Chapter 63
‘Baek Yi-heon… he’s different because he’s the protagonist of the novel.’
Other humans aren’t like that.
How can I be so sure?
Throughout my life, it wasn’t just people who openly hated me.
There were also those who approached me with kind smiles.
“Noah. Don’t pay attention to those words.”
Was it in middle school? At the start of a new semester, when rumors had already spread and I was sitting alone, someone approached me with a bright smile.
I was happy.
Extremely so.
I sat in the bathroom, secretly swallowing my smiles.
But then, I heard someone talking loudly outside.
“Hey, am I right? Kids like that really love it when you’re nice to them. Do you know why?”
It was that child.
As I froze, holding my breath, I heard that voice continue.
“It’s because they’re lonely! Lonely! Like a dog wagging its tail whenever it sees its owner!”
Sitting dazed in the bathroom until the class bell rang, the emotion I felt then…
I learned that the deepest wounds come not from strangers, but from those you know.
‘I won’t be fooled twice.’
I’m not a dog, I’m a person. I won’t repeat the same mistake twice.
“Noah? Are you okay? Your face is so pale.”
“Hey, what’s wrong suddenly? Did you figure something out?”
I lifted my head abruptly and spoke with a pale face.
“Ah, well…”
Even at the Hwacheon Prison camp, they tried to perform an evil god summoning ritual.
And the kidnapped children who disappeared…
It was utterly disgusting, but it was easy to guess what they were planning in this camp.
They’re trying to summon another evil god by offering the children as sacrifices.
…And probably, Kim Seo-min’s son was the first victim.
‘Only those who have erased their humanity can become avatars of evil gods.’
I can’t let those two see that.
I absolutely don’t want to show them the ugly, evil deeds of Yoo Hyung-min. That man… my father.
“Noah?”
Instead of answering Yu’s worried question, I whirled around.
Then I grabbed the collar of the kneeling man.
“…That man, are you sure his name is Kim Seo-min?”
As I muttered lowly, the terrified man quickly shouted.
“Y-yes! That’s right! We even did a background check!”
I quickly shouted internally.
‘Kim Seo-min, check personal information!’
[(Messenger) Unable to retrieve information on this person.]
Good. If he can’t be looked up, it means the man hasn’t been registered in the heavenly evil god registry yet.
They haven’t performed the summoning ritual yet.
‘There’s still, still time to reverse this…!’
I shook the man’s collar violently and barked.
“Where’s the largest, empty space here?”
“What? I mean, y-yes?”
I shouted, gripping the collar of the man who was surprised and questioning.
“There must be a reason why that man emptied out only this building! Where’s the largest space here?”
To summon an evil god, you absolutely need an altar with the summoning ritual inscribed and sacrifices.
Like the yard at Hwacheon Prison.
“A l-large empty space…”
“Ah, below! There’s a basement here! It used to be a supply room… That’s the largest!”
I roughly let go of the collar I had grabbed and immediately ran towards the door.
“Hey, where are you going?”
“…Noah?”
Suddenly, my wrist was caught.
It wasn’t grabbed particularly hard, but I turned around, startled.
Looking at me like that, Yuga spoke in a gentle but firm tone.
“I don’t know what’s going on, but let’s go together.”
“Let’s go together. …Didn’t you say we’re a team?”
Choi Yu, who was next to me, also joined in.
“Yeah. I don’t know why you’re suddenly acting like this, but let’s go together for now. It’s dangerous.”
“…Well, I guess you’re not completely cold-blooded after all.”
For a very brief moment, I opened my lips as if about to reveal something.
But instead of an answer coming from my choked throat, past memories flashed by me.
“It’s because they’re lonely! Lonely!”
“Originally, such heinous criminals are fundamentally wrong…..!”
“No!”
When I suddenly shouted loudly, both Yu and Choi Yu looked surprised.
They were naturally startled, as I had never acted so emotionally before.
Trying to respond calmly, I muttered anxiously.
“Well, that… Could you two keep an eye on these people here?”
“Huh? …Well, I guess so? But it seems one person would be enough for that.”
“I think so too…”
“Then, please!”
“Noah!”
I ran out of the room like I was escaping, without even listening to the end of Yuga’s words.
Then, fearing they might follow, I dashed madly towards the basement.
Huff. Huff.
I hadn’t run far, but my heart was pounding wildly.
‘Why am I acting like this?’
Ruining my life because of my father… that was common in my life.
Last time at Hwacheon Prison, I almost died directly by my father’s hand. Strangely, I felt more tense and my heart raced more than then.
“Noona! The stew is delicious!”
“Hurry up and come!”
“Noah. Don’t just eat meat, have some stew too.”
The scene of everyone sitting together around the campfire, laughing, flashed before my eyes.
But soon, the smiles disappeared from people’s faces.
My companions, with cold expressions, moved their lips towards me.
“Your father is Yoo Hyun-min, right?”
“You’ve been hiding this from us all along?”
Huff, huff.
My breathing kept getting more labored.
This shouldn’t happen from just running this much, but my heart ached to the point of pain.
“It’s okay… The evil god summoning ritual hasn’t happened yet, I can still stop it.”
I can stop it.
To prevent my father from killing more people.
To stop him from harming others.
To prevent that man from ruining my life any further…
💎
Someone entered the empty, dark basement, grunting.
It was Kim Seo-min, carrying the sleeping Sehun on his back.
Seemingly tired from descending the stairs, he first put the child down against the wall and let out a long sigh.
Then, pushing up his glasses, he snapped his fingers.
Suddenly, transparent crystals floating in the air simultaneously burst into yellow light.
Under that light, a grand space was revealed.
The original shabby supply room was nowhere to be seen.
Roughly packed reddish-brown earth.
A huge hexagonal summoning formation drawn in the center.
In the middle stood an altar with bizarre patterns, boasting an imposing presence.
It was a place that strange woman had created in an instant, saying it was “necessary to serve the god.”
A woman who seemed not of this world, beautiful and powerful.
“I too, I too can now become…”
He could have the power to do anything he wanted with just a snap of his fingers.
If only he offered the final sacrifice…!
Kim Seo-min picked up the sleeping Sehun again and headed towards the altar.
As he placed the limp child on it with a thud, an uncontrollable sense of elation began to rise.
“The last, the thirty-third sacrifice is finally…”
The plan that had been progressing smoothly was briefly delayed at the end.
It was because those damn parents refused to let their children out.
“But for such a young child to come here on his own feet at just the right time.”
Is this what that man called heavenly fortune?
Until now, he had been terribly unlucky.
It started with struggling through 15 years of study up to graduate school with no money, and barely succeeding in getting a job.
But suddenly, a tower appeared in Gangnam, and monsters appeared all over the country.
Fortunately, they managed to save their lives by running straight to the government building, but his wife and first child injured their legs.
They survived.
The relief was short-lived.
Soon after arriving at the camp, his wife and eldest son’s wounds began to rot.
People avoided him too, fearing they might catch the disease.
Those looks, as if seeing useless mouths to feed.
‘I’m not the one who’s injured, why am I being treated like this too…’
While resentfully living under people’s judgmental gazes, that woman appeared.
A woman like an angel in white clothes.
💎
Thank you for reading! ♡
