No. 1004.
Entity Name: Lying Boy.
Classification: Epsilon.
Alias: Pinocchio.
This was the entity Taeseong had prepared for the occasion. It was the same one Oh Haeyoung had brought in when she first entered the Tree, making it a creature with a significant connection to Taeseong.
“I never thought I’d end up using it like this.”
Yeo Gilsoo, who had been screaming in agony, glared at Taeseong and spat out curses.
“You son of a bitch! Why the hell did you suddenly come after me?!”
Since his nose didn’t grow, it meant he was being truthful.
Taeseong snapped his fingers, and Yeo Gilsoo’s mangled wounds instantly froze over.
The pain didn’t disappear entirely, but it was much more bearable than before.
Only then did Yeo Gilsoo seem to grasp the gravity of the situation. His eyes widened in shock, as if he had just seen a ghost.
“Wh-What the hell are you? What the fuck are you?!”
“I’m the only one asking questions here.”
“…I-I told you, it wasn’t on purpose! It was an accident! An accident! It was beyond my control! Even the court forgave me, so who the hell do you think you are? This is personal revenge! That’s a crime too!”
“You don’t seem to understand.”
BANG!
Taeseong flicked his finger again, and Yeo Gilsoo’s right ear exploded, torn apart in an instant.
Clutching his bleeding ear, Yeo Gilsoo convulsed as if electrocuted, shrieking in unbearable pain.
“AAAAAARGH! YOU MOTHERFUCKER! MY EAR! MY EAAAR!”
Without a change in expression, Taeseong spoke.
“I told you. I ask the questions. You only answer.”
Yeo Gilsoo, panting heavily, clutched his wound and pleaded.
“Fuck… Why are you doing this to me? I swear, it was a mistake.”
Taeseong remained silent, staring at him.
Yeo Gilsoo desperately continued.
“It wasn’t intentional. It really was an accident. I’m sorry. I’m truly sorry. Please, spare my life. I’ll never do anything like this again. I’ll live a good life. Please, forgive me.”
But once again, Pinocchio’s nose grew longer.
Proof that he was lying.
Without hesitation, Taeseong severed Yeo Gilsoo’s right hand.
Slice!
At the same time, he froze Yeo Gilsoo’s mouth shut. He didn’t want to hear any more of his noisy screams.
Muffled groans of “Mmph! Mmph!” were all Yeo Gilsoo could manage as he writhed in agony.
Since Taeseong had no intention of killing him just yet, he immediately froze the severed wound to stop the bleeding.
“Why do you keep lying? Do I look like an idiot?”
“……”
“A mother with dementia and a young daughter? What a joke. Did you really think I wouldn’t know?”
Taeseong had already investigated his background thoroughly.
There was no one he could call family.
This despicable man spewed lies every time he opened his mouth.
His apologies to the victims’ families were lies.
His claims of having a family were lies.
His insistence that it wasn’t intentional was also a lie.
Taeseong was suppressing the urge to tear him apart on the spot.
There was still an answer he needed to hear.
He melted the ice sealing Yeo Gilsoo’s mouth.
For the first time in his life, Yeo Gilsoo experienced pure fear.
He had been through countless hardships, but in the end, he was just an ordinary man.
Yet the figure before him could freeze, sever, and ignite his body with nothing but a gesture.
As if wielding magic.
‘He’s not human. A monster. No… a ghost? Or maybe the Grim Reaper himself?’
Yeo Gilsoo had committed countless crimes—small ones, big ones, everything in between.
At first, he did it to survive, but as time passed, his guilt faded.
So was this his punishment?
Now, of all times?
“Tell me the truth. Then I’ll grant you a painless death.”
Yeo Gilsoo let out a deranged laugh.
“Haha. Hahahaha! Fuck… I knew this day would come someday, but…”
“……”
“I never imagined it would happen like this. If there really is a god, why the hell did he give me this kind of life?”
Taeseong had no interest in this pathetic bastard’s sob story.
He sliced off Yeo Gilsoo’s remaining arm.
Slice!
Blood gushed out like a fountain, and Yeo Gilsoo lost consciousness.
But that wasn’t what Taeseong wanted.
He wasn’t going to let him die so easily.
Nor would he allow him the relief of passing out.
Taeseong melted ice into water and poured it over Yeo Gilsoo’s face.
The freezing shock jolted him awake.
Taeseong was still there.
Realizing he couldn’t even pass out of his own will, Yeo Gilsoo gave up.
Then, with all his strength, he tried to bite off his own tongue—
But his mouth wouldn’t move.
“You haven’t answered my question yet. You have no control over anything here.”
Not passing out.
Not taking his own life.
He was utterly powerless.
For the first time ever, he tasted true helplessness and despair.
Taeseong pulled out a small, transparent vial from his coat.
He let a single drop fall into Yeo Gilsoo’s mouth.
The liquid inside was from a Gamma-class entity—”Tear of the Gods.”
Its effect: the restoration of body and mind.
Gulp.
“……!”
In an instant.
All the pain that had been devouring Yeo Gilsoo’s body vanished.
His shattered mind also became startlingly clear.
A shiver ran through him.
‘My hands… I can feel them again!’
To his shock, both of his hands had been completely restored.
It felt like a dream.
But it wasn’t.
A sudden surge of hope.
Like a rope thrown down into the abyss.
‘I… I can live?!’
As if reading his mind, Taeseong asked,
“Do you want to live?”
Yeo Gilsoo frantically nodded.
“Y-Yes! I want to live!”
Taeseong spoke.
“Alright. There’s no reason I can’t spare you. If you answer my questions honestly from now on, I’ll let you live. I won’t come after you again, nor will I hold you accountable for what you’ve done.”
“R-Really?”
“But you must promise me one thing.”
“What is it?”
“You will spend the rest of your life living for others. A villain like you will become a virtuous man and live accordingly.”
Yeo Gilsoo answered sincerely.
“I will!”
At this moment, his answer was genuine.
But it was merely a survival instinct—a form of self-hypnosis. In reality, the likelihood of him living righteously approached zero.
Taeseong knew this all too well but chose not to say it aloud.
“I’ll believe you.”
“Thank you! Thank you!”
Taeseong’s crimson eyes locked onto Yeo Gilsoo.
“You really didn’t kill my parents on purpose?”
Staring into those burning eyes, Yeo Gilsoo finally answered honestly.
“It was intentional.”
Pinocchio’s nose did not grow.
“Why did you kill them?”
“…….”
“Answer me.”
“I was paid.”
Again, Pinocchio’s nose did not grow.
Taeseong asked,
“Who paid you?”
This time, Yeo Gilsoo couldn’t answer so easily. It was the second son of Ilseong Group, after all. One of the world’s top ten mega-corporations.
In South Korea, calling them ‘gods’ wouldn’t be an exaggeration.
Seeing his hesitation, Taeseong ignited a blue flame in his eyes.
Fwoosh!
Blue fire flared up in Yeo Gilsoo’s eyes. Taeseong had precisely controlled the flames to burn only the eyeballs.
“AAAAAGHHH!”
A scream unlike any before echoed through the space. It was rough and terrible, like a beast vomiting up death.
Yeo Gilsoo thrashed on the floor like a fish out of water, rubbing his eyes frantically, but the flames only grew fiercer. Feeling his eyeballs melting, he soon lost the strength to even scream, reduced to choking gasps.
Snap!
As Taeseong flicked his fingers, the flames vanished.
He approached, opened Yeo Gilsoo’s mouth open, and dropped in a single droplet of God’s Tear.
Gulp.
A strange liquid gathered in Yeo Gilsoo’s eyes, emitting wisps of smoke before his vision returned to normal.
The excruciating pain that had dominated his body disappeared as if it had never been. But his mind still vividly recalled the suffering.
A chilling voice reached his ears.
Flat and firm.
A tone that carried the certainty that the same torment could be inflicted again at any moment.
Yet, deep inside, a tiny spark of hope ignited—if he answered honestly, maybe he could survive this.
“Was it Ilseong Group’s second son, Park Ilhwan, who ordered it?”
After a long hesitation, Yeogilsu finally spoke.
“Yes.”
“The reason?”
“I don’t know.”
Taeseong glanced at Pinocchio, but the nose did not grow.
“You took a hit job without knowing the reason?”
“It’s true. They told me they’d handle everything afterward and that I just had to confess it was an accident. I only found out later that the client was Park Ilhwan of Ilseong Group. I did it because I was desperate for money.”
Again, the nose did not grow.
Everything he said was true.
“The chief secretary who hired me personally warned me—if I ever spoke about this, I’d disappear without a trace. Since I was going to keep my mouth shut anyway, I asked who the client was. That’s when Park Ilhwan himself showed up and told me directly.”
“What did he say?”
“That he was the one who ordered the job.”
“If he used an medium, he didn’t have to reveal himself. Why did he show up in person?”
“……I don’t know either. He’s known for being eccentric. Maybe he just did it for fun? To him, I was nothing more than an insect.”
“So the one who ordered my parents’ deaths was indeed Park Ilhwan of Ilseong Group?”
“Y-Yes.”
Taeseong checked Pinocchio one last time.
The nose did not grow.
“Oh, do you remember that secretary’s name?”
“I… I think it was Jang Jin-hwan.”
Taeseong muttered the name Jang Jin-hwan under his breath and stood up.
Yeo Gilsoo let out a sigh of relief.
As Taeseong turned to leave, he suddenly paused and looked back at Yeo Gilsoo.
“Almost forgot something.”
“……W-What?”
Snap.
At Taeseong’s finger flick, a pillar of blue flames erupted beneath Yeo Gilsoo.
“AAAAAGHH! You said you’d let me live!”
Taeseong walked toward him, holding the bottle of God’s Tear.
“You actually believed that?”
Then, he opened a pocket dimension and threw Yeogilsu inside.
“I’ve always been curious—what happens when you put a living being in a subspace?”
Leaving the abandoned factory, Taeseong pulled out his phone and called Choi Harin.
—”Yes, Team Leader.”
“Track down Ilseong Group’s chief secretary, Jang Jin-hwan.”
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