The Captive and the Rescue
Tok-.
The cold sensation I felt at my forehead slid down over my cheekbones.
The moment that chill bored into my ear—
Flash-.
“Ah.”
I opened my eyes and looked around.
Beside me, Yehwa was still sprawled out, not fully conscious yet.
“At least I kept the contract.”
I had to. I’d put my life on the line for it.
Gias. A contract notarized by the system.
Anything sealed through Gias had to be honored.
It was practically a law of the world.
If you broke it, the system would take everything from the contract violator.
If this had been my old life, I would’ve cut Gias itself in half.
There was no way some cultist worshipping a demon god could do the same.
If he could, then he’d be the Demon King himself.
Right?
Clack- clack-.
A sound wholly out of place in the surrounding stone chamber drifted closer.
It was the kind of sound you’d hear if someone were striding down a runway in high heels.
The wrongness of it made my scalp feel cold.
And whenever that kind of unease hit, that was exactly when I needed to be at my sharpest.
This was the kind of moment where something could happen at any second.
First things first—I had to wake Yehwa.
“Yehwa. Hong Yehwa.”
“Mm... huh? Jayeon?”
Thankfully, she snapped awake right away.
We were still a little far apart, but she could hear me, so I kept my voice quick and low.
“Do you trust me?”
“Of course. If I don’t trust you, who would?”
“Whatever happens next, just trust me and stay still. I’ll explain everything once it’s over.”
“Okay, got it.”
Yehwa gave me her usual smile, but she couldn’t hide the trembling in her fingers.
“Thanks.”
I covered her hand with mine. The shaking seemed to lessen a little.
Clack- clack-.
The sound drew closer and closer.
She’d be here any second now.
Let’s see the bitch’s face.
From the sound of it, this wasn’t the demon cultist I’d seen before.
It was a woman.
“My, my. You’re awake?”
She had a beautiful face and a beautiful voice.
The kind of beauty that didn’t belong in a place this damp and dark.
Which meant one thing:
“A witch.”
Women who sold their bodies to the Demon King.
“Oh? Someone here knows who I am?”
The witch slipped a photograph from her pocket and held it up.
“Let’s see... so you’re Kim Jayeon? And the one behind you is Hong Yehwa? She’s prettier in person.”
Should I kill her here?
No.
I didn’t know how strong this witch was. This was the time to stay cautious.
And Yehwa was behind me.
Wait.
Opportunities came eventually.
“My, look at that expression. You want to hit me? Think you can?”
I met her eyes and said, “What are you planning to do with us?”
“Huh? Oh, you’re the one, then? The guy who killed two hunters.”
“If those pathetic losers were hunters, then yes.”
They had never been pathetic, of course, but I had to make myself look like a cocky, talented brat.
“Hah, hahahaha!! Right, they were pathetic. You’re a funny one, aren’t you? Want to come work under big sis? I might let one of you off.”
“Then why not save Yehwa here instead of me?”
“I don’t like women. Especially not pretty little girls. Though if I peeled that lovely face off and displayed it, that might be amusing. Should I do that?”
Crazy bitch.
“Forget it. More importantly, what happens to us?”
“Bold, aren’t you? I’m liking you more and more. Your face passes, too, and that nasty little personality of yours has just the right bite. You’d be fun to train.”
Time to hit the peak.
I’m a rude bastard. I’m a rude bastard.
Good. I’m a rude bastard.
“Answer me.”
A thin hand slipped through the bars and clamped around my throat.
“Did you really think I’d keep indulging you forever? Making you scream in this state sounds fun, too. Maybe I should make you applaud behind your own back?”
Ice began to grow from the floor, pinning down my shoulders.
“Kgh... s-sorry.”
I forced my eyes to shake.
I was just a smug little punk right now. I had to look scared.
Even if it was all an act—
Damn, that hurts.
“Hmmm, fine. I’ll forgive you once. There won’t be a next time.”
The witch’s cold hand left my throat.
At the same time, the ice vanished.
“Haaah—”
I drew in ragged breaths and looked at her with watery eyes.
Wow. This is actually pretty convincing.
“Understood. I’m sorry.”
“That princess behind you’s pretty patient, too, isn’t she? Even with a face like she’s about to explode.”
Yehwa looked ready to leap at her any second.
Only because I was holding her hand was she forcing herself to swallow it down.
“Gghh—!”
She was holding back so hard there were veins standing out around her eyes.
“Greed, hurry up. They’re all gathered here.”
A low voice came from the side of the witch.
It wasn’t a human voice. It was coming from a bat’s mouth.
“Tsk. We’ve got less than a day anyway. I’ll be nice and let you enjoy yourselves. Big sis is heading out, so play nicely, all right?”
With that, the witch walked away from where we were held.
“Haaah! She’s gone? Who the hell was that crazy woman? Jayeon, are you okay? Does your throat hurt? Want me to blow on it?”
She’d broken into full-blown panic.
Yehwa carefully slid her hand over my neck.
“No need.”
I immediately sent mana into the back of my hand.
Two glass bottles dropped from the air.
“Potions?”
Spatial magic. The tattoo that had moved from my wooden sword to the back of my hand gave off a faint glow.
The reason I could come up with this ridiculous plan.
It was all because of this spatial magic. And hidden inside that spatial magic was one more enchantment.
Less magic, more like spirit arts.
“Silph.”
At my call, light flared from the back of my hand.
A tiny dragonfly appeared in the air with a gust of blue wind.
“W-whoa! Did your mother do this too?”
“Yeah.”
Come to think of it—mother?
“Silph, tell my mother where we are.”
The dragonfly nodded and vanished between the stone walls.
“So that’s it now?”
“Well, you could say I just dabbed on the paint.”
“What does that even mean?”
The picture wasn’t finished yet.
“I don’t know where we are, but Mother won’t be able to come straight here.”
And if she came with backup, it would take even longer.
Even if she was a two-star general—
No, precisely because she was a two-star general, she couldn’t just go alone.
“Our first objective is to hold out until Mother arrives.”
“Anything else?”
If we just sat here, there was a good chance we’d end up as hostages by the time Mother arrived.
So how were we supposed to hold out?
“Wreak havoc.”
More potions, along with my wooden sword, kept puffing out of the spatial storage.
“What is all this?”
“You always see me drink potions after training, right?”
“Don’t tell me...”
The only thing more dangerous than a “don’t tell me” was the thing that followed it.
My spatial storage always held at least one crate’s worth of potions.
“Yehwa, open your spatial storage.”
“Okay!”
Yehwa stuffed half of the potions I was holding into her own spatial storage.
“From this moment on, we’re immortal warriors. We don’t get hurt, even when we’re hurt.”
“To the battlefield! There lies the light! For Valhalla!”
“Ooooh!”
We were warriors who feared death not at all.
Side by side, we stood with our pitch-black wooden swords and glared at the bars.
“Let’s go.”
“Yeah!”
***
The barrier shattered.
“Commander!”
“I felt it too.”
“It’s my house. I’ll go check it myself.”
“Granted. Take Kim Seokhyun with you as well.”
“Thank you.”
Whoosh—!
“Honey!”
Salute!
At Lee Sihyeon’s arrival, countless officers and noncommissioned officers stood and saluted.
She casually waved them off, then turned to stare at Kim Seokhyun.
“Why are you here?”
Her husband was supposed to be at headquarters—so why was he here? Don’t tell me... no way!
A cold feeling stiffened my face.
“The barrier’s broken. I need to go right now.”
At that, Kim Seokhyun immediately leaned into the mic in the control room.
“This is a general announcement. Traces of the Demon God Cult have been discovered. Alpha Team 1, Alpha Team 2, Alpha Team 3—assemble and prepare your individual gear immediately.”
“It hasn’t even been confirmed yet. Is it okay to mobilize the special teams?”
“My kids are involved. Stars be damned—what does it matter if the children get hurt? I became a star for moments like this. Let’s move.”
Kim Seokhyun and Lee Sihyeon immediately used spatial transfer and headed home.
“What in the—”
The air was thick with the stench of rot.
It was so pungent I could hardly endure it without covering my nose. Along with it came the sharp, iron-rich smell of blood.
“Honey!”
“I’m already on it! Please, please!”
Kim Seokhyun used his ability to read the memories left in the yard.
Yehwa and Jayeon appeared.
The moment Jayeon handed Yehwa the black wooden sword, a horribly mangled man appeared in the yard, and the recording ended there.
“Damn it!! Those bastards again! I can’t read anything!”
It hadn’t exploded the way it had before, probably because they’d handled it quickly, but the entire memory of the space had been wiped away as if someone had painted over it with black crayon.
If there was any hope at all, it was that Jayeon and Yehwa had been holding wooden swords. That, at least, hadn’t been spotted.
“Honey, come over here.”
My wife’s voice. She had picked something up from the grass.
“What is it?”
“My ring. There’s still a trace of mana on it.”
“Then maybe—!”
“Yeah.”
Kim Seokhyun took the ring and immediately used his ability.
“I can see it!”
The events in the yard began to appear clearly.
“Let me see too.”
“Take my hand.”
Kim Seokhyun synchronized his vision with Lee Sihyeon’s. What they saw was their son fighting.
“He fought like that?”
Lee Sihyeon looked at Jayeon’s movements with admiration. He moved like a man possessed, slipping past his opponent’s attacks.
Then he struck back with razor-sharp blows at exactly the right moment.
“Have you ever seen Jayeon fight before?”
“This is the first time.”
The sight of Jayeon in their vision felt strangely unfamiliar.
They had always watched him training every day despite being told he had very little talent.
That was why they had tried so hard to get him into Jayeon Academy no matter what.
“What kind of effort does it take to reach that level...”
Tears spilled from her eyes. How much must he have struggled to get there? How painful must every single day have been?
And yet, he’d done it. He’d done it, and now he was protecting someone else.
“Our boy’s all grown up.”
“Yeah.”
Even though his talent level lagged far behind Hong Yehwa’s—far, far behind—
he was fighting three opponents at once.
From the situation they were seeing, there was no way to imagine Jayeon and Yehwa being dragged away.
And then came the finale. Jayeon radiated immense presence and adjusted his stance.
“What is that!”
That wasn’t the kind of spirit a teenager should have been able to give off.
As if the force itself were being transmitted to him, every hair on Kim Seokhyun’s body stood on end.
The moment the Jayeon wrapped in that pressure swung his sword—
A man in a black cloak blocked his son’s blade.
Kim Seokhyun knew it instinctively.
That was him. That was the bastard who had interfered with his ability.
“Jayeon!”
The instant that guy appeared, Jayeon’s momentum dropped. Had he run out of stamina? Was he going to be taken just like that?
“N-no!”
His son pressed the sword to his own neck.
He was trying to use his own body as leverage to protect Yehwa. He understood that heart, but—
As a parent, there was no way he could bear to watch it.
In the end, his son’s intent was swallowed by the enemy,
and Jayeon and Yehwa were dragged away without a scratch on them.
“Can you tell where they went?”
“No. The trail ends here.”
It was the one object the bastard hadn’t been able to detect. The information about where they’d gone had probably already been erased.
Then what should they do? How could they find their son?
As cold sweat soaked his back, a cool wind blew past.
“What’s this?”
“Silph?”
A tiny dragonfly appeared in front of them.
His wife immediately closed her eyes and listened to the dragonfly’s voice.
The moment she opened them again, she had obtained news she could hardly have been happier to hear.
“Found them. Ulleungdo.”
Good.
Kim Seokhyun immediately grabbed the communications device.
“This is Brigadier General Kim Seokhyun, head of intelligence. Listen up, Alpha Team 1, Alpha Team 2, and Alpha Team 3 of the Intelligence Command, currently on standby. We’ve found the Demon God Cult’s location. It’s Ulleungdo. Move out immediately for Ulleungdo. Over.”
-Transmission complete.
From the device, the sound of a propeller came immediately.
It would likely carry them to the nearby naval fleet.
“Let’s go too.”
To kill those Demon God Cult bastards.
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