Chapter 14
Shadow (4)
Boom─!
At the same time as the thunderous roar, Inha kicked off the ground.
Using the explosion on the back of his blade as propulsion, he closed the distance in an instant.
“……!!!”
His sword strike stabbed forward in a single point, grazing Phantom’s earlobe.
Papat─!
The blade’s trajectory bent three times in succession, tracing the shape of lightning.
Phantom tried to retreat by stepping on shadows.
But Inha’s sword, scraping across the ground, flared like a flash and erased the shadows for a brief moment.
“What the…!”
Phantom’s foot was suddenly trapped.
Not missing the chance, Inha accelerated his blade, aiming for Phantom’s throat.
Cheng─!
As if refusing to yield so easily, a dagger shot out of the shadows and knocked the sword’s trajectory off course.
It was a split-second response, throwing a dagger into the shadow.
The blade grazed Phantom’s hair as she ducked her head.
Then, like a spring, Phantom bounced up.
Whir─ Tak─!
Snatching the dagger that had been spinning in the air after colliding with the sword, she swung it down.
At that moment─
Boom──!!
Inha’s blade burst with blue light.
An explosion so large it shook the entire abandoned factory.
Amidst the dust that spread like fog, a silhouette exhaled deeply.
“……Hoo.”
Phantom, barely escaping the blast zone by stepping on shadows, had tense eyes.
And then, at the end of her gaze, Inha emerged, cutting through the mist with his sword.
Sehyun, who had been watching the fight, swallowed his breath.
Inha’s eyes looked strange.
The focus was blurry, as though he wasn’t conscious.
‘The state of selflessness….’
Literally intoxicated by the sword.
Since the artifact was based on Inha’s imagination, his compatibility with it was high, and it seemed he was being overwhelmed by it.
“What are you?”
Phantom’s eyes sparkled with new interest in Inha.
“At this point…… I kind of want to show my true self too, you know?”
“……”
A lethal aura swirled and clashed in the space between them.
It was a true duel, with no retreat possible.
The kind where one of them had to meet their end.
As Sehyun broke into cold sweat at the tension, it happened.
Creak──
“Hey Phantom. It’s the agreed time.”
Some men barged in through the factory doors.
Sehyun instinctively hid himself.
“Don’t tell me the hostage got hurt? We told you to just keep the target restrained. If you don’t stick to contract terms, it’s a problem.”
“Hm, contract terms, huh….”
Phantom withdrew her aura and slid the dagger back into her belt.
“About that. Tell your team leader the contract is void.”
“What? What nonsense is this….”
“The nonsense is on my side.”
She tilted her head toward Inha.
“You never said the hostage was a Player, did you? The whole premise is wrong from the start.”
While the men looked flustered, Phantom casually walked over and sat on a chair.
“From now on, you can fry or boil each other for all I care. Okay?”
“……”
One of them asked his senior.
“Sir, what’s going on? Did you hear anything from the team leader…?”
“How should I know? All I was told was to make sure Phantom doesn’t screw around.”
Waving his hand like it was nothing, the man walked up.
“At the end of the day, it’s just a freshly awakened rookie. What’s there to be scared of? Let’s just restrain her and finish this.”
He grabbed Inha’s shoulder roughly.
“Hey. Be nice and stay still when I’m asking you poli—”
Boom──!!!
With a huge explosion, the man flew into the air.
Thud──
Rolling on the ground in a pitiful state, he left the others pale as death.
“Keheheh… Hahaha!!! This is priceless, seriously!!”
Phantom’s booming laughter shattered the frozen atmosphere.
The man, who hadn’t lost consciousness, staggered back up and shouted through clenched teeth.
“Grab her!! It’s just one person!!”
“People who say that never end well, you know?”
“Shut it, Phantom!!”
Everyone summoned their stellar power.
‘Even if they’re from the Management Team, they’re still Foundation. Prideful bastards, huh.’
Even if they were a downgraded team, they were still Players directly under the Foundation.
Each of them was skilled.
Normally, a newly awakened Chae Inha had no chance against them.
The outcome should’ve been obvious, but for some reason Phantom was watching with excitement.
And as if to reward her anticipation—
The scene unfolding before their eyes defied all expectations.
Paaang─!
Propelled by explosive force, Inha charged and swung her sword.
“Kh!”
The Management team members hastily retreated out of its path.
They were momentarily startled by the sudden attack, but none had been harmed.
But that was only the beginning.
Sarak──
The sound of long robes brushing.
Then the sword sliced the air, striking fiercely again and again.
Like a dance possessed by a god, the swordplay stole their gaze.
Chwaaak─!
“Graaagh!”
The blade’s path curved like flowing water, leaving sword marks across the space.
And it didn’t end with one strike, but continued endlessly.
It looked less like sword strikes and more like an artful dance.
Graceful yet sharp, irregular yet ordered…
Paaang──!!!
Another explosion from the sword’s back added power to its form.
Even after cutting down several of them, Inha’s blade didn’t lose momentum.
The Management team was swallowed up by the sword dance and fell one by one, without being able to fight back properly.
“Hmmm… as I thought….”
A smile crept onto Phantom’s lips.
A black car stopped in front of the abandoned factory.
Kael got out first, tilting his head.
“It’s too quiet.”
“Then it’s one of two things. Phantom wrapped things up cleanly, or else…”
‘Something went wrong.’
Rachel, stepping out after him, narrowed her eyes at the factory.
This operation had been designed to reveal and capture Nam Sehyun’s true identity.
The Yoo Taehoon incident, followed by Choi Sungcheol’s case.
Nam Sehyun, suspected of being Outplayer No. 151, was tied to both incidents, but too many details were oddly missing.
‘Right, this is the same feeling I had when I first checked the wave.’
At first glance, he was suspicious enough to be the prime suspect in Taehoon’s case, but leaving it vague wasn’t acceptable.
‘Evidence is key.’
So Rachel had decided to use Chae Inha.
Stage a kidnapping, then intervene under the pretense of covering up the involvement of an “ordinary civilian.”
They were counting on Sehyun to appear, and once he did, they’d capture and question him.
It was tedious, but as a Management team, suspicion alone wasn’t enough grounds for investigation.
“So that’s why you put those conditions?”
“Exactly. Inha witnessing the scene herself is the cornerstone of this plan. At minimum, she can be summoned as a witness.”
The contract with Phantom stipulated she had to use her powers, making Inha an ordinary bystander who witnessed them.
That gave the Management team justification to question everyone present.
Naturally, that included Nam Sehyun.
“If he’s a Player, then it’s even more necessary. If he’s not, we can still summon him for questioning.”
A double trap with no escape.
‘This time, we’ll uncover his identity for sure.’
Rachel pushed away the smile that had crept onto her lips and opened the factory door.
Creak─!
But there was no need to hide her expression.
“T-team… leader….”
Thud──
One of her men collapsed in front of her, exhaling weakly.
He was one of the members she had dispatched here.
Rachel scanned the surroundings in shock and saw her team strewn everywhere.
And at the center of it stood none other than Chae Inha, whom they had kidnapped as bait.
“What the….”
Phantom, lounging with her chin in her hand, waved at Rachel.
“You… what are you doing there!!”
“Didn’t you hear? The contract’s void.”
“Void? What nonsense is—”
“Even after seeing that, you still say nonsense?”
Phantom pointed at Inha.
From her bluish-red blade radiated a vivid, powerful stellar force.
“You didn’t know the hostage was a Player? That’s sloppy, Management princess.”
“……”
It made no sense.
When they first met her at the scene, she hadn’t shown the slightest trace of stellar power.
‘Players can’t just be made after the fact….’
Awakening was simply realizing the star one was born with.
You couldn’t manifest a star that wasn’t there.
Rachel bit her lip hard, frustration boiling.
Everything was ruined.
The plan had hinged entirely on Inha being an ordinary person.
Now that she was a Player, the plan collapsed.
She now fell under the principle of “non-interference in conflicts between Players.”
‘…The plan’s wrecked. But for now, I need to clean up the situation.’
Rachel walked toward the dazed-looking Inha and forced a calm smile.
“Inha, I’m Rachel Adams, from the Foundation’s Management Department. We’ve met before.”
“……Ah.”
Inha slowly regained focus and looked around at the people lying unconscious.
“What… what happened here?”
Rachel ground her teeth.
She wanted answers more than anyone.
But she had to hide the truth—that these were her own team members.
To Inha, they had to appear only as unknown assailants.
The Management team had to seem like they were only here to protect her.
“Since you just awakened, I’m sure it’s overwhelming. Don’t worry, we’ll handle the aftermath.”
Rachel handed her a business card.
Unlike the “Adams Foundation” cover card she had given before, this one was an official Management Division card.
“When you’re ready, please contact us anytime. We’ll do everything possible to ensure your safety.”
Rachel turned away from Inha without hesitation.
“Kael. Clean this up quickly and let’s get out.”
“…Yes, ma’am.”
There was nothing they could do now.
Their intervention was only justified if information about Players leaked to the public.
And as this was Rachel’s operation, there were no other witnesses except for Inha, who was supposed to have been an ordinary civilian.
Joining the community wasn’t mandatory either.
‘But eventually, she’ll come to us on her own.’
The isolation.
The loneliness of suddenly being different from normal people.
Every newly awakened Player felt it.
Unable to share the truth with anyone, most would eventually give in and join the Foundation’s community.
After all, humans were not meant to live alone.
“Quite the neat excuse. Did you know it’d fall apart beforehand?”
“……”
“Oh, and don’t forget the penalty fee. I’ll be waiting~.”
……Of course, there were exceptions like Outplayers.
“Let’s go.”
Rachel gathered her men, pretending to take them into custody, and left the factory.
“Heheh… Hahaha!!!! Look at that bastard’s face. This night keeps getting better.”
After the Management team left, Phantom burst out laughing.
“What the hell have you been up to, that the princess herself is so interested in you?”
“What? I haven’t done anything. They’re the ones clinging to me.”
Sehyun stepped out from the shadows.
Phantom snorted.
“Pfft, ‘haven’t done anything’? You say that even after this?”
Inha stood blankly, bewildered.
Only when Sehyun took her hand did she slowly focus her gaze.
“Sehyun… I…”
“I’ll explain everything later. For now, just calm yourself.”
“…Okay.”
As Sehyun soothed her, he looked toward Phantom.
“So why didn’t you fight seriously?”
“Eh? I always fight seriously.”
Phantom shrugged, like she didn’t understand the question.
Inha’s performance, unbelievable for a first awakening, was still nowhere near Phantom’s level.
The way she said she was just “playing” earlier, it was clear the contract had always been secondary.
“Well, if I had to give a reason…”
Phantom grinned wide.
“You two are just too damn entertaining.”
“…What?”
“One of you has eyes like someone who’s already died once.”
Her gaze shifted from Sehyun to Inha.
“And the other, right after awakening, actually startled me for a moment. How could that not be fun?”
Phantom had always been unpredictable.
But she was strict about contracts, so from what she said earlier, it seemed the problem lay there.
On top of that, her curiosity had been piqued. That explained her attitude.
‘If I play this right, maybe there’s an opening….’
“Hey, Phantom.”
“Mm?”
“How about I give you a request?”
“Seriously? I’m pricey, you know~?”
Don’t worry.
The payment will be worth it.
Because it’s something unique in this world.
Sehyun smiled with confidence.
