The Birth of Kaijin No. 2
There was once a massive debate that rocked the community: "What attribute is the Phoenix of the Azure Flame as a heroine?" Users who usually just churned Out Strategy guides and memes suddenly turned into Phoenix PhDs, unleashing an agora of opinions.
It was a frenzy of speculation that burned through three straight days and nights. I analyzed the attributes of the other 16 heroines and used process of elimination to guess the personality the developers had set for Phoenix. Surprisingly, the devs had put real effort into making each heroine unique—their core attributes didn't overlap much at all.
That was back when I hadn't even unlocked the Phoenix route, let alone found a single clue.
— Lol no worries, I won't hate. Pure love like Yuri? Violent like Shuri?
— Pure love.
— Blasphemy!
I lost a friend that day.
"Jo Deok-bae. Does this still feel like the afterlife to you?"
"...How."
Deok-bae gaped blankly, scanning his surroundings. The place where he'd opened his eyes was unmistakably Ho-cheol's workshop—the one right before he died. Did I not actually die? He tried to stagger to his feet, only for his own hand to enter his vision.
"Gahhh?!"
Deok-bae screamed and flailed his arm. A grotesque gray material encased his entire limb. Cracks like a parched desert ran through it, with turquoise threads of something glowing like veins in between.
"Should I shove an incantation in there after all?"
Phoenix fiddled with her veil on her fingertip.
To create a kaijin, you needed three main things: a fresh monster core that hadn't been turned into a human-held core; a bit of mana from the executive or spirit who would own the kaijin; and an incantation so mangled it could get sucked into a space-time storm.
Phoenix had recalled the executives' incantations from her memories while crafting the West Sea Fog Weapon kaijin, mixing them roughly for the ritual. If anyone had overheard, it would've been black history worthy of ripping up her blankets in her sleep—but anyway, she'd successfully made an excellent kaijin.
But turning Deok-bae into one wasn't even on the schedule.
No precedent for using an ability user's corpse as material.
In this world's "setting," only monsters could become kaijin. So how had Deok-bae, a dead human, been reborn as one?
"Jo Deok-bae. Remember me?"
Phoenix crossed her legs and asked. Deok-bae hunched back, retreating a step.
"What the hell did you do to me?"
"Oh, you do remember. Nothing much—just revived you. As a kaijin."
"What?"
Phoenix ignited a flame in midair. The blue fire floating between them began to take shape. It formed Deok-bae's appearance right before he'd burned—his human self.
"First, villains: Ability-awakened folks who don't play hero and use their powers for personal gain. You know all about that, being a villain yourself, right, Deok-bae?"
Phoenix snapped her fingers, and the flame shifted. Now it showed a human clad head to toe in grayish-white rock. Exactly like Deok-bae's current form.
"And 'kaijin': Beings reborn human-like after a normal human absorbs a monster core without turning into a full monster. They gain the base monster's power, but it warps their original ability or births a new one. Wanna try yours?"
Deok-bae flexed his arm experimentally, drawing out his power. The turquoise lines between his cracked rock skin thickened, hardening the stone even further.
"That's your kaijin ability: rock skin. It's softer than marble right now, but..."
Phoenix pulled a monster core from her pocket and jammed it into Deok-bae's chest.
"Guhk!"
Like slicing into tofu, the core pierced his chest skin and melted into his heart. The core lodged there like flowing water devoured the new one greedily.
Thump, thump, thump!
His core's pulsing accelerated. Deok-bae started gasping for breath. The turquoise lines glowed brighter, and his rock skin took on a steel-like texture.
"Ta-da! Level up! That's the difference between kaijin and villains. Kaijin can grow stronger by devouring monster cores as nourishment."
Phoenix cleared her throat awkwardly and continued.
"The core you just absorbed was from a B-rank monster. It'll take time for your D-rank vessel to process it all. But with this power, you won't get beat up anywhere."
"Yeah... huff. So I get stronger, huh?"
Deok-bae straightened up. The rock kaijin raised his fists like a boxer.
Phoenix was about to say something when Deok-bae unleashed a jab like lightning. It was too fast for even the veil to react.
Thud.
"......!"
His rock-covered fist, knuckles and all, met Phoenix's index finger. The punch's wind pressure only tousled her hair—no scratch, no mark.
"I like that initiative to test your power right away, student Deok-bae. But I'm in the middle of explaining here."
Phoenix pushed his fist away with her finger.
"The Azure Flame commands: Kneel."
Boom!
Deok-bae's knees slammed into the ground. The massive impact jarred him, but the real shock was his body obeying against his will.
"Ahem. And as you just felt, kaijin must absolutely obey their 'creator.' The one who made you? That's me. Phoenix of the Azure Flame."
Phoenix tilted her head back proudly. Deok-bae grimaced at his immovable knees.
"Lost already shitty enough, now I gotta live obeying some chuuni psychopath killer?"
"...Listen up, Deok-bae."
Phoenix approached and patted his shoulder. Those delicate fingers felt like a noose around his neck—chilling.
"I can tolerate you insulting me. But."
Phoenix lifted his chin, locking eyes.
"Insulting the Phoenix of the Azure Flame? I won't stand for that. Got it? Second command: Don't curse."
"What the fu—gahk!"
Phoenix flicked his jaw up. Deok-bae's dying screech echoed as his upper body flipped back, slamming into the floor.
"...Should've made subordinate No. 2 smarter?"
Phoenix scratched her head, eyeing Sang-ah's charred corpse.
"Nah. Can't have randos as underlings. Minimum cut-off is A-rank..."
Phoenix smacked her lips, glaring at the fallen Deok-bae. The West Sea Fog Weapon kaijin had understood all orders and gotten to work within 10 minutes of revival. But Deok-bae, human in life, seemed utterly useless.
Scrap him after all?
If not for curiosity, Deok-bae would've joined the room's other corpses.
Charging complete. Please unplug the charger.
Her smartphone chimed. Phoenix pulled it out—and her expression hardened.
"Haa."
Looks like subordinate No. 2's lifeline was tougher than expected. Phoenix blinked at the writhing Deok-bae, then yanked him upright.
"Alright. First mission for kaijin Jo Deok-bae."
She shoved the phone in his face, cheeks faintly flushed.
"...Can you unlock this for me?"
"Everyone on?! Bus departing!"
The bus driver hopped aboard and slammed the door shut. Dinner departure went peacefully, no morning mishaps.
The ticket booth attendant watched the bus pull away, then grabbed his smartphone again.
"Lemme see. Today's news... Whoa. Stock's obliterated."
The already plummeting stock showed no sign of recovery—and today was especially brutal. After losing ten million won investing, he'd learned to read the market. He knew why it was shaking.
"Makes sense. Who'd invest in this hell peninsula where monsters pop up every other day?"
News buzzed nonstop about missiles supposedly fired from China. No response from the Chinese side. Just massive propaganda about hero Unjang defeating a black scorpion litter in the desert hours ago.
"No wonder foreign capital's packing up and bailing."
This country was done. For the poor locked out of Shin Seoul, scraping money to flee overseas was the answer.
"But seriously, why no contact from those guys after snagging two girls?"
The man jiggled his leg, checking messages. Still nothing from them.
"Did they get nabbed?"
Not full crew, but he dabbled in that world. Scouting "merchandise" for terminal gangsters? Ticket booths were prime spots.
"Maybe I should call... Huh?"
A familiar face appeared at the counter.
"Welcome...?"
His eyes met the blue-haired high school girl's. He dropped his phone.
"Hi there?"
The girl's sharp edge from yesterday was gone, replaced by spring flower vibrancy.
"Uh, uh. Hi. Yeah."
"Here to buy a ticket."
"...Sigh. Kid, I told you—Shin Seoul buses need a number ticket?"
She giggled behind her fist at his annoyed finger-point to the dispenser.
"That's where you got the wrong idea from the start. My bad for the wording, hehe. Got it. Thanks for the heads-up."
The girl turned without hesitation. The man tilted his head, watching her vanish down the hall.
"What? Ho-cheol's gang skip her?"
He swallowed, memorizing her retreating figure. Next time, money aside—ask for a shot.
"Shit. Bathroom."
Drank too much water. He nudged his dozing junior awake and bolted to the restroom.
Spurt...
"Ahh, refreshing."
"Hyungnim Jeongwon."
The voice from the stall made Jeongwon jump.
"Whoa! Deok-bae? Don't scare me like that!"
"..."
No reply. Jeongwon shook off his hands and knocked on the tight-shut door.
"What're you doing? Taking a dump? Speak up."
"......"
Deok-bae's silence dragged. Jeongwon scratched his head, waving his phone.
"Perfect timing. Why no contact yet? I even sent a fresh milf. Should've heard by sundown, right?"
"Sorry about that."
What? More than the words—the voice itself bugged him. Thick, like voice-modded.
Bang!
Before he could snap, a massive shadow burst through the wall, grabbing his collar.
"G-guhk!"
Dangling midair, Jeongwon flailed to free himself. Below, a gray-hooded Deok-bae glared up, face flushed crimson from strain.
"Let... go!"
"One more time: sorry. But."
Deok-bae yanked off his hood. Gray-white rock armored his skin.
"It's an order. Can't refuse."
"What? Hey!"
Pinned to the wall by his collar, Jeongwon watched Deok-bae raise his free arm, fist clenched. He screamed.
"You psycho! This is murder—"
Splat.
One blow caved Jeongwon's skull. Blood splattered Deok-bae's face, dripping to the floor.
Step, step.
Deok-bae exited silently. In the hall, the blue-haired girl lounged with her turquoise veil draped over her arm, glued to her phone.
"Ahem."
Deok-bae coughed to announce himself. Phoenix pocketed her phone, stood, and handed over the veil.
"Good work. Wipe up."
"..."
Deok-bae took it, scrubbing his face like a diner wet wipe. The blood soaked it crimson.
Phoenix grimaced.
"So? Admit it now? You'll obey my orders for life?"
"...Yeah. No matter how I resist, it doesn't work."
Deok-bae had hoped Jeongwon skipped the bathroom. But he came, and Deok-bae's body moved on autopilot despite his will. Didn't want to kill. But the program "Kill the human traffickers and all associates" smashed Jeongwon's head in one hit.
"Told you. Trash tied to human trafficking—all gone before we head to Seoul. No loose ends."
"One question?"
Phoenix nodded.
"Sure."
"...Why kill 'em all? Compared to your power, we're just bugs."
Thirteen total, Jeongwon last. Phoenix had used Deok-bae's unlocked phone to summon his crew to the hideout, then ordered each execution one by one.
"I get you're a monster. But why?"
"Jo Deok-bae."
Phoenix smirked sarcastically.
"One survivor could mean endless hassle. If even one snitches to the cops? Super annoying. If my face gets sold and a bounty posted? Limits my future moves."
"That's why you had me slaughter them?"
"Various reasons, but ultimately..."
Phoenix shrugged.
"Justice served?"
"What?"
"Hehe. Kidding. Anyway, questions done? Let's move—busy."
Phoenix snatched the veil back, sniffed it, then crammed it into her crossbag.
"Hm-hm-hmm♪♬"
Deok-bae trailed the humming, phone-tapping Phoenix, hood pulled low.
She's insane.
Truly, not right in the head.