“Stop right now! Are you trying to kill me too? Are you going to commit patricide?!”

Yeo Ji-woong raved, suddenly invoking blood ties he had never cared about before. No matter how great something is, nothing is eternal. Nothing can escape this truth. Even Yeo Ji-woong, who had ruined countless lives, couldn’t escape it.

Myung-hwon had waited for this moment for a very long time. To see Yeo Ji-woong sprawling disgracefully on the ground. Nevertheless, he didn’t feel particularly good because the true form of Yeo Ji-woong revealed before him was just a crude, vulgar old man.

Curses rose to his throat at the disgusting sight of someone who had killed so many people yet cherished his own life so dearly, but Myung-hwon maintained his calm expression until the end.

“It’s Yeo Han-ol.”

“……”

“The one who caused the explosion.”

At Myung-hwon’s detached tone, Yeo Ji-woong’s already cracked mask completely shattered.

“Why is that name suddenly coming up? Surely…”

“You must have received a report that he was subdued when you took Ju-eon.”

“……”

He had definitely received reports about Han-ol’s whereabouts. He’d been informed that Han-ol had been knocked unconscious and restrained during the process of intercepting Woo Ju-eon.

“Judging by your face, it seems Ju-eon isn’t with you anymore.”

Suspicion turned to certainty. Only then did Myung-hwon jump down from the stage, speaking with finality.

“What?”

“The last you heard was that he had been subdued.”

After Ju-eon was recaptured from Ji-woong’s subordinate, communication had been cut off. If he had been taken again, it would be more correct to say that Ji-woong’s side had taken him back rather than AGT. Since his own people had said they released Han-ol, the fact that Ji-woong didn’t know about this meant communication on his side wasn’t working properly.

Crash!

The aide surveyed their surroundings. There was still a way out.

“…Congressman. We need to evacuate.”

The aide seemed to be the first to grasp the situation, carefully supporting Ji-woong’s shoulder and guiding him backward.

For a moment, the aide’s eyes met Myung-hwon’s. The aide was a powerful esper who would have been assigned to Attack Team 1 if he hadn’t been with Ji-woong.

In that moment of eye contact, the aide realized it. The difference in power was immense. Though he pretended to be human, that man was not human.

An esper contains energy that constantly tries to destroy even its own vessel. The more dangerous, the more powerful the force obtained. The higher the rank, the larger the vessel that could contain that energy. The aide had seen numerous S-class espers. Following Ji-woong abroad, he had seen renowned espers from other countries too, so this wasn’t limited to just this country. There were even greater monsters overseas. And Myung-hwon stood above all those monsters.

‘There wouldn’t even be bones left.’

Just glimpsing a fragment of his power sent chills down his spine. He realized that the reason he hadn’t noticed until now was because Myung-hwon had deliberately concealed his power.

Though he had seen countless espers, he had never encountered someone like Myung-hwon, whose vessel’s depth couldn’t even be fathomed. It was endlessly deep. Could someone carrying such energy even be called human? To deliberately hide it. It was something no one would want to hear, but he thought how much Han-ol resembled Ji-woong in the way he harbored a viper within.

Seemingly reading his thoughts, when the aide turned his head back, his eyes met Myung-hwon’s gaze.

Crash!

“Father.”

A chilling voice stopped Ji-woong in his tracks. A figure walked out from behind the building.

“…How are you here…”

Ji-woong’s face turned deathly pale, resembling someone who had seen a ghost.

“…How are you here?”

Despite being surrounded by bodyguards, Ji-woong unconsciously took a step back. Han-ol’s face was white without a trace of blood, his expression blank, making him look almost like a corpse.

“Did you enjoy playing with me?”

“……”

Speaking in a calm voice rather than raging with anger seemed even more dangerous. Like a bomb about to explode, or the eerie calm at the eye of a storm. His eyes gleamed with madness.

“I’ve prepared a gift to thank you.”

Han-ol pulled out a bomb from his pocket with an excited expression, comparable to someone taking out candy.

“I actually planted bombs earlier, but I didn’t think I’d really use them.”

The civilians huddled behind them were horrified when they saw the bomb in Han-ol’s hand. Some burst into tears, and a few, vulnerable to extreme stress, collapsed unconscious.

“I told you it wasn’t me.”

Myung-hwon, who had been observing the situation, shrugged lightly as he spoke to Ji-woong.

“You…”

“……”

A strange gaze passed between the two men.

“You knew too. Of course.”

Han-ol let out a hollow laugh. He couldn’t shake the feeling that he alone had been made a fool. Learning that most of the forces he had gathered over the years to bring down Ji-woong were actually in Ji-woong’s palm filled him with humiliation. He glanced at the people standing in a line behind Ji-woong, those he had once believed were his members. None of them would meet his eyes. That alone made him acutely aware of his betrayal.

‘And Myung-hwon even warned me.’

If he had been more suspicious, would things have turned out differently? His body trembled with rage. But the moment Ji-woong confirmed that the terrorist was Han-ol, not Myung-hwon, he felt relief that Han-ol was someone he could easily manipulate, rather than surprise at the unexpected perpetrator.

“How pathetic that you’re throwing a tantrum just because I put my hand in your little game.”

Ji-woong sighed deeply, clearly showing his contempt for Han-ol.

He had been brought in for his usefulness, then discarded when he failed to be useful. Han-ol’s will had never been part of this matter, yet he alone bore the burden of guilt.

“…Father… did you… ever once think of me as your child?”

It was a title that even Myung-hwon didn’t use. Han-ol’s thin hair fluttered in the wind. Even in this worst-case scenario, Han-ol hadn’t let go of his last thread of hope. Watching Han-ol, Myung-hwon clicked his tongue softly. There was a bitter taste in his mouth.

Han-ol had always endured. Both before and after leaving that hellish house, he had tormented himself, believing he was ignored because of his own inadequacies. An expensive failure who couldn’t become S-class. He believed that if only he had succeeded, everything would have been perfect.

“I simply stepped in because I didn’t think you could make up for the losses I incurred by bringing you into the family.”

Until the end, he was never respected as a human being. A weak laugh scattered in the wind. He had only done his best.

It felt like the ground had collapsed and he was falling into an abyss. He wished he could just suffocate and die right there. Han-ol counted the bombs he had brought.

“I even warned you… it’s regrettable that it came to this.”

“……”

“I didn’t think you would make such an extreme choice.”

“I’m still stinging from your backstabbing too.”

Han-ol smiled bitterly. Having grasped nothing until the very end, he felt beyond emptiness—almost relieved.

“My first priority has always been one thing.”

So the accusation of backstabbing didn’t apply to Myung-hwon. Han-ol knew this well. After all, he was the one who had exploited the gap created when Myung-hwon lost his priority. But sometimes the truth can sound more spiteful.

“Ha…”

Han-ol’s jaw tensed. In contrast, Myung-hwon’s expression brightened. Though there was no new information from outside, the fact that Han-ol was here proved that Ju-eon had safely escaped from both their hands.

‘It’s better that he’s hiding somewhere safe.’

What if Ju-eon had been here? The thought alone was terrifying. It seemed only seeing Ju-eon with his own eyes would quell this anxiety.

What Myung-hwon wanted was the everyday life that others took for granted. Going to work with Ju-eon, coming home together, sitting side by side on the sofa on weekends, eating meals together. A dream so modest that others might laugh at it. Yet for Myung-hwon, this was incredibly difficult.

‘When he returns, I’ll clear away everything in front of Ju-eon and give him a peaceful life…’

That was his resolution, and he had been working within the boundaries of the law to make it happen. Because Ju-eon liked ordinary things. Because Ju-eon was with someone as extraordinary as himself, he had decided to adjust everything else to Ju-eon’s standards.

‘But that’s not as easy as I thought.’

Myung-hwon’s gaze settled calmly. As he realized that his enemies were conveniently gathered here, a thought crossed his mind.

‘Should I kill them all?’

Then it would be the end for both Han-ol, who was trying to commit terrorism, and Ji-woong, who was trying to put a leash on him.

Myung-hwon considered it briefly. If he blew up this entire place, no evidence would remain. The boiling, raw savagery urged Myung-hwon on.

Whoosh.

A seed of fire ignited in his hand. If he condensed this power further to increase its explosive force and threw it, everyone here would die without even realizing it. There were civilians too, but what did that matter?