By Zephyria 
〈Can you even call yourself human after doing this? Do you truly not fear your own karma! This child is your own offspring!〉
Along with the Divine Blade piercing the area where a heart once pulsed hotly, a mother’s voice flowed in. At the end of a longing that shattered both soul and body, the Smiling Man—Nam Hyeon-woo—finally recalled the timbre of his mother’s voice.
The voice of a mother toward a child who had gone mad and destroyed himself was stained with the same grief and despair he felt when he looked at his own son.
〈Hyeon-woo, your way is not right.〉
The wife, who had entrusted their son to her Sunbae and stood alone in his path, did not break her will even though she foresaw her own death. She believed that a means acquired by killing others could surely never save their child.
Ah. Only now can he see his wife and mother. Nam Hyeon-woo wanted to wail, but he no longer possessed a body capable of performing the act of ‘wailing.’
〈You have such a pretty face, so why do you always look so gloomy? I think you’d look great if you smiled like this.〉
A boy, barely a year older than him, had pulled the corners of his mouth to force a smile, then burst into a clear laugh, saying it was a strange expression. Swept away by that laughter, he too had ended up laughing foolishly. It was the first smile he had ever worn in front of someone other than his mother. The boy, who said he was confident in looking after ‘kids’ because he had four younger siblings, had been his only friend, his Hyung, and his Sunbae.
Nam Hyeon-woo had been openly shunned as the illegitimate child of a shaman. Furthermore, in places related to the Otherworld, he was rejected even by those who respected his mother, called the child born of a collusion with an anomaly.
The finger-pointing of being a half-human, half-anomaly wounded him like a brand, yet he could not completely deny it. Nam Hyeon-woo did not possess a True Eye like Jeil Heon, nor did he have spiritual power like his mother. However, he possessed one singular power in the world that neither of them had.
He could know the names of all sentient beings, not just anomalies, but humans as well. Not a vague reading like the True Eye, but the perfect ‘Name.’
But what use was it to know a name? Knowing a name didn’t mean he could purify an Aberration, nor could he devise a way to deal with them like one with a True Eye.
If he was destined to be born half-human and half-anomaly, it would have been better to possess some other power befitting that fate.
〈I am not resentful of my mother, nor am I seeking my father. I only wish to know what my roots are. Is the one who sired me truly an anomaly?〉
〈No.〉
〈Then what kind of person is he? You must have a few men in mind.〉
〈He is not a person either.〉
Nam Soon-ho never mentioned the biological father again for the rest of his life. A father who was neither an anomaly nor a human. That question had tormented him for a long time, like a thorn embedded in the skin that wouldn’t come out, but only now did Nam Hyeon-woo understand the meaning of his mother’s words. Only now, as he transitioned from human to anomaly and even his essence as an anomaly was fading.
As the humanity that constituted most of his soul and body vanished, only a single strand of divinity inherited from his father sustained him. The power to read ‘Names,’ which he had deemed useless, was connected to that very divinity.
A fragment, so thin and faint it could hardly be considered a human soul, drifted along as if drawn by something. Memories that flowed in, mixing with Nam Soon-ho’s longing imbued in the Divine Blade, surfaced dimly.
A man, beautiful to an ominous degree, frowned displeasedly at Nam Soon-ho.
「It is true that I respect you, despite you being mere human. However, that does not mean this one is permitted to make demands of me.」
〈O noble fox who looks down upon this land. How could one who treads upon the land you protect dare to make demands? It is merely the final wish of a sinful old man going to die by his son’s hand.〉
The man let out a sharp sneer.
「If you had mentioned the biological father of the child born from our union, I would never have seen you again, but you are indeed remarkably clever.」
〈I am humbled.〉
「I shall only help provide a small catalyst. I will make the arrangements, but how he accepts them is up to your son.」
Nam Hyeon-woo’s fragment seeped into an Aberrant Realm where the man had intervened. There, he saw. The man who had to throw away half his life because of him, and the child beside him. The child who had once been threatened by him.
…Jiha.
Now that the madness has subsided and his full consciousness has returned, he can see. Now he knows. My son. My beloved son. There was a light of a pure soul there, one that could not even be compared to his own defiled soul, which had turned into an anomaly after killing and killing and killing people.
The son he had wanted to protect so much had grown up pure, under the protection of his wife and Sunbae, while his own hands became drenched in blood.
The final words of his mother and wife surged over him. He was wrong. He was wrong. Nam Hyeon-woo’s fragment could not even wail. This sinner does not even have the right to call himself a father. Only the boundless and infinite sin fire of hell is where this sinner belongs.
But if there is just one thing permitted to him. May it be a power that helps his son, even if only a tiny amount.
Holding a desperate longing, Nam Hyeon-woo’s fragment completely vanished. Without leaving a single trace, silently.
* * *
“Do you know him?”
As Yoo Jiha paused his steps, Jeil Heon leaned over. After the victim explained who he was, Heon responded nonchalantly.
“Should we report that we couldn’t find the victim because the paths are random, and then head back to the Ear Guard?”
It would be a lie to say his heart didn’t waver for a moment. That man is a murderer who kills people not with a blade, but with a three-inch tongue. However, Yoo Jiha soon sighed and shook his head.
“Then I’d be becoming a murderer just like him. I believe sinners should be judged fairly by the law. I don’t know if it’s possible under our country’s laws, but…”
“Hmm. I guess it’s true that you’re attracted to people who are the opposite of you, honey.”
“S-suddenly?”
Yoo Jiha’s face turned red at the unexpected words. Honey? Ugh, seriously…! He really only says things that make me want to smack him with my lips. If this weren’t an Aberrant Realm, I’d just, totally…!
Barely regaining his composure, he cautiously spoke to the victim, but the man only screamed as if having a seizure.
“Aagh! Ack! Get away! You monster bastard!”
“Calm down…”
“Die! Just die! Aaaaagh!”
“We are…”
There was no time to even speak. Jeil Heon simply dealt with the victim, who was flailing and swinging fists even at Yoo Jiha. When the muzzle of the gun, taken from its rifle case, pointed at him, the victim stopped dead as if his frenzy had been a lie. Jeil Heon gestured with his chin.
“Move forward.”
“If I keep going, another monster will appear! It’ll kill me!”
“If you don’t go, you die here.”
Click. As the sound of the bolt being pulled and released echoed, cold sweat poured down the man’s face. He had an intuition that this man wasn’t threatening him with a bluff. With those eyes, utterly indifferent even while aiming the gun, he would pull the trigger and kill him as if clearing away a bothersome object.
If he walked forward, he might live, but if he didn’t obey, he would certainly die. The victim moved his trembling feet, and the journey continued quietly in silence.
Soon, a Hell Warden Aberration appeared in the blink of an eye from a surging pillar of fire.
「It is the fi-nal ga-te!」
Regardless, they were accompanied by the victim. To protect the victim, Yoo Jiha, like an Agent of the Management Bureau, widened his eyes this time, suppressing his nausea.
The Aberration’s question fell.
「Have you and you and you e-ver ki-lled a hu-man-aaa!」
Wait. At this timing?! Amidst Yoo Jiha’s astonishment, countless phantoms of people dying after being falsely accused and framed sprouted up, and the victim struggled.
“N-no! I haven’t! I didn’t kill anyone!”
「You are a sin-ner who ki-lled a hu-man-aaaa!」
“Fuck! This is unfair! I’m not the only one!”
Just as a spear of blazing fire was about to fall upon the screaming victim—Bang! A single gunshot tore through the thick heat.
“Put that spear away.”
「If you hin-der the exe-cution of a sin-ner, you shall also die!」
“Kill me? You?”
「Come forth, bro-thers!」
Two more Hell Warden entities leaped out in succession from the soaring pillars of fire. Though only three Aberrations had gathered, their sheer size was overwhelming, enough to cover the entire sky. Standing alone before them, Jeil Heon looked small, as if he might be crushed under their feet. However, he was a man who would not hesitate to dive in, no matter how reckless it seemed, if the opponent was an Aberration.
The consciousness and murderous intent of the Aberrations shifted from the victim to Jeil Heon. To avoid getting in the way, Jiha grabbed the victim and slowly backed away. He wanted to be helpful even in a small way, but since the only thing he could do was avoid the fight, he felt a bit upset every time this happened.
‘The only words I can read in the True Eye Text are things like prisoner or execution… Huh?’
At that moment, an anomaly occurred. New letters were engraved upon the True Eye Text, where previously only sporadic words had been readable.