Chapter 73
There was a painting of something resembling a bird with its wings spread wide.
It was a strange bird with three heads, three pairs of wings, and six legs.
It was closer to a chimera than a bird.
Up to that point, it was fine.
The artist might simply have had peculiar tastes.
The problem was that the picture had been drawn not with paint, but with human blood. And in the places where the bird’s heads should have been, there were actual human faces.
At the ends of the three pairs of wings were human arms, and at the six leg joints, actual human legs had been placed like ornaments.
In other words, someone had killed people, drawn a picture with their blood, and decorated it with their remains.
“Vile taste.”
It was a world where one person killing another was not unusual.
Even now, at this very moment, people were likely dying somewhere. But the slaughter that had unfolded before Jeon’s eyes was of a different nature than those.
It was clearly a killing not for survival, but to satisfy one’s own pleasure and desire.
“Tch!”
Jeon clicked his tongue.
Because the intense stench of blood stung his nose.
Monster and human blood were different.
They both reeked of blood, but human blood was far more stimulating. Perhaps that was why monsters craved human blood so much.
The victims all appeared to be family.
The heads of a middle-aged woman, and a boy and girl who seemed to be her children.
Their wide-open eyes and gaping mouths vividly conveyed the immense terror they had felt while alive.
“The work of that psycho.”
Jeon had a hunch that this was the doing of the man Old Man Keullegsi had mentioned.
While Jeon had briefly stepped away, a massacre had been committed three floors below his own home.
The more he thought about it, the worse he felt.
Because it was as if his territory had been violated.
It was then.
“Uh, Mom? Kids!”
A voice was heard from behind.
When he turned his head, he saw a boy standing there, dumbfounded.
Jeon recognized his face at a glance.
“Rebin! No way……”
It was definitely Rebin, the boy he had met when he left his house earlier.
Only then did he remember that Rebin had said his home was the one at the end of the fifteenth floor—this very place.
Rebin staggered inside.
He wore an expression of disbelief at the horrific scene spread out within.
When despair reaches its peak, the mind goes blank.
Just like Rebin now.
Rebin could not think of anything at all.
Only moments ago when he had left the house, his mother and siblings had been fine. They had argued since morning, and he had said nasty things he didn’t mean, but even so, he had never wished for them to die like this.
“No!”
Rebin, coming to his senses belatedly, screamed.
“Oh my!”
“What is going on?”
The onlookers shook their heads.
They were usually people indifferent to others’ family affairs, but this time they could not afford to be.
Because it had happened right in front of their own homes.
If things had gone wrong, the victims could have been them.
People shuddered and gave thanks that they had not ended up like that.
“Uwaaah!”
Rebin embraced the severed heads of his mother and siblings and wailed bitterly.
Yet despite seeing that, not a single person stepped forward to comfort him.
“Well, only the dead are pitiful.”
“By the way, the smell of blood is going to reach our homes.”
“I wish he’d clean it up neatly so it doesn’t stink, but I doubt that child has the mind to do so.”
What they worried about was that if the corpses weren’t cleaned up properly, maggots would swarm and the stench would reach their own houses.
Jeon watched the scene indifferently.
Perhaps having exhausted all his strength from crying, Rebin could not even support himself.
His entire body was stained red with his family’s blood.
Jeon thought that perhaps even this sight was exactly what the psycho who had committed such an act had wished to see.
“It can’t be helped.”
Slam!
Jeon shut the door, blocking the onlookers’ gazes.
“Which bastard did this to my family……. I’ll kill him. I’ll definitely find him and kill him.”
Blood dripped from the eyes of Rebin, who had been sobbing while clutching the heads.
The corners of his eyes had torn, causing the blood to flow.
Tears and blood mixed as they fell to the floor.
Light was seeping from Rebin’s wrist.
Jeon knew very well what that phenomenon meant.
‘He Awakened.’
It was clear that the insignia—the mark of an Awakened—had appeared on Rebin’s wrist.
Martial was red.
Magic was blue.
Sorcery was gray.
Those fused with machinery developed black insignia.
Most Awakened could not escape these categories.
But occasionally, exceptions existed.
Jeon was a prime example.
His insignia was the color of orange, like a burning desert.
His Awakened ability was that of a Sand Sorcerer, not of the existing system.
The light flowing from Rebin’s wrist was also unusual.
A vivid purple.
It was a color Jeon had never seen before.
Jeon looked closely at Rebin’s wrist.
The seventh and final line was glowing purple.
It meant he was an F-rank Awakened.
Starting at F-rank from the moment of Awakening was fairly ordinary.
Because many Awakened started at F-rank.
Jeon had also started at F-rank.
Being ahead at the starting line did not mean one would grow faster.
Some grew slowly despite a lifetime of effort, while others rose through the ranks quickly starting from F-rank.
The growth mechanism differed from person to person and from ability to ability.
What mattered was not the rank, but the Awakened ability.
A purple insignia was something even Jeon was seeing for the first time.
He did not know what Rebin’s Awakened ability was, but it was clearly extremely rare.
It was then.
Rebin’s body, burning with resolve for revenge, suddenly turned transparent and rippled like a wave.
He looked exactly like the ghosts spoken of only in stories.
Crackle crackle!
In that instant, an enormous amount of energy radiated from Rebin’s body, which had become ghost-like.
The energy destroyed everything inside the house.
* * *
After releasing a burst of energy, Rebin lost consciousness.
Then his transparent body returned to normal.
Jeon moved Rebin aside and gathered the corpses in one place.
The mangled remains were truly horrific.
Those with weak stomachs would not even dare to think of touching them. But Jeon handled the corpses without much change in his expression.
He had experienced far more horrible things countless times.
This much could not stir any agitation in him.
Having gathered the corpses, Jeon muttered.
“May you go to a better place……”
Fwoosh!
In an instant, the remains were engulfed in flames.
It was a blaze Jeon had ignited.
The ultra-high-temperature fire incinerated the corpses instantly.
A fire of this magnitude should have burned the entire interior down. Yet the rest of the place was intact.
Only the parts where the corpses lay were burning, as if space itself had been carved away.
It was a sight that would have astonished flame-class mages.
Among the many types of magic, flame-class magic was the most difficult to control.
Due to the nature of flames spreading via a medium, precise control was no easy task.
Yet here he was, igniting flames indoors while controlling them so precisely that nothing else burned.
As if he were a mage born with a flame-class affinity.
The flames burned only the corpses and then vanished.
Jeon opened the window to vent the heat. Then he scraped together the remaining ashes.
He had cremated three people, yet the ashes amounted to barely a handful.
Jeon placed the ashes into an empty bottle.
After surveying the empty house for a moment, Jeon hoisted Rebin over his shoulder and went outside.
The crowd that had gathered to gawk at the murder scene had all disappeared.
After all, it was none of their business, so they had lost interest.
It was a scene that showed exactly how meaningless the word “neighborly affection” was in this place.
Jeon brought Rebin back to his own home.
After laying Rebin on the bed, Jeon sat on the sofa. And he recalled the scene he had witnessed earlier.
Rebin had radiated enormous energy while in a transparent, ghost-like state.
“A ghost transformation……. Is it an ability like a Specter?”
Not all monsters possessed powerful physical bodies.
Just as the ghost horsehair worm Jeon had obtained recently, there were parasitic forms that infested and controlled other monsters, and there were also liquid-form monsters without fixed bodies that changed depending on the situation.
Slimes were a typical example.
The Specter was also one such unusual entity.
It floated without physical substance like a ghost and launched mental attacks.
Those without a firm mind would be entranced by a Specter, losing their will or being controlled.
“And on top of that, energy release.”
If forced to classify it, it was closer to electrical energy.
Then Rebin clearly possessed two characteristics at once.
He had heard of Awakened with two characteristics appearing from time to time, but this was the first time he had seen one.
Rebin was definitely an Irregular, just like him.
He did not know what Rebin’s limit was, but if the boy grew properly, he would clearly become tremendous combat power.
Rebin lay in a deep sleep, motionless as a dead man.
Having expended enormous energy right after Awakening, he had collapsed from exhaustion.
Jeon left him be and looked out the window.
Cheap neon signs cluttered his vision.
* * *
Rebin woke up a full three days after the incident.
The atmosphere about Rebin, now that he had come to his senses, had changed greatly.
Sunken cheeks, hollow eyelids, and a deeply subdued gaze.
He looked as if he had skipped over ten years.
Rebin, who had been sitting blankly for a while, looked at Jeon.
“Is this your house, hyung?”
“Yeah!”
“It looks nice.”
“I spent quite a bit of money.”
“No wonder it looks impressive.”
“I have enough to get by.”
“Is that a mana generator?”
“Exactly!”
“Wow! I’ve only heard stories; this is the first time I’ve seen one in person.”
“It’s my first time buying one directly too.”
“As expected of a rich hyung! Let’s get along well.”
Rebin smiled brightly.
Jeon looked at his face for a moment, then picked up the glass bottle he had placed by the window.
“What’s that?”
“Take it.”
“…….”
“It’s your family. I cremated them without your permission.”
“Th……thank you.”
A crack formed on Rebin’s face, which had been trying so hard to feign nonchalance.
Rebin hugged the bottle tightly to his chest and hung his head.
Jeon silently watched him.
Jeon knew that sometimes staying silent was better than offering hasty comfort.
It was quite some time later when Rebin raised his head again.
He forced a smile and spoke.
“Thank you, hyung!”
“What are you going to do now?”
“I have to go back home. If I leave it, others will take it over.”
“And?”
“I have to find him. The bastard who killed my mom and siblings.”
Rebin’s voice was chillingly cold.
Revenge was his natural right.
Jeon had no intention of stopping him.
However, there was something he wanted to advise.
“You know you’ve Awakened, right?”
“Yes!”
There was no way he couldn’t know.
The moment one Awakened, they understood their ability even without being told.
Jeon knew this better than anyone, having experienced it himself.
“You also know that the ability you Awakened with isn’t ordinary, right?”
“Yes!”
“It’s best to hide it well. If you stand out, you might meet a bad end.”
“I will.”
Rebin nodded.
Jeon said no more.
Because no matter how much Rebin took his words to heart, the decision and the responsibility for it belonged entirely to Rebin.