【Kanghyun. Let go of that hand.】
The voice that flowed from the back of the Lead Executor's hand was low and clear. The mouth behind the mask did not move.
Each time the voice spoke, only the bloodstained white claw sigil grew brighter. Amid the sirens and radio chatter in front of the station, that voice alone seemed to come from right beside Kanghyun's ear.
The Captain was so startled by the strange voice that he clamped his mouth shut.
Beyond the barricade, the child, wrapped in a blanket, peered toward Kanghyun with a worried look. A paramedic put an arm around the child's shoulders and pulled the child back into their embrace.
Lee Kanghyun's right hand curled up on its own.
The sensation of a nonexistent bow returned to his palm. For seven years, his body had drawn the string every time that voice spoke. Kanghyun opened his hand.
The Lead Executor was pressing down on the fallen Executor's side. The white glove was already soaked red. A paramedic shoved fresh gauze beneath that hand.
"Don't ease the pressure. The bleeding still hasn't stopped."
The Lead Executor gave a short nod.
The white claw sigil on his bloodstained hand lit up again.
【Did you not hear me? Let go of that hand.】
The translucent right hand still clung to the hairline rift in midair.
Inside the rift, a claw slowly scraped across space. A line thinner than a strand of hair trembled beneath the palm. Fine cracks spread across the back of the hand. Stone dust scattered into the night wind.
Kanghyun limped toward the swaying, translucent hand that looked ready to collapse. The bandaged thigh pulled taut from his very first step.
He did not slow down.
"No."
The Captain's gaze turned toward Kanghyun. The paramedics behind the barricade also looked up. Only the third Executor remained in front of the civilians, holding the white barricade in place.
The Lead Executor's sigil flashed once.
【Your achievements flowed into that thing.】
The Lead Executor looked up at Kanghyun without changing the position in which he was stopping the bleeding. Until a moment ago, his wavering eyes had been fixed only on Kanghyun's mouth.
【Did you choose it yourself?】
"I did."
Something black swept past inside the hairline rift. The middle finger of the translucent hand jerked backward from the impact.
When Kanghyun supported the translucent wrist from below, the finger slid back into place.
【Why did you choose that god?】
Before answering, Kanghyun looked at the hand in the air. Its fingertips were crumbling. Even so, the force pressing against the hairline rift did not weaken.
"Even after it had run out of strength."
A black claw pushed against the hairline rift from within. The translucent fingers trembled, then pressed against the boundary again.
"That hand never let go of the people."
A brief silence passed. There was neither praise nor surprise.
【It is uncontrolled divinity.】
The paramedic layered fresh gauze over the blood-soaked dressing. Red spread to the edges in an instant. The Lead Executor's fingers pressed harder against the wound.
【Today, it closed the boundary. There is no guarantee it will do the same next time.】
Kanghyun looked back and forth between the station entrance and the hairline rift.
It was true that a monster had escaped a moment ago. He still did not know what the Forgotten God was, or what lay beyond this rift. But he could not erase a hand that had saved people twice just because it was dangerous.
【If it opens the boundary again and releases a disaster, can you stop it?】
Kanghyun looked down at his empty right hand.
He had neither a bow nor a divine blessing. Blood was seeping through the bandage around his thigh again.
"Not right now."
A black claw swept through the hairline rift. The translucent palm was knocked forward, pressing down over Kanghyun's hand. Kanghyun kept supporting the translucent wrist and pushed it back toward the boundary.
"That's why I'll keep watch."
Another fragment fell from the translucent back of the hand. It broke into fine stone dust on Kanghyun's palm.
"It won't be too late to get rid of it after I've confirmed what it is."
【You intend to judge a god as a human?】
Kanghyun's gaze did not leave the crumbling hand.
"Because this time, I was the one who chose."
The Hunter of Victory did not answer. Only the white claws carved into the back of the Lead Executor's hand grew more distinct.
【Hand it over.】
The index finger of the translucent hand briefly straightened.
As the rift widened, one of the claws inside forced its way out.
Kanghyun lifted the translucent wrist from below. The Forgotten God's finger settled back over the hairline rift. The black claw was shoved back inside as if it had been severed.
【Contamination must be removed.】
"Even though it saved people? You'd still remove it?"
The ring finger of the hand pressing against the hairline rift slipped. Kanghyun pushed up on the wrist he was supporting. The ring finger settled back over the boundary.
【Proving its usefulness does not make the danger disappear.】
Kanghyun did not smile at that.
Seven years ago, he had never once doubted that voice. Whenever he held up collapsing buildings or led rescue teams that had lost their way, that divine blessing had saved people.
So he had trusted the god who chose him. Until the moment he turned back to save two people, and that trust was severed along with his divine blessing.
The Hunter of Victory's voice dropped even lower.
【If you hand it over, I will overlook this defection.】
His right shoulder grew heavy.
Kanghyun's fingers curled once, as if wrapping around the handle of a bow that wasn't there.
The white arrows that had pierced monster hide. The place he had earned over seven years, and the voices that called him a hero.
If he were chosen again, he could pierce the monster this instant and reclaim the erased name as well.
It would all return with just one step.
【I will choose you again.】
The paramedic briefly raised their head to look at Kanghyun. Their hands continued moving over the fallen Executor's wound.
The Lead Executor's gaze also shifted to Kanghyun's right wrist.
To them, it must have sounded like an offer with no reason to refuse.
The night wind brushed Kanghyun's left wrist. The end of the paper wristband trembled faintly.
A name written in crooked, uneven letters came into view.
Lee Kanghyun.
It wasn't on the display board, but it was the name the child had given back to him.
Kanghyun looked at the Forgotten God. It had neither a face nor a body.
It was only a right hand that did not even know its own name.
Stone dust kept falling from its knuckles.
The Forgotten God's hand did not turn toward Kanghyun. Not one finger pulled away from the hairline rift.
A lukewarm voice sounded from very close by.
【You choose.】
The voice stopped there.
Kanghyun pulled his left hand from beneath the wrist he had been supporting and laid it over the translucent back of the hand. The paper wristband touched the faint wrist.
"I won't let go either."
Both hands pressed against the hairline rift in the air.
The Lead Executor's shoulders stiffened. White light spread from the back of his hand.
【Executor.】
The outline of a white bow formed between his blood-soaked fingers.
【Burn the unregistered divinity. Secure Lee Kanghyun.】
The Lead Executor lifted the hand pressing down on the wound slightly. The blood that had been trapped beneath it surged up between his fingers.
The fallen Executor inhaled sharply, then stopped.
"Don't lift your hand!"
The paramedic shouted.
The Lead Executor looked down at the bow that was about to be completed. The white string trembled between his fingers.
He pressed his palm back onto the wound. The outline of the white bow went dark.
The fallen Executor's blocked breath burst out raggedly.
【That is an order.】
The Lead Executor did not answer. He put more of his weight behind the hand pressing down on the wound.
"The injured at the scene come first."
His voice trembled, but his hand did not.
【You will bear responsibility for that choice as well.】
The third Executor turned his head. But he did not retreat from the barricade in front of the civilians.
The Captain watched the scene in silence beside Kanghyun.
The light of the white claw sigil cooled and dimmed. The Hunter of Victory no longer urged the Executor on.
Instead, Kanghyun's right wrist began to glow white. It was the black scar left behind after seven years of contract burned away.
Three thin white lines appeared across the scar. The lines overlapped, forming claw marks.
【You refused the place of a hunting hound. From now on, you are prey.】
The light quietly sank beneath the skin of his right wrist. Kanghyun turned his right wrist over.
The tips of the new claw marks stopped within the black scar. The white light did not spread any farther.
The light on the back of the Lead Executor's hand went out. The Hunter of Victory's presence faded with it.
All that remained was the sound of sirens, ragged breathing, and claws scraping inside the hairline rift.
Two paramedics came running with a stretcher. A pressure bandage was wrapped tightly around the Executor's side. The Lead Executor did not remove his bloodstained hand until the paramedic had taken over.
He did not say he would help Kanghyun. Kanghyun did not thank him either.
The Lead Executor watched until the stretcher had been moved toward the ambulance.
The translucent right hand was still pressing against the boundary. Kanghyun slowly lifted his left hand away from it.
The paper wristband the child had put on him remained around his left wrist.
Lee Kanghyun.
Around his right wrist were the white claw marks left by his former Patron Deity.
The white claw marks gave a quiet, single pulse.