Chapter 1

Chapter 1

Drunk on power, I went on a rampage and became a beast thirsting for blood.

I killed and killed again—whatever I laid eyes on, whatever caught my senses, whatever grated on my nerves.

Anyone who harbored murderous intent toward me, anyone consumed by greed, anyone who tried to use me—I killed them all.

Blood Master. The Blood Master.

That was the name the world gave me.

Every now and then my mind would come back to me, but even that never lasted.

The thirst for blood surged back in an instant and seized control of my body.

An unshakable self-loathing swept over me.

If I hadn't craved power, none of this would have happened. All I ever wanted was to be stronger than others, to get further ahead than others.

The price for that was a hand that never stopped bleeding.

At some point, I realized I could no longer feel even the thirst for blood.

Was it because I had achieved my goal of soaking the world in blood?

When I began to question a situation I couldn't understand—

my consciousness started to fade once more.

* * *

The sensation of having your body hijacked by madness is always the same.

The world turns hazy, as if shrouded in fog, and a heavy pressure bears down on my chest. Inside it, I struggle, unable to move an inch. As if mocking me, another me—one that has gone completely mad—bursts out without restraint and sates its thirst for blood.

I struggled against it time and again, but all I got back was laughter.

The Blood Master is, in the end, a monster born from my own failure to control myself. The only one who can erase this monster is me.

Every time I struggled, I was swallowed by it again and again, but I never gave up—I kept watching for my chance.

The Blood Master is another me. Its abilities, its experiences, its thoughts—they were the monster's, and they were mine as well.

Then one moment, I felt my blurred consciousness sharpen and my sense of my surroundings grow vivid.

The madness that had been poking at my brain was gone.

Had I overcome it? Or was it trying to deceive me in some new way?

What loosened my guard was a nostalgic smell drifting into my nose.

My mother's soybean paste stew.

My mother's cooking—something I'd thought I would never taste again.

I had longed to taste it once more, but I could never bring myself to go to them, for fear my family would suffer even more harm because of me.

I had gone mad with blood and dragged my family into the mire, and I had lived through regret after regret.

I called it "the monster," but in the end it was all my own karma. In a situation where I couldn't even die by my own hand, the best I could do was reclaim my freedom, atone, and end my own life.

Setting that aside, being able to taste my mother's cooking again was a great blessing. Even if it was a dream, even if it was the monster's deception, I didn't care.

Thanking God, I instinctively reached out toward it. And just as the monster had lapped at blood, I licked up what I felt in my hand.

It was unmistakably my mother's soybean paste stew. It was delicious.

"…Junho!"

A voice reached my ears at the same time.

The moment the sound entered my ears, my surroundings began to change.

What lay before my eyes were my parents' faces.

"Junho!"

Was this a dream?

I thought it wasn't real because my parents' faces were young—far too young.

My parents, whom I'd thought would keep that appearance for life. But after I caused blood calamity after blood calamity and had my body stolen by the monster, all I could do was watch them from a distance, and only occasionally at that.

Each time, they had grown older. Watching them weaken day by day, I wept tears of blood.

It could be a dream, and that was fine. I was grateful just to see this scene once more.

But what my senses took in was vivid, like reality.

As I stood there dazed, unable to tell whether this was reality or a dream—

my parents were looking at me with bewildered expressions.

"Junho. Why are you eating the stew with your hands?"

"With my hands?"

When I instinctively looked down, my hand was covered with soybean paste stew—broth and all.

I'd thought it was a dream.

But what was this sense of reality?

"Don't tell me…"

I scooped up the stew with my hand again and put it in my mouth.

I could taste it. The savory soybean paste flavor, the tofu crumbling softly, the potato, the zucchini.

A dream couldn't be this vivid.

My young parents, and me—not consumed by madness.

This wasn't the monster's deception. I had returned to the past, before I committed my sins.

"Aigo, Junho! Why are you shoveling food in with your hands?!"

The reason I could smile, even at my mother's startled voice and my father's gaze, which looked at me like I'd lost my mind—

was simple.

"It's delicious. It tastes even better eaten with my hands."

I scooped up the stew with my hand and ate again.

My mother's cooking, with a spoonful of seasoning called longing added in, was truly delicious.

* * *

When I woke the next day, the world still hadn't changed.

I hadn't gone mad again, and there was no thirst for blood.

"So I really did come back to the past?"

I was grateful for the simple fact that I could bask in the sunlight with a clear mind.

Just not being insane made the world this happy. I'd always been chased by pursuit and threats to my life, so much so that I couldn't even remember the last time I'd slept soundly.

The monster had always whispered to me. Give up resisting. You and I are split in two, but in the end we're the same being. Become one with me completely and be the sole existence in the world. I refused, and tried to take everything it had for myself.

Each time, all I got back was its mockery. And as if to spite me, it caused blood calamity after blood calamity, staining my hands with the blood of countless people.

That was how I became the worst villain in history.

My reality was that of an incompetent twenty-five-year-old unemployed bum.

I got up, folded my blanket, did a light stretch, and stepped out into the living room. The smell of soybean paste stew bubbling away and the sound of a knife chopping ingredients greeted me warmly from the kitchen.

I took a deep breath and drew the smell deep into my lungs. The more I did, the more awkward my mother's expression toward me became.

"Good morning."

"Morning. You're up early."

"Yes. Is there anything I can help with?"

"No, I'm fine. But are you really okay?"

"With what?"

"That… never mind. Never mind."

"Haha."

So it was because I'd dunked my hand in the stew yesterday. Even I had to admit I'd looked like a lunatic.

No—I'd always been called a lunatic, so did that just make it a lunatic doing lunatic things? Having dealt with the Blood Master, I'd never once thought of myself as sane. If something inside me hadn't broken somewhere, I couldn't have endured the monster's mockery and deception.

Both the monster and I were broken. That was why not showing it was my top priority. How could I look normal?

Should I go catch a Grade 7 Corrupted Monster right now? Then wouldn't they be happy to see their son's skill?

"Eat your meal."

"Yes."

"Wash your hands. Eat with a spoon and chopsticks."

"I got it."

Since yesterday, there was a particularly pitying look in their eyes when they looked at me. I must have really acted like a child.

They treated me like a child, but even so, the fact that I'd returned to the past made me endlessly happy.

"……"

Throughout the meal, my parents didn't say much. After the meal, when I offered to clean up, they insisted on stopping me and finished tidying up themselves before heading out to work.

Left alone, I sat in the chair in front of the computer and sank into thought. Should I really go catch a Grade 7 Corrupted Monster? But wouldn't it be too big and surprise them? Was there a small Grade 7 Corrupted Monster?

I racked my brain, but there wasn't one.

Realizing there was no other way, I erased the plan and focused on my current situation first.

"This was when I was at my peak of bumming around."

I'd taken the Awakened aptitude test as a teen and challenged major corporations and large guilds from the age of twenty, but for three years I'd been rejected.

After that, disheartened, I'd shut myself in my room and wasted two years, driving nails into my parents' hearts.

That was me—Choi Junho, twenty-five years old.

It might have looked utterly pathetic in others' eyes, but someone with twenty-five years of history as a peerless slaughterer saw things a little differently.

"I was a harmless one. How admirable."

At least I hadn't killed people because they annoyed me, killed because I was bored, killed just because, or drained blood I didn't even need.

It was a moment when I became quite proud of the me who'd done nothing at all.

"But wasn't this lifestyle draining my parents' blood?"

Well, it wasn't real blood, so it was probably fine. It had to be fine.

Looking back on a distant past that was now old memory, a lot of old memories surfaced.

Back then, I don't think I had a single thought in my head.

I just blamed others.

I resented the world and resented my incompetent self. That resentment led to a craving for power, and to grow stronger I'd used any means necessary.

Because I thought that once I gained power, wealth and authority would come to me.

The result of that childish thinking was the birth of the worst villain—the Blood Master.

I got the power I wanted, but it wasn't a power without cost. My choices brought great harm to my family.

My parents, who suffered surveillance their whole lives for the crime of raising a bad son.

My younger sister, who had talent but could never bloom it, for the crime of having a bad older brother.

I won't make the same mistake. I didn't want to be a blood-crazed villain—I wanted to be a son my family could be proud of.

Then what exactly did a proud son look like?

What came to mind right now was hunting a Grade 7 Corrupted Monster.

"I'll ask them later."

I lay down on the bed and waited for my parents.

* * *

"…What would you like me to become?"

Choi Jin-gyu and Lee Young-hee, back from working the fields, blinked at their son's question.

It had been the same yesterday, but they still couldn't get used to their son's changed demeanor.

At first they'd wondered if he'd gone mad, but they figured it was better than him bristling for no reason and resenting the world.

And instead of a rigid expression, he now even smiled sometimes.

"I've caused you worry all this time. I want to pull myself together and do things properly."

"……"

"I'd like our Junho to become a public official."

Unlike Choi Jin-gyu, who sat there blankly, Lee Young-hee quickly stated her wish.

"A public official?"

"Yes. Those not-so-strong Hunters become public officials too, don't they? Not all public service Hunters hunt monsters and arrest villains… right?"

"What do you think, Father?"

At their son's question, Choi Jin-gyu felt his wife's hand prodding his side.

It was a silent signal to agree, but he couldn't just let pass the eyes of his son, who looked as if he'd seen through the world.

The overnight change was still unfamiliar, but how could a father discourage his son when he was trying to envision a better future than this one?

"I hope you'll find meaning in the fact that you're willing to try again. If I had to say, I'd like you to do what you want to do."

"There isn't really anything I want to do."

"Then how about thinking about it, starting now?"

"What are you saying to Junho when he's trying to pull himself together?!"

Lee Young-hee shouted from beside him, but Choi Jin-gyu's gaze stayed fixed on his son.

"I'm not just saying it. Junho hasn't found his path yet, but if he finds the right one, he could land a decent job."

"You know that's not easy, and you're still saying that?"

"It depends on what Junho does. What do you think?"

"Before that, I'm curious what you think, Father. What about being a public service Hunter?"

"Not bad."

"You think so?"

"You'd be assigned to relatively less dangerous missions, you'd serve the country, and your salary would come in on time. If you prefer stability, it'd be the most ideal job."

"Then I'll do that."

"You're not considering anywhere else?"

"It looks the easiest. And I'd rather not stay at home any longer."

After a brief pause, their son met his and his wife's eyes and spoke.

"And since you two say it's good, it made me want to do it too."

"……"

At their son's sincerity, silence settled for a moment.

Choi Jin-gyu was deeply moved, and his wife must have been touched as well—her eyes welled with tears.

Their immature son had grown up overnight.

"Ahem, ahem!"

"Of course. The pay isn't much, but how wonderful is stability! You'll do well, Junho."

"But to become a public service Hunter, you need to be at least Level 1."

Even as his wife's hand jabbed at his side again, Choi Jin-gyu spoke firmly.

"Level 1—can you do it?"

Level 1—that was Choi Junho's sore spot. Of course, the Junho who had regressed didn't care in the slightest.

"Would Level 9 work?"

* * *

"Our Junho has changed a lot."

"A man comes to his senses at some point."

That was what he said, but he'd never expected their troublemaking son to change so suddenly.

Back when he'd been eating stew with his hands, he'd thought they'd reached a point of no return.

The mature manner he'd shown afterward was quite satisfying.

"Do you think he can do it?"

"He will. He wouldn't have said it with an ordinary mindset."

"But being recognized as an Awakened isn't easy…"

"He'll have to find a way. What we need to do is trust him and watch over him."

"I suppose so."

Trusting their son and watching over him. It was never as easy as it sounded, but the two decided to trust him—just this once.

"By the way, Level 9? Junho really is a terrible braggart. I wonder who he takes after."

"Ahem!"

* * *

I'd decided my career path after listening to my parents, and I thought it was a pretty good choice.

Considering how, before the regression, I'd been branded a villain for failing to control my own power and then hounded by relentless pursuit, public service Hunter was the best choice.

A public service Hunter holds proper government employee status.

Stable job security and a workload that isn't excessive.

And a sliver of public authority, to boot.

Public authority—what a thrilling ring that phrase has. For someone starting a new life, there was no surer proof of my resolve to change than standing on the side of public authority.

As for money, when I had time I could just hunt a few monsters, and there were bounties on villains' heads. Becoming a public service Hunter didn't mean I'd ever lack money.

Now that I'd made my decision, the next step was to act on it.

My plan was to go up to Seoul and take the public service Hunter exam. In the Seoul house where I'd stayed two years ago, my younger sister Choi Yoon-hee was currently preparing for employment.

My younger sister—another of my aching regrets. This time, I'd help her do well without getting in her way.

The only thing that gave me pause was that I'd never taught anyone before.

"If I run her ragged to the brink of death, her skill will improve, right?"

Anyone whose skill didn't improve ended up dead, so her skill had no choice but to improve. Since she was my sister, the key would be moderating it appropriately.

I made my plans, then started hiking up and down the mountain to whip my slack, unemployed body back into shape. Along the way, my parents' orchard caught my eye, and I stopped to head over for a look.

"I guess I have been thoughtless."

It wasn't as if some change of heart meant I'd stopped killing people or drinking blood.

The orchard's scale—too big to take in at a single glance—told me just how hard my parents had worked.

The world had been turned upside down when monsters appeared.

I looked at the apple trees the Corrupted Monsters, fused with native life, had ruined, made a full round of the orchard, then went inside.

"The Corrupted Monsters have been growing in number lately."

At my question, a bitter smile tugged at my father's lips.

"It was fine until a while back, but they say monsters evolve too. We've reached the point where we need to use more expensive repellent devices."

"How much do they cost?"

"Plenty. And the more the monsters evolve, the higher the price climbs."

"I'll take care of it."

"You have a way?"

"Yes."

"If it's dangerous, you don't need to do it."

"It's not really dangerous. Just a bit of a hassle."

Being hounded by pursuit—it wasn't just the Awakened that wore you down, but the monsters that showed up at all hours, too.

I'd spent plenty of my life on the run, so I knew well enough how to drive monsters off. No matter how strong a villain is, they still eat, sleep, and fight like anyone else.

Honestly, in the later days it got so annoying that I just killed every monster I came across.

"All right, I'll leave it to you."

"It won't take long."

I went to my room, changed into comfortable track pants, grabbed the truck keys, and headed outside.

A repellent device, in the end, is just something that drives off low-grade Corrupted Monsters.

"A Grade 3 Corrupted Monster should do the trick, right?"

* * *

My son left around lunchtime, and as evening turned to night there was still no word. When Lee Young-hee saw he'd even left his smartphone—his one means of contact—behind, her worry was beyond words.

"He's fine, isn't he?"

"He'll be fine."

"He's not overdoing it, is he? Maybe he's rushing to show us how he's changed."

"He didn't seem that way."

Choi Jin-gyu let out a low hum, recalling how calm their son had been, like he was just stepping out for a stroll around the neighborhood.

"He even took the truck! You should have at least asked where he was going!"

At Lee Young-hee's now thoroughly impatient tone, Choi Jin-gyu shook his head.

"Let's wait a little longer."

Just then, the sound of the truck's engine came from outside.

"Junho!"

Watching Lee Young-hee bolt up and sprint out, Choi Jin-gyu followed after her.

Once outside, the couple saw the enormous object loaded in the truck bed.

"Wh-what is that?"

"Could you turn on the light?"

Lee Young-hee wanted to demand an answer right then, but she decided to see what it was first, so she flipped on the front yard light.

And she nearly fainted.

"A b-boar?"

A gigantic boar, twice the size of a normal one, lay in the truck bed.

"It's an eco-friendly Corrupted Monster repellent device. Give me a moment."

"……"

While Choi Junho went inside, the couple, left alone, stared blankly at the boar.

A boar corresponding to Grade 3 Corrupted Monster was a vicious beast that even seasoned hunters had to risk their lives to take down.

Its savagery, impossible to hide, and its tough hide that could withstand even bullets made it the single biggest menace to farmhouses.

And yet he'd brought one home.

Just then, the boar's body shifted.

"I-it just moved! Is it still alive?"

Lee Young-hee went pale and made a fuss. Choi Jin-gyu didn't show it, but his heart felt like it had dropped out of his chest.

A moment later, Lee Young-hee grabbed their son as he came back with a basin.

"J-Junho! That monster isn't alive, is it?"

"I killed it clean."

"Are you out of your mind right now?! Why would you bring a monster home alive?!"

"It's fine."

Choi Junho set the boar down from the truck bed onto the ground.

"……"

At the sight of their son casually setting down a boar that had to weigh hundreds of kilograms—maybe even a ton—the couple was left speechless.

The truly astonishing sight came next. When Choi Junho grabbed the boar by the neck and twisted, the neck turned a full circle with a crunching sound.

Oink! Oiiiink!

The boar's eyes flew wide as it tried to thrash, but its life was snuffed out in an instant.

Then he began catching the blood that poured out in a gushing stream in the basin.

"……"

At the unbelievable sight, Choi Jin-gyu and Lee Young-hee gaped.

The monster you should avoid most if you met it on the mountain was being handled like a toy in their son's hands.

"This boar is a Grade 3 Corrupted Monster, so if I sprinkle its blood around the orchard, the lower-grade ones won't come near."

And if he hung up the bones too, the higher-grade predators would sense a stronger predator was around and stay away.

"A repellent device is really just imitating the scent of an apex predator. The logic is that prey won't loiter where a predator is."

Choi Junho's hand burrowed into the boar's belly. He rummaged around inside, then pulled out a blood-soaked hand and brought it to his mouth, licking the blood. A deep smile spread across his lips, as if he'd tasted something exquisite.

"Ah! The blood's fresh. The smell and the taste are rich, too. I can already tell the repellent effect will be solid."

"……"

At the sight of their son grinning brightly with blood-stained lips, the couple couldn't say a word.