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Ch.4 Sword God From The Ruined World

“Wh… What kind of money is this?”  

Do-jun’s grandmother stared at the 9 million won laid out in front of her with disbelief.  

“Uh…”  

Do-jun knew that if he told her he had gone hunting in a Gate, she would worry. So, he clicked his tongue silently and made up an excuse.  

“It’s money I got back from a friend I invested in a long time ago. He hit it big this time.”  

“Invested?”  

“You know where I grew up. It’s from a friend I hung out with back then.”  

“…If you say so.”  

The grandmother’s expression remained heavy as she answered.  

“Brother, does that mean we’re rich now?”  

Eun-young, only seven years old—just seven—was already talking about being rich after seeing the 9 million won.  

If it had been anyone else, Do-jun would have scoffed at such a meaningless question. But…  

“Yeah, from now on.”  

It wasn’t just because of the 9 million won in front of him. He was confident he could make even more money in the future, so he didn’t deny Eun-young’s words.  

“Wah—Grandma! We’re rich now! Brother says we’re rich!”  

Eun-young jumped around excitedly.  

But the grandmother’s expression as she watched her was anything but bright.  

All they had was this crumbling old house, and even that was slipping from their grasp.  

Six years ago, after her daughter’s death, their family’s fortunes had plummeted.  

As if adding insult to injury, the living expenses that Do-jun’s biological father had been sending every month stopped coming after her death.  

‘Poor thing.’  

Tears welled up in the grandmother’s eyes as she looked at Do-jun.  

Seo Do-jun was born as an illegitimate child, utterly neglected until the age of seven, when he was forcibly registered into the family registry solely to carry on the family line. But even that didn’t last—five years ago, his father’s legal wife gave birth to a son, and Do-jun was once again cast aside, eventually being kicked out of the house he had been living in.  

From childhood, he had swung between extremes, and by eighteen, he was living in his maternal grandmother’s house with a Half-sibling he had never even met before, his mother long gone.  

Anyone else would have despaired and lost their way, but Seo Do-jun didn’t.  

‘He’s admirable, really.’  

Without hesitation, he took on the role of the family’s provider. Despite sharing no blood with his two-year-old stepsibling, he cared for them deeply, and even his seldom-seen grandmother was looked after with devotion.  

“Do-jun… I’m so sorry.”  

As the grandmother held his hand and apologized, Do-jun replied softly.  

“It’s fine.”  

She didn’t question how drastically different Do-jun had been acting the past few days.  

He must be exhausted.  

If anything, she pitied him for enduring so much until now.  

“I don’t care about anything else, but promise me you won’t do anything dangerous. Understand?”  

At her plea, Do-jun’s expression twisted slightly.  

Seo Do-jun…  

Does she even know that her real grandson died doing that ‘dangerous thing’?  

“Huuu…”  

Frustrated, Do-jun stepped outside the gate.  

He still didn’t understand why he had been brought to this unfamiliar world, why he had taken over the body of a dying Seo Do-jun and was now living in his place. But at least his mind was no longer in chaos—he had sorted through his thoughts.  

The only problem was that his current situation was far from ideal, and that bothered him.  

He had lost 90% of the power he once wielded as the Sword God. It was only natural, given his new body, but the loss still stung.  

The only silver lining was that the people of this world were weaker than he expected.  

Things like rifts, Gates, and Heroes seemed like child’s play to him.  

The real issue was…  

Why were the monsters that destroyed his world appearing on Earth?  

“Are they really the same monsters?”  

Based on Seo Do-jun’s memories and his own firsthand experience inside a Gate, they looked identical to the monsters from his ruined world. But that alone wasn’t enough to be certain.  

Above all, the way they appeared was completely different.  

In his world, monsters poured out as if the sky itself had been torn open. But on Earth, they emerged through rift zones—a completely separate third dimension.  

And even then, if Heroes closed or stabilized these rifts into Gates, the monsters wouldn’t spill out.  

In other words, they were safely contained in an isolated space.  

And this had been going on for ten years.  

The situation was entirely different from his ruined world.  

“With this much time… Can we consider it safe?”  

In his world, within less than a year, multiple kingdoms had fallen one after another, and the entire continent was thrown into chaos.  

Countless people were slaughtered by monsters, plunging the land into darkness.  

But Earth was different.  

Though the initial appearance of rift zones had caused panic, things were peaceful now.  

Occasionally, a rift zone would trigger a monster wave, but even then, damage was minimized, and stability was maintained.  

The fact that so-called Heroes—weaker than even the lowest-ranked knights of the fallen empire—could handle it was almost laughable to Do-jun.  

Simply put, the scale was different.  

If his ruined world was Hell difficulty, then Earth was Beginner level.  

Do-jun still wasn’t sure whether Earth’s situation could be compared to his world’s downfall. He hadn’t reached a concrete conclusion yet.  

One thing was certain—it was too early to relax, but there was no need to rush either.  

“By this world’s standards, even if I only recover half my strength, it should be more than enough…”  

Having lived his entire life pursuing strength, Do-jun wondered if that was even possible.  

On the other hand, despite his relentless efforts, he had failed to save his world. Did he really need to repeat such a limited existence?  

His thoughts wavered back and forth. Some days, he wanted to regain even greater power than before and take revenge on those who destroyed his world. Other days, he felt so powerless that he considered just forgetting everything and living quietly.  

“I don’t even understand my own feelings.”  

His mind swayed like a reed in the wind, but one thing was certain,  

If the same thing happened here on Earth, Do-jun wouldn’t hesitate. He would cultivate the power to take revenge without a second thought.  

He had tasted defeat once, and the helplessness lingered—but that was only because he was living a peaceful life now.  

If the monsters that ruined his world appeared before him, he would stop at nothing to destroy them.  

“Even if this place stays safe until the day I die, I still need to regain some of my strength to survive here. And above all… I have a promise to keep.”  

Do-jun’s brow furrowed.  

“Just promise me one thing—make sure Eun-young and Grandma can live safely in a decent house for the rest of their lives. I don’t even need the safest house in the world. Just the safest house in South Korea. You can do that much, can’t you?”  

A request made just before a soul vanished.  

The real Seo Do-jun’s soul had disappeared before he could even respond.  

Now, he had no choice but to fulfill that promise.  

The problem? The safest house in South Korea cost a staggering 110 billion won.  

In other words, Do-jun needed to gather 110 billion won to keep his word.  

Of course, there was no way the vanished soul of Seo Do-jun could return to hold him accountable. Strictly speaking, he had no obligation to do so.  

But he wanted to keep that promise.  

He saw it as the price for his new body.  

“Once I regain my strength, that kind of money will be nothing.”  

Just as he was about to dismiss it, Do-jun spotted five men swaggering toward him.  

They recognized him and grinned, raising their hands in greeting.  

“Seo Do-jun! Did you come out to welcome us again?”  

Loan sharks.  

Before his death, the real Seo Do-jun had borrowed a considerable sum from them to pay for his grandmother’s hospital bills.  

‘If not for that debt, he wouldn’t have entered that dangerous Gate.’  

Do-jun’s eyes sharpened.  

He didn’t blame them for lending money and collecting interest.  

But their greed was outrageous.  

A mere 5 million won had ballooned into tens of millions in just a few months. It was absurd.  

“Heard you went into a Gate recently?”  

“Yeah, good thinking. When you’re young, you gotta take risks and hustle if you wanna make real money! What, you think part-time jobs are gonna cut it?”  

“Exactly, boss! A real man’s gotta dive into Gates, even if it’s dangerous!”  

“Speaking of which, Do-jun, buy yourself some decent clothes. What’s with that look? When I first saw you, you had some style… Brat. Even if you can’t afford luxury brands anymore, at least wear something decent.”  

As they laughed among themselves, Do-jun simply stared at them blankly.  

“Why’s this punk acting all serious? Whatever, it’s none of my business. As long as I get my money. Hey, Gyu Kyung, how much is the overdue interest?”  

“Exactly 48,579,000 won, boss.”  

5 million won in debt, and the interest alone is 48 million?  

Unconsciously, one corner of Do-jun’s mouth curled up.  

“You got some money from the Gate, right? Hand it over. The faster you pay the interest, the easier it’ll be for you. Remember what I said? We follow legal interest rates. It’s just that compound interest keeps piling up.”  

“It’s compounded one more time, boss.”  

“Oh, right? Hahaha!”  

Do-jun, who had been silently watching the loan sharks laugh, finally spoke.  

“You know what I’ve been thinking?”  

“Thinking? About what?”  

The loan shark tilted his head in confusion.  

“The ones who should be paying aren’t me—it’s you guys.”  

“What?”  

“I borrowed 5 million won and already paid you 9.36 million. Legal interest? Fine, let’s say that’s covered. Then shouldn’t you pay me the remaining 2.36 million, plus interest?”  

The loan shark’s face twisted into a ‘Are you serious?’ expression.  

“You’re asking me for money?”  

“That’s how it should be.”  

“Are you out of your mind?”  

The loan shark’s expression turned cold as he threatened Do-jun.  

“You little shit, you wanna die? Did some half-assed Hero help you in the Gate? You think we’re scared of those clowns? Or is your rich CEO daddy gonna bail you out? Let me make this clear—I don’t give a damn about you, but that old hag and the kid in there? Your dad won’t lift a finger for them. Remember what I said last time? The old hag’s useless, but the kid… I can always sell her off to—Ghk!”  

Do-jun’s hand clamped around the loan shark’s throat, his eyes icy.  

“Before we talk about money, let’s start by ripping out that tongue of yours.”

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