Chapter 160

Up on the terrace, Oh Taejin stood frozen and dazed for a beat, then let out a shocked scream like a man who'd just seen a ghost.

"Wh-what the hell! How the — how the hell did you get that off?!"

But since I'd pulled the jewels off in a fog myself, I had no idea how either — nothing decent to say back.

"Maybe you… just didn't stick them on tight enough?"

My dumbfounded answer went right past him; he muttered to himself, glazed over, as if he couldn't believe any of it.

"No way… not even an A-rank strength user could rip that off, no matter how hard they pulled…! And a non-Awakened just did it, in one go…!"

Mid-frantic-muttering, Oh Taejin's head snapped up.

Eyes flashing with a chilling gleam locked onto me, hard.

"Chae Junhyeok… don't tell me…!"

Just as he was about to spit something out, face full of shock —

Thud—!

A dull impact echoed across the VVIP terrace.

Oh Taejin's eyes — the ones that had been popping veins and screaming a moment before — rolled up white, and he crumpled to the floor like a puppet with its strings cut.

And behind him, one large shadow stood.

"…Gu Sangmin?"

Wait… did he just… attack Oh Taejin?

For an instant, as I stared, confused, Gu Sangmin smiled at me.

A languid smile — the outer corners of his eyes curving prettily into half-moons, with a strange, sensual charge running through it.

The moment I saw that smile, so out of place on his face, a hard jolt of déjà vu hit me, and one word slipped out before I could stop it.

"Fox?"

At my call, as if I'd hit the right answer, the corner of Gu Sangmin's mouth curled up even deeper.

"Good to see you, Director?"

The moment that heady, sultry voice rang across the arena —

Whooosh—!!!

The weathered sword I'd flung to the ground shot up with explosive force.

Chaeaeng—!!!!

The sharp shriek of metal on metal.

The sight in front of me left me stunned all over again.

Between Gu Sangmin's blunt fingers, a gaudy fan had appeared from nowhere and flicked Han Jewoon's sword — which had come streaking in like lightning — aside with unbelievable ease.

"Put that bastard down!"

A shout laden with killing intent burst from somewhere in the stands.

At the same moment, cloak whipping wildly, a figure came rocketing up toward the terrace at a beast's speed.

Han Jewoon.

"Been a while for you too, hasn't it? Our little woof-woof would've been so thrilled if he'd been here for this…"

Fox didn't flinch an inch under the ranker's overwhelming killing intent, bearing down at his throat.

If anything, as if showing off, he lightly swept the unconscious, sprawled Oh Taejin up over his shoulder.

"Going one-on-one with you is more than I can take on, even. Sorry to say it, but we'll take our leave for today. I'll put this one to good use."

"Wait…!"

Han Jewoon hadn't even reached the terrace.

Fox, as if the murderous Han Jewoon weren't even worth noticing, kept his eyes fixed entirely on me.

"See you next time, then, Director."

A deep smile and a wink.

With that charming farewell, Fox's form — Oh Taejin slung over his shoulder — dissolved and vanished like a wisp of smoke.

"Damn it—!!!"

A step behind, Han Jewoon closed his fist on empty air and shot straight off down the dark corridor.

"……"

"……"

The Swordsman and the Fighter slumped on the ground, me, even the spectators — all of us, dumbstruck, only stared up at the empty terrace.

"What the hell? A subordinate just kidnapped the VVIP?!"

"Who was that cloaked bastard just now?!"

"What about the fight? What happened?! Who won?!"

"My money! I put it on the Emperor!!! So what happens now?!"

An unprecedented sight — a VVIP suddenly stormed in on and dragged off.

Just as an ugly current started boiling up from every side, ready to come vaulting over the barriers at any second —

In the middle of a life-or-death crisis one wrong move away from a bloodbath, the MC's booming mic slammed across the Colosseum.

"Aaa—!! D-did you all see that clearly, with your own two eyes?! An overwhelming presence that sent even the uninvited guest running with his tail tucked! This is the Colosseum's one and only true ruler — His Imperial Majesty, the Emperoraaaa—!!!"

Cold sweat pouring off him in sheets, the MC threw his arm up into the air with everything he had — a desperate declaration.

At the shameless line, the crowd exchanged bewildered looks for a moment.

But as the MC popped veins with a desperate push for applause, they began — one by one, as if under a spell — to clap along.

Clap, clap, clap. The ragged applause swelled in a heartbeat into a huge wave that shook the arena.

"Emperor! Emperor! Emperor!"

"Woaaaaaah—!!!"

The earth-shaking roar snapped me out of it too.

I gave the stands a few offhand waves and hurried to the waiting room.

Kang Taemin and the owner stood at the entrance.

"Move the fallen Fighter and Swordsman first, now!"

At my order, the two of them snapped to it and started tending to the wounded.

That was the moment the tempest of a battle at the Colosseum — tangled with the reek of blood, frenzy, and an ending no one could explain — finally came to a close.

The moment I stepped into the waiting room —

"Direektuh!"

Kang Taemin must have brought them in ahead of time — the kids were all there.

The moment my eyes settled on their faces after so long, the wire of nerves strung tight in me snapped clean through.

"Haah…"

Relief hit and I slumped helplessly to the floor.

My thighs cramped hard enough to burst, and my hands trembled like leaves in a gale.

Han Jewoon might have been the one steering it, but my body — hauled along by the sword's brutal trajectory — had long since blown past its limit.

On top of that, too many things had crashed through too fast — even my vision was swimming.

"D-Director! Are you all right?!"

"Direektuh, where does it hurt?"

Panicked, the kids swarmed in and knelt around me.

"It's fine. Just overdid it."

I waved them off, casually, to calm them, then hardened my voice.

"More importantly — you all know you did something massively wrong, right?"

"!"

"Pulling a stunt this dangerous without a word to me isn't enough — you conspire with Han Jewoon to lock me up on an island? Do you have any idea how sick with worry I was that something would happen to you?"

When I pushed my voice down lower than usual and gave them a stern scolding, the little ones dropped their heads in unison, as if they'd rehearsed it.

From between the small heads huddled close together, cautious, worried voices crept up.

"S-sorry… Director, are you very mad…?"

"We did wong…"

Restless little fingers, unable to sit still, picked at their own clothes.

I'd steeled myself, ready to give them another proper scolding, but the sight of them so genuinely cowed and squirming was too much — the heart I'd hardened up like a sheet of ice thawed helplessly and drained away.

That pitiful, adorable sight got the better of me — my face gave out, and a small, silly puff of a laugh slipped through.

No matter how strong they get… kids are still kids.

The strange Awakened figures I'd seen through the monitor were nowhere to be found.

Seeing them back as the kids I knew, a corner of my chest — drawn taut with tension — snapped loose, and deep relief washed in.

"Well… thanks to you, it all ended safely, so let's call it a job well done in the end."

"…Huh?"

At the unexpected praise, the kids' eyes were just about to go rabbit-round —

Bang!

The door swung open, and Kang Taemin and the owner came in carrying the Swordsman and the Fighter, one each.

At the sight of them, I dragged myself up with effort.

"We'll go over the details on the way back. Number Three — take the wounded and the kids and get in the car first."

"Direektuh! Why! Come with ush!"

Hayun grabbed my sleeve, but I shook my head firmly.

"I have something else to talk about here. It won't take long, so behave and wait."

In the end, they turned on heavy feet — glancing back at me, again and again, all the way out.

Soon the door closed, and only the owner and I were left in the room.

"J-Junhyeok. You okay? You're pale — you're not hurt anywhere?"

He edged over, watching my mood — and I cut to the chase.

"So what are you going to do now?"

"Do about what?"

"You just saw it. The gladiators are all free, Oh Taejin's been kidnapped and gone. And I'm never setting foot in this arena again — so what's your plan?"

At my flat announcement, the owner's face went ashen in a heartbeat.

"What?! W-why wouldn't you come, Junhyeok! You have to! If the Emperor doesn't show up, our revenue — you telling me to go live in the street?!"

He looked ready to grab my pants leg in despair.

At that, I casually tossed out some sweet bait.

"Honestly — aren't you sick of running this kind of club?"

"Of course I'm sick of it! Assholes throwing tantrums every five minutes because they're 'VIPs,' and the fortune I have to pour into security! I only put up with the filth because the money's insane — otherwise I'd have thrown in the towel ages ago!"

Watching the owner spit out his pent-up grievances like a machine gun, I smiled and clapped him on the shoulder.

"Yeah? Then…"

I whispered, sweet and quiet as the devil.

"I'll put a hell of a lot more money in your hand than you make here… care to start a new business with me?"

At the proposal that followed, the owner's eyes went round as coins.

Lately the kids had been on edge around the clock.

Having pulled that enormous stunt at the Colosseum, they'd steeled themselves for a serious dressing-down from the Director once they got back to the institute.

But once he was back, the Director was so buried in work they could barely catch a glimpse of him — and then, a few days later, a bolt-from-the-blue announcement dropped out of nowhere.

"We're moving?!"

The kids barely managed to grab Lee Jinwoo and Han Soeun — buried in boxes and packing furiously — and pressed them for answers.

"Yeah. The Director said so. A place where the location and the security are on a whole different level from what we have now."

A place with perfect location and security? Where on earth?

Half anxious, half expectant, the kids packed their things and climbed into the car following the moving truck.

But the moment they arrived at the destination, their faces froze in shock.

A grim, weed-choked derelict building.

The entrance to Icarus.

"Wait… why here of all places…!"

"Right on time."

Chae Junhyeok — with Kang Taemin standing guard at his back, as always — walked out to meet the bewildered kids.

"D-Director! Are we really moving here?"

When the kids scrambled out of the car and demanded answers, he nodded, calm.

"Yeah. They're in the middle of sorting things out inside, so watch your step."

The whole group made it inside via the signature stomach-dropping vertical plunge.

"D-Director… we don't have to keep coming in like this from now on, do we? Uk."

While the paper-white researchers dry-heaved on the floor, the kids — who'd landed safely — looked around and stopped short.

"Th-this is Icarus?"

Not a trace remained of the decadent club from memory.

Fresh air brushed their cheeks; white marble floors and soft lighting turned the vast underground space as bright as day.

The strip that had held bars and gambling dens was filled edge to edge with state-of-the-art training rooms, spacious meeting rooms, and private quarters built to fit Awakened.

"Completely different, right?"

Chae Junhyeok shrugged with an easy laugh and gestured at the piles of luggage, giving his orders.

"Number One, Number Two. I've got something else to take care of, so lead the rest of the unpacking and wrap it up. And…"

At his gesture, a man drifted out from the back like a ghost.

Reduced in the space of a few days to skin, bones, and hollowed-out cheeks, it was none other than the owner of Icarus.

"This guy's the ability user who made this space. If you need more rooms once you've settled in, get him to expand it however you want."

"Hey, Chae Junhyeok! Let me sleep! Do you know how many nights I've been up?! My bones are turning to dust!"

But Chae Junhyeok didn't so much as blink at the complaint — he pulled a check from his inside pocket and tapped it against the owner's chest.

And with that —

"Oh~ we can sleep when we're dead! That's right! Right this way, esteemed researchers! Where should I expand first? How about an indoor soccer field?!"

Transformed on the spot into capitalism's perfect slave, the owner hooked arms with Lee Jinwoo and Han Soeun and vanished inside in a flash.

Watching the spectacle, Chae Junhyeok turned and looked at the kids.

"Now, then… shall we get going too?"

"G-going where…?"

Finally — the punishment for what we pulled!

"No back-talk. Come on."

At the firm order, the kids, dazed, followed him out of Icarus and climbed into Kang Taemin's car.

Watching the scenery blur past the window and imagining the punishment ahead, the kids kept wetting their lips as they went dry.

At the end of the suffocating silence, the car finally slid to a smooth stop.

"We're here. Out."

Nerves wound tight, the kids drew deep breaths and stepped out.

And the moment they opened their squeezed-shut eyes and took in the scene in front of them, dazed exclamations broke out.

"…Huh?"

"Woaaah!"

Their tense faces broke, in an instant, into radiant smiles.

A massive castle straight out of a fairytale book, upbeat music that set the heart racing, the sweet smell of cotton candy — and a rollercoaster carving dizzying arcs through the air.

Spread out before them, dazzling — a world of dreams and fantasy, an enormous amusement park.