Chapter 143
Chapter 143
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 143
Chapter Title: The Red-Eyed Witch
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Go Minji was usually as rough as they came, but she knew enough to pick her moments and places like any adult.
Gulp.
What she had to deal with now wasn't some monster to be shredded by Ograk's twin greatswords—it was ordinary people.
Enemy nationals or not, she couldn't see civilians as the enemy.
"I am..."
She forced the words out.
"I'm Go Minji of the Republic of Korea's Sacred Guild. We've come here to rescue you."
Her calm tone carried conviction, her voice trustworthy as she stepped back, lowering her sword carefully.
"......"
The people emerging one by one from the camp looked gaunt and filled with suspicion.
'They look like abandoned puppies.'
The pity welling up from deep in her chest was genuine, beyond words.
"North Korea is in... extreme danger right now. We'll get you out."
As Go Minji spoke.
Thud.
A stone flew in from somewhere and landed at her feet.
"You bastard! Don't lie!"
It was an older middle-aged man.
"You expect us to believe South Joseon bastards came to save us?"
Murmurs spread.
"South Joseon bastards, you think we don't know you're the ones causing this mess?"
So that's how it was.
"......"
North Korea had been isolated and cut off for so long.
The most closed-off country in the world.
"I ain't falling for South Joseon bastards' tricks!"
As he spoke, he thrust out a rifle he'd apparently grabbed from the camp's armory.
She'd heard North Korea maintained conscription just like South Korea's system.
Except their service period was incomparably longer.
Click! Click! Click!
From the camp windows and among the people outside, rifles trained on Go Minji and the Sacred Guild.
Swoosh.
The Sacred Guild members moved to act.
"Don't move! One step and I'll turn you into a beehive!"
It wasn't an empty threat.
Bang!
A bullet hit the ground by Go Minji's foot.
A decent shot.
"It's true. We're here to rescue you because Sacred..."
Bang!
Another shot rang out.
"Shut up! Sacred? Aren't you the puppet scum even South Joseon finds creepy? Yeah, the ones with that witch!"
Witch?
"An ugly hag like you trying to bewitch us North Joseon folk with some trick? I'll see just how hideous your face really is under that skin!"
Crack.
"Just looking at those eyes tells me everything! Rotten heart, no different from a beast!"
Crack.
Veins bulged on Go Minji's forehead.
"Get lost! There's no room in North Joseon for South Joseon puppets!"
That was when it happened.
"Haa."
Go Minji let out a deep sigh.
'Go Yohan.'
Rescuing North Korean civilians was a task Go Yohan had personally asked her to handle, something of utmost importance.
Among the many people Go Yohan could mobilize, there had to be a special reason for slotting in Sacred.
She'd recently come to realize just how much she'd received from him over the years.
Above all.
'He's the type who could go further.'
Go Yohan had the power to force his will through even more aggressively.
But the reason he held back—and the burden Sacred might be—had tormented her, driving her efforts all this time.
"Get lost!"
"Get lost!"
"South Joseon puppet scum!"
"That Baek Gui bastard's with them! He's the one who caused this mess!"
"For our great Leader, the Dear Leader!"
Even demons were a tough matchup.
She couldn't stop here.
Crunch.
Ograk's twin greatswords were already in her hands.
The North Korean residents flinched and stepped back.
"Fine, let's say you're ignorant because you weren't taught or exposed."
Go Minji slammed one massive greatsword into the ground as she spoke.
"But I have no intention of understanding that far?"
"What're you saying? Finally showing your true colors!"
"If you stay here..."
Between the two greatswords, Go Minji's eyes gleamed.
Glint.
Her eyes burned with red madness.
"Hup!"
It was a gaze so intense that ordinary folk would lose their souls just facing it.
"You'll just end up as sacrifices anyway, helping the enemy, right?"
"W-What...?"
"Die then."
"...?"
In that instant.
"Shoot!"
The man who'd been firing at them while trying to rally the residents pulled the trigger in panic.
Bang!
The muzzle flash and bullet should have flown toward Go Minji.
"Uh?"
But a massive shadow had closed in, blocking his view, and his rifle split in half, soaring into the sky.
Then, he saw it again.
Glint.
Eyes rippling with red madness.
"Let's all die. Just. Better than being offered up as sacrifices, yeah?"
"Uwaaaah!"
Rat-tat-tat-tat-tat-tat-tat-tat!
It looked like red flames pouring out.
Guns had revolutionized warfare and ushered in an era.
But in the age of gates and players...
Rat-tat-tat-tat-tat!
This was why they were obsolete, treated as second-rate.
Bang!
Guns were useless against players.
Especially top-tier ones like Go Minji.
Clang!
No more than squirt guns.
The muzzles of the rifles fired in an instant were neatly sliced off.
Crash!
The camp walls they'd been hiding behind were cleaved away.
Swoosh.
Go Minji looked down at the man before her.
"Hic!"
The shouting man collapsed, sobbing uncontrollably.
"M-Monster..."
He knew heroes were called monsters, but he never imagined this level.
The demons and beasts attacking them had been strong, but he'd never even seen how they fell.
So this was his first time.
"Hic."
But at the same time, Park Chun-sik felt it.
"Die? Or follow?"
Even up close amid the chaos, Go Minji was so enchantingly beautiful she could pass for a real witch.
"Gasp!"
Park Chun-sik swallowed hard as Ograk's greatsword hung over his neck, barely forcing out words.
"W-We’ll f-follow!"
Holding back the urine about to escape might have been the best thing Park Chun-sik ever did.
Clack.
Go Minji slung one of Ograk's greatswords over her shoulder and smiled in satisfaction.
"Okay, this is more my style."
"Yes?"
"Guide me to the rest of the residents still around. We're saving everyone."
Go Minji wore her most satisfied expression in recent memory.
*
*
*
"Brother, good work."
"You did the hard part, little brother."
Yu Baek and Kim Cheon-seok had just finished clearing a B-rank gate.
Through their connection to Go Yohan, they had become central figures in the Sanctuary Alliance.
For the church forces, nothing mattered more than their ties to the Apostles.
Even more so, their relationship with Go Yohan.
"Demon capital, huh."
"Yes."
Yu Baek and Kim Cheon-seok were more than qualified to lead the Sanctuary Alliance.
"You know I'm always grateful to my little brother, right?"
"Why bring it up all of a sudden?"
"Nah, me? I'm just along for the ride with my little brother... what do they call it these days, bus passengers or something."
Snicker.
Yu Baek and Kim Cheon-seok shared a laugh.
"So, I'll work hard not to drag him down, that's what I'm saying."
"We're brothers now anyway, right?"
"Brothers? Sure. But if you slack off, even family gets left behind in reality. That's life."
With that, Kim Cheon-seok headed off to check on the Sanctuary Alliance members.
It had been arranged beforehand.
"Hurry on. No more delays—let's split here. We're the last ones out anyway."
The Sanctuary Alliance had committed the largest force to this operation.
They'd planned to divide into two teams from the start.
"Everything set?"
"Yes."
Kim Cheon-seok's group even had a secret weapon.
"Don't worry. We've gotten pretty strong ourselves, haven't we?"
Just as Kim Cheon-seok said.
Amid the demon invasion, the church was developing countless items based on demons and beasts.
With Cheol Jung-bae joining them, the church's tech was advancing daily.
"It's not exactly the plan, but..."
Yu Baek, always rigid and plan-first.
"We'll go with your call, brother."
The two sworn brothers from Buyeo Province now resembled each other quite a bit.
"Be careful. Don't die."
"With him around, dying's not even easy."
"Yeah. True that."
Kim Cheon-seok grinned.
"Let's go!"
They headed off into the distance.
Yu Baek began leading the remaining Sanctuary Alliance.
As they departed, a memorable encounter from days ago resurfaced.
-I greet the Apostle.
-Because the Captain seems to value you.
The visitor was a rare figure even among the church's Apostles.
Go Yohan might not see it that way, but no one in the church took Apostles lightly.
They possessed something beyond age, something worthy of respect.
'If he is noble...'
Then the Apostles are great.
For one such Apostle to personally seek him out was, for Yu Baek, as honorable as entering the black gate with Go Yohan.
-Don't die.
-This?
-We were gonna make 100, but I made one extra. If it suits you, you'll live. If not, you'll die.
Gluttony.
-You'll take it anyway?
The hollow-eyed offer.
-I'll take it.
If it could help, what was a mere life worth?
He accepted it.
"Beasts."
Beasts were suddenly swarming right in front of Yu Baek's nose.
Until then, the Sanctuary Alliance had been the weakest faction within the church.
Still was, probably. But at least...
Fwoosh!
Its leader, Yu Baek, had changed.
"I'll take point. Just handle the stragglers."
"Understood, Guild Master."
Black flames danced along Yu Baek's sword.
The flames of sin, said to be usable only by combat priests.