Deck 1 of the prison cruise. Also known as the Newbie Hunting Ground.
Forward Sector. The rec room. The hideout of Razor’s gang.
Jae-hee Han sat across Razor at a solitary table. Razor’s men had him completely surrounded.
“Do you know why my callsign is ‘Razor’?” Razor asked, his face a mask of indifference. He held out a hand.
The next instant—shhk-krak!
The nails on his five fingers grew at a grotesque rate, twisting and fusing together until they formed a single, sharp blade.
“I can make weapons from my bones.”
“No way, how…” Jae-hee’s eyes went wide. “Aren’t you wearing a Null Cuff…?”
“The cuffs only suppresses your ability,” Razor explained. “It can’t erase it completely.”
He flicked his hand, and a small bone dagger detached itself, dropping to the table and burying its tip in the wood with a solid thunk.
“It does vary by the individual, but the suppression rate is around ninety-nine percent.”
“…”
“Which means, you can still use about one percent of your original power.”
The words struck a chord, and Jae-hee instantly recalled the inmates he had seen before his transfer.
Even with her cuff on, Miss Hellth could form a weak Blood Spear. And that ice-user escapee had run across the ocean by freezing the surface of the water.
Even inside this prison, every Awakened inmate could manifest a sliver of their original power.
“The human animal, always the same. Kick them out of society and lock them up in a place like this? We form a food chain, eating or being eaten according to our powers.”
“…”
“Pretty amazing, if you think about it. We’re all clutching these tiny little scraps of our abilities, and we still use them to try and kill each other.”
Razor opened a fresh carton of milk and downed it in one go. Wiping his mouth, he glanced at the bone dagger on the table.
“Truth is, my ability wasn’t much out in the real world. However well made, they were still just bone. The shitty durability made it impractical for real fights. My official rank is only a C, after all. But in here?”
He cast a sweeping gaze around his subordinates.
“It’s just bone knives the size of a razor blade… but what happens when I arm my men with them?”
His crew lowered their heads in a display of loyalty. Razor covered his mouth, his eyes curving into a thin, sharp smile.
“In here, it’s a pretty damn great power.”
And that was that. Razor had armed his recruits with bone daggers, and in the gang wars that followed, the simple fact of being armed made an enormous difference. It hadn’t taken long for him to crush all his rivals and become the ruler of Deck 1.
Listening to the story, Jae-hee forced a laugh.
“That’s amazing, Razor bro! Imagine finding an advantage in a situation so difficult… Self-made men really do have a different mindset, don’t they?”
“That’s right, self-made! I do love that phrase. I built this crew from the damn gutter. Wow, you really hit the nail on the head. Got a silver tongue on you, Jae-hee, huh.”
“Thank you, Razor bro.”
“You should have been as nice to my girlfriend.”
“…”
And there it was. The real reason he was here.
Cold sweat beaded on Jae-hee’s forehead as he fell silent.
Razor let out a long breath.
“My girlfriend… Miss Hellth. Her ability was creating blood spears. She was a creation-type Awakened, just like me.” A flicker of wistful memory crossed Razor’s eyes. “Blade of bone and spears of blood… We were a pretty good match.”
“…”
“She was a gambling addict who’d go bonkers at the sight of Credits, but she had her cute side. And she was hotter than anyone at night. I really, truly fucking loved that woman.”
Thwack. Thwack. Thwack.
Razor repeatedly stabbed the table with his bone dagger.
Jae-hee could only watch, sweat pouring down his temples.
“But hey, she’s already dead. What can you do? Can’t bring her back to life. Right?”
“Uhh—”
“No, no, that’s not right. She died and came back as a zombie, didn’t she? The Gate brought her back once, hahahaha! And then you went and shred her up?”
Razor threw his head back and roared with laughter, but his narrow eyes weren’t smiling at all. Jae-hee felt his mouth go bone dry.
The laughter stopped as abruptly as it began. Razor jutted his chin out.
“Jae-hee.”
“Yes, Razor bro.”
“I think you’re an incredibly talented Awakened. Coming back from Daejeon in one piece proves you’ve got guts, and your super-speed ability? That’s very rare and special.” Razor gave a gentle nod. “If we team up, we can climb even higher in this prison. I want us to be on good terms.”
“…”
“But to do that, we have to settle old scores. Don’t you agree?”
Thwack!
Razor tossed the dagger, embedding it in the edge of the table right in front of Jae-hee.
“Your finger.”
“What?”
“Nothing more, nothing less. Just leave one finger here.”
“…”
“I’ll consider us even. You won’t have any trouble on Deck 1 as long as you’re here. We can even become good friends. What do you say?”
He said it as if he were asking for a loose coin from his pocket, his tone perfectly calm as he delivered the threat.
“…”
For a second, Jae-hee seriously considered it. So, which finger should I cut off?
“I’m only asking for a finger because I like you,” Razor said with a gentle smile. “That Ghost woman? I’m going to rip her to shreds.”
“…”
“The bitch who slit my girlfriend’s throat and dealt the final blow… I’m going to chew on her bones.”
The words jolted Jae-hee back to his senses. Razor wasn’t just coming after him; he was planning to hunt down Ghost, too.
His head went cold.
Jae-hee closed his eyes for a moment, then opened them, his gaze darting around the room. Razor’s men formed a tight, unbroken circle around him.
“Hooo…”
Having made his decision, he took a deep breath and began, “So, uh, Razor bro.”
“Yeah. Made up your mind?”
“Well, you see, it’s just…” Jae-hee scratched the back of his head and gave an awkward laugh. “This is a tiny bit… tricky, you know?”
The corners of Razor’s smiling eyes tilted upward. “Tricky?”
“I mean, it doesn’t really make sense, does it?” Jae-hee kept glancing around nervously, but his mouth didn’t stop moving. “Miss Hellth died because she started a fight during the mission. The Gate is what turned her into a monster.”
“…”
“We had to close the Gate for the mission, so we just… defeated the Boss Monster, who happened to be Miss Hellth.”
“…”
“So, ahem, what I’m trying to say is… blaming me and Grandma Ghost for taking out a Boss Monster during a mission seems a little…”
“…”
“…un…reasonable… don’t you think?”
Razor just kept listening, that same smile plastered on his face.
Jae-hee hunched his shoulders but finished what he had to say. “I’ll pray for the deceased, sure thing. But no matter how I think about it, asking for a perfectly good finger… I have to say, the price you’re asking seems a little off…?”
“…”
“And Grandma Ghost, she might be a nasty piece of work, but I think she was just doing her job…”
“You’ve got more of a spine than I thought, Jae-hee,” Razor chuckled. “More guts, too. Yeah, you need that kind of grit to survive in this shitty world. I get it.”
“…”
“But it would have been smarter to just give up a finger. And you definitely shouldn’t have taken that old hag’s side.” Razor’s index finger tapped the table. Thump. “Because now, a finger won’t be enough.”
That was the signal.
“Get him!”
Razor’s men rushed Jae-hee all at once, their hands clawing for him.
But Jae-hee was ready. He shot up from his seat, kicking the chair backward as he vaulted onto the table.
“Oof!”
“Gahk—”
The men who took the chair to the gut staggered back, creating a momentary opening.
Fwip!
This time, Jae-hee kicked off the table and launched himself forward, slamming his body into the stumbling thugs.
Crash!
“Whoa!”
“What the fuck—”
The one-two combo of kicked chair and body slam sent the men in that direction sprawling. In an instant, Jae-hee had slipped through the gap and broken the encirclement.
I’ve always been good at running away!
He had no idea what to do next, but first, he had to get out of there. With nimble movements, Jae-hee bolted from the rec room.
And froze in shock.
Outside the rec room was a long corridor, and flanking both sides were more of Razor’s men. The moment they saw him, they let out a synchronized roar and charged.
Dammit, how many of them are there?!
At that moment, a burst of wind seemed to blow from behind him, and the world slowed to a crawl. It was the same hyper-focused state he entered when he used his ability.
But something was different. In this slowed-down world, Jae-hee was slow, too.
Argh…?!
If he could use his powers properly, he’d already be moving at super-speed, blowing past this pathetic encirclement. But his suppressed body felt heavy and sluggish, as if buried in sand.
Staring at his own decelerated limbs, Jae-hee gritted his teeth, his mind racing.
What do I do? How do I escape? How do I survive?
Where—where is the path to survival?
It was then.
Shweeeek—!
Without warning, a blue, arrow-like shape shot out from his chest. As if it couldn’t stand Jae-hee’s sluggishness, it burst from within his own body and sped ahead with a sharp hiss, leaving a clear trail in its wake.
“…?!”
The arrowhead, streaking forward like a bullet, and the blue trajectory it drew behind it looked like a long, glowing arrow.
In the slowed world, this arrow, moving alone, expertly weaved through the gaps between the prisoners, marking an ‘escape route.’
What the heck is…
Jae-hee glanced down at his left wrist. The Awakening Inhibitor, the so-called ‘Null Cuff,’ glinted ominously.
“It does vary by the individual, but the suppression rate is around ninety-nine percent.”
“Which means, you can still use about one percent of your original power.”
Razor’s words from moments ago flashed through his mind. The cuff suppressed ninety-nine percent of his ability. What he had left now was just a scrap of that power.
No. This isn’t a scrap.
Jae-hee knew it instinctively.
This is the essence of my ability.
The one percent that remained after the suppression. The final piece left after everything else had been carved away.
I can’t use my super-speed…
Jae-hee’s eyes widened.
But I can see where I need to go!
My way out. The trail of the wind… it’s crystal clear!
Jae-hee picked his direction and kicked off the ground, chasing the arrowhead that was already far ahead of him.
Thump!
The world snapped back to its normal speed.
He sprinted down one side of the hallway, diving straight into the tiny gap between the charging gang members. No matter how tightly humans packed together, there was always space between them.
To Jae-hee’s eyes, the trail of the wind flowing through that gap was perfectly visible, and he followed it without hesitation.
And even with his ability suppressed…
Thwump!
…Jae-hee’s natural running speed was already far beyond ordinary.
The thugs swarming down the hall were stunned.
The boy who had charged straight at them seemed to vanish for a moment, and in the blink of an eye, he had slipped through them like an eel and was already gone.
It was like watching an elite running back in American football tear through a shoddy defensive line in a single, fluid motion.
“Uh?”
“Wha…”
“Where’d the little shit go—?”
By the time the bewildered thugs managed to turn around, Jae-hee had already broken their cordon and was sprinting down the hall without a single glance back.
“…The fuck was that,” one of them muttered stupidly.
“Was that… the wind?”
***
“He broke through the encirclement?” Razor muttered, dumbfounded. “Huh, he really can run. They said he was a Speedster, and he’s still fast as hell even while suppressed.”
Razor laughed, a dry and empty sound, and leaned back in his chair. One of his men stepped forward, placing a cigarette between Razor’s lips and lighting it for him.
Exhaling a long plume of smoke, Razor gestured to his left and right, calling out his men.
“Tat Rat.”
“Yes, Boss!”
“Barber.”
“Your orders, Boss.”
“You two are in charge. Drag that little bastard back to me.”
A bald man, his entire shirtless torso covered in an Irezumi tattoo, grinned savagely and slammed his fists together. This was Razor’s second-in-command, callsign: Tat Rat.
“Leave it to us, Boss! I’ll tear him to pieces and drag him back!”
Next to him, a man with neat, pomade-slicked hair stepped forward. This was Razor’s third-in-command, callsign: Barber. He asked cautiously, “Boss, is it all right if we kill him?”
“No, Don’t. You can cut off all his arms and legs, but bring him to me alive.”
Razor swept his hands over the table.
Clatter-clatter!
The bone rings on his ten fingers transformed into blades, sticking into the tabletop in a neat, dense row.
His narrow eyes flashing with murderous intent, Razor spat out the words.
“I’ll be the one to snuff him out.”
He gave his two lieutenants a look. “Big bro here doesn’t like waiting. Go.”
Tat Rat, Barber, and the rest of the gang took off at a run, fanning out to hunt down Jae-hee, who was currently doing his best to get lost somewhere on Deck 1.
“You’d better run your best, Jae-hee.”
Watching his men scatter, Razor tore open a new carton of milk and smiled, his eyes mere slits.
“Revenge is no fun when it ends too soon… isn’t it?”