The night was restless, thick with tension that seeped through the very air Min Jae breathed. He stood at the rooftop’s edge, the neon glow of the city stretching endlessly before him, but his focus remained on the small USB drive in his grip. The key to everything. The proof that would expose The Ascendants. And yet, the weight of his past and the uncertainty of the future loomed heavier than ever.

Hana had given him a choice—to walk away and live as Min Jae, or step into the fire once more as the Heavenly Demon.

He clenched his fist around the drive.

The problem was… he wasn’t sure which part of himself remained anymore.

A gust of wind howled past him as a presence approached from behind. He didn’t need to turn around to know who it was.

“Yoo Mira.”

The soft footsteps came to a halt a few feet away. “I knew you’d figure it out,” she said, her voice unreadable.

Min Jae finally turned to face her. Under the dim city lights, her expression was calm, but there was something deeper—an unspoken conflict hidden behind her composed exterior.

Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

“You’re working for them,” he stated, more a confirmation than an accusation.

A faint smirk crossed her lips. “And what will you do now that you know?”

Min Jae studied her, searching for a sign of the woman he once thought he knew. He had come to Seoul chasing the remnants of his past, believing that he could reclaim something that was lost. But perhaps he had been chasing a ghost all along.

“I don’t know,” he admitted.

For the first time, Yoo Mira looked surprised. Then, she exhaled and turned her gaze to the city below. “They’re not just another organization, Min Jae. They are the organization. Governments, corporations, even entire industries move at their command. The world runs on power, and The Ascendants ensure it remains in the right hands.”

Min Jae’s grip tightened around the USB. “And you think that’s right?”

“No,” she said softly. “But I think fighting them is impossible.”

Silence settled between them, heavy and suffocating.

He had spent lifetimes carving his path, standing at the peak of martial prowess. And yet, in this world, raw strength wasn’t enough. The battlefield had changed. The enemies had changed.

Maybe it was time for him to change too.

He took a slow breath before tossing the USB drive over the edge of the rooftop.

Mira’s eyes widened. “You—”

“I’m done chasing ghosts.”

Min Jae turned away. He had fought long enough, bled enough, lost enough. If the modern world was a battlefield he could not win, then perhaps it was time to walk a different road altogether.

And so, as dawn began to break over Seoul, the Heavenly Demon took his last step away from the war he never asked for.