“Keugh!”
Dragged into the sea, Sihyeon shook his head violently before coughing out what little breath he had left. At the groan he spat out, bubbles rose upward. Struggling desperately to break free, he threw his head back and grimaced.
He didn’t know what the Titan’s objective was. It might intend to take him away and eat him, or simply kill him outright. One thing was certain—before it could do anything, he felt like he’d suffocate to death first.
As the Titan descended just as slowly as it had risen, Sihyeon looked upward with unfocused eyes. The underside of a massive ship came into view.
I really hate this kind of thing. Throwing yourself into something grand for someone else’s sake.
He wasn’t destined to save the world, nor was he some hero who stepped up to save others. If anything, he belonged to the type that disliked playing the hero. But what he hated even more was innocent people dying in his place. Who had asked anyone to step forward and protect him—at the cost of their lives?
Frowning, Sihyeon bit his lip as memories surfaced.
Damn it.
Cursing inwardly, he twisted his body. His breath was cut off, and his body ached. He struggled to escape, but the grip holding him didn’t budge.
The lack of oxygen became painfully apparent. Now, there wasn’t even any breath left to exhale.
His strength began to drain away, and slowly, his eyes started to close. The last thing Sihyeon saw as his consciousness faded was the faint outline of someone.
***
“Tch.”
Clicking his tongue, the man swam quickly toward the Titan’s hand. He could see the massive hand gripping a boy. Thankfully, the Titan was slow—if it had been faster, there would’ve been no chance of catching up and retrieving him.
Just before the Titan could fully return to its position, the man reached out. Tap—the man’s hand made contact with the Titan’s.
The Titan flinched in response, and the man narrowed his eyes.
Flash!
A golden bolt of lightning, resembling the color of the man’s hair, struck the sea. At the same time, electricity surged from his hand.
—Pajijik!
The Titan’s hand twitched. Veins bulged along its massive arm. As his own breathing began to falter, the man cursed inwardly and activated his skill once more. Lightning struck again, illuminating the sea as it hit the Titan’s hand.
Whoosh!
Perhaps feeling pain, the Titan opened its hand. The boy’s frail body slipped free as if collapsing, and the man quickly caught him, snapping his fingers.
Another golden lightning strike crashed down.
As the searing bolt struck the Titan, its massive hand writhed in apparent agony. Taking that chance to avoid pursuit, the man swam away with Sihyeon in tow.
It had been manageable when he came alone, but swimming while carrying a boy significantly slowed him down. Only when he reached his limit did he finally break the surface, gasping desperately for air. Rough breaths followed. Once his breathing stabilized somewhat, the man draped the boy’s arm over his own neck. Glancing to the side, he saw the soaked boy leaning against him, completely unconscious.
Droplets clung to the tips of his long eyelashes. The boy’s eyes were shut as if he were dead, and the man frowned.
He’s not dead… right?
He had deliberately controlled his strength.
Because the boy had been caught in the Titan’s grasp, there was a risk of electrocution, so he had only used a mild shock. Feeling the faint breath against his shoulder, the man relaxed his brow. It seemed the boy had merely lost consciousness.
After confirming Sihyeon’s condition, the man lifted his head and looked upward. From atop the massive ship, people stared down at him with shocked expressions.
“H-how…?”
A stunned voice rang out—one thick with incompetence.
They had acted like idiots when the Quadruple was taken, and they were acting like idiots now. Thinking that the teachers of Strongest High were more incompetent than expected, the man clicked his tongue and spoke.
“Move.”
“H-how…?”
“If you want the kid to die, then keep standing there like that.”
They hesitated. At the man’s threat, the teachers stepped back. Only after his warning did they move away from the railing. With a scowl, the man held onto Sihyeon and rose into the air. A green aura enveloped him.
It was the Buffer skill, Flight.
Using the skill, he stepped onto the railing just as he had before falling into the sea. Then, holding Sihyeon, he jumped down from it.
“Sihyeon!”
At Haru’s immediate shout, the man turned his gaze in that direction and gently laid Sihyeon on the ground. Tap, tap—he patted his cheek as if to wake him, when a hand suddenly appeared, stopping him.
“If you’re checking his consciousness, I don’t think you need to hit him that hard.”
Despite the neat tone, the eyes looking at him were anything but. The moment their gazes met, a chill flickered—then the eyes curved into a smile. The man smirked, as if amused.
“Sihyeon.”
The platinum-blond boy called out, tapping him. Despite the call, the boy who had just been pulled from the sea didn’t stir at all. As the boy frowned slightly, the man reached out and grabbed Sihyeon’s cheek.
Whip!
He forcefully turned Sihyeon’s head to the side, allowing seawater to spill from his mouth. At a glance, the boy’s body was thin and fragile—if too much force were applied, it looked like his ribs might break.
Twitch.
At the slight movement of Sihyeon’s fingers, Seowoo and the others widened their eyes. At that moment, teachers and Awakened from the Association surrounded the man.
“Hah.”
Looking at the Awakened encircling him, the man let out a dry laugh and raised both hands as if surrendering.
“Is this how you say thank you in Korea?”
“…We appreciate you saving the student, but we can’t leave him in the hands of someone whose identity we don’t know.”
As one of the teachers spoke, the man shrugged, still in a relaxed stance despite being surrounded by five A-class Awakened. Seeing that he had no intention of answering, a teacher stepped forward.
“I’ve heard that when the Catastrophe-level Irregular Titan first appeared three years ago, even twenty A-class couldn’t defeat it. How did you retrieve Sihyeon?”
“I beat the hell out of it and brought him back—how else?”
His tone was rough, casually using language one might expect from street thugs. The teacher, particularly strict about etiquette, frowned. As a final measure, he mentioned contacting the Association to detain the unidentified individual. Only then did the man lower his hands and speak.
***
“What did you say?”
A startled voice rang out. Through ears that still felt muffled and waterlogged, the sound reached him, and Sihyeon’s fingers twitched.
Cough, cough!
Only after a moment did he begin coughing. Salty seawater filled his mouth, and his entire body reeked of the ocean. Cough, after spitting out more seawater, he finally stopped convulsing. Voices rang out from all around him.
“Sihyeon!”
Multiple voices overlapped as they called his name. Slowly opening his eyes, Sihyeon took in the scene before him. The dark night sky was still visible. Beneath it, faces partially blocking the sky came into view.
As he tried to speak at the faces so close to him, he coughed again. A gush of seawater mixed with blood spilled from his mouth, the metallic taste intensifying.
Groaning, Sihyeon slowly pushed himself up, but multiple hands grabbed him at once.
Thud.
They forced him back down. Blinking, Sihyeon looked at the faces of those who had laid him down again.
It was Class A.
Even so, having nearly died and come back, the familiar faces felt oddly welcome.
“You just regained consciousness—why are you trying to get up again? Lie still.”
It was practically an order. Sihyeon looked at Dawoon, who seemed ready to knock him out if he didn’t comply. Her expression was dark, and when their eyes met, her brows twitched.
She looks pissed…
Wondering what had happened while he was underwater, Sihyeon was still thinking when an unfamiliar voice reached his ears.
“Mr. Quadruple, looks like you’ve finally woken up?”
“…?”
As the unfamiliar man approached and spoke, Sihyeon lifted his upper body slightly and looked at him. The green eyes tinged with gold felt familiar, yet he couldn’t place who it was. As Sihyeon frowned, the man laughed as if amused and teased him.
“Didn’t we even make eye contact?”
Eye contact.
At that, Sihyeon’s expression hardened.
No way.
“The short-haired male staff?”
“Sharp eyes.”
The man spoke as if praising him. Sihyeon stared at him, puzzled—he was sure the man had black hair before, so why was he blonde now?
As teachers approached and asked if he was okay, Sihyeon raised a hand. Perhaps because he had nearly died, his fingertips trembled. Placing his hand on his chest, he activated Heal.
Whoosh!
Light bloomed. The throbbing pain throughout his body and the discomfort he felt whenever he spoke disappeared. Only after finishing did Sihyeon nod.
“I’m fine now.”
It was said quite calmly.
What bullshit.
It felt like Hamin was cursing under his breath, and Seowoo was sighing. Sihyeon couldn’t understand why he was being judged when he had simply healed himself.
After giving rough answers to the teachers’ questions, Sihyeon turned his gaze to the suspicious man. From head to toe, the man was completely soaked—just like him. Glancing at him, Sihyeon slowly spoke.
“You saved me?”
“Quick on the uptake, too.”
“How?”
At the man’s evasive answer, Sihyeon took it as confirmation and voiced his curiosity. He genuinely wanted to know. This was a Catastrophe-level Irregular that even the teachers couldn’t handle. There was no way an ordinary staff member could have rescued him.
Now that his body was fine, he got up and asked directly. Haru and Seowoo immediately supported him from both sides.
“Like teacher, like student—you’re asking the exact same question.”
The man spoke with a hint of laughter, glancing at the teacher. The teacher, meeting his gaze, flinched and raised a hand toward him.
“This person is…”
“This person?”
Tilting his head at the form of address, Sihyeon watched as the teacher wetted his lips and swallowed.
Then he continued slowly.
“This is Mr. Luce, Sihyeon. When you were taken by the Titan, he jumped into the sea and saved you.”
Luce.
It was a name he’d seen somewhere before.
Digging through his memory, Sihyeon recalled a community post he had seen at the beginning of the semester.
‘The country that has Luce.’
It had been written in a post related to himself. Since the person had been compared to a Quadruple, Sihyeon had assumed they were at least S-class or higher.
“…If it’s Luce…”
As he trailed off as if he knew, the teacher nodded.
“Yes, Triple-class Luce.”
“……”
Sihyeon’s breath stopped for a moment. Information he had picked up over time flashed through his mind like a panorama.
An Awakened belonging to the American guild IRS. The first—and only—Triple ability user in human history.
The one consistently ranked number one among Awakened across multiple sites. Someone who had never once appeared before the public in their true form because disguise was their hobby—so even their appearance was unknown.
Sihyeon’s lips parted silently before he finally spoke.
“What did you say?”
His voice rose an octave. Only then did Sihyeon realize the identity of the words he had heard just before waking up.
