He Obtains OP Rare Ability Of Future Vision Seeing All Paths

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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

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