At his shocking declaration, the warehouse fell deathly silent in an instant. These were people who had severed the heads of countless monsters, yet Park Ji-chan’s words struck them with an indescribable sense of horror.
It was as if Pandora’s box had been opened—the air turned icy cold. Amid it all, Park Ji-chan leisurely watched their reactions, like a man who had just cracked a good joke, or a serpent offering the forbidden fruit.
“I can’t listen to this anymore.”
Breaking the silence, Park Soo-jin spoke in a frigid voice. As if waking from a dream, several hunters cleared their throats awkwardly. Lim Chang-won chimed in beside him.
“Before you give up being human, wouldn’t it be better to give up being a hunter instead?”
His voice carried pity and sympathy. Park Ji-chan’s face twisted grotesquely.
He had sworn to climb back to the very top from where he had fallen. He believed that if he did, no one would dare look down on him again—and for a while, that belief had worked.
Until this very moment.
In truth, he hadn’t been falling at all—he had merely remained where he was. But blinded by rankings, Park Ji-chan never realized it.
He was pushed aside because that was simply how the world worked: generations of hunters changed. Having learned only how to climb upward, he never learned how to step down even once.
His refusal to accept reality spurred him on, driving him to commit ugly deeds. From the bottom, it was never hard to fall even lower.
Some depths were so dark that you forgot you were standing in them at all.
“What do you know to be spouting such crap?”
Grinding his teeth, Park Ji-chan spat the words out. He already knew it himself—he could never return to how things used to be.
Nothing about him was intact anymore. His body, already addicted, was wracked with constant craving, and the wrist where he had injected himself throbbed painfully, like a cramp.
The arm that no longer obeyed his will began to convulse, twitching violently. In a panic, Park Ji-chan hid it behind his back and clamped it down with his other hand, squeezing mercilessly until dark bruises bloomed.
Thud-thud-thud-thud-thud.
From far away came the sound of a helicopter.
“f*ck. Took you long enough.”
Muttering to himself, Park Ji-chan curled his lips into a grin. It was clearly a helicopter sent by the Association Chairman in response to his emergency signal.
“You people really need to learn how the world works.”
Mocking those flustered by the helicopter’s approach, Park Ji-chan strode toward the exit. At that moment—bang!—a small explosion went off near him.
The shockwave shoved him backward. Shrapnel grazed his cheek, drawing blood. Wiping it away with the back of his hand, Park Ji-chan scanned the area with a razor-sharp glare.
“Who the f*ck was that?”
“Me, fucker.”
It was Lee Hye-rin. Without waiting to be stopped, she had unleashed her ability at him. Her face was flushed crimson, her eyes burning red with rage.
“Hah, is it because you’re young? Bold little thing. I heard you’re making quite a name for yourself in Helios… but weren’t you coddled a bit too much? Don’t you know to respect your elders?”
“Respect my ass.”
Shin Yoon-jae rushed forward and pulled Lee Hye-rin back, but her legs stayed firmly planted, refusing to yield. Her audacity began to pique even Park Ji-chan’s interest.
Tilting his head askew, Park Ji-chan spoke as if offering benevolent advice.
“If I had one piece of advice for you, it’d be this—hunters need to know themselves better than anyone.”
“What?”
“Know your place. Know when to step up—and when not to.”
Sensing the murderous intent in his gaze, Shin Yoon-jae stepped in front of Lee Hye-rin. Park Ji-chan looked between the two, then snorted.
From behind them, Lim Chang-won cut in lightly.
“If anyone doesn’t know their place, it’s you. Instead of worrying about someone else’s kids, maybe worry about your own. They’re probably still sprawled out on the cold floor. Don’t worry too much though—we still had enough hunter ethics left not to use our abilities on them.”
Because he was usually calm and decisive, the Helios guild members tried—and failed—to hide their shock at their guild leader’s words.
Realizing belatedly what he’d said, Lim Chang-won flushed slightly and added an excuse that barely passed for one.
“…Selene’s guild leader told me to.”
“As expected of our unni!”
From within the crowd, Chae Min-jung shouted proudly.
Just as the tense atmosphere began to ease, a fierce sand-laden wind rushed through the broken doorway—the helicopter had arrived nearby.
Park Ji-chan walked forward as if there were no wind at all. Shin Yoon-jae followed, blocking the gusts, but Park Ji-chan had already crossed the threshold.
He clicked his tongue as he looked at his collapsed guild members near the door. The weak were useless. Even if they woke up, they’d be expelled from the guild anyway.
Better to leave them be than let them become a nuisance. With that thought, Park Ji-chan stepped past them. The helicopter’s roar was deafening, rattling his entire body.
The rising sun was blotted out by the helicopter, casting a long shadow. Park Ji-chan lifted his head. At first, he assumed it was hovering because there was nowhere to land.
“…What.”
But someone inside the helicopter was aiming a gun straight at him. Cutting through the roar of the wind came a firm, shouted declaration.
“This is the Hunter Association’s Civilian Special Forces. We have been deployed in response to an awakened rampage incident.”
Those two sentences alone explained everything. Forcing his twitching lips into a smile, Park Ji-chan replied,
“Then you’ve got the wrong place. The awakened rampage isn’t happening here, is it?”
No one here had gone berserk—yet. But the fully armed unit had no intention of listening.
“In the event of an awakened rampage, armed suppression is authorized. If civilian casualties are extensive or control is impossible, the target is to be eliminated.”
It was obvious whose words those were. Listening as if they were a loudspeaker, Park Ji-chan could only stare blankly.
From the moment those words were spoken, this place became a rampage scene. The setup was painfully obvious. And realizing that he himself was included in that setup made Park Ji-chan laugh hollowly, like air had filled his lungs.
“Ah… I should’ve known better what to believe. Turning a person into a joke in an instant.”
No matter what he said, the guns trained on him didn’t waver. If anything, another barrel appeared over a soldier’s shoulder.
“So which one of us is the rampager? Don’t tell me—it’s me?”
“……”
“Guess it is.”
The Hunter Association’s goal was to cut off the tail. It wasn’t unheard of in this world—and he’d known all along that he was being used for exactly this purpose.
Even knowing that, he’d climbed onto their palm anyway…
“Ah. This feels worse than I expected.”
It wasn’t like it didn’t piss him off. Park Ji-chan’s eyes sharpened as he stared down the black gun barrels, murmuring to himself.
“Then I’ll just play along, right? Since you say I’m rampaging anyway.”
At that moment, wind surged toward the helicopter like crashing waves. Those who had followed him out froze, staring in confusion at the scene before them.
They had been certain Park Ji-chan’s reinforcements had arrived—but the situation was clearly not unfolding as expected. Lim Chang-won and Park Soo-jin quickly ushered their guild members to retreat.
Already awakened and pushing his abilities to the limit, Park Ji-chan’s wind only grew more violent. There was no precision—just a roaring force intent on swallowing everything whole.
The helicopter lurched, losing control. It shot upward, struggled to reorient, then spun one and a half rotations before being forced back.
“Uh… isn’t that dangerous?”
Lee Hye-rin pointed anxiously at the people barely hanging on to the helicopter.
Bang! Crash—!
The helicopter door, just beginning to close, was torn clean off. It fell with a heavy crash, landing atop several trees.
Thankfully, it was far from where they had evacuated—but the collapsing trees sent guild members scattering in all directions.
Park Ji-chan pulled out a handful of pills, stuffed them into his mouth, and crushed them down, swallowing with a sickening crunch. Heat and nausea surged up his throat as they slid down.
Still unsatisfied, he drew out a spare syringe and jammed it into the back of his neck—without the slightest hesitation.
He recalled something the Association Chairman had once said to him, wearing that smug smile.
“Just turn truth into lies, and lies into truth. Easy, isn’t it?”
Blood vessels burst in his eyes, turning them red as he scanned his surroundings like a predator seeking prey. His gaze locked onto Jung Joo-hoon, standing alone near the warehouse wall.
A strange light flickered in Park Ji-chan’s eyes.
He lunged at Jung Joo-hoon, grabbing him by the collar. Jung Joo-hoon’s body shook violently, devoid of strength. Seeing the terror etched on his face, Park Ji-chan let out a dry, rasping laugh.
“I told you, didn’t I? The father has to die for the son to live. If you’re going to die anyway, shouldn’t you at least rampage spectacularly? Otherwise it’s a waste.”
As he spoke, Park Ji-chan pried open Jung Joo-hoon’s clenched fist. Inside were the very pills he had given him before.
They’d partially melted and crumbled from body heat—but that didn’t matter. With brutal force, Park Ji-chan forced Jung Joo-hoon’s fist open and dumped every last pill into his mouth.
As Jung Joo-hoon swallowed the drugs forced into him, his body convulsed in agony.
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