Butterfly Effect (8)
Just before the lightning struck.
In that split second, three doppelgängers closed around the body at the center—Go Ju-hun.
It might have looked like a moving scene, as though he were protecting someone he loved, but in truth it was nothing more than Go Ju-hun using his summons to shield himself. Whether the lightning’s force would be reduced by it was anyone’s guess, but he had made the call in a panic, the moment he felt his life genuinely at risk.
With a sound like the air itself being torn apart, sparks burst in every direction. The bolt that fell moved at roughly 360,000 kilometers per second, carrying a staggering 1 billion volts. No matter that Go Ju-hun was an S-class hunter, he could do nothing before a force of nature like that.
"Aaaagh!!!"
Go Ju-hun screamed as the lightning drove through him, writhing as though someone were twisting his spine from the inside. Rain came down in sheets, and steam rose in ragged white plumes. The doppelgängers covering him were burned black, reduced to charcoal lumps that barely looked like living flesh anymore. If they had been human, all three would have died on the spot. Their scorched remains slid down Go Ju-hun’s body and hit the ground.
He gasped, mouth hanging open, and fought desperately for air. Clean breath refused to reach his lungs. Blood burst from his eyes, nose, mouth, and even his ears. The state-of-the-art equipment he had been wearing had been burned away as well.
"Ghk!"
At last, he managed to drag in a breath. His mind cleared just enough for him to assess the situation.
I’m conscious. My body’s a wreck, but... if I can buy time, I can recover.
Go Ju-hun had not become an S-class hunter by luck. The reason he had survived so many moments that should have killed him was his lightning-fast judgment.
He raised his head and looked at the enemy in front of him. Purple Devil was gripping him by the collar.
But the other man was in no better shape.
Only the whites of his eyes showed through the purple mask. He looked like someone who had fainted while still standing.
He took even more damage than I did.
He had tried to drag them both down with him as a last resort, but the result was brutal. Purple Devil’s skin had been burned pitch-black, and the air around them stank of scorched meat and grilled squid. He didn’t even seem able to open his mouth, as if his heart had stopped.
You idiot. I won. I won!
Go Ju-hun felt a surge of relief and triumph. Suffering from narcissistic personality disorder, he was obsessed with categorizing people by rank. He, standing at the pinnacle of the Dio Guild, was the highest class of human being. Everyone else was beneath him.
Purple Devil was no different. He had been an eyesore until a moment ago, but no longer.
You’re not my equal. No—no one can beat me!
There were all kinds of ways to handle a narcissist, but actually doing it was another matter. The danger was that, once you were forced to face a person convinced of their own superiority, you could get dragged into their world without realizing it.
I’ve proven myself again. Now all that’s left is...
With the exchange they had just had, mana began to gather inside Go Ju-hun’s body.
It’s here. Finally...
The SS-class realm he had longed for so desperately.
By using Purple Devil as a sacrifice, Go Ju-hun had been able to grow one step higher.
Heh. Thank you. Because of you...
Something seemed to shift.
No way.
Go Ju-hun’s pupils trembled.
Purple Devil was still holding his collar, but now he slowly lifted one hand. The dog collar he had been holding in his right hand was gone. In its place, he was gripping a dagger whose blade gleamed blinding white.
Judging by the angle, it looked like he was about to bring it straight down on Go Ju-hun’s head.
Go Ju-hun jerked and tried to shake him off, but the other man only tightened his grip.
And on top of that, Go Ju-hun was basically in the middle of taking a brutal stun-gun blast.
"Kgh!"
Struggling only made it worse. The body that had been shocked felt as rigid as stone.
Go Ju-hun stood there like a carved post, staring at Purple Devil.
Those flipped-over eyes never left the dagger.
No, no...
For the first time in his life, Go Ju-hun was face to face with a feeling he had never known before.
Before a killing intent that existed solely to end his life, he was seized by bottomless fear.
Am I... going to die?
There were many ways to deal with a narcissist.
Remain calm and refuse to be dragged into their pace. Run far away. Ignore them completely.
But the most efficient method was something else entirely.
Crush them with overwhelming force.
Standing before someone more capable than himself, the vicious narcissist collapsed into despair.
...You’re more superior than I am?
Another bolt of lightning cracked down from the heavens. Shadow fell over the rooftop, and in the backlight Purple Devil’s silhouette flashed like an apparition.
He looked like a purple devil through and through.
Don’t make me laugh. I’m special. I’m the chosen one!
Go Ju-hun clenched his teeth and barely managed to move one hand. Fortunately, the glove he had been wearing was still intact. The Bronze Knight gauntlet, made from the bronze dragon’s scales, could block most blades.
He spread his palm toward the horizontally slashing knife.
Thwack!
But the demon blade in Purple Devil’s hand—White Revenge—punched straight through the center of the gauntlet.
The protruding tip pierced Go Ju-hun’s temple.
“...Huh?”
Go Ju-hun staggered with a groan.
At that exact moment, the rooftop door flew open.
His eyes caught sight of the Dio Guild agents.
In other words, the very “inferiors” he had always looked down on.
In the end, they had survived, and Go Ju-hun was the one dying.
Was the reckless fool...
...me?
Go Ju-hun’s pupils lost all light.
I looked down at Go Ju-hun’s dead body.
That was close.
Speeder couldn’t control lightning. It had never had such an ability to begin with. But under the premise that he had become a hero by being struck by lightning, he could draw a high probability of a strike whenever thunderclouds rolled in and the weather turned foul.
If the sky had been clear...
I never would have won.
It had been a gamble, a move that came within reach of a godlike stroke of luck—and in the end, heaven had favored me just enough to let me scrape out a victory.
I pulled the blade free from Go Ju-hun’s temple. Blood gushed out of the hole it left behind.
I stared down at the man who had already crossed over to the other side.
Much later, Go Ju-hun would enter the National Assembly and become a heavyweight politician. The Dio Guild would swell in size and grow into an organization that slowly ate away at South Korea from the inside. After the administration changed, Go Ju-hun would be indicted on charges of murder, attempted murder, violations of election law, and a whole list of other crimes, eventually receiving a life sentence—only to be granted a special pardon and go on to commit atrocities all over again.
Suddenly, I wondered something.
Did I kill Go Ju-hun because I believed in justice?
Did I erase him to stop his crimes? To change the future?
Blood from White Revenge soaked my hand.
That petty little incident, when I had punished Seo Gwang-pal for tormenting innocent civilians, had become a storm that reached all the way to the leader of the Dio Guild and killed him in the end.
No. It wasn’t anything like that.
I lifted my head.
The rain that had been pouring without end washed across my face.
Go Ju-hun had threatened me.
If I lost, he would tear off my mask and massacre everyone around me.
I had been afraid.
The words of an S-class hunter and the head of the Dio Guild were not something to dismiss lightly. I think I was terrified that his warning might become reality like a nightmare made flesh.
So I killed him.
To protect myself.
To protect my family.
Yes. Maybe I wasn’t some apostle of justice after all.
Maybe I was just a selfish hero.
If I fought Go Ju-hun again, I would lose ten times out of ten. There was no guarantee luck would be on my side a second time.
I was still too weak to preach about punishing evil and rewarding good.
If I wanted to pursue goodness and punish wickedness...
I had to get stronger.
I heard movement somewhere nearby.
When I turned toward the entrance, a crowd of Dio Guild agents came swarming out. At their head stood Lee Yu-seol.
"What happened?"
"The, the representative..."
"...He’s dead?"
They couldn’t accept the reality spread out before their eyes and stood there in stunned confusion.
AWAKENER'S BALANCE
₩985,551,110
₩985,470,750
₩985,352,229
...
Lee Yu-seol’s tightly clenched fist trembled. Even through the rain, I could see the fire in her eyes, blazing with rage.
What she wanted was obvious.
Revenge.
Could I really make it through that many people and get down from here?
The body kept regenerating, but the pace was painfully slow. My condition was clearly too poor for my abilities to work properly. The fatal injuries still weren’t even half healed.
There’s no way I can keep fighting like this.
Lee Yu-seol shouted, her voice torn apart by the rain. "That man is the intruder who broke into Dio Guild!"
She pointed at me.
"All units, prepare to fire!"
Click. Click.
Submachine guns rose in unison and aimed at me. A giant scythe of death pressed against my throat.
At this point, God’s Aura wasn’t going to activate properly. If they fired, my body would be riddled with holes before I could do anything.
I couldn’t think of any way to survive the crisis. I had no strength left to keep fighting. At best, I had enough mana for one sliver and just enough stamina left to keep walking.
If I squeeze everything out, all I can manage is one use of Judgment of the Superhuman.
Then I would have to win without fighting.
I needed to crush their momentum by any means necessary.
Lee Yu-seol closed her eyes and activated her ability.
"Hold fire! That bastard is already half-dead."
Her voice ripped through the storm.
"I’ll be the one to finish him!"
She started toward me, her face twisted with fury.
At that same moment, I grabbed Go Ju-hun by the collar and laid him flat on the rooftop.
Lee Yu-seol stopped in her tracks.
"You... what are you doing?"
I ignored her and raised my fist.
This is your parting gift.
Judgment of the Superhuman (Special) — one crushing blow powered by superhuman strength.
Without hesitation, I drove my fist down onto Go Ju-hun’s skull.
KRAAANG!!!
The rooftop buckled inward, and stone dust sprayed everywhere. Everyone present lost their minds in a collective panic.
I had activated the reward ticket I’d earned from the mission before last—Judgment of the Superhuman (Special).
Kugugugu.
Go Ju-hun’s head vanished without a trace.
The pavement shattered to pieces.
Still gripping the collar of the body now missing its head, I pushed myself upright.
Lee Yu-seol stammered, unable to speak.
"...W-what?"
The storm lashed harder and harder against the rooftop.
Without a moment’s hesitation, I threw Go Ju-hun out beyond the edge of the building.
Whoooosh.
The dead body fell forever downward.
Lee Yu-seol’s scream tore through the rain.
"No!!!"
It was a high-rise building, so even the fall took a long time.
"Aaaaagh!!!"
Lee Yu-seol dropped to her knees, her face collapsing into despair.
"If you want the corpse, then move. Otherwise, I’ll send you after him too."
It was nothing but bluster. There wasn’t a scrap of mana left in my body.
But my momentum hadn’t broken.
Even if I died here, I was prepared to drag at least one of them down with me and throw myself off the building.
Lee Yu-seol lowered her head and muttered to herself like a madwoman, words no one could understand.
She had given up on everything, and it looked like the will to fight had gone out of her too.
With their leader gone, the group reverted to what it had always been: a pack of rabble.
"D-don’t be scared!"
"This bastard’s just acting tough!"
The hands holding their guns were shaking like leaves.
I took a step forward.
!
The terrified Dio Guild agents stumbled back in a hurry.
The blocked path opened before me like the parting of the Red Sea.
I walked through it with my head held high.