Someone once said that life is a series of choices—the "C" between B (Birth) and D (Death).
Bullshit. Looking at the mess I’m in now, that kind of lofty, airy-fairy nonsense would shrivel up and die. My life got this dynamically ruined over a single damn coin toss.
“Hey, quit whining and let the coin decide. Heads is Japan, tails is Italy. Clean and simple, right?”
At my friend's suggestion, a 500-won coin flipped through the air. When it hit the ground, it boasted the majestic figure of a crane—tails. And just like that, the destination for the first European trip of my life was set: Sardinia, Italy. Of course, I didn't have any complaints back then. In fact, I loved it. Emerald waters under the Mediterranean sun! Just imagining it felt like a scene from a luxury commercial.
My name is Min-jun Jeong. Born and raised in South Korea, twenty-three years old, and a soon-to-be-unemployed graduate whose greatest life achievement was getting lucky on multiple-choice questions during the CSAT. To me, the European soil I stepped on for the first time was, quite literally, heaven.
“Phew! Now this is living!”
I stripped off my shirt and hurled myself into the sea. I coughed as saltwater surged up my nose, but I couldn't stop laughing. Student loans, job-hunting stress, an opaque future… none of that mattered in this moment. I drifted like a piece of seaweed, or perhaps a lucky seal, savoring every drop of freedom.
…Or at least, I thought I was savoring it. By the time I snapped out of it, the bustling beach had shrunk to the size of a speck in the distance.
“Uh? Uh-oh?”
It was a rip current, the kind I’d only heard about in news warnings. Dammit. The more I panicked and flailed my limbs, the more the sea dragged me into its heart with a terrifying force. Before I could even scream for help, a wave the size of a house slammed into the back of my head. In the final moments as my consciousness flickered out, only one thought remained in my mind.
Ah, my travel insurance… what was the payout amount again…?
“Gah! Cough, hack!”
I opened my eyes while vomiting up the seawater filling my lungs. My entire body throbbed as if I’d been beaten with a lead pipe. Scanning my surroundings, I quickly assessed the situation. I was screwed. Completely and utterly.
This wasn't the tourist spot I knew. Instead of fine sand, I found a desolate shore littered with sharp black stones and earth that looked like volcanic ash. Behind the beach, a pitch-black cliff loomed, sheer and imposing. It was a classic shipwreck scenario.
As I wandered the island, I didn't find any living creatures. Instead, I found 'statues'—grotesquely detailed ones. A deer frozen in terror, a bird mid-flight with its wings spread, and… people turned to stone while huddling together.
This was a cursed land where every living soul had been petrified.
And there, in the center of the island within the ruins of an ancient temple, I faced the source. A woman sat on a shattered throne, leaning her chin on her hand with an air of profound boredom. Instead of hair, hundreds of snakes writhed and hissed atop her head. It was the monster of myth, Medusa.
She narrowed her eyes the moment she spotted me. As soon as I met those crimson pupils, sensation began to drain from the tips of my toes.
“From whence did this piece of dust crawl in? The very act of you breathing is offensive.”
Her voice was languid, yet the contempt within was as sharp as a blade.
“Wh-who are you…!”
“Be silent, speck. Your filthy feet have defiled my garden, so you shall pay with your life. Though, your miserable existence is hardly enough to even stave off my boredom.”
She viewed my very presence as something less than an insect. Despite the paralyzing fear of death, a spark of stubbornness flared within me. I spotted a weathered, ancient bronze shield discarded in a corner of the ruins and decided to stake my last hope on it.
“Ah, that wretched piece of scrap metal.”
Medusa scoffed.
“Do you still cling to hope in such fairy tales? Human stupidity remains unchanged even after thousands of years. Pitiful.”
The snake-hairs lashed out like tentacles, binding my body. I was dragged helplessly before her. She tilted my chin up, peering into my eyes as if observing a bug under a magnifying glass.
“Now, what expression would you like to be frozen in, little worm? I shall grant you the chance to personally choose the face that will mark the end of your pathetic life.”
It was that exact moment. To mock me, she had brought her face close, her crimson eyes gleaming. In those eyes, she saw 'herself' reflected in the bronze shield positioned behind my back.
“……!”
A split-second of rigidity. A tiny, infinitesimal opening born from her shock that her own curse was affecting her in reverse.
My body reacted faster than my thoughts. Using my hands, which had been loosened from the snakes' grip, I grabbed a jagged shard of marble lying on the floor. Throwing every ounce of my remaining strength and body weight behind it, I drove it straight toward her heart.
Thuck.
“G-gah…! You… mere… worm…!”
What erupted from her mouth wasn't a scream, but a mixture of disbelief, fury, and pure shock.
When I came to, I was floating in a void of pure white. A bizarre space without body, sound, or sensation. Then, a girl appeared before me. She was a mysterious figure with long, flowing hair that shimmered with a pink light.
“Are you awake, Number Seven?”
The girl spoke kindly. She introduced herself as 'Pandora.' The beginning of all calamities, yet the one who harbored the final hope.
“You have violated a taboo. With a mortal body, you have slain an immortal god. That is the greatest sin, a defiance of the world's principles. However…”
Pandora’s voice was gentle, but the content was anything but.
“However… you have simultaneously achieved the greatest of feats. You have dragged the Authority of the Heavens down to the earth. Such an act is worthy of a blessing.”
She placed her hand softly on my forehead. A cold yet pleasant sensation spread through my entire body.
“You foolish, brave child who killed the Snake Goddess and stole her power. In exchange for your sin and your feat, I shall grant you a new destiny.”
Pandora’s eyes sparkled with both maternal love and a hint of mischief.
“One destined to be a King of the Earth and the natural enemy of the gods. An Overlord, a Devil King, and… a Campione. From this moment on, you possess this destiny—a blessing that is indistinguishable from a curse.”
With those words, my consciousness faded into darkness once more.
When I opened my eyes again, I was lying on that peaceful beach in Sardinia. As if everything had been a dream, the cursed island was nowhere to be seen.
But it wasn't a dream. I felt it—a sensation of alien power overflowing through my body, incomparable to anything I had known before.
Just then, a seagull began to squawk annoyingly, trying to snatch the bag of snacks still clutched in my hand.
“Ah, get lost!”
Annoyed, I whipped my head around to glare at the thing. In that instant, the moment my gaze landed on it, the seagull froze mid-flap in the air. Thud. What hit the sand was a perfect, lifeless stone carving.
I stared blankly, looking back and forth between the petrified seagull and my own hands.
The life of Min-jun Jeong, an ordinary South Korean college student, ended today.
In its place, an absurd new life had begun—the life of a man who went on a vacation, accidentally killed a god, and was slapped with the title of Devil King. …I mean, what the hell am I even supposed to do first?
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