Chapter 11

A massive black motorcycle pulled to a stop directly in front of him, and a man in a leather jacket got off.

“Mr. Jun-gyeong?”

Jun-gyeong merely looked at him.

-You can take that.
“A motorcycle?”

The man answered Jun-gyeong’s question.

“Ah, guess you’re the right guy. Here are the keys. And…”

The man took off his leather jacket and shoved it into Jun-gyeong’s arms.

“She told me to give you the jacket too. Guess this is why.”

The man glanced over Jun-gyeong’s blood-spattered shirt, then handed him a helmet as well.

“And most importantly, the helmet. It’s equipped with augmented-reality navigation. Ride safe.”

After even handing over the leather gloves he had been wearing, the man waved and walked off.
Ok-hee’s voice came through the earpiece.

-Han Jun-gyeong had been riding motorcycles since he was young. His body probably remembers how. It’s easier than riding a horse.

Jun-gyeong stroked the motorcycle’s fuel tank as he once would have stroked a horse’s back on the battlefield.

“I like the look of it.”
-That thing’s top of the line. Hurry up and move.

Jun-gyeong pulled on the leather jacket and slipped the helmet over his head.
The moment he put on the leather gloves, a sense of familiarity rose within him.
He gave a faint chuckle at the feeling.
It was probably familiarity inherited from Han Jun-gyeong’s memories, yet at the same time, it reminded him of riding out to the battlefield in his previous life.
The instant he started the engine, a low vibration rolled through the air.

Rrrrrrr- Thum- Thum- Thum- Thum-

The heavy bass rumble traveled through the ground and tickled the soles of his feet.
Jun-gyeong easily found his balance and gave the throttle a light twist.

Vroom- Vroooom-

The low rumble gradually sharpened.
He wobbled for an instant, but ever since his Body Synchronization had reached nineteen percent, his physical abilities had improved dramatically.
Balancing himself and riding the motorcycle was effortless.
Once he reached the main road, Jun-gyeong checked the traffic light and began twisting the throttle.

VROOOOM— RAAAAAR–

Thousands of perfectly interlocking parts unleashed a piercing roar.

Once the motorcycle left the city behind, the sound of its engine changed again.
With the throttle twisted to its limit and the engine revving near the redline, the roar became a full-blown scream that hammered against his eardrums.

SHWOOOOOM-! RAAAAAAR-!!

The shrill rush of wind, like the sound of a jet taking off, mingled with the engine’s thunder and tore through the air.
By the time the sound could be heard, the motorcycle had already vanished from sight.

By car, the trip would normally have taken forty to fifty minutes.
But with Ok-hee hacking the traffic lights for him and the augmented-reality navigation displayed across his helmet visor guiding the way, he reached Incheon Port in only twenty minutes.

SCREEECH-

Warehouse 16 stood near the far end of Incheon Port.
Several vans were parked outside the entrance of the warehouse, one side of which bordered the sea, and four men stood guard at the entrance.

“What’s that?”

As Jun-gyeong got off the motorcycle, one of the four men approached him.

“Hey, mister. This isn’t a parking lot. Get lost.”

Jun-gyeong took off his helmet, hung it on the motorcycle, and rolled his neck from side to side.

“Didn’t you hear me? Get the hell… Gakh!!”

Jun-gyeong’s fist drove straight into the man’s open mouth.
The man’s body flipped backward through the air, blood and teeth scattering with his scream.

“Lucky you. You came at me unarmed.”

Jun-gyeong did not slow his stride by even a single step.
As he passed, he kicked the fallen man in the jaw hard enough to ensure he would never chew food again.

“Huh?”
“Hey, fuck! Grab the weapons!”

The remaining men snatched up steel pipes leaning nearby and pulled sashimi knives from inside their clothes.
Jun-gyeong reached toward the empty air beside him.
A blade resembling a sashimi knife tore free of the shadows and settled into his grasp.
Jun-gyeong exploded off the ground.

“Kill him!!”

The man in front swung his steel pipe down diagonally.
They had drawn weapons with the intent to kill him.

The moment Jun-gyeong read the Books of Karmic Sin hovering faintly above their heads, he had all the justification he needed.
Jun-gyeong didn’t dodge.
He swung his blade directly into the red trajectory of the steel pipe unfolding before his eyes.

Shhk-

“Huh…?”

The solid steel pipe was sliced apart like a stalk of straw.
In the instant the man’s eyes froze in terror,

Swish-

Jun-gyeong’s blade lightly swept across the side of his neck.
The motion flowed like water, without the slightest hesitation.

Shhk! Swish- Thk-

The next two men, who had been about to swing their sashimi knives, dropped to their knees without managing the slightest resistance, blood spraying from their throats.

-Go straight in.

As Jun-gyeong approached the heavy iron door, the digital lock beeped and released.

When he opened the door, the warehouse greeted him with sickening heat and the coppery stench of blood.
Liquor bottles lay scattered everywhere, while corpses had been piled like garbage against one side.
Prison-like iron cages lined the walls, and at the center of the grotesque space, several men stood around something, snickering obscenely.

“Hey, asshole! She’s merchandise, so handle her carefully!”
“If she gets damaged, just kill her and say she committed suicide. Who cares?”
“Yeah, idiot. Shut up. This is the important part.”
“That’s it! Strip her! Take it all off!!”

Jun-gyeong’s gaze sank into an abyssal stillness.
Rage he had crushed down deep inside began boiling up from his chest.
Dark-crimson karmic flames spread from behind his back before taking the form of a grotesque yet majestic Ghost Mask over the lower half of his face.

At that moment, something that had been sobbing in midair prostrated itself at Jun-gyeong’s feet.
It was an old woman with white hair pulled into a bun, dressed in a fine white jeogori.

The soul of the deceased Seo Jeong-hee pleaded with Jun-gyeong, her voice heavy with lingering grievance.

[The gods of heaven and earth have answered my desperate prayer. Please, save my flesh and blood. Those wicked men… the child is trying to take her own life. Please save her.]

Jun-gyeong stopped short at the words take her own life.
His low voice came from behind the Ghost Mask.

“…She mustn’t take her own life.”
-Those fucking bastards.

Ok-hee’s murderous curse came through the earpiece as she watched the interior through the hacked surveillance cameras.
Jun-gyeong moved slowly until he stood behind the men.
Their brains were so steeped in dopamine that they failed to notice the massive predator standing directly behind them.

At the center of the warehouse, surrounded by iron cages.
A woman lay there with half her clothes torn away, despair filling her eyes, while a man covered head to toe in tattoos laughed obscenely over her.

Jun-gyeong’s clenched fist creaked.

Step- Step-

He advanced slowly, yet without the slightest hesitation.

“What the fuck! I can’t see. Move, asshole!”
“Who the fuck is that guy? Hey! Hey!”
“Drag that bastard out! What are you doing?”

The men, furious at having their fun interrupted, began shouting, and the tattooed man laughing over the woman raised his head.
The moment Jun-gyeong met those cloudy, slack eyes, dead as a rotten fish’s, his merciless declaration came crashing down.

“I will kill you.”
“…Huh?”

CRUNCH-!

Jun-gyeong’s dress shoe smashed beneath the man’s jaw.
The tattooed man shot into the air without even managing a scream.

SHHK-!

His body never got the chance to reach the floor intact.
Jun-gyeong stepped forward as his blade carved through the air.
The man’s body was cleanly split lengthwise, spraying blood and entrails in every direction as the two halves crashed to the floor.

SPLAAASH–

As blood and organs spilled across the filthy warehouse floor, silence descended as though the entire space had frozen solid.
The gangsters who had been watching and the humans trembling inside the cages all held their breath as they stared at the red-eyed man in the Ghost Mask.
Jun-gyeong growled, his voice saturated with killing intent.

“I will kill every one of you.”

Some pissed themselves and collapsed where they stood. Others desperately glanced toward the exit.
A few of the higher-ranking thugs tightened their grips on their sashimi knives and steel pipes and shouted.

“Don’t fucking panic, idiots! First time seeing someone die?! What the fuck are you so scared of?!”

A hulking man tattooed all the way across his scalp pointed a sashimi knife at Jun-gyeong and shouted.

“Who the fuck are you? What the hell are you doing in here? Fuck. Isn’t that guy with the delivery crew? Didn’t you kill him?”

The man glared around and shouted, but no one answered.
Jun-gyeong stepped forward and flicked the blood from his blade as though answering in their place.

Shhk-

The sight made everyone recoil.
Even that single gesture from him carried overwhelming pressure.
With an expressionless gaze, Jun-gyeong read the text floating above the man’s head.

“Quite the list of offenses. More than ten counts of rape alone. You don’t deserve to live.”

Beep- Clack-!

The instant Jun-gyeong finished speaking, the warehouse door locked with a sharp sound.
The gangster who had tried to sneak toward the exit twisted in despair.

Rattle- Rattle-
“Wh-What the hell is this-”
“W-We’re completely… locked in.”

The tattooed man ground his teeth as he glared at Jun-gyeong.

“Kill him!!! Graaaagh!!”

The man had clearly handled a blade before. A red line traced toward Jun-gyeong’s throat.
Jun-gyeong leaned his head back by the slightest degree, letting the blade skim past.
At the same time, his empty left hand shot out and engulfed the man’s entire face.

Tak-

Jun-gyeong lightly hooked the man’s ankle with the tip of his foot.
The motion was almost casual, yet the man’s massive body flipped through the air, and Jun-gyeong hurled his head straight down into the floor.

BOOM! CRACK–!!

With the explosive crack of a skull shattering, crimson blood and pale brain matter spread across the black floor.
Jun-gyeong’s cold voice rang out over the grisly death.

“Scream. Let those who died because of you hear your cries of agony and find even the smallest measure of comfort.”

Jun-gyeong’s footsteps were soundless as a ghost’s, yet heavy with the weight of a predator.
The dark-crimson killing intent pouring from his body stained the entire warehouse with the colors of Hell.
To the despairing men, Jun-gyeong looked like the very incarnation of King Yama risen from the Netherworld.

“Beg. Beg me to spare you. I won’t forgive you either way, but who knows? Perhaps your punishment in Hell will be reduced by the slightest amount.”

The instant he finished speaking, Jun-gyeong shot forward like a bullet.

“Graaaagh!!”

His blade buried itself in the shoulder of a man who had been staring blankly at him, and the resulting scream tore through the warehouse.
Their comrade’s horrific screams and agony stirred the survival instincts of the cornered rats.

“Kill him!! We’re dead either way! So fucking kill him!!!”
“Uaaaaagh!!”

The human trash, driven to the edge, began their desperate final struggle.
But the Dokkaebi Eyes within Jun-gyeong’s gaze clearly showed every incoming trajectory as a red line.
At only nineteen percent synchronization, his body had already crossed beyond human limits, and his precise martial prowess made full use of it.
Jun-gyeong’s blade moved like a living ghost, precisely seeking the nerves at their shoulder joints, their thighs, and the arteries in their necks.

Men whose shoulder nerves were severed dropped their weapons before losing their limbs moments later, while those whose major arteries were cut rolled across the floor spraying blood like fountains.
The stench of blood pooling across the floor consumed the warehouse.
It had become an absolute slaughterhouse from which no one would leave alive.

“Graaaagh!!”
“Spare me! Spare me!! I don’t want to die!”
“I’m sorry! I was wrong! Please, spare me!”

At last, the men threw down their weapons and began begging.
But mercy was a luxury Jun-gyeong’s blade did not possess.

“Graaagh!! No!! Please! Spare me!!”

When Jun-gyeong mercilessly slashed through the last man’s throat, a terrible silence finally descended over the warehouse.
Several men lay on the floor missing limbs and drawing shallow, ragged breaths, but within minutes they would all be corpses.

Jun-gyeong wiped the blood from his blade on one of the men’s clothes and tossed it into the Dokkaebi Pouch.
Then he turned toward the woman, who sat trembling in shock with her knees pulled against her chest.
His glowing eyes looked down at her evenly from behind the Ghost Mask.
He placed a hand on her head and slowly channeled warm Qi into her as he spoke.

“…Don’t let yourself break. Why should you, the victim, throw away your life and hand those bastards absolution? Turning your hand against yourself is only the beginning of the cruelest hell in existence. So live. Survive, no matter what, and prove your life with the way you live it. Not for anyone else. I’m saying this for you and you alone.”

It was the merciless truth of a man who had survived a thousand years at the very bottom of Hell, tearing countless ghosts apart with his own hands.
He had seen and experienced firsthand the price paid in the Netherworld by souls who had walked into death by their own hand. Only because of that could he offer such grave, weighty advice.

Whether his sincerity had reached her, or the warm Qi flowing through the crown of her head had eased something inside her, the tears pooled in the woman’s eyes finally spilled down her cheeks.