There was an old idiom that said, "Don't let a black-haired beast enter your house." The idiom basically meant to not trust another person too easily as that person could stab you in the back with a smiling face.

Back then, Lee Gun had been a young man who would rather believe in the lint between a monster’s toes than trust his fellow humans; he never expected any large favors from them. However, those bastards were called heroes. They had gained that title thanks to him, so he had expected them to act in a virtuous manner at the very least.

“Thank you, Gun. We could clear the Devil’s Tower because of you.”

Devil’s Tower. It was the snake’s lair, a personal soccer stadium it created on the Eurasia Plate. As if to make things worse, the monster had chosen to make its nest north of Seoul.

The whole world was groaning due to the forces of Red Eye. Making matters worse, this monster had started to feel constrained within Asia and Europe. It had begun sending its forces across the Pacific Ocean to America. Therefore, this monster had become a common enemy for all of humanity.

It was the worst monster, one that had the potential to wipe out humanity. Normally, those losers wouldn’t have dared to enter the lair of this damned monster, but it had been different back then. Lee Gun's presence barely gave them the chance to even think about eradicating the monsters.

“Haha. We’ll receive great rewards if we make it out of here.”

“This will be the greatest raid in the history of mankind! It's enough to make us heroes.”

“We should ask for a hundred billion won at the minimum. What do you think?”

Lee Gun snorted as his comrades talked amongst themselves. They were about to enter the tower.

“We should ask for ten years' worth of vouchers for a seven-star hotel resort in Hawaii.”

“What?”

“Most of the countries will have to be bailed out by the IMF thanks to Red Eye.”

“…!”

While these people entered the tower, all of humanity was praying. The humans were praying for painless deaths, and this spoke of the desperation of their situation.

Everything started on the last day of the 20th century. Octopus-headed monsters had invaded Earth through the Mediterranean sea.

<Unknown civilization demands, “If you want to live, give us your citizens.”>

<Voting controversy! “Will EU hand over one million of their citizens to the monsters as prisoners?”>

<US states, “The monsters want to turn humans into livestock to secure their food supply. We cannot agree to their demands.”>

<China surrenders ethnic groups to preserve their sovereignty and territory.>

<People are fleeing into the mountains. “At this rate, I’ll be dragged away as a captive.”>

The president of the United States had put the reputation of humanity on the line by launching a nuclear weapon. However, in front of the octopus monsters, it was akin to fireworks. The monsters had proceeded to dance while destroying cities.

It was about this time when something miraculous had happened. Thirteen awakened beings appeared in the world, beings capable of killing these monsters. These beings were expected to be saviors of the world. However, expectations were often different from reality.

“Huh. You want the right to use a seven-star resort for ten years? Are you sure you will be satisfied with just that?” 

“Didn’t you go immediately when you were summoned last time?”

“Yeah. You should've taken your time so that the monsters could've killed a lot of people. Don’t you know you can ask for bigger rewards when they are desperate?”

These people were heroes in name only. Most of them were bullies.

 “Hey, Lee Gun. You better not back out this time. You need to receive a lot of rewards if you want to barter with us.”

“Don’t you want to fix everything? You want to extend your lifespan and regain your handsome face, right?”

They frowned when they saw Lee Gun’s monstrous and ugly face.

“I know you aren’t feeling well. Don’t overdo it.”

A sneer appeared on the man's lips as he pressed down on Lee Gun’s shoulder.

“Even if you're strong, you're an ordinary human in the end.”

“We’ll kill Red Eye. You can stay back and watch us do it.” 

The twelve of them were full of themselves. Even though Lee Gun was also an awakened being, he was fundamentally different from the other awakened beings.

“You didn’t even receive any skills from the gods.” 

However, these twelve people's attitudes lasted only a moment. 

***

On the 100th and the last floor where the boss appeared.

“Crazy! What the hell... Are you kidding me?” 

“Run! This is impossible!”

“If we run away, the nearby region— No, the entire population of the world will be slaughtered!”

“Who cares? The only thing that matters is our survival!”

Humanity praised them for being the strongest people in the world, yet these people had chosen to escape. They were scared out of their minds. Even with the blessings from the gods, they couldn’t win against Red Eye.

However, Lee Gun was different.

“Hey! Have you lost your mind? Where are you going!”

“Do you have a death wish?!”

Lee Gun charged toward the boss monster as if he were mocking the others. He did it alone.

Kwah-jeek!

A fierce fight ensued. Finally, he severed the thick neck, and the monster's head fell to the ground. Lee Gun plucked out its cursed red eyes. At that moment, the monster that had driven humanity into despair perished.

However, it didn’t matter in the end. Lee Gun was unable to make it out of the tower. Of course, it wasn’t because of the battle with Red Eye. Then why?

“Ah! Some bastard must've timed it right and pushed me into it.”

That’s right. He had fallen into a trap. It was the worst trap, which one couldn’t escape from. Lee Gun could never forget the sensation of someone pushing him from the back. As if that weren’t bad enough, he remembered the pain of a dagger being stabbed into his back.

That was enough to do him in because the fight with Red Eye had weakened him.

“Wow! Their timing was impeccable. Why couldn’t they show such initiative in the first place? They couldn’t even keep up with me when I berated them.”

Lee Gun's insides had been burning due to the betrayal. He vomited blood as he felt pain due to the knife being pierced through his lung. It seemed they had chosen this opportunity to kill him at his weakest state.

‘Fucking bastards.’

A burst of forced laughter exploded forth from his mouth.

Did they hate the idea of working together, or did they hate using their powers for others? Lee Gun wasn’t afraid of death, but he felt disgusted by their actions.

“I would've preferred if they had poisoned my fried chicken. At the very least, it would've been tasty, you sons of bitches.”

Not all of the twelve were traitors.

‘Still, some of them wanted to kill me.’

Lee Gun’s vision turned blurry as he gnashed his teeth. However, suddenly... 

“Kee-ehhhhhhhhhhk!”

‘!’ An octopus-headed monster appeared behind him. It slowly approached him. When Lee Gun looked beyond that monster, he saw tens of thousands of monsters following it. 

‘Ah! I’m really fucked.’

The more frustrating thing was the others had purposely avoided all the monsters because they couldn't defeat them. That wasn’t all. As soon as Lee Gun had fallen into this trap, his ability had been taken away.

The only thing he could do now was to slash with the knife that he had brought to cut beef jerky. As someone with no use of his arms, it was his only option. It was the reason he said his next words.

“Ughh. Is this what I get for eating all his chicken wings?”

Lee Gun knew his death was inevitable when his left arm was also severed. Of course, this didn’t mean he would die just like that. He was the strongest human, who had killed Red Eye by himself. His eyes flashed as he bit down on the knife.

“Kee-ehhhhhhhhhhk!”

The blade flashed at the moment he cut down the octopus monsters.

“Koo-roo-roohk!”

“Kee-ehhk!”

He kept cutting his enemies, again and again, forgetting any sense of time. If he didn't cut down all the monsters, if he didn't rip out their mouths, he would become their food. It would be a humiliating end for him, and he kept reminding himself that. There was no rational thought behind his actions. His body was raging with adrenaline, and this kept his muscles, nerves, and heart moving.

How long had it been since he had started slicing the flesh of his enemies?

[This... this makes no sense… How did you reach this point!]

It was supposed to be an unclearable tower for a human, yet Lee Gun had killed all the monsters.

[W... wait! Anyone here!]

“You can call out all you want.” 

Poo-oohk!

When the final enemy died, the trap was broken. And finally, Lee Gun fell.

He had endured the torture the monster had inflicted on him. He felt like years had passed while he killed his enemies. It was a miracle that he had survived for this long. But now, he was dead. No! He thought he was dead. He had been sure of it.

* * *

“W-wait a moment.”

“Hey! Are you ok?”

For some reason, Lee Gun was still alive. He had no idea why. When he exited the tower, he caught sight of a familiar shape.

‘Living creatures.’

The strong sunlight temporarily blinded him, but Lee Gun clearly saw them. They were long in shape, and they looked blurry. However, he could make out a set of arms and legs, then he saw the familiar shapes of eyes, nose, and mouth. He didn’t think they were monsters, but...

“Hey. I said are you ok?” 

“You guys must be human-type monsters,” Lee Gun shouted.

“W-what?”

Boom!

The hunters, who were near the tower, screamed. Lee Gun, who still had the knife in his mouth, swung it against them.

Boom!

“Ahhk! What are you doing?”

“Stop! We aren’t monsters!” 

The hunters were so surprised that they clutched their hearts. They were already feeling aggrieved due to the unexpected attack from the monsters, and now a weirdo, who had come out from the tower, attacked them!

“What the hell? This bastard is wearing some weird mask… Whatever! Let’s just get out of here!”

“What? He’s a human, and he came out of the tower. All the top news channels will be talking about him! They’ll go crazy! Let’s see who it is!”

“You must be blind. He didn't come out of the tower. He’s probably one of those people who hang around this region. Didn’t you see the news yesterday? Many men like him are roaming this place.”

The two men bickered with each other, and it inevitably made Lee Gun tilt his head in confusion. That was to be expected. He was still near the nest of the dangerous Red Eye.

‘No one should've been allowed to get close to the tower.’

Lee Gun went over his memories before the attack on the tower. He was sure the nearby region was supposed to be empty for several years even after the tower was cleared. This decision had something to do with the energy emitted by the monsters.

‘The Korean government wouldn’t ignore such a danger.’

Of course, Lee Gun had been locked inside the tower for an indeterminate amount of time. When the trap had activated, the time and consciousness had changed within the room of the tower.

‘If my calculations are correct, at least several hundred years should've passed within the tower.’ 

The flow of time within the tower differed from that on the outside. Still, a lot of time had to have passed in the real world, and this could explain why people were near the tower. 

‘Why do I feel magical energy from humans?’

The fight had left Lee Gun's five senses paralyzed. However, he could still sense magical energy from the two men in front of him. This was why he felt something was amiss.

‘Aside from me and the others, other humans shouldn’t be able to use magical energy.’

As expected, these two were monsters shaped like humans. It was the reason he was about to kill them.

“Ahhhhk!”

The hunters, who had been about to run away, fell to the ground. The monster wolves that had dispersed when the legendary tower crumbled had returned.

“Koo-roo-roohk!”

The hunters yelled in fright.

“Shit! They came back!” 

“As expected, there's no way they would give up on their prey!”

Around twenty Black Wolves converged on them. They even saw a Red Wolf, which looked to be the leader of the pack. It would be a miracle for even high-ranked Users, the awakened beings, to survive an attack from so many monsters.

In the end, the hunters gritted their teeth and raised their weapons.

“Whatever! Now that things have turned out like this, let’s go out like Lee Gun! Let's go out like the best in the world!”

“Oh, great Lee Gun-nim! Please give us strength!”

They were talking about him. It confused Lee Gun. Why were they calling out to him in this situation? He had no idea.

‘They are humans.’

There was no way monsters would spout such nonsense. Lee Gun’s vision was slowly starting to return to normal. He quickly turned his gaze toward a different direction. His senses were still dulled, and his vision had yet to fully return. However, that didn’t impede him from walking.

‘I have to get out of here.’

He wanted to kill some people, but he had something important to do before that, something very important.

It happened at that moment.

“Hey! Have you lost your mind? You can’t go there!” One of the hunters yelled out in fright because of the direction Lee Gun had picked. “Do you have a death wish?”

“What?” Lee Gun asked.

“Can’t you see the monsters in front of you!” the hunter replied. 

Suddenly, the blood drained from the faces of the hunters. When Lee Gun turned to look at them, the wolves surged toward him. Sharp canines aimed for his neck.

“Ahhhhk!”

“Look out!” The younger man couldn't bear to see what was about to happen. He and the other hunter squeezed their eyes. However...

“Mutts!” An annoyed voice rang out as the wolves yelped.

“Ggaeng!”

“Ggae-gaeng!”

“!!”

The hunters screamed.

“Ahhk!”

Boom!

The spines of the wolves were crushed. They were sent flying in all directions as if they were discarded garbage bags. It seemed the masked man had been aware of the wolves.

“Damn it! I was going to let you go because I’m busy! Stop annoying me, you useless mutts!” Lee Gun angrily said.

Crunch!

“…!”

It shocked the hunters, but that was to be expected.

“Even high-ranked Users have a hard time killing these monsters, yet he killed them so easily!”

In fact, this man had severed the head of the alpha wolf with a single blow. The teenager let some words slip without realizing it. “Fuck! He’s nuts.” 

As soon as he let out a curse word, he met eyes with Lee Gun. The teen jumped in surprise. He was scared out of his wits. ‘Did he hear me?’ The clothes of the man in front of him were tattered, and he looked like a dirty mountain beast. His terrifying eyes could be seen through the long hairs covering his face. The identity of this man was a mystery. However, the hunters knew that the man was their ticket out of this place. They could now hope of getting out of this place alive.

But...

“Hah!” The man sounded annoyed as he sighed, and this made the hunters shudder in fear.

Finally, Lee Gun walked toward the hunters as their knees wobbled.

They were sure of it. ‘He heard us badmouthing him!’ They were sure they would be slaughtered like the wolves. ‘Shit! He looks like he has a bad temper!’ When the shadow of the tall man cast over them...

“Hey,” Lee Gun spoke.

The hunters quickly lowered their heads. “We apologize! We—”

“I’m sorry, but I need some food.” Lee Gun interrupted them.

“What?”

The hero, who was on the verge of starving to death, fell forward.