Chapter 37: Rage and Revelation

Rumble.

The oppressive force intensified. Under the distorted gravity, brick walls crumbled, and sparks flew from the utility poles.

“This isn’t Grisha. No matter how formidable you are, do you truly believe you can wreak such havoc in someone else’s city and walk away unscathed?!”

Joo Jae-yeong’s words were laced with venom, yet to Lee Hyun-su, they sounded utterly pathetic.

In fact, they were rather trite. Still, he remained silent. Sagyeol, who would normally be chattering away with more excitement than Lee Hyun-su himself, was eerily quiet.

Despite his resolve not to look, Lee Hyun-su couldn’t help but steal a glance at Sagyeol.

He instantly regretted it, realizing it was a mistake. He should have known when he saw no breath misting from Sagyeol’s lips.

Normally, when Sagyeol was merely displeased, he exuded enough chill to lower the ambient temperature.

But when truly enraged, he grew utterly still, radiating no outward change whatsoever.

At least, that was how it appeared.

A chilling whisper.

From the tips of his fingers to the ends of his hair, a near-absolute zero chill condensed around him.

His cheeks turned ashen, his fingertips bleached white. Touching Sagyeol now would instantly cause frostbite, as if grasping dry ice with bare hands.

This signified a state where he was so consumed by fury that nothing else registered.

Lee Hyun-su’s stomach churned. It had been twenty years since their lives had intertwined by chance, bound by ill-fated ties and a reluctant affection.

He had only ever witnessed Sagyeol in such a state once before: the day his only blood relative died.

Sagyeol began to move. His steps were utterly unhindered, even amidst the crushing force.

With each footfall, the asphalt cratered as if it were soft snow. The footprints he left behind were frozen white, truly resembling tracks made upon a snowy path.

Joo Jae-yeong’s face paled, witnessing this unbelievable sight.

His outstretched hand trembled violently, causing the gravity field he had created to waver in turn.

“H-how…?”

Joo Jae-yeong’s heart seized as he met Sagyeol’s gaze directly.

Those murderous eyes seemed to tear at him with their mere presence, as if his head had been plunged into a drum full of ice. Joo Jae-yeong’s jaw trembled, his teeth chattering uncontrollably.

“No, don’t come! Stay away! Get back…!”

Overwhelmed by excessive terror, Joo Jae-yeong’s eyes rolled back, and he collapsed into unconsciousness.

“Sagyeol-nim.”

Sagyeol’s unwavering forward momentum halted. ‘Thank goodness,’ Lee Hyun-su thought. ‘Reason still holds him.’

He continued, his voice low.

“I will handle this. Do you not have more pressing matters to attend to, Sagyeol-nim?”

“……”

Whoosh.

A blast of frigid air surged forth. The pent-up power, released all at once, struck the surroundings with a near-shockwave of wind.

The unconscious Joo Jae-yeong was flung away ignominiously, tumbling grotesquely until his body slammed against a brick wall, finally coming to a stop.

“Lee Hyun-su.”

“Yes.”

“Deal with it properly.”

“Yes. I will ensure it is done.”

Sagyeol did not look back. He simply opened the main gate of a dilapidated house and vanished inside.

Only after Sagyeol’s presence was completely obscured by the building and walls did Lee Hyun-su let out a deep sigh.

Just then, the unconscious Joo Jae-yeong began to stir awake.

“Ugh… Hah. Huff. Huh? Wh-where did that monstrous bastard go?”

His murmuring was filled more with fear than rage. After glancing around and confirming Sagyeol’s absence, his bravado instantly returned.

Clutching his broken arm, he rose and bared his teeth at Lee Hyun-su.

He was like a fox behind a tiger, or rather, his eyes had found a suitable target for his pent-up rage.

Had he hit his head when he rolled earlier? He seemed utterly incapable of rational thought.

Joo Jae-yeong extended his hand towards Lee Hyun-su. The same gravity field from before enveloped him.

Lee Hyun-su, however, did not move. Instead, he let out a sneer and extended his own hand back.

CRACK!

“Huh?”

Joo Jae-yeong’s vision suddenly plummeted as his cheek slammed against the asphalt.

Only after his body was pressed down like a grasshopper crushed by a car wheel did he realize what had been done to him.

“G-gravity control?”

“Indeed. It’s not a common ability.”

Thud.

A polished shoetip drew near. Fear rekindled in Joo Jae-yeong’s eyes, remembering how Sagyeol had beaten him like a dog with a similar shoe just moments ago.

Lee Hyun-su openly clicked his tongue in disdain.

‘He was definitely the City Councilman’s son, wasn’t he?’

This was the scoundrel who had been loitering around the Returnees. Then, he even managed to get on Sagyeol’s bad side.

Naturally, Lee Hyun-su had investigated him and discovered he was a far greater piece of trash than imaginable.

He wanted no part in associating with such unrecyclable domestic waste. Yet, to dispose of trash, one inevitably had to touch it.

That alone was irritating, but this particular piece of garbage even possessed the same ability as him—a lesser version, but the same nonetheless.

“Damn this gravity control, it’s disgusting.”

CRUNCH!

“Cough!”

“It would be easier to just kill him and bury him, but of course, he’s the City Councilman’s son. Should I just maim him somewhere?

Ah—it would be less troublesome and much cleaner to simply erase his mind. But are there any practitioners of that caliber in Baekdam?”

“Cough. Gasp. H-heuk.”

At Lee Hyun-su’s chilling monologue, Joo Jae-yeong’s pants grew wet.

Any trace of faint defiance or hostility had vanished from his eyes, replaced by pure terror. It was exactly as Lee Hyun-su had intended.

‘These types always bare their fangs and claws the moment they feel a little comfortable.’

Lee Hyun-su expertly nipped the bud.

THWACK!

“Aargh!!”

Joo Jae-yeong shrieked, as if dying, as Lee Hyun-su’s shoe pressed down on his groin.

“Make too much noise, and our boss might just come back, you know?”

“Ugh… ughh.”

“Should you ever feel such reckless courage again, remember today. Unlike my boss, I am kind and reasonable, which is why I’m ending it here.

But if you start thrashing around like a goby again, you won’t be dealing with me, but with our boss. Do you understand what I’m saying?”

Joo Jae-yeong nodded frantically, his face a mess of tears and snot.

Lee Hyun-su smiled sweetly at him.

“Excellent. Now, why don’t you get some rest?”

SMACK!

He struck Joo Jae-yeong’s head, pouring all his work-related stress into the blow.

Sagyeol was not one to believe his own ears were faulty; if he heard something strange, he’d assume the source of the information was flawed.

Yet today, for the first time, he truly believed his ears had failed him.

Every word he had heard since moments ago felt utterly wrong.

Seo Yeowon had asked a scoundrel to buy him. The notion was as utterly unrealistic as a starfish suddenly walking on two legs and singing.

His long legs carried him past the rusted iron gate. Descending the low stairs, Sagyeol felt a searing heat churning within him.

Perhaps due to the influence of his attribute, he was rarely swayed by trivial matters. He was a man capable of artificially hardening both his mind and heart, chilling them to their core.

Now, however, it felt as though a heated stone tumbled in his chest.

His brain melted and his heart boiled with an unbearable displeasure.

Knock, knock.

Standing before the dilapidated door, Sagyeol knocked. There was no answer.

The presence he had sensed from within vanished as if washed away the moment he knocked. It was deliberately concealed.

Sagyeol placed his hand on the door.

A chilling whisper.

The edges of the door, already rimmed with white frost, froze solid.

The ice, moving according to its master’s will, expanded between the door and the wall.

CRACK!

Sagyeol kicked the door. With a resounding crash, the iron door collapsed inward.

Inside the room, Yeowon, who had been standing facing the door, opened his eyes wide.

He was half-naked. His body and hair were damp, as if he had just showered.

It seemed he had hastily pulled on his pants upon hearing the knock.

The man, who usually exuded the aura of a mercenary or a beast, possessed a surprisingly clean physique.

The only scars were a bite mark on his neck and a large wound across his chest.

Sagyeol, having obsessively stared at the red bite mark, lowered his gaze.

He had touched it before, but this was his first time seeing it directly. It looked like the aftermath of a cannonball strike.

Impressively, a faint, barely-there tattoo covered the entirety of it.

And the single, prominent nipple on the thick chest pierced Sagyeol’s heart.

“…How, how did you get here?”

“Is that truly what matters now?”

Yeowon fell silent, seemingly understanding something from the curt reply.

Sagyeol smiled. Though he always wore a smile, he had never found it so difficult to maintain as he did now.

“Indeed, I only told you not to cheat. I never specified what would happen if you did.”

Thud.

His shoes crossed the narrow entryway and stepped onto the room’s floorboards.

“I shall inform you now.”

[You’ve heard of it? Then this will be easy. The Three Crescent Moons was the guild that served as the foundation for the Credit Guild. Sagyeol, the son, now holds the position of Guild Master, and the child assigned by the family is Lee Hyun-su, the Vice Guild Master.]

The entire time, I felt as though I was hearing things I shouldn’t.

The informant’s words continued, but I couldn’t recall them clearly.

My head felt numb, and a ringing echoed in my ears. I stumbled, steadying myself against the wall.

My demonic energy surged erratically. Without any conscious intent, the eavesdropping magic I had briefly blocked during the call automatically reactivated.

[That’s why you absolutely must acquire the Returnee.]

[Why would I want a Returnee—]

[My affection is genuine. How could I not like them? Just imagining them willingly venturing into the flood for me, it still makes me hard.]

I heard the sound of a colossal rupture.

It was a sound as desperate and chilling as a train slamming on its brakes while in motion.

[Ah, what the—. Why is this— slow—?]

[The path is blocked— -sir. Please— bear— with us.]

But the lever was already broken.

The train ultimately shattered into pieces upon impact.

CRACKLE!

CRACKLE!

My demonic energy completely ran wild. The connected magic stone couldn’t withstand the overload and shattered.

Spenta’s magic stone was too small and weak to endure the rampaging demonic energy.

I pressed down on my aching heart, trying desperately to calm the mind that had been shaken by the shock.

The apathy I usually wore like a second skin was nowhere to be found. What even was apathy? The overwhelming confusion made it impossible to regain my composure.

“Ugh…”

Unable to suppress the sickening feeling, I finally emptied my stomach. Only then did my head clear somewhat. I took a deep, shaky breath.

Calmly. Steadily. I tried to make myself like a rock in the training ground, or an ancient tree in the beast’s forest, struggling against the encroaching fear that threatened to consume me.

After a considerable time, I lowered my gaze.

There was no change in the Contract of Subordination. As expected, a slight operation of demonic energy was permissible. Even though I confirmed the hypothesis was correct, I felt utterly disgusted.

“Yenis. You exist for me. Don’t you think so too?”

“Ah—why are you so beautiful?”

Every day since falling into Kratus’s hands had been torture. He had worn down the part of me that was already lacking, giving me a life I couldn’t endure without killing my emotions.

“You are mine, Yenis.”

For the first time, Sagyeol’s voice overlapped with Kratus’s.

[Yeowon is mine. I need them more than you do.]

The truth that had flowed through the magic stone carved into my soul. Now, even thinking of him, Kratus’s phantom voice would not disappear.