The astonishment was evident on Taeseong’s face as he looked at Abidos, whose upper body had been severed in two.
“…Regeneration ability?”
Vein-like strands stitched together the bisected torso without pause, rapidly restoring it to its original state. Rising to his feet, Abidos spoke with a bewildered expression.
“What was that sword just now? Was it too fast for my eyes to follow…?”
His artificial eye could normally track speeds beyond human perception, even predicting attack trajectories and possible movements in real time.
But just now, his eye had failed to keep up. That had never happened since arriving in this world. Realizing his opponent was no ordinary foe, Abidos retrieved a syringe from his coat and injected it into his arm.
The drug heightened his nervous system, providing a significant boost—but its toxicity was lethal, meaning he only used it when he was prepared to die.
However, Abidos had a sixth-generation nanomachine embedded in his body. Thanks to it, he possessed unparalleled regeneration abilities and was unaffected by poisons.
Abidos vanished.
Whoosh!
Less than a second later, his prosthetic hand lunged toward Taeseong’s side with overwhelming speed. Yet, Taeseong easily evaded it and sliced off both of Abidos’s arms.
Gazing at his severed limbs on the ground, Abidos murmured with curiosity.
“Astonishing. I don’t think I’ve ever encountered a human of this caliber, even among Awakened ones…”
His mind rapidly accumulated real-time data on Taeseong. But no matter how many simulations he ran, he could not visualize a scenario where he emerged victorious.
‘Even after injecting the stimulant, the gap in skill is still this vast? Just who is this man…?’
Abidos abandoned the fight.
He wasn’t the kind of person who foolishly clung to battles he couldn’t win. Raising his remaining arms, he signaled his surrender.
“You are strong. I now understand that I cannot defeat you. Though I was the one who attacked first… would you spare my life? If you do, I will do anything.”
Watching from behind, Park Ilhwan shouted in fury.
“You’re begging for your life? Are you out of your damn mind?! Hey, Abidos! Are you joking right now?! Huh?! Who the hell told you to surrender without the client’s permission?! Stop spouting nonsense and kill that bastard! Kill him now!”
But Abidos remained unmoved, maintaining his stance of surrender. There was no point in dying before he even had the chance to return home.
Seeing his lack of intent to fight, Taeseong asked calmly,
“You’re a Transmigrator too?”
“I am.”
“If your goal is to return home, then you chose the wrong partner.”
“What do you mean?”
“You didn’t come here with the Tree?”
Abidos muttered the word.
“The Tree…”
The Tree’s administrators had once come looking for him, but Park Ilhwan had dismissed them before any real conversation took place. As a result, Abidos had never spoken directly with them.
“They did come, but I never had the chance to speak with them properly.”
“The Tree has other transmigrator like you. People from different worlds. I can’t say the Tree is entirely trustworthy, but if your goal is to return to your original world, you’d have a better chance with them than with that lunatic.”
“…Thank you.”
“I’ll make use of your debt later.”
Abidos nodded.
Taeseong walked past him, approaching Park Ilhwan.
As Taeseong slowly advanced, Park Ilhwan stumbled backward, his voice cracking with terror.
“S-Shit! D-Don’t come any closer! Stay back, you monster!”
“I told you to hide well. But in the end, I still found you.”
Taeseong smirked.
Park Ilhwan trembled. To him, Taeseong no longer seemed human. Everything he had planned, every scheme he had meticulously crafted, had been reduced to nothing by this one man.
It was something that should have been impossible.
“Abidos! Abidos! You useless piece of shit! Why are you just standing there?! Kill him! Kill that bastard! Don’t you want to go home?! Don’t you?!”
His desperate screams echoed in the room.
But Abidos still showed no intention of fighting. If anything, he seemed to regard Taeseong with growing favor.
“Park Ilhwan. Are your eyes just for show? Even after witnessing his strength firsthand, you still expect me to fight him? Are you telling me to commit suicide?”
“I don’t care if you kill yourself or whatever—just protect me! You worthless bastard!”
Abidos sighed and leaned against the wall, staring at Park Ilhwan with pity.
Amused by the spectacle, Taeseong spoke.
“This must be your real body. Judging by how desperately you’re begging for your life.”
“……”
“You were running your mouth just a moment ago. What, cat got your tongue?”
“Listen, you son of a bitch. I admit you’re strong, but you’re still just one guy. If you don’t want to dig your own grave, get on your knees and beg for forgiveness. Do you even understand who you’re dealing with? You’re messing with Ilseong. Ilseong! The pillar of South Korea!”
Taeseong inwardly chuckled.
Even in this situation, Park Ilhwan still had the audacity to spew insults. That level of nerve was, at the very least, commendable.
“Oh, right. You’re the great second son of Ilseong Group.”
“That’s right! So if you—”
Slash!
It happened in an instant.
Taeseong swung Sisan Hyulhae five times in quick succession.
Park Ilhwan hadn’t even seen it happen. Even Abidos’s artificial eye could only track three out of the five strikes.
Blood gushed as Park Ilhwan’s arms were diced into pieces.
“Gyaaahhhhhh!”
His agonized screams filled the air.
Taeseong watched him thrash in pain with an expressionless face.
“……”
But then, to his surprise, Park Ilhwan’s arms began regenerating at an alarming speed.
“You can regenerate too?”
Park Ilhwan glared at him in silence.
Abidos, ever observant, explained from behind.
“It’s nanomachines.”
“Nanomachines?”
“I have sixth-generation nanomachines, while that bastard has fifth-generation ones. His can’t regenerate at a molecular level, but they’re still decently functional.”
“So he has a regeneration ability, after all.”
“That’s right.”
Upon hearing those words, Taeseong’s face lit up with a genuine smile.
“What a relief. Truly a relief.”
Abidos and Park Ilhwan, witnessing that expression, simultaneously felt an indescribable terror. Chills ran down their spines, and their hair stood on end.
‘This is a man I must never make an enemy of.’
‘Shit. That lunatic… What the hell is going through his mind…?’
Taeseong abruptly turned his head toward Abidos and asked,
“What’s your name?”
“Problem-solver Abidos.”
“Does ‘Problem-solver’ count as part of your name? That’s unique.”
“No, that’s…”
Abidos, looking dumbfounded, was about to explain but quickly gave up. Taeseong reached into his coat and pulled out a business card, handing it over.
[Team Leader Choi Harin, Information Team 2]
HP: 010 – XXXX – XXXX
“Abidos.”
“This is…?”
“If you’re interested, contact this number and say that Manager Taeseong referred you. A little power struggle is fine, but it would be wise not to be too hostile. That place is filled with monsters even worse than me.”
“…Thanks.”
Abidos left without another word.
Now, only Taeseong and Park Ilhwan remained.
Clatter.
Taeseong tossed the blood-soaked Sisan Hyulhae onto the floor.
“…!”
Park Ilhwan’s eyes widened at the sight. More than confusion, an overwhelming sense of dread washed over him.
“Why… why would you drop your sword…?”
“Why do you think?”
As Taeseong stepped closer, Park Ilhwan instinctively swung his fist.
Thud.
Taeseong caught it effortlessly and twisted it in the opposite direction.
Crunch.
“ARGHHHH!”
With a slight increase in pressure, Park Ilhwan’s arm bent like a twisted rag—and was promptly torn off.
However, thanks to the miraculous regeneration of his fifth-generation nanomachines, it fully restored itself within about three seconds.
“The technology is impressive. If you have enough money, even abilities like these are within reach, huh? Were the puppets you controlled also enhanced by this?”
“I-I…”
Before Park Ilhwan could even stammer out a response, Taeseong ripped off his arm again.
Then it regenerated.
He tore it off again.
Then it regenerated.
And again.
Taeseong’s expression remained utterly emotionless. Like a child casually plucking the wings off an insect, he repeated the same action over and over.
Minutes passed.
It was a pain unlike anything Park Ilhwan had ever experienced.
To him, it felt like four agonizing hours had gone by. But in reality, it had been less than ten minutes.
The empty room echoed with the eerie, wet sounds of human flesh being torn apart—sounds that should never exist.
The reason Taeseong discarded his sword was simple.
He wanted to inflict pain in a more primal manner.
The rage he had built up over time wasn’t even a tenth released yet.
What Park Ilhwan didn’t realize was that Taeseong was an extremely petty man.
He never forgot favours or grudges.
No matter how trivial they were.
“…P-please… s-stop…”
“Have you ever stopped just because someone begged you to?”
Of course, he hadn’t.
“You wouldn’t have.”
Taeseong’s crimson eyes burned with intensity.
The torn flesh where Park Ilhwan’s limbs used to be was now engulfed in azure flames.
A battle between regeneration and destruction.
The nanomachines in his body worked tirelessly to restore their host, while Taeseong’s flames ravenously consumed his flesh.
Time is always relative.
For Park Ilhwan, time had effectively stopped.
He was trapped in an endless cycle of pain, suffering through an eternity of torment.
But what he failed to realize was that his true agony was only just beginning.
As his mind crumbled under the unbearable pain, Taeseong’s voice rang clear in his ears.
No matter how much he suffered, that voice remained sharp, precise.
“You have no idea… how lucky you are.”
“…”
“That your body contains nanomachines.”
“…”
“Because it means… I can make you suffer endlessly.”
Park Ilhwan finally lost consciousness.
Taeseong encased him in ice, then opened a dimensional rift and tossed him inside.
Within that void, Yeo Gilsoo was still undergoing endless cycles of regeneration and destruction.
Though, by now, he no longer resembled a human.
If one had to describe it, he was nothing more than a lump of flesh—clumped together like clay.
The experiment results…
“Successful.”
Leaving behind the research facility, now engulfed in towering flames, Taeseong walked toward the woods.
