The Massacre Culprit
"Ah, honestly. If it were up to me, I would've drained you even more! But you wouldn't be able to take it, would you? I'll leave it at this for today. Ehehe..."
Jung Sujin murmured as she stroked my hair. My body trembled. For a moment I wondered if she was about to wring me out all over again — but thankfully, that didn't happen.
If she really drained me any further than this... I might have died. Uuugh!
It felt like the flame burning inside me was guttering out, little by little. My body grew heavier by the second. It was like trying to cross a desert on a body that had been starving all day — hovering in that sliver of space just before, just before, just before the brink of death. Tears of self-pity welled faintly in my eyes.
"If you run away... you know what happens, right?"
"Y-yes, I understand."
"I'd really prefer if you didn't do anything stupid. If you do, I don't know what I might do. Hehehe. Well then! I'll be going now."
She smacked my ass with her palm — a sharp slap — then gathered up the clothes she'd thrown across the floor and pulled them on, piece by piece. When she was done, she glanced at the women still sitting frozen in place.
"Once I leave this room, you can move. Got it?"
"..."
"Hmm. I can't quite tell what that expression is supposed to be. Are you angry? Or scared? Well! Before I go, let me say one more thing."
Jung Sujin smiled faintly as she tugged on her squat shorts.
"I have no intention of killing you. That would be cruel, wouldn't it? I don't think I should kill my own members. Ah! Then you'd say something like, 'But you've been beating people to death until now...'!"
She was putting on a whole one-woman show — beating every drum herself. Not that I could let even a flicker of exasperation show. Getting drained again... what had just happened was more than enough.
"But those were criminals. Ah, ah! Don't go thinking I wouldn't know. I'm a person too, you know? You can tell just from the way they talk and live. Looks like they got some slapdash plastic surgery and got sent over... but since they came from higher-ups, I accepted them."
I couldn't believe it.
Hearing those words, I realized I'd made a mistake. I had underestimated her far too much — written her off as some idiot who couldn't even control her own power. If I'd gone in after understanding Jung Sujin a little better, none of this would have happened.
"Well then! Bye-bye~"
Jung Sujin waved her hand, opened the hotel room door, and left.
Sighs and groans spilled from the sofa. They seemed relieved just to have survived.
"We're in deep shit."
"..."
"I don't even know where this all started going wrong. Haaaah... Sehyun. Looks like you're gonna have a rough time from here on out."
Kim Yerin came over and patted my shoulder. If you thought about it, this was my fault. And yet she was being this understanding... I was a little moved.
Hello. I am Eternis! I have been newly updated, and newly named.
A video has arrived from the past! Would you like to view it?
That was when the update finished. I was pretty sure it had said it would take about an hour...
I updated in advance.
Wait, you did that without even asking me?
I knew you were going to do it anyway! Ehehe... In any case! Will you watch the video?
Honestly speaking... I recommend that you don't.
Was there any reason to hesitate? I accepted immediately.
On June 16, 2094, the A-class villain known as Murder Emperor carried out a superhuman terrorist attack at Wonteo Neighborhood Park.
The attack left a total of sixty-eight casualties: sixty-seven dead, and one injured.
Because Murder Emperor's ability was devoted entirely to killing, the number of murdered civilians far exceeded the wounded.
And if — if Murder Emperor had never committed that attack. If he had not, out of some paltry scrap of mercy, spared that single life...
The world would never have been destroyed.
Because it was that incident that caused the worst villain in human history to awaken their power — and to unleash their hatred upon the world.
In a single week, three A-class heroes were murdered by that villain, their corpses desecrated.
Two months later, the head of the S-class hero Burning Heart was thrown down in Gwanghwamun, Seoul.
Five months later, every hero remaining in Korea was slaughtered. The S-class superhumans were no exception. They could offer no resistance. It was a one-sided massacre.
A year after that, East Asia collapsed.
And then three years. After exactly three years had passed, the world slowly crumbled.
If that hate-filled superhuman had not lost their beloved family at Wonteo Neighborhood Park...
None of this would have happened.
But it was already far too late.
...What the hell was this supposed to be.
My awakening, and this novel-like story — they were connected?
2094... that's ten years from now. Oh my god. Don't tell me—!
I could draw only one conclusion. It might have been nothing more than a delusional guess — but I couldn't think of any other path.
First possibility: that superhuman is a woman, and I have to gather as many women as I can within ten years to raid her...?
The superhuman was probably a woman. There was no way I'd have been given an ability like this otherwise.
Well? I don't think that's it. Why don't you try using a little more imagination?
I'll give you a hint! The villain in the video is a man!
A man...? Then I understood even less. Why me, of all people? There were people so much stronger than I was...
Me.
Wait.
A chill raced through my entire body. I become that? Ten years from now... after losing my entire family.
"I-I can't even... people..."
"Sehyun?"
"N-no. I can't even kill a person..."
"What's wrong?"
I become a slaughterer? Me — someone who'd never properly hit anyone, let alone killed them. I murder people?
Baek Sehyun.
You will absolutely never become a slaughterer.
That is why I came to your side.
I'm not smart. I don't have the kind of mind that looks at a problem and understands it easily. But something cool and clear cut through my thoughts like a blade.
Someone gave me this ability to change the future.
Every piece of the puzzle fell into place. Before I awakened on my own — before I became a slaughterer — they triggered the awakening early, and made me... into this.
My head ached. And yet... maybe this was for the best.
If I can escape becoming a slaughterer by sacrificing myself... then I suppose that's enough.
I'd arrived at conclusions far harder to deduce than this one without any trouble. But this answer — I turned it over and over and still couldn't settle on it.
"I-I! Why am I in this state...!"
My head throbbed. There was no question that I'd enjoyed all of this. I hadn't been acting to survive — I'd been acting for sex. That was the principle I'd lived by.
Not anymore. Sex had become terrifying. I didn't want to do it. I'd rather just die!
My whole body screamed with pain. Wouldn't it be better to just throw myself out the window right now?
To protect Baek Sehyun's mind, Memory Erasure is being activated!
Approximately five minutes of memory will be erased.
Fwaaaash — the message flared, and a burst of light exploded before my eyes.
I felt my mind growing quieter, easier, and then I sank beneath a tide of sleep.
The dormitory of Dugun Dugun Heart Attack.
Jung Sujin had ordered us not to run, so we came back. I felt like a cow or a pig being led into the slaughterhouse. I knew I shouldn't go in, which only made every step harder to take... but what had to be done, had to be done.
"You're here!"
She wrapped her arms around my waist. My body was pulled in whether I wanted it or not. W-was she planning to do it again, here? Please, anything but that...
"Ehehe. You didn't run away."
"...You told us not to."
"Mmm. Still, some people do run. Of course! I killed every last one of them."
I was now in a position where I had to take her lust whether I wanted to or not. I was no different from a human toilet.
"Ehehehehe! Aah, this is so good. Hoooo... how can anyone smell like this?"
"Nn..."
"Do you know what you smell like? Rain-soaked kitten fur! With a splash of cotton candy poured over the top!"
What kind of bullshit metaphor was that. My body smelled like that?
"Do you wear perfume, by any chance?"
"No."
"Hmm... you must use expensive cosmetics, then."
"I don't know how to do any of that."
At that, Jung Sujin smiled faintly. Why was she smiling like that.
"Is that so! Then I'll dress you up today!"
"W-what...?"
"Your natural looks are so good to begin with. Even a little dressing up and I think you'll be incredibly pretty, Sehyun!"
I didn't particularly want to. But I decided to go along with it. A faint sense of dread was starting to creep in.
"Tada! Shall we have you put this on first?"
Rather than cosmetics, she wanted to put me in an outfit. It was overflowing with lust... and it was obvious she intended to use it to violate me. But I couldn't offer even a shred of resistance. All I could do was take it, helplessly.