Airen hauled the scorched metal door free of its frame. It crashed to the floor with a deafening clang, echoing like a death knell through the corridor beyond.
What lay past it wasn't a hallway—it was a grave.
Cells lined both sides, most empty but soaked in blood. The floor was sticky with it, the metallic scent thick enough to choke on. Chains clinked faintly, swaying from the ceiling. Rusted clamps, saws, drills, and broken syringes lay scattered about—remnants of pain carved into the walls.
So this is where they dragged me, Airen thought. A nest for rats who play god with the weak.
The sisters followed behind, trembling. Min-ji's voice cracked through the silence.
"H-how can someone do this…?"
Her knees buckled; she turned and vomited. Seo-yeon quickly covered her own mouth, eyes wide and wet with horror.
Airen didn't react. His expression didn't shift an inch.
He'd seen worse. Torture was only one of humanity's many hobbies.
In his eyes, this was just evidence of what people became when they thought no one was watching.
He kept walking, steps calm, boots splashing through dried crimson. The sisters stayed close, clutching each other as if that could ward off the smell of death.
At the end of the hall, a narrow staircase spiraled upward. Airen climbed without pause. His body didn't tire, but his mind sharpened—alert, scanning ahead.
If they brought me here, there's more above. And whatever's waiting up there… will explain why I'm still alive.
The stairwell opened into a lab.
It wasn't large, but it pulsed with activity.
Dozens of people moved in silence, each wearing pale lab coats and sealed respirator masks. Glass tubing crisscrossed the benches. Machines hummed, screens blinked, and faint, golden mist drifted across the air. It smelled sterile—yet chemical, sharp enough to sting the eyes.
Min-ji whispered, "Wh-what is this place…?"
Airen's gaze swept the room. His enhanced sight cut through the haze; he could see every detail clearly. Beakers shimmered with faint liquid light, vials labeled with alphanumeric codes, and along the wall—racks of white protective suits, neatly arranged.
He tilted his head slightly. "Put those on," he murmured.
Both sisters nodded quickly, donning the suits and masks.
They blended in—three more ghosts in a room full of monsters.
Seo-yeon's hand caught his arm. Her voice was barely a whisper.
"You're the first Awakener, right? You can't just walk past this. Look at them… they're doing something wrong. You should stop them."
Airen blinked once.
Her words echoed in his mind, quiet but heavy.
Right… I almost forgot the role I'm supposed to play. The 'hero.' The one who saves people.
He exhaled faintly through his nose. Tch. Acting righteous never feels natural.
He moved forward and stopped behind a man carefully stirring a beaker filled with amber liquid. "What are you making?" he asked, voice calm but deliberate.
The scientist didn't look up at first. "You new?" His tone was casual, detached. "This batch is Nightfall Serum—along with some recreational derivatives. Pretty stuff."
Airen's eyes narrowed. "Nightfall Serum, huh? What does it do?"
"In small doses?" The man chuckled softly. "Just sleep. Ten milliliters is risky. Fifty…" He smirked, "Let's just say no one wakes up from that nap."
Airen's jaw twitched.
So that bastard downstairs used an entire bottle on me.
His fingers curled slowly.
I should've made him suffer longer before knocking him out.
Without a word, Airen lifted the beaker from the man's hand. For an instant, the scientist smiled in confusion—then Airen smashed it against the counter.
The shattering glass echoed through the lab.
Liquid splattered across the floor.
Gas hissed.
The man screamed, stumbling backward.
Dozens of masked faces turned at once.
Before they could move, Airen's aura flared—a flicker of raw pressure that swept through the room.
Then he moved.
To the scientists, it was instant.
A blur of motion.
One heartbeat, and ten of them hit the floor—unconscious, not even knowing what struck them. Airen stood amid the fallen, barely breathing harder than before.
He left one man conscious.
The gas still hung in the air—thick, almost opaque—but Airen extended his hand. A mini cyclone of wind spun in his palm, a perfect spiral. It grew, pulling in every trace of vapor like a hungry vortex.
When the air cleared, the room's true nature emerged.
Rows of tables stacked with glassware and tools.
Shelves packed with vials labeled Batch 7 – Nightfall Serum.
A whiteboard scrawled with chemical equations and delivery coordinates.
Monitors displaying live data feeds—and worse—videos of test subjects thrashing under restraints.
Airen's gaze swept across it all, his eyes cold.
They're not scientists… they're butchers in lab coats.
The only man still working hadn't noticed the massacre. He muttered softly to himself, filling another vial with precision.
Airen's footsteps were silent as he approached from behind.
He spoke in a calm, low voice that cut through the humming machines.
"Looks like you really love your job."
The scientist froze for a second, then turned his head slightly, a crooked grin spreading across his face. His voice dripped with twisted joy.
"Yes. I love it. The drug I make ruins lives. It takes away what people cherish. Watching that destruction unfold…" His grin widened. "It makes me happy."
Before Airen could even respond, a trembling voice cut through the tension.
Seo-yeon stepped forward, her hands shaking. "How can something like that make someone happy?"
The scientist froze. His head turned slowly toward her. That's when he finally saw—every one of his colleagues lay sprawled across the floor, unconscious. Only he remained breathing.
His pupils shrank. "Wh-what—"
Airen's hand shot out, clamping down on the man's shoulder. The grip was deceptively gentle—until bone shifted.
CRACK.
The scientist's scream tore through the sterile air as his knees hit the floor. His arm hung limp, twisted at an ugly angle.
Both sisters flinched.
"You deserve it," Min-ji muttered, her voice breaking.
Airen didn't even glance their way. His tone stayed even—flat and cold. "Where are we?"
The man wheezed between pained breaths, lips curling into a trembling smirk. "C-can't you see? We're in a lab, man…"
Airen's jaw tightened. Still joking?
He reached out again—this time for the man's hand.
There was no warning, no build-up.
Snap.
The index finger bent the wrong way.
The scientist screamed, jerking backward. Airen didn't stop.
Snap.
The middle finger.
Snap.
The ring.
Snap.
The pinky.
Snap.
The thumb.
Each sound cracked like breaking twigs, echoing off the steel walls. Sweat poured down the scientist's face; tears mixed with the blood dripping from his hand.
Airen raised his other hand toward the man's remaining arm. His voice was quiet. "If you don't want to lose this one too…"
"I-I'll answer! I'll answer!" the man howled, words tripping over pain.
Behind them, Seo-yeon and Min-ji stood frozen. Their eyes were wide, hands trembling at their sides.
"Stop," Seo-yeon whispered first.
Then louder, pleading, "Stop! He'll talk!"
Airen turned his head slightly, meeting their gaze.
For a second, something flickered in his eyes—not pity, not guilt, but thought.
They don't get it.
They don't understand what this man would've done to them if I wasn't here… if we were the ones in the weaker position.
But he said nothing. He simply loosened his grip and let the man collapse to the floor, clutching his shattered hand.
Airen crouched down to his level, voice low, unyielding. "Now… where are we?"
The scientist looked up, trembling, his face pale as paper. Blood pooled beneath his knees.
"I'll tell you," he gasped. "I'll tell you everything…"
Airen's eyes narrowed. "Good. Because if you lie—" he cracked his knuckles slowly "—I'll know."
The lab went silent except for the faint hum of machines and the shallow rasp of the man's breath.