Chapter 21
Chapter 21
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 21
Chapter Title: Blossoming
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Blossoming.
"Jia, thank you so much. You really put out the fire for me."
Under the dazzling lights of the department store's luxury section, Siwoo smiled gently.
"No, Representative! You really didn't have to..."
Lee Jia waved her hands dismissively, but her cheeks flushed peach-pink.
Siwoo had insisted on repaying her for rushing over clothes in the dead of night at his request, dragging her to the department store to buy her outfits and shoes as gifts.
"...You say that, but weren't you having the time of your life picking them out?"
"...Th-that's."
"Just teasing."
"...You're awful."
Lee Jia clutched her shopping bags tightly, cherishing them.
This time alone with Siwoo felt just like a date, filling her chest with overwhelming emotion.
It was as if they were the only two people in this vast department store.
'A date...'
She stole a glance at Siwoo's profile.
Lee Jia's cheeks flushed pink.
'Right?'
Siwoo, sharp in his suit, led the way ahead.
Lee Jia hurried after him with quick steps, her arms full of shopping bags.
Her reflection in the glass windows made her look just like Cinderella, and a laugh slipped out.
"The car's on underground level 4."
"Yes!"
Even as the elevator descended, Lee Jia fussed with her hair in the mirror.
She meticulously checked that her bangs weren't mussed and her lipstick hadn't smudged.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ Ding-
The elevator doors slid open, and a rush of cool air hit them.
The underground level 4 parking lot was a world apart from the surface.
No dazzling lights, no lively chatter from crowds.
It was a weekday afternoon, so cars were scarce, with only sporadic fluorescent lights barely pushing back the darkness.
A damp, eerie silence hung in the air.
"We'll load the bags in the back seat."
Siwoo took the shopping bags from Lee Jia's hands and placed them in the back.
He then gallantly opened the passenger door and gestured.
"Hop in."
"Thank you, Representative."
It was the moment Lee Jia smiled shyly and moved to get in the car.
Shreek-!
With a sound tearing through the air, Siwoo roughly yanked Lee Jia's shoulder back.
"Get down!"
"Kyaaak!"
Thuk!
The dagger grazed Siwoo's left shoulder, slicing thin into his skin and scattering red blood droplets into the air.
Some of that blood splattered onto Lee Jia's pale cheek.
A warm, metallic sensation trickled down her skin.
"R-Representative?!"
Lee Jia's pupils trembled.
But Siwoo grimaced in pain, shielding her behind his back.
"Fall back!"
At that instant, five black-masked assailants emerged from the shadows in unison.
From behind pillars, inside a van, and atop ceiling pipes.
They approached Siwoo and Jia like a noose tightening, their killing intent bare.
'Insight Eye.'
⚔ STATUS ⚔ 📛 Name: ??? 🏷️ Rank: B ⭐ Potential: B 📝 Special Notes: None 'Five B-ranks.'
Insight Eye revealed their info, but only ranks—no names or details.
Five B-rank Awakeners.
They surrounded Siwoo and Jia, slipping into blind spots with professional precision.
'At least experts, or well-trained assassins.'
Calculations raced through Siwoo's mind.
Training like this meant no ordinary job.
'Who? Who sent them?'
"Wh-who are you?!"
Lee Jia cried out in panic, but they said nothing.
Instead, the leader pulled a fist-sized black orb from his pocket and tossed it to the ground.
Roll roll.
The moment it hit the floor.
Woooong-!
A piercing mechanical whine erupted as black waves burst from the orb.
Fluorescent lights exploded in sparks, leaving only the emergency lights' red glow strobing wildly.
⚙ SYSTEM NOTIFICATION ⚙ Artifact Black Spider activated. Disrupting mana flow within 50m radius. "Wh-what...?"
Fsssh...
Lee Jia's face paled.
She instinctively tried to gather mana, but the chill at her fingertips scattered like smoke.
Her mana circuits felt clogged, unresponsive.
Powerlessness washed over her like bound limbs.
"M-magic... won't work!"
Terror laced Lee Jia's voice.
'They're clearly after me. And they prepared this too.'
They couldn't know Siwoo was an Awakener.
Publicly, he was just a lucky regular manager.
Yet they'd brought an anti-mana artifact.
That meant...
Even with Jia by his side, they'd planned the hit.
'Five of them means while 3-4 hold off the Hunter next to me—thinking I'm a regular—they take me out.'
Didn't matter if it was Choi Min-seok or Jia.
A few seconds' gap, and they'd finish Siwoo.
"Heh heh."
A sinister chuckle echoed from the dark.
"Wondered if we needed all this for a mere regular."
With that, they drew daggers and charged as one.
"Jia! Stay behind me no matter what."
Siwoo shouted urgently, wrapping his jacket around his arm and assuming a stance.
Blades rushed him, denying any prep time.
'No need to hold back here.'
He deflected the first attacker's blade and repelled him with a kick.
But the next slashed his shoulder before he could fully evade.
Flesh tore with a chilling rip.
"R-Representative! Blood...!"
"Stay calm. I'm... still okay."
Siwoo shielded Jia as best he could, breathing heavily.
Cold sweat beaded on his forehead.
"Well... color me surprised, Han Siwoo."
The one leisurely watching from behind flicked his hand.
Then he approached Siwoo step by deliberate step.
Like a cat toying with cornered prey.
"Who'd think a regular could block attacks. Work out much? Won't help, though."
"Who are you? Who sent you?"
"Guess? What for? You're dying anyway."
He suddenly accelerated, lunging at Siwoo.
"Block this too."
His dagger hand plunged deep into Siwoo's abdomen.
Puuk.
The gruesome sound of blade piercing flesh echoed through the lot.
"Guh, urk...!"
Siwoo's body convulsed violently.
Clutching his gut, he doubled over and slowly collapsed.
His knees buckled; as he lost balance, Lee Jia desperately tried to support him but couldn't hold his weight, tumbling with him.
Siwoo ended up on top of her.
His ragged breaths battered her ears.
Blood from his body soaked her clothes, pooling messily on the floor.
"Re... presentative...?"
Drip drip.
Red blood burst from Siwoo's mouth, raining onto Lee Jia's porcelain face.
It was hot.
And metallic.
"Run... away..."
Siwoo forced the words out, then closed his eyes.
His body went limp against the cold floor.
"Ah... aaah..."
Lee Jia couldn't breathe.
Her white blouse and cheeks soaked red with Siwoo's blood.
Her heart felt like it stopped.
Beeeep-
A shrill tinnitus pierced her ears.
All sounds vanished—no assassins' laughs, no machines, not even her breath.
Every color in her vision drained away.
The shiny shopping bags, the department store glamour, happy memories.
Her world bleached to black and white in an instant.
Only one thing remained vivid.
The red blood pouring from fallen Siwoo.
That crimson stung her eyes to blindness.
'Again.'
When everyone mocked her, he protected her.
The only one to extend a hand.
'Again, protecting me.'
When all turned away, he strove for her.
Believed in her potential, made her shine.
'And yet.'
Same this time.
He desperately shielded powerless her.
And fell to the assassin's dagger.
'Because I'm weak.'
Lee Jia's eyes shook violently, like an earthquake.
Self-blame and despair crashed like a tsunami.
If only I were stronger.
If only I could protect him.
Something snapped in her mind with a faint pop.
Lee Jia gently laid Siwoo's body on the floor.
His blood stuck to her hands, tacky.
With vacant eyes, she looked up at the approaching shadows.
Fsssh...
The rolling artifact began trembling.
The mana-disrupting black waves crumpled under the overwhelming aura pouring from Lee Jia.
Black waves screamed, crushed by white chill.
Woooong-!
The lot's temperature plummeted; breaths fogged white.
Ceiling sprinklers froze and burst; thin ice sheeted the floor.
Air moisture crystallized into sparkling diamond dust.
"Wh-what the?!"
Assassins reeled back, panicked by the mana dominating the space.
Instinctual fear gripped them.
They hesitated.
Rush her now? But they couldn't move.
Meeting Lee Jia's hollow eyes froze them solid.
"Hey! This works on A-ranks too!"
One assassin yelled desperately, unanswered.
Black Spider: one-use artifact for top Awakeners.
Why they'd hit despite Jia.
"No way."
The leader finally realized his miscalculation.
Black Spider capped at A-rank.
Yet Jia surged with monstrous mana—beyond A-rank reserves.
"Fuck. She's not A-rank?!"
Then.
Lee Jia rose slowly.
Surveyed her surroundings deliberately.
Her irises had changed.
Brown eyes now gleamed pure white, sclera indistinguishable.
"How dare you."
White breath escaped her lips.
Her voice was soft, yet boomed through the lot.
Her hair floated defying gravity, white and wild.
"Run! Now!"
Before the leader finished, they bolted to flee.
Whoosh!
Pure white chill erupted from Lee Jia like flames, blanketing and dominating every inch.
⚠️ SYSTEM WARNING ⚠️ [Target's potential has broken through the critical point.]
At that moment, a system message heralding her blossoming appeared before the "dead" Siwoo.
'Bingo.'
The corner of Siwoo's mouth twitched ever so slightly upward.