1. The Destiny of an Insect

Four Pillars of Destiny1 is a truly shitty concept.

Four Pillars of Destiny. Innate fortune.

It literally means that one’s fate is determined from the moment of birth.

Some are born with the destiny to become president, while others are born with a destiny of destitution.

People used to dismiss it.

They claimed it was absurd for destiny to be dictated by one’s birth date and time.

However, no one would dare utter such words now.

Ever since the Day of Awakening, everyone’s abilities were determined based on their Four Pillars of Destiny.

“Please double-check your standard-issue equipment, assigned teams, and positions!”

Hundreds of people were gathered in front of a massive Demon Realm shaped like a cave, exchanging conversations.

Not long ago, I heard that the alliance had discovered a special Demon Realm.

I thought a large number of personnel would be mobilized, but the scale of the Demon Realm seemed even larger than I had anticipated.

The chatter of people from various sects filled the air.

“Wow, isn’t this the first time the alliance has come together like this?”

“Right. Even people from the Flying Tiger Sect2 are here…”

“Maybe I’ll get scouted by the Flying Tiger Sect this time.”

Listening to their trivial banter, I was maintaining my weapon.

I was assigned to the rear guard.

Just then, a man I had never seen before struck up a conversation with me.

“Hello there, looks like we’re in the same squad. You’re from the Flying Tiger Sect, right?”

I gave him a brief glance and bowed my head again, but the man, seemingly intent on relaxing his nerves, began chattering away on his own.

“It’s my first time participating in a subjugation battle, so I’m really nervous. But I’m so thrilled to be fighting alongside the Flying Tiger Sect…”

The fact that he was talking to me suggested he was a rookie.

Perhaps unable to bear watching the man any longer, another member of our squad approached and called him away.

I could hear them whispering from a short distance away.

“Hey. Be careful. That guy is Seo Kangrim.”

“What?”

I could see the rookie looking utterly shocked.

When his eyes met mine, he hastily averted his gaze.

Such reactions were nothing new to me.

Members of other sects in my squad were openly displaying their displeasure.

It wasn’t because I was strong that they avoided me.

Who in the world would fear a ruined fate like mine?

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[Name] Seo Kangrim

[Rank] Third Insect Grade3

[Five Elements]4 Fire

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They say that by reading one’s Four Pillars, you can find destinies of becoming a president, a king, a beggar, or even a murderer.

The same applied to awakening abilities.

Humans awakened abilities befitting their Four Pillars and received their grades.

My Fortune grade was Third Insect Grade.

The grades ranked in order of strength: Divine, Dragon, Ghost, Human, and Insect.

Within those tiers, they descended from First Grade to Second Grade to Third Grade.

A Fortune of the Insect Grade, the absolute lowest tier.

It was the so-called Insect Grade life.

True to that grade, my destiny was nothing short of sheer misfortune.

There was only one reason people avoided a Insect Grade like me.

Contempt.

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[Special Ability] Fate Detection

[Rank] Third Dragon Grade

[Description] Can view the Fortune Window and notification windows for oneself and other targets.

▼

[Special Ability] Fortune Stealing

[Rank] First Dragon Grade

[Description] Can extract a portion of a deceased target’s Fortune and claim it as one’s own. However, Karma accumulates.

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When I was young, I heard rumors of a spirit gift5.

Was it because of that spirit gift, or was it the Fortune I learned by watching over others’ shoulders?

I possessed the special ability to perceive the fate of others and the ability to steal it.

The problem was that early on, after my abilities were exposed, people began to ostracize me.

[Many people who act alongside Seo Kangrim return injured or critically wounded.]

[Seo Kangrim kills his companions and steals their abilities.]

[Seo Kangrim’s Fortune is infested with all sorts of Sal, so misfortune befalls anyone who associates with him.]

As such rumors began to circulate, I was instantly isolated.

It was true that many people who accompanied me got hurt.

It was likely because my ill-fated Fortune dragged them down with me.

However, I had never killed anyone.

If I had killed someone or stolen a Fortune from a corpse, I would have more than just those two abilities, wouldn’t I?

If others knew this fact, they would wonder why I didn’t use ‘Fortune Stealing,’ such a fraudulent ability.

It wasn’t that I chose not to use it; it was closer to being unable to use it.

This ability consumed more magic power the older the corpse was.

And the magic power I possessed as a Insect Grade was not even a handful.

I had visited graves and mortuaries several times, but it was all in vain.

For corpses that had been dead for a day or even a few hours, I failed due to a lack of magic power.

With my current magic power, I needed a corpse that had been dead for only a few minutes.

Literally, a fresh corpse.

The problem was that obtaining such a corpse was not easy.

Unless someone died right in front of my eyes, that is.

Killing them myself would be the most reliable method, but there was no human who would willingly die at the hands of a bug like me.

Hoping someone might luckily die in front of me, I used to diligently follow people around, but I failed.

In the process, I ended up joining the Flying Tiger Sect, so it wasn’t a total loss.

And people found it exceedingly bizarre that a bug like me had entered a major sect like the Flying Tiger Sect.

“Why is someone like him in a sect like the Flying Tiger Sect?”

“I heard it’s because he’s an early member of the sect.”

“Even if he’s an early member, that’s still… what could he possibly do during the subjugation battle…”

“What about the subjugation battle?”

A man emerged from among the conversing crowd.

He was tall, with a somewhat rough and carefree impression.

Seeing his face, the people flinched in surprise and stepped back.

“Ah, you’re Jang Taeheon, right?”

“Hello, Mr. Jang Taeheon…!”

Jang Taeheon, an executive of the Flying Tiger Sect.

He was famous even among other sects, existing in a completely different dimension from a Insect Grade like me.

He lightly slapped the back of the person who had been badmouthing me.

“Only the people chosen by our Sect Leader gather in the Flying Tiger Sect, so there’s no need to worry!”

“Ah, yes…”

“And our Sect Leader, Shin Sooa, said…”

Jang Taeheon spoke with a broad smile.

“She said that making an enemy of our sect member is the same as making an enemy of the entire Flying Tiger Sect.”

“…!”

“Unless you want to fight the whole Flying Tiger Sect, you’d better remember that.”

The others nodded with awkward postures.

Jang Taeheon flashed another grin and slapped his shoulder again.

“Alright, then let’s finish up our preparations for deployment!”

At his command, everyone began to scatter in perfect order.

Jang Taeheon watched them before approaching me.

“Don’t let it get to you, Kangrim. Damn, where else would you find a guy as good as you…”

“I wasn’t paying attention to begin with.”

“That’s a relief. You’re coming to the team dinner after the subjugation battle today, right?”

He asked with a wide grin.

Even knowing my abilities were suspicious and that misfortune followed me, he showed no signs of hesitation.

“I’m not going.”

“What? Why?”

Even if I went, I’d just be treated poorly by members of other sects.

As Jang Taeheon continued to persuade me, someone approached from afar.

“What are you two doing? Ah. Seo Kangrim is here too.”

The person approaching us was another Flying Tiger Sect executive, Yoo Harang.

She was a girl in her early twenties, still bearing a youthful look on her face, but in terms of strength, she ranked within the top five of the sect.

At that moment, Jang Taeheon looked at Yoo Harang as if he had found reinforcements and said,

“Ah, Harang. Get this, Kangrim says he’s not going to the team dinner again.”

“What? Seo Kangrim. You’re skipping out again? Don’t tell me there are guys picking on you? Tell me! I’ll beat them all down!”

Yoo Harang spoke fiercely, looking as if she were actually about to charge off and fight someone.

Meanwhile, Jang Taeheon wasn’t stopping her; if anything, he was agreeing with her.

Why were they so desperate to drag me along?

The connections I made when I first became an awakener had persisted for years.

They seemed to be under the illusion that I was a good person. I wondered when they would snap out of it.

Just then, someone else approached us.

“Yoo Harang, Jang Taeheon. I understand you want to hang out with Seo Kangrim, but the subjugation battle is starting now. Go back to your positions.”

Kang Dohyun had approached us without my noticing.

He was another powerhouse of the Flying Tiger Sect.

With Kang Dohyun’s arrival, the two reluctantly nodded.

“Understood. We’ll be going. Seo Kangrim, see you later.”

“Hyung6! You have to come to the dinner later!”

“Seo Kangrim, take care of yourself. Got it?”

The three belonging to the vanguard soon left.

Even as they departed, Jang Taeheon kept shouting for me to come to the dinner.

“The special Demon Realm subjugation battle is now commencing! Each squad, move according to your orders!”

Just as Kang Dohyun said, the start of the subjugation battle was announced.

Since my combat skills were not particularly outstanding, I was assigned to the rear guard to deal with minor Demon Beasts.

With my grade, I wouldn’t even be allowed to enter an upper-level Demon Realm, but since it was a special Demon Realm, I was barely able to participate.

“Mr. Kangrim, looking forward to working with you!”

“Let’s do our best! Don’t worry about the other sects.”

The Flying Tiger Sect members assigned to my squad spoke with smiles.

I nodded and slowly stepped into the Demon Realm with the others.

If I was lucky, one or two might die right in front of me.

I just hoped it wouldn’t be anyone from the Flying Tiger Sect.

Even from the outside, the entrance had been large, but stepping in, it was impossible to fathom its true scale.

It was a cavern so vast you could believe you had stepped out into the open.

A sickening ghastly energy swept over us from within.

-Geuooo!

Ahead, I could see Demon Beasts shrieking as they charged toward us.

While the vanguard dealt with the higher-grade Demon Beasts, the rear guard handled the lower-grade ones.

Amidst the relentless barrage of attacks from the others, I also swung my sword at the Small Ogres pouring out from both sides.

-Kkieeek!

With a sickening crunch, the Small Ogres were severed.

The creatures, resembling small imps crawled out of hell, were quite tenacious.

With this many people, they should have been terrified, but they charged without a care.

There were more of them than I thought.

Just as I kicked away a Small Ogre’s corpse, a scream rang out.

“Agh, aaagh!”

As one person fell, the Small Ogres instantly seized their prey and pounced.

At that moment, thorny vines were seen growing from the ground at blinding speed.

-Kwakwakwak!

In an instant, the Small Ogres were impaled on the thorny vines.

As the narrowly saved sect member panted and struggled to his feet, people looked up and shouted.

“It’s the Sect Leader! It’s the Flying Tiger Sect Leader’s ability!”

Tree Leaf Seed Technique.

This ability to grow trees belonged to the Sect Leader, Shin Sooa.

Glancing up, I saw Shin Sooa standing on a massive tree branch, looking down at us.

Having risen to the position of Sect Leader at a young age in her twenties, she was both beautiful and strong.

Brown hair cascading down to her waist, and eyes that seemed to harbor the deep green of a forest.

One eye was covered by an eyepatch, but her gaze was piercing.

She didn’t even touch the ground.

She simply grew trees, walking along a path they created in the empty sky.

Shin Sooa observed us for a moment before moving forward again.

“They say no casualties occur in battles alongside the Flying Tiger Sect…”

A member of another sect remarked, sounding quite moved.

As he said, there had never been a casualty in a subjugation battle where Shin Sooa participated.

It was a record that had continued for four years since the sect’s establishment.

It was a somewhat disappointing record for me, but it was better than having the Flying Tiger Sect members die.

“Everyone, return to your formations!”

Perhaps because they had witnessed Shin Sooa’s ability, the sect members’ morale soared.

Everyone dispatched the Demon Beasts according to their positions and began advancing deeper into the Demon Realm.

Everyone’s equipment was soaked in blood, and my sword was also a mess of blood and fat.

I needed to wipe my blade, but I didn’t have a proper cloth.

Seeing a dead Small Ogre in the corner, I moved over and stripped the rag it was wearing.

A sect member coughed and spoke.

“The Demonic Energy is getting thicker…”

“Looks like we’re about halfway through.”

The entrance of the Demon Realm was bearable, but as we moved further in, breathing became quite laborious.

Since our role was originally to deal with the minor Demon Beasts, it seemed about time to pull back.

-Geuooo!

At that moment, the cry of a Demon Beast echoed through the cave, and everyone instantly fell silent.

The cave shook, and small fragments of stone fell from the ceiling.

“What is that? The boss?”

“Isn’t the boss supposed to appear much later?”

It was certainly too early for the boss to appear.

Moreover, there was something else strange.

The cry just now felt more like a dying breath than a threat.

“A-alright! Let’s prepare to retreat…”

Before the squad leader could finish, a massive Demon Beast burst out from the depths of the Demon Realm.

Everyone seemed to freeze at the sight of the beast.

A gigantic Demon Beast, its head nearly touching the cave ceiling.

With the head of a lion, the trunk of an elephant, and the tail of a cow, the beast was unmistakably a Bulgasari7.

True to its name, meaning ‘the unkillable one,’ it was one of the most powerful Demon Beasts.

Yet, the Demon Beast was currently covered in blood all over its body.

Groaning in agony, the Bulgasari crawled out before collapsing after only a few steps.

-Kung!

A thunderous crash washed over us, bringing with it a wave of confusion.

A thick cloud of dust spread in all directions.

“Why on earth did the Bulgasari show up in that state?”

“Did another sect intervene?”

As people murmured amongst themselves, the dust began to settle.

Blood flowing from the Bulgasari’s body was pooling on the floor of the Demon Realm.

Just then, someone stepped forward, walking through the puddle of blood.

The woman with white hair was a beauty as cold as ice, but my eyes were drawn elsewhere.

Blood was dripping from the tip of her blade.

As everyone remained silent, her low voice echoed through the cavern.

“Where is Seo Kangrim?”