MRUCM 02

 Chapter 02

Baek Gang-jin sat deep within a dark, gloomy cave.

Scattered haphazardly across an experimental table made from the bones and hide of the dragon Valakas were countless reagents and magic circles.

Ten years had already passed.

But Baek Gang-jin was not impatient.

To him, time was merely a resource for accumulating data and remodeling his body.

‘The human body is far too inefficient.’

Baek Gang-jin looked down at his own forearm.

He could see it even without a microscope.

His magically enhanced optic nerves could observe the blood flow beneath his skin and the process of cell division.

‘Aging.’

Living things grow old.

The reason is simple.

As long as they can leave behind offspring, it doesn’t matter if the original body dies.

From a biological perspective, an individual is nothing more than a consumable item for passing genes on to the next generation.

However, Baek Gang-jin had no intention of growing old and dying.

‘Lift the limit on cell division.’

His will, riding on mana, touched the genetic chain.

Telomeres.

The ends of chromosomes that determine the lifespan of life.

He placed a magical protective shield over them to prevent wear and programmed them to regenerate continuously.

It was the moment of conquering the disease called aging.

With this, his physical age would be permanently fixed in his thirties.

But this alone wasn’t enough.

This was just the foundational work.

Baek Gang-jin’s goal was to far surpass humanity.

‘Neurotransmitters are too slow.’

The chemical signaling system is outdated.

He couldn’t tolerate even a 0.2-second delay between thinking, issuing a command, and the body reacting.

He dismantled the neurons in his brain and rebuilt them.

A new neural network where magical power waves flowed instead of electrical signals.

A so-called mana-reactive neuron network.

Thanks to this, his thinking speed increased exponentially.

It became possible to control a vast number of viruses while simultaneously predicting the enemy’s movements and calculating countermeasures—true multitasking.

“Hoo.”

Baek Gang-jin walked out of the tank.

The moisture evaporated in an instant.

This was because his magical power generated heat on the surface of his skin.

He clenched and unclenched his fist.

A sound of air tearing apart rang out.

‘Energy efficiency isn’t bad either.’

Baek Gang-jin focused on the mitochondria.

Those outdated organelles that burn oxygen and glucose to produce ATP.

He replaced the outer membrane of the mitochondria with mana-permeable proteins.

He named them Manadria.

Now, just by breathing, mana from the atmosphere was directly injected into each and every cell.

Every time his heart pumped, highly concentrated liquid mana, instead of blood, circulated throughout his body.

An inexhaustible, limitless power coursed through his body.

“…….”

Baek Gang-jin rose from his seat.

The auxiliary computing devices implanted in his spine and joints reacted instantly.

Before his brain could even issue a command, his body had already assumed the optimal posture.

Then, microscopic viruses were emitted from the surface of his skin.

‘Viral Synapses.’

All information within a 1-kilometer radius poured into his brain.

The heartbeat of a bug hiding in a crevice of a rock, the flow of the wind, the temperature of the groundwater.

There were no more blind spots for him.

It was the birth of a perfect absolute being.

—

While Baek Gang-jin was in seclusion, the outside world had transformed into hell.

A war against the Demon King’s army had broken out.

Humanity was on the brink of extinction.

Half the continent was burned, and even the trusted hero was beheaded by the Demon King and hung from the city walls.

People cried out, searching for a god.

But there was no god.

Instead, there was Baek Gang-jin.

“Move.”

Baek Gang-jin walked through the middle of the battlefield.

Nothing remained in his path.

There was no need to indiscriminately fire magic.

Every time he snapped his fingers, Orc legions exploded.

The monsters, disintegrated at a cellular level, turned into blood and soaked the ground.

“Kyaaah! Wh-what is this!”

A demon general screamed.

His regeneration ability was useless.

The viruses Baek Gang-jin had scattered twisted the regeneration gene’s code in reverse.

Instead of healing wounds, cancer cells proliferated explosively, tearing the body apart from the inside out.

It was truly overwhelming.

The human allied forces watched the spectacle blankly.

They couldn’t even tell if that entity was on their side or yet another disaster.

But there was a problem.

The front lines were too long.

From the eastern end to the western end, the Demon King’s army poured out like cockroaches.

Baek Gang-jin couldn’t cover everything by himself.

He frowned in annoyance.

“How bothersome.”

Killing them one by one with his hands was labor.

Baek Gang-jin hated labor.

He preferred to create systems.

A system that would kill the enemy on its own, multiply on its own, and push the front lines.

He stood atop a mountain of monster corpses.

And he used magic.

“Arise.”

At his command, the monster corpses were reassembled into chimeras.

—

That day, the Demon King’s army saw hell.

*Wheeee—*

A black cloud swept in.

It was a swarm of tens of thousands of mutant insects.

Plague Scarabs.

The insects flew over the heads of the Demon King’s army, scattering fine powder.

The moment the powder touched their respiratory tracts, the Orcs’ lungs melted.

Demon King’s army soldiers collapsed, foaming at the mouth.

Insects descended upon them, devouring the flesh and laying eggs anew.

In an instant, the swarm, having doubled in size, flew towards the next unit.

*Thump. Thump. Thump.*

The earth trembled.

Massive monsters, formed by fusing together corpses, advanced.

Necrotic Behemoths.

Monsters that combined Ogre muscles with hyper-regenerative cancer cell genes.

Arrows and magic fired by the Demon King’s army lodged into the Behemoths’ bodies.

But they didn’t stop.

Rather, the muscles at the wound sites swelled grotesquely, making them even larger.

Moving walls.

The Behemoths charged into siege weapons, smashing them to pieces, and broke down the city walls.

Following that, the Demon King’s army’s strategic strongholds were completely annihilated.

“Aaagh! The armor! It’s getting inside the armor…!”

The heavily armored Black Knights writhed in agony.

A red, jelly-like substance seeped through the gaps in their armor.

Harvesters.

Liquid lifeforms created by injecting powerful anticoagulant enzymes into slimes.

The chimera penetrated through the pores of the skin and into the blood vessels.

Then it broke down red blood cells, using them as its own energy source.

The formidable heavy armored unit was annihilated in an instant.

Only dried-up mummies remained inside the armor.

And in the sky, Viral Mattes flew around.

Grotesque birds implanted with intracellular overpressure genes.

They dive-bombed right into the middle of the enemy camp.

*BOOM!*

After the impact, an explosion occurred.

Within a radius of several hundred meters, a highly contagious hemorrhagic fever virus spread instantly.

The survivors breathed a sigh of relief, but that was only the incubation period.

After a day passed, the entire main camp was coughing up blood and annihilated.

The tide of battle turned in an instant.

Humanity won without swinging a single sword.

They merely watched as the monsters Baek Gang-jin created cleaned up the Demon King’s army.

It was a one-sided slaughter.

It was closer to a disinfection operation than a war.

—

The top floor of the Demon King’s Castle.

The massive door was smashed open with a deafening roar.

Baek Gang-jin brushed off the dust and walked inside.

The Demon King sat on the throne.

Black horns, overwhelming demonic energy, an absolute being who had plunged the world into fear.

The moment the Demon King saw Baek Gang-jin, he exploded with rage.

Because he had been on the verge of completely eliminating humanity, only to fail due to a single man.

“Magician! Because of you, my grand ambition has been ruined!”

The Demon King rose from his seat and opened his mouth.

A heavy, majestic voice.

He seemed about to launch into a long speech about his philosophy or humanity’s foolishness.

But Baek Gang-jin was tired.

He had killed too many bugs on the way here.

He just wanted to go home quickly.

He didn’t have the patience to listen to the Demon King’s TMI.

“Die.”

A single short word.

At the same time, Baek Gang-jin reached out his hand.

Before the Demon King could even react, the viruses floating in the space around him all awakened at once.

*CRACK!*

The Demon King’s body twisted.

“Keok?! Wh-what is…!”

Magic resistance?

It was meaningless.

Because this was biological decomposition before it was magic.

The more the Demon King tried to use his power by drawing on demonic energy, the faster the viruses multiplied.

“Krrrgh…!”

The mighty Demon King fell to his knees.

His skin melted, and his bones decayed.

*Gulp… Gulp…*

The Demon King vomited blood from his entire body.

He tried to regenerate, but the rate of collapse was far faster.

His body turned into red blood and flowed across the floor.

Combat time: 3 seconds.

A futile end.

Baek Gang-jin rummaged through the melted remains of the Demon King.

It was filthy, but there was no choice.

“Here it is.”

He picked up a blue-glowing gemstone from within the sticky liquid.

‘Dimensional Movement Stone.’

With this, it was done.

He didn’t care about the peace of this world or the prosperity of humanity.

His goal was achieved.

—

The plaza in front of the Demon King’s Castle.

The surviving leaders of humanity had gathered.

Emperors, kings, and grand mages from various nations.

They stood there, dazed.

The Demon King’s Castle had crumbled, and the dark clouds covering the sky had cleared.

And from the ruins, a man walked out.

It was Baek Gang-jin.

“Th-that person…!”

“He is the savior who defeated the Demon King!”

Someone shouted.

Then, one by one, the proud kings and emperors began to kneel.

Tears of emotion.

Voices of praise followed.

“Oh, hero! Please become the guardian of our empire!”

“Please, become the king of our kingdom!”

“I offer you my daughter!”

It was noisy.

Baek Gang-jin frowned.

‘Do you think I killed the Demon King for your benefit?’

With a cold expression, he said.

“Move.”

Silence fell as if cold water had been poured on them.

The Emperor of the Empire carefully asked.

“Wh-what do you mean by that… Where are you trying to go? We have prepared a grand banquet….”

“Stop being annoying and get lost. Eat your meal among yourselves.”

Baek Gang-jin waved his hand.

His attitude was as if shooing away a fly.

The Emperor couldn’t dare to retort.

That man was the monster who had torn the Demon King apart.

If he offended him, this place could become his grave.

Baek Gang-jin placed the Dimensional Movement Stone on the ground.

He infused it with magic power, and the space rippled.

*Ziiiiing—*

A blue gate opened.

Beyond it, a familiar scenery was visible.

Gray buildings.

The smell of smog.

And the blaring sound of car horns.

It was Seoul.

“Finally.”

The corner of Baek Gang-jin’s mouth lifted slightly.

He was finally going back.

To his home.

And to where his nephew was.

“You all eat well and live well.”

Without looking back, he threw himself into the gate.

*FLASH!*

With a brilliant light, Baek Gang-jin’s figure disappeared.

Only silence lingered in the plaza.

*Whoosh…*

The wind blew, brushing past the Emperor’s cloak.

Emperor Alexandros of the Empire stared blankly at the empty space where the gate had vanished.

His mouth gaped open and closed like a goldfish.

“…Is he gone?”

The guard knight beside him answered in a trembling voice.

“I-it seems so, Your Majesty.”

“Really? Even though I offered him the Empire? Even though I offered my daughter?”

The Emperor rubbed his own cheek in disbelief.

All the heroes of this continent had coveted the Emperor’s gifts.

Titles, lands, beautiful women, treasures.

But that man had brushed aside all those offers as if they were trash.

From the very beginning, to Baek Gang-jin, wealth and glory were nothing more than cumbersome baggage.