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Chapter 1
The world is not fair.
I first realized that unchanging truth on the day I turned fifteen.
“Incompetent?”
“Y-Yes. We ran the tests multiple times, but the result is conclusive. Young Master Chang-woon has no sign of aura…”
With a face like he was about to chew me up, my father glanced between me and the results sheet for a long time before finally speaking.
“It must be the fault of that lowly blood.”
Lowly blood.
That single short phrase dragged both my mother’s life and mine into the abyss.
A bastard born of a lowborn woman.
The disgrace of the Andong Kim* clan.
A noble’s shame, born without even the most basic aura talent.
There were many times when I almost broke under the weight of those gazes. But I didn’t give up.
To be precise… I couldn’t give up.
“I’ll do anything!”
On a rainy day, kneeling in the courtyard of the main house, I shouted those words.
I offered myself as their dog.
Said I’d take on the filthy, repulsive tasks they needed done, jobs they wouldn’t even bother to glance at, yet couldn’t do without.
I shouted that I’d devote myself to them, until they would finally accept me as one of their own.
And the result of all that…
“Phew…”
Yeah. This is the result.
Exhaling smoke from the pipe clenched in my mouth, I looked around.
Joseon*, crumbling to pieces under revolution.
The elders of my clan had already fled abroad in exile, and all that remained to me was the empty, title-only position of clan head.
“Kim Chang-woon. From the day I decided to join the revolution, you and I have clashed countless times…”
And now, standing before me with a massive sword raised… the hero of the revolution herself.
“But today, you’ll no longer stand in my way.”
“...Yeah. This is the end.”
Just as she said, everything was truly over.
The end of Sedo* politics, which had lasted over three hundred years since the Great Rift Incident in the early 20th century.
And at the same time, the end of Joseon, a nation that had endured for eight hundred years.
“Congratulations, Lord Hero.”
I drawled mockingly, exaggerating the tone on purpose. The grip on her sword trembled ever so slightly.
But her gaze wasn’t on me, it was on Hanseong, engulfed in smoke and flames.
The twisted, ant nest-like city was burning.
And I curled my lip at the sight.
“Because of your revolution, this nation is finished.”
“...You dare talk like that?”
Of course.
The revolutionary before me still had plenty to say.
“You, who called yourself the watchdog of the corrupt noble families… how dare you speak! You, who spent your whole life as their lapdog—do you truly believe you have the right to judge this revolution?!”
“…”
“The ones who drove this country into ruin in the first place were—!”
“Yeah. Us nobles… the so-called Sedo clans.”
Who else would it be?
After saying that, I stuffed some tobacco leaves into the pipe.
“While the monsters rampaged across the Central Continent and the Archipelago, they turned a blind eye and obsessed only over their petty power struggles. And the few decent talents we had? Driven out and destroyed in the name of political maneuvering.”
All those fools who were too busy clinging to their own power.
And now that things have spiraled this far out of control, they’re the first to run away with their tails between their legs.
Even after being warned again and again that revolution was coming, they didn’t listen. And the moment a sword was at their throats, they finally panicked and fled like cowards.
“But you know something?”
No one needs to tell me I’m the bad guy here; I know that better than anyone.
But that doesn’t mean we “bad guys” don’t have something to say too.
“So tell me—what exactly has your precious revolution turned into?”
“...!”
Ah… Look at that face already.
Biting down hard, the so-called hero of the revolution failed to come up with a retort to my words.
-Aaaaargh!
-Please! Spare me! I was just following orders—! Guhk?!
-No prisoners. No trials. Everyone inside the palace is a tumor in this nation’s body. They are the enemies of our fallen comrades!
-Kill them!
Even now, screams and explosions echoed from beneath the palace.
I didn’t need to see it to know.
The revolutionaries, drunk on victory, were beyond control.
By now, down there… it must be hell unleashed.
“You dropped cluster bombs on innocent civilians just to take out the suppression forces. And your men, blinded by revenge? They’re spraying bullets in every direction, not even aware of who they’re killing anymore. They’re crawling through Hanseong, long since fallen, and butchering anyone who looks like a noble or a businessman!”
“...!”
“The values of the revolution? A noble resolve to save Joseon? Sure! You really outdid yourselves! Is burning down an entire country your grand revolution? Grabbing anyone with money or power and stringing them up without reason… is that your new Joseon?!”
CLAANG!
A sword blade brushed past my head and lodged deep into the wall I’d been leaning on.
Normally, with the kind of personality I have, I’d be trembling in fear by now.
But I felt nothing.
I must’ve already come to terms with my death.
It didn’t matter.
I was a dead man anyway. My life was already a magnificent disaster.
Might as well run my mouth till the end.
“You’re the ones who started it...!”
As I said that, the so-called hero’s face twisted in fury, and his hand shot out to grab me by the collar.
That mask of a revolutionary.
That lofty title of a hero.
What I saw behind it… was just a child.
A parentless child you’d find in any back alley, consumed by grief.
Just another vengeance-hungry soul, burning with hatred toward the Sedo nobles who took her family.
“You killed them first! You exiled us first—to that contaminated wasteland full of monsters! You sent us to die fighting them! And after all that, you still…!”
“...Haha.”
So that’s what it really is, in the end.
They chanted about revolution, about saving the country… but in the end, those were nothing more than hollow justifications.
The truth was simpler. It was just the inevitable conclusion of a vengeance gone rabid.
“Because I lost everything… you all have to lose too. Because I suffered… you all have to suffer too! So that’s why. That’s why I…!”
“Then do it properly. Thoroughly.”
What had I even expected from a child like this?
With a faint, hollow smile, I slowly reached out my hand.
Held between my fingers was a small data shard.
As the hero looked at it, clearly confused, I began explaining with mock kindness.
“Information on the Sedo clans who fled the country… or rather, those currently fleeing.”
“……!”
“Their locations, where they hid their embezzled wealth through me, and what they’re doing right this moment… it’s all in there.”
Send out pursuit units and you’ll catch them all within three days. A week at most.
After I added that, the hero frowned and asked,
“……Even if I take this, I’m still not going to forgive you. You do know that, don’t you?”
“Of course.”
Oh? She dropped the honorifics now that I’ve shown my true face.
As I exhaled smoke and grinned mockingly, the hero scowled and questioned again.
“Then why… why now? What wind suddenly blew you over? You trying to repent or something?”
“Repent? You crazy?”
What nonsense. That’s something a monk might say, not me.
If I was going to cry and beg for forgiveness, I wouldn’t have let things go this far to begin with.
“The strong devour the weak. The strong swallow the weak whole. That’s just how the world works. And I still believe that.”
“……!”
“You didn’t win because you were righteous. You won because you were stronger.”
Wow, look at that face. Like she’s staring at a cockroach.
Snickering at the hero’s disgusted expression, I added:
“I couldn’t stomach it. That’s why.”
“What do you mean…?”
“Everything went to hell, and what—only I’m supposed to die? That’s not fair. If I go down, everyone’s going down. Don’t you think?”
Hearing that, the hero slowly reached out and took the data shard from my hand.
The information was real, of course.
How did I get it?
I was the one who planned my family’s escape route. Arranged their transport, mapped out the exits.
I didn’t expect I’d end up using a copy of that data like this.
I truly hadn’t imagined those insane bastards would throw me away so carelessly.
“Kill them all. Now that Joseon is in your hands, no amount of money will save them. It’ll only buy them a little time.”
“……”
“This is the only thing your revolutionaries can do now, isn’t it? Isn’t it?”
The same went for me.
There was nothing left to do. Nothing I could do.
Only one thing remained: to hope that this vengeance-drunk hero would take a few more down with me on my way to the afterlife.
And as that thought crossed my mind…
The hero yanked her sword from the wall… and swung.
Slash!
In the very next moment, my vision spun.
A downward spiral of sight.
Having your head separate from your body is a truly revolting sensation.
“…Really did live like a damned fool.”
The more I thought about it, the more pointless it all seemed.
Nobleman. A man of refined lineage.
That lofty, hollow title… how badly I had envied it.
Just to be accepted by them, I ran headlong through filth and shit.
I took on the dirty work they wouldn’t touch. I made myself their dog, doing everything I could to earn their approval.
And now… I regretted it all.
“If only…”
If I’d known it would come to this, I would’ve chosen differently.
If I’d known you were going to win… I would’ve clung to your side instead of that rotting rope called the Sedo clans.
But even that regret didn’t last long.
Tap.
Before I could even finish that short thought of remorse, death took me.
A disgrace, a scumbag, a demon, a corrupt official.
The kind of man called by every vile name imaginable met a fittingly miserable and lowly end.
As he should have.
“…Huh?”
My eyes snapped open.
The head that had been severed was now back in place.
The city that had been reduced to ash was now shining again, just like it had in the old days.
What… what the hell is happening right now?
And just as that question surfaced—
“Incompetent?”
That voice… branded like a scar in the corner of my memory—grabbed my attention instantly.
“Y-Yes. We’ve re-run the tests several times, but the result is clear. Young Master Chang-woon shows no sign of aura…”
My father, switching glances between me and the test results with a face like he wanted to rip them up with his teeth…
…Wait. Didn’t this already happen?
Why is it happening again?
A memory replay? A death flashback?
No… the surroundings didn’t match that.
I scanned the room.
Relatives looking at me in shock.
My older brother, smirking like he knew this would happen.
The malice in their eyes, far too vivid, far clearer than even in my memories.
“Explain yourself. In detail.”
“Th-The scan came back normal! The aura surged for a moment, and then the waveform suddenly… twisted…”
My brain couldn’t process what my eyes were seeing.
This scenery. This moment.
Everything about it… was etched into my memory.
‘…No way. It can’t be.’
My confusion at the sight before me only lasted a moment.
“It must be that lowborn blood.”
That line.
The moment I heard those words, I understood exactly where… no, when, was.
The year 2224 A.D.
Joseon calendar: Gwangmu* 327.
The central hall of the aura Evaluation Ceremony, where every descendant of the Sedo clans gathered for annual testing.
“An incompetent… from our Andong Kim clan.”
And the moment I realized it…
I let out a sigh full of despair.
‘You’ve gotta be shitting me.’
I… I’ve returned.
To the past.
Back to when I was fifteen years old.
[TL: Joseon (조선): It’s a historical Korean dynasty that ruled from 1392 to 1897.
Sedo (세도): This term refers to the political clans that monopolized power during Korea’s late Joseon era. Think of them like aristocratic families pulling all the strings behind the scenes.
Andong Kim: Btw, it’s not a fictional name. The Andong Kim clan was actually one of the most powerful noble families during the Joseon Dynasty. Total elite vibes.
Gwangmu: This is part of the Korean royal calendar. In this story’s timeline (Gwangmu year 327), that means Joseon somehow survived nearly 800 years past its actual fall and is still around in the 23rd century as a sovereign state. If we do the math: Gwangmu 1 = 1897 (the real year the Gwangmu era started), so Gwangmu 327 = year 2224. ( I used Grok for maths 😂. I’m very bad at maths actually☠️ ) ]
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