Kill Him. Quickly.
["Dr. Kang. That's enough."]
In the dead of night, Agent Jang barged into the doctor's office and said it without preamble.
["You've done more than enough. It's time to stop."]
A stiff voice spilled out from his frozen face.
In stark contrast, Kang Seok, facing Agent Jang, was smiling warmly.
["Barging in out of nowhere and telling me to stop... stop what, exactly?"]
["Save that smile for H. It gives me chills."]
When Agent Jang's brow furrowed, Kang Seok slowly let the corners of his mouth fall.
["I have no idea what you're asking me to stop, Agent Jang. If you want something, say it plainly. Is weighing in all it takes? Don't tell me you file your reports this way too."]
Despite the sarcasm, Kang Seok's face was utterly blank.
At the words spilling out in that disinterested tone, Agent Jang sighed.
["Haah. I'm telling you to stop the experiments."]
["……."]
["The field mission was a success, and the results so far have been good. Haven't we already cleared every expectation?" ]
Kang Seok's eyebrow twitched.
He smiled, thin and cold.
["Expectations? You think H is only ever going to be this strong? You're not the Jang Yoseok I knew."]
["You're not the Kang Seok I knew either. You've gone too far. Don't be an idiot."]
["I'm not the one acting like an idiot right now. You are."]
Ironically, the conversation, now stripped down to casual speech, looked even more vicious than it had a moment before.
["Yoseok. You and I have poured five years into the H Project alone."]
["……"]
["The being we've spoken of again and again is about to be completed. A being made by our own hands. And now you're telling me to stop the experiments?"]
Kang Seok's eyes had sharpened to a razor's edge.
Agent Jang fell silent, their childhood rising unbidden in his memory.
The two of them had been together since before memory began.
Every time their parents abused them — that is, every single night — they gathered in their hideout.
In that shack they'd clumsily nailed together from scrap boards, there was a comic book about a 'superhero.'
The two of them read it, and read it again.
At first, it was simply the only escape from a reality with no way out.
But as time passed, the feeling grew heavier, and eventually a question took root.
Why doesn't reality have a superhero like this?
Every time their father smashed the furniture, every time their mother slapped their cheeks, the two of them waited.
Waited for the moment a superhero would appear, just like in the comic.
But no matter how long they waited, no hero ever came.
The waiting turned to thirst, and at last the two of them understood.
If no one appears no matter how long you wait — then you make one yourself.
["The being we wanted more than anything is almost here."]
Kang Seok's eyes glistened with madness.
Agent Jang answered with a pained expression.
["...H already became the being we hoped for. It's enough."]
["It's not nearly enough."]
["You saw it yourself last time. The kid survived being dismembered. Was back to normal in less than a day. That alone makes him perfect."]
Hon's regenerative power was beyond anything human comparison could capture.
And through the endless cycle of experiments, his lethality had climbed to extraordinary heights as well.
More than enough ability for a superhero who saves people from crisis.
To save the innocent, you have to be able to eliminate the wicked.
That was the conviction with which Agent Jang had aided H's experiments all this time.
Experiments to help H end human lives faster, more efficiently.
Because with every repetition, H would become that much closer to a perfect superhero.
The problem is that other companies want H too.
H was a being every organization — the arms industry included — couldn't help but covet.
Merely holding a monopoly on such a thing had already earned their company staggering sums of money.
This much is enough.
Agent Jang assessed the situation with cold clarity.
["The experiments have been failing one after another lately, haven't they? Has it never occurred to you that you're setting the targets too high?"]
["……"]
["If he breaks because of this, can you take responsibility? At the very least, halt the experiments for a few days."]
Kang Seok was silent for a long while.
And what he finally proposed was giving the test subject a friend.
Agent Jang frowned at the non sequitur, but agreed with the argument that it might lower H's stress levels.
Right up until he learned that the friend chosen was his own nephew.
["Are you insane? What are you going to do if H does something to Jihun!"]
["Then who else is there? If he leaks information anywhere else, we'd have to kill him — but if it's your nephew, you can keep him under control, can't you?"]
Agent Jang opposed it to the very end, but with Kim Ji-hoon's own consent, the meeting with Hon was ultimately arranged.
The moment Agent Jang and Kim Ji-hoon stepped into Hon's room, Hon sprang to his feet.
["Yoseok-hyung."]
["How many times have I told you not to call me that."]
["Ugh, you won't cut me a break today either. Fine. Agent Jang, sir."]
Hon looked at Kim Ji-hoon with a puzzled expression, then smiled and said,
["I don't have my gun right now. I left it in the lab earlier — should I go get it?"]
["...? Why a gun, all of a sudden?"]
["Then how am I supposed to kill you? Should I just get blood on the outside, like last time?"]
["Hey!! Why would you kill him!!"]
["You startled me. Why are you yelling?"]
["Kill him, don't kill him — don't talk about it so carelessly. He's my nephew."]
Agent Jang barked the words like a growl, then patted Kim Ji-hoon's head.
["Jihun. If anything happens, shout. I'll come running right away. Understood?"]
Hearing the tenderness in Agent Jang's voice, Hon's eyebrows twitched.
Kang Seok watched the exchange closely.
["H. Don't be rude. Behave yourself."]
["...And who exactly is being rude right now?"]
["What?"]
["You could've explained before you brought him in. You drag some stranger in out of nowhere without a word, and now you're throwing a tantrum? How is this my fault? You're the one who never learned a shred of manners, hyung."]
["Don't call me hyung—."]
["Ugh, damn it! I get it, the stupid title, I get it already!"]
When Hon strained until the veins stood out on his neck, Agent Jang froze.
Hon, too, seemed startled by his own behavior, and went rigid.
Good.
At this emotional display from Hon, something he had never shown before, Kang Seok allowed himself a faint smile.
Just a little more...
Kang Seok wanted it. He wanted his test subject to be stimulated.
His abilities have to evolve further.
His test subject was more than capable of it. It was simply hidden away.
But that was fine. All Kang Seok had to do was find it for him.
["Agent Jang Yoseok. Report to the main conference room immediately."]
Kang Seok deliberately isolated Agent Jang.
No matter what happened in Hon's room, Agent Jang could not be allowed to intervene.
Because this was another experiment.
["I live with my uncle. I've been with him since he joined this company, and for the past five years, all I ever heard about was you."]
["About me?"]
Agent Jang's nephew, Kim Ji-hoon, treated Hon with unfailing kindness.
As Kim Ji-hoon kept smiling that gentle smile, Hon, prickly at first, gradually let his guard down.
["...Hey. Do you know Seok-hyung? Kang Seok."]
["You mean Dr. Kang? Of course I do."]
["Figures... You talk alike."]
["Dr. Kang and my uncle have been close forever, so I saw him all the time growing up. The only reason I got to meet you at all is thanks to Dr. Kang."]
Kim Ji-hoon explained that Kang Seok had wanted to give Hon a friend.
["We had dinner together again yesterday, you know. Do you have any idea how many times Dr. Kang told me to be good to you? He's a genuinely kind person."]
Hon stared blankly at Kim Ji-hoon.
["...You had dinner together yesterday too?"]
["Hm? What was that?"]
Good. Keep provoking him. Just like that.
As the anticipated response emerged, Kang Seok's smile deepened.
Hon hadn't seen Kang Seok's face in over a week.
Everyone knew how full of resentment Hon was because of it. Everyone except Kim Ji-hoon.
["I didn't hear you. Could you say that again?"]
Kim Ji-hoon, knowing nothing, asked kindly.
Hon stared into space for a long moment, then slowly began to smile.
["...Sure. Let's do that."]
["Hm?"]
["We can be friends. Let's be friends, you and me."]
"If Seok-hyung wants it, then I will," he murmured — and his smile, on the surface, was as playful as a child's.
But the facility staff who had watched Hon for years recognized it instantly: he was unstable.
A clear abnormal reaction.
Exactly what Kang Seok had longed for.
Progress always demands a stimulus.
And so Kang Seok waited, patient and still.
When Hon, in honor of their new friendship, offered Kim Ji-hoon a handshake and smiled that grotesque smile, he took no action at all.
["Hahaha!!"]
Hon laughed so hard it looked as though his mouth would split.
Kim Ji-hoon tried to back away, but Hon would not release his hand.
["L-let go. Please."]
["Why? Haha!"]
Still gripping the boy's hand, Hon raised his other hand to his own mouth.
Crunch.
Without a flicker of hesitation, Hon bit into his own hand and tore.
Blood streamed down from Hon's hand; his mouth was smeared with it.
["—! Let go!!"]
Kim Ji-hoon recoiled in horror.
He thrashed, desperate to break free, not knowing what to do.
["We're friends! What's wrong with you?"]
Hon beamed, bright and sunny, and gave Kim Ji-hoon's cheek a playful poke.
["My bad, sorry. I'm begging you. Please let go..."]
["Don't worry! If you were in real danger, your uncle would've come by now. Or... haha, Dr. Kang would have!"]
Just as he said, the thick steel door hadn't so much as trembled.
Hon's gaze shifted to the CCTV camera.
["This is just another experiment anyway! My whole life has been... haha! I'd bet this one's to check 'how I react when I make a friend.'"]
Kang Seok faced Hon, who seemed to be staring straight at him through the camera.
As expected...
Kang Seok smiled thinly.
That's my test subject, through and through.
["Haha!!"]
Before Kim Ji-hoon's ashen face, Hon laughed without pause.
It was laughter steeped in madness — and yet, with his eyes crumpled completely out of shape, forcing the sound out, he looked closer to someone weeping.
["Then now, I'll show you 'my reaction.'"]
Blood seeping from the torn flesh quietly soaked into the floor.
Hon raised his blood-drenched hand and covered the boy's face.
Once he confirmed how much of his own blood had smeared onto the other's face, Hon slowly lifted his hand again.
Watching the monitor, Kang Seok murmured.
["Yes. Kill him."]
The staff member beside him flinched and looked up at him.
Oblivious or indifferent, Kang Seok's eyes glistened with the light spilling from the screen.
Break past your limit.
Hon was already complete. Something was merely blocking him.
All he needed was a stimulus strong enough to shatter that barrier.
["Hurry up and kill him."]
If Hon killed Kim Ji-hoon here, it would mean he had advanced another stage.
Because the 'test subject' would have judged and acted entirely on his own, without any order.
["Kill him. Quickly—."]
He had no use for an obedient toy that moved only on command.
Hon had to become something greater than that. Something that shone brighter.
His H had to be exactly that.
["Kill him! Kill him, I said!!"]
Without realizing it, Kang Seok was shouting.
The air was taut, as though something might snap at any second.
On the screen, the images cut between Kim Ji-hoon's bloodless face, Hon laughing through his tears, and Kang Seok screaming with mad eyes.
The heart-pounding BGM had his head spinning — and in that very moment,
Hon's thumb and middle finger came together.
Fingers moving in slow motion, as if time itself had thickened.
Just before they fell the final distance and made their snap—
the screen cut to black.
Only then did the viewers realize that episode 3 had ended.