Chapter 152 : The Twins

Leaping across the rooftops of buildings, the boy glanced back.

“Damn it. What the hell is that!”

It wasn't unreasonable for him to shout like that.

Ho-cheol was now chasing right behind them.

A difference of only a couple of buildings.

The distance between them, which had been so vast, had narrowed to that extent.

He wasn't particularly fast, nor did his jumps surpass theirs in distance.

But the distance was shrinking rapidly, as if time itself was flowing faster for Ho-cheol.

“Damn it. They told us we were invincible!”

The boy recalled what he had heard in the laboratory.

The doctor in charge of the twins had said that the human body was a vessel, and a Trait was its contents.

Although there were individual differences, an ordinary human's limits were clear, and the capacity they could hold was, at most, one Trait.

But they were superior by birth, and the size of their vessel was said to be hundreds of times that of other ordinary awakened ones.

Meaning, they could hold multiple Traits in one body, and even now, they were steadily accumulating Traits.

The doctor had explained that they were a new species of humanity, literally, and would become the strongest beings.

But what was that thing?

He had fought many things through tests in the laboratory.

He had experienced several defeats so far.

But those defeats were simply due to a lack of practical experience or a problem with Trait proficiency.

In terms of sheer power, they had always been superior.

Even if they lost, it was only their current selves, and he had the confidence that if they fought again, they would surely win someday, so the boy did not take his defeats seriously.

But the thing that was chasing right behind him was different.

A monster that overwhelmed them with sheer power alone.

Not only now, but even if they had ten more Traits, he didn't think he could win.

“Why the hell are we running away!”

Unlike the boy, the girl, who had almost no sensory traits, could not understand the current escape at all.

There were a few beings who could defeat them one-on-one, but two-on-one was a completely different story.

To be so scared of something like that and still act like he's the older brother.

See, I'm the older sister!

Yet the boy didn't even have the leeway to explain.

“Shut up, you idiot! Just run!”

And most importantly.

The expressionless Ho-cheol, closing the distance, was like a scene from a horror movie.

And at some point, when he looked back, Ho-cheol was gone.

The boy muttered in relief.

“What. Did we shake him off?”

“No.”

“Heoheoheoheok!”

The boy was horrified by the voice that came from behind his head.

Ho-cheol, who had climbed up the outer wall of the building, blocked their path.

“Hoo.”

He let out a long sigh and placed his hands on his lower back.

“It's good to be young. Hopping and skipping around so well.”

Unlike the completely overwhelmed boy, the girl smiled triumphantly and entered a battle stance.

“What are you so scared of! You idiot! Stay behind, this big sister will kill him right away!”

In contrast to the boy, who had focused his Traits on external functions rather than pure combat power, the girl had exponentially increased her individual combat power.

She bent her waist and lowered her body.

Patsjjeujjeut—

With the sound of crackling electricity, the girl's hair began to float slightly.

Sparks flew and flashed around her body, which was clad in electricity.

Elasticity + Electric Power + Space Compression.

The attack through the combination of these three Traits was singular.

A simple body slam.

But its power, which surpassed even the speed of sound, was on a level that couldn't even be compared to that of an S-rank.

Yet the target of the attack, Ho-cheol, showed little reaction.

He just stood there in a defenseless posture, looking back and forth between the twins.

For the girl, it was a welcome complacency.

Kwaang—!

The moment her body shot forward as if exploding.

Ho-cheol reached out and placed his index finger on the girl's forehead.

And the girl's body stopped.

The girl also belatedly realized that something was seriously wrong.

Even though she had been stopped before reaching her top speed, with just a single finger.

The current situation, where she couldn't move an inch, felt like an illusion.

Ho-cheol chuckled at the tingling sensation he felt at the tip of his finger.

“A Trait that creates static electricity. Quite scary in the winter.”

He had belittled its power, which could even wrap itself in lightning, as mere static electricity.

Yet she couldn't refute it.

To Ho-cheol, who was receiving it, the two would not be that different.

He lightly pushed the girl's forehead with his index finger.

The girl stepped back, rubbing her forehead where a small bruise had formed.

“Get behind me!”

“Says the weak one!”

The boy extended one arm to cover the girl's body.

Conversely, the girl also extended her arm to block the boy's body.

A posture of protecting each other.

Seeing that, Ho-cheol asked.

“You’re not attacking anymore?”

The boy squeezed one eye shut.

A recently acquired Trait, ‘Scenario.’

If he thought of an action he was about to take, he could see the future 30 seconds after that action.

A top-tier trait even among future prediction types.

And the 7 ‘scenarios’ he had put in this time were all scenes of him and his sister attacking Ho-cheol together.

He could find out the opponent's weaknesses, openings, and best moves without any risk.

And in all 7 futures.

Not only himself, but also his sister, were rolling on the ground, spitting up blood miserably.

And Ho-cheol was still standing there firmly.

It wasn't just being hit once.

His future self, who had fallen, had all his limbs torn off.

His sister's eyes had been gouged out.

Not just one or two, but all the futures where he had attacked him had such an end.

The boy's body swayed greatly.

It was a problem that came before the difference in power or winning and losing.

He slowly lowered his arm.

Even if he had a regeneration Trait, he was not so foolish or belligerent as to attack after seeing that.

He also removed his sister's hand that was blocking his front and took a step forward.

The boy stood between Ho-cheol and his sister and raised both arms.

“Surrender.”

Then he added one more thing.

“You can kill me, but please just let my sister go.”

“Hey! What are you talking about! And I’m the older sister!”

Ho-cheol did not answer.

Instead, he strode forward and stood right in front of the twins.

He slowly clenched his fist and brought it to the boy's head.

The boy, sensing his death, squeezed his eyes shut.

“Ack! Get away from my brother!”

At the same time as the girl's scream.

Ppa-ak—!

Ttak—!

“Keohak!”

“Aack!”

The two screamed at the same time at the pain that felt like their heads would fall off.

The boy, who had opened his eyes again, blinked as if he couldn't understand.

It had hurt a lot, but his arms and legs were still attached.

And Ho-cheol had only hit them once each and had not taken any further action.

“You’re not going to kill us?”

At that question, Ho-cheol's brows narrowed as if it was absurd.

“Why would I kill you?”

“B… But you definitely mouthed that you would kill me.”

“Ah, that from before.”

Ho-cheol scratched the back of his head.

Well, how well could a kid like this read lips?

“Right, there was a misunderstanding. I said I was going to scold you.”

Kill.

Scold.

The boy, who was muttering the two words alternately, recalled Ho-cheol's lip movements from before.

It wasn't ‘kill’—but ‘scold’—that was correct.

“In the first place, the one who said ‘kill’ was you guys to me. It’s annoying for the person listening. You should choose your words carefully.”

Whether to kill him or not, that kind of talk was annoying, but not unbearable.

It was narrow-minded to get worked up over what kids who didn't know any better were saying.

Most importantly, he had a rough idea of their identity.

Where they came from, who they were.

Even why they were hostile to him.

The Traits they showed when they ran away, the Traits they showed when they attacked.

And a few other Traits as well.

And all of those traits were independent types with no relation to each other.

What was the probability that two kids with several S-rank equivalent Traits would appear naturally?

Someone must have artificially interfered and created them.

And the culprit was, of course, Ji-an, who was probably preparing for her entrance exam right now.

According to her, they were a new species of humanity, completely advanced from ordinary humans from the genetic level.

In that sense, the relationship between Ho-cheol and these twins was quite complicated.

Ho-cheol sat on a nearby railing.

He tapped both sides of the railing.

“Sit.”

They timidly stood in front of Ho-cheol.

“I said, sit.”

His tone was gentle, but the atmosphere flowing around his expression and body was by no means calm.

A coercive, even violent, pressure.

In the end, the two sat on either side of Ho-cheol.

“You two. Are you family?”

“Yes”

At the girl's answer, he nodded his head.

“Right. Families should live while protecting each other.”

In that sense, the way they looked and acted to protect each other was quite pleasing to Ho-cheol.

Of course, judging by the fact that they were still speaking informally, he would have to teach them some manners.

He asked the boy, who seemed more reasonable.

“So why did you try to kill me?”

“Th-that is.”

The boy explained haltingly.

In the first place, the two had run away from the research lab out of stuffiness.

They had just found Ho-cheol on the list while they were enjoying their outing.

“The people at the lab said that if we were caught outside, they would definitely catch us and kill us. And your face was on the list of people who could kill us.”

“Is that so?”

Ho-cheol stroked his chin in silence.

A heavy silence fell again, and Ho-cheol slowly opened his mouth.

“If you guys are trying to kill me, what should I do?”

“Are you going to… kill us?”

“I told you I won’t.”

“You’ll just pull out all our arms and legs?”

At the girl's gruesome answer, Ho-cheol chuckled.

“If you guys were about 7 years older, I would have.”

He couldn't do that to kids who were probably only 13 or 14 years old.

No, in the first place, that appearance was probably not their real age.

Since they had been forced to accelerate their growth in a test tube, their actual age would be 3 at most.

There was a reason they were more lacking than he had thought.

What crime had these kids committed?

If there was a crime, it would be Ji-an, who had created them, and the people at that lab who were trying to brainwash and use them for their own purposes.

He couldn't just arrest or restrain them.

In Ho-cheol's opinion, they hadn't even committed a major crime yet.

He couldn't feel the unique atmosphere of a person who had experienced murder from them at all.

The reason they spoke of death so easily was probably because they were surrounded by such people.

With no proper adults around, they had learned such things and turned out this way.

And he couldn't take them under his protection either.

The fact that they continued to operate around the research lab despite having this much strength and an independent nature meant that there was a reason for it.

They probably couldn't survive without the facilities and management of that place.

Probably 24 hours, 48 hours at most.

What should I do with these kids?

After a long deliberation, Ho-cheol made a decision.

“Alright, you guys. I'll have to send you back for now.”

“Really?”

“Then should I just catch you? Ah, before that.”

He put his hand in his pocket.

The twins tensed and watched the hand that had gone into his pocket.

In the hand that came out of the pocket again were two candies.

“Want some candy?”

A short silence followed.

The girl was the first to snatch a candy from his palm.

She unwrapped it in an instant and popped it into her mouth.

“Hey! I told you not to just pick up and eat anything!”

“Why is candy ‘anything’!”

“It could be poisoned.”

“What poison? I was going to eat it myself.”

The girl, who was rolling the candy on her tongue, her eyes widened.

“It's s-sweet! It’s delicious!”

What they ate at the lab was always bland porridge and bitter water.

This blatant sweetness was like a festival unfolding in her mouth.

Ho-cheol looked at the boy, who was still sending a suspicious gaze, and shook his head.

“You don’t have to eat it.”

The moment he was about to put the candy back in his pocket.

“I'll eat it!”

The boy also quickly snatched the candy and put it in his mouth.

After that, the twins snatched three more candies from Ho-cheol's pocket and ate them.

“……Are you really just letting us go?”

“Yeah. Go. I have nothing to gain by catching you anyway, and you’re not my target.”

The twins, constantly glancing at Ho-cheol, disappeared into an alley.

How much more time had passed?

Ho-cheol took out his phone.

He dialed a number, and a voice came from the other side of the phone.

Yes.

What is it?

“Come here right now.”

Ah, do I need to chase something?

“Yes.”

Ho-cheol fiddled with the empty candy wrapper in his hand.

“The smell of green grapes.”

He hadn't lied to the twins.

He had nothing to gain by catching them, and they were not his target.

In any case, if he just left them alone, they would surely return to their target on their own.

He stood up.

Should I go and see their faces?