The lights came on.

The sections where the ceiling had collapsed remained dark, but every area still intact lit up brightly.

Fortunately, we were hidden in the shadow of the rubble.

Multiple footsteps drew closer.

“Much better!”

Mick’s voice.

“This place is a mess too, though!”

It was easy to imagine his irritated tone behind that casual face.

Ricardo and I did not move. We stayed pressed flat behind the massive debris that cast our shadow, holding our breath.

“Where did the two of them go?”

It was the same woman who had noticed hours ~Nоvеl𝕚ght~ ago that Green Dream’s effect didn’t work on me.

“There should be two of them outside....”

“Probably got crushed to death!”

“Hey!” 𝑓𝑟𝑒𝘦𝓌𝑒𝑏𝑛𝑜𝘷𝑒𝘭.𝒸𝘰𝑚

That one was a cop.

The male officer who had picked a fight with Asil shouted.

“What the hell happened here!”

His voice wavered with panic.

“If you wanted us to look the other way, you should’ve run the damn match properly!”

“Shut it. We’ve taken heavy losses too.”

Infighting.

The cop’s outburst sparked an argument. I listened closely to the bickering between the corrupt police and Mick’s gang.

Why did the arena explode all of a sudden?

No idea. Some lunatic bombed the place.

With all these casualties, what are we supposed to do?

We’ll clean up and run.

Easy to say. The situation’s blown too big. We’re pulling out. We only pretended not to see your crimes in the first place. This whole mess has nothing to do with us....

“You cops should’ve run a proper safety inspection from the start!”

The mafia side threw out an absurd claim.

Neither side seemed to realize they were both being played in the Elders’ hands.

Because each thought the other was to blame, the shouting never stopped.

Ricardo muttered under his breath, low enough only for me to hear.

“Kill each other.”

Huh?

I glanced at him, startled, but he didn’t react.

And sure enough, things unfolded exactly as he wanted.

“Always busy cleaning up after the Badgers, huh.”

Jaeyeon?

It was him. I narrowed my eyes and leaned forward slightly.

He was posing as a police officer, mingled among the corrupt ones.

That youthful, smug voice scraped at the gangsters’ pride.

“Look at you, shitting on the feast already served!”

The sound of a gun being loaded.

Mick and his men, most likely.

The police’s reaction only hastened the spiral toward disaster.

“You dare aim a gun at the police!”

“You idiots. Kill us and this becomes a much bigger mess!”

The same pair of male and female officers who had harassed Asil shouted back.

Then Jaeyeon’s voice chimed in.

“As if you’d actually shoot.”

That mocking tone.

Even though he wasn’t talking to me, I wanted to throttle him. It was a miracle the mafia didn’t pull the trigger right away.

Then he said something even more infuriating.

“Go on. Shoot.”

Still the same talent for provoking people.

“What’s wrong? I said shoot.”

“You little punk....”

“Shoot! Come on! Shoot! What, you won’t?”

Ah.

“You piece of shit!”

If it were me, I’d have shoved a bullet straight into Jaeyeon’s guts out of spite—

Bang!

Huh?

I was actually startled despite my irritation.

They couldn’t possibly know Jaeyeon had an enhanced body.

They shot a cop?

I blinked several times and muttered softly.

“Cool.”

My senior lowered his head and replied.

“Almost ran out there myself~....”

The bullet must have hit his torso.

No sound of bones breaking. Just Jaeyeon’s short grunt of pain — “Ugh!” — and the sound of him collapsing to the floor clutching his wound.

The conflict exploded.

“Shit, those bastards really shot!”

“Shut up, Regina!”

“He said shoot, didn’t he?”

Mick had a point.

“He told us to shoot, so I did. What’s the problem?”

His voice was level, but the irritation and anger were thick beneath it.

Now the police were loading their guns too. I heard Mick’s subordinates cock theirs in return.

I felt a pang of regret that I couldn’t watch this spectacle with my own eyes. Just hearing it was entertaining enough; how much more fun would it be to peek?

Bang!

This time the police fired.

And it didn’t stop after a single shot. Gunfire poured down like rain. The sound tore through the eardrums, and the Creatures nearby began thrashing violently in response.

The thick scent of blood spread.

The crunch of flesh and bone, the snap of tendons, the wet slap of torn skin. Muffled screams, heavy thuds of bodies hitting the ground. Even without looking, I knew a massacre was unfolding beyond the rubble.

Hm. I’d definitely heard sounds like this before.

There were no guns in the world I was born in, so it must’ve been after crossing over to this one.

But I wasn’t going to dig up the faint memories that stirred. Too satisfying a scene to ruin with melancholy.

When we waited quietly, the storm of gunfire eventually subsided.

Silence returned.

The air grew heavy. Sensing that calm, I slowly rose. Ricardo pushed himself up with a hand on the rubble.

After making sure he was steady, I walked toward the smell of gunpowder, blood, and torn flesh. Where there had been chaos moments ago, now only faint breathing and moans remained.

As the rubble fell away, our view cleared.

Before us stretched the aftermath of a brutal firefight.

It’s over.

Most were dead. The two officers were definitely gone. Jaeyeon lay face-down and still — clearly pretending.

The mafia side fared no better. Twisted joints bent in impossible angles, skulls cracked open with brain matter spilling out. Mick’s eyes still open, staring blankly into nothing.

“It’s over, sir.”

“Seems so~.”

Ricardo strolled forward slowly.

“Nice and quiet now....”

I agreed silently.

I looked down the corridor at the scattered corpses.

Mick caught my eye. His body was in an odd position. It looked like he had been trying to pull something from his inner pocket when he died. In his left hand was a small, round, black object.

What is that?

I stepped over the bodies and bent down.

And at that moment, someone abruptly rose from the pile of corpses.

“Ah.”

The man spoke casually.

“Good thing I wore a bulletproof vest.”

Smooth, as always.

Jaeyeon ruffled his blood-caked hair and lifted his head. I straightened slowly, holding the remote in my hand, and stared blankly at him.

His blue police uniform was shredded, cap overturned and floating in a pool of blood.

Jaeyeon smiled at me.

“We meet again.”

He strode forward.

“Quite a trip getting here. I brought you a gift.”

I didn’t answer.

I just watched him approach, blankly. Jaeyeon crushed skulls beneath his boots, splitting brains open, snapping joints as he shortened the distance.

He stopped in front of me and smiled faintly.

“Ta-da.”

I took the ziplock bag he offered without resistance.

It was the size of a napkin, transparent. Inside was a syringe filled with a pink liquid.

“Antidote. Enough for five doses — give some to Asil too.”

“Is this really the antidote?”

I turned to show the ziplock to Ricardo.

The green-eyed senior had stood up and was watching silently.

He gave a slow nod after seeing it held up in the air, his face unreadable.

I had no idea what he was thinking, but confirming that this was indeed an antidote was enough for me.

“Thank you.”

I slipped the ziplock into my pocket.

Then I released the Deathmask I had been holding.

And I didn’t forget to pull out the remote and press the button.

[Warning. All cages will open in 10 seconds.]

Run!

I turned and bolted toward my senior.

[Warning. All cages will open in 10 seconds.]

“Son of a—!”

Jaeyeon swore behind me.

I kept running. I grabbed Ricardo by the arm. Ignoring his startled protest, I sprinted for the elevator. The AI’s voice counted down cheerfully. Ten, nine, eight, seven, six....

[5]

“You—”

Ricardo clicked his tongue from where he hung over my shoulder.

“What did you do?”

“The remote!”

[4]

I shouted as we ran.

“I opened them with Mick’s remote!”

Three, two— we reached the elevator. As the AI said “one,” my hand slammed the button, and the closed elevator doors began to open.

I shoved us through the narrow gap.

The moment my foot hit the floor inside, the countdown ended.

[0. All cages are now open.]

Clang!

The cages rose.

I gently set down my senior, whom I had hauled so recklessly, and looked out.

Creatures poured out — some crawling slowly, others bursting forth like bullets.

Even Jaeyeon, smiling faintly amid it all.

He didn’t even look back at the Creatures charging toward him.

“Crazy bastard....”

Jaeyeon’s low mutter.

The elevator doors began to close. The corridor of the A floor filled rapidly with Creatures. Yet even as the gap narrowed, that fox-like figure didn’t move.

He stood there with both hands stuffed casually in the pockets of his bloodstained blue police uniform, until the horde swallowed him whole.

Thunk.

The heavy elevator doors sealed shut.

We descended safely to the first floor.

***

We got out of the collapsing tower safely, and Ricardo’s physical condition had recovered.

Everything seemed like it was finally going to resolve smoothly.

If only we hadn’t started arguing inside the elevator.

“I’ll be right back. Haven’t I done fine up to now?”

“I don’t know what makes a half-dead man coughing blood so confident~.”

Even after we reached the first floor and ran toward the stairs leading back to the arena, the argument continued.

I didn’t want to send him up there, and he didn’t want to send me.

When I proposed a compromise — that he at least stop at an uncollapsed floor — he refused.

In the end, I was the one who yielded.

Ricardo’s cold rebuke had settled it.

“Who outranks who right now?”

A rookie who didn’t even know promotion exams existed versus a war hero.

I bowed my head and submitted to authority.

“Apologies. I’ll follow orders.”

“Good....”

“Just let me accompany you.”

I knew how strong PTSD could be. I was desperate.

“If I become a hindrance up there, I’ll go down immediately.”

Ricardo was silent for a moment, then nodded.