“It’s our fault, it’s our fault! We should never have left the youngest alone. While Hyde and I were talking, someone broke into Hyde’s mansion and took him away. The courtyard was in chaos! The kid must have fought back so hard that the whole place turned upside down!”Mother Ship burst into sobs, her voice shaking with rage and grief. After finishing a long talk with Hyde and returning to the mansion, they had witnessed a sight that was almost impossible to believe. The mansion’s sliding doors were ripped apart and dangling in shreds. The ground was gouged out, leaving only a crater where something once stood, unrecognizable now. Blood was splattered across the courtyard like marks of defiance, and furniture throughout the house was shattered beyond repair.—So call Jekyll Jack, you idiot…. We have to chase down whoever took Uichan, right now.“W-where did they go? Where?! I’ll go! I’ll go myself!”—You fool! …No, fine. There’s no time. Get out of there and meet up with us. We’re heading for Namsan, so move!“O-okay. I’ll be there fast, I swear…. U… Uichan….”Ji Woojae burst into tears, rubbing his eyes roughly with his arm. He released the bird and dashed straight out the door. Without thinking, he shoved his feet into his shoes and ran.The midday streets were crowded with people. Every passerby turned to stare at Ji Woojae, who towered over them like a mountain.“Whoa, that guy’s as tall as Namsan.”Normally, he would’ve jumped like a startled rabbit at their reactions, but right now, his insides were burning black.Our Uichan… Uichan.Ji Woojae swallowed his tears with a face twisted in misery. He had always thought his own Ability was a curse. Ever since he awakened it, there hadn’t been a single good day in his life.He had awakened at the age of five, gaining an enhancement-type Ability, but his father despised his power more than anyone.—Because of this bastard, everything got ruined! Why did something like you have to be born?! You miserable little freak, you ruined my whole life—!“D-Dad… huhuh… stop breaking stuff! Dad! We don’t have any money!”—That damn bear bastard’s the problem! Knocked me up and ran off, that son of a bitch! I’ll rip his eyes out if I ever see him again!His father was a drunk and a thug who flew into rages and beat people for no reason. On the surface, he looked almost elegant — pale face like it was dusted with white powder, long thin limbs, flashy clothes.Ji Woojae never knew how old his father truly was. It wasn’t because he was too young to understand.His father had been a Dongti — a cursed being — born from a cracked bronze bowl in midwinter. He wore a human’s skin, but inside, he was just a blackened lump of bronze; when he bled, the blood ran rusty. He was hundreds of years old, so old even he couldn’t count it anymore.And yet, that father was the one who had given birth to Ji Woojae himself. Yes — given birth.He had carried Ji Woojae in a man’s body, endured labor alone, and brought him into the world. He had wanted a child just like himself, but Ji Woojae resembled the man who had abandoned him — to a painful degree.—The booze’s gone. What are you doing, huh? Go buy me some. Go get booze—!—Dad, we don’t have money. I don’t want you drinking. Don’t do this… There’re people outside! Scary people will come and scold you!After awakening, Ji Woojae was banned from attending kindergarten. Under government supervision, he and his father were moved to a secured facility and lived together there. But his father loathed that prison-like life. In the end, overwhelmed by disgust, he waited for a night when no guards had hands free and fled, dragging Ji Woojae along by the hand.At that time, Ji Woojae was only ten years old. Watching his father leading him out, gripping his hand tightly, he thought:‘S-still, Dad didn’t abandon me. Even if he hates me, I’m still his kid, right?’Since all he had ever heard since birth was his father’s rough dialect, the same coarse tone clung to Ji Woojae’s tongue. To that child, his father was the whole world, and he felt a sad kind of gratitude that the man hadn’t thrown him away.But the place his father led him to was a basement so thick with cigarette smoke that he could hardly see. Around a small table sat men shouting viciously at each other.It took Ji Woojae a full month to understand where he was. It was an illegal gambling den.“Uh… what’s that?”Snapped out of his memories, Ji Woojae realized people ahead of him had stopped walking. He blinked, startled, and his own legs stopped without thinking. He lifted his head to see what everyone was staring at.“A black cloud…?”The crowd murmured, uneasy, watching the dark mist rolling over the city.“W-what is that….”By the time anyone could guess, it was too late. The black mist swallowed the city center, and explosions burst from within along with blinding flashes. Flames rose sky-high, and screams spread through the streets.Cars blared their horns without pause as the crowd broke apart in panic.“It’s a terror attack! Villains! Take cover!”“Get back! Don’t come this way!”“Ahhh! Move, move!!”In an instant, the downtown area became a sea of fire. Ji Woojae stood frozen amid the tide of people surging backward, eyes wide and bloodshot. Something heavy had caught in his vision.It was a massive sphere — a lump of stone and earth being dragged through the flames. Ji Woojae couldn’t take his eyes off it. His heart pounded so hard it felt like it would leap out of his chest.Someone’s voice slipped into his mind, whispering — begging to be saved.Inside that mass of earth… there was someone he knew. And now, that unknown voice was calling his name. A chill like ice water washed over him, freezing his entire body stiff.If… if Uichan is in there. If he’s calling me for help…“…No… No!”Ji Woojae turned pale as a sheet and ran. Just like long ago, the day he threw himself into the flames to save his father.***A terror attack broke out in Euljiro’s city center.People panicked and fled like sheep, trying to escape the inferno. Meanwhile, heroes and rescue teams poured toward Euljiro without hesitation. But the attacks weren’t limited to Euljiro alone.Explosions went off next in Hapjeong Station and Gangnam. The heroes split into units and rushed to each high-risk zone. Among them, the one assigned to the first site — Euljiro — was Blacktan.From afar, Mother Ship, who had planted puppets all across the city, watched the movements of the heroes swarming in like hornets. The moment she spotted Ji Woojae rampaging in Euljiro, she immediately reported to Hyde.—Hyde! Hyde! Euljiro! Terror! Squawk! Terror! Ji Woojae! Screech! Goblin terror!The bird shrieked like a barking dog. Unable to leave her current base, Mother Ship stayed restless aboard her vessel, the “Ark,” issuing rapid orders through her puppet network. With dozens of linked visions in her mind, she couldn’t predict when or where the next disaster would erupt.So, to avoid provoking Hyde’s wrath while still alerting him, she sent a short, direct command.Hyde’s gaze followed the bird perched on his finger, then drifted downward to the streets below. Among the swarming masses like ants, he calmly tracked each hero one by one.—Hyde! Squawk! Sphere! Dirt! Ji Woojae! Looks like the youngest! Looks like the youngest!“…Tell them I’m coming.”Hyde flicked his eyes up and released the clumsy little bird into the air. It flapped away frantically, terrified of what might happen if it lingered another second — a feeling not unlike Mother Ship’s own.Once Hyde was out of her shared sight, Mother Ship exhaled shakily, pressing a hand to her chest. When she had returned to the mansion earlier, she had nearly fainted at the scene — the torn ground, the shredded °• N 𝑜 v 𝑒 l i g h t •° doors, the wrecked furniture.There hadn’t been a trace of life inside the desolate mansion, so she had flown through it in her bird form, wings flapping wildly. But what terrified her even more than the emptiness was the sight of Hyde standing motionless, staring down into the hollow crater.The siblings had survived countless crises together to reach this point. In the Hell had begun with Hyde and Uichan. Because of them, Mother Ship had found a family as the third sibling.After her came Phantom Thief Kill, and the last to join was the dual-personality Jekyll Jack.Mother Ship called the years they’d spent together “their shared age.” Barely five years in total, but she had stayed closest to Hyde and Uichan, had watched them more intimately than anyone — and she knew better than anyone else what this meant.For the first time ever, Hyde, who had never once raised his voice in anger, was trembling with a fury so sharp it made her neck prickle.Linked through her puppet’s mind, Mother Ship could feel the suffocating storm of rage and self-hatred inside him. She couldn’t go near him. The air around him was crushing, like it would flatten her if she got too close. His uncontrolled Ability leaked out, tearing and exploding everything nearby.He said nothing as he looked over the crater, the scattered footprints on the wooden floor, and the ruined rooms. But when his eyes fell on the shredded window, a crack finally appeared on his expressionless face.At that same moment, red veins burst across his pale gray eyes, and the mansion twisted and folded in on itself with a violent crunch. It was as if an invisible hand had grabbed the entire building and crushed it. Only when nothing at all remained did Hyde finally turn away.In his blood-stained hand, he still held the candlestick that Uichan had clutched until the very end.“…I’ve changed my mind. Summon the siblings.”

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