Variant (3)
Kim Hoyeon dropped the sashimi knife he’d been holding. He let go of the madam in his arms, too. The unconscious woman collapsed weakly to the floor, and Kim Hoyeon himself pitched forward with a choking gasp.
“Gh- ugh! Kgh!”
Clutching one hand to his chest as he sprawled on the ground, Kim Hoyeon’s convulsions only grew fiercer. He kicked wildly with both feet, thrashing like a madman.
-Ssssh.
Dust billowed thickly through the abandoned factory. His writhing was no different from the madam’s desperate pleading from a moment ago. His eyes were bloodshot, and saliva and snot streamed down his face. Kim Hoyeon was dying.
Ordinarily, anyone would have been so shocked, so rattled, that their brain would simply short out. Kang Jaeha had no such reaction. He only watched.
“...”
He looked down silently at Kim Hoyeon’s seizures. Then, with the last burst of strength left in him, Kim Hoyeon clenched his teeth so hard they looked ready to shatter. His eyes flew wide open. With that stare, he glared at Kang Jaeha standing just a few steps away.
The look in his eyes carried the force of having killed Jaeha dozens of times over.
“Kugh! Y-you fucking...! You! Ghk! Fucking bastard!!!!”
His howl sounded like a deranged beast. It was so loud the entire abandoned factory reverberated with it. And yet Jaeha’s face did not change. His gaze remained calm. He did nothing but watch. Lee Chanhoo standing behind Kang Jaeha was the same.
Then.
-Kkrrrk.
As the convulsions weakened, Kim Hoyeon trembled all over and began crawling. He stretched out a hand. It still wasn’t enough. So he crawled again, reaching for the sashimi knife lying just a little farther away.
But his speed, his movements, were growing slower by the second.
Because life was about to go out.
Kim Hoyeon’s vision blurred. He couldn’t breathe properly. So this was what dying felt like. Even so, he did not stop crawling.
-Clack.
At last, he got a hand on the knife. By then his eyes could barely see, but he kept crawling anyway. Toward the unconscious madam. He could tell the direction by smell. Sensing death right in front of him, Kim Hoyeon muttered faintly.
“...gh- just, her...”
He swung the sashimi knife toward the madam. Once again, his blade cut only air. There was no way it could reach. Even at the very end, even at the very last, Kim Hoyeon chose slaughter. But after a few more feeble swings, the hand holding the knife dropped limply to the floor.
“Ghk.”
Hiccuping, he drew in his final breath. For a brief moment, another world flickered through his mind. The smell of blood, flesh tearing apart. It had been fun. Yes, he wasn’t dying, he was going back there. For some reason, a faint smile softened around Kim Hoyeon’s mouth.
“...”
His heart came to a sudden, complete stop.
The abandoned factory fell silent again. Kang Jaeha looked down at the extinguished Kim Hoyeon without changing expression. He did not make a scene. There was a reason for that. He had seen this sort of thing countless times over the eighteen years he’d spent in that other world.
Death was ordinary to Kang Jaeha.
Lee Chanhoo, who had come up beside him by then, let out a sigh. He, too, looked entirely unsurprised.
“Hoo- if it hadn’t been for the commander, this would’ve been a real headache.”
He meant it. Without the authority Jaeha held as commander, without Absolute Obedience, the matter would have become considerably more complicated.
“I figured there’d be someone like this. You had some idea too, commander, didn’t you?”
That was true. Kang Jaeha had expected something like this once he realized there were subordinates from the mercenary group on Earth. Lee Chanhoo simply said what Jaeha had already been thinking.
“You came back from there cutting people down left and right, so of course there’d be one or two variants like this.”
“We didn’t all spend our time dancing with knives.”
“Well, that’s true.”
The mercenary group had been divided into many branches. As with Lee Chanhoo’s assassin unit, combat was central, but there were plenty of others whose work supported combat from the shadows: scouts handling intelligence and reconnaissance, medics, traders, cleanup specialists, and more.
Whatever the case, Kang Jaeha looked down at the dead Kim Hoyeon and clicked his tongue.
“We should’ve found him faster.”
“...Easy to say, but if it had been simple, we would’ve found him long ago. There wasn’t exactly a clean way to do it.”
Lee Chanhoo scratched his head and glanced at Jaeha.
“Commander, are you all right?”
Kang Jaeha answered in a low voice.
“I’ve seen it before. Still, it leaves a nasty taste. Maybe because this world’s different.”
“As you know, Kim Hoyeon wasn’t sent by you, commander. He was sent by the system.”
“...”
Jaeha did not answer. He simply raised his index finger and pointed behind Kim Hoyeon, to the unconscious madam sprawled on the floor.
“Check the woman.”
At once, Lee Chanhoo moved. After checking the madam’s breathing, he nodded at Kang Jaeha.
“She’s fine. A few scrapes, but she’s breathing normally. Looks like she just passed out.”
“Clean it up.”
The quick-witted Lee Chanhoo asked back,
“We just act like we were never here?”
“Right.”
They were better off never existing at this scene. If they got tied to it, it would become a headache for no reason.
“Send the police a text from that woman’s phone.”
After pulling on the gloves he’d brought, Lee Chanhoo looked around and spotted the madam’s bag lying off to one side. He took out her phone. The lock opened with her fingerprint. While Lee Chanhoo was working, Kang Jaeha slowly scanned the scene again.
Criminal, victim, weapon. Everything was there. If the police saw it, they’d probably settle on a convenient conclusion like cardiac arrest. The CCTV and everything else would already have been handled by Kim Hoyeon ahead of time, just like in the other cases. After finishing his work, Lee Chanhoo placed the phone near the madam and walked back over.
“Done.”
“All right, let’s go.”
Lee Chanhoo left the abandoned factory first, while Kang Jaeha looked one last time at Kim Hoyeon’s corpse.
“Not everyone is like you.”
Some people were still living well. Kang Jaeha and Lee Chanhoo themselves were proof of that. Not everyone, not most people, lived the same way. They adapted. They accepted. Before long, Jaeha also left the abandoned factory, and as they walked to the car, Lee Chanhoo suddenly bowed his head.
“Loyalty, loyalty.”
“What the hell are you on about?”
“Means I’m loyal to the commander.”
“Don’t act stupid.”
“I’m serious, though?”
That insane Kim Hoyeon had died without managing to do anything. Having seen the power of Absolute Obedience firsthand, it made sense that he’d feel a chill crawl up his spine.
He also found the whole fake-president routine strangely amusing.
They got into the parked car. As usual, Lee Chanhoo drove, while Kang Jaeha stared out the window and thought about Déjà vu.
Looks like ‘Déjà vu’ shows me my comrades too.
Until now, there had been no real way to locate his subordinates. But that changed with the Kim Hoyeon incident. He didn’t know the exact timing, but it was almost certain that Déjà vu was revealing the mercenary group’s subordinates to him, one by one, regardless of who they were.
I hope the next one’s normal, and not a variant.
Thanks to Déjà vu, some of the uncertainty had finally lifted. Even so, he couldn’t help thinking. The mercenary group subordinates were capable, that much was clear. Just like Lee Chanhoo.
And each of them had an ability, didn’t they?
If he kept recruiting them, growth would accelerate for MEG, and a different kind of mercenary group, under the name MEG, would begin to take shape.
Though the work itself would be completely different.
As commander, Jaeha also felt the weight of responsibility. He didn’t know what kind of lives they’d been living, but if possible, he intended to embrace them. Of course, if any of them wanted freedom, he would let them have that too.
By then, Lee Chanhoo, still driving, spoke up.
“Uh, with a variant like Kim Hoyeon showing up, we can forget about advertising this openly. I was thinking maybe we could put it out on SNS or somewhere if we’re trying to find the mercenary guys.”
“No. Kim Hoyeon was easy to stop because he let his guard down.”
“Right.”
“However many came over, whatever kind of bastard they are, the world has changed. We can’t assume all of them will be friendly.”
Not allies, not enemies. For now, neutral was the safest read.
“If we hand over information too early, the other side gets to prepare and build countermeasures. We lose the element of surprise.”
“Which would mean throwing away our only advantage. Heh. That’s... hard to read. Annoying, but kind of thrilling. Feels a little like the moment right before going to war, doesn’t it?”
Lee Chanhoo gave a thin smile, as though old memories had surfaced.
“They could be solo, or they could already have formed a team. And there’s no rule saying they’re even in Korea, right? The possibilities are endless.”
“For now, it’s best to keep all the possibilities in mind.”
Chanhoo stopped the car at a red light, then suddenly gave Kang Jaeha a thumbs-up.
“Still, commander is commander. Everyone woke up thanks to you. Absolute Obedience. Top predator.”
With the mood lightening a little, Kang Jaeha jabbed a finger toward the road ahead.
“Just drive.”
By the following afternoon, articles about the recent string of murders were all over the major search portals.
[Breaking] The serial killer who terrified citizens in recent days found dead at the scene
Serial murder suspect caught, found dead at the scene
Serial case suspect arrested at an abandoned factory in Yongin, already dead... cause of death appears to be cardiac arrest
It wasn’t just the articles. The same news was flying around communities and SNS, too. People’s hands and mouths were quick.
-Whoa, they finally caught the bastard lmao
-Good riddance!!
-T_T they caught him, I was seriously scared...
-But what’s with the bastard suddenly having a heart attack?
-Probably got high on murder dopamine and blew his own heart out lol
-So glad the victim survived!!
-That motherfucker should’ve been torn apart and left to die
Before long, the story had reached the TV news as well.
The details were all much the same.
Serial murder suspect found dead, victim at the scene unharmed / photo
The suspect in the series of murders had been caught, and he had died instantly at the scene. The third victim had fortunately regained consciousness and was recovering. Apparently, however, she said she could barely remember anything.
On and offline alike, people were making noise about the serial case.
“...”
After checking the articles for a moment, Kang Jaeha quickly lost interest. It was enough to confirm the outcome had gone the way he intended. Fortunately, neither Jaeha nor Lee Chanhoo appeared in the articles or the news. It would probably end there.
After that, time melted away. The short film Gyeollo had already finished its script reading and was now in the final stretch of pre-production. Director Kwon Seongmin, gathered with the key staff, was busy checking the shooting locations, costumes, and storyboard.
“Were the problem locations worked out properly?”
“Yes, Director. The timing’s tight, but we managed to get approval somehow.”
After pushing his glasses back up, Director Kwon Seongmin now wore less of the childlike expression he’d had before and more of a director’s face with real charisma. He was growing, little by little.
That was only natural. Once you experienced enough, made enough decisions, and carried enough responsibility, your mind had no choice but to broaden.
A day later, Kang Jaeha received a phone call.
It was Director Kwon Seongmin.
“Hello, Manager!”
“Yes, Director. Hello.”
With a bright, excited voice, Director Kwon Seongmin informed Jaeha of the decision that had just been made.
“The first shooting day for Gyeollo has been decided, so I wanted to let you know! The first shoot is Monday the 23rd!”
Before long, the first shoot for Gyeollo was right around the corner. Kang Jaeha smiled. The fact that the first shoot for Gyeollo had arrived meant the Busan International Film Festival was also drawing very near.
He then passed the first shooting date along to Yoon Dayeon and An Jihee.
Each of them, in her own place.
Hoo. It’s been how long since the last first shoot? No matter if the role’s a supporting one, I’m tearing it up for real.
They were savoring their own brand of excitement.
“First shoot—ah, wh-what do I do? I’m nervous! Ah!”
And so the weekend passed, and Monday the 23rd dawned.
The news about Kim Hoyeon had quieted down a great deal, and inside the van speeding along the road, familiar faces could be seen. Director Kwon Seongmin wore a serious expression, along with Jeong Taewoo, the head of Munbak Film. It was the team for the short film Gyeollo.
As they were heading to the location where the first shoot would take place, Jeong Taewoo, with his broad face, rubbed his hands together. He seemed nervous in his own way.
“Maybe because it’s been a while, but my hands are tingling. It’s the feeling.”
“...”
Director Kwon Seongmin, focused on something, did not answer. He was staring intently at the Gyeollo script, seriously immersed in it. He was writing something down, too. Tilting his head, Jeong Taewoo asked again.
“Director? Are you checking the storyboard? Or rechecking the blocking?”
Only then did Director Kwon Seongmin turn his head and scratch his hair awkwardly.
“Ah, no. I’ve already checked the shooting storyboard and script dozens of times.”
“Then what are you doing now?”
“...W-well.”
For some reason, his confidence seemed to have dipped a little as Director Kwon Seongmin spoke with difficulty.
“If I had to put it one way, I’d say I’m revising it.”
“Revising? The Gyeollo script?”
“Ah! No! I’m not touching the short Gyeollo. I was just thinking, what if we made a new Gyeollo?”
To the question-mark look on Jeong Taewoo’s face, Director Kwon Seongmin gave his answer.
“It would be like remaking the short Gyeollo... as a feature-length Gyeollo.”
“A feature.”
“Yes. Of course, we’re still going to shoot the short Gyeollo properly. We’ll submit it to the Busan International Film Festival exactly as planned. I just thought, for later on, maybe I should try expanding the short script once.”
From short film to commercial feature. In other words, he was thinking of remaking the short Gyeollo as a feature film. It was the same as bringing a new Gyeollo into the world.
“Do you think the investor will be interested?”