Chapter 13: Crash Outs

Dust slowly settled across the ruined luxury room. Pieces of shattered concrete continued to fall from the gaping hole in the ceiling, and the hotel's fire alarm screamed a deafening alert through the smoke.

"Hanabi...." P said, looking genuinely surprised.

Everyone’s eyes instantly whipped over to Hanabi.

"P.... You actually exist!" Hanabi choked out, completely shocked.

The surviving cultists and Jinho immediately turned their attention back to P, their weapons locking onto his chest.

"Oh my God, I exist...? How...?" P muttered in wonder, looking down at his own hands and patting his body.

"You know her?!" Jinho demanded, utterly confused and intensely curious as he aimed his pistol directly at P's head.

"Yeah, I do know her. We had a brief meeting about two months ago, but that doesn't really matter right now," P said, casually waving his hands to the side. "Besides, I thought this skyscraper was an emergency parking lot. That's what the Google Maps on the plane said."

He paused, looking over the wreckage. "But the good news is that I landed safe and sound, and no one is severely hurt or dead. That's all that really matters right now," P added, his tone entirely serious and considerate.

"You son of a bitch! Put your hands over your head!" shouted the guard to P's front left, slowly and cautiously advancing toward him.

But something felt incredibly wrong. Anyone in the room could have pulled the trigger right then, but they couldn't. Even Jinho felt it. It was an unnatural, crushing weight—as if their hands were physically being forced not to fire. An overpowering uneasiness made their muscles go stiff. A primal, familiar instinct screamed in their hearts:

Preys standing before a Predator.

Who the hell is this man? I can't feel a single thing from him. It's like he's completely empty... he has no soul! Jinho thought in his subconscious, his eyes widening in pure terror. Shoot him! his mind screamed, but his hand refused to lift. He wanted nothing more than to pull the trigger, but his body wouldn't obey. Dangerous, Jinho realized, a cold sweat breaking out as the stiffness forced him to just stand there and watch.

Why am I seeing this woman again? P wondered in his subconscious.

Three guards were aiming their rifles at him, alongside Jinho. P's eyes darted across the room. He noticed the dark masks stamped with the demonic symbol on their foreheads. Then, his gaze trailed down to the floor near Hanabi, landing on the iron branding rod with the exact same demonic edge.

He looked at Hanabi’s face. He could see where they had attempted to burn her skin. Tears had completely washed away her makeup, leaving behind eyes that screamed desperately for help. The moment P locked eyes with her, his expression changed. He completely locked in. He turned his head slowly back to the guard who had ordered his hands up.

"So, who the hell are you?" Jinho forcefully demanded, trying to break through his own paralysis.

P just stared at him.

"You heard my name from her, right? Good. So, I'm going to take my leave now, and I highly suggest you let the woman go. She looks tired," P said. He casually turned to walk toward the exit on his right, but the two remaining guards broke through their fear and blocked his path, raising their rifles.

BADUM. BADUM. BADUM.

CRACK!

The guards violently forced their fingers against the triggers. Behind P, the first guard and a sweating Jinho moved in agonizing slow-motion, raising their weapons to fire. But before a single firing pin could strike—

"Hmph."

P smiled.

The guns roared, bullets tearing through the air in slow motion toward P. But P was already moving. He effortlessly slipped to his right, grabbing the closest guard's wrist with his left hand while wrapping his right arm tightly around the man's neck. He yanked the cultist forward, using him as a human shield. A hail of bullets slammed violently into the guard's back.

With his free hand, P ripped the rifle straight out of his human shield's grasp and fired a lethal burst into the guard directly in front of him. Without pausing, he spun and unleashed another burst into the guard he had just walked away from, dropping him instantly.

"Gaukkkk! Kauakkkk!"

The guard pinned in P's elbow choked out a bloody gasp of pain. P didn't hesitate. With a sharp, brutal jerk of his arm, he snapped the man's neck.

This is too easy. Honestly, landing that plane safely was harder, P thought to himself.

Only Jinho was left. P looked over at the table, but Jinho was gone. He quickly scanned the room and spotted him. Jinho had retreated, standing directly behind Hanabi’s chair with his gun pressed hard against her temple.

P took a few steps forward, casually dragging the dead guard's body along as a shield.

STEP. STEP. STEP.

"If you come any closer, I will blow her brains out!" Jinho screamed from across the room.

P immediately stopped walking.

"I'm warning you!" Jinho shouted, completely pressured and frantic. He grabbed the top of Hanabi's head, digging the barrel of the gun deeper into her skin.

P gazed into Jinho’s eyes. They were trembling violently with fear and pure panic. He looked down at Hanabi. Her eyes were wide and stiff, staring at P before darting subtly to the wide-open exit door on the right, then back to him.

Hmph. I know exactly how to handle a guy like him, P thought.

"Why did you kidnap the girl in the first place?" P asked calmly.

"It's none of your damn concern! You said you were leaving, right?! Do it! Get the fuck out of here!" Jinho shrieked.

"Sure, I guess." P turned to his right and began walking toward the exit, carrying the dead body in his right arm and the rifle in his left hand.

STEP. STEP. STEP.

Just before reaching the doorway, P stopped. He turned back around, facing Jinho and Hanabi.

Let's get started, P smirked in his subconscious.

"Wait a minute. Are you in a cult? Yes or no?" P asked.

"It's none of your concern! What if I am?!" Jinho yelled.

"Then you are a absolute fool. You have your own life at risk for nothing," P stated.

"Shut up and get out!" Jinho roared.

"You look so goddamn lazy that you can't even work to get your own money. You've literally been a useless piece of entitlement your entire life," P said, his eyes locking onto Jinho with deadly seriousness.

"I said shut up!" Jinho’s voice cracked angrily.

"An incapable bastard. A worthless piece of trash. A parasitic scum trying to play pretty boy," P said, his gaze turning mockingly cruel. "Nigga, you are trash. You are entirely meaningless."

"Shut up! Shut up!" Jinho screamed, his face flushing red.

"Your entire life has no purpose. No meaning. I bet your own parents regret the day you were born." P’s lips twisted into a wide, maniacal smile. "Hell yeah. I swear to God, your mother cursed the very day you slid out into this world."

Jinho’s eyes widened in sheer shock. P’s expression shifted into a terrifying, evil grin, completely piercing Jinho's psyche.

"I curse the day you were born! You are nothing but a disappointment!" P shouted, his maniacal smile growing wider.

"Shut up...!!!" Jinho screamed, a wave of genuine, psychological pain hitting his voice.

"That is why everyone looked down on you and laughed at you in your weakest moments! Because you were nothing! You were worthless! Hopeless! Useless! Garbage! An ugly piece of shit—the single greatest disappointment on the planet!" P roared, breaking into a loud, unhinged, maniacal laughter.

"I said shut up!" Jinho shrieked, his hands shaking violently.

"You know what?" P looked straight into the depths of Jinho's trembling soul, his face locked in a terrifying, psychotic grin. "Thanks to your cult, you might have fame. You might have money, power, influence, and a pretty face. But one fundamental truth remains: even with all of it, you will always be absolutely nothing in this life. In the next one, and the next one after that, you will always be nothing. That hollow feeling will never leave you."

P laughed maniacally, his voice echoing off the concrete walls.

"Shut up! Shut up! SHUT UP! SHUT UP!" Jinho screamed at the top of his lungs.

Hanabi watched from the chair, completely paralyzed with shock. Has he completely gone insane?! she thought in horror.

"You're nothing! You're nothing! You're nothing! Nothing, nothing, nothing...!" P kept chanting, his laughter echoing evilly through the smoke.

"That's enough! That's enough! THAT'S ENOUGH...!" Jinho lost his mind, violently shaking Hanabi's head.

P kept his eyes locked on him, repeating the word over and over as he took a heavy step forward.

STEP.

"HAHAHAHA! HAHAHAHA! HAHAHAHA!" P laughed maniacally, stepping closer.

STEP.

"You son of a bitch!" Jinho snapped. Completely broken, he yanked the gun away from Hanabi’s head and began raising his arm to shoot P.

But before Jinho could fully aim the weapon, P’s face instantly reverted. The terrifying, maniacal grin vanished, replaced by a calm, warm-hearted, incredibly beautiful smile. Moving at lightning speed, P hoisted his rifle and raised his dead-body shield faster than Jinho could track.

BANG!

Jinho fired, but the bullet slammed uselessly into his own guard's dead corpse. Jinho desperately tried to lower his arm to aim again, but it was already too late. P looked back at him with a gentle, kind-hearted expression.

Suddenly, an upbeat, rhythmic music began playing through the hotel's damaged PA system into the room.

Looking like the most angelic, wonderful person on the planet, P began shooting Jinho as nicely and peacefully as possible, walking forward in time with the beat.

LALA LALA LALA LA...... LALA

BANG! BANG! BANG!

LALA LALA LALA LA...... LALA

BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG!

The music continued to blare as the brutal impact of the bullets repeatedly slammed Jinho backward against the concrete wall.

LALA LALA LALA LA...... LALA

BANG!

P tossed the heavy corpse out of his arms, letting it thud to the floor as he casually walked forward.

BANG! BANG! BANG!

LALA LALA LALA LA...... LALA

P stepped right up to the left side of Hanabi’s chair just as the music abruptly cut out.

RATATATATATATATATATATA!!!

He emptied the rest of the magazine into the wall, dropped the smoking gun to the floor, and turned to look down at Hanabi.

"Hey.........." P said with a warm smile. He immediately bent down behind the chair and began unraveling the heavy metal chains locked around her wrists.

"How have you been doing?" P asked while untying her.

"Good... and you?" Hanabi asked, turning her head over her left shoulder to look back at him.

"Not great. I just lost an entire plane I bought from Temu," P muttered, grunting as he threw the chains aside.

The heavy restraints loosened, and Hanabi stood up freely, immediately rubbing her sore wrists. P walked around from behind the chair and stood directly in front of her. Hanabi glanced up at his chest. She wanted to throw her arms around him and give him a massive hug, but she stopped herself. Instead, she reached out and tapped his chest three times.

"So, you really are real," Hanabi said, staring at his chest.

"Yes, I am, ma'am. I didn't even know that myself until today," P said casually. They both stared at each other for a quiet moment, before quickly looking away.

"Now quick, we have to get out of here!" Hanabi said, rushing over to the shattered glass window that overlooked the city skyline. She looked down, realizing the distance was incredibly steep. "Okay... do you have a plan?" She whipped her head back, only to see P already standing at the exit door, looking back at her.

"What are you doing? We can't go through that way!" Hanabi called out.

"Why...?" P asked, calmly curious.

"Because the cult has a massive party right below us, and I'm basically their sacrifice food to be offered to Death! They're probably coming up here any second because of the noise!" Hanabi explained.

"Death...? He's an asshole," P said nonchalantly, walking back toward her.

"Well, whatever, just come over here!" Hanabi signaled frantically. "Wait, where are you going now?!" she asked, completely confused as P bypassed her.

P walked straight past the broken glass and climbed directly into the crashed plane's cabin.

"Found it! Oh, how I love Temu," P's excited voice echoed from inside the cockpit.

Hanabi let out a heavy sigh. A moment later, P stepped out of the wreckage, walking toward her with a large parachute pack in his arms. Hanabi looked at it, a genuine smile breaking across her face.

"It's just one, but it can hold both of us," P said.

"Okay," Hanabi nodded.

As she began adjusting the straps, heavy, frantic footsteps started echoing from the hallway outside. More cult guards were arriving.

But when the armed guards violently burst into the room, they found absolutely no one. The room was entirely empty, save for Jinho’s bloody corpse slumped against the edge of the shattered skyscraper window, his hand stretched outward as if he had just tried to throw something.

High above the city, Hanabi and P had already leaped into the open air. The parachute deployed perfectly, and they floated gently down toward the distant parking lot. P was holding Hanabi tightly from behind.

"This is completely inappropriate!" Hanabi shouted against the wind.

"Don't mind me, just stay focused," P replied.

After a few tense moments, their boots hit the pavement of the parking lot. Disengaging from the parachute, they sprinted wildly toward her car.

Hanabi rushed to the driver's side and yanked the door open. She turned around to call out to him, but P was lagging far behind. Heavy drops of blood were violently dripping onto the asphalt from behind his back.

A small, brutal survival axe was driven deeply into P's spine.

"P...!" Hanabi gasped, her heart dropping.

STEP. STEP. STEP. STEP.

P's vision instantly began to blur and spin. He forced his legs to move forward slowly toward Hanabi, weakly stretching his right hand out toward her.

"P...! P...!!!" Hanabi screamed, sprinting away from the car and rushing toward him.

P's world began to violently darken. The very last thing he saw was Hanabi frantically running toward him, crying out his name. Before he could reach her, his legs gave out completely, and his consciousness plunged into pitch blackness.

"P.........!!!" Hanabi screamed into the dark.

THUD.