Chapter 23

Chapter 23.

Park Jihun.

Chairman Park's one and only son.

The reason I remembered him was simple.

Because he was strong.

Viciously strong, at that.

If history ran its original course, he would awaken one year from now.

Thanks to the 'Elixir' that Chairman Park would buy by liquidating his entire fortune.

Once awake, he immediately distinguished himself.

Overwhelming martial prowess. A cruel temperament.

He inherited his father's organization and unified the underworld.

People called him 'the Demon King.'

But I was certain.

He was not a god's Avatar.

The reason was, paradoxically, his personality.

He was fiercely self-serving.

He pursued nothing but his own personal glory.

Even as humanity marched toward extinction, he scoffed.

When the Final Strike Force climbed the Tower, he didn't participate.

—Why should I? Go die amongst yourselves.

He was content to stay on Earth and play king.

But what if he had been a god's Avatar?

He would have wormed his way into the Strike Force by any means necessary and sabotaged it from within.

Destroying from the inside was their method.

But Park Jihun hadn't done that.

That thoroughgoing selfishness.

It was proof that he was 'human.'

'He'll be useful.'

It all depended on how you handled him.

Give him money and power, and he'd make an excellent chess piece.

Knock, knock.

A knock shattered my train of thought.

The door opened and a line of men in black suits filed in.

In their hands were apple boxes.

THUD. THUD. THUD.

Boxes piled up on the table.

Ten in total.

Chairman Park wiped his sweat and spoke.

"That's ten billion. Go ahead and check."

I didn't so much as glance at the boxes.

"That won't be necessary."

"......You're not going to count it?"

"You're not the kind of man to play games when your son's life is on the line."

The corner of Chairman Park's eye twitched.

I'd hit the mark.

Right now, he was desperate enough to grasp at any straw.

He'd be on edge, terrified that I might take offense and refuse the treatment.

Under those circumstances, there was no chance he'd tamper with the money.

"Let's go now."

I rose from my seat.

"To the hospital."

***

Hankuk University Hospital, VIP ward.

I passed through the ironclad security and entered the room.

"......"

Silence.

The only sound was the rhythmic beeping of machines.

A man lay on the bed.

Park Jihun.

I approached the bedside.

It was worse than I'd expected.

Three years was a long time.

His muscles had wasted away to nothing, and his skin was so pale it was nearly translucent.

Barely clinging to life, dependent on an oxygen respirator.

'So this is the Demon King, Park Jihun.'

There was no trace of the intimidating figure from the future.

He was nothing more than a patient waiting for death.

Chairman Park stood beside me.

His hands were trembling faintly.

"......Can you save him?"

His voice carried a tremor of its own.

Even the great Chairman Park was just a frail father when standing before his child.

Instead of answering, I reached into my coat.

I took out something I had prepared.

One of the Relics I'd acquired from Antique Street in Daegu.

A jade bottle, roughly the size of a fist.

When I removed the cap, a delicate fragrance filled the room.

"What is that?"

Chairman Park asked with a furrowed brow.

His eyes were scanning the jade bottle.

He was an Awakened too.

He likely possessed a skill in the Observation or Appraisal family.

To his eyes, the information on this jade bottle would have looked utterly unimpressive.

[Fragrant Jade Bottle].

Grade: Normal.

Its only function was to emit a faint, permanent fragrance when uncapped—a mediocre ornament and nothing more.

"Are you messing with me? You think you can cure my son with some air freshener?"

Fury seeped into Chairman Park's voice.

His son's life was at stake.

If this looked like a joke to him, he was ready to pull a gun on the spot.

I calmly walked over to the water cooler in the corner of the room.

"That's what it looks like on the surface."

I filled a paper cup with water.

Then poured the water into the jade bottle.

"But this Relic has a hidden option."

I returned to the bed carrying the jade bottle, water sloshing gently inside.

Chairman Park watched my hands with suspicious eyes.

Without hesitation, I smashed the jade bottle against the floor.

CRASH!

"Wh—what are you doing?!"

Chairman Park recoiled, shouting.

Sharp fragments flew in every direction.

But.

"......Huh?"

Chairman Park's eyes went wide.

The floor wasn't wet.

Instead of splashing across the ground, the water that had been inside the bottle rose into the air and coalesced into a single sphere.

A droplet shimmering with a luminous emerald glow.

A dense vitality spread throughout the room.

"Wh-what in the......"

"The jade bottle's true purpose is 'purification.' It's a single-use alchemical tool that transforms ordinary water into the Water of Life."

I placed the floating droplet on my palm.

'A lesser Elixir.'

It wasn't quite the legendary panacea said to raise the dead, but it was more than sufficient to pull someone back from the brink of death.

Still, this alone wasn't enough.

I pulled one more item from my Inventory.

A tarnished bronze mirror.

The Mirror of Truth—the one I'd bought for a hundred thousand won from an antique dealer in Daegu.

"Now what's that? Looks like a piece of junk."

"The reason Park Jihun can't wake up isn't purely a physical problem."

I held the mirror over Park Jihun's face.

"His brain can't recognize reality. He's trapped in a kind of hallucinatory state. Even if his body heals, if his mind can't return, the vegetative state will continue."

Hallucination.

Perception without an object.

Park Jihun's consciousness was currently wandering through a labyrinth of the subconscious.

This mirror maximized resistance against hallucination-type magic.

In other words, it was a compass that shattered illusions and forced the subject to see reality.

Lastly, I took out a ring.

The Jade Ring of Vitality.

An item that amplified regenerative ability.

I slid the ring onto Park Jihun's skeletal ring finger.

"Preparations are complete."

I brought the Water of Life to Park Jihun's lips.

I parted his mouth and let the luminous droplet fall.

Gulp.

His Adam's apple moved.

Simultaneously, I channeled mana into the bronze mirror.

HUMMM!

A faint light poured from the mirror's surface, illuminating Park Jihun's face.

"Gkh, urrgh......!"

Park Jihun's body arched like a bow.

His entire frame shuddered violently.

Cold sweat poured off him like rain, and beneath his closed eyelids, his eyeballs thrashed wildly.

The Water of Life was breaking through blocked circuits, and the mirror's light was dragging his mind back to reality.

But it wasn't enough.

'I need to work on his mana circuits.'

The circuits were damaged.

Tangled and knotted every which way, on the verge of rupturing like a bomb.

Tampering with another person's mana circuits was dangerous, but there was no time.

If I missed this golden window, I wouldn't be able to wake Park Jihun.

Ten-odd minutes passed.

I barely managed to reconnect the broken circuits.

But Park Jihun still hadn't opened his eyes.

Silence settled over the room once more.

"......Did it fail?"

Chairman Park's face turned ashen.

The greater his expectations had been, the faster his disappointment was turning to rage.

He glared at me, fists clenched.

"I knew it was a scam. You bastard, how dare you use my son to......"

"It's not over yet."

I shook my head and continued.

"The path is open. But walking through the door—that's up to him."

I looked at Chairman Park.

"Call his name."

"......His name?"

"Right now, Park Jihun is standing at the threshold. But he can't tell whether this is reality or a dream. He needs to be called over by the most familiar voice there is, so he can cross to this side."

A signpost leading back to reality.

That was a role I couldn't fill.

Only his father—his own flesh and blood—could do it.

Chairman Park swallowed hard.

With trembling hands, he grasped his son's hand.

Then he leaned close to his ear and whispered.

"Jihun-ah."

His voice cracked.

"Jihun-ah...... it's your father. Can you hear me?"

There was no response.

The rims of Chairman Park's eyes turned red.

He cried out more desperately, more loudly.

"Jihun-ah! Please...... open your eyes! Dad's right here!"

A scream verging on a wail.

Did that cry reach him?

A twitch.

Park Jihun's fingers moved, just barely.

And then.

Slowly.

The eyelashes that had been firmly sealed trembled, then gradually lifted.

Unfocused eyes drifted through the air before locking onto the face of the man before him.

"......D-Dad?"

A cracked voice.

But an unmistakable call.

"......!"

Chairman Park's eyes went wide.

His breath caught in his throat.

"J-Jihun......! Do you recognize me? It's me! It's Dad!"

"Fa......ther......"

Park Jihun managed a strained smile.

It was real.

After three years, his son had come back.

He threw his arms around his son.

There was no room for pride or composure.

He wept like a child, stroking his son's gaunt back.

"Thank you...... thank you for being alive......"

The hospital room drowned in tears.

I quietly tucked the bronze mirror away.

My work here was done.

The Demon King, Park Jihun, had awakened.

From here, he would rapidly expand his influence, using his father Chairman Park's organization as a foundation.

If only for his own personal glory, he'd at least try to protect his home base—Korea.

Leaving the overwhelmed father and son behind, I opened the door to the room.

Director Kim was waiting anxiously in the hallway.

The moment he saw me, he asked tensely:

"H-how did it go?"

I grinned and gave him a thumbs-up.

"Better start getting the remaining balance ready."

***

The contract with Chairman Park proceeded at breakneck speed.

"From now on, I'm delegating full authority over Relics to Mr. Kim. The price? Whatever you name. Just give our side first dibs."

I'd even earned the title of 'Mr. Kim.'

Limitless trust.

Having witnessed the miracle of his dying son being brought back, it was only natural.

He treated me as a lifesaver and an untouchable talent beyond his reach.

He promised to pay the remaining two hundred billion immediately.

I returned to my studio apartment in high spirits.

And the next day.

Knock, knock, knock.

A rapping came at the front door.

Assuming it was Director Kim, I opened up.

But the person standing outside was someone I hadn't expected.

"......Park Jihun?"

A pale face, color not yet fully returned.

A man draped in a loose black suit instead of a hospital gown.

The Demon King who had been lying in a hospital bed—Park Jihun.

In his hand was a bulky bag.

"I brought the remaining balance."

"You could've sent someone else. Why come all the way here yourself......"

The instant I reached out to take the bag.

THUD!

Park Jihun dropped to his knees on the spot.

And as if that weren't enough, he slammed his forehead against the floor.

A full prostration.

"......?"

I stared down at him, completely blindsided.

What kind of situation was this?

Whether I was stunned or not, Park Jihun snapped his head up and shouted:

"Boss! Please take me in!"