Choi Ji-Ho wanted to clear up the situation. In fact, judging from the Jin siblings’ choices and Yu-Seong’s behavior, his test had gone far beyond the level of ‘acceptable.’ He felt like it was still not enough even if he gave Yu-Seong an additional gift as an apology. Of course, he didn’t expect that Yu-Seong would forgive him after Ji-Ho had stirred his heart up like this and made him feel awfully desperate. In fact, Ji-Ho would be pleased enough if Yu-Seong didn’t go all-out in anger.

With this thought, Ji-Ho pushed the wheelchair forward with his quick hands. For some reason, he felt somewhat uneasy watching Yu-Seong pushing a stone knife into his own neck.

‘He wouldn’t actually have the intention to die. But… What if things go wrong?’ 

Ji-Ho suddenly opened his perpetually closed eyes. In the pure white eyes, where no black pupils were left, the scenery around him was reflected very clearly. A lake of red blood stained his view and Yu-Seong was falling in vain. Looking on, Baek Cheol roared in surprise. It sounded like a scream. From the eyes of the wolf that jumped over the moonlight, blood tears flowed.

“…?!” Ji-Ho trembled as he quickly closed his eyes.

‘Oh, my gosh.’ 

Ji-Ho’s clairvoyance was not an ability that would only activate when he wanted it to. Sometimes, when he thought deeply about someone, a short but intense vision could show up like this. The process was completely unknown to him, but the results he had seen were extremely terrible.

‘Choi Yu-Seong. You vicious brat!’ 

After activating his future-seeing eye, Ji-Ho shivered from the painful and chilly coldness. It felt even more freezing than the north wind. However, he had no time to hesitate.

“Cough…!” Ji-Ho threw up blood that stained his white clothes. He activated Wind Control and lifted his body into the air. There wasn’t enough time for him to try reaching Yu-Seong by rolling the wheelchair.

‘There’s…not much time left!’ 

For Choi Ji-Ho, it was a night when he felt extraordinarily frustrated with his body, which was different from how it used to be.

***

In order for Do-Yoon to get out of the building safely and quickly, Baek Cheol’s men had to retreat.

“That threat no longer works, young master.” However, Baek Cheol was somewhat laid back despite Yu-Seong’s threats. He continued, “Put the knife down. I know you do not intend to die anyway. Haven’t I been fooled once already?”

Instead of answering, Yu-Seong showed a smile. Then, he brought the sharply pointed stone knife deeper into his neck, feeling the burning pain. Now it wasn’t just a sting anymore but he couldn’t hesitate if he planned to save Yu-Ri.

‘Skill, Insight activate.’ Blue energy bloomed in Yu-Seong’s eyes. It would be foolish to save his skills worrying about the usage limit when facing an S-rank hunter like Baek Cheol.

Baek Cheol wriggled his thick eyebrows and looked directly into Yu-Seong’s eyes, which were lit with blue flames.

“It’s a skill called Insight. It allows me to predict the opponent’s movements in advance. It’s on a level that can’t even be compared to the vision-reinforcement skill. I hope you don’t judge recklessly.”

It was usually rare for hunters to reveal their own abilities during a fight. Most abilities inherently had strengths and weaknesses. Moreover, an excellent hunter could predict movements and behavior patterns just by knowing their opponent’s abilities. Therefore, it was taboo for a hunter to reveal their abilities unless having a good enough relationship to entrust their life to the other.

However, Yu-Seong revealed some information about the blue flames—his Insight skill—that Baek Cheol had doubts about. He hoped that this would somewhat limit Baek Cheol’s choice of action.

‘In fact, there’s no way I can predict the moves of an S-rank hunter who is trying his best no matter how powerful Insight is.’

Of course, it would actually become possible as Yu-Seong’s rank and abilities developed. As always, deceit was a mixture of truth and lies.

“Young master, do you really think I’ll believe your words?”

“Do not sound me out. I know you tried to hit me by kicking the rock on the floor just now, right? This is the first and last warning. Call your men back.”

And fortunately, Yu-Seong could at least read the movements that were careful and slow.

A smile appeared on Baek Cheol’s lips.

At that moment, Yu-Seong was convinced that his deceit had worked and smiled as well.

‘What an amazing man.’ 

Baek Cheol was feeling impressed, despite trying to hide it. During the conversation with Yu-Seong, he glanced away and took a step back from the two while confirming the location of Do-Yoon, who was ready to jump up at any time.

‘How should I do this?’ 

Baek Cheol’s worries deepened. With a small test, he realized that Yu-Seong’s Insight was as powerful as he said. On the other hand, Baek Cheol was now certain that Yu-Seong had no intention of dying.

‘There’s no way someone this thorough would take his own life so easily.’ 

Now, Baek Cheol seemed to have a grasp on Yu-Seong’s character. The young master was cool-headed, calculating, and had never suffered a loss. Baek Cheol had encountered several people like this. A common personality type in the Comet Group. If there were some differences between them and Yu-Seong, it would be the innate bloodline and the inherent charisma, namely, dignity.

‘He is the villainous hero of the era.’ 

Baek Cheol couldn’t help but be prepared for an unexpected possibility. As if he had concluded his contemplation, Baek Cheol loosened his stance to run toward Yu-Seong at any time. He then placed his hand into his inner pocket.

Yu-Seong furrowed his eyebrows when he saw Baek Cheol’s movement, but no longer pressed the stone against his throat.

Baek Cheol pulled out the wireless communicator with a smile, pressed the reception button, and opened his mouth. “Test test, this is Alpha. Omega, withdraw everyone.”

— Omega, proceed to withdraw.

— Withdraw.

Several voices were heard one after another over the communicator. As if to reassure the young master, Baek Cheol raised both arms toward Yu-Seong. “Is this enough?”

Yu-Seong nodded instead of answering. At the same time, Do-Yoon, who was standing back, jumped high into the sky. It was at that moment when Yu-Seong’s Insight showed Baek Cheol throwing the communicator in his hand, like a surprise attack, just as he was feeling relieved.

 ‘You dare…!’ 

When Yu-Seong frowned at that, a small piece of stone flew rapidly across his vision.

‘It’s fake…!’ 

It was a trick. Baek Cheol had merely moved his shoulder as if he were about to throw the communicator. It took advantage of the fact that a person’s eyes had no choice but to see what was flying toward them first. Due to this fact, Baek Cheol had picked exactly the right moment to strike.

Choi Yu-Seong looked at the flying stone and thought, ‘If I get hit by that stone here…’ 

He would lose the stone knife he was holding onto. The result after that was obvious. He would be overwhelmed by Baek Cheol and the escaping Do-Yoon would also be surrounded. It was all going to be over.

‘It can’t be like that.’ 

Yu-Seong had promised to save Yu-Ri. He couldn’t give up. If so, would he really risk his life and actually stab himself? Of course, he didn’t want to do that.

‘I want to live.’ 

Yu-Seong wanted to live somehow. That was why he had been enduring all this time. He had to come up with a way in a short time. Yu-Seong’s mind spun wildly. Baek Cheol would truly panic if he died, and this was an undisputed fact. That meant that pretending to be dead could also be effective. He could buy time for Do-Yoon and Yu-Ri to run away. Of course, if he was to fake his own death, he couldn’t half-ass it.

‘I’ll be in quite a lot of pain, but…there might be a way.’ 

Yu-Seong wracked his brain like crazy and decided to let the flying stone hit him first. Of course, this would also be very painful, but that pain was negligible compared to the pain that would follow.

Just as Yu-Seong had made his decision, the stone thrown by Baek Cheol hit his wrist. Yu-Seong deliberately turned his right wrist so that the stone knife faced down to the left. With superhuman grit, Yu-Seong withstood the pain and used the force of the hit to point his improvised knife at his own chest, aiming at the upper left side.

‘Because the human heart is lower than most people think, I’m not actually going to die.’ 

However, there would be a lot of blood. And from the standpoint of an observer, it was bound to be a big surprise. Obviously, Yu-Seong would be in great pain, since he would have a knife in his chest. He even got ready to bite the tip of his tongue to cope with the burning sensation.

‘It’s no good if there’s not enough blood…’ 

Choi Yu-Seong was about to execute his own meticulous plan of faking death. When Baek Cheol saw through what he was doing, he darted at Yu-Seong with a surprised look in his eyes. Harsh energy swirled up as the wind tore through the gap between Baek Cheol and Yu-Seong.

In an instant, the wind shattered the stone knife that Yu-Seong was holding onto. The stone knife crumbled into powder.

‘My gosh!’ 

Yu-Seong was briefly surprised. The wind energy was definitely strong, but it only destroyed the stone knife and left no injury on his body. The skill of handling the energy was surprisingly precise and made him feel goosebumps.

‘Who the hell is it?’ 

Yu-Seong did not have to search for the answer to the question. A hand paler than white jade flew in from where the wind had gone and snatched Yu-Seong’s wrist. The owner of the hand, a young man with his eyes closed, was facing Yu-Seong with an angry look on his face. The opponent had his eyes closed, but Yu-Seong felt like he was clearly looking at him.

‘Choi Ji-Ho.’ 

It was his first time meeting the man, but Yu-Seong could easily tell who he was. The man’s soft, smiling face—unlike the facial expression he had now—came to his mind as a very vague memory of the past… Yu-Seong felt strange as Ji-Ho’s caring and tender image in his memory overlapped with Ji-Ho’s current red face full of anger.

“You insolent guy. Who told you to treat your life so recklessly?!” Choi Ji-Ho yelled fiercely.