Chapter 33 – The Forbidden File
The night after Han Jae-shik's brutal demise wasn't peaceful.
Ashes floated through the wind like cursed snowflakes.
Ji-ho stood over the smoldering ruins of the gang's underground vault, his crimson eyes dim yet focused.
His brother, Ye-jun, dragged over a charred safe—the only object left untouched by the battle's fury.
"Found this behind the illusionist's chamber," he said, coughing through the dust. "Must've been important."
Ji-ho knelt beside it.
The pendant around his neck glowed faintly, reacting to something within.
"Step back."
A thought formed in Ji-ho's mind. His Destructive Ray didn't fire like a cannon—it condensed like a needle, precision over power, and pierced the vault's lock with a hiss of smoke.
The safe hissed open.
Inside were two items:
A crimson memory crystal, labeled with the Devil's Association crest.
A sealed metal tablet, engraved with a symbol Ji-ho had seen before.
The angel-devil symbol.
"The same mark we saw on the other three," Ye-jun whispered. "They're all connected."
Ji-ho picked up the memory crystal.
It burned in his hand.
He closed his eyes, allowing his aura to fuse with it.
And then—
Visions flooded in.
People—thousands—screaming inside containment tubes. Injected with toxins. Implanted with devil stones.
The fourth target—Han Jae-shik—oversaw it all.
But he wasn't the mastermind.
A calm, deep voice echoed in the background:
> "These are not crimes. These are sacrifices. To understand power, one must destroy humanity and rebuild it from ash."
Ji-ho's fists clenched. That voice… it belonged to the President of the Devil's Association.
Then came the data—coordinates, reports, codenames.
The fifth target.
Name: Yoo Sang-rok
Rank: AA+ Awakened
Alias: The Beast of Jirisan
Former general of a rogue experimental force. Current commander of a private awakened army hidden in the Jirisan Devil Forest.
Ji-ho's eyes snapped open.
His aura surged. The air around him thickened with hate and purpose.
"They experimented on civilians… turned people into monsters… and the world stayed silent."
Ye-jun growled. "And worse, the people blamed us for showing the truth."
Ji-ho stood.
"No more."
He raised the pendant.
The devil within whispered again.
> "This world deserves to burn. Shall we continue?"
And Ji-ho, without hesitation, whispered back:
"Yes."
---
Fifth target located.
Jirisan Devil Forest.
The next three chapters will take us into the Beast's Domain, where the line between monster and human has been twisted beyond salvation.