Chapter 1
The Tomb Raider King (1)
That damn bastard.
For nearly two years, those were the words Do-hyeon had heard more than anything else.
"I've never seen a ruthless bastard like you!"
He couldn't exactly deny it.
The reason was those damned tombs.
In 2025, mysterious tombs suddenly began appearing all over the world.
Myths. Historical figures. Legends. Folk tales. Popular novels.
People said that stories remembered for generations possessed power.
And those stories had suddenly manifested in the modern world as tombs.
The real problem, however, was the relics that came out of them.
Like Prometheus giving fire to mankind, relics granted humans extraordinary abilities and unimaginable wealth. Anyone could rise above their station.
It truly became an era where anyone could climb from the gutter to the top.
But that only lasted for a while.
Once the Relic Management Organization, Pandora, was established, relic users came under strict control. Those with power and wealth became Pandora's members, and every relic eventually ended up in the hands of the elite.
People believed Pandora when they claimed they existed to preserve world peace and security.
Even when they suffered injustice, no one dared oppose them, terrified by the power of relics.
At least...
No one except one man.
[Seo Ju-heon raids Pandora's relics once again.]
[Relics were never God's gift meant to advance humanity.]
[The relics' true purpose was to exterminate mankind. They had allied themselves with Pandora to wipe out humanity.]
[Pandora knew the truth all along but remained silent for profit.]
[Evidence emerges that Pandora conducted human experiments to obtain stronger relics.]
[Seo Ju-heon saves the world from Pandora's conspiracy.]
[Seo Ju-heon becomes the Majesty—the King of Relics—and the administrator who rules over all relics.]
Seo Ju-heon had saved the world.
But not everyone welcomed that outcome.
"Damn it! Seo Ju-heon ruined our business!"
"We were making a fortune selling relics on the black market!"
"We were better off when there were no laws! What the hell is this Relic Act supposed to be?!"
Seo Ju-heon.
The hero who saved the world.
The King of Relics.
The Majesty.
Do-hyeon had seen those headlines countless times—on the news, on giant electronic billboards, even on televisions inside bars.
To sum it up, amid the chaos, Seo Ju-heon had become the Majesty, the King of Relics, and restored order to the world.
"Damn you, Seo Ju-heon!"
Those who trafficked relics illegally and those who had allied themselves with the monopolists all hated him.
Do-hyeon was one of them.
He had survived by constantly stabbing people in the back and made his fortune stealing relics.
People called him a heartless bastard.
But today...
It was all over.
"Damn... that son of a bitch..."
Do-hyeon was dying.
"Ah, would you idiots shut up already?"
"You bastard! You used us as bait so you could escape!"
Around Do-hyeon, enormous pythons writhed across the ground.
It was an unidentified top-tier tomb their team leader had discovered.
They had entered with stars in their eyes, convinced they'd hit the jackpot.
Instead, they had ended up trapped before deadly mechanisms.
Realizing death was inevitable, Do-hyeon burst into crazed laughter.
Huh?
Hearing a pleasant, deep voice, he raised his head.
A tall figure stood before him.
Sharp, well-defined features.
An unbelievably handsome man.
...Wait.
A person?
A rescuer?
Just then—
"You sons of bitches! As if I'll ever trust anyone with relics again! I'll come back as a ghost and haunt every last one of those bastards!"
As his desperate scream echoed through the labyrinth, Do-hyeon heard an unexpected voice.
THUD!!
He was kicked.
The man who had sent him flying casually dug at his ear, looking annoyed.
"Enough already."
"I'm injured! Can't you see my leg's been torn off?!"
"Oh. Has it?"
"Hey! Why are you making such a fuss over some lousy tomb? What are you going to do if the relic escapes?"
"...Huh?"
The hooded man casually pulled out an item.
Wh-Who is he?
Do-hyeon was stunned.
This tomb had supposedly been sealed off worldwide by Seo Ju-heon himself.
No one should have been able to enter...
[Qin Shi Huang's Elixir of Immortality Fruit (SS-Rank / Consumable Relic)]
Remaining Uses: (1/1)
It looked like nothing more than an ordinary red fruit.
The man shoved it straight into Do-hyeon's mouth without hesitation.
"Move. You're in the way."
"Aaaagh!"
"You're making this much noise over losing one leg?"
"Cough! You bastard, what did you just feed me— Huh?!"
Do-hyeon screamed.
Then something unbelievable happened.
A brilliant light enveloped his body.
His severed leg regenerated completely.
"W-What the...?!"
Only a Divine-Class relic could possess regeneration on this level.
Then Do-hyeon remembered.
This place was a nest of giant serpents.
"My teammates got eaten by those things!"
Relics were graded from F-Rank (Antique Class) all the way to SS-Rank (Divine Class).
Judging by what he had just witnessed, that fruit had to be at least SS-Rank.
It was the kind of treasure money couldn't buy, no matter how many billions you offered.
Yet this man had used it as casually as if it were candy.
As one of the giant serpents opened its jaws and lunged forward, the hooded man swiftly drew another relic.
"I'll only charge you ten billion."
"W-What?!"
"Fine."
"Then let's get this over with."
Do-hyeon barely had time to process those words.
He pointed frantically at the enormous shadow looming over them.
[The Possessed Knife of the Egyptian Embalmer (C-Rank / Standard Consumable Relic)]
Remaining Uses: (44/100)
But the moment Do-hyeon saw the weapon, despair washed over him.
As an experienced relic user himself, he could tell at a glance.
"A C-Rank?! Damn it, this guy's a complete amateur! Even S-Rank relics didn't work on that thing! That's why my teammates got eaten!"
"Heh. Just watch."
The man leaped onto the serpent's head...
...and forced something into its mouth.
[Medicine That Made Cronos Vomit (S-Rank / Consumable Relic)]
Instantly, the giant serpent vomited everything it had swallowed.
Do-hyeon's teammates spilled out alive.
The hooded man disappeared in a blur.
The next instant, he struck.
He stabbed.
He slashed.
He carved the monster apart with uncanny precision—
As though he could see every one of its weak points.
CRUNCH!
At last, the enormous serpent collapsed.
The hooded man grinned.
"G-Guys!"
"C-Captain!"
Tears welled in Do-hyeon's eyes as he looked toward the man.
"You said your teammates were eaten?"
"Then obviously you rescue them."
"Th-Thank you..."
"The rescue fee is ten billion."
"...What?!"
"Enough talking. Follow me."
"W-Wait, what?!"
A moment later, venomous snakes lying across the floor bit Do-hyeon.
Oddly enough, there was no pain.
No injury, either.
Is he taking me to the exit?
That was what Do-hyeon thought.
Instead, the hooded man flashed a grin and shoved him into a room filled with sand.
Venomous snakes poured down from the ceiling.
"My bank account PIN is 4989...!"
At the completely random outburst, the hooded man leisurely stroked his chin.
"...?"
Having barely dodged the falling snakes, Do-hyeon shouted at him.
"Hmm. So it's a trap that forces people to reveal their secrets."
"Works for me."
"Now that I know your PIN, I'll just take my payment myself."
"What the hell are you doing?!"
"What do you mean? It's too dangerous for me to cross the trap myself."
"What?!"
The man tossed even Do-hyeon's rescued teammates into the quicksand.
"What the hell are you doing?!"
"Alex Walker!"
The hooded man merely smiled calmly.
"Why do you think I went through the trouble of rescuing your teammates?"
[False.]
"Aaaagh! It's not a lie! Then why—?! Gah! Gurgle!"
At that moment, the hooded man who had saved them spoke.
"What?"
Just then, a voice echoed throughout the trap.
[Speak the truth or die. What is your name?]
"Oh, come on. You people still trust relics?"
"...!"
"Relics are evil. The moment they open their mouths, all they do is lie."
The people sinking into the quicksand hurriedly shouted their names.
"Jin Jeong-hui!"
"Shin Gyeong-jae!"
The tall man casually stepped on the flailing people's backs and heads as if they were stepping stones, crossing the quicksand before heading toward the wall.
Embedded there was a golden fang.
"Good. So you're the master of this tomb."
The venomous fang spewed black energy as though struggling desperately.
But the man's power completely suppressed the relic's aura.
Do-hyeon's eyes widened.
[Isis's Venom Fang (SS-Rank – Divine-Class / Consumable Relic)]
He forced a relic into submission?!
There was normally only one way for a human to become a relic's master.
Overcome the tomb's trial...
...and earn the relic's recognition.
But trying to gain a relic's recognition was practically a one-way ticket to the grave.
Relics were foul-tempered by nature.
If you became too close to them, they would gradually poison your body and destroy you.
So what was the alternative?
The man snatched up the fang without hesitation.
Relics could be controlled through one of three powers:
Dominance, Affinity, or Compatibility.
Affinity meant befriending the relic.
Compatibility referred to possessing the talent to wield a relic well, much like a gifted musician playing an instrument.
Most relic users relied on one of those two methods.
But what he was using was unmistakably...
"Dominance!"
CRACK!!!
Dominance was the power to forcibly subjugate a relic.
He's using the method relics hate the most?!
As expected, the backlash was tremendous.
The venom fang finally transformed into a knife, which the man casually stuffed into his pocket.
[How dare a lowly tomb raider lay hands on me?!]
"You sure talk a lot for an object."
The hooded man narrowed his eyes, as though he had dealt with this countless times before.
Isis's Venom Fang muttered like a curse.
"Won't you shut up? Want me to grind those teeth down?"
BOOOOM!!
The fang unleashed another surge of power.
The man mercilessly crushed it beneath his Dominance.
[The Twelve Executors shall judge your worth...!]
"The Twelve Executors? What are you babbling about? Want to be chopped into twelve pieces and delivered quarterly?"
[Kraaagh! Damn it... Damn it...! A relic... submitting to a human...!]
At that moment—
Realizing he had been used to clear the tomb, Do-hyeon shouted at the hooded man.
"Who the hell are you?! I'm reporting you to the Majesty!"
That bastard...?
It was on that day that Do-hyeon finally realized.
The man blinked.
This ruthless bastard...
"...To the Majesty?"
"That's right! I'm telling Seo Ju-heon everything! That you stole the relic! That you threw me into the trap! If it's Seo Ju-heon, the man who saved the world, he won't let this slide!"
Do-hyeon himself had lived a life where people constantly called him ruthless.
But...
The truly ruthless one... was someone else.
A brief silence followed.
"...Uh. I am Seo Ju-heon."
Right.
Compared to him...
Do-hyeon wasn't even worth mentioning.
"Oh, right. The tomb-clearing fee is one billion."
"...Seo Ju-heon?!"
Do-hyeon was dumbfounded.
A tomb-clearing fee? You've got to be kidding me!
"You already took the relic from this tomb!"
"That's separate."
"That's that, this is this."
"Leg regeneration fee. Rescue fee for your teammates."
"Grand total: twenty-one billion."
"Transfer it by tomorrow."
In the meantime, all he'd done was capture relics, beat relics into submission, establish relic laws, and finally make the world a somewhat livable place.
But there are still countless undiscovered relics...
Damn it...
Do-hyeon collapsed.
Many relics from mythology were extremely dangerous.
Some possessed enough power to destroy Earth in an instant.
That was why Seo Ju-heon constantly searched for them as a preventive measure.
The problem was...
They rarely revealed themselves.
Where are those things hiding...?
It was the age of relics.
The entire world fought, killed, and went mad over those treasures called relics.
And it had already been two years since Ju-heon survived that brutal age of relic competition and became the Majesty, the King of Relics.
Well...
At least today had been productive.
Isis alone is worth an SS-Rank... no, an SSS-Rank.
[Isis's Venom Fang (SS-Rank / Consumable Relic) (10/10)]
[This relic steals an opponent's True Name, seizes their power, and kills them. (Effective even against Divine-Class beings.)]
"But..."
A relic that kills gods?
Ju-heon chuckled at the system window floating before his eyes.
Too bad.
The moment the King of Relics—the Majesty—had come into existence, the relic war had already ended.
Isis is famous for the myth in which she stole the Sun God Ra's True Name.
"To heal you, I must learn your true name."
"Honestly, I can't imagine ever having a reason to use a relic of this caliber."
In Egypt, whether one was a god or a human, a name represented one's very existence.
In other words...
Once someone learned your true name, you lost your power.
Indeed, after Isis learned Ra's True Name, she stole part of his divine authority and passed it on to her son, Horus.
That was precisely what this relic did.
It carved away the target's True Name, stealing their divine authority.
At the very least, for the sake of my child who's about to be born...
I can't allow relics to run wild.
I have to leave my kid a better world.
And become a father who only says kind and beautiful things.
Just then, an unfamiliar message appeared.
[The Administrator of this world, the 187,487th , has been registered.]
[As a result, Seo Ju-heon has been granted eligibility for the .]
[Forced Humanity Reset has begun ♥]
[The scenario in which humanity is exterminated by the Relics has commenced ♥]
"...What the hell is this now?"