‘How long was I out?’

I cracked open my eyes, and saw hundreds, even thousands of ants. I was so surprised that I shot up right away. I then realized that the hot sun had cooked my right cheek to the point where it stung. I looked around as I brushed dirt off my body.

I finally recognized the abandoned construction site, and saw my underlings standing around in the sun, staring at me blankly.

When I first left our compound with Lee Jeong-Uk, I had thirty underlings with me. I recruited eight more on our way to the high school, which meant that I should have had thirty-eight underlings. At that moment, though, I only had five left. Did I order thirty-three of my underlings to act as bait to distract the black creature?

I didn’t even realize how many underlings I had lost while fighting for my life. I took my underlings out of the sun and into the unfinished building. They had all turned black, their skin burnt by the sun. I stepped inside the construction site to pull myself together. Moving both arms, I covered my face in my palms.

‘Huh? Wait, my arms?’’

I stared at my intact left arm. It had regenerated. My severed arm had regenerated. Every joint was intact, as if nothing had happened to it. I stared blankly at my left arm, then began to feel my entire body with my arms. The misaligned joints had fixed themselves. My restorative abilities had...