* * *
“Gyaaaahhh!”
As someone finally let out a scream of pain, a North Korean soldier belatedly grasped the situation and snapped his head around.
Just as he was about to rush toward the smoke seeping in through the doorframe—
He saw the steel door crumble to dust before his eyes, and blood rushed to his face in panic.
“Sound the alarm—!”
Even before he finished, another soldier reached for the alarm—only for his arm to disintegrate into fine dust.
The rest of his body soon followed, vanishing into thin air.
The remaining soldier staggered back in horror, pale as a sheet.
“Heeek!”
He slumped to the side like a puppet with its strings cut, and began to slowly fade away from the legs up.
Meanwhile, the one responsible for this mess simply waved away the smoke like it was an inconvenience and stepped into the room.
Even in information-controlled North Korea, it was impossible not to recognize someone with such absurd power.
“Y-you’re from South Ko—mmph!”
Before he could finish, his mouth was clamped shut by a large hand.
With sunglasses and a mask hiding his face, his presence alone was enough to make the soldier’s knees shake.
“I’ll ask once. Where’s your boss?”
The soldier opened and closed his mouth, trying to answer—until his left ear abruptly vanished.
“Mrghhh!”
“Oh, sorry.”
Woo Jaehyun apologized with a voice that was anything but sincere.
He released the man, who clutched his bleeding ear with a whimper.
His voice trembled with fear—any sense of loyalty had long since eroded from hunger.
“D-down the hall… last room…”
Having gotten what he came for, Woo Jaehyun turned without another glance.
A haze of dust scattered in his wake, and before long, black flames erupted within the empty room.
Soon, he reached the end of the hallway and kicked the door open without hesitation.
With a loud bang, the steel door crumpled like paper and slammed into the corner.
This room looked distinctly different from the others.
Decorated with a touch of luxury, it clearly belonged to someone higher up.
“You came from South Korea? You got here faster than I expected.”
A man sitting on a fancy-looking sofa stood up slowly.
He must’ve seen the door get blown away, yet he remained completely calm.
“Hm.”
Surprised to hear a Seoul accent, Woo Jaehyun smirked and looked the man—Pyeon Songgyeong—up and down.
A scholarly type with round glasses, but sharp eyes reminiscent of a wildcat.
And more surprisingly—
“You’re unawakened.”
To think the person in charge of a thousand North Korean soldiers was an unawakened civilian.
A laugh slipped out despite himself—he had never seen anything like it.
Even so, this man was living in relative luxury, drinking openly, while everyone outside was gaunt and scorched black.
It meant this worthless organization had connections—black market dealings and corruption.
And the fact that Seo Inho had been captured by scum like this was beyond absurd.
Letting out a short sigh, Woo Jaehyun wiped the smile from his face, grabbed Pyeon Songgyeong’s face with one hand, and slammed it against the wall.
Even holding back, blood poured from the man’s mouth.
“You the one who ordered them to bring my brother?”
Blood dripping from his shattered forehead, Pyeon’s eyes—visible through his broken glasses—showed no fear.
It seemed he hadn’t climbed this far without guts.
“I was desperate. Paid a steep price for that intel—I couldn’t let the chance slip.”
“Intel?”
“For the record, we didn’t reach out first. We just accepted the terms offered to us.”
“Terms,” huh. That meant someone from South Korea contacted them first.
To sell off Seo Inho meant there was serious bad blood—though that wasn’t rare.
Hell, even the one spreading fire outside could’ve been a suspect.
Things had changed recently, but if this was just a month ago, he wouldn’t have had to look far.
“We had two goals. Bring Seo Inho over to our side to spark rebellion. And push South Korea to bring down North Korea from the outside.”
“… …”
“Seo Inho’s lack of cooperation was becoming a problem, but this works out nicely.”
“… …”
“Please bring down North Korea.”
At that final statement, Woo Jaehyun, who had remained silent until now, finally burst out laughing.
It was the kind of laugh that said, ‘Isn’t that why you came to me in the first place?’
He couldn’t help it.
In short, they were saying they were too weak and powerless, so now they’d rely on him.
Pathetic.
And the fact that they could say something that laughable with such an annoyingly serious face made it all the more ridiculous.
Still shaking with laughter, Woo Jaehyun exhaled a long breath.
“Why should I?”
The corners of his mouth, previously curled into a smile beneath his mask, slowly sank.
The radiant face was now twisted with a crooked grin.
“I just need to get my brother back and wipe out the lot of you. That’s it.”
Understanding the situation hadn’t been difficult from the moment he stepped foot in this place.
He had assumed it was the North Korean government’s doing, but it turned out to be the work of some third-rate group acting on their own?
Then there was only one conclusion to draw.
“To be honest, I thought this would be a hassle. But it’s been ridiculously easy.”
Woo Jaehyun slowly approached Pyeon Songgyeong, whose face had gone rigid.
“Think about it. All this chaos, and no one’s come. Why do you think that is?”
“… …”
“Because we’re in some remote location? Not likely…”
Even in a country where surveillance was routine, could this level of disturbance really go unnoticed?
Surely some of the guards had escaped.
And by now, the smoke from the entrance alone should have been enough to blacken the sky.
And yet no one was coming. What could that possibly mean?
“They’re probably watching from a distance. Hoping this place collapses as soon as possible.”
“You son of a— kghk!”
For the first time, Pyeon Songgyeong reacted violently, his eyes going wide as a crushing grip seized him.
Bones cracked audibly, blood vessels burst, and his agonized scream echoed through the space.
But Woo Jaehyun, watching, remained completely emotionless—cold, detached.
“If I’m being honest, Koreans don’t give a damn about you. Ever since the Gates opened, everyone’s too busy trying to survive.”
“Aaaagh!”
“So you never should’ve laid a hand on Seo Inho. What, you just eat up any info you’re given like a starving mutt?”
With that, the hand gripping Pyeon’s face clenched into a tight fist.
The shrill scream was abruptly silenced by a wet, meaty crunch.
Woo Jaehyun leaned forward slightly over the headless corpse, casually wiping the filth from his hands onto his clothes.
“With a mindset like that… what were you even hoping to accomplish.”
His eyes, previously distant and bored, naturally shifted to the floor to his right.
In the deepest part of the room, an unstable presence still quivered, trembling violently even now.
At the same time—
After passing through countless rooms, Cha Rui finally reached the last cell.
The layout was needlessly complicated—so much so that by the end, he had resorted to punching through walls just to run a straight path.
The closer he got, the more familiar the scent of blood became.
He had a bad feeling.
But the sight that greeted him made his legs freeze as if rooted in place.
It felt like all the blood drained from his body.
Without a doubt, he had never felt this way before.
Lying on the filthy floor, Seo Inho had his eyes closed peacefully, just like he once had.
Only now, he looked a little paler.
A little more worn.
But his condition was nothing like before.
His body was bruised and battered, blood vessels ruptured to the point that his natural skin color was almost unrecognizable.
And on the ground near him… was unmistakably one of his fingers.
The shattered potion bottles scattered around made it clear what had happened—he’d been tortured near to death, healed, then tortured again.
Over and over.
It was enough to shatter anyone’s sanity.
Cha Rui forgot to breathe, slowly turning his gaze toward Lee Donghyuk.
The man had just poured a potion on Seo Inho’s face.
As soon as their eyes met—those eerily pale grey eyes beneath a cap—Lee Donghyuk instinctively activated his ability.
Cha Rui’s aura alone was enough to make him feel like death was approaching.
BOOM—!
But going invisible did nothing.
His head was instantly grabbed, and he was slammed into a wall with a massive blow to his gut.
One hit crushed his organs, pulverized every rib.
“Kghk!”
Lee Donghyuk immediately realized—he couldn’t win.
And that this man wasn’t from North Korea.
They had anticipated something like this after kidnapping Seo Inho, but they didn’t expect him to come this fast.
What kind of S-class shows up like a beat cop within half a day?
But regardless, the beast in front of him had already lost all reason.
His bloodshot eyes burned beneath his wild red hair.
“What the hell did you do.”
* * *
