In the lobby of the Hwang-Ho Euthanasia Center, a young man walked in like he owned the place, flanked by two girls as if he were some wannabe playboy.
He greeted everyone cheerfully.
"Hello, everyone! Yu-Han's here!"
The sanctioners in the lobby turned their heads in unison and glared at Yu-Han.
Standing next to him, Alice froze, overwhelmed by the sudden murderous glares fixed on them.
"Yu-Han...? No negotiation, no conversation, not even a covert operation? You're just walking in through the front door!"
"It's a waste of precious brain cells to come up with a strategy for a small-time Center like this. Still, they should make decent training material for your combat education. Watch closely and learn how it's done."
At Yu-Han's relaxed insults, the Hwang-Ho staff turned ferocious.
"You bastard!! A no-name sanctioner dares to spout such nonsense!"
As professional sanctioners, their movements were different from the thugs or protesters Alice had seen before.
They charged at Yu-Han with clean movements and clear murderous intent.
However, to Yu-Han, even that seemed unsatisfactory.
"Watch closely, Alice. Humans are worse at controlling their own bodies than you think... You just have to gently place your blade where their body parts drift because of inertia. Easy, right?"
Yu-Han's carbon-coated blade seemed to be sucked straight into the eyeball of the man charging at the front.
The movement was so smooth that it felt as if Yu-Han had merely held the blade out, and his opponent had rushed in to die of his own accord.
Kim Ga-Eun watched the scene with admiration.
"That is... Yu-Han C's signature move, 'Death's Orbit'...!"
"Ga-Eun. I never gave it such an edgy chuuni name."
Even as he rebuked Kim Ga-Eun, his hands continued to move diligently, flowing like water.
He drove a blade into an approaching enemy, summoned a second blade into his other hand, and slashed down another enemy.
"Idiots! Don't just charge blindly! Use magic!!" one of the Hwang-Ho sanctioners shouted.
The remaining sanctioners finally widened the distance and began forming orbs of fire, water, and lightning to hurl at him.
Yu-Han let out a deep sigh.
"The more you process mana, the worse your energy conversion efficiency gets! Unless you have a specific reason, use pure mana energy."
Yu-Han began to wrap his body and blade in transparent white mana—pure, raw power.
Then, he charged straight into the barrage of magical attacks.
The elemental spells broke apart helplessly against Yu-Han's rush, and the remaining enemies were all decapitated as he closed the distance.
"As expected of... Yu-Han C...!"
Kim Ga-Eun smiled at the sight, licking her upper lip as if savoring a delicious meal.
Of course, naive Alice couldn't understand why she was doing that.
Yu-Han glanced around the lobby and calmly pointed out the situation.
"The enemies in the lobby are dealt with. Only the second floor and the basement remain. The Director's office should be on the second floor, and the warehouse should be in the basement."
"Then that person named Yi Rang must be in the basement! We have to go there immediately..." Alice said.
"Why go there? That stupid woman isn't my business. Besides, if we kill the Director, she'll be saved automatically."
"But what if something happens and she gets hurt?"
At Alice's insistence, Yu-Han sighed deeply again.
"Then you go to the basement. Practice on the human trash down there. Ga-Eun? Go with her."
"Yes! Of course!" Ga-Eun answered.
Yu-Han tapped Alice on the back.
The same white mana that wrapped around him now swirled around Alice's entire body.
"This is...?"
"I gave you a mana coating. Even a tool becomes somewhat useful once you coat it in mana."
"Do you have to say it like that?"
"Oops! Do you have time to argue? Even at this moment, that stupid tiger lady might be writhing in pain..."
"I'm sick of this..."
"If you're sick of it, finish the job quickly. Well... while I kill the Director alone, you two will probably be taking forever."
Yu-Han immediately ran up to the second floor, while Alice and Kim Ga-Eun went down to the basement.
"Ga-Eun... why is Yu-Han so twisted?"
"He has been a bit eccentric, twisted, and strange since the first time we met."
"So you know."
"But... Yu-Han C likes helping others more than he looks. Letting us go to the basement might also be..."
"Hmph. He probably just cleared us from his sight because we were annoying."
Alice firmly dismissed Kim Ga-Eun's optimistic thoughts.
***
"Damn it! How can those useless sanctioners fail to stop three intruders?! Now I finally see why I never made it big! I've been dragging around dead weight all this time!"
At that moment, the door to the Director's office burst open, and Yu-Han barged in.
"Hi. Are you the Director? Here, a gift."
Yu-Han lightly tossed the thing in his hand toward the Director.
The ball-like object was... the severed head of the Deputy Director.
"Y-you bastard...! How can a human do something so cruel?!"
The moment the Director caught the head in confusion, Yu-Han snapped his fingers.
The severed head exploded spectacularly.
Yu-Han had overloaded it with mana, turning it into a bomb ready to detonate at any moment.
"Tsk, tsk. Taking things from strangers without suspicion. Didn't your mother teach you better?"
However, when the smoke cleared, the Hwang-Ho Director was standing perfectly fine.
But his eyes were unfocused and hazy.
[Impressive, Yu-Han. To think you destroyed even a shabby agency like this so quickly.]
"That voice... Kim Je-Hyeon!? So the old grudge finally crawls back out..."
[Calling an elder by name... didn't your mother teach you manners? Ah, but of course, a factory-made product like you wouldn't have a mother! Kukhuh...!!]
"Anyway, you were controlling this human."
[Not just this one human. All the humans in this office are already under my domination! And not only this office. Humans scattered throughout Korea are already practically my puppets.]
"Congratulations on that. But why did you put a bounty on me?"
[I wanted to tell you this. Cooperate with me. Let us take this Korea into our hands.]
"...!"
Yu-Han was momentarily surprised, but he immediately became indifferent.
"Sorry, but this country has zero value to me."
[To refuse such a generous offer... An opportunity like this only comes once. Then instead, I shall grant you death.]
At that moment, the Director used magic to summon a stone golem.
Golem Magic, known to be used only by experts...
Kim Je-Hyeon was using that high-level magic through the body of the human he was controlling.
[Yu-Han, you had better be careful. Even a trash life from the bottom becomes different when I control it. After all, I used to be a sanctioner myself.]
Facing the Director and the Golem at the same time, Yu-Han began to feel that this might drag on longer than expected.
***
"Hey, you guys! You said you were gonna sell me to the underground auction! Why are ya tryin' to kill me now?!"
In the basement, Yi Rang shouted while struggling in her bonds.
The Hwang-Ho staff surrounded Yi Rang with unfocused eyes.
They, too, had long since been dominated by Kim Je-Hyeon.
"The plan has changed. The order is to destroy anything that could become evidence," one of the staff members said.
"No! My dream of livin' in luxury as a pet of a handsome oil prince!!"
"Hopeless bitch. True, you were never touched by the VIP's grace since the day you joined. That alone proves your mind was rotten from the start."
"No... that's too much..."
A Hwang-Ho staff member raised his sword high to decapitate Yi Rang, who was on the verge of tears.
But a carbon-coated blade thrown by someone struck his wrist, sending his weapon flying.
"You people! Release that woman immediately!" Alice shouted.
"Who the hell are you bastards?!"
Appearing before them were Alice in Combat AI Mode and Kim Ga-Eun in her monster form.
Yi Rang's face brightened upon seeing them.
"You... you guys came!! You actually came!!"
"Did you call them, you bitch!?" one of the enraged staff members shouted.
He slammed Yi Rang onto the floor and stomped on her face.
"Ack... Takin' it out on me won't help ya! Those guys are real monsters!"
Then Alice and Kim Ga-Eun rushed in, effortlessly blowing off heads one by one.
"I warned you," Alice said coldly.
"Alice C. It seems these guys were preparing for human trafficking here..." Ga-Eun said.
"That makes them absolute maggots, lower than monsters!!!"
In a rage, Alice began to swing the beam sword protruding from her wrist.
The technique Yu-Han had shown her, 'Death's Orbit', had drastically improved Alice's combat AI, allowing her to slaughter enemies efficiently with minimal force.
Although she couldn't use summoning magic, she took carbon-coated blades from her coat with her free hand and threw them, piercing enemies through the head.
As for Kim Ga-Eun?
She plunged tentacles into her opponents, causing countless spikes to sprout from within their bodies and burst them open.
It might be better not to describe the state of those corpses.
Finally, only Yi Rang remained, pale-faced and trembling.
"Th-thanks. But you ain't gonna kill me too, right? Huh?"
"Why are you so scared? Come on, let's get out of here!"
Freed from her bonds, Yi Rang followed the two out to the first floor.
At that moment, the ceiling shook and completely collapsed, bringing down the Golems, Yu-Han, and the Hwang-Ho Director.
The Director had summoned too many Golems during his fight with Yu-Han, and the structure could no longer withstand the load.
[Haha, dance until you die, Yu-Han!! Unless you kill the user, Golems are practically invincible!]
Kim Je-Hyeon boasted through the Director's mouth.
However, as soon as Yi Rang saw the Director's face, something inside her snapped.
She lunged at him.
It was Yi Rang in Furry Mode, completely enraged and charging fiercely.
"You bastard... How dare ya do that crap to me!!?"
Yi Rang's tiger fist landed cleanly on the Director's face, catching him completely off guard.
That fist, capable of bending steel pipes, literally pulverized his skull.
The Golems instantly turned into piles of stones and crumbled.
[Yu... Han... You will regret... making an enemy of me!!]
Kim Je-Hyeon's voice cut off after one final curse.
Alice retorted sarcastically.
"You said we'd be taking forever, but look who took the longest, huh?"
"...I just got incredibly unlucky, that's all."
***
After everything was over...
Back at the Center Yu-Han had founded.
"Kim Je-Hyeon seems to have been controlling everyone with Mind Control magic..." Yu-Han explained.
Yi Rang nodded as if realizing something.
"No wonder... Those guys kept leavin' me out of everything! I can't believe they were all being controlled..."
Alice asked with a puzzled look.
"But Yu-Han... why did you bring Yi Rang C? She fits in here so naturally."
"Hey! I didn't come 'cause I wanted to! That guy Yu-Han said he had somethin' to talk about!!"
"Indeed. I do have something to discuss."
Yu-Han smiled and pulled up a hologram screen.
There was a price settlement sheet.
The amount was over tens of millions of won.
Yi Rang instinctively felt a sense of foreboding.
"I took your request, so pay up."
"You jokin', right...? Where would I get that kinda money...? Didn't ya help me out of a righteous desire to fight human trafficking...?"
"As if. If you don't have money, pay with your body."
"What!? What the hell are ya sayin'...!"
Hearing the phrase 'pay with your body', Yi Rang blushed and imagined all sorts of lewd scenarios.
Regardless of her reaction, Yu-Han took out a contract from his pocket.
"What weird things are you thinking? I mean you'll work here until you pay off your debt."
"Ah, that's what ya meant? Phew..."
"If you understand, go clean the toilets."
"It's no different from before!!"
"When you're done, hang up the Center sign too. Got it?"
"Damn it!!"
In a corner of the Center, a square sign reading 'Cheong-Am (靑巖) Euthanasia Center' reflected the light and flashed...