A wide open lot.
The surroundings were surrounded by abandoned factory buildings covered in rusted steel frames and shattered glass windows.
Even the faint neon lights didn’t reach this place. Moonlight was the only illumination.
-Screeech
I stopped the bike and slowly dismounted.
When the engine noise died, the area became eerily quiet. Only the sound of rusted metal sheets swaying in the wind rang out regularly.
-Creak… creak….
And behind me, another bike came to a stop.
-Screeech
About twenty meters away.
I slowly turned around.
In the darkness, I could see a silhouette dismounting from a black bike.
A tight suit covering the entire body. The face was completely hidden by a helmet, but the figure alone made it clear it was a woman.
The opponent silently removed the helmet.
Orange hair fluttered in the wind.
It was Ren.
‘I knew she was targeting my family, so I deliberately avoided her… but she followed me all the way here.’
For the past few days, I’d felt Ren’s gaze. At school, on the streets, even near the house.
‘She’s come fully prepared.’
The quiet, well-behaved girl from Class E was gone.
What stood there was cold, sharp, and brimming with murderous intent.
I let out a sigh.
‘I wish I could’ve avoided this…’
But it was already too late.
“What business do you have following me?”
I asked as lightly as possible.
“…Baek Seoyoon.”
Her voice was low and calm, but it was filled with suppressed rage.
“I’ve been watching you constantly.”
“Really? I had no idea.”
“Answer me.”
Ren took one step forward.
“Why do you do such things?”
“What things?”
“Evil deeds.”
Orange mana began to ripple from her hand.
Flames rose between her fingers.
“Why do you people… do things like that!”
-Whoosh
The flames enveloped her entire hand.
The heat distorted the air.
I looked at her for a moment.
Ren wasn’t looking only at me.
In her eyes, it wasn’t Baek Seoyoon she saw—it was the Collector, Jin Seoyoon.
And beside him stood the illusion of Mirage.
“I don’t really remember going around doing bad things?”
I shrugged.
Honestly, as the current Baek Seoyoon, I hadn’t done much of note.
A few assassination requests on bad guys.
Stole a bike.
And panty theft.
‘There’s no reason for her to chase me this far over that.’
Ren’s rage wasn’t directed at the present me.
It was the sins of the past.
Twenty years ago, the crime I committed against her mother.
That was what had brought Ren here.
“You don’t?”
Ren’s voice trembled.
“You don’t know what your father did?!”
I didn’t answer.
Ren continued.
“Twenty years ago! Your father raped countless women! And among them…”
Her voice choked for a moment.
“…my mother was one of them.”
The wind blew.
“Kurosawa Sakura. My mother, who was once a noble lady of a prestigious family.”
Tears flowed from Ren’s eyes.
“Jin Seoyoon… that man broke into our home… and raped her.”
“……”
“And the result was me.”
Ren struck her own chest.
“A child born of rape! The existence that made my mother suffer nightmares every night!”
Her voice grew louder.
“Mom… tried so hard to love me. But every time she looked at me, she must have seen that man.”
Ren’s hand shook.
“And… five years ago, she took her own life.”
I remained silent.
I didn’t know what to say.
No—I did know.
But I couldn’t say it.
‘Because that’s what I did.’
Ren stared straight at me.
“And you. Baek Seoyoon.”
She took another step closer.
“You’re that man’s son. His blood runs through you.”
-Whoosh
The flames burned even larger.
“That’s why I’m asking. Why are you doing the exact same things!”
“The exact same things?”
“You’re following in his footsteps exactly! Treating women like tools! You have the blood of a villain flowing through you!”
Ren’s voice carried raw anger.
‘Ah.’
I understood.
In Ren’s eyes, my actions overlapped with the Collector’s.
A son repeating his father’s evil deeds.
‘How do I resolve this situation…?’
Ren thrust both hands forward. Flames roared violently from both palms.
I took one step back and lowered my stance.
‘Do I have to fight… my own daughter?’
Complicated emotions swirled inside me. But there was no choice.
Ren was already in an attacking stance.
“Baek Seoyoon!”
Ren shouted.
-Whoosh!
A massive fireball formed in her hand.
“You people have to suffer the same pain.”
“Ren, wait—”
“Baek Seoyoon. Today, right here… I’ll begin my revenge.”
The fireball flew toward me.
I quickly threw myself to the side.
-BOOM!
With an explosive sound, concrete fragments flew everywhere.
‘She’s seriously trying to kill me.’
I stood up and looked at Ren.
She was already preparing her next attack.
***
Lucas could only watch the fight between Baek Seoyoon and Ren in silence.
‘As a third party, I can’t interfere…’
More than that.
The monster behind him was far more terrifying.
“U-um… Baek Yeon-nim…?”
“What, fatass.”
‘Why does everyone keep calling me fatass…!’
But he couldn’t say that to Baek Yeon.
‘More importantly, why is this woman here…?’
“Fatass.”
Baek Yeon glanced at Lucas.
“Yes?”
“Wondering why I’m here?”
“N-no.”
He was actually curious, but showing curiosity to Baek Yeon felt like suicide.
“You should be wondering.”
Baek Yeon raised her hand and lightly drew it through the air.
In an instant, the wall right next to Lucas’s neck split open.
“Hiiik…! Y-yes, I’m curious!”
Lucas screamed and dropped to the floor.
“I came to warn you because it looked like you were treating Seoyoon like trash.”
“W-what do you mean…?”
Lucas pretended not to know.
But Baek Yeon’s eyes had already seen through everything.
“If you’re planning to use Seoyoon, don’t.”
Baek Yeon slowly approached Lucas.
Each footstep rang like his own heartbeat.
‘H-how did she know?’
It was true.
He had planned to pretend to get close to Baek Seoyoon, cooperate just enough, then stab him in the back.
“Guys like you are so obvious.”
Baek Yeon snorted.
“I-I had no such intention…”
“You’re useful to Seoyoon, so I’m letting you live. So…”
She lightly swung her hand again. The space around Lucas cracked in a grid pattern.
Walls, pillars, floor.
And two seconds later—
-Rumble! BOOM!
Part of the building collapsed entirely.
“……!!”
Lucas couldn’t close his mouth.
Five meters in front of where Baek Yeon stood.
That entire section had vanished.
Cleanly, precisely, like cutting tofu with a knife.
“Got it?”
“Y-yes!”
Lucas was drenched in cold sweat.
Baek Yeon.
On the surface, just a first-year Class A student at Neon Academy.
But according to the information Lucas had dug up from behind the scenes—
‘Officially B-class magical girl, but…’
Deep in the encrypted files hidden in the database.
They contained Baek Yeon’s real activity records.
Number of villains killed: 547.
Illegal corporate facilities destroyed: 21.
‘And all of them… without leaving a trace.’
Lucas had stumbled upon those files purely by luck.
A security level he normally could never access.
But he’d found a vulnerability by chance and gotten in—
‘And learned the identity of the monster called the Executioner.’
And when he realized the Executioner’s name was Baek Yeon, he immediately closed the file.
He felt like digging deeper would get him killed.
“I’m leaving. Behave yourself.”
“Yes! Please go ahead, noona!”
Lucas bowed at a perfect 90 degrees.
‘I survived…’
Cold sweat poured down his back.
He didn’t move until Baek Yeon’s footsteps had completely faded away.
***
Ren wasn’t just a simple mage.
‘Crazy… who the hell did she take after to be this good with a sword too…’
The explosive power of her flame magic was threatening enough, but what was truly terrifying was the sword she wielded herself.
Every time her flame-wreathed blade sliced through the air, sharp heat and killing intent poured out at once.
-Whoosh!
Ren’s body shot forward in a diagonal line.
‘Her reaction speed is insane…’
No matter how you looked at it, this wasn’t a normal human reaction speed.
‘Nerve acceleration implant.’
Ren spun once in midair and brought her sword crashing down toward my shoulder.
I blocked it quickly.
The shockwave from mana and steel clashing spread in all directions.
My arm tingled painfully.
‘If I take her lightly… I’m really fucked.’
For a moment, in Ren’s pupils, faint circuit patterns appeared in her irises.
‘Hyper optics too…’
As if predicting my next move, she read the angle of my sword and struck precisely.
Ren swiftly circled behind me and swung her blade at waist height in an instant.
I stepped back to evade.
But Ren didn’t let up.
-Whoosh!
A fireball formed in her left hand.
Simultaneous attack with sword and magic.
‘This… I can’t dodge!’
-BOOM!
An enormous wave of heat and shock blasted outward. I was thrown backward, rolling across the ground several times.
‘Ugh…’
My whole body felt numb. My arm was so numb it had lost sensation.
‘Subduing her without killing… is harder than I thought.’
For a brief moment, I looked up at the sky. Beyond the faded ceiling of the abandoned factory, a full moon shone faintly.
I closed my eyes.
Twenty years ago, I’d acted without a care, doing whatever I wanted. Now those deeds had come back as karma.
‘I have to end it myself.’
I opened my eyes again and looked at Ren, who was slowly approaching.
“Ren.”
“I have no intention of talking to you.”
I took a deep breath and slowly lowered the sword in my hand to the ground.
-Clang
The sword rolled across the ground with a metallic sound.
“What are you doing?!”
Ren shouted.
I struggled to my feet and bowed my head.
“I’m sorry.”
Ren’s expression froze for a moment.
“What?”
I spoke with as much sincerity as I could muster.
“I truly want to apologize. The pain you’ve endured, what happened to your mother—all of it is my crime.”
Ren couldn’t speak for a moment.
Flames still flickered at her fingertips, but her eyes were shaking.
“I don’t want to hear excuses.”
I nodded.
“I know. I don’t even have the right to make them.”
And quietly, I took one step forward.
Ren raised her sword.
“Don’t come closer!”
“Ren.”
“Shut up!”
But I didn’t stop.
One step. Another step.
Ren’s hand trembled.
“D-don’t come… I said don’t come!”
“Kill me.”
“……!”
“For your mother… kill me.”
“Are you insane…? What did you just say?”
“I said kill me.”
I puffed out my chest.
“Right here… my heart is. One strike is all it takes.”
Ren’s sword wavered.
“You think… I won’t be able to kill you if you say that!”
The tip of her blade pressed exactly against my heart.
A stinging sensation.
The feeling of skin tearing.
“I’m sorry. This is the best apology I can offer right now.”
“Why… are you… apologizing in his place…? Fight back… resist…”
Ren’s voice shook. The hand gripping the sword trembled. She needed to thrust deeper, but she couldn’t.
I took a deep breath.
“To tell you the truth… I’m not Baek Seoyoon.”
“What…?”
Ren’s gaze wavered.
“The man you hate… the one you need to kill… is me…”
“What are you saying…?”
“I am Jin Seoyoon.”
-BOOM!
In that instant, a massive fireball roared past right beside my face.