Past Life Returner

A conflict was bound to happen. They started to back away only when they needed to cross their colleagues’ bodies to attack me. The solemn silence continued, and Lindegart appeared a while after that. At a glance, anyone could tell that he was the leader. He led many attackers as if they were his royal bodyguards, and he was firmly protected in the center.

Swoosh-

Nothing stopped me from approaching him. His subordinates’ eyes and reflexes were so slow that they couldn’t even stretch their arms at me at the right time. They even shouted a beat later than I moved. It was all in Danish, but it sounded something like ‘Protect Lindegart!’

I clutched Lindegart by his neck and jumped up. Then I returned to the spot where I was originally waiting for him. The boundary between the living and the non-living was clear. I grabbed his hair and pulled it back, then his head turned sharply. I had revealed my identity earlier, but apparently that information hadn’t been delivered to him. His eyes filled with shock, and his face turned ghastly pale when he saw me.

He said with his neck bent, “I… I was waiting for you… Odin.”

I responded, “Really? But why did you abandon Revolucion’s cause?”

Human emotions were sometimes hard to explain logically. The consequences of abandoning Revolucion were obvious, and Lindegart was the perfect example of that.

He growled, “Do you really think that a group that humans create is superior to the System? Please be honest.”

However, he was speaking like the way the Eighth Virtue used to. I had been careful as I wasn’t sure if Angela didn’t tell me something, but I now knew that he had simply been corrupted. The System had already engulfed him.

At that time, some skills flew at me. Some of them hoped that their leader would shake off my grip and run away while I was under attack, but I decided to use Lindegart like how Seong-Il used his opponents as his weapons. I swung Lindegart around, and he got hit by all the skills like a perfect shield. Then, I felt the sensation of a piece of leather being torn in two as he fell out of my grasp. A handful of his hair was pulled out, and the torn scalp was covered with blood. I threw an explosive item, Kali’s Sword, in the direction of the attackers who kept directing their skills at me.

Baaaaang-!

All sorts of things were swept away by the blast of hot air, including bits of blown-apart flesh, ripped-off limbs, and even shards of asphalt. However, a notification message popped up the fastest out of all of them.

[Potential Threat: You have exterminated 249 Awakened.]

While the messages that I had eliminated the Awakened popped up frantically, I grabbed Lindegart again.

He gasped, “The…the three of us got the assassination quest. You should know what that means. The System has rejected Revolucion.”

He showed no sign of fear even though death was just around the corner. His eyes were determined.

“Is that the only reason?” I asked.

He continued tenaciously, “This happened a long time ago, but I still remember the exact sentence: A threat to everyone is growing quickly.”

He was referring to the quest that appeared in 2003 while America was invading Iraq. It had asked one hundred Awakened to kill me. As he said, it was a long time ago.

He snarled, “Angela and Gunnarson are idiots, so they don’t see the truth! But people like me do.”

He kept flinching in an attempt to preach more clearly toward me as my vice grip made it hard to talk properly. Apparently, breathing wasn’t one of his concerns. I loosened my grip a little as he wished, then he continued.

“We have been abandoned. We are being punished for not stopping you back then. The situation on the other stages would be the same. Revolucion shouldn’t have been created. Things will get worse. The System won’t sit back and allow the group that was created by the threat of mankind to continue. The System. The System!”

His bloodshot eyes seemed like they would burst at any moment.

“The Revolucion! Will never leave you alone! Argh!”

He was hopeless. I had no more reason to listen to his ridiculous story. I tightened the grip that I had loosened.

Zing-

One by one, his pieces of equipment lost their power and then his eyeballs flipped over. While his gang were murmuring amongst themselves, a message popped up.

[You have exterminated an Awakened.]

[Potential Threat: You have exterminated 250 Awakened.]

I had warned him about how the System was two-faced through Joshua before the Stage of Advent. Nevertheless, he still decided to betray us. Therefore, the name “Potential Threat” was appropriate for this particular quest. If we didn’t call a guy like Lindegart a potential threat, who else would have been the threat?

In this lifetime, the number of people who had faith in the System had significantly decreased, but those who were fascinated by its supernatural power and wonders still existed. The good and evil sides of the System didn’t matter to them. They would only care where the power they were using came from. That would soon become the basis of their belief.

The family members of the people in Revolucion and Tomorrow had been inside the Jeonil resort’s barrier before the Day of Advent. Lindegart’s family would have been there too. Yes, he had become blind to the point that he not only ignored his safety but also his family’s.

Plop.

Lindegart’s body collapsed on the ground helplessly. Then, I saw the tattoos on his skin through cracks of his destroyed armor and his burnt-off T-shirt. I tore off the remaining pieces of cloth with a spark of lightning. The whole tattoo was revealed.

GREAT SYSTEM

***

Do they feel at ease only when they blindly worship the System as a god? Why do we human beings always create false objects to rely on?

I needed to consider myself lucky that no one was currently worshiping the Seven Demon Kings. If a person like Lindegart experienced the gaze of Doom Arukuda even once, they would build an altar and start rituals with human sacrifices.

Fuck.

The Awakened who followed Lindegart were gazing at me with constipated expressions. They were preparing for a battle as if they felt an ominous vibe from me. A few of their eyes were saying that they wouldn’t provoke me further, but that they wouldn’t just stand there and get beaten by me. Those people were usually the captains.

On the other hand, the majority were already defying their leaders’ orders. In fact, some guys began to walk out with their arms up. Then, they knelt down at a proper distance away and expressed that they had no desire to fight against me. Others began kneeling immediately.

I had never had any intention of keeping the people close to Lindegart alive. They would have been steadily edified by Lindegart and had become addicted to the supernatural power of the System. I wondered if they would change if I told them the real reason why the System had gone bad, but I had a feeling that wasn’t important to them.

[You have used Devi’s Sword.]

Slash!

***

“I never knew he thought that way… I really didn’t notice. He never shared his thoughts with anyone, so no one knew what he was thinking.”

Angela’s eyes shook, then she stared at me for a while. She wanted to prove that she was innocent. The pre-Awakened likely all went through life with complex thoughts like this. Most of them would have constantly questioned the nature of the System, and that was why I constantly warned Joshua.

“Joshua taught you wrong.”

My voice was filled with disappointment.

She grimaced. “That guy… Lindegart is just unusual… I’m sorry.”

We were in the middle of a bloody battlefield. I heard something dragging on the ground. Seong-Il looked at me and smiled brightly. Then, he spoke while putting the Chinese Awakened he had dragged along in front of me.

“I almost missed him. He was such a fast jerk.”

“What about Lee Tae-Han?” I asked.

He smirked. “Our phone store owner went to kill the other Chinese. I hope he gets to communicate well with them, but these dudes are so…”

Seong-Il was about to say more, but then abruptly cut himself off. He was quick-witted, so he knew instantly I was pissed off. I left Seong-Il to clean up the surroundings and took Angela to a place where we couldn’t hear any noise or smell blood.

I said seriously. “You have only seen the tip of the iceberg. I’ll tell you the truth. You should spread this truth to everyone you encounter in the future, including Gunnarson and Lee Tae-Han.”

She nodded. “Okay.”

I explained to her the existence of Seven Demon Kings and the real reason why the System has been changed. When I finished talking, Angela was slightly absent-minded.

I continued, “Lee Tae-Han is one of us from now on, and he is under my direct control. Watch him, but don’t interrupt.”

That was enough. I tapped her shoulder and came back to Seong-Il.

I ordered, “Let’s go.”

He raised his eyebrows while jumping to his feet. “Already? I thought I’d live here for a bit. Hehe. You must have itchy feet.”

That was funny. In order to empower Lee Tae-Han, I needed to stop intervening further. His basic skills alone fell short of Angela and Gunnarson, but he was competent enough to form the third force.

Ten days before Act Two began, five forces had been united under the name of Revolucion. One day before, a large rally was held and all the Awakened had been called over to attend. Thousands of survivors crowded into one area, and they seemed to be sick and tired of the huge population. Of course, tension existed everywhere between the different races and forces, so everyone was cautious.

Seong-Il and I were also in the middle of the crowd. So far, no one in the leadership position of Revolucion (12) had found us. They were located on the roof of the building, overlooking the scene below while preparing a speech.

“Hey, stop pushing! What? Do you think I can’t stare back? What are you going to slap me? Do it!” Seong-Il yelled out loud.

However, we were surrounded by Awakened from different countries, so the only answer he got in return was in high-toned Danish. I tapped Seong-Il on the shoulder and turned his attention to the rooftop. Lee Tae-Han had finally appeared.

“Waaaaah!”

Angela and Gunnarson stood beside Lee Tae-Han, and the shouts of the Awakened were so loud that it sounded like an explosion. The main captains of Revolucion (12) were equipped head to toe in items, and they stood behind the three. Seong-Il was also shouting and smiling at me with a flushed face. It was such a wicked smile.

“Ah, I’m happy to see the phone store owner succeeding like that.”

As Seong-Il said, Lee Tae-Han was the center of the three. He was standing in the middle and seemed to be in charge of the speech. The cheers stopped long afterward.

He announced calmly, “Tomorrow, Act Two will start. We will strictly deal with those who go against rules and carry out actions against common sense and propriety.”

His speeches on discipline toward murder, rape, assault and extortion continued. In the end, he finished with a hopeful remark that we had the right to be happy here, and the topic changed.

“Like everyone else, we have also questioned the existence and purpose of the System. We have been working hard to understand its secrets, and we have immersed ourselves in the research day and night. And finally, I’m here to tell you the truth.”

Lee Tae-Han stopped talking for a moment and paused. The people beside him were translating his words into Danish and Chinese. Then, he started mentioning the Seven Demon Kings and why the System had been warped. Because of that, the excitement among the people died down instantly. It became silent, and we could only hear the sounds of people swallowing. Even though thousands of people were gathered there, that was really all we could hear.

He wrapped up, “That is the truth. The changed System wants us to tear us apart and goads us to target each other. But don’t worry. The fact that the warped System is wary of us is proof that we are strong. We are strong. Believe me. We will take a leap forward in Act Two. In the past, we were called by different names and were hostile to each other, but now we are under one name. Rev-o-lu-cion!”

Lee Tae-Han didn’t simply shout Revolucion’s name. He stretched out his right arm and clenched his fist tightly. It was the perfect salute for the word Revolucion. Ironically, the conglomerate leader used gestures that were linked to struggle and determination, but it didn’t matter here. We were still trapped in this screwed-up world.

“Rev-o-lu-cion!”

Angela and Gunnarson also shouted and used the same salute. At that time, flags made of monster leather surged up at once, and a banner painted with a large symbol of Revolucion unfolded from the rooftop to the floor. The excitement soon spread out in the crowd. All kinds of fists began to wave in the air.

“Rev-o-lu-cion!”

“Rev-o-lu-cion!”