A kingdom has fallen, and countless bodies litter the battlefield in the aftermath of its defeat. Ravens scavenge the area, treating it like a feast. One of them surveys its surroundings and sets its eyes upon a slumped figure—a dying woman with a deformed crown and a sizeable hole in her chest. She coughs up blood, making her body shiver in pain. Her end is nigh. It is only a matter
of time, yet all she can think about is how much she regrets trusting the wrong people. Suddenly, she hears footsteps, announcing the arrival of a cloaked being, emanating a radiant aura. This otherworldly goddess walks past the princess and stops before a dying warrior, addressing him.
“Amazing! I did not place much hope, but to think you actually survived this bloody battle…” The princess is astonished, as it dawns on her that the young man is the one known as Phantom Spear. Feebly, he raises his head, only to slump down again, be it out of weakness or reverence. The goddess says that since he kept his promise, it is time for her to keep hers. So what does he want? To be revived?
No. That’s not it. The broken and battered warrior forces his answer out, too faint for the princess to hear, but the goddess hears him. She’s taken aback by his response. What he’s asking for is something she considers impossible. Perhaps if he had accomplished a greater feat than what he had during the battle, she could grant this. But as it stands,
not even a single piece of his flesh can be sent back. He hasn’t done enough to merit such a thing. Unable to speak any longer, Phantom Spear meets her eyes, showing his resolve. The goddess reads his mind and learns that he wants to have his memories and current feelings sent back instead of his body. The goddess contemplates that it’s possible but even that is difficult. “I’m sorry,” she says. The young man’s lips quivers and a tear rolls down his face. Just like that,
his head slumps down, never to rise again. The goddess touches his head, wondering aloud why he would wish for such a thing instead of being revived. To the deity’s surprise, the princess interjects, and she addresses the goddess as the venerable Gula. The princess claims to understand Phantom Spear’s wishes. Since the kingdom has fallen, and the gates are likely taken over by now, dying would be preferable. Even if the wish
would cause him to lose his memories, he would have a clean slate and a place to return to. But no. Gula reveals that he didn’t wish to return. He wouldn’t have a place to call home even if he did. But the goddess regrets all of this. She reveals that the man was born with the fate to lead others, which shocks the princess.
“He’s like a star that shines brighter than any other. It’s just that his demise was caused by his own hands. Why do humans only learn to regret after everything is over?” This stirs something within the princess, and after a few moments, she comes to a decision. She rips a beautifully-crafted purple amulet from her neck and offers it to the goddess, reminding her of the royal oath. The princess can have Gula grant her own wish, but she chooses to use hers for the man’s sake. There’s nothing else she desires; it’s all over. All she wants now is to do right by Phantom Spear.
He had kept his word, so it is only right for the royal family and the goddess to reward him. In turn, Gula reiterates that the fallen warrior cannot return to the past. Only his feelings of yearning and regret can. Even then, he would vaguely remember it like a
fleeting dream. She asks the princess again. Is this what she really wants? Grateful, the princess smiles and says yes. With that, wings sprout from Gula’s back, and strong winds rush around her.
The princess is lifted off the ground and her clothes disintegrate. She sees Phantom Spear rising from the ground, with a bright blue crystal hovering above him. “I cannot wait until I meet the two of you again,” the goddess says. “I will look forward to it.”
The gem rises ever higher, until a crack forms and it shatters. Now we move to another world; ours. Here, in a casino somewhere in Korea, we meet the man of the hour, Seol Jihu—a rugged, tracksuit-wearing brown-haired man, with a five-o’clock shadow and baggy eyes. The atmosphere surrounding the roulette table is tense. He concentrates, until the very last moment, then shoves all of his chips forward. All in on the number zero! Chapter 2 After that genius move, the scrub takes his frustrations out on a poor trash can outside the casino. Two patrons out on a smoke break talk about him so we can have our exposition dump. Jihu started gambling around 3-4 years ago and he became pretty famous in
the area. It’s said that he wasn’t particularly good, but he knew just the right time to come in. But one day, he just started talking about how he couldn’t see it anymore. Whatever that ‘it’ is, it led to Jihu becoming the man he is today. After having his fill of roughing trash cans up, Jihu tries to calm himself. He racks his brain, trying to figure out why ‘it’ isn’t working anymore. Just one more time. If he can get one good run, he can start anew.
The next day, he barges into a cafe and orders coffee. His rude demeanor and rugged appearance make the staff nervous. One of the waitresses addresses him, but she gets cut off by the manager, Yoo Seonhwa, who dutifully prepares Jihu’s order.
If Jotaro Kujo has this thing where he walks out of restaurants without paying if a meal is terrible, Jihu does the lemme-put-roaches-in-my-meal-and-sue-the-restaurant thing. Our hero promptly calls for the manager. With Seonhwa in front of him, Jihu nonchalantly asks for emotional damage compensation. See, he has a bit of a fragile heart, and that roach did no favors to his poor nerves. But then, he starts bringing up their past, randomly mentioning how she broke up with him and stopped talking to him. “How will you make up for it? Manager Yoo Seonhwa?” Jihu bitterly asks. After staring at him in disgust, she relents and transfers money to his account. He
sent her money while she was studying abroad, so now she’s paying him back. But after this, she no longer wants anything to do with him. To Jihu’s disappointment, she only sent him 2 million won, which is roughly worth 1,600 US dollars today. This riles Jihu up. With his insecurities overtaking him, he asks if she’s looking down on him and if she thinks he’s just a hobo now. Seonhwa’s shocked to hear these words coming from Jihu, but he’s not done. When she was having a hard time, he claims
that she stuck onto him, and annoyed him. But now that she’s got a bit of money, she changes? These words finally break Seonhwa’s mask of consummate professionalism. Shaking uncontrollably, she starts crying, leaving Jihu in shock. “What happened to you?” she asks. Before, when everything around her was going awry,
when she was helpless and crying under her desk like a child, Jihu was the one helping her the most. She wanted to just give up once, but she was able to hang on because of him. But now… Now he’s broken apart. How did he become like this? A myriad of emotions crosses his face, but in the end, anger wins out. “It’s all because of that,” he thinks, his eyes wide. “If only I didn’t lose that…” Chapter 3 Jihu looks back to his childhood, remembering fondly that he was born with a special ability. By concentrating on his eyes, he was able to see things lit up with green lights. People, animals, objects—you name it. In a way, the lights foretold that nothing would happen
if he was involved with anything that is magically lit green. However, if he was involved with things without the lights, more than half the time, something bad would happen. In other words, there’s a less than 50% chance something could happen. Later in life, Jihu chose the casino to test this special ability. For the first year,
he had the goddess of fortune on his side. One time, he started with a hundred thousand won, and in just 2 days, he had 5 million won. Days went by when he had an endless amount of money, but then, as he used his ability more frequently, he started to suffer from migraines and insomnia. The green light that used to be visible without much effort, started taking a few minutes of concentration for it to show very faintly. And then, one day, he fell seriously ill, causing him to lose his special ability entirely. Unfortunately,
by that point, gambling was already in his bones. He couldn’t stop. Not even if he wanted to. Eventually, he lost everything he had, including Yoo Seonhwa. The evening after his confrontation with her, Jihu finds himself sitting alone by a riverbank, nursing a bottle of dubious liquor. He checks the wad of money in his pocket, trying to figure out how to use it to set everything back the way it was, but no good ideas come to him. In time, he drifts off to sleep. As he snores, bright blue light gathers above his face, forms into a large gem, and melds with his head. Phantom Spear’s feelings and memories flood his mind,
showing him visions of rampaging monsters, of fighting them with a spear in hand, a solemn conversation with a goddess, and his final moments. “I want to start over…!” The words ring in his head. The memory of what the dying man wished for startles him awake. Jihu sits up. He is short of breath and his head aches tremendously. It is worse than a hangover. “What kind of sick dream was that?” He lights up a cigarette to calm his nerves.
“Why is my heart in such pain?” He remembers Seonhwa, crying, and regret fills him. Finally, he makes up his mind and stands up, intent on giving her the money back. Speaking of which, better count those, just in case. But wait… He does not have it. His pockets are empty.
Chapter 4 Jihu checks everywhere but the cash is nowhere in sight. Was it taken while he was sleeping? Maybe… Maybe footage of the theft was caught on CCTV. He turns towards a lamp post but sees no camera there. What luck…
He screams his frustrations at the sky, but, as usual, there is no answer. Dispirited, his posture slumps. That money was his last ray of hope, and now it’s gone. Jihu finds himself crying. His feet unconsciously take him down into the river. His mind is filled with thoughts of succumbing to its embrace. Then, as his tears strike the water, a speck of green light illuminates the surface. As more tears fall, the more his surroundings appear green. “It’s back? How come?” Jihu’s contemplation is interrupted by the arrival of a bespectacled woman, dressed in corporate attire. She declares to him that she’s here to give consultation. Jihu recalls seeing this exact same scene in a dream before and thinks of it as deja vu.
The woman urges him to get out of the river and introduces herself as Hannah Kim, team leader at Shinyung Medicine. As Jihu reads her business card, the words “meat shield” curiously rises to the surface of his mind. Why did he just think of that? What does that even mean? Short for time, Hannah gets right to the point. She unslings her bag and opens it, showing Jihu that it was full of cash. This is an invitation to gamble with her. Jihu stares at the bag of money and considers taking it, but ultimately, he declines, saying that he quit gambling.
He asks how she knows him, but she deflects the question, saying it does not matter. Instead, she tells him he can win all of that money with just one round, and mentions he had quite a debt. Jihu, not to be outdone in deflecting, presses her until she relents. She informs him that she did some background research on him and that she wants to hire him for some undisclosed business. Jihu considers her offer, contemplating why Shinyung wants him,
but his thoughts continue to drift to the words “meat shield”. Something is off. Jihu bluntly refuses the offer to Hannah’s shock, so she pleads. Why not just hear her out? He can decide after he listens to the terms. What’s there to lose?
Jihu is determined, however. Hannah takes out her phone and reads that, coincidentally the spot she offered Jihu had just been filled. She apologizes for the inconvenience and wishes him the best of luck. Jihu watches her go but then stops her.
“As long as it’s not a contract…” he blurts out. “I’m willing to listen if it’s not a contract. I want an invitation instead.” Chapter 5 Jihu recalls his dream. In it, he was fighting a giant. Just as it was about to clobber him with an iron ball, he jumps and pierces its heart with his golden spear. A horde of monsters came charging after. He kept fighting and fighting, desperately to the end. In his final moments, he made a plea to the goddess, wanting to start over. That dream… That long long dream started with an encounter with Hannah Kim.
Back to the present, Hannah finds it odd that Jihu wants an invitation rather than a contract. She asks if he was already from that side, but she answers her own question. If Jihu has already been there once, there would be an aura of a marker left on him. He was clean though. No aura. No anything. The only remaining possibility, she thinks, is that someone else has approached Jihu first. That could explain why he knows how to differentiate between an invitation and a contract. Jihu latches on to the mention of an invitation and reiterates that he wants one. In turn, Hannah demands an
explanation as to why she should use her precious invitation on a worthless gambler like him. “It’ll be problematic for you if you didn’t,” he explains. Shinyoung Corp. has been appearing on the news quite frequently, ever since they developed a groundbreaking drug a few years ago. Jihu suspects that it is somehow tied to that other world. This wild guess irks Hannah. She thinks what he’s saying is
a joke. People wouldn’t listen to the ramblings of a crazy gambler. Dismissively, Jihu notes that her superiors would not think him so crazy, given that Hannah had spilled their secrets and failed to form a contract with him. Hannah grows even more furious, but Jihu just ignores that. He assures
her that he would not go tattling on her. All he wants is an invitation. Hannah denies having the power to give invitations and insists on being able to only form contracts. But Jihu has a sharp memory. He reminds her that she mentioned her precious invitation before. Hannah sighs. She recalls a conversation between her and the goddess Gula, who gave her a golden magical stamp. Gula foretold that the stamp will be used soon, telling Hannah that she’ll find herself in a situation where she’d have no choice but to use it.
“Goddess be damned! That situation was referring to this?” Hannah contemplates again. She now sees Jihu as a talent instead of a slave. He gives off the vibe of a veteran who has spent years in the other world, not to mention Gula’s prophecy. Finally, Hannah relents. She gives Jihu conditions for the invitation. First, she makes him swear that he has never entered that world before. Jihu swears this without giving it much thought.
Second, he needs to reveal his secrets to her—who he met and what he heard. This, Jihu refuses. He is intent on keeping his dreams a secret for the time being. An ace in the hole. In response, Hannah mentions a special invitation. This piques Jihu’s interest, but he is adamant about keeping silent.
Hannah sighs again, exasperated. She gives him one last condition. If he ends up entering, he must strike a deal with her first before anybody else. As long as he wasn’t a total nitwit, he shouldn’t have a problem entering. She can make it happen, no matter what. Finally, Jihu accepts her terms. Hannah takes out the golden stamp from her bag, which Jihu finds perplexing. She stalks him like a jungle cat, grabs hold of his arm, and shouts. “It’s my life, you bastard!” Hannah presses the magical artifact on Jihu’s palm, and his hand glows.
Chapter 6 Jihu sees a magical imprint in the center of his palm, shining bright as day, then it grows fainter and fainter until it is no longer visible. Hannah hands him an ornate envelope and informs him that the gate opens at 10:30 that evening, and she tells him to take care of whatever he needs to by then. Before she parts, she encourages him to do whatever he can to stay alive, in the most tsundere way possible, swearing she’ll chase him down if he dies on her. She turns to walk away but then remembers something else. She takes out a wad of cash from her bag and tosses it at him. The same one that disappeared from his pockets earlier.
Jihu checks his phone and sees that it is already 9:30. Only an hour left. Fortunately, he only has one thing to take care of before leaving. He travels back to the cafe, but when he shows his face there, Seonhwa instantly starts berating him, thinking he’s back to extort her some more. She tells him to leave and threatens to call the police for disturbance of business. Jihu tries to explain why he’s there, but Seonhwa isn’t interested in whatever he’s about to say, Having nothing to say to him, she storms away into the back room. The cafe staff blocks Jihu’s way, so he is unable to follow. He checks the time again and sees that he has less than 5 minutes left. Having no choice,
he hands the money to the waitresses and asks them to give it to his ex. A few minutes later, Seonhwa emerges and learns of what Jihu did. Confused, she exits the cafe and searches for him. Just as she is about to reach the alley that he went to, a magical gate opened up and transported Jihu elsewhere. All that’s left for her to find there
is his cigarette and his phone. There is an unsent message in it for her—the start of an apology. Sometime later, Jihu surprisingly finds himself in his unkempt apartment. He looks out his window and notices that there’s no one on the street outside. A phone then beeps, indicating a notification from someone called the guide.
Chapter 7 Flabbergasted, Jihu stares at the phone, which isn’t his. As he grabs it, the phone recognizes him somehow and notifies him that user registration has been completed. The message on the phone instructs him to go to the Paradise High School Auditorium in 9 minutes and 45 seconds, and it includes a map. He makes his way there, after a quick wardrobe change. On his way, he notes again that the streets are devoid of people. The first person
he sees is a blonde foreign woman standing outside the auditorium. He tries to get in, but she denies him entry. She wants something from him. But what? Fortunately, a brunette helpfully informs him that a contract needs to be shown prior to entering. Jihu peeks inside and sees that many others are already there. Some laugh at his perceived cluelessness and tactlessness. He hands the foreign woman the envelope that Hannah gave him. She eagerly reads it, then visibly trembles. Curiously, the woman bows to Jihu and leads him to a
seat inside. The other people in the auditorium take notice of this. They murmur that there was no VIP treatment for anyone else. Jihu sits down and quietly observes the people around him, wondering who they are. Seven are seated with him. The rest have not been given chairs. Suddenly,
he gets another splitting migraine, and the beating of his heart grows louder. Another scene from his dream pops up in his mind. He recalls standing on the right side of the room, with the larger crowd. The situation from the dream has changed. His thoughts are interrupted by the sound of the doors closing abruptly, followed by the sudden appearance of a man at the podium, dressed like a Street Fighter villain. He introduces himself as the guide, Han, and instructs them to think of the phrase “Status Window” or say it aloud.
He assures everyone that only the user can see it unless others are given explicit permission. Jihu follows the instruction, along with everyone else. Suddenly, a greenish floating screen pops up before him, detailing when he was summoned, what his marking grade is, his biometrics, his class level, and many other things. Suddenly, a middle-aged man in a grey suit audibly wonders what an innate ability is. Han explains that humans naturally don’t have any, and tells the man not to worry about it.
Jihu looks at his status window and is surprised to learn that he has 2 innate abilities; Future Vision, and another that shows up as a pair of question marks. Chapter 8 He assumes that Future Vision is probably related to his dreams. But what about the question marks? Do those signify the special green-light-seeing ability that he was born with? He considers asking Han, but he remains mum, seeing no reason to reveal his gifts. Not yet, at least. Feeling short on time, Han proceeds to explain the next step, and asks everyone to activate their marking grade. The guests stare at each other at first,
unsure of what to do, until finally, a girl named Lee Seol-Ah speaks. “Marking grade, activate.” A bronze-colored symbol pops up near her head, so her brother Lee Sung-Jin follows suit.
Aside from them, there are three others with bronze markings. Lee Hyung-Sik, Jung Min-Woo, and Hyun Sang-Min. The guide, Han, grabs five pieces of parchment and throws them sideways. They glow for a moment and evolve like Pokemon into bronze-colored satchels. Each bag contains a random box, and they could also contain an invitee bonus. As Han explains this, the blonde woman from the entrance picks them up and distributes them to the bronze-markers. Han advises that a bonus be used as soon as they are
received. He believes that it would be a pity to die before getting the chance to use them. Han then gleefully turns his attention to two individuals with silver markings; a stylish man named Kang Suk, and a hooded woman named Yoon Seo-Ra. For them, Han conjures a silver satchel each, both of which contain two random boxes. To Han’s delight, Yoon Seo-Ra’s satchel contains an invitee bonus.
The guide then notices Jihu, the last of the seated guests, and asks him to activate his marking grade. Han’s eyes grow wide and his jaw drops in shock as he sees a gold marking floating over Jihu’s head. Han has never seen one before. And in all of history, there has only been one other person with a gold marking. Han regains his composure after his blonde companion elbows him. The people around Jihu look on jealously. Even Han thinks that he must be an important individual. For Jihu, a golden satchel is conjured. As Jihu opens it, he receives the following notifications:
- Granted 5,000 Survivor Points - Obtained Mark of Survival - Updated the Diary of a Certain Student He then finds 3 glowing blue boxes inside and opens one, upon Han’s insistence. More messages flood his window. - Innate ability 'Future Vision' is reacting to the awakening of a new ability. - Innate ability '?' evolved to 'Nine Eyes'. - Awakening central direction (1) of innate ability 'Nine Eyes'. - Green - General Observation Jihu eyes glow green. He glances sideways and notices that he is able to see the status windows
of Yoon Seo-Ra, Lee Sung-Jin, and Lee Seol-Ah. Didn’t Han say no one else can see another’s status window unless given explicit permission? Why can he see other people’s windows? As he contemplates this, Jihu opens the other two boxes. Again, more messages pop up. - Obtained scroll. - Evolving innate ability ‘Nine Eyes’. - Yellow - Attention required. - Orange - Do not approach. - Red - Immediate retreat recommended.
Jihu’s eyes change color in quick succession, then a blinding light flashes before him. Memories of an older woman, possibly his mother, bubble up in his mind. He remembers her praising the beauty of his eyes, which she likens to a rainbow. The vision disappears, and he is startled by Han’s loud voice. The guide has a weird look on his face like he’s expecting something special. Jihu confirms to him that he has
opened all of his boxes. With that, Han motions that they begin the tutorial round, but he is interrupted by someone asking him to wait. Chapter 9 The request comes from Shin Sang-Ah, the helpful brunette from the entrance. She questions why no one else received bags. With a hint of irritation, Han explains that bonuses are only for those who were invited.
Sang-Ah reasons that the people without seats were invited too, but Han corrects her. The eight people who received bags were invited after careful consideration. Everyone else was dragged in by their contracts. Han considers that to be enough of an explanation, which raises an uproar. The curious middle-aged man from earlier demands that he explains better. Han brushes off their requests and tells them it’s already too late. Instead of providing answers, he sends all of them the following message.
- Message from the guide. - Starting tutorial’s first mission: ‘Escape the auditorium’. - Updated the diary of a certain student - 1. Escape from the auditorium and arrive at the 2nd floor waiting area of the main school building. - 2. Remaining time: 3:59:38 While everyone is reading, Han bids them all good luck and disappears with the blonde woman. It is as if Scotty beamed them up.
The crowd is startled by this, but that is the least of their problems. A thunderous boom reverberates through the room, as something large hits the doors. Jihu uses his innate ability ‘Nine Eyes’ and sees the doors marked by an orange light. That means ‘Do not approach.’ The doors are struck again, making one of the hinges fly off. Whatever’s outside has got people looking on in terror, too overwhelmed to move. Not Lee Seol-Ah
though. She rushes past the crowd and bars the doors with a folding chair. Several men, including Hyun Sang-Min, follow her lead and try to hold the doors. The doors get hit once more, flinging three men off. Lee Hyung-Sik, Jung Min-Woo, and Kang Suk jump in to take their places. Meanwhile, Jihu has not moved an inch. He is too busy reading the 2nd page of the ‘Diary of a Certain Student’, which reads: - There was only one door for the auditorium. - We somehow blocked it, but we also ended
up blocking our only way out. - The door we had desperately blocked became useless. - During the chaos, I was able to somehow discover the 'hole'. Just then, the banging at the doors suddenly ceases. The people by the doors collectively sigh in relief.
Suk gathers his goons Hyung-Sik, and Min-Woo, and suggests they start searching the area. Seconds later, the curious middle-aged man calls to him, asking him what he is planning. Suk simply says he plans to investigate, and points to Yoon Seo-Ra, who appears to already be investigating the stage area. Unfortunately, Suk’s answer is not enough for the middle-aged man. He
next inquires what Suk is looking for. The stylish man admittedly responds that he has no clue. The door is blocked so they got to find anything they can. The middle-aged man pounces at this, proposing to help Suk’s little band. Getting increasingly annoyed, Suk tells the man to do whatever he likes. He isn’t there to order people around.
Too slow or too stubborn to get the hint, the middle-aged man suggests they team up. This, Suk shuts down immediately. He and his lackeys walk away, ignoring the ire of the man in the suit. Suddenly, someone calls Suk a petty loser. He sighs and turns to see that it is Shin Sang-Ah.
She starts berating him, reminding him that there are women and children in the auditorium. Suk is unfazed, however, even with all eyes on him. He scoffs and says his group already has too much on their plate. Sang-Ah jumps on this, saying that’s why they offered to help. But Suk just brushes this off. He is too set on seeing everyone who did not receive bags and bonuses as useless baggage, who will try to leech off of him. Sang-Ah trembles in anger. Before she could respond, Lee Seol-Ah interjects,
siding with the majority. Suk answers this by inviting her and her brother to join his team instead, which irks Sang-Ah some more. Suk sees the siblings as useful because they weren’t just dragged in by their contracts. He then addresses Jihu and extends the same invitation. With Jihu at his side, he suspects that they would get the tutorial over with easily. Noticing everyone looking at him again, Jihu reactivates ‘Nine Eyes’. Most of the crowd appears green to him, as well as the now-silent doors. On the other hand, Kang Suk appears orange,
and Lee Seol-Ah appears colorless. And then he saw red, a warning to retreat immediately. Chapter 10 The entire auditorium shakes. People panic as debris fall from the rafters. Sang-Min thinks it’s an earthquake, but Jihu knows better. With eyes transfixed on the red floorboards, he warns everyone to run. They stampede toward the doors, causing Lee Sung-Jin to twist an ankle and fall. His sister, Seol-Ah, runs back to him and helps him regain his footing.
Suddenly, the hardwood floor bursts open. Massive hooks shoot out of it, flailing wildly. The nearby way-too-nosey middle-aged man in the suit looks on in terror. One of the hooks flies toward Sung-Jin, but his sister pushes him out of the way and gets hooked instead. She gets dragged head-first into the hole. Sung-Jin, Sang-Min, Sang-Ah, and the man in the suit instinctively sprint toward the hole to grab Seol-Ah’s legs. They try to pull her out but their
combined strength isn’t enough. They call for help, but everyone else is either too stunned to move or is too busy getting as far from the hole as possible. Even Jihu is motionless. Sung-Jin’s pleas for help direct all attention to him. They stare, expecting him to do something just because he’s a gold-marker. Eventually,
the pressure gets to him, so he starts running to the hole. Before he could reach it, a horrifying shriek is heard. All of a sudden, Seol-Ah’s body gets twisted so forcefully by whatever had pulled her in, that everyone who was holding on to her gets shaken off. There was a loud creak, and then… silence. Seol-Ah’s lower body stops twitching and drops to the floor. Distraught,
Sung-Jin dashes to the hole and pulls his sister out, only to find that most of her upper body is missing. Horror envelops everyone’s faces. Then, the culprit emerges from the hole—a lanky humanoid monster, baring its sharp teeth at them, dripping blood. It is easily twice as tall as any man, its feet are clawed, and its fingers end in stringed hooks. People run to the door and try to get it open. Seo-Ra is too far from it,
so she decides to hide behind the podium. One of Suk’s bronze-marked goons takes the folding chair and hurls it at the monster, but it is not very effective. The monster easily deflects the chair with its hooks, breaking it. With everyone gathered by the doors, the monster leaps towards them and lands on one poor soul, crushing his back in the process. And then the monster indiscriminately begins hacking at everyone within reach.
Fortunately, Suk finally gets the doors open. People rush out, following him, and so does Jihu. Surprisingly, he finds himself very calm, even with people around him getting sliced. “Why am I so calm…?” He asks himself. “Because it’s so unrealistic?” He notices the folding chair and stops to kick up an arm-length metal bar that broke off of it. Its weight feels natural to him. Jihu expertly gives the bar a twirl, like he had practiced that same maneuver countless times. “No,” he thinks. “The answer is already out there.”
The monster just isn’t any beast, but he shows no fear of facing it alone. He channels Phantom Spear and lets his muscle memory take over, taking a familiar fighting stance. Chapter 11 Everyone living within sight has managed to get away. Kang Suk leads his men to the left, and the others take the opposite path. However, none of them are of
any concern to Jihu at the moment. He is focused only on what’s in front of him. The monster growls at him, drooling at the prospect of his demise. Patiently, Jihu waits for the monster to make the first move. The monster indulges him, swinging its hooks. Jihu masterfully parries the attack, and the monster falls back, dumbfounded. Phantom Spear is here, and his name is Seol Jihu.
2023-02-20