The tragedy came in a terrible form.
It approached, changing its appearance repeatedly, tormenting the man so he couldn’t adapt.
The first tragedy the man witnessed was the lawyer.
The criminal who killed the man’s wife was none other than the son of a chairman from a well-known company— a name that everyone recognized.
Even the man’s own home, which was relatively affluent, was like a firefly compared to the immense wealth of the corporate giant’s child.
What was even more tragic was that this unworthy criminal was favored by the corporate chairman, and moreover, he received overwhelming support from the company based on the reasoning that if this case became an issue, it would have an adverse effect on the company. That had to be avoided at all costs.
And as a result…
“Honorable Judge, this incident is truly unfortunate. However, we must examine it carefully. Can we say that only this poor young man bears the responsibility for this incident? This young man at such a bright age, who should be shining and full of life, became like this due to societal responsibilities as well. The partial responsibility for this accident should also lie with the environment that led this young man to drug addiction, with the parents who failed to properly guide him, and with the school that did not teach him how to live right as a member of society, and indeed, with the society that pushed this young man to this point!”
The criminal.
The young man who destroyed the man’s family in an instant received a slap on the wrist for punishment.
Moreover, that slap on the wrist was repeatedly reduced, and through parole, it became exceedingly light.
It was a get-out-of-jail-free card written in capitalism.
And the next tragedy that approached the man was a corporate attack to bury this incident.
The corporation mobilized the media and people to assault the man.
Despite the corporation offering a hefty sum of money as a settlement, he rejected it and was labeled as a psychopath trying to profit off the death of his wife and unborn child, and a cold-hearted man who went straight to work instead of taking a vacation after his wife’s death…
The corporation spewed all sorts of lies, exaggerated the man’s flaws, and distorted his actions to attack him.
Thus, the man became trash, chased away by the townspeople who pointed fingers at him.
He sold the home that was once filled with the hope of living happily with his wife and soon-to-be-born child for a pittance and vanished into loneliness.
But it’s only natural for downhill slides to pick up speed.
The tragedy didn’t end there.
Perhaps due to the corporate influence, he lost his job, and his personal information spread widely on the internet, attracting all kinds of blame. On top of that, a robber, barely skilled enough to be considered a criminal, came to him and snatched even the remaining possessions.
So, an ordinary man, who had done nothing wrong, fell into ruin.
However, strangely enough, what the man felt as he plummeted into despair was not despair at all.
What he felt during those days full of brilliant talent was inferiority and despair.
When surrounded by light, what he sensed was a horrific negativity.
Yet, at the very bottom, what the man felt was an intense emotion that seemed to burn both body and spirit.
Revenge?
No.
It wasn’t a sticky, heavy, and blazing emotion like revenge.
Anger?
That wasn’t it either.
It wasn’t a piercing emotion that made his body tremble and stained his vision red, numbing his senses.
It was an emotion similar to what he had felt before.
Back when he still hadn’t lost hope in his dreams, when he was confident in his talent, during that period when he had just entered the Specialization High School for Ability Users, it was a feeling that partially dominated him then. Yet, it was similar but strangely different, uniquely twisted.
What should I call this?
It is akin to ambition but somewhat different.
It felt like an enlightenment, though it was unclear.
Perhaps it was the merging of those two emotions, giving birth to a feeling that had never existed in the world before.
Perhaps that feeling was the madness that spread through him when he lost his sanity.
Yes.
It could be madness.
But that madness was pretty distorted.
It was neither hot nor cold.
Like air, it remained in place, flowing while always trying to maintain the same density.
It had the quality to fill empty spaces and overflow, flowing around it.
Thus, that madness.
The madness that came to the man resembled the nature of duty.
And so, the man, engulfed by madness, reached for what he had never touched before.
Magic.
What those who have mastered special abilities should undoubtedly avoid.
A power that demands a cost, twisting the body and bringing illness.
The cost of magic is severe.
And this cost is even more brutal for those who have mastered abilities than for ordinary people.
The body twists.
The constitution changes.
The dantian bursts forth, twisting, contorting.
The blood vessels clog and distort.
The pathways through which magic should flow become blocked, clotted, and torn.
The body twists, the soul twists, and the love from summon creatures fades away.
That’s why capable persons steer clear of magic.
It is the easiest ability to use.
As long as you know the method, you can use it regardless of talent.
It is a power you can use as long as you are ready to pay the price…
But that price is horrifically severe.
It twists the blessed constitution, turning a genius’s talent into that of an average person, instantly draining gathered energy, distorting blood vessels to induce magical disorder, making one fight unseen diseases, cutting lifespans, and rendering one powerless.
“There are numerous examples of those who have been ruined by meddling with magic…”
But the man reached for magic.
Under the control of madness, or perhaps, controlling the madness, he reached out towards magic.
Thus, the man, who had been an ordinary wizard, became a possession sorcerer who stuffed ghosts into his body and commanded them.
He was a shaman born from tragedy.
“But despite such a tragedy, he did not become a vengeful spirit.”
However, the tragedy could not completely ruin the man.
Even though that tragedy was horrible and it sought to deny his life wholly and plunge him into ruin.
The man did not succumb to revenge, nor did he drown in anger.
He rose from the tragedy and set a goal to achieve.
A goal that would take a very long time, a lifetime perhaps…
Or maybe a colossal goal that might never be achieved, regardless of how much time was spent.
And that goal was truly magnificent.
“Hmm…”
Jinseong recalled his conversation with the man.
That man, wearing the skin of the criminal he risked his life for, said this:
“The world needs a hell.”
He declared it.
That God does not exist, and the afterlife does not exist.
The man was an atheist, a former wizard who valued rationality.
That’s why he decided to take souls of the wicked and inflict pain instead of sending them off to the afterlife. He hoped to become a prison that contained evildoers and a hell that tortures and torments their souls.
Thus, the man.
The possession sorcerer who had experienced tragedy wanted to become the new law of the world.
And so he began to roam the world, harvesting people.
Like a Grim Reaper harvesting souls.
Like an inevitable death they must all face.
He approached criminals and risked his life.
Wearing the skin of the criminals, hiding his own skin color, he changed the color of his eyes by removing the eyeballs of the criminals to use as materials. He carved his bones, regenerating them to alter his appearance, and created a magic that changed his voice by pulling out the vocal cords of criminals.
And the souls.
The souls escaping from the dead bodies were stored in his own body.
And trapped in his body, they experienced endless torment.
Thus, the man wandered the world, taking lives from those he deemed “evil.”
He roamed the wilds and killed the evildoers he encountered, remaining hidden otherwise.
He donned magics made from the materials of criminals and roamed the cities, harvesting the wicked, sometimes chasing leads to find and hunt evildoers… continually collecting the souls of the wicked.
And finally, the moment came when he could no longer gather the souls of the wicked.
Though he had gained a powerful mental fortitude from a series of events, he had gathered more ghosts than an ordinary possession sorcerer, yet he ultimately reached a saturation point.
If he were to try and collect any more ghosts, his vessel would break or he would be overwhelmed by the ghosts he had collected.
However… the man did not choose to “give up the gathered ghosts.”
He didn’t want to release the wicked he harvested, and he didn’t want to stop gathering them either.
He must collect the wicked.
The world needs hell.
And I must be that hell.
The man’s goal was firm, and his madness had completely transformed into the realm of duty.
That duty hoped to become a law, yearned to become a principle.
So that he wouldn’t have to release the wicked.
So he could gather more wicked souls.
The name of that yearning was madness.
And so, the man chose to move forward, fueling his body with madness.
He chose to burn his body, sacrifice his flesh, and even incinerate his very ego.
Thus, the man was liberated from his human form, gaining an immense vessel beyond what a normal human could possess.
Losing the shape of a human, his flesh expanded and multiplied, enveloping everything around him.
His hands and feet became pillars and roots stretching skyward, his desire to harvest the wicked became a duty imprinted within him. As he shed the guise of humanity, he also cast off the limitations of being human, becoming a twisted tree capable of operating in the deepest underground and the contaminated surface world.
Thus, the man who boasted himself as death truly became death.
The possession sorcerer, who had moved while hiding his true self, became a warped tree made of flesh.
And, crashing through the German Reichstag, he appeared, devouring evildoers in Berlin in an instant, and was finally dubbed Hell.
However, time was twisted, and hell had yet to manifest.
The man of now was but a seeker of hell, just a possession sorcerer who harvested evildoers.
He was merely a roaming death.
Roaming death that only harvests the wicked.
