In the Past

  Some Years Earlier

  Gangnam-gu — South Korea

  During a Beautiful Night

  Before the many adults gathered there in the city center—some talking, others laughing as they prepared to enjoy the nearby nightclubs—there could be seen nothing less than a 14-year-old girl calmly walking among them.

  Some people glanced at her, surprised that someone so young was alone there, close to midnight.

  [Echoing Voice from Adrian's Past] ...Don't even think about going to sleep without brushing your teeth. Did you think I wouldn't notice, you annoying little "butterfly"? [A gentle, playful & affectionate laugh] —

  Yet no one there knew that she was not an ordinary young child. She was nothing less than a young Oculi Nigri, heading toward one of the tallest buildings in the center of Gangnam-gu.

  As she walked, some people noticed her clothes: a beautiful red dress with delicate embroidery.

  [Muffled Voices of People Chatting Excitedly]

  On her feet, a simpler but well-kept pair of black flats. Then, a man ahead of her interrupted her path a few meters in front of her, preventing her from moving forward.

  [Muffled Voices of People Chatting Cheerfully]

  The man wore dark sunglasses and more executive-style clothing, with black gloves on his hands.

  The young girl, sensing his presence blocking her way, simply continued walking, lightly clenching one of the fingers of her left hand, making it clear that she did not care about whatever stood between her and her objective.

  [Echoing Voice from Adrian's Past] ...I thought it through carefully, and considering our savings, we can go to Gyeongbokgung Palace next weekend. What do you think of that idea? [An excited sigh] —

  At the same time, the man displayed such confidence in his imposing stance before the girl's path that, after a few moments, he suddenly dropped to his knees on the ground.

  Clutching his chest and unable to utter a single word, he was seized by unbearable pain that made his eyes widen instantly.

  It became clear that his heart inside his chest was being squeezed by an external force that wrapped around it and gradually tightened, leaving no space for it to beat normally, causing excruciating anguish.

  By the moment the man realized what was happening, the young girl was already less than a meter away from him, crouched in front of him.

  She spoke with a voice that conveyed serenity and innocence, making him feel a crushing pressure in his chest and a sensation of uncontrollable palpitations.

  When he raised his terrified face toward the girl, he saw her eyes completely black and an innocent yet unbearable smile, as if death itself stood before him.

  [Young Girl — Serene & Merciless Voice] I am giving you the single chance to step out of my way toward the top of the Gangnam Ex building and continue breathing like a filthy pig. —

  The man's eyes turned completely white, revealing that he too was an Oculi—an Oculi Albi, in this case.

  Meanwhile, the surrounding humans watched the two without understanding what was happening, assuming they were simply a father and daughter discussing something important.

  [Young Girl — Serene & Merciless Voice] What will you choose, you filthy pig? [Playful laugh] —

  The young girl's smile reflected in the man's eyes as they returned to normal, like those of an ordinary human, though now wet with tears in the face of her audacity.

  [Man — Incredulous & Trembling Voice] How dare you treat me like a "toy," you insolent girl?! [Painful breathing] —

  Upon hearing the man's furious words, she gently placed one hand on his shoulder, making him consider using his Oculi abilities to push her away.

  [Young Girl — Awkward Laugh]

  [Young Girl — Innocent & Empty Voice] Insolent girl? [Deep & slow breath] —

  However, he had neither time nor chance to use his full strength, for immediately after feeling the delicate touch of the girl's hand.

  The man sensed—right where she had placed her hand on his right shoulder—a tingling sensation that spread throughout his entire right arm, all the way to the tip of his finger.

  At the same time as the tingling, every bone that composed his right arm shattered internally into multiple fragments, without a single drop of blood spilling from his arm onto the ground.

  [Young Girl — Deeply Empty Voice] Do you truly dare to try to stop me from reaching that man who hides at the top of that building behind you? —

  This made him open his mouth in an expression of extreme pain, yet he could not produce a single sound, while everyone around them continued to talk and walk normally, watching the two as if they were simply standing close, talking to each other.

  [Young Girl — Deeply Empty Voice] But I will not stop advancing toward that bastard, since he burned until nothing remained of what I cared about the most. —

  What surrounded them at that moment could only be seen by the eyes of an Oculi: nothing less than a small dome enveloping the two of them, imperceptible to humans. The humans perceived a different scene—one of the two conversing affectionately.

  This dome was a kind of construct created by the young girl to project a visual illusion, hiding what was truly happening inside it.

  The brutal scene of the man screaming in total agony over what had happened to his right arm within mere moments after the girl's touch on his shoulder.

  [Young Girl — Deeply Empty Voice] And I will destroy with my own hands everything that he cares about, whether they are still breathing or not. [A gentle, pleasurable & vengeful laugh] —

  The man, his expression consumed by hatred, began to bleed lightly from his nose due to the extreme pain he felt.

  He saw the young girl with an innocent look on her face, accompanied by an emptily innocent smile on her lips.

  Unable to move, he remained trapped inside the dome created by the young girl—not only to conceal what she was doing to him, but also so that she could do whatever she wished if he attempted to protect her target and attack her.

  His Oculi abilities were being forcibly disabled by the young girl, who compelled him to stare deeply into her eyes.

  [Man — Whispering, Incredulous & Trembling] ...You damned child! [Deeply painful breathing] —

  The young girl's eyes were completely dark, conveying a distressing and profound emptiness that made the man's heart beat faster and faster under the painful sensation of being watched and felt upon his skin.

  [Young Girl — Deeply Empty Voice] You had a choice, and you threw it away. Know that offering you a chance to live your trash life out of my way was the most disgusting thing I have ever done in my life. —

  [Man — Angry & Furious Voice] ...You are just like your mother, a person who should never have existed! [Deeply painful & gasping breath] —

  After the man's offensive words about the young girl's mother, the world around them vanished with a snap of her fingers, leaving them completely alone.

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  For a single second that felt like an eternity painted in negative tones to the man, he saw countless overlapping images of himself in the same place, kneeling, reacting in different ways.

  All of those images represented the many times the young girl had made him endure extreme pain, compressed into a single second measured from microsecond to microsecond.

  That single second experienced by the man was enough to leave him instantly with an empty expression and eyes utterly distant.

  And when the temporal flow and all the previously negative colors of the world around them returned to normal, it was possible to see the young girl release her grip from the man's right shoulder.

  He remained motionless, still kneeling, crying faint black tears from his eyes. The young girl then stood up, no longer crouched in front of him, passed by him, and continued walking toward her current objective.

  Maintaining a serene and tranquil expression. Her eyes were no longer completely black, but now entirely normal, like those of a human.

  Behind her, the man who had been kneeling began to fall face-first toward the ground before him. It was clearly visible that he did not even attempt to protect himself from the fall with his arms.

  After taking a few steps, she finally dispelled the dome she had previously created to conceal herself in front of the man, thus revealing to everyone nearby the man lying on the ground, bleeding from his eyes without a single visible open wound on his body.

  This immediately caused the people walking nearby to scream in fright, clearly seeing that the man was dead before their eyes, his gaze distant and lifeless, crying black tears.

  This led those people to believe that the man had suffered a sudden heart attack, given the expression of disbelief and total lack of reaction frozen on his face.

  Only an Oculi — and not a human examining his body and the true cause of death — would be able to identify that the man had been killed by an Oculi, who not only broke the bones of his right arm but also chose to grant him an extremely painful death.

  This death was inflicted by the young girl herself, who brutally forced him to experience so many deaths within microseconds that, in less than a single second, his mind completely shattered.

  As a consequence, he suffered brain death after his brain burned out from experiencing so much mental pain in such a realistic way within his own mind.

  When the people realized that the man was truly dead on the ground and could not understand what had happened to him in the span of a single blink, each of them immediately began calling an ambulance, amid the terrified screams echoing through the street near the city center.

  This drew the attention of plainclothes guards nearby who had been talking, making them notice the crowd gathered around something, calling for help. As a result, they moved toward the group of people shouting desperately.

  Meanwhile, the young girl continued walking normally, indifferent to everything, as the police officers passed by her without any concern for what she had done.

  Revealing that the young girl had simply, with a snap of her fingers, swiftly altered the memories of the people, ensuring that she had never appeared there and had never killed that man in any mysterious way after speaking to him.

  And then the young girl — who is revealed to be Nabi Yu — continued walking in her beautiful red dress, which seemed to dance in the air alongside her black hair, as she felt the presence of her target, knowing he was nearby.

  Thus, the voice of her target echoed inside her mind, trying to communicate with her and warn her that she was about to commit the greatest mistake of her life by continuing her steps toward meeting him.

  Her target was less than three kilometers away from her at that moment, standing atop the tallest building in Seoul — the Gangnam Ex building.

  And so, after severing the mental communication between herself and that person at the top of the building at the end of the long street ahead of her,

  she gradually raised her face while taking a deep breath, looking in the direction where her target would be, up on that building.

  On the young Nabi Yu's face appeared a serene expression, yet utterly devoid of any mercy.

  Ahead of her, the scene of the Gangnam Ex building could be seen, with its few lights shining around it, also illuminating the sky with the beams of light at its top, near the iron slogan that covered the entire rooftop of the building.

  Before the eyes of young Nabi Yu, the entire city could be seen with its colors that should have been saturated — this being the perfect moment for the lights to invite adults into their luxurious establishments filled with neon lights.

  The vast majority of those luxurious establishments were hotels and renowned nightclubs of Seoul, spread in all directions along that long central street which ended directly in front of the Gangnam Ex building.

  To Nabi Yu, however, those colors and that brilliance were utterly indifferent. All those hues around her, which should have appeared saturated to anyone else present there, were nothing more than a place of completely dull, opaque colors to her eyes.

  [Anguished Screams of Nabi Yu Echoing from the Past]

  Beneath that serene and innocent expression lay someone emotionally shattered after everything she had discovered — and after learning who was responsible for making her lose everything she loved most in recent months, after witnessing with her own eyes the flames consuming it all.

  [Desperate Screams of Nabi Yu Echoing from the Past]

  The eyes of young Nabi Yu, which until then bore a fully human appearance, gradually turned completely black, with no irises remaining within them.

  It was clear that she, previously wearing a downcast expression, continued walking forward toward the Gangnam Ex building.

  [Screams of Nabi Yu in Total Panic Echoing from the Past]

  She gradually lifted her face fully toward the cloudy sky of that dawn, as if trying to feel something beyond the emptiness that surrounded her entire existence at that exact moment.

  [Adrian — Echoing Voice From The Past] When you grow up and turn twenty-one, we'll go out and have fun like adults do. I hope you can put up with me by your side until then, you annoying girl... [Playful & Happy Laughter] —

  Her heart seemed to tighten as the sound of flames burning violently around her echoed — coming from the past, from just a few months earlier — resounding in the present, making her even feel the burning on her own skin.

  [THE SOUND OF A DEAFENING EXPLOSION ECHOING FROM A RECENT PAST]

  After reliving all of this once more with such vivid intensity, she simply clenched her fists tightly, baring her teeth in rage as she stared at the top floor of the Gangnam Ex building, which was entirely mirrored.

  Around her, a subtle vortex of an invisible force could be seen — imperceptible to the humans around her — encircling her body and visibly creating a gentle breeze in all directions, while her black hair lightly flowed along with her red dress.

  Some Moments Earlier

  Gangnam Ex Building

  Top Floor

  From there, the perspective advances closer to the top floor, revealing, through the darkened glass that shows no reflection of the interior, a single person alone inside the vast executive hall of the company.

  That person is revealed to be a young man of 25 years of age, wearing impeccably tailored, luxurious executive clothing made from refined fabrics—clearly indicating that he is the CEO of the company that owns the entire building.

  He stood gazing down at the city below him, his focus fixed on nothing less than the location of the young Nabi Yu, who was walking in his direction along the large avenue that ended directly in front of the Gangnam Ex building.

  In a single blink, his gaze shifted away from the city below and straight ahead, his expression serene, as if understanding what was about to unfold before his eyes.

  He now saw the city before him—and his own reflection in the frosted glass in front of him.

  [(Man — Animated & Disgusted Thought) ...I thought she wouldn't come to me so quickly after discovering the truth. "Explosive," just like her mother...]

  Before his eyes, the shadow of something appeared in front of the glass—and in the very next second, the glass before him cracked entirely.

  It was clear that that "thing," the shadow of a person, was responsible, having struck the surface of the glass with tremendous force—a surface that was heavily reinforced and bulletproof.

  [(Man — Animated & Disgusted Thought) ...Must be a hereditary "bad habit" of that irritating noble family.]

  As the glass continued to fracture further, spreading across the entire panoramic window of the meeting room that overlooked the beautiful night above the city, the man clearly perceived the shadow of a person outside advancing toward the glass.

  What appeared to be a fist struck the surface once more, shattering it again in a surreal manner.

  Less than seconds after that final blow landed on the now severely weakened glass, the entire structure fragmented into countless pieces.

  An arm pierced into the room—his room—where the man stood smiling in a thoroughly disgusted manner at what he saw before him, someone clearly determined to kill him, that contemptuous expression carved into her face.

  Through his eyes, the world around him seemed to slow its flow of time dramatically.

  In that suspended moment, it became possible to clearly see a young girl in a beautiful red dress, swaying gracefully as she moved toward him.

  As shards of glass flew inward into the room, many of them were prevented from touching or harming the man's skin, as he used his Oculi abilities to repel every fragment that would have struck him.

  It became evident that the red dress belonged to none other than the young Nabi Yu herself, who was advancing toward him at that very moment.

  Her dress was lightly torn by the glass shards she passed through—shards she did not care to have in her path.

  Stamped upon Nabi Yu's face were eyes completely black, a reflection of the maximum use of her Oculi abilities for her age of fourteen.

  Unintentionally, she had succumbed to and was experiencing both a mental and physical collapse.

  At the same time, a smile consumed by burning hatred was visible on her lips, blazing through every activated muscle fiber in her body at that moment.

  Her greatest desire then was to crush the body of the man before her until not a single atom of his existence remained in this world, for he was responsible for everything terrible that had happened in her life over the past months.

  Simultaneously, the man observed everything as the world remained slowed, his eyes—once normal—now completely white and devoid of irises.

  It became clear that the man was an Oculi Albi, not an Oculi Nigri like Nabi Yu, as evidenced by the scene of him standing motionless while glass fragments floated behind and around him.

  Each shattered fragment of glass reflected, on its surface, a fractured image of his face and of Nabi Yu's, the two staring deeply into each other's eyes.

  An invisible force could also be seen emanating outward, slightly distorting the image as it was released from Nabi Yu's body in all directions for several meters.

  At the same time, Nabi Yu's long, beautiful black hair, along with her red dress, swayed as she advanced, consumed by her desire for revenge.

  The man saw the young Nabi Yu's movement while she was still suspended in the air, advancing toward him through the slowed world, as she drew one of her arms backward to condense even more force into her strike.

  That motion revealed itself to be the preparation of a punch aimed directly at the man—condensing not only her physical strength, but also the invisible force emanating from her body into that single blow.

  It made her clench her fist so tightly that the veins stood out faintly beneath the skin of her knuckles.

  Her target at that moment was not just any part of the man's body, but specifically his face, which bore a playful, sarcastic smile in anticipation of what was about to unfold.

  Nabi Yu was completely lost in her thirst for vengeance, using everything she had to attack him.

  The slow advance of her fist sliced through the air as the world remained slowed, only centimeters away from striking the man's face—who did not even attempt to dodge.