Around the time class was finishing, Jihyeon felt his phone vibrate. It was a call from the Boss.

  Knowing that a contact from him was likely bad news, Jihyeon frowned.

  Usually, when the Boss called, it was for something he couldn't handle himself. Much like the previous incident with the cult, he sought Jihyeon out like a fixer whenever a threat appeared that an ordinary criminal organization couldn't face.

  Jihyeon could have easily ignored it—he could just say he was busy and missed the call.

  However, he had recently received help from a lawyer connected to the Boss. Moreover, a strange sense of unease gripped him, so he picked up the phone.

  -“Haven't you seen the news? That son of the pyramid scheme guy is going on a rampage right now.”-

  The Boss skipped all pleasantries and cut straight to the point. Jihyeon felt a spark of surprise and quickly checked the information.

  "My god... what is this?"

  Jihyeon muttered in disbelief. According to the data he accessed, Cheol-min was currently turning the city into a literal battlefield.

  The police were putting everything they had into stopping him, but it seemed things weren't going according to plan.

  Perhaps that was inevitable. Reinforced by a tool, Cheol-min was destroying everything in his path as his madness intensified.

  Surviving a hail of bullets was already something beyond the human category. Even Jihyeon was flustered, as he hadn't expected it to reach this level.

  Since a Taser had successfully neutralized him before, Jihyeon assumed that even if he caused trouble, he could be contained. He was forced to painfully realize that his assumption had been far too naive.

  -“We don't know what's happening either. But if this keeps up, the whole city is going to hell. We know where he’s heading, but I can't even imagine what’s going to break next.”-

  The Boss’s voice through the receiver was laced with pure terror. Even those in the underworld couldn't hide their fear in a situation like this.

  "I see... Fine. I know why you called, so let's save the talk for later."

  Jihyeon knew this was no time for negotiation. He lamented the fact that many people would die if he didn't intervene.

  "I'm going to find the bastards who distributed those tools... just you wait..."

  Jihyeon gritted his teeth. But as always, making them pay was a matter for later.

  For now, he had to focus on the immediate crisis. With that thought, Jihyeon carefully vanished from public sight.

  For the police, this situation was a disaster unlike anything they had ever experienced. How could a human being exist who could throw a patrol car with one hand?

  The investigator who had been urgently dispatched only now realized that the reports they had received were true.

  They had heard reports of inexplicable incidents recently, but of course, they couldn't believe them.

  The idea that a human could manipulate fire at will, freeze objects, or tear things apart with wind was simply impossible.

  However, this inhuman strength proved that everything was a reality. It was more accurate to call it a nightmare.

  Simply being strong wasn't the only problem.

  Park Cheol-min, for whom a shoot-to-kill order had been issued, was now a being that couldn't be killed with guns. SWAT snipers had aimed at his head and pulled the trigger multiple times.

  The sniper rifles they used were weapons that would definitively end the life of any ordinary person.

  Yet, even after being hit directly in the eye, they could not kill him.

  By what logic was this possible?

  Finding an answer to that question was impossible, at least for now. All definitions of physics and biology were collapsing right before their eyes.

  Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original.

  Cheol-min crushed vehicles with nonsensical strength, clearing away every obstacle in front of him.

  There was no forgiveness, no mercy.

  The only saving grace was that he didn't pursue the retreating police officers. Several officers had already sustained injuries that would make their return to duty impossible.

  It was nothing short of a miracle that no one had died yet.

  Or rather, if the orders hadn't been modified, there certainly would have been fatalities. If the order to hold the line had been maintained, many more would have fallen by now.

  Cheol-min simply destroyed everything in his path. The property damage alone was beyond comprehension.

  But the real problem was that there was no way to stop him.

  Before a monster that could lift and throw a bus, there was absolutely nothing a human could do.

  At least the giant monsters in movies were massive; their size provided a certain logic to their destruction.

  But what was Cheol-min?

  Could that tool or whatever it was truly grant a human such overwhelming power?

  It was baffling and terrifying.

  The investigators knew that things still existed in the world that modern science couldn't explain.

  But those were things that simply hadn't been discovered yet. As long as it wasn't happening in front of their eyes, it was a level of joke they could laugh off.

  Yet, Cheol-min just marched forward, smashing everything. It seemed his reason was fading; his eyes were completely glazed over, and his body was covered in wounds.

  However, the wounds on his body healed instantly. Seeing a body bruised purple from burst veins due to overexertion heal immediately was worse than a bad joke.

  The police no longer even tried to block him. No one could guarantee he could be killed even if a tank were brought in.

  Since it had been confirmed that even anti-tank missiles didn't work, all they could do was hope there would be no more casualties.

  But the police, including the investigator, had yet to grasp one crucial fact.

  And that was where Cheol-min was heading.

  However, to criticize them for a lack of imagination would be unfair; the existence of Cheol-min before them was simply a calamity itself.

  The Big Boss was sighing. His subordinates all looked on in fear.

  Yet, there was nothing they could do.

  Cheol-min, the Big Boss’s son, had always been famous for his foul temper. Part of it was the fault of being raised as a spoiled child, but he himself often flaunted his violent nature.

  On one hand, it was a trait almost seen as a virtue for surviving in the underworld, but on the other, it meant he had absolutely no self-control.

  Still, until he got his hands on the tool, Cheol-min hadn't shown this level of brutality.

  But now, Cheol-min had become something that could no longer be called human. He was a being who could throw a bus with his bare hands.

  While everyone couldn't help but be awed by his strength, Cheol-min was now completely uncontrollable. Looking at his son through the public CCTV feeds, the Big Boss's face was filled with nothing but despair.

  The thought that he should never have given the tool to that boy filled his mind. The salesperson had warned him sufficiently that while it granted powerful strength, it would cause a gradual loss of reason.

  But the price of ignoring that warning was this terrifying. Despairing at the transformed state of his child, the Big Boss could only sigh.

  Of course, it wasn't as if there were no ways to control a son who had become like that. The salesperson had sold him an additional control device.

  The Big Boss had already tried it and knew how effective it was.

  However, he didn't want to use it on his own child. When he tested it on a fool who had disappointed him, the goal was merely to confirm its utility.

  But if he used it against the child who was supposed to be his successor, he would be sending him down a path from which he could never return.

  Of course, since he had already lost his reason to the tool, there might not be much of a difference.

  Nevertheless, the fact that he held onto hope until the very end was perhaps due to the bond between parent and child.

  "This is troublesome," he muttered.

  He didn't know when he would have to make the decision, but the very fact that he had to think this way about his only son made things difficult for him.

  "Big Boss! The—the Young Master is coming!"

  It was then.

  One of the subordinates announced Cheol-min’s approach with a scream. They had already confirmed through CCTV that he was heading this way.

  The sight of the subordinate making such a fuss was unsightly, but the Big Boss said nothing.

  Instead, he sighed and stood up.

  "If there’s no other choice, I'll have to stop him."

  The Big Boss said this and turned his head. There stood a man with a blank expression. He was wearing sunglasses to hide his eyes, but anyone could tell his condition was not normal.

  The so-called result of an experiment.

  He was the protagonist of a fate that no one would want. But in this situation, he was also the only answer.

  "Either way, we're ruined now. If that's the case, we should at least stop him."

  The Big Boss smiled as he spoke. If only his son had tempered his anger a bit, he wouldn't have snatched the tool in the first place.

  And things wouldn't have spiraled out of control like this.

  But now, his son was completely consumed by the tool. Stopping a son who had surrendered himself to a device that was now fully integrated and couldn't be removed was impossible for anyone except the Big Boss.

  "Damn it..."

  The Big Boss seemed to have a bitter taste in his mouth. Cursing his own soft side for not handling his child more strictly in the past, he stepped outside.

  Going out to meet a child who has caused trouble is one of the things a parent can do. Whether it’s to scold or to take responsibility, it’s the same.

  In the distance, he saw his son approaching. Coming closer while laughing as if he had completely lost his mind, it was still unclear what he wanted.

  However, at the thought that he might be trying to kill him, the Big Boss let out another sigh.

  "Stop him. Don't let him touch me."

  The Big Boss spoke to the test subject. The man, who had once been an executive of the organization but had disappointed him in several incidents, walked forward without a word.

  And he began to block Cheol-min from approaching any further. The two beings who had transcended humanity thus began their clash.

  However, the Big Boss had not yet anticipated that this would lead to an even worse outcome.