The Weapon Genius: Anything I Hold Can Kill-Chapter 14: Instincts and Unspoken Fears

Jin flexed his fingers. They felt light. Too light.

It was strange.

Just hours ago, he had been gripping a steel pipe like it was his lifeline. Because it was.

A simple, ordinary object—but in his hands, it became something more.

A barrier between life and death.

A reason to keep moving forward.

And now?

Nothing.

His fingers twitched, closing into a fist, then opening again.

It felt wrong.

Like an itch he couldn't scratch.

The air felt colder against his bare palms. The streets felt wider.

Vulnerability seeped into his skin like poison.

"You keep doing that."

Jin blinked, glancing over.

Seul-ki was watching him. Closely.

"Doing what?" he muttered.

She nodded toward his hands.

"Clenching your fingers. Like you're still holding something."

Jin stilled.

He hadn't even noticed.

Then—a noise.

Metal clattering.

Jin's heart jerked.

His body reacted before his mind.

His hand shot toward his waist—reaching for a weapon that wasn't there.

His breath caught.

For a brief, terrifying second, his whole body locked up.

His pulse spiked. His mind screamed at him to get ready—but he had nothing.

Nothing.

The realization hit him harder than he expected.

He wasn't a fighter. He never had been.

The only reason he survived was because of his skill—because when he picked up a weapon, it taught his body what to do.

Now?

He was just some guy.

Joon-seok saw the movement. So did Echo.

Jin exhaled, forcing his muscles to relax.

"...Yeah," he muttered. "That felt wrong."

Joon-seok raised a brow. "What did?"

Jin hesitated, then spoke honestly.

"It's only been a few hours, but without a weapon, I feel... exposed."

He exhaled slowly.

"My skill—it lets me bring out a weapon's full potential. As long as I had something in my hands, I could fight."

His fingers twitched.

"Now? I don't even know if I stand a chance without one."

A long pause.

Then—Joon-seok let out a slow breath.

"...Wait."

His brows furrowed as he turned to Jin, really looking at him for the first time.

"You were going toe-to-toe with that girl," he muttered. "With just a pipe?"

Echo stopped walking. His head tilted.

Jin blinked. "Yeah?"

A beat of silence.

Then—Joon-seok scoffed.

Joon-seok ran a hand through his hair.

"I mean—I knew you were holding your own, but I figured that thing was... special."

Jin raised a brow. "Special?"

Joon-seok shrugged. "I don't know. Part of your ability. Something enchanted, like a magic weapon."

Echo nodded slightly. "Yeah, I thought it was linked to your skill or something."

Jin exhaled. "It wasn't."

Joon-seok let out a breath. "Yeah, that's the crazy part."

He looked down at his own hands. "You really fought like that with just... anything?"

Jin hesitated. "...As long as it can be a weapon, yeah."

Echo flexed his fingers.

"During that fight..." he muttered, "I think I kinda got it."

Jin narrowed his eyes. "Got what?"

Echo tilted his head, thinking.

"When I used my ability, it just... happened. I didn't think. I just did it."

Joon-seok grunted in agreement. "Yeah. I felt the same. My body reacted before my brain did."

He clenched his fists. "But I still don't really understand how to use it."

Jin nodded slowly. "It sounds like you guys are starting to tap into it, though."

Joon-seok exhaled sharply. "Not enough."

Joon-seok shook his head.

"Look. You've been using weapons, and that's great for you. But if we're gonna survive this, we need to start figuring out our own powers."

He gestured between himself and Echo.

"If you could hold your own against her with just a pipe," he muttered, shaking his head, "then we should be able to do more than just swing blindly."

Echo nodded. "Yeah. We can't just react—we need to learn how to actually use what we have."

Jin didn't argue. Because they were right

Joon-seok rolled his shoulders.

"Then the police station really is the best place."

Jin frowned. "For weapons?"

"Not just that," Echo muttered.

Joon-seok nodded. "For you."

Jin stared at them.

Joon-seok exhaled. "If your skill works the way you say it does, you need an actual weapon. A real one."

Echo smirked slightly. "Something that won't snap in half after two fights."

Jin felt a weight lift off his shoulders.

For the first time in hours, they actually had a clear goal.

Somewhere that might actually give them a chance to prepare—to stock up, to find something useful.

Jin wasn't just fighting for himself. He had people with him.

And that meant he needed to be armed.

Properly.

They kept walking in silence for a moment.

Then—Joon-seok glanced to the side.

She didn't respond right away.

Jin glanced at her—realizing she hadn't said much since they started walking.

Joon-seok frowned. "We all know what we can do now, but you haven't really explained yours."

Seul-ki let out a slow breath. "Jin and Echo already know."

Joon-seok blinked. "Okay? I don't."

He nodded toward her. "So what is it? What can you do?"

Seul-ki hesitated for a second. Then, flatly—

"Density manipulation."

Joon-seok raised an eyebrow. "Meaning...?"

Seul-ki sighed. "I can change how heavy or light something is."

Joon-seok nodded slowly. "So if you wanted to, you could make yourself super light?"

Seul-ki shrugged. "In theory."

Joon-seok frowned. "But?"

Her fingers twitched slightly.

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"...I don't really control it."

Jin and Echo already knew this, but for Joon-seok, it was new.

She exhaled. "I didn't activate it on purpose. When the system appeared, it just... happened. My body locked up, and everything felt like it weighed a hundred times more. I almost got myself killed."

Joon-seok was silent for a second.

Then—he scoffed.

"So it started off by trying to crush you?"

Seul-ki didn't smile.

"Yeah."

Joon-seok exhaled.

"Alright. So now we all know what we can do."

"Yeah," Echo muttered.

But Seul-ki wasn't looking at them.

Her fingers tightened at her sides.

Then—she spoke.

"...It's only been a few hours."

Jin turned toward her.

"What?"

She hesitated. Then, quietly—"Do you think this is just how things are now?"

Joon-seok let out a breath. "Looks like it."

"No," Seul-ki muttered. "I mean us."

Jin narrowed his eyes slightly. "What are you talking about?"

She looked at each of them.

Then, she said it.

"We left those people behind," she murmured. "The second floor. The girl we tied up."

She exhaled. "And we didn't even hesitate."

Jin's stomach tensed.

Because she wasn't wrong.

Echo let out a slow breath.

"People were always like this," he muttered. "The system just gave them a reason to show it."

Seul-ki frowned. "What does that mean?"

Echo glanced at her.

"You think this chaos created monsters?" He shook his head. "It didn't."

"It just let them loose."

Silence.

Then, quietly—Jin muttered, "...You think this was always in people?"

Echo's smirk didn't fade.

"People have always been selfish, cruel, and violent," he said simply. "The system didn't create that. It just took away the consequences."

Joon-seok exhaled. "Yeah... and gave them powers to be even worse."

Seul-ki clenched her jaw.

"I don't want to believe that."

Echo shrugged.

"Doesn't matter if you believe it." He kicked a loose piece of rubble as they walked. "It's already happening."

The group kept walking.

Echo's words still hung in the air.

"It's already happening."

No one argued.

Because what was there to argue?

They had already seen it—the way people changed, the way everything shifted the moment the system appeared.

Monsters weren't just roaming the streets. They were being made.

And that realization weighed on all of them.

Jin exhaled, his grip tightening at his sides.

No one spoke after that.

They just kept moving.

Jin's eyes scanned the road ahead. The streets were still eerily empty.

But something was... off.

It wasn't like before.

The deeper they went, the cleaner the streets became.

Fewer collapsed buildings.

No bodies in the road.

No signs of a struggle.

No signs of monsters.

It was unsettling.

Like something had cleaned this place up.

Then—they saw it.

The police station.