The darkness of the night and the cold air bit deeper into the bone than ever before.

  Defeat.

  What other word could be said? The people of the cult were all silent.

  The noise of the alarm had vanished.

  However, the result remained.

  In the darkness, they merely stood dazed with hollow expressions. To be unilaterally devastated and defeated—was this something acceptable for the followers of the glorious God and those who upheld the Leader's teachings?

  This could not happen. It should not have happened.

  But the outcome was already unchangeable. The shattered wall explained everything.

  They had to admit it.

  Their defeat.

  They hated to acknowledge it, but there was no choice. Not admitting it only made them more miserable.

  The Deputy Leader laughed hollowly.

  It was an expression of misery and a bitter acceptance of defeat. Yet, in that laughter, there was a strange sense of exhilaration.

  It was almost pleasing that the one who possessed the Leader's tool had this level of ability.

  The person who caused this incident was undoubtedly a hateful enemy. He was an existence so loathsome that he had to be killed.

  But conversely, that was why the Deputy Leader liked him.

  Because he was a man with such guts, he was worth thoroughly crushing. Furthermore, hardships and trials were meant to be overcome to help them grow.

  So, the Deputy Leader continued to laugh for a long time. Regardless of the other devotees looking at him as if he were strange, he laughed until he had completely shaken off the feeling of defeat.

  "Is it this fellow..."

  The General Manager muttered while watching the video recorded by Hae-un. He already knew the face. In fact, he was one of the candidates they had already identified.

  Perhaps the answer had been right under their noses all along.

  Why had they left someone they should have secured early on alone until now? The General Manager couldn't understand it himself.

  But there was no longer any need to wander.

  Now that they knew who he was, all that remained was to hunt him. Once the target was set, moving was not a difficult task.

  "I will... next time, for sure..."

  Apostle Hae-un gnashed his teeth as he spoke to the General Manager. Two failures already.

  To him, it was an unbearable humiliation. The first failure was due to an attack on a weakness no one knew.

  The second time, he wasn't even engaged. He had merely been treated as an obstacle.

  Looking at him, the General Manager sighed. In a way, it was pitiful.

  Hae-un was originally someone who deserved to be disposed of.

  He hadn't just seen secrets he shouldn't have; he even had the intention to desert, so it wouldn't have been strange to get rid of him.

  However, after being chosen as an Apostle, Hae-un had tried his best to risk his life for the cult more than anyone else.

  But the General Manager felt that he would fail once again.

  The gap between him and this intruder was as wide as the distance between heaven and earth, or even more.

  The tool implanted in Hae-un had significantly enhanced his physical abilities along with his endurance. However, Hae-un didn't know how to use anything beyond that.

  Yet this intruder, though it was unknown how he absorbed the power, used the power of the Executive's Apostle perfectly.

  When the Executive's Apostle held the tool, he never used the power beyond attacking people. He didn't know any reason to use it more than that.

  But this time, the intruder used that power for his mobility. That was something no one would have thought of.

  Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

  To turn something seen only in movies into reality so casually—the General Manager couldn't help but be impressed by his resourcefulness, even though it was frustrating.

  However, knowing he was a man with such adaptability, the General Manager felt that this could actually be used as a bargaining tool.

  With their supporters, who brought the tools from another world.

  If he was a man with this level of ability, they could demand matching tools or receive advice on countermeasures.

  But whether things would go as planned was unknown.

  Both the General Manager and the Deputy Leader suspected that "they" were testing them.

  Their minds were complex.

  Should they take this incident as an opportunity, or accept it as their downfall?

  They didn't know which it would be.

  But the General Manager knew better than anyone that they had to try.

  "Heh..."

  Come to think of it, something came to mind.

  The General Manager's daughter. She still hadn't regained consciousness. Fortunately, the place she was in had a separate power supply, so there would be no issues, and the current commotion wouldn't reach her.

  Suddenly, the thought occurred to him that perhaps the man who caused the riot this time might be able to wake his daughter.

  He had already extracted the Leader's tool and made the Executive's Apostle's tool his own. Moreover, he had even taken the Executive's.

  A man like that would certainly be able to do it, even though their supporters had given up.

  "I wonder how it will go..."

  The General Manager shook his head. It was just a 'what if,' and it might not work. Furthermore, it might be something that would bring down the cult.

  He had to clear away useless thoughts. For now, cleaning up alongside the Deputy Leader was the priority. With that thought, he began organizing things with the devotees on behalf of the Deputy Leader.

  The next day.

  Jihyeon returned home with Min-ah. She seemed a bit more comfortable now, as if her emotions had settled to some extent.

  Being mindful of Min-ah in the passenger seat, Jihyeon drove carefully back to the city. For a long time, neither of them said a word.

  Knowing how Min-ah felt about him but having to reject her weighed heavily on Jihyeon.

  And the most important reality hadn't changed at all. The people of the cult could still ruin their daily lives at any time. Unless that fact changed, the people around Jihyeon would inevitably be exposed to danger.

  Because of that, Jihyeon felt sorry for Min-ah. He felt like he had done something terrible to her. Although it was the pseudo-cult that did the bad things, he couldn't shake the feeling that everything happened because of him.

  "It's okay. After all, you came right away because you knew I was in danger, didn't you?"

  Min-ah said with a sad smile. Even though he had rejected her feelings, her eyes looking at Jihyeon, who had risked danger to run to her, were filled with gratitude.

  "I don't know if I'm making life hard for the people around me."

  Jihyeon said, letting out a sigh. It was a tired voice, lacking his usual confidence.

  "No, it's not like that. They were originally neighbors, after all. If the fate got tangled back then, then that's just how it is."

  The Leader had been Min-ah's neighbor until she lost her family. If the Leader's madness hadn't struck Min-ah, this wouldn't have happened.

  "..."

  Jihyeon chose silence over useless words. He couldn't help his heart, which was just filled with apology.

  Still, it was a relief that he had saved her safely. Just the fact that she wasn't hurt anywhere made Jihyeon feel a tiny bit redeemed.

  "The moment I knew I was in danger, you came right away, like a prince in a fairy tale. So stop thinking like that. It makes things harder for me."

  Min-ah said, trying to lighten the atmosphere a bit.

  "I'm sorry."

  Jihyeon apologized again and gave a bitter smile. She might be right. As he had thought before, it was also a problem to take everything as his own fault.

  "Still, I have to crush those guys for sure. We can't live like this forever, right?"

  Jihyeon spoke again about the collapse of the cult. Min-ah smiled slightly at his words.

  "I agree. If those people are around, we'll live in anxiety. They even knew where I lived and followed me..."

  Min-ah said, shivering slightly. Kidnapping was now a practical threat to her.

  "I should go to the police first. Otherwise, I don't think I can live out of fear."

  Jihyeon nodded at Min-ah's words.

  "I'll help you. I'll make sure you get all the legal support available."

  Min-ah smiled again at Jihyeon's words.

  "I'd appreciate that. Honestly, I don't know anything. And I don't know if the police will do a good job..."

  Min-ah said, recalling her experience. She knew well that the police certainly tried their best, but there were limits.

  "We'll have to involve the media too. Even if we can't crush them physically right away, there's plenty of material to hand over."

  Jihyeon said, recalling what he had seen. The things he saw at the main headquarters were all things that could deal a fatal blow to them.

  He hadn't obtained everything he wanted, but Jihyeon had already secured enough weapons.

  Unfortunately, he hadn't discovered the people behind them, but one couldn't satisfy everything.

  "When did you gather all that material?"

  Min-ah asked curiously at Jihyeon's words.

  "I told you, didn't I? What the first ability I obtained was."

  Jihyeon reminded Min-ah of the story he told her yesterday.

  "Ah..."

  Min-ah let out an exclamation at Jihyeon's words. But soon her face flushed.

  "You don't happen to know... useless information about me through that, do you?"

  At Min-ah's question, Jihyeon felt as if his heart had stopped for a moment. He wanted to deny it perfectly, but he couldn't pretend he didn't know the countless pieces of information that had entered his mind unconsciously.

  "I-I didn't look. I can control the ability perfectly now."

  At Jihyeon's words, Min-ah wore an expression of disbelief. Trying to ignore her expression, Jihyeon merely focused on driving.

  "Hmm..."

  Min-ah looked unconvinced. Only at times like this, Jihyeon's words were not credible at all.

  "Did you find out how I felt through that too? If you rejected me knowing that, you're really a bad person..."

  Jihyeon exercised his right to remain silent at Min-ah's words. Useless talk, as always, was life-threatening.

  "Sigh... really..."

  Min-ah didn't say anything more. But there was a strange sense of enjoyment in her eyes.

  However, Jihyeon remained silent. He still knew well that saying the wrong thing at a time like this was like digging one's own grave.

  "A truly bad person. But that's why I can't give up."

  Min-ah made another bombshell declaration. Jihyeon could only let out a sigh at those words.

  "You already know everything there is to know... you're too much."

  There was a tiny bit of playfulness hidden in Min-ah's voice.

  "It's not my fault."

  Jihyeon only said that and didn't respond to anything else, driving the car all the way to her house.