A long time passed.
When Jae-hwan had only just pulled himself together, a visitor came to see him.
"You're alive."
"Are you Team Leader Lee Chang-ho?"
"What, where'd you hear my name?"
Chang-ho snorted and laughed it off, as if it were nothing.
But Jae-hwan's expression hardened as he went on.
"You didn't say anything about how I might die."
"Sure I did. I said you'd be a civil servant if you survived."
"What's that supposed to mean...?"
Jae-hwan sighed at Chang-ho's twisted logic.
But even that sigh lasted only a moment.
Jae-hwan began to focus on a word Chang-ho had said.
'A civil servant?'
At the unexpected good news, Jae-hwan couldn't hide his excitement.
"U-um, hey! About the civil servant thing...!"
"Huh? Right. We're civil servants. Did you really think they'd subcontract a top-grade secret like aberrations to some private outfit?"
"Then, by any chance, there's a salary too?"
Looking at Jae-hwan as if he were pathetic, Chang-ho went on.
"You get one. Performance bonuses too. Well, nobody knows if you'll survive until your first paycheck."
"...Sorry?"
"Most of them get drunk on their new power, run wild, and die fast. Before they even get their first paycheck."
Inwardly, Jae-hwan steeled his resolve once more.
For his sister's revenge, he could take on any amount of danger.
"But don't tell me... nobody explained anything to you?"
Pulling out another cigarette, Chang-ho asked casually.
"They didn't tell me anything."
"Even if the survival rate's low, come on. Those HR guys are way too sloppy."
Letting out a low sigh, Chang-ho continued his explanation.
"The solution we gave you. Once you get that, your physical abilities improve across the board. Strength, stamina, reflexes, recovery, stuff like that."
At the unexpected information, Jae-hwan looked down at his hands in surprise.
Somehow, his body felt a little lighter than before.
"And it differs by person, but... everyone gets one special ability. It's probably manifested in you by now, too. You just don't know what it is."
"What kind, for example?"
"They're so varied I don't know what to tell you. Well, in my case... it's erasing memories."
Jae-hwan remembered Chang-ho going on last time about erasing memories.
"Well, it's an ability that's not the slightest use in a fight."
Chang-ho gave a twisted smile as he spat out the pessimistic words.
"And the aberrations each have at least one special ability of their own. So don't get cocky."
The gamble he'd made with his life on the line had been more successful than he could have imagined.
Kim Jae-hwan, the penniless orphan alone in the world, was no more.
Newfound power and wealth.
With just these, Jae-hwan could have a life far better than before...
'...No, that's not happening.'
No matter how strong his power or how stable his income, it no longer meant much.
Either way, the fact that Jae-hwan's sister was dead wasn't going to change.
It was then, as a brief silence fell.
Suddenly, Chang-ho's phone began to ring loudly.
With a cutesy ringtone that didn't suit a middle-aged man at all.
"Yeah. It's me."
Ignoring Jae-hwan's incredulous look, Chang-ho went on.
"Got it. Then I'll bring the rookie along too."
Hanging up, Chang-ho looked at Jae-hwan and spoke.
"Let's go, rookie."
"Sorry?"
"Time for revenge."
***
"We're here. Get out."
They had ridden a long way to the destination in an ambulance, to hide who they were.
Before he knew it, Jae-hwan was dressed in a black suit to match the others, and he adjusted his black tie as he tamped down his thirst for revenge.
The woman looked at Jae-hwan with emotionless eyes.
Short bobbed hair that came down to her neck.
A curvy figure that showed through her suit.
Pale skin that gave off a cold air.
The woman was a beauty with an androgynous charm.
But the brusque air she gave off made it hard for Jae-hwan to approach her.
Noticing Jae-hwan's gaze, the woman sighed and spoke.
"...Lee Ji-yeon."
"Sorry?"
"I said, Lee Ji-yeon. Let's work well together."
"Ah, yes..."
Just as another awkward silence was about to fall.
"It's just ahead."
Chang-ho, who had been pointing at an abandoned house, suddenly stopped walking.
"Ah, but before that. I'm out."
"Sorry?"
Jae-hwan showed his bewilderment at Chang-ho's sudden declaration.
"Wait, what are you talking about all of a sudden, now of all times...?"
"What can I do? The higher-ups want me to erase people's memories first. Seems a few came here for some test of courage. You're in charge on site."
Ji-yeon nodded as if she were used to this by now.
As Chang-ho left grumbling, only Jae-hwan and Ji-yeon remained at the scene.
"Then let's do this. You take the kitchen. I'll take the living room."
Jae-hwan nodded once, then headed toward the abandoned house.
The bleak abandoned house no longer showed any sign of people living there.
Grinding his teeth, Jae-hwan began searching for the aberration.
But the aberration was nowhere to be seen, not behind the furniture, nor on the blood-spattered ceiling.
The moment Jae-hwan, unable to find the aberration, paused to think.
With the sound of twisting joints, a gaunt arm shot out of the vent.
"What... ghk...!"
"...Too loud, too loud, too loud, too loud!!!!"
The aberration stretched out its arm and choked Jae-hwan by the throat.
Suffocating pain overwhelmed Jae-hwan.
But he was no longer the Jae-hwan who could only be helplessly beaten like last time.
Crack, crrack.
Exerting monstrous strength, Jae-hwan snapped the fingers of the aberration that was choking him.
"Ngh... shut up, shut up...!!!"
The aberration opened its torn mouth and let out a scream full of pain.
At the same time, the aberration stretched its neck long to bite into Jae-hwan's head.
But only for a moment.
Ji-yeon, who had arrived at some point, swung her baton and sent the aberration's jaw flying.
"GYAAAAAAGH!!!"
The aberration let out an unidentifiable shriek.
The aberration hurriedly hid itself inside the vent.
"Where do you think you're going...!"
Jae-hwan reached out to grab the thing as it hurriedly fled.
Jae-hwan seized the aberration by the head.
But that wasn't enough to stop the thing from escaping.
All that remained in Jae-hwan's hand was the aberration's torn-out hair.
"...Blegh."
Jae-hwan hurled the hair, matted with clumps of blood and reeking, onto the floor with all his might.
Ji-yeon came over to Jae-hwan.
"You're bleeding. Hold still a sec."
She stroked the wounded area with a warm hand.
Soon, as a pure white light shone from Ji-yeon's fingertips, Jae-hwan's wound began to close in an instant.
Jae-hwan stared at Ji-yeon, dumbfounded.
"This is... healing?"
"Right. Our recovery might be good, but there could be poison."
Finishing her brief explanation, Ji-yeon readjusted her grip on her baton and readied herself for battle again.
"Think. About how we can lure the thing out."
Jae-hwan, too, began racking his brain for a way to catch the thing.
If he rashly went into the vent, the thing would get him before he could even use his arms and legs.
"Let's burn it. Just torch it, vent and all."
Ji-yeon looked at Jae-hwan with emotionless eyes.
He had blurted out the first thing that came to mind, but even Jae-hwan thought it was a reckless plan.
"Are you crazy? Isn't that a great idea? Let's do it right now."
"S... sorry?"
Leaving the flustered Jae-hwan behind, Ji-yeon quickly pulled out a lighter and lit it.
"Uh, uh... Senior? Senior Ji-yeon?"
"What?"
Before he could stop her, Ji-yeon set fire to the mouth of the vent.
Fwoosh—
Maybe because it was an old building, it caught fire more easily than expected.
"Is this really okay? Isn't this getting way out of hand?"
"When you're exterminating aberrations, you're supposed to use any means necessary."
Just as Ji-yeon finished explaining, an agonized scream came from beyond the vent.
"Ngh... nggghhhh...!!"
"Good. Looks like it's working. Then get ready..."
CRASH!!!
At that moment, the ceiling collapsed and the aberration appeared again.
The aberration that had suddenly appeared bit into Ji-yeon's neck and shook its head like crazy, snapping her neck.
The plan to lure the thing out had certainly succeeded.
The only problem was that the thing had grown strong enough not to give in to something like fire.
"Damn it, son of a..."
Ending on that brief curse, Ji-yeon went flying far off and crashed into a pile of furniture.
The aberration that had been in the vent now had an even more horrific form than before.
Its upper body was the same, but its lower body, stretched long like a snake's, looked even more grotesque.
The aberration immediately leapt at Jae-hwan with ferocious speed.
The aberration clawed at Jae-hwan's body with its unbroken fingers.
Jae-hwan nimbly threw himself backward to dodge it.
Even so, a huge wound opened on Jae-hwan's arm.
Jae-hwan's wound began spurting blood in rhythm with his heartbeat.
A crisis of life and death.
But Jae-hwan still had no intention of backing down.
'Even if I die, that son of a bitch... no matter what...!'
His sister's enemy was right before his eyes.
There was no telling whether Senior Ji-yeon was alive or dead, and there wasn't so much as the tip of Team Leader Chang-ho's nose in sight.
Clutching his bleeding wound, Jae-hwan racked his brain for some way to kill the thing.
The moment he thought that, if only he had a weapon, he might be able to do something.
"...Huh?"
The blood flowing from the wound began to run down Jae-hwan's arm and gather in his palm.
In an instant, Jae-hwan's blood took on a certain shape.
A dagger, dark red like blood, formed in Jae-hwan's hand.
At that moment, an intuition struck Jae-hwan.
The special ability Chang-ho had talked about.
Jae-hwan's ability was to use blood to create objects he pictured in his mind.
The moment his thoughts reached that far, a smile began to spread across Jae-hwan's lips.
Holding the dagger in a reverse grip, Jae-hwan charged straight at the aberration.
"Nggh... gak..."
The aberration swung its claws at Jae-hwan erratically.
But Jae-hwan, giving up one arm as he advanced, drove the dagger straight into the thing's shoulder.
Unable to bear the pain of the cutting blade, the aberration belatedly began struggling to get away from Jae-hwan.
But Jae-hwan, whose eyes had already gone wild, gave the thing no chance to escape.
Perhaps realizing it had no other way out, the thing began attacking Jae-hwan wildly.
But heedless of the wounds opening on his own body, Jae-hwan kept slashing at the aberration's body with the dagger.
A desperate battle of nothing but blows traded, with no defense at all.
"Ngiiiieeek...!"
In the end, unable to withstand Jae-hwan's attacks, the aberration let out a death cry and slumped where it was.
Jae-hwan, who had kept driving the blade into the aberration's body, finally panted roughly, as if his frenzy had faded.
"Time to just die already."
"Ngh-gk... ngk..."
But it stayed slumped only for a moment.
The aberration wrung out the last of its strength and began to swing its arms with difficulty.
The aberration flailed its arms in the empty air, to no purpose.
At the sight, Jae-hwan's sadistic urge burned all the hotter.
"Going to struggle to the end? Fine by me."
He'd definitely been told this aberration was born from noise between floors.
Then the situation this aberration would find most painful would be the sensation of noise itself.
Smiling crookedly, Jae-hwan drew even more dark red blood from his body.
With that blood, Jae-hwan created a huge bell.
"...You said the noise between floors was torture?"
As he finished speaking, Jae-hwan kicked the bell as hard as he could, making a tremendous noise.