Chapter Text
The sound of keys clicking and the soft whirling of the air conditioner echoes throughout the silent office room in the middle of the night.
A sigh can be heard from the scarred black-haired man sitting behind the largest desk in the room. He pulled away from his work to stretch his back and stiff arms. Goodness, this is why there are back problems for office workers that do desk work for long periods of time.
Despite his stiff shoulders, elegance never left his movements no matter how sluggish he may have looked. It simply came naturally to him and at this point, it was second nature.
At the sudden sound of a soft ping , he took out his smartphone. The sight of the message twitched his lips into a soft smile that used to shock his subordinates until they got used to it.
It was an understandable reaction. After all, the man named Kim Rok Soo never showed such a sight to anyone until his soul had been secretly switched by a god from a foreign world with another soul.
The trash son of the count’s family, Cale Henituse.
But that was no longer his name anymore. Both the original Kim Rok Soo and himself have already accepted their new identities and lives.
Rok Soo felt his heart warm as he read the message of his adoptive niece, his reincarnated mother. She texted him that she made him dinner that’s currently kept in the refrigerator. He felt bad that he had to stay out late, but there have been several incidents lately and the work quickly piled up, so he wanted to get it done as soon as possible. He could already predict his team members scolding him next morning.
Packing up his things, he closed the lights and left the company building.
Rok Soo adjusted his scarf as he walked in the sidewalk, his breath coming out as a white puff of cold air. He passed by several pedestrians, all of whom recognized him and greeted him admiringly, a pair of starstruck teenagers even wanting to take a selfie which he obliged. He sighed as they left after waving him goodbye, considering how much attention he had garnered over the past two years, the road to his quiet resignation would be long.
He let his thoughts idle as he stopped by a bridge and watch the countless, colorful bright lights that brought life to Seoul even at night. The monster situation in Korea and many other countries was stabilizing, slowly but surely. While monsters still roamed about in many places and the need for ability user companies and guilds remained as demanding as ever, the people were able to take back most of their homes that had previously been destroyed by the beasts. Seoul, in particular, recovered majority of their districts that were demolished at the beginning of the apocalypse. At this point in time, only few of the outermost districts, such as Gangseo, Nowon and Gangdong, still remained as danger zones, but even that was changing as the higher-ups have already made plans to eventually take it back in the future.
However, Director Ma was not as enthused as his colleagues over finally recovering the city as a whole. The old man may not be the most pleasant person around, but he was not incompetent. He had been focusing on something else that had escaped the attention of his colleagues, or rather, they had ignored it since it was deemed unimportant compared to their other cases.
The old director had not been the only one, Rok Soo himself had been investigating as well. It was what he was working on earlier to the point he had to stay up late.
There have been a few incidents happening around Seoul the past few months. However, it had been dealt with by the police rather than by ability user companies or guilds. Monsters still remaining populated places was nothing new and they were mostly Grade-3 or above. Non-ability forces like the police or military are now capable of handling such mediocre issues, and mostly call upon companies to deal with much bigger threats. These incidents were immediately made public thanks to how fast people would post things on the internet and were even reported on television. And yet, the higher-ups swept it under the rug since it was lower in their priorities. Looks like he would have to remind them not to be too complacent just because humanity was finally back on its feet.
The scarred man had investigated these incidents himself… and found quite a few interesting tidbits.
Rok Soo closed his eyes for a brief moment and sighed. He placed a hand on the guardrail and leaned back.
“Isn’t it the perfect time for us to talk now? Surely you’re getting bored after watching me for the past week now.”
It sounded as if the wind had responded to his question, but he was quick to realize that the wind current never grew stronger aside from bringing the usual chill of the night. Rok Soo calmly turned his head to the direction he had walked from, half of the bridge was heavily obscured by the building’s shadow. It was just as dim as the darkness of a back alley.
Someone rose from the shadow.
It was as if Rok Soo was looking at the embodiment of darkness. Dark tendrils surrounded the individual, looking like they had unwrapped the stranger the moment he went outside of the shadows. Rok Soo felt a chill run down his spine as he stared at the newcomer, eyes trembling.
Anger, hate, vengeance —
Rok Soo could feel the emotions, but knew very well that it was not coming from himself. This person was emitting a very strong aura of hate and wrath much like a certain vengeful swordmaster he used to know. And yet…
Now that the individual in front of him was no longer surrounded in darkness, he got a full, unobscured view of his appearance. The person was a man, obviously a foreigner. He had slightly long, white wavy hair and golden eyes that appeared to be glowing.
The expression on the man’s face was perfectly calm and stoic. His shining, golden eyes were fierce but Rok Soo did not feel any ire directed towards himself. While those wrathful emotions do come from this stranger, perhaps it’s part of his attribute or whatever power he may have.
The outfit was also something to take note of. The entirety of his clothing consisted of dark-green. He wore a long cloak, a hat and the suit he wore reminded him of the ones noblemen wore in his previous world. Here in Earth, that kind of fashion has mostly faded once society moved on from the Middle Ages. It was still worn by some of Europe’s surviving aristocracy, especially now that the apocalypse was stabilizing, most countries can now place their focus on consumer goods.
But Rok Soo seriously doubted it was cosplay in this case, especially after sensing the aura of this man.
The scarred man gave an easygoing smile, “Mind introducing yourself first? I think I have the right to know the identity of my stalker.”
Instead of being offended, the white-haired man just snorted. His expression remained stoic, but Rok Soo could see there was a hint of amusement in his eyes.
“I am the King of the Cavern, Edmond Dantes.” The stranger introduced himself, “An Avenger-Class Servant.”