That Moment
Bang!!!
A heavy bursting sound ripped through the air, and thick purple smoke erupted like a waterfall from the corner of the auction house.
"Kyaaak!"
"W-what is it?!"
Yeri-che reacted the fastest among them. She immediately channeled her holy power, covered her mouth with her sleeve, and lowered her stance.
Terror?
Thud, thud. The sounds of people collapsing echoed one after another.
Yeri-che hurriedly infused holy power into Lee Hyeong-je, who had fallen beside her.
"Hooook...!"
He coughed up blood but barely regained consciousness.
The others?
They were too far away. The poison was so potent that even Yeri-che's head spun for a moment. Her sense of direction vanished, making it hard to take even a single step.
Damn it! Even with holy power reinforcement, this level of toxicity!
Wait—this level of toxicity? Was poison strong enough to pierce holy power common?
A chilling thought flashed through Yeri-che's mind.
No way.
There was exactly one Awakened on Earth capable of unleashing this kind of poison: a hunter from the villain group Pandemonium.
Alias: Race. A murder specialist who specialized in stealth and poison.
No, right?
Yeri-che gritted her teeth. Her head said no, but deep down, she knew.
Her instincts were always spot-on for the worst possibilities.
"Race, you bastard! Clear this poison and get the hell out right now!"
Yeri-che bellowed. The holy power in her voice shoved the poison cloud back with a whoosh.
A brief glimpse of visibility. Most of the attendees at today's auction were collapsed or hunched over in agony.
Numbers weren't seats earned by force. They were occupied by people who could influence merchant groups like the Market. Which meant most weren't exactly powerhouses.
The poison cloud crept back in, writhing.
Damn it all.
"Heehee."
An unwelcome sneer tickled Yeri-che's ear. The thick poison cloud enveloping everything rippled grotesquely, pressing in on her from every blind spot.
Even Yeri-che struggled to breathe under the density of the sticky mana deployed by an A-rank assassin.
Swish—
Race glided through the fog silently, too fast to track with the naked eye. He avoided direct confrontation entirely, expertly grinding her nerves and dragging out time.
"Don't worry, Saintess. This poison is non-lethal."
"Non-lethal, you psycho? Can't you see blood pouring from people's mouths?"
"Weaklings who can't handle this much deserve to die, don't they? Heehee."
"You little...!"
Swish—
A sound like a ghost moving, or silk brushing softly against the floor. Race's signature footstep.
Bam!
Yeri-che swung her fist at the source, but Race was gone.
"Calm down. I'm not here to fight today."
"Then why are you here, you cancerous freak?!"
"Got intel that you and Golden Mine were moving at the same time."
"..."
These bastards. How the hell is their intel network set up? A spy in the Church?
"Felt like something fun might happen. Came to check, and jackpot."
Swish. Race slithered across the floor and scattered dozens of poison needles into the air.
Clang! Clang-clang!
Yeri-che deflected them with a holy power shield, but the sheer speed made her vision blur.
Swish—
Then, a short vibration buzzed from Race's pocket.
"Master's gonna love this too. Heehee. Later."
Boom!
The thick fog ballooned like an explosion, and Race's presence evaporated like smoke.
"Don't you run!"
Yeri-che reflexively kicked off the floor to chase—just as groans from dozens behind her held her back.
"Cough! Kuaaagh...!"
"P-please... save us... Saintess...!"
She had to pursue that disgusting scum and secure the elixir's safety. Her head screamed it.
But her feet had already stopped.
"...Kuh!"
Yeri-che bit her lip until it bled. She squeezed her eyes shut, then whipped around, her voice laced with holy power as she shouted firmly.
"Gather all the fallen people in front of me!"
Running a Church required money. That's why Yeri-che burned with fervor to earn gold and points...
But protecting the weak and wounded before her eyes—that was the creed of the one called the Saintess.
At her fierce command, people moved with disciplined precision, like a well-trained army.
"Cough!"
Lee Hyeong-je came to, feeling a burning pain in his chest and throat. The moment he'd won the bid on the Red Elixir, he'd inhaled the incoming fog and blacked out.
"Cough, cough."
"If you're awake, move aside."
Dozens of people were already sprawled behind the exhausted Saintess, vomiting blood. Lee Hyeong-je rolled away, sweating coldly.
Then, a chilling premonition hit him.
Lee Ah-un's pale, dying face.
Ah! The elixir!
He whipped his head toward the podium. The auctioneer's headless corpse. And the spot where the Red Elixir had been was empty.
"Stolen? My Red Elixir?"
What the hell? I'd pulled out my card because it was vibrating in my pocket, and a message was written on it.
We apologize. However, the final bid amount will be deposited normally.
So I lost the money and the item? Nah, at least the money was safe.
We will immediately commence recovery of the elixir.
"Hm. Good. Do your job."
Additionally, the winner of today's auction has a message for you. Is that alright?
[1. Yes][2. No]
The guy who let the elixir get snatched right in front of me? Might as well hear him out. I hit yes.
Hello? Special One. I am Lee Hyeong-je, holder of the alias Golden Mine.
Golden Mine? ...Isn't this the old guy I know?
The guy usually called Golden Mine was a famous philanthropist supplying free food to the poor.
There is a hunter suffering from mana reflux. Without the Red Elixir, he will die soon. Only hours left until seizure. If possible, please—I beg you—supply the Red Elixir immediately. It is the only way to save this hunter.
[1. Yes][2. No]
Hm.
"Mana reflux? Isn't there only one case in Korea?"
Correct. Hunter Lee Ah-un.
Whitey's confirmation made me stroke my chin. Hm.
...I was gonna deliver this elixir to the kid anyway?
Still, this old man. Burned 1.5 billion points just to save Lee Ah-un? Is he filthy rich or just filthy stupid?
...Makes my heart warm.
Of course I could list one right now. Got 19 left. With this urgent situation, Golden Mine would shell out massive gold for it. And since the Market settles double, it'd be a huge profit.
...
Rustle.
I pulled an empty calorie stick wrapper from my pocket.
South Korea boasts the world's highest monster-related death toll.
Yet, starvation deaths? Zero.
How? Golden Mine, Lee Hyeong-je. Because of this guy.
He supplied calorie sticks for free, unlimited.
Buys from those who don't eat and gives to those in need... Easy to say, but who actually does it?
If... back when I couldn't farm points in Lost Honor like now, if I hadn't gotten those calorie sticks, I'd have starved to death long ago.
I was at the very bottom of the have-nots.
In other words, I'm alive today thanks to this old man.
I always thought I'd repay the favor someday.
Maybe now?
At least I won't suck him dry.
Special One, I beg you. Will you sell me your remaining Red Elixir?
I made my choice.
[2. No]
...Not selling to the old man.
And the reason he needs the elixir. Lee Ah-un's recovery. I was gonna handle that anyway.
"Trying to mess with my make-a-friend-with-the-kid strategy?"
Even for you, old man, that's a no-go.
Beep-!
Before I could even give the order, Whitey popped up a holographic map.
A red dot was bobbing away toward the sea off Incheon.
Real-time escape route of the elixir thief. Shall I display the shortest intercept path?
"Nah, it's fine."
Pardon? If we let him go, the elixir...
"Whitey. Where are we right now?"
The warehouse.
...This punk?
"This is my house. Not a warehouse. Anyway, this is South Korea, right?"
Yes.
I could feel Whitey's confusion. Emotional for an AI.
"And that guy just committed terrorism in South Korea, yeah?"
Affirmative.
I chuckled and leaned back in my chair.
South Korea is land guarded by Han Seol-ah.
Her alias isn't Guardian for nothing.
She protects the nation from monsters, and crushes foreign invaders or terrorists mercilessly.
Even hell-on-the-brink Hanam maintains strangely stable public order? All thanks to her.
"Dares to commit terror in the heart of South Korea and run? Fat chance."
She's a timid hamster mumbling around me, but the world's Han Seol-ah is the Ice Queen.
The thief would learn what that means soon enough.
"Pull up Lee Ah-un's location."
Time to do my part.
Race was going mad with surging dopamine.
An S-rank consumable artifact certified by the Market, no less. An impossibly rare item.
But even better? Screwing over the Church's core Saintess and the absurdly rich Golden Mine who'd bought his way into Numbers.
Both at once. Pure bliss.
"Kekeke."
Race, transformed into fog, rode the wind currents swiftly.
His Awakening ability: Fogification. Turned his body into gas-like fog, nullifying footsteps, scent, even physical impacts. Perfect for escape or assassination.
Back to Master, and I'll get promoted to executive at least...
Heh heh heh. Race let out a sinister chuckle.
"Hm?"
Something felt off.
"Breath...?"
As he chuckled, white vapor trailed from his breath.
Crack!
"Huh?"
Race froze. The faint breath from his mouth froze white in the air and shattered like glass dust.
"..."
And... cold seeped in.
What the?
His body felt chilled. Heat draining away... An eerie, unnatural chill.
Shoooo—
Before he knew it, thick, pure-white fog blanketed his surroundings.
Visibility block skill? Daring to smoke me out?
Instinctively, Race pulled out his poison fog and scattered it into the air.
But.
Plop. Plip.
The purple lethal toxin that should have spread solidified on contact with the fog, falling like hailstones.
"W-what is this?!"
Race's eyes shook.
Come to think of it, this wasn't the only weird thing.
He was an A-rank Awakened, pushing Fogification to full throttle.
Yet he felt cold? That alone defied logic!
...What?
Crunch. Crunch.
Footsteps echoed on the frozen asphalt.
"!"
Race instinctively tried to disperse into fog and retreat.
Or tried to.
His body wouldn't move.
The fog...!
Race was horrified. The fog that should obey his will was frozen solid, frosted over white.
Absolute cold that froze even formless fog.
Then, parting the white fog, a woman emerged.
Enveloped in softly glowing blue mana, ice-blue eyes cold as a glacier stared down at Race.
Korea's guardian hunter. Han Seol-ah.
"...Han Seol-ah?"
Race's breath caught. Beyond shock, primal fear crawled up his spine.
But something was wrong.
No spellcasting. Just breathing and stepping forward, yet her overwhelming chill froze a superhuman body solid.
What the hell...!
He knew Han Seol-ah was strong.
But a monster like this?
No such magic in Pandemonium's database.
The overwhelming power gap. His hunter instincts screamed.
Get tangled with her, and die. Run!
"Kuh...!"
Race maxed out Fogification. Sudden mana surge tore at his organs like they were ripping apart, but no time to worry.
Just as he tried to scatter on the wind.
Han Seol-ah's icy blue eyes fixed on the dispersing gray fog.
A gaze looking down at an insect—no, worthless dust.
Those eyes that flushed red and wavered before the Apostle now held only merciless cold.
This was Korea's EX-rank hunter. The true face of the Ice Queen the world feared.
"Die."
A single word, sharp as ice shards, fell from Han Seol-ah's red lips.
She slowly raised her hand.
That tiny motion.
Race's gray fog, about to flee in all directions, halted dead in midair.
Gurk, guh...!
The white fog-like chill devoured Race greedily.
His gaseous body forcibly solidified in horrific agony. Blood trickling from his mouth froze into red ice, and tears from pain, terror, and cold hardened solid on his eyeballs before they could even roll down his cheeks.
Cold...
That was A-rank assassin Race's final thought.
Tick. Plip. Plop.
The frozen white fog crystals poured down like glass shards, emitting an eerie shattering sound.
Number 100.
The criminal who made the underworld tremble with fog and poison, Race.
He died frozen solid to Han Seol-ah's single gesture—without a scream.