According to Lee Man-Bok, he was part of the first group of heroes summoned. He had been a typical company employee in Seoul, South Korea, and upon his summon, he asked the goddess to give him the ability to use magic. Fortunately, he had a high aptitude in the field, so he was able to win every battle in the Empire.

[That young lady was beautiful. The one who's in charge of the shop...]

"...Pleine."

Lee Shin-Woo had given it some thought. In the end, he added a bit more background information to his story to facilitate their conversation: the wandering knight Paul Zero was once a hero. Shino Rendu and Bisher Moon had guessed as much anyway!

But then something unexpected was revealed to him.

[She never told me her name. It seems you two are quite close.]

"...Is that so?"

Pleine probably would’ve told Lee Man-Bok her name if he had just brought her a bottle of wine. Unfortunately, he didn’t seem to be aware of that.

[But thanks. Pleine... It fits her, as she had such sparkling eyes. Now that I know, I'm happy.]

"It seems like you really like her."

[There's no way for us, or the other heroes for the matter, to not like her. Unlike down here, where undead run rampant, the Secret Shop had her warm smile and was overflowing with life. Above all, she was our only safe source of food.]

"Well, that's true..."

Lee Shin-Woo couldn't relate, and Lee Man-Bok spoke of Pleine in the past-tense while Lee Shin-Woo could see her whenever he wanted. That made Lee Man-Bok confession tough to listen to, but with his level 17 Acting, he was able to maintain his composure.

Lee Man-Bok stared at him, wondering whether he could really trust him. Lee Shin-Woo looked perfectly composed and neutral with nary a thing out of place about him.

[It's been a long while since I felt like this, but thinking back to that time makes me happy. Back then, I thought I could do anything. It felt like I'd become the protagonist of a fantasy novel. I thought I was the only one with unique skills, unique equipment... Everything was exactly as I'd dreamed it to be.]

Most earthlings would feel that way when summoned to this world. They wouldn't have become skeletons like Lee Shin-Woo! Lee Shin-Woo gritted his teeth, suddenly recalling the moment he'd been sent to the Empire.

It was his own fault and it pissed him off that he couldn't complain about it to anyone!

"Since the goddess’s blessing is supernatural, the power would allow one to easily overcome a level difference in specific situations."

[Yeah, indeed. I put too much faith in her blessing...]

Firstly, this was information Lee Shin-Woo couldn't have known unless he was a hero. Secondly, Lee Shin-Woo looked incredibly reasonable. Therefore, Lee Man-Bok grew to trust him.

In reality, Lee Shin-Woo was using Instigate with Lee Man-Bok none the wiser. Such was the power of the skill.

[...Those good times passed by in a flash. I got to level 7, and...despite her—Pleine—telling us not to, we heroes arrogantly challenged the twelve generals. The darkness that covered the Empire was truly deep and vast... In the end, we lost and became undead.]

"And then?"

This was the important part. After all, Lee Shin-Woo was the one who had been dealing with all the undead heroes. Meeting Lee Shin-Woo’s blazing goblin fire, Lee Man-Bok gravely nodded and continued his story.

[I didn't regain consciousness immediately, of course. At the beginning, I developed an instinctive hatred for humans the moment I degenerated into an undead... And I wanted to follow the Emperor. They welcomed us. It felt like we had never even fought each other before...]

"Hoo..."

Lee Shin-Woo shuddered, reminded of his encounter with the Archmage, Feotane Von Seldin. As expected, they had been bringing heroes into their fold for a long time.

"And then?"

[Ethan Cruz saved us. No, to be exact, my comrades and I... He infused his darkness magic into us and returned to us our sanity.]

The quiet Ethan Cruz had shown no special ability, and was a junior that no one was interested in, but he turned out to be in possession of such a terrifying skill; Lee Man-Bok remembered how surprised he had been and smiled bitterly. It was a feeling Lee Shin-Woo could understand, even though he was learning about it after the fact.

[And so we ran. We ran so hectically with him... But during the process, we felt it. He was trying to destroy our minds and turn us into his subordinates. Ironically, at that moment, I was able to advance myself as a mage and punish him for his dirty tricks.]

"Were you not able to kill him?"

[Unfortunately... Once he realized he was at a disadvantage, he used my comrades, who were now under his control, as human shields and retreated. I confronted them, and we fought. I was somehow able to return their minds to them, but...he was already nowhere to be found then.]

It seemed Ethan Cruz hadn’t been a monstrous level 8 decades ago. He had been inexperienced, so contrary to what he had intended, Lee Man-Bok ended up awakening and regaining his sanity. As Lee Shin-Woo listened to the story, he wondered whether there were traces of Ethan Cruz's darkness magic left within Lee Man-Bok, but he checked and found nothing.

[After that, a few things happened... Ultimately, I hid here. It was extremely safe, and it was a hidden base. Though I had no idea you would find it.]

"Why are you just staying here? You don't want to take revenge on the twelve generals who killed you, or Ethan Cruz, who tried to control you?"

[Revenge? ...Haha.]

Lee Man-Bok chuckled at Lee Shin-Woo's question. At that moment, Lee Shin-Woo knew that he'd failed to convince Lee Man-Bok. As expected, Lee Man-Bok shrugged and weakly spoke.

[Surprisingly... In my last fight, I learned something I really didn't want to know. At that moment, I lost all my lingering attachments. I had a taste of something that went beyond anger: despondence.]

"..."

[I lost all my lingering attachments to my old world, as a hero and even as an undead... My hate towards Ethan Cruz? That's the only thing that still remains, but I don't want to risk my life for that and go outside again.]

What exactly made him hide here? In any case, Lee Shin-Woo was sure that Lee Man-Bok didn't look at the goddess favorably. It wouldn't be a good idea to push him given his current mental state. In that case...

"Ethan Cruz is aiming for our junior heroes again. I learned of this, so I'm trying to stop him. Your juniors, who were put into exactly the same situation as you were decades ago, are sinless, yet...you have no intention of helping them?"

[None.]

But his plan to appeal to Lee Man-Bok's compassion didn't work at all. Lee Man-Bok's voice was quite cold.

[Leave them be, so that they can overcome the danger on their own. I don't know how you were able to remain so sane, but what you're trying to do won't matter. There's no reason to follow the goddess’s command and struggle in death. It'll be...in vain.]

"...I'm not trying to follow the goddess’s command."

Is it really okay for me to tell him this? Lee Shin-Woo thought as the words thoughtlessly came out of his mouth. He had uttered the truth without meaning to, displeased that someone so strong was just sitting on their ass. Well, I suppose it's a good thing to say as a Joker, he thought as he continued his argument.

"My only wish is to become so strong that no one can order me to do anything. So I'll say it again: I...just want to be free. What about you?"

[Free... That'd be nice. Much better than living here in hiding.]

Lee Man-Bok respected his intent, but didn't empathize with him.

[However, you'll soon regret it as well. This world is illogical, and in such a world, there's absolutely no reason to fight. Whether it be with a living body or an undead body...We'll never get what we want… I'm fine where I am. I don't want to think about anything else anymore.]

"...Is that so?"

Lee Shin-Woo gave up on Lee Man-Bok, and Lee Man-Bok realized that. What fickleness, he thought, and asked something he hadn't intended on asking.

[You said you were going to help your juniors, right?]

"Yeah."

[If that's the case, you'll soon realize how pointless it is.]

Lee Man-Bok smiled. He was a skeleton that looked just like Lee Shin-Woo, yet when he smiled, he looked terrifying.

[This world drives everyone insane. The undead hate the living, and the living hate the undead. It's too late. Our juniors won't see us as seniors, they'll see us as undead. As undead they have to defeat. As undead that cannot be trusted! Nothing you say will convince them. The longer you stay here, the more evidence there is to support it... In the end, you will become part of the darkness without being able to do anything.]

"I have a rough idea. However, I'm sure I can overcome it."

[If you're going to be that stubborn, let me give you one last piece of advice… Be careful of Seira Von Retadane.]

Seira Von Retadane? That’s quite a surprising name coming out of his mouth. Lee Shin-Woo looked up and saw Lee Man-Bok gritting his teeth.

[Nothing you say will convince that lunatic, so try not to even cross paths with her... I'm telling you to kill her before she notices you.]

"Thanks for the advice. Anything else? I'm going to go find others who are in the same situation as us."

[The Giants' domain. My old comrades are there. If you can convince them, they'll be of great help to you. Though it'll be extremely difficult to find them.]

Aha, he had been wondering about that. Lee Shin-Woo nodded. There were only two other undead heroes aside from Lee Man-Bok in the level 4 danger zone, and he had been wondering why they were so close to each other. The place Lee Man-Bok pointed him to was the same one in the memories he gained from the giant.

It makes sense if they're descendants of the giants.

He'd already decided that he would go over there sometime, but things seem to be falling into place at the right time! Lee Shin-Woo smiled in satisfaction, which prompted Jin to shake him, but he didn't let that bother him.

[Are you leaving?]

"I have to."

[Bye.]

"Yeah. Bye."

Lee Shin-Woo nodded and thrusted his Breath of the Thunder God into Lee Man-Bok's skull. He had activated his high-speed offensive skill, Shadow Horn. Coupled with the lightning in their surroundings, the strike was so fast that Lee Man-Bok couldn't even respond to it!

His recently-acquired Mana Acceleration further sped up his attack. He seemed to be attacking at the speed of light without any prior warning signs!

[Critical Hit!]

[Keok!?]

A high rank level 7 mage. Unfortunately, one hit of Shadow Horn was enough to penetrate the magic protecting Lee Man-Bok's body. One of the emeralds embedded in his eyes burst out of the eye socket.

That wasn't the end of it. The six Breath of the Lightning Gods behind him altogether burrowed into Lee Man-Bok's body. Who other than Lee Shin-Woo could execute such a perfect surprise attack? Even a top assassin would be shocked.

[W-Why...!?]

"I found you, so what are the chances that someone else won’t? I have no idea when I might face you as an enemy. When you said, 'I'm going to just hide here and live my life', did you think I would respond, 'Yes, do as you wish'?"

[T-That's...]

Before Lee Man-Bok's staff could even emit light, Lee Shin-Woo kicked it away. He had expected as much: Lee Man-Bok was incredibly slow, either because he hadn’t really engaged in real combat before, or because he had gotten rusty. Still, Lee Shin-Woo had expected to get hit by at least one spell. How disappointing.

[How could I be beaten so easily...!?]

"Why didn't you just show up as an enemy? I'd rather have that than you incessantly talking about such heavy stuff."

Lee Shin-Woo detonated all of his Breath of the Lightning Gods at once. The level 6 weapons blew up right before him, but he wasn't hurt in the least by the resulting explosion. It showed his mastery over the lightning element.

[Ku...ga...]

"At least you were hiding a trick up your sleeve."

Lee Man-Bok’s fully broken skull regenerated as soon as his robe glowed. At the same time, Lee Shin-Woo felt a considerable amount of mana rushing into the undead hero. Lee Shin-Woo nodded, gathering the lightning mana unleashed from the explosion with one hand before activating Shadow Horn once more. It would be difficult for even a trained mage to recycle mana like he had just done.

[Kuheuk!]

Unlike Hansen Von Dorthe's technique, Lee Shin-Woo created a true 'Lightning Shadow' and mercilessly pierced through Lee Man-Bok's skull, completely destroying it. Combining shadow and lightning that had been compressed to its very limit, his attack exceeded physics and sublimated into something else!

[You have acquired 2 Secret Shop permits and 45,591,340 Perium.]

[You have given peace to a comrade who walked a path he could not return from. You have partially cleared the quest objectives, and have acquired 1 Secret Shop permit. The maximum level of Invisible Heart has increased by 1.]

Now the job was done. Lee Shin-Woo sighed and snatched the robe from the ground. It was definitely a treasure, evident in the way it had retained its shape despite the explosion.

[You have acquired the Lv6 Sage's Regret. Through Bone Reinforcement, it has become the Lv7 Prayer of the Dead!]

"Holy crap. It turned into a level 7 artifact! Jin, look at this. It's like bone powder clumped up into the shape of a robe, and look at the way it sways. Isn’t that what a final boss would wear... What's wrong?"

"...I thought you two would be good friends."

"Nope. It was just an act to make him drop his guard and make it easier for me to launch a surprise attack..."

"Give me back my feelings!"

Reality was always cruel. Lee Shin-Woo had disrespectfully forced a hermit senior to go to his eternal rest!