Chapter 81
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: penny
Chapter: 81
Chapter Title: Demon Exorcism
-----------------------------------------------------------------
The fact that the rope's mana belonged to Choi Si-hyeok was something only Mary knew.
She had trapped it inside her prison of light, believing the scattering mana particles would serve as evidence.
But in that instant, the blue particles within the prison began to glow, then set themselves ablaze with a whoosh.
"Playing dirty tricks, are we?"
Mary sneered.
It seemed he had rigged his mana with some kind of failsafe.
As she focused on his mana, she spotted the Association support team bustling around, loading Kang Min-ho onto a stretcher. Everything looked chaotic—an emergency situation through and through.
I gave the team leader a brief report.
"Choi Si-hyeok tried to murder Hunter Kang Min-ho."
And then...
I asked about the next stance.
Specifically, how to handle things if Choi Si-hyeok was confirmed as a demon's kin.
'Capture alive if possible, but authorized to kill if there's even the slightest hitch.'
The protocol was straightforward, so both Mary and I accepted it without hesitation. The Association was quick on calls like this.
Mary and I headed straight for Choi Si-hyeok's isolation room.
On the way, Mary cautiously spoke up.
"Kang Min-ho, the vice guild master? Total puppet."
"That's what you said."
Mary had mentioned it yesterday. I didn't know the full details, but his trauma flare-up made me suspect there was more to it.
"He used to be the guild master's right-hand man. You can tell from his name, right? King of the Sea, Sea King. But then the Chain Hell dungeon appeared, and everything changed. He opposed the raid, saying too many guild members would die."
And that tripped him up.
"Choi Si-hyeok exploited the opening. Glory, rewards, the guild's reputation... he whispered all the sweet nothings the higher-ups wanted to hear and built his power base. In the end, Kang Min-ho got pushed out in the power struggle and ended up leading the raid on the very dungeon he fought against. Funny, huh?"
Success goes to Choi Si-hyeok's credit; failure falls on Kang Min-ho's shoulders.
It was a rigged game from the start.
Even the next vice guild master spot was starting to look like his. I could feel the strings propping Kang Min-ho up snapping one by one.
This raid was his last lifeline.
"Still, he gave it his all. He came to me... even got on his knees."
Mary was originally on a pure freelance contract.
She belonged to Haetae Guild but wasn't bound by any of their orders—an independent entity. That was the top perk the guild offered to keep her around.
The S-rank Chain Hell dungeon was impossible to even start without her.
In the end, Kang Min-ho had no choice but to come begging.
Mary accepted his desperate plea.
And the moment word spread that she had joined the raid team, Choi Si-hyeok—who had been holding back until then—suddenly announced he was joining too.
That was the dynamic between Choi Si-hyeok and Kang Min-ho. It made sense why Kang Min-ho's negative emotions amplified first.
It must have been... incredibly tough for him.
At least he didn't lose his life.
Before we knew it, our conversation had carried us right to the isolation room door.
We stepped inside without knocking.
No need for that.
We entered the dim observation room.
Beyond the glass wall, in a brightly lit room, stood Choi Si-hyeok.
He wasn't sitting on the bed. As if he'd been waiting for me from the start, he stood in the center, staring straight this way.
An arrogant smile played on his lips.
The moment I entered the observation room, his smile deepened.
Just as he opened his mouth to speak...
Mary stepped forward from the shadows behind me and stood at my side.
"......"
Choi Si-hyeok's expression froze in an instant.
The smug smile vanished, replaced by a mix of bewilderment and fury.
He clearly hadn't expected me to show up with Mary.
"Choi Si-hyeok."
I called out to him in a low voice.
"......"
But he didn't respond.
His piercing gaze was fixed solely on Mary.
"Why are you two here?"
He didn't ask me.
He questioned Mary.
But she wasn't intimidated by his sharp intensity in the slightest.
"Not 'why'... That's just how we are."
Mary smirked as she replied.
She lightly trailed her fingertip across the back of my hand, tickling it.
"You pulled some boring stunt on the Sea King, huh?"
Mary added in a cold tone.
But Choi Si-hyeok wasn't even registering her words.
His eyes stared into empty space, losing focus.
A moment later, a mutter leaked from his lips.
"...What is this?"
"...Why hasn't anything changed?"
I tried to make sense of it.
"Even when I became team leader... even when I was slated for vice guild master... even when I became the real power... nothing's changed at all."
His face twisted.
"Heh."
Mary let out a scoff at his monologue.
As if she'd seen it coming.
Her mockery made his expression contort for a split second.
His head jerked awkwardly, finally turning toward me.
"...What could it be... this worthless piece of shit..."
He muttered while glaring at me.
"In the end, it's you again?"
"I wasn't the problem. You were."
His condition was off—way off.
I quickly checked his status.
Target's sanity completely collapsed!
Parasite rampage beginning!
No sooner had the system warning flashed than Choi Si-hyeok's body twisted grotesquely.
- Pshhh!
His back swelled up, ripping through his shirt and flesh as a dark red tentacle burst out.
The slime-covered tentacle convulsed and writhed in the air.
Brace for impact!!
"Eugh... gross..."
Before the system's warning even finished, I moved on instinct.
I pulled Mary—who was staring at the tentacle in disgust—straight into my arms.
A typical parasite rampage comes with a powerful shockwave.
Even she might be at risk.
"Get down!"
I wrapped her in my arms and threw us both to the floor.
I covered her completely with my body, bracing for the impact.
"......"
But the expected shock never came.
The window didn't shatter. No shockwave.
I looked down at Mary, now forcibly pinned beneath me in my arms, with a bewildered gaze.
She lay there with her back arched, her pale purple eyes wide as she stared up at me.
I glanced beyond the glass wall.
Choi Si-hyeok was already trapped in a rainbow-colored prison.
And between that prison and us was a glowing star-shaped barrier.
Right then, a system window popped up before my eyes.
No way in hell! ☆( > ω)v
I looked back down at Mary in my arms.
Faint pale purple mana was rising from her other hand.
She had been prepared for the worst too.
"......"
A mischievous smile spread across Mary's lips.
"Were you... trying to protect me?"
"......"
Her words sent heat rushing to my face. I tried to scramble off her in a hurry, but...
- Squeeze.
She held me fast.
That's when a furious pounding echoed from the prison behind us.
- Bang! Bang! Bang!!
"Open it!!!!!"
Inside the rainbow prison, the half-demonized man glared at us and screamed like a madman.
Mary, still clinging to me as I tried to get up, whispered softly in my ear.
"Know the fastest way to make a demon vanish?"
Correct! Incineration!
It wasn't even my question, but the status window cheerfully blurted out the answer right in front of me.
"...Incineration?"
"Exactly."
A smile curved Mary's lips.
"And the best kind... is when they set themselves on fire."
She added,
"Spontaneous combustion."
No sooner had she spoken than Mary wrapped her arm around the back of my neck and pulled my face closer.
The distance between us was less than a centimeter.
From the side, it might look like we were kissing.
Mary's pale purple eyes bored into mine.
"Stay like this... just a little longer..."
"Wait, Mary..."
I tried to pull away, but she stopped me.
"You know how many demons I've killed, right? Trust me."
Confidence shone in Mary's eyes.
I finally nodded.
She really was an expert in this field.
I met her gaze.
"Stop it!!!"
- Bang!! Bang!!
Choi Si-hyeok's screams erupted from behind.
He was out of my sight, but Mary glanced over her shoulder at him before looking back at me.
Then she gently took my wrist.
She guided my hand to her soft lower abdomen, over her dress.
- Thud.
Through the thin fabric, I could feel her hot body heat.
Was this really going to work?
"Hoo..."
As my hand touched her, Mary let out a steady breath and looked up at me with satisfied eyes.
She nodded toward the back.
- Bang... Bang...!
"Don't you dare take that hand away, you bastard...!"
Choi Si-hyeok's screams had devolved into something almost metallic.
To confirm if this insane plan was actually working, I urgently called out to the system in my mind.
The system responded with festive sparkles, like it was throwing a party.
Target Choi Si-hyeok's mental core overload initiated!
A graph showing his psychological state appeared next to the system window.
The jealousy bar shot past the red danger line, spiking wildly.
Choi Si-hyeok must have had a thing for Mary.
And beside it, a small speech bubble popped up like a tooltip.
TIP: How about pressing a little harder? 😉
(>ω<)☆
Good enough.
If it's working, that's all that matters.
"Hoo... Ngh..."
Mary's breathing started to quicken.
Maintaining the prison of light must not have been easy.
"Uwaaaah...!!"
- Bang...... Bang... Thud...
The screams and pounding from behind grew weaker.
And soon, utter silence fell.
I turned to check the scene.
The dark red tentacle protruding from Choi Si-hyeok's back was half-burned to ash, and the flames consuming him were dying down.
- Slam!
Right then, the observation room door burst open as a heavily armed Association suppression team poured in.
They formed combat formation to enter the room, but everything was already over.
- Thud!
As if his last strength had ebbed away, Choi Si-hyeok collapsed to the floor.
At the same moment, Mary—still lying on the ground—gasped for breath.
Her sweat-drenched face held deep exhaustion mixed with a strange satisfaction.
Mary looked up at me and whispered languidly.
"That was good... Seon-woo."
Mary held out her fist to me.
I lightly bumped it with mine.
I hadn't really done much...
But the demon exorcism was a success.
