You Will Be Blessed If You Do Good Deeds¿ - Chapter 2

Actually, I was the Demon King in my past life.
... If I said this, most people would dismiss it as a case of middle-school delusions. But it's the truth.
For various reasons, I became the Demon King in the world where I lived. I ruled, reigned, and eventually met the fate all tyrants deserveâI was killed by the heroâs hand.

Then I was reborn here, in South Korea on Earth.
Even as a Demon King, I doubted the existence of any gods. And considering that I, someone who shouldâve gone straight to hell, was reborn in such a peaceful world as a normal person, it seems my doubts were justified. There truly is no god.
Regardless, in this new life, I led a relatively peaceful existence.

Sure, I was born into a relatively poor family in a society where capitalism had developed to extreme levels. But the social welfare system here wasnât entirely broken, so I was lucky enough to survive safely until adulthood.
Frankly, this is far better than the world I lived in before.
Humans, of course, always envy those better off than themselves. If I didnât have my past lifeâs memories, this life mightâve seemed quite tough. But letâs not forgetâI was a Demon King. I managed just fine.

Once I reached the age where I could work part-time, I was able to take care of my own food and clothing.
And it wasnât as if there was no hope at all.
In this society, thereâs still the college entrance exam system, known as the Suneung. While itâs not completely fairâsince the results depend on innate talent, financial resources, and the environmentâitâs a clear opportunity within my grasp.

So, my plan was to secure as much comfort as possible without disrupting the social order.
The fastest way to succeed, of course, would be to awaken as an S-rank hunter. But I had absolutely no intention of doing so.
Why? Because if I connected to the system...

-The system warns the âDestroyer of Worldsâ.
-You have been deemed incompatible due to unmet conditions.
... This is what would happen.

"Click."
I couldnât help but click my tongue.
Incompatible designation.
In short, Iâm being treated like a monster unfit to appear on the current South Korean serverâa high-level monster that canât even spawn yet.

It wasnât unexpected.
I always knew the system would react antagonistically if it discovered my identity. Thatâs why, for the past 20 years, I had deliberately avoided awakening any latent talents and refrained from connecting to the system.
But who wouldâve thought theyâd upgrade the ability-detection device this year of all years?

âThis feels almost malicious.â
To think someone upgraded the machine specifically to uncover my existence... Thatâs a bit too paranoid, even for me.
âThe upgrade was likely the Huntersâ Associationâs decision. Iâll need to investigate.â

For now, that wasnât the main issue.
Thanks to this sudden upgrade, my dormant mana circuits and even the buried memories of my soul had been completely exposed.
In short, I was screwed.

Crude as it may sound, thereâs no better way to put it.
-Deemed incompatible. The âDestroyer of Worldsâ is being excluded.
Sigh.

I expected this, but still...
Whoosh!
With the systemâs message, a black hole-like entity suddenly formed beneath me, spreading outward.

Darkness enveloped everything.
The school gymnasium, where I had been moments ago, vanished, leaving me stranded in an infinite void.
-Isolating you from the flow of time.

âGahâ¦!â
As soon as the message appeared, an excruciating pain gripped my core.

The system was actively trying to eliminate me.

Clang!
Chains materialized out of nowhere, wrapping around me like they were subduing a wild beast.
My arms, legs, and even my neck were bound.

As the chains tightened, the system continued its relentless operations.
-Measuring the risk level of the âDestroyer of Worldsââ¦
-Health: Unmeasurable
-Strength: Unmeasurable
-Mana: Unmeasurable
-Overall threat level: Catastrophic
-Recommended counter level: S-rank or higher (If you are not of the recommended level, evacuation is advised.)
-Due to unmet conditions for catastrophic emergence, the âDestroyer of Worldsâ abilities are being restricted.
âRidiculousâ¦!â

The sudden violence overwhelmed my body, which had grown used to 19 years of peaceful living. The pain was unbearable, making me grit my teeth.
But just because the system had found me didnât mean I intended to roll over and die.
If I were the type to surrender so easily, I wouldnât have endured that wretched forced communal life in my past world!

Besides, I had something to say.
"I am no longer the Demon King or the Destroyer. Even the system doesnât have the right to arbitrarily eliminate a being that hasnât committed any evil deeds."
Thatâs right.

Even if my soul retained memories of my past life and its sins, the body of the newly born Jung Da-on carried no such karma.
Thatâs precisely why I spent 19 years living as an ordinary person.
I avoided system interaction, refrained from using mana that I could easily sense, and ignored petty provocations from lowly brats.

So, for the system to designate me, Jung Da-on, as the Destroyer of Worlds was an outright error.
-â¦
The system didnât respond.

However, the chains around my neck loosened slightly.
Perhaps it acknowledged the validity of my argument.
But that didnât mean I could relax.

-The system remains wary of the âDestroyer of Worldsâ.
Such wariness was natural.
From the systemâs perspective, I was a dangerous entity that could reclaim my power at any time. Once the system recognized me as the Destroyer, it couldnât erase that perception.

In other words, if I wanted to survive, I needed another solution.
What to doâ¦
I wasnât without options.

After all, the system wasnât omnipotent.
Humans might see the system as some godlike force granting them superhuman abilities. But as someone who had once been the Demon King, I knew better.
âThe system⦠is merely a collective intelligence born of humanityâs desire to survive.â

When a single species dominates a world and begins not just to survive but to accumulate wealth, invaders are bound to emergeâcreatures seeking the rulerâs resources, sometimes from other worlds or dimensions.
These invaders, driven by biological greed, penetrate worlds like parasites burrowing through a shell. Humans call this phenomenon "Gates," and the invaders themselves are labeled "monsters."
But the rulers of a world wouldnât surrender their dominance so easily.

Thus, a collective manifestation of survival instincts was born to combat these invaders: the system.
Itâs humanityâs desire to live, given form as an autonomous intelligence.
However, because the system exists to ensure humanityâs survival, it cannot exclude a member of the collective without justification. Doing so would go against its fundamental purpose.

In other words...
"What gives you the right to exclude the current âJung Da-onâ from this world?"
As far as the system was concerned, I was just an ordinary human being it was obligated to protect.

Blink. Blink.
The system's text flickered, as if recognizing my hostility.
It seemed to be contemplating further action to choke the life out of me. But unlike before, it hesitated.

This contradiction was undoubtedly frustrating for the system. To ensure humanityâs survival, it needed to eliminate threats like me immediately. Yet, at this moment, I was cloaked in the guise of an ordinary human it was bound to protect.
Not that I cared about the systemâs dilemma. My irritation was mounting just the same.
Honestly, part of me wanted to unleash my power now that Iâd been discovered. If the system wanted to be hostile, I could oblige.

But...
â¦
I took a deep breath.

Nineteen years. Thatâs how long Iâd been alive in this world.
And honestly... Iâd come to like this life.
Sure, it had been financially difficult, but if I were to be honest, I owed a lot to my adoptive sibling.

Even with South Koreaâs functional welfare system, surviving as an orphan wouldâve been far harder without their care. Their devotion was so heartfelt it could move even a demon.
If I were to truly awaken as the Destroyer of Worlds and clash head-on with the system...
âThat would mean war.â

At the very least, South Korea wouldnât have the luxury of sparing minors from Hunter activities. Theyâd mobilize everything, regardless of collateral damage.
And ordinary life? Completely shattered.
That included the peaceful life of my sibling, too.

I exhaled deeply before speaking.
"Letâs negotiate."
-?

The system displayed a question mark.
"If I lose control, itâll be hard for humanity to manage the fallout. That would harm both sides. So why not turn a blind eye and let this slide?"
-The system acknowledges the âDestroyer of Worldsâ. The system lacks the ability to erase recognition.

-The âDestroyer of Worldsâ poses a severe threat to humanity.
-Emergence conditions remain unmet.
"Stubborn, arenât you?"

Maybe humansâ blind faith in capitalism rubbed off on their collective intelligence, making it just as dense. I resisted the urge to snap and calmly opened my mouth again.
"Wouldnât it be enough if I guaranteed Iâm not a threat to humanity? Hell, I could even help you by actively taking out invadersâmonsters, if you will."
The systemâs prime directive was ensuring humanityâs survival. If it judged that I contributed to that goal, it wouldnât have a reason to eliminate me.

-The system doubts the true intentions of the âDestroyer of Worldsâ.
"True intentions, my ass. Iâm offering to help. Isnât that enough of a gift horse for you?"
Logically, the system couldnât eliminate me due to its own contradictions. Yet here I was, offering a win-win situation. What more did it want?

Idiotic piece of code.
This worldâs humans annoyed me enough as it was, and now even their system was getting on my nerves. Honestly, the only human I remotely liked was my sibling.
Then again, considering I was fighting with this ridiculous system for their sake, my sibling annoyed me, too.

What? Didnât I just say I owed them a debt of gratitude? Well, demons are fickle by nature.
"So, what are you going to do if you doubt my intentions?"
The chains binding my body crackled and trembled.

A sharp, electrifying sensation coursed through my veins.
For the first time since being reborn in South Korea, mana began flowing through my circuits.
Power I once wielded as effortlessly as breathing.

Nineteen years of dormancy didnât dull the instincts forged in my past life.
"Or would you rather try me for real?"