CHAPTER 211: SERPENT’S HEAD (4)

“Ugh!”

Sensing danger, Cheon Sang-Gil hastily tried to move back as lightning burst from Kwon Oh-Jin’s fingertips and flowed through his wet hanbok.

Crackle!

“Gaaak!” He collapsed with a painful scream, crashing to the ground as sparks crackled and danced around his convulsing body.

Song Ha-Eun ran over in panic. “O-Oh-Jin, what are you doing to Gramps?!”

“That’s not him.”

“What... what do you mean, it’s not—?”

“That’s not Mr. Cheon Sang-Gil.”

Whatever this thing was, it only looked like him.

Kwon Oh-Jin stared coldly down at the figure writhing on the floor. “If that was really him, an attack like this wouldn’t have even made him flinch.”

“But still...”

“Mr. Oh-Jin is right, unnie.” Isabella stepped in from behind and nodded.

Cheon Sang-Gil looked up at Kwon Oh-Jin in disbelief. “Agh... H-How...?”

He wanted to ask how Kwon Oh-Jin had seen through the disguise.

“I thought something was off from the start.” Kwon Oh-Jin clicked his tongue.

He thought something was off when Cheon Sang-Gil first contacted him. At the time, it had only been a slight doubt. Now, the current situation turned it into suspicion.

“Why did he reach out to me first?”

Not the Heaven’s Grace Guild that he led, not Isabella who reported the last Living Armor incident, and not Song Ha-Eun who destroyed the black pillar that rose from beneath Sokcho during the demonic beast attack. Why Kwon Oh-Jin?

“If he wanted to gather the Guardian Stars, contacting Isabella first would make the most sense. If he needed someone involved in the Sokcho incident, he should’ve contacted Ha-Eun.”

Kwon Oh-Jin didn’t even have that close of a relationship with Cheon Sang-Gil anyway.

From the floor, the imposter stared up at him in disbelief. “You’re saying... you attacked me over something like that?”

“To be fair, I just thought it was weird back then. I wasn’t suspicious yet.”

If Kwon Oh-Jin had really suspected something, he would have never come to Sokcho in the first place.

“But everything lined up too perfectly to be called a coincidence.”

A rift had opened ten days ago, and Cheon Sang-Gil just happened to find it in the first three days. The rift also just so happened to target Kwon Oh-Jin alone. Instead of contacting Isabella or Song Ha-Eun, Cheon Sang-Gil had come straight to him.

Individually, these events could be dismissed as coincidences. However, he couldn’t help but be suspicious when they overlapped to this extent.

The creature posing as Cheon Sang-Gil clicked its tongue. “Tsk.”

It twisted in pain, but soon looked up and smiled.

“Even if you’ve figured out who I am, you’re too late.”

Rumble.

Its face began to melt and shift like wet clay, turning into dozens of different faces. Soon, its entire body turned into black slime like a silhouette straight out of a Detective Konan episode.

Kwon Oh-Jin narrowed his eyes at the grotesque sight. Seeing the monster, only one name came to mind.

Doppelganger.

A monster capable of changing form at will. They had been rumored to exist in the Demonic District, but had never been seen on Earth.

Come to think of it, I also gained the Transformation skill in Sokcho.

He had obtained this skill from Choi Jong-Cheol, who had turned into a demonic beast back then. Did that have anything to do with the Doppelganger?

Before he could find an answer, the Doppelganger had turned into black slime and bared its white teeth. “Now that you’re here... you’ll die by his hand.”

With that ominous warning, the Doppelganger sprang to its feet and started running away.

“Where do you think you’re going?” Isabella said.

“Hrk!”

Isabella instantly appeared in front of the Doppelganger and looked at him with a cold gaze.

A bead of blood formed from her pale fingertips and dripped to the ground.

“Mr. Oh-Jin hasn’t finished speaking yet.”

The blood pooled into a small puddle. From it, blood-red chains formed and wrapped around the fleeing Doppelganger.

“Kugh! L-Let go!”

It thrashed in a panic, but Isabella approached it with calm, measured steps.

“Damn it...!”

Its body warped again, taking the form of Kwon Oh-Jin.

With a pitiful expression, it looked at Isabella and spoke in his voice. “Isabella, you're not actually thinking of attacking me, are you?”

Shapeshifting into the person most precious to their target by reading their desires was a special ability unique to a Doppelganger. Humans relied on sight more than any other sense. Even if their brain knew it was fake, seeing the face and hearing the voice of a loved one would shake anyone.

“What exactly do you think you're doing?” Isabella's tone grew cold.

Her bright blue eyes contracted and darkened like a doll stripped of emotion.

“Huh?” The Doppelganger trembled as it felt her murderous aura squeezing the life out of it.

Isabella pierced her finger into the Doppelganger’s collarbone, still in the form of Kwon Oh-Jin.

Gush!

Black, viscous fluid poured from the puncture.

“I asked you... What the hell do you think you’re doing?

Her fingers dug in deeper into its collarbone like she was scooping out fruit.

Crunch! Crack! Crunch!

The Doppelganger let out a blood-curdling scream as its bone crunched sickeningly. “Aaagh! Khhhackk!”

“Of all people... you dare to mimic Mr. Oh-Jin?” Isabella muttered with murderous intensity as she tore the creature apart.

She ripped out its collarbone, cut away the muscles and fat that once held it in place, and twisted out its shoulder bone connected to it.

“Kugh! Krrrk!”

The more she dismantled him, the more violently the Doppelganger thrashed and foamed at the mouth. Just as she gripped his other arm and prepared to drive her fingers into the second collarbone, Kwon Oh-Jin gently grabbed her shoulder.

“Hold on.”

Her eyes, once void of emotion, softened again. A bright smile formed on her lips.

“Yes, Mr. Oh-Jin!”

It was hard to believe this sweet, innocent smile belonged to the same person who just tore a living creature apart. A drop of black blood that had splattered on her slid down her cheek and traced the curve of her smile.

“Is she okay?” Song Ha-Eun whispered in horror.

Kwon Oh-Jin nodded as if to dismiss her worry.

No matter how sharp Isabella’s fangs were, it didn’t matter as long as they weren’t pointed at him.

“She’s good.”

At least to me, she is.

Kwon Oh-Jin walked over to the collapsed Doppelganger.

“Where’s the exit?” he asked.

“There... isn’t one.”

“Cut the crap.” He stomped on the creature’s severed shoulder with a cold look in his eyes.

Crunch!

“Aaaagh!”

If there was a way in, there had to be a way out.

The reason humans knew less than five percent about the Demonic District in the first place wasn't because they couldn’t enter, but because they didn’t want to.

“You’ll never... leave this place... alive...”

“Isabella.”

“Yes, Mr. Oh-Jin!”

The Doppelganger panicked as Isabella pranced over, still smiling from ear to ear.

“Hic! W-Wait! W-Wait, please!”

It couldn’t even make eye contact with her. It just raised a trembling hand and pointed toward a tall rock shooting up in the air.

“I-If you go that way, past the rock... there should be a rift.”

“Really?” Kwon Oh-Jin nodded and crushed both of the Doppelganger’s legs beneath his heel without hesitation.

“Aaaaagh!”

The sound of bone and flesh being pulverized echoed like its legs were caught in an industrial press.

“Isabella, can you keep the chains tied around him?”

“Yes. They’ll hold for at least a full day.”

Kwon Oh-Jin nodded and turned toward the direction where the Doppelganger had pointed.

“If you lied, just know we’ll meet again.”

“Gkkkh. Hic.” The Doppelganger writhed like an insect and nodded weakly.

“So my child has a cruel side to him too.” Vega, perched on Kwon Oh-Jin’s head and clutching his hair, sounded surprised.

She had only ever seen his heroic side, so this side of him felt unfamiliar.

With a guilty expression, he asked, “Are you disappointed?”

Vega shook her head gently and patted his hair with her tiny hand. “No. To save the world, sometimes one must be cruel. Pay no attention to it.”

Her hand tickled him like a feather brushing against his scalp.

He smiled faintly and began walking toward the rock the Doppelganger had pointed out.

Just as he was nearing it, Isabella frowned and turned to one side. “Mr. Oh-Jin, over there.”

“What is it?”

“I smell blood. It’s very strong.”

“Let’s check it out.”

“I’ll lead the way, Mr. Oh-Jin.”

Isabella stepped forward as if protecting him. They walked for nearly twenty minutes before finally arriving.

Hundreds of corpses littered the ground in a small clearing nestled between the towering rocks.

“Oh-Jin, this is...” Song Ha-Eun said.

“It’s the Heaven’s Grace Guild members.” Kwon Oh-Jin frowned as he looked over the bodies.

They had been brutally torn apart and crushed. The condition of their corpses was beyond horrific as if they had been fed through industrial machinery.

“It looks like they were trying to protect something,” Vega said softly. Her eyes filled with pity as she took in the brutal scene.

Just as she said, the state of the corpses suggested they had given everything to defend something precious.

Nodding, Kwon Oh-Jin began searching for whatever it was the guild had died trying to protect.

“Oh-Jin! Over here!” Song Ha-Eun pointed to a narrow crevice between the rocks.

Flames flared up around her and lit up the area.

Fwoosh!

“G-Gramps!”

Cheon Sang-Gil’s body had a gaping hole through the left side of his chest. It seemed he had been dead for some time as the stench of decay filled the air.

Kwon Oh-Jin looked down at the body in silence and slowly closed his eyes. He had suspected it ever since the Doppelganger appeared as Cheon Sang-Gil, but seeing the actual corpse now left a heavy feeling in his chest.

It wasn’t the serpent’s tail he had grabbed...

Instead, he had seized the serpent’s head with its deadly venomous fangs.

Just then, a thunderous boom echoed out and shook the entire rocky field.

Rumble!

Kwon Oh-Jin bit his lip and lifted his spear. “They're coming.”

From on top of the rocks, hundreds of demonic beasts leaped down toward them.