The sole heir to a ruined world

 The Sole Heir of a Ruined World – Episode 2

*Shunk!*

Hankyul felt the blade pierce through his neck.

The rusty, jagged dagger tore through his flesh like a saw, grinding painfully.

He felt death creeping toward him as his consciousness faded.

“…Huh?”

But he didn’t die.

Hankyul reached up with trembling hands to touch his neck.

There was no wound.

Had he imagined his own death?

No, it was real.

His clothes were soaked with blood, and the torn fabric bore holes where the dagger had punctured.

*Keeruk?*

The goblin stared at him, looking equally confused.

It must have realized something was wrong—the human it thought it had killed was still alive.

*Kieeeek!*

Its momentary hesitation disappeared, and the goblin lunged again, stabbing relentlessly.

*Shunk. Shunk!*

The dagger tore through flesh and crunched against bone, but Hankyul remained alive.

He wasn’t just alive—he was completely fine.

Why wasn’t he dying?

The question barely lingered in his mind before the system answered:

「In the ‘world,’ all status ailments are cured, and all injuries are healed.」

Hankyul blinked, standing still as the goblin continued to slash and stab at him.

So that’s what “healing injuries” meant.

Even fatal wounds were immediately healed.

No matter how deep the blade sank into his neck or how thoroughly it shredded his heart, Hankyul couldn’t die in this world.

“Ha…”

The moment Hankyul realized he couldn’t die, the fear that had gripped him vanished completely.

The pain from each attack was still there but no longer mattered.

*”I can’t die, after all.”*

Knowing that the goblin couldn’t kill him, it stopped feeling like much of a threat.

To others, Hankyul might have seemed like a madman, welcoming pain and refusing to resist.

Sure, immortality meant endless suffering, but none of that mattered to him.

Hankyul focused on one thing: the fact that he couldn’t be killed.

If something couldn’t kill him, it was no longer a threat.

*Thud.*

Hankyul grabbed the dagger mid-stab as it aimed for his stomach.

The blade tore through the flesh of his hand, splitting it open and drawing blood, but Hankyul only winced slightly.

The wound healed almost instantly, and the pain was gone before it even had a chance to linger.

*Kieeeek!*

The goblin screeched, desperately trying to pull the dagger from Hankyul’s grip.

Hankyul looked down at the goblin with calm, cold eyes and tightened his grip on the blade.

He yanked hard, and the goblin stumbled forward.

*”It’s weaker than me. Its strength is about the same as a child’s.”*

Despite holding a weapon, the goblin’s physical power was unimpressive.

With his free hand, Hankyul grabbed the goblin by the neck.

*Crunch.*

The goblin flailed and kicked, trying to escape, but Hankyul didn’t let go.

The moment the goblin dropped its dagger, Hankyul seized it and plunged the blade into its eye.

「You have defeated a ‘Corrupted Scout Goblin.’」

The goblin’s body went limp and collapsed.

Was that the end?

The thought crossed Hankyul’s mind for only a moment before something began to change.

「You have obtained a Red Mana Stone.」
「Defeating the ‘Corrupted Scout Goblin’ increases your mana by 1.」

A refreshing sensation spread from deep within his body, filling him completely.

The goblin’s corpse turned into black smoke before condensing into a small red mana stone.

「Next invasion begins in 30 minutes.」

The invasion wasn’t over.

In just 30 minutes, another one would begin.

The dagger he had taken from the goblin had already disappeared along with the corpse, dissipating into black smoke.

Hankyul clenched his fists.

He needed time to fully grasp the situation he was in.

***

「You have defeated a ‘Corrupted Scout Goblin.’」
「You have defeated a ‘Corrupted Scout Goblin.’」
「You have defeated a ‘Corrupted Goblin Squad Leader.’」

Since arriving in the ‘world,’ Hankyul had survived five more invasions.

Each time, he fought off the goblins with nothing but his bare hands.

He was stabbed dozens of times, came close to death repeatedly, but always survived.

With every invasion, the number of goblins increased.

By the final invasion, a “Squad Leader Goblin” with a higher-quality weapon had appeared to invade the world.

*”If this wasn’t the ‘world,’ I’d have been dead a long time ago.”*

The system’s promise of “healing injuries” was absurdly overpowered.

No matter how severe the wound, it would heal in less than a second.

In this place, Hankyul was truly unkillable.

Well, except for one exception.

The stump at the center of the world.

If the stump was destroyed, Hankyul would die.

The Squad Leader Goblin had ignored Hankyul entirely and gone straight for the stump, as if it knew this.

Hankyul had thrown himself at the Squad Leader to protect the stump, ultimately defeating it.

As a result:

「Red Mana Stone x7」
「Orange Mana Stone x1」
「Cracked Longsword x1」

He had earned several mana stones and a weapon.

「Current Mana: 17」

Each regular goblin gave 1 mana, while defeating the Squad Leader had granted him an additional 5.

*”I think the market price for a Red Mana Stone used to be around 100,000 won… wonder if it’s the same now.”*

After the great upheaval and the appearance of monsters, awakened hunters had begun hunting them.

From the corpses of these monsters, mana stones were discovered.

Mana stones were clusters of energy.

Humanity had studied them and figured out how to convert them into usable energy.

This marked the end of traditional resources like oil and coal.

Everything—from electricity to machinery—was now powered by mana stones.

Red mana stones were the lowest grade, followed by orange, then yellow, each with increasing value.

If Hankyul could sell these mana stones, he wouldn’t need to keep working part-time jobs.

「Next invasion begins in 3 hours.」

The invasions continued.

With each one, the wait time increased by 30 minutes, but so did the difficulty.

The next invasion would bring more goblins and possibly something stronger than the Squad Leader.

Stronger goblins would also drop higher-grade mana stones.

*”The problem is, I’d need to register as a hunter to sell these stones.”*

Mana stones, as valuable as they were, couldn’t be sold officially without proper identification.

While selling through unofficial channels was possible, it came with significant risks.

Hankyul glanced at the mana stones in his hand before turning his attention to the stump.

*”I’ll deal with that later. Right now, I need to figure out exactly what this ‘world’ can do.”*

Through the invasions, Hankyul had learned several things:

First, in the ‘world,’ he didn’t feel hunger or thirst.

「In the ‘world,’ all status ailments are cured, and all injuries are healed.」

The system treated hunger and thirst as status ailments, and even fatigue didn’t exist here.

This allowed him to fight tirelessly against the goblins.

Second, Hankyul could move between the ‘world’ and reality at will.

Before one invasion, he had thought about returning to his original location, and the system informed him he could “return.”

The same was true for entering the ‘world.’

There were no waiting times or conditions for moving back and forth.

This ability was something he could use to his advantage in real life.

In any dangerous situation, he could escape to the ‘world,’ where nothing could harm him.

*”And lastly…”*

Hankyul approached the stump.

「‘OOOOO’s Stump.」
「You can use 100 mana to grow a sprout.」

The stump was massive, the size of a small house, making it hard to imagine how large the tree must have been before it was cut down.

「Mana stones can be converted into mana.」
「Converting a Red Mana Stone grants 100 mana.」
「Converting an Orange Mana Stone grants 200 mana.」
「If you grow a sprout, something good might happen.」

The stump was clearly asking for mana.

Hankyul fiddled with the mana stones in his hand before placing one of the red stones on the stump.

*”I don’t need money right now, anyway.”*

As long as his body was healthy, he could always find ways to earn money.

「You have converted a Red Mana Stone into 100 mana.」
「Do you wish to use 100 mana to grow a sprout?」

Hankyul moved his hand to confirm.

「100 mana has been consumed to grow a sprout.」
「A sprout will grow in 1 hour.」

So it would take an hour.

Staring at the system message, Hankyul clenched the remaining mana stones in his hand and returned to reality.

The stale, musty smell of his room hit him immediately.

Living with a paralyzed lower body had made it impossible to clean properly without help.

Compared to the fresh, crisp air of the ‘world,’ the moldy room felt suffocating.

*Clink.*

Hankyul gripped the mana stones tightly in his hand, pocketing them before moving to do something he had longed for.

***

*Splash!*

Hankyul submerged himself in the hot bath of a nearby spa.

A sigh of relief escaped his lips.

“Ah… this feels good.”

One of the things he had desperately wanted to do after becoming paralyzed was to take a proper bath.

To soak in hot water, soften his skin, and scrub away dirt…

It was something he had never thought he’d be able to do again.

*Splash, splash!*

As he closed his eyes, he heard the sound of children laughing nearby.

Opening them, he saw two boys splashing around like they were swimming in the bath.

“Jung Hyunmin! Jung Jihu!”

A man, likely their father, scolded the kids.

“I’m sorry,” the man said, bowing his head toward Hankyul before dragging the children out.

“I told you not to play around in the bath!”

“But he splashed me first!”

“What? You stuck your tongue out at me first!”

Watching the man scold the boys, Hankyul scratched his chin.

*”It didn’t bother me, though.”*

It wasn’t unusual for kids to play like that.

“Come here. I’ll scrub your back,” the father said, kneeling to help the boys.

Hankyul stared blankly at the scene.

—

**”Does that feel good?”**
**”No! It hurts!”**
**”Haha.”**

The sight of the man and his sons triggered a pang in Hankyul’s chest.

A face, a voice he would never see or hear again.

*Throb.*

Pain flared in his head as he frowned and got up.

—

When he finished bathing and stepped outside, the kids were running around naked.

Jung Jihu bumped into Hankyul.

“Ouch!”

The boy looked up at him with teary eyes.

Their father rushed over, bowing repeatedly.

“I’m so sorry! Jihu! I told you not to run!”

The boy’s lip trembled as if he were about to cry.

Hankyul spoke calmly.

“I’m fine.”

“I should’ve been more careful. I’m really sorry,” the father apologized again.

“It’s fine,” Hankyul said, shaking his head.

He looked down at the boy.

“Listen to your father. You’ll regret it if you don’t.”

Even as he said it, Hankyul wondered why.

Why had he said that?

Perhaps it was his own guilt for not appreciating what he had when he had it.

Shaking his head lightly, Hankyul left the spa.

—

「A sprout has grown!」

The system message flashed in his vision.