Chapter 39

Chapter 39.

Because I was worried about Han Seol-ah’s condition after she collapsed with that little “eek,” I flew at full speed straight to the Hunter Association building.

Thanks to the Achievement greatly improving Synchronization’s efficiency, even flying this fast felt comfortable.

[MP is sufficient.]

With Snowy supporting me by monitoring Nebula’s MP bar in real time through the smartphone lens in my room, I felt extremely reassured.

When I arrived at the Hunter Association building, I sensed familiar Frost Type Mana.

The thirtieth floor.

It was right below me.

Rattle.

When I tried to open the rooftop door and head down, it was firmly locked.

If I used my ability, forcing it open would be simple.

But did I really need to do that?

‘The alarm might go off.’

I had PTSD from blaring alarm sounds.

I decided to quietly descend through the window.

After making footholds one by one and standing before the window on the thirtieth floor, I sensed Han Seol-ah’s Mana inside.

‘Ho.’

Was she training?

With Eternal Winter on my back, I could sense the flow of Frost Type Mana even more clearly.

Suu—

Han Seol-ah slowly inhaled.

I could see her absorbing only the Mana with the frost attribute from the pure Mana present in the atmosphere.

From the look of it, the purity was nearly ninety-nine percent.

It was an extremely efficient breathing method that filtered out impurities as much as possible and took in only pure cold.

S—

The breath she slowly exhaled carried mist-like cold.

Had she failed to absorb it all?

One might think so, but that phenomenon occurred because Han Seol-ah’s Mana Hall was far too cold.

In the process of absorbing ninety-nine percent frost-attribute Mana and exhaling the remaining one percent.

The remaining one percent froze.

“Excellent.”

It was so perfect that it seemed as though someone had taught her.

Vwoom—

Eternal Winter on my back trembled slightly, as though it had noticed me.

I ignored it.

‘Hmm.’

It was perfect.

It was perfect, but...

‘It is lacking.’

I was not trying to compare her with me.

To begin with, the difference in our realms was so great that a comparison could not even be established.

However, if I used the standard of a true EX-rank that this world demanded, that flow of Mana was far too rigid.

‘She cannot capture Resonar at that level.’

Since I was EX-rank, Han Seol-ah needed to reach around that level as well.

Otherwise, Han Seol-ah might simply burst and die from Resonar’s ‘backlash.’

I watched Han Seol-ah’s training a little longer.

If I spoke to her now, she would be startled.

If things went wrong, it could cause Mana Rampage.

‘Then the Republic of Korea is finished.’

I waited for Han Seol-ah to open her eyes.

‘She even collapsed because of Whisper earlier, so if I suddenly act like I know her, she might cause another Mana Rampage.’

I erased my presence as much as possible.

Tap, tap.

Then I knocked on the window.

“Eek!”

The one who was, in name, the Guardian of the Republic of Korea discovered me floating in midair, widened her eyes as though she had seen a ghost, and even gasped sharply.

Her entire body froze stiff, making her look exactly like a hamster.

‘I knew this would happen.’

Knock, knock.

I politely added one more knock.

It was not exactly the official entrance.

But a window was also a door, was it not?

“Aaaah!”

Please stop being startled and open it.

***

Min Ji-hee, who hurriedly rushed in after hearing Han Seol-ah scream, almost had her legs give out when she saw Apostle floating outside the window.

‘How did he pierce through the barriers... No. He must have managed it somehow.’

Back when the Republic of Korea still had enough S-rank Hunters.

The defensive system on the thirtieth floor had been created by mobilizing experts, including an S-rank barrier master.

Han Seol-ah had once carried everyone’s expectations as the person who might save the Republic of Korea’s future.

There could not be even the slightest compromise when it came to protecting such a talent...

The system was truly perfect.

It could not be breached.

Even if it was breached by transcendent power, it had been reinforced again and again so that there would be enough time to carry out secondary countermeasures.

And yet, it had been breached.

What was even more surprising was... they had not even realized it had been breached.

“W-Welcome. Apostle.”

Min Ji-hee opened the window and welcomed Apostle in.

Instead of answering, Apostle merely gave a single nod, then walked through the air and entered.

‘...!’

As she watched that sight, Han Seol-ah received a small shock.

‘So it can be used like that too...’

She had heard about it from her father, Association President Jin Cheon-jin, but this was the first time she had seen it herself.

The moment she saw it, she understood.

How it was used.

And how precise a Frost Type control ability it required.

Apostle slowly walked down.

Frost arose at the tips of his extended feet.

The moisture in the air froze and formed wide footholds, then soon hardened into sheets of ice harder than steel.

Tap.

Then Apostle’s foot stepped on the ice plate that had been created.

Slowly.

‘Is he showing me?’

Han Seol-ah’s eyes moved busily.

Simply being good at handling the Frost Type was not enough.

An understanding of the body had to come first.

What was the stride length?

What was the force when the floor was stepped on?

What was the pressure when the foot pushed off the floor?

All of it was calculated.

If one did not know the stride length.

One would step into empty air and fall.

If one did not know the force.

The ice plate’s strength would be too weak and break.

Or it would be too strong, causing waste.

‘Is this... a “path”?’

The back of one who had gone ahead.

The path first paved by a predecessor.

Han Seol-ah was looking at it.

How much had she yearned for this sight?

Korea was a barren land for Awakened.

There had been no one who could show how an S-rank Awakened should grow.

Moreover, among Frost Type ability users, Han Seol-ah stood at the top of the entire Earth.

Who would teach whom?

Han Seol-ah had been a pioneer slowly walking across an unexplored land.

Was this path correct?

She had always been uneasy, but she could not stop moving forward.

The moment her growth stopped, and the day came when she could no longer stop a Break.

The Republic of Korea would perish.

Was that not why she had been given the alias ‘Guardian’?

When moving through an unexplored land, she could not take the wrong path.

She had to desperately struggle to find the ‘right path.’

At times, even if she took the wrong path, she had to pretend otherwise.

‘Ah.’

Lightning struck inside Han Seol-ah’s mind.

The experience of death.

The true Frost Type magic she had obtained at its end.

She had only thought of ‘using’ it.

Follow Apostle’s footsteps.

Was that ‘magic’?

Was he arranging Mana, weaving a spell, imbuing it with will, and activating it?

No.

Because he wanted to do it, Mana responded.

Because he willed there to be a foothold, magic activated.

‘Ahh.’

The path came into view.

Enlightenment raced forward.

Until now, she had only used Mana as a tool.

She had treated it only as a cost necessary to activate magic.

In the slowed world, Apostle slowly took a step forward.

Tap.

That small sound of his footfall.

It was like the sound of a wall breaking.

‘The Mana Hall is a spring.’

From Han Seol-ah’s Mana Hall, which had only ever been frozen solid, Frost Type Mana began to naturally melt and flow out like spring snow.

‘The Mana Road is a river.’

It surged along the dried Mana Road as a great river, then soon overflowed as though her entire body had become one enormous Mana Hall.

‘All of it is me.’

The Frost Type Mana that filled the entire Mana Road remained there without returning to the Mana Hall.

It felt as though every Mana Road throughout her body had become a Mana Hall.

Shaaah—

The sound of cold rain reached her ears.

It was the sensation of vitality finally flowing through her frozen body.

Drip.

A single tear flowed down from Han Seol-ah’s eye.

An alarm from the Hunter Watch appeared before her eyes.

[Hunter Han Seol-ah’s Hunter rank is ‘EX’]

***

Suddenly.

Han Seol-ah shed a tear, then collapsed to the floor.

‘...?’

Wh-What was this?

Even as an EX-rank Hunter, I could not help being startled in a situation like this.

No, I mean.

I opened the window and came in, and then a person saw me and suddenly started crying.

That was strange.

‘Did I... do something?’

I had only moved carefully because she seemed too startled.

Was it because I had frightened her by sending a Whisper?

Because I came in through the window?

Did I look like a madman?

But I could not enter through the first floor.

And if I broke through the rooftop door and came in, they would have treated me like a criminal!

This was unfair.

“S-Seol-ah?”

Min Ji-hee held Han Seol-ah in confusion.

“Ah.”

Han Seol-ah gathered her scattered mind.

She staggered to her feet.

“Thank you.”

This time, she bowed her head to me.

A full ninety-degree bow from the waist.

‘....’

When someone suddenly cried and even bowed, there was nothing I could say.

It was not as if I could strike this heavy and reverent atmosphere with, ‘Why are you crying?’

‘Anyway, seeing as she thanked me, something good must have happened, right?’

As I stood there silently, Min Ji-hee sensed the awkward air and quickly stepped forward.

“Apostle, please sit this way first.”

Following her smooth guidance, I sat in the soft seat of honor.

Almost as soon as I sat down, Min Ji-hee smoothly slid a report across the table, as though she had prepared it in advance.

Her perceptiveness really was frighteningly sharp.

‘An observation report.’

This seemed to be the ‘Strategy Guide’ that Pandemonium was selling.

“I believe I told you that you did not need to buy it.”

“We did not buy it. Pandemonium sent it to us one-sidedly.”

“Is that so?”

Min Ji-hee’s eyes shone brightly.

Her B-rank ability, Cat’s Eye.

It was the ability Min Ji-hee used when she wanted to let others know, ‘I am using my ability right now.’

She had used it to build the frame that ‘when Min Ji-hee uses this ability, she becomes smarter.’

I had not known it before, but now I knew.

I knew that it was a deception.

Heh.

A laugh escaped me before I could stop it, because I had seen through everything.

However, with Seol-ah beside me as well, there was no need to expose Min Ji-hee’s shallow deception and embarrass her.

To preserve her dignity, I leaned deeply against the backrest and deliberately gave her a relaxed smile, as though I knew everything.

***

‘...He laughed?’

Min Ji-hee felt as though her blood had gone cold.

The moment she activated Cat’s Eye, Apostle let out a scoffing laugh.

His attitude seemed to say, ‘I know everything.’

‘No way. No, there is no way he knows.’

Min Ji-hee could say with certainty that there was not a single person who knew she was acting while using Cat’s Eye.

Not Seol-ah.

Not even her husband and the Association President, Jin Cheon-jin.

She had never told anyone even once.

Her mouth went dry.

Reflexively, she felt as though she wanted to gulp and swallow.

However, Min Ji-hee did not crumble.

With her face stiff, she remained businesslike.

She only said what she had to say.

But Apostle was one step faster.

“Do not worry.”

“...Pardon?”

She asked back without realizing it.

“There are always many secrets in the world.”

“....”

“Everyone keeps them as secrets because they do not want them to be revealed. Is that not so?”

“...You are correct.”

“Yes. That is why I am telling you not to worry.”

Without realizing it, Min Ji-hee examined Apostle’s face.

A faint smile rested at his lips.

Inside his pupils... darkness flickered.

His gaze pierced Min Ji-hee as though he knew everything.

“I am kind, after all.”

Gulp.

Min Ji-hee’s throat bobbed visibly as she swallowed dry saliva.

She did not want to reveal on the outside that she had been caught off guard, but under the pressure of that arrogant gaze, there was no way to suppress her instinctive fear.

“...Thank you for your mercy.”

Whew. Min Ji-hee let out a deep breath inwardly.

Cold sweat flowed, and at the same time, deep relief surged through her at the fact that she had not made this monster beyond all standards her enemy.

***

“Pandemonium contacted us first.”

“What did they say?”

“They said, ‘Return Kim Min-seok. Then we will share the strategy for Resonar free of charge.”

Apostle silently nodded.

“Kim Min-seok is a man who was once called the pinnacle of Tankers in the Republic of Korea. After the Frost Dragon strategy failed, he was the first traitor to defect to Pandemonium.”

Min Ji-hee continued her report.

“For reasons unknown, Pandemonium is mistaken in believing that we have secured Kim Min-seok’s person. So we judged that there was no need to correct that misconception.”

From here onward, this is my prediction.

Min Ji-hee spoke in a voice full of confidence.

“Kim Min-seok is in the Republic of Korea. Pandemonium knows that as well. Why would that cockroach of a man have returned to the Republic of Korea when it is on the verge of destruction?”

“...?”

“To kidnap Seol-ah. Even if the Republic of Korea falls, Han Seol-ah must not die. Why? Because he has to take her to Pandemonium. That must be his admission mission.”

Because Min Ji-hee handled information, she also understood the behavioral principles of an organization like Pandemonium well.

That place was not so easy that one could enter just because one wanted to.

As a condition of admission, one had to offer something the organization wanted.

The Republic of Korea, where Kim Min-seok belonged.

The most precious thing there?

Without question, it was Han Seol-ah.

“If so, Kim Min-seok must have been somewhere not far from the battle between Scathach and Seol-ah. Because Seol-ah could not be allowed to die. But there, Kim Min-seok must have seen something. Association President. What happened after Seol-ah’s battle?”

This time, Jin Cheon-jin was able to answer properly.

“Apostle’s Grand Magic. And in the battle that followed...”

“Yes. Apostle killed Scathach. Kim Min-seok must have confirmed that scene as well. If so, what would his next move be?”

“....”

I had no idea.

“He would want to come back. He will definitely call us. But he does not know Seol-ah’s number, and he is afraid of me, so not me. The only one left is you, Association President.”

“There is Ho-hyeon too.”

When Jin Cheon-jin jerked his chin toward the empty space behind him, Min Ji-hee flinched in surprise and trembled.

“Ah, you startled me. Since when were you there?”

“....”

Jang Ho-hyeon, the silent assassin who had been there with them from the beginning, quietly nodded.

At that moment.

Trill-lil-ling—

A peculiar ringtone sounded.

It came from Association President Jin Cheon-jin’s phone.

Jin Cheon-jin checked the phone, then nodded while looking at Apostle and Min Ji-hee.

The caller.

It was Kim Min-seok.

Min Ji-hee whispered, “What should we do?”

Trill-lil-lil-ling—

As the ringtone continued.

Apostle spoke indifferently.

“Answer it.”