The next day, after school, Jihoon couldn't shake the weight in his chest. The revelation from last night had cracked something open—another Eye Wielder existed. Somewhere out there, another person like him had awakened.
He turned to the Nethrak, who was calmly watching from the corner of the room, half-shrouded in a mist of dark mana.
"Can you feel where the other Eye Wielder is?" Jihoon asked.
The Nethrak responded , "Yes. All Nethraks can feel the presence of another who bears even a part of us."
Jihoon furrowed his brow. "Then… why can't I feel them?"
"You are not one of us," the Nethrak said plainly. "Not even ten percent. You carry only our eyes. As does the new one. You may share the sight, but not the link."
Jihoon nodded. "That's enough." He pulled out his phone and opened the map app. "Point to where they are."
"No need i could just show you in your head" nethrak said.
Jihoon memorized the spot. In a blink, mana swirled around him.
He teleported.
The air around him shifted as he reappeared in an empty alley near the location. Within seconds, the Nethrak had materialized beside him.
"You're fast," Jihoon muttered.
The Nethrak didn't reply. Instead, he pointed.
Jihoon followed the gesture and saw them.
The Eye Wielder.
They stood frozen in the middle of a street corner, surrounded by dozens of Nethraks. Shadows with jagged limbs and pulsating eyes. Each whispering, pleading, demanding:
> "Make a deal."
"I'll protect you."
"You'll never feel fear again."
"Choose me…"
The girl stood still in the middle of the empty road, her eyes slowly scanning the invisible storm of twisted shadows swarming around her.
"She's surrounded," Jihoon said, narrowing his eyes. "Just like I was..."
The Nethrak stood behind him, watching quietly. "of course she is surrounded she has the Eyes."
"She looks calm. Too calm," Jihoon muttered.
The nethrak appeared beside him again.
"Now what," jihoon said.
"I will scare the nethraks and the human of course" the nethark said.
Jihoon ask" why, won't two be better than one".
The nethark answers" if another nethrak make a deal he would want to be a king and you know a ship can't have two captains".
the nethrak dropped into the shadows and descended.
The girl flinched only slightly when he emerged in front of her, towering and formless — a shadow stitched with mouths and crawling shapes.
"So... you're a new one."
She stood her ground. Her voice was low but steady. "What are you?"
"I am the King of the Nethrak."
She blinked. "King?"
"Yes. And that makes you... a problem."
Her posture tensed slightly.
"Don't misunderstand," he continued, his voice echoing through her mind. "You've done nothing wrong — yet. But if you make a deal with any of these desperate parasites around you... I will have to kill you."
He drifted closer, his many eyes staring into hers.
"That's not a threat. That's a promise."
She said nothing.
"I'm giving you a single chance," he said. "Do not make any deals. Stay away from the others. If you survive long enough, perhaps you'll be worth something. If not..."
His body pulsed, and the Nethraks surrounding her scattered like insects from a flame.
"You'll simply be erased."
Then, just like that, he vanished.
Back on the rooftop, Jihoon raised an eyebrow as the nethrak rematerialized.
Jihoon crossed his arms. "Since when are you the king of the Nethrak?"
"It's a fact now," the nethrak replied coldly.
Jihoon rolled his eyes. "Whatever. By the way do you have a name, i have been calling you nethrak which sounds wrong since its your species ."
"yes but you can't pronounce it , it will sound like noises to you" the nethrak replied.
"Ok what if i give you one, hmm i think i found it i will call you 'veyrith' "
"Acceptable" the nethrak replied.
Jihoon thought "Will he be angry if i told him its a character from a video game, maybe i shouldn't tell him"
He turned toward the city skyline and teleported again.
He reappeared on the street in front of his home.
And froze.
His house was cracked open. The front wall shattered, windows blown inward by a surge of wild mana. Strange blue light flickered from inside — unsteady, unnatural.
Mana radiation thickened in the air.
Jihoon's stomach dropped. "No..."
He ran forward.
"Mom? Dad?!"
A dungeon core had manifested — inside his house.