The First Correction

The man holding the black umbrella did not run. On the abandoned port's outer road, the body of the Ghost Van that had pushed its way out from the wreckage of a shattered truck was dented in several places. From behind, the engine sounds of Association vehicles and Black Dog SUVs were closing in at the same time. Hound was probably still getting up from beyond the container piles. Association drones were following us from the sky. In the midst of all that, the man standing in front of the black sedan remained perfectly still.

It was a dawn without rain. He held a black umbrella engraved with a red sun emblem, as if this entire commotion were a procession meant for him alone. From the van's internal speaker, the man's voice flowed out.

The moment those words ended, something inside me laughed. Persona. I hadn't even called for it. As if reacting to the single word "stage," a cold sensation seeped into the corners of my eyes and mouth. The shadow of a smiling mask floated at the edge of my vision. I clenched my teeth.

"Act like the tool you are."

My voice leaked out low. Persona didn't answer. But it didn't disappear either. Behind the black curtain, it quietly waited for the next line.

Yoon Taeha looked at me. "Mr. Kang Doyun. Your face is... again..."

"It's still my voice." I pressed the area around my eyes with the back of my hand. There was nothing to feel. Yet it still felt like cold lines were embedded beneath my skin. "Just assume I'm holding on with that."

Yoon Taeha didn't look convinced. But he didn't ask any more questions. Right now, the situation outside was more urgent than my face.

The Rat Merchant glanced back and forth between the window and the monitor, speaking rapidly. "Association vehicles within two hundred meters behind us. Two Black Dog SUVs. Two drones. And Black Sun up ahead." His voice cracked slightly. "When I put it all together, it sounds like absolute bullshit. Who the hell are we even running from right now?"

"Everyone," I said. "All of them."

The Rat Merchant let out a hollow laugh. "If it sounded like a joke, I might at least laugh, but even that's not working anymore."

Seon Woo-rak kept the sunspot stone case fixed on his lap while staring at the pattern on the black umbrella. His eyes were different from usual. It wasn't just interest. There was wariness. Fear. And the look of someone confirming a name he'd known for a very long time.

Yoon Taeha asked, "What is Black Sun?"

No one answered right away. The Rat Merchant shut his mouth, and Seon Woo-rak only stared at the readings on his device. Ghost Van gripped the wheel and glared at the road ahead. In the end, the answer fell to me.

I let out a slow breath. "It's not an organization like Black Dog."

Yoon Taeha's gaze turned to me. "You mean it's above them?"

"Calling it 'above' is too simplistic." I looked at the man in front of the black sedan. Beneath the black umbrella, his face remained buried in shadow. "When dogs like Black Dog move, it's the hand above them arranging the board. When something like a sunspot stone leaks into the market, it's the shadow that lingers nearby. The name that occasionally gets erased from incidents the Association covers up."

My words came out fragmented. I couldn't explain it completely. The Black Sun I knew was a name from the latter half of the original novel. Supernormal rampages. Sunspot stones. Villain experiments. Corruption inside the Association. The second sunspot explosion. And the phenomenon of supernormal monsterization in the latter half. The group that had faintly revealed itself behind all of it.

But I couldn't tell Yoon Taeha all of that right now. I couldn't act like someone who already knew about events that hadn't happened yet. Still, there was one thing I could say.

"They're not good people."

Yoon Taeha stared at the man in front of the black sedan. "Even I can tell that much."

The man took one step forward. It was strange. He had clearly been far away. Yet he had gotten closer. The sense of distance on the road had folded. The asphalt itself hadn't moved. But my eyes refused to calculate the distance. It felt close yet far. It felt far yet right in front of me. As if a page had been folded once and then unfolded.

Ghost Van didn't press the accelerator. He could feel it too. The road ahead was no longer a normal path.

The Rat Merchant asked in a low voice, "Is that a space-type ability?"

Seon Woo-rak narrowed his eyes. "It's closer to perceptual correction than actually folding space itself. However, the phenomenon is too uniform to simply call it a hallucination."

"In simple terms?"

"The road is perfectly fine, but it's making us unable to see it that way."

"That sounds even worse."

Perceptual correction. The words stuck unpleasantly in my ears. Persona's Black Stage placed people on a stage. It drew out their fear and perception to create scenes. But that man's power was different. He wasn't shaking people. He was correcting the scene itself. The distance of the road. The direction of gaze. Who was ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠in front and who was behind. Not a stage. A sentence. A background. A composition. And a flow.

At that moment, black text floated before my eyes.

I stopped breathing. The system had reacted. I didn't even know that man's name. I didn't know his ability. Yet just from the emblem and its symbolism, the Villain Manifestation list was shaking. It meant that existence was embedded that deeply into this world's narrative.

The man with the black umbrella brought a communicator to his mouth.

The air inside the van froze. The Rat Merchant muttered quietly, "Then is standing in our way holding an umbrella just a hobby?"

The answer came immediately.

Seon Woo-rak's eyes flashed. "Observe."

I immediately spoke in a low voice. "Seon Woo-rak."

"I know. We can't fall for that."

"Your face says otherwise."

"Interest and agreement are different things."

"They look pretty similar to me."

The man with the black umbrella continued.

Thump. The sunspot stone pulsed. A faint golden light rose on the back of Yoon Taeha's hand. My wrist monitor flashed red.

I gripped the strap of my backpack tightly.

The man's gaze turned toward me.

Then it turned toward Yoon Taeha.

Yoon Taeha stiffened. "What do you mean?"

I couldn't answer. The villain who should have exited. That bastard knew. At the very least, he knew that Copycat Kang Doyun was supposed to disappear from this incident. No. More precisely, he knew a similar flow. I didn't know if he knew the word "original novel." But that bastard knew the original arrangement of events. He knew that my survival was abnormal.

Black Sun. These people weren't simple criminal organizations. They truly viewed the world as a story.

At those words, a chill ran down my spine. Error. That was what the bastard had called me. Not a person. Not a villain. Not even a test subject. An error.

Yoon Taeha asked quietly, "Who are you people?"

"Completion?"

My heart turned coldly frozen. Supernormal monsterization. The latter half of the original novel. The second sunspot explosion. A sun distorted red. Those scenes flashed through my mind. Black Sun knew. They knew the world was breaking. No. Perhaps they were even the ones designing that very collapse.

The man with the black umbrella tilted his umbrella slightly.

Mr. The name. Not the villain name, but Kang Doyun. That address stuck unpleasantly in my ear. Yoon Taeha looked at me. His eyes were asking: Do you understand what he's saying?

I didn't answer. I couldn't.

From behind, the Association vehicle's loudspeaker rang out.

The man with the black umbrella didn't even turn around. As if the Association were nothing more than background noise. Movement also stirred from the Black Dog SUV on the left. Hound had appeared again. Bandages were wrapped around the back of his hand, but blood was still seeping through. He growled toward us, then wrinkled his nose at the man with the black umbrella.

"Even the Black Sun bastards got involved?" His voice was mixed with blatant disgust. "That unlucky smell."

The man with the black umbrella finally turned his head just a fraction.

Hound bared his teeth. "Don't call me by that name."

The moment those words ended, Hound moved. He threw his body forward like a beast, low to the ground. His target was the man with the black umbrella. But he couldn't reach him. The instant Hound charged, the sense of distance on the road folded again. The man who had seemed to get closer suddenly grew distant. Hound's hand sliced through empty air, and his body rolled across the asphalt past the side of the black sedan.

"Kugh!"

Black Dog operatives raised their guns. The Association drones also changed direction. The man with the black umbrella remained calm.

"Correction?" The moment I muttered that, red light spread from beneath the black sedan. A circular light. A sun emblem being engraved on the road. No. It wasn't light. It was a supernormal device. Something Black Sun had planted. Seon Woo-rak shouted, "It's a sunspot stone wavelength amplifier!"

"Why the hell is that thing buried here?" The Rat Merchant's voice cracked.

Seon Woo-rak gritted his teeth. "They guided us to this exact spot from the beginning. We need to keep our distance!"

It was too late. Wooong! The sunspot stone case inside the backpack pulsed violently. My wrist monitor screamed.

A mask tried to descend over my face. The corners of my eyes. The corners of my mouth. A smiling line. At the same time, golden light exploded from the back of Yoon Taeha's hand.

"Ugh...!" He clutched his body. I held the backpack tightly and gritted my teeth. Black text spread across the center of my vision.

Ownership rights. Damn it. The sunspot stone was trying to recognize Yoon Taeha as its owner again. No. Because it had been something that should have gone to him from the beginning. The opportunity I had stolen was trying to return to its original place.

Yoon Taeha spoke with a pained face. "This... it's coming toward me."

"Hold ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠on." I looked at him. "Don't open your hand. Don't amplify the light."

"It's not moving by my will." The golden light on the back of his hand grew larger and larger. But something was strange. It was different from the brilliant hero's light I had seen in the original novel. It was warm but rough. Clean but unstable. A light that had not yet taken form. Power standing on a threshold.

Seon Woo-rak shouted, "Yoon Taeha's supernormal is being forcibly opened!"

The Rat Merchant panicked. "What happens if he awakens here?"

"If the conditions are right, he'll survive."

"And if the conditions aren't right?"

"I'll just say that the environment inside this van is worse than a laboratory."

"Don't phrase it like that. It means he'll explode!"

Ghost Van gripped the wheel tightly. "Road distortion has been lifted."

"What?"

"We can go now."

The man with the black umbrella was still watching us. He wasn't blocking us. His face truly looked like he had only finished his observation. No. More precisely, he had no intention of killing us here. He had shaken the situation, stimulated the sunspot stone, and forcibly raised the resonance between me and Yoon Taeha. And now he wanted to see the result.

Ghost Van said, "Make the call."

I took a deep breath. The Association was approaching from behind. Black Dog was beside us. Black Sun was in front. Inside the van were me on the verge of rampaging and Yoon Taeha on the verge of awakening. Fine. It wasn't fine at all. But this was the board we had right now.

"Right side," I said. Below the abandoned port's outer road. An old cargo loading line. A section connected by rusted ramps and containers. A place that was ambiguous to even call a road. But if it was Ghost Van...

"Get us out that way."

Ghost Van's eyes moved. "The car will be destroyed."

The Rat Merchant yelled, "Is this the time to worry about the car's lifespan? Just calculate the repair costs with whatever money is left after I sell my organs!"

"Received." Ghost Van turned the wheel. The van shot out to the right. The man with the black umbrella continued to watch us. He didn't stop us. Instead, one last voice flowed from the communicator.

The van charged toward the cargo loading ramp. From behind, the Association and Black Dog moved at the same time. Gunshots rang out. Bang! Bang! Association supernormal suppression rounds. Black Dog's live ammunition. Two types of bullets flew simultaneously. The vehicle body shook. Yoon Taeha gritted his teeth and raised his hand. Golden light gathered at his fingertips.

"Don't!" I shouted. But it was too late. He instinctively reached his hand toward our rear. The light spread very thinly. It was too weak to call a shield. Too transparent to call a wall. But the moment one of the incoming supernormal suppression rounds touched that light, its trajectory was slightly pushed aside. The bullet grazed the side of the vehicle body, hit the ground, and burst. Blue gel spread across the asphalt.

Yoon Taeha gasped. "Just now, I..."

"Stop." I tried to grab his arm but stopped. If I touched him, the resonance would happen again. "If you do any more, you'll explode."

Yoon Taeha's hand trembled. "But I can block it."

"Once."

"Then I can try once more."

"No." I spoke firmly. "If you open up right now, the sunspot stone might swallow you."

Yoon Taeha's face hardened. He lowered his hand. The golden light didn't disappear completely. It remained faintly on the back of his hand.

Ghost Van drove the van onto the ramp. The vehicle body bounced violently. Bang! The Rat Merchant swallowed a scream. "This isn't even a road!"

"If it can be driven on, it's a road," Ghost Van said.

The Rat Merchant ground his teeth. "With that driving philosophy, you're going to send a lot of people to their graves!"

The abandoned port ramp was a temporary line used to move cargo long ago. It was broken in places, and the metal plates were rusted. The van practically slid across it. One of the Association vehicles following behind hesitated to enter. The Black Dog SUV didn't hesitate. It chased after us roughly. Hound was perched on its roof. He was bleeding from the back of his hand but laughing.

The Rat Merchant shouted, "That damn dog is coming again!"

I held onto the backpack and steadied my breathing.

It wasn't dropping. Persona kept laughing at the edge of my vision. Perhaps because the man with the black umbrella had mentioned the stage, the afterimage of the mask kept raising its head. I bit my lip. The taste of blood. Pain. Me. Kang Doyun. I am not Copycat. I am not Persona. I am Kang Doyun. The number dropped to 80.

The SUV carrying Hound pulled up alongside us. He kicked off the vehicle roof and leaped. His target was the rear of our van. Again. This time I had to stop him. Yoon Taeha tried to raise his hand. I said, "Save your strength."

"Then how do we stop him?"

"I'll do it." I picked up the empty pistol. There were still no bullets. Hound knew that too. So he wouldn't fear the muzzle anymore. But a gun wasn't only for shooting.

I aimed the empty pistol at the locking mechanism of the van's rear emergency hatch. Or rather, I pretended to. Hound's eyes moved. He would try to read my intent through scent. Current. Metal. Wind. Empty gun. My hand. So I reversed the intent. I held the gun and aimed at the hatch, but my real target was somewhere else.

"Rat Merchant."

"What ridiculous thing are you going to make me do this time?"

"The right-side belt." The Rat Merchant looked at the securing belt on the van floor. A metal belt for securing cargo. Its end was still loose. He immediately grimaced. "You want me to throw that at that damn dog?"

"A leash."

"Even in a situation like this, why does your word choice have to sound so villainous!" Even as he complained, he grabbed the belt. Hound leaped. The Rat Merchant threw the belt. It didn't catch around Hound's neck. Of course it didn't. But it caught on his arm. Hound sneered and tried to yank the belt away. At that moment, Ghost Van sharply turned the wheel. The vehicle body tilted to the side. The belt grew taut. Hound's body swayed in the air. I struck the belt's locking device with the hand holding the empty pistol. Click! The belt automatically wound, yanking Hound's arm.

"Kugh!" Hound's body slammed into the side of the van. Bang! He dug his nails into the vehicle body to keep from falling. The sound of metal tearing rang out. "You bastards!"

Hound bared his teeth. At that moment, Yoon Taeha moved. This time he didn't use his light. He extended his collapsible baton and struck the back of Hound's hand. Thwack! The hand that had already been torn by glass shards. Hound's grip loosened. Ghost Van shook the car once more. Hound was flung off the ramp.

"Uwaaaaagh!" His body rolled and fell onto a pile of rusted containers. Bang! He probably wasn't dead. Hound wasn't the type to die from something like that. But at least for now, he had been thrown off.

The Rat Merchant panted. "Did I just take a dog for a walk?"

"Pretty much."

"I'm never doing that again. Next time I'm charging for the leash too."

Seon Woo-rak looked impressed. "It was impulsive, but excellent teamwork."

"Don't record it," I said.

"I already memorized it."

"That's even worse."

The van exited the ramp and entered the entrance of a low tunnel on the outskirts of the abandoned port. Ghost Van slowed down. "We've temporarily shaken them off."

The Rat Merchant slumped in his seat. "I was about to say we survived but held back. Every time I say that, something pops out right behind us."

Ghost Van said, "Good judgment."

"Don't say it like it's a compliment."

The inside of the tunnel was dark. Old lights flickered sparsely, and the walls were stained with seawater marks and rust. The van's engine noise echoed lowly through the tunnel. A brief silence fell. In that short silence, Yoon Taeha's breathing sounded ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠unusually loud. I looked at him. A faint golden light still remained on the back of his hand. But this time it was a little different. A bit too pale to call it gold. A bit too warm to call it blue. White-blue. The light wasn't aggressive. But it clearly had a pushing force. It twisted the trajectory of approaching bullets. It momentarily slowed Hound's movements. Rather than directly harming people, it was a power that pushed danger aside.

Seon Woo-rak said quietly, "It's an incomplete awakening."

Yoon Taeha lifted his head. "Can you call this a state of awakening?"

"More precisely, it's between the precursor to awakening and partial manifestation. Resonance with the sunspot stone, intense stress, obsession with the rescue target, exposure to the Association's suppression waves—various conditions overlapped."

"I don't really understand what that means."

The Rat Merchant said, "In simple terms, it means the power came out but there's no manual."

Seon Woo-rak nodded. "Surprisingly accurate."

"Don't compliment me. It feels bad."

Yoon Taeha looked down at his own hand. "I just wanted to block it."

"That's why it opened that way," I said. He looked at me. I gazed at the dark tunnel outside the window and continued. "Supernormals usually take shape in that direction. What you wanted. What you feared. What you couldn't give up."

Yoon Taeha remained silent for a while. Then he asked in a low voice, "Then what did your supernormal want?"

The inside of the van grew quiet. The Rat Merchant. Seon Woo-rak. Ghost Van. None of them spoke. I didn't answer. Villain Manifestation. My supernormal implements the abilities of villains I have clearly recognized. If you look at it that way, the desire is simple. I want to survive. I need power. I use the villains I know as weapons. But is that really all? Why villains of all things? Why not heroes? Why a ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠power that runs, deceives, uses poison, and creates stages instead of one that saves people?

I still didn't know the answer. So I answered roughly. "I guess I wanted to live."

Yoon Taeha kept looking at me. "Do you really think that's all?"

"Then what more should there be?"

He didn't answer. No. His face looked like he was searching for an answer. It was irritating. This guy kept looking at the empty spaces in people. Hound sensed empty spaces through scent. Yoon Taeha stabbed those empty spaces with words. I hated both. I looked at my wrist monitor.

It had gone down a little. Ghost Van said, "Vehicle switch at the end of the tunnel."

The Rat Merchant lifted his head. "You have another car?"

"I do."

"Just how many cars have you hidden?"

"Questions outside the contract."

"You don't have to answer. I already know. It's a lot."

Seon Woo-rak examined the sunspot stone case. "Temporary stabilization is holding. However, the influence of Black Sun's amplification wave remains. We need to get to a place where complete shielding is possible as quickly as possible."

"But your lab at the abandoned port has already been raided," the Rat Merchant said. "Is there another location?"

Seon Woo-rak remained silent for a moment. The moment the Rat Merchant saw that silence, his face crumpled. "There is one. A place you don't want to mention."

"There is."

"Where?"

"The Guro Temporary Field Command Post."

The inside of the van grew quiet again. I looked at Seon Woo-rak. "So it comes down to that place after all."

"That location has the highest probability of possessing official shielding cases and stabilization equipment. Since my abandoned port laboratory has been compromised, there aren't many remaining options."

The Rat Merchant laughed hollowly. "So in the end we have to raid an Association command post? When the Association is currently chasing us?"

"That's precisely why it's possible," Seon Woo-rak said. "Most of their pursuit resources have probably been diverted to the abandoned port area."

Ghost Van added, "High possibility of weakened defenses at the Guro field command post."

The Rat Merchant looked back and forth between the two. "Why do you two only sync up in these kinds of parts? In normal everyday conversation you both flip each other's insides out."

I thought about it. He was right. The Association was currently pursuing us at the abandoned port. So was Black Dog. Black Sun had finished its observation and withdrawn. In this gap, we would return to Guro. Normal people wouldn't think of it. That's why it was possible. The problem was our physical condition. My reaction rate was still high, and Yoon Taeha was right after an incomplete awakening. The sunspot stone was unstable. Ghost Van's vehicle was damaged. The Rat Merchant was mentally ragged, and Seon Woo-rak was excited. The most dangerous part was that Seon Woo-rak was excited.

I leaned my head back. "Fine."

The Rat Merchant glared at me. "I told you I hate it when you say that because it always feels like someone is going to die next."

"We're heading to the Guro command post."

"You didn't even pretend to listen when I said I didn't like it."

"Accept it."

Yoon Taeha said, "I'm going too."

I looked at him. "You need to rest."

"If it's an Association command post, I'll be needed."

"You just got reclassified as a containment target."

"That's why I'm even more necessary." He looked at the light on the back of his hand. "I also need to confirm what the Association knows about me."

He was completely caught up in it now. Yoon Taeha was no longer simply a hero chasing me. He himself had entered the center of the incident. The sunspot stone had recognized him. The Association had turned him into a containment target. Black Sun had pointed him out. It could no longer be reversed.

I spoke in a low voice. "You'll regret it."

"I'll do that later."

"I heard that answer earlier too."

"Then please get used to it."

The Rat Merchant opened his mouth and then closed it. "Hero sir, you're secretly starting to resemble Copycat, aren't you?"

Yoon Taeha stiffened. "That's a bit difficult to accept."

"It's shocking for me too," I said.

The end of the tunnel came into view. Dawn light seeped back into the van. And beneath that light, the Rat Merchant's terminal rang. Beep. He checked the screen and his face hardened.

"What is it now?" When I asked, the Rat Merchant slowly turned the terminal to show us. An anonymous message. No sender. But above the text floated a red sun emblem.

Everyone in the van fell silent. Black Sun. They already knew. Where we would go next. No. Perhaps they were even guiding us there.

The Rat Merchant spoke in a trembling voice. "Is this a warning not to go?"

Seon Woo-rak answered, "No." His eyes sank coldly. "It's an invitation."

I stared at the message. Next correction point. Guro Temporary Field Command Post. I didn't know what they meant by "correction." But I understood one thing. Black Sun had already bound me and Yoon Taeha into the same scene. And they were preparing the next page of that scene.

I gripped the backpack strap tightly. "Fine."

The Rat Merchant spoke in despair. "Please stop saying that. Every time you say it's fine, either my bank account or my life shrinks."

I looked out the window. Beyond the tunnel, the dawn road was opening up. "If they've invited us, we should go."

Yoon Taeha asked quietly, "Even if it's a trap?"

"Of course it's a trap." I spoke in a low voice. "That's why we have to step on it first and check where it explodes."

The Rat Merchant clutched his head. "I really can't travel with you anymore..."

But no one opposed my words. The Association. Black Dog. Black Sun. They would all gather at the Guro Temporary Field Command Post now. And there. The flow I had believed was the original novel would be torn apart once more.