The Stone That Confuses Its Owner [4]

I had my finger on the trigger. There were no bullets. The pistol was empty. Only four people in this room knew that fact. Me. The Rat Merchant. Seon Woo-rak. And probably Ghost Van. Yoon Taeha didn’t know. The Association didn’t know. So right now this gun was still a weapon.

No. To be precise, it wasn’t the gun itself that was the weapon. It was the direction the muzzle pointed. My muzzle wasn’t aimed at the sunspot stone storage case on the experiment table. The ceiling. Specifically, the maze of cooling pipes and pressure valves tangled across the ceiling. Beneath them sat the shielding cage Seon Woo-rak had activated to appraise the sunspot stone. Metal frame. Shielding plates. Cooling lines. Pressure valves. Emergency release vent. While Seon Woo-rak had been handling the equipment moments ago, I had memorized its structure with my eyes.

There was no need to use Persona's Black Stage. What I needed now wasn’t illusion or fear amplification. Simply aiming at the danger already present in this room would be enough.

The countdown continued over the speaker. The Rat Merchant swallowed hard. Yoon Taeha gripped his iron rod and glared at the door. Ghost Van pressed his back to the wall and lowered his stance. Seon Woo-rak was prying open the rear panel. I opened my mouth slowly.

“Seon Woo-rak.”

“I’m listening.”

“Third valve from the left, upper section.”

Seon Woo-rak’s hand paused for the briefest moment. ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠He seemed to understand immediately and gave a small nod.

“I can blow it.”

“Don’t explain. Just do it.”

“Of course.”

The Rat Merchant muttered a low curse.

“Stop talking in code only the two of you understand. What the hell are you trying to blow up this time?”

“Coolant,” Seon Woo-rak answered curtly. “I’ll open the emergency cooling line for the shielding cage.”

The Rat Merchant’s face hardened. “Open it? The Association is hammering on the door and you want to open the lab pipes?”

“Visual obstruction, thermal disruption, supernormal detection delay,” I cut in. “And to the Association it will look like the precursor to a sunspot stone rampage.”

The Rat Merchant glanced back and forth between us. “Every time you two put your heads together like you’re on the same side, I get the feeling everyone around you is about to die. I hate it.”

“No one’s died yet.”

“That’s the most ominous thing you could’ve said.”

I checked the wrist monitor.

It was too close. I couldn’t use Villain Manifestation here. Persona was even worse. The moment Persona's Black Stage unfolded even once, the mask would swallow me again. So this time I had to do it differently. Not as Persona. As Kang Doyun. Using an empty gun, a dangerous laboratory, and the Association’s own fear.

The sound of Association agents’ boots lined up outside the door. Heavy metallic clanks. Shields being planted. Safety mechanisms on suppression gear being released. Tension flooded Yoon Taeha’s shoulders. I looked at his back. Bloodstained combat uniform. Bandages. A body that hadn’t recovered yet. And still he stood in front of me. A hero. A human so good it was inefficient. Which made him all the more dangerous.

At the same time, the laboratory door exploded inward. Bang! The thick steel door bent and flew open. It wasn’t explosives. Directional impact equipment. The forced-entry tool used by the Association’s Special Investigation Team. The moment the door opened, agents holding white shields poured in. Helmets. Body armor. The Association emblem engraved on their chests. And beneath it, black lettering.

Not regular suppression units. Not rescue teams. These men hadn’t come to save anyone from the start. They had come to secure. To isolate. The lead agent shouted.

“Drop your weapons!”

I pulled the trigger.

Click.

There was no gunshot. Instead—

Hsssssssssh!

The third valve on the ceiling opened. Seon Woo-rak had timed the manual release perfectly. White coolant gas poured down like a waterfall. The entire laboratory was instantly swallowed in pure white. The agents’ helmet lights shattered into hazy fragments inside the fog.

“Visual obstruction!”

“Switch to thermal!”

“Negative! Coolant is interfering!”

“Supernormal scanner producing noise!”

Good. Twenty seconds. No, fifteen would be enough. I shouted into the gas.

“Don’t move.”

The Association agents froze. They hadn’t heard a gunshot. But the pipes had burst the instant I pulled the trigger. To them it must have looked like I had fired. No. They now had a reason to believe it. An unstable supernormal criminal inside the lab had tampered with the piping near a solar-type supernormal crystal. That alone was a nightmare.

I slowly lowered the muzzle inside the white gas. This time toward the sunspot stone case. Or at least, I made it look that way.

“One more round left.”

It was a lie. There wasn’t even one. But in this room, many things were more important than bullets. The sunspot stone. The cooling pipes. The shielding cage. Me, with a supernormal reaction rate of 78%. Yoon Taeha, who resonated with the sunspot stone in an unawakened state. The illegal research equipment the Association didn’t know about. All of it was loaded.

The lead agent ground his teeth. “Bluffing. No gunshot from the target’s firearm.”

Not bad. He hadn’t heard a shot and had correctly judged the absence. But right then Seon Woo-rak spoke in a low voice.

“Coolant discharge is destabilizing internal pressure inside the shielding cage.”

The agents’ movements stopped. Seon Woo-rak deliberately spoke louder.

“If you push a strong suppression wave in here, the crystal may repel it.”

The equipment operator beside the lead agent shouted. “Supernormal reaction rising around the target! Crystal wavelength unstable!”

“Maintain suppression wave!”

“Maintaining it is making it worse!”

“Numbers!”

“Solar crystal activity 64, 71, 79. Still rising!”

The sunspot stone storage case in the center of the lab emitted a low hum. Vrrrrrm. Red light spread inside the shielding membrane. Yoon Taeha instinctively took a step back. I swallowed hard. The reaction was faster than expected. The Association’s suppression wave was coming in. That wave was prodding both my supernormal reaction and the sunspot stone at the same time. And inside this room was Yoon Taeha. The person who should have reacted to the sunspot stone in the first place.

The red waveforms on the monitor jumped violently. Me. Yoon Taeha. The sunspot stone. The three of us were shaking as if pulling at one another.

“Mr. Kang Doyun,” Yoon Taeha said quietly. “The numbers are climbing.”

“I can see that.”

I looked down at my wrist. One step. Literally one step. If it crossed 80 here, it would begin again. The mask. The stage. Persona. I bit the inside of my lip. The taste of blood spread. The pain cleared the gas in front of my eyes a little.

“I am Kang Doyun,” I muttered under my breath. “Not Copycat. Not Persona.”

The number stopped at 79. But it didn’t drop.

Seon Woo-rak shouted from the panel. “Twenty seconds passed. Rear door half open!”

The Rat Merchant immediately asked, “Half open—how much is that exactly?”

“Enough for one person to crawl through at a time.”

“What an elegant escape plan. We’re going to be crawling while the Association chases us!”

“Move quietly,” I said.

The Rat Merchant snapped back instantly. “You come too. Don’t give me that face that says you’re staying behind alone again.”

“Go first.”

“I’m so sick of hearing that. There hasn’t been a single situation where you staying behind alone actually solved anything.”

I looked at the Association agents. Beyond the white gas, shields were moving. They hadn’t stopped. They had only slowed their advance. They were trained. Threats alone wouldn’t hold them forever. They would break through soon.

Yoon Taeha stepped in front of me. “I’ll hold them off.”

I glared at him. “You’ve already been marked for disobeying Association orders.”

“I know.”

“And you’re going to wreck yourself even more?”

“Since they’re already here, I have to choose.”

Yoon Taeha readjusted his grip on the iron rod. His hands were shaking. The wounds he received in the Central Waterway couldn’t have healed properly yet. He had fled straight from the Association’s medical wing. His stamina had to be at its limit. Yet he still stepped forward.

“I’m not trying to hurt them.”

“Then?”

“I’m delaying the forced entry.”

I swallowed a dry laugh. “Very heroic.”

“I’ll take that as a compliment.”

“It wasn’t.”

Yoon Taeha didn’t answer. His back was narrow. Still weak. Yet for some reason he wouldn’t step aside. As if his own body could become a door. The lead Association agent shouted.

“Agent Yoon Taeha! Withdraw immediately!”

“There is an unstable supernormal responder present!” Yoon Taeha shouted back. “Lower the suppression wave and call in the medical response team!”

“You do not have the authority to make that call!”

“Then who does?” For the first time, Yoon Taeha’s voice turned sharp. “The person who issued isolation orders without even looking inside the site?”

The agent’s shield hesitated. The voice wasn’t the same as the one over the speaker. Probably not the field commander but the entry team leader. He was hesitating too. Yoon Taeha seized the gap.

“If you push the suppression wave any harder, the crystal will react. You must have seen the numbers.”

“We must secure the solar crystal.”

“What if it explodes before you secure it?”

“That is for us to judge.”

“There are people inside.”

The words rang through the laboratory. White coolant gas. Red emergency lights. The sunspot stone’s low resonance. Between them, Yoon Taeha’s statement somehow sounded especially clear. There are people inside.

I almost closed my eyes when I heard it. People. The Association saw me as an isolation target. Black Dog saw me as a bounty. Persona saw me as an actor. Yet Yoon Taeha kept calling me a person. It was uncomfortable. So uncomfortable that the numbers actually went down.

It was ridiculous. Unrealistic goodwill was what kept a person anchored. Was this the original protagonist’s plot armor? No. I shouldn’t think that way. Yoon Taeha wasn’t the original work. He was a person standing here right now.

“Rear door’s open!” Seon Woo-rak shouted.

The Rat Merchant moved immediately. “Good, everyone out. This lab is starting to feel more like a funeral than an experiment.”

Ghost Van headed for the rear door first. He checked the opening and spoke briefly. “Passage narrow. One at a time.”

“You first?” the Rat Merchant asked.

“Need to bring the car.”

He was right. Ghost Van lowered himself and disappeared into the passage. The Rat Merchant pushed Seon Woo-rak. “Dr. Sun, you first.”

“It’s my lab.”

“Exactly, so you know the way! As the owner, go first and make sure the exit hasn’t collapsed!”

Seon Woo-rak went in without complaint. The Rat Merchant started to follow, then looked back at me.

“Copycat!”

“Go.”

“You really are annoying until the very end.”

He ground his teeth and crawled inside. Now only Yoon Taeha and I remained. And the Association agents forcing their way in. Yoon Taeha was still blocking the way. I approached him.

“Yoon Taeha.”

“Yes.”

“You go first.”

“I refuse.”

“I expected that.”

I let out a sigh. The Association agents began moving again. Shields sliced through the gas as they advanced. The lead agent no longer hesitated.

“Agent Yoon Taeha. Final warning. Stand down.”

Instead of answering, Yoon Taeha raised his rod. The agent clenched his teeth. “Suppress.”

Two men charged at once. Their movements were fast. People trained in ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠Association suppression tactics. One pinned Yoon Taeha’s rod with a shield while the other swung an electric baton from the side. Yoon Taeha blocked the first attack. But the second was hard to dodge. I swallowed a curse and moved. I didn’t use any ability. I simply threw my body forward. The electric baton grazed my left arm.

Crack!

“Ugh!”

My entire arm convulsed. My breath caught. Yoon Taeha looked at me in shock.

“Mr. Kang Doyun!”

“Eyes front!”

Yoon Taeha twisted again. The iron rod struck beneath a shield. Clang! An agent’s balance broke. I forced my convulsing arm to move and raised the pistol. An empty gun. But the agent reflexively lifted his shield. That brief reaction was enough. I kicked the wheel of a metal cart lying under the experiment table. Screeech! The cart slid between the agents’ ankles. The shielded agent tripped and fell. The second agent rushed at me. I couldn’t dodge. The impact slammed into my stomach.

“Guh!”

Breath exploded out of me. My body flew backward. The moment the burned skin on my back hit the wall, my vision went white. Pain. Terrible pain. But that pain anchored me.

It was dropping. Yes. Hurt. Hurt like hell. That way I remained myself. I clenched my teeth and grabbed the agent’s arm. I couldn’t win with strength. Obviously. So it wasn’t strength but angle. Kang Doyun’s body was weak. But it knew how to run and hide. I twisted the agent’s wrist and slipped sideways. Yoon Taeha immediately intervened. The end of his rod struck behind the agent’s knee. Thud! The agent dropped to one knee.

“Now!” Yoon Taeha shouted.

I ran for the rear door. Or rather, I threw myself toward it. At that moment the lab speaker rang again.

I didn’t stop.

I almost laughed. Guarantee your life. The phrasing was truly strange. It didn’t mean they would save me. It meant they wouldn’t kill me. It didn’t mean they would treat me as a person. It meant they would store me.

Without turning around I said, “No thanks.”

The words were vicious. They denied the fact that Yoon Taeha was making his own judgments. They dismissed everything he had done—blocking me, contradicting the Association, calling me a person—as the result of my mental-type influence. I looked at Yoon Taeha. His hand was trembling. I couldn’t tell if it was from anger or injury.

“Yoon Taeha,” I called. “If those words are enough to shake you, go back now.”

Yoon Taeha looked at me. His eyes wavered. But they did not break.

“I know my judgment could be wrong.”

“And?”

“Even so, this is my judgment.”

He raised the rod toward the Association agents. “Please record it as such.”

I watched him for a moment. The original protagonist. A damn protagonist-like bastard.

“Then run.”

Yoon Taeha nodded. We threw ourselves into the rear passage at the same time. Association agents followed.

“Target escaping!”

“Confirm rear passage!”

“Maintain suppression wave!”

At that moment the sunspot stone rang out again, much louder. Vrrrrrrrrrm! Red light burst from the case on the experiment table. The shielding membrane swelled and shook. Seon Woo-rak shouted from beyond the passage.

“I told you to turn off the suppression wave!”

The agents hesitated. Too late. The sunspot stone’s waveform rampaged for an instant. Then it split in two. One surged toward me. The other toward Yoon Taeha.

“Ugh!”

I clutched my head. It wasn’t Persona. This time it was a different sensation. Not thief, swindler, or viper. It was the feeling of my Villain Manifestation being scraped by the sunspot stone. As if locked lists were being forcibly opened. Black text flooded my vision.

Unregistered target. Yoon Taeha. I looked at him. He was staggering too. A faint light rose over the back of his hand. Not black, not red. A faint golden hue like dawn light. It resembled the supernormal precursor I had seen from Yoon Taeha in the original work. But it wasn’t exactly the same. Because the sunspot stone had come into my hands, he was awakening in a different way.

“Yoon Taeha!” I shouted.

He clenched his teeth. “I’m fine.”

“You don’t look fine.”

“Neither do you.”

He was right again. I tried to steady my breathing by holding the wall. But behind us the Association agents began moving once more.

“Reaction rising in both targets!”

“Agent Yoon Taeha as well?”

“Yes! Resonance reaction confirmed!”

The voice over the speaker changed. For the first time, its composure broke.

Yoon Taeha’s face hardened. I froze too. Reclassified as a secure target. The man who had been an Association agent until moments ago had become a target in an instant. This was the Association. An organization that protected people. At the same time, an organization that classified them. Even a hero could become an isolation target if necessary.

The Rat Merchant’s voice came from the front of the passage. “Both of you hurry! Ghost Van brought the car around!”

I grabbed Yoon Taeha’s arm and pulled. “Move.”

He glanced back at the lab for a brief moment. At the Association agents who had classified him as a target. At the sunspot stone on the experiment table. In that short instant, something broke across Yoon Taeha’s face. The last remnant of trust toward the Association. It probably wasn’t completely shattered. He didn’t break that easily. But a crack had formed. Deeply.

We crawled along the passage as if running. Association agents chased from behind. The passage was narrow and low. An emergency escape route barely wide enough for one person at a time. Seon Woo-rak was opening panels ahead. The Rat Merchant had already crawled halfway out. Ghost Van’s engine rumbled.

“Faster!” the Rat Merchant yelled.

I pushed Yoon Taeha ahead first. “Go.”

“You first.”

“Say that again and I’ll leave you here.”

Yoon Taeha gritted his teeth and moved forward. I tried to follow. Then one Association agent reached into the passage and stretched out an arm. The electric baton grazed my ankle.

Crack!

My leg locked up. “Ugh!”

I fell forward. An Association agent grabbed my ankle.

“Target secured!”

Damn it. Strength wouldn’t come. My back was burning, my arm was numb, my leg was convulsing. I looked back. Inside the narrow passage the agent’s helmet light stabbed my eyes. He tried to drag me by the ankle. I reached out. The only thing I caught was the pistol. An empty gun. I pointed the muzzle at the agent’s face. He froze. In that instant I pulled the trigger.

Click.

Empty sound again. The agent’s eyes changed. He realized he had been tricked.

“Empty gun?”

“Yeah.”

I clenched my teeth and threw the pistol. It struck his helmet light instead of his face. Thud! The light shook. The passage suddenly darkened. In that gap I twisted my ankle free from his grip. Pain tore through my calf. But I was out. I rolled forward. Yoon Taeha grabbed my arm and pulled me.

“I’ve got you!”

“Good.”

“Is that a compliment?”

“Don’t get any ideas.”

“I won’t.”

Even in this situation he answered. He really was relentless. We tumbled out of the passage. We were behind the warehouse, between abandoned containers. Ghost Van was already waiting. The rear doors were open. The Rat Merchant waved from inside.

“Get in! Get in!”

Seon Woo-rak was clutching a metal case.

“The sunspot stone?” I asked. Seon Woo-rak tapped the case. “I brought it. I’m not old enough to leave it on the table and walk away.”

When had he grabbed it? What a nasty old man. I climbed into the van with Yoon Taeha. Ghost Van took off before the door even closed. Association agents burst out the rear exit.

“Stop!”

Guns rose. Ghost ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠Van didn’t stop. The van raced between containers. Gunshots followed. Bang! Bang! The chassis shook. The Rat Merchant spat curses.

“This is what you call stabilization prep? You said coming to the abandoned port lab would be safe!”

Seon Woo-rak held the case and answered, “I said stabilization was possible. I never said it would be safe.”

“You want to argue semantics right now?”

“Accurate wording is important.”

“Every time you’re accurate, people around you die!”

Yoon Taeha panted as he stared at the back of his hand. The faint golden light had vanished, but it didn’t seem completely gone. I looked at it and pressed my lips together. The sunspot stone had recognized him. The Association had seen it too. Yoon Taeha was no longer a simple rookie hero. Not to the Association. Not to Black Dog. And not to the flow of the original story.

Ghost Van wrenched the wheel violently. “Two pursuit vehicles.”

“Association?”

“One. The other is unknown.”

The Rat Merchant looked out the window and his face hardened. “Black SUV.”

Black Dog. I ground my teeth. Good. Association. Black Dog. Sunspot stone. Yoon Taeha. Me. Again. Another stage was being built. The lingering echo of Persona raised its head from far away. I closed my eyes.

Behave like a tool.

There was no answer. The van plunged into the container maze of the ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠abandoned port. Behind us the Association vehicle’s siren and the Black Dog SUV’s engine roared in pursuit at the same time. And my wrist monitor began flashing red again.

One step. Another single step. I muttered quietly.

“I won’t use it this time.”

Yoon Taeha looked at me. “What do you mean?”

I answered while watching the siren lights outside the window. “The mask.”

At that moment Ghost Van spoke briefly. “Front blocked.”

Ahead. At the end of the narrow passage between containers. A single black SUV blocked the way. A man stood in front of it. Black jumper. Bandaged wrist. Beast-like low stance. Hound. He bared his teeth and smiled.

“Found you.”

The van slammed on the brakes. Tires screamed. Behind us the Association vehicle. Beside us the Black Dog SUV. In front of us Hound. In the middle of the container maze at the Incheon Abandoned Port, we were completely surrounded.

Hound looked in my direction. No. Precisely, he alternated between me and Yoon Taeha. His nose twitched. An eerie smile spread across his face.

“The smell became two.”

At those words the back of Yoon Taeha’s hand glowed faintly again. I felt the sunspot stone case Seon Woo-rak was holding grow hot. Hound laughed.

“Seems the black stone is confusing its owner.”

The moment those words ended, the Association vehicle’s doors opened behind the van. Special Investigation Team agents with white shields stepped out. And between them walked a woman in a black tactical coat. Short tied hair. Cold eyes. The Special Disaster Response Department emblem. The Rat Merchant swallowed.

“Seo Mun-ha.”

Yoon Taeha’s face hardened too. “Team Leader.”

Seo Mun-ha looked at Yoon Taeha. Then at me. Finally at the sunspot stone case in Seon Woo-rak’s hands. She didn’t raise her gun. Instead she gave a short command.

“Everyone, do not move.”

Her voice wasn’t loud. But the entire container maze fell silent. Hound bared his teeth and laughed. The Association agents raised their shields. Ghost Van gripped the wheel tightly. The Rat Merchant swallowed a curse. Yoon Taeha held his breath. I looked down at the wrist monitor.

And the sunspot stone’s resonance grew louder and louder. Vrrrrrrrrrm.

Two. The smell had become two. The stone that confuses its owner. I slowly let out a breath.

“Fine.”

I didn’t even know who those words were for. The Association. Black Dog. Hound. Seo Mun-ha. Yoon Taeha. The sunspot stone. And Persona, once again toying with the curtain inside me. Everyone had gathered in one place. I had said I wouldn’t wear the mask. Yet the world kept building a stage. It really was a filthy world to survive in.