Chapter 8 : Suppression Failure (1)

Regardless of what was happening around her, Han Yerin was sleeping at her desk.

Her dad had gone out to fish, her mom was out, and her sister had left for work. With nothing to do alone, she followed her usual routine—

taking a nap at home during the day. Today, everything felt especially perfect: the bed was soft, the pillow supported her head just right. In

her seven years of life, it was one of those rare, flawless sleep moments.

It felt like she’d been doing something just before falling asleep, but she couldn’t remember. Everything just felt warm and cozy.

She pulled the blanket up over her face and smiled as a cool sea breeze came in through the open window. Just then, a flat mechanical sound,

tick, came from the alarm clock above her head.

A feeling of unease, like it was about to ring at any moment, made Yerin’s eyelids twitch.

No way…?

Her bad feeling quickly came true. The alarm clock began to vibrate and filled the room with its loud ring-ring.

She didn’t want to move. She didn’t want to lift a finger from this bed.

She could just get up and turn it off, but something told her she wouldn’t be able to return to this exact feeling if she did.

The sound rang out again.

Ring—

She frowned. The machine seemed fully determined to wake her up, and her patience was nearing its end.

“So noisy…”

She was just about to think, If it rings one more time, I’ll get up and turn it off, when a voice suddenly spoke.

“—Would you like to turn off the alert sound?”

It was a voice she had never heard before. But for some reason, Yerin didn’t feel anything strange about it. It felt like someone who had been

with her for a long time.

Without thinking much—still half-asleep—she opened her mouth and replied comfortably.

“ Yeah. Please turn it off.”

“—Confirmation required. Are you sure you want to turn off the alert?”

“ Yeah. I want to sleep more.”

“—This function will only mute the alarm. All other features will continue working as normal. If you wish to turn the alarm back on later,

simply say ‘Turn the alarm back on’ or something similar.

—Alarm sound will now be turned off.”

Silence returned to the room.

The frown on Yerin’s face relaxed again, and she drifted back into deep sleep.

A deafening boom—like human bodies were being shredded like paper and blown apart.

“You like money too?”

“Who doesn’t?”

“Really? Then you agree.”

—‘Distortion’s Presence Level Increasing…’

—‘Distortion’s Presence +3’

The system kept sending out endless message tones.

Bothered by the outside noise, a small groan escaped from sleeping Han Yerin’s lips.

It was so quiet it would’ve been lost in the noise, barely loud enough for a person to notice—but the Concept ‘Distortion,’ who had been busy

harvesting Essence like a farmer at harvest, heard it clearly.

She immediately turned toward the sound—toward the sleeping Yerin.

The strange blue energy that had been wrapped around her had already been removed. Distortion had also placed a Stability effect over her to

calm her condition.

But now, Yerin showed signs of discomfort again.

What? What is it this time?

Tilting her head, Distortion looked around. Blood and pieces of bodies filled the surroundings.

With knowledge of the human world, it wasn’t hard for her to guess what Yerin was reacting to. She just hadn’t realized it right away because

she didn’t think like a human.

Information came flooding in.

Sleep — a physical function humans absolutely need. If not done properly, it causes stress due to sleep deprivation. Main causes of

interruption: noise and physical contact that awaken the mind.

Possible negative outcomes from that:

Stress.

Stress: mental and physical tension caused by stimuli. If it worsens, it can lead to poor condition—or even death. She began searching the

potential scenarios.

17H.

37H.

Hmm.

…1347H.

Wha—?

…5234 cases… 6311 cases… 12031…

!!!!

The number of potential stress-related conditions kept rising endlessly, and Distortion’s wide-open eyes grew larger. Real-time predictions of

stress-related outcomes were still increasing.

She had waited so long for her emergence and had finally found a playmate—she got carried away in the fun.

She had almost made a mistake. Humans were weak, and Yerin, as a child, was especially fragile.

Then, at the sound of Yerin’s small sleepy voice, Distortion suddenly froze.

“So noisy… hmm…”

—[Baby Mode] is watching you.

Yerin’s soft voice was followed by a message right in front of Distortion’s eyes.

At that, Distortion’s mood sank. She slowly lowered her hand.

As soon as she stopped using her power, the mental fog caused by her perceptual manipulation lifted from the people affected.

“What… what happened? Where’s the Doppelgänger? What’s this doll? Where did everyone go?”

“Blood? Why is there blood coming out of me? From my heart—?”

“Team leader?! P-Please wake up!”

“Emergency! Everyone get ready! You fools, it’s Code Black! Contact HQ right away—!”

The area grew noisy again, and Distortion’s face twisted into a frown like Yerin’s. She couldn’t understand emotions, but she could imitate

what she saw.

Yerin was in the middle of doing something important for a human—sleep—and they were disturbing it.

“You… you monster bastard.”

Distortion had meant to stop here, to end the game and let them go, but they kept pushing her buttons. She looked at the black object in front

of her that seemed like it could release something dangerous… and turned it into a balloon.

The black object burst instantly, unable to withstand the physical change.

As the noise rang out again, Distortion’s expression stiffened.

Th-That was a mistake.

“Why is this… a gun…”

“Where did we go wrong…? Everything was fine before entry… Team leader…”

Distortion thought.

—[Baby Mode] is watching you more closely.

“Turn off the alarm… mmm. I want to sleep more.”

She had been about to admit she made a mistake, but changed her mind.

Come to think of it, none of this was her fault. The stress, the danger Yerin was in—it was all because of them.

Her slouched shoulders straightened again.

Twisting thoughts was easy. She was the Concept of Distortion, after all.

“I didn’t want to play… You guys came here. It’s your fault. You tempted me.”

She no longer saw her playmate’s Essence—only obstacles.

Her eyes turned red. The building shook.

“Then just die.”

To her, rules only existed to extract Essence—not to avoid killing. The only reason she didn’t kill was that it didn’t raise her Presence.

Quack quack—the noisy humans in front of her entered her vision, and they were instantly sliced.

Distortion beheaded every infiltrating agent except for one.

Why…?”

Kang Seongho opened his eyes halfway through. Until just moments ago, he had felt crushing fatigue—but it vanished in an instant.

She could have killed him too, and it would all be over, but she didn’t.

She restored everyone’s minds… stared at him like she was toying with him… and then cut down everyone else.

Even now, Kang Seongho could still hear the last screams of his teammates echoing in his ears.

Screams and cries.

The black fog obscured her appearance, and just seeing her brought a gnawing terror to his brain.

He wanted to gouge his eyes out—but he couldn’t look away. The fear that he’d end up like the others if he lost sight of her had him in a

chokehold.

This place no longer looked like a kindergarten—it looked more like a butcher shop.

Everything had turned red. The walls, the tables, the people—everything was soaked in crimson.

The stench stung his nose.

“W-We have to… inform HQ…”

He scraped the floor, backing away.

A voice echoed through the room, and the face of the black figure twisted grotesquely.

The moment Kang Seongho felt its form brush against his body, he regretted making a sound.

Because what followed was the most horrifying experience imaginable—enough to make him wish he had died first.

The once-invisible black mist began to gather.

It formed arms, legs, and was covered in bronze-toned healthy-looking skin. Scars appeared on the flesh.

As the grotesque transformation came to an end, Kang Seongho’s body trembled violently.

A rugged middle-aged man appeared—one who looked just like him.

Like seeing himself in a mirror. His pupils shrank, and goosebumps rose on his skin.

An old tale from his childhood resurfaced.

A demon.

A Concept that never should have existed in this world.

A monster that plays with humans—then kills them.