Iljimae and Jeon Woo-chi burst out of the clinic and raced to the edge of the rooftop deck.

How had an outsider like Jeon Woo-chi managed to infiltrate a ship in the middle of the open sea?

The answer was parked neatly in a corner of the roof: a large, triangular hang glider.

The plan had been simple: approach by plane, infiltrate by hang glider, and now, escape by that same hang glider and get as far away as possible.

The prison cruise Paradise Lost was a colossal vessel with thirty decks in total—ten for the Residential Wing and twenty for the Command Decks.

The Rooftop, its highest point, towered over most city buildings. More than enough altitude to launch.

While Jeon Woo-chi strapped Silken Bodhisattva securely to his back, Iljimae prepped the glider for takeoff.

“All right, let’s get this thing ready and—”

Jeon Woo-chi’s words caught in his throat.

They were at the far end of the deck, hundreds of meters from the clinic where the chase had begun.

And yet, somehow, Jae-hee was already bearing down on them. Cradled in his arms, bridal style, was a furiously scowling Ghost.

Even with his muscles screaming in protest, even though he wasn’t at top speed, simply having his Null Cuffs off was enough. Jae-hee’s velocity shattered the limits of human capability.

Jeon Woo-chi and Iljimae stared, their mouths hanging open in unison.

“What the…”

“Wow, he’s faaast…”

Both were top-tier Awakened when it came to mobility—precisely why they’d been chosen for the Silken Bodhisattva abduction mission.

But in the short time it took to ready the glider, their pursuers had completely closed the distance.

“Isn’t he even more of a monster than they said?”

“Yeaaah, seeing it up close really packs a punch…”

At this rate, they’d be caught in seconds.

Jeon Woo-chi grabbed the glider, not yet buckled in, and gasped for breath. “No choice. We have to jump.”

“Whaaat?!”

“Go!”

“Wait, hold on—”

With the unconscious Silken Bodhisattva on his back and one hand on the terrified Iljimae and the glider, Jeon Woo-chi used Blink.

All three of them shifted ten meters forward.

Straight into the empty air.

“…?!”

“Again!”

He used Blink a second time.

FLASH!

They reappeared in midair, a good distance from the cruise ship’s rooftop.

Blinking consecutively was already a strain, but teleporting multiple people at once put a tremendous burden on Jeon Woo-chi.

Wiping a sudden nosebleed with the back of his hand, he yelled, “Now, Iljimae! Give us a push!”

“Stop using me as a rockeeeet!” she shrieked.

FWOOSH!

A white circle of energy condensed behind Iljimae’s back and blasted out a wave of propulsion.

The hang glider wobbled into the air. With Jeon Woo-chi on the right and Iljimae on the left, the lopsided thrust made for a precarious start, but the glider soon caught the wind and soared into the sky.

A moment later, Jae-hee carried Ghost to the edge of the deck.

“God damn it…!”

She leaped from his arms, clicked her tongue in frustration, and stood at the railing, glaring at the receding glider.

They had lost them, right when they were within reach. And neither she nor Jae-hee could fly.

To have them get away right in front of my eyes…

Just as Ghost was grinding her teeth, the commander’s voice crackled over the comms.

«Jump!»

The order was utterly absurd.

“What?”

«I’ve got a ride for you! Trust me and jump!»

Ghost and Jae-hee glanced down at the vast, dark sea below. Even under the full moon, the water was an inky, churning black.

“Are you insane? Jump into that black water with nothing to see?”

«Ghost!»

“Damn it, fine! Going!” Sucking in a breath, Ghost gestured toward the abyss. “Let’s go.”

Jae-hee shook his head frantically. “Master? I’m a little scared.”

“I’m more scared of how pissed I’ll be if we let those bastards get away!”

Ghost took a running start and vaulted over the railing. Jae-hee squeezed his eyes shut and leaped after her.

For a moment they hung in the air, then began their parabolic descent.

As the black sea rushed up to meet them, Ghost screamed, “Oi! Hae-eun Seo! What the hell do you mean you have a—!”

SPLASH!

The two of them hit the water and vanished into a cloud of foam.

The churning surface of the sea grew unnaturally calm.

Then, a moment later… WHOOSH!

Three figures erupted from the water in a tremendous spray.

Ghost. Jae-hee.

And clutching them both, a Black man with muscles like chiseled stone—none other than Cashier, the owner of the 9th Deck supermarket.

“Cashier?!” Jae-hee, spitting out saltwater, was floored by the familiar face. “What’re you doing here?!”

“I am your aquatic transport! When the commander put out an emergency call, I was the only one who could get here right away.”

Cashier flashed a broad grin, his distinctive cleft chin prominent, and gave them a long-lashed wink.

“You see, I’ve actually got the blood of a mermaid in me!”

Sure enough, Cashier’s lower half had transformed into the tail of a great blue fish.

He was a merman, straight out of a fairy tale.

A-Rank Awakened, Cashier. Ability: Therianthropy. Type: Orca.

Flexing his sculpted upper body, Cashier let out a throaty laugh. “My original callsign… was ‘Mermaid Princess.’ What do you think?”

“L-let’s just get going, Cashier! Full speed, please!” Jae-hee said, desperately changing the subject.

Cashier assumed a prone position in the water, and Ghost and Jae-hee clambered precariously onto his broad back.

“All right then… here we go!”

VROOOOM!

The tip of his mermaid tail vibrated so fast it hummed like a motor.

In an instant, Cashier shot forward, slicing through the waves at terrifying speed.

Jae-hee yelped and threw his arms over his face to shield himself from the wind and spray.

Ghost silently pulled a cord from her pocket and tied back her wet hair.

“Looks like you were right, Master! We really are going to master hijacking on land, sea, and air! All in a row!”

“When it rains, it pours…!” Ghost grumbled, then shouted to Cashier. “Can you see them?”

“It’s a full moon tonight! The light’s practically blinding. Thanks to that, I can see them flying up there, clear as day.”

To be honest, it all looked pitch-black to Jae-hee.

But for Cashier, who had spent a long time at sea, the difference was apparently stark.

Jae-hee followed Cashier’s gaze and saw he was right. The silhouette of the hang glider was visible against the night sky, not far off.

“That glider’s posture is a mess, and the wind is unstable tonight,” Cashier continued. “I doubt they plan on using it for the whole escape.”

“Then where…?”

“They must have another ride stashed somewhere nearby where they can make landfall!”

Cashier jutted his chin toward the glider’s flight path. Jae-hee’s eyes widened, and Ghost’s narrowed.

There, floating on the waves, was the Milton, one of the two escort ships that always followed Paradise Lost.

“They hid another escape vehicle on the escort ship.”

“The glider’s intentionally losing altitude. I’d say that’s a safe bet!”

Hae-eun’s voice came over the comms.

«I’ve tried hailing the Milton, but there’s no response! Those fuckers must have done something to it!»

Ghost clicked her tongue. “Looks like we have to stop them there, no matter what.”

“I’ll pick up the pace! Hold on tight!” Cashier cried out.

Jae-hee looked around in a panic. Hold on to what?

Cashier’s shoulders were the least awkward option, but they were moving violently as he swam.

In the end, Jae-hee grabbed onto the vast shelf of muscle on either side of Cashier’s spine—his lats.

As the boy hesitantly took hold, Cashier winked. “Good choice, Boy.”

“…”

He wanted off the S.S. Mermaid Princess, and he wanted off now.

VROOOOM!

Accelerating even further, Cashier tore through the waves. The three convicts closed the distance to the escort ship Milton in no time.

Ahead of them, the hang glider was rapidly descending toward the ship.

***

Jeon Woo-chi and Iljimae dropped onto the deck with a thud, abandoning the hang glider to the wind.

The deck of the Milton was silent. Even at this late hour, a military vessel should have had soldiers on watch, but not a single one was in sight.

No—on closer inspection, there were people.

They were lying passed out in a thin mist that clung to the deck, all of them in an unnatural sleep.

“…You’re later than planned.”

An elderly woman stood waiting for them in the center of the deck.

She was small in stature, dressed elegantly in a black hanbok, and wore a traditional Halmi mask.

As he approached her, Jeon Woo-chi untied Silken Bodhisattva from his back and gently laid her on the deck.

“Sorry, sorry, Sister Jin-yi. We ran into some trouble.”

“And you brought a tail.”

“Hey, I said I was sorry!” Jeon Woo-chi grumbled, glancing behind him. “How was I supposed to know they’d be so damn persistent?”

With the roar of a motor, a spray of water shot up, and the three pursuers landed on the deck of the Milton.

Ghost, Jae-hee, and Cashier.

“You raise hell on the main ship, and now you’ve messed with an escort vessel.” 

Ghost landed lightly on the deck. A murderous grin spread across her face as she growled, “You Villains have some serious goddamn nerve.”

“Funny, being called a Villain by a convict.” A smirk twisted one side of Jeon Woo-chi’s mouth. “Aren’t we all the same, when you get down to it? Get caught, you’re a prisoner. Get out, you’re a Villain. The wheel just keeps on turning.”

“And that’s why we’re here. To catch you, make you prisoners, and educate you personally back on that ship.”

“Sorry, but we much prefer living freely on the outside.”

Jeon Woo-chi adjusted the Choraeng mask on his face and gestured with his chin.

“Your ship is pretty, I’ll give you that. But no matter how nice a prison is, can it ever beat the air of the outside world?”

For some reason, Jae-hee found himself nodding in agreement before a sharp glare from Ghost made him stop abruptly.

“A three-on-three tag team match, is it?”

Ghost’s eyes swept over the Villains of the Crimson Poverty Front, and she nodded. “Well, this isn’t so bad.”

The Black Parade—Ghost, Boy, Cashier.

vs.

The Crimson Poverty Front—Iljimae, Jeon Woo-chi, Hwang Jin-yi.

A battle was inevitable.

The Villains and the convicts prepared for a fight.

She hadn’t been able to grab her usual weapon, the black sword Void Trinity. Instead, Ghost kicked a steel pipe lying on the deck, caught it in midair, and gripped it like a blade.

Leveling it at them, she spat, “I’ll thrash the lot of you shits.”

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