The sole heir to a ruined world

 Chapter 15

“Arin!”

Baek Arin turned her head at the sound of someone calling her name.

The head of the social welfare team was approaching her.

“Where are you going?”

“To work.”

She answered firmly as he came closer, looking displeased. But her gaze wasn’t on him—it was elsewhere, filled with annoyance and irritation.

“Are you going to that disabled guy again?”

“Why are you saying it like that? He’s paralyzed from the waist down, so yes, he is disabled.”

Despite her sharp glare, the team leader simply shrugged with a smile.

“The word ‘disabled’ isn’t wrong, is it? That’s the official term. Don’t be so sensitive.”

“But you’re not saying it with good intentions, are you?”

“Do you have any proof that I meant it in a bad way?”

The team leader kept smiling.

Seeing that, Baek Arin clenched her fists tightly.

She couldn’t believe that someone like him was in charge of social welfare.

He was the kind of person who didn’t hesitate to mock those weaker than him.

That’s why she disliked him so much.

She didn’t expect him to be full of compassion, but at the very least, he should respect others.

Yet, respect was something he completely lacked.

“Let someone else take care of him. Why don’t you come with me instead? I know a great place—you’d love the atmosphere.”

“No. I would never go to a place like that with you.”

“Why are you acting so cold?”

When he reached out toward her, Baek Arin quickly took two steps back.

His hand awkwardly hovered in the air before he clenched it into a fist.

Ignoring him, she turned and walked away quickly.

The team leader narrowed his eyes as he watched her leave.

“Let’s see how long you can keep up that attitude.”

His muttered words never reached Baek Arin, who was already far away.

“Disgusting man.”

Baek Arin shivered and rubbed her arms, feeling a strange chill.

“Hank-yul is a hundred times better than him.”

To her, Lee Hank-yul was an amazing person.

Even though he was paralyzed from the waist down, he never gave up on life.

He even worked part-time jobs to survive.

His strong will to live had once inspired her when she had lost all motivation to keep going.

She learned from him that she could always try her best, no matter how difficult things got.

The team leader?

Sure, he was rich, healthy, and even considered good-looking, but that was it.

He looked down on others and didn’t take life seriously—he was truly despicable.

When comparing the two, Hank-yul was far better, even with his disability.

—

After taking a bus, Baek Arin arrived at the small apartment where Hank-yul lived.

The neighborhood was in terrible condition.

The city had been abandoned after the Cataclysm, and there were rumors that the building owners were dead.

Even the environmental protection department had stopped sending people after the outbreak incident.

She sighed as she walked through the area, stepping over piles of trash scattered on the streets.

The apartment Hank-yul lived in was an old villa on the highest point in the neighborhood.

As she approached the building, she saw traces of destruction from the outbreak and clenched her fists.

Was Hank-yul okay?

He wasn’t someone who contacted others often.

The only way she ever confirmed he was alive was by visiting him herself. But she had been so busy lately that she hadn’t checked on him in a while.

Was he safe?

Luckily, the exterior of the building looked fine.

Baek Arin quickly entered.

There was no elevator, which wasn’t surprising for such an old building.

Hank-yul had no family or relatives.

If something happened to him, no one would even know unless they checked his home.

Standing in front of his door, she took a deep breath and unlocked it.

As she stepped inside, she immediately sensed something was off.

“Why is it so clean?”

It looked as if a cleaning service had come by. But that didn’t make sense—Hank-yul didn’t have money for that.

A single person’s home rarely became spotless on its own.

One common reason was… when someone had passed away, and their belongings were being cleared out.

“Hank-yul!”

She rushed inside, looking around frantically.

The place was too clean—unnaturally so.

It felt as if no one lived there anymore.

There were beds and dishes, but very few.

Even his wheelchair was missing.

Instead, there were stacks of cardboard boxes.

“Why are there so many boxes?”

Could they be sorting out his belongings?

As she clenched her fists with anxiety, a strange sound broke the silence.

Then—

Vwooom!

The air in front of her distorted.

A glowing portal, like a gate, appeared out of nowhere, releasing fresh air from a vast grassland.

And from inside—

Lee Hank-yul stepped out, walking on two legs.

“Hank-yul?”

Baek Arin froze in shock.

Hank-yul was paralyzed.

He couldn’t even go to the bathroom without help.

Just a few months ago, she had seen him moving around in his wheelchair.

“Your legs… are fine?”

Hank-yul was now standing, moving perfectly normally.

Did he gain some weight?

The frail, skinny appearance he once had was gone, replaced by a slightly more muscular build.

She hadn’t expected this at all.

“Ah…”

Hank-yul scratched his chin awkwardly.

“Yeah… it’s me.”

“What kind of explanation is that?! How did your legs heal? And what’s that gate behind you?!”

She rushed toward him, bombarding him with questions.

Hank-yul looked around uncomfortably.

“When did you get here?”

The place he had just come from had no clocks.

The sky was always bright, and there were no seasonal changes.

Time didn’t exist there.

“I came in, saw how clean your place was, and thought you were dead!”

“I’m alive.”

“I know! That’s not the point!”

Hank-yul gently removed her hands from his collar.

“You’re choking me.”

“Oh… sorry.”

Hank-yul began moving the boxes aside.

“I awakened. My legs healed back then.”

Baek Arin let out a deep breath.

“I’m glad…”

“It’s a relief. Thanks to this, I can live even more diligently.”

Hank-yul said this as he picked up a box filled with empty potion bottles.

Since he had some money now, he had specially bought 100 bottles this time.

“Hank-yul.”

Arin reached out and placed her hand on his shoulder.

“Oh, Arin.”

Hank-yul turned to look at her.

He knew that Arin was a social worker. And he also knew that the only reason she kept visiting him was because of her job.

If not for that, someone as amazing as Arin wouldn’t have any reason to come see him.

“You don’t have to come anymore.”

“What?”

“My legs are fine now. Ah, I should return my disability certificate too.”

“Hank-yul…”

“Thank you for everything. I’ve always been grateful to you, Arin.”

“Hank-yul!”

Arin grabbed his shoulder tightly and shouted.

Hank-yul hesitated and turned back to look at her.

“What are you doing right now?”

“What do you mean?”

“You’re talking like we’ll never see each other again.”

Hank-yul tilted his head slightly, as if confused.

“Arin, you have so many other people to take care of, not just me.”

“You—”

“I’m perfectly fine now. Taking up your time isn’t right.”

Hank-yul looked straight at her.

Her face seemed troubled, her expression complex.

As she moved, her hair shifted, revealing the burn scar on her forehead.

“Wouldn’t it be possible to heal that too?”

Hank-yul had received so much help from Arin.

When he was paralyzed from the waist down, she often visited him, taking care of his needs.

She had done that for over five years.

As a human being, he should repay her kindness.

“Arin, can you wait just a moment?”

Hank-yul picked up a potion bottle and stepped into Asgard.

He filled it with spring water and returned, only to hear the front door slam shut.

He blinked.

“Arin?”

In just that brief moment, Arin had left the house.

—

After the Dobong District Outbreak Incident, the Hunter Management Bureau was in complete chaos.

A Demon King’s general had appeared.

And even more shocking—there was a hunter who had defeated him alone.

A general of the Demon King’s army.

The commander was the second-highest ranked demon lord in the demon world.

In the past, it took six S-rank hunters to take on just one commander. And half of them died.

When news broke that a general had appeared, the high-ranking officials of South Korea were in despair.

Africa, which had two S-rank hunters and millions of other hunters, had been completely wiped out by just a fragment of the Demon King and a single general.

Even though hunters had grown stronger since then, the threat of a general was still overwhelming.

At that moment, South Korea only had two S-rank hunters. But both of them were already busy elsewhere.

The S-rank hunters from other countries wouldn’t come without a proper reward.

Even if they agreed, time was an issue.

During the Africa Outbreak, it had only taken twelve hours for everything to be destroyed.

Summoning foreign S-rank hunters would take at least a full day, and securing enough resources to call them in was another problem.

While everyone was panicking, something unexpected happened.

The general was already dead, and the outbreak had been resolved.

At the center of it all was an unknown hunter.

Even after hearing the testimonies of survivors, the Bureau and government officials refused to believe it.

A general had been killed.

At least six S-rank hunters were needed to defeat a single general.

If someone had done it alone, how were they supposed to classify that person’s rank?

And if that hunter was truly that powerful, could the government even control them?

They wanted to deny it. They wanted to say it wasn’t true.

But then, video evidence taken by some survivors was released.

They couldn’t say anything after watching it.

[Crackle! Boom!]

The scene was a disaster.

A single human controlled nature itself, wielding power that could wipe out an entire city with ease.

“That’s the end of the footage.”

The people gathered for the meeting—government officials and Hunter Bureau representatives—sat in silence even after the video ended.

To be continued…