered the moment it came in contact with him. Not a single bruise or scratch appeared on his body. Naturally, he continued beating me without stopping. It hurt and kept hurting. It continued until the damn end. I clenched my teeth. Why did I have to be beaten like this?

“GOD— DAMMIT—!”

I shouted while standing and my roar echoed in every direction. He finally stopped, but my body refused to move. Magic power only focused on recovery when the body took damage beyond a certain degree. I couldn’t keep fighting anymore.

Thud.

I quickly lost the strength to even stand. He began to approach. Tap, tap. I could hear his footsteps and tried to move in vain. Did something happen to my head after all that beating? I suddenly had a terrible thought. I felt scared. Was I going to die? Like this, for nothing? I thought I would be indifferent in the face of death. No, I couldn’t die here. Not now. Not like this. I had a wish to fulfill. My home, my country, my parents, and my loyal subordinates. I…

Words instinctively came out of my mouth before I could finish my thoughts.

“… spare… me.”

My voice trembled as I choked on tears. Then he stopped. I could only see his legs. I don’t know if I felt glad that I couldn’t see his face, but I desperately stretched my hand and placed it on his shoe.

“…”

A breathtaking silence descended. I held onto my faint consciousness and spoke words I never would’ve imagined.

“I’m… sorry.”

I had nothing to be ashamed of anymore with my brain this damaged. Only a single thought occupied my mind.

I want to live. I… have to live…

***

When Jin Sahyuk’s attack first crushed my body, I thought…

Should I use time reversal?

However, I dismissed it before my body even touched the ground.

Even if I did use it, I would be done for if I couldn’t finish her in 3 minutes. Of course, I could activate my fate ability after time reversal, but I might also die from a heart attack.

The side effects from time reversal made my heart feel like bursting and caused all my stats to decrease by 3-4 points for a day. I assumed the side effects would be similar for [Fate]. In all likelihood, [Fate] and [Time Reversal] couldn’t be used consecutively.

I activated [Fate] before any more blows landed. Jin Sahyuk already became my target during the sunrise in Prestige. My stats suddenly increased by 300% and I felt an absurd amount of power. The world instantly slowed with only one opponent in front of me.

“This will be my first time fighting in close range.”

I dashed towards Jin Sahyuk. My body filled with excitement and moved on its own. Perhaps it moved according to aether.

I sent her flying with a punch. Then chased after her and grabbed her face before her body could even touch the ground. KWANG! I slammed her body to the ground. KWANG! I pulled her back up and threw her again. KWANG! I continued smashing her back and forth. This was my first time fighting in close range, so I might’ve subconsciously imitated the Hulk that I watched in a movie.

I blacked out for a moment after that.

“GOD— DAMMIT—!”

Her sudden roar woke me up. I stood still and stared at her. She glared with half-open eyes and fell to the ground with a thud.

“Hmm…”

The battle ended quite fast. I approached the unconscious Jin Sahyuk sprawled on the ground. Her body still functioned and slowly healed itself. I prepared to kill her, but words I never expected came out of her mouth.

“… spare… me.”

“…”

My legs stopped as I stared at her. What did she just say? Was I hearing things?

“I’m… sorry.”

Her words sounded even more ridiculous than before. Goosebumps rose all over my body. I couldn’t comprehend what she just said, so I pretended not to hear it. She would be better off dead.

I reached out, but stopped. I saw my bloody hands and my subconscious defense mechanism activated. Even my numbed mind with high perseverance had a limit. Until now, I had never killed anyone without my weapon. I tried to take out the Desert Eagle from my pocket.

“Freeze!”

My 3 minutes had already passed and Fate lost its effects. I sensed multiple presences.

“This is the Hero Association’s Special Task Force! Put your weapon down!”

“What.”

Ten or so elite members of the Hero Association introduced themselves. They pointed their weapons at me and raised their magic power.

“You guys, move over.”

A woman walked through them in an imposing manner. The short Aileen appeared and seemed to be participating in this mission as a commander. She made a dramatic entrance and looked at me.

“What are you doing here?”

“…”

I couldn’t bring myself to answer. My body began to stiffen from the side effects. Aileen pointed at Jin Sahyuk.

“She’s not a djinn. Why are you fighting her?”

“…”

“It’s also way too intense… to be a quarrel between lovers.”

Aileen mumbled as she looked at the blood between us. Without a word, I lay on the ground. Aileen frowned at me.

“What should we do?” Aileen’s subordinate asked.

“What do you mean? That’s Fenrir. A guild probably hired him. As for the girl… well, I don’t know who she is, but let’s just leave these two alone and take care of them.”

Aileen pointed in the opposite direction. Like the Hero Association, the djinns also called for reinforcements.

“That’s Kim Ohsung, right?”

A slender man caught Aileen’s attention. Kim Ohsung, an executive of Satan’s Servants, was 3-4 times stronger than Gunyuden.

“Yes, I think you’re right.”

“Then let’s go.”

Aileen glanced at me before walking towards the battlefield. Swirls of blade-like magic power shot up from her feet. However, she soon controlled the overwhelming magic power and shouted.

“Listen well! The ground will turn upside down!”

The ground beneath the djinns shot up into the sky. A single sentence reversed heaven and earth. The man-made disaster caused an entire layer of earth to soar.

— Kuaaak!

— W-What’s going on?

— Uwoah! H-Hold on!

The reverse landslide killed most of the djinns and the pressure from her magic power crushed the others to death. They didn’t stand a chance against Aileen.

“Woah…”

I wanted to watch her fight a bit longer, but didn’t have the time. I came here in secret, so why did I encounter so many guests today? Soon, another voice tickled my ears.

“Were you hiding it or did you learn it from the tower?”

“…”

I turned towards a talking cat.

“It’s just that Sahyuk also learned a pretty good skill. I didn’t think she would lose.”

The cat smiled at Jin Sahyuk on the ground.

“How awful.” I suddenly realized the cat’s identity. The gift, Magic Power Body, could be used in all sorts of ways. It had to be Bell. I said only one thing to him.

“Take her.”

The cat widened its eyes.

“Really?” I nodded weakly.

“Tell her I was touched by her genuine plea.”

Today, I saw a possibility in Jin Sahyuk. In the original story, she seemed like an almighty character who could never die. Not even Kim Suho could defeat her. She actually overpowered him for half the novel. However, that wasn’t the case now. The cat spoke again.

“You might regret it later.”

I didn’t reply and raised my head to peek inside the excavation site. My fight had ended and Chae Nayun’s revenge should also be reaching its climax.

— Please spare me.

Gunyuden begged her on the ground. I couldn’t help but chuckle. For some reason, she experienced the same situation as me.

***

“Please spare me.”

Pft. The man overflowing with confidence a moment ago now lay on the ground begging for his life. Chae Nayun raised her claymore with a cynical smile.

“You…”

Chae Nayun continued with a stern face. Gunyuden looked at her claymore. The monstrous weapon still raged with magic power. He assumed the longsword would penetrate his heart, but it returned to the scabbard on her back.

“Do you think I’m like you?”

“What?”

Chae Nayun took something out of her pocket. They looked no different than ordinary handcuffs, but could suppress magic power. She placed them on Gunyuden and Yudoren’s wrists.

“I’ll cut your magic core out and interrogate you thoroughly. I’ll also lock you up in the djinn prison so you won’t be able to kill yourself.”

“…”

“You won’t be able to die even if you want to, bastard.”

Chae Nayun looked at Gunyuden straight in his eyes.

“… Really.”

“Yep. Look forward to it. I’ll have you spill the beans about that client of yours.”

Thwack! She smacked Gunyuden on the head with her scabbard and he easily passed out without any magic power. A sudden dizziness overtook her. The world spun and her vision turned upside down.

“Uwoaah…”

Someone caught her as she fell.

“Ah?”

Chae Nayun looked up amidst her dizziness. At first, a faint hallucination overlapped with the figure who caught her. The face in front of her undoubtedly belonged to Kim Hajin. He looked at her with that familiar expressionless look.

“You…”

“Nayun! Are you okay?”

“Yi Jiyoon?”

The hallucination soon disappeared and Kim Hajin’s face became Yi Jiyoon. Am I going crazy? Chae Nayun returned to her senses and pulled herself up.

“Are you feeling alright? I came here as fast as I could!”

“I’m fine. I already captured these two?”

Chae Nayun finally noticed the man beside Yi Jiyoon. Desolate Moon should’ve been in charge of the 4th floor, but Shin Jonghak stood there for whatever reason.

“What.”

Shin Jonghak stared at her. Blood and dirt covered his spear and armor. It seemed he had quite the fight too.

“Why is Shin Jonghak here?”

“…”

Shin Jonghak remained silent at her innocent question. He couldn’t tell her that the spy he had planted in Essence of the Strait informed him of the situation. The trace of tears underneath her eyes left him speechless. He couldn’t bring himself to say what he wanted to say. Instead, he only bitterly smiled.

“I was always here.”

***

The drama unfolding before my eyes depicted a typical scene of youth. Chae Nayun defeated her enemy, but didn’t kill him. Once again, Shin Jonghak announced that he wouldn’t give up on her. Soon, Kim Suho would join them too. Their story would continue without me as always. I bitterly smiled.

“Kim Hajin.”

A cold voice called me. I could barely breathe as I turned around. Boss frowned to show her anger.

“Ah, Boss. You came?”

“Is that all you have to say? I thought I told you not to participate.”

“…”

We looked at each other in silence. She frowned even more when she noticed I wasn’t scared of her. I spotted her white, coarse hands underneath her robe.

“Hmm…”

Looking at her hands, I suddenly recalled the ring. I didn’t know why. Was it because I just saw Chae Nayun and Shin Jonghak? Homer’s Ring sat rotting away inside stigma’s extradimensional storage without a proper owner.

Should I give that ring to Chae Nayun? The high grade artifact could amplify her strength and remedy her weakness.

It wasn’t impossible. Like in the original story, Chae Shinhyuk would search for a fitting artifact and possibly obtain information about Homer’s Ring if Chae Nayun asked him for help. By chance, he might find my Truth Agency and request the ring’s location. Then I could coincidentally give it to him.

However, Chae Nayun won today on her own and didn’t end her revenge with murder. She seemed happy and deserved to be proud of herself.

She probably wouldn’t ask her father for help, especially if it meant depending on an item.

One day, if she asked for such a thing… if her desire to grow stronger reached me by chance…

“I’ll make something for her myself.”

Most likely, only I inherited the dwarves’ legacy. An intelligence stat boost would be impossible, but I could easily reproduce the [Magic Power Amplification] on Homer’s Ring. I just had to gather the world’s best materials and work 1-2 hours a day for about 3 months.

“Make what?”

Boss snapped at me. I lightly chuckled. Boss was no less of a magic power monster than Chae Nayun. Chae Nayun’s magic power capacity only applied to swords, so Boss wouldn’t be as efficient. However, the ring also suited Boss. She wouldn’t sell it like in the original story if I gifted it to her.

“Boss, come here for a second.”

“Kim Hajin. I’m not joking. Depending on your answer—”

“I have something…”

Plus, I wanted to appease her.

“… that I want to give to you.”

“Haaa.”

Boss sighed with a sour expression, but approached anyways.

“What?” She squatted in front of me as I forced my creaking joints to move.

“Close your eyes.”

“You weren’t supposed to be here during the mission. You weren’t even supposed to be nearby. Jain lured in the association and djinns, but if you’re here they’ll be suspicious that—”

“Hush.”

It didn’t look like she would close her eyes, so I covered them with my hand. Then I tried to put the ring on her finger, but stopped. Was this okay? It felt weird to directly put the ring on her. Ring finger, index finger… It just felt wrong, so I opened her hand and placed it in her palm.

“Here, all done.”

“What is…?”

She didn’t finish her sentence. I smiled softly and looked at her. Boss stood as if time had stopped. She stared at the ring with a half-opened mouth and didn’t even blink.

“…”

Like that, the owner of the ring changed. Of course, I might regret this decision later, but Boss’ expression made it worth it today.

“How is it? I picked it up on my way here.”

I felt more than satisfied.