Salvation
Salvation
Yeah, I had to admit it.
I wasn't superhuman.
Stardust! was my favorite manhwa, and I'd read it dozens of times—enough to memorize most of the dialogue. But that was all.
That didn't mean I knew everything about this world.
"Ha... fuck..."
I hurriedly grabbed my mask and cloak.
Oh, right. The guns too.
There was no helping it now. I had to go all in.
I rushed outside.
Hmm... Where had I gone wrong?
The biggest problem was that I didn't know the exact timing.
I knew the year and season when Ex-Saint's younger brother died, but not the exact date.
So I'd simply guessed, 'It probably happened around this time,' and built my plan around that.
So, uh... I seemed to have gotten the timing a little wrong.
The event where thugs killed Lee Ha-yul's younger brother and drove her into villainy.
I thought it would happen about a month from now. So why the hell was it happening today?
But it was too late to whine. If I didn't deal with them now, there was no saving this.
I quickly changed into my costume and headed for the scene.
I wasn't too late, was I?
***
Lee Ha-yul.
She was going through the worst moment of her life.
"Well, well. What should we do with these little brats?"
"Mmph! Mmph!"
Inside her tiny shack.
It was small and shabby, but it was the only home she and her younger brother had.
Their precious home was now filled with unwanted intruders.
"Hey, Rookie. What do you think we should do?"
The man at the front looked down at them as he spoke.
Rough-looking men packed the siblings' house.
They had barged in without even taking off their shoes and tied Lee Ha-yul and her brother with ropes before either could resist.
They'd even taped their mouths shut, completely restraining them.
One was a muscular man with a shaved head and a face covered in scars.
He spoke.
"Boss, is this the cheeky little bitch who tried to steal your wallet?"
"Yeah... that's right..."
The man he called Boss had waxed-up blond hair, sunglasses, and the stereotypical look of a thug. Their leader crouched in front of Ha-yul and said,
"So this cheeky little brat... had the nerve to try stealing my wallet?"
"Mmph! Mmph!"
Her arms and legs were bound, and tape covered her mouth.
She couldn't do anything, but she desperately shielded her younger brother with her body.
Even in the worst moment, she was determined to protect him.
The thugs noticed her resolve.
Ah.
So this bitch cares about the boy behind her?
"Hey. Move this bitch out of the way and drag the kid out from behind her."
"Yes, boss."
"Mmmmmmph!! Mmmmph!"
Ignoring her desperate resistance, one thug yanked the boy out from behind her.
He lifted a young boy who was trembling and crying.
"Mmm... mmm..."
The boy was also tied with rope and gagged with tape.
He looked about elementary-school age. The thugs grinned wickedly at the trembling child.
The man called Boss spoke again.
"Hey, take the tape off the kid's mouth."
"Yes, boss!"
Another thug standing beside the bald man they called Rookie tore off the tape.
Riiip.
With the tape removed, the boy could speak again.
In a tearful voice, he stammered,
"P-please... let me live... please..."
The thugs mocked his tearful plea.
"Hahahahaha! Listen to this little runt beg."
"Hmm... Should I let you live or not?"
"Boss, let's just kill them both."
Another underling drew a finger across his throat.
The boy's face went pale, and Lee Ha-yul thrashed wildly below him.
"Mmmmmmph!!! Mmmmmmmmmph!!"
"Hmm... Hold that bitch down."
"Yep."
"Yep!"
Two other goons grabbed her as she thrashed.
The Boss grinned cruelly and spoke.
"Hey, bitch... Looks like this boy means a lot to you, huh?"
He pulled out a knife and held it to the boy's throat.
"You committed a crime... so you have to pay for it, right? Huh? Let's see... Is this your younger brother?"
"Mmmmmmmmmph!!"
"Oh? Judging by the way you're freaking out, I guess he is."
"Hic... p-please..."
"Sure. Should I let you live?"
The Boss grinned after saying that.
Then he raised the knife high.
"I'll let your sister live. You can die for her crime. Hey, this kid is dying because of you. Understand?"
"Mmmmph mmmmph mmmmph!!! Mmmmmph!!!"
"Hnk... hiiiik..."
"Goodbye."
The man's knife was ready to come down on the boy.
At that exact moment.
KABOOOOOOOM—
"Aaaagh!"
"What the fuck was that?"
The door exploded into pieces with a tremendous roar.
"....?"
The man who'd been about to stab the boy grimaced at the sudden interruption, tossed Lee Ha-yul's brother aside, and stood.
"What motherfucker is screwing with us while we're having fun?"
"Boss, I'll go check!"
The man called Rookie—the one who had held and threatened her brother—headed toward the door.
"Who the fuck are you?"
Rookie strode outside, shouting.
He marched forward as if nothing in the world could scare him.
Bang.
A bullet came out of nowhere and struck him in the head.
He crumpled to the ground right there.
"Shit!!!"
"Everyone, draw your guns! Rookie's down!"
In the cramped room, they hurriedly pulled guns from their pockets.
Just as they took up fighting positions and aimed at the doorway,
Flicker— flicker—
The light illuminating the room began switching on and off, brightening and dimming.
"What the fuck... is this...?"
After flickering for a while, the light finally went out.
The house was swallowed by pitch-black darkness.
Suddenly, they couldn't see an inch in front of them.
Swallowing hard, they kept their guns aimed at the doorway.
The house became eerily quiet. The only sound was her younger brother sniffling in the back.
As they tensed, ready for a fight at any moment,
the sound of approaching footsteps came from the doorway.
"Everyone, fire!"
The gang leader screamed hysterically at the sudden sound.
At his command, everyone standing opened fire toward the doorway.
Ratatatatatata—
Gunshots filled the room in an instant.
The gunfire rang almost as loudly as the earlier explosion.
The doorway was almost completely destroyed and covered in thick dust and smoke.
"Hah... Did we get him?"
One of the goons in the back muttered.
The moment he said it, the lights came back on for an instant.
Flash.
And what they saw was—
Black clothes and a cloak covering his entire body.
A black wizard hat.
And a man standing there with a faint smile, a mask covering half his face.
That brief glimpse was enough for them to recognize him.
He was unmistakably the villain who was always on the news—
The light went out again as quickly as it had come on.
The strangely dressed man was still standing despite all the bullets they had fired.
The Boss screamed hysterically.
"Fire!"
Gunfire erupted again in the dark room.
In that pitch-black space, where they couldn't see in front of them or even beside them,
"Urk."
one of the gunmen cried out and fell.
"Geun-chul! Damn it!"
The Boss gritted his teeth and fired even harder toward the front.
But however much he fired, the men beside him fell one by one, each letting out a final scream.
Soon, his last subordinate fell.
In the ensuing silence, the only gunshots came from his weapon.
"Ghh... fuuuck!"
He clenched his teeth and fired desperately, but—
Click. Click.
No matter how many extra rounds his modified gun could hold,
he eventually ran out of bullets.
"Sh... shit..."
He grabbed the knife he'd dropped earlier.
He staggered backward.
"F-fuck off, you bastard! I said fuck off!"
As he screamed at the darkness like a madman,
the light flickered once more, then came fully back on.
The room was drenched in blood.
The thugs who had stood there moments ago discussing whether to kill the siblings were now corpses scattered across the room.
One man stood quietly in the middle of the carnage.
He brushed the blood from his black clothes with one hand. In the other, he held a single pistol.
"Sh-shit! Don't come any closer, you bastard!"
Screaming and wildly swinging his knife, the Boss backed away from the man in black until he spotted something.
The instant he saw it, he snatched it up.
"D-don't move! If you move, this kid dies!"
He had grabbed Lee Ha-yul's younger brother, who lay bound on the floor.
The Boss pressed the knife to the boy's throat and used him as a hostage.
The threat seemed to work. The approaching man stopped.
"Yeah! Stay right there and put the gun on the floor! Now!"
At the shout, Egostic quietly set the gun on the floor.
When Egostic placed the gun down and straightened, the Boss's face brightened.
"Yeah, that's right! Now get the fuck ou—"
Before he could finish.
A gun floated up behind Egostic from somewhere out of sight.
Before the Boss noticed, it fired.
"...t..."
A hole opened between his eyes as he spoke.
He collapsed on the spot, taking the boy he held down with him.
"...."
And with that, every thug who'd invaded Lee Ha-yul's home was dead.
Only Lee Ha-yul, bound and gagged at the side; her younger brother, now sitting on the floor; and the man in black remained.
Behind him, the blood-soaked interior of the house was all that could be seen.
"....."
A chilling silence fell. The man, the girl, and the boy did not say a word.
Just before the girl lying on the floor tried to do something,
her younger brother, sitting on the floor, suddenly spoke into the silent house.
"M-Mangostic...?"
It was a completely incongruous thing to say in that atmosphere.
***
'Huh...?'
For a moment, I doubted my ears.
I'd burst in and turned the house into a bloodbath.
Lee Ha-yul lay off to the side, staring at me in terror as if I were a serial killer.
This wasn't how it was supposed to go...!
As I agonized over how to handle this awkward situation,
the last person I expected to speak—the younger brother lying on the floor—opened his mouth.
'He called me Mangostic? Now?'
I looked at him, wondering what was going on.
Despite the blood-soaked scene around him—something that would have come with a warning for the elderly and pregnant women—the kid's eyes sparkled as he stared at me.
Huh?
'Could this be...?'