004. The Path of a Murderer

It was just past 10 a.m. on Saturday. Several corpses lay scattered across the alley floor.

Leaving the scene of the murders wasn’t difficult anymore. The countdown in my vision had disappeared, though I knew it would reappear soon.

I suspected that I was being given an hour of rest.

As I exited the alley, I couldn’t help but think of the many questions swirling in my head.

“Why does he need my body and soul? And why do I have to kill and absorb the souls of others?”

I was curious about Faust’s intentions, but there were no answers.

The more I thought about it while walking, the hungrier I became. I quickened my pace.

Obviously, I made an effort to behave like an ordinary human in public. Sometimes I lost control and walked a bit too fast, but overall, I was quickly adjusting to my abilities.

When I returned home, I immediately took a shower and ate some ramen. Once my stomach was full, I started thinking again.

“I’ve killed eight more people. That makes nine in two days. I’ve gone from living an ordinary life to becoming a murderer who’s killed nine people. And I’ve absorbed all the memories they had during their lives…”

It made me realize how unpredictable life truly was.

“The one good thing is that I can access their memories whenever I want.”

At first, I was worried. What if I couldn’t kill anyone and the contract was broken? But now…

“Who knew I’d kill people so easily.”

For some reason, whenever I’m exposed to an attack, my body seems to automatically choose a defensive response. It’s always a powerful strike, strong enough to end everything in one blow.

Yet I don’t feel much guilt. Perhaps it’s because I have their memories.

All of them lived incomplete, illegal lives. They were criminals, the complete opposite of me.

The drunk driver who hit me was involved in illegal gambling, extortion, and even forced women into prostitution.

And what about the delinquent high schoolers I met today?

They were guilty of theft, extortion, assault, and more.

Despite their young age, they had committed a wide range of crimes.

“I’ve essentially protected future victims.”

As I lay on my bed with a full stomach, I began to feel drowsy. The countdown of "seven days" reappeared in my vision, just as I expected. Exactly one hour had passed.

When I opened my eyes, it was Sunday. I had fallen asleep so quickly that I didn’t even know when I had drifted off. It was already 11 a.m.

I went to the bathroom and, out of habit, checked the news.

[Murder in Eunha District]

[After Cheongsol Town, Now Eunha District?]

[Is This a Serial Killer? Headless Bodies Found]

All the articles were about the murders I committed. Just as I thought. Since it had happened in a residential alley, I figured it would make the news quickly.

I skipped over the articles and went straight to the comments. I was curious about what people thought.

└ The world’s getting scarier...

└ Why kill people?

└ But why are all the heads exploding? Is the killer some kind of freak?

└ Yep, staying inside is safest.

It was different this time. The comments were full of the expected condemnation toward the killer.

I turned off my phone. It felt a bit unfair. After all, I didn’t choose this situation.

“Aren’t I a victim too?”

I kept telling myself that. There was no other way. I had no other choice.

Even if I got arrested, I was confident I’d still be able to continue killing. As long as I fulfilled the contract’s terms, the contract would remain intact. There was no clause that said I couldn’t be arrested.

“So should I just turn myself in? Even if I do, I’ll still be a criminal, a murderer. I’ll have to keep killing until Faust reclaims my body and soul.”

“Then there’s no point in turning myself in.”

Ring, ring.

Just then, my phone rang. It was my mom.

“Son, what are you doing this weekend? Have you eaten?”

There was quite a bit of noise in the background.

“Yeah, I ate. What about you, Mom?”

“I don’t need to eat to feel full. I’ve got a son who works as a civil servant at City Hall, after all.”

Ah, she was probably calling just to brag about me to her friends again.

“Mom, being a civil servant isn’t something to brag about these days~”

“Oh my, listen to how humble you are! Do you think just anyone can work at City Hall?”

“No, I mean, once you get assigned—”

“Okay, love you too, sweetie~”

Click.

As the call ended, I put down the phone and stared at the ceiling. A strange sense of unease crept over me during that short conversation.

“Mom’s son is a murderer now.”

I muttered to myself, but it wasn’t funny. Mom still thought I was just an ordinary office worker, but I was far from that now.

“I’ve changed, yet the world keeps going as if nothing’s happened.”

Needing to clear my head, I went for a walk in the park near my apartment complex. On my way back, a notice in the elevator caught my eye.

[To the bastard in 1001: Read this.]

1001 was my apartment.

I kept reading the notice.

[You bastard. Didn’t I warn you to stop making noise with your footsteps? The moment you read this, come down to 901 immediately. If you don’t? Your family’s dead.]

Ah, looks like trouble again.

I had no choice but to go to 901. They had mentioned my family, so I couldn’t just ignore it.

Just in case, I took the elevator to my apartment first, then used the stairs to head up.

I took a deep breath and rang the doorbell.

One second, two seconds, three seconds…

Nothing?

I rang the doorbell again, and this time, heavy footsteps approached.

Thud. Thud. Thud.

“I didn’t think anyone actually had footsteps that loud.”

The door to 901 opened, and the man standing behind it made my body instinctively freeze. He was over two meters tall, his arms covered in bulging veins and messy tattoos that wrapped around his entire body. It was like a warning meant for me.

“Even without the tattoos, he’s intimidating… Are they just for scaring people?”

His face showed little emotion, but his cold, merciless eyes looked down at me like I was nothing more than an insect.

“What?”

The man from 901 looked down at me and spoke, addressing me casually as if we were already acquainted. His voice was filled with irritation.

“Well, with a body like his, he probably talks down to everyone.”

I tried my best to stay calm as I responded.

“Uh, I’m from 1001, the apartment above you.”

His eyebrows twitched as he scanned me up and down. I felt like he was ready to pounce at any moment.

“Oh, so you’re the bastard from upstairs.”

He pushed his face close to mine, his breath hot against my skin. With one hand in his pocket, he stared down at me with a condescending look.

“I warned you so many times to stop stomping around up there, didn’t I? Does someone have to come up and tell you in person for you to get it?”

His voice grew rougher, and he looked like he was about to explode.

Just then, his old phone suddenly vibrated. He clicked his tongue in annoyance and checked it.

“What the hell, man?”

After glancing at his phone, he spoke to me again.

“If you try to run, I’ll kill you. Stay right here.”

It’s not like running away would have helped. He already knew where I lived.

The man answered the call, his voice calmer but still tinged with irritation.

“I’m busy right now. Gotta deal with the guy upstairs. Call me later.”

As soon as he hung up, without any warning, he grabbed my hair. His cold hand snatched my head, and before I knew it, he dragged me inside his apartment.

“Huh? Why isn’t my body reacting? Am I in serious trouble now?”

“I warned you so many times to walk quietly, didn’t I? You little piece of shit.”

It was the first time anyone had called me small. At 178 cm, I’m not exactly short.

But there wasn’t time to dwell on that.

His fist came flying toward my face.

At that moment, my body reacted instinctively again.

Wham. Pop. Squish.

My hand moved in a flash, and his head exploded. With a sound like something rupturing, his body collapsed onto the floor.

“My body reacted on its own… again.”

I wasn’t even surprised anymore. I was getting used to it. But that familiarity scared me even more. Was I becoming numb to the act of killing?

Then, I heard a voice.

“Honey, what’s all the noise about?”

A woman walked out into the living room, rubbing her eyes, but she froze when she saw the body on the floor. Her eyes darted between the corpse and me, terror starting to fill her face.

In that moment, I knew how this would end. As her eyes widened and her mouth began to open, I found myself thinking:

“I have to stop her. If she screams, it’s over.”

That was the only thought running through my mind. And my body reacted.

In the blink of an eye, the woman’s head exploded just like her husband’s.

[Two souls have been absorbed.]

[Two souls have been purified.]

[The life memories of the deceased have been stored.]

“Is it over…?” I stood there, lost in thought. Just as I started to move, I heard a faint noise.

My attention shifted to a small room.

I walked toward it, my footsteps feeling heavy, as if something was pulling me there. I opened the door.

Inside, I saw a man standing still, looking at me in shock. He had been about to step into the living room but had frozen at the sight of the bodies.

“W-Who are you?” he asked, his voice trembling with fear. But his eyes were already fixed on the corpses in the living room.

I hesitated for a moment, but I knew I couldn’t let him speak. My body had already made the decision.

“There’s no turning back.”

Wham. Pop.

[The soul of the deceased has been absorbed.]

[The soul of the deceased has been purified.]

[The life memories of the deceased have been stored.]

At that moment, I felt something unknown enter my mind.

[An ability has been unlocked.]

[Ability Name: Nullify]

My vision flickered for a moment. An ability? What kind of ability is this? I could feel some kind of unfamiliar power settling into my mind.

“Nullify…?”

[Description: This ability nullifies ‘everything’ within its range. Of course, the extent of nullification depends on the range of the ability.]

“Nullify everything? What does that even mean?” I was confused. I couldn’t grasp the true meaning of this ability or how far I could use it. But now wasn’t the time to dwell on it.

Once I got home, I did my usual routine—took a bath and made some ramen. As the hot water enveloped me, it felt like the exhaustion of the day was being washed away.

“Killing people feels easier today than it did yesterday.”

When I killed someone for the first time yesterday, the shock had been overwhelming. But today, I felt like I had handled it mechanically. The fact that I’d killed people, the sight of their bodies lying on the floor—all of it was already starting to fade from my mind. This growing numbness was frightening.

Sitting on the couch, I slurped my ramen and turned on my phone. The news was still filled with stories about the murders I had committed. Bold headlines flashed across the screen:

“Shocking Serial Murders,” “Headless Bodies Found,” “A Society in Panic.”

It felt like I was watching a movie. And I was the one who had created it.

The TV was also covering the case. A criminal psychologist and a lawyer were discussing the details of the killings.

[The problem is that this case could easily be seen as heroic. Just because the victims were notorious criminals doesn’t mean the killer should be defended. That would create a dangerous precedent in society.]

“Heroic?” Could people actually see my murders as something heroic?

I mulled over those words as I returned to the online news and checked the comments.

└ Good riddance. Those bastards deserved to die. They were scum.

└ I went to school with them. They caused chaos every day, sniffing glue and messing around. Better off dead.

└ All those gang members were not worth being alive.

└ Forced people into prostitution? What disgusting scum.

└ If you knew what they did when they were minors, you’d be horrified. I was one of their victims.

I knew exactly what they had done as minors. Their memories were inside me. Car theft, attempted murder, rape… They had created countless victims. Every time I thought of their crimes, I reaffirmed my belief.

“I’m not doing anything wrong by eliminating them.”

The criminal psychologist was right. Most of the comments praised me. People saw me as a figure who had delivered justice. It felt natural for people to say things like, “Good riddance.”

“Hm…”

A smile crept across my face, my lips curling upward.

“It seems I’ve finally found the path I’m meant to walk.”

<Han-su Lee>