Chapter 44 - 43 : Black Guardian (2)

The air turned cold as the centaur reached for its helmet. A dull thud echoed through the broken concrete chamber. The helmet hit the ground with a hollow clatter. And we all froze. We weren’t looking at a monster anymore. We were looking at someone we once loved. [Flashbacks] Mi-Sun’s Vision – Room 402 She was back at the hotel lobby. Again. That goddamn scent of artificial roses and cigar smoke hit her all at once. Her heels clicked on the marble floor, echoing endlessly as the receptionist smiled—the same one from before. Her eyes screamed at her to leave, but her body moved anyway. Room 402. The card key buzzed, the light turned green. She pushed the door open. There he was. Shin Ji-Hoon. Her husband. Naked. Sweaty. On top of the woman he called his "business partner." The sheets bunched around their legs. The woman gasped, covering herself poorly. Ji-Hoon looked up, wide-eyed. Caught. But what shattered her wasn’t the betrayal. It was what he said next. "Your son made me do this. I don’t know who he is anymore. He is a monster. What else was I supposed to do?!" Her eyes twitched. Her hands trembled. The man in front of her, the father of two children is blaming their twelve year old son. The rage boiled—but it didn’t drown her this time. She reached for the bandanna tied tight around her arm. Its cool fabric grounded her. She knew. This wasn’t real. She was still in the tower. This world is her past not the present. "Nice try," she muttered, the illusion fracturing. Cracks spread across the walls of Room 402 like splintered glass. Ji-Hoon’s voice turned to static. The bed ignited, flames licking the wallpaper. And with one breath— —Mi-Sun stepped through it. [Flash back] Hyun-Tae’s Vision – The Roadside It hit him before he could speak. He was kneeling beside the twisted metal carcass of a car. Blood smeared across the windshield. "D-Dad...?" A small voice, trembling. Hyun-Tae turned slowly. His son, barely fourteen, lay sprawled in the gutter, his body folded unnaturally. One leg bent backward. Blood pooling from his mouth. The broken antique sword he’d gifted him—a ceremonial Korean geom—lay shattered beside him. "No," Hyun-Tae whispered. "No no no no no—" And then came the laughter. A cracked, senile laugh. Behind the wreck, a trembling old man with clouded eyes stood holding a cane in one hand... and a crushed phone in the other. The screen blinked "911 – Call Ended." "Little Hyun-tae, you should’ve never touched my family’s sword collection," the man spat. "Thought you could take what didn’t belong to us—" Hyun-Tae screamed, lunging. But his fists passed through the man like mist. He was stuck. Forced to relive it. The guilt, the helplessness. The justice that never came. The bastard died of old age before he could even stand trial. A senile murderer who stole a child and walked free. Hyun-Tae knelt beside his son, trembling. Then— A gentle hand touched his shoulder. Mi-Sun. "Come back. We need you," she said softly, and the scene began to dissolve. The smoke of memories cleared. And Hyun-Tae exhaled, the tears still falling. [Flash back] Ye-Jun’s Vision – The Warehouse I blinked, and the tower was gone. I was sixteen again. The rusted warehouse stank of piss, metal, and blood. His jaw was swollen.Three thugs circled me. brass knuckles gleaming under the flickering overhead light. And behind them, she stood. Han Ji-A. Her uniform was torn. One eye swollen shut. Her arms hugged her waist like she was trying to disappear. Ji-A was crying behind him as three girls pinned her down. Her screams were muffled. Laughter. Nails dug into her skin. Ye-Jun felt his rage build like magma. "You came alone?" one of the thugs mocked. "You think you can take us all?" " This is not your fantasy where you could have taken all of us down." Another one chimed in, "What? You didn’t called your buddy gang bastards to help you." "Oh. Right I remember. You left them for this hoe. Hahaha". He continued "You have so many enemies my friend. You should have been more careful." " We won’t touch her." The leader of thugs spoke. " We have our morales and rules, we follow but I can’t say anything about those highschool classmates of yours." He pointed at the girls behind him. My body moved on instinct. One down with a jab to the throat. Another with a knee to the ribs. The last got a knife in his thigh, and I didn’t stop there. I stomped. Again. Again. Blood splattered across my shoes. I turned to Ji-A,still cowering in a corner. I moved forward towards them, grabbing the hairs of the bully near her and yanked her away into a pillar nearby. Screams roared in my ears. The vision changes suddenly. My hand were wrapped around a red brick. I was on the top of the leader of the young woman. I felt it. The monster in me. I raised it— to end the life of the woman Beneath me. "Don’t," Ji-A whispered. But the rage had already won. The brick slipped from my fingers. No. It wasn’t real. I blinked, and Ji-A vanished. The girls vanished. I was standing in the tower again, on his knees, hands trembling. Mother knelt beside me. "You good. Son" she asked me. It seems she didn’t see it. My breath hitched. My throat ached. "...I wanted to kill them," I whispered. I said it. "But you didn’t." She smiled. "You came back." And just like that, I stood. Shaking, but standing. Ready. The centaur roared as the illusions collapsed. Its spear glowed red, veins pulsing across its obsidian skin. It kicked away debris and surged forward—but the team was awake now. Fully. Mother spun her scythe with renewed purpose. "I’m done with memories. Let’s finish this." "Boom Boom agrees!" the shotgun barked from Hyun-Tae’s grip. "Let’s turn this beast into pudding!" I wiped the blood from my chin, summoning his web strands and launching himself onto the centaur’s back again. "Round two, ugly," he growled. But something pulsed beneath the centaur’s chest. A second heart. A hidden power still sealed. And we hadn’t seen the worst of it yet.