Ch.155Chapter 155 – Abandoning a Loyal Subject After Using Them (1)

Thirteen-year-old Kim Jae-min loved computer games, as most boys his age did. Nothing could be more enjoyable than defeating terrifying monsters and obtaining treasures in RPG games. He often imagined: How wonderful would it be to live like those game characters instead of studying?

However, when that fantasy suddenly became reality, elementary school student Kim Jae-min wasn’t so pleased.

“Huh…?”

After a sudden flash of light erupted from the floor, Jae-min slowly opened his eyes that he had tightly shut. Geometric circular patterns on the floor were glowing blue.

He was certain he had been engrossed in an online game after returning home from math academy. But his old computer and creaky chair had disappeared, replaced by this strange space that appeared out of nowhere.

It was a magnificent palace. A vast audience hall filled with ornate decorations, like a period drama set depicting an ancient European royal court. People in priestly robes surrounded the circular patterns on the floor, while others in elaborate uniforms and armor carefully observed Jae-min from a distance.

“Oh, to actually summon a hero! As expected of the Holy Maiden…”

“But that physique—isn’t he just a child? How could he possibly stand against the Demon King’s army…?”

“Still, he was chosen as a hero. He seems about the same age as the Holy Maiden. Surely there must be something special about him?”

As the nobles whispered among themselves, a royal guard beside the throne called out to the assembly.

“Silence!”

After quelling the commotion, the knight shouted toward Jae-min.

“Summoned hero, raise your head and pay respects to His Imperial Majesty, Richard Leonhart II!”

The knight who finished speaking looked at the summoned hero. The priests who performed the summoning ritual and the nobles who witnessed this miracle waited silently for words from the boy they had summoned.

But the boy remained sitting on the floor, acting as if he hadn’t heard the command. The knight shouted again.

“Hero, raise your head!”

Until then, Jae-min thought he was dreaming. His young mind couldn’t process the reality that had changed in just one minute.

‘Is this a dream?’

The pain in his eardrums brought him back to reality. Jae-min wiped his cheek where something warm was trickling down. Blood stained his palm when he touched his ear.

“Uh, uhhh… My ear, my ear.”

Before he could even process the shock of being in an unfamiliar place, the first misfortune struck. Jae-min was overwhelmed by a strange sensation he had never experienced before.

Something had changed, but he hadn’t immediately noticed the loss of something so fundamental. As he became more aware of reality, the pain in his ears intensified. Like any child, he couldn’t maintain composure in this unfamiliar situation. Extreme anxiety gripped Jae-min. Watching lips moving silently, he muttered:

“I can’t hear. I can’t hear anything? Why, why can’t I hear! Aah, aaaahhhh—!!!”

The child’s screams filled the audience hall. Despite screaming until his throat was raw, the persistent silence of the world drove Jae-min to terror. In this situation where everything was unfamiliar and common sense collapsed, Jae-min screamed endlessly like a child trying to wake from a nightmare.

“Wh-what is happening!”

“Priests! Quickly, use healing spells!”

People scrambled in belated realization that something was wrong with the hero. Finally, a mage subdued the panicking Jae-min with a spell, ending the commotion. The emperor on the throne smiled slightly.

***

Jae-min’s fainting abruptly halted the summoning ceremony. When he regained consciousness, he learned of his circumstances from the “high-ranking individuals.” About the world called Eden, about demons and the Demon King, and why he had been summoned to this world.

“Hero, you have been chosen by the Light God Eloarch and called to serve this world.”

“You are humanity’s hope, and it is your duty to grow strong, protect humanity, and defeat the Demon King.”

It was a world ignorant of concepts like human rights or child soldiers. They imposed harsh obligations on a child who had barely finished elementary school.

It was a one-sided demand, bordering on coercion. But children generally cannot defy adults. Especially for Jae-min, who had fallen into a strange place with nothing to rely on.

Feeling no choice in the matter, amid the alien sensations, Jae-min asked:

“…What about my ears?”

“There seems to have been a slight problem with the summoning ritual, resulting in hearing loss. But do not worry. Thanks to the power of language bestowed by Eloarch, communication will not be an issue. Just a minor inconvenience.”

Indeed, it was as they said. Despite not being able to hear, meanings were automatically interpreted when he looked at others’ lips. Conversely, his own words were spontaneously translated into an unfamiliar language as they left his mouth. It was a bizarre sensation.

It was an amazing ability, but that was all—which was the problem. People expected the hero who emerged from the summoning circle to wield the power of a hundred sword masters. They hoped for a fully developed transcendent being to save their world.

But what they summoned was just a kid with nothing but translation abilities. The nobles were dissatisfied with this result. What they needed was a hero of reversal who could single-handedly annihilate armies.

“From today, you will undergo daily training. Physical conditioning at dawn, swordsmanship in the morning, magic in the afternoon, and divine spells in the evening.”

Since it was unreasonable to send a clueless thirteen-year-old straight to the battlefield, they decided to give him a grace period of five years. The boy had to become stronger through rigorous training before he turned eighteen.

“Then when can I go home…?”

“Once you defeat the Demon King, you will be able to return to your original world according to God’s will.”

‘Back home…’

That promise became Jae-min’s greatest motivation. For five years, Jae-min endured training that bordered on abuse, believing in that single promise.

“At this level, you couldn’t defeat even a single imp, let alone the Demon King.”

“Remember this. A hero is one who cuts down evil before him, not someone who pathetically rolls around on the training ground. Get up immediately!”

Fortunately, Jae-min was able to grow stronger at a rate befitting the name of hero. This was partly due to Jae-min’s innate genius, but there was another reason as well.

‘Level 250…’

Jae-min checked his level and closed the status window.

The power of growth. Aisha, the Holy Maiden who taught Jae-min divine spells, explained that this too was a power bestowed by Eloarch—a power that assisted the owner’s growth and quantified their strength. But because it closely resembled something from games, Jae-min simply called it the status window for convenience.

“I leveled up, Sister Aisha.”

“Yes, good job. Was it difficult?”

Aisha, Jae-min’s mentor and lover, smiled sweetly.

Amid numerous assassination attempts and the greedy gazes of nobles, Aisha was the only person Jae-min could rely on. The only one who saw him as a human being rather than just a hero.

Half of what enabled Jae-min to endure those hellish five years was his longing for home and his mother, and the other half was Aisha’s presence.

Aisha whispered to Jae-min as he leaned on her shoulder:

“The date for your first deployment has been set.”

“My first real battle…”

No matter how strong one is, the moment of first stepping onto a battlefield is tense for anyone. Aisha reassured Jae-min, whose expression had unconsciously hardened.

“Don’t worry too much. It’s not a place where the Demon King’s forces are particularly strong. At most, there will only be mid-to-low level monsters like ghouls. Just think of it as gaining experience and take it lightly.”

“…I’m still nervous. I’ve practiced a lot with illusion magic, but this will be my first real battlefield. And I still can’t use the holy sword…”

“Hehe, it’s okay. I’ll go with you. If anything happens, I’ll protect you.”

Aisha comforted and promised the perpetually under-confident Jae-min. But Aisha never dreamed that promise would become reality.

On the day of Jae-min’s first deployment, he and two hundred guards arrived at a rural town reportedly occupied by a swarm of imps. Imps were demons weak enough to be used as training material for soldiers to gain experience.

However, contrary to their intelligence, what awaited them was not the lowest life form of hell. Instead, a being occupying the opposite end of hell’s food chain had personally descended.

-Hooh, so it was true. I was half-doubtful…

“The Four Heavenly King Mammon…!”

“Impossible! Why would a Heavenly King be in such a remote area!”

“Information must have leaked from somewhere! Otherwise—gack!”

Mammon, the Four Heavenly King of Greed, wasn’t as exceptionally powerful in his true form as the other Heavenly Kings. Mammon’s true weapons were his vast wealth accumulated since the beginning of time and the influence derived from that wealth.

Upon receiving information about the hero’s deployment to the border, Mammon personally led his forces to prepare an ambush. He believed that capturing the hero would earn him even more privileges.

From atop his lavish palanquin, Mammon said:

-It’s best to remove the sprout before it ripens. I shall reward fifty thousand pounds of fresh human flesh to whoever captures the hero.

Thirty thousand high-ranking demons attacked the humans with gleaming eyes. No matter how desperately the guards fought, a battle between two hundred and thirty thousand was not even a contest.

“Protect the hero!”

“We, we need to escape…”

In this scene of slaughter, the presence of an immature hero did nothing to turn the tide. It didn’t take long for the elite forces to be annihilated. With only Jae-min and Aisha surviving amidst the sea of blood and corpses, Jae-min tried to concentrate.

‘Please, please, the holy sword…’

According to legend, the holy sword is virtually the hero’s reason for existence. A technique to project a sword from mental imagery using divine power. As an object formed from will and faith, the holy sword’s power was proportional to the hero’s state of mind.

But Jae-min had failed to manifest the holy sword for nearly five years. Self-doubt about his abilities and the burden of overwhelming responsibility prevented the manifestation of the holy sword. Even in crisis, a technique that had failed for five years couldn’t suddenly succeed.

“Why, why won’t it work! Damn it!”

Jae-min desperately fired off magic, but all his spells were shattered by Mammon’s simple attacks of condensed demonic energy.

-Keke, as easy as crushing an ant. Hero, surrender your neck.

Jae-min’s pupils trembled under the immense demonic energy and pressure emanating from Mammon. Seeing his sword hand shaking pathetically, Aisha sensed it was time to keep her promise. She embraced Jae-min from behind.

“Jae-min, don’t worry. I promised, didn’t I? That I’d protect you.”

“Sister…? Wait, what—!”

Aisha used the final spell permitted to a Holy Maiden. Divine Spell: Miracle. A spell that could create a miracle at the cost of the Holy Maiden’s life and soul. No one could predict what miracle would occur, but the spell always brought about one great change.

‘If you can’t believe in yourself, I’ll believe in you. I’ll pray for you.’

The Holy Maiden prayed for the hero. The soul of the Holy Maiden, having shed its physical form, transformed into another form. Aisha’s trust and love for Jae-min flowed into his inner being. Aisha took on what Jae-min lacked. Her soul, crafted from divine power, was forged into the shape of a sword and placed in Jae-min’s hand.

“This isn’t, this isn’t what I wanted…”

Jae-min sobbed as he looked at the brilliantly shining holy sword in his hand. He had finally succeeded in manifesting the holy sword, but there was no joy. Sadness quickly turned to anger, and anger became killing intent. He recited the words he had heard so many times from others, as if chewing them:

“A hero is one who cuts down evil before him.”

Killing intent settled in his blurry eyes. A pillar of light soared upward.

***

Standing before his mother’s corpse, Jae-min pondered: What is evil?

Evil is that which disrupts peace. That which kills people and brings chaos. That which threatens those around you and destroys happiness.

‘This restaurant. Was it reserved by the Korean Hunter Association President?’

Such beings must rightfully be killed.