A smoke grenade goes off.

Han Si-Hoo had never experienced a battle like this.
Even though he fought against humans, most of them were Awakened.
There was never a situation where someone released gas or fired guns.
There were no flashbangs or smoke grenades used either.

From the moment he thought he had found the doctor, something felt off.
A hologram? It was absurd.
Some places were so underdeveloped they couldn’t even use electricity, yet here, advanced technology like holograms just popped up.
Incredible.

"Here he is."

As the smoke clears slightly, the figure of the doctor emerges.
This time, Han Si-Hoo had to attack properly.
He was confident in sweeping through a wide area.
But thinking of Seo-Ah and Yeon-Hwa, such a skill couldn’t be used.

"[Please remain still.]"

Was this an attempt to stop his attack?
It seemed like a skill that carried power through words.

"Shut up."

It didn’t work on Han Si-Hoo.
Without hesitation, he slashed.
No restrictions were placed on his movements.

This time, he felt his blade cutting through something.
It wasn’t as deep as it appeared, but one more strike would be enough.
In terms of combat skills, the doctor might be weak.
He had used petty tricks, but now it was over.

Faster.
Stronger.
His blade pierced through again.
But again, because of the smoke, it was shallower than it seemed.

Once more.
He could feel the opponent collapsing.
Yet, the doctor still stood.

There was no sign of the doctor’s form breaking apart.
Not even slightly.

"A hologram?"

It wasn’t the real body.
But he was sure there had been a hit.

"Seo-Ah?"

The one who stood frozen in place was Seo-Ah.
The command to stop was aimed at Yoo Seo-Ah.
Only then did Han Si-Hoo realize what had happened.

It wasn’t the doctor who was attacked.
He had been cutting and stabbing, aiming for the doctor.
But now Seo-Ah’s gaze was growing dim as she looked at him.

It was a fittingly miserable end.
Let her die like that.
The doctor would take care of the body anyway.

No, shut up. Kill him.

Han Si-Hoo was failing to maintain his composure.

Because he kept finding himself in the same situation.
Over and over.
Ever since he had abandoned Seo-Ah once.
Abandoned?
He didn’t abandon her.
He hadn’t left her behind because he wanted to.
All the decisions he made, trying to respect Seo-Ah, had turned into poison.

So wasn’t Seo-Ah really the problem?
Or perhaps Han Si-Hoo himself was.
Both were certainly at fault.

"Ah..."

Even while looking at Seo-Ah, he felt the killing intent rising.
He had to take action, but he couldn’t.
He had to kill the doctor.
But the penalty was too great.
Even so, he couldn’t crumble here.

Why couldn’t he crumble?
For whom?
Why had things come to this?

"As you can see, I don’t have any particular intention of killing you. If I did, I had more than enough chances."

The doctor spoke.
Because of the gas mask, his expression couldn’t be seen.

"But if Seo-Ah wishes, there’s always euthanasia, you know."

The doctor made a show of listening.
Seo-Ah was saying something.
Blood was gushing from her mouth as she tried to speak.

What was she saying?
Han Si-Hoo thought he knew.

She was probably just asking to be killed.

Seo-Ah smiled at Han Si-Hoo.

It seemed the doctor had heard her answer.

"In that case, like this."

He put the gun to Seo-Ah’s head.

Bang.

What had once been Yoo Seo-Ah fell to the floor.
People die so easily.

Bang. Bang. Bang.

There was no more response.
The doctor pulled the trigger without hesitation.
All of this happened before Han Si-Hoo could even grasp the situation.

"Let’s end it here. This building is rather old and weak. There were discussions about rebuilding, but..."

Han Si-Hoo couldn’t understand what had happened.
There was no way Seo-Ah was dead.
So easily?
It didn’t make sense in the context.
It couldn’t be true.

"In my opinion, now seems like the right time."

What was so appropriate about now? Han Si-Hoo couldn’t comprehend.
The doctor had killed Seo-Ah.
Why?

Boom!

The entire hallway collapsed.

Boom!

The explosions didn’t stop.
It felt as if the entire building was falling down.

It couldn’t be.
There was no way Seo-Ah was dead.
The last thing Han Si-Hoo had done was stab her.
It’s not over yet.

"No."

This kind of ending couldn’t happen.
Thinking logically, the doctor could have killed Seo-Ah at any time.
The fact that the academy couldn’t even provide basic protection was unexpected.

From the start, Han Si-Hoo had never been capable.
That’s the truth.
No matter how many monsters Han Si-Hoo killed, he could only handle those at an appropriate level.
It was no different from a game.
If the final boss made a preemptive strike in the early stages, there was no way to win.

The doctor was close to a boss monster.
Even so, Han Si-Hoo wouldn’t lose in a fight against him now.
It was just difficult to protect everyone perfectly.

Seo-Ah was dead?
It had to be a lie.
The ceiling had collapsed, and neither the doctor nor Seo-Ah could be seen.

He hadn’t been able to protect her.
No, but there was still someone left to protect.
He knew.
This was an important moment, so he had to do what needed to be done.

He had to save Yeon-Hwa at least.
Han Si-Hoo lifted the fallen Yeon-Hwa in his arms.
He couldn’t pick up the swords lying on the ground.
Her long black hair brushed against his hands.

It was a familiar scene.
He had saved Yeon-Hwa from danger before.
The reason she only used formal speech with others but spoke casually to Han Si-Hoo.

But was this really the right thing?
He knew saving people was the right thing to do.
That was obvious.
But Seo-Ah seemed to be dead.

Of course, it had to be a joke.
It had to be a mistake.
It couldn’t have been that easy.
No, it didn’t make sense.

Still, he had made a few friends, hadn’t he?
He had gotten to know people.
In the future, something might happen with Seo-Ah that would create a meaningful event.
Things might be awkward now, but it would be different later.

Seo-Ah might be suffering now, but in the future, everything would be okay.
A future much better than this.

A future.
A future.
A future.

None.

[Achievement: 100% Awakening Rate Reached!]

In reality, it wasn’t that strange.
The world doesn’t change just because one or two people die.
Yoo Seo-Ah was high-risk.
It wasn’t surprising she had died.

But up until now, Han Si-Hoo hadn’t lost anyone around him.
Whenever his friends were in danger, he saved them all.
There was always a chance to win during battle.

So, based on that flow, everything should have turned out for the better.
What’s commonly referred to as a happy ending.

But Yoo Seo-Ah was headed in the opposite direction.

Some people have good friends, and some are surrounded by bad ones.
Some have good luck, others bad.
One side ends in success, the other in failure.
A bright future or none at all.

In the end, Seo-Ah had won.
No matter what Han Si-Hoo tried to do, it would end in ruin.
Even if he tried to stop it, both would just end up broken.

Were these dark thoughts because of the penalty?
No matter how much Han Si-Hoo thought about it, there was no answer.

In the end, it didn’t matter whether he found an answer or not.
Because Han Si-Hoo had realized one thing.

Just power.
He needed power.

He abandoned Seo-Ah because he lacked power.
He couldn’t protect her because he wasn’t strong enough.
He couldn’t even protect his reason for protecting her.

Weakness itself.

It was the fault of his environment, his parents who had abandoned him, the oppressive society, the exploitative humans.
If he wanted to blame something, he could blame everything around him.
But what if he had been just a bit stronger?

What if he had been stronger?
He should have been stronger.
Han Si-Hoo muttered endlessly.
He wasn’t just talking about physical strength.

The doctor had something more.
He had the talent to deceive and manipulate people.
He possessed an overwhelming amount of information.
Han Si-Hoo was still just a student.
And just a kid from the slums who had only begun to gain footing.

If things happened before his growth narrative was complete, there was no way to stop them.
Seo-Ah’s death had become a driving force for his growth.

People need unshakable pillars.
A solid wall that doesn’t abandon anyone.

"Si-Hoo?"

"...Yeah."

Rena was beside him.

"I'm sorry."

"Yeah."

He didn’t understand what she was apologizing for.
It still didn’t make sense to him.
There was no way Seo-Ah was dead.
It couldn’t be.

"You know, that drug... it seems some military units have been using it. It was strange for the academy to supply something like that. I should have known earlier."

She had been investigating the drug.
Thinking back, Han Si-Hoo had asked for the drug Seo-Ah was using to be investigated.
He had asked Lee Yoo-Ram.
But no results had ever come back.

Lee Yoo-Ram had no interest in treating Seo-Ah.
From the beginning, Seo-Ah was just a research subject to her.
Han Si-Hoo needed to find out where the drug had come from.

Were there others in a similar situation as Seo-Ah?
People who needed to be protected.
Ironically, just protecting them wouldn’t be enough to save them all.
With enough power, he could annihilate everything.
The first step was eliminating the dangerous factors.

"Lee Yoo-Ram is strange too. The whole academy... why is it like this? If the other teachers knew, who can we even trust?"

"We need to find out who’s behind this."

"...Behind this?"

"Lee Yoo-Ram couldn't have gotten the drug on her own."

Was it the doctor?
Whoever had given the drug to Lee Yoo-Ram?

Han Si-Hoo knew Lee Yoo-Ram had a younger sister.
She thought she had hidden it well, but she hadn’t.

In the end, the problem was trusting Lee Yoo-Ram.
He had never heard anything about military drugs being used on Seo-Ah.
For Lee Yoo-Ram, what mattered was not some stranger like Seo-Ah, but her own sister.

Han Si-Hoo understood.
Everyone values their own family above everything.

"I’ll figure it out soon."

It felt strange to think he was learning from the doctor’s actions, but there was a way.
If he took Lee Yoo-Ram’s sister hostage, that would be enough.
He already knew where she was.
The tracking device he had planted on Lee Yoo-Ram’s bag had come in handy.

The doctor hadn’t hesitated to use advanced technology, and now Han Si-Hoo had learned from him.
The doctor had done underhanded things, so Han Si-Hoo learned from him too.

In a way, the doctor was like a father to him.
He was like a parent who had appeared in Han Si-Hoo’s life when he was an orphan.

Why did the doctor kill Seo-Ah?

Han Si-Hoo cried for a long time.
Of course, he was still young.
Even adults cry when they lose family.

Due to the immense responsibility and pressure building up in his life, Han Si-Hoo had never shed a tear.

There was a time long ago when he had cried before.
He couldn’t remember the reason.
He recalled Seo-Ah patting him on the back, telling him it would be okay.

"It’s okay. It’s okay."

What else had she said?

"I’ll always be with you."

You can rely on me.
She smiled softly.

Bang.

The doctor had shot her.

Han Si-Hoo had to kill the doctor.