The Overlord of Blood and Iron

Chapter 3. Rare (1)

Kim Min-Chul, the CEO of an Entertainment company, was like any other day, taking out his stress on his subordinate. He was a ‘half-gangster’ evil boss, not a full gangster, but not just a normal citizen either. He often liked to call his coworkers and banter with them. He would curse at the young interns in their 20s, insulting them and harassing them. He even secretly sexually harassed female employees. People would question why there’s still sexual harassment going on today, since sexual harassment had been heavily criminalized. However, the year 2020 in South Korea had been host to skyrocketing levels of unemployment, due to a long-term recession. In the perspective of the victims, they had to endure harassment if they did not want to lose their job. And Kim Min-Chul was cunning and sly with his harassments, making it a bit too foggy for a formal accusation. It was fair to say that at this point, he had reached a professional level with his harassments.

And Kim Min-Chul’s target for the day was an intern who had been employed for ten months.

The poor intern, who’s position in the company was still not guaranteed, had to endure Kim Min-Chul’s quest to find fault in all he did. It was as if he gave up all hope and was just waiting for Kim Min-Chul’s mood to improve.

His choice was understandable… since he had spent a year of his golden years being an intern in this company, and could not let it all go to waste. It was a common thing in these times, for young people to spend all their 30s, moving from internship to internship. This was a needed sacrifice for a paycheck in times where many companies paid little to none and worked young people to the bones.

“How can you be a permanent employee, working like that? What do you have, like one or two months left of your internship? You don’t want to get the full-time offer?”

Kim Min-Chul’s specialty was to manipulate subordinates with their weak points.

Those who were candidates for promotion were threatened with promotions, those who were retiring were threatened with unemployment benefits, and those who were interns were threatened with full-time offers.

“You are making it difficult if you are going to act like this! There are so many people who can work~ If I put up an internship spot right now, at least 50 applications will be submitted. You know that, right?”

Kim Min-Chul flashed a nasty smile and threatened the poor intern, while the other employees pretended to be immersed in their work in fear that he might come for them next. One wrong move, and their day might just be hell.

“I chose you despite your poor test scores and mediocre education because I felt sorry for you…”

and before he could finish his sentence, Kim Min-Chul stopped, because an unimaginable thing came out of the intern’s mouth.

“Stupid, foolish, idiots.”

Intern of 10 months, Kang Chul-In smirked and mumbled.

“…!”

“…!”

A deafening silence filled the room.

“What did he just say?”

“I misheard, right?”

A couple of female employees whispered amongst themselves.

“What, what? Hey, Kang Chul-In. What did you just say? Stupid and foolish? Do you want to lose your job?”

Kim Min-Chul roared, blood rushing to his face and neck. Even a worm squirms when stepped on, and Kim Min-Chul, who had been told off by a worm was overcome in anger.

“Oh?”

Kang Chul-In seemed surprised to see Kim Min-Chul, as if he just noticed the angry man standing there.

“Oh, oh? You idiot, what did you just…”

“Shut up and be quiet.”

“…!”

“My head is killing me.”

And Kang Chul-In with those words clenched his head in pain and left the office, not giving a second glance at Kim Min-Chul who was roaring in anger.

“What, what the. What is that idiot!!!!!!”

Kim Min-Chul’s voice rang in the office that Kang Chul-In had left. The poor employees who had been left behind, looked to each other, worried.

***

Kang Chul-In who had left the office headed straight for the bathroom.

“Ouch…!”

His head hurt badly.

It was as if someone was hitting his head with an axe, and he felt as if he was going to vomit. He rushed to the sink and turned on the faucet. He needed to splash his face with cold water to ease his headache. Water, cold as ice, poured from the faucet. Kang Chul-In shoved his face into the sink as soon as the water began to flow.

“Oh…!”

He groaned. His face felt as if it would explode from the cold, but he did not care. He would do anything for the headache to go away.

His pain subsided after almost ten minutes in the cold water. But that was not the end.

Vomit from deep within threatened to explode out, overcoming him with nausea. Kang Chul-In ran to the toilet, grabbed the sides, and everything exploded out.

He vomited again and again.

And when there was nothing to come up, he vomited stomach acid, and anything left after that.

He struggled in the bathroom for about an hour, and was finally able to stand.

“Sigh…”

And when Kang Chul-In let out a long sigh and looked in the mirror, there stood a pale-faced, 28-year-old man.

It was the same face from 10 years ago.

Kang Chul-In flashed a wry smile, and the poor intern who until an hour ago, had received all sorts of harassment, was no more.

And there remained only the ‘King Slayer’ Grand Sovereign, Kang Chul-In, who had reigned over Pangaea and made his enemies cower in fear.

“The timing is right, too.”

Kang Chul-In’s face flashed with satisfaction as he checked the date on his smartphone.

It was the year 2020, November 6th, two months before the great slalom. He had returned to the past.

Well, technically, it wasn’t that he had returned to the past.

Soul backup.

Soul backup was a skill that upon death, transferred his current memories to the past and was only available to a Grand Sovereign.

And in this ‘resurrection’ through soul backup, he avoided the ‘time paradox’ while given a chance to change the future.

‘I must be cautious from this point on. I have no more chances now, if I die, it’s over.’

Kang Chul-In repeated this warning to himself over and over again.

Quite obviously, soul backup was a skill available only once. If it was available more than once, it would have been called a loop instead. Anyways, as long as he chose to use soul backup once, everything would be over if he died again. This unprecedented power would never be once more, and would disappear forever.

However, Kang Chul-In’s face flashed with confidence.

I mean, of course it would.

He had already seen the future, and Kang Chul-In would be reborn as a stronger Grand Sovereign with his past experiences and mistakes behind him. All the trials and errors as well as threats of death would be no more. And a few of his fatal mistakes, such as his rashness and disregard for key individuals, as well as negligence of information and intellect—he would never make the same mistakes again.

‘I will be a Grand Sovereign, complete and without error.’

As Kang Chul-In clenched his fists and assured himself… a fiery pain stabbed him in the middle of the heart. He grabbed his chest and clenched his jaw.

“Rothschild… you cockroach.”

The origin of the pain was a painful memory.

His body was that of a young 28-year-old man, but his mind still remembered the pains of the past– the humiliation of being defeated by an enemy he had stomped on over and over again!

His neck burned also where his head had severed, and the memory had sent chills down his spine.

“I will crush you. Even more than before, until you beg for death.”

Kang Chul-In’s eyes burned with vengeance.

It was said that the one who hit forgot, but the one who got hit, could never forget.

Kang Chul-In was like that.

He was not a man who would forget his enemies, and he would only be satisfied by avenging ten-fold, no, a hundred times worse than what was done to him. In his fiery thoughts of vengeance towards Rothschild, another face emerged in his thoughts: the strategist Lee Gong-Myung.

‘Lee Gong-Myung… would he choose Rothschild once again?”

If he could not have him?

He would break him to pieces, until one could not even recognize what he once was. That was Kang Chul-In’s way.

It was then, as he was overcome with the thoughts of his enemies that a thin, low voice called him.

“Um, Chul-In?”

He turned his head and a female coworker, Lee Chae-Lin was poking her head in the door and looking at him.

“Are you okay? You look sick.”

Lee Chae-Lin’s face looked worried. It was obvious that she was sincerely worried about him. There was no other reason as to why she would come looking for him in the bathroom after he had been in there for an hour. No one had come out of fear of Kim Min-Chul, the CEO.

“I am completely fine.”

Kang Chul-In answered, with a leisurely smile.

“First, I look crazy though. Sorry, give me a minute.”

He excused himself and took off his suit jacket that had some water and vomit residue, throwing it in the trashcan. He took some water in his hands, washing around his mouth and slicking back his hair. He undid his tie, and threw it away as well. And he looked more presentable.

“Chul-In…”

“Yes?”

“The CEO is very angry. He is threatening to fire you immediately…”

“Let him do what he wants.”

“But you persevered well for the last ten months! If you beg the CEO to forgive…”

“No.”

Kang Chul-In stopped Lee Chae-Lin mid-sentence.

“A man should never beg.”

“But…!”

“A man should never beg to anyone aside from his parents. I also don’t have any intention to cower under that scum.”

“Chul-In!”

“I should pack my things and leave, actually…”

His eyes lingered at his smartphone.

“It’s perfect timing since we are almost done for the day.” Kang Chul-In flashed his signature smirk and passed Lee Chae-Lin out the bathroom.

“No! If you go in now…”

“Why?”

“The CEO is waiting with a golf club, threatening to kill you if you come back!”

Kim Min-Chul, who ran with gangsters a bit a while back, had the habit of creating a fearful atmosphere with golf clubs when he was angry.

“Oh, is he really?”

Kang Chul-In snickered.

The fat pig with a beer belly that sexually harassed for a living, coming for him with a golf club—it was funny to even imagine.

“Well, at least I won’t be bored.”

“What? Chul-In, what are you saying? You will really get hurt! You know how he is…!”

“Stop.”

“…”

“I will take care of it. So, stop.”

Kang Chul-In assured Lee Chae-Lin with a gentle voice. And he calmly passed her towards the office.

Ch 3 Completed.