Chapter 13: Park Hayan, the Spirit Lord

Click.

I unlocked the door.

As soon as the door opened, a burly man barged inside.

“Jeongseok!”

Whoosh.

Park Gwangcheol hugged me as if he were throwing himself at me.

The smell of sweat and cheap lotion hit my nose.

While patting my back, he began lamenting dramatically.

“Ah, Jeongseok! You’re alive! Do you know how worried I was because you weren’t answering your phone?!”

Exaggerated gestures.

I heard forced sobbing over my shoulder, but his shirt did not get wet even a little.

It was pure acting.

I remained expressionless.

I did not push him away, but I did not return the hug either.

Seeing that I was not reacting, Park Gwangcheol slowly pulled away awkwardly.

With bloodshot eyes, he looked me up and down.

“Are you hurt? Are you okay?”

“I’m perfectly fine.”

“Thank heavens, truly thank heavens. Your mother and father must be watching over you from above.”

He clicked his tongue while looking around the tiny rented room.

Wallpaper covered in mold.

The floor damp with moisture.

A space so narrow that barely one person could lie down in it.

Park Gwangcheol frowned.

“Why the hell are you living like this? With all that money, what kind of misery is this? Don’t tell me you already spent it all.”

Money.

Everything always ended up being about money.

Back then, I could not use the inheritance my parents left behind.

No, in truth, I could not bring myself to use it.

‘It was their wedding anniversary.’

My parents went abroad on a trip after a long time.

I still clearly remember how happy they looked.

The plane was crossing the Pacific.

Abnormal turbulence suddenly appeared without warning.

And then, a gigantic typhoon.

The plane disintegrated in the air and crashed.

Every passenger died except for one.

At the funeral, only empty coffins remained, with no bodies inside.

A massive compensation payment and the entire inheritance were left in my name.

An amount large enough to live an entire lifetime without working.

But the me from back then could not touch that money.

Every time I used it, it felt as if I were consuming the price of my parents’ lives.

Guilt. Nostalgia.

Those emotions kept me trapped in this tiny semi-basement apartment.

‘I was an idiot.’

Now I regret it.

Because even if I did not use it, that money would eventually fill someone else’s pockets.

Someone like the man standing in front of me.

Park Gwangcheol took advantage of my guilt.

While I avoided the money, he patiently waited for an opportunity.

And on the day the world collapsed, he ended up taking absolutely everything from me.

“I haven’t spent a single won. It feels like that money doesn’t belong to me.”

For a moment.

Park Gwangcheol’s eyes gleamed.

Greed.

A gaze far too familiar.

I stared directly at him.

“By the way, what are you doing here?”

“W-what do you mean by that?!”

Park Gwangcheol jumped in outrage.

“I came because I was worried about my only nephew! Didn’t you see the news?! The world has gone insane!”

Spitting saliva everywhere, he began ranting.

“Monsters appearing, the earth collapsing, people dying! How do you plan to survive all alone in the middle of all this?”

He tightly grabbed both my hands.

Palms wet and sticky.

“Your uncle will protect you. Come live with us. Okay?”

Protect me?

The words sounded nice.

But I knew the truth.

What he really wanted was not my well-being.

He was looking for the personal seal, the bankbook, and the property deeds hidden somewhere in this room.

He wanted to take advantage of the chaos and pass himself off as my legal guardian.

Exactly the same routine from my past life.

“Come with me.”

Park Gwangcheol insisted.

“I’ll protect you. Family should stay together, don’t you think?”

I let out a small laugh.

Protect?

Sure, someone needed protection.

Although the one who needed to be protected was not me, but him.

“I don’t want to.”

My short reply pierced through the small room.

Park Gwangcheol’s expression hardened.

The forced smile on his face stiffened like plaster.

“……What?”

“I said no.”

“You… what did you just say…?”

Park Gwangcheol’s eyebrows twitched.

Confusion. And irritation.

How dare a nephew reject an adult’s proposal?

That outdated way of thinking was written clearly across his face.

But my heart only grew colder.

Now that I think about it.

“Uncle.”

It sounds close, but in reality we did not share a single drop of blood.

And this guy came talking about family?

It disgusted me.

I tilted my head slightly.

“And one more thing.”

“…….”

“Speak honestly. You didn’t come because you were worried. You came because you smelled money.”

“W-what are you saying?! You know how much your uncle cares about you!”

“Then how did you find my address?”

I cut him off.

“I changed my phone number too. Did you hire a private investigator?”

Park Gwangcheol’s pupils trembled.

I had hit the mark exactly.

He must have spent money investigating me.

That was how desperate he was for my inheritance.

“I’m not giving you a single cent, so get lost.”

I waved my hand dismissively.

“And you should feel ashamed. Aren’t you embarrassed, coming to steal money from your nephew as an adult?”

“……What did you say, you brat?”

Park Gwangcheol’s face turned red.

The mask had finally fallen.

His vulgar true nature revealed itself.

“I treated you well and now you think you’re so important! Is that how you talk to an adult?!”

Adult?

I found it ridiculous.

I have lived longer than he has.

And he thinks he can lecture me just because he was born a few years earlier?

“Kim Jeongseok. Aren’t you going to apologize right now?”

Park Gwangcheol shouted while trembling with rage.

I simply let out a small laugh.

“Me? The one who should apologize is you.”

“Y-you… you ill-mannered bastard!”

At last, Park Gwangcheol exploded.

He raised his fist high.

“You need to get beaten before you come to your senses!”

Whoosh.

The crude fist flew toward my face.

It was slow.

So slow it made me want to yawn.

I did not dodge.

I simply calmly extended my hand.

Thud.

“……Huh?”

Park Gwangcheol’s eyes widened.

My palm had caught his fist.

I did not even move.

“Let go! Aren’t you going to let go of me?!”

Park Gwangcheol desperately tried to pull free.

But his trapped fist did not move even a single centimeter, as if it were stuck between rocks.

I stared directly at him while slowly tightening my grip.

Creeeak.

“Gghhh…….”

Park Gwangcheol’s face began to distort.

“Weren’t you supposed to protect me?”

I smiled coldly.

“Who exactly are you planning to protect with such pathetic strength?”

Crack.

The sound of twisting bones echoed out.

Even at only 20%, I was an awakened.

My strength had already surpassed human limits.

An ordinary person’s bones were no tougher than cookies.

“Aaaagh! Aaaaaaagh!”

Park Gwangcheol let out a bloodcurdling scream.

His knees gave out.

Unable to endure the pain, he collapsed in front of me.

“P-please! My hand is going to break! Aaaagh!”

His screams filled the room.

I crouched down to meet his eye level.

Park Gwangcheol’s pupils trembled violently.

Fear.

A primal fear was clearly engraved in his eyes.

The greedy arrogance from moments ago had completely vanished.

‘Should I kill him?’

The thought crossed my mind for an instant.

He was the type who stabbed people in the back and squeezed every last drop out of them.

Guilt? Of course not.

If anything, he was someone who deserved to die.

‘If it weren’t for this bastard.’

Memories from my past life flashed through my mind.

The one responsible for stealing my parents’ inheritance and throwing me onto the streets.

Because of him, even as an awakened, I ended up living like a beggar.

I had to dig through trash just to find food.

I spent entire nights hiding in subway stations to escape the cold.

That slowed my growth.

While others hunted monsters and leveled up, I barely struggled to survive.

‘Six months.’

An entire half year.

The first six months were a golden period incomparable to anything else.

And this piece of trash threw that priceless opportunity into the garbage.

My grip tightened involuntarily.

Creeeak.

“Gghhk……!”

Park Gwangcheol groaned as foam spilled from his mouth.

I wanted to snap his neck right then and there.

But.

I slowly loosened my hand.

Killing him now would be too merciful.

Especially because I knew his true ending.

‘Zombie food.’

Not long after the Great Cataclysm, this man would meet a horrible end.

He would be devoured alive.

While his intestines were ripped out and his limbs torn apart, he would eventually turn into a zombie.

And then he would wander the streets as a soulless monster.

‘For me to kill him would be too compassionate.’

After suffering every kind of misery in this rotten world, he would end up as food for zombies.

I had no intention of changing that fate.

For now, he was nothing more than trash unworthy of dirtying my hands.

I released his fist as if throwing away garbage.

“I’ll let you live.”

Park Gwangcheol alternated his gaze between my hand and my face while trembling.

He looked unable to believe it.

In a cold voice, I added.

“But.”

I pointed at his forehead with my index finger.

“The next time you cross my path again, it won’t end with just a broken wrist.”

“…….”

“You know what’ll happen then, right?”

Park Gwangcheol swallowed dryly.

Just imagining it made his face turn deathly pale.

“The best way for you to live a long life is to never appear in front of me again.”

That was my final warning.

Park Gwangcheol nodded frantically.

“U-understood! I-I’ll leave! It was my fault!”

He did not even look back as he crawled toward the exit.

The desperate way he fled without even putting on his shoes was pathetic.

Bang!

The door slammed shut.

Silence filled the room once more.

I stared at the door for a few seconds before quietly turning around.

The rat had already been driven out.

Now there was only one thing left to do.

‘Time to spend money.’

Paper destined to rot away.

The inheritance I had never been able to use because I saw it as the price of my parents’ lives.

But now I knew.

Clinging to that money was meaningless.

I needed to use it first.

In the most valuable place possible.

I picked up my smartphone.

Opened the search engine.

‘Hope Welfare Foundation.’

I dialed the number without hesitation.

— Yes, Hope Welfare Foundation. How may we assist you?

The kind voice of an employee rang out from the other side.

I spoke calmly.

“I’d like to make a donation.”

— Ah, yes. Would this be a recurring donation or a one-time donation?

“One-time. Around one billion won.”

— Excuse me? One billion? What…?

Silence fell on the other end of the line.

The confusion was obvious.

She probably thought it was a prank call.

“Please give me the account number. I’ll make the transfer right now.”

— A-ah, please wait a moment. Sir, could you tell me your name…?

“Kim Jeongseok.”

I continued speaking.

“It will be a designated donation.”

— Designated? Do you have a specific recipient?

“Yes.”

I slowly took a breath.

A face appeared in my mind.

The companion who stayed by my side until the very end before my regression.

Park Hayan, the Spirit Lord. [1]

Right now, she was in the hospital.

In a cold six-person shared room, on the bed in the corner.

It was a plane accident.

Her spine had been shattered, and she lost mobility in the lower half of her body.

If she had received surgery immediately, she still would have had a chance to walk again.

But she had no money.

Poverty was a sin.

In the future, she would form a contract with spirits and use their power to float through the air.

But that would happen years later, after awakening through tears of blood.

And more importantly.

‘……The only survivor.’

She was the sole survivor of the plane my parents were on.

Although I still needed to confirm it, I did not believe Park Hayan was a divine avatar.

Her past was too clear.

If the gods’ avatars were beings created from scratch, then she could not be one.

Of course, possession was also a possibility.

But.

‘If a god had possessed Park Hayan, they never would have left her legs like that.’

The first thing they would have done was heal them.

The gods came to this world for entertainment.

They would never tolerate living with such an inconvenience.

I organized my thoughts and spoke.

“Park Hayan. She’s hospitalized in the Trauma Ward at Korea National Hospital.”

— Ah, please wait a moment. I’ll check.

The sound of typing could be heard from the other side.

— Yes, we found her. But… what is your relationship with the patient…?

“We don’t have any special relationship. I just want Park Hayan to survive.”

I slowly exhaled.

“The surgery, hospitalization, and rehabilitation.”

I spoke calmly.

“Support her enough so she can walk comfortably for the rest of her life.”

***

Room 602 of Korea National Hospital.

The corner bed, covered by curtains.

Park Hayan stared blankly out the window.

Empty eyes.

A dead gaze completely devoid of life.

They said the outside world had descended into chaos.

That monsters had appeared and the earth was splitting apart.

But none of that mattered to her.

Because her own world had already collapsed.

She lowered her gaze beneath the blanket.

She could not feel anything.

There was no sensation below her waist.

It felt as if two pieces of rotten wood had been attached to her body.

The doctor had told her she could walk again with surgery.

But it was false hope.

Money.

She did not have that cursed money.

For an orphan like her, the cost of the operation was as unattainable as a star.

‘Maybe I should die.’

Perhaps it would have been better to die together with everyone else in the accident.

Surviving alone felt like a curse.

Rattle.

The curtain was abruptly pulled open.

A nurse and an administrative employee hurried inside.

Their expressions were completely different from usual.

Faces filled with excitement.

Breathing heavily, they shouted.

“Patient! Congratulations!”

Park Hayan did not react.

Congratulations?

Was that something you said to a paralyzed person?

But the employee’s next words made her doubt her own ears.

“The surgery will begin immediately. The doctor cleared his schedule.”

“……What?”

Park Hayan’s lips trembled.

“What… do you mean? I don’t have any money.”

“It’s already been taken care of.”

The employee waved a stack of documents.

“A sponsor just appeared. The surgery, hospitalization, and rehabilitation have all been paid for.”

“…….”

“And it was one billion won! Enough money to receive treatment for the rest of your life!”

Her mind went blank.

She could not understand it.

Who would do something like this for someone with no family?

“W-who was it? And why……?”

T/N:

(1): The gender was changed from male to female since it was not clarified in the early chapters.