Past Life Returner

A few months after Act Two, Stage Two took place, Seong-Il was waiting for me when I returned to my city. He visited sometimes and left me food, but he had nothing in his hands this time. Also, his face was stiff with displeasure, and I could see why he came.

I commented, “You must have found it.”

Seong-Il said “yes” and took out a piece of paper made from the mulberry tree.

「* All classes and levels are welcome.

You can upgrade from bronze to gold right away with us.

Don’t hesitate.

- Tetsuya Attack Squad.

Address: Tent No.13, behind Sakura Corps headquarters」

"These fucking bastards ate them all,” he snarled.

I raised an eyebrow. “How did you know?”

Seong-Il explained, “There was a snitch. What should we do? Should we wipe them all right now?”

I shrugged. “Since they already started doing it, that won’t help at all. You didn’t kill them already, did you?”

He shook his head. “No, not yet.”

I smiled grimly. “Okay, then let’s do this.”

***

The Black Fragment was the quest starter item. The quest had existed in all stages, but no one had completed it. Therefore, the quest only made the existence of the Seven Demon Kings known to the world, and that was it.

However, according to the assumption of the Sixth Evil, who had carried out the most quests out of all of the Awakened, the final reward for the linked quest was directly related to one of the Seven Demon Kings. It was the quest that happened only in Act Two, Stage Two, which meant it was the hidden compensation of Act Two. Well, I had to wait and see if the item related to Seven Demon Kings was actually arranged as a final reward until the end…

Anyway, other than trying to level up as fast as possible, that was the reason why I had been quickly going around Revolucion’s cities.

「If you find any Black Fragments, please report it to the association.

There will be compensation from the association to those who report.

However! Those who use it without reporting it will be severely punished.

- World Awakened Association - 」

The announcement poster was hung on the outer wall of the southern city. It had been attached ever since Lee Tae-Han had integrated the fake World Awakened Association (3) and the New Triad into Revolucion, so a part of it was worn off.

At first, I debated whether or not this information should be posted, but there was no other way. It was only known that Black Fragments appeared one by one in Act Two, Stage Two, but there were no specific dungeons or monsters. The best-case scenario was when the fragments were dropped on me. If that wasn’t the case, then it would have been perfect if people just brought them to me.

However, things weren’t at their worst. It would be horrible if the group that started the series was annihilated in their first quest. Well, the worst-case scenario would be to reach the Final Stage without knowing any of the background information.

(Welcome).”

When the woman sensed my presence, she gave out a greeting without looking at me. Appearance-wise, she looked like she had entered her twenties a few months ago, but enough time had gone by to the point where we couldn’t judge a person’s age by their appearance. She must have been quite sly due to her experience here.

She asked, (Are you here because of the poster)?”

(Of course),” I responded.

The woman pointed to her front seat with her chin and looked at me with a blatant gaze as I sat there. However, her arrogant expression quickly disappeared as I had come with a full set of C-class items.

She remarked, “You have good eyes and quality armaments. Are you sure you have come to the right place? You don’t seem to need any further help to grow.”

I explained, “I came because I was interested in your regular attack squad. Do you have a room?”

My pronunciation must have annoyed the mainlanders as the woman asked in a sharp voice while wiggling her eyebrows, “Chinese? Korean?”

I replied, “Korean.”

"You know what will happen if you are lying to me, right? What has brought a Korean here?”

Her eyes were already filled with wickedness although she was still asking me the question.

I pretended to plead, “I will never fall behind in skills and cause any trouble. I’ll also yield a lot of distribution too. So, if there’s no room, make some. It’ll be mutually beneficial for us.”

She smirked. “I love your confidence. That’s good. But if you are a Korean criminal, do you think we would want to get involved in your circumstances?”

“...”

"You should be thankful that I didn’t kick you out right away. Tell me. What crime did you commit?” she asked.

I acted uncomfortable. “I’m not guilty of any crime. I just hooked up with a girl.”

Her eyes narrowed. “Hmm. You don’t seem like such a character.”

"Do you want to see?” I asked.

Only then did the woman laugh. “You must have touched someone you shouldn’t have, huh? Whose girl was it?”

I lied, “There’s a guy named Kim Ji-Hoon.”

She speculated, “Kim Ji-Hoon… Kim Ji-Hoon… You are not talking about Mr. Kim in the Ilsung Corps, right?”

I grimaced. “Yes, that’s the motherfucker. He is so trashy that he wasn’t satisfied with just one woman.”

"Wait… Are you from the association?” she asked suspiciously.

I answered vaguely, “I used to be under the direct control of the guild leader, but not anymore.”

"So are you saying you are a big shot?”

I rolled my eyes. “Shit. Should I answer all your questions?”

"What is your level?” she asked.

I responded, “Two hundred sixty.”

She raised her eyebrows. “Platinum? That’s strong. I like you. It’s a plus since you speak Japanese. Wait a minute here. I should make sure what you told me was true. I can’t believe everything blindly.”

I pretended to be annoyed. “But why do you need that? My ability proves it. I can confirm it right now in whatever way you want.”

"Calm down, calm down. There’s a thing called procedures. If you’ve really touched Mr. Kim’s girl, we need to think over some things.” She giggled and continued, “I will be right back, so stay here.”

A few minutes later, she came back with a brighter face.

"What’s your name?” she asked.

I threw out a name, “Kwon Ki-Cheol.”

Then, the insidious smile on the woman’s face deepened.

"You really hooked up with Mr. Kim’s girl. Wow, you must be crazy. Are you fearless, or are you just thirsty for sex? Which one are you?”

"Are Kim Ji-Hoon’s guys here?” I asked suspiciously.

She smirked. “Ah, you must be sex-crazed. Don’t chicken out. They came and went back. Seeing that they had come all the way down here, you will get in big trouble if you get caught.”

"Is this funny to you?” I snapped.

She shrugged and laughed. “Yeah. A person like you is running away because of a girl, not an item or skill. You should have reined in your penis.”

I grumbled, “Just make a spot.”

She smiled. “There is one for you. I have thought about this a lot, but if I were you, I would be grateful to just get XP.”

"What?” I pretended to holler.

Instead of answering, the woman rummaged through a wooden box and threw something at me. It was a leather jacket with a hood.

"Just cover your face. What if someone recognizes you, Mr. Kwon? People say even brushing past a person is one’s karma. I’ll be sad if they catch you.”

The woman smiled at me as if she had found a pushover. To her, I was a perfect servant in the platinum section who had voluntarily crawled to her.

"Let’s go. It’s time to see the captain.”

I snarled in a low voice, “Hey, if you think you have caught my weakness, listen up. It won’t end well.”

"If you stare at me like that I’ll get wet. Can you handle it?” She grinned and tauntingly added, “Don’t worry, Mr. Kwon. If you follow me well, you won’t regret it.”

I waited for her in front of the building. Then, I eavesdropped on the conversation in there as I had raised my Sense to its peak.

She explained, “He is Mr. Philander and had an affair with the girl of Ilsung’s commander. They must have been playing around for a while.”

The other person asked, “What is the policy of the association?”

The woman responded, “He didn’t kill anyone, so it shouldn’t be a big deal. But the commander’s people are searching for him. They will kill him as soon as they get him.”

"But he can’t just kill someone for personal reasons even though he is the commander.”

The woman pointed out, “There are so many ways to kill him without getting blood on one’s hands.”

"Yeah, that’s true… What was your impression of him?”

"He seems smart but rough. He might be a stupid guy. He came to us without any plans, so that was dumb,” she replied.

"We will see about that. He might be looking down on us.”

"That’s possible since he came after looking at the poster. Anyway, he is digging his own grave. Hehe. He is even in the platinum section.”

"Bring him in,” the man ordered.

"Don’t forget, Tetsuya. We will never find such a guy with that level. He will be enough.”

I couldn’t believe these guys were carrying out the legendary quest. It was lamentable.

***

Tetsuya and Sayaka, the woman who greeted me, introduced me to their attack squad members. They were all in the gold level or below, and Tetsuya and Sayaka were the only ones in the platinum section. In terms of my fake identity, I was ranked number three on the team.

They introduced themselves one by one, then it was the snitch’s turn.

"Hello, I’m Ryuichi,” he said.

Thanks to this guy, I was able to chase after the quest that started. The snitch was a traitor to them, but I appreciated his actions. The quest would have evaporated with the annihilation of these people without his information.

My plan was to get rid of them if there was no way to take over the quest, but the final reward would come into my hands. Apparently, Tetsuya’s crew wasn’t even aware that they were carrying out a dangerous quest. Only Tetsuya and Sayaka knew about the secret, and they were deceiving their team members.

"I heard you took part in the association, right?” Tetsuya asked.

“...”

Tetsuya asked again, “Why? Are you one of them, too? Those who don’t even talk to others on a lower level.”

I snapped, “No. This situation is fucking horrible.”

Tetsuya chuckled as if he knew what was going on. Ever since then, he started hovering around me. He was greatly interested in my fake status as a member of the association. He asked about what had happened at the association and his eyes glistened when he asked if I had seen Odin in person.

That afternoon, this shitty attack squad began to move on. When the girl bragged to the members that it would be time to verify my skills, I intuited that she was trying to proceed with the quest immediately.

I was standing on the outskirts of the city, and the shabby buildings were where the low-level Awakened came and went. The city’s association officer was greeting people at a table next to the quest Spirit, and the girl gave me a look as she headed toward there. She was giving me the warning to press down the hood. The building was filled with only F to E classes[1], and there was a guide map attached to the wall at the points where the stairs started. The new groups were checking that first, and the site was a space where captains exchanged information.

Meanwhile, those who had finished a battle were coming down from upstairs, smelling like blood. Therefore, the floor was slippery and dirty with old and new blood. I followed the captain and the girl again, climbed the stairs, and passed through the hallway. When the girl opened a room's door as a representative, a blue membrane formed and blocked the inside view.

[Class: ocation: Shelter (Maruka Clan)]

In the past, this type of information wasn’t displayed on the notification window. Thus, people died endlessly, and we could only check the risks lurking inside after we conquered the dungeon and escaped with an insignia. However, that wasn’t the only thing that had changed for the dungeons. Could you believe that the dungeon would be sealed again as soon as someone closed the door? Could you believe that the Awakened could freely go in and out of the dungeon without using an Escape insignia? All of these changes had happened when Doom Kaos’ intervention vanished and his remaining power was concentrated on me.

Thus, Act Two, Stage Two was now being carried out in such peace and security. Whether they were called ‘dungeons’ or ‘gates of humanity,’ a notification message appeared the moment I pushed myself into the den of the Seven Demon Kings.

[Explorer has been activated.]

The energy that I couldn’t feel outside the dungeon was now wrapped around Tetsuya’s body. Others wouldn’t have noticed it as it was as faint as the air, but I could sense it. The unpleasant feeling of it touching my body annoyed me.

[About Doom Entegasto’s Destroyed Life Vessel (Explorer reward)

Contrary to common knowledge, Doom Entegasto is not immortal. During the old wars, the vessel that contained his soul was destroyed. If someone put the pieces of the vessel back together, it would greatly help that person to confront powerful beings.

Content: The user will acquire ‘Doom Entegasto’s Lost Weapon’ if they complete his Life Vessel.]

However, that wasn’t the end.

[About Doom Entegasto’s Destroyed Flesh (Explorer reward)

Contrary to common knowledge, Doom Entegasto is not immortal. During the old wars, the vessel that contained his soul was destroyed. That is why others still challenge his position. If someone secretly completes Doom Entegasto’s Life Vessel, they might realize the mysterious law of immortality.

Content: The linked quest ‘The Birth of Doom Man’ will be upgraded to ‘The Birth of Doom Man, the Great Usurper’ once the user completes Doom Entegasto’s Life Vessel.]

1. Author deliberately used F to E vs Bronze to Silver ☜