Weak Class of Anti-Hero
Chapter 38: Anchors

Chapter 38: Anchors

The Director’s idea was insane. Dangerous.

But it also made a terrifying kind of sense.

If I couldn’t suppress this hunger, I had to learn to live with it. To control it. To feed it with targets who deserved it.

It was a dark path. A path of no return.

But it was a path.

"Alright," I said, after a long silence.

The Director nodded. "I knew you would understand."

We established a new agreement.

I would no longer be a student at Apex. My file was erased. Officially, Kang Ji-Hoon, the S-rank, had never existed.

I became a shadow agent. A "cleaner." Directly under the command of the Director and my father’s organization.

My mission: to hunt and eliminate threats that the official heroes couldn’t or wouldn’t handle.

I was given new resources. A new secure apartment in Seoul, far from the academy. Unlimited access to the organization’s funds. And most importantly: a list of targets.

Before I left, my father came to see me one last time.

"This is a lonely road you’ve chosen, Ji-Hoon," he said, his face grave.

"I’m used to being alone."

"No," he insisted. "Don’t make the same mistake I did. Don’t cut all your ties. You’ll need anchors. People to remind you who you really are, underneath the monster."

He placed a hand on my shoulder. "Call your friends. Don’t let them go."

Then he was gone.

I left the base, returning to the world. I was the same, and yet completely different.

I had a new purpose. A new job.

My first target was a group of Awakened-traffickers operating in the slums of Itaewon.

The hunt was beginning. And the hunger inside me... it almost seemed satisfied.

Before starting my first mission, I took my father’s advice. In part.

I called Min-Soo. He answered on the first ring, his voice full of worry.

"Ji-Hoon! Where are you? Everyone’s looking for you! The Director said you were transferred to a special program..."

"I’m fine," I cut him off, my voice cold and distant. I had to do it. To protect them.

"Min-Soo. I’m calling to say goodbye."

A silence. "Goodbye? What are you talking about? When are you coming back?"

"I’m not coming back," I said, each word like a stone. "I’m leaving the academy. For good."

"But... why? After everything you’ve done..."

"It’s complicated. It’s better this way." I took a breath. "Don’t look for me. Don’t you or Bora try to find me. It’s too dangerous."

"Dangerous? How is it dangerous? Ji-Hoon, tell me what’s happening!"

"I can’t. This is the last time we’ll speak. Take care of yourself, Min-Soo. And thank you. For everything."

I hung up before he could reply.

I looked at my terminal. I deleted his number. I deleted Bora’s.

Then, I hesitated. I looked at Ji-Soo’s number. The normal girl. The artist. My enemy’s sister.

My finger hovered over the delete button.

My father had said I needed anchors.

I left her number. A single, fragile connection to the world I was leaving behind. A reminder of the life I could have had.

Then I turned off my terminal.

Kang Ji-Hoon, the student, the friend, had just died.

Only the cleaner remained.

I put on a black jacket, hid my face under a hood, and set off into the night, heading for Itaewon.

A year passed.

My life found a new rhythm, strange and dual.

By day, I was just an anonymous young man. I worked in a small, shabby burger joint in Itaewon. One of those places that smells of fried oil and where the neon lights buzz.

I flipped patties on a hot grill, took orders, wiped tables.

My boss, a grumpy old man, didn’t ask questions. I did my job, I didn’t talk much. That suited him.

It was my cover. My way of staying connected to the normal world. I watched people. The tourists, the soldiers from the nearby US base, the locals. I listened to their mundane conversations. Their laughter. Their complaints. 𝐟𝕣𝗲𝕖𝕨𝗲𝐛𝗻𝗼𝐯𝗲𝚕.𝗰𝚘𝐦

It was my anchor.

But at night, everything changed.

When my shift was over, I would leave the restaurant. I would disappear into the dark alleys of Itaewon.

And I would become the cleaner.

I received my missions on a secure terminal. A name. A location. A target.

Sometimes, it was an Awakened who had gone mad, using his power to terrorize a neighborhood.

Sometimes, it was a clandestine lab conducting illegal experiments.

Sometimes, it was a creature that had escaped from a small, unlisted breach.

I had become efficient. Cold. Surgical.

The hunger was still there. But I had learned to control it. I fed it with my targets. I absorbed their powers, their knowledge, leaving behind bodies drained of their essence.

No one knew my name. In the underworld, they called me "the Ghost." A silent predator who hunted other predators.

I had become exactly what the Director wanted. A weapon. A monster who hunted monsters.

And every day, I wondered how much of Kang Ji-Hoon was still left inside me.

One evening, after my shift, instead of leaving directly for a mission, I went up to the roof of my small apartment building. I needed to take stock.

I opened my status interface. It was the first time in months I had looked at it in detail. It had changed a lot.

[Name: Kang Ji-Hoon]

[Rank: S (Unofficial)]

[Super-Skill (1)]

Absolute Evolution (Passive/Active): Allows for constant adaptation and evolution. Can absorb and integrate concepts and abilities.

[Permanent Skills (8)]

Dagger of the Void (Summon/Conceptual): Summons a blade that erases Aura and existence. Serves as a catalyst for Absolute Evolution.

Spirit Body Regeneration (Passive): Allows reconstruction of the body from the spirit.

Aquakinesis (Rank C): Manipulation of water.

Water Breathing (Passive): Breathing underwater.

Vocal Charm (Rank D): Emotional influence through voice.

Aura Blade (Rank C): Creation of pure energy weapons.

Combat Perception (Rank D): Enhanced instinct to anticipate enemy movements.

Shadow-portation (Rank C): Instantaneous movement between two areas of shadow. (Acquired from a clandestine guild assassin).

[Stored Temporary Abilities (2/5)]

Pyrokinesis (Rank D): Stolen from a pyromaniac last week.

Technopathy (Rank E): Copied from a hacker who was trying to hack an ATM.

My list had grown. I had become a deadly toolbox. A Swiss army knife of destruction.

I had mastered the four pillars of Aura. My body was a weapon, even without my powers.

I was stronger than any student at Apex. Probably stronger than most of the Kings.

But looking at this long list of stolen powers, I felt no pride.

Each line was the memory of a life I had taken. The ghost of a person I had erased.

I was powerful.

But I was also terribly alone.

I went back down to my small apartment. I was about to prepare for my night’s mission when someone knocked on my door.

It was unusual. No one ever came to see me.

I opened it. It was my neighbor from across the hall, a young woman my age, a university student. Her name was Min-Ji.

"Hi, Ji-Hoon!" she said with a shy smile. "Sorry to bother you."

She was holding a board game box.

"We’re... we’re having a game night with a few friends from the building. And we thought... well, we never see you. We wanted to invite you. To socialize a bit."

My first reaction was to refuse. A game night. It was ridiculous. I had monsters to hunt.

"No, thanks. I’m busy," I said, my voice colder than I intended.

Her smile faded a little. "Oh. Okay. It’s just... you always seem so lonely. We were a little worried."

Her words hit me, despite myself.

Lonely. I was lonely.

She was right.

I looked at her face, full of simple, sincere kindness. She was the kind of person I was supposed to protect.

I sighed.

"Okay," I said, to my own surprise. "But just for one game."

Her face lit up. "Great! Come on, we’re right across the hall!"

I followed Min-Ji into her apartment. There were three other people, sitting in a circle on the floor with chips and sodas. They greeted me, a little intimidated at first, but Min-Ji’s cheerful mood quickly relaxed the atmosphere.

We played a silly board game, full of dice and chance cards. It was simple. Low-stakes.

And for the first time in a year, I laughed. A real laugh.

Maybe my father was right. I needed this.

I needed anchors.

As Min-Ji was introducing me to the group, my gaze was drawn to one of the girls.

She was sitting opposite me, and she smiled as soon as I walked in. It was a discreet, slightly shy, but direct smile. She had long brown hair and bright, intelligent eyes. She was very pretty.

We locked eyes. Just for a second. But it was enough. A small spark of a simple, unexpected flirtation floated between us.

"And this is Ha-Yoon," Min-Ji said, introducing her.

"Hi," Ha-Yoon said, her voice soft.

"Hi," I replied, trying not to seem too interested.

I sat on the floor, in the circle. The game box was in the middle. It wasn’t a normal game. It was a kind of holographic 3D Monopoly. A game board projected into the air, with floating streets and buildings.

"It’s the new ’Seoul Tycoon’," one of the guys explained. "It’s super popular right now."

The rules were simple. Buy properties, build buildings, bankrupt your opponents.

We started to play.

The game was light, fun. We rolled virtual dice, moved our holographic pawns.

But I noticed Ha-Yoon was watching me often. When I rolled the dice, when I spoke. And every time our eyes met, she would smile at me.

I wasn’t used to this. This kind of simple attention, without calculation, without danger.

I started to play along. I returned her smiles. I teased her a little when she landed on one of my properties.

It was a subtle dance, an innocent flirtation in the middle of a board game.

And it was the most normal, most human thing I had done in a year.