Read Novel Full Chapter 1697: You are... The Monster: Part-2
Chapter 1697: You are… The Monster: Part-2
Chucckk!
“ARRRGHHHH!!!”
The old man’s scream echoed throughout the shop.
Before the transmission could even complete, his cybernetic eye was violently ripped from its socket. Flesh tore apart alongside tangled wires and synthetic nerves that had long ago fused with his body.
Ssucckkk!
Blood splashed across the broken counter as the metallic sphere dangled from several severed connections before finally being torn free completely.
Young Aether stood there holding the cybernetic eye between two fingers.
“Pretty cool,” he commented casually.
He rotated the bloodstained sphere in his hand, examining the intricate machinery hidden beneath the crimson stains before rolling it across his fingers like a marble.
The sight only made the old man’s expression twist further as he clutched his ruined eye socket and struggled to suppress another scream.
“I told you not to make things difficult for me,” Young Aether said with a strangely sympathetic tone.
“Now give me the freaking ID.”
“F-Fuck you!”
The old man roared as rage overwhelmed his fear. Raising the weapon with trembling hands, he immediately pulled the trigger.
BOOM!
BOOM!
BOOM!
Several blue energy beams exploded from the muzzle and tore through the shop. Walls shattered. Shelves exploded into fragments.
Yet not a single shot struck Young Aether.
The young man moved with unnatural ease, his body weaving through the attacks as though he already knew where every shot would land. Before the old man could even process what had happened, Young Aether had already crossed the distance between them and seized one of his mechanical arms.
“I told you that we could have parted ways without bloodshed,” Young Aether said calmly.
“Instead, you chose the difficult option. Honestly, old man, you’re making this far more troublesome than it needs to be.”
A faint smirk appeared on his face, gripped his fist on the mechanical arms.
“Now look where that got you.”
The next moment, he pulled.
“ARRRHHHHHHHH!!!”
The old man’s scream became almost inhuman.
Blood erupted into the air as the mechanical arm was ripped directly from his body. Metal supports, artificial nerves, and biological tissue were all violently torn apart at once.
The sound of snapping cables mixed with the sound of tearing flesh as the detached limb crashed onto the floor.
The old man’s body collapsed to his knees.
His breathing became ragged as pain overwhelmed every other sensation. Blood flowed from the ruined shoulder while pieces of damaged cybernetics sparked intermittently.
Around him, the remains of the counter lay shattered across the floor alongside broken merchandise and fragments of glass.
“Haa… ahh…”
His remaining eye struggled to focus.
“I… I won’t tell anyone…” he pleaded desperately. “Please… just let me go. I swear I won’t tell anyone.”
Young Aether looked down at him silently.
For a brief moment, the old man thought he might have reached him.
Then Young Aether slowly shook his head.
“You know, and I know that’s not true,” he replied.
A grin spread across his face. “We both know exactly how this ends.”
Before the old man could react, Young Aether stepped forward and wrapped an arm around his neck.
!!!
The old man’s remaining eye widened in terror.
Young Aether tightened his neck lock hold.
The old man struggled desperately, his legs kicking furiously against the floor while his amputated arms thrashed uselessly through the air.
Despite every ounce of strength he could muster, he couldn’t reach Young Aether. Other than splashing blood across the young man’s face, his desperate resistance accomplished nothing, yet Young Aether never loosened his grip nor showed any intention of letting go.
His breathing rapidly became uneven.
Every attempt to inhale brought less air than before.
His vision started blurring.
His body grew weaker.
Despite the desperate struggle, Young Aether never loosened his grip.
As the old man’s movements became increasingly frantic, one of his kicks struck the damaged counter beside him.
Thud!
A photo frame slid from the edge and fell onto the floor.
The cracked glass reflected the overhead lights as it landed face upward.
The old man’s gaze drifted toward it instinctively.
Inside the photograph stood three people.
The three of them stood close together, their faces filled with warmth and happiness from a life that no longer existed.
Drip…
A tear slowly rolled down his cheek.
His lips trembled as he stared at the image.
“Y-You…”
The word barely escaped his throat.
His remaining eye remained fixed upon the photograph as though he were desperately trying to hold onto that final memory.
“Hmm… a-are… the … arr… M-Mons…ter….”
The sounds gradually weakened.
His struggle slowed.
The strength left his body.
His legs stopped kicking.
His amputated limb fell down.
The light within his remaining eye slowly faded as his final breath escaped his lips, and moments later, his body became completely still while his gaze remained fixed upon the photograph of the family he would never see again.
Young Aether silently watched the last traces of life leave the old man’s eye before slowly loosening his hold.
Crack!
Without the slightest hesitation, he twisted the old man’s neck to ensure there would be no possibility of survival.
The lifeless body collapsed onto the bloodstained floor with a dull thud, joining the growing pool of crimson spreading beneath the shattered remains of the counter.
*I am…*
Young Aether mumbled, stood there for a moment, his face stained with blood, yet his expression remained completely unchanged.
He didn’t spare a second glance toward the corpse lying at his feet. Instead, his attention shifted toward the task that had brought him here in the first place.
Walking behind the ruined counter, he searched through the drawers until he found the Gold ID Card resting exactly where it had been prepared. Picking it up between his fingers, he carefully examined its metallic surface and the barcode within it.
After confirming everything was correct, he gave a small nod of acknowledgement before storing it away. He then retrieved his Origin Card and began collecting anything else that seemed useful.
The energy weapon was taken first.
After that came spare batteries, portable tools, emergency supplies, encrypted storage drives, communication devices, and every valuable item that could potentially help him in the future.
It’s a pawn shop after all!
Since there was nobody left alive to object, Young Aether systematically emptied the pawn shop of anything worth taking.
Several minutes later, after gathering everything of value, his gaze landed upon the fallen photo frame.
For the first time since killing the old man, he paused.
The photograph lay among broken glass and bloodstains. Slowly bending down, he picked it up and stared at the image contained within the frame. His blood-covered fingers brushed across the cracked surface, smearing red streaks over the smiling faces preserved inside the photograph.
A husband.
A wife.
A child.
A family frozen within a happier moment.
Young Aether quietly observed the image.
Honestly, he felt nothing.
There was no guilt weighing on his conscience.
No hesitation regarding what he had done.
No regret for taking the old man’s life.
Even now, while staring directly at the photograph of the man’s family, he couldn’t forcibly summon a single trace of pity.
It didn’t matter whether they were alive or dead.
It didn’t matter what kind of people they had been.
The image simply failed to provoke any emotion within him.
After several silent seconds, he let out a quiet sigh.
Then he carefully placed the photo frame on top of the old man’s body, positioning it over his chest as though returning the final memory to its owner.
With nothing left to do, Young Aether turned away from the corpse, washed himself and walked toward the entrance.
Before leaving completely, he reached up and flipped the sign hanging from the door until the word CLOSED faced outward toward the empty alley.
Since people rarely visited the pawn shop and the building sat hidden deep within a narrow alley far from the city’s crowded streets, it would probably take days before anyone discovered the old man’s body.
By then, Young Aether would already be long gone from the city. Although he could have easily destroyed the entire shop and buried the evidence beneath rubble and fire, such an action would inevitably draw attention from the surrounding buildings.
Creating unnecessary noise and attracting investigators offered him no benefit, so he chose the simpler option and walked away.
Click!
The door clicked shut behind him.
Inside the pawn shop, the old man’s body remained motionless within a widening pool of blood. Broken shelves, shattered electronics, and scorched walls stood as silent witnesses to what had happened there.
***
Young Aether walked through the crowded streets, the wide brim of his hat casting a shadow that completely concealed his face. Around him, conversations flowed endlessly as countless people discussed yesterday’s incident with fear and disbelief.
Above the streets, giant holographic screens illuminated entire buildings with emergency broadcasts and news reports. The footage of the massacre played repeatedly, though large portions had been blurred, likely to spare the public from witnessing the full horror.
Citizens stood frozen beneath the screens, some whispering nervously while others stared in stunned silence.
Just like everyone else, Young Aether raised his head and watched the footage with visible awe and horror. His eyes widened slightly beneath the shadow of his hat, perfectly playing the role of another frightened citizen disturbed by the nightmare that had unfolded.
Inwardly, however,
‘Hey, Log. I’m pretty sure my Umbra side should have filled by now. The amount of killing alone should have been enough, right? Yet… why has it barely increased at all?’
!~Ding~!
[Notice: Umbra Domain requires souls that possess deep hatred toward the user. During the previous incident, the majority of souls experienced terror, despair, and fear rather than genuine hatred. As a result, each soul failed to meet the required threshold necessary to significantly increase the Umbra Domain, but the accumulated hatred souls were enough to raise one.]
Young Aether blinked slowly as he processed the explanation.
It made sense.
Fear and hatred were not the same thing.
‘*Tsk… if I had known that was how it worked, I would’ve made them hate me before killing them. What a waste.*’ He clicked his tongue and shook his head, yet the corners of his lips curved upward into a small smile.
‘*Well… I’ll remember that for next time~*’
[…]
Still, a faint frown appeared on his face. For some reason, the Log’s response felt strangely mechanical. The familiar conversational tone it once possessed seemed to be fading, replaced by something colder and more rigid.
After a moment, he dismissed the thought and continued walking away from the crowd.
As tempting as it was to remain here and investigate the virus further, gathering information on its nature and level of advancement, he simply didn’t have the luxury of time.
There were more important matters demanding his attention.
He needed to reach Epsilon first!
The mech-suits alone were worth studying in order to destroy them, and more importantly, Epsilon might possess the technology or knowledge necessary to help him control that Genome Beta, which continued to move despite all logic.
He still had no idea how the woman trapped inside was surviving. Three days had passed without food, water, or proper rest, yet the suit continued moving through sheer instinct and programming as though its occupant refused to die.
Waiting was an option.
He could simply observe and see whether the woman eventually collapsed.
Unfortunately, that approach carried far too much risk while offering very little reward.
Every passing hour increased the chances of unforeseen complications.
That left only one practical choice.
He had to reach Epsilon.
With that decision settled, Young Aether adjusted the brim of his hat and continued forward.
The towering city gradually faded behind him as he headed toward the border separating Beta and Delta, his footsteps carrying him closer to the next stage of his journey.
“Wait… First, I need to change that fukcing ‘Thief Occupation, ‘ ” he muttered with realized expression.