ABFR 11

Chapter 11

2. The Genre Novel Writer and the Man Inside the Novel

The whole area began to grow noisy. It seemed that even the people who had not understood the situation until now were finally realizing what was happening and beginning to evacuate.

As long as Rayleigh Kraha was in this area, this place was probably the safest. But there was no way to convince the other people of that and make them stay nearby.

With no other choice, I sat in the driver’s seat of Rayleigh’s car and continued searching as hard as I could.

Then, at some point, I realized that among all the areas where gates had opened, this place, Sinchon, was receiving breaking news in real time.

Apparently, there had been a broadcasting station nearby that was about to film a program, so they were immediately transmitting the footage.

I brought up the footage of the scene on one side of the screen and continued checking the news between Yeongdeungpo and Guro along the routes that would be easy to reach quickly after passing through the Sinchon downtown area.

Perhaps because gates had opened all along the route, including near the National Assembly Building, the military immediately went into a wartime posture.

Articles continued to appear saying that fighter jets, soldiers, and police officers were being urgently dispatched to dangerous areas.

I glanced at the footage from Sinchon once again.

I didn’t know whether it was because there were too many simultaneous viewers or because the nearby data network had become unstable. The video was taking quite a while to load.

While Rayleigh went around the nearby bloody areas first, I figured out the approximate locations of the gates and began marking the areas I had discovered on a screenshot of the map.

“Hey, the closest place is Sinchon. After that, I think we should move toward Yeongdeungpo and Guro. Can you move quickly? You can come back by car if you want.”

—I’m faster than a car. From Sinchon through Yeongdeungpo to Guro. Understood.

That was a statement that really didn’t sound human at all, but at this moment, he was definitely more reliable than anyone else.

“From what I can see, there are problems all the way from Sinchon to Guro, and another problem stretching from Gangnam to Jamsil. But getting from here to Gangnam or Jamsil will probably be difficult. Besides, it looks like there is at least one combat-capable person fighting well in Gangnam, so let’s deal with the closest places first.”

—Have you found anyone else who seems to have an unusual ability?

“Not yet…….”

It was at that moment, while I was giving him an ambiguous answer, that the Sinchon video, which had been showing nothing but a loading screen until then, finally started.

I glanced at the footage and immediately frowned.

“Go to Sinchon Station.”

—The station? The above-ground station?

“The underground station. Just as you were worried.”

The footage showed the streets of Sinchon as if an ice age had arrived.

Standing in the middle of it was a young-looking male student, probably a freshman, wearing a university jacket despite the situation being so chaotic.

His panic could be felt even through the screen.

He was freezing everything that came close to him. Because of that, he wasn’t actually contributing to the fight at all. Rather, he was preventing the people around him from moving.

The incident had started so suddenly that he had not even had time to hide his face. As a result, angry netizens had already exposed all of his personal information.

If he had simply been an ordinary person, he probably wouldn’t have been cursed at this much. But he was displaying a strange ability that essentially made him look like a ‘superpowered person,’ while being completely unable to control it.

Well, anyone who could properly control a strange ability that suddenly appeared would probably be quite amazing.

Unfortunately, wasn’t his situation far too different from the ‘Gangnam Live’ footage?

People who had expected a hero were pouring out everything they could say, whether they should say it or not, at that student.

On top of that, he was incredibly unlucky.

A live video filmed by a fairly large broadcasting station was being uploaded to the internet. It probably wouldn’t be easy for him to live his life normally from now on.

[What’s wrong with that bastard?]

[Ah, seriously, what the hell. How many people are going to die while he’s doing that? Does he have no common sense?]

[If he keeps doing that, he’ll survive. He’s selfish.]

[If you’re going to use your ability like that, just give it to me. You idiot.]

You think you could use it properly?

Without realizing it, I narrowed my eyes into a triangle before letting out a deep sigh.

He’s going to suffer from guilt a lot later…….

[He’s a first-year student at Seran University, Park Hee-gyeom. From Asan. He was an unlucky bastard even in high school.]

[What a pathetic bastard, seriously.]

As expected, the viewers were once again quickly digging up the identity of the extraordinary person on the screen.

Seriously, stop already.

I rubbed the space between my eyebrows, which I had unconsciously wrinkled, and finally relaxed my expression before calmly speaking to Rayleigh.

“It looks like he has an ability to control ice. He can’t control it himself, so it’s not helping in the fight. Instead, other people are being put in danger. He seems to be panicking right now, so knock him out lightly before he causes an even bigger accident.”

—Understood.

The moment Rayleigh answered, I heard a loud bang from through the phone.

Startled, I immediately raised my head.

“I’ll hang up for now. Once I finish the map showing roughly where the gates opened, I’ll send it to you by text, so use it as a reference.”

—I will clear out everything around Ajin first, then move straight toward Sinchon Station. If necessary, you may leave the car.

“Okay.”

The call ended.

I continued checking the locations of the gates on the map. Then I raised my head and once again saw a line of people evacuating through the car window, stretching out like a scene from a movie.

Once again, I felt an indescribable distance from reality.

“Oops, oops.”

The counselor told me not to do this.

I hurriedly lowered my gaze back to the map and continued working.

I had been fine recently…….

For some reason, I felt nauseous.

I first turned off the blacked-out ‘Gangnam Live’ footage and left only the Sinchon footage at the top of the screen as I began filling the map with marks.

Just in case, I also roughly mapped the gates in Jamsil and Gangnam.

I hadn’t figured out the locations of every single gate, so I couldn’t be certain. But at a glance, it seemed as though the lines of the gates were connected in a half-moon-shaped arc in each area.

Just as I began thinking that Rayleigh would probably be able to find the remaining gates himself, a loud electrical discharge suddenly came from the footage.

The host, who had been hiding behind the broadcasting station’s camera while screaming nonstop and occasionally sobbing that he had no idea what was happening, let out a terrified cry.

The distant sky outside the car window flashed brightly.

Then a tremendous bolt of lightning struck the middle of Sinchon on the screen.

The vibration was strong enough to shake the ground even inside the car.

Since it wasn’t very far away, I could even see that enormous bolt of lightning with my own eyes.

The people who had been running in every direction froze in place as if they had been turned to ice, staring in one direction before falling into collective panic.

I guessed that Rayleigh had started clearing out the area around Sinchon Station by striking it with lightning first, but the people who didn’t know what was going on seemed to be overcome by the fear that an even greater threat might be coming.

Even inside the car, I instinctively hunched my body and carefully watched the footage around Sinchon Station.

The video, which had briefly stopped, finally resumed.

By then, most of the strange situation around Sinchon Station had already been dealt with.

I saw Rayleigh on the screen quickly knocking out the male student from earlier.

I took another screenshot of the map, now covered in X marks, and sent it to Rayleigh.

Apparently, the communication network really was in bad condition, because it took quite a while for the text to be sent.

While the message repeatedly failed and tried to send again, I carefully watched what was happening on the screen.

I wanted to make sure Rayleigh had properly hidden his identity.

Fortunately, other than his distinctive, remarkably large build that clearly made him look like a non-civilian, there was nothing particularly noticeable.

Well, he was noticeable in another sense, but at least it seemed difficult for someone who didn’t know him to immediately realize that the man was Rayleigh Kraha.

He was wearing a black suit with a long coat over it, and on top of that, he was wearing a black helmet that was completely out of place.

To be honest, he looked like a villain.

If I had to be more specific, he looked like the mastermind of the villains.

When the photo finally went through, I hurriedly sent another text.

[Hey, you look way too suspicious.]

[Anyone who sees you is going to think you’re the leader of some evil organization.]

At that moment, the sturdy villain dressed entirely in black from head to toe on the screen pulled out his cell phone.

In the middle of the ice-covered streets of Sinchon, he had knocked out the aforementioned male student, who probably looked much more like a hero to other people, with an electric discharge and casually tossed him onto the sidewalk.

Then he stared at his cell phone and calmly began replying.

I was horrified and sent another text before he could finish his reply.

[Hey! You crazy bastard! Is this really the time to be replying to texts? Forget it and do your job.]

Unfortunately, his reply arrived at exactly the same moment.

[Are you watching the footage? As long as Ajin doesn’t misunderstand me, that is fine.]

[Okay, so do your job.]

Only after sending another text did the black villain on the screen nonchalantly put away his phone.

He casually grabbed a monster that was trying to approach him and flung it toward an area where there were no people.

The monster crashed into the ground with a loud noise and struggled before barely managing to stand.

Then a bright blue bolt of lightning struck directly down onto it.

The monster quickly fell silent.

—W-Who could that be? Could he truly be a hero of justice?

It was at that moment that the broadcasting host’s hopeful, trembling voice could faintly be heard through the screen.

The fearless host rushed toward Rayleigh.

He must have instinctively realized that the immediate threat had disappeared. Perhaps because of that, he felt some kind of responsibility or duty to get an explanation from the man who seemed to know what was happening.

—Excuse me, are you……?

But the black villain only glanced at the broadcasting host.

Without answering, he casually stretched out a hand and dealt with the monster approaching him before beginning to walk away with large strides.

His attitude was almost as if he regarded humans as nothing more than dust.

—Do you perhaps know anything about this situation? If so, could you please explain even just a little…….

It was at that moment.

Rayleigh turned toward the host with an irritated look.

Then, from behind his pitch-black helmet, he slightly tilted his head and raised his index finger in front of his helmet with his hand covered by a black leather glove.

It was a quiet and polite-looking gesture.

But if you thought about it, it simply meant:

Shut up.

Then he ignored everything else and casually waved his hand.

This time, there was no doubt what the gesture meant.

Get lost.

Rayleigh continued to ignore the host as he beat down the monsters nearby.

As soon as he finished the job, he quickly left the area.

He seemed to be heading to the next location.

“…….”

I definitely didn’t need to worry about Rayleigh’s safety or anything like that, but…….

I’m sorry. I’m sorry.

I’m really sorry for messing around and bringing a guy like that back into this world by recycling him.

Even after calmly darkening my phone screen, I kept looking at the footage because I was worried about the male student lying unconscious in the middle of Sinchon.

Not long afterward, the broadcasting host gave up on chasing Rayleigh Kraha, approached the student, asked if he was okay, and helped him stand.

Only then did I feel relieved and turn off the screen.