Thrown from the Rooftop
"I can't continue this conversation in a place like this!"
Cho Taehyung forced his trembling body upright. His legs shook violently, yet he somehow managed to plant his feet and shout.
"Think carefully about my offer! Hand over the minister's seat and I'll release the ingots!"
He barely managed to shove himself out of his seat. Deliberately avoiding Kang Hanul's gaze, he headed for the door.
"Son, let's go!"
"Yes, Father!"
Cho Seung-hyun scrambled after him in a panic.
Please don't stop us.
He was terrified Hanul might block their escape. A chill ran down his spine, but Hanul didn't move. The moment the Cho father and son stepped into the corridor, they broke into a run, racing for the elevator. They hammered the call button as if gripped by some compulsive disorder.
Hurry, hurry up and get here!
It felt as though the pounding of their hearts filled the entire hallway—then ding!
The elevator finally arrived. The two of them practically threw themselves inside. Only when the doors slid shut did the tension seem to leave their bodies.
"Damn it, why did it take so long?"
"That crazy bastard. He really looked ready to kill us."
Father and son pressed a hand to their chests, trying to calm themselves, and hit the button for the first floor. But then—
Whiiirrr—
The elevator shot upward instead of down. The floor numbers climbed at a dizzying speed.
"W-what the hell? I pressed one!"
Cho Taehyung stabbed at the button again in a panic, but it was useless. The elevator refused to stop.
Ding!
The arrival chime sounded. The display panel showed a single set of letters.
PH
The rooftop. And standing there waiting for them was an unfamiliar little girl.
"Welcome~!"
Hatchery beamed with a bright, cheerful smile.
"Y-you, who the hell are you? Did you mess with the elevator?"
"Father, she must be a manipulation-type Hunter! Minister Kang Eunha put her up to this!"
"Heheh, just come on up first~!"
Instead of answering, Hatchery snapped her fingers. Snap! Space rippled, and massive figures rose from the shadows. Men over two meters tall, dressed in immaculate black suits.
Cho Taehyung and Cho Seung-hyun instinctively stumbled backward.
"I tried polymorphing some Goat Demons—how's my craftsmanship~? Pretty stylish, right~?"
"What? Goat Demons?"
"Ah, but since you're gonna die anyway, showing their faces should be fine, right~?"
Hatchery giggled, the sound crawling down their spines. In the next instant the suited men's faces twisted. Horns burst through tearing flesh. Vertical pupils of pure blood-red goat eyes blazed open.
"Hhk—monsters?!"
"Damn it, why are there monsters here?!"
Father and son collapsed onto the floor. The Goat Demons advanced with heavy, bestial breaths. Rough, animal hands seized them by the collars.
"Let go of me! You sons of bitches, let go!"
Struggling was useless. The Goat Demons dragged them along as if they were rag dolls, heading straight for the edge of the rooftop railing without the slightest hesitation. And there, beyond the railing, a figure stood with his back to them, gazing down over the Seoul cityscape. The owner of that shadow—who had somehow arrived first—was none other than Kang Hanul.
"You left in such a hurry, yet you only just got here."
His voice was low and quiet. Cho Taehyung's heart froze solid.
When did he get up here? Well, an S-class Hunter could climb faster than an elevator, I suppose. That's not impossible. The real problem is something else.
"So this was your doing. W-what are you planning?"
He had rigged the elevator to bring them to the rooftop and waited for them. Whatever the reason, it couldn't be good.
"I told you I would show you extreme absurdity."
Hanul pointed over the railing. The height was dizzying. Shops and cars below looked like toy boxes.
"I'm going to throw you out there."
"Th-that's a crime!"
"And what you did wasn't?"
Hanul's retort sealed Cho Taehyung's mouth shut. Father and son tried to back away, desperately attempting to flee—but their bodies locked in place. They couldn't move, as if bound by invisible chains. Hanul strode forward and seized Cho Seung-hyun by the collar.
"Let go of me! You want to die?"
Cho Seung-hyun screamed, thrashing his dangling feet while spitting venom.
"I'm on brotherly terms with S-class Hunters. One phone call and the Dragon-class Hunters from China's Black Dragon Guild will fly straight here."
Trying to hide his terror, he forced a blustering smile and kept struggling.
"Let me go right now and I'll spare your life!"
Hanul answered by dragging him toward the edge of the rooftop. Thud. Thud. The sound of his shoes rang out like a death sentence. Terror flooded Cho Seung-hyun's eyes.
Then Hanul locked gazes with him directly. Dark magic—Abyss Spectrum. The crimes Cho Seung-hyun had committed unfolded like a panorama.
First: twelve years ago, when the technology leak began. Cho Seung-hyun in a secret meeting with Chinese contacts.
"—These are the technical blueprints. I'll hand them over for now, so make sure you deliver the promised shares."
The scene shifted. Barrels of toxic magic byproduct waste.
"—Just dump them secretly into the Han River. If anyone notices, blame dungeon density. The ones who get magic hypersensitivity? Throw them a few coins or threaten them and they'll shut up."
He sent Dokgo Jun and Hunters after the victims who protested. Covered in blood, an old man was seized by the collar while Cho Seung-hyun snickered.
"—Old man, why don't you just rest at home? Keep getting hit and you'll actually die."
He was just as merciless in front of wailing children. He slammed a family's breadwinner to the ground and crushed the man's head under his shoe.
"—Looking pretty pathetic in front of the kids, huh? You should've known when to quit. Right?"
It was exactly the same treatment Dokgo Jun had tried to inflict on Im Yunchan. The only difference was that Hanul had been there to stop it for Im Yunchan. How many powerless people had not been so lucky? The damage must have been enormous.
Cho Seung-hyun snapped out of the vision, gasping for air.
"Just as I expected. You're an irredeemable piece of trash."
"F-fuck… you son of a…"
"Hatchery. Clear the space below so no passersby get hurt."
"Yes! I already cast a spell that makes people feel weirdly reluctant to come under here for some reason~!"
Pzzzzzt—
Hatchery waved her hand and an invisible wave spread outward. No one on the ground noticed a thing. But from above, the sight was clear: people who had been moving like ants suddenly veered away the moment they approached the building, as if by prior agreement. In moments a perfect empty circle formed around the structure.
"AAAAAAARGH!"
With a final death scream, Cho Seung-hyun's body plummeted from the building.
"No! Seung-hyun!"
Cho Taehyung shrieked and rushed to the railing, staring down. Splat—! A dull, bone-chilling impact sound rose all the way to the rooftop. Cho Taehyung's eyes rolled back.
"You… you murderer! I'll kill you! Khhhk, my son!"
Cho Taehyung sobbed bloody tears and raged, looking ready to charge Hanul. But Hanul only let out a cold snort of laughter.
"Already throwing a fit this early?"
"What…?"
Cho Taehyung's wailing stopped. He stared blankly, as if the words made no sense.
"Believe it or not, that's up to you—but even with every limb shattered and reduced to a vegetable, the thread of his life is still hanging on."
Snap!
Hanul flicked his fingers. Cho Seung-hyun's body, which had smashed into the ground, shot upward as if dangled from invisible strings. It arced through the air and was hauled back onto the rooftop.
"My son!"
The state of him was horrific. His arms and legs hung limp and shredded, as if every bone had been pulverized. Yet Cho Seung-hyun still breathed, eyes rolled white, letting out faint groans.
"Uuugh…"
Around him, black smoke rose like heat haze—the visible manifestation of the Nightmare Reaper Hanul had cast. The dream his son was trapped in projected itself before Cho Taehyung's eyes.
"—H-hiiik! Stay away! I-I was wrong! AAAAAH!"
The very victims Cho Seung-hyun had once trampled had become vengeful spirits, tearing him apart. Cho Taehyung shuddered as he watched his son thrash in invisible terror.
"—AAAAAAH!"
"Son, snap out of it!"
"—G-get away! Save me! Aagh, I was wrong… AAAAAH!"
Snap!
Hanul flicked his fingers again. The nightmare projection faded like mist, and Cho Seung-hyun's body plummeted once more. From below came another wet splat!
"Y-you devil! You deliberately pulled him up just to drop him again!"
Cho Taehyung was still a father, after all. And his original temperament had never been mild. Where else would Cho Seung-hyun have inherited that personality from?
"You crazy bastard! I will kill you no matter what! How dare you do this to my son!"
He reached for the self-defense magic grenade he always carried and tried to hurl it at Hanul. Of course it would have been useless even if it landed—but he never even got the chance to try.
"A worthless thing still doesn't know its place and keeps thrashing."
The moment Hanul's gaze touched him, Cho Taehyung's arm turned to stone.
"Uuugh! Don't look down on everything I've built in this business! When the Chinese Black Dragon Guild finds out, you and your niece will both be wiped out!"
Cho Taehyung spat bloody tears and snarled, converting pure terror into rage and howling like a beast. Hanul watched and gave a short, amused laugh.
"Is this because of your son? This just got interesting. People who have something precious are always easier to handle."
"?!"
"…Or so you once said yourself. Looks like that philosophy rubbed off on your son and Dokgo Jun as well."
Just as they had used Im Yunchan's family as hostages when they tormented him.
"I completely agree with that. In that sense, I'll make sure your son can't die even if he wants to."
"Can't die?"
Cho Taehyung flinched.
"Thanks to Revive—the forced-resurrection black magic I planted in him. Of course he'll be little more than a corpse, and his mind will be endlessly tormented by nightmares, but he won't actually die."
Hanul raised two fingers.
"If you want him restored properly—"
"You can… bring him back?"
Cho Taehyung looked at Hanul as if grasping at a final straw.
"First, hold a press conference. Confess everything about the magic ingot technology leak. Apologize to the Minister of the Dungeon Management Department and to the people."
"Th-that's…!"
Cho Taehyung's face turned the color of dirt.
"And an apology alone doesn't erase the crime. Spend the remaining twelve years of your life atoning. Return every last bit of your wealth."
"Don't make me laugh! China won't just sit still! Those people are far more terrifying than you!"
"China is more terrifying than me?"
"Eeeh—? Those things are scarier than Master~? Mister, you really have no eyes~!"
Hanul stretched a hand toward empty air. Space tore open like paper, and through the blood-red rift the scenery of hell came flooding in.
The world beyond the dimensional gate. The sky was dyed with blood, the earth packed with screaming souls. Beasts larger than mountain ranges tore into one another. A true realm of inhuman horror.
"…Ghk!"
Even across dimensions, the overwhelming aura of death poured out. Just looking at it made breathing impossible. Chinese Hunters, embassies—everything suddenly felt as insignificant as dust. Hanul stood with that abyss at his back and looked down at Cho Taehyung.
"Now experience it for yourself. The price for selling out your country, for making others suffer…"
He seized Cho Taehyung by the collar.
"…and for daring to treat me and my niece however you pleased."
Hanul hurled him through the dimensional gate. Cho Taehyung was instantly plunged into a fiery pit in a remote corner of the Demon Realm—a place that would deliver pain beyond anything he could ever imagine.