Chapter 15

Mokyeong-dong was the district hosting Special Forces Headquarters. Lee Yi-ho rattled off the name of a coffee shop near the main building. While known as a popular haunt for junior officers, summoning him to a public tearoom rather than his official office was peculiar.

“Understood, sir. Good day, Captain,” Myeong-joo muttered tightly.

Arguing about why he had to go would only run up the phone bill, and he was already conscious of his landlady’s presence. Boiling with anger, Myeong-joo set down the receiver, thanked the woman for the phone call, and stepped out the front entrance.

His plan to sleep peacefully on his rare day off until his sisters returned had been utterly ruined. If you want to see me, come here yourself, you son of a bitch. Throwing on street clothes, Myeong-joo mounted his bicycle. Hunger gnawed at his belly, but he refused to touch the money from the boss. Perhaps he should have eaten the leftover chicken, yet forcing down cold meat risked vomiting up precious food. If only he could buy a couple of warm dumplings on the way.

With a heavy sigh, Myeong-joo began pumping the pedals.

He parked his bicycle in an alley adjacent to the coffee shop. Fearing someone might haul it to a junkyard to barter for taffy, Myeong-joo secured it with a sturdy chain lock before hurrying up the concrete stairs and pushing open the coffee shop door.

“Mr. Lee Yi-ho?” the waitress replied, shaking her head. “He hasn’t arrived yet.”

The employee’s response caught him off guard. The appointed time was fast approaching, yet there was no sign of the man. He could have ordered a cup of herbal tea to pass the time, but he lacked the pocket money to spare. If Yi-ho arrived late and refused to cover his drink, Myeong-joo would be left washing dishes in the kitchen.

Leaving word that he would return shortly, Myeong-joo descended the stairs. He intended to wait in the alley and head back up the moment he spotted Yi-ho approaching.

“Dammit, calling someone out and then showing up late…” he muttered under his breath.

Curses flowed freely. With his body in miserable shape, squatting on the pavement chilled his backside. If only someone walked by from whom he could bum a cigarette. As if summoned by the idle thought, a strange noise reached his ears from the far end of the alley.

“Hm? Is someone there?”

The passage beside the coffee shop was barely wide enough to park a bicycle, its dead end cluttered and pitch-black. Wondering who could be making a racket in such a filthy corner, his curiosity flared briefly, but receiving no reply, he assumed it was a stray dog or cat.

Just as Myeong-joo turned his gaze back toward the avenue where Yi-ho was expected to appear, a loud crash echoed, followed by the clatter of collapsing debris. It was a noise far too violent to ignore.

“What in the world…?” he murmured.

Brushing the dust off his trousers, Myeong-joo rose and moved toward the sound. Perhaps an elderly man drunk in broad daylight had collapsed. Driven by the impulse to offer a helping hand despite his own aching joints, he stepped into the shadows.

What appeared to be a dead end from the street actually bent around an obscure corner. Rounding it might lead to a secondary lane or an abandoned storage shed. Myeong-joo stepped forward without suspicion, only to gasp sharply in shock.

Heavy, rasping breaths came through the gloom, far louder than those of any human or ordinary beast. Myeong-joo stared upward in a daze. A colossal demonic fiend towered before him, easily nine feet tall.

“Shit…!”

He spun on his heel to flee. As he frantically calculated the nearest guard post, something jarred. This was right beside Special Forces Headquarters; a demonic fiend should never have gone unnoticed here. Ordinarily, the moment one appeared in central Seowon, Aberrants assigned to detection sensed its wavelength and sirens sounded at once. Yet when he had stepped out of the coffee shop, the streets had been perfectly calm.

“Ugh!”

His attempt to flee was effortlessly thwarted as a massive hand wrapped around his waist, snaring him like a noose.

“Let go…!” Myeong-joo cried in agony.

He needed to scream for help, but the grip around his ribs squeezed the air from his lungs, making even a shout impossible. The demonic fiend dragged the struggling Myeong-joo deeper into the alley, its unnaturally long fingers locked around his waist.

“Ugh, let… go…”

The creature made no sound in return, its rasping breath continuing steadily. Struggling with all his strength to break free, Myeong-joo could barely take in its appearance. One thing registered clearly: its body was unexpectedly warm, not reptile-cold. It seemed modeled after some great predatory beast rather than a bird or other cold-blooded creature.

Twisting his torso, Myeong-joo managed to scoop up a broken brick from the pavement and smashed it down onto the creature’s wrist with a sickening crunch.

“Let go of me!” he shouted furiously.

Though dark blood erupted from the wound, the beast didn’t even flinch, plunging Myeong-joo into despair. Had he been an Aberrant, he might have fought, but as a Harmonizer, he lacked any lethal power. Was he destined to die here? With the marriage to Yi-tan unresolved and no money secured, dying now meant he could never close his eyes in peace for worrying about his sisters. He flailed desperately.

Then, astonishingly, the demonic fiend lowered him gently to the ground.

Released from midair, Myeong-joo bolted for the corner, only to be scooped up once more. Fury erupted through his panic. Driving the sharp edge of the brick into the back of the creature’s hand, he twisted around to smash it squarely against the demonic fiend’s jaw. If the blow landed cleanly, it might break its balance long enough for him to escape.

“…What?”

Yet Myeong-joo froze mid-strike.

Releasing him completely, the demonic fiend raised a long index finger to its own lips—a universal gesture for silence.

Myeong-joo’s brows furrowed in disbelief. While demonic fiends capable of human speech or mimicry were known, he had never witnessed one attempt communication in so civilized a manner. Breathing calmly, it seemed to indicate that if he remained quiet, it would let him leave unharmed, entirely unlike ordinary demonic fiends that ripped humans to shreds on sight.

“…What are you?” Myeong-joo whispered.

Trying to think logically, Myeong-joo kept his grip tight on the bloodied brick. Lowering his guard could prove fatal. Before turning back the clock, the demonic fiend that had tempted him had possessed cunning psychological tricks; this creature might easily be another master of deceit.

The demonic fiend gazed quietly at Myeong-joo as the human’s mind raced for survival. Showing no aggressive intent, it withdrew both arms and simply observed him, affording Myeong-joo a chance to scrutinize its appearance.

Bizarre as it felt, the creature exuded none of the sinister malice typical of demonic fiends. Its elongated, slit eyes possessed no whites, filled entirely with olive-green irises that gleamed like polished agate. A flowing golden mane cascaded down its shoulders; standing bipedally like a human, it possessed a long tail and a single prominent fang protruding from one side of its maw.

Meeting Myeong-joo’s searching gaze, the demonic fiend waved its hand dismissively, clearly gesturing for him to leave.

“Ha…” Myeong-joo breathed in disbelief.

Speechless disbelief washed over him. Demonic fiends were fundamentally hostile to human life, driven solely to slaughter as many as possible. Even severed in half, they would muster their dying strength to snap at a human’s jugular. Yet this demonic fiend was waving him away as if granting him safe passage.

Myeong-joo kept the brick raised in a defensive stance. “What are you?”

An icy chill crept down his neck at the unknown entity. Still gripping the bloodstained brick, Myeong-joo glared with fierce wariness. Watching him placidly, the demonic fiend began to retreat slowly into the dark.

“I asked what you are!” he shouted.

Its silence despite evident intelligence felt profoundly eerie. Should he scream for help now? Yet even if capital defense units rushed at full speed, they could never outpace those razor talons slashing across his throat.

The creature took another step back, remaining completely silent as it continued to move into the darkness. Just as it was about to hit the wall, a large hollow space appeared behind it, resembling a black pupil. The demonic fiend silently vanished into that void and disappeared.

“What just happened…?” he breathed into the silence.

Left alone in the alley, Myeong-joo blinked in complete bewilderment. He couldn’t comprehend what had just happened. The brick in his hand was still smeared with the dark blood of the demonic fiend. He tossed it aside onto the pavement and let out a shuddering sigh.

Brushing grime from his clothes, Myeong-joo replayed the inexplicable encounter, but he remained as confused as ever. A demonic fiend sparing someone who wasn’t even an Aberrant made no sense; it certainly hadn’t mistaken him for the stronger creature. Still puzzled, he stepped out of the alley—and a voice stopped him.

“Mr. Cha Myeong-joo?”

A woman in military uniform stood before him. Rubbing the hand grazed by the brick, Myeong-joo looked up to see an exceptionally tall officer.

“Yes, I am Cha Myeong-joo…” he answered hesitantly.

“Please come with me,” she said crisply. “The Lieutenant sent me.”

Mentioning only “the Lieutenant” without a surname clearly pointed to Lee Yi-tan. Her face was entirely unfamiliar; having thought he knew most of Yi-tan’s inner circle in his past life, this woman had never been among them.

Pausing in hesitation, Myeong-joo spoke up. “I am scheduled to meet Major Lee here.”

“I am aware,” she replied impassively. “Let us depart.”

Her explanation ended there. Angling her posture with precise military discipline, she indicated the direction they were to take, fixing him with an expressionless stare. Pressed by her silent urgency, Myeong-joo glanced awkwardly back toward the alley.

“Well, I parked my bicycle over there.”

“We will deliver it to your residence,” she answered smoothly.

Myeong-joo blinked. “Wait, then what am I supposed to ride when returning home?”

She offered no answer, only a cold silence. Ignoring Myeong-joo’s protests, the woman glanced down at her wristwatch and gave a sharp nod of her chin, gesturing for him to follow. Since she claimed Lee Yi-tan had sent her, he had no choice but to comply.

In the end, Myeong-joo climbed into the sedan parked at the curb. Contrary to her pristine uniform and pomaded hair that suggested meticulous discipline, her driving was terrifyingly aggressive. When she narrowly missed an elderly gentleman wearing a horsehair hat crossing the road, Myeong-joo’s heart nearly stopped. Outside the window, the old man shook his white beard in fury, thrusting his walking cane toward the heavens. Horrified that a slight slip might have dispatched the elder to the yellow springs ahead of his time, Myeong-joo blanched with dread.

“…Is it truly that urgent?” he asked, clutching the dashboard.

The officer remained silent.

With a sigh, Myeong-joo endured the rest of the terrifying ride until they pulled up before Special Forces Headquarters in Mokyeong-dong. She climbed out first, tossed the keys to a regular soldier hurrying toward them, and strode into the lobby. Myeong-joo gave the flustered man a brief nod and followed. The guards did not even question his presence, which suggested the woman held considerable authority here. Her insignia marked her as a second lieutenant. He wondered whether she had been commissioned alongside Yi-tan.

“This way.” She indicated the lift.

Leading Myeong-joo to the elevator, she pressed the call button for the lower levels, then lapsed into unbroken silence. Left with nothing else to do, Myeong-joo waited for the car to arrive.

They boarded the elevator the moment the doors parted. When she pressed a button, the doors sealed, and the lift began moving without illuminating any floor indicators. Though he could not gauge the exact direction, a sudden sinking sensation in his gut suggested they were descending deep underground.

The elevator traveled for an unusually long time before coming to a halt. A trip to the second or third basement level would never have taken this long. That the headquarters concealed such a subterranean vault was news to him; even during his own years in uniform, he had never experienced anything like this.

As the doors slid open, the woman nodded once more in place of spoken instructions. Finding her exceedingly taciturn, Myeong-joo shot her a sideways glance before stepping out. With her boots clicking closely behind him, he felt an instinctive urge to hasten his pace like a man being pursued.