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Geonho neither pushed nor pulled Taebeom. He merely grabbed his shoulder.
When he first reached out, he had clearly intended to push his brother away for blocking him. He was also ready to demand answers about why he had disappeared and left them behind.
But the moment his hand touched his brother’s body, his mind went blank.
“Kang Geonho.”
Taebeom shook off his younger brother’s hand on his shoulder and muttered warningly.
“Just focus on eliminating the monsters properly.”
As soon as his order fell, Geonho began moving. Watching Geonho’s blank expression, Siwoo realized that Taebeom had used his mental abilities on him.
Had he been treating Kang Geonho this way all along? Using violence when words didn’t work, and making him mindless when violence failed.
Even if it was for Geonho’s sake, this was too much. Siwoo tightly embraced Geonho, who was heading toward the monsters with unfocused eyes. Then he threw down the jacket Taebeom had put on him.
“Do you know how worried he was when you disappeared!”
Siwoo shouted toward Taebeom, who was already moving away.
“Kang Geonho nearly went berserk because of you! He almost lost control because you disappeared without saying anything!”
Taebeom didn’t turn around. He kept his eyes solely on the monsters that needed to be dealt with.
In his place, Jihan and Seojun approached Siwoo and tried to put the jacket he had thrown back on him.
“I don’t want it! Take it away!”
“You need to keep the barrier stone with you.”
Jihan tried to calm Siwoo by reminding him of the barrier stone and acorns in the jacket pocket. Meanwhile, Geonho was exterminating monsters as ordered by his brother.
His movements were rougher and faster than before, filled with anger. Even though his mind was being controlled, his emotions remained intact. Geonho’s eyes were red as he captured and destroyed monsters.
Siwoo tried to stay in Geonho’s arms, but Jihan held him instead. He soothed the fuming Siwoo, saying it was better to leave Geonho alone until the number of monsters decreased.
“Brother, that thing…”
Standing beside Jihan and Siwoo, Seojun trailed off as he stared at a monster. The monster, which had human corpses hanging from it, was bound by the power of the black cat beastkin and Taebeom.
What on earth could it be?
Jihan understood why Seojun’s words trailed off. It was because he could feel an esper’s wavelength coming from the monster.
That thing was no mere monster. Its focused brown eyes and the distinct wavelength emanating from it proved that it was human.
An esper. A high-ranking one at that.
“Ah… ah, ah…!”
The giant body, bound by the black man’s hands and telekinesis, writhed while making grotesque sounds. Even though it emanated an esper’s energy, it had already gone beyond human appearance.
The smell of rotting corpses vibrated from it. A particularly foul stench came from its widely opened mouth. It must have swallowed corpses with that mouth.
Beings that kill people are no different from monsters. He was not a human but a monster.
The man also saw his leader as a monster. The man, rubbing his black-rimmed eyes, took a deep breath and looked up at his leader.
No trace of his original appearance could be found in the leader who had become a monster. He used to be a splendid person, no less impressive than these young ones. Now he had become more terrifying than a real monster.
“You stay away too.”
The man warned Taebeom as he strengthened his telekinesis. Thanks to Taebeom’s mental abilities neutralizing the large body, he could control it easily.
The leader he saw after a long time had grown even more enormous than before. Meeting his leader in person made him glad he had accepted that youngster’s help. He couldn’t have stopped him alone.
The man took out a pouch containing medicine and approached his leader.
“Leader.”
He blocked the sound so only his leader could hear. The brown eyes reacted to the man’s call.
“Lea, der…”
The eyes trembled as if understanding the word calling him. The man gritted his teeth, opened the leader’s mouth dripping with saliva, and pushed in the prepared pouch.
“Yes, leader. It’s me. I’m here.”
The leader’s mouth smelled of decaying corpses. How did he end up like this?
“Try to come to your senses.”
The man had many questions for his leader. Why he was carrying the corpses of colleagues who died in the rampage. Why he devoured monsters despite not needing to satisfy hunger. And…
“Leader.”
The man waited for the guiding medicine to be absorbed into his body but gave up. He realized there was no point in getting answers to the questions that had accumulated over time.
Everyone was already dead, and the leader had become a monster.
“I’m sorry.”
All he needed to do now was kill his leader quickly. It was for everyone’s sake. For the leader’s sake too.
“I’ll follow you, so don’t hate me too much.”
He didn’t care if it was hell. The man only wanted to stay by his leader’s side. He had even thought about living with him forever inside the frozen-in-time gate.
He would definitely follow his leader. After killing him for sure.
The man’s hand, transformed into a sharp knife, deeply stabbed the left chest of the monster. There was the sound of hard shell being crushed and muscles bursting.
“I’m sorry, leader. I’m sorry.”
The man repeatedly apologized as he thrust the knife deep enough for his entire arm to enter. It was an apology for killing him too late.
The body that had endured a battle no one would end alone emitted a putrid smell. He should have done this earlier. He should have killed him before he committed more sins.
With deep regret, he embraced his leader tightly. It was truly time to end it now. Before the leader escaped into the outside world, the fight had to stop here.
At that moment, the sound of tearing through mushy intestines suddenly stopped. The man’s body, holding the knife, stiffened as well.
Though he had taken the form of a monster, his essence was still human. Humans die when their hearts are stabbed.
No matter how much he stirred his hand, he couldn’t feel the heart that should have been in the left chest.
“Lea, der…”
The man’s purple pupils shook violently. His black lips began to tremble too.
There was no heart. The heart that should be present in a human.
“Ugh…!”
The man, who had been moving his arm around, suddenly twisted his body. His suppressed groan soon turned into a sharp scream.
The man’s body began to be absorbed by the monster. Just as his shoulder was about to be sucked in, Jihan rushed over and rescued him.
Jihan held the man and kept his distance from the monster while glaring at Taebeom. He had just stood there watching as the man was being eaten by the monster.
He understood stopping Geonho, who was a beastkin, but he couldn’t comprehend why Taebeom let the man be attacked by the monster. It was unlike him.
“Huh, huk… kheuk.”
The man groaned, clutching his blood-soaked arm. His hand, which had been embedded in the monster’s body, was left with only skeletal bones. Even the remaining skin was rapidly decaying.
Jihan cut off the man’s entire arm before it completely rotted. The man’s tail puffed up as if about to burst as he shook in agony.
“Bear with it.”
Jihan tore his clothes to bind the wound and took out a lighter. He cauterized the cut surface where he had severed the man’s hand to stop the bleeding.
Taebeom still hadn’t said a word. His cold gaze remained fixed on the monster.
“Kang Taebeom!”
Blood vessels bulged on Jihan’s neck as he shouted. Despite Jihan’s excited cry, Taebeom stood straight, only staring at the monster. He didn’t even flinch, as if he couldn’t hear the sounds around him.
Even if he couldn’t hear, he should be able to see what was happening.
Watching Taebeom like this, Siwoo’s lips trembled.
“T-take me to him.”
He shook Seojun’s arm, asking to be taken to Taebeom.
“Quickly!”
Seojun hesitated but approached Taebeom, who was standing on top of a high stone wall. He remembered the leader’s order to stay back, but he had no choice but to comply as Siwoo was shaking his entire body and shouting.
It was close to the monster, but he believed it would be fine since the leader had it bound.
“Kang Taebeom!”
Siwoo stretched out both arms toward Taebeom. He got close enough that Taebeom could reach him if he just extended his hand. But Taebeom didn’t even glance at Siwoo, who was calling out to him.
Reaching out his hand with all his might to embrace him, Siwoo saw beads of sweat on Taebeom’s chin. Having lost both his hearing and sight, he was frozen like a subject trapped in a photograph.
Even though he couldn’t see or hear, he didn’t utter a single word asking for help. He just endured alone, waiting for his senses to return.
“Kang Taebeom.”
Siwoo was anxious about Taebeom. So anxious he felt like he would go crazy.
Calling Taebeom’s name, he hurriedly sucked on his lips. He embraced Taebeom’s nape and pressed his entire body against him.
The moment their mucous membranes touched, Taebeom’s wavelength absorbed Siwoo’s energy as if extracting it.
At the same time, a sharp pain rose in Siwoo’s left chest. Siwoo held his breath and poured his energy into Taebeom.
Just as Taebeom’s sweat drop transferred to Siwoo, suddenly Siwoo’s body tilted backward.
The monster had started pulling Siwoo with telekinesis.