Chapter 2
I embezzled the items. Diverted the budget into shell companies. Kept double books.
A textbook case of embezzlement, you could say.
Do I regret it? Not at all. Cheonyul was a corrupt conglomerate, so my conscience never twinged. Embezzlement was my leisure sport.
And while I was at it, I made sure the chairman got screwed over too.
“An office worker ought to have a hobby.”
“Take everything else, I don’t care. You deserve it. But… Cheonryu Divine Art is different.”
At last, the chairman revealed his true intent.
“The original copy of the Cheonryu Divine Art you stole. You’ve finished decoding it, haven’t you? Hm? If it’s the great Lee Sihoon, you surely managed it.”
Cheonryu Divine Art.
The ultimate boss of my leisure sports career.
I almost died trying to decode it.
“Very well, Chairman. I’ll tell you specially. Yes, I decoded the Cheonryu Divine Art.”
“I knew it!”
“And that’s why I can assure you. This insane martial art… I can’t give it to the likes of you.”
I devoted my whole life to Cheonyul. I made the owner family the strongest clan there was.
I hoped they might save the world. And yet I also knew they never would.
Because I was their closest aide. I saw them up close.
The villains of Cheonyul.
The malice they harbored.
“Ha! You really won’t say it to the end?”
“Just kill me already.”
“As you wish.”
— Black Flame Transformation.
When the chairman whispered, my entire body ignited. Ah, the Black Flame Transformation! The black fire said to be a gift from the Constellations! His favorite sorcery.
“I’ll just ask your corpse. There are many ways to make a corpse speak.”
“Hah—.”
“You’ve worked hard until now, Chief of Staff. Rest easy.”
Ha ha ha—!
I laughed in the flames. Just as the chairman knew me, I knew him just as well.
“That’s right! I knew you’d use the black flame!”
“……!”
I burned, laughing. If it’s funny, then laugh.
The chairman was starting to catch on. Clever bastard, as always.
“Lee Sihoon—! Don’t tell me!”
“I told you already. I swallowed it.”
I had chewed up the Cheonryu Divine Art and eaten it.
Literally.
The Cheonryu Divine Art was inside my stomach!
Like a law student cramming statutes for the bar exam, I tore the pages apart and ate them one by one.
“My final leisure sport… a great success…”
Chairman, I learned a lot from you.
Wheedling, deception, sales tricks, threats, mercenary tactics, and so on.
So this is my final gift.
Proof of what I learned.
Go dig through my melted insides…
Darkness all around.
This must be the afterlife.
“How dare you devour me?”
A man thundered at me. Too dark to make out clearly.
“Had you groveled as usual, you might have been spared.”
“Damn! Even my delusions are roasting me with facts!”
I dismissed the man as a delusion.
Because I couldn’t refute him.
If you can’t fight the message, fight the messenger!
“Delusion, I’m in no mood right now. Don’t scold me.”
“I am no delusion.”
“Then what are you?”
Shhk—!
A blade pressed against my throat.
That sensation of my very soul being cut!
The same aura I felt while decoding the Cheonryu Divine Art.
That deadly energy that almost killed me several times.
And strong. Maybe even stronger than that damn chairman…
“Ah! You’re not a delusion! My apologies, sir!”
Was this figure King Yeomna, ruler of the underworld? Was I about to be judged?
This was bad… a crisis.
I had lived a disgraceful life.
“Wretched scholar! You lack power, integrity, and righteousness. The kind I despise most.”
“Excuse me, I lacked power because I was a decoder. Without that, I’d be soaring.”
Damn it. Backtalking King Yeomna. Not a wise move.
“Excuses even in death! Fine, lack of power I’ll allow. But why abandon integrity?”
“Ah. Because I had a dream.”
“A dream built on corruption? Must be worthless.”
“World peace.”
Silence.
Heavy silence.
Familiar, really.
Ever since age nine I’d dreamed of world peace. But every time I declared it, the world shut up.
Because everyone was holding back laughter.
‘Even my kind homeroom teacher nearly laughed. That was shocking.’
He bit his lip to protect my innocence. A true teacher.
And now, my dream had shut up King Yeomna himself. Even in the afterlife, my “joke” worked.
I was serious, but others always thought it a gag.
“Khh…! Ggghhh!”
“You could just laugh, you know.”
“Silence!”
“The goods I embezzled—I sent them as relief supplies. To those stronger, more diligent, and more desperate than me.”
“……!”
I had invested the embezzled goods in my dream.
Didn’t matter how much I poured in—it never worked out.
Yeomna flinched.
“Then your dream truly was… world… kuh.”
“……”
“Why on earth…?”
“Because it was my dream!”
Dreams, I was taught, are freedom.
Mine just happened to be expensive.
I left behind zero savings.
All embezzled funds and my salary went to the weak.
Well, I did keep one embezzled treasure.
The original Cheonryu Divine Art.
“So you lacked strength and integrity, but still had a cause?”
“Not a cause. Just a childhood dream…”
“Enough! Dream talk is banned from now on!”
“Aw.”
“For devouring me, I intended to curse you with eternal torment. But… I’ve changed my mind. Your answers were not so bad.”
I thought punishment was about to begin.
But he wasn’t King Yeomna at all.
⎯⎯⎯ 「Cheonryu Divine Art Activation」 ⎯⎯⎯
The secret technique of the Cheonryu Divine Art has been triggered.
Reversing fate itself.
You possess 3 Transcendent Achievements.
3 Achievements have been converted into Traits.
A voice spoke to me.
I’ll send you back to the past, but damn, you really are an unlovable guy. Said you’d be flying if not for being a decoder? Fine, I’ll release that restriction. Feel the true height of martial arts. Even with wings, most crash here.
I’ll watch from above. Not like you’ll ever make it up here, so I won’t bother waiting.
When I opened my eyes, I was in a job interview.
I instinctively scanned the applicants.
A habit from a lifetime as an interviewer.
Quite a few radiated wicked energy. At a normal company, they’d be cut at once. But at Cheonyul, that was actually preferred. The worse your character, the better.
That’s what makes it a black company.
The interview venue was a sweltering rainforest, sprawling tens of thousands of pyeong. (Think it’s insane? That’s what a black company does.)
Might look like South America, but no—this was Seoul. With Stream’s new tech, Seoul could be dressed up like the Amazon.
Obviously, rigging the city’s landscaping like this was illegal, but since politicians colluded with Cheonyul, no problem.
Anyway, 3,000 applicants bustled around.
Didn’t bother counting—but it was exactly 3,000.
Because this “rainforest interview” always had 3,000 participants. Chosen from 3 million worldwide. Every one of them elite.
“Find it fast!”
“Chop it down!”
“Burn it all!”
Ha! Busy bunch.
Each applicant was desperate to be hired. Each had a different task.
Because three roles were being tested simultaneously.
Group 1: Decoder applicants. 1,000 people.
They had to find hidden items, treasure-hunt style. Each item was worth 1–5 points.Group 2: Physical dealer applicants. 1,000 people.
They had to chop down rainforest trees. The thicker the tree, the higher the points (1–5).Group 3: Magic dealer applicants. 1,000 people.
They had to incinerate rainforest trees.
Find, chop, burn—within the time limit. Everyone was scrambling.
At the rainforest’s center stood a control tower. Standard procedure was for interviewers to watch from there.
Then a message flashed on the giant screen:
[Lee Sihoon. Decoder exam. 0 points.]
Ah! I wasn’t the interviewer.
I was a job applicant.
Just like 20 years ago, when I joined Cheonyul as a decoder.
“Wait… 20 years ago?”
Other applicants ran around frantically.
I stared at the control tower.
The figures behind the curtains.
How could I forget them?
The chairman’s grandchildren!
The 12 heirs, today’s interviewers. Exactly the same as 20 years ago.
‘So I really went back 20 years?’
I quickly accepted it. I wasn’t the type to be shaken by mere shock. (I survived under the chairman, after all.)
Still… if things went the same way, it’d just repeat history. Enter Cheonyul. Get tormented by the heirs. Gain recognition. Get promoted.
Then get roasted by Black Flame and die.
‘Spicy indeed.’
A hot crisis.
I scanned the rainforest.
And the hidden items revealed themselves.
⎯⎯⎯ 「Item Discovered!」 ⎯⎯⎯
You found the following items:
Gem of Fire (1 point)
Agile Dagger (1 point)
Spring Shoes (2 points)
Courageous Pants (3 points)
Ring of Magic (1 point)
This kind of test was child’s play for me.
I even uncovered the hidden structure of the test itself.
A sharp stake.
⎯⎯⎯ 「Item: Rainforest Stake」 ⎯⎯⎯
『The rainforest will be created within 5 minutes.』
— Botanist —
A stake containing rainforest power. Plant it in the ground and a rainforest will spread.
<Grade: B>
The Rainforest Stake was a powerful item. Cheonyul had planted it to transform central Seoul into a rainforest for today’s interview.
Even if discovered, it wouldn’t give points—it was just part of the testing grounds.
Protected by top-tier concealment so applicants wouldn’t notice. But my decoding pierced right through it—
And while I was admiring myself, more info flowed in.
⎯⎯⎯ 「Secret Revealed!」 ⎯⎯⎯
The Rainforest Stake is connected to the <Otherworld Grand Forest>.
If the mana link is severed, it will lose power.
Number of people who have discovered this fact so far: 0.
I had never heard this before.
No one knew the principle behind the Rainforest Stake.
So it was drawing power from another world?
Mana threads stretched from the stake, reaching all the way to the Grand Forest.
So that was the connection.
‘No one has ever discovered this before.’
The first in the universe!
Even elves living in the Grand Forest wouldn’t know this.
Only I could perceive the link.
I had revealed the hidden secret of an item!
My decoding had grown stronger.
Maybe because I had died once already?
If other items had hidden secrets too… and only I could uncover them—
I lifted my gaze to the control tower.
Those who owned all the world’s items.
I’d have to make them like me.
The vast interview hall fell silent.
The test was halted.
There was still plenty of time, but the venue itself disappeared. The rainforest vanished, restoring Seoul.
I had unearthed and pulled out all the Rainforest Stakes.
All for the heirs watching from above.
I had displayed my decoding prowess.
I bowed toward the control tower.
“I’ve worked hard to join Cheonyul! I, Lee Sihoon, am a prepared employee—please grant me this chance. I’ll work like a dog!”
No acting required.
I really had worked like a dog.
And of course, I was confident.
I would absolutely show them a dog’s life—chaotic to the end!
