You're Next

Heavenly Demon Divine Art — Revolving Heavenly Demon Dragon.

I spun the Heavenly Demon Qi wrapping my body. The whirling energy smashed every last one of the thousand incoming arrows. The shattered shafts turned to dust and vanished.

"If you think a handful of arrows like that can stop me—"

I never finished the sentence. A fire lizard erupted from the ceiling and lunged at me with its jaws wide open.

A fire spirit!

Heavenly Demon Divine Art — Dragon Fist.

I drove my fist straight into the fire lizard's maw. Heavenly Demon Qi shot from my knuckles like a laser and punched clean through the creature's skull. Its body hit the floor with a wet slap, then erupted into a pillar of flame.

"That fire will burn even your soul."

The elf archer spoke. The flames clung to my body.

"Hot, sure. But not enough to stop me."

I chose counterattack over defense. Getting my skin scorched was an acceptable price.

Heavenly Demon Divine Art — Heavenly Demon Sovereign Step.

I leapt through space and appeared right in front of the elf archer. He recoiled in shock and backstepped — far too late. My strike was already faster.

Heavenly Demon Divine Art — Heavenly Demon Sword: Ninefold Triple Kill.

Head. Throat. Solar plexus.

Three points, all at once.

But the blade never sank into the elf archer's flesh.

"What, you don't go down like the security guards?"

"Do not put me in the same category as disposable pawns."

The elf archer seized an arrow and drove it into my heart. The shaft glowed blue as freezing cold flooded into my chest.

My movements grew sluggish. I stopped attacking and fell back. The elf archer watched me with something like admiration.

"To think you'd withstand Frozen Heart. Remarkable. Your name was Heavenly Demon, was it? I am Orlan. Remember the name of the man who killed you."

Orlan nocked an arrow and drew the string taut.

I used Heavenly Demon Sovereign Step to dodge the shot and fled the building. Inside these walls, my odds of winning were zero. There was no reason to risk my life fighting on ground that favored him.

I made it outside.

If he chases me out here, I'll burn Complete Recovery if I have to and put him down.

Unfortunately, the bastard never left the building.

No point throwing away that broken-ass invulnerability advantage, I guess.

WEE-oo, WEE-oo, WEE-oo.

Sirens were closing in. I spread my senses and felt them — thousands of cops, at least, converging on this place to take me down.

Plenty of ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠those cops are strong enough that even I can't just ignore them. Fighting them head-on would be suicide.

I clutched the spot on my chest where the elf archer had stabbed me. The cold still squeezed my heart.

This first.

I focused on Heavenly Demon Divine Art for a moment. Frozen Heart. Not ordinary energy, sure… but it still fell short of Heavenly Demon Divine Art (SSS).

…Hah. I came all this way and barely got anything out of it. Irritating.

I was about to turn away when a building caught my eye. A massive structure standing to the right of the Venus Entertainment tower. The entrance was labeled Venus Studio.

They've got their own private studio too? After coming all this way… it'd be a shame to just leave.

I clenched my fist.

I poured every scrap of Heavenly Demon Qi I had into it.

Crunch. Crack-crack-crack.

The excess energy made my fist scream under the strain. I gritted my teeth against the twisting agony of bone and muscle.

Manageable enough.

I threw the punch.

A dragon forged of Heavenly Demon Qi opened its maw and crashed into Venus Studio.

KRA-KA-KA-KA-KA-BOOM!

The building shattered and collapsed.

I watched the wreckage for a moment, then turned away.

Using my Unique Trait Deception (SS), I rendered my body invisible and left the area. My fist still hurt like hell.

David pushed his glasses up with his middle finger and stared straight ahead ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠with a blank expression.

He was inside a private residence. Twelve people knelt on the floor in front of him. Among them was a boy who looked like a middle schooler.

"Please, please spare us! I'll delete every video I've ever posted and put up a clarification video! I'll give you everything I own! Please! Just kill me if you have to — I deserve it! But my family…! My family didn't do anything wrong!"

The man at the front was on his knees, wringing his hands and begging.

David saw himself in the man's face. The same desperate groveling he'd done when he begged Seong Yujin for his life. Did that spark any sympathy? Not even slightly. David knew he and this man were nothing alike. David rarely felt anything special toward other people to begin with.

"PakssiTV."

"Y-yes. Yes. I'm Park Sun-cheol, operator of PakssiTV."

The terrified Park Sun-cheol answered like a machine. Anything less than perfect deference would get his right foot broken the same way his left already had.

"Is this everyone? Family, relatives, friends?"

Park Sun-cheol and the people behind him trembled with fear.

"Everyone… yes. Like I said earlier, this is everyone."

A notification window appeared that hadn't shown up before.

David's lie detector wasn't absolute. If the target genuinely believed a lie was the truth, the detector registered it as true. The reverse also held. In this case, the man had simply forgotten someone — and only just remembered.

"You're lying."

"N-no! It's the truth!"

"You just remembered them, didn't you. I told you to speak up the moment something came to mind…"

David kicked Park Sun-cheol in the head. The man crumpled to the floor. David planted a polished dress shoe on Park Sun-cheol's right foot and stomped — again and again — until the bones were completely pulverized.

"Who."

"Ghhhk, hhk, hh…"

"I asked you who."

"M-my ex-girlfriend…! We're not involved anymore!"

An ex-girlfriend.

It made sense he wouldn't think of her right away. If they hadn't completely cut ties, she was too awkward to call a friend.

David picked up Park Sun-cheol's smartphone. He dug through the gallery — no photos that looked like a girlfriend. He scrolled through the saved contacts. A handful of women's names. One of them.

"…Delia? This one?"

"Y-yes!"

"……"

A name and a phone number were all he needed. He dug through the woman's social media. Photos of her appeared.

David glanced sideways. Two of his subordinates in suits stood at attention.

"You two. Grab one woman—"

Click.

The front door opened. David shut his mouth. He dropped to his knees facing the entrance. His two subordinates scrambled to follow suit.

The person who walked through the door was Seong Yujin. Irritation written all over his face, he swept a glance around the room.

"You've arrived, sir."

"Who the hell told you to greet me? Looking to die?"

"…My apologies."

Seong Yujin's gaze landed on Park Sun-cheol.

"This the bastard?"

"Park Sun-cheol, operator of PakssiTV. He claims he received the video and the commission from an unidentified party."

"Unidentified, my ass. Venus Entertainment, obviously. Twelve people total. This everyone?"

"Yes. No relatives. I gathered the family and friends. However, he mentioned one additional friend belatedly, so…"

"So you're one short."

"…Yes. I'm sorry."

"Sloppy work. Want me to kill you?"

"……I'm sorry. Please spare me."

David bowed deeply. His forehead pressed against the floor. He was certain now that the "Heavenly Demon" setting the internet on fire was Seong Yujin. At first he'd considered using that information to escape… but the Heavenly Demon's power — the kind that leveled buildings — far exceeded anything he'd imagined. He had no confidence he could run from this man.

"So who's the missing one?"

"Park Sun-cheol's ex-girlfriend."

"She cute?"

"…She looks like this."

He offered the smartphone with both hands. The screen showed a photo of Park Sun-cheol's ex. Seong Yujin looked at it and snorted a laugh.

"Cute face. We'll let her off. Alright then — let's get started."

Seong Yujin first poured a potion over the trembling, pain-wracked Park Sun-cheol.

That same night, at midnight, a video went up on PakssiTV.

In the dark frame, Park Sun-cheol knelt on the floor.

Something dangled behind him. People. Eleven human beings hung from the ceiling by their necks, dead. The lower halves of the hanging corpses were soaked with filth.

"Hhh… hah… hhh…"

At the center of the frame, the kneeling Park Sun-cheol gasped for air. His eyes, full of terror, didn't dare look forward — they stared at the floor.

The screen cut abruptly.

Park Sun-cheol's position had shifted slightly, and his upper body was drenched in blood. His face, though, was intact. His hair was soaked with a pink liquid. The sharper viewers recognized it as potion.

"I-I am Park Sun-cheol, operator of PakssiTV. I have spent my career maliciously editing and uploading videos. I offer my apologies to Actor Kaite, Singer Telemia, idol group Sing Girls, and Pobitz, all of whom suffered because of me…. Hh, hhk…. I-I can't do this. Please, spare—"

The screen cut again in an instant.

Park Sun-cheol's right eye socket was empty. Traces of vomit clung to his lips.

And beside the camera, thick steam was rising. Bubble, bubble. The sound of boiling water. Park Sun-cheol looked toward the side of the camera with terrified eyes, then suddenly flinched and snapped his gaze forward.

"I was wrong…. I apologize to everyone who was harmed by the videos I edited…. Especially Actor Kaite — I heard he was put on antidepressants because of my content. I offer my deepest apology. I sincerely repent for what I've done. As atonement, I will hang myself… t-together with my f-family and friends. I will gladly pay for my sins in hell."

Park Sun-cheol rose from his seat on his one remaining eye, tears streaming down his face. On unsteady legs, he climbed onto a chair.

He looked at the camera. No — at whoever was holding it. Then, face twisted with pure dread, he slipped the noose hanging from the ceiling around his neck.

Thud!

He kicked the chair out from under himself.

"Ghk, kk, ghhhkk!"

The agonized thrashing went on for several dozen seconds before it stopped. Filthy waste dripped from his lower body, and the video ended.

People understood immediately that he had been murdered. A suicide victim uploading their own video made no sense to begin with.

A snuff film.

A video that should have been taken down the moment it hit the site instead stayed up for three full hours after the platform was hacked. It hit the trending videos list and the real-time search rankings. In that short window, the view count blew past three million. Counting every repost across community sites, it wasn't an exaggeration to say every single person in District 6700 had seen it.

What generated even more buzz than the video itself was the title.

You're Next.

A chilling title.

Who was it speaking to?

Users who'd been making money the same way Park Sun-cheol had deleted every video they'd ever posted in a panic. Most of them didn't stop there — they immediately uploaded apology videos as well.

The public would never know.

That the title had been written half as a joke, just because it sounded cool.