CHAPTER 3: The Devil's Offer
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Darkness.
It wasn't like night—it was deeper, heavier. Ji-ho stood still in a void that stretched endlessly in every direction. There was no wind, no sound, no ground beneath his feet, yet he stood.
He was alone…
Or so he thought.
Then something breathed.
From the shadows, a voice echoed—deep, layered, neither male nor female, more like a thousand whispers fused into one.
> "So... you are the one clutching that cursed pendant."
A massive shape emerged from the darkness—towering, horned, with eyes like suns of blood. Its skin writhed like fire and shadow were constantly shifting beneath it. The air warped around it. The Devil had arrived.
Ji-ho couldn't move. Not from fear—something deeper. The weight of that thing's existence was enough to paralyze his soul.
> "Your world is broken," it whispered. "You know it. Power rules. Weakness dies. I offer you my power—to burn this world into chaos, and reshape it in your image."
Ji-ho clenched his fists.
> "No."
The void shook.
The devil's mouth curled into something that might've been a smile—or the start of a scream.
> "Refusal… interesting. Then witness the taste of what you deny."
The pendant pulsed again—once, violently—and pain stabbed through Ji-ho's chest.
He fell to his knees, gasping.
His bones burned. His blood screamed. Light poured from his skin—black and white, clashing, rewriting him from the inside out.
In an instant, he was back—slammed into his own body like a crash landing.
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Back in the apartment
Everything was wreckage. Splintered furniture. Broken walls.
Ye-jun lay to the side, bruised and coughing—but alive.
Around them stood fifty men. The gangsters had come in force—more than before. Some laughed. Others cracked their knuckles. They didn't see a threat.
They saw a weak boy with a flashlight for a power.
But Ji-ho…
was no longer the same.
His eyes opened—glowing with a burning crimson core. His body surged with new power. The useless laser he once hated felt different now—concentrated, refined, devastating.
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One of the men stepped forward.
"Kill him."
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Ji-ho moved.
No warning. No hesitation.
He vanished—appearing in front of the nearest thug and touched his chest.
BOOM.
The man exploded backward, a hole ripped straight through his torso. Not burned. Not vaporized.
Erased.
Ji-ho's new power didn't fire beams. It transferred destruction through contact, tearing through whatever he touched as long as his strength could support it.
And now, he was stronger.
He blinked—and three more dropped, their bodies caved in, twisted, scorched black from the inside out.
Screams erupted.
"WHAT IS HE?!"
"He was a weakling! HE HAD A LASER!"
"He's… he's something else now—RUN!"
But there was no running.
Ji-ho was death.
He grabbed a man by the shoulder—the ray erupted inside him, reducing him to ash in a split second.
He kicked another through a wall—his arm brushing the man's rib. Gone.
He moved like a phantom, no wasted motion. Bodies dropped one after another. The floor was soaked. Walls were painted in shadows and blood.
One screamed and tried to shoot him.
Ji-ho caught the bullet in midair.
His fingers brushed the shooter's wrist.
Boom. Gone.
A man begged on his knees. "Please—spare me—!"
Ji-ho stared at him.
"You followed orders. That's enough."
A step forward. A touch.
Erased.
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By the time the last one fell, the room was silent again.
Fifty men. All dead. Every last one.
The air was thick with smoke and scorched ozone. Ji-ho stood in the center—unharmed, breathing hard, his eyes still glowing.
He looked at his hands.
His once-useless ability… now something monstrous. Something terrifying.
A weapon born of fury and pain.
Behind him, Ye-jun coughed. "Hyung…"
Ji-ho turned. The glow faded from his body, his rage finally cooling.
He ran to Ye-jun, knelt beside him, and checked his injuries—bad, but not fatal.
"Can you walk?" Ji-ho asked, gently lifting him.
Ye-jun nodded weakly. "Yeah…"
Ji-ho looked back at the room one last time—at the destruction, the blood, the ashes.
He had refused the devil's full power.
But even a fragment…
had turned him into a monster.
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To be continued...