Chapter 68
With a sickening crack—! the Heavenly Demon Divine Sword tore clean through the car as if it were paper.
They had said it was an armored vehicle prepared to carry superhumans, but the divine blade sliced through it with absurd ease.
“...What the hell do you think you’re doing?”
Yu Jin barked at me in surprise. I ignored him. Still gripping the sword, I went straight for the car.
Thud! I stomped down on the hood. As I forced my weight into it, the metal caved inward and shuddered.
“H-Huhk...!?”
The superhuman inside recoiled in panic. I’d cut the vehicle exactly in half, so the left side from my perspective was left gaping and empty.
“L-Lee Jinwoo, sir...! W-why are you suddenly doing this...!”
He sounded completely rattled, but I didn’t care.
With ice-cold eyes, I leveled the sword at him.
“You said your name was Jeong Ho-yoon.”
“...Pardon?”
“Your name.”
“A-ah, yes... Yes. But why do you ask?”
“Strange. We came here to search for the villain... the terrorist. That should be top secret. How do you know about it?”
“...!”
The superhuman flinched at my question.
For a moment, his reaction had been unmistakable.
“T-That’s because the branch chief already gave us the heads-up...!”
“No way. If there was a possibility of an insider leak, there’s no way he would’ve told anyone else.”
With a metallic screech, the Heavenly Demon Divine Sword pierced through the windshield and pinned the man by the neck, skewering the seat behind him.
“How did you know?”
“...That’s...”
“There was a bug in the room. And you were the one who led us there.”
“It’s a misunderstanding...! I was just...”
“Yes. So tell me. I’ll listen.”
With all my strength gathered into the Heavenly Demon Divine Sword, I pressed him for an answer. I would wait. Let’s hear what excuse he could come up with.
The superhuman bit his lip for a moment.
At the same time—
Rumble—!! Light burst from his body.
A dazzling flash swallowed my vision in an instant.
That was enough.
Hero’s Super-sensory is activated.
He tried to flee. I caught the movement of his body. Just as I was about to swing toward him—
Shhk—!
“Guhk!”
I heard the superhuman’s scream. The light gradually faded, and when my vision returned—
“Grrk...!”
“...”
Yu Jin was right in front of me. He had driven his drawn sword into the superhuman’s thigh, pinning him in place.
He’d trapped him so he couldn’t escape. In that position, Yu Jin looked at me.
“...”
“...”
Our eyes met. Yu Jin wore a strange expression as he looked at me.
What kind of face was that? I had no idea.
“...You.”
He seemed about to say something, but then closed his mouth.
Then something in Yu Jin’s hand began to glow. A bluish force appeared and turned into threads.
Those threads wrapped around the superhuman’s body and bound him in place.
A skill?
It seemed to be one of Yu Jin’s skills.
“Ghk...!!”
The superhuman was forced down to the floor, completely restrained.
“...Well, that’s more than I expected.”
Yu Jin said as he finished binding him. Hisss! A sound came from behind us. It was from the car I’d just wrecked. Was it about to blow? I took a step back to make some space, but—
Whoosh—!
A small wind brushed past us, and then BOOM—!!! a violent gale swept in immediately after. The car that had been on the verge of exploding was crushed flat.
Yu Jin had swung his sword.
“It would’ve been a problem if it made too much noise, so I took care of it. Let’s move.”
“Got it.”
“Uh... Y-yeah. R-right.”
After hearing that, Park Deokin and I answered, and Yu Jin dragged the superhuman deeper inside.
We followed after him.
* * *
Wolmi-do.
A district in Incheon, now designated as the city’s only forbidden zone.
Until three years ago, there had been another one near Songdo, but once the issues there were resolved, the restriction had been lifted.
By now, it was fair to call this the one and only forbidden zone.
The reason it had become one was the rampage of the Deep Sea Water, which had caused the surrounding sea to disappear—or become contaminated.
Even now, they periodically worked to lower the contamination rate, but it was no easy task. According to the experts, it would still take at least another five years.
And because of that...
It really was a completely different place from before.
There isn’t a single trace of anyone here.
Of course there wouldn’t be people in a forbidden zone, but from my perspective, since I had memories of Wolmi-do, it stirred up a strange mix of emotions.
Tap.
We entered an abandoned building inside the zone. Yu Jin dragged the superhuman in and threw him against the wall before tying him up there.
“Khh...”
The man let out a pained groan. Watching him, Yu Jin asked with a cold look on his face,
“Jeong Ho-yoon. Are you really a terrorist?”
“...Cough.”
At Yu Jin’s question, the superhuman gave a faint groan. Then—
“Heh heh...”
He let out an ominous laugh.
“...What’s the point of asking now? You’ve already figured it out, haven’t you?”
His atmosphere had changed completely from before. The expression on his face shifted, and something vile seemed to seep out of him.
“Eek.”
Park Deokin startled and took a step back.
Jeong Ho-yoon’s gaze slid past Yu Jin and landed on me.
“...I dismissed you as a greenhorn, but I didn’t expect to make a mistake. You’re sharp. Quick to judge, too...”
“...So you’re admitting you’re a terrorist.”
Yu Jin clicked his tongue briefly at the words meant for me. Then he drew his sword again as if this were nothing and looked at the superhuman.
“I expected there would be some inside the Association, but I didn’t think I’d catch one this fast. Works out better for me. Tell me where the others are.”
Wooooong. The sword in his hand gave off a low, resonant hum.
It almost sounded like the blade was crying.
It wasn’t especially loud, but for some reason, hearing it made me tense.
Heh heh heh heh.
In that atmosphere, the superhuman laughed longer than before.
“...Yu Jin. Korea’s hope... impressive. How does it feel? To bear the expectations of an entire nation at such a young age?”
“I’m not interested in nonsense. Answer the question.”
“An SS-class superhuman... what a dangerous existence. Beyond human, of course, but simply by existing, you threaten order itself.”
“...Are you saying you have no intention of answering?”
Yu Jin pointed the tip of his sword at the superhuman’s throat.
“I’ll count to five. If you don’t answer before I finish, you die.”
His tone changed. Holding the humming sword, Yu Jin began to count.
“One.”
“A shame, really. That someone like you is moving around like a dog on a leash for the Association.”
“Two.”
“Then again, I suppose you don’t know the truth of this world.”
“Three.”
“What could fools like you possibly understand?”
“Four.”
“Ahh— truly...”
“Fi—”
“What a pity...”
Whoosh—!!! Before he could finish counting to five, light once again burst from the superhuman’s body.
But this time, something was different from before. I could see the air itself warping unnaturally.
It was obvious this wasn’t ordinary. I frowned at the ominous change when—
“-ve.”
Crack—!!!
As Yu Jin spoke the final number, an impact detonated.
Wooooong—!!!
...What.
I was stunned inwardly.
One strike.
With a single casual swing of the sword, the entire wall of the building in front of us collapsed.
The superhuman’s body was completely gone along with the attack that had been unleashed the moment the blade moved.
It looked like something had been about to happen, but it had all vanished without a trace.
“Looked like he was about to self-destruct, so I dealt with it.”
Wooooong— wooooong.
Even as Yu Jin spoke, the sword kept humming.
That is...?
I could see the blade trembling faintly.
For some reason, my eyes kept drifting to that.
Notification.
I have witnessed sword resonance.
I am analyzing the clues related to sword resonance.
Clues to sword resonance?
That was a rather sudden system notice.
Yu Jin slid the sword back into its scabbard at his waist and said,
“...I wanted to get information out of him if possible. But that failed too.”
“...”
I swallowed dryly.
That power just now... seeing it, I realized it all over again.
What he just did...
It was on the same level as when I used the Heavenly Demon’s ultimate sword technique. No—maybe it was even stronger.
So this is what SS-class means.
Even after pouring out all my strength, what I could produce still fell short of Yu Jin’s single strike.
Only now, after joining the Knight Order, did that strangely floating feeling finally settle into something cold and sharp, and reality hit me late but hard.
“Sorry, Jinwoo.”
Yu Jin suddenly apologized to me.
“...For what?”
“You went to the trouble of finding the spy for me, but I didn’t get anything out of it.”
Even after erasing one superhuman right in front of us, Yu Jin still looked dissatisfied that he hadn’t gained anything from the situation.
...Right.
A pro superhuman.
He’d joined the Knight Order far earlier than I had and become Korea’s best, so a situation like this would probably be familiar to him.
Still.
He hadn’t hesitated at all. Even knowing exactly how powerful his own sword was.
It was such a natural thing for him to do.
“It’s fine. He was about to self-destruct—what could you have done?”
Was there really any way to stop the superhuman’s self-destruction? I couldn’t think of one. So from Yu Jin’s perspective, perhaps that had been the best possible choice.
“Thanks for saying that...”
Yu Jin smiled bitterly.
“By the way, Jinwoo.”
“...Hm?”
“You’re really sharp. To notice something like that in that situation... impressive, really.”
“...”
He meant the superhuman’s slip of the tongue, I guessed.
That?
Well, I already knew he was a spy, so I’d only been searching for a pretext.
Besides, once I was certain, I could have pressed harder.
“...I just got lucky.”
“Lucky, huh...”
Yu Jin repeated my words, weighing them in his mouth.
“I wonder. I’m not so sure.”
“What?”
“Nothing. For now... now that we know Jeong Ho-yoon was a spy, it’d be best to return to the Association.”
“Go back?”
“Yeah. Trying to continue the search right now would be... too slow, and getting any information out of this probably isn’t happening. We should head back to the Association and reorganize first...”
“Um, excuse me... if I may.”
While Yu Jin was speaking, Park Deokin cut in. Up until now, he’d been trembling silently in fear.
“Yes?”
Yu Jin’s eyes widened at that. He clearly hadn’t expected Park Deokin to interrupt.
“S-sorry...! F-for interrupting. It’s just that... I have something to say about the information we’re looking for...”
“Information?”
Suddenly? Both Yu Jin and I were taken aback.
What information was he talking about? Curious, I focused on him, and Park Deokin shrank back even further.
Adjusting his glasses with a nervous tremor, as though searching our reactions, he continued,
“...I found a trace from the p-person who just... who just died.”
“...What?”
Yu Jin reacted strongly.
He found a trace?
“I wasn’t sure, so I used my skill... but it seems to lead to this area.”
“Your skill... you mean a search skill?”
“Y-yes...”
A search skill. That was the reason Park Deokin had been able to join this party at all.
But he could extract information like that from a person?
“What kind of skill is that? How does it work?”
“...How should I put it? It finds intersections. I can locate people nearby who share a common link with that person. More precisely, it tells me...”
“A common link?”
“...Like, maybe they use the same phone model... things like that.”
“...You can tell that?”
It was incredibly simple, yet oddly specific. To be able to find someone with that?
And it even tells him? The wording was strange, but still.
“Y-yes. But I can feel something similar nearby.”
He had sensed something analogous in the vicinity.
Which meant—
...A common link with the spy. The same terrorist.
That thing was nearby. And that terrorist was...
That mage from earlier.
The masked one who used fire.
There was a strong chance it was that same person.