ABVSA 05

Chapter 05

The moment the guy clutched his neck and collapsed, Kim Jong-chan’s body shot forward like an arrow.

He had pinpointed the exact location from which Su-hyeok’s voice had come.

The moment that annoying chicken gangjeong was dealt with, the man’s knuckle swung through the air, slicing the wind.

Clang!

Su-hyeok instinctively swung the Grim Reaper’s scythe to block it.

A sharp metallic crash echoed through the dark alley as metal collided with metal.

“You’re nothing but an amateur who relies on stealth.”

Sensing the inexperienced strength transmitted through the knuckle, certainty formed in Jong-chan’s eyes.

‘He’s right. There’s no need for me to waste time on a rookie like this.’

Su-hyeok, who had only recently awakened, had no combat sense.

Clashing head-on was suicide.

‘That guy… he’s probably an Abyss.’

Awakened ones could be broadly divided into two types.

There were normal Awakened who entered Gates and fought monsters—the majority.

And then there were Abyss Awakened.

A kind of loser or criminal.

Either those who ran away from fighting monsters, or those who committed crimes and went into hiding.

Jong-chan didn’t know which category this man belonged to.

Given that he worked as a club guard, he didn’t seem like a wanted criminal.

He wouldn’t be walking around so openly if he were.

‘Probably just a runaway coward.’

Still, he wasn’t someone Su-hyeok could afford to underestimate.

Su-hyeok quietly stepped back, muffling his footsteps.

Hidden beneath the Grim Reaper’s robe, he extended his hand toward the man.

‘Let’s see if it works on Awakened too.’

The moment Jong-chan’s attack cut through empty air, he looked around in confusion.

As even the faint presence vanished completely, his brows furrowed.

“Where are you! Did you run away?!”

He was convinced Su-hyeok was hiding somewhere, waiting for an opening.

So he tightened his grip on his knuckles.

But Su-hyeok hadn’t run.

He was right behind Jong-chan—three meters away—in his blind spot.

In a cold voice, he whispered:

“Judgment Sentence.”

• When Judgment Sentence is used on an Awakened, the activation chance decreases. The reduction rate varies depending on the target.

“What?”

So it wasn’t guaranteed to activate on anyone.

Apparently, it wasn’t something that could be applied at 100% just because he wanted it.

Given that no such message appeared when used on non-Awakened, it was likely 100% effective on ordinary humans.

Then, black energy surged from the ground.

Before Jong-chan even realized it, it coiled around his shoes like something licking them.

‘Good. It activated.’

“Huh? What the hell.”

Jong-chan frowned and shook his foot.

His heightened senses as an Awakened detected something unpleasant and foreign.

But that was all.

For someone like him—an Abyss who had run from monsters and ended up in crime—it wasn’t something he could easily shake off.

“Is this a binding skill? Heh.”

Thinking it was just a restraining ability, Jong-chan tried to ignore it and moved again.

But his face instantly turned pale.

“…?! Ghhk! What the hell! My leg!”

A rough scream burst from his mouth.

This wasn’t simple immobilization.

The black energy climbing his ankle began forcibly draining his life force and power.

“Ghhk! You bastard! What did you do?!”

He had thought it was just a binding skill—but something invisible was devouring his strength.

His muscles shrank rapidly, like air leaking from a balloon.

In seconds, he aged into a skeletal old man.

Su-hyeok leaned against a wall and watched calmly.

This was different from the previous thugs.

Unlike ordinary humans, the process on an Awakened was much faster.

‘Do Awakened taste better?’

The black energy from hell devoured Jong-chan hungrily, almost greedily.

His once-muscular body withered away.

He struggled to lift his knuckled fist, but even his fingers were now skeletal beneath his skin.

The knuckle fell to the ground with a dull clatter.

Su-hyeok, cloaked in the Grim Reaper’s robe, looked down at him as his vision blurred.

Naturally, Jong-chan could no longer see him.

“Go rot in hell.”

Above Jong-chan’s head appeared his sins:

• Assault
• Murder

Not as many as the trash he had seen before, but no less vile.

Trash was trash.

And it was something Su-hyeok had to clean up.

Jong-chan had no strength left to respond.

His chest tightened, his breathing blocked, and his limbs had already withered like dry branches.

Su-hyeok then turned his gaze to the chicken gangjeong.

The man was already sprawled on the ground, stunned by witnessing someone being turned into a living mummy.

Blood pouring from his neck had already formed a river—he would die soon anyway.

But leaving corpses and traces behind was not what Su-hyeok wanted.

“I’ll clean you up too. To hell with you.”

The black energy swallowed him as well.

Compared to Jong-chan, the process was slower since he was an ordinary human.

Zzzzzsssh—!

Their bodies disintegrated into black particles and scattered into the air.

The luxury watches, clothes, and even the pooled blood on the ground vanished as if erased.

The alley returned to silence.

It was hard to believe such killing intent had existed there just moments ago.

‘So it’s not only objects directly in contact with the body that disappear.’

He had learned through experience that indirectly touched objects sometimes remained.

But he hadn’t expected even blood to vanish like this.

‘So blood counts as part of the body.’

That made covering traces much easier.

The killing itself had actually been impulsive.

He had the means to execute judgment cleanly without leaving traces, so using the scythe had been unnecessary.

Still, this experience reaffirmed how powerful the Judgment Sentence skill was.

• A sinner has been judged.
• Reward: 10 Hell Points.
• Level increased.
• Level-up reward: 10 Hell Points.
• An awakened sinner has been judged.
• Reward: 30 Hell Points.

Su-hyeok reached Level 3.

[Name] Han Su-hyeok
[Class] Grim Reaper of Hell
[Level] 3
[Status] Brand of Hell
[Skills]

• Reaper’s Eye
• Judgment Sentence
• Hell Shop
• Reaper Body
  [Hell Points] 60

The system messages felt like a triumphant victory.

A total of 60 Hell Points.

‘The Soul Compass was 20 Hell Points.’

The best skill in the Hell Shop, Reaper’s Step, cost 100 Hell Points.

He wanted to save up for that, but it was better not to get greedy.

The Soul Compass would make it easier to find sinners.

It would reduce the time wasted roaming around pretending to be a delivery driver.

‘The iron mask guy…’

The owner of the XX Club—the so-called Iron Mask.

He was definitely an Abyss, and likely a high-ranking Awakened.

‘I need to prepare.’

Through this, Su-hyeok realized something.

No matter how urgent his revenge was, he needed more strength.

He lacked combat ability and experience when facing Awakened.

He knew better than anyone that sometimes taking one step back was necessary for two steps forward.

Returning home, he immediately lay down on the bed.

It wasn’t exhaustion, but the unfamiliar sensation from fighting Jong-chan that lingered in his mind.

“I’m still lacking power.”

Even with the enhanced body from Reaper Body, it was only a foundation.

Without refined technique or real combat experience, he had to rely too much on stealth.

He opened the Hell Shop.

A window filled with dark crimson energy unfolded before him.

He had 60 Hell Points.

Without hesitation, he selected the Soul Compass.

‘Purchase.’

A familiar chime rang in his ears.

Ding-dong.

Breaking the silence, the doorbell echoed.

He jumped up from the bed and opened the door.

On the hallway floor was a box.

No sender name, no shipping label—only a red emblem of crossed Grim Reaper scythes.

Inside was an old brass compass.

The moment he held it, a cold energy crept up his wrist.

He opened the lid.

“It’s not moving.”

The needle simply followed his movement due to gravity.

The “10-meter radius” limitation felt more restrictive than expected.

There were no sinners inside his home—or anywhere within ten meters.

‘I can’t find them staying home.’

So he slept.

The next day.

He prepared to go out on his scooter.

To scan within the short 10-meter range, a scooter was more efficient.

With the app closed, he fixed the compass to the scooter and rode through the streets.

As he passed residential areas and entered a main road, the previously sluggish needle began to tremble.

‘It’s reacting.’

It pointed northeast.

Toward the bus stop.

He hid in a nearby alley and observed.

At the stop, he scanned the people.

Then he noticed a woman sitting at the end of the bench, smiling at her phone.

Beige coat. Neatly tied hair.

She looked perfectly ordinary.

But the sins above her head were not.

• Murder
• Corpse disposal
• Fraud

Su-hyeok’s expression twisted slightly.

It was ironic—someone with such sins smiling so casually.

A monster who killed and disposed of bodies.

A filthy piece of trash, smiling among ordinary people.