Death Is Not the End
The rain didn't stop, not even as Kang Ji-won lay bleeding on the marble floor of the family's private penthouse. Above him, the chandelier swung slightly—its crystals dripping light like tears—as if even the room mourned his existence.
He tasted copper in his mouth. Blood. Familiar. Inevitable.
Three silhouettes stood over him. Cousins. Brothers in name only. The same ones who smiled at family dinners and cursed his birth behind closed doors. The one in the middle—Min-jae—smirked and crouched beside him.
"Hyung," Min-jae said mockingly, using the honorific like poison, "you should've stayed forgotten."
Ji-won couldn't move. His body refused. His vision blurred. But his mind burned. Not with fear. Not anymore. With fury.
He wasn't supposed to die like this—not like a rat beneath the heels of men who inherited everything he was denied.
He was the eldest.
He was the blood son of the founder.
He was supposed to lead.
But they had the legitimacy. The name. The public face. And he was just a ghost.
A bastard.
"You'll be remembered as a tragic mistake," Min-jae whispered, standing up and wiping invisible dirt from his thousand-dollar coat. "And we'll finally be clean."
The elevator dinged.
Footsteps approached. Then silence.
Ji-won's world faded in
to darkness.
But it didn't end.
Pain didn't follow the darkness.
No afterlife. No fire. No void.
Only... cold.
Then warmth.
Then light.
Kang Ji-won's eyes snapped open.
The ceiling was familiar—plain white plaster with a tiny crack in the corner like a spiderweb. His pulse pounded in his ears, but no marble floor. No blood. No luxury apartment reeking of betrayal.
He jerked upright, gasping.
Everything looked... cheap. Small. This was his old apartment. The one-bedroom unit he had before his first internship at Kangsan Group—before the company even acknowledged his existence.
He stumbled to the window. Pulled the blinds.
Outside, a rusting bus rumbled past, and an old convenience store sign blinked lazily under the morning sun. This was Seoul—but not the Seoul he remembered. Not the version he'd ruled from behind the scenes.
He caught his reflection in the window glass.
He was young.
Too young.
His face—unscarred. His jaw—smoother. The suit he'd died in? Gone. Replaced by a faded T-shirt from college days. Hands trembling, he reached for his phone. The model was ancient. He powered it on.
June 3rd, 2010.
Fifteen years ago.
His breath caught.
This couldn't be real.
But everything felt real. The air. His heartbeat. The creak of the bed springs. He opened the closet. There was the Kangsan intern badge. The same one he'd received as a last-minute favor from the legal division director who pitied him.
This was no dream.
He was back.
---
Kang Ji-won sat on the edge of his old bed, staring at the ID badge in his hand like it might vanish at any second.
"Intern – Legal Division | Kangsan Group."
Name: Kang Ji-won
Employee No: 0078321
It wasn't just proof of his job. It was proof of who he had been—barely acknowledged, technically blood, but never officially welcomed into the Kang family.
His mother had once told him, "You're not a mistake. You're a reminder." A reminder that even bastards could carry greatness in their veins.
But the Kang elders didn't see it that way. They saw him as a liability, a stain. His mother was the founder's favorite mistress—until she refused to be quiet. Until she demanded her son be named as an heir.
She died in an "accident" shortly after.
Ji-won remembered standing alone at her funeral. No family. No press. Just a quiet burial on the edge of the city with a headstone paid for by borrowed money.
And now, he was back before any of that had happened.
Before he sold his first company.
Before he built his underground empire.
Before he got close enough to the Kang family to be killed by them.
"This time..." he whispered, gripping the badge, "I won't be used."
He opened the old laptop sitting on his desk. It took nearly five minutes to boot up. But once it did, he opened a blank document and typed one sentence:
> "To destroy an empire, you start by learning how it was built."
He didn't want their name.
He would ta
ke their power.
From the shadows.
As Kang Ji-won leaned back in his creaky chair, his fingers hovered above the keyboard.
Then—
DING.
A sharp chime echoed in his ears.
He blinked.
A glowing panel appeared midair—transparent, blue-tinged, pulsing with faint digital static. No screen. No projector. Just floating text as if the world itself had changed its rules.
> [Legacy System v1.0 Activated]
"Welcome, Kang Ji-won. The forgotten bloodline has returned."
Initializing Attributes…
– Reputation: 3
– Wealth: ₩5,300
– Influence: 0
– Holdings: 0
Main Quest Unlocked:
"Rewrite the Legacy. Seize the Kangsan Throne."
Ji-won didn't move. He didn't even breathe.
The System interface shimmered again.
> You have unlocked: Starter Perk – 'Market Memory'
"Your knowledge from the future grants you awareness of high-value investment events, IPOs, and business collapses before they occur."
Cooldown: 7 days
Accuracy: 87%
Risk: Variable
He slowly reached out to touch the panel. His fingers passed through light—but the text shifted in response. It wasn't a dream.
A smirk tugged at the corner of his mouth.
"A cheat code… for revenge."
This wasn't just a second chance.
This was an advantage.
And Ji-won wasn't the type to waste an advantage.
Kang Ji-won stood in front of his bathroom mirror, the cheap fluorescent light flickering overhead. He splashed cold water on his face and stared into the eyes of a man reborn—not in title, but in intent.
He dried his face and returned to the desk. The System panel still hovered patiently.
> [New Opportunity Detected]
"June 5, 2010 – Sudo Pharmaceutics to announce falsified clinical trial results. Stock will plummet in 4 days."
Suggestion: Short-sell at ₩2,100. Exit at ₩650. Potential ROI: 220%.
He laughed quietly.
This was how it would begin. Not with brute force or corporate war—not yet—but with the smallest investments, precise moves only a man who had lived through the next fifteen years could make.
He opened his bank app. Just over ₩5,000 won left—barely enough for dinner.
That wouldn't do.
His phone buzzed.
> [Incoming Call: Director Kwon – Legal Division, Kangsan Group]
Ji-won's eyes narrowed. This was it—the exact day he remembered. Director Kwon, a forgotten cog in the legal machine, had felt sorry enough for Ji-won to offer him an intern slot when another candidate dropped out.
He answered.
"Ji-won?" a gruff voice asked. "Still looking for that internship?"
"Yes, sir," Ji-won replied smoothly. "I'd be honored."
He already knew how this version of the future played out.
But this time, he was going to rewrite the ending.
As he hung up, the System chimed once more:
> [Quest Accepted: Enter the Lion's Den]
Objective: Join Kangsan Group within 48 hours. Begin infiltration.
Reward: +5 Reputation, +₩1,000 Seed Fund, Unlock "Corporate Camouflage" skill.
Ji-won smiled.
The Kang family had no idea.
The bastard they buried was alive.
And now, he would
build an empire out of the ashes they left him in.