After finishing his meal, Go Yohan had returned to his room.
It was still before nine o'clock, an early evening.
"I need a good night's sleep, so would you please leave?"
He sent out the nanny and the helpers.
Since Go Yohan was only six years old, nothing seemed off aside from his manner of speech.
"What you've given me is too much."
The new life bestowed upon him, all of it felt undeserved.
But the more he felt that way, the greater his hatred for demons grew.
Ripple.
Demons, evil incarnate.
[Faith has increased.]
At that moment, the goddess's voice rang in his head.
He later learned it had spoken in his mind even before his first cry at birth.
'System.'
It was like an authority granted to players.
Countless people sought answers about what the System was and voiced their doubts, but nothing had been properly revealed.
But Go Yohan knew.
That all of this was a blessing.
"But I will pray no more."
A mad smile curled on Go Yohan's lips as he rose to his feet.
"I will prove it all with the power you bestowed upon me."
He would prove it by slaughtering every last one of those damned demons.
Until that end came, he would pray no more.
"Status window."
The bloodline of holy knights typically awakened as players around age fifteen.
Among Go Yohan's siblings, the only one besides him who hadn't awakened was his immediately older sister, Go Minji. The rest had already awakened and were balancing studies with player activities.
But Go Yohan had awakened from birth—no, from within Shin Sookyung's womb.
[Go Yohan]
No one knew this fact.
[Job: Black Knight]
[Title: Zealot]
[Level 1]
No one imagined a mere six-year-old like Go Yohan had awakened, and no one sensed any mana from him.
Because Go Yohan didn't wish it.
'Not yet.'
But his parents and siblings thought of him as special.
Mimicking normalcy to ease their worries—matching his speech and behavior—wasn't hard for Go Yohan.
But.
'I am Go Yohan. But I am also Michael.'
It felt like even his past self would be erased.
The happiness now was so immense it overshadowed past pains.
-Little brother.
Even his little brother Gabriel, whom he couldn't be with, seemed like he might fade away.
So for now, Go Yohan hoped his parents and siblings would just see him as a bit unusual.
He hoped this time would last, while his level remained at 1 and no one noticed.
Until the time came, without any shortcomings.
However.
Swipe.
[Strength 63]
[Vitality 90]
[Agility 88]
[Mana 160]
He never slacked on self-training for even a moment.
[Faith 612]
He tightened his entire body with mana, concealing himself so no one would notice.
If he repeated that act without pause, not even in sleep.
[Mana has increased.]
It became ascetic training in itself.
"This is..."
Go Yohan constricted every muscle in his body with mana.
He tore into his own flesh with mana, shredding his muscles.
[Strength has increased.]
[Vitality has increased.]
What result comes without cause?
The reason he existed here now.
"My holy war."
He would prepare, and prepare again.
*
*
*
"I'm so sorry about this."
Shin Sookyung spoke as if she truly meant it.
"I know you're busy, yet you're even escorting us like this."
"No need for that."
The man in the passenger seat, Lee Jae-kyung, replied.
"I was in a slump anyway and wanted a break."
Lee Jae-kyung, known as the Sword Ghost, was a player.
One of Shinseong Guild's top players and ranked 9th in Korea.
For such a man to handle escort duty was a waste.
"And seeing your cute son is pretty healing."
"Our Yohan is cute, right?"
Lee Jae-kyung reached out and ruffled Go Yohan's hair.
"My hair will get messy."
"He's a bit... unique too."
Today was the day they had planned to go on a trip with Shin Sookyung.
They weren't going far, just to a villa in Incheon.
"Yohan, anything you want to do?"
"I'm fine."
"Anything you want to eat?"
"I'm fine."
Shin Sookyung rubbed her cheek against Go Yohan's face with a worried look.
He was so mature it somehow made him more pitiful the longer she looked.
Her biggest worry was that despite eating all his meals properly, he was growing thinner day by day.
"Look at this sweat. Are you sick?"
"I'm fine."
"This kid..."
His frail body was her utmost concern.
Of course, it was really because even at this moment, he was secretly training while hiding his mana.
"We've arrived. Security personnel are around, so rest easy without worry."
"Thank you. And if you're okay with it, join us for a meal."
"Shall I?"
There wasn't much to do.
Digging for shellfish at the mudflats.
"...How many buckets already?"
Or standing at the seaside watching seagulls.
"Not a single seagull. Why? I definitely hid my mana."
"Probably because of us."
"Too bad."
In the evening, they returned to the villa, where Lee Jae-kyung grilled meat.
"That kid eats well."
"Yohan, eat more."
Times more joyful than he could have dreamed in the past.
"I'll head to bed."
Once again before ten o'clock, Go Yohan said he'd sleep first and entered the villa.
"Are you worried?"
Lee Jae-kyung spoke to Shin Sookyung, who watched Go Yohan's retreating figure with concern.
"He's too mature. I heard the youngest is supposed to be spoiled and clingy."
"No need to worry too much. Yohan's unique, but not strange. These days, there's that term... middle school syndrome? Think of it as coming early, and you'll feel better."
"I suppose so?"
Reassured by Lee Jae-kyung's words, Shin Sookyung stood.
"Rest well. Don't worry about security."
Security alone included ten top-tier players, plus top ranker Lee Jae-kyung.
Moreover, Shin Sookyung was a former ranker, though retired now.
"Then I'll leave it to you."
She thought there was nothing to worry about.
*
*
*
Tatatak!
Lee Jae-kyung raced forward at full speed.
Using player abilities to traverse the city was strictly forbidden by the Association, but he didn't care now.
"Please...! Please!"
Where had it gone wrong?
Problems were endless.
"Damn it!"
The biggest was his own mistake.
Escort duty wasn't his expertise, yet he'd taken it for a break.
That was wrong.
"Please!"
The iron rule: never leave the protectee's side.
He'd broken it.
"Pleeease!"
It started with a report of a gate reaction near the villa.
The issue was that it was on the verge of breaking.
-We'll check it out.
He should have waited calmly.
But Lee Jae-kyung, always on active duty, felt itchy.
-You'll be too late. I'll handle it quick.
At most 30 minutes, he thought he could wrap it up.
He thought nothing would happen in that time.
Pang!
But the site was a trap.
Items exploding as if prepared, attacks from strangers.
By the time he'd cut them all down.
"Pleeease!"
Over ten minutes had passed.
Then he realized.
Boom!
Contact with the villa personnel had been cut off at some point.
He tore through the air.
Forcing his wounded body moved ripped muscles, mana depleting rapidly.
Even so.
"Huff, huff."
Lee Jae-kyung finally reached the villa.
He dragged his unresponsive legs forward.
Who the culprits were could wait.
Right now.
"Ah.... No...."
He had to protect what mattered most.
But he was too late.
"No!"
Around the villa lay the bodies of the players meant to guard it.
A long trail of blood led toward the villa.
What drove Lee Jae-kyung madder.
Swaaa.
Was how deathly quiet the villa surroundings were.
There should be some noise now.
At least sounds from surviving guards fighting, or Shin Sookyung battling.
Step.
But in this silence.
"No...."
It drove Lee Jae-kyung mad.
Thud.
He finally collapsed to his knees.
At the villa entrance, the body of the last guard he'd hoped was a sign of hope.
What horrors lay inside.
Lee Jae-kyung, for whom seeing corpses was like facing karma itself, couldn't even bring himself to look.
"...How... what should I..."
It was then.
Creak.
A sound came from the wooden floor of the villa.
Lee Jae-kyung sprang up the instant he heard it.
He launched himself like a coiled spring.
If enemies remained, he'd cut them all down and himself too.
Shrieeek!
As his swinging sword sought to cleave foes without hesitation.
Paaang!
His blade, which should have sliced through anything, wavered pathetically.
"...?"
Sword Ghost, Lee Jae-kyung.
"...What?"
What blocked his sword was a mere six-year-old boy: Go Yohan.
"You're late."
"..."
Lee Jae-kyung's mind blanked.
It made no sense.
"Will you come in?"
At Go Yohan's voice, Lee Jae-kyung nodded unwittingly.
That small door felt like a gateway to hell.
Creak.
The opened door.
A acrid stench stabbed his nose.
"There was an attack."
With Go Yohan's words, the scene inside the villa came into view.
"Huhp...!"
A sight that made him want to vomit on the spot.
Suspected culprits lay scattered everywhere.
"My mother was injured too."
Rooooar!
Go Yohan's calm fury crashed over Lee Jae-kyung like a tidal wave.