Seeing the silent panic on Kihyun’s face, perhaps he had been wrong about him having a mind-easing skill. The only ones that didn’t seem all that scared of Cheon Areum were the clones, but when it came to his real body, Cho Kihyun was definitely scared of him.

Tilting his head, Cheon Areum was staring down at the petrified face beneath him when uncountable hands started gripping him from just about everywhere. They emerged from every direction, grabbing onto him, his arms, shoulders, waist, clutching and pulling with desperate force. Fingers dug into him from all sides, trying to tear him away.

Cheon Areum remained largely unaffected. Only his eyes narrowed faintly. Even as they dragged him back, the sheer number of hands only managed to lift his upper body. His legs stayed locked tightly around the real Kihyun, refusing to let go. The grip was unyielding, so firm that as they pulled him away, they ended up dragging Kihyun off the ground along with him. On the road, Kihyun struggled to regain his footing, his hands grabbing at Cheon Areum’s legs as he tried to pry them off.

Around them, the clones pressed in—those same hands now working against each other, some pulling Cheon Areum away while others tried to separate him from the original. Cheon Areum, however, didn’t budge. Not even an inch. The moment he reached for the real Kihyun again, the entire mass of clones behind him was dragged along with the motion, pulled as if they weighed nothing, their grip meaningless against his strength.

"Let go of me, you freak!"

Kihyun gritted out through his teeth, struggling to get out of Cheon Areum’s claws. Becoming increasingly frightened to death as he struggled desperately to break free from Cheon Areum’s hold. But the more he fought, the worse it became. Kihyun kept activating his skill again and again, producing more clones in rapid succession. They appeared around Cheon Areum instantly, latching onto him, arms wrapping, hands gripping, bodies piling on in an attempt to restrain him. Yet even as their numbers grew, it still didn’t seem sufficient.

"You’re not going anywhere. I’ve had enough... I want to finish this and go back home."

Cheon Areum’s voice came out flat, stripped of any emotion. As he spoke, his upper body was dragged back again, forced down by the relentless pull of the clones. Yet his legs remained locked tightly around Kihyun’s waist, anchoring him in place no matter how hard they tried to separate them.

He tilted his head slightly, staring up at the two clone faces hovering above him, those gripping his arms, exerting the most force, their expressions strained with effort. It didn’t matter. Nothing they did seemed to matter. His injuries had already torn open again from the constant dragging. Fresh blood seeped out, thick and dark, trailing down his back, dripping from the torn flesh where his wings had once been.

Calm and apathetic, Cheon Areum lifted his hands. Each one closed around the head of the clones gripping him from either side, his fingers tightening with quiet certainty. There was no hesitation—no second thought. He blasted the heads off with his skill, Explosive Energy, which usually took a lot of his energy, but overflowing with energy, the use of the skill felt like nothing to him.

"Agh—!"

With the heads gone, a fountain of blood burst outward, showering over Cheon Areum and mixing with the blood already staining him. It soaked through him, dripping down in thick trails. Drenched in it, he heard a pained groan from below. The real Kihyun, still trapped within the unrelenting hold of his legs. Cheon Areum’s brow lifted slightly, a flicker of curiosity crossing his face.

"So you get hurt too if your clones get hurt?"

He found that... amusing. A faint, unconscious smile appeared on his lips as he slowly raised his hand again. Before Kihyun could even fully open his eyes, Cheon Areum casually waved his hand behind him. With that single motion, a sweeping surge of explosive energy tore through the horde of clones, blasting them apart in one clean arc.

As if he had simply swept the ground clean.

With blood.

Unable to bear the pain any longer, Kihyun’s real body finally gave out. He collapsed onto the ground, his strength leaving him all at once. His body trembled faintly, overwhelmed by the backlash of everything he had endured. His eyes refused to open. The pain was too much.

It wasn’t as if he had a constant urge to hurt people. He simply didn’t feel much hesitation in the moment. Most of the time, he only realized afterward after something was already done whether it had been the right thing to do or not. Even then, it wasn’t particularly regret that followed. More like a quiet, detached curiosity, as if he were observing his own actions from a distance.

However, when the negative energy surged strongly, that restraint became far thinner. Under its influence, he could easily reach a point where killing someone didn’t feel impossible at all, especially if that person kept pushing his limits or got on his nerves.

"Have I been too lenient?"

His voice was quiet, almost reflective, as Cheon Areum sat on top of the body beneath him, refusing to release his grip.

"Soft enough... for peasants like you to think you can defy me? Or even entertain the idea?"

He tilted his head slightly, blood still staining his skin, his expression distant as if he were speaking more to himself than to the person under him.

"Let me reinstate it for you personally. I’m the villain here."

His gaze lowered, cold and unblinking.

"And you’re nothing. A nobody."

He stared for a moment before speaking again.

"The only one who can make me remember any morals isn’t here."

Cheon Areum said quietly, almost matter-of-factly, as he remained seated over Kihyun’s collapsed body.

"So I don’t really care if you die right now."

His tone carried no urgency, only a detached certainty, as if the outcome held little weight either way. Kihyun’s voice cracked through the tension, strained but sharp.

"What about the cameras? They’re recording everything. The whole world will see what kind of monster you really are!"

For the first time, Cheon Areum’s gaze shifted slightly upward, acknowledging the presence of the sky full of hovering lenses. Then he spoke again, calm as ever.

"Let them see. Let them learn, too... what kind of services they’ll receive if they provoke me."

Looking up toward the helicopters in the gloomy sky, Cheon Areum’s gaze locked directly onto the camera lens in the sky. Even from that distance, his expression was unmistakably clear.

"I can kill every person in this world if I wanted to. Just because I’m not, doesn’t mean I can’t."