Chapter 51
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 51
Chapter Title: Resonance
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Jin Sea didn't trust anyone.
Not even once since becoming a hunter.
Her ability was far too powerful... and dangerous.
It wasn't just her enemies.
Even her allies could get caught in the aftermath of her power, injured or even killed.
So her teammates avoided her.
And in turn, she pushed them away.
Being alone was familiar. Comfortable, even.
"This is our newest recruit who's joining the guild."
At Team Leader Wi Jae-wan's voice, every gaze in the training hall snapped to one spot.
Jin Sea scanned the man at the center of the commotion with emotionless eyes.
"Hello. I'm Yoo Seon-woo. Looking forward to working with you."
Yoo Seon-woo.
The otherworlder, they said.
...Him?
He seemed pathetically weak.
-Thud. Thud.
Jin Sea turned away as if she had no interest in yet another newbie introduction and headed toward the back of the break room.
From behind her, she heard the other guild members murmuring.
"She's doing it again..."
"Don't take it personally, Seon-woo. Sea Hunter's always been..."
But.
Yoo Seon-woo stepped forward without hesitation.
He planted himself in front of Jin Sea as she turned to leave.
Jin Sea's steps halted abruptly.
Confusion flickered in her golden eyes.
"Looking forward to working with you, sunbae!"
He bowed deeply to her.
It made no sense.
Bowing to someone who'd openly ignored him?
Yet somehow, she couldn't just walk past.
"...Yeah."
After a long silence, the response slipped from Jin Sea's lips.
She'd returned his greeting.
"Whoa..."
An exclamation escaped the watching guild members.
That must have been when it started.
Yoo Seon-woo always touched the deepest parts of her in unexpected ways.
Yoo Seon-woo and Jin Sea... no, we became a team.
No one ordered it. He'd volunteered, they said.
At some point, he'd become her one and only teammate.
His presence was strangely comfortable.
He never treated her as the S-rank hunter Jin Sea.
He treated her as his close colleague, Jin Sea.
Without any expectations or fear.
Just talking with him made her walls loosen bit by bit.
An incomprehensible feeling.
And she wanted to know more about Yoo Seon-woo.
Then.
Team Jin Sea's first mission began.
A B-rank gate. An ordinary goblin den.
For Jin Sea, it was no different from a stroll. An easy task.
But she couldn't relax for even a moment.
'Yoo Seon-woo can't get hurt.'
The guild higher-ups had deliberately assigned an easy mission as a test.
Could Jin Sea really have a teammate?
If she hurt Yoo Seon-woo here...
She'd be alone again.
All her focus was on his safety.
But Yoo Seon-woo was far better than she'd imagined.
And that day, her lightning obeyed her perfectly.
Jin Sea was thrilled.
Fighting alongside him was far more enjoyable than she'd expected.
Maybe they could really make this team work.
That very moment.
-Rumble...!
The entire dungeon shook violently, like an earthquake.
From the deepest part.
A massive dimensional gate began opening from the floor.
A hidden dungeon.
-Grk.
What crawled out was a disaster incomparable to any goblin.
A chimera.
A calamity-grade monster that even an S-rank hunter party would struggle against at full strength.
Dark red breath shot from its maw in a straight line.
Toward Jin Sea.
She moved instantly.
But she didn't budge.
At the most critical moment, her lightning defied her command.
'Can't... dodge.'
Jin Sea closed her eyes.
Things had just started feeling livable.
But the expected pain never came.
-Boom!
Instead.
Lightning struck right in front of her eyes.
It wasn't her lightning.
It was Yoo Seon-woo.
He blocked her path with impossible speed.
Yoo Seon-woo, who had raced over like a flash, deflected the attack aimed at her.
"Ngh...!"
Of course, he couldn't block it completely. He was flung away powerlessly.
He crashed hard into the dungeon wall.
Jin Sea ran to him like mad.
"Go! Hurry!"
Yoo Seon-woo was smiling.
Bloodied all over, limbs broken and twisted.
Yet he was smiling.
"I'll catch up soon."
A lie.
Jin Sea knew.
He wouldn't take another step from here.
Even on the brink of death, he was thinking of her.
Why?
Why on earth?
With the speed he'd just shown.
He could have abandoned her and escaped alone. Easily.
He could have survived for sure.
It made no sense.
From the moment they first met until now.
She'd never understood him, not once.
Jin Sea knelt beside him as blood poured from his body.
And for the first time, she cried.
That day, she realized.
There was someone willing to give their life for her.
I should have been faster.
Then this wouldn't have happened.
Because I'm weak.
Ultimately, because I'm weak.
This cursed power betrayed me again at the most important moment.
Yoo Seon-woo dies.
That can't happen.
Right then.
A voice echoed in her mind.
The Thunder Queen, who was but half a being devoured by lightning, has finally attained complete enlightenment.
It was a voice she hadn't heard since the day she awakened as S-rank.
The Thunder Queen's hidden ability is unlocked.
Ability: Divine Thunder Unity
Now, the lightning is you, and you are the lightning.
With those words, blue lightning enveloped Jin Sea's entire body.
Yoo Seon-woo's eyes widened as he looked at her.
And he smiled.
Because he couldn't even guess how much stronger the woman before him had become.
Yoo Seon-woo gathered his remaining breath and whispered with a quiet smile.
"Can you... protect me?"
At his faint whisper, Jin Sea slowly nodded.
And answered.
"Yeah..."
Unconditionally.
Anytime.
I will definitely...
protect you.
I opened my eyes.
Or tried to.
I struggled to lift my eyelids, heavy as waterlogged cotton.
My vision was blurry.
Out of focus.
Everything I saw was red.
A massive bed made of red silk.
An unfamiliar red ceiling.
And in the center of that red space, looking down at me...
Baek Si-eun.
She was in her underwear.
Or rather, scant black fabric barely covering the essentials.
The butterfly-shaped mana wings glowing faintly behind her back now emitted an eerie light in the darkness.
"Awake, Seon-woo?"
She rose from her seat and approached me.
She gently brushed the cold sweat from my forehead and whispered.
"Did you have... a good dream?"
"Baek... Si-eun."
At my raspy voice, her status window appeared.
I met her eyes directly.
"Yeah, yeah. I'm fine. The drug's just strong. You'll get used to it soon."
I understood the situation.
She'd kidnapped me.
The coffee had contained her ability-infused drug.
"Why the hell did you do this? How do you plan to deal with the fallout?"
"Fallout?"
She tilted her head as if she couldn't comprehend.
Then smiled innocently.
"Why would I need to deal with fallout?"
"You'll end up loving it anyway."
There wasn't a shred of guilt in her eyes.
"And this is a secret basement no one knows about. Really, no one can get in."
I hadn't realized.
That Baek Si-eun was like this.
"Shall we get to the fun part now?"
She peered closely at my face.
"Hmm... but it's weird?"
Her finger gently stroked my cheek.
"You should be getting short of breath by now..."
"That won't happen."
I stated firmly.
Baek Si-eun watched me with an amused look, then whispered softly.
"You'll find out~ soon enough~"
With that, she returned to the bed.
Time passed.
My breathing grew labored.
My head started spinning.
The drug's potency wasn't a lie.
My head drooped lower.
But.
That was it.
The drug invaded my body, but not my mind.
"......"
At that, Baek Si-eun bit her nail, gazing at me anxiously.
"...Are you impotent or something?"
I didn't answer.
"No... you were definitely huge..."
I just stared into her shaking eyes through my blurring vision.
I barely lifted my head and curled my lips.
"Who knows..."
I'm not weak enough to succumb to mere drug effects.
And.
"Maybe you're just not attractive enough as a woman."
At my final words, Baek Si-eun's smile vanished.
She strode over.
And grabbed my collar roughly.
"Fine, let's skip to it. Let's see how long you can keep this up."
Baek Si-eun was smiling.
But none of her earlier leisure remained.
Then.
Something stirred inside me.
A faint but familiar tingle... like resonance.
I realized what it was and couldn't hold back the laughter.
And slowly opened my mouth.
"Earlier, I asked if you could handle it."
"Ha... it'll all be something you begged for anyway?"
"Can you really handle it?"
-Rumble...
Thunder rumbled from somewhere.
A vibration that shook the entire room.
"...What?"
Baek Si-eun instinctively looked up at the basement ceiling.
"Can't you hear it yet?"
I smiled.
"The thunder."
Then.
Baek Si-eun's eyes shook violently.