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“Haah… Haah…”

The man who had blown off the head of the entity asking for a handshake panted heavily.

Then, watching the headless body stand tall in place, swaying slightly as if about to lose its balance and fall, he finally calmed down and began to observe.

A thin, elongated body.

It was not the body of someone who seemed particularly trained; rather, it looked like an average person’s physique.

There was some muscle, but it seemed more like someone who exercised for health rather than someone who had seriously trained to use special abilities.

Judging by the exposed skin, it seemed clean and smooth. Perhaps someone in their teens to twenties?

As for the face…

Well, it didn’t matter now since it had been blown off.

“Fuh—”

The man combined the information sent by his noise-infused eyes with the thoughts rising in his mind, concluding that the entity asking for a handshake was nothing special. He could confirm repeatedly that it had become a body devoid of a head.

He seemed to calm down, but…

‘What’s this…?’

His head felt cold, and his chest sank.

His mind felt dazed, and it seemed his eyes were returning to normal.

His previously narrowed field of vision gradually widened, and the world came into sharp focus.

However, that clear vision began to concentrate on a single point.

If his eyes were cameras, then—yes, if his eyes were cameras.

Wasn’t it like someone was forcibly zooming in on something?

As if someone outside were manipulating buttons related to the zoom, compelling him to focus on a single panoramic view.

It felt almost like someone was teasingly trying to use the camera as a microscope.

And that camera was focused solely on one person.

No, not a person.

How could it be called a person without a head?

That was nothing more than what used to be a person.

Look.

That slightly swaying body.

Watching its front-and-back wobble, one might wonder when it would lose strength and collapse to the ground. Whether it was holding onto life with all its might before dying, or whether the body didn’t even recognize that it was dead, it was a mystery, but it would soon fall. That body was surely going to lose strength and flop to the ground. Then, it would be well-cooked by the flames, turning to ashes, disappearing without a trace.

Surely.

Sway, sway.

The body wobbles back and forth.

The legs wobble.

The hands wobble.

That swaying resembled seaweed.

Sway, sway, sway, sway…

[ Crackle—off and on again—! ]

Boom-!

In that moment.

His heart jolted again.

As if struck by lightning, or as if an unseen presence had tightly gripped and then released his heart, a massive shock coursed through his entire body. In the process, blood trickled from his mouth and nose, but whether it was due to internal injuries… or maybe he bit his tongue, he wasn’t sure.

The shock of his heart momentarily stopping.

The feeling of being the closest to death, only to return to life again.

Before this feeling, which would be hard for any ordinary person to experience, any pain felt meaningless.

“Gck…”

Yet this pain was not without significance.

At the very least, he could stop focusing on that damned headless corpse.

The man hurriedly averted his gaze.

From that corpse, which looked like it was about to topple over any second now.

“Damn it. I need to get out of here!”

With that, the man turned and gritted his teeth, directing his head toward where a window had been.

Just moments ago it was merely a place to enjoy the scenery…

But now, it was a makeshift escape route!

Yet, could it be because of the flames?

Or perhaps because of the shadows dancing along with the flames?

Oddly enough, it was so hard to locate that window that had been perfectly visible just moments ago.

The whole world seemed engulfed in flames, and it felt as if he were surrounded by walls of fire on all sides.

And within that fiery prison.

“Huh. This seems to have lost all meaning.”

Someone… spoke up.

That youthful-sounding voice.

So crystal clear, it seemed to echo within his ears.

Thus, he had no choice but to turn his head toward the source of the voice.

Not yet realizing that it was where the headless corpse had just been standing…

“Hah, hhhh…”

What he saw when he turned his head was an incomprehensible sight.

“You…”

The headless corpse was no longer swaying.

What had been visibly wobbling and about to fall just a moment ago was now standing firmly as if the performance was over, adjusting its tie with both hands. Dark smoke-like wisps were rising from its severed neck, swirling about in multiple strands.

As if something emitting toxic gas was being burned.

Or perhaps, as if seaweed were growing from the neck.

A person with seaweed instead of a neck…?

How could that even be called a person?

That pitch-black something swayed, swayed.

Crackle.

And just as he tried to focus again on that swaying motion.

His eyes, struggling through the noise, barely caught part of that smoke.

Then, it analyzed the captured information and relayed it to the man.

『 I N S E C T S S W A R M 』

Insect.

Swarm.

Those two short words brought the man’s attention back to reality, almost losing himself in thoughts of seaweed.

“Bugs?”

“Indeed.”

The moment he verbalized the correct answer.

The shimmering seaweed transformed into a swarm of insects.

Fluttering with wings, their buzzing sounds cacophonous.

Those that bore poison or fed on poison.

They moved as a single swarm, clustering around the severed head like a group of cleaners drawn to fresh meat.

But instead of feasting on the flesh, they began to build layers, filling in the gaps, attempting to form a head in its place.

Thus, a head was born.

The head that had burst apart from the man’s attack reformed from below.

As if recreated by a 3D printer.

Mouth, nose, eyes… and finally, even hair.

The head was remade.

The newly formed head looked impossibly youthful.

Although Asians often appear younger, that was an exceptionally young-looking face.

It looked so young, he wondered if it could even be a student…

[ Crackle—Shaman—Crackle—Jinseong Park— ]

At that moment, the crackle of the walkie-talkie sounded.

Only then did the man realize who the person in front of him was.

Jinseong Park.

The shaman hired by Lucas, from Korea.

A shaman…

“Why the hell are you here?”

The moment he recognized that fact, the man’s face crumpled.

It twisted and hardened.

“I’m sure I saw you leave the building after the contract was up…?”

A shaman, of all people.

Why was this shaman here?

He had been observing, watching, enduring intentionally to avoid entanglement.

He even moved only after confirming that the contract had been prematurely terminated.

Why did he appear here and do this kind of thing?

Setting fire to burn someone alive and trying to charm him.

What the hell kind of miserable situation is this?!

The man felt a surge of anger rising within him.

“Goddamn shaman. That bastard too, I swear… you lot are a miserable bunch.”

With eyes mixed with anger, hatred, and irritation, the man glared at Jinseong.

That intense gaze was sharp enough to be discerned even amidst the raging flames… but Jinseong, receiving that murderous gaze, merely smiled.

Calmly.

“Let’s see, let’s see. Part of the body is machine, and part of it is flesh. A truly fascinating situation where machine and human are mixed. Your eyes are machines, and there’s machinery in your nose and mouth too, and most of your teeth are artificial, and your organs and muscles, arms and legs—an existence moving in place of flesh, now isn’t it?”

Jinseong watched the man calmly.

Like a scholar.

Or like someone visiting a zoo, observing the animals.

That gaze was surely unsettling enough to provoke discomfort.

“You, with machines built into your body. Allow me to ask you a question, and answer it sincerely. Once upon a time, there was a ship. Yet, after each voyage, it started to replace parts little by little—a plank was changed, the hull was changed, sails were changed, the ram was changed. Statues were changed, and the people aboard were also replaced. So, I ask you: do you think this ship is the same as the original?”

However, feeling exposed to that gaze, what was felt wasn’t mere discomfort but rather an eeriness.

Because Jinseong did not look at him like he was a person, but rather like something else.

That gaze was so devoid of warmth.

And for that reason, the man couldn’t help but feel chills run down his spine…

 

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