NoveLight ™
1.
Hae Eung-eung entered the alley, and Woo Ji-woo tried to follow immediately, but the traffic signal changed, and cars began streaming across the street.
There was no time for traffic rules in an emergency. He fired a spider thread toward the traffic light and swung across the road.
“Wow! It’s the male Inmyeon Jiju!”
“Ew, it really is him. Kinda ugly, huh?”
Normally, he would have clenched his teeth and scanned their faces for identification.
But this time, he ignored them completely; his mind was already in the alley ahead.
His imagination, honed by years of cheap adult videos, painted the worst possible scenarios.
‘No, no, Hae Eung-eung can’t even talk!’
He tried to shake off his thoughts, rejecting his own lurid mental images.
Even in his imagination, the dialogue shifted to written exchanges rather than spoken words.
‘No way! I absolutely won’t stand for this!’
Hae Eung-eung, who had been kind to someone as plain-looking as him, folding under the imposing presence of a hulking Westerner with rosy cheeks of submission?
Unacceptable. Not just as an Awakener, but as a man.
It took only about 20 seconds to cross the street and enter the alley.
In an adult video, 20 seconds is more than enough time for someone to unzip their pants or for a couple to start kissing passionately.
‘Please, please, let nothing have happened yet. Please, please, please…!’
In reality, 20 seconds was more than enough time for things to escalate.
“What the hell…?”
Bloodied bodies littered the alley.
Some were flung onto the second-floor staircase, others slumped over outdoor air-conditioning units.
A few lay folded into trash bins or writhed on the ground, clutching their split stomachs and groaning.
Among them, the burliest man, the blonde Westerner Woo Ji-woo had been following, was pressed against the wall with such force that cracks ran along it.
A blade hovered against his throat.
The wielder of the sword was none other than Hae Eung-eung, her face partly obscured by her bamboo hat. Despite her composed demeanor, her slight discomfort showed when she glanced at him.
2.
“Uh… Hae Eung-eung, what exactly happened here?”
Hae Eung-eung withdrew her sword, and the blonde man, Steven, collapsed to his knees, clutching his neck and gasping for air.
“Did you… take down these criminals?”
[That’s correct.]
“Ah, I see. I was worried because I saw you following that suspicious man, so I came after you. Haha.”
[Thank you for worrying. I’m fine.]
Thankfully, his imagination—warped by adult videos—had been entirely off the mark.
Hae Eung-eung was not only an Awakener in appearance but exuded an air of strength as well.
Though he hadn’t expected her to be this strong.
‘Come on, focus. This is no time to be debating her strength when I should be earning points.’
Woo Ji-woo quickly pulled out his scanner.
“I’ll handle the cleanup for you.”
[You don’t have to—]
Hae Eung-eung hastily scribbled with her marker, but before she could finish, the scan results appeared.
“Joseph, Association record: unknown? Oh, this guy’s definitely a villain. Talk about bad luck, running into him like this. Haha.”
“……”
“Let’s see. Peter, unknown. Jake, unknown. Michael, unknown. David, Hawk, Eric—all unknown.”
Woo Ji-woo’s face hardened.
“Hae Eung-eung… what kind of people were you dealing with here?”
[People I don’t know.]
“Steven. Regular instructor at Myungho District 2 Awakener Academy and a C-rank Awakener. Three priors. A high-risk individual. Do you not know him either?”
“….”
“Could you please say something? I’m trying to help here.”
Woo Ji-woo genuinely wanted to assist.
He thought he could score some points with the kind and beautiful Awakener by handling the cleanup for her.
However, the sight of multiple unregistered, unknown Awakeners, coupled with a shady C-rank Awakener like Steven being utterly subdued, was not something that could be chalked up to a minor scuffle.
This was clearly the scene of a serious crime.
“I’ll help with the testimony to ensure no issues arise from excessive force…”
[Please don’t dig too deep.]
“You can’t say things like that! It makes me worry even more!”
Woo Ji-woo’s voice trembled.
There was no reason for an Awakener who had just subdued criminals to avoid cooperating with the Association.
The Association had clear protocols for situations like this:
Woo Ji-woo asked again.
“Is this a secret government mission? Are you a government agent hesitant to reveal your identity?”
[I’m sorry.]
“What are you sorry for? Please, give me a clear answer!”
Her ambiguous reply could mean either scenario.
Whether she was a secret agent or an unregistered Awakener, both explanations seemed equally plausible.
Woo Ji-woo, on the verge of tears, extended his scanner.
“Hae Eung-eung, forgive me for asking this, but could you show me your Awakener license?”
Even secret agents would have some form of identification.
Even a fake Awakener license would suffice to bypass Association scrutiny temporarily.
[I’m sorry.]
Her uneasy gaze avoided his.
Her fidgety hands and hesitant expression only deepened his concerns.
‘This is insane.’
The overwhelming reality of her apology struck him.
Ninety percent of unregistered Awakeners were criminals.
The likelihood that someone capable of single-handedly overpowering a dozen Awakeners wasn’t a villain was negligible.
Woo Ji-woo felt his head spinning. His tightly shut eyes twitched as the truth he already suspected gnawed at him. His mind, desperate to reconcile the stark reality with his emotions, floundered in confusion.
“This is crazy…”
The overwhelming statistics, the unregistered Awakener, and her abilities—it all pointed in one direction. But the thought of confirming it outright felt unbearable.
After an agonizing pause, Woo Ji-woo made his decision.
“Go.”
A single word, heavy with resignation, escaped his lips.
“Don’t tell anyone about what happened here. Not even your sister.”
Hae Eung-eung looked up at him in surprise. For the first time, their eyes met directly. Her violet irises, shimmering like jewels, caught the faint light.
“Don’t ask. Just leave.”
[Thank you.]
Woo Ji-woo had made up his mind.
If he couldn’t cover for the faults of someone he admired, how could he ever hope to win her over?
Meanwhile, Steven, still bound by spider threads, silently cursed his predicament. Though he remained motionless, biding his time, his mind churned with schemes.
‘Once I get out of this, I’ll expose everything. I’ll let the Association know she’s an Unknown, and I’ll implicate this Spider-Man wannabe in covering for her.’
But before Steven could act on his thoughts, Woo Ji-woo broke the silence. His once-naïve demeanor shifted into something chillingly resolute.
“I’m sorry, guys. If you hadn’t caught my eye, things might not have gotten this bad.”
His tone, calm and steady, carried an ominous weight.
‘No way…’
Steven’s eyes widened in realization, but before he could react, the threads tightened around his body and mouth, silencing him completely.
“To ensure Hae Eung-eung’s identity isn’t uncovered, I need to clean this up thoroughly.”
Woo Ji-woo’s voice echoed through the alley, devoid of hesitation.
“No witnesses can be left alive. To eliminate future risks, I’ll have to kill every last one of you.”
3.
After ensuring each subdued Awakener was no longer breathing, Woo Ji-woo meticulously manipulated the crime scene. He altered the evidence of the fight and erased incriminating CCTV footage from nearby cameras.
Only when he was certain there were no loose ends did he finally report the incident to the Association.
“Eleven D-rank Unknowns and one C-rank high-risk Awakener named Steven. I handled them all myself.”
“What? You killed twelve people on your own?”
“Haha, even for me, it was risky. I barely managed, which is why none of them survived. I had no time for anything else.”
The bald-headed man across from him narrowed his eyes.
Though the man’s appearance was unassuming, he was far from ordinary. He was Gwak Hoon, a senior official in the Association’s Inspection Division—a figure even high-ranking Awakeners tread carefully around.
“Fine, you can go.”
“Excuse me?”
“Unless you want me to scold you, get out.”
“No, sir. Thank you, sir.”
Gwak Hoon waved him off, his expression neutral. Though his words dismissed Woo Ji-woo, the glint in his eyes betrayed lingering suspicion.
As Woo Ji-woo left, grateful to have avoided further questioning, Gwak Hoon pulled out his screen phone and made a call.
“Find an Awakener who’s close to Woo Ji-woo. Someone with lots of debt and desperate circumstances.”
Moments later, a profile of one of Woo Ji-woo’s acquaintances appeared on the screen.
“Assign him to a special surveillance task. Have him monitor Woo Ji-woo’s activities and find out what he’s up to behind the Association’s back.”
Though Woo Ji-woo’s efforts successfully shielded Hae Eung-eung from immediate scrutiny, his unprecedented achievement raised too many questions. It was only a matter of time before the Association’s attention turned fully toward him.
“There’s definitely something off about him,” Gwak Hoon muttered. “Whether it’s illegal drugs or ties to a criminal organization, he’s hiding something.”
The voice on the other end of the call hesitated, then asked what would happen if nothing incriminating was found.
“If nothing comes to light, he’ll remain under second-tier surveillance indefinitely. No exceptions.”
This was the reality of the Awakener Association—a system where even those within its ranks were subject to constant suspicion and oversight. Mutual trust was rare, and alliances seldom lasted beyond temporary necessity.
Tftc