Inside the hospital room. Wright listened to his subordinate's report. "That man… he dealt with those three like it was nothing. Didn't even get a scratch.
In front of him, they were like children. Totally helpless."
The gangster reporting this was still drenched in cold sweat just thinking about it.
He had been watching the whole thing through a telescope from a distance and saw nearly the entire fight.
It was too fast—too brutal. A pure display of overwhelming power.
He now realized that the only reason he survived taking a punch from that monster was because the man held back.
Compared to what happened to the others, that punch was like a flick on the forehead.
After hearing the report, Wright tried to light a cigarette, but his hand was shaking too much. He gave up.
He took a deep breath, trying to calm the storm of fear inside.
He couldn't help but feel like he had brushed past the gates of death.
If he hadn't remembered that prophecy poem… if he had chosen to stay silent like his subordinates out of some misguided loyalty… then he'd either be dead or never have the chance to climb higher in the underworld again.
Looking back, it was sheer luck.
Then he thought about his daughter's strange ability… and the terrifying power those people wielded.
Were they the same kind of thing? What exactly was this power? He didn't have an answer yet.
But one thing he was sure of—he was lucky he'd built a connection with someone that strong through the prophecy.
…
Kevin had already boarded the airship heading to Nancha City.
He had to admit, this world's airship travel was surprisingly well-developed—almost on par with trains.
That said, airships were slow. Their only real advantage was convenience—they could reach more destinations than trains.
Kevin thought back to Sarro.
He didn't remember much about the guy, but just knowing someone like that had his eye on him was like having a fly buzzing around his ear—endlessly annoying.
Still, he had a deal to honor with Zhong Wen. He'd deal with Sarro after their meeting.
Finding information on Sarro wouldn't be hard for Kevin.
In a previous email, Jin Freecss had mentioned a group called the Thousand Ear Guild—an intelligence organization that handled transactions between Nen users.
Their services included info sales, target tracking, bounty contracting, brokering, and more.
Plenty of Hunters even took jobs from them. For the right price, Kevin could track Sarro in real-time.
He had used the Guild to get info on those three assassins too.
Meanwhile, the very Sarro Kevin had mentioned was now staring at his phone, drenched in cold sweat.
The phone wasn't even his—it was passed to him by one of his underlings.
The message he received was simple: all the powerful mercenaries he had hired were dead.
Judging from the scene, they'd all been killed in a single blow.
Clearly, Kevin had gained enough strength to easily shrug off Sarro's control—and now, he was likely coming for his life.
"No… I have to get out of here. I need to go home. Yes—home."
Sarro made up his mind, scrambling to leave.
After all, his family was one of the Ten Dons. Even if he embarrassed himself going back, it beat dying out here.
It wasn't a hard choice.
…
A few days later, Kevin arrived in Nancha City.
It was a medium-sized city, nothing too big or too small. Scanning the horizon, he couldn't even spot a building over ten stories high—just a dense patchwork of low-rise structures.
The whole city was surrounded by mountains and forests, blessed with abundant natural resources.
People wearing ethnic clothing roamed the streets, and the outskirts were packed with tent villages.
"This place is out in the sticks," Kevin muttered after stepping off the airship. Even the airport was tiny—only three airships docked in total.
He found a hotel, but it wasn't exactly comfortable.
"Guess I'll use this time to keep working on purging the grudges," he thought.
Kevin had been deeply researching the malice clinging to his Nen ability, A Moment's Dream, trying to control and eliminate it.
Not just to remove side effects—this was key to fully mastering the ability itself.
According to Jin Freecss, this wasn't a complete Post-Mortem Nen ability, but it was formed during the process of becoming one. The resentment tied to it was like a half-born curse.
Though it wasn't fully hostile, Kevin needed to break through the separation between them and integrate it to truly make the ability his own.
The upside? It didn't even take up a slot in his memory space—a free Nen ability.
Kevin conjured his alchemical workstation and placed both hands on its base. His aura flowed steadily into the structure, guided by his will.
It resembled activating a Nen ability, but the process was fundamentally different.
Only someone with Kevin's degree of control could pull something like this off.
As his aura poured in, he felt the malicious energy begin to trickle back through the link.
While not true Post-Mortem Nen, it was definitely the result of that transition—resentment born from an unfulfilled obsession.
"Just how obsessed with alchemy was the original me?" Kevin muttered each time he sensed the hatred.
The emotions were crystal clear: "I want to make medicine. I want to combine ingredients. I need to finish my research."
All this grudge energy came from the frustration and anger of dying before his work could be completed.
"Figures… Anyone who awakens Nen on their own is stubborn to the core," Kevin sighed again, sensing the stubbornness woven into the lingering will.
By combining the fragmented memories in his head, the experiment logs, and this obsessive aura, Kevin was starting to get a clear picture of his former self.
A stubborn, obsessed, single-minded guy who didn't care what others thought.
"That's fine. I love making medicine too. I love researching ingredients and mixing them into potions. Let's do this, buddy. Show me what you've got!"
Kevin talked to himself, fine-tuning his mental state. This was a method he had developed recently.
By syncing his thoughts with the remnants of the original will, he could let his own aura and intention permeate the malice. Once they connected, he could slowly draw it out and remove it.
Since the source of the resentment was technically himself, this wasn't as difficult as it might seem.
Once a part of the grudge was exposed, pulling it out became much easier.
After all, these curses weren't infinite. The workstation only held so much.
Once he stripped them all away, the malice would be gone—and so would the side effects.
Truthfully, Kevin felt this whole process was like peeling away the fragments of the original personality embedded in the Nen.
Once all of that was gone, A Moment's Dream would be entirely his to command.
Still, it would take time—a slow and tedious process.
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