Kang Seul-gi.
Technically, he wasn’t just a team mber—he held the position of deputy team leader.
"His penchant for disassembling things aside, he was competent at his job."
When Su-ho greeted him with a smile, Kang Seul-gi responded with an awkward smile of his own.
“Oh, uh, hello.”
“Looks like you’re working on purification?”
“Yes.”
Short answers.
Su-ho hadn’t noticed it in his previous life, but now Kang Seul-gi struck him as a peculiar person. Normally, soone in his position might have made small talk or at least shown so interest in Su-ho’s groundbreaking purification thod from earlier.
But Kang Seul-gi didn’t. Instead, he simply turned away and focused on his purification task, as if Su-ho weren’t there.
At that mont, Jo Geon-hyuk passed by and called out to Su-ho.
“Su-ho, can I speak with you for a mont?”
Seeing Su-ho hovering near Kang Seul-gi, Jo gently led him a bit farther away and spoke cautiously.
“You’ve worked hard today. If there’s nothing else on your schedule, feel free to call it a day.”
“Thank you. But if you don’t mind, would it be alright if I stayed a little longer to look around the Special Warehouse?”
“Hmm… there’s no harm in that. Just be careful around that deputy team leader you were just talking to.”
“The deputy team leader? Why?”
“Well… he’s a bit peculiar. Likes working alone.”
"Peculiar."
A tactful way of saying he wasn’t the most sociable person.
Normally, such a comnt would dissuade most people from approaching Kang Seul-gi. But Su-ho needed a connection with him.
“Understood. That’s a sha, though.”
“Sha? What do you an?”
“The items he’s working on… I think I’ve seen one of them before in the Sealed Gate.”
“The Sealed Gate?”
The ntion of the Sealed Gate—along with Su-ho’s feigned familiarity—sparked Jo Geon-hyuk’s interest.
“Yes, but I can’t quite recall the details…”
“If that’s the case, you should’ve said so earlier! Co on, let’s go. I’ll talk to the deputy team leader myself.”
“Are you sure? If he’s uncomfortable, I can wait…”
“Nonsense! This is important—it’s related to purification work. That makes it part of the job.”
Jo was adamant. To him, Su-ho wasn’t just anyone—he was the discoverer of the 22nd purification thod. Letting Su-ho inspect the items was more than justified.
“Alright, I’ll leave it to you, then,” Su-ho replied with a faint smile.
Jo strode confidently to Kang Seul-gi. “I’m counting on you, deputy.”
“…Understood,” Kang Seul-gi replied tersely.
Silent Observation
Once the arrangent was made, Kang Seul-gi returned to his work in silence. Su-ho stood nearby, watching him intently.
The atmosphere between them was quiet.
Kang Seul-gi didn’t acknowledge Su-ho’s presence, and Su-ho wasn’t bothered by the lack of attention.
thodically, Kang Seul-gi continued his task. One by one, he picked up cursed items from the towering pile beside him, performing purification processes on each. If an item couldn’t be purified, he tossed it into the destruction bin; if it was successfully purified, it went into the storage bin.
This routine continued until, at one point, he was about to discard an item into the destruction bin when Su-ho spoke.
“Deputy Team Leader.”
“…Yes?”
“You missed a step in the purification process for that item.”
He had. Out of the 21 recognized purification thods, Kang Seul-gi had skipped one.
Su-ho’s observation halted Kang Seul-gi, who stared at the item briefly before nodding.
“You’re right. Thank you.”
Su-ho responded with a light smile and resud watching Kang Seul-gi work.
“…”
From that mont on, Su-ho’s presence began to bother Kang Seul-gi. Yet, the deputy team leader didn’t say anything, continuing his work with machine-like precision.
But not long after—
“You missed another step.”
“Deputy Team Leader, that one too.”
“And that one.”
Ti and ti again, Su-ho pointed out small errors in Kang Seul-gi’s process.
The other mbers of Special Team 2 were too preoccupied to notice. They were busy docunting Su-ho’s purification discovery, contacting other departnts, and reviewing existing materials. Even Jo Geon-hyuk had left them alone.
This left Su-ho and Kang Seul-gi isolated from the rest, an island of their own.
A Confrontation
After so ti, Su-ho spoke again.
“Deputy Team Leader.”
Hearing his na, Kang Seul-gi paused and turned to Su-ho, his brow slightly furrowed. His expression seed to ask, What now?
But he didn’t speak first, waiting instead for Su-ho to explain.
Su-ho, wearing his ever-friendly smile, said, “How about taking a break for so coffee?”
“Coffee?”
“Yes.”
“I’m fine. I don’t like coffee.”
“Then just listen to what I have to say.”
“What?”
“Have you been stealing items like this all along?”
The mont Su-ho finished his sentence, Kang Seul-gi’s eyes widened in shock for the first ti. His heart began pounding in his chest.
“W-what are you talking about?”
“Do I look like an idiot to you?”
Su-ho stepped closer, still smiling. The gap between them shrank to just a few steps, their voices now low enough to be inaudible to anyone else.
Lowering his voice, Su-ho continued, “Admit it. You’ve been deliberately tossing usable items into the destruction bin to smuggle them out.”
“W-what? That’s ridiculous!”
“Are you going to keep playing dumb? If you keep this up, I’ll reveal everything you’ve been hiding—including what’s in your stomach.”
Kang Seul-gi froze, visibly rattled.
The accusation of item theft was one thing, but Su-ho’s ntion of what was in his stomach struck a nerve. He swallowed hard, sweat trickling down his back and soaking his shirt.
As Kang Seul-gi struggled to find words, Su-ho leaned in, his smile unwavering.
“Deputy Team Leader.”
“Y-yes?”
“Let’s grab that coffee.”
***
In the backyard.
Su-ho led Kang Seul-gi to a quiet spot he often shared with Jung Cheol-min.
“Coffee? Or maybe so barley tea?”
“I’ll have barley tea… please.”
“Sure. Do you have any coins?”
“Excuse ?”
“I’m out of coins.”
“Oh… yes, here.”
Taking the coins from Kang Seul-gi, Su-ho got two cups of barley tea and handed one to him.
“Enjoy.”
“Ah, thank you…”
They drank in silence for a while, the warm tea serving as a temporary reprieve from the tension.
After a few sips, Su-ho finally broke the silence.
“Deputy Team Leader.”
“Yes?”
“When did it start?”
“When did what start?”
“The thing in your stomach.”
Kang Seul-gi froze. His eyes widened, and his lips pressed tightly together.
How did Su-ho know? This was supposed to be a secret known only to himself.
After a long silence, Kang Seul-gi spoke, his voice trembling.
“How… how did you find out?”
“Does that matter right now? What matters is the thing embedded in your stomach.”
“….”
“Let see it.”
Kang Seul-gi hesitated, then sighed deeply. Slowly, he untucked his shirt and began unbuttoning it, revealing an inner undershirt beneath. Pulling it up exposed a thin, lightweight internal armor.
But this wasn’t ordinary armor.
He didn’t wear it because he was a mber of Special Team 2. The armor existed solely to conceal sothing attached to his abdon.
When he unzipped the armor, what lay beneath was finally revealed.
Rrrr… rrrr…
A faint chanical noise beca audible as the zipper was halfway undone. It sounded like machinery, and in truth, that’s exactly what it was.
As the armor ca off completely, it exposed two interlocking shredders spinning in his lower abdon where flesh should have been.
“It looks so ta compared to what it’ll beco later.”
The shredder in his stomach was no mystery to Su-ho. He knew exactly what it was.
Its na was ga Crusher, one of the cursed items classified under the "High Technology Series" of advanced artifacts from another civilization. Among the most dangerous cursed items, the ga Crusher was considered a parasitic device.
“In simple terms, Kang Seul-gi is its host.”
Su-ho nodded and said, “That thing in your stomach—it’s called the ga Crusher, isn’t it?”
“How do you know that?”
“That’s a trade secret. But what’s more important is this: you’ve been stealing items to satisfy its demands, haven’t you? You couldn’t keep up with what the ga Crusher required.”
Kang Seul-gi bit his lip, his face pale. After a mont, he nodded slowly.
“…Yes, that’s true.”
“That must have been hard for you. Alright, you can cover it back up.”
Kang Seul-gi zipped his armor back up and adjusted his clothes, sitting quietly beside Su-ho. He gripped the paper cup in his hands so tightly it crumpled slightly—a clear sign of his anxiety.
Su-ho watched him in silence for a while, understanding the weight of the burden he carried.
Kang Seul-gi hadn’t always been this withdrawn.
His transformation was directly tied to the ga Crusher.
Years ago, while working a solo night shift at Special Team 2’s warehouse, he had been ambushed by the cursed item, which had been sealed there for safekeeping. From that mont, he beca its host.
At first, he had debated telling soone. Surely reporting the incident would lead to treatnt or a solution. But the grotesque nature of the device embedded in his body made him hesitate. He couldn’t bear the thought of revealing it, especially when no similar cases had ever been reported, even internationally.
“The ga Crusher was classified as a cursed item that couldn’t be purified or destroyed. It was sealed away because no one knew how to deal with it. What if I end up the sa way—locked away and discarded?”
Unable to trust anyone, Kang Seul-gi kept the secret to himself. To ensure no one discovered the truth, he distanced himself from others.
“He didn’t quit because only here could he access the items needed to keep the ga Crusher satisfied.”
It was a choice born of necessity.
But despite his efforts, the ga Crusher’s existence was eventually exposed to the world. Years later, after Kang Seul-gi beca a team leader, the cursed item compelled him to shred every artifact stored in the Special Warehouse.
“All because of the ga Crusher.”
The device wasn’t just dangerous. Though it appeared calm now, it would grow more demanding over ti, consuming larger quantities of items and steadily eroding its host’s mind, driving them to madness.
This was why, in the future, Kang Seul-gi would beco infamous as the Mad Disassembly Scholar.
Su-ho broke the silence.
“Deputy Team Leader.”
“…Yes?”
“You want to get rid of the ga Crusher, don’t you?”
“What? I an… what did you just say?”
“You heard . Would you like to remove the ga Crusher for you?”
Kang Seul-gi’s eyes widened, almost as if they would pop out of his skull. Not only did Su-ho know about the ga Crusher, but he also claid to know how to remove it.
After a brief mont of shock, Kang Seul-gi nodded frantically.
“Yes! Please! Do you know how? I’m begging you—please, help ! I’ll do anything!”
His voice trembled with desperation, his entire deanor pleading. It looked as though he might drop to his knees at any mont.
Seeing his desperation, Su-ho nodded internally. It was fortunate that Kang Seul-gi had not yet experienced the hidden powers of the ga Crusher.
“That’s probably why he can still ask for help like this.”
Su-ho smiled and said, “Don’t worry. I’ll take care of it for you.”
“You… really?”
“Yes, really.”
That smile—so calm and reassuring—appeared to Kang Seul-gi like the smile of an angel.
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