Neutron Star
Crash—
Kim Suhyun's body slammed into the desk, shattering it.
The taste of blood filled her mouth.
Her body had long surpassed its limits, and now this monster of a killer had landed a blow on top of that.
She instinctively tried to stand, but her legs gave out.
Not a scrap of mana remained.
Through her blurring vision, Suhyun looked toward the bed.
There lay Eunbyul, unable to even twitch a finger.
That pale, sickly face would soon be cleaved by that black blade.
The thought stopped there, and what filled Kim Suhyun's mind wasn't anger or fear.
It was regret.
On the day Suhyun had moved in next door, seeing her near-dead friend, she'd sworn to herself.
I'll protect my friend.I'm here so everyone in the nation can live in peace.
She'd played the cool hero in her head—
Only to fail at protecting the one and only friend right behind her.
"...No."
A cracked voice leaked from her bloodied lips.
Please... someone, anyone.
As if answering that desperate plea—
The air in the room sank into something alien in an instant.
Suhyun's fading vision filled with an unbelievable sight.
From the body of her friend, who moments ago could barely breathe on the bed, a transparently blinding light poured out.
Blue and cold, like starlight from a distant night sky.
The near-dead friend slowly raised her upper body.
"Ah..."
Suhyun couldn't tear her eyes away for even a second.
*****
Sunset detected.
Star Chart magic output restored.
Sensation surged back from my toes.
Like thick storm clouds parting to reveal a sharp night sky, my crushed senses cleared all at once.
Vitality coursed through my heavy body, blood rushing freely to my fingertips.
I'd lain there too long. Time to move.
The spilling light wove like threads, etching a star in the air.
In that instant, the black blade falling mercilessly toward my neck halted—just 1cm away.
A tiny star propped up its massive tip.
"What the..."
A crack split the man's face, certain of victory until now.
I slowly raised my upper body. Sweat-matted blonde hair flowed softly, starlight wrapping my form.
My gaze naturally turned aside.
Amid the wreckage of shattered furniture lay Unni, slammed down. Blood matted her silver hair. The one who'd blocked for me to the end despite being battered,
The one who'd pick my door lock without asking, barge in, and nag me to eat—my one and only friend,
The sole warmth in my cold, lonely life—my sanctuary—
That friend now lay collapsed on the floor.
In that moment, somewhere in my head, the thread of reason snapped.
"You."
I stared straight at the man.
"What did you just say."
My voice sank calmly, unlike the boiling inside.
"That daytime me is just a powerless lump of meat?"
The killer's eyes shook wildly. For the first time since entering, he took a step back.
I flicked my eyes to the window and curled my lip.
"But here's the thing. The sun's set."
"...What?!"
The man gritted his teeth, regripping his sword. Still, he was elite from a superpower. Steadying his wavering pupils, he unleashed ferocious sword aura and charged.
I raised my hand.
Not some nameless star or Libra this time.
The heart of Taurus Crab Nebula.
The most brilliant, destructive remnant of a supernova exploded a millennium ago—
Contains absolute mass compressing a giant star into a mere 30cm space.
The cosmic trace orbiting thirty times per second raged wildly at my fingertips now.
Target Lock: Crab Nebula Neutron Star
Just a handful of that immense gravity.
I lightly lowered my fingertips touching empty air.
Star Chart Magic: Localized Gravity Interference
Rumble—
Gravity crushed the room like space itself buckling.
"Gah—?!"
The plunging blade warped midair and slammed into the floor.
Crunch—
Bones pulverized. The man's knees punched through the flooring into the concrete below.
The black shadows filling the hallway screamed in unison, flattening to the ground.
Pressure making it impossible to stand—or even expand the chest to breathe.
Yet it spared Suhyun by the desk and Hyeonwol on his knees.
I strolled leisurely to the man pinned to the floor. Manipulating gravity, I yanked his head up by the hair. Terror-filled eyes met mine.
"Hey. You said you came with the sun at your back. Said to die."
I tapped his cheek and whispered softly.
"Urk... hack, damn..."
Focus slipped from his eyes. He passed out, unable to withstand the gravity.
Only then did I withdraw the gravity at my fingertips.
Rumble—!
The brutal pressure vanished in a blink.
The entire villa shuddered violently, screaming in release.
Then silence fell. I exhaled long in the quiet, stepping to help Unni from the debris.
*****
Clearing up went faster than expected.
Unni stopped her bleeding and urgent wounds with top-grade potion from my inventory.
The Chinese assassins, nicely embedded in the floor, went to the Hunter specialist police.
Attempted murder on an S-class Hunter—straight to Association for bone-crushing interrogation, no doubt.
With the storm of battle settled, only three battered souls remained in the room.
But oblivious to the tiny room's drama, the outside world flipped from my aftermath.
I dunno. As long as no one finds out, it's fine, right?
Feeling chill, I lay on the bed, enjoying guilt-free scrolling to the next post.
Pfft—
Seeing Unni's reply next to me cracked me up for no reason.
"You okay, Unni? Nothing seriously hurt?"
"Hey."
Unni, barely alive thanks to the potion, wiped bloodied lips with her hand and stared up at me.
"What the hell are you?"
"Just... a NEET?"
"No, then what about those powers?"
"Dunno. I just awakened suddenly."
"Then why do you nearly die every daytime? Incurable disease?"
I felt wronged too.
"Started after awakening... only during day. Doesn't really hurt."
Unni chuckled through her battered face.
"Hiding your powers all this time hurt, but glad you're alive."
Then Hyeonwol staggered up from the floor.
"I have no face. I swore to protect you, yet instead—"
His self-recriminating voice cut off.
His gaze fixed on the torn-out window.
Outside the window.
The western sky long sunk red. Where the sun should be was blocked by something.
■■■ is approaching.
Thud.
A chill ran up my spine.
I'd forgotten. Tried to forget.
When I'd pushed my fading consciousness to survive at death's door during day. That I'd touched its coordinates again—not Mars, not an asteroid, but a star.
That it had found me again.
The hole outside the window slowly widened.
Drip.
Drip.
Liquid-like light leaked from the gap. Light, yet it didn't illuminate. Beyond it, something enormous slowly peered in.
Scale dwarfing the sea dragon that hit the West Sea. Just looking twisted the room's gravity, shadows writhing madly.
"...Ah, aah."
Hyeonwol's face—unshaken even before the S-class assassins—drained white.
"It... it descends at last..."
"You know what that is?"
"Manwol..."
His voice trembled.
"Knows why we desperately protect and hide the star-wielder...
Manwol's role isn't just shielding from superpowers."
He swallowed hard.
"It was to prepare for that. The moment it touches this world, it devours everything.
Since Manwol began recording history, without a single exception, it devoured every celestial body it met."
My nape prickled.
Me who provoked that monster?
■■■ reaches toward you.
I sighed deeply.
Association wants to whisk me away, China can't kill me fast enough. Now aliens line up. What a cursed life.
But that moment—
Battered Unni staggered up again, blocking me.
Hardly able to stand. Can't even touch that.
I gently gripped her shoulder, pulling her behind me.
"This time, I'll handle it."
I'd always been protected.
Trembling that revealing powers ends my peaceful NEET life, hiding even when shit hit, living cowardly.
But now, someone to protect behind me.
I summoned a star to my fingertips, taking stance.
Night was long, and I was no longer daytime's powerless corpse.
"Come."
The massive shadow beyond the hole slowly lowered a hand toward me.
But not to destroy.
Too slow. Too careful. Like cupping fragile candle flame in gale, afraid to snuff it.
Before me, Unni, or Hyeonwol grasped that bizarre, overwhelming gesture—
■■■ touches you.
System rejects interference from this entity—
Rejection failed.
My mind filled to bursting with grotesque tinnitus.
And the world blinked pure white without a sound.