“Is it finally over, the constant gate transfers without notice?”

Jongsik, loyal enough to gladly die if ordered to, drove over after grumbling all sorts of complaints to himself. When it came to verbal complaints, he was the best in the world.

Riding in the car driven by Jongsik, Sa-yoon reflected on the past month.

Due to the quest to slay novices, he was pushed into gates every single day without fail. It was an undesirable quest, but the option to refuse didn’t exist. Whenever that damned ‘True Evil of Humanity’ quest popped up, he couldn’t choose between accept and decline.

It’s not like he only experienced it once or twice, so it was tolerable.

Having gotten used to it, he tried to carry out the quest instead of wasting energy getting angry, but the problem lay in how the ‘novice slain’ count worked.

Even if he killed new awakened ones from enemy guilds, the kill count wouldn’t rise, and it was the same when entering regular gates.

It was only counted as quest progress if he slew those encountered inside the novice gates the system forcibly transported him to without warning, and that was the headache.

Novice gates were, as the name implied, gates that only new awakened ones could enter. Once you cleared three novice gates after awakening, they were designed so you couldn’t enter again. So even if he ran around all day trying to progress the quest, there was no way to clear it unless the damn system forcibly moved him.

When things turned out that way, what choice did he have but to resign himself to it?

From the start, it wasn’t a force he could resist.

Wasn’t there a time when he was abruptly transported while eating or showering?

“…This is nonsense.”

Sa-yoon, recalling the past and furrowing his brow at the memory of being transported to a gate naked, stared at the back of Jongsik’s head that looked prickly. Among those inconvenienced by Sa-yoon’s sudden gate transfers, the biggest victim was undoubtedly Jongsik.

As the only one who knew Sa-yoon was being jerked around by the system, he had to become a chauffeur at all times of day whenever Sa-yoon returned from being dragged to a gate.

Sa-yoon told him midway that he could have someone else do it, but Jongsik, insisting that no room for suspicion could be left, grabbed the steering wheel with dying eyes. He was the typical type to suffer by choice.

Today as well, seeing him gripping the wheel with dark circles under his eyes, Sa-yoon clicked his tongue.

Driving wasn’t the only hardship Jongsik endured.

When Sa-yoon got transported while handling guild business, Jongsik had to work overtime to begrudgingly deal with the remaining tasks. If Sa-yoon disappeared during a meeting, Jongsik had to expertly explain the reason for the guild master’s absence and lead the meeting. That lifestyle repeated for nearly a month, so it wasn’t incomprehensible why Jongsik complained today that he wouldn’t come.

Then have someone else take the wheel like I said.

Sa-yoon muttered, crossing his legs and leaning back against the seat.

It’s not like he had been doing absurd things for only a day or two.

As long as he didn’t have Jongsik do it consecutively, there was no reason for suspicion, so it would have been fine to ask someone else for a pickup once or twice. Yet Jongsik grabbed the wheel, going on about keeping secrets. It wasn’t even his own secret, but somehow Jongsik was more proactive about confidentiality than Sa-yoon himself.

While his excessive loyalty was tiring, appreciating Jongsik for his hard work was a separate matter. When Sa-yoon informed him that the past month’s life had ended, 32-year-old Kim Jongsik, too naive to be in Night Rats, rejoiced with tearful eyes.

“Is it really over?”

“Yeah.”

“So the system isn’t saying anything? If there are any new quests, please let me know. If there’s anything to prepare, I’ll tell the guys in advance.”

It seemed the system distrust that had only been Sa-yoon’s was passed on to Jongsik as well. They say even a dog learns to recite poetry after three years at a temple. Attending to Sa-yoon for over three years made Jongsik realize how despicable and vicious Sa-yoon’s system was.

Pleased to have someone understand his plight that was hard for anyone to empathize with, Sa-yoon nodded in response.

System.

The blessing of God that appears in troubled times, guiding awakened ones with goodness and righteousness.

That was the general definition given by the World Awakened Association, but Sa-yoon’s system was different.

Goodness? As if. It employed all sorts of underhanded and wicked methods to encourage Sa-yoon to become evil. No, one could even call it manipulation.

And over a long time, Sa-yoon became a twisted human, just as they wanted. Proof of that was how he no longer suffered from terrible nightmares or trauma even when killing people.

He had completely gone mad.

There was a time when he couldn’t sleep at night from guilt, but now he only wished his opponents were a bit stronger. Life was dull and fleeting, so he found himself seeking something stimulating. Ten years after awakening, he understood for the first time the mindset of the crazy villain you only see in movies, who only seeks out tough guys.

“It’s because nothing else interests me.”

“Pardon?”

Jongsik reacted to the mutter. Sa-yoon kicked the front seat with his foot, signaling him to focus on driving. At the bang, Jongsik grabbed the wheel in surprise.

“Ah, boss!”

“Ah, boss?”

“…The, the seat will break.”

“Then should I break your back instead of the seat?”

At the warm suggestion, Jongsik grumbled about why he was so violent. Accustomed to such complaints, Sa-yoon ignored him and ruminated on his inner troubles again.

No matter how much of a nutcase he was now, he wasn’t this crazy from the beginning. Kicking chairs out of anger – well, to be honest, he did that ten years ago too. But still, back then he didn’t go around killing people or committing terrorism at the drop of a hat.

The guilt that seemed to have evaporated now had still been intact.

Now those days felt like such a distant memory. Sa-yoon turned his head and gazed at the scenery swiftly passing by outside the car window.

His eyes, recalling the past, sank deep. It all began ten years ago in January, rewinding through time.

Back when Sa-yoon was still young and green, a third-year middle school student.

Ten years ago.

In the year Sa-yoon turned sixteen, the first gate that opened plunged the world into panic.

Appearing without warning, it rippled with a suspicious light, stimulating curiosity that might be humanity’s original sin. People who entered that space without knowing any better never returned, leaving behind the last words, “It’s okay, I won’t die.”

The number of missing people grew by the day. As their count surpassed triple digits and the public’s unease was amplified through various media, the government finally dispatched soldiers to confirm the truth.

When they sent in the special forces, everyone anticipated the news they would bring. But reality was cruel. Even the soldiers, who claimed things would be different, entered the strange space and couldn’t make it out.

They all went missing.

Every single one of them, without exception.

At that, some scholar theorized that the rippling space might be a door connected to another world, while another claimed it could be a teleportation device, and yet another speculated it might be similar to a black hole, sucking people in and preventing their escape.

Absurd arguments repeated without basis, and the absence of soldiers led to political strife. Amidst the world falling into chaos, with the strange space being called a ‘gate,’ news spread that the first soldier to enter a gate had returned.

Dumpa, the special forces team leader deployed to the gate that appeared in India.

Returning with one leg severed, drenched in blood, he opened his eyes wide and declared a single phrase to the world, even while on the verge of death.

It was hell.

Vomiting blood, Dumpa finished his short and intense report, then rolled his eyes back and died as if he had finally fulfilled his duty.

Naturally, the media and citizens were all bewildered, terrified, and excited. Cries erupted that the gates must be investigated quickly, and some even went to explore in person. The moment people realized the meaning of the hell Dumpa spoke of, while consumed by curiosity and fear, was right after the gates that appeared worldwide exploded simultaneously.

With a thunderous noise, monsters that seemed to only exist in fantasy novels poured out of the burst gates. Some vaguely resembled demons, while others had unspeakably hideous appearances, evoking the image of devils. As if creatures that looked so different could be friendly to humans.

The cruel and violent monsters rampaged in a frenzy, and the world was dyed in blood as if a war had broken out.

No, to be precise, it was a war.

The war for survival and preservation of the species between the suddenly appearing monstrous lifeforms and humanity.

From that day onward, not a single day passed without screams, and hundreds of orphans who lost their parents were born each day. The military weapons deployed by nations had little effect against the monsters, and even the nuclear weapons the US ambitiously fired struggled to annihilate them.

Humans were no match for the creatures that survived a nuclear explosion.

The human population rapidly declined, and experts who lost hope concluded that all of humanity would perish within a month, just one week after the gate explosion incident.

It was said that heroes emerge in troubled times.

No matter how overwhelming the war or battle, there was always a moment for counterattack, and for humanity, it was the blue window that appeared one day.

The blue window, introducing itself as the ‘System’ to a small number of people, granted humanity the power to stand against the monsters. Those who awakened through it used abilities that were so strong and special, it was hard to see them as the same species.

Humanity began their counterattack with them at the vanguard. They drove the monsters that had all but taken over each country to the frontier and succeeded in annihilating them through cooperation.

It was a precious victory obtained at the cost of 20% of the total human population.

Everyone rejoiced and set off fireworks in the reclaimed land, but as humanity regained hope, there was someone who was losing it instead.

That was Sa-yoon.

System window.

The entity that appeared before a few people at the start of the Great Panic, bringing hope to humanity.

When the gates burst open simultaneously and chaos began, Sa-yoon also received a system window.

However, in a rather peculiar form.

<You have been selected as humanity’s evil! Oppose the saviors and lead Planet 9180, ‘Earth,’ to ruin. ( oᵔ▽ᵔ)o >