"He's Our Company's Manager!"
"Th-that person... is our company's manager," I said in a trembling voice, but as firmly as I could. Of course, my back was soaked with cold sweat.
"Manager?" The detective furrowed his brow and scanned me up and down. His gaze wasn't exactly friendly. He looked at me like I was some woman working in... well, humanity's oldest profession.
"Miss, do you not grasp the situation? This man's a present offender for aggravated assault and violation of the Narcotics Control Act. Don't interfere."
The detective waved his hand dismissively, and the police officers advanced threateningly. Their menacing aura made my shoulders shrink involuntarily. It was terrifying. I'd been through all sorts of unique incidents that others wouldn't dream of, but the pressure from state authority in the form of police was heavier than I'd imagined.
But I couldn't back down. There was Manager Jang, dazed and on the verge of being handcuffed. He was a criminal, sure—but before that, he was one of our company's family, a father to a child.
"W-wait a minute. At least... hear Manager Jang out first..."
"Step aside."
Another officer reached for my arm.
"Kkiruk...!"
At that moment, Kkkomul poked its head out from behind my butt. Sensing hostility, it opened its mouth wide, baring its sharp teeth (which had recently started forming as protrusions).
"H-heek!?"
The officer yelped in fright and stumbled back.
"Wh-what the hell is that!? A tail!?"
"An Awakened!?"
The atmosphere froze in an instant. The police hands went to their waists, drawing tasers and batons. Their eyes turned fierce. Hunters—time bombs with uncontrolled power. The more experience a cop had getting roughed up by drunken low-rank hunters, the greater their hostility toward Awakened. And the vast majority of police had taken at least a slap from those hunters.
"Hey, you a hunter? Show your registration! Using abilities during official duties is an aggravated offense..."
"Enough."
That was when it happened. A cool, elegant voice came from behind me. Click, clack. The sound of high heels echoing down the hallway. My master, my companion—Abhos stood protectively at my side.
"Ah..."
The police gaped dumbly. Her presence was overwhelming. The luxurious black dress and fur coat, her height over 180cm thanks to the heels, and those arrogant eyes looking down on them. She was like a chaebol wife or movie star who had burst out of the screen.
'Oh no... this is bad...'
I was thrilled. Relieved and proud. But at the same time, a massive wave of anxiety crashed over me. I swallowed hard without realizing it. Manager Jang paled and bowed his head. We were thinking the exact same thing.
'If she kills the police here, it's over!'
Given Abhos's personality, she wouldn't let anyone who touched me live. But massacring police in the middle of Seoul, at a university hospital no less? That was terrorism. The military—no, a magical girl—would come!
"Wh-who are you?"
The detective asked hesitantly, intimidated. Instead of answering, Abhos moved her hand.
Click—
But what cut through the silence wasn't a tentacle or a horrific scream. With graceful fingers, Abhos elegantly pulled a wallet from her clutch bag and extracted a single card, holding it before the detective's eyes.
Hunter License: Avi
Rank: B
"B... rank...?"
The detective's pupils shook. In Korea, a B-rank hunter held a special status. C-rank and below were basically just tough thugs, but from B-rank on, they were elite personnel capable of "dungeon clears"—a new nobility class managed and honored at the national level. And that was no one an ordinary violent crimes detective could trifle with.
"He's my employee," Abhos said as she tucked the license away, looking down at the detective like an insect. "Care to explain why you're handling him so roughly before we call our lawyers?"
Her voice carried weight—not physical, but the power of social status.
"W-well... this guy beat someone half to death at a Gangnam club. We got a report."
The detective stepped back, tail between his legs. But he still hadn't released Manager Jang's arm.
"And there's drug charges too. A large quantity of narcotics was found at the scene..."
"Drugs?"
Abhos smirked. She nodded toward the emergency treatment room.
"I heard from the nurse, but wasn't the one who took drugs the daughter of my employee, who just finished emergency surgery?"
"Th-that's..."
"Hey, Doctor."
Abhos ignored the detective and called over the attending physician, who had been watching nervously from behind.
"Y-yes?"
"In your opinion, what was the patient's condition? Did it look like voluntary use?"
"Ah... well..."
The doctor hesitated between the detective and Abhos, then hurriedly spoke under her icy gaze.
"No! Absolutely not. The drug concentration in her blood exceeded lethal levels. And judging by the injection marks and bruises on her arms, it was forcibly administered multiple times after she was already unconscious."
"Hear that?"
Abhos turned to the detective.
"Forcible administration. Meaning, that girl is the victim."
She picked up Manager Jang's phone from the floor and shoved the text history in the detective's face.
"My employee came to rescue his daughter after receiving these texts. Check the timestamps. Accurate, aren't they?"
"..."
The detective was speechless. Ironclad evidence.
Abhos took a step toward him. Her overwhelming presence made the detective and all the officers back away.
"And yet, drug offender?"
Her lips twisted elegantly.
"Is turning a victim's family into the perpetrator how the Korean police conduct investigations?"
"B-but the assault is real! It was way too excessive! The victim... no, the one who got hit—his jaw was dislocated, all his teeth knocked out!"
"Self-defense."
Abhos cut him off flatly.
"They went after his employee's daughter first, and a struggle ensued while the father protected her. Whether it's excessive force is for the courts to decide—not grounds for an on-the-spot arrest."
"H-hey! We have the authority to execute the warrant..."
"Warrant?"
Abhos's eyes narrowed at the officer's feeble protest.
"A warrant already issued for someone who just arrived at the hospital? Was the judge pulling an all-nighter? Or..."
She leaned close to the detective's ear, whispering low but loud enough for all to hear.
"...were you sent on someone's 'orders,' ignoring procedure?"
"...!"
The detective's face flushed crimson. He'd been hit right on the mark. Probably some money thrown around with a "arrest him now."
"Th-that's not... uh... well..."
The detective, clearly guilty, quietly released Manager Jang's arm. A B-rank hunter. And one who knew the law and had a sharp tongue. Touching this could lead to messy lawsuits and him losing his badge.
"Fine. We deem no flight risk, so we'll switch to investigation without detention."
The detective cleared his throat awkwardly and pocketed the cuffs.
"But you still need to be questioned. We'll send papers later—show up."
"Of course. We'll go with our legal team."
Abhos smiled leisurely. The detective and officers fled the hospital like their lives depended on it.
"Haa..."
Only then did I exhale the breath I'd been holding. My legs nearly gave out. Manager Jang collapsed to the floor, staring up at Abhos in a daze.
"Ab... hos..."
He looked incredulous. The monster he'd thought would kill him had saved him—the most human way possible.
"Don't misunderstand."
But Abhos spoke coldly to him, her golden eyes piercing through.
"Not for you. Because of my companion's desperate plea."
She turned away icily.
"Clean up your own mess. If you cause more trouble... it won't be the police judging you—it'll be me."
Her retreating figure was so cold, yet so reassuring. I stared blankly before extending a hand to Manager Jang on the floor.
"Get up, Manager."
"Di... director..."
"Let's go. You need to see your daughter."
Tears streamed from Manager Jang's eyes. He gripped my hand and struggled to his feet.
[Beep... beep... beep...]
The ICU air was heavy. Only the steady heartbeat monitor beeps and the whoosh of the ventilator filled the silence.
Yu-na's state on the bed was heartbreaking. Tubes and wires snaked across her body. Her pale face was covered by an oxygen mask, and her exposed limbs were riddled with needle marks and deep bruises. Hard to believe this was a high school freshman laughing with friends just hours ago.
"Euhh... Yu-na... Dad's sorry... so sorry..."
Manager Jang knelt by the bed, clutching his daughter's cold hand, sobbing. The veteran fixer who hadn't flinched against the Serpents' number two was gone. Just a pathetic father broken by guilt for failing to protect his child.
"I... I did this to you... because of your worthless dad..."
His anguished cries tore at my heart. I clutched my blouse over my chest without thinking. My heart throbbed. It overlapped with my own image from three years ago, howling like a beast amid apartment rubble...
"Kkiuk..."
Sensing my pain, perhaps? Kkkomul slithered up from my waist, wrapping around my hand. It looked up worriedly, tapping my cheek with a tentacle tip—like saying 'don't cry.'
"Thanks, Kkkomul..."
I leaned into its warmth to steady myself. Then I looked at Abhos, leaning indifferently against the doorframe.
She showed no emotion at this tragedy. Just arms crossed under her ample chest, bored.
That's right...!
A sudden thought struck me. Surely the great Abhos had a way!?
"Um... Abhos!"
I mustered courage and approached her.
"I... have a favor to ask."
"What is it?"
"You're amazing, Abhos. You changed me like this... Kkkomul was born from your power too..."
I looked up at her pleadingly.
"So, for Yu-na... couldn't you do something? It's too heartbreaking to leave her like this for Manager Jang..."
But Abhos's response was firm.
"No."
"Wh-what...? B-but..."
"Don't delude yourself, Min-woo."
She glanced indifferently at Yu-na on the bed.
"My abilities aren't convenient things like 'healing' or 'regeneration.' They're 'mutation' and 'reconstruction.'"
Abhos tapped her fingertips together, arms still crossed.
"Your change came from me painstakingly rewriting your DNA structure over a long time, meticulously guiding it to adapt to my factors. That was evolution, not treatment. Besides, that girl's brain is melted. The overdose burned her neural pathways. Even I can't fix that."
Her explanation was brutal. Mending broken bones or healing wounds might be possible, but reviving the dead was beyond even Abhos.
"B-but..."
"Of course."
Abhos added with a strange smile.
"If you really want, I could free her from that corpse-like state."
"R-really!?"
My cry made the sobbing Manager Jang snap his head up. A faint spark of hope lit his eyes.
"Abhos...! Please, please save my daughter...!"
"I could make her walk. Make her heart beat, let her eat."
Abhos pronounced it with cruel coldness.
"Like the cash finance zombies, or those puppets on the office first floor."
"......!"
Manager Jang's face hardened. Zombies. Puppets without ego, thought, or emotion—obeying orders only. Not alive. Just moving corpses.
"A doll that only obeys me. Is that the daughter you want?"
"Ah, aaah..."
Manager Jang slammed his head to the floor again. It wasn't salvation. It was killing his daughter twice.
"Abhos..."
"Tch."
Abhos turned away, interest lost.
"Let's go, Min-woo. Nothing changes by staying."
She pulled my hand. I dragged my unwilling feet. Manager Jang's sobs from behind felt like shackles on my ankles.
'Sorry... sorry, Manager...'
I bit my lip and left the room. The hallway was white and endless. Abhos's hand was warm, but that warmth was mine alone. Somehow, it felt a little chilling.