Chapter 13.

[At around 1 P . M . today, a group of monsters appeared in Seoul, leaving 500 wounded and 7 dead . ]

A new anchor was reporting on today’s incident . With a deep sigh, Chae Shinhyuk stroked the bedridden patient . Her pale complexion seemed to stab her father’s heart . Though she was an adult who would soon become a Hero, Chae Nayun was still like a little girl to Chae Shinhyuk .

[…According to the investigation, the monster group was led by the intermediate rank grade 1 monster, ‘beast inciter’ . This man-sized, badger-shaped monster has never before appeared in Korea . The Association believes that the monster was brought in by a third party, and has set out in a search . ]

“…Mmm . ”

At that moment, Chae Nayun opened her eyes . Chae Shinhyuk immediately shot up and called for a doctor .

“You’re awake . How are you feeling?”

“…Fine . ”

Chae Nayun raised her feeble body . A doctor came running in to check her pulse, but Chae Nayun pushed him away with a smile .

“I’m fine, Dad . ”

“Really?”

“Of course . I’m not injured . Didn’t the doctor tell you?”

“I, I did . ”

The doctor spoke up inadvertently . Chae Shinhyuk was a powerful figure who had the country’s economy in his palm . He knew being on this man’s bad side would only make his life more difficult .

“…She seems fine, so you can go now . ”

“Yes, sir . ”

The doctor hurriedly ran out . Looking at the closing door, Chae Nayun spoke briefly .

“…Dad . ”

“Hm?”

Chae Shinhyuk replied kindly .

“About Oppa . ”

Her low-spirited voice evoked the dark past he wanted to forget . Remembering his son always caused a sharp pain in his heart . With a gentle smile, Chae Shinhyuk held his daughter’s hand .

“…What’s wrong?”

“Can I go see him when I’m discharged? I’m on a sick leave anyway, right?”

“Of course you can . ”

Chae Shinhyuk agreed easily .

Chae Nayun leaned her head against her father’s shoulder and recalled what happened earlier in the day .

The Djinn from the museum, the black hand that strangled her, and a voice that mentioned her older brother… At that point, Chae Nayun’s fury revived .

“Dad, by the way…”

Chae Nayun’s tone was dark . Her voice carried a heavy emotion . Chae Shinhyuk asked worriedly .

“What’s up?”

“…No, it’s nothing . ”

Suddenly, she began to loathe someone from the bottom of her heart . But she couldn’t tell her father how she felt .

She thought back to when her stomach was boiling from being poisoned by the Djinn’s magic power . Even while she was writhing in pain, she could hear that man’s voice clearly .

—I’m sure her older brother will come console her .

That man had mentioned her brother . Four years ago, on the day the sky fell, everyone in the world found out . So she didn’t have the time to be sad . After that day, her brother’s name was etched deep inside her heart, and he became an untouchable subject to her .

As a cadet at Hero Academy, that man should have known about her brother’s state . Even so, he had mentioned her brother in that way .

Chae Nayun suppressed the fury rising from her heart and engraved the man’s name in her head .

Kim Hajin, Kim Hajin .

From this day, Chae Nayun would no longer forget this name .

**

Seoul’s sky was dyed in an orange hue . The movement of the sun was no different than usual, but the scene reflected by the setting sun could only be described as a pandemonium .

Pieces of asphalt littered the road, while a child was crying under a telephone pole snapped in half . Ambulances traveled back and forth, carrying wounded people or corpses .

Although the situation had been taken care of by the dispatched Heroes, the aftermath of chaos still remained .

“Kim Suho, Kim Hajin . We heard the story . ”

Kim Soohyuk was waiting at the Portal connecting Seoul and Cube .

“We will ask for details later, so go back and rest for now . Agents will take care of the rest . ”

For the record, agents were different than Heroes . Agents were those who graduated from Agent Military Academy but didn’t enter Cube . In other words, they were non-combatants . Most of them had abilities that were very useful in day-to-day life . For example, I saw a man on my way back, who was fixing the broken asphalt with a wave of a hand .

“Um, instructor . Chae Nayun is…”

Kim Suho asked, to which Kim Soohyuk gave a short reply .

“She’s taking a sick leave . She’s with her family right now . ”

“Yes, understood . ”

Kim Suho didn’t ask any more questions .

“Go back . ”

Other cadets seemed to have helped out with the unexpected emergency, as even Yoo Yeonha looked tired .

One by one, we trudged to the Portal . The odd sensation enveloping my body didn’t feel interesting anymore . After a short sigh, I found myself back at Cube .

Without any words, the group walked to the dorm .

“…Hey . ”

On our way back to dorm 1, after the girls went ahead, Kim Suho stopped me .

“What . ”

“Why did you say that?”

“…Say what?”

“To Chae Nayun . ”

What was he talking about all of the sudden? When I furrowed my brows in incomprehension, Kim Suho suddenly became a bit more hostile .

“Why did you bring up her older brother? In such a condescending way too . ”

“What do you mean? I didn’t mean much by…”

At that instant, I swallowed my words .

This world had a co-author . My setting wasn’t the only setting at play .

Something had to have changed .

“…What about her older brother?”

At my question, Kim Suho stopped his steps . Gritting his teeth, he glared at me .

“It’s something every cadet knows, but you’re going to pretend you don’t know?”

“What? No, I really don’t—”

“Whatever . We can talk about it later . For now…”

Kim Suho quickly walked past me and got on the elevator . Under his glaring eyes were thick dark circles . Since he used ‘that’ ability, he needed to crash .

Since my room was on the first floor, I didn’t need to get on the elevator .

*

First, I looked up Chae Nayun .

What Kim Suho said and how Chae Nayun reacted were indeed strange .

===

[Chae Nayun] (Hero cadet)

Family – Father: Chae Shinhyuk, Older Brother: Chae Jinyoon

Education

—Agent Military Academy Rank 4

—Currently attending Hero Military Academy (Cube)

===

“So what’s the problem?”

Chae Jinyoon . It’s not like he was dead or missing, so why were they so worked up?

Even as I tilted my head, I looked up Chae Jinyoon .

At the same time, my jaws dropped .

“…Huh?”

[Chae Shinhyuk’s son, Chae Jinyoon . In critical condition from a Djinn attack . ]

[The Djinn suppression operation, ‘Fireflake’, succeeds… However, the rookie Hero, Chae Jinyoon, falls in a coma . ]

There were headlines I couldn’t understand .

“What?”

Djinn suppression operation, Fireflake . I knew what it was . It was the first operation that gave Chae Jinyoon fame .

By leading this operation to a success and rescuing three comrades in the process, he would have been promoted to an intermediate rank Hero . Chae Nayun, who was only 13 at the time, would have always bragged about her older brother who suddenly rose to fame .

No, that was how things should have been .

“What the hell is going on?”

Unable to take everything in, I took out my laptop . If there was a hint, the laptop had to have it .

[Thanks to your high luck, light bullet deals critical damage to ‘Dog of Lucius’ . ]

[With great luck, your understanding of the light attribute increases!]

[With extreme luck, you absorb part of the magic power emitted by the light bullet! Your magic power increases by 0 . 03 points . ]

[You dealt critical damage to a more powerful enemy . The skill, ‘Sharpshooter of Reversal’, has been added to your Gift 「Master Sharpshooter」 . ]

[Yor SP increases by 131 . ]

There were many pleasant alerts, but I turned them all off .

I looked for my settings book . No, I didn’t need to look for it . This settings book was something I wrote . Since what happened today wasn’t part of my setting, looking for my settings book wouldn’t do anything .

However, I had received a message on my laptop .

[Chae Jinyoon – In the original story, he was Chae Nayun’s reliable older brother and Kim Suho’s trustworthy helper . However, it has been judged that the main character has too many helpers, and thus this setting was changed . ]

[Modified setting – In his first mission as a Hero four years ago, Chae Jinyoon receives a Devil’s Branding and falls into a coma . Currently, he is a Devil’s Seed . ]

[Note: Modified settings will be provided as messages once the target, ‘Kim Hajin’, becomes aware of it . ]

Without realizing that my mouth was open, I stared at the screen in a daze .

By the time my saliva dropped on the laptop, I barely managed to eek out a voice .

“Fucking…”

And that was all I could say .

If this message was true, this was an extremely serious problem .

Devil’s Seed was something that only appeared in the latter half of the novel . If it sprouted, the current Kim Suho was nowhere strong enough to stop it . A Master rank Hero would be able to stop it, but most Master ranks had left the secular world .

Even if high-rank Heroes were dispatched, a few of them would surely be sacrificed .

That couldn’t happen . Their strength was needed in the novel’s latter parts .

In other words, everything would go awry if this Devil’s Seed sprouted . Of course, things had already gone awry, but it was still to a manageable degree .

Then what could I do?

There was only one answer, so I didn’t need to think for long .

“…He needs to die . ”

Thankfully, the Devil’s Seed had an incubation period . From what I recall, it should be 5 or 6 years .

Four years had already passed .

As quickly as possible, before the Devil inside Chae Jinyoon’s body woke up, Chae Jinyoon had to be killed .

The problem was ‘who’ .

Who should kill him?

I couldn’t hire an assassin . Even if I offered billions of won, no mercenary was crazy enough to accept a mission to kill a chaebol .

Not to mention, because the Devil’s Seed was undetectable, no one would believe me even if I told the truth . In fact, I was sure I would just be treated as a crazy person .

He needed to die .

There was only one way this could be done .

“I have to kill him . ”

With a deep sigh, I closed my eyes .

Chae Jinyoon was a reliable friend and helper for Kim Suho, though he was an idiot when it came to his sister . But in this world, he had become a character that had to be killed . While this complete change was shocking, I didn’t have the peace of mind to be shocked .

I got up . My body felt especially heavy . The sense of familiarity I felt towards the world I created transformed into a greater anxiety .

But perhaps thanks to my high perseverance, my legs weren’t heading towards the bed, but the physical training room .

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