"RYU SUNGBIN, were you there when Matthew was killed?"

Ki Gayoon wasn’t being sarcastic or anything.

It was a genuine question.

And, yet, the question made Ryu Sungbin flinch.

He’s probably feeling guilty.

"No, I wasn’t there when that bastard killed Matthew," Ryu Sungbin said, his voice almost a whisper. "Before Jin Sooin and I knew it, he had already possessed Matthew’s body."

"And you weren’t able to kill him."

"I couldn’t," Ryu Sungbin said, clenching his jaw tight. "It’s not just because the bastard is more powerful than me at the time, but also because a part of Matthew was still within him at the time."

Ah, right.

A portion of Matthew’s soul was sealed within his Core.

And that’s how we were able to talk to his ’ghost’ before.

"You two should be grateful that I’m allowing you to talk without attacking," Charles Kang, still possessing Matthew’s body, said in an arrogant voice. "Consider this as my farewell gift before I turn you into my new mindless vessels."

Ah, so the goal was not to kill them, but to turn them into slaves.

"Well, I should thank you for your generosity then," Ki Gayoon said, opening his palm. "You gave me enough time to prepare your graveyard."

Did he really think I’m careless enough to have a conversation in the middle of a fight?

Charles Kang looked confused at first, and the bastard didn’t get the chance to react when a portal similar to a black hole appeared right below his feet.

And when Ki Gayoon clenched his hand, Charles Kang fell into the black hole.

No, more like the bastard was sucked into the dungeon.

Yep, the black hole was actually an emergency entrance to Beom-seok— his personal dungeon.

"Ryu Sungbin, take care of the monsters here and grab the cloning device."

As soon as Ki Gayoon said that, the monsters around them started attacking them.

But the ones who got close to them immediately burned to ashes.

"Alright, I’ll take care of the monsters and the cloning device here," Ryu Sungbin said, raising his hands and hitting the flying monsters with his continuous fireballs. "Are you sure you don’t need my help?"

Ki Gayoon scoffed at Ryu Sungbin’s useless concern. "Just worry about yourself, Sungbin Hyung."

***

A SEA of fire.

Ryu Sungbin created a sea of fire just a few moments after Ki Gayoon disappeared to deal with Charles Kang.

The monsters that tried to attack him had quickly burned to ashes.

However, the smarter monsters were frozen in their place— obviously hesitating to attack him, and probably thinking about how to escape from there.

I hate these intelligent monsters the most. How dare they think as if they were humans?

Of course, Ryu Sungbin had no intention of letting the monsters escape from there.

There’s a nearby village here, after all.

He raised his hands, preparing to burn everything to death when...

"Sungbin Hyung, since when have you been that sober?"

Ryu Sungbin’s eyes widened in shock not only because Bambi appeared out of nowhere, but also because the bastard appeared while dragging Jin Sooin by the hair. "Bambi...!"

***

"I DIDN’T expect you to bring me to your secret base, Ki Gayoon."

Ki Gayoon scoffed while looking down at Charles Kang, who was sitting on a boulder as if he had been waiting for him for a long time, as he was suspended in the air.

Yeah, he brought the bastard inside Beom-seok, his private dungeon.

But they were far from his mansion.

The two of them were currently at the ’wasteland’ part of the dungeon, where there was only dry land, boulders, and dead trees.

A fitting graveyard for this old bastard.

"Aren’t you afraid that I might corrupt this place now that I’m here?" Charles Kang asked while getting up. "Or are you that confident that your dungeon can’t be breached again since you have the System’s protection now?"

"You talk too much," Ki Gayoon said, raising both arms— causing the entire sky to darken. "You should shut your mouth forever, you ugly monster."

And then he put his hands down.

As soon as Ki Gayoon did that, hundreds of meteorites descended upon their sole target: Charles Kang.

Using that kind of ability required a huge amount of Mana.

But he didn’t care. 𝘧𝑟𝑒𝑒𝘸𝘦𝘣𝑛𝑜𝘷𝑒𝓁.𝘤𝘰𝓂

After all, he needed to go all out from the beginning if he wanted to win that fight.

I’m sorry, Yuno-ya— I have to put my life at risk this time.

***

"YUNO-YA, there’s an outbreak of zombies in a public high school in Incheon. Most of the victims are students."

Aigoo.

Yuno was supposed to be resting after he helped Moon Noa bring Haru to the Esper Association HQ.

But, as soon as he settled, Nam Sori came with some bad news.

"Outbreak?" Yuno asked Nam Sori, his best friend, who was also a higher-up in the rebel group called the ’Rogue Clan.’ The rebel group was currently under the command of President Kwak Hakjae of the Esper Association. "How many students have been infected by the virus?"

"At least thirty," Nam Sori reported. "It seems like the top dog of that school forced his underlings to take some suspicious drugs. We don’t know where he got the drugs yet since none of them could speak at the moment."

"Ah, so you’ve already apprehended them?"

"Yeah. We apprehended them as soon as we got the report of the outbreak. According to our investigation, it has been 18 hours since the students were turned into zombies. Can you still turn them back to normal?"

"I have to. You know I have a soft spot for kids, even if I’m like this," Yuno said while getting up from his seat. "And this timing works well. Now I can properly launch my broadcast channel with Jericho Hyung."

Nam Sori tilted her head to one side, obviously confused. "A broadcast channel?"

***

KWON HOJUN didn’t want to be a burden to his companions, but he wasn’t able to hide the pain when his chest suddenly tightened painfully.

It hurts...

"Hojun-ah, what’s wrong?" Kim Jaeha asked worriedly when the Guide saw Kwon Hojun clutch his chest. "Are you in pain?"

"What’s happening, kids?"

"Kwon Hojun, tell us where it hurts."

And now the adults were also fussing over him.

But Kwon Hojun got distracted when he saw it— the apparition of the original owner of the Core implanted in his heart.

That gave him goosebumps.

Hunter Matthew...?

***

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