Hyun-Ah always started her mornings with a jog. Going out around town for a workout in her usual form-fitting sportswear wasn't exactly easy given her position and appearance, but she had become used to it over time.
She worked out while the streets were still dark and mostly empty, so she was able to avoid any unwanted attention.
“Haah. Haah.”
Running diligently while controlling her breath, she suddenly had an odd sensation. She felt as if someone was following her.
‘I’m probably just imagining things.’
Thinking that, she started running again. However, it didn’t take long for her to realize she hadn’t been mistaken. Someone was indeed following her.
A strange uneasiness rose in her.
There had just been a case of attempted murder nearby a few days prior. Sure, the culprit had been caught, but she still felt uneasy about such things.
She kept her composure, jogging slowly, but then heard the footsteps rapidly following her. It was as if the person wasn't even trying to hide it anymore.
With that, she became certain.
‘Damn it.’
She picked up the pace and then abruptly turned into an alley, hiding herself behind a dumpster.
She couldn't see well, but watched as a figure in all-black clothing, whose gender she couldn't tell, ran to where she had been, looked around, and then disappeared.
“I really get to experience all sorts of crazy things...” Sighing, she hoped it was just a one-off incident. It’d be a huge hassle if she got tangled up in something bad.
However, the person kept following her for days.
One morning, she turned on the news.
- Around 5 a.m. today, a murder occurred on Han River Avenue. The victim, a man in his fifties, had dozens of stab wounds in his abdomen. It was revealed that his face was brutally mutilated with a blunt weapon to the point of being unrecognizable. Officials stated that this incident was extremely bizarre and, given that no traces were left behind, it was highly likely to be a crime committed by an Awakened individual.
Her eyes narrowed. The scene of the incident was none other than the place where she jogged each morning.
She tended to exercise in sparsely populated areas, and the fact that such an incident occurred there gave her a headache.
“Hyun-Ah.” Just then, the door burst open, and she jolted, turning her head.
“Illyna?”
“What’s wrong? You look pretty startled.”
“Uuuh. Nothing.” She sighed as she looked at Illyna, who had come over to Earth a few days prior for a business trip. “It’s nothing...”
“Tell me what's going on. Is there anything I can help with?”
Hyun-Ah paused and considered if she should share her story or not. She quickly came to the conclusion that it felt more serious than just a simple coincidence.
Nonetheless, she told Illyna, “You should get some rest instead of worrying about me. You look exhausted.”
“I’m fine. It’s nothing.”
“I can tell it’s not nothing. Even that octo... no, even Davey’s face didn’t look good. Did something happen in Heins?”
“Nothing happened,” Illyna insisted.
“Then that’s a relief.”
“Still, I’m worried precisely because nothing happened.”
The situation was tense enough that trouble could break out at any moment. Yet, everything was eerily quiet.
Hyun-Ah didn't realize that the unnatural peacefulness was exactly what made Illyna uneasy.
Hyun-Ah made a confused face after hearing that. “Huh?”
“Oh, it’s nothing you need to worry about. More importantly, you should be careful. The news says a string of murders has happened nearby.”
“Actually, that’s what I’ve been worried about,” Hyun-Ah finally admitted.
“Really?”
“Actually...”
She went on to confess about the ominous feeling she felt every time she went for her morning jog.
“My goodness! You kept exercising even though it was that dangerous?!”
“The security team follows me every time. However, as soon as the security team approaches to check on me, the stalker vanishes instantly,” she mumbled, trying to sound like she was safe and it wasn’t a big issue.
Illyna’s eyes closed in exasperation. “Hyun-Ah, you wear the same clothes every time, right?”
“Huh? Oh, yes.”
“Hmm.”
“Her build’s similar to mine...” Illyna muttered to herself, then firmly took Hyun-Ah’s hand. “I’ll check out that culprit.”
Her face went blank for a moment at Illyna’s declaration, but she felt reassured.
The next morning, Illyna borrowed Hyun-Ah’s sportswear and went for the usual jog in her place.
The street was pretty much empty. In addition, the fog was heavy enough that it’d be hard to immediately notice if anyone were attacked.
Since the culprit never showed up when the security team was present, Illyna had to show that she was alone to draw the person out.
If Davey were there, she would’ve left it to him, but he was preoccupied with Darian, as were Perserque and Willow. She couldn't burden him with Hyun-Ah’s issue as well.
Tap. Tap.
That was when she clearly heard footsteps following behind her.
‘Oh, there we go. Let’s see if he can catch up.’
Illyna lightly picked up her pace and continued jogging. Sure enough, the footsteps following her also began to speed up.
‘He’s following me without any trouble. Good stamina, I’ll give him that.’
It’d be easy to lose him if she ran at full speed, but that wasn't the goal. If there really were someone targeting Hyun-Ah, catching them was the priority.
Illyna acted exhausted and slowly began to reduce her speed. The person following her also slowed down. She then headed toward a more secluded area to see if he’d make a move.
‘Is he actually targeting Hyun-Ah? Or...’
She’d only know after checking, whatever it was.
Finally, the person suddenly started to accelerate, and Illyna, pretending to be terrified, ran quickly and squealed, “Kyaaaak!”
Thump! Thump! Thump!
He quickly caught up to her, running at a considerable speed. Illyna pretended to trip and fall, then screamed, “Someone, p-please save me!”
She cried out for help with her head down, but the man slowly approached her undeterred, as if savoring a caught fish.
“Why does everyone always ask to be saved?” he asked with a grin. “I’m going to kill you, there's nobody around to help.”
“Please spare me...”
“Listen up, young lady. I’ve killed a lot of people in my time, but lately, I just can’t keep my cool. I get so angry that I can’t bear it. I want to chop you up and tear you apart right now.”
“P-please...” She quickly assessed the situation and felt that the person was a bit strange.
“Ever since a while ago, I feel like I’m overflowing with power. So... don’t resist. It makes it hard to kill you. It’ll hurt less if it goes in clean, don’t you think? Hehehe.”
After letting out a chilling remark, the man reached out to pull back her hood. Illyna remained crouched on the ground.
The man screamed, “Aah. Aaaaaah! AAAHHH!!! I’m so angry!”
The moment his hand was about to grab her hood, it instead passed through empty air as though he had been trying to grab an afterimage all along.
“Ugh?!”
“As I suspected, something’s off.”
Thwack!
Illyna, who appeared behind him in an instant, grabbed his shoulder with one hand and kicked his leg with her foot, knocking him down.
“Cough!” Taken aback by the unexpected counterattack, the man had to cough and catch his breath. He slowly got up, looking bewildered that he’d been knocked down, then took a few steps back and looked at Illyna. “What the... Who are you?”
“Who the hell are you to ask me something like that?”
“I asked you first!” He suddenly exploded in rage, pointing the blade at her. “Who are you?”
It was interesting he’d ask that, since even on a global level, Illyna was quite well-known. Of course, that didn’t mean every single person would recognize her.
“How is a person trying to stab someone at dawn so brazen?”
“Aah. Aaaaaah...” He nervously looked around, then suddenly burst into a furious roar. “God fucking damn it!!!!!! I’m so angry I could die, and yet all these little pests are running around! Seriously!”
He pushed the knife closer to her. “Don’t even think about dying peacefully. I’m about to lose it if I don't rip you to pieces right here right now.”
He thrust the knife forward.
Avoiding it with ease, Illyna calmly said, “Before that, let me ask you one thing. Why did you target her specifically?”
“Her?”
“The person you were following every morning at dawn.”
He nodded and gave an eerie smile.
“Ah. HAHAHAH, that bitch. Right. Well, she looked delicious.”
Illyna almost thought she misheard him. “What?”
“I was curious what kind of delicious scream she'd make if I stabbed her. I was angry, so I targeted the first person I saw. I picked that fucking bitch because she looked like she'd be a fun time. But is now really the time to be asking questions like that?”
“Then what should I be doing instead?” Illyna asked with a smirk.
He gave a vicious grin. “Running away or begging for your life.”
“Do I have to?”
“Or you’ll die,” he said creepily. “You’re on my radar now. I’ll make sure to kill you with my own two bare hands, no matter where you are in the world.”
Illyna sighed at his words. “Phew! That’s a relief. A bastard like you is beyond saving.”
“Heh. Hehehe. You’ve got guts, you little bitch. Sorry, but I can’t kill you nicely. I’m gonna peel your flesh off piece by piece—” His eyes suddenly widened.
Illyna, who had been several steps away just moments before, was suddenly standing right in front of him. Before he even had a chance to stab, her palm flew toward his cheek.
All he saw is that moment was her chilling, golden eyes.
“Don’t clench your teeth, though I guess they’ll all break either way by the end of this.”
Boom!!!
Coinciding with the tremendous sound of Illyna’s hand breaking the sound barrier, the man flew across the street and rolled several times before finally coming to a stop. The hat and hood he was wearing came off with the impact.
Illyna slowly approached the fallen man and pulled off his mask. His gruesome face was revealed, his mouth hanging wide open and crooked with every tooth completely shattered.
Illyna had never seen the man before. Then again, there weren't many people she knew on Earth to begin with.
“Caught him,” Illyna murmured to herself before looking around.
At that moment, a black substance flowed from the man, slithered out, and crawled onto the back of her hand.
Bzzt!!
“Ouch!”
Startled by the sudden pain, she instinctively severed the thing that was grabbing her with her other hand.
The black, fog-like substance scattered into dust.
“What... was that?”
* * *
A huge, blood-red stream of energy. One of those energy streams gulped down Darian, who was enveloped in black flames.
“How arrogant for such a puny thing. Ugh, damn it!”
BANG!!!
The young man who was laced with black flames and red light pulverized everything around him.
“I’m so mad... I can’t stand how mad I am!”
He glared at the giant standing blankly behind him. The giant was covered in wounds, yet it stood there without letting out so much as a groan.
That was when it happened.
“Ow!” The young man, who had been sitting down, shuddered as if having a seizure. “What the... It failed?!”
He could feel that the power he’d sent out was crushed by some even more powerful force. The terrible pain only further stimulated his fury.
He immediately began to rage even more, shouting, “God dammit! Nothing’s going my way! I don’t have time for this!!”
* * *
At the same time, the being who was watching everything, the Primordial Will Goddess Freyja, silently closed and then opened her eyes.
‘Originally, one child’s fate would have met its end because of Darian.’
She hadn’t recognized it before, but there was one unique existence that didn't exist in the future. Even if the world changed and became a parallel world, that future wouldn’t change.
Davey had yet to fully realize that there was one person who was uniquely erased across the past and the future.
The Goddess quietly pondered, looking at Davey’s face reflected in the pond at her feet.
‘The variable of the Deliverer that your youngest son created. The variable of will that Neltarid left behind. Even if the trial is severe...
‘Just as the future you endlessly wished for, this time... you must protect them. As that is Neltarid’s final repayment for caring for and loving you, even after becoming a god.’
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