Kwon Oh-Jin imagined unleashing the concentrated mana of the Stigma on his left chest. The terrifying lightning bomb could sweep away everything within dozens of meters.
He sealed that image inside the glass bottle and threw it.
The glass bottle, charged with blue lightning, shot forward and created a small whirlwind.
Tied to the chair, Kurosaki Sosuke furrowed his brow slightly. A clear droplet of water floated in midair, encasing the lightning-infused bottle in a perfect sphere. The blue lightning that erupted from the glass melted away without penetrating the thin layer of water.
“Since when... did you know?” Sosuke asked.
With just a shift in his gaze, the frail figure who could collapse from a single touch instantly changed. He was no longer a trembling prey in fear, but a cunning predator lying in wait for his target to fall into a trap.
A suffocating bloodlust, thick like dense mist, filled the basement. Despite the murderous aura that would have left an ordinary person gasping, Kwon Oh-Jin simply smiled.
“From the very beginning.”
“How?” Sosuke asked in disbelief.
Even his own subordinates didn’t know his true identity, so how could this man see through his lie the moment they first met?
“I told you, didn’t I? If it were me, I would’ve asked to save my little sister.”
“You really expect me to believe you figured it out just from that? You think I’ll buy that nonsense?”
“Of course, that wasn’t the only thing.” Kwon Oh-Jin chuckled and crossed his legs. “For months, your group went to great lengths to hide the location of the digestion chamber. By sheer coincidence, its location is exposed the moment I arrive in Japan?”
To be fair, that much could be explained. Perhaps Kuroushi’s months of effort had finally paid off. However—
“Leaving an abandoned hospital completely unguarded? With no security measures and not even a single patrol? That doesn’t make any sense, does it?”
It felt as if the enemies had flung the doors wide open, welcoming Kuroushi with open arms.
Sosuke narrowed his eyes. “Even so, that alone wouldn’t have led you to figure out my identity.”
He was right. Their suspiciously lax security didn’t automatically connect Sakai Yuji to Kurosaki Sosuke. After all, the information regarding Kurosaki Sosuke and Sakai Yuji was far too different.
Who would ever imagine that Kurosaki Sosuke—feared as the King of Seahorses—was the same frail one-armed researcher who could collapse at any moment?
“Your arm.” Kwon Oh-Jin pointed to Sosuke’s left arm, which had been severed cleanly.
“You said that arm was cut off because you defied Kurosaki Sosuke, right?”
Humans instinctively found it easier to trust those who appeared weaker because such a person wouldn’t pose much of a threat even if betrayed. This wasn’t a matter of logic or reason. It was rooted in emotion and instinct. Famous plot twists in movies often revealed the culprit to be someone with a limp.
Kurosaki Sosuke had cleverly exploited this psychological tendency by making Sakai Yuji a one-armed man. There weren’t many clearer ways to signal weakness than having a missing limb, but—
“Don’t you think it’s strange?” Kwon Oh-Jin chuckled, his shoulders shaking as he continued, “According to you, Sakai Yuji was the only researcher capable of rebuilding the Star-Forsaken Land. If that were the case, he should’ve lost a leg instead of an arm.”
Kurosaki Sosuke’s eyes widened.
He should’ve lost a leg instead of an arm. The words rang in his head, echoing over and over again.
A hollow chuckle slipped out, “Ha.”
Looking back, it was so obvious. Instead of cutting off a researcher’s arm, which would hinder their ability to work, it would’ve been far more efficient to cut off a leg so they couldn’t escape.
“You’re not in your right mind either,” Sosuke said.
However, that was only in theory. When faced with someone trembling in terror and missing an arm, who would even think about that?
“Just what do you see people as?” Sosuke continued.
Only a person who saw others as tools or livestock, and not fellow humans, could ever conceive of such reasoning.
Kwon Oh-Jin clapped and laughed, “Haha! Man, I never thought I’d hear something like that from a guy who kidnaps people and brews elixirs out of them. By now, you should understand how I figured out your identity, right?”
“Why did you pretend not to know my identity this whole time?” Sosuke narrowed his eyes.
Kwon Oh-Jin could have exposed him on the spot, so why did he only reveal the truth now after three days?
“Because I knew you’d end up devouring your own flesh.”
“Devouring my own flesh?”
Kwon Oh-Jin smirked and nodded. “To achieve your goal, you needed to make a sacrifice of that scale.”
For example, giving up the Seahorse faction he had painstakingly built up over the years.
“Ha, the way you talk makes it sound like you know all my goals.”
“The fact that Sakai Yuji is actually Kurosaki Sosuke doesn’t really matter.”
What mattered was why Kurosaki Sosuke had gone so far to pretend as Sakai Yuji and get captured in the first place.
“You were trying to erase the existence of Kurosaki Sosuke.”
What would be the best way for a criminal to erase evidence of their crimes? Disappearing without a trace? Undergoing full-body plastic surgery and assuming a new identity?
No. The best method was to make people believe that the criminal had already died because a dead man couldn’t be hunted.
“Why? Did you start shitting your pants when you heard Cheon Do-Yoon died?”
Sosuke slowly exhaled and shook his head. “I give up. You got me.”
He never expected his plan to be completely flawless, but hadn’t anticipated it to be this thoroughly dismantled. As he leaned back against the chair in defeat, heavy footsteps echoed down the staircase.
Sakaki descended into the basement with a stiff expression, followed by Song Ha-Eun, who glared at Sosuke with open disgust. Behind them, Koshiro and the other Kuroushi members filed into the basement.
Sakaki’s eyes gleamed with cold fury after clearly hearing everything. “Sakai Yuji... no, Kurosaki Sosuke.”
Sosuke dryly chuckled as he gazed over the people now crowding the room. “What? Were you all huddled outside eavesdropping on us?”
“You bastaaaaard!” Sakaki’s roar shook the walls. He grabbed Sosuke’s collar. “So all of it... was just an act?!”
For the past three days, how much had Sakaki contemplated over Yuji? When Yuji fell to his knees, sobbing and begging for his death, Sakaki couldn’t bring himself to swing his sword. And now, the sheer humiliation of that moment burned inside him.
“Honestly, I was scared out of my mind, but you sure are a real man! I knew you wouldn't kill me!”
Sosuke, still being held by the collar, burst into crazed laughter.
“But my dear Taurus... did you know?”
His lips curled into a twisted grin.
“I wasn’t the only one acting?”
Sakaki frowned. “What?”
Sharp footsteps suddenly rang out behind him.
A chilling, murderous aura grazed the nape of his neck. He spun around in alarm. There, Koshiro stood with a sword tightly in both hands.
On the verge of tears, Koshiro raised the blade and brought it down toward Sakaki’s back. The blade, dripping with water like it had just been pulled from a deep pool, sliced through the air. Just as it was about to pierce through Sakaki’s heart—
As if he had expected this all along, Kwon Oh-Jin somehow moved beside Koshiro in an instant and caught his arm.
Koshiro quietly gasped in relief, “Ah.”
A faint smile appeared on his face as if he was glad his attack had been stopped.
Kwon Oh-Jin deeply sighed while still gripping Koshiro’s arm.
“Haa... Of all the bullshit, I really hoped this wouldn’t happen,” he muttered a sharp curse before ruthlessly kicking Koshiro in the stomach.
Koshiro was sent flying backward, crashing hard into the wall.
His sword slipped from his hands and clattered onto the floor.
Sakaki stared blankly with his mouth slightly open. He looked even more stunned than when he had discovered Yuji’s true identity. “What the...”
With a bitter expression, Kwon Oh-Jin gazed down at Koshiro on the floor.
He wouldn’t have said anything if Koshiro had stayed quiet, but it could no longer be kept hidden now that Koshiro had attacked Sakaki.
“Mr. Sakaki, do you remember when you used the Yume Hanashi?”
“At that time, the Yume Hanashi was activated on Sosuke, right?”
And yet, Sosuke hadn’t spoken the truth.
How was that possible? The answer was so simple that it was almost boring. It would make someone yawn.
“The Yume Hanashi was fake.”
“Back then, only one person could have swapped the real Yume Hanashi with a fake."
Kwon Oh-Jin looked down at Koshiro, who lowered his head in silence.
Koshiro hadn’t fainted. No Sanctum Awakener like him would lose consciousness just from being slammed into a wall.
Sakaki looked at Koshiro with trembling eyes. “Koshiro... Why? Just why...?”
The memories of Koshiro calling him Oyabun flashed through his mind. The bright-eyed and eager Koshiro always declared that he wanted to be a man like Sakaki.
Koshiro wasn’t just a subordinate. He was like a disciple or even a son.
“Why, why, why, whyyyy! Why would you do this, Koshiroooo!”
Sakaki's howl of agony tore through the air.
Koshiro bit his lip, and his shoulders trembled violently.
Kwon Oh-Jin watched him silently for a moment before shifting his gaze back to Sosuke. He asked Sakaki, “Why do you think Sakai Yuji followed Kurosaki Sosuke?”
“What are you talking about? Sakai Yuji was just a fabricated identity that bastard created—”
“Why do you think he followed Kurosaki?” Kwon Oh-Jin repeated.
Sakaki’s expression stiffened. As if something flashed through his mind, his grip on Sosuke’s collar trembled.
Kwon Oh-Jin sighed with a bitter expression. “The little sister poisoned wasn’t Sakai Yuji’s. It was Koshiro’s.”