In some back alley of Seoul, returnee Moon Igyeol—who had severed the Demon King’s head and returned after 100 years in Demon Realm time, 7 years in real-world time—was now clutching the pant leg of a grandmother he’d never seen before in his life, wailing.
“Grandmother, please take me in! I’m really strong! I’m good at things! I’m good at everything!”
In 2058, the sky of Earth tore open and a calamity called the ‘Gate of Reversed Heaven’ opened. Humanity dispatched a suicide squad of 100 people, the ‘100 Apostles,’ and nineteen-year-old Igyeol was the sharpest blade among them.
However, at the end of hell, before Demon King Beelzebub, five comrades he’d trusted betrayed him. They threw Igyeol and the wounded as bait and fled to the exit by themselves.
His friends melted away without even leaving corpses behind from the toxic energy the Demon King spewed. To mourn those unjust deaths, Igyeol chose to become a monster himself. After rolling through hell for 100 years, devouring demons, he finally beheaded the Demon King, then tore through dimensions with his bare hands and returned to the surface.
The problem was that the price was too great.
“…Urgh, cough!”
Igyeol, having returned to Earth, vomited dark red blood on top of a garbage heap.
[Warning! Your body is collapsing!]
[‘Fragment of Beelzebub’ is crushing you.]
[Curse+ Dying Flame]
[Curse+ Terrible Nightmare]
[Curse+ Pain of Bearing Mount Tai]
Countless demons’ curses. He’d endured for 100 years, yet to die in a garbage dump without even getting revenge—it was too unjust. As his body burned away in agony, Igyeol’s consciousness was flickering when—
Splash—!
Cold water poured down onto his face.
“Good grief, why’s a young man trying to turn into an ice chunk here? Drink this and pull yourself together.”
Some tough-looking grandmother was squatting down, clicking her tongue. The 500ml water bottle she held out contained a golden liquid. As if entranced, Igyeol took the water bottle and poured it into his mouth.
Gulp, gulp.
Sweet. Even though he hated sweet things, it was unbelievably sweet. The moment the water went down his throat, his blood vessels that had been raging as if about to tear miraculously calmed down.
Ding—!
[You have consumed ‘Sweet Rivet Gasa Honey Water.’]
[Hidden Creator: Special elixir prepared by ‘Jangchun Seonhee (長春仙姬).’]
[Curse+ Dying Flame alleviated]
[Curse+ Terrible Nightmare alleviated]
[Curse+ Pain of Bearing Mount Tai alleviated]
[Curse+ Paimon’s Twisted Whisper alleviated]
The Demon Realm’s curses, which even an S-rank healer couldn’t touch, had been suppressed by just one bottle of this honey water.
Barely regaining his senses, Igyeol looked at the grandmother with trembling eyes. The grandmother was dusting off her bottom and getting up as if her business was done. Igyeol’s instincts sounded an alarm.
‘If I let this person go, I’ll die.’
That was precisely why Igyeol grabbed onto the grandmother’s baggy pants as if they’d tear and clung on.
“Wh-what! Let go of this!”
“Grandmother! What was that honey water just now?! My body is just…!”
“It’s special water I made by personally gathering medicinal herbs in dungeons and squeezing them.”
Within her wrinkled face, an extraordinary quality like a sage flashed by. Igyeol clung to the grandmother with tears welling up.
“Grandmother, if you take me as your top disciple, I’ll greatly repay you!”
“I-I don’t take disciples… though I do need someone to look after me.”
“Then please hire me as a worker! I’ll do anything! Grandmotherrr!!”
The unemployed life of returnee Moon Igyeol, who had saved the world, began like this.
***
His disheveled hair fluttered and swayed. The appearance of him wearing a flowered apron was extraordinary. Though his thin body in baggy clothes revealed all his collarbones, Igyeol didn’t care at all as he busily moved around the kitchen.
Sizzle—
In the frying pan, appetizing egg mixture was turning yellow as it cooked. Igyeol hummed softly. The stainless steel spatula in his hand moved back and forth.
“Time has already passed this much.”
A year and a half had passed since entering Madame Kim Oksoon’s ‘Jangchun Health Clinic.’ It wasn’t much time, but it had been a happy time.
In the meantime, the madame had passed away, and according to her will, Igyeol had inherited the health clinic.
Although his body was a terminal shell, thanks to the honey water made with the recipe the madame left behind, he was living while functioning as a human.
“Life truly is like Sae-ong’s horse.”
Igyeol nodded his head, going “Mm-hmm, that’s right.”
Bubble bubble.
The doenjang-jjigae in the pot on the gas stove was cooking while making delicious sounds. Igyeol used the spatula with practiced movements to fold the egg.
“Hmm~”
Seeing the savory smell, the egg roll was a success. About a year and a half since clinging to Madame Kim Oksoon and entering this place, Jangchun Health Clinic. He, whose only cooking experience had been grilling monster meat, now knew how to make most Korean dishes with good presentation.
Igyeol tilted the frying pan to pour the yellow egg mixture while thinking.
‘I’ve become human. I’ve become human.’
Madame Kim Oksoon was both his benefactor and like a second mother to him. Although she passed away from an incurable illness after just about a year, thanks to the health clinic and ‘special honey water recipe’ she left behind, Igyeol could continue living even while dragging this rotting body along.
“Hey, part-timer. Let’s eat.”
Igyeol called out while setting the table. Hyungil, who had been squatting in a corner of the shop playing a mobile game, shuffled over.
“Ah, hyung. What’s the side dish today? Grass again?”
“Stop complaining and eat. I grilled ham too.”
“Oh! What’s the occasion? Did you win the lottery?”
“Shut up. I’m feeding and working you like an ox, that’s why.”
“Moo—”
Hyungil grinned and picked up his spoon. Igyeol, who chuckled watching Hyungil scoop up a spoonful of steaming white rice and eat it in one bite, slowly tasted the soup first.
The voice of a news anchor reached his ears, so he raised his eyes. An old TV was always on at the dining table. It was a junk TV that had been there since the madame was alive.
On the screen, boring breaking news was flowing. It was a report about the monster that had rampaged at Miyang Intersection yesterday.
[…The United Nations Police stated that an unidentified Awakened subdued the monster…]
“Hyung, isn’t that about you?”
“Don’t know. Just eat.”
“It seems like it’s about you. You did it, right?”
“I said I don’t know.”
Igyeol picked up the egg roll indifferently. Hyungil had been a part-timer working here since Igyeol first met Madame Kim Oksoon. Since he’d helped with Igyeol’s treatment alongside Madame Oksoon back then, he knew that Igyeol was a Hunter and a returnee.
Just then, the news ended and the screen changed, and grand, sacred BGM began to play.
[The most noble light purifying the world. We are together with you.]
It was a public service announcement. Filling the screen, a man stood in a background so white it was dazzling. The Roman collar was emphasized first, showing a pure white priest’s robe. Transparent yet black pupils with a bluish tint. How can eyes be black yet transparent? If you ask that, looking at this man would make you understand the expression.
The man looked like that. A face forming perfect symmetry, contours as beautiful and delicate as if sculpted, a high nose bridge and lips that seemed touched by God fitting perfectly. Gently curved corners of his mouth. Deep-set eyes and thick eyelashes. The elegant atmosphere emanating from them.
The man was perfect down to every strand of hair on his forehead, and looked so clear and clean as if he would purify everything by sprinkling holy water at any moment.
South Korea’s Rank 1 and the one and only SS-rank Exorcist. It was Sung Yohan.
[Do not be afraid. Darkness can never overcome light. I am always by your side.]
Sung Yohan gazed at the screen and whispered quietly. His low-pitched voice was so magnificent that Hyungil, who’d been eating, stopped his spoon and gaped.
“Wow… Amazing. Yohan-nim really… doesn’t seem human. How is that a human face? Isn’t it CG?”
“……”
“The girls at our school are going absolutely crazy. They say you’re a spy if you don’t join the fan club. Hyung, that hyung probably doesn’t even poop, right?”
Hyungil chattered with sparkling eyes, but Igyeol picked at his rice with a shit-eating expression and looked at the TV sourly.
His stomach churned. Even though it was just a TV screen, just seeing that excessively clean and noble energy that Sung Yohan emanated seemed to make the demonic energy inside Igyeol’s body have a rejection reaction.
Disgust. Or instinctive repulsion.
Even among the 100 Apostles, there were those who shone the brightest. The ones who shouted about justice and sang of humanity’s hope. But at the critical moment, it was also those ‘shining bastards’ who betrayed their comrades and fled first.
To Igyeol, types like Sung Yohan were defined in exactly two ways. Either detestable hypocrites, or clueless rich young masters who knew nothing of the world.
“He’s too white, so not really. Isn’t he warm-toned? White doesn’t fucking suit him at all.”
“What are you saying, hyung! He’s so handsome! If you’re handsome, that stuff doesn’t matter!”
“Tsk. What are you gonna do with such low standards.”
“Low my ass! You’re the weird one, hyung!”
“How ridiculous.”
Igyeol laughed “heh—” and picked up the remote to turn off the TV. With a click, Sung Yohan’s sacred face disappeared into the black screen. Hyungil jutted out his lips and got annoyed.
“Ah, why’d you turn it off! The winking part comes in the back!”
“Shut up. When eating, just eat. You’ll get indigestion.”
Igyeol lightly tapped grumbling Hyungil’s head with his spoon, then silently shoved rice into his mouth again.
As if I’d ever run into a guy like that.
That bastard is the sun floating in the sky, and he’s an existence like mold stuck in a corner of an alley, so even meeting would be ridiculous. Thinking that, Igyeol gulped down the doenjang-jjigae soup.
