PV Ch.14 Part 2

“Have any of you ever encountered an Esper who uses shadow manipulation?”

Song Jaeho started, recalling his fight against the Non-K leader. 

“Shadow manipulation is rare. There are one or two known cases in Europe and the Middle East, but they’re both A-rank.”

Song Jaeho’s brow furrowed at Yoon Bisam’s answer. They knew very little about the Non-K leader. Only that he was relatively young and an S-rank Esper. 

“He was unfamiliar, but… he felt strangely familiar. Even though he was masked, and I could only see his eyes.”

“Who did he remind you of?”

Song Jaeho hesitated, his fingers drumming nervously on the table.

“Why are you suddenly shielding us? What are you about to say?”

A barrier made of mana formed around them, effectively cutting them off from any surveillance. 

“…The Association President.”

“What?”

“That bastard… his eyes were exactly the same as the President’s. I wasn’t sure during the fight, but when I saw the President later… it hit me.”

Song Jaeho’s words were like a bomb, causing even Won Seongwoo, who had been dozing off, to jolt upright. 

“Are you sure? You were in no state to be making rational judgments.”

“Do you think I’d joke about something like this? It’s dangerous enough just mentioning the President.”

Han Biseong, still finding it hard to believe, pressed for confirmation. Song Jaeho ran a hand through his hair, meeting each of their gazes one by one. 

“I don’t know why, but they’re connected, the President and the Non-K leader. It’s not just their resemblance… it’s a gut feeling.”

“…This is bad.”

The potential implications of the Association President being connected to a notorious anti-government organization like Non-K were catastrophic.

“For now, let’s keep this between us. We need to investigate this discreetly.”

“Now that you mention it… Remember the rumors about the President having a secret weapon, one that he was rumored to consider his own son?”

Han Biseong’s words, spoken as he stroked his chin thoughtfully, made them pause. 

“This is bigger than we thought. We need to investigate both the President and Non-K. The Association is already tracking Non-K, but if they truly are connected… that explains why we haven’t been able to uncover their true identities.” 

“…We’re short-handed. It’ll take too long if it’s just us. At least one of us needs to stay by Lee Bomin’s side.” 

As Han Biseong had pointed out, they needed to investigate both sides. Yoon Bisam racked his brain, trying to come up with trustworthy allies, but finding someone within the Association who didn’t revere the President was a challenge.

“I wish we had another S-rank Esper…” 

“Stop with the wishful thinking and come up with a plan.”

Han Biseong chided Song Jaeho for his muttering. S-rank Espers weren’t exactly easy to come by. 

Hoping for a new S-rank to appear out of nowhere was less likely than winning the lottery. 

* * *

“Yu-hyeon-ah, are you alright? What happened…?”

“Ah, yes. I’m fine. Sorry. I’ll clean it up right away. And please deduct the cost of the glass from my paycheck.” 

“Why are you being so formal? Are you sure you didn’t hurt your hand?”

“Yes…”

Shi Yu-hyeon rubbed his palm, feeling a strange tingling sensation where the glass had shattered. This was the third time he had broken a glass today. 

“Manager, I think maybe…”

“Yes, I was wondering when you were going to say something. You should head home early. Get some rest.”

“Yes. Thank you.” 

Yu-hyeon bowed to his manager and headed towards the staff room. After his encounter with Bomin, he had been trying his best to return to his everyday life. 

But even the simplest tasks, like working behind the bar, would trigger a flood of memories the moment his gaze fell upon the spot where Bomin had been sitting. He would force himself to suppress those thoughts, maintaining an outward appearance of normalcy. 

However, his manager, who had known him for a long time, saw right through his act.

“What is going on…?” 

Something strange was happening to him, both physically and mentally. Shi Yu-hyeon pulled his street clothes from his locker, changing out of his uniform.

As he left the bar, wallet and phone in hand, a peculiar unease settled over him. 

It was almost dawn, and the streets were deserted. Ever since the emergence of monsters, ordinary people avoided going out at night, or when it was too quiet. 

Only Shi Yu-hyeon’s footsteps echoed in the stillness. An untrained eye wouldn’t have noticed, but the air hummed with an unusual concentration of mana. 

“I wonder how Bomin-ssi is doing.”

Bomin was all he could think about today. He toyed with the idea of asking a regular at the bar, someone who specialized in finding people, to track Bomin down.

Logically, he knew they would meet again if fate allowed it. But a small, hopeful part of him wanted Bomin to find him first.

“I feel like a lovesick teenager.”

Shi Yu-hyeon sighed, rubbing his tired face, and quickened his pace. 

Kiiiing—

“Don’t tell me…”

He stopped dead in his tracks. The air before him tore open, revealing a scene straight out of those monster documentaries he watched in his spare time.

“A rouge dungeon?”

The formation of a dungeon was usually preceded by a buildup of mana. The Association tracked these fluctuations to pinpoint the time and location of potential dungeons, dispatching Espers to secure the area and control the flow of civilians. 

But there were always exceptions. On rare occasions, rogue dungeons appeared without warning, bypassing the Association’s detection network. 

And when a rogue dungeon emerged, the collateral damage was catastrophic. Low-level dungeons were manageable, but anything above B-rank could spell disaster for ordinary citizens.

Clack, clack, clack.

A rhythmic clicking sound, as if bones were knocking together, emanated from within the black void. Shi Yu-hyeon couldn’t tear his eyes away.

A skeletal hand, bone-white, reached out from the rift, confirming his suspicions.

“…A Lich.”

A skeletal figure draped in a dark robe emerged, wielding a massive scythe. 

An A-rank monster, the Lich.

Shi Yu-hyeon, despite not being an Awakened, was an avid follower of all things supernatural. He could practically recite monster classifications from memory. 

Even D-rank monsters were a challenge for ordinary humans. And here, standing before him, was a Lich, a high-level undead monster notorious for being difficult to deal with, even for seasoned Espers. 

“SHRIIIIEEEEK—”

The Lich, its empty sockets burning with a malevolent red light, let out an ear-splitting shriek that seemed to pierce through Shi Yu-hyeon’s very being. 

Monsters craved one thing: the annihilation of mankind. They attacked indiscriminately, their bloodlust triggered the moment they laid eyes on a human, regardless of age or gender.

“Ugh…” 

The Lich’s shriek wasn’t merely sound—it was an attack in itself. Shi Yu-hyeon stumbled, blood trickling down his chin.

“If I had known this would happen…”

It wasn’t like ordinary people were completely defenseless against monsters. Mana stones, refined and processed, could be used to create weapons for everyday citizens. 

However, the price of these weapons was exorbitant, making them inaccessible to most people. 

Money meant nothing in the face of death. Shi Yu-hyeon wished he could go back in time and slap his past self for dismissing his manager’s suggestion to buy a weapon.

“I didn’t come this far to die like a dog.”

Despite the fear coursing through him, Shi Yu-hyeon refused to be a sitting duck.

The Lich, sensing his fear, raised its scythe, its movements almost leisurely, as if it were toying with its prey. 

And then, something unbelievable happened. Time seemed to slow to a crawl. Shi Yu-hyeon could see each individual movement of the descending scythe as if it were happening in slow motion.

The strange sensation that he had been experiencing in his hands intensified, filling his vision with blinding light. 

“SHRIIIIEEEKKK—”

The Lich’s cry changed. It was no longer a sound of threat, but of pain and anguish. It stumbled backward, its skeletal hand flying to its chest as if trying to ward off an invisible attack. 

“…Light.” 

Shi Yu-hyeon instinctively knew that this light held the power to destroy the Lich. 

He willed the light into existence, shaping it into a blade. 

“KYYYAAAAGH—”

With a swift, practiced motion, he struck, the blade of light slicing through the Lich’s form. The monster shrieked, its body burning where the light touched. 

The commotion drew a crowd, their voices breaking the silence. 

“A Lich?”

“Did someone contact the Association? Why is there a dungeon here…?!”

“Wait, is that guy… an Esper?”

“Since when was there a Light ability user among the high-ranking Espers?”

Shi Yu-hyeon watched as the Lich dissipated before his eyes, the light in his hands fading. It was as if his body, honed by years of kendo practice, had instinctively known what to do. 

“Everyone, get back!”

“Association task force, please clear the area! Maintain a safe distance!”

Alerted by the surge of mana, the Association had dispatched a team. But instead of a horde of monsters, they found a rapidly shrinking dimensional rift and a lone figure standing amidst the fading light. 

“May we ask for your affiliation? Were you the one who neutralized the first monster?”

Dungeons rarely closed on their own. It only happened when the first monster was dealt with before any others could emerge, or when someone ventured inside and destroyed the dungeon core after defeating the boss. 

“…I think so.”

Shi Yu-hyeon stared at the Association officer, his fist still clenched. He could feel it—he had Awakened as an Esper. 

And judging by his performance against the Lich, he was at least A-rank, if not higher. 

“I need to get to the Association.”