Chapter 28
Chapter 28
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 28
Chapter Title: The Meaning of the Saintess
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Incheon's remote pier.
The briny sea air stung Han Yoo-jung's nostrils.
In the pitch-black darkness, waves lapped against the shore, creating an eerie sound.
Screeech.
A black van came to a halt at the end of the pier, shaking and rattling noisily.
The driver's door flew open roughly, and Kim Chang-seok stepped out.
He yanked open the back door and dragged out the limp Han Yoo-jung like a piece of luggage.
"Urgh..."
Han Yoo-jung let out a pained groan as she was thrown onto the cold concrete floor.
Inside the specially made vehicle, she'd had far too much of her mana drained away.
Still, she'd forcibly squeezed out what little she had left.
For the moment an opportunity arose.
When that damned stalker got within range of her attack.
So she could finally tear into his throat.
"Haha! This is surprising! I never dreamed you'd actually bring her."
Around the pier where a massive cargo ship was docked.
A man in a suit stood there with his hands clasped behind his back.
Behind him, dozens of armed mercenaries stood in formation.
"Hey. This isn't what you explained."
Kim Chang-seok pressed a hand to his wounded neck and snapped irritably.
"You said you put your heart and soul into making it in Naraka, that no priest could ever break it, and look! The windows are all smashed to hell!"
"Heh. Well, of course. Unlike the fakes who've been called saintesses in Korea's history, she's the country's first true S-Rank priest."
The suited man grinned ear to ear as he looked down at Han Yoo-jung.
'Naraka?'
Han Yoo-jung swallowed hard.
The villain alliance made up of S-Rank awakeners from Korea and Japan. Naraka.
Naraka was on a whole different level from your run-of-the-mill street gangs with a bit of notoriety.
It was the world's worst criminal organization, traveling globally to hunt down S-Rank Hunters.
All they wanted was the deaths of hunters.
"Whatever. Just pay up as promised. A-gwi. Enough money for me and my saintess to live happily ever after."
The man called A-gwi glanced at his watch, then ordered his subordinates to bring the money bags.
If this guy really was A-gwi.
If he was one of Naraka's executives using one of the Six Paths of Reincarnation as a codename.
Even in perfect condition, Han Yoo-jung couldn't guarantee victory.
"By the way, you sure you don't want to hand over the saintess? I could give you ten times the promised amount."
Kim Chang-seok growled and blocked A-gwi's path, as if to protect Han Yoo-jung.
"Touch my woman again, and I don't care if it's Naraka or whatever. I'll kill you all."
"Hahaha!"
A-gwi burst into laughter as if he'd heard the funniest joke in the world.
He slowly approached Han Yoo-jung.
"Fuck off! Don't come near my saintess!!"
A-gwi completely ignored Kim Chang-seok like he was invisible and looked down at Han Yoo-jung.
Under the moonlight, A-gwi's pale face somehow carried an air of nobility.
To put it simply... he was a handsome bastard.
"Don't look at our saintess with those filthy eyes...!!"
A-gwi slowly raised his head, locking eyes with Kim Chang-seok as if he'd only just noticed him.
"Mr. Kim Chang-seok. You probably can't even fathom how grateful I am to you."
A-gwi strolled along the moonlit pier.
"Do you understand what it means to our organization... and to South Korea... for a woman named Han Yoo-jung to disappear from this country?"
His tone was like that of a lecturer.
Everyone on the pier listened intently, as if hearing a lecture from a top professor.
"South Korea has over ten S-Rank Hunters right now. Even excluding heavyweights like the Witch of Fire Yoo Na-yeon and Sword Saint Choi Mu-jin, all sorts of trash get their spotlight every year as S-Ranks. We just replace them as they die. To keep the public from panicking."
A-gwi lifted Han Yoo-jung's chin with the tip of his shoe.
This time, even Kim Chang-seok fell silent.
He just trembled, utterly intimidated.
"But those replaceable fakes are nothing like Han Yoo-jung. She's different from the other true S-Ranks too. Suicide volunteers can be replaced anytime. Given time, we can replenish them, or just hire foreign mercenaries! It's all the same!!"
A-gwi pointed at Han Yoo-jung as he shouted.
"But she's one of a kind in South Korea. The sole insurance that lets our top rankers fight at the front lines without worry."
A-gwi's eyes gleamed in the moonlight.
He started chattering excitedly like a child.
"What happens if she disappears? Starting tomorrow, Korea's gate raid teams will halt operations. Why? Even the rankers who loved showing off their strength will start holding back out of fear of injury or curses. If we exploit that gap and trigger just two or three S-Rank gates in Seoul, South Korea gets wiped off the map. Do you get what I'm saying!!??"
A-gwi caught his breath, straightened his tie, and grinned wickedly once more.
"No need for bombs or biochemical weapons to cripple a nation's system. Just erase this one woman, and Korea self-destructs. That's why we backed you."
"......"
"Getting it now? Mr. Kim Chang-seok. How grateful I am to you."
Only after A-gwi's speech ended did Kim Chang-seok slowly open his mouth.
"I don't give a damn if the country falls or everyone dies."
He gazed at Han Yoo-jung with mad eyes.
"As long as I have Yoo-jung, that's all I need. If she's by my side, the world can burn for all I care."
Twisted affection.
It was no longer love—just sick obsession.
"So quit yapping and get the boat ready! Pay up! I brought the saintess like you asked! I even made her play along with the act. Now she can't use mana for life! Right!?"
As Kim Chang-seok urged him on, A-gwi laughed maniacally.
Then, wiping away tears, he said,
"Ahh~ Even after all that explanation, you still don't get it."
Kim Chang-seok whipped his head to the side in shock.
Han Yoo-jung forced strength into her wobbly legs and stood tall.
"Of course the explanation about the act was fake. Just like how you were a fake fan of the saintess. Real fans cheer quietly from the shadows."
It happened in an instant.
Kim Chang-seok's head flew into the sky.
It was no big attack.
The buffed saintess delivered a kick.
That was all.
"Thanks for dragging him out of the car, you fucker..."
Gazing at Kim Chang-seok's rolling head, A-gwi said it with genuine regret.
"I put on that show to save him, but there's no saving someone determined to die."
Kim Chang-seok's head tumbled like tofu before splashing into the sea.
The voice that had raved madly just moments ago about keeping the saintess by his side forever would never be heard again.
A pathetic end fitting for a stalker.
"...Haa. Haa."
Han Yoo-jung clutched her bloodstained dress and tore it off.
Then she staggered to the vehicle and picked up her dagger.
Her vision spun, but she stood firm without showing it.
Mana was slowly recovering as time passed.
If she could just buy a little more...
She might not kill them all, but escape was possible.
And with the sea all around, it was perfect.
Buffs for breathing underwater, maintaining body temperature in water.
As a saintess who'd rigorously studied magic, Han Yoo-jung knew them all.
Once her mana recovered, she could survive.
"I can hear those gears turning. Hear 'em grinding."
A-gwi rolled his eyes, then strode toward Han Yoo-jung himself instead of ordering a subordinate.
Han Yoo-jung desperately drew up her holy power amid her shaking vision.
"You know what kind of organization Naraka is, right? As a hunter."
A-gwi closed in like the wind and seized Han Yoo-jung's throat.
"...Urgh... Kgh...!"
"We never let hunters go. Naraka doesn't. Got it!?"
Her faint holy power kept her neck bones from snapping, but she didn't know how many seconds it would hold.
Han Yoo-jung couldn't think of anything.
Just protecting her neck with holy power.
Just enduring one more second.
Lee Sang-hyuk might not be her knight.
But...
Every time an emergency hit Seoul...
Especially now, with the saintess kidnapped...
The Blue Vest had never shirked his duty as an honorary hunter.
Boom!!
She heard something explode massively.
Han Yoo-jung had no doubt her knight had arrived.
"Sorry I'm late. Once I pinpointed the location, I came right away... but the National Intelligence Service took time analyzing the CCTV."
Han Yoo-jung couldn't make out a word Lee Sang-hyuk said.
But she could feel the gentle voice and the sturdy, warm arms cradling her back.
"Thank..."
"Don't talk. I can guess it all. Just rest easy—I'll handle everything."