The Return of the Wicked Player

Chapter 07 —

“Are you talking about Sin Count?”

Roderick asked back. He was already fully dressed in armor.

“Yeah. Sin Count. Don’t you know anything about it?”
“Well…”

Roderick scratched his head awkwardly.

“Are you testing me? To see if I’m unfit to be the commander of your guards…?”
“That’s not it. Just tell me everything you know.”
“Hmm…”

Roderick tilted his head, hesitating, unsure of the right response.

“If you don’t talk fast, I’ll take that armor back.”
“Ah! I’ll explain right away!”

After being scolded, Roderick stood firmly and began explaining.

“It’s simple. Sin Count is the number that shows how many innocent lives one has taken for their own gain.”
“…Taking lives… you mean.”
“Yes. Death.”
“…”
“To grow stronger, to get something… every time you cut off the breath of an innocent person, Sin Count goes up.”

It felt like Hyuk had been struck on the back of the head.
So Sin Count rises when you kill lives.

“And by lives, you mean—”

Hyuk took a deep breath before continuing.

“…Humans are included too, right?”
“Of course. Anything that breathes!”

Roderick answered cheerfully, not realizing Hyuk’s mood.

“The stronger or closer to your own kind the target is, the more Sin Count rises! Even the reason for killing makes a difference.”

Hyuk’s chest burned with anger.

‘So… those bastards really killed that many people?’

The ugly truth about those he once trusted as comrades.
They had laughed at him while framing him with their Sin Count.
Back then, he didn’t even know what Sin Count was, only that they were trying to kill him, and he had been furious.
But now he realized—Sin Count came from killing innocent lives.

‘Then those snakes—’

He remembered Ji Seok-hoon’s body covered in black snakes.
Thinking that each one of them had once been an innocent life…

‘…Crazy bastards.’

His stomach turned.
It was as if he could still feel the snakes crawling through his insides and over his skin.
He wanted to vomit it all out with this disgust.

999,999,999.
That impossible number.

“My lord, if I may guess, you must have taken at least tens of millions of lives. Maybe even hundreds of millions!”

That was proof—the traitors had killed at least tens of millions.
And since the counter had reached its maximum, no one knew just how many had actually been sacrificed.

‘I expected they had done something foul…’

After all, it was called “Sin Count.”
But murder?
Murder.

Now Hyuk understood why he hadn’t known about it before.
Because he had never once taken another person’s life, even by accident.
In fact, it was the opposite.
Thanks to his overwhelming strength, countless people had survived.
But the world was full of monsters who had lost their humanity.

‘Player crimes.’

People who awakened powers and shamelessly used them to commit crimes.
And the ones who were once his friends were no better—no, they were worse.

Grit—
His teeth clenched.

‘The ones who deserve divine punishment…’

It wasn’t him.
It was them.

No need for self-pity.
He would climb even higher than before.

‘I’ll give them divine punishment greater than the one I received.’

All that remained inside him was burning rage.
And to rise higher—

“Roderick. What’s the connection between Sin Count and the Abyssal Lord?”

He needed to understand the power he held.
Why his followers were crushed by Sin Count.
Why Sin Count was the requirement for the achievement.

“Well, the Abyssal Lord is the King of the Dead, isn’t he?”

King of the Dead.
Hyuk recalled the endless piles of corpses in the Abyssal Source and nodded.

“We simply follow our instincts and pledge loyalty to the ruler of death.”

The lair of death.
And the sovereign who ruled there.
But it seemed Roderick didn’t know anything deeper than that.

“One last thing. Have you ever seen ordinary humans build Sin Count? Not just those aiming to become successors.”

He wondered why those Five Stars had built up Sin Count.
Could they also have aimed for the Abyssal Lord’s throne?
But he quickly shook his head.

‘If that were the case, they wouldn’t have dumped the boss kill on me.’

Twenty years ago, it was Hyuk who killed the boss of the Gate.
If the traitors had wanted Sin Count to become successors, they would have fought to the death against the clone.
But instead, they left both the boss kill and the massive Sin Count to Hyuk.
Why?

“Humans, you say? Hmm, I don’t really know. But maybe… they longed for the power of the Abyss?”
“Longed for power, huh.”
“Or perhaps… ah! They may have wanted to throw society into chaos. If you keep killing people around you to build Sin Count, it’s bound to cause social unrest, isn’t it?”

That made sense too.
Hyuk still didn’t know what the traitors hoped to gain from spreading chaos.
The answer would come only by chasing their trail.

He pressed his throbbing forehead when—

“Therefore, my lord, since you’re the new master of the Abyss, you must build more Sin Count and raise your name high! I’ll lead the charge! Until this dimension is filled with corpses and chaos! Wahaha!”

Thump, thump—
Roderick proudly pounded his chest.

“So, shall we start with the street? I can clean up a dozen humans or so right now—gah!”

Whack—!
Hyuk smacked Roderick’s helmet hard.

Spin, spin—
The helmet spun on Roderick’s head as he flailed around.

“Don’t talk about killing. Listen carefully. From now on—no more murder.”
“What?!”

Clack!
Roderick grabbed his spinning helmet with both hands.

“What do you mean, my lord?! No more murder?!”
“I have no intention of stacking up any more Sin Count.”

On the contrary, he planned to erase it all.
He had to complete the ‘Penance Purification’ quest, which required catching other sinners, to bring his Sin Count down to zero and survive.
So it meant he would never kill innocent people.
But there was no need to explain all that to Roderick.

“Why… why, my lord!! The ruler of the Abyss refuses to take more lives?! Have you killed so many already that you’re tired of it?! Then what use am I as commander of the guards—ahhh!”

Roderick was already acting like his whole world had collapsed.

‘Guess I’ll have to give him some moral education.’

It seemed past Abyssal Lords had led endless massacres.
But Hyuk had no intention of doing the same.
His followers were now his subordinates, so they would follow his law.

‘Who would’ve thought I’d be the one teaching that you can’t just kill people.’

Watching Roderick flail in shock made Hyuk’s head ache.
He’d deal with that later.

“Enough noise. Get back inside.”
“My lord, no! Please withdraw that order—”

With a dismiss command, Roderick was sucked back into the black vortex.
Finally, some peace.

Just then—

“Hey, did you hear? Two new players died in an F-rank Gate.”
“What, again? Isn’t it strange how many people are dying these days? I’ve heard of at least five cases just this month…”

The voices of passersby reached his ears.
Apparently, a lot of people had been dying inside Gates lately.

‘Smells fishy.’

Maybe it was because he’d just heard about Sin Count, but Hyuk couldn’t shake the thought that it was the work of sinners.

‘So I’ll be the one to catch those rotten bastards, huh?’

If he wanted to break free from his limited lifespan, he had to clear the Penance Purification quest.
And since suspicious things were happening in Gates, for now—

‘I should prepare to enter a Gate.’

---

Seoul Player Association Headquarters.

Among the bustling crowd, a few people looked especially serious.

“We still haven’t spotted the player yet, Guild Master.”
“And their identity hasn’t been revealed?”
“No, sir. We’re constantly cross-checking with reporters!”

They were all on their phones, busy calling around.

‘Scouters. Still the same.’

Scouters—
People whose job was to recruit new players into their guilds.
Even twenty years ago, Hyuk had seen them hanging around the Association headquarters.
Their goal was simple: recruit rookies who had just completed player registration.

And today—

“By the way, about the Abyss Gate raider. Are we sure he was unawakened before?”

Clearly, their target was Hyuk.

‘…The rumors already spread?’

Fast. Too fast.
It hadn’t even been an hour since he cleared the Gate, yet all these scouters were already here.
Rumors were spreading that the one who cleared the Abyss Gate had been a non-awakened.

‘How did they even find out?’

It didn’t really matter, though.
As Hyuk entered the building, someone called out—

“Excuse me, wait a second!”

All eyes turned to him.
Scouters paused their calls and glanced quickly at him from head to toe.

“…No, never mind. Sorry for the mistake.”

They immediately turned away.
Their conclusion—this man wasn’t the one.
In other words, Hyuk didn’t look strong enough to be the Abyss Gate raider.

‘Fine by me.’

That meant fewer headaches.
Scouters clung to recruits like obsessed fans, and he remembered all too well the annoyance from his past life.

Thankfully, this time they lost interest quickly and went back to bickering among themselves.

“Hey, Black Night, you’re early this time. Did you spy on another guild?”
“Still talking trash as always. No wonder your guild will always be beneath ours.”
“What? Who said Hexagon is beneath Black Night? You’re the ones always broke, losing rookies to us.”
“Not this time. Our Ares guild is more than ready.”

Representatives of guilds always competed fiercely.
Black Night, Hexagon, Ares, and others—the so-called Big 5 guilds of Korea.
Hearing their names again after twenty years brought back memories.

“The Abyss Gate raider will be ours!”

Hyuk found it funny, being in the middle of their rivalry.

‘Not like I ever planned to join any of them.’

That moment when they’d stopped him was probably the last chance they’d have to hand him a business card.
Because—

“Excuse me, which floor do I go to for the new player registration test?”

After the test, Hyuk would be far above their reach.
This was his second life as a player.
Time to stretch his body a little during the test—

‘And maybe see if I recognize any faces in the Association after twenty years.’

It was also a good chance to see how the world had changed.