Chapter 15
Chapter 15
The Yang Hu you've been so desperately searching for is me
* * *
"You just can’t accept reality, can you? How pathetic. This time, I’ll make sure to finish it."
Using the shattered ground as a springboard, Lloyd charged forward.
A burst of acceleration from his boosters and the added firepower from his hand cannon—this combination gave him overwhelming dominance in close combat.
But that was only until just now.
To Shin, the entire sequence was perfectly visible.
The approaching fist.
The rotating cylinder.
The hand cannon about to erupt in flame.
Within his expanded cognitive field, Shin drifted through a world that flowed slowly. He moved toward Lloyd. He had already seen those movements too many times. It wasn’t hard to map out the optimal path.
Shin didn’t think of himself as a genius. If he truly had heaven-sent talent, he would’ve countered without dying.
Still, he was confident in being just below that.
After all, it took only fifteen deaths to arrive at the answer to an impossible problem.
Thwack!
Dodging the bullet fired right in front of him, Shin swung his monomolecular blade.
But a weapon that had lost its light could hardly function at full capacity.
Lloyd batted the blade aside like swatting at a fly and threw his other fist again.
A strike that plunged deep into Shin’s abdomen.
Lloyd was convinced this marked the end. He had no doubt. But his finishing blow, contrary to expectation, simply swept through empty air.
"What the—"
Just then, Shin arched his upper body so far back it looked like he might collapse—but instead, he launched upward.
As if he’d stepped on a springboard, he rocketed up, ending in a fierce thrust.
His aim was singular.
Lloyd crossed his arms into an X to block the sword strike that seemed ready to skewer his head. Roaring like a beast, he charged at Shin.
Boom, boom!
The fists, aided by sequential bursts from his boosters, came at irregular intervals. The strikes, accelerated beyond reason, could no longer be dismissed as mere flailing.
And in front of that onslaught, Shin spun.
He didn’t stop spinning—whether he was moving, dodging, or even standing still.
Like an endlessly twirling top.
"Quit your tricks!"
Infuriated, Lloyd unleashed a barrage to suppress Shin.
Heat shimmered from the overheated boosters, and the hand cannon glowed red-hot. Sparks flew as Shin’s spinning blade clashed with the cannon.
Absorbing every bit of the resulting recoil, Shin spun even harder.
As if he didn’t care in the slightest about the wear on his blade.
Screech, screech.
With each strike swinging high and low, thin lines began to form one by one across the surface of the Phalanx.
At the ominous sign of a fracture where none should exist, Lloyd closed the distance, desperate to stop Shin even a moment sooner.
And at that moment, something abnormal occurred.
Shin, who had been spinning violently just seconds ago, suddenly came to a halt.
‘No.’
That was nothing but an illusion. The circular skid mark on the ground gave it away.
Overlapping afterimages had created the illusion that he was standing still.
The so-called strobe phenomenon.
"You noticed?"
The voice was small, like a whisper, but to Lloyd, it sounded like thunder.
Because Shin, who had been far away, was now right under his chin.
He was spinning so fast that each movement appeared to break apart into still frames.
Lloyd threw a punch to repel the incoming threat—but that was a fatal mistake. In the blink of a flash, a chilling slicing sound rang out.
Lloyd stared at his severed forearm, rolling helplessly on the ground, and screamed a silent scream.
Though the monomolecular blade had lost its energy, the cut was still as smooth as a mirror.
It wasn’t some technological convenience—it was a miracle brought forth purely by the man named Shin.
A feat far beyond the realm of human possibility, and Lloyd shuddered involuntarily.
"Where are you looking?"
"Wha... t—"
Shin leaned his face right up to Lloyd’s, and without waiting for a reply, swung the monomolecular blade.
* * *
Having claimed the suite to himself, Niel held a wine glass in one hand, the night view serving as his light. A few minutes ago, the entire hotel had been swallowed by darkness, but he wasn’t concerned.
Everything had gone as planned, and everything was continuing to go as he wished.
Sure enough, as soon as he placed his half-emptied wine glass back on the table, the explosions ceased.
The end of the dragging battle meant the moment he’d been waiting for had arrived.
That’s when the door burst open.
Sensing the presence behind him, Niel spoke up—
"Took you longer than usual. That’s not like you. So, where is he? You didn’t kill him, did you? He’s worth more alive, after all."
He froze the moment he saw the person’s face.
It wasn’t his loyal right-hand man, Lloyd.
A young man he’d never seen before.
The sudden cognitive dissonance caught in his throat like a lump.
But the young man wasn’t Shin. He’d climbed all the way up those stairs just to see that face.
"You’re Niel?"
"And if I am?"
"Then I’m in the right place."
Shin pulled out a folding knife, still wet with blood, but Niel didn’t so much as blink. He could tell at a glance that something beyond expectation had happened, but it wasn’t enough to surprise him.
First of all, he was young.
Which meant he wasn’t Yang Hu.
"Lloyd?"
"Here."
Shin tossed a hunk of meat he had been holding. Among all the opponents he’d faced recently, Lloyd was easily one of the strongest—but at the end of the day, still just a hunting dog.
Niel met Lloyd’s lifeless gaze, then picked up the cane resting on the armrest and swung it.
Though different in type from Lloyd, Niel too had undergone genetic modification. With a bit of luck, he might’ve been able to inflict a fatal wound.
But that notion was snuffed out immediately.
The cane’s length suddenly halved.
Somehow, it had already been cut—its other half rolling far off across the floor.
"That counts as an attack, doesn’t it?"
As Shin stepped forward, Niel cracked a smile and played it off.
"Easy there. I think we might be having a bit of a misunderstanding here."
"A misunderstanding?"
"You were probably hired by Yang Hu, right?"
So that’s why he seemed so confident—he had clearly twisted the situation to fit his own hopeful narrative.
Shin let out a hollow laugh, but his mouth gradually stiffened. Niel failed to notice.
"I don’t know how much he promised you, but I’ll pay ten times that—ten times. You don’t want to be accused as an accomplice, do you? Right?"
"You really don’t even know who you were chasing, do you?"
The fact that someone like this had led to Thomas’s death filled Shin with nothing but emptiness. That feeling of hopelessness quickly transformed into rage.
Shin’s face twisted in a flash, taking on a murderous edge.
Only then did Niel realize something was wrong and began scrutinizing Shin’s face carefully.
"No way…"
"I’m the Yang Hu you’ve been so desperately searching for."
"Wait, hold on…"
No matter what, it didn’t make sense for him to be this young. By the usual count, Yang Hu should’ve been a sixty-year-old man this year. Sure, advances in medical science had extended lifespans—but that didn’t mean wrinkles vanished entirely.
"If you stirred stagnant water into a muddy swamp, you have to take responsibility for that."
Shin kicked Niel back into the chair, then drove the folding knife into the back of his hand.
"Aaaargh!"
Niel screamed as his hand was pinned to the armrest, but Shin calmly pulled out another folding knife and fixed the other hand the same way.
"Enjoy this moment while you can, friend. You won’t live to see the sunrise."
"Heh heh heh… In your thirst for revenge, you’ve made a grave mistake."
"What’s that supposed to mean?"
"If you kill me here, they’ll chase you all the way to New Delbuyer. If two megacorps team up, well… I wonder if there’s anywhere left in this world you could run to."
"And?"
"Why not leave it at that? I’ll forgive you for laying hands on me. Think carefully. It’s not every day I show mercy like this."
Shin thought of the usual lines—Things won’t go the way you want, or I can overcome anything—but chose not to say them. He’d said them far too many times already to bother repeating them now.
He simply let his actions speak.
“You’re kind enough to worry about me, so I almost feel bad… but here’s the thing. I’m going to humiliate you.”
Shin stepped behind the rocking chair and whispered into Niel’s ear.
“In ways you couldn’t even imagine. In methods so abnormal, so unethical, so inefficient—even livestock wouldn’t be treated this way.”
No matter how well someone hid their true feelings, trembling shoulders were hard to hide.
“You might think that as long as you don’t die, you can still recover. But no—you’ll lose your mind before your body.”
That much, Shin was certain of.
Everyone who had passed through his hands had chosen suicide.
“Well then, should we start with that cane on the floor?”
* * *
Felix Hoover, the chairman from New Delbuyer headquarters, stepped into the limousine.
“Where to, sir?”
He would normally return home—but tonight was different. In fact, it had been different for a while now.
“To the usual hotel.”
It all started when he met a woman at a charity event.
Her name was Merilda Gabi, a popular singer from Dome No.3. At first, it was simple attraction, but before long, it felt like fate.
However, it wasn’t a respectable relationship. Merilda had a family of her own.
In the end, they had no choice but to meet in secret at locations no one knew.
The hotel he was headed to now was one such place.
Though Felix was approaching seventy, his body remained vigorous—thanks to genetic modifications that kept him active and energetic.
With firm steps, he entered the suite and frowned. It was shrouded in darkness—gloomy and oppressive.
Even the mood lights weren’t on. It seemed Merilda had dozed off the moment she arrived.
Not surprising.
“Sorry I’m late. The meeting dragged on.”
“No need to apologize. I just got here too.”
Startled by the unfamiliar male voice, Felix reached for his device to call the driver—but for some reason, it wasn’t working.
“…Merilda?”
“I’m not Merilda, you see.”
As his eyes adjusted to the dark, Felix spotted a young man sitting in a corner of the room.
“Whoever you are, it seems you’ve entered the wrong room. I won’t call security—just leave quietly.”
Felix spoke sternly, but—
“Been quite the night. I just dealt with a real son of a bitch. And then it hit me—who the hell raised someone like that? Who taught him to act like such a wild dog?”
All he got in return was a monologue.
“Does this have something to do with me?”
“Of course it does. He was your son.”
“You’re joking.”
Felix picked up the intercom to call hotel staff, but stopped at Shin’s next words.
“You sure? If people come up here and find Merilda’s corpse, what then?”
“…What?”
The young man—Shin—took Felix down in an instant and smiled maliciously.
“Kidding. I sent her home. Told her you were the one who called for her—she believed it without question.”
“What do you want from me?”
“Cleanup.”
“Cleanup?”
“Even if I offered to end the cycle of revenge here, once you found the scene, you’d lose control and come after me. Honestly, the guilty throwing tantrums is both pathetic and a hassle.”
“You’ve been talking in riddles. Just tell me—what do you want?”
“Your life.”
Shin answered plainly, then, without hesitation, snapped Felix’s neck. Explaining the details wasn’t his job. That would be for the two father and son to sort out in hell.
Creak.
Whether it was cybernetic surgery or something else, metal frames had been fused into Felix’s skeleton—but they were useless.
For Shin, still under the lingering effects of a drug cocktail, it didn’t even qualify as a warm-up.
“Well then. Goodbye.”
Crunch.
With a dull snap, Felix’s neck twisted in a direction it should never have moved.