New Gangnam Square throbbed with life, like the city's heart that never ceased beating. Thousands of feet struck the granite pavement, massive advertising screens splashed garish colors across weary faces, and blaring music merged with the roar of traffic. In the midst of this noise stood two people from completely different worlds, watching the same scene.
Kang Jin-woo stood at the edge of the upper level of a towering billboard structure, his body swaying with the wind like a crow's feather. The security cameras scattered across the corners captured nothing more than brief "static" whenever his silhouette passed through their field of view, thanks to the skill [Ashen Veil]. Before his eyes, system screens danced wildly, comments flooding in like a raging river.
[Live Spectator Window]
"Look at those human ants… they don't even sense the predator above their heads!""That investigator down there! He looks completely lost. How pitiful."
Active Quest:Symphony of Randomness (Phase One)Objective: Destroy public order without directly touching a single victim.Reward: Unlock skill [Mass Sensory Manipulation].
On the other side, deep within the crowd, Investigator Lee Do-hyun felt suffocated. His wrinkled coat clung to his back, soaked with cold sweat. He no longer had a badge to protect him, nor a radio to connect him to backup. In the eyes of the law, he was just a "madman" chasing a ghost.
"He's here… I can feel it. A strange chill cutting through the summer heat," Do-hyun murmured to himself as he wiped his exhausted face. He clutched his phone, still receiving data from the mysterious "unknown" contact."If I were him… where would I start? Randomness is his weapon, but arrogance is his weakness."
The Curtain Rises
Suddenly, the lights in the square changed—not the streetlights, but the giant advertising screens. Instead of perfumes and luxury cars, a pitch-black screen appeared, with a glowing purple countdown at its center.
[10… 9… 8…]
People stopped walking. Heads lifted toward the sky. An eerie silence fell, as if the entire city had collectively held its breath.
"What's going on? Is this a hack?" a passerby shouted.
Jin-woo seized the moment. He didn't descend to kill—he activated [Mass Sensory Manipulation].
In an instant, everyone in the square began to see the person beside them as their most hated enemy.
An old man saw in the young man before him the thief who had robbed his home years ago. A woman saw in her husband the face of someone who had betrayed her. Whispers turned into screams, screams into violent shoving.
"Stop! This isn't real!" Do-hyun yelled as he tried to separate two men who had started punching each other. But his voice was swallowed by the rising chaos.
Jin-woo watched coldly. To him, people were nothing more than puppets in a theatrical performance. He didn't need to spill a single drop of blood with his own hands—humans were doing the work for him.
The Struggle at the Eye of the Storm
Amid the violent crush, Do-hyun noticed something strange.
There was a void moving through the crowd—a circular gap no one approached, as if people were unconsciously veering away from it.
"There!" Do-hyun shouted internally.
He ran against the current, colliding with shoulders, taking blows, his eyes locked onto that empty space. He knew Jin-woo was using a skill that made him visually invisible, but he couldn't completely erase the physicality of his presence.
As Do-hyun neared the void, he felt a sudden pressure in the air. Then everything froze. The screams became distant. Colors faded.
Jin-woo appeared directly in front of him.
He was no longer transparent but fully manifested, wearing a long black coat. His purple eyes glowed with a light that didn't belong to this world. In his hand, he casually flipped a small knife between his fingers.
"You've gotten faster, Do-hyun," Jin-woo said calmly, as if his composure itself were the height of madness."Without your badge, you look… more honest."
"Why?" Do-hyun asked, panting, his hand slowly moving toward the illegal weapon hidden beneath his coat."All this chaos… all these innocent people… what are you trying to prove?"
Jin-woo laughed—a dry, emotionless laugh.
"I'm not proving anything. I'm simply answering the audience's requests. They love watching 'order' collapse. Look around you… do you see law here? Do you see justice?"
He gestured toward the crowds as police began trying to regain control with tear gas and batons—only making things worse.
"You created this hell," Do-hyun said firmly."But you forgot one thing… hell is where I'm most comfortable."
With lightning speed, Do-hyun drew his weapon and fired.
The bullet didn't pierce Jin-woo's body—it passed straight through him, as if he were made of smoke.
[Activated: Abyss Slip!]
Jin-woo vanished and reappeared behind Do-hyun, pressing the cold blade against the investigator's neck.
"Don't rush your ending. If the hero dies now, the show ends… and the spectators paid a lot to see the next chapter."
The Turning Point
At that moment, the ground beneath them shook.
A massive explosion rocked the square—but it wasn't Jin-woo's doing.
A special police unit, the Digital Counter-Terrorism Division, had arrived and disabled all frequencies in the area, causing interference with the System's energy that Jin-woo relied on.
Jin-woo groaned and clutched his head. The system screens flickered red, emitting harsh static.
[Warning! External Interference Detected!][System Rebooting…][Skills Disabled Temporarily: 30 Seconds]
Jin-woo's eyes widened. For the first time since returning from death, he felt weak.
Do-hyun, seasoned by years of experience, sensed the hesitation instantly. He didn't wait. He twisted free with a sharp elbow strike, slammed Jin-woo to the ground, and pressed down.
The two clashed in brutal hand-to-hand combat amid tear gas. No magic skills—just fist against fist. The investigator's rage against the killer's cold detachment.
"Now… you're just a failed human again!" Do-hyun shouted as he pinned Jin-woo, trying to restrain his hands.
Despite the pain, Jin-woo began to laugh.
"Humans… they always think they've won once they touch the body.They forget that the soul… has already been sold."
The countdown on the massive screens reached zero.
[0… 0… 0…]
Shocking Finale
A blinding white light erupted from Jin-woo's body, blasting Do-hyun backward several meters.
When Do-hyun regained his vision, Jin-woo was gone.
All that remained was a message carved into the pavement where the killer had been pinned:
"An investigator who works outside the law… becomes the next crime."
Do-hyun looked up to find himself surrounded by armed police officers, weapons trained on him. To them, he was the armed man who had caused chaos in the square—while the "ghost" had vanished without a trace.
[Side Quest Complete: Stain the Hunter's Reputation][Spectator Satisfaction: 95%][Reward Acquired: Skill 'Shadow Substitution']