Chapter 36 – Whisper of the Fifth
The flames still danced behind Ji-ho and Ye-jun as they disappeared into the shadows of the broken mountain path. The death of Yoo Sang-rok was a seismic shock, but the world above spun as if nothing had happened. As if another devil hadn't just been purged.
The pendant pulsed again—darker, heavier.
> "Six more," Ji-ho muttered.
> "Seven," corrected Ye-jun, his voice low. "The president…"
Ji-ho nodded.
But something else was happening.
Each time Ji-ho killed someone on the list, the pendant evolved... and so did he. After Sang-rok's death, something twisted had been awakened in his blood. Not just poison resistance or aura control. But something more ancient. Deeper.
A memory that wasn't his.
A man… chained in a white void… screaming… wearing the same pendant.
Ji-ho collapsed, grabbing his chest as it burned with devil script. Ye-jun rushed to his side.
> "Ji-ho!"
But Ji-ho didn't answer. His mind was somewhere else—inside the pendant.
---
Inside the Void
It was a prison. Cold, endless, echoing with whispers.
"Another soul with rage…" a voice said. "How many more will it take to break the world?"
Ji-ho turned and saw the Devil—or rather, one of the fragments sealed within the pendant.
"You," Ji-ho growled.
"Me?" the voice laughed. "I'm you. You're me. You just don't understand it yet."
"I'll never become like you."
"You already are," the voice whispered, "Each time you evolve, you get closer. That poison wasn't just Sang-rok's, boy. That power came from me."
Ji-ho's fists clenched, but the void resisted all motion.
"You're wrong," he said, voice shaking. "I use it to destroy monsters."
"Monsters? Or men society calls powerful?" The devil grinned. "You've tasted what power can do. You're not fighting for justice. You're fighting because it feels good."
Ji-ho roared. "Shut up!"
The devil's grin widened. "Tell me… whose voice cried loudest during Sang-rok's final scream? Was it yours… or mine?"
The void shattered.
---
Back in Reality
Ji-ho gasped awake, sweat dripping down his face. His eyes flickered between silver and crimson.
"Ji-ho!" Ye-jun held his shoulder. "You okay?"
Ji-ho's voice was hoarse. "We're running out of time."
He stood and opened the stolen data drive from Sang-rok's base. One name blinked back.
> Target #5: Han Seo-jin – Rank S, Psychic Division Commander.
The location: Floating Fortress – Skyhaven, protected by 3,000 elite awakened soldiers.
Ji-ho exhaled slowly. "We won't get him in one strike."
"Then we do it in pieces," Ye-jun replied. "Like the last one."
Ji-ho smiled faintly.
"Yes. But this one's different," he whispered. "He's already watching us."
And far above them, in a distant satellite tower, Han Seo-jin stared at their profiles on the screen, eyes glowing violet.
> "So the devils are still alive…"
> "Let's see how far they crawl before I crush them"