Chapter 13

Chapter. 13

The Apostle raised a hand.

At that moment, a system message appeared before Han Seol-ah's eyes.

It was written in golden letters that carried the same strange power as the message she had seen at the press conference.

[The world is calling for you…]

[Will you answer?]

[Yes] [No]

The content was different.

But the choices were the same.

Han Seol-ah pressed [Yes].

In that instant—

FLASH!

Han Seol-ah vanished in the blink of an eye.

“!”

Min Ji-hee and Jin Cheon-jin both started in shock.

“The disappearance at the press conference…!”

“So it was the Apostle who summoned her that time as well.”

The Apostle nodded.

“I will return her four days from now, at this hour.”

“That will be when Scathach appears.”

“I will not be late.”

The Apostle left.

Only after his presence had completely vanished did Jin Cheon-jin and Min Ji-hee finally let out the breath they had been holding.

“…So he did not mean he would truly kill her. He meant to impose a trial for her growth. Our daughter was far wiser than we were.”

“She was.”

Min Ji-hee, who as a parent had just had ten years shaved off her life, soon rose with a firm expression.

“Let us return as well.”

“…There will be much to prepare.”

“You will have to command the subjugation operation yourself, Association President.”

“Suddenly? You are not doing it?”

“I have something I need to prepare.”

A gleam flashed in Min Ji-hee’s eyes.

“He emphasized that it was his first request when he told us to put measures in place so that he would not be hindered while acting in this world. What do you think that means?”

“…Did he not simply mean that we should prepare it because he needs it?”

“That would be true if the speaker were an ordinary person. But our counterpart is the Apostle, the agent of a transcendent being… We cannot think of this in ordinary terms.”

“Then what?”

“He is testing us. Whether we are useful pieces on the board, or merely burdens too foolish even to understand what they are told.”

“…Burdens?”

“A transcendent being would have no need for incompetent subordinates. So we must prove it. That we are fairly intelligent, and worth using.”

“So what do you intend to do?”

“I will show him. I will prove my value—and ours.”

“….”

“Hehe. This is interesting. A battle of wits against someone superior to me.”

‘…Complicated.’

Leaving Min Ji-hee to that ominous little laugh of hers, Jin Cheon-jin quietly opened his phone.

There was one text message waiting for him.

[Sender: Kim Min-seok]

[Sir, the deadline is today. After that, it will be useless no matter how much you cry and beg. Do not regret it later—make your decision now.]

It was a threatening text from the traitor Kim Min-seok.

Ordinarily, Jin Cheon-jin would have smoked a cigarette and nursed a headache over it.

But—

He gave a short snort.

To Jin Cheon-jin as he was now, it was laughable nonsense.

He sent back a reply containing only a single message.

[Fuck off.]

And then he blocked Kim Min-seok’s number.

***

“…Has this old man gone insane?”

Kim Min-seok felt his head burn.

‘I tried to look after him out of some lingering sentiment, and he dares mock me?’

Crunch.

His teeth ground together.

“Hoo.”

But the heat died quickly.

Because he now had to go report this to the Guild Master.

“Damn it.”

The multinational mercenary organization, Pandemonium.

The name sounded like something out of the diary of an edgy middle-school boy…

but the reality behind it was not cute in the slightest.

THUD!

As Kim Min-seok hurried down the hall, someone slammed roughly into his shoulder.

“Move, you retard.”

The bastard who had bumped shoulders with him in the hallway was the same man who had been on the news yesterday, wanted for murdering an entire family by arson. But in this place, a “Class 3” criminal like that was more common than stones on the ground.

Only once you reached “Class 2” executive level did you even begin to count as one of the lunatics who could introduce themselves as serial terrorists.

That was Pandemonium.

But… the being Kim Min-seok was about to face now existed on a completely different level even from them.

‘The Guild Master.’

That monster stood at the summit of those vicious criminals—a Class 1 criminal, and one of only three people in the world designated for immediate execution on sight, regardless of circumstance.

A living catastrophe.

A “Black Label.”

The moment he stood before the door behind which that monster breathed, Kim Min-seok’s legs began trembling on their own.

Pandemonium had demanded exactly two things in exchange for accepting Kim Min-seok’s defection.

First, Republic of Korea had to be made indebted to Pandemonium.

Second, Han Seol-ah had to be brought into Pandemonium.

The means did not matter. Only the result did.

At first, Kim Min-seok did not think the conditions were difficult.

Wasn't the Ice Dragon the perfect counter to Han Seol-ah, possessing frost immunity?

An enemy Han Seol-ah could never defeat.

And people always broke when faced with a crisis they could not overcome.

That was Kim Min-seok’s creed.

‘Damn it, damn it!’

When the news first came that Han Seol-ah had disappeared,

Kim Min-seok had thought the time had finally come.

Han Seol-ah was such a noble Hunter that one of her epithets was “Guardian.” He had thought her disappearance was the sign that her spirit had at last broken.

But Han Seol-ah had returned.

Stronger to a degree that defied comprehension.

And with that power, she had pierced through frost immunity and erased the Ice Dragon.

‘How in the world did she break through it…?’

But Kim Min-seok had not given up.

Even Kim Min-seok, who was still nominally affiliated with Republic of Korea, had received the alarm.

An alert that the true Ice Dragon, “Scathach,” would appear in five days.

‘This time she will break. I am certain of it. I have not failed yet!’

The Guild Master’s room was said to be a place where, out of ten who entered, five never came back out.

And now he had to go inside it.

“Hoo. Hoo…”

He steadied himself again and again before the Guild Master’s door.

Gulp.

Just as Kim Min-seok swallowed—

“Come in.”

A low voice came from beyond the door.

“Y-Yes, s—”

Kim Min-seok bent at the waist to a right angle and cautiously stepped into the room.

“Do not stammer. That is one.”

“…Yes.”

“Whether you stammer or drag your words, do you not understand the fundamental reason I find it unpleasant? That is two.”

“I will correct it.”

The back of Kim Min-seok’s neck turned damp in an instant.

Counting.

That was the Guild Master’s habit.

No matter what offense someone committed.

No matter what they did.

If it was the same mistake, the Guild Master would always forgive it up to twice.

And the moment they repeated it a third time, he would kill them without exception.

Gulp.

Kim Min-seok straightened his back with a snap.

But he kept his eyes lowered as much as possible, careful not to look the Guild Master in the eye.

“The report?”

“The Frost Dragon has been slain. After that, the Break timetable has been moved up to five days, and word is that an upper variant of the Frost Dragon, ‘Ancient Azure Dragon—Scathach,’ will appear.”

“And Han Seol-ah?”

“I do not know why she suddenly became stronger, but I judge it impossible for her to kill Scathach.”

“Your basis?”

“All of this comes from the analysis of the ‘Observer.’”

“Hm.”

A bored little sound through the nose, as though none of this interested him.

“If it is that one’s analysis, then it is probably correct. And so?”

“Han Seol-ah will fail to protect Republic of Korea, and I believe her spirit will soon break as well. When that happens, I will surely recruit her.”

“This is your plan, is it not?”

“Yes. It is.”

“Let us see. You failed to keep your word with the Frost Dragon, so that makes one.”

“…”

“If you fail this time, that makes two, yes?”

Hehehe.

The Guild Master laughed as though he found it amusing.

The air in the room grew heavy. No, it truly became heavy.

CRRRK—

The ceiling and floor groaned as an unseen force crushed down upon them, and a pressure like slabs of iron began to bear down on Kim Min-seok’s shoulders.

In the pitch-black darkness, only the Master’s eyes burned red as they watched him.

Like a predator toying with its prey.

“You know my temperament, do you not? Even if you fail this time, I will still let it pass.”

“Yes.”

“I think you will fail this time as well. Do you know why?”

“I do not.”

“There is one very important element missing from your plan.”

After saying that much, the Guild Master closed his mouth.

As though amused. As though delighted.

All that could be heard now and then was a clear yet chilling laugh, like that of a little devil.

Gulp.

“If you would tell me, then I can revise the plan accordingly and make it prop—”

“Why?”

“Pardon?”

“Why should I do that?”

Kim Min-seok felt his waistband grow damp.

Cold sweat was pouring from him as though it were water.

Struggling not to stumble over his words, Kim Min-seok spoke slowly. Carefully. Clearly.

“Han Seol-ah joining us would be a great help to Pandemonium as well, and…”

“That is not it, idiot.”

Hehehehe.

“You do not know why Han Seol-ah grew stronger. Why did she become stronger? Why was she able to break through the Frost Dragon’s Frost Reduction? Why? Why, exactly? Do you know?”

“I do not.”

“Then is it not possible that the same ‘why’ will come into play during this Scathach incident as well?”

“The probability of that…”

“How can you be certain something that has already happened will not happen again? Are you the Observer?”

“No.”

Kim Min-seok squeezed his eyes shut.

His throat felt cold.

“In my opinion, this one might still be fine even if it fails. It is only one so far, after all. Is it not?”

“…”

“Instead, I will change the mission. Find out why Han Seol-ah became stronger.”

“I understand.”

“You may go.”

Kim Min-seok bent at the waist with the speed of lightning.

Then he hurried backward out of the room.

“Ah.”

And just before he fully stepped out—

At the voice that reached him, Kim Min-seok froze with one hand still on the door.

“You did not stumble over your words even once to the very end, did you?”

“…”

“What a pity.”

“Hm.”

That final sound through the nose was all that followed, and Kim Min-seok slowly closed the door.

“Huff. Huff.”

Then he slid straight down to the floor.

“Huff. Hhk.”

Kim Min-seok frantically groped at his neck and waist.

The places where cold sweat had broken out.

Blood came away on the hand he used to wipe them.

More precisely, they were the places the Guild Master’s “ability” had been aiming for.

The blades that would have bored straight in and torn his body apart the moment he committed a “third” offense.

“Urgh. Ngh…”

He had only been targeted, yet this was the result.

I was once the best tanker in Republic of Korea. This body of mine…!

“Oh, minsuck.”

A huge Black man approached the collapsed Kim Min-seok.

“F-fuck off, you son of a bitch.”

“Suck. I came because I was worried about you.”

“Hrr…”

“You know my epithet too, suck?”

“…Yes. ‘Observer.’”

“YES. Even the boss trusts my analysis. You saw that just now, right?”

Nod.

Kim Min-seok acknowledged it.

If this man had not helped him, he would not have been able to answer the Guild Master’s questions.

And after repeating foolish answers that failed to satisfy the Master, he would have been torn apart and killed.

“I will give you one more piece of advice. That is all right, suck?”

“…Fine.”

The Black man grinned.

“Do not.”

“…What?”

“Do not do that. I mean exactly that, suck.”

“What kind of bullshit are you talking about?”

Pat, pat.

The large, thick hand of the Black man smacked heavily against Kim Min-seok’s shoulder.

Kim Min-seok winced at the sudden pain.

“Tell the boss you failed. He lets things pass up to two times, right? You know that.”

The Black man—

the man called the Observer—lowered his voice.

Then he whispered quietly.

“You must not touch ‘that.’”

“…?”

The Black man grinned again, then rose and left.

Kim Min-seok’s face was left full of confusion.

But he could not simply ignore the Observer’s warning.

Who was the Observer?

Was he not the only Hunter in the world to be ranked EX-rank despite the fact that no one knew what kind of ability he had Awakened?

The only ability the Observer had ever shown was that he knew everything about every Demonic Beast that came out of the Tower.

He had earned the title of EX-rank on the strength of that single ability alone.

Every Demonic Beast, literally.

Even if a Demonic Beast no one had ever seen before burst out in a Break, the Observer knew what it was.

As though he had already seen it somewhere before.

That was why the epithet attached to him was “the one who has seen them—the Observer.”

And that very Observer had warned him, “Do not.”

Ordinarily, the wisest course would have been to tuck his tail and run.

But—

“What the fuck am I supposed to do, then?”

Kim Min-seok clutched at his throat. Even now, the Guild Master’s killing intent still seemed to be boring into the back of his neck.

‘If I do not go, I will die now. What use is a warning about the future against that?’

The death before his eyes swallowed up the uncertain fear of the future.

With trembling hands, Kim Min-seok made a call.

“Yes. It is me. I need to get into Korea immediately.”

***

The moment I saw Han Seol-ah disappear, I hurried back home.

I used Teleport to go to the place where I had first met Han Seol-ah, and as expected, she was there.

I abducted her at once and brought her back to the hideout.

Perhaps because she had already experienced this once before, Han Seol-ah did not panic.

If anything, she looked like she was quietly stealing her resolve.

A face filled with an unbreakable will.

This was Han Seol-ah's true self.

‘She is impressive.’

Then I ought to meet that resolve in kind.

Without any particular exchange, I immediately began the spar.

THUD.

With a heavy sound effect, the flag came flying in and planted itself.

[Hah.]

Han Seol-ah exhaled as she began to concentrate.

There was a reason I had staged it as though there were some great meaning behind “You must die two hundred times.”

Because I intended to train her through sparring for every moment of the time we had left.

But this spar had a limit of fifty times per day.

Four days remained.

Fifty a day.

That made two hundred…

And I intended to win every single one of those two hundred sparring matches.

Ah, of course.

I did not mean I would win using the power of Nebula’s class, Void Knight.

If I did that, it would not count as training at all.

I had switched classes in advance.

To the same type of mage as Han Seol-ah.

A Frost Sorcerer.

I clicked the hotkey and cast the spell.

[…Frost magic?]

I could see Han Seol-ah's surprise.

Heh.

It was simply amusing.

‘Surely you do not think you can beat me just because we are using the same element?’

Even if Nebula had changed into a Frost Sorcerer.

Even if Han Seol-ah had reached EX-rank.

Within Lost Honor, I do not lose.

[Glacial Flash]

Click—I activated the spell.

BOOM!

Han Seol-ah died.

[You have won the spar.]

That was one, to begin with.

“Focus, Han Seol-ah.”

Otherwise…

you will do nothing but die in vain.