Jeobeok.
Dane took a step forward to catch up with him.
'Just a little closer.'
Kevin shuffled backward on his haunches, as if terrified.
"Just my life—just spare my life, please."
Hesitantly retreating like that,
Tak.
He deliberately pressed his back against the wall.
"Hah!"
He feigned a startle, as though his escape route had been cut off. To bait a careless Dane into closing in to finish him off.
"P-Please...!"
Jeobeok.
Finally, only one step remained. Just as he was waiting for Dane to take one more step closer...
Shwik!
Dane's hand seized Kevin's jaw. Far faster than Kevin could react.
"—!"
The grip was so powerful his jaw couldn't move a millimeter.
"You're doing something amusing."
A cruel smile carved itself into Dane's mouth,
Syuk.
A dagger was thrust at Kevin's mouth.
"Umph! Uumph!"
Kevin realized what Dane was about to do. He struggled with all his might, but it was useless.
Ppakak!
The dagger Dane held slammed mercilessly down on Kevin's jaw.
"Mmghhh!"
Agony like dozens—hundreds—of awls grinding away at his jaw struck Kevin. His mind went white, unable to think a single thought.
Ppog! Ppeok!
Merciless violence continued, like a pestle pounding down, until finally Kevin's jaw hung limp.
"Mmgh! Mmghhhh!"
People instinctively grit their teeth to endure pain. But a completely numb jaw made even that impossible.
"Mmghhh!"
All Kevin could do was curl up on the floor and howl in pain.
Ttuk, ttuk.
Blood gushed from his shattered jaw. The horrifying sensation of something that should be attached to his face dangling loose was enough to drive him mad.
"Mmgh, mmghhh..."
Tears streamed down Kevin's face as he trembled uncontrollably. Even through the white flashes of pain before his eyes, questions bubbled up.
'How...'
Dane had known about the trump card he had left. Otherwise he wouldn't have gone straight for his jawbone first.
"Mmgh, ugh..."
When he lifted his blurred eyes, he saw Dane watching him expressionlessly. Dane asked as though he could see right through to Kevin's thoughts.
"You want to know how I knew?"
Tuk, tuk.
Dane tapped his own jaw—precisely, the spot where his molars were—with a finger.
"Helena told me."
"Mmgh...?"
"Embedding poison capsules in the children's molars? As part of fostering a sense of belonging."
Kevin struggled to piece his thoughts together in fragments.
'Helena? How? Did he torture her or something?'
Perhaps from losing too much blood, his vision spun. That made it difficult to think straight.
Syuk.
To make matters worse, Dane grabbed one of Kevin's shoulders.
"Mmgh... mmghhh!"
Unlike earlier when he had been feigning submissiveness, this time Kevin wanted to beg in genuine earnest.
"..."
Because the way Dane stared at him was closer to that of a butcher deliberating which piece of flesh to carve next.
If Dane had been radiating killing intent, it wouldn't have been this terrifying. He would have proudly offered his neck and acted nonchalant in the face of death.
But.
'Please, please...!'
It didn't seem like Dane would kill him cleanly. Not knowing what was about to happen to him struck him as horrifying terror.
"Mmgh! Ughhh!"
Even as Kevin repeatedly bowed his head and pleaded with desperate eyes,
"I can't understand what you're saying."
Dane only replied indifferently.
The expression of someone performing a routine task—as natural as washing one's face in the morning or eating when mealtime came—even carried a sense of boredom.
It was difficult not to feel oneself shrinking infinitely before him.
"Because I have a reward to give you."
Dane said something cryptic, then—
Saak!
Without hesitation, he sliced through the muscles below Kevin's shoulder.
"Mmghhh!"
Kevin's eyes went wide enough to pop out. It wasn't just from the pain.
Deolkeong.
His arm was still attached, but a foreign sensation washed over him—as if it wasn't his own.
"—!"
Kevin thrashed, but Dane's grip on his shoulder didn't budge a millimeter. The other cruel hand sliced through the remaining shoulder as well.
"Mmgh, ugh..."
Both of Kevin's arms hung limp on the floor. No matter how hard he tried to put strength into them, it was impossible.
'Damn it!'
He belatedly realized what Dane had done. He had made it so Kevin couldn't move either arm.
There was only one purpose to such an act.
'What is he planning to do to me...'
Even without going this far, Kevin had intended to tell everything if Dane asked for information. Besides, wasn't Dane someone who normally killed assassins without even investigating their backgrounds?
He couldn't understand why Dane was doing this now.
Just then—
Deolkeodeong!
The door to the director's office was thrown open violently. Kevin's eyes dilated as he reflexively turned to look.
"...Director."
Helena stood there, her face deathly pale.
'My god, she's alive!'
Relief and joy crossed each other. Helena, standing with her golden hair streaming, looked for a moment like an angel descended from heaven.
"How...!"
Helena's face contorted as she took in Kevin's state.
'Yes, my lovely daughter. Of course you would.'
Color returned to Kevin's face. Hope sprang up that his loyal servant and lovely daughter had come to save him.
Just as he had hoped,
Tat!
Helena immediately charged toward him and Dane. Kevin followed Helena's trajectory with joyful eyes.
But he couldn't see what he had expected—Helena lunging at Dane.
Ppak!
Instead, the last thing he saw was Helena's knee striking him directly in the face.
Kudangtang!
Kevin tumbled backward, blood spurting from his nose.
"Whoa, how."
Along with the impact on his back, Helena's voice dropped casually.
"How'd he slice you up so nicely?"
Kevin writhed on the floor where he had fallen, enraged by what Helena had just said.
'That crazy bitch...!'
Unable to put strength into either arm, he couldn't lift himself up. Instead, he strained to raise his neck and look ahead.
"Puhat!"
Helena was looking at him, laughing. Or rather, it was a face where you couldn't tell if she was laughing or crying.
A twisted mouth, eyes brimming with moisture. But what filled both cheeks was cruel ecstasy.
"Look at that face. I want to treasure it forever."
Helena beamed brightly with eyes that looked ready to burst into tears at any moment. It was a face he had never seen once in all the time he had raised this child.
'You little—how...'
He wanted to spit out curses and profanities, but—
"Mmghhh!"
—the only thing that came from his mouth were meaningless shrieks.
'After all I did raising you, you ungrateful—! That damn bitch!'
He felt something wet dripping from his throbbing nose. Unable to raise an arm to wipe it away, Kevin glared at Helena with bloodshot eyes.
"Director-nim, why are you so angry?"
Helena remained perfectly composed despite Kevin's blazing gaze.
"I didn't do it. The new Master-nim did."
Whether it was because Kevin had been rendered powerless, or because an even stronger man stood beside her.
Either way, it was maddening for Kevin.
"Hiing, Master-nim. I'm scared. Look at those eyes."
When Helena feigned crying, Dane responded while idly flicking his blood-soaked dagger.
"Don't lie."
"Oh, not falling for it."
It was easy to tell that some kind of agreement existed between the two.
'That, that bitch...!'
Helena saw Kevin's widened eyes and smiled brightly.
"Upset your precious daughter betrayed you?"
"..."
Kevin couldn't even bring himself to respond—both physically and psychologically—and only trembled.
However that bitch Helena had survived, it was obvious she had taken Dane's side.
What wasn't obvious? It seemed she'd simply spread her legs on command and somehow won Dane's favor.
"You're thinking this right now, aren't you? How could my daughter betray me, ungrateful after everything I did raising her. Right?"
Helena's question struck precisely at Kevin's heart. Rather than show his hand, Kevin only glared at her.
"So I'm right?"
Helena smiled sweetly, then—
"What kind of daddy fucks his own daughter."
—murmured eerily, her face suddenly changed.
The killing intent seeping vividly from Helena sent a chill down Kevin's spine.
The girl who had been completely subjugated to him, who was ultimately beneath him no matter how much she had fought back, was now looking down at Kevin. And he himself was reduced to writhing on the floor, having lost both arms.
Nothing could be more humiliating than this.
"Do you still think you're 'our' Master?"
Kevin snapped to his senses at Helena's mocking words.
Hwaek.
When he turned his head to look at the doorway,
"...!"
he saw children clustered together at the doorway.
From Kasto, who had always served at his side, to every child he had trained with immeasurable effort and expense.
"..."
Those children were gathered, watching him. In their gazes, there was not the slightest urgency to save their father.
Dozens of pairs of eyes were happily watching Kevin's downfall.
"Really pathetic."
"I know. Looking like that, he's like a doll with its arms ripped off."
"He's 'our' doll now."
The children murmured among themselves as they entered the room. Then they stood surrounding Kevin.
"He's crying. Cry."
"Guess he knows it hurts too."
"There's still a lot left to cut. Where should we start?"
"I'll do the legs."
When they couldn't keep up with training, he had beaten them. Only when they completed training did he give them food and a place to sleep. Raising the children like that, Kevin had felt no guilt whatsoever.
They were worthless lives that would have spent their days begging on the streets anyway.
He had taken them in, refined them, made them useful. They should be grateful—or so he had thought.
That karma had begun returning to Kevin like a boomerang.
"Helena, can we do it?"
"You should ask the new Master-nim."
The exchange between the children and Helena rang hollowly in his ears.
"Mmghhh..."
Kevin's eyes filled with despair.
There was nothing he could do. The devastating feeling that his world had completely ended consumed him.