Chapter 1
Clatter. Clatter.
The skeletons, endlessly lined up, rush forward in a relentless wave.
“Kuhhhh!”
And leading that skeleton army, a massive meat golem made of various flesh pieces stitched together like a ragged patchwork.
When the meat golem swings its enormous arms, the demon army falls like autumn leaves.
The demon army, terrified by the overwhelming sight and the endless attack of the skeleton army, fled while shouting.
“Ahhh! Run away!”
Watching from the side, protected by the Death Knight, I smirked and said.
“It was worth the effort.”
I had worked so hard to create that meat golem.
It might look like a random patchwork, but I had meticulously considered the symmetry and even the skin color when making it. It was my masterpiece.
“The Demon of Theros!”
That was the nickname the demon army used for me.
And Theros was the name of the grand mage from the human alliance who summoned me, and the person who was currently sweating beside me.
“Uh… Jihyuk-nim?”
“Hm?”
“Why do you always come with me in every battle…?”
I looked at them with a confused expression and said.
“You summoned me, right? Then you have to watch and see how well I fight.”
Over 30 years ago, under Theros’ leadership, I was summoned as a candidate for a Hero.
So, I was supposed to be the Hero.
Although, I knew full well that I didn’t quite fit the image of a Hero, neither in appearance nor aura, but what could I do?
Given that I hated danger, being a necromancer who could command undead armies and watch from the back was the most fitting role for me.
“I’ve… already seen enough. So…”
I knew why Theros was acting like this.
I had been a source of fear, not only for the demon army but also for the human alliance forces.
At first, I had no qualms about handling even the bodies of my allies, struggling to survive in any way possible.
The people who hated me?
I understood them perfectly.
Who wouldn’t be horrified if a comrade suddenly rose as an undead?
But that’s why I kept Theros by my side.
“No. It’s not enough. See more. I always said, if you bring in innocent people, you should at least feel responsible. You summoned me, not knowing what kind of war I was being dragged into. I’ve been fighting for 30 years without even a moment to sympathize with your cause. So why did you call me in the first place?”
When Theros hesitated, I smirked.
“So, just watch quietly. I’ve always told you, if I wasn’t going back to Earth, my real enemy would have been you guys, not the demon army. Honestly, calling them invaders is just a title. In my eyes, you and them are the same.”
When I first arrived, I was so frightened that I thought they were real demons with horns… but no, they were just highly intelligent beings from the demon world.
They were another race who wanted to settle in the human world, escaping their barren homeland.
Sure, many humans were slaughtered in the process, but that’s something that can happen during wartime.
Anyway, even though I was still on the side of humanity, it wasn’t because I disliked the demon army or sympathized with the alliance’s cause. It was simply the most efficient way for me to return to Earth.
“I don’t think about anything other than efficiency. If I had to worry about all that other stuff, I would have been dead a long time ago.”
I was a necromancer who dealt with corpses, and whether it was the demon army or the human alliance, they looked the same to me.
To survive in such a situation, I had chosen to evaluate everything through efficiency.
That’s the only way to survive.
“Anyway, stop complaining and just…”
But then.
“The Demon King! The Demon King!”
“Huh?”
Turning my head, I saw the meat golem holding up the bloodied remains of the Demon King.
I had only looked away for a second, and the cute meat golem had already caught the Demon King.
“What? This is so anticlimactic?”
Theros said.
“Co… Congratulations. You’ve finally defeated the Demon King!”
I licked my lips and said.
“He was weaker than I expected. If I had known he was this weak, I would’ve dealt with him earlier.”
“Eh?”
“I made about four other superweapons for the final battle with the Demon King, but if I had known this would be so anticlimactic, I would have just brought them all out and finished it quickly.”
Theros’ eyes shook as if there had been an earthquake.
“You… you have four more of those!?”
“Well, to be precise, they’re stronger than the meat golem, but anyway, that’s not important right now, right?”
I smiled brightly.
“The Demon King is dead. Time to keep our promise.”
*
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“Hehehehehe.”
The pile of gold bars and jewels stacked like a mountain.
I gently caressed the gold bars and said.
“I’m rich now.”
With all of this, I would return to Earth and live a leisurely, peaceful, and luxurious retirement life.
“I’ll play games, watch movies… Hmm, yeah! Should I buy a yacht? Super luxury villas around the world!?”
The days of wandering battlefields and only touching corpses were finally over.
I would live like the king of wealth and flex, enjoying my life to the fullest!
At that moment, Theros cautiously approached and spoke.
“The preparations are complete. Shall we leave immediately?”
“Why? Do you want me to leave quickly?”
“No, it’s not that. His Majesty the Emperor is preparing a celebration for you…”
“Don’t say things you don’t mean. People who sweat bullets at the sight of me, not even coming close, are now preparing a celebration?”
There were several reasons I wanted to return to Earth, but the biggest one was that this place was simply boring.
There was nothing enjoyable, and people hated me, yet still depended on me, making the 30 years I spent here lonely and dull.
“Wait. I’ll pack first.”
With a wave of my hand, a vast space opened up, and the gold bars and jewels piled up in the warehouse were sucked in almost instantly.
Even just converting them into money would probably be worth several trillion, maybe even ten trillion.
With this, I could live without worrying about money and do whatever I wanted for the rest of my life.
“Alright. Send me off.”
At my words, Theros handed me a magic stone, which was as large as a human head, covered in complex magical formulas.
“This magic stone is what made it possible for you to stay here by twisting the laws of causality. That’s also why you haven’t aged.”
The key Theros had secretly kept, which would send me back to Earth.
“If my calculations are correct, once you break this, you’ll return to the moment you arrived here due to the return of causality.”
“I don’t know anything about causality or whatever. I’m a necromancer. So I just need to break this, right?”
“Yes, and you must accept the return of causality without resistance.”
“Got it, got it.”
I didn’t fully understand what he was talking about, but essentially, I just had to stay still, right?
I took the magic stone and said.
“Next time, don’t summon people without thinking. If you do, I’ll kill you all first.”
Theros, sweating, replied.
“…That won’t happen.”
“Of course, it shouldn’t. Now, how do I break it?”
“After decades of twisting causality, it’s already at its limit. It will break with the smallest shock.”
“Really?”
I raised my fist high and slammed it down, saying.
“Then I’m leaving! It was a pain, so let’s never meet again!”
*
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After entrusting myself to the distortion, I opened my eyes and smiled brightly.
“I’m back.”
Earth, which I had longed for even in my dreams for decades.
“Yoohoo!”
No more blood-soaked battlefields, no more people who scorned and pushed me around. Here, Earth was my true home, where I could live in peace and comfort.
I looked at the game console connected to the TV with a blissful expression.
“Did you wait long?”
A new title had come out, and after playing all night, I had dozed off for a bit. When I opened my eyes, I was on the Seron continent.
“You don’t know how much I’ve missed you,” I said as I reverently fiddled with the game console, recalling my old memories.
And there it was, the save file I hadn’t touched in 30 years.
However…
“…I don’t remember the story.”
I couldn’t recall any of the beginning parts I had played.
“Uh…”
I grabbed the controller, but I couldn’t even remember the button layout, and it was a complete disaster.
“I guess I’ll have to do the tutorial again.”
But then I chuckled.
“I’ll just restart from the beginning later. Time’s all I have.”
I put the controller down and thought about the 1,000 things I wanted to do when I returned to Earth.
“First, kimchi fried rice and kimchi stew.”
Just thinking about it made my mouth water.
“Ah, I almost died from not having rice and kimchi.”
The staple food on the Seron continent was some sort of potato-like crop. It wasn’t bad, but it couldn’t satisfy my taste buds, which had been spoiled by rice and kimchi.
“Yeah. From today, let’s eat and play as much as we want!”
That’s why I brought back all that gold and jewels.
I changed out of my black robe and into the style I used to wear 30 years ago, ready for some dining out.
“Ah, Earth is the best.”
Even the feel of the clothes was different.
Natural materials?
Sorry, but nothing beats the comfort and finish of clothes made on Earth, where basic material engineering is incredibly advanced.
I grinned and said.
“Alright. Time to check the money.”
I reached into the air and began pulling out the gold, only to see the entrance to the space appear naturally.
But…
“…What’s this?”
I thought about the gold bars, but nothing appeared.
I tried calling up jewels and other items, but there was no response from the space.
“What’s going on? Why isn’t anything coming out?”
I was confused as I reached into the space again, and then, with a pale face, I said.
“None… is there?”
Nothing.
It wasn’t just a specific item that was missing. It was completely empty—there was nothing, not even a single item.
The gold bars and jewels I had gathered from the Empire’s treasury, as well as the undead army I had painstakingly built over decades, had all disappeared without a trace.
“What… what is this? Where did everything go?”
My meat golem!
The Death Knight!
No, that’s not important right now.
“My money…”
The retirement fund I had worked so hard to gather for my comfortable life on Earth had completely vanished.
My 30 years of hard work had disappeared for no reason at all.
“Wait… if I don’t have this, I have no money?”
My goal was to leave the battlefield and live a quiet, peaceful life, but now, before that, I was worried about how I’d make ends meet.
“Damn it. How am I supposed to retire without money?”
Although my physical age, due to the distortion of causality, was still in my late 20s, my actual age was nearing 60!
I was supposed to retire!
“No! Where the hell did everything go?!”
Furious, I shouted.
“Theros, you bastard!”
I had no idea what Theros had done, but he was the only one I could vent my anger on right now.
“Ahhh!”
Just as I was rampaging in anger, I noticed something.
“…Huh?”
A magical disturbance from afar.
“Magical disturbance on Earth?”
I had no idea what was going on, but I couldn’t just stay still.
I kicked the window open and was about to cast Fly when I stopped.
“I shouldn’t stand out. It’s my retirement life, after all.”
I went out through the door and ran towards the source of the magical disturbance.
“Damn, how long has it been since I’ve run like this?”
Since I always used my skeleton carriage to get around, running felt incredibly awkward.
“Ahhh!”
“Run!”
As I neared the magical disturbance, more and more people, frightened, fled from the area.
“What the hell is going on?”
Finally, I arrived at the source.
The moment I arrived, I immediately recognized where the magical disturbance was coming from.
A massive portal, radiating brilliant light, was open.
“Damn… what is this?”
At that moment, strange creatures began emerging from the portal.
“Why are these things here on Earth!? Theros, you bastard, where did you send me!?”
Not only had my undead army and retirement fund vanished, but now strange monsters were appearing on Earth.
And then, people in armor and with weapons started rushing out to attack the monsters.
“Evacuate, civilians!”
These people, with skills that were hard to believe were from ordinary humans, slaughtered the monsters in an instant.
“What the hell are they?”
Are there people like that on Earth?
They were almost knight-level warriors from Seron continent!
In a pinch, they’d make good Death Knights… No, wait, this wasn’t the time for that.
I looked up at the sky, dazed, and muttered.
“My retirement…”
I still didn’t understand what was happening, but one thing was certain.
My retirement life was ruined.
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