Jae Hyun finally received a notification from the system.
But he wasn't exactly in a good state of mind to ponder it.
That was because one of his team members was missing.
The girl who had trained in the Noi family and was the queen of combat in his last life had disappeared.
It came as a complete shock to Jae Hyun.
He came back from another fruitless search only to find her still missing.
The other girls said that she wasn't acting strange after he left.
She mentioned being worried about him and fought with them, claiming that she was only going to train.
She told them not to tell him that they fought.
So that was why they only mentioned the fact that she went to train when he asked.
Jae Hyun thought it over carefully, but he never saw her.
Meaning two things—
Either she never went looking for him, to which the need for her to lie was concerning.
Or she was intercepted before he could reach her.
Both situations were bad.
And both made him feel weak.
Weakness was something he thought he had left behind in this new life.
He was stronger than ever and surrounded by top beauties who were his dearest comrades and friends.
Now, one of them was missing—with a high probability of being dead.
Failure.
Jae Hyun felt like he was failing.
He was once again the person who hid in the dark and fought for a tiny bit of food.
Living like a rat.
To escape that feeling that threatened to drown him, Jae Hyun chose to take action.
He searched everywhere for her—
all the places he had gone before and the places she talked about when they were alone together.
Eventually, he found her.
Jae Hyun didn't think of the place at first.
How could he, when she had described that place as the darkness she never wanted to confront?
A place that had no single good memory.
A place that made her skin crawl and her heart heavy.
The Hope Orphanage.
Or what was left of it.
Jae Hyun knew the answer to his search just by looking at the damage to the building.
It didn't look like something a human could survive.
Yet he still stepped forward.
Because he had already been weak once.
Now, to prove he was still that same strong person,
he had to walk this path to the end.
Amidst the bodies of disfigured zombie children—
their varying disabilities only added more to the horror.
The walk was tense and silent, each person apprehensive.
The only difference was that the other girls' eyes would flash red a few times.
Jae Hyun, however, never noticed.
And how could he—
when he had finally found her.
She was lying there in a basement, covered in blood.
Her face frozen in an expression of horror and fear.
The tears on her face were now replaced with blood.
The signs of battle were clear—
a gun lying carelessly nearby and blood splatter too far away from her corpse to have been hers.
But who did it and how wasn't clear.
And that was the question behind the burning rage Jae Hyun felt.
How dare they do that to one of his people.
"Look over there," Seo Rina spoke, pointing at a symbol.
Jae Hyun walked over with steady steps and bent down to investigate.
He looked at the familiar symbol drawn in blood.
"Director," he said through gritted teeth.
Who else in this new timeline is able to draw such a complex weird symbol using blood.
As fate would have it, the notification popped up a second time.
[ Final Mission – Kill the Director ]
[ Director Located ]
The system's message came at just the right time.
Jae Hyun stood up and prepared to head out.
He paused as they all entered the car.
"You guys should stay home while I get revenge. I don't want anything to happen to you," he said through gritted teeth,
the image of his dead companion resurfacing.
"What about you?" Seo Rina asked with concern.
"I have to do it. But don't worry, I'm not done collecting my payment for saving you."
Jae Hyun winked at them.
Each of their faces flushed.
"It looks like you're okay," Rina snorted, making a gesture for him to hurry up.
Jae Hyun just took it as her normal tough-girl front and drove off with a smirk.
He dropped them off at the apartment he had fortified before driving away.
After he was at a distance, Rina gagged.
"Disgusting bastard," she cursed.
"Even with such a thing happening, he still only thinks about that," Seo Rina gave a cold snort.
"How else would we have kept him from finding out?" Park Haeun giggled mischievously.
"Is it finally time for him to die?" Yoo Minji asked excitedly.
"He's still useful, unfortunately," Seo Rina—the voice of reason—spoke.
"First of all, did anyone kill Kang Jiyeon behind our backs?" Park Haeun said, taking a step back.
The others looked at one another with wary expressions, stepping back and keeping their distance.
"Speak up before we kill you," Rina shouted, oozing murderous intent.
The others also released their killing intent mixed with malice.
"Alright, stop," Seo Rina said, raising a hand.
"Why? Was it you?" Rina asked.
The others directed their killing intent toward her.
"Our power level still feels the same, so that must mean it couldn't have been us," Seo Rina spoke calmly.
"And the expression of terror on her face couldn't have been because of us—
if it was, she would have been shocked, not afraid," Park Haeun added.
"Then what kind of monster would do that to her, even after we've been blessed?" Rina shivered.
"Park Haeun, it's your turn next, right?" Yoo Minji said, making the others turn to her.
"Do you mean to say that I'll die?" Park Haeun squinted at her.
"Maybe we should all go together this time," Yoo Minji advised.
"Don't think I don't know what you're trying to pull.
It's only one person that can use the power of the sacrifice," Park Haeun snorted.
"I just wanted to collect your corpse and information," Yoo Minji said bluntly.
"You know that you're really infuriating," Park Haeun glared at her.
"Rather than focusing on something we don't know about, maybe we should be figuring out how to avoid Jae Hyun," Seo Rina interjected.
"There's already someone who's going to do a great job," Rina smirked.
"The Director," Park Haeun said.
She didn't want to speak to them anymore and turned to leave.
The three stood watching her departing back.
...
The Director who was mentioned was now humming a tune and looking at the bewildered fatty lying in the middle of a bloody symbol.
The Director wasn't surprised when Ming Jun appeared and slashed the fatty's wrist.
He tossed the blood from the bowl he held onto the ground, then placed it under Ming Jun's wrist.
Then he dipped a finger and began drawing on Ming Jun's body.
Ming Jun was busy trying to remember how he got there.
The only thing he remembered was going to sleep while smiling at the pictures on his black phone.
He was just about to reach for it when he felt the pain of the blade cutting his wrist.
"What are you doing here?" Ming Jun tried to shrink back from the Director, but he couldn't move.
He struggled a few times, earning an amused smile from the Director.
The only thing that gave him some courage was feeling the cool metal of his phone screen rubbing against his clothes.
"Normally, you wouldn't be awake, but I delayed the activation of the rune because I wanted us to have a nice chat," the Director spoke.
"We can have a nice chat away from the blood and creepy circles," Ming Jun wanted to cry, but he couldn't even control his face.
"Do you remember this place?" the Director asked, not minding Ming Jun's scrunched-up face.
Ming Jun hadn't looked around yet—he was too busy trying not to piss himself from fear.
After all, he had read enough manhwa to know that he was in some sort of cult sacrifice situation.
And those were usually very painful and bloody.
He was praying that the main character would show up to save him, but there was no sign of one.
So he opted to stall for time.
Luckily, the Director wanted to chat, so he wasn't in a hurry.
Good, Ming Jun sighed in relief and tried to turn his head.
He was surprised that he could but didn't try to move any other part of his body.
He wasn't a fool and understood that the reason he could move his head was because the man beside him willed it.
Ming Jun lifted his head slightly, and his expression grew more and more complex.
"It's my bedroom," Ming Jun said in surprise.
"No, it's a storage room they decided to keep their least favorite dog in," the Director snapped.
Ming Jun nodded his head in fear.
Everything you say is right.
You're the boss. Thumbs up.jpg
The Director ignored his fawning eyes and looked around the dilapidated room.
The walls were cracked; the ceiling reeked of mold.
There were dusty boxes stacked in the corner, threatening to fall at any time.
The only place to sleep was a mattress with suspicious brown stains patched across it.
The pillow had half its foam sticking out and looked ready to tear.
A tiny box was placed beside the bed, clothes peeking out.
The light bulb flickered on and off with a dim yellow glow.
The floor was mottled with grime and dirt thick as paint.
There was no sign of a bathroom—only a tiny window that even a toddler would barely squeeze through.
"This place hasn't changed," the Director murmured with a frown.
"Do you want to know whose blood this is?" he turned to Ming Jun, who was flat and immobile with a bright smile.
Not at all! Ming Jun thought immediately.
But in reality, he was trying to gauge the mood of the madman—lest he say it was his, then bleed him out.
"It's our parents and our dear brother, the apple of their eye," the Director smiled brightly.
Ming Jun gasped in horror and almost puked.
Unfortunately, it happened internally—he couldn't move any part of his body.
But he could smell the disgusting stench that suddenly followed those words.
Ming Jun was afraid.
Afraid that he would turn around and see the corpses of his parents and brother staring at him in anger.
He really couldn't imagine them looking at him any other way.
"Stay with me now," the Director snapped his fingers in front of his eyes.
Ming Jun's dilated pupils trembled before his gaze returned to normal.
"This should keep you calm just long enough to listen," the Director said, sitting beside him.
True to his words, Ming Jun found his mind sluggish.
He couldn't think but could hear the outside world perfectly.
He was thankful that he could only see the ceiling.
"Turn to face me. Let's speak eye to eye, so you can feel my words," the Director said, using his hand to turn Ming Jun's face toward him.
Now Ming Jun was staring straight at the Director.
The Director was satisfied and tapped his cheek.
"Did you know, dearest brother, that we are alike in ways you can't even begin to imagine?"
"We are like two halves of the same coin, except you allowed them to demean you—
you allowed yourself to be beneath them."
"While I crawled out of their hell just to fall back into it.
But I never stopped struggling to tear them down from that so-called level they placed higher than us.
And look where we are now."
"The father who treated me like trash because he couldn't keep his pants on while engaged.
The legal fiancée who disgusted me through covert means while telling everyone how benevolent she was for taking in a bastard child.
The servants who ordered me around and ridiculed me to relieve their stress—
THEY ARE ALL DEAD BY MY HANDS!" the Director shouted, his face twisted in pleasure.
His eyes were red and erratic as his face flushed.
"I got ahead of myself there. Let's start from the beginning, shall we…" the Director suddenly spoke gently, looking at Ming Jun.
This only made Ming Jun more afraid.
He didn't have to think to realize that he had met a true madman.
....
Shae Harris rushed into Yi Zheng's room just as he tugged his shirt down.
"It's Ming Jun… he… he…" Shae Harris stuttered while dragging Yi Zheng, tears streaming down her face.
"Calm down. We'll find him," Yi Zheng said calmly, gripping her shoulder tightly.
"Yeah, but would he still even be alive by then—or would it be exactly like Noi Karn all over again?" Shae Harris sobbed into her hands.
"We… we still have to try," Mori Aoi said from the door, tears streaming down her face as she held onto Wei Zhi.
Similarly, his eyes were red.
"That's right. We have to try—for Ming Jun," Yi Zheng comforted Shae Harris.
"Okay," she sniffled and walked to the van.
Mori Aoi dislodged from Wei Zhi and held her hand tightly as they both walked to the van.
Wei Zhi followed quietly behind them with eyes still red , and Yi Zheng was the last to enter.