CHAPTER 22 – The truth of the devil’s seed

*NARRATOR'S POV*

[At around 1 P.M. today, a group of monsters appeared in Seoul, leaving around 200 wounded and thankfully no dead.]

A news anchor was reporting on today's incident. With a deep sigh, Chae Shinhyuk stroked the bedridden patient. Her pale complexion seemed to stab her father's heart. Though she was an adult who would soon become a Hero, Chae Nayun was still like a little girl to Chae Shinhyuk.

[…According to the investigation, the monster group was led by the intermediate rank grade 1 monster, 'Beast Inciter'. This man-sized, badger-shaped monster has never before appeared in Korea. The Association believes that the monster was brought in by a third party, and has set out in a search.]

"…Mmm."

At that moment, Chae Nayun opened her eyes. Chae Shinhyuk immediately shot up and called for a doctor.

"You're awake. How are you feeling?"

"…Fine."– Answered Chae Nayun while she raised her feeble body.

Right then, a doctor came running in to check her pulse, but Chae Nayun pushed him away with a smile.

"I'm fine, Dad."

"Really?"

"Of course. I'm not injured. Didn't the doctor tell you?"-Answered Chae Nayun while turning to look at the doctor.

"I, I did."- The doctor spoke up inadvertently.

Chae Shinhyuk was a powerful figure who had the country's economy in his palm. He knew being on this man's bad side would only make his life more difficult.

"…She seems fine, so you can go now."-Said Chae Shinhyuk, while glancing sidely at the face.

"Yes, sir."- Nodding to both Chae Shinhyuk and Chae Nayun before running out hurriedly

Looking at the closing door, Chae Nayun spoke briefly.

"…Dad."

"Hm?"-Chae Shinhyuk replied kindly.

"About Oppa."

Her low-spirited voice evoked the dark past he wanted to forget. Remembering his son always caused a sharp pain in his heart.

With a gentle smile, Chae Shinhyuk held his daughter's hand.

"…What's wrong?"

"Can I go see him when I'm discharged? I'm on sick leave anyway, right?"

"Of course you can."-Chae Shinhyuk agreed easily.

Chae Nayun leaned her head against her father's shoulder and recalled what happened earlier in the day. The Djinn from the museum, the black hand that strangled her, and a voice that mentioned her older brother… At that point, Chae Nayun's fury revived.

"Dad, by the way…"- Chae Nayun's spoke with a dark tone.

Her voice carried a heavy emotion.

"What's up?"- asked Chae Shinhyuk worriedly

"…No, it's nothing."

Suddenly, she began to loathe someone from the bottom of her heart. But she couldn't tell her father how she felt.

She thought back to when her stomach was boiling from being poisoned by the Djinn's magic power. Even while she was writhing in pain, she could still hear that man's voice clearly.

"I'm sure her older brother will come to console her."

That man had mentioned her brother.

Four years ago, on the day the sky fell, everyone in the world found out. So she didn't have the time to be sad. After that day, her brother's name was etched deep inside her heart, and he became an untouchable subject to her.

As a cadet at Hero Academy, that man should have known about her brother's state. Even so, he had mentioned her brother in that way. Chae Nayun suppressed the fury rising from her heart and engraved the man's name in her head. Kim Hajin, Kim Hajin.From this day, Chae Nayun would no longer forget this name.

***

*CRISTOPHER'S POV*

"Hey. What's with the long face?"-I ask Hajin who is reclined on a bench outside of the Portal Station of Yongsan

"You're finally here huh… What took you so long?"-He asks while turning his head to where I'm coming from.

I just finished talking with the kids, Fran, and the rest of the guys at the orphanage. It seems like I will keep using the loss of memory as an excuse for knowing shit about everything.

Also, Fran will gladly play along with me… {Really… That woman… what's she thinking?} I ended up staying there until almost 5:00 PM, there's chaos everywhere, with heroes going and coming from one place to another, and agents helping with the restoration of the city.

Everything was turned into a war zone in a just few moments. Even with me and a lot of other heroes and even cadets helping here and there. It's amusing how a "little" attack could make a city tremble like this. Though, honestly, it could also have something to do with the co-author making things more difficult.

For the record, agents were those who graduated from the Agent Military Academy but didn't pursue further education in Cube or another training center for heroes. They usually didn't have gifts befitting heroes, but still could help a lot in other places or careers, some of them even helped in the clean-up of cases like this.

"Well, I had a few things to do. But it all turned well in the end. How about you?"-I ask, finally sitting beside Hajin on the bench.

"What could you have to do here in Seoul? You're not even part of this world…"-He murmurs. "Either way, I had to help in the fight… You were right, things went the wrong way. In the truly wrong way.*sigh…*"-He says while resting his elbows on his legs and putting his head down. It seems he finally discovered the existence of the co-author in this world.

"What you mean?"-I ask him, feigning having no clue.

"This is not my world. At least not only mine anymore…"-He says in a really low voice. "There's someone else… A co-author making changes to the plot. He was the one that made that Djinn stronger. If it wasn't for me, maybe Chae Nayun would be dead by now.*sigh…*"

"That complicates things. But it's not the end of the world, right?"-I ask, looking straight at him with a serious face.

"What do you mean? The only thing that I had, my knowledge, isn't certain anymore. What I'm going to do!"-He asks, suddenly sitting up on the bench and turning to look at me with a stern face.

"That was never certain, idiot. Or what? You never thought about how me and you being here would change the plot? Depending only on the knowledge you had of your novel was, in the first place, plain stupid."

"Wh-What are you-"

"I told you. Don't do your best. Do the impossible. Prepare for every little thing, you idiot. What? 'Oh no, what I'm going to do, I don't know what changes will the co-author make, buhuuuu poor me'. Fucking wake up dude. Stop getting trapped in what happened. Think about what you're going to do to solve the shit you're in."

"But…"

"But? Did you say but? Listen here. You have to grow some balls and brains. You were wrong from the start. Help the main characters grow faster? Yeah, nice plan. It could work. But depend only on it? Are you an idiot? I'm glad this worked as a wake-up call to you. What would happen when you're put in a difficult situation? Are you going to somehow summon the main characters to your side?"

"What could I do!? You were already powerful, I was just a simple human. Without strength or power."

"Are you belittling humans? Fuck, we didn't have claws nor fangs, and we made it to the top of the fucking food chain. You now do what every human in danger does. You think. You prepare. You adapt. You stop crying, man up, and go forward, cursing whatever shit the co-author throws at you at the same time you put a bullet on it. Am I clear?"-I finally said while pointing at him.

He just stays there, staring at me. Seemingly lost for words. But sadly, I don't have any more time to make him realize what he has to do.

"And we'll stop this chat for now. There comes the rest of our club."-I said while pointing to the entrance of the Portal Station, where the cadets started to regroup and an instructor was asking questions.

***

We joined the rest of the cadets, and with nothing more to do, we all went inside the Portal Station.

When we got to the portal leading to Cube, we suddenly found Kim Soohyuk waiting there.

"Kim Suho, Kim Hajin. We heard the story."

Said the instructor while glancing at both cadets.

"We will ask for details later, so go back and rest for now. Agents will take care of the rest."

"Um, instructor. Chae Nayun is…"-Asked Kim Suho

"She's taking a sick leave. She's with her family right now."

"Yes, understood."-Finally stopped asking Kim Suho.

"Go back."-Said the instructor.

After that, we all went to through the portal, right into Cube. And made our way right to the dorms, first using the bus and then walking the rest of the path.

Neither Hajin nor I said a word. Heck, no cadet said anything. They all were probably exhausted from the fight, as it seems they also had to help.

The first to get into the dorms where the girls. And while we were walking towards our dorm, the only first-year cadets were Yi Yeonghan, Kim Suho, Kim Hajin, and I. Everyone apart from me was tired.

But even tired as he was, Kim Suho suddenly stopped Kim Hajin, while Yi Yeonghan kept walking. I also kept walking, but slowly, waiting for them to finish the little talk. Kim Suho quickly glanced at me and then turned again to Kim Hajin.

"…Hey."

"What."-Asked Hajin

"Why did you say that?"-Kim Suho answered with a question of his own

"…Say what?"

"To Chae Nayun."

At those words, Kim Hajin furrowed his brows, as if he didn't know what was he talking about.

"Why did you bring up her older brother? In such a condescending way too."-Kept talking Kim Suho.

"What do you mean? I didn't mean much by…"-Kim Hajin started talking, but suddenly stopped, as if he thought about something.

He's probably thinking about how the co-author could have made other changes.

"…What about her older brother?"-So he changed his question. Prying about any change that could have been made.

"It's something every cadet knows, but you're going to pretend you don't know?"-Talked a somewhat angry Kim Suho.

"What? No, I really don't-"

"Whatever. We can talk about it later. For now…"-Interrupted Kim Suho before Hajin could explain himself and after we went inside the dorms, seemingly tired for using his power earlier to end the fight against the Djinn.

He glared at Hajin and then started walking faster to the elevators, and right when he passed by my side, he quickly glanced at me, as is trying to look into something. Which made me furrow my brows.

He finally got inside the elevator and went to his room. While Hajin and I took another one.

"What did you do to make him angry?"-I asked the silent Hajin.

"I just mentioned Chae Nayun's brother… But it seems something happened to him, maybe the co-author changed something about Chae Nayun's story."-He answers while looking at the floor.

The elevator stops on Hajin's floor. "Well, it seems you'll have to find that out, right? Look what may have changed."- I said to him before he goes out.

"You always leave everything to me. Didn't you notice it?"

"Yeah, so? What's your point?"-I asked while shrugging my shoulders.

"Nothing."-He just started going to his room.

"Hey."-I called to him.

"What?"-He asked, turning to me.

"Remember what I said to you earlier. Think, prepare and adapt. You won't have anything to worry about if you just do that."

"Yeah…"-He says as he goes to his room.

I again press the elevator's closing button for it to go up to my floor.

***

Once I took a shower, I changed into some comfy clothes and took my backpack to the couch.

There I put everything out.

"Man… I liked these boots…"- I said as I took out what was the pair of boots I used while fighting the monsters.

Sadly, these boots weren't reinforced, so while I kept fighting and running with them, they little by little started to break.

"Well… It was to be expected, after all, they received the impact of the monsters and my feet. I should've reinforced them too…"

I murmur as I look at them…

"Oh well, I'll buy something else later, it's not that important."

Right then, my smartwatch vibrated.

"Mmm… Who's this?"

[Olivia: Hey.]

"…"

I put down the smartwatch, not even bothering to answer her. {Man… I know every cadet's contact info is available, but this has to be a joke, what the fuck does that girl want? Well, whatever. Not answering.}

I started listening to some music, but it was constantly interrupted by incoming messages.

"…"

*vrrrr… vrrrr…*

"…*sigh…*"

*vrrrr… vrrrr…*

"…Fuck…"

*vrrrr… vrrrr…*

"Ok… Ok…"-I said, looking at all the messages that I received.

[Olivia: Hey! I know you are awake.]

[Olivia: Are you not answering?]

[Olivia: HEEEEEYYYYYYY!!!!]

[Olivia: Olivia calling idiot, idiot please respond.]

[Olivia: If you don't answer, I'll start calling you.]

{Shit. Better answer fast.}

[Cristopher: Stop. I'm here. What's with you all of a sudden. Weren't you supposed to disappear for a month?]

[Olivia: Finally! How are you? I heard what happened in Seoul, you were there right?]

[Cristopher: Just… Ok, what's wrong with you worrying about me all of a sudden? And how did you know I was in Seoul?]

[Olivia: I saw you applicating for the Traveling club, and I have a friend there, so I know you went to Seoul.]

{…You got to be fucking kidding me…}

[Cristopher: Bullshit. What friend? How can a wacko like you have friends?]

[Olivia: I'm not a wacko, and why can't I have friends? Do I look like an asocial like you?]

[Cristopher: …]

[Olivia: Either way, how are you? You aren't hurt right?]

[Cristopher: Do I look like a weakling like you? Of course, I'm not.]

[Olivia: …]

[Olivia: Well, you better be safe. You'll be training me after all. I need you alive.]

[Cristopher: I'm not training you.]

[Olivia: You said you would!]

[Cristopher: I said that I'll reconsider it if you can reach the goal I put you.]

[Olivia:…]

[Cristopher: Not going good huh? Well, you still have around 3 weeks. So better hurry up.]

[Olivia: Shut up. I'll do it. You'll see. And you'll have to train me, whether you want it or not.]

[Cristopher: Sure. Wacko. Whatever you say. I'm leaving.]

[Olivia: I'm not a wacko. Ok. Take care.]

I suddenly feel the chills with that last text.

[Cristopher: Don't do that.]

[Olivia: Do what?]

[Cristopher: Don't say 'Take care', you're giving me the chills here…]

[Olivia:… Bye, asshole.]

[Cristopher: Much better.]

I finally put down my arm and start listening to music again. But right then, my smartwatch started to vibrate again.

"Fuck! What does Crazy Girl want now…"

[Kim Hajin: Are you up?]

"Oh, it's Hajin, this is a surprise. I thought he wouldn't contact this fast me after that talk we had…"

[Cristopher: Sure. What happened?]

[Kim Hajin: We have a problem. A real problem now.]

[Cristopher: And what would that be?]

[Kim Hajin: I know what happened to Chae Nayun's brother… And it's nothing good.]

[Cristopher: What? He's dead or something]-I write, feigning that I know nothing.

[Kim Hajin: Worse. He would better be dead. He has the Devil's Seed.]

[Cristopher: Devil's Seed? What's that? Can I eat it?]

[Kim Hajin: It's no joke man… It's a freaking problem for us… To everyone, including Chae Nayun.]

[Cristopher: Right, right, but what is it? Remember you didn't finish your novel. And I didn't see any of that in your chapters.]

[Kim Hajin: Right… right… Look. A Devil's Seed is a human being that will host a Devil, the entities that entice the humans and transforms them into Djinns. If the seed sprouts, Chae Jiyoon, Chae Nayun's brother, will become a Devil and start rampaging in the city.]

[Cristopher: Oh… OHHH! That's indeed a problem. How can it be solved?]

[Kim Hajin: Killing the host before the seed sprouts.]

[Cristopher: … There's no other way?]

[Kim Hajin: Not one that I know… Fuck…]

***

*KIM HAJIN'S POV*

[Cristopher: Relax, we'll get out of this. Don't worry too much.]

"How you ask me to relax… It's a disaster…"

I look at my laptop, with the notification of Chae Jiyoon's situation…

"Fuck… Damned Co-author… What too many helpers…"

If it sprouted, the current Kim Suho was nowhere strong enough to stop it. A Master rank Hero would be able to stop it, but most Master ranks had left the secular world. Even if high-rank Heroes were dispatched, a few of them would surely be sacrificed. That couldn't happen. Their strength was needed in the novel's latter parts. In other words, everything would go awry if this Devil's Seed sprouted.

"But… Killing him… Chae Jiyoon… It's just…"

Chae Jinyoon was a reliable friend and helper for Kim Suho, though he was an idiot when it came to his sister. But in this world, he had become a character that had to be killed.

"Not only that… No one would believe me if I try to tell them why he should be killed… And no mercenary or assassin is crazy enough to kill him either. They wouldn't want to incur the wrath of the Chae clan…"

"Fuck… It is just me, and Cristopher."

I reopen my texts and start writing again.

[Kim Hajin: We need to kill him.]

[Cristopher: You already told me that.]

[Kim Hajin: No. WE, need to kill him. Not anyone else.]

[Cristopher: You sure about that? Because of the way things are right now. It's not us, but me. You're still weak.]

"Fuck… I know that… Why do you think I'm this worried? Chae Jiyoon is practically an untouchable existence for me. Even if he's in a coma because of the Devil's Seed"

[Kim Hajin: Shut up. I know. So? What would we do?]

[Cristopher: How much time until it sprouts?]

[Kim Hajin: The Devil's Seed incubation period is from 5 to 6 years. If what I read is true, we still have at least a year, maybe even two…]

[Cristopher: So we still have time. You better work yourself hard. Because in one year, you'll probably be killing Chae Jiyoon.]

[Kim Hajin: Won't you help me?]

[Cristopher: Of course I will. But we still have time. And it's better if you think I won't. That way you won't neglect your training.]

[Kim Hajin: You sure are not saying this because you're not helping me?]

[Cristopher:… You make me feel like the villain here. Listen. I already told you many times. Do your fucking impossible. Not just your best. And always think you're alone. That way you won't have the 'I have help''s chip in your head, it can stop you from working hard.]

[Kim Hajin: Fine.]

[Cristopher: Listen, just be calm. We'll work things out. Just focus on getting stronger and solving the nearest problems. Okay?]

*sigh…*

[Kim Hajin: Ok, thanks… I'm leaving to train.]

[Cristopher: That's the spirit!!! Go.]

"Wait… What if…"

[Kim Hajin: Hey… Can't you train me?]

[Cristopher: You too? Man, what happens to you guys… Just train by yourself… It's not that hard for fuck's sake.]

{This bastard… He always says about doing my best and whatnot but now that I'm asking for his help to train he says no? Fuck!}

[Kim Hajin: What about helping me? What happened to all that?]

[Cristopher: This is this, that is that. I already have a wacko to take care of, don't start you too…]

[Kim Hajin: Wacko? You mean your girlfriend?]

[Cristopher: Stop right there. She's not my girlfriend. She's just a Crazy Girl that doesn't leave me alone.]

[Kim Hajin: Ha… Sure. Whatever. I'm leaving now to train.]

[Cristopher: Great! You got it, man. You sure can do it.]

[Kim Hajin: Yeah yeah, whatever...]

"Well, let's get to the training center."- I said, as I somehow pull up my heavy body, full of worries about what's to come.

But sadly. I have no time to rest. The bastard is right. I need to train. I need to be stronger. And I won't make it by staying here lamenting about anything bad that happens. I have to move my ass.