The Child Who Stopped a Monster
I stepped out of the hotel lobby and into the night air. Behind me, I could hear Lee Ki-min’s frantic shout.
“President! Are you really going to trust that little brat and proceed as planned?”
“...”
Cha Jiyun said nothing. She simply stared at my receding back.
‘No matter who he is, is this truly possible?’
Lee Ki-min, guild master of the Oriental Guild, was an absolute elite. He had received overwhelming offers from every major guild, yet he had joined Oriental at Cha Jiyun’s earnest request. Much of the guild’s explosive growth could be credited to his presence.
‘Even someone like Lee Ki-min couldn’t guarantee victory.’
He had no confidence he could defeat the enemy currently hammering the mana barrier. And there weren’t just one of those monstrous beings—there were two.
‘Even if it’s Nam Doyun… is it really possible?’
No matter how many times people said he was waging a lonely war against Requiem, this seemed like pure suicide. Taking on two such monsters alone?
“...For now, I will return inside and continue the presentation as scheduled.”
Cha Jiyun turned and walked back into the banquet hall.
I had come outside.
Looking back at the hotel, I saw the mana barrier around the banquet hall continuing to crack. Yet I still couldn’t pinpoint where the attacks were coming from. The strikes themselves were invisible.
A clear chime rang out.
[Skill 1] - ‘Copy’ - Allows you to replicate any skill you have seen once.
- LV1.
Would you like to upgrade to LV2?
The condition for upgrading Copy to LV2 was the limited-edition Rolex watch I had obtained from Kim Si-min earlier. I clicked Y.
[Skill 1] - ‘Copy’ - Allows you to replicate any skill you have seen once.
- LV2.
Additional Effect: You can now track the location of any target whose skill has been copied.
“Display it.”
Instantly, a map of the surrounding area appeared in the status window. A single red dot pulsed on it. That had to be Urbashi’s position.
“Perfect.”
I pulled out my phone and quickly sent a text. Then I broke into a run toward Urbashi’s location.
It was the rooftop of a high-rise building directly across from the hotel. I entered the building, stepped into the elevator, and pressed the button for the roof.
You have arrived.
The elevator doors opened onto the rooftop. At first glance, the place looked completely empty. But my eyes couldn’t be fooled.
The map in my status window instantly zoomed in on this building alone. The red dot was only two meters in front of me.
I raised my hand.
BOOM—!
The magic I had copied from Urbashi flew forward. The two figures who had been camouflaged with their surroundings slowly revealed themselves.
One was Urbashi. The other was a woman who appeared to be his colleague. They stopped attacking the hotel and turned to look at me.
The moment the woman’s eyes met mine, she drew a dagger from her waist in a blur.
Whoosh—!
The dagger flew straight for my throat. Its trajectory was perfect. At my current level, I couldn’t even react in time.
Clang—!
But the dagger bounced off something invisible.
“...What the hell are you doing?” the woman demanded, glaring at Urbashi.
“You can’t kill that kid,” Urbashi said.
“What? That statement could be considered treason against Cain.”
“...”
Even so, Urbashi stepped in front of her, clearly signaling that he would not allow her to attack me.
“What exactly is this? Are you betraying Cain right now?”
“No. I’m not betraying anyone.”
“Then explain immediately why you’re stopping me from killing him.”
“...That’s…”
Urbashi couldn’t bring himself to speak. He couldn’t tell her that I was the son of one of the Cain Slayers.
“...I can’t say. But do not kill him.”
“...You’ve really lost your mind.”
The woman looked utterly dumbfounded.
“I’ll ask one more time. Are you betraying Cain?”
“I told you clearly. I am not.”
“If that’s true, then explain right now why you’re standing in my way to protect him.”
“....”
“If you don’t move, I will contact every member of Cain and tell them you’ve betrayed us.”
“Later, you’ll understand why I did this.”
“...Fine. You will have to explain yourself clearly later. If you can’t, every member of Cain will brand you a traitor.”
“Yeah. They’ll understand eventually.”
“Anyway, get ready again,” she said.
“Sure. Obviously. We have to finish the job.”
They resumed their attacking stance toward the hotel.
“Shall we begin?”
“Yeah. Support me.”
She planted an amplification magic circle in front of Urbashi. That circle was unique—it was her personal skill. Any magic that passed through it became completely undetectable. And its effect wasn’t limited to hiding presence. The magic that went through it became far more powerful than normal.
“Hup—!”
The moment Urbashi pulled back his fist to strike, I stepped directly in front of him.
“What the hell are you doing now?” Urbashi snarled, his face twisting.
“You cannot attack that hotel.”
“....”
He glared at me with murderous eyes.
“Get out of the way. Now.”
“I won’t.”
“If you interfere, I’ll have no choice but to kill you. No matter how much I owe the past, a mission is a mission. The only mercy I can offer is to let you walk away quietly right now. That’s it.”
“...I can’t move.”
“So that’s how it is, huh?”
Killing intent exploded from Urbashi’s body.
“If you don’t move this time, I really will kill you. Get out of the way until I finish putting on this gauntlet.”
He began sliding the gauntlet onto his hand as he spoke.
“I can’t do that.”
“Three.”
His countdown continued.
“Two.”
“One.”
“Time’s up.”
By then, Urbashi’s gauntlet was fully equipped.
“Then there’s no helping it. Die.”
Urbashi swung his fist at me. I felt death approaching. There was no way I could dodge or react to that punch.
At that exact moment—
Ting—!
Someone blocked Urbashi’s attack. She stopped his massive fist with a single finger.
“What the…?”
Urbashi stared at the person who had stopped his strike with an incredulous expression.
She looked like a child no older than four years old. And she was smiling brightly, as if this were all a game.
“Hey… no way.”
Urbashi glanced at his colleague.
“Uh… yeah, I think it’s her.”
Cold sweat poured down the woman’s forehead.
Urbashi hurriedly took several steps back. He had entered a complete state of alert. All because of a child who looked barely four years old.
“...How about it? Want to keep going?” the little girl asked with an innocent smile.
Urbashi continued to stare down at her with a terrifying gaze. Then he slowly shook his head.
“I have no intention of clashing with you head-on. We’ll withdraw for now.”
Surprisingly, Urbashi spoke in polite, formal language. To a mere four-year-old child, no less.
“Weren’t you on a commission?” the little girl asked.
“We did accept a commission… but fighting you was never part of the calculations.”
Urbashi began removing his gauntlet as he spoke.
The tremendous reputation of Cain rested on their 100% mission success rate. That perfect record was why they received enormous pay and absolute trust. They almost never failed.
Yet now they were abandoning a commissioned job and retreating. They knew full well that their credibility would take a hit. Even a single failure would sharply increase client distrust.
Still, they chose to withdraw anyway.
“What? Aren’t we fighting?” the child asked.
“To fight you, we would need to prepare with extreme resolve. Simply taking a few billion won to fight you doesn’t add up.”
“You think you could win if you fought seriously?”
“Yes. If all of Cain truly resolved to kill you with everything we have… then the current weakened version of you would be in danger.”
“Hehe—”
The little girl smiled sweetly.
“I sincerely hope such a day never comes. If it did, both you and us would suffer devastating losses,” Urbashi said.
“Let’s go.”
With that, the two of them vanished from sight.
The little girl walked right up to me.
“Was it you?”
“Pardon?”
“The one who sent a text to my personal email. That was you, right?”
She turned on her phone and opened her mail app. Sure enough, the message I had sent was displayed there.
“Yes, that was me.”
She was the president of Elphon Academy.