episode_0002

Heart pounding, I started an experiment that I had never done before on the killer, holding my breath.

“How about this?!”

The first experiment I conducted was mosaic.

As I scattered the image of the killer’s eyes floating in the air, the resolution of his eyes changed to 8 frames.

“What the heck?!”

Already mismatched in eyes and body, his movements were a mess.

Now, not only did he lose sharpness due to the mosaic, but he seemed to have lost his sense of direction as well.

Not stopping there, when I used [cut] on the hand holding the knife, it disappeared from this world for a moment.

When I used [paste], the disappeared hand reappeared.

Using [copy], his right hand multiplied into two.

When I used [undo], his right hand returned to one.

As the situation edited according to my thoughts, the tension eased. Conversely, it was amusing.

“Maybe… unexpectedly strong?”

If there was one problem.

“I can’t die.”

[Editing] ultimately does not lead to reality.

Even if my throat is cut, blood does not spurt. Even if my hand grows to three or shrinks to one, I do not feel pain.

I can cause confusion, but to kill, I must directly inflict wounds myself.

Directly kill the killer?

If I were an ordinary person, I would fear murder.

If I were a normal ability user, I would hesitate to kill.

But I am not.

My brain has been honed by various videos encountered during editing.

I have killed hundreds, thousands of people with CG and watched gruesome scenes without mosaic.

And that bastard attacked first.

“Ahh!! You bastard!! I’ll kill you!!”

The killer, whose fingers were split apart fitting my experiment, screamed.

He seemed ready to devour me on the spot, but the knife he held was already in my hand.

As I tried to use [pause] to stop the killer’s movements, a sharp headache struck my head.

“Is this an overload…?”

Like a game, there is no mana or energy, but using abilities too much can cause overload.

Just 5 minutes.

I only used my ability for 5 minutes, yet an overload occurred.

“It seems video editing and reality editing are different.”

Due to the overload, I can no longer use my ability.

Using abilities forcibly in an overloaded state can cause a rampage beyond my control.

I could also receive irreparable wounds and lose my abilities.

Since I had already taken away the killer’s weapon, I thought I didn’t need to use my ability anymore.

But that was my mistake.

As the overload began to subside, the killer’s body, which had been divided into pieces like a puzzle, began to come together.

Fingers were attached to form hands. Hands were attached to form arms.

Although the knife was still in my hand.

“Heh… You. Are finished now. You bastard.”

“Wanna make that disappear…?”

I tried to use [cut] on his neck again with my ability, but…

Zing!!

“Ugh!!”

The knife I was holding fell to the ground.

The killer rushed towards me.

The moment his hand reached for my neck…

Splash!!

A loud water sound hit my ears.

As I struggled with the throbbing headache, I barely managed to look ahead and saw water droplets covering the killer’s face.

“Gurgle?!”

He seemed confused, trying to break free, but couldn’t push the water away with his hands.

As he sat down, struggling with weakened legs, I heard footsteps behind me.

“Are you okay?”

“Y-You are…”

When I turned around at the soft voice of a woman, Black Shadow approached.

As we entered under the streetlight, the woman’s figure came into view.

Short brown hair.

A white shirt that seemed to hold a full B-cup chest, which I dared to guess from watching a lot of adult videos.

A knee-length black skirt that doesn’t hide anything.

And.

A [Psychic Association] badge sparkling in the lamppost light, attached to the collar of a white shirt.

A confident-looking woman stood next to me, smiling slightly.

“Are you hurt anywhere?”

“Uh… no.”

“You’re lucky. Meeting a villain and still alive. Are you a psychic by any chance?”

Should I honestly reveal my ability?

After a moment of hesitation, I awkwardly smiled.

“I belong to the Illusion category.”

“Hmm? Illusion category?”

She looked me up and down as if amazed, then shrugged her shoulders.

“I’ll hear the details after we arrest that bastard. Is that okay?”

“Yes…”

Although it was a hassle, I couldn’t refuse.

“That’s a good answer.”

She maintained her smile, but when she saw the murderer, she furrowed her brow.

“Crazy bastard. Drinking that.”

Thinking that I couldn’t wipe off the water covering my face, I opened my mouth wide and drank the water.

Thanks to that, the water droplets covering my face decreased enough to reveal my nose and mouth.

The woman sighed and took out a water bottle from the black bag in her right hand.

Snap~

She opened the lid and sprinkled it into the air.

The water should have fallen to the ground according to the law of gravity, but when the woman reached out her hand, she exclaimed, “Oops!”

She created another large water droplet on the face of the murderer who was barely breathing after drinking all the water, causing him to pass out with his eyes rolling back, and shortly after, someone who looked like a police officer appeared and arrested him.

I watched the scene blankly.

“Shall we go then?”

“Yes…”

I was dragged along.

“Park Jinsu? At 27… Huh? You’re not registered on the Psychic Net?”

“I’ve awakened recently.”

“That’s not right. It’s the law that all psychics must register the moment they awaken, right?”

“I’m sorry. I was too busy living day by day, and my thoughts were short.”

I tried to look as pitiful as possible and bowed my head, but…

“The fine for illegal non-registration is one million won. Will you pay by card or cash?”

“Can I pay in installments…?”

No mercy.

The bigger problem was that I had to register my ability on the Psychic Net.

[Psychic Net]

A site that everyone in the world must join regardless of age or gender when they awaken, although it doesn’t disclose detailed information, it does reveal names.

I had been searching for [Editing] on the Psychic Net every day from the day I awakened until yesterday, but there was not a single person with the same ability as me.

‘So I’ve been hiding it until now… damn.’

As I scratched my cheek, the woman who had saved me earlier said, “I’m B-rank psychic Bae Jisoo from the Korean Psychic Association.”

Bae Jisoo sat across from me.

“Officially, it’s right for the awakened psychics to go to the association and register themselves, but since time is of the essence, I’ll do it quickly for you.”

“Understood.”

“You don’t have to be so nervous. Just tell me the name of your ability, a brief description of its effects, and demonstrate it, and that’s it.”

“You mentioned the Illusion category earlier. What’s the name of your ability?”

“Separation… is the name.”

“Separation? Can you show me what kind of ability it is?”

I nodded and reached out my palm towards her.

Using a part of [Editing] called [Cutting], I cut off my thumb and moved it to the side.

“Oh? Doesn’t it hurt?”

“It doesn’t hurt.”

It was my first time using it on my body, so I was a bit nervous, but since the murderer didn’t scream in pain, I calmed down.

“Hmm?”

Bae Jisoo touched my floating finger here and there.

“It’s black on the cut edge…”

She put her hand through the gap and passed through it.

“There’s no obstruction… It really is separation, isn’t it?”

“Yes.”

“Is this the maximum distance?”

“Probably?”

“Would you like to extend it further?”

Pretending to comply with her request, I mixed in a lie and finished the ability test.

“The duration is short and the efficiency isn’t that great, so it’s probably an F grade.”

“I see.”

Jisoo’s head turned as she gathered her documents in response to my answer.

“Aren’t you disappointed?”

“Not really.”

“It’s amazing. Other people would be in denial saying there’s no way my ability is F grade!”

“Haha… I had a sense of it to some extent.”

Jisoo turned her body towards my awkward smile.

“It will take a bit of time for the registration process. Please wait in the back for a moment.”

“Okay.”

As she worked on something, I began to reassess my ability.

I can handle simple tasks used in editing.

[Copy] [Paste] [Cut] [Undo]

I haven’t tried it on a person yet, but I think I can do things like [Pause] [Rewind] [Fast forward] as in video editing.

I wondered if I could draw something like in Paint, but that was impossible.

Creation is said to be impossible.

As I was getting to know the good and bad points of my ability, a curious thought crossed my mind.

‘Can I… cut out reality?’

Cut out.

The basic skill of editing to separate the subject from the background by tracing the outline.

I’ve done it in videos before, but never in real life.

I unconsciously swung my hand to fend off the killer a while ago.

Curious, I looked for a subject and saw Jisoo talking to the on-duty police officer.

Using [Edit], I traced her outline.

If it were a video, I would have to painstakingly work with the mouse, but with my superpower, it was easy.

Just by looking, a dotted line appeared around her in an instant, visible only to me. Jisoo and the police officer conversing didn’t notice anything strange.

As I mentally shouted “Cut!”

Thud!!

“Ahh!!”

A sharp headache, as if someone had struck my head with a hammer, suddenly hit me.

I collapsed to the floor, clutching my head, and Jisoo hurried over in surprise.

“Are you okay?!”

“Ugh… Ugh… It feels like… the overload from earlier…”

“Overload? Is it coming now? Anyway, please drink some water.”

I sat down and took a sip of water, and the headache slowly subsided.

“If you’re uncomfortable, lie down.”

“Thank… you.”

“Cheolmin, can’t you do it faster?”

“I’m doing it…”

Is it greed… or is it impossible…

No, I cut it out.

[Editing] is possible, but my ability is lacking.

That means.

This time, instead of Jisoo as a whole, I traced the black skirt she was wearing.

“It’s not a living being, and the area is narrow. This should be… Cut!”

As a precaution for any potential headaches, I mentally shouted, and Jisoo’s skirt covering her buttocks disappeared.

Her white panties and her tantalizingly round buttocks were exposed.

The police officer who was looking at the monitor scratched his head and turned around.

“Someone needs to come for the security code… What the heck?!”

“Ah, I can’t even register… What’s going on?”

Unable to continue his sentence, the police officer followed Jisoo’s gaze down to her missing skirt.

Realizing her skirt was gone, she screamed.

“Ahh!!”

“J-Jisoo!! Cover yourself!! Oh, my eyes!”

The water from the water cooler tank splashed onto the police officer’s face.