A voice inside urged me to consider the other possibilities, to look at other suspects too—but I ignored it completely. I sprinted toward Ban Noah.
There wasn’t just one surge of ability-user energy—there were multiple.
And the one who sensed them was none other than Potato, the embodiment of my “Resurrection” ability. It wasn’t like he had human eyes that could be mistaken. Potato possessed a self-aware SSS-rank ability. There was no way he was wrong.
Potato huffed and puffed behind me, shouting in panic.
[Huff, huff—hey! Master! Stop!]
“……”
I couldn’t answer. I was running so hard I could barely breathe.
[I said STOP!]
“……”
[You should be hiding like a damn corpse, not charging in like this! If he really is the culprit, why do you think he provoked you using the other members?!]
Skreeek—
I came to a halt.
Maybe it was the desperation in Potato’s voice.
He seized this chance to unload everything, speaking in a torrent.
[You can’t go! If you fall for this provocation and face X now—that’s exactly what he wants. You know he went to the Bureau’s deep storage to steal the database.]
“……”
[He already knows what your face looks like! He probably saw you copying the national database too! He just didn’t confront you because he had no idea what kind of connection ‘Yeon Yu-jin’ had to Hyun Je-ha or the Baekho Unit. Now that he suspects something, he’s trying to use this situation to confirm your real identity! Before Je-ha and Baekho Unit can catch him using the database, he’s flipping the game on you!]
“…I know all that.”
[What?!]
Looking back, Ban Noah had acted suspicious from the very start.
The subtle way he treated Seol Yurang. The way he picked a fight with Seo Yoon-chae for no reason. The fact that, from the moment the game began, he targeted only Secreti members, one by one—ripping off name tags like he was enjoying the hunt.
Even using abilities in this set, where powers were supposed to be restricted, just to show off.
Maybe this whole casting for the show was a trap from the beginning.
I’d gotten complacent.
If Je-ha, myself, and the Baekho Unit were closing in on X, then it made sense that X would be monitoring us just as closely. He would’ve been scheming—trying to figure out a way to demoralize us, to get us to give up the hunt.
Then he must’ve stumbled across ‘Yeon Yu-jin’ and started having doubts.
“Even if it’s a trap, I have to confront Ban Noah. I have to find out if he’s really X.”
If my instincts were right about how he operated…
Then he wouldn’t kill me or try to steal my ability—not here, not yet.
Not when his true objective today… was confirming who Yeon Yu-jin really was.
So I ran. And ran.
I had to stop X—Ban Noah—before he got to Ra Ho-yeon.
Before he could show his filthy face again.
I was sprinting so hard I didn’t even notice how far I’d come until Potato suddenly shrieked like an alarm.
[There! Right there! I’m sensing Ra Ho-yeon—and a whole cluster of unknown ability signatures!]
I opened a hidden door and flew down the stairs.
And there he was.
Ban Noah—gripping Ra Ho-yeon by the neck and lifting him off the ground.
The filming camera, presumably for the broadcast, lay shattered on the floor near his feet—crushed.
I screamed toward his back.
“X!”
Ban Noah slowly turned his head and smiled sweetly at me.
“Hello, Ahn Ga-hyun. First time we’ve met like this, huh?”
A dangling earring swung from his ear—something I hadn’t seen earlier.
A blood-red gemstone glinted menacingly in the light.
***
Back when Hyun Je-ha and the Baekho Unit were hot on his trail, Ban Noah had begun to wonder.
Yeon Yu-jin. The throwaway member of a forgettable idol group.
He’d been showing up around Hyun Je-ha way too often.
What is this guy?
No way Hyun Je-ha or the Baekho Unit would’ve asked some random civilian to join them.
But Yeon Yu-jin was different.
Why?
Sure, his rank had gone up, but he was still only a C-rank Guide. Nothing special. Not like Ahn Ga-hyun—who’d been a legendary SSS-rank Guide. He didn’t even have any unique sub-abilities.
So why is Hyun Je-ha hovering around him like a guard dog?
The incident at the Bureau’s ability lab—where Je-ha and Yeon Yu-jin had met—couldn’t have been a coincidence.
There had to be something hidden in Yeon Yu-jin.
But what?
Why would Hyun Je-ha—of all people—be shadowing him like he had separation anxiety?
…No way.
Was it because of “Resurrection”?
Right.
Ahn Ga-hyun had that one-of-a-kind ability—“Resurrection.”
Ban Noah had orchestrated Ga-hyun’s death just to steal it. But that priceless power seemed to vanish with his soul. No matter how hard he searched, he couldn’t find the ability core anywhere in the body.
But what if…
What if that ability didn’t vanish into the afterlife?
What if “Resurrection” fought tooth and nail to revive its true owner?
What if the result… was Ahn Ga-hyun’s soul settling into Yeon Yu-jin’s body?
So what if—however impossible it sounded—Yeon Yu-jin “woke up,” kept running into Hyun Je-ha, and eventually… Je-ha realized the truth? That Ahn Ga-hyun was alive, inside him?
…Ha.
Hahahahaha!
Persistent bastards…
Now it made sense. Why Je-ha, once half-dead with apathy, was suddenly chasing him with everything he had. Why he’d stop at nothing to kill him.
If Ahn Ga-hyun had come back to life, it explained everything. Je-ha. The Baekho Unit. Yeon Yu-jin.
They were all out to erase the past—to wipe him off the map.
Hahahahaha…
But of course, he wasn’t about to get caught so easily.
Twenty years.
Twenty goddamn years.
That’s how long he’d been hiding.
Twenty years of collecting rare powers. Of living like a shadow—just another mid-tier A-rank Hunter. Changing names, identities, slipping through the cracks.
He was sick of it.
He wasn’t that powerless civilian anymore. Not the weakling with nothing.
Now, he possessed dozens of ability cores. Rare, powerful ones that couldn’t even be quantified.
Even Hyun Je-ha hadn’t figured out who he truly was.
Sure, he’d slipped up last time—nearly got caught while toying with them just to gather more cores. But if he fought them seriously… if he unleashed everything…
Then even they might not stand a chance. And maybe—just maybe—this was the perfect moment.
His identity was already close to being exposed. It was now or never.
A golden opportunity.
To finally get his hands on the one thing he didn’t have—Resurrection.
If that meant Yeon Yu-jin was really just a vessel for Ahn Ga-hyun’s soul…
Then it was time to confirm it.
Right now, Ban Noah was stronger than ever. Strong enough that even Je-ha and Ahn Ga-hyun couldn’t stop him. So why not be polite about it?
A little declaration of war… before total destruction. That would make their despair even sweeter. And the moment he crushed them underfoot—that would be the ultimate thrill.
Ahahahaha…
Mother. Father. Can my voice reach you even in the afterlife?
Thanks to your filthy hands, to your willingness to kill and erase every trace of that experiment, I made it this far.
I’m not even a proper Esper. I never had a Second Awakening like Je-ha. But the powers I’ve gathered have made me into a monster that no longer ages.
I won’t keep swapping identities anymore.
You told me never to let anyone find out, and you erased all records of the experiment for my sake… but now, I want the world to know who I am.
I will become a ruler—feared by every ability user alive.
No more hiding. I’ll live exactly how I please.
To do that…
I need to get rid of the remnants of the past—the thorns in my side.
Hyun Je-ha. The Baekho Unit. The ghost named Ahn Ga-hyun.
I can’t wait to see Yeon Yu-jin fall into despair.
To lose everything—revenge, comrades, hope.
To be pushed into the same hell Hyun Je-ha once faced 20 years ago.
What kind of face will he make, when that happens?
I can’t wait to see it.
***
Ban Noah didn’t dodge my question. He nodded—openly, shamelessly.
Still, he didn’t release Ra Ho-yeon from his grip.
He’s holding Ra Ho-yeon up with just one hand…
Monstrous strength. And judging by the way that red gemstone on his earring was glowing, it looked like he was using an ability—even with the restriction bracelet still on.
I felt sick.
He was using stolen abilities—ripped from murdered victims—to torment another innocent ability user.
To him, this set was never a variety show.
It was a hunting ground. Nothing more, nothing less.
“Ggh… Ugh…”
“Put Ra Ho-yeon down!”
I charged at him, shouting.
I wasn’t weak—if I could just get close, I might be able to free Ra Ho-yeon.
But…
“Guh!”
Ban Noah flicked his arm and sent me flying with a burst of wind.
Then, using his other arm, he grabbed me by the collar and lifted me too—just like he had Ra Ho-yeon.
He smiled like an angel, but what came out of his mouth was pure venom.
“Why don’t you choose?”
“Wh-what…?”
“Will you save Ra Ho-yeon and the Secreti members? Or Hyun Je-ha and the Baekho Unit?”
