Chapter 310
Chapter 310
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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 310
Chapter Title: Den of Mad Bitches
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“……!”
Asher’s expression hardened slightly.
Why was Kim Jin-ah here?
There was no way someone of her stature, the Vice Guild Master of Star Heaven, would be manning the portal gate.
The fact that she’d greeted them first meant she had business with them.
‘No way she overheard, right?’
It had only been a few minutes ago.
Sure, they’d badmouthed Star Heaven outright, but there’d definitely been no one around at the time.
Plus.
Even if she had overheard, she would’ve confronted them right then—not pop up now just to say hello.
‘No, she didn’t.’
Asher realized he’d momentarily felt cornered psychologically.
Kim Jin-ah wasn’t even a ranker.
To get rattled by someone like her?
‘Hoo, get it together.’
Composing himself, he looked at Kim Jin-ah.
“As you can see, I’m not doing well…. Ahem. To what do we owe the pleasure of Star Heaven’s Vice Guild Master seeing us off?”
“Hee-hee, seeing you off?”
“…….”
“Seeing someone off is for guests who are leaving.”
“……Huh?”
Asher froze for a moment, then his mouth fell open slightly.
He’d just used ‘seeing off’ as a polite pleasantry.
And she’d thrown it right back at him?
Implying they weren’t guests?
“Hey!”
Brandon stepped forward, fuming.
“Are you saying we’re not even guests? We acknowledge Star Heaven’s overwhelming victory, but there’s such a thing as basic courtesy between rivals!”
Grind!
Brandon gnashed his teeth.
Even after getting crushed, for some non-ranker to come provoke them?
He wanted to tear her apart, but this was inside Star Heaven. She was the Vice Guild Master.
If he did, he couldn’t guarantee his survival.
“Ahh.”
Kim Jin-ah shook her head as if that wasn’t it.
“There seems to be a misunderstanding. Star Heaven respects even the losers. Whether you got chased out of the Mage Tower or blasted by our mages’ energy bolts… we have to respect you. It was an exchange event, after all.”
“This little…?”
Brandon’s eyes bulged.
What kind of ‘respect’ was this wording?
His already foul mood ignited into full-blown rage.
Damn it, should he just beat her down?
Rumble…!
Brandon menacingly drew up his mana.
Was this the aura of the 92nd-ranked ranker?
“Pretty vicious.”
Kim Jin-ah nodded with her arms crossed.
But contrary to her words, her expression was utterly relaxed.
“Brandon, stand down for a moment.”
That was when Asher intervened.
With a gesture from him, Brandon’s aura gradually subsided.
Asher spoke.
“That sounded like you can’t respect us for some other reason.”
“Ooh, not bad insight. Wonder why someone like you acted like a rash kid on the forums.”
“That’s because you guys started…!”
Asher cut himself off mid-excitement.
This Vice Guild Master.
Something was off about her.
She seemed to harbor intense hostility toward them.
Otherwise, how could she keep needling them like this?
Especially after Star Heaven had won the Star-Mage War so cleanly.
“Hey, what we said was ultimately true, wasn’t it? What you guys said was false. Eh, whatever. That’s not the important part right now.”
Kim Jin-ah smirked and snapped her fingers with a crisp crack!
“Seon-ji?”
“Yes, Vice Guild Master!”
“Please slowly explain to these gentlemen what you saw, in a way they can understand.”
“Yes, ma’am!”
A woman in secretary attire, her hair neatly tied up, stepped forward.
As expected.
She had no aura at all.
Not even ranker level—she couldn’t take down a random passing monster.
And this one had seen something?
“Asher, Brandon, and Damian. These three posted malicious comments about Star Heaven across various communities. Yes, they even hired people to try shaping negative public opinion. But do you think that’d work? Star Heaven’s already the overwhelming frontrunner. Naturally, it was all for nothing, so frustrated, they ended up founding the Anti-Star Heaven Terror Group. Pathetically, they couldn’t hit Star Heaven directly and just looted and murdered pitiful small- and mid-sized guilds that support us. Total scum.”
“……?”
Asher was baffled.
What nonsense was this?
Malicious posts?
He’d admit they’d planned to.
But they’d never actually posted any.
‘No, forget that.’
Hiring people?
Founding a terror group?
Murder? Looting?
And the way she phrased it—like it wasn’t now, but something they’d do later.
“Ha.”
A hollow laugh escaped him.
“Cut the crap.”
Finally, Asher couldn’t hold back his boiling anger.
“I warn you—don’t cross the line. Even if you’re Star Heaven’s Vice Guild Master, I’m a ranker with nothing to lose.”
“Oh, is that so?”
Kim Jin-ah smiled brightly, unperturbed.
“I’m not warning you—I’m just telling you. Even if I look this nice, I don’t treat guys who dare mess with our Guild Master or Star Heaven like people.”
Kim Jin-ah’s eyebrow twitched.
Truth be told, these guys.
She hadn’t liked them even before Kwon Seon-ji shared the prophecy.
‘Phrenology is science.’
With her sharp insight, she could now read personalities from faces alone.
Sneaky upturned lips, greedy jowls, venomous wrinkles.
“So.”
Thud!
Asher slammed his staff into the ground.
Rumble…!
An immense aura instantly dominated the surrounding space.
“What’ll you do if we don’t act like people? You’re no ranker—know your place when you open that mouth.”
“What else? I can’t beat you myself since I’m no ranker, so I’ll have to ask someone.”
“…….”
“Arin?”
As she murmured into the air.
“Yes.”
Whoosh!
A red-haired child appeared from thin air.
‘Gasp?’
‘Damn.’
‘Arin was here?’
The three old men’s eyes shook.
They’d clearly scanned with their senses—no presence at all.
How had Arin appeared here?!
‘Arin’s a monster.’
Not just any monster—a real one.
What else do you call someone who beat the Mage Tower Lord with magic?
Hiss…
Their surging auras deflated instantly.
“Wow.”
Kim Jin-ah, watching, marveled.
“A perfect example of the weak fearing the strong and bullying the weak.”
‘That damned bitch…!’
Blood vessels bulged in Asher’s eyes.
Fox borrowing the tiger’s might had its limits.
Was it okay to mock them like this relying on hidden Arin?
“Wasn’t it you lot who sic strong ones on the weak to toy with them!”
Asher’s mouth twitched in fury.
“Star Heaven is truly disappoint…”
“Ahh, enough. Let’s end this clichéd banter.”
Kim Jin-ah waved her hand dismissively, as if tired of dealing with them.
“No point in me saying more here, right? You’ll keep playing the victim, and you won’t admit what Seon-ji said earlier. Yeah?”
“That murder and looting nonsense?”
“Yes, yes.”
Kim Jin-ah nodded.
“Didn’t expect you to admit it. As you’ve felt, it’s future stuff anyway. How’s the present you supposed to know everything about the future? People aren’t omniscient.”
“……?”
“Must suck. But I’m pissed too. It’s obvious it’ll happen, so I want to punish you, lock you up, make you pay—but no evidence, right? Publicizing without proof does nothing for Star Heaven. And constantly surveilling you until it happens? Ugh, what a waste of time. I’m busier than I look.”
“……What kind of bullshit…?”
No, what the hell!
Asher was going insane with bewilderment.
‘Is she actually crazy?’
She came here to punish them for crimes that hadn’t even happened?
That was some next-level psychosis.
“So in the end, it boils down to one answer.”
“……What’s that?”
“Get beaten.”
“What?”
“If you get beaten enough that you never even think of messing with Star Heaven… you won’t commit those murders or lootings. No hassle for us. Win-win for everyone, right?”
Win-win?
How the hell was that win-win!
“Arin?”
“Yes?”
“I told you earlier, right? These are the ones plotting to slander our Guild Master behind her back. Just until they’re about to die… you know?”
Kim Jin-ah winked.
“Guys who touched the Professor…”
Then?
Enemies.
Rumble…!
An unprecedented aura bound the three old men tightly.
“Guh, guhk!”
“W-Wait…!”
“T-This isn’t right!”
Asher clutched his throat, choking.
Brandon trembled all over, dropping his staff.
An utterly overwhelming pressure!
Zing, ziiiing!
Soon, the terrifying 「Energy Bolts」 began raining down on them mercilessly.
On a whole different level from Do Ha-rang and Emily’s.
Boom boom boom boom!
Not just intensity—the quantity was insane too.
“Kuaaaagh!”
“Kuaaaagh!”
Screams burst out involuntarily.
Amid the unrelenting pain with no time to think, the most absurd part was…
‘Healing?’
Even as they were hit, healing energy enveloped their bodies.
Healing instantly upon impact, leaving only the pain etched in their brains.
Boom boom boom boom!
“Ku, kuaaaagh!”
It wasn’t just beating.
Each incoming bolt carried bone-chilling malice.
‘That.’
Feeling Arin’s aura, Asher intuited.
It’s real.
She’s genuinely furious.
As if she truly believed they’d slandered the Guild Master.
‘S-Stop!’
‘Why the hell are we getting beat for this?’
‘If we’d actually done it, at least we could argue!’
It was infuriating.
Getting punished for things they hadn’t done yet—how could it not be?
It was maddening.
“Phew, truly tragic. As mid-level Mage Tower execs, you’re so high up socially and mentally, yet scheming such vile things behind the scenes.”
Kim Jin-ah murmured, perched lightly on a nearby rock, looking down at them.
“I didn’t! I never did that!”
Asher yelled amid the blows, full of grievance.
“Sh-Show proof! Kuaaaagh!”
“……Proof?”
Kwon Seon-ji herself was the proof.
No need to tell them that.
She was a precious top-secret asset.
“What proof? No, be honest. You did plan to slander Star Heaven, right?”
“I didn’t, I tell youuu!”
As Asher glared at Kim Jin-ah with an aggrieved expression.
“Lie.”
Kwon Tam-ji, on the opposite side from Kwon Seon-ji, pointed at Asher.
“It’s a lie.”
“Aha, a lie?”
Kim Jin-ah snickered.
Then she looked at Arin.
“Arin, beat that one harder. He’s lying and won’t come clean.”
“Yes.”
Boom boom boom boom!
“Wh-What? Ku, kuaaaagh!”
Asher screamed.
He was losing his mind.
Some woman had eerily accurately predicted future events.
And the Vice Guild Master and Arin believed her?
Now what?
Lie detection too?
Just say you wanna beat us for no reason!
‘They’re mad bitches.’
Yeah.
Star Heaven was a den of mad bitches!