They used to call Cheong Jeong the Little Devil of the Investigation Bureau. The ones below ground whispered it with equal parts awe and disgust. After all, it was a title far too grand for a newly minted assistant manager. Cheong Jeong rose less by talent than by ambition and the cunning use of his superiors’ weaknesses.

Unbeknownst to them, among them had risen a human more cunning and merciless than any devil.

“What the hell are you trying to do?!” Cheong Jeong asked nervously.

“Can’t you tell just by looking?” Eun-Ho replied flatly.

Thud! Thud! Thuuud!

The stench of rot filled the black desert. The sand, dark as ash, churned into a swamp of filth, while monstrous tentacles stabbed into it like bridges of flesh.

“I-I’m gonna die if I get hit by that!”

“Oh? So you didn’t know that before? You didn’t seem to notice when you were binding my legs.”

Cheong Jeong struggled, his face and hands barely above the surface. “T-that was—j-just let me out first! Hurry!”

Sssssh—

Between them, a river of sand flowed, the line where the Death Swamp began and ended.

In that rank darkness, Eun-Ho lifted his blade amid the stench and turmoil. “Sword Force.”

Fwooosh—!

His intent alone seemed to rend the air. A weight so suffocating it crushed the breath. A killing aura so keen it made the soul itself shudder. Terror crawled up Cheong Jeong’s throat; the taste of sand, blood, and bile flooded his mouth.

W-what is he?

In his long years at the bureau, Cheong Jeong had met countless people, but none had ever instilled such fear.

Cornered and gasping, Cheong Jeong at last understood the frenzy over this so-called rookie, and why everyone had scrambled to claim him. Only now, when it was far too late, he realized his mistake.

His voice cracked between a laugh and a sob. “W-wait! I’m your mentor! If you kill me on your first day, imagine what people will say!”

“Oh, you’re worried about my reputation?” Eun-Ho asked quietly.

“Y-yes! Think about it! You’ll need good standing in the company if you ever want to—”

“What are you talking about?” Eun-Ho’s eyes were flat, emotionless. “You’re going to die during the field inspection. Honorably. Besides, I don’t really plan to climb any higher anyway.”

It was the exact same line Cheong Jeong had thrown at him earlier.

“... I’ll say a monster got you,” Eun-Ho added. “No one will suspect a thing. Not in this desert.”

Eun-Ho’s eyes harbored no rage, hatred, or thrill of revenge. Only a calm, hollow gaze that chilled Cheong Jeong more than fury ever could. It wasn’t personal, just a cold, irreversible, final decision forged in the mind.

I should try threatening him.

“You think you can just brush this off?! The Audit Bureau can identify a culprit from a single attack mark!”

“Oh? Really?” Eun-Ho tilted his head, voice mild. “Good to know. Thanks for the tip.”

“Huh?”

D-did it work?

A flicker of hope crossed Cheong Jeong’s eyes as he discreetly slipped a hand behind his head. He was reaching for his last remaining weapon.

I better activate my item before the cooldown ends!

[Meteor-Iron Mine has been deployed.]

[Select your target.]

He tossed the trap, setting the target. As he was trying to activate the item, a blinding, searing white light burst before his eyes.

“Activa—”

Fwoosh!

Then, a heat like molten glass flared through his throat, blood erupting from his mouth like a fountain.

“Kuk!”

His vocal cords had been sliced clean through. No scream came out. He mouthed a howl so violently, his eyes bulged and his skull throbbed fit to burst, but no sound was born from it.

“Then we’ll just say the scorpion got you.”

What a lunatic!

To cut down his superior on his very first day at work and stay calm enough to think about cleanup right after was insane

Gaaah... I’ll... I’ll kill you... I’ll kill you, you son of a bitch!

Even as his consciousness blurred, Cheong Jeong seethed with rage. He swore he’d use every connection, every favor he’d ever built to destroy the bastard if he could just make it out alive.

However, Eun-Ho was far too meticulous for that.

Thud—!

“This part,” he said quietly, “is from the scorpion’s sting.”

He picked up the creature’s barbed tail, driving it straight into the chest buried beneath the sand.

[Caution!]

[Severe toxin has been detected and you are entering a state of paralysis!]

[Consume an antidote immediately!]

“Kuuuk!”

Blood surged from the sliced throat, spilling through the lips that no longer closed properly.

“And for the finishing touch...”

Fwoooosh!

A blaze roared to life, so hot that the torn flesh began to seal. Fire opened its maw and swallowed him whole.

“I’ll report it as you dying with the monsters. Don’t worry. Thanks to someone, I’ve learned how to write a proper report.”

“Keugh!”

Flames engulfed Cheong Jeong’s body.

***

Fwoooosh—

In the middle of the pathless black desert, flame flared skyward. The stench of decay was burned away by the acrid smell of smoke. Before long, even that vanished.

Then, a notification chimed in.

[Congratulations!]

[You have defeated the Corrupt Superior!]

[Additional trait-exclusive rewards have been awarded due to your trait, Rebel.]

“A corrupt superior,” huh?

It wasn’t the first time he’d seen such a message, he just hadn’t expected it to appear here.

Right... A similar message popped up when I fought Cho Bok.

[You have defeated the Corrupt Ruler.]

That time, he had even earned Resistance Points for it.

[The hidden conditions, eradication of corrupt leadership, collapse of ruling systems, and revolt against systemic oppression, are resonating with your title Paver of Paths.]

[The Traitor’s Road has been unlocked.]

Besides, he was given a grandiose title for what he had done.

[You have earned twenty Resistance Points!]

[You have acquired the relics of Cheong Jeong!]

He had earned a hundred for Cho Bok. Perhaps, the reward was scaled by rank and level of corruption.

There are so many rotten people in this world...

Maybe every single employee in this company was just another degenerate bureaucrat. Anyway, he grabbed the small pouch that had fallen from Cheong Jeong’s limp hand and slipped it away just in time.

Swish—thud!

Two tentacles speared down where he’d been standing, forcing him to roll aside.

“It’s getting fiercer. I guess because there’s only two of us left?” 𝘧𝓇ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝘣𝓃ℴ𝓋𝑒𝑙.𝑐𝘰𝑚

Thoom!

He sliced, and sliced again, but no matter how many he cut, the tentacles just regrew, slamming into the ground like stakes.

[The Plague Hydra has absorbed a massive amount of energy!]

[It unleashes Plague Tempest!]

Then, a violent shockwave burst outward as their swollen cyst exploded, pouring a black waterfall of writhing sludge.

Fwoooosh!

The black grains within it fused into a raging sandstorm, spiraling out of control. Then came millions of insects, pouring from the sand like a living tide.

Ssssss—!

The tiny, writhing horrors swarmed over his skin, brushing his flesh with antennae and twitching legs.

[Caution!]

[You have been bitten by Plague Larvae.]

[You are entering a state of plague infection.]

The swarm crawled higher, up his boots, along his legs, and across his arms—a tide of filth trying to consume him whole.

“Urgh!”

Every inch of his skin crawled as millions of insects burrowed into him. The sensation was so unbearable that he’d rather cut off his limbs.

Then, the messages started flashing.

[Your stamina is steadily decreasing due to Plague Infection.]

[Your stamina has decreased by one.]

[Your stamina has decreased by one.]

[Your stamina has decreased by one.]

...

Not even the Languid Vitality trait couldn’t keep up with his stamina loss.

[Caution!]

[Plague Infection has reached its critical stage.]

[Your stamina is rapidly draining!]

[Replenish your stamina immediately and rest!]

Eun-Ho ignited the Flame Sky-Shattering Blade.

Fwoosh!

Then, with one sweeping arc, he burned away a swarm of the wriggling things. Another stroke followed, cleaving through the tentacles lunging at his head.

However, every time he burned them, more poured out. Every time he cut them down, new ones came crawling as if it was endless.

This is too inefficient.

If he kept hacking away like this, his stamina would give out long before the swarm did. It was better to end this fast and clean.

“Summon.”

Then, a golden arrow appeared, shining alone in the black desert.

“Activate.”

[You have activated the Restored Brahmastra.]

[Please select your target.]

He pulled out the divine weapon that never missed once a target was marked. Its most terrifying feature was simple: the idea that it only required a target even if he couldn’t see the enemy.

“Target is the Plague Hydra’s core! Pierce it clean so that it can never regenerate again.”

[Activate!]

Puff! Swooosh—!

The blue spear flew beside the arrow, both ripping through the air. A sonic crack split the silence just like a seed bursting open. The sacred arrow had found its mark.

[You have slain the apex predator of the survivors, Plague Hydra!]

[You have earned 2,000 Welfare Points.]

He’d done it. Now that the Restored Brahmastra was spent, he’d have to wait days before using it again. However, it was a small price to pay for staying alive. Items could be replaced but his life couldn’t.

He was just about to turn away when a new broadcast chimed in.

[Congratulations!]

[You are the first new employee to defeat the King of the Corrupted Desert.]

[The first kill reward has been granted.]

“Huh?”

[The Desert’s Resentment now resides within you.]

[The Death Swamp evolves into the Plague Swamp.]

[Usage count has been replenished.]

[Please check the updated item information.]

***

The snow globe shimmered not with drifting snow, but with swirling, dusty sand that burned with light.

[Plague Swamp]

- A jeweled orb containing the immeasurable power of sand.

- Activating it creates a sand basin engulfed in a Plague Storm within the selected area.

- Warning: the maximum range and duration depend on the user’s rank.

- Use Limit: 5 times

The same black storm that once unleashed swarms of plague-bearing insects was now combined with the swarm’s devouring effect, and fully recharged to boot.

I’ve used it twice, so there were only three charges left.

Now it was back to full, which was not bad at all. The Restored Brahmastra was worth using. Feeling satisfied with the result, he turned but froze mid-step.

[Progress: 49/50]

Huh? There’s still one left?

The desert had gone still, stagnant like rotting water. There seemed to be no monsters remaining.

[0.0%]

[0.0%]

[0.0%]

Every direction was littered with carcasses. Only the stench of decay and burned flesh lingered in the graveyard of sand.

Did I miss something? Or is there a hidden condition?

Eun-Ho frowned, scanning the desolate field as he walked toward where the Restored Brahmastra had struck.

Woooo— Woooo—

A low wind brushed across the desert.

Thunk.

Half-buried in the sand, a single rootlike tentacle twitched. The core, the Plague Hydra’s true body, was the base from which dozens more had branched, converging like petals.

At the very center, the manager lay unconscious, ensnared by dark purple tentacles.

“Manager?”

He’s not dead...

[31.0%]

[30.5%]

[30.4%]

His stamina was definitely low, but not fatal. It was falling slowly, but it hadn’t hit zero yet. Maybe the tentacles wrapping around him were somehow keeping him alive.

[The Plague Hydra has absorbed a massive amount of energy!]

[It unleashes Plague Tempest!]

The massive amount of energy that the Plague Hydra had drained earlier was probably the manager’s.

Does that mean I have to finish him off too?

Eun-Ho hesitated, frowning. As he stepped closer, something caught against his boot.

Thunk.

What the heck?

Another body lay tangled in the roots of the tentacles. It was a man impaled clean through the forehead by the Restored Brahmastra.

“... A corpse?”

Can I even call it that?

[0.0%]

Technically, he should be dead. Yet apart from the hole in his brow, the man’s body remained flawless. His eyes were still wide open, his face unnervingly handsome. Despite the thin layer of desert dust, his ornate clothing was barely dirtied. He seemed less like a corpse and more like someone who would rise to his feet at any moment.

Eun-Ho checked and found out that the man wasn’t breathing, but his skin wasn’t cold either.

He’s neither alive nor dead?

What he’d said just the other day came back to him.

“Does anyone here remember the hunting trial at Namsan Tower?”

If this place is a respawn zone, then this man might be the reason monsters kept endlessly reappearing here. That would make sense.

Eun-Ho had solved why a normal desert had turned into a Special Zone. That flash of realization was followed by a system chime.

[Congratulations!]

[You have uncovered the cause of the Desert of Corruption, a boundary between life and death born from boundless resentment.]

[You have completed the sub-trial of Project OJT.]

[You have been rewarded with two points and 2,000 Welfare Points.]

One of the trials had been completed.

A boundary between life and death, born from boundless resentment, huh? So what kind of hatred does it take to end up like that? He can’t die, can’t move on, just rotting here by himself?

Eun-Ho couldn’t imagine, but he did realize one thing. That sound that had been echoing across the desert all this time wasn’t the wind, but a lament.

Woooo— Wooooo—

The low, lingering cry that trembled through the dunes came from the man lying before him. Whatever his story was, it wasn’t Eun-Ho’s concern.

He reached out to close the man’s open eyes. At least, he’d give him that much peace. Then, black smoke erupted from beneath his fingertips.

Fwoooosh!

[The Corrupted Monarch has discovered traces of searing resentment!]

[An ancient vengeful spirit awakens at the sight of an unforgettable enemy!]

“Sorry, what?”

An unforgettable enemy? Is that supposed to be me?