THE FINAL WHISPER-II
Chapter 7: The First to Burn
Six months had passed since the clinic was turned into hell on Earth.
Six months of sleepless nights and haunting silence.
Six months of pretending to live while burning inside with rage.
Ji-ho had never forgotten. Not her screams. Not the fear in her eyes. Not the way her body was left like a broken doll. Seo-oh, the only person who gave them a home, warmth, and peace in that cursed world, had been butchered. And for what? A pendant he never asked for.
The video chip had captured every moment. Every bone shattered. Every plea unanswered. Every laugh of those ten monsters etched into his mind like scars on flesh.
But now… now it was time.
His body had changed—taller, leaner, stronger. His powers had evolved beyond anything he could have imagined. The Destructive Laser burned with the energy of fifty souls he'd consumed. Every day, it whispered for vengeance. Today, he listened.
Ji-ho tracked the first of the ten to an abandoned casino in Gangwon province—once a hotspot for illegal underground awakeners, now a decaying monument of sin. The man went by the name Kang Tae-sik, a mid-rank awakened with the ability to manipulate metal into weapons.
A fitting irony.
Because tonight, no weapon could save him.
Ji-ho walked through the rotting entrance. Rusted slot machines buzzed with dying lights. The stench of blood, booze, and mold filled the air. A guard moved to block his path. One touch—Strengthened Ray Blast—and the man exploded into dust. Screams followed, echoing like a symphony of fear.
They knew who had come.
Ji-ho moved like a phantom, shadows dancing behind him. Walls melted. Floors cracked. Anyone in his way was reduced to a smear on the ground. His eyes, once dull with trauma, now glowed blood-red.
Kang Tae-sik sat in the VIP room on the top floor, surrounded by bodyguards. He rose when the door shattered inward.
"You've got guts showing up here alone, kid," Kang said, flexing metal spears from his arms.
Ji-ho said nothing.
He only stepped forward.
The first spear launched—and vanished mid-air. Ji-ho had raised one finger. That was all it took. The floor erupted beneath Kang's feet, hurling him into the ceiling.
He slammed down with a scream.
"You don't remember her, do you?" Ji-ho's voice was low, trembling with hate. "The girl who healed. The girl who begged. The girl you killed."
Kang spat blood. "She was just—"
Before he could finish, Ji-ho crushed his arm with a pulse of laser energy. Bone shattered like glass. The scream was music.
"She was everything!" Ji-ho roared.
He pinned Kang to the wall with a blast to the chest, then walked slowly, dragging the man down by the face. Kang's skin burned with every touch. Ji-ho didn't kill him quickly. He broke every bone. One by one. Fingers. Then knees. Then jaw.
"You like recording things, don't you?" Ji-ho whispered. "Let me show you how real pain feels."
He formed a condensed orb of destructive energy and shoved it into Kang's stomach. The energy pulsed, then ignited from the inside. Kang's scream died in his throat as his body burst into flame—not from fire, but from raw, tearing energy.
Ash. That was all that remained.
Ji-ho stood there in the silence, panting. His heart didn't feel lighter. His rage wasn't gone. But it had begun.
As he stepped out of the burning building, he checked the pendant. The gem glowed faintly—reacting. Maybe it knew he was following its path now.
He turned on the data chip Seo-oh once showed him. It listed all ten monsters—faces, names, powers, last-known locations.
His next target: Lee Mok-hwan, a sadist who hid in the northern edge of Busan, working as a high-ranking enforcer for an underground weapons cartel.
Ji-ho didn't care how powerful the man was.
He would burn too.
One by one.
Until nothing remained but ashes.
To be continued....
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