Chapter 1

# 1

The King of Violence, Returns (1)

Vroom!

A large metal capsule, resembling a giant monster's egg, opened, and a man got up, grunting.

“Fucking bastards! You’re playing the game like shit!”

Bang!

Something must have made him angry, as he kicked the expensive capsule, causing it to break.

His name is Kwon Young-min. For several years, he has been shaking the world, ranking 73rd in The Lord, an SSS-tier solo player and the only one to receive the title of 'King' among solo players.

The King of Violence, Lokan.

The reason such a grand name was given to a mere 73rd rank was simple.

The ranking was based solely on levels, which was a different concept from actual combat power.

Therefore, users set up another standard. From D to SSS. This was another ranking based on combat power.

In this ranking, Lokan was SSS-tier, meaning he was stronger than anyone else.

At least, among those who played solo without joining a guild, he was considered the strongest.

In other games, an individual could never surpass a group, but The Lord was different. If one achieved great accomplishments, they could gain immense power, and even as an individual, they could rival a guild.

The Lord (The Lord).

Become an eternal and invincible absolute ruler, beyond anyone's reach!

This was what the game The Lord aimed for from the beginning.

Young-min achieved countless accomplishments within the game to become such a person, dedicating everything to the game.

And because he was that strong, he could not be subdued.

He would break anything that tried to resist him and shatter anything that tried to block him, thus engraving the power of violence throughout his body.

That was his way.

At first, everyone looked down on him, but as more and more people were destroyed by his hands, their evaluations changed. Whether it was a level drop or something worse, his playstyle, which did not hesitate to use any means, and the fact that anyone who faced him would suffer, made even the most prestigious guilds have to give him a hand and make concessions.

He ruled The Lord as the King of Violence in this way.

“Shit!”

But that was until today. For some reason, the upper guilds suddenly conspired and began to attack him.

It all started with that guy.

The King of Creation.

It all began when he was dragged into a one-on-one duel with a guy who suddenly appeared and proposed it.

Though they were both called kings, the skill gap was significant. No, the difference in specs was enormous. Young-min, who was confident that he wouldn't lose to anyone in a one-on-one, couldn't even think of facing off against a guy who had monopolized all the initial titles and grown from the beginning of the game.

The problem started from there. After dying once to that guy, the other kings and upper guilds issued a death warrant and began an endless hunt.

He couldn't even ask why. While he was safe in the village, which was a resurrection area and a safety zone, the moment he stepped outside, everyone pounced on him like a pack of wolves, tearing him apart.

Of course, Lokan didn't just sit there and take it. True to his title as the King of Violence, he killed at least ten people every time he died. Considering that he was often surrounded by fifty to over a hundred people, killing ten top-tier rankers alone was truly remarkable. This was only possible in The Lord.

However, even Lokan couldn't do anything when they all decided to attack him.

“They’re using justice and righteousness as a cover!”

What made him even more furious was that the upper guilds distorted the facts, manipulated public opinion, and created a sense of justice and righteousness that even ordinary users fell for. It was a crude and ridiculous manipulation, obvious to anyone who looked closely, but no one wanted to see the truth. Instead, they were more interested in reporting his location and receiving rewards from the guilds.

In that situation, the only thing Lokan could rely on was his own strength.

“Fucking bastards.”

As always.

Die, kill, kill, and kill again.

It didn't matter if his level dropped. With just one weapon in hand, he would chase his enemies to the end and kill them. That was his style.

Eventually, the enemies would get tired and fall away.

“I’ll go to the end.”

But this time, it didn't work. Despite the hundreds of users who died at Lokan's hands, no messages suggesting negotiation or surrender came.

They were determined to go to the end.

Lokan had no intention of submitting to such nonsense.

“Gah, spit! Fine, let's see who gives up first. Don't think I'm called the King of Violence for nothing.”

Young-min drank a bowl of cold water in one gulp and got back into the capsule.

And he became Lokan again, starting to wreak havoc once more.

As long as he didn't lose any items, he could sell the items and equipment he had accumulated and make a considerable amount of money.

But he couldn't do that. The Lord was his everything.

If he removed The Lord from his life, there would be nothing left. The Lord was his youth, his passion, his relationships, and his life itself.

That's why he kept buying equipment and heading to the battlefield, endlessly repeating the cycle of death and killing.

In the end, he engraved violence into every corner of their bodies and minds.

“Gaaaaah!”

In the end, on a battlefield where nothing remained, the weakened Lokan cried out in despair.

That night, a fierce rainstorm and thunder struck the city, causing a large-scale power outage.

* * *

“Ow…”

Young-min, who had been woken up by the loud alarm clock, frowned. Not only did his head hurt like a hangover, but the memories of the previous day made him feel terrible.

“Fucking bastards…”

He had died many times, but he had also killed many. He had sent a hundred top-tier rankers to their graves, so they would have a hard time recovering their levels. The guilds that suffered heavily would likely drop in the guild rankings.

‘What should I do now…’

He had even hunted down a few particularly troublesome ones, using expensive invisibility scrolls to take their heads.

But now, everything was over.

He had lost everything.

His position as an SSS-tier ranker, the title of King of Violence, and all the items he possessed.

Everything was gone.

Though he had made a lot of money through The Lord, Young-min had poured all his money, except for the minimum living expenses, back into the game. With everything lost, he had nothing left.

He was worried about his immediate living expenses, but it felt as if his entire life had been negated.

As his headache eased, the disheartened Young-min tried to get up and noticed something.

“Huh…”

The capsule that should have been right next to his sleeping space was gone.

“Did I request a recovery yesterday, or… is this…?”

Even if he had requested a recovery, the door wouldn't have opened, and they couldn't have taken it while he was sleeping.

Moreover, this was not the place he lived.

“What’s going on here?”

The space felt strangely familiar. This was the one-room apartment he had lived in near the university a few years ago.

Was it a hidden camera? He was very confused. He was sure that…

“Ugh!”

His head hurt again.

Ding.

Just then, his smartphone buzzed. The sender was Chan-up, a college friend, asking if he had made it home safely after drinking heavily the previous day.

Seeing the name of someone he had been out of touch with for a while, his memory came flooding back. He also noticed the date displayed on his smartphone.

May 12, 2018.

The day he had a huge fight, cried, and clung to his girlfriend after finding out she had been cheating on him with someone else, and then drank heavily out of frustration!

“Surely… this can’t all have been a dream…”

What was even more shocking was that all of this had happened a few years ago.

What was going on? What had happened?

Could his friends, who he hadn't seen in a while, be playing a prank on him? But they weren't that meticulous…

Confused, Young-min quickly got dressed and went outside. He entered a nearby convenience store, picked up a random item, and approached the counter to ask the part-timer.

“Excuse me, what’s the date today?”

“Um… May 12th, I think.”

“And the year?”

“Well, the year is obviously 2018.”

When he asked about the year, the part-timer looked at him as if he were some strange person, thinking, ‘Is this young guy drunk in the middle of the day?’

Suddenly finding himself a troublemaker, Young-min left with a stern expression. He then realized that this convenience store had closed and changed to a different business.

“Really… have I come back?”

It was hard to believe, but he had no choice but to believe it.

He had really returned to the past.

Looking at his reflection in the convenience store’s glass door, he did seem a bit younger. Back when he was only playing games, he hardly saw the sun, his skin was dry, and his dark circles extended to his jaw.

But what made him happiest was not that.

‘I can start over.’

If this wasn’t a dream, and if everything that happened wasn’t a dream, The Lord would soon be released.

Then he could start over from the beginning.

‘Maybe I should try stocks or real estate.’

Since he had regressed, he could use his knowledge of the future to invest in stocks, real estate, or even Bitcoin. But no matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t recall any specific investment information.

These scattered memories were just enough to make him lose his savings.

‘No, I can only do The Lord.’

He had poured all his time and energy into The Lord, so it was only natural. And Young-min knew that The Lord would make more money than stocks or real estate.

If the company that made The Lord had gone public, he could have made a fortune from stocks, but it was still just a minor company that hadn’t gone public.

It would be a long time before it became popular and went public.

Returning to the one-room apartment, Young-min immediately turned on his computer and searched for one piece of information.

Information about The Lord.

If his memory was correct, the first mention of The Lord, which emerged without a CBT (Closed Beta Test) and dominated the game market, appeared on a community forum around this time and became a holy site.

Young-min searched through several game-related communities with his vague memory and finally found a mention of The Lord.

The post, which started with “A friend of a friend I know…,” was still being treated as a typical attention-seeker.

The current level of virtual reality games was limited to FPS or white combat styles in confined spaces.

It was natural for the post to be dismissed as nonsense, claiming that an MMORPG with a map as vast as the Earth would be officially released in just three months, when the industry consensus was that even a slight improvement in the current virtual reality game quality would take several years.

Young-min, who had been standing out in other virtual reality games, also found the post late and called the writer an attention-seeker.

And that meant…

‘It’s really true, The Lord will be released in three months.’

Everything he knew and experienced wasn’t a dream.

“Damn bastards, wait for me. I’ll crush you all.”

Sparks flew from Young-min’s eyes. The events he had experienced flashed before him like a slideshow. Plans for what he needed to do and a hit list for revenge formed in his mind.

‘Eternal and invincible absolute ruler. Yes, if you want, I’ll become it.’

The Lord.

Become an eternal and invincible absolute ruler, beyond anyone's reach!

Recalling the slogan and goal of The Lord, Young-min clenched his teeth. He vowed to become the King of Violence again and crush them.

“Wait for me, this time it will be different.”