I'll Do It
Terra was the secret league that guards the Earth in every hero story: people bound together for a cause, personal feeling set aside, an organization that existed for humanity and nothing else.
Led by Captain Earth, a saint whose virtue had already been proven, Terra was nearly free of the clichés that usually rot such groups—traitors, faction wars, extremist creed. Anyone who tried those darling little games, Captain Earth sent back to the soil.
I hadn't handed over the Death that doomsday nobody carried just for the sake of it. There was no risk of the thing being reckoned to the wrong account, and Another One respected Captain Earth, which was why he left Terra alone. For keeping a nuisance like Death, Terra was the proper vault. They even had researchers who, while no match for Scientist, were clever enough.
Back to the point.
Scientist was a mad scientist Terra was hunting as well. The filth he had committed in Korea was proof enough: all over the world, the man had been pulling every filthy stunt imaginable in the name of his research. What had already come to light was enough to make Terra tear their hair and name him evil past all dispute. Fold in everything still buried and hidden, and the harm was beyond imagining.
Honestly, even I had never known Scientist did that sort of thing in Korea. In the original I knew he cloned himself and worked the copies as assistants, but there was never a word that the foundation of that research was Korea. Nor that Hwang Seokgu was eating himself alive over it. Nor that the Dan clan's past was so horrific. To me, a reader, those were facts that could not be known.
Which was why I decided Scientist had to be caught.
I would rather not collide with Another One if I could help it. The moment that thing moved in earnest, an Earth as brittle as glass would fly to pieces, and the only one who could survive the breaking was me.
But ignorance was one thing. I, the reader, had learned it. I, the phantom thief, had come to know it.
Scientist was a man who deserved to die. A son of a bitch among sons of bitches, fit to suffer in a hell without end. The most vicious piece of trash among Another One's subordinates, and he led the pack. If anyone was going to die, he had to die first.
I had tried to ignore the tail. It had grown too long to ignore.
I knew where the laboratory was. Getting there was the problem. The people who could help with that journey were Terra. To catch Scientist, I needed them. That was why I had contacted Captain Kid and arranged this meeting.
"We..."
Captain Kid began.
"can't confirm it yet. I'm sorry."
Not the answer I wanted. Still inside what I had expected.
"Does Terra have no room to spare?"
"It does seem that way."
"It seems?"
Captain Kid looked uncomfortable.
"I passed your account up the chain, Mr. Phantom, but as of today there hasn't been a word. I imagine they're arguing it furiously on the inside."
Strange, that he had said imagine. However indefinite his orders to stand by in Korea, it felt wrong that Captain Kid should be wholly ignorant of Terra's inner workings. His administrative ability was in a class of its own even there. With only a little padding, it would not be too much to say he carried thirty percent of their strength.
"How long has it been since you spoke with Queen Knight?"
"...!"
A strange light kindled in Roadman's eyes, and in Captain Kid's.
"Quite a while. I haven't seen her since the Heavenly Punishment report. But she's an extremely busy woman, so..."
"When you saw Queen Knight then, did she seem to be struggling?"
"..."
"I thought so."
Tap. Tap. Fingers drumming the mask. The mind spun at full speed.
Something's wrong with the Prophet. And on top of that, it looks like Captain Earth has been asking after the Darkness in the United States.
"I understand the situation. In that case, please ask whether I might borrow just the two of you from upstairs. If you can throw in the jet you flew me on before, all the better."
"...Mr. Phantom. Has something happened to Terra?"
Captain Kid caught my wrist as I started to rise. His eyes shook with anxiety.
"Captain Earth is fine. If anything happened to that man, the world would notice."
"Ah. That's a relief, then."
A terminal Earth fanboy, as expected. On the surface he worried for Terra. Underneath, this.
Roadman sighed.
"Listen here, Phantom. Is Terra really all right?"
"Yes. For the time being."
"For the time being...?"
"The commotion you can see right now is the calm before the storm. No need to make a fuss."
"So that's how it is."
He had every reason to be curious. Roadman only scratched his nose.
"Good to see you today. I'll call once my news comes in."
"Take your time. We need time on this side as well."
Then, if you'll excuse us.
I slipped out on a suitably empty courtesy. A leaden sky was there to greet me.
"He'll be watching from somewhere."
That voyeur, Another One—how did he mean to react if one of his own subordinates was caught?
"It'd be nice if he showed up right on cue for the declaration of war."
That way both of us would look the part.
"A phantom thief has to care about the entertainment."
Ah, and the laughter of the people around me mattered too, of course.
"Another One. There's only one reason Scientist got caught in my net."
The people around me. The wounds he left on them ran too deep.
"If something annoying and sticky is still clinging to me while I deal with you, it feels filthy. You know?"
So.
"If Scientist happens to die—"
that's natural causes.
A low roll of thunder. The sky groaned. Rain came down, a torrent hammering the suit.
Maybe it was the wet. The mask on my face felt especially stifling.
The rain roared.
Dan Miryong sat in the living room with the television on, listening to it.
"So it finally reached that bastard..."
It had taken long enough. And the luck had been good.
"Even that bastard slips sometimes. The one who strutted around every day calling himself a genius."
"Who are you talking about?"
Alexei, meditating, opened his eyes and asked.
"Someone. The bastard who left me like this."
"Is the scientist Dan Miryu mentioned your enemy?"
"...He is."
An enemy to set your teeth chattering. A mortal foe who had given him power and, in the same breath, a nightmare.
"I see."
"Yeah."
The rain kept roaring.
"Then what do you want to do?"
Dan Miryong felt a gaze staring straight through the back of his head.
"Clingy, today. You fond of me or something?"
"I fed you and even washed you. That's a bit much."
Alexei let out a short laugh. The corner of Dan Miryong's eye twitched.
"You didn't look like a man who gets attached to that sort of thing... Have you gone soft?"
"I have never gone soft. Soften even once, and I won't be able to kill him."
A chill. Dan Miryong felt a killing intent like a needle in the back of his skull—a killing intent that could swallow the world. Even the evil dragon he himself had devoured would bow its head before that man.
"If anyone's gone soft, isn't it you?"
"Me?"
Dan Miryong spat a hollow laugh.
"Ha. And the best you can manage is this useless bit of advice. Living in the Dan house, did you catch something off them? Even that great mercenary of yours is dead, then."
"The mercenary you knew died a long time ago. From the start, he was alive for even less of it."
The killing intent died. Dan Miryong's breath came free all at once.
"Showing off. So the thing standing behind me is a ghost, is that it?"
"Ghost. A word that suits both of us."
"Why drag me into that?"
"Am I wrong? Don't you look in the mirror when you wash? Who would look at you and see a living person?"
Alexei sneered.
"Even the word ghost is too much for a loser who's given up on reality. A ghost at least carries a grudge. You have nothing."
"......"
"Calling you soft was me being kind."
Dan Miryong chewed his lip. Inside the pain, the anger sank. As he was now, he was a cripple. Rage and thrash all he liked, and he would only make himself uglier.
"What are you trying to say."
"I'm telling you to get a grip."
Alexei tossed a smartphone onto Dan Miryong's lap. The phone was already calling someone.
"Looking after a brat was fine for a day or two. I'm sick of it."
"Ha. What would you know."
"I'm not your parent. Why should I have to know? Still, I've grown fond of you, so I'll give you one piece of advice."
Alexei came to stand in front of him and looked into his eyes.
"If you want to die, bite your tongue off and die now. If you want to live, live, even if it's wretched."
Choose neither, and—
"rot like that for the rest of your life."
Alexei said it coldly and walked out of the living room.
The ring pulsed from the phone. With every tone, resentment welled up in Dan Miryong.
You think anyone becomes this because they want to.
From the moment he was born, there had been no choice. He had walked a tightrope without end between living and dying. Everyone born on the same day as him was dead. The only family he had did not love him. His world was full of malice. There was no happiness.
If I want to die, bite my tongue and die?!
Fine. He would. It was what he had wanted.
The jaw opens. The tongue comes out. Wet muscle settles between the teeth. Close the jaw now, shove the severed tongue down the throat, and it is goodbye to this sickening world.
He trembled.
Close. Close, close, close, close.
A choked sound. Another.
Please, close!
Clack!
F-failed.
Again!
Clack!
No. This can't be.
Clack.
I want to die. I want to die.
Clack.
Clack.
Clack.
I don't have a shred of attachment to this world.
Clack.
I don't...
Click.
"I don't, fuck..."
Pathetic. I'm an idiot. An idiot who can't even die properly. An idiot with no worth in living...
"...Are you all right?"
Dan Miryu.
That man. That man, who had already died once at my hands. He would have more than enough reason to kill me.
"Dan Miryu."
"I'm listening."
"Kill me."
"......"
"You could kill me, couldn't you?"
I harmed your family.
"So do it."
Kill m—
"Huh...?"