The two had descended a considerable number of stairs. The unique emergency exit lighting completely nullified any sense of distance.
How long had they been running?
They might have only reached the 5th floor, but Kim Seyun was already feeling significant fatigue.
“Hey, Lee Seunghwa. Wait a sec.”
“Huff, puff. Huh? Why?”
Upon reaching the 5th floor, they heard a strange whooshing sound. Kim Seyun’s enhanced hearing didn’t miss this oddity.
“Hmm… sounds like something’s falling.”
“Hey! Don’t say scary things!”
“We need to check it out.”
Kim Seyun grabbed a fire extinguisher from the corner. She entered the 5th-floor front and hurled the extinguisher at the ceiling.
Clang, sizzle.
A thin crack appeared in the ceiling, making the sound clearer.
“Have you lost your mind, you trash?!”
“Ahaha. It’s because of the squad leader, I missed a big catch. You have to take responsibility. Right? Huh? Yes? You will, won’t you?? Huh?!”
Lee Seunghwa shuddered at hearing voices he shouldn’t have.
“Seyun, this, this is…”
“Can you hear it now?”
Kim Seyun placed her hand on the Sainchamsageom.
Vrooom.
The noise from Byun Kiyoung was accompanied by a more substantial sound.
The already shattered building had no resistance to even a small impact. The crack made by the fire extinguisher expanded into a tiny hole.
“Let go! Let me go! What kind of strength is this…”
“Ahaha. Time to say goodbye soon, squad leader?”
“You trash…!!”
Kim Seyun spotted the two people through the hole.
Byun Kiyoung, who was awkwardly holding a rock while falling, and Park Jinsung, who was tightly clinging to him from behind.
‘Uh…? Jinsung is holding onto the squad leader…?’
Unfortunately, there was no time to ponder. Instinctively, she felt they needed to be separated.
Kim Seyun immediately threw the Sainchamsageom upon assessing the situation.
“Hey! Squad leader! Twist your body as much as you can to the left!”
Crack.
The Sainchamsageom pierced through the 5th-floor ceiling. The hole it created wasn’t much larger than the blade itself, showing how sharply it had penetrated.
“Ahahahahaha. Just a tiiiiiiiny bit sharp, huh? Heehee?”
“What are you doing now! You crazy trash!!”
“Ahahahahahaha!!”
Boom.
Jinsung, even with Byun Kiyoung holding the rock, reached the 6th-floor floor much faster. The thrown Sainchamsageom had long since bounced off elsewhere.
Jinsung and Kim Seyun shared a glance through the hole.
“Hello? Hello hello hello??”
“Trainee…”
“Ahaha. I’ll be right down??”
Jinsung, with just a slight smile on his lips, quickly moved away from the spot.
Jinsung stepped aside and quietly observed Byun Kiyoung. The murder routes that changed with every moment of the fall added a certain pleasure to the observation.
“Ugh! Damn it!!”
Rumble.
Byun Kiyoung slammed the rock against the building’s wall. Although he managed to slow down somewhat, stopping the fall was still difficult.
Lee Seunghwa, with his face contorted, asked Kim Seyun.
“Se, Seyun? What exactly did you see?”
“We need to run away….”
“Huh?”
“Runnnnnn!!”
Boom!
Kim Seyun, still in a daze, grabbed Lee Seunghwa and ran. The spot where they had been standing was attacked by the collapsing ceiling.
The rock that had demolished the 5th-floor ceiling didn’t stop there; it continued to break through to the next floor.
Despite the building’s previously pristine condition, thick dust was now stirred up.
This was an unprecedented disaster.
The completely shattered ceilings and the rock that seemed to be the cause,
“Cough, cough, cough. Damn it. What the hell is this.”
And the person responsible for unleashing the rock.
Jinsung leisurely made his way down to the 5th floor through the dust.
“Ahahahahaha.”
“Ahaha. Did I follow for no reason?”
“Hello hello hello? Can you stop me??”
“Hey, you… are you really Jinsung…?”
Creak.
Jinsung tilted his head 90 degrees to the left. Just that was enough to emit an incredibly eerie aura.
“Wow. Such a pretty Edeya?? Hee. But it’s quite damaged now. What to do, what to do, what to do, such a waste!”
“Answer the question! Park Jinsung! Are you really… Ah.”
Kim Seyun suddenly felt a refreshing sensation on her scalp. When she looked up at the gaping hole above, she was at a loss for words.
A cool breeze swept over the exhausted Kim Seyun.
Byun Kiyoung, having stabilized himself from the fall, passed by Kim Seyun and said,
“Kim Iljeong did all that, probably.”
“Squad leader…?”
“And that crazy trash drove Kim Iljeong away… probably.”
“Where are you going! Hey! Squad leader! Where are you heading now!”
“Tch. Watch our backs, trash deputy leader. I think it’s about time I headed home.”
Byun Kiyoung quickly descended to the lower floors.
Despite appearances, Byun Kiyoung’s mind was in turmoil.
“Damn…”
He didn’t feel confident facing the F-grade trash at the moment.
His escape was purely due to not wanting to be in the same place as Jinsung. He couldn’t forget the sinister smile Jinsung had directed at him.
He was supposed to be F-grade, an unusable piece of radioactive waste.
“Trash like you… a piece of waste that’s useless for a lifetime…!”
Slap.
Byun Kiyoung slapped his trembling right hand.
Unlike Byun Kiyoung, who at least managed to move while trembling,
“……”
“Seyun…”
Kim Seyun and Lee Seunghwa couldn’t even think of following Byun Kiyoung. They were too busy watching Jinsung, standing on the intact part of the floor.
A heavy silence lingered for a moment.
“Ahaha…”
Jinsung just stared at them quietly.
It was like the time Lee Seunghwa saw him in the bathroom or when they unexpectedly encountered Byun Kiyoung.
The soul wanting to kill and the intellect that firmly refused.
“Seyun, what do we do now? Hey! This is much worse than in the bathroom!”
Jinsung’s face, hidden in the shadows, was the embodiment of the murderous intent of a top predator.
How to kill? Should I kill like this, or like that?
Once the facade of the trainee was shed, a madman took its place.
“……”
Kim Seyun swallowed hard.
The F-grade two-time champion in front of her felt much scarier than the despair Kim Iljeong had instilled.
“…Hey, trainee. Do you know who I am?”
“Of course, of course, of courrrse. I know, I know. Ah! That’s why I can’t stand it anymore.”
Jinsung adjusted his grip on the dagger.
In the battle waged between the soul and its owner, the owner had lost.
“Hmph… You’re short on patience. What are you going to use it for? The position of my husband isn’t that easy to fill. So, are you applying to be a candidate?”
“Hehe. Right. So, can’t I just kill all the candidates and the wife too?? Ahaha. I really can’t stand it anymore.”
“Hey, Lee Seunghwa. Run.”
Kim Seyun, who had been bantering with Jinsung, suddenly called out to Lee Seunghwa.
“Se, Seyun?”
“Run away now!!”
“You know, my favorite thing about our Kim Seyun is…”
“[White Jade Goblin!!]”
Jinsung, smiling like a child, charged at Kim Seyun.
[Complete Bloodlust]
World Spirit Unit Grade System (Edeya): S(F↑)
Overall Combat Ability: S(F↑)
[White Jade Goblin]
World Spirit Unit Grade System (Edeya): A
Current Generation Goblin: Intermediate Sword Expert
Overall Combat Ability: C(A↓)
The goblin, having lost its sword and all its strength, had no way to block the pure bloodlust.
Swoosh.
“Seyunaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!!”
The dagger sliced through Kim Seyun.
Lee Seunghwa’s cries, Kim Seyun’s fall, and,
“Smirk.”
The killer’s almost simultaneous act of articulating an onomatopoeia.
* * *
Park Jinsung’s parents passed away when he was eight years old.
More precisely, it happened right after he turned eight, not long after he had started elementary school.
The cause of death was a random act of violence that led to their demise.
Their bodies bore so many bruises that identification was difficult. With nowhere else to go, Park Jinsung naturally ended up with his uncle.
His uncle and aunt were both social misfits with F-grade Edeyas,
[A Wooden Club Barely Made from Rotten Wood]
World Spirit Unit Grade System (Edeya): F
[A Rotten Rope that Breaks Unless Tied Quickly]
World Spirit Unit Grade System (Edeya): F
They beat Park Jinsung with the club daily and forced him to chew raw grass as a side dish. Consequently, Park Jinsung’s body was always stained so dark it seemed he was of a different race.
Park Jinsung became increasingly withdrawn, and naturally, his school life suffered.
Because he didn’t awaken his Edeya in time, he started getting beaten at school from the second grade.
In an attempt to reduce the number of beatings, he began coming home late.
Woof!
That’s when he met the scruffy dog.
The dog he met at the playground in front of his house took a particular liking to him, perhaps because their unkempt appearances were similar.
By the time he turned ten, the playground in front of his house had become his primary residence. Eventually, noticing the neighbors’ stares, his uncle set out to find him.
[Park Jinsung… What are you doing here?]
[Uh, uncle, it’s not what it looks like.]
[Woof!]
[……]
Upon seeing the dog, the uncle let out a noticeably strange laugh.
[Bring that dog inside with you.]
[Really?! Thank you! Uncle!]
Park Jinsung sincerely felt grateful towards his uncle. It seemed as if all the days he had been beaten were being healed. He remembers that day’s diary entry was filled with vibrant colors.
The next day, for the first time since Park Jinsung had arrived, the uncle’s family had delicious meat.
It was blissful.
Was this heaven?
The uncle and aunt treated Park Jinsung with smiles they had never shown before.
[If you’re done eating, go play outside.]
[Wow! Really?! Can I?!]
He played mindlessly for the first time in a long while. He was alone, but that didn’t matter much.
He was so thrilled that it took him a while to realize the dog had disappeared.
[Uncle! Aunt! I can’t find the dog! Uncle! Aunt!!]
Park Jinsung returned home only after nightfall. He had roamed around the village several times trying to find the dog but to no avail.
[Hiccup. Dog meat is quite good too. We should buy it more often.]
[Uncle…? Aunt…?]
[Hiccup. Is our boy back??]
The uncle, drunk, smiled with only the corners of his mouth raised.
[Aunt, what did uncle just say? Dog meat?]
[Ahaha. Who told you to eavesdrop on adults?? Huh? Eh? Huh?]
The aunt hadn’t drunk any alcohol, but her expression and behavior were no different from someone who was drunk. Moreover, she slowly wrapped Park Jinsung with an F-grade rope she summoned.
[Hic. Aunt… our… ou, our dog?]
[Children shouldn’t eavesdrop on adults. Ahaha. Got it??]
[Uuuuncleeeee!! What is dog meat all abouuuuuuut?!]
[Tasty, wasn’t it? Hiccup.]
Despite the shape of his mouth, the uncle’s eyes were not smiling at all.
[Tasty…? What is…?]
[This is what we used.]
The uncle summoned an F-grade club. Park Jinsung involuntarily shrank back at the sight of it.
[Ah?]
Despite his young age, Park Jinsung understood what his uncle’s family was implying.
As soon as he realized, he vomited on the floor.
[Ugh, Ughhh. Uwaaaah. Huhuhuh.]
[Hiccup. You ate it, didn’t you, the dog. Look here.]
The uncle grabbed Park Jinsung and pushed his face towards the vomit on the floor.
Amid the pungent smell, he saw the small bone fragments he had crunched on earlier.
[No… I, this isn’t the dog…!]
[Sonny, what did your uncle say about leaving food on the plate?]
[Huuuuh. No. Our dog is outside.]
[Ahaha! The floor is dirty now! Eat it up, eat it up!!]
The aunt, with her bizarre laughter, stomped mercilessly on Park Jinsung.
Something heavier than despair.
It’s the realization that the moments of happiness were actually the lowest point.
The beating started again, just like any other day.
The aunt kicked, stomped, and trampled on Park Jinsung, while the uncle stabbed, tore, and beat him with the club.
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