All awakeners and monsters, small or big, have cores. Even gates have monsters as their core that need to be destroyed for them to be cleared of any energy. The only difference between these monsters and awakeners was the energy, and as someone with the same negative energy as the monsters or gates, Cheon Areum was no better than a monster with a higher intelligence and skills, granted the energy of an S+ Class boss.

It wasn’t easy to contain negative energy and not be corrupted by it too. The mobs inside the gate were all beings having lost control to the negative energy, but they weren’t humans to begin with.

As a human, he shouldn’t lose to the negative energy. That was what he had told himself as he got stronger and stronger by the day, and a fear of being taken by this energy someday subconsciously pestered inside his heart. He had been trying to resist even though he knew this wasn’t his true potential, but he also wasn’t going to go all out this early. He was planning to take his sweet time and gradually add more with the stability and peace of his family, the only motivation he had really to not become a true monster.

But Cho Kihyun had ruined it. He had ruined it all.

Gathering the negative energy from all over the city without a pause, the black energy coiled over him in the sky. It was the energy of all the S-Class gates in the city, and all of it was being absorbed by a sole entity. Cheon Areum’s second core registered the energy in his original core as its own because it was also made of the same energy. That was the most probable reason his cores got along just fine. And he had gotten rid of the only thing that was making him feel weak.

Black stitches ran all over his body along with the black veins. A thick rope of black energy connected to his back as he crawled, drawing all the negative energy of the gates into his new core that enabled him to use energy however he liked. He had such an abundance of negative energy that his skin was beginning to get engulfed by it as he straightened up, tilted his head, and sealed the cut on his head with his energy too. Every cut on his body was blocked or stitched with his energy, but having lost a lot of blood still, he felt a bit drunk.

Grabbing his head, he stepped towards Kihyun, the ground denting from his step. Cheon Areum shook his head multiple times to retain some of his consciousness. At that moment, Kihyun, who knew what he had done just now, jumped away onto a building nearby, preparing to retreat from the scene, but Cheon Areum, even with his eyes closed, felt every movement. The ground that had been glowing a pinkish brown was now shining with a darkness of his own. He could detect everything, even the clone’s heartbeat.

Cheon Areum only lifted his hand, and the clone of Kihyun that had just tried to make a run for it was dragged back into his hand with the speed of unforeseeable light.

"Wait-"

Kihyun had only said a word when Cheon Areum’s hand pierced through his back and clenched around his heart. Without a thought, he dug into the soft organ, and then his fingernails extended, butchering the heart into tiny pieces. The body of the clone fell on the ground instantly. Cheon Areum emotionlessly stared at the lifeless body. He didn’t feel anything.

The pattern on the ground was constantly spreading with the mission of finding the real Kihyun. Cheon Areum had already made up his mind. He was going to kill him. He was just going to suffer the consequences of his own choices. It wasn’t that Cheon Areum had targeted him and killed him; that’s why he had no emotions to waste over such people. Why should he think if Kihyun might have someone waiting for him too, when Kihyun himself didn’t?

These people who are aware of the dangers but still decide to do it, disregarding everything else, and then become scared of their own sought-out outcome. Cheon Areum hated them the most. He loathed such people with his entire being.

"If you have the guts to kill me, come out. You’re going to die today regardless of anything you do now."

Since there wasn’t any shortage of energy, the pattern took over the city in just under a minute, and Cho Kihyun didn’t have the means to get out of the city this quickly. Finding the real one, Cheon Areum didn’t even have to walk there. The air of the whole city was clouded with his energy. As if teleporting through the energy, he could form himself just about anywhere his energy was. Instead of dispersing into butterflies, Cheon Areum simply traveled as energy.

In front of the Aurora guild building, Cheon Areum emerged with his hands and legs wrapped around Cho Kihyun’s body, who fell over on the road from the unexpected appearance.

"Fuck, get away from me, you monster!"

Visibly panicking now after such high proclamations, this human was exactly like the ones Cheon Areum hated.

"If you want to become a villain, you have to be on this level of strong or even stronger to back up your bluffs. Don’t you think so?"

Eyes clear and glossed with a shine never seen before, Cheon Areum gazed down at Kihyun’s blanched face with a smile and caressed his face.

"Wait- you’re- you’re too close. Get off of me. I take it back! I take it back! You- you are definitely stronger than anyone."

Voice shaking, Kihyun spoke like the pathetic being he was.

"No. You can’t take them back now."

"Even though I don’t even have the patience to torture you right now because I’m just..."

Cheon Areum sighed softly.

"Really... really eager to kill you."

He spoke gently, as if he was confessing his feelings of love to someone. 𝕗𝐫𝐞𝕖𝕨𝐞𝗯𝚗𝕠𝘃𝐞𝚕.𝐜𝗼𝚖

"I also love to play around with my prey."