Chapter 1: Past Life, and Encounter

“Director, I sent the money.”

[You didn't have to. I know how hard you're working…….]

“I know the orphanage is struggling, so how could I not? I'm fine.

Please buy the younger kids another set of clothes.”

Hooo.

Blowing on my cold hands, I readjusted my grip on the phone.

It was a real shame about the padded jacket with a hole in its pocket, but I couldn't let it show.

[Still, this is too much…….]

“I earn more than you think. I live diligently, you know.”

[Even so…….]

“And we have to pay for Giwon’s hospital bills.

I doubt we’ll get any more support now. Please take it. Well then, I have plans with my friends, so……”

In truth, I had no such luxury as meeting friends.

[Munho. Are you really okay?]

“Of course. I’m Han Munho, Han Munho. Don’t worry.”

I answered cheerfully as always and ended the call.

Then I checked the text message that had arrived right before the call again.

……Withdrawal 2,000,000 won

**Orphanage

Balance 605,532 won

It might seem like I still had some leeway.

‘But when I think about the rent and maintenance fees that have to go out…….’

A sigh escaped me naturally.

‘Tonight’s dinner is ramen, I guess.’

I even felt a pointless resentment towards the snowy sky.

‘It shouldn't snow tomorrow if I want to go to work…….’

White Christmas.

The surroundings, filled with the sound of cheerful music and the laughter of passersby, felt strangely unfamiliar.

The bright smiles of the people walking by were simply enviable.

‘When will I ever get to smile like that?’

For him, life had always been too hard.

An orphan who couldn't even remember his parents' faces.

At the company he had finally joined after studying so hard, he got fired for telling off a supervisor who made outrageous demands.

Of course, it wasn't that he regretted it.

- This is why orphan bastards who haven't even served in the military are…….

He had met all sorts of people while living in this harsh world, but he had never seen a pure f*cking bastard who would pick on and torment him for the fact that he was an orphan who hadn't served in the military.

It was just that things kept going wrong after that, so he couldn't help but feel that his fate was truly rotten.

‘Life, f*ck…….’

He was trying to live diligently, but it felt like the world was constantly saying, "Just die, just die."

It felt as though it was mocking him as he clung tenaciously to life, saying, "You're still holding on?"

Even now, he sometimes remembered the dark temptations that had reached out to him when he left the orphanage.

Thoughts like, in this dirty world, trying to live right only makes things harder for me…….

But he shook his head again, brushing away the pointless thoughts.

“I’ll live right out of spite, you bastard.

I’ll live with my head held high and with dignity. And living like that……”

He tried to firm up his resolve with his usual monologue, but the words, 'I will definitely succeed,' just wouldn't come out.

The hope he had cherished since he was young was gradually fading, crushed by the weight of the society he had experienced.

“……I’ll end up living well. Let's do this, fighting.”

If only he had a family to lean on, he might have a bit more strength, but even that single vow felt as if it were scattering futilely into the air.

“Heu……”

The only ones for whom he felt something akin to familial affection were the teachers and the younger kids at the orphanage.

Even then, their situation had been difficult recently, so he was in a position where he had to keep sending them money.

Of course, he wasn't doing it by force, but seeing his empty bank account made him feel miserable all over again.

‘I should have controlled my temper back then……. No, no. Manual labor pays more than a crappy little company. Let's not have useless thoughts.’

For now, doing what he could was the priority.

If he kept living diligently like that…….

“……someday my day in the sun will come.”

From now on, he would study again, learn a trade, and steadily move forward, one step at a time.

Just as he had always done.

“I can do it.”

While comforting himself.

But perhaps that train of thought had gone on for too long.

When he suddenly lifted his head, he saw the green light of the crosswalk a dozen meters ahead blinking.

Oops.

‘The interview time!’

His mind snapped to attention, and he began to run frantically.

The interview for the evening part-time job was not far off.

‘They said it was a sweet gig. I must…….’

The sense of crisis he felt from looking at his empty bank account added more power to his steps.

- HONK!

Suddenly, a shadow fell over his right, and a loud noise rang out.

Only then did he see the large truck.

Its brakes seemed to have failed, and for a moment, the panicked face of the driver, who was desperately honking the horn, came into view.

CRASH!

With the sound, his vision suddenly started to spin wildly.

The skies of Seoul, full of fine dust, and the large buildings. Then the road, cars, and so on, flashed before his eyes in succession.

Thud.

Just as he realized his body was tumbling onto the street, screams erupted from all around.

“Kyaaaaaa!”

“Someone’s been hit!”

“!@#!…….”

His body wouldn't listen, and even his consciousness felt like it was gradually fading.

He instinctively realized that this was the end of his life.

‘Damn it, damn it, damn iiiit……!’

It was unfair.

He had lived so diligently. He had endured and endured with the single belief that a good day would come someday.

‘This is the end?’

Like everyone else, I too wanted to.

‘Make a lot of money, have free time, start a family…….’

He had hoped that he could, someday.

But now, it had become an impossibility.

Because this moment was the end of the life of the human, Han Munho.

……or so he thought.

But the god… no, the devil who had bestowed this cruel fate upon him seemed to have no intention of letting him go with just one life.

* * *

A gray-haired boy was sitting slumped on a pile of stones amidst the ruins.

He looked to be about five or six years old.

As if not even thinking of moving, the boy stared blankly up at the sky with pupils the same gray color as his hair.

To this boy, a battle-scarred knight in broken armor approached.

The knight, who had been looking at the boy with a pitiful gaze, hesitated for a moment before extending his hand.

“My boy. The people who were tormenting you are all dead…… ahem, ahem.

I drove them away. Are you alright?”

Only then did the boy lift his dazed eyes to look at the middle-aged knight.

“Alright……? Me……?”

Clank.

As if he had never heard such words in his life, the boy pointed to himself with his shackled hand, his eyes slightly widened.

“Yes, you. Are you alright?

What’s your name?

What is your name?”

“Name……?”

Uggggh.

The child frowned and then clutched his head.

“My, name……”

The moment the knight grew flustered at the sight of the boy groaning and even breaking out in a sweat.

“Han…… Mun, ho……?”

An answer was squeezed out in a tone that sounded like he was asking back.

The pronunciation was so unfamiliar that the knight tilted his head.

“Hans Muno?”

“Ugh, eugh. My name, Munho……”

The unfamiliar pronunciation came out again, but the knight assumed it was because of the trauma the young boy had suffered while being held captive in this terrible place.

“Oh dear…….”

His sympathy for the child who couldn't even properly remember his own name grew even stronger.

“Alright, ‘Muno’. If you have nowhere to go, would you like to come with me?”

The boy, who had been staring at the knight with dazed eyes, soon recognized the warm light in those brown eyes, nodded, and shyly extended his hand.

Clank.

“These shackles, hmm……. Let’s leave this place first and then find a way.”

The boy nodded obediently once more.

The knight, who had taken the boy's hand, turned first.

Clank. Thud.

The boy, with gray shackles on his limbs, followed behind, dragging the long iron chains that seemed too heavy for his small frame.

The boy, Muno, was a more peculiar child than the knight had thought.

He had expected that descending the rough mountain path would be an ordeal for the child, but that was not the case at all.

“My boy, your hand……”

“Over there……?”

“Yes, we have to go that way. It’s dangerous, so your hand……”

Just as the child was staring blankly at his outstretched hand.

Charrrrrk.

Thump. Thump.

“Ha!?”

The four iron chains connected to the shackles on the child's hands and feet moved as if they had a will of their own, and the chain weights at their ends either braced against the ground and trees or wrapped around them, easily lowering the child's body to the rock below on the other side.

“……What is this?”

He considered himself to have been through quite a few intense adventures while living in this harsh world, but this was the first time he had ever seen such a sight.

But he soon came to a conclusion.

Corporeal Arts, the power that evolves humans.

Holy Arts, which perform the miracles of God.

Spirit Arts, which command the forces of nature.

Magic, which wields the power of demons.

He had heard that there existed special abilities, beyond those four great powers, that only a very small number of people were born with.

‘The ability to control metal…….’

Moreover, if it was a child with such power, it was certainly plausible that he would have been in ‘that place.’

Because those servants of the devil had been gathering special offerings.

He felt anew that it had been a good thing to stop by that place to root out any remnants that might have been left.

“Not…… coming?”

“Ah. I’m coming, I’m coming.”

The knight simply leaped down to the large rock below.

He couldn't perform such tricks, but he didn't need to.

Thud.

Jumping down a dozen meters while wearing heavy armor was an extremely simple task for him, a high-ranking knight who had undergone four evolutions through Corporeal Arts.

No matter how fatigued he was or how many minor injuries he had.

However.

“Now, where……?”

His heart was heavy as he could guess the circumstances of the child who, despite having such a special ability, could only speak in halting words.

“My boy.”

“…….”

“Muno?”

“Yes?”

“Do you happen to remember anything that happened at that place?”

“That…… place?”

“The place I brought you from. What happened there, or any memories from before that.”

“Ah……”

The child seemed to be trying to recall something for a moment.

Then.

“Agh……!”

He began to groan, clutching his head with his two small hands.

No matter how one looked at it, he seemed to be in pain from trying to remember something.

The knight immediately lifted the child into his arms and shouted.

“Ah, no! Don’t think about it!”

“Ugh. Ugh…….”

“Damn it all…….”

But the child continued to let out pained groans.

The knight, holding the child, had no choice but to run hastily into the forest in search of a place to rest for a while.

And so.

Crackle.

Whoosh.

Only after basking in the warmth of a campfire for a long time under the darkening sky did the child slightly open his eyes.

“Are you alright……?”

The knight, checking on the child's condition, couldn't help but feel a renewed sense of pity as he looked into those hollow eyes, the same gray color as his hair.

From that gaze alone, he could surmise that this child had been through quite a bit of severe suffering.

On top of that.

“……Inside my head.”

“Hm?”

“A voice……. I can hear it…….”

He was even saying strange things like this.

“Don’t force yourself to think, Muno.

Take deep breaths……”

The knight decided not to ask any more about what this child had been through while captured by those servants of the devil.

However.

“I’ll live……. I will too……. well……”

The words that this poor child, who had closed his eyes and fallen asleep again, muttered in his sleep were very concerning.

Especially since he had a son who had been born not long ago.

‘If Lian had gone through something like this…….’

As the image of his son overlapped with the child, he naturally made a decision.

“……Alright, I will help you.”

He wanted to at least help this special child adapt and live in the world.

“That would be alright, wouldn't it, my boy?”

“Ugh…….”

Only when the day was dawning again did the knight take the hand of the awakened child and descend the mountain.

After that, 10 years passed by quickly.

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