DB Vol 2 Part 14

The Vice Head of the Gye family was often misunderstood because of his nickname. People wondered if he was called the Brute because he ran wild like a dog.

But his nickname was solely due to his cruel swordsmanship, so those who actually knew him thought of a different animal. A snake.

Especially when he spat out harsh words with an expressionless face, it was even more so. The Brute himself had no objection to being evaluated as snake-like. After all, he could move silently like a snake, standing among people to closely watch his enemy. That’s why when he first noticed Hong Eun-tae, he wanted to sink his venomous fangs into her immediately.

But now, even with her right in front of him, he was sitting idle like this. It wasn’t because of his remaining family, or other revenge he had to take. It was because of a truly trivial, insignificant desire. He wanted to see Ji Won-woo up close and hear his voice directly. He didn’t want to cause problems by moving recklessly before that. It was an incomprehensible greed for someone who was merely the child of an enemy, but the Brute didn’t think deeply about it.

Instead, he didn’t move, blending in with the people as if covering himself in camouflage. And he just watched for a moment the woman in her 50s with ash-gray short hair, not a single strand out of place, swept back. There was also someone Ji Won-woo was interested in in front of her.

Han Seona was standing in front of Hong Eun-tae with wet hair, as if she had just finished washing. Given Hong Eun-tae’s position, Seona’s posture was full of tension. Hong Eun-tae called her but just observed her for a long time before speaking in a low tone.

“A mongrel, with an unusual wavelength, and ears full of suppression piercings.”

Hong Eun-tae pointed at Seona’s ears with her finger, wiggling it.

“You caught a few monsters by luck, so you want to join the main team? Huh?”

Though her voice was monotone and her gaze emotionless, everyone could sense the natural disgust she exuded.

“Speak, Ms. Han Seona.”

All eyes of the many people gathered in the central area of the first floor turned to Han Seona. She clenched her jaw as if suppressing her emotions and shook her head.

“No, Head Director.”

“Should I take that as you’ll refuse if an offer comes?”

“…”

“Anyway, these beggars are so greedy.”

At Hong Eun-tae’s muttered words, Seona gritted her teeth before opening her lips.

“No. I have no intention of being greedy.”

“Right. A mongrel should act like a mongrel.”

Hong Eun-tae lightly tapped Seona’s arm and turned towards Seung-wook who was standing nearby.

“There, she refused herself. So there’s no more issue, right?”

Seung-wook stepped forward with a hardened expression as if he had something to say, but Idan and Yoo Geon-young simultaneously grabbed his arms from both sides. Hong Eun-tae looked at the two on either side with contemptuous eyes and nodded, saying “Ah.”

“You’ve always had many friends because you don’t know when to butt in and when not to, haven’t you?”

“Director, please refrain from personal attacks on employees.”

When Seung-wook barely managed to retort through gritted teeth, Hong Eun-tae responded with an expressionless face.

“Then learn to discern when to butt in and when not to. If you bring up personnel matters to me one more time…”

As she was speaking, she suddenly turned her head, looking around sharply and shouted,

“Who is it?!”

But no sooner had her sharp cry ended than she inhaled sharply and collapsed to the ground.

“Huk!”

What’s suddenly going on? Everyone watched her in bewilderment, unable to even blink.

“Director!”

“Director, are you alright?!”

Her subordinates cried out and approached a beat late, but she raised a trembling hand.

“D-Don’t come! Huk!”

She bent her upper body to the floor as if collapsing, supporting herself with her hands on the ground. It was unusual for an A-rank Esper to suddenly collapse, so some suspected she might be acting. After all, A-rank Espers rarely even get sick. Then why did she suddenly collapse and struggle to breathe?

While everyone was bewildered and at a loss, only the Brute, standing at the entrance, had a slightly different reaction. Wearing a black hood, the Brute looked at Hong Eun-tae with cold eyes and tilted his head to the side. He too had the same question as others: Why is she like that?

“Excuse me.”

A pause. At that moment, a calm voice was heard right behind the Brute’s back. As soon as he heard that voice, the Brute unconsciously held his breath. Then slowly, very slowly, he lowered his gaze to the side.

There was someone trying to move forward, passing by his side. It was Ji Won-woo. His face was clearly visible up close.

“I’m coming through.”

Won-woo, focusing only on the situation ahead, gently pushed his arm and stepped forward. As the Brute stepped aside, he couldn’t take his eyes off Won-woo’s face. Won-woo’s expression was blank, but his eyes were shining fiercely. As if he was about to punish Hong Eun-tae.

* * *

Won-woo awakened as a Purifier in the North. It was when the auntie who had saved him, like all the strangers gathered in the North, she too didn’t reveal her real name – had left to find someone else. When he was alone then, he unfortunately contracted the Guide disease.

If he had gone to the hospital early, it could have been treated quickly, but because it was discovered late, his condition rapidly deteriorated. It’s said that he wandered on the brink of death for several days, and his heart even stopped briefly. But Won-woo only remembers waking up in an unfamiliar hospital.

At that time, Purifiers were gathering in the North to escape Esper attacks, and relatively more was known about Purifiers. Their common point was that they all returned from the brink of death. Of course, not all Guides who were driven to death awakened as Purifiers.

Later, another important condition for awakening as a Purifier was revealed, but at the time, Won-woo too thought he had become a Purifier because of his near-death experience. So he wasn’t too surprised when he awakened after being discharged from the hospital. What Won-woo didn’t expect was that his ability was exceptionally outstanding.

A Purifier’s ability is determined by the range of wavelengths they can cover, and Won-woo could cover all wavelengths. And because there had never been a case of someone awakening at such a young age, the auntie suggested keeping his awakening a secret until he grew up.

‘When the weak possess great power, they’re immediately exploited.’

So the auntie helped with Won-woo’s training directly. Fortunately, there were subjects to practice on. Monsters. Like Espers, monsters with great power have a core that generates power internally. The power used for daily operations can be depleted but refills over time, but the core is different. If you drain the power from that core, the monster’s ability completely disappears.

They become nothing more than slowly moving large insects that even ordinary people can kill. The problem was that power has a tendency to return to its original place. Especially the power of the core was so strongly cohesive that even most Purifiers couldn’t easily tamper with it. So it took Won-woo several years just to control the power of the core.

And this applied not just to monsters but to Espers as well. At Won-woo’s fingertips, an Esper could either explode and die from going rampage, or become an empty husk with their core completely drained. All too easily. A government official who saw Won-woo’s ability warned,

‘Don’t get intoxicated by that ability and fall into a sense of superiority. Then you’d be no different from an Esper. Someone who controls others’ lives should always be cautious. I’m worried about you jumping into war. You’d be an outstanding warrior, but that’s absolutely not a good thing. If you become accustomed to killing people, it’ll be hard to return to normal life after the war ends. In your eyes, everyone will look like animals to hunt, not beings with personalities.’

‘Be wary of yourself, always remember the preciousness of life.’ Although he knew the advice was right, it was a bit annoying to the young Won-woo. On the other hand, the auntie didn’t say much to Won-woo, so Won-woo asked her once. Aren’t you worried I might hurt people recklessly? She was eating and answered bluntly,

“Do you think you’re powerful?”

“No.”

“Then that’s fine.”

“Is that all?”

She glanced up while chewing her food.

“What do you want to hear?”

“Just, like how I should use my power.”

She looked at Won-woo for a moment and gave a simple answer.

“Make your own standards. Moral and humanitarian reasons instilled by others tend to waver.”

“What if my standard is selfish?”

“Can’t be helped. You’ll have to bear the consequences of your selfishness yourself.”

That was all.

* * *

It was difficult to immediately put the auntie’s advice into practice. Won-woo still didn’t have a proper standard for when to kill and when not to kill people. Just because they’re human, because he shouldn’t become a monster like an Esper as the government official said. For a while, he used such obvious things as his standard. However, moral reasons were all too easily forgotten in the moment when despair shattered his heart into pieces.

Won-woo created his own selfish standard as he went through the war. For Won-woo, who had lost everything, good and evil were determined solely by whether they messed with his people or not. That’s why even though he knew how terrible Hong Eun-tae was, it didn’t matter as long as she didn’t touch his people.

So Hong Eun-tae might have had decent luck today. If she played her cards right, she could have lived through today. If only she hadn’t mocked the mixed-blood Esper with an unusual wavelength. She probably didn’t know how unlucky today was even until she came to the farm. In a life that had been smooth sailing, born as an A-rank Esper from a good family, the only misfortune she might have known was not having an umbrella on a rainy day.

So this symptom now was a disaster that came too suddenly. Out of nowhere, her breath was choked and strength drained from her entire body. It wasn’t just strength. Before she could do anything, it felt like something more fundamental, her life force, was disappearing. The pain was so severe it felt like all her internal organs were being slashed with a knife and pulled out.

“Huk!”

Hong Eun-tae clutched her chest and lay flat on the floor. Won-woo stared expressionlessly at Hong Eun-tae visible through the gaps between people, stretching out his hand. He was now tampering with Hong Eun-tae’s core. The familiar power of the core left Hong Eun-tae’s body completely according to Won-woo’s will. Having done this thousands of times before, it was as easy as eating.

Hong Eun-tae twisted her prostrate body as if in a final struggle. The power extracted from the core tried to re-enter Hong Eun-tae’s body, but Won-woo prevented it.

Sometimes people think it takes more effort to prevent the extracted power from returning, but that wasn’t the case at all. All power is moving, whether slowly or quickly. All Won-woo does is change the flow of power. He just needs to open a path in a completely different, new direction. This is possible even with a gap as small as a pinhole. He could also create multiple holes to let it disperse into the air like mist. Then no one would sense the escaped power. But Won-woo now intended to use Hong Eun-tae’s power differently. So he deliberately created only one path. For the power to encircle Hong Eun-tae like a dome, spinning around.

“Ugh!”

Another painful groan escaped Hong Eun-tae’s mouth.

“Head Director!”

Hong Eun-tae’s secretary tried to run over, but this time Seung-wook grabbed his arm.

“Wait.”

“Why, why are you doing this? The Head Director is in so much pain.”

“We can’t approach. Around the Head Director now…”

Seung-wook trailed off in disbelief. It was strange. He could feel an enormous power rippling around Hong Eun-tae. As if rotating rapidly around her like flowing water. What on earth is that? Where did it come from? Moreover, the flow seemed to be getting faster and faster.

“Huh? There’s some kind of power around the Director…”

The secretary’s voice trailed off. Now even he could notice the air around them starting to shake.

In an instant, the speed of the whirling energy increased to a frightening level. Those nearby began to step back one by one.

Huh? What’s this? Questions arose in the minds of the startled people, but no one could open their mouth due to the tension. Their instincts were sending sharp warnings. If the speed keeps increasing like this, what’s next?

“Get down!”

As Seung-wook shouted loudly, people instinctively pressed their bodies to the floor. Simultaneously, the power swirling around Hong Eun-tae like a vortex exploded outward in all directions. An incredibly strong wind swept through quickly, escaping outside in an instant. However, at the moment when the strong force burst and scattered, even the building shook as if an earthquake had occurred.

Crash! Bang!

“Aah!”

“Kyaa!”

Objects inside the building fell, and some were blown by the wind, rolling on the floor. The sound of breaking windows mixed with people’s screams. While most were lying face down on the floor with their heads lowered, there were also people standing still without moving. Two of them, in fact. One of them was Won-woo.

Won-woo was the one who destroyed the core, but it would have been safer for him to avoid it too. However, he didn’t need to lie down. He had checked everything out of habit before using his ability. There were no obstacles to fall from above, and no objects to fly towards him. He just had to watch.

At first, he looked at Seung-wook with curiosity. As expected, an upper A-rank Esper is different. Noticing something and warning others to lie down. He chose to stand and watch Seung-wook, but soon his attention turned elsewhere. The time it took for the core’s power to dissipate was just 1-2 seconds.

But the sound made by the typhoon-like strong force should have clearly rung in Won-woo’s ears. Yet there wasn’t even a breeze brushing past him. It felt as if he had entered a vacuum state, with even the noise completely blocked. Not just that. A large hand had appeared in front of Won-woo’s face, as if protecting it.

Won-woo looked at the outstretched palm and slowly turned his head. The owner of the hand had extended one arm to block Won-woo’s front.

That was all. He just stood still, defenseless, looking ahead. It was clear that he had helped Won-woo, but suspicion arose before gratitude. Because he was an Esper. A very strong one at that.