“Are you all right?”

The man in sunglasses urgently helped Roy to his feet.

What was his name again? Ah, Kang Saeon.

He was an on-site agent of the Awakened Management Bureau’s Field Team, head of Special Team 1—an elite squad composed only of Aces. His grade was A.

As an enhancement-type Awakener, he wielded a gun with his extrasensory ability and was known as a “blood fiend hunter.” He was even being considered as the next Minister of the Bureau. Truly the Bureau’s future.

“Take hold of me.”

A hand reached out toward Roy. He often felt that Saeon exuded an S-rank aura. Were it not for these cursed handcuffs, he’d have grabbed something to steady himself... But those damn cuffs.

Roy stared at his wrist in frustration, then—

“?!”

The impact from moments ago had broken the handcuff.

‘What? How are these cuffs so flimsy? They snap in two just from a tumble on the floor?’

They were exquisitely made toys, after all. It was all part of Saeon’s performance to deliver Roy naturally to the Bureau—there were too many eyes at the hospital.

Since Roy dreaded revealing his identity, Saeon thought nothing more drastic would work.

“Wh—why...?” Roy began in confusion, but of course he didn’t know these details—Saeon never told him. He swallowed the insult about driving so recklessly and only met Saeon’s gaze with wide, pleading eyes, silently insisting on his innocence.

“It’s not like I did this on purpose—”

Just then, a frantic shout came from the driver’s seat.

“Team Leader! It’s a blood fiend!”

“A blood fiend?”

Roy’s eyes flew open. Another blood fiend? Since arriving here, whenever he went looking for Taeeon or Yeonwoo—or even during filming—a blood fiend appeared. At this point, he wondered if he was some sort of fiend magnet.

‘Could it be that I’m Chaos Evil...?’

Wherever he went, a fiend followed. No one suspected him, but he was sweating coldly. Even he knew he seemed suspicious; surely everyone else thought so too. Nervously, he bit his lip—and met Saeon’s gaze.

“Mr. Lee Roi.”

“No, not me! It’s not me!”

Roy cried out, but Saeon ignored the cuffs on his wrist.

“Please stay here until we resolve this situation.”

Saeon’s expression was so fierce it omitted the unspoken threat: “Or I’ll tear you apart.” Roy could only nod. Without another word, Saeon and the other agent in the driver’s seat departed.

‘But they didn’t say I had to stay alone...!’

In this chaos, they were leaving him behind? If a blood fiend came this way, he—

He’d already been treated like an arsonist and was under arrest; he couldn’t start another fire now. Besides, before leaving the hospital, Eunseong cursed him—if he kept using his power recklessly, he might be dead by tomorrow.

‘Even after that warning, I’d be a fool to use my ability again.’

At least it was the Special Team. Among the Bureau’s agents, those on field duty were considered elites. Special Team was the elite of the elite. He trusted they’d drive the fiend away so it wouldn’t come near... but then—

“키에에엑!”

Kwoong!

Why did the sound come from above...? The limousine’s roof crumpled, and what looked like massive footprints appeared.

‘Shit! Damn!’

Roy let out a silent scream and hit the ground.

Thud! Thud! Kwoong!

As the fiend raged, footprints multiplied overhead, and a stray bullet struck the window, ricocheting away. Roy thought of Saeon’s fierce face—he wanted to obey the order to stay put, but here he was at risk of being crushed or his own heart exploding from terror. He quietly resolved to escape.

‘If it comes to it, I’ll set another fire.’

He just hoped the concept of self-defense existed in the Wilderness.

Click—

The fiend’s rampage shook the vehicle so violently that merely opening the door didn’t draw its attention. Roy carefully pried the door open, squeezed through the gap, and tumbled out.

Thunk—

Something, as if a human hand, fell limp onto the roof above him.

‘Shit! Damn it! Damn it!’

It looked unmistakably like a corpse. Roy forced his gaze away, ducking lower. Then he saw, through the opposite window’s reflection, a familiar hand—and the ring # Nоvеlight # on it.

A silver ring engraved with a black cross. His eyes drifted up, spotting a bracelet, too—the one someone had started wearing one day, claiming it granted wishes. He shook the thought away. He continued upward until he saw the face, and his breath caught.

‘...Hojin hyung?’

Roy rubbed his eyes desperately, but it was him—Hojin lay motionless on the roof. His face pale, eyes shut tight, limbs stained with blood.

Crack—

Roy’s mind snapped, his body moving on its own. He thought only of disconnecting the fiend from Hojin. With a fierce push, he leapt and grabbed at the fiend’s nape.

“Ugh!”

The creature was slammed into the ground at terrifying speed. Roy’s knee, scraped on the asphalt, burned.

“Keeeek!”

The fiend thrashed, its long claws swinging at Roy’s face—but Roy was quicker, grabbing the fiend’s arm and tearing it off.

Crunch!

“Keeeek!”

‘Why did it not listen and wander off...?’ Roy’s mind was flooded with rage and resentment, so much that he lost any rational thought—he didn’t realize he was no different from the fiend. He raised his other hand to tear the opposite arm—

Screaaaak!

A claw shot through the gap, aiming for Roy’s throat.

“...!”

He recoiled just in time, but not completely. A long, red line blossomed across his neck, and blood streamed down. Roy grasped the wound and fell to the ground in shock—he missed the fiend’s human words again.

“키엑! It hurts too much, 키에엑!”

✧

But the Bureau agents definitely heard.

“Did it just... speak?”

“I’m sure I heard it too.”

Reports had been increasing that these fiends were becoming more intelligent. But nowhere had anyone claimed they spoke human language. Could they have developed to that level so quickly? Saeon, after a moment’s thought, issued an unusual order.

“Capture it alive.”

The Bureau’s standard was to kill fiends on sight, though they were obliged to preserve the body for tracking. So ordering a live capture was highly irregular.

“Capture it alive?”

“How do we capture that...?”

No matter how mutilated, a fiend wouldn’t die unless its neck was cut. They were notoriously hard to contain. But they also had an arson suspect in custody—Sa eon knew exactly who that was: Republic of Korea’s first S-rank element-type Awakener. The very person who’d slipped away like an eel until they finally arrested him. It was foul, but without this, they couldn’t bring Lee Roi into the Bureau. Desperate measures.

Saeon judged that with Roy’s help, capturing the fiend alive wouldn’t be impossible.

“You secure the civilians and contain the scene.”

He gave the brief order and moved to join the others—until—

Flare!

A massive wall of flame shot up as if warning them not to come closer.

“...!”

The blaze was so fierce that no one dared approach—a threat that they’d be killed if they crossed that line.

‘But his condition...?’

Only then did Saeon notice something odd about Roy. But no matter what, they had to capture the creature alive. Drawing his revolver—his specialty weapon—Saeon leveled it at Roy’s wrist, where a small flame swirled and began to grow. He knew well what would happen if the fiend touched that fire.

‘It would be erased without a trace.’

It was common knowledge that element-type Awakeners’ powers were more destructive than others’. But Roy’s fire was unusually potent. The agent dispatched to Paju had reported three fiends appeared there; except for one with a crushed skull, the other two left no trace.

“키에에에엑!”

By now, Roy held a long spear of flame in his hand, its shape flickering wildly—a sign of his unstable state, though still deadly.

“Stop!”

Bang!

The moment Saeon fired at Roy’s wrist, the fiend-turned-Roy’s crimson eyes glanced back. Simultaneously, the spear he held shot toward Saeon.

Screeeeak!

Then—

Boom!

The spear struck the ground and exploded, engulfing the area in flames.

“Urrgh.”

The blast turned everything into a wasteland. Saeon clutched his injured arm and swallowed a groan. Roy glared at him, as if promising not to forgive further interference.

‘He’s clearly not himself,’ Saeon thought. Whatever had driven Roy to this rage, they had to stop him somehow.

“We can’t kill him!”

But despite Saeon’s urgent cry, Roy formed a second spear in his hand—

Thwack!

As the sharpened tip of that new spear plunged toward the fiend’s body—

Plop—

Raindrops began to fall.