Kael stood before the towering monolith of the Hunter Association, its steel and glass facade gleaming under the afternoon sun. Despite the buzz of hunters passing him by, all he could hear was the pounding of his own heart. The moment his registration was complete, only one thought consumed him.
"Where are they?"
After a string of quiet inquiries, and with the help of an old, almost-forgotten address once listed under the name Saejin Adhartas, he finally had a direction.
He learned the truth quickly: the government had seized everything. His accounts, properties, the rights to his name—all gone. Declared dead with honors, but no compensation. No justice. No dignity. Just a file closed and a family left to grieve in silence.
But they were alive.
That alone kept him breathing.
---
The sun dipped lower in the sky as Kael reached a quiet street on the edge of the city. A modest house stood there, dwarfed by surrounding gray apartment blocks. It looked out of place—like a memory left behind in a world that had moved on.
Warm yellow light spilled from its windows. From the kitchen came the faint hum of an old tune. His mother's voice—still soft, still singing.
Laughter bubbled from a room beyond. A girl's voice—his sister. Older now.
Kael froze at the gate.
His heart ached.
They were safe. Struggling maybe… but safe. Tears threatened at the edge of his vision, but he forced a deep breath.
"This is enough... for now."
With trembling fingers, he reached out and pressed the doorbell.
Footsteps.
The door opened slowly.
A young woman in her early twenties looked out. Her eyes, sharp and familiar, widened.
"Yes?"
Kael straightened his posture, forcing a soft, calm smile.
"Sorry to disturb you. My name is Kael Arkanis. I was… a friend of Saejin."
The words tasted bittersweet on his tongue.
Her breath caught in her throat.
"You knew my brother?"
He nodded gently. "Yes. We met during a raid years ago. He saved my life. I was… trapped in a dungeon since. I only just got out."
Her hand covered her mouth for a heartbeat. Then she turned and called into the house. "Mom!"
Moments later, a woman appeared. Her frame had grown frail, and her hair was more silver than he remembered. But her eyes… those soft brown eyes still carried the strength of a mother who had endured everything.
She looked at him.
And something—something almost primal—flickered across her face. Recognition?
"You… you're Saejin's friend?"
Kael bowed his head. "Yes, ma'am. He spoke of you often. I… I wish I had come sooner. But I was trapped. And when I got out, I knew I had to see you. To thank you. And to tell you… he was a hero."
Her hands trembled around the towel she held.
Then she opened the door wider.
"You're welcome here, Kael. Please, come in."
---
The house smelled like home—warm spices, brewed coffee, and a hint of incense. It wrapped around Kael like a memory too painful to touch.
They sat at the table. His sister, cautious but kind, poured him tea. His mother asked quiet questions. About his life. About Saejin. About why he came now.
He gave them the story he had practiced—not to deceive, but to protect.
Trapped in a collapsed dungeon. Years of survival. The fading sound of Saejin's voice. A promise to live, and to visit his family.
"I owe him everything," Kael said softly, eyes lowered, fingers tight around the warm mug. "I wouldn't be alive without him."
There was silence. Then his mother's voice, small but steady:
"You're kind. Just like he was."
They shared stories. Laughed. For a while, the pain was bearable.
And for one fleeting moment, Kael was just a man—one who had come home.
Not the Demon King.
Not a ruler or a monster.
Just… a son.
---
The sun had fallen low when he stood again.
"You're welcome anytime," his sister said at the door, her voice gentle.
Kael smiled. This one wasn't forced. "Thank you. I will."
---
Night embraced the streets as Kael walked alone.
But the calm shattered when two hunters passed behind him, their voices loud, cruel.
"Can you believe it? Saejin—the 'Hope of Humanity'? What a joke. He died like a nobody."
"Yeah, without the Seven Pillars, we'd be screwed. Those are real heroes."
Kael stopped mid-step.
His jaw clenched.
"That's what they say now…?"
The very people he bled for. The very world he saved.
"So this is how you remember me."
He walked on. Eyes darker now. The smile from earlier gone like mist in a storm.
.......
At the Hunter Association's mission board, papers fluttered in the wind. D-rank missions. C-rank. B-rank. A-Rank. S-rank.
He reached out.
Selected three.
"I'll carve the truth into your memory."
"One dungeon at a time."
"I will build a legacy so vast, no lie can bury it again."
As his cloak danced in the wind and the flickering lights of the city cast long shadows, Kael Arkanis—the Demon King reborn—stepped forward.
Not as Saejin.
But as the reckoning.
To be continued...