The people filling the banquet hall were thrown into confusion as they watched Ina address someone other than Joshua as the soon-to-be District Leader, while Jeremy stood there, visibly flustered.
Jeremy couldn’t hide the twisted grimace on his face as he looked at Ina. He knew he couldn’t afford to falter here, but with both Ina and now Joshua appearing before him, it was impossible not to be shaken.
Even though they had cut the number in half, the guards stationed in front of Joshua’s room had never been few. And yet, Ina Shining had brought Joshua right in front of him with absurd ease.
‘Could they have been completely wiped out?’
He had heard that Ina Shining was second only to Vincent in terms of strength, but there was no way she could have eliminated all those guards on her own. However, her private forces had been annihilated during the last Shining purge, meaning she shouldn’t have had anyone left.
Then how on earth—
“Ugh…”
Amidst the chaos, Joshua, who had collapsed on the floor, twitched slightly. He looked like nothing more than a writhing insect. Disgust twisted Jeremy’s features as he realized, with deep regret, that he had made a mistake.
He should have killed Joshua beforehand to ensure there were no loose ends. Instead, as he had feared, Joshua had become the greatest shackle dragging him down.
Keeping Joshua alive until the very end, just to make him suffer the most miserable death, had been a foolish indulgence. He should have treated him like any other Shining and eliminated him outright. What was it about this man’s inferiority complex that had made Jeremy hesitate?
“Oh, should I not be calling you Jeremy anymore? Then what should I call you, hmm?”
Ina’s mocking voice cut through the tension. Jeremy deliberately didn’t respond. He was still fine. The people around them hadn’t yet confirmed that the pathetic wretch sprawled on the floor was indeed Joshua.
That meant he had to act even more confidently. The real could become the fake, and the fake could become the real—it was simple. All he had to do was make people believe it.
“What are you waiting for?! Get rid of these uninvited guests at once!”
Jeremy barked his orders at the guards stationed in the banquet hall.
Ina, who had already aimed her gun at the advancing guards, pulled the trigger without hesitation.
Bang!
The sharp crack of gunfire echoed through the hall, and the room instantly erupted into a chaotic uproar of screams. The bullet had struck the floor just inches away, causing the guards to recoil in hesitation.
“If you don’t want to die, don’t get in my way.”
At Ina’s chilling warning, the guards remained frozen in place. Even the aides abandoned Jeremy, retreating to safer ground. In an instant, he was left completely alone.
Ina, having effortlessly subdued the obstacles in her way, fired another shot into the air. The piercing screams died down, replaced by a heavy silence that blanketed the banquet hall.
The barrel of her gun, still smoking, slowly lowered—until it was aimed directly at Jeremy. Her finger slipped onto the trigger as if she might fire at any moment, but instead, she smiled sweetly.
“Don’t do anything stupid, Jeremy. It’s not time for you to die yet.”
With that cryptic remark, she lowered the gun that had been pointed at him. Then, turning her back on Jeremy, she addressed the hushed crowd.
“I sincerely welcome you all to the inauguration ceremony of District 1’s new leader.”
Bowing deeply, Ina delivered an utterly unexpected greeting. The banquet hall full of people trembled in fear, unable to comprehend the situation.
Straightening up, Ina pointed to a spot at the far end of the banquet hall. As she naturally drew everyone’s attention to that place, her voice rang out, loud enough to fill the entire hall.
“Come out now.”
In response to her call, the man who had been hiding in the corner, casually sipping from a champagne glass, stepped forward. If ever there was a moment to describe a perfectly orchestrated dramatic reveal, this was it. The sheer precision of it sent chills down his spine, and he couldn’t help but chuckle.
The abrupt entrance left a wave of confusion in its wake. At a glance, it was clear that this man wasn’t ordinary—his stature alone made that much evident. Yet aside from that, he appeared entirely unremarkable. Of course, that was only because he had deliberately disguised himself.
A few people in the crowd caught a glimpse of something that even his disguise couldn’t fully conceal—his strikingly vivid eyes. But those who hadn’t noticed remained lost in bewilderment.
Then, after a brief silence, Ina finally revealed his name to everyone.
“Vincent Shining.”
As if perfectly synchronized with her words, he reached up, yanked off the stifling wig, and ruffled his flattened hair back into place. The sight of those blazing, unmistakable red locks stole the breath of everyone present.
A flawless entrance at the perfect moment. The man who had just stepped forward was none other than Vincent Shining—the very person they had been told was dead.
“Why—”
The one most shaken by his appearance was Jeremy. He had been assured that Vincent was dead, so how was he standing here, alive and well?
Had he made a mistake by not personally inspecting the body at the border? No, multiple reports had confirmed Vincent’s death. If they had all conspired to deceive him, then this had to be an illusion.
Then why did it feel so real?
“That’s impossible.”
As Vincent drew closer, Jeremy, gripped by fear, instinctively stumbled backward. The closer Vincent came, the more the guests began to notice something they hadn’t seen before—Jeremy’s pale, diluted eye color.
Vincent, smiling faintly, locked eyes with him, his gaze filled with a mix of amusement and something far more menacing. Jeremy, paralyzed and unable to find an escape, could only watch in horror as Vincent closed the distance.
Before the real, the fake lost its luster. The borrowed color faded, leaving Jeremy looking dull and insignificant.
“Why are you here?”
Jeremy, his mind blank with shock, muttered the question aloud.
Vincent didn’t answer. Instead, he merely shrugged, then tilted the glass in his hand.
Trickle.
Champagne poured down, cascading over Jeremy’s head.
The icy liquid seeped down, mixing with the red dye that had been clinging to Jeremy’s hair. The crimson streaks ran down, staining his pristine white uniform as if it had been drenched in blood. The gathered guests instinctively raised their hands, covering their mouths to suppress their impending screams.
Though the champagne alone wasn’t enough to completely wash away the color, the places it touched revealed the truth Jeremy had tried so desperately to hide. His real color was a feeble, lackluster shade—one that could never come close to the brilliance of a burning flame.
“Jeremy… Shining, was it?”
At the sound of his name, Jeremy slowly lifted his head, following the crimson droplets trickling down. In truth, Vincent barely remembered him. To him, Jeremy had always been nothing more than Joshua’s twin—a shadow barely worth noting.
Yet it was this overlooked twin who had turned Joshua into a broken puppet and orchestrated the systematic elimination of the other Shining. That, Vincent found rather intriguing.
“Was it you who did that to Joshua?”
Vincent’s gaze flickered toward Joshua, still sprawled lifelessly on the floor. Like a discarded, broken doll, he hadn’t moved an inch since Ina had thrown him aside.
He was breathing, but he didn’t look alive. There was an unpleasant scent lingering around him—faint, but familiar. It was the same stench as the confession drugs they used in the underground cells to break prisoners’ minds.
Even a single dose could permanently damage someone’s brain. If they had been force-feeding him the drug continuously, it was no wonder Joshua had ended up like this. He would never return to what he once was.
“That’s… not Lord Joshua? Then how did he manage to deceive everyone so completely?”
“They say he’s Joshua’s twin. That diluted color—”
“I think I’ve heard of him before. Unlike Lord Joshua, he’s a useless Shining.”
Once a single voice spoke, others quickly followed. The murmurs of disdain spread through the banquet hall like wildfire. Jeremy heard every word, the contempt and mockery as clear as day.
His hands trembled. All it took was a change in his hair color, and suddenly, the way they looked at him had shifted entirely.
Damn it. Damn it! What the hell was so important about color? He had been standing above all of them just moments ago, yet now—now they looked at him with nothing but scorn.
His body shook under their belittling gazes.
“This is your reality.”
Vincent’s words struck deep, and Jeremy swallowed hard. His wavering pupils were lined with burst blood vessels, his eyes burning with fury.
Vincent didn’t flinch from the murderous glare. Instead, he pulled out a concealed gun. The cold barrel pressed against Jeremy’s forehead, where the red liquid still dripped down.
“No, no, no. Not yet. It’s not over yet.”
Jeremy refused to accept it. He was so close. All he had to do was read the declaration. The district, the light, everything—for the first time, all of it would have belonged to him, the first-ever Shining with a diluted color.
But then they appeared. These unwelcome interlopers had ruined everything.
Where had it all gone wrong? Was it when he failed to eliminate Ina Shining during the purge? Or when he had arrogantly trusted the reports of Vincent Shining’s death without confirming the body himself?
“Goodbye, Jeremy Shining.”
Click.
The safety was released.
Jeremy’s eyes flared red.
At the exact moment Vincent pulled the trigger, Jeremy drew his own gun and aimed it straight at him.
Bang!
Two gunshots rang out, shattering the silence of the banquet hall.
