9.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

One of Salli’s operatives hid behind a van, firing rounds in quick succession. Shin Hae-Gon threw open the car door he had been leaning on, using it as a makeshift shield. Clang! The sound of bullets grazing the metal door echoed in his ears.

He tore his gaze away from the figure slumped over the steering wheel, a fatal wound piercing the forehead. The intersection had been locked down after the ambush. Although civilians had already evacuated, bodies of those killed in the initial attack lay gruesomely scattered across the road.

Reloading his gun, Shin Hae-Gon moved to the opposite side. The man, still focused on his sniping position, hadn’t noticed Hae-Gon’s shift. As he prepared to aim at the exposed side of the man’s face, Shin Hae-Gon ducked swiftly.

Bang!

A bullet shattered the car window. The man, missing his target from behind, hurriedly climbed into the van.

The van accelerated toward him with alarming speed. A man’s upper body lurched out the window, his mouth stretching into a grin as he shouted Salli’s rallying cries over and over. The muzzle of his gun flared, sending rounds blazing toward Shin Hae-Gon.

“Major!”

Yoon Bo-Ryeong shouted. Gunfire erupted from all directions, with each team member holding their designated positions. There was no chance to cover him. Dodging the barrage aimed at him, Shin Hae-Gon ran, each step narrowly evading the bullets striking the ground.

In a sudden feint, he pivoted and rolled past the oncoming van. Once behind it, he aimed for the tires. Pfft! The punctured tire deflated with a hiss, causing the van to jolt and shake.

The shooter inside, thrown off by the swift counterattack, halted his firing for a split second. Shin Hae-Gon didn’t miss the opportunity, his gun flashing as he fired.

“Agh!”

The operative’s gun slipped from his hand as the cartridge clinked to the ground. Shin Hae-Gon continued his assault.

Bang! The second bullet hit the man squarely on the wrist. As the man screamed, Shin Hae-Gon sprang forward without hesitation, unloading rounds into the back window.

Crash! The glass shattered, revealing the man desperately attempting to exit the van. Shin Hae-Gon aimed at the back of the man’s head as he flailed.

Finally, a bullet lodged in the man’s skull, and his head slumped forward. The blaring horn stretched on, then a screech, and the van came to a jarring halt.

Right then, Do-Hwi dashed over, having just dispatched one of their enemies. Grabbing the man by his wounded wrist, Do-Hwi dragged him out of the van.

“That bastard’s the last one!”

Bo-Ryeong shouted, triumphantly declaring victory after finally planting a bullet into the enemy’s chest.

Do-Hwi slammed the base of his gun into the man’s cheekbone. The man glared up at him with bloodshot eyes. Do-Hwi sneered, “What’s the matter, you miserable bastard,” gripping him by the collar and dragging him along.

“Major,” he addressed Shin Hae-Gon.

Higher-ups had ordered them to capture Salli’s operatives alive if possible. While the team members tried to abide by those orders, their true loyalty lay not with command but with the orders of their captain, Shin Hae-Gon.

After checking his magazine, Shin Hae-Gon glanced down at the man forced to kneel before him by Do-Hwi.

The man gasped for air, eyes lifting to meet Hae-Gon’s. His pupils were unfocused, blood seeping between his teeth as he continued to smile—a look befitting a fanatic. Madness radiated from him.

“Blessed are those who desire, for we shall be granted the glory of ascending to paradise.”

Shin Hae-Gon looked into the man’s eyes, filled not with warmth but with the cold certainty of a mind deeply indoctrinated. Torture would yield nothing but hymns to his twisted doctrine. Hae-Gon’s gaze hardened with a chilling clarity.

“May the red eyes… bring an end to this world…!”

Bang!

The final shot rang out.

The man’s head slumped as the bullet pierced through his eye. Do-Hwi let the body drop to the ground, brushing his hands off as if dusting away filth. From a distance, Ju-Hyung approached, surveying the fallen man with a keen eye before standing upright and reporting to Hae-Gon.

“All seven of Salli’s operatives confirmed dead.”

As the report settled, a haunting voice seemed to echo through Hae-Gon’s mind, as if in confession.

“My eyes will turn the world into hell and turn people into demons.”

He stared at the blood-stained intersection littered with corpses.

“I want to return this world to how it was before I opened my eyes… before it’s too late.”

Whether that forlorn wish held any semblance of sincerity was of no concern to him.

“Ahh, ugh, you… you devil in league with Satan. Even hellfire is too good for you, wretched spawn. You should never have been born. You should never have been brought into this world…!”

The man’s hateful curse, dripping with venom, resonated with him deeply.

You should never have been born.

Yet, born he was—and so, a life marked by red eyes could only be a punishment, a life cursed with unrelenting suffering.

If, by any chance, it was otherwise, he was prepared to make it so.

* * *

“Your name is Wina. You’re mine, Wina. Don’t forget that. You belong to me. Not to anyone else, only me.”

The voice, thick and viscous like oil, rolled through the fractured edges of her consciousness.

“Come now, step forward. Show yourself to the faithful. Don’t be afraid. They all want to see you. They’re all waiting for you. Bestow your grace upon them, as their god. Now, open up….”

Fragmented memories of her body being devoured in the name of grace twisted together in a chaotic tangle.

“Please, no more, I beg you… I can’t take it anymore. Just kill me. Please, kill me…!”

Wina’s eyes flew open.

Darkness swallowed her vision. A blindfold covered her eyes, and her ears were plugged. She could neither see nor hear anything.

A sickening sensation pulled at her spine, as if a thousand needles were pricking her scalp. Her insides twisted, her heart pounding painfully.

No. No. No.

She wanted to resist, to escape this, but her body, bound tightly, was slowly pushed forward through a narrow opening.

Beep, beep, beep… BEEP, BEEP, BEEP!

The piercing sound of machinery cut through her earplugs. Her mind felt like it was being torn apart, with every crumpled memory fragment surging forward, overwhelming her thoughts. Unable to hold it back any longer, Wina began to retch.

“Gah…”

As she turned her head and vomited, several people entered the examination room. Hands hurriedly pulled her off the examination table, and instinctively, she leaned into the support.

But the hands flinched back, recoiling as if she were contagious.

Wina blinked beneath her blindfold. After she fell to the floor, another set of hands, rougher in texture, helped her back up.

This time, she took the hint and refrained from leaning on them.

“In my 17 years as a doctor, I’ve never seen anything like this. The machine just shut down entirely. Not just a glitch with the display—it completely turned off. Even detecting precious metals wouldn’t cause this level of disruption. Unless she’s made of material that violently clashes with the machine’s magnetic field… if we push any further, either the machine or the woman will explode.”

In the viewing room separated by a glass wall, the doctor’s disbelief was evident. The inexplicable phenomena were most shocking to him.

Colonel Ji Chang-Hoon, who listened quietly, fixed his gaze on the blank monitor. Just then, his radio crackled.

“Scarlet Break Unit Team 1 has completed the sweep of Salli’s operatives. They’re returning to Muhwado, estimated arrival in ten minutes.”

He murmured to himself, “We’ll need to move quickly.”

Ji Chang-Hoon turned to look directly at Wina, who was stumbling out of the examination room with her arms restrained on either side. She was clearly exhausted, her lips parted as she gasped for air. With her blindfold and earplugs in place, her flushed tongue hung from her mouth, the sight making his throat itch with intrigue.

Without hesitation, he approached her. As he removed her blindfold, her heavy lashes lifted, fluttering open like wings. Her strikingly colored eyes reflected him, devoid of awareness, her gaze blank as if part of her very self had been carved away. He felt a surge of desire, a reaction he could not control.

Thick fingers grasped her delicate chin, lifting her face toward him. Despite her reputation as a witch, her expression held a trace of quiet obedience, as if ready to endure whatever he might inflict. Yes, even if he were to order her to open her mouth and receive his spit… the thought filled his mouth with saliva.

Yes.

She was a prize too valuable to be kept merely as a hostage.

“Red eyes.”

He murmured, his eyes glinting with desire as he drank in the sight of Wina.