This place is an Esper-only hospice ward where the heroes who saved the nation come to end their lives.
An orphan with no education and nothing to my name, I applied here as a janitor simply because I needed money.
“Please, just kill me.”
Colonel Kim Hanseong.
A hero who was once revered by all for awakening as Korea’s first S-rank Esper was now begging me to kill him.
Currently, all his energy had been depleted, his abilities gone, and both his legs blown off—but even rotten fish is still fish, and an Esper was still an Esper.
Espers whose bodies were enhanced upon awakening didn’t respond to hospital medication, and an ordinary person’s strength couldn’t even scratch them.
A painless eternal rest for Espers was only attainable through the path of dying like a dog while fighting monsters inside Gates.
“How much are you offering?”
If someone heard this, they’d scold me for being arrogant—a mere E-rank Guide practically no different from a civilian—but I had a hidden skill I hadn’t revealed to the world.
‘Dream Expulsion.’
“You appeared on TV a lot, so you must have quite a fortune saved up, right?”
My hidden skill was an ability that could instantly kill any Esper, whether A-rank or S-rank. It was truly an ability that only a villain who could lead the world to destruction would possess.
“Can you really kill me?”
“If you really want to die.”
I replied while mopping the floor of his private room with a mop.
I’m a janitor, but I never thought I’d be cleaning up the life of a hero like you.
“How can I trust you? If this is a joke…”
“How do I prove it? You only have one life.”
The floor seemed about done, so I dunked the mop into the trolley bucket I’d brought, wrung it out, and headed for the door. This wasn’t an ability to use carelessly on someone who didn’t trust me, so I had nothing more to say.
There were still many rooms I hadn’t cleaned. I should just focus on working diligently.
“Account number.”
The moment I touched the sliding door, the word I’d been waiting for popped out of the hero’s mouth.
Without turning around, I quietly made the sign of the cross over my chest. It was the only courtesy this uneducated person had learned at the orphanage.
“○○ Bank 302-1011-085**-****. Give me half of your entire fortune. Keep the other half for your journey.”
And so billions of won were deposited into my account, and that day, Colonel Kim Hanseong, the hero who saved the nation and Korea’s first S-rank Esper, died.
***
The office of an illegal loan company called □□ Capital—a name that just oozes thug and gangster vibes.
I was working there as a debt collector, or in other words, a loan shark. With my short education and only knowing how to fight, I couldn’t live properly, so my life extended in an equally improper direction and ended up like this.
“Debtor-nim, please pay back the money.”
“J-just give me a little more time…”
It was around the time I was thoroughly shaking down today’s debtor—an alcoholic and horse racing gambler who beat his wife and kid like catching rats in his underwear in a leaky one-room apartment even on this rainy day.
“I gave you money and time, what more do you want? At this rate, you’ll be asking me to take off your underwear too…”
KWAANG!
A massive roar came from outside the old window frame, and then a dust storm rushed crazily into the room.
“Fuck, what the…”
Leaving the people in the one-room apartment frightened by the unfamiliar sound, I went outside to assess the situation.
The city was engulfed in sandy dust like a yellow dust storm, making it impossible to see even an inch ahead. Not far away, I could hear the sound of unidentifiable things endlessly falling from the sky and crashing into the ground.
“KYAAAAH!!”
“SAVE US!!!”
Ear-splitting screams. People bursting through the sandy dust and running past me somewhere.
It was a continuous series of situations hard to believe even with my eyes open.
And if there was one thing among them that was hardest to believe.
[The worldline is changing. Beginning selection of ‘Awakened.’]
[Beginning analysis of subject ‘Ha Seongho.’]
[Your trait ‘Money Maniac’ will be reflected.]
“Money Maniac? This bastard really…”
A semi-transparent notification window appeared along with a discordant noise that shouldn’t exist in this world.
It mockingly highlighted my name along with my nickname, which pissed me off.
[Congratulations. You have awakened as an E-rank Guide.]
[Hidden Skill: <Dream Expulsion> has been activated.]
[Awakened Profile]
Name: Ha Seongho
Classification: E-rank Guide
Trait: Herald of the Apocalypse
Skill: <Hidden – Dream Expulsion>
“What the hell is Dream Expulsion? Did this bastard illegally immigrate? Is it a foreign worker?”
[Dream Expulsion: You can expel Awakened from the world.]
[Tip: Show your faith by offering donations to that person.]
Unable to comprehend the phrase floating before my eyes, I just stood there dumbfounded and pulled out a cigarette.
“Hah… Should I go to a mental hospital or an ophthalmologist…”
Screech—
Just then, the cigarette I’d pulled out was cut in half.
Piercing through the dusty fog, a giant mantis’s foreleg stabbed into the ground at my feet. Just one foreleg alone was bigger than my body, and its owner seemed to be at least three stories tall.
“Ah, fuck—”
When you live as a street fighter, you develop an eye for choosing your opponents. I knew my limits well, and I had the wisdom carved into my bones that I should avoid opponents I couldn’t beat in a fight.
So.
TADAT!
I ran without looking back.
KWADANG!
“Wh-what? O-o-outside?!”
“Mom…”
“It’s okay… Shh… Shh…”
Judging it safer to be inside the building than outside, I went back into the debtor’s house.
That leaky one-room apartment was now leaking tears as well.
“There’s a monster outside. I’m not crazy, so don’t carelessly go out after hearing this.”
KKA-DEUK— KKA-GAK—
At that moment, my eyes met with the giant mantis that stuck its head into this second-floor room and gnawed at the window frame.
“KYAAAAH!!”
“UWAANG—!!”
At the sudden giant mantis intrusion, the people inside screamed like crazy. Stimulated by that sound, the mantis lit up its compound eyes bright red and made an ear-splitting sound.
KWAAANG!
“SHUT YOUR TRAP! FUCK!”
I threw everything I could grab at the roaring monster—the rice cooker, the kid’s backpack, whatever was at hand.
Even so, the monster’s movements showed no sign of stopping. My attacks seemed to only further provoke the monster instead.
“Th-the wall’s going to collapse…!”
The wall where the monster’s head was embedded cracked apart until the rebar was exposed. The building itself was tilting, seeming to show signs of collapse. Just when it seemed the house would collapse along with the monster in a moment.
SHIIIK— PEOBEOBUK—
Glass skewers imbued with blue energy flew through the air and pierced the monster’s head. Sap spurted from the pierced head and an unpleasant aura leaked out.
“SHAAAAAK!!”
SHWAEK, PEOK!
The creature screamed in agony, but the glass skewers kept piercing it without rest. Eyes, head, neck—the skewers burrowed densely into every visible spot.
The attack continued until it was impossible to tell whether it was the mantis’s head or a hedgehog.
“HEOK, HEOK…”
I looked at the source from which the glass skewers were flying.
Today’s debtor, who borrowed 70 million won, was gasping for breath while creating glass skewers in the air, his body wrapped in blue energy.
PEOUK—…
The blades finally succeeded in bursting the mantis’s head.
“HEUK, HEOK… HEO… HAHA, HAHAHA!”
The debtor who had been gasping for breath suddenly burst into crazy laughter as if something was so funny.
At that laughter, the wife and child watching from behind made choking sounds and turned pale.
“Awakened? I’m an Esper? FUCK! HAHAHA!!”
The debtor muttered to himself like someone who’d lost their mind, then bent over laughing again. I watched him, then turned to leave the house. The mantis was dead anyway, so I needed to move to the office first and assess the situation.
What the hell is happening to the world…
“Hey, Ha Seongho, you fucking bastard.”
SHWAEK— KA-GAK!
A glass skewer stabbed into the ground at my turned back.
The debtor who had been laughing like he’d lost his mind had already stopped laughing.
“I said I’d pay you back. Why are you being annoying? Huh?”
He looked arrogant now that he suddenly gained a strange ability. From experience, people like that are strong against the weak and weak against the strong. If I showed weakness here, I’d be devoured.
“You didn’t pay back. You fucking debtor bastard.”
SHWAEK— KWAK!!
A glass skewer pierced through and embedded in my thigh.
My judgment was wrong. This debtor wasn’t trying to have a battle of wills right now. He never intended to let me go peacefully from the start.
“Keuk, shit.”
“Talking back? Do I still look like your bitch?”
The debtor approached me, floating glass skewers in the air with a smile plastered across his face, as if finding this so enjoyable.
My leg was injured. Escape was impossible.
Then.
“My dick is prettier than your face.”
Fuck, I’ll say what I want before I die.
PUUK! PUK!!
“AAAK!!”
Every time I opened my mouth, weapons kept stabbing in, and I collapsed right onto the floor.
KWAAK!
“Beg me to spare you. Huh? Beg me and say you’re sorry!”
The debtor grabbed my hair and thrust a skewer in front of my throat.
“Spare me. I’m sorry.”
SEUGEOK—
Even though I said what he wanted, the bastard slashed my throat as if he couldn’t hear it.
Ah, this son of a bitch asked me to say it and then slashes me anyway.
“KEUK, KKULLEOK.”
Whether my windpipe was damaged, bloody foam from the reflux burst out with coughs from my mouth and nose.
“Unlucky bastard. Die well.”
And soon my vision became blurry and my sight crashed to the floor.
[Skill is activating.]
[<Dream Expulsion>]
[One Esper has been expelled.]
