IRNH C60

#60

Kaaaang—
A shrill metallic clash echoed throughout the chamber, like steel striking steel.

“Uh—ugh, w-what…”

Kyumin’s lips quivered as he stared at the man who had just yanked him by the back of his neck.

“You… what are you?”

But Lee Gyuhwan only clenched his teeth, glaring at Yeon Taewoon’s abdomen where his dagger had landed directly—yet had not pierced even an inch through.

“That’s what I’d like to ask.”

The answer, however, didn’t come from Taewoon but from further back.

A man with a face twisted in anger was stepping forward, voice heavy and low with restrained fury.

“You weren’t brainwashed, so are you doing all of this wholeheartedly? Just what the hell are you?”

Jeong Si-hyeon had known that Taewoon could never be taken down by such a petty dagger, but even so, his pulse raced with fear for what might happen, forcing him to hold his chest.

And all of these storming emotions converged onto the very cause of this chaos—Lee Gyuhwan.

“Ghhk.”

Killing intent, formless and raw, leaked out from Si-hyeon like a sharp blade. Perhaps in response, Gyuhwan took unsteady steps backwards, his eyes narrowing on Si-hyeon warily.

“So, you’re Jeong Si-hyeon. Now I remember—you’re the one who’s been obstructing us.”

As memory sharpened his focus, Gyuhwan’s face contorted, his words spilling relentlessly.

“An orphan with nothing to his name, somehow scraped your way through high school, worked for a company, then disappeared for three years before suddenly turning back up. Just what the hell are you? What did you do that the beings inside the Gates won’t make contact? What did you do!”

Si-hyeon pressed down hard on the hot surge of rage threatening to burst forth with each word from the man.

At least, he thought with relief, his identity inside the Gates and Taewoon’s true nature didn’t appear to have been fully exposed yet.

Above all, the enemy must never gain informational advantage over him. That was an iron rule he lived by.

“And what obligation do I have to explain myself to you?”

A pause.

“Haha. True, you have none. But you’ll speak all the same—because here, in this space, I am as a god.”

As Gyuhwan started rambling about divinity, Si-hyeon narrowed his eyes and silently shook his head. This man was neck-deep in delusion.

“Yes! Just as I said earlier, I am not influenced by crude brainwashing. I simply believe.”

“Believe?”

“Yes. Belief. Tell me, when has anyone ever predicted a world like this? And do you know the truth? Everything—the Gates, the monsters—is controlled by those above us. We are merely preparing until the Last Gate opens.”

Even in just those few sentences, the logic was twisted, jagged, riddled with contradictions.

Si-hyeon studied Gyuhwan’s face, twisted with sincerity, and bit back a curse at the madness flickering there.

“So that so-called villain association… turned out to just be a bunch of fanatics. Goddamn lunatics.”

“All your ‘preparation’ has been kidnapping civilians, killing them, spreading destruction everywhere?”

“That cannot be helped. That is merely the end fated for the unchosen. Tch. That’s why Kyumin and Joo-yeon should already have received their baptism.”

Si-hyeon sighed heavily. Yet even as he did, he did not let up his vigilance, forcing tension through every muscle as he examined Gyuhwan’s every move.

The utter conviction in his words carried terrifying sincerity. He wasn’t lying—not entirely. And yet still, even amidst his zeal, certain points didn’t add up.

‘If they followed me out of anger for what happened inside the Gates… fine. Considering what befell them, it’s understandable. But then—why attack before any of that? What about that house incident?’

That was the starting point of it all.

From Ha-jeong’s testimony, they certainly hadn’t been uninvolved.

The mere attempt to silence her proved their ties beyond question.

Yet oddly, Gyuhwan seemed to regard Si-hyeon as simply an interference from inside the Gates, no more.

‘Suspicious.’

Si-hyeon narrowed his eyes, focusing on every flicker of Gyuhwan’s movement.

And there it was—suspicion confirmed. Beneath his cloak of words, Gyuhwan’s hidden hand twitched minutely behind his garment.

‘What is he doing?’

After suffering at their hands before, Si-hyeon knew well enough to guard against anything.

Their inexplicable techniques drew from neither inner energy nor mana. They gave no signal beforehand.

And then—it came. In the briefest instant, a ripple of killing intent.

“Ugh! Captain!”

It was Kim Seongbin. His eyes clouded faintly gray, though only a second before they had been normal.

Despite his battered body, he swung a dagger without the barest hesitation at the companion nearest him—Lee Kyumin.

“B-brother!!!”

Kyumin seemed to sense something was wrong through his skill, but his body was too slow to react.

Si-hyeon twisted his torso, flinging out his palm in a strike. His inner force knocked Kyumin back from harm’s path, and he snarled in fury.

“Fuck! Taewoon, ahead!”

This enraged him even beyond facing hundreds of enemies.

Here was a single foe—and he couldn’t even kill him freely. He must shield his comrades, refrain from destroying the building around them; his hands and feet shackled.

‘Damn it! Isn’t this the same as fighting with chains on every limb?!’

Watching Taewoon launch straight at Gyuhwan, Si-hyeon swerved, seizing Kim Seongbin by the back of the neck as the man lunged again toward the tumbled Kyumin.

Wham!

He slammed him brutally into the floor, pouring his inner strength into his strikes, sealing several of his key meridians in succession.

Now stiff as wood, Seongbin strained against it much like Kim Jeong-hyun had before, teeth clenched, body jerking against invisible binds.

Confirming his condition, Si-hyeon carefully laid him down.

“I apologize… I used too much inner energy. Removing it later will be painful, but it couldn’t be helped.”

Tak.

With a quiet word, he spun back around without pause. There was no time to waste—not with Gyuhwan still there.

Only now, before his eyes, he saw multiple newcomers flickering into the space—while at Taewoon’s feet dangled Gyuhwan’s limp corpse, neck twisted.

“This… what is this…?”

“…Apparently, it was not the real body.”

Si-hyeon whispered, but Taewoon spoke the truth aloud.

Letting the lifeless image drop, Taewoon stepped hard into the floor and pushed himself to Si-hyeon’s side.

“Don’t tell me… he fled? Ha. How? How can this be? His life force, his energy—they were genuine!”

“…Then perhaps the answer lies within this place.”

“Ah.”

Only now did Si-hyeon recall Gyuhwan’s earlier words—that here, he could move as though a god.

The barrier was still intact.

Biting down on his lip, Si-hyeon turned to face the approaching figures.

None of them bore inner force, mana, or even proper balance. They were ordinary—normal civilians.

“Son of a bitch, you’ve crossed a line.”

Spreading his unique power, Si-hyeon unleashed a wave of pure pressure. Dozens of the helpless dropped unconscious at once. Raising his eyes skyward, he waited.

Swoooosh— Clang!

Suddenly, blades and throwing weapons rained down, filling the space.

Taewoon’s hand moved at once.

Following its trace, a rippling barrier of force rose up, redirecting the deadly rain back toward its source.

Clangclangclang! Clatter! Smash!

Weapons fell useless at their feet. The extended waves slashed through walls with ease before vanishing.

‘Even this isn’t enough to break the barrier?’

Si-hyeon, hardly with time to admire Taewoon’s mastery, bent down and grabbed a fallen iron golf club—the last one.

Whuuuum—

At once, wild torrents of inner force whirled to it, wrapping the shaft in roaring energy.

The silver steel’s sheen disappeared beneath the furious crimson flow.

Lines hardened on Si-hyeon’s face as determination filled him. His eyes roved the trembling chamber.

‘Above…’

Enough time had passed since Gyuhwan’s disappearance. They couldn’t keep wasting effort on defense alone.

Divine power?

The thought of what he had seen in this place, and in the Mine of God some weeks prior, returned to him. Blood and madness, nothing else.

‘I’ll crush all of this with a force greater still. I’ll prove it—what you worship and carry out in “God’s” name is nothing but mockery.’

His crimson-black aura flared, burning like fire.

Si-hyeon breathed in with the rhythm pulsing in this place, aligning his body with it.

“Master! It’s dangerous!”

Once, he might have pulled this off without difficulty. But now, it was not the same.

And yet there was no choice. His instincts told him doom was near—and Jeong Si-hyeon no longer doubted his instincts.

Kwagagagangg!

“Ghhhk.”

At the eruption of force, walls began breaking apart in deafening ricochets.

Everywhere, long gouges ripped through the surfaces, so many that the marks overlapped and could no longer be distinguished.

The sheer storm of energy was clear to all.

Sssshhraaahhh!

Crash! Smash! Still, the construct responded in equal fury—spewing weapons, summoning capable fighters into the field.

Yet each and every one was obliterated effortlessly at Taewoon’s hands.

“Master….”

Si-hyeon, palms trembling, again gripped the warped, nearly shapeless golf club. This time he raised it overhead, summoning nearly all the inner power within him.

And then, slicing upward, he unleashed it toward the ceiling.

[Heavenly Demon Complete Annihilation]

Kwoooooooom!!

In an instant, the cement and bedrock ceiling overhead was ripped away. The mansion built above shattered halfway apart.

Debris rained down in waves, but beyond it—shone the endless blue sky.

“…Fuck… broke it.”

Strength gone, Si-hyeon collapsed to the floor, laughing faintly at his own triumph.