Chapter 13
Chapter 13
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 013
Chapter Title: Awakening
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Ahn Su-ho's mistake. Ji Ye-won's opening. The moment those two elements overlapped, the assassin swung his axe down with ferocious momentum.
The axe blade descending toward her brow.
In front of it, Ji Ye-won twisted her body despite her unstable stance.
-Splurt!
The next instant, blood spurted from Ji Ye-won's shoulder blade.
"Ji Ye-won!"
Ji Ye-won's shoulder was instantly dyed crimson. Thanks to the Defensive Coat she'd borrowed, it wasn't fatal, but it was far from a shallow wound.
Grabbing her own shoulder, she staggered back, but the assassin pressed forward even harder.
-Clang! Kclang! Clang! Kaang! Kaaang!
Each time the axe blade flashed, Ji Ye-won's stance crumbled a little more.
Just once.
Allowing that single blow had turned the tide. Like shifting from defense to siege, the assassin's heightened momentum left Ji Ye-won clutching her injured shoulder, barely able to defend.
Her dazzling sword dance lost its flair, while the assassin's axe gained even more force. In an instant, minor cuts multiplied across her body.
Ahn Su-ho rushed in late, but he couldn't approach recklessly against the axe's torrent-like swings.
'Damn it.'
Ahn Su-ho bit his lip hard.
Once the flow had shifted to the enemy, he had to break it. Disrupt the flow, fall back, and regroup.
"Ji Ye-won! Fall back!"
With that thought, Ahn Su-ho activated his superpower.
Black Smoke.
A mediocre ability to generate and control black smoke from both hands.
His power lacked direct attack potential; at best, it could grab an ankle.
'Somehow, I have to snag his ankle!'
But right now, even that was desperately needed. He unleashed his superpower with full force, erecting a massive wall of smoke between Ji Ye-won and the assassin.
And that judgment turned to poison for Ji Ye-won.
-Sneer.
The assassin smirked. He raised his axe high, intent on cleaving through the smoke and Ji Ye-won alike.
His stance left his torso wide open. But the smoke blocked her view, so Ji Ye-won couldn't see it.
"Dodge!"
Ahn Su-ho shouted too late, and the axe fell.
-Kwachik!
Deep into her left shoulder, over the wound he'd just made. The bluish axe blade dug in. The sound of bone snapping and flesh mangling echoed everywhere.
When he yanked the axe free, crimson blood sprayed vigorously. Even Ahn Su-ho, far away, got some on his cheek.
"Ah."
Ji Ye-won's body staggered. Her knees buckled, her back arched, and she finally collapsed fully to the ground.
"Ji Ye-won!"
The moment Ahn Su-ho shouted that, his eyes met the assassin's.
Instantly, the axe rushed toward Ahn Su-ho's throat as the assassin closed in unnoticed.
'I'm dead.'
This was death. He sensed it instinctively. No dodging, no blocking this strike.
In that desperate moment, the world Ahn Su-ho saw slowed dramatically.
Everything felt slow and vivid. But his body slowed too. Staring at the axe lunging for his neck, he could do nothing.
All he managed was to squeeze his eyes shut just before it hit.
-Kwadududuk!
The sound of blade slicing flesh and severing bone.
Yet strangely, no pain followed.
Ahn Su-ho cracked his eyes open. A black blade protruded from the assassin's chest.
"Guh, guhek!"
He looked down at his chest. His face twisted in horror.
As if mocking him, a low voice emerged from behind.
".........You should've checked if I was properly dead. You turn away for a second and charge at him. What, couldn't see through the smoke?"
"H-How?"
"Like this."
Ji Ye-won's left shoulder, sliced by the assassin's axe.
From the gash, countless blades had sprouted. The moment the axe tore in, she'd formed blades inside to barely protect her vital organs.
Still fatal, but it bought time against death at her doorstep.
Ji Ye-won withdrew the blades. The daggers that served their purpose dissolved into the air, and the assassin's body tilted sideways.
She'd won.
Did she win?
Won?
Ahn Su-ho's pupils trembled at the dazed victory. When his gaze turned to Ji Ye-won, the shaking intensified.
"Ji Ye-won?"
The first glimpse of her state made him think a corpse was standing. It was that gruesome.
Crimson blood oozed from every minor cut across her body.
Her skin was pallid, drained of color, her breaths ragged and intermittent.
Especially her left shoulder, struck again last—it was dire. Her left arm barely hung from her torso. The blades had kept it from severing completely.
"Are... you okay?"
"......Does this look okay to you?"
Ji Ye-won looked down at herself and sighed. Her breath carried a metallic tang.
"......Ah, damn it. I thought I could block it."
"To the hospital right—"
"Forget it. I won't make it. I'll die on the way."
Even speaking of her death, Ji Ye-won's attitude was detached.
This happened because of Ahn Su-ho. She had every right to blame him, but she just clamped her lips shut and stared blankly into space.
Soon, she pulled a small ring case from her pocket and handed it to Ahn Su-ho.
"......Take this and run for me. Before the others come......"
"Run? How can I leave you and—"
Ji Ye-won just shook her head faintly. She'd already accepted death. That silenced Ahn Su-ho.
One fact flashed through his mind then.
"......Potion."
The Intermediate Recovery Potion from the quest reward. It could save her.
"There's a potion. An Intermediate Recovery Potion. If we use it, you might live."
Ahn Su-ho opened the quest window with trembling hands. At the bottom, under rewards, "Intermediate Recovery Potion" glowed clearly.
But.
'Why hasn't the quest ended?'
The assassin was down, yet the quest persisted.
Then he remembered the sniper. The quest: "Defeat the assassin and protect Ji Ye-won's life." If "assassin" included the sniper, it wasn't over.
'What do I do? Hunt the sniper now? But how do I find him?'
Ahn Su-ho clutched his head in turmoil. Misreading it, Ji Ye-won gave a weak smile and shook her head.
"......Don't agonize. If there's a potion, save her first."
"Huh?"
Ji Ye-won feebly pointed at Chae So-yeon.
"I'm just a criminal in the end, but that girl's your coworker. Wasting that expensive potion on me? Don't be ridiculous—save her."
"But—"
"The moment I betrayed the organization, I accepted death. Sure, I don't want to die, but as long as they don't get the Talisman... I'm content. Content to die."
Ahn Su-ho shook his head.
Chae So-yeon. Yes, save her if possible. But to him, Ji Ye-won's safety mattered far more.
Inevitable. Beyond affection, Ji Ye-won literally held his life in her hands.
But she couldn't know that.
She was just glad this man she'd met less than a day worried for her death.
A faint smile graced Ji Ye-won's face, and with it as her last, her eyes slowly closed.
"Ye-won-ssi?"
Her unconscious body slumped into Ahn Su-ho's arms. Her shallow breaths felt ready to vanish.
"Ye-won-ssi? Ji Ye-won? Wake up! Wake up, damn it! Don't you dare die on me!"
Blood soaked his arms cradling her. Exsanguination. Massive hemorrhage. The terms raced through his mind.
'What do I do?'
In his panic, he assessed quickly.
To end the quest, catch the sniper. But he didn't know where.
Would the sniper come here? Or retreat seeing his ally fall? If retreat, does the quest clear? Or suspend?
'First aid first.'
He checked her wounds—daunting. Minor cuts aside, the shoulder hemorrhage was unstoppable.
He bound it crudely with her coat, but it wouldn't staunch.
'119. Call 119—'
He fumbled for his smartphone, trembling. Ambulance, police, her identity—none mattered now.
Save her first. That filled his head.
But then.
"Groooan."
A thick groan rose as the fallen assassin stirred.
"Huh?"
The assassin shakily gripped his axe. Ahn Su-ho instinctively seized his Taser Gun and fired.
-Zzzzt!
"Grrrrraaah!"
Electricity surged, but unlike with Ji Ye-won, he endured. As Ahn Su-ho panicked, the assassin slapped away the wires with a shaky hand.
Ahn Su-ho stood, visibly rattled.
"How......"
"How'd I survive? Or how'd I not die?"
The assassin grinned slyly, ripping open his shirt.
Beneath the tattered cloth, the chest wound from Ji Ye-won writhed, healing rapidly.
"My superpower is 'Body Regeneration.' Heals most wounds, and even fatal ones—I can barely pull through once. Humble, but useful."
Ahn Su-ho drew his Stun Blade, stepping forward protectively before Ji Ye-won. The assassin sneered.
"Give it up. Even wrecked as I am, you can't beat me. Hand over the Talisman quietly and scram. I'll spare your life."
"......If I do, you'll kill Ji Ye-won?"
"Obviously. Dawn Corps shows no mercy to traitors."
"Then I can't back down."
"Heh."
Steel resolve gripped his sword in a clumsy stance. Laughable to the assassin.
"......If you wanna die that bad, fine."
-Flash!
The words ended as he charged Ahn Su-ho.
Slower from injury, but still far faster than Ahn Su-ho.
-Whoooosh!
An upward slash from below. Ahn Su-ho's waist bent like a bow, the blade grazing overhead.
'Dodged—'
-Thud!
A follow-up kick slammed his solar plexus. Unaware of the hit, Ahn Su-ho flew meters into the rooftop wall.
"Kuhk?!"
All air expelled from his lungs. Shock pierced the Defensive Coat. Gut-wrenching pain; gasping yielded only gurgles.
Ahn Su-ho thought: No way I win this.
"What was it? Can't back down? All bark, no bite."
A leisurely smirk curled the assassin's lips. With Ji Ye-won down, no threats left.
Half-playing, he raised his axe at Ahn Su-ho.
Half-playing, to kill him.
Sensing it, Ahn Su-ho trembled.
Terror. Pure fear.
Death's thick scent clenched his heart.
Stay still, die.
Fight, die.
Even win, Ji Ye-won dies—he dies too.
Death everywhere.
One choice left. He rose, steadied his stance.
Only one option now.
"Oh, going again?"
Just desperate flailing.
"Pointless resistance."
The assassin sneered.
Next instant, his palm whipped Ahn Su-ho's cheek. Head snapped, blood filled his mouth.
"I said I'd spare you if you ran."
Grabbing the staggering Ahn Su-ho's collar, slaps rained.
-Slap!
"When I said I'd let you go."
-Slap!!
"You should've run nicely."
-Slap!!!
"What? Can't back down?"
-Slaaap!!!
"Nothing but a loudmouth!"
-Slaaaap!!
Weighted slaps sent him flying meters again. His body tumbled like trash across rough concrete, slamming the railing.
'Stand.'
Hand to ground. Rise. But shaken brain from slaps topples him halfway.
'Must stand.'
Leans upper body on railing. Props quivering knees, struggles up.
'But stand for what?'
Stand, and then? Nothing changes.
Already a dead man.
"Fucking hell......"
Die either way.
Unfairness birthed curses naturally.
Blissful Heavenly Demon—that loathsome name surfaced. More wronged than angry. Thrust a normal guy into this world without fight experience? Give him something decent to shine.
But reality?
Trash stats, lame superpower.
"Possession perk" skill? Half-baked, unusable now.
No protagonist fortune either; pathetic stats block even obvious opportunities.
'Wait.'
A flash.
'......Opportunity?'
Ahn Su-ho rummaged his pocket. The Talisman from Ji Ye-won.
The fateful encounter meant for the protagonist.
Now right here.
Maybe this Talisman was the vile author's gift for him.
Lost in staring, the assassin smirked slyly.
"Don't bother. Wearing the Talisman doesn't guarantee awakening. With matching aptitude, odds are barely—"
"One in ten thousand. I know."
One in 10,000. 0.01%.
Senselessly abysmal odds.
But with all paths blocked, time to bet on that sliver.
'Blissful Heavenly Demon, you damn hack.'
He drew the Talisman. The beautiful ring with blue gem gleamed in his hand.
The assassin didn't stop him—just mocked, as if "try it."
'If you have even a shred of conscience, this Talisman is my fateful opportunity!'
No more options if this failed.
Grinding teeth in desperate prayer, he slipped it onto his right index finger.
-Ding!
Instantly, system messages flooded his vision.
⚙ SYSTEM NOTIFICATION ⚙ [You have equipped the Talisman of <Mana Absorption>.] [C-Rank Luck applies correction to success probability.] [The Talisman settling to you has a 0.03% probability.] [Attempting Talisman settlement......] [Attempting Talisman settlement......] [Attempting Talisman settlement......]
-Kuuuooooh!!!
A fierce gale whipped around his ringed hand. Mysterious energies from everywhere surged into his right hand.
-Kkuduk! Kkududuk!
Next, excruciating pain centered on his right hand.
"Kuhk!"
A foreign energy ravaged his body. Mana, he guessed.
But pain overwhelmed such thoughts. Just agony upon agony.
Far beyond limits, vision blurred. In the haze, a life's montage unfolded.
Scenes flashed—precious memories from that world.
He'd left it all for this one.
Forced into possession.
Wrathful injustice swelled to sorrow, then rage. That rage fueled demonic will.
Amid body-rending pain, rage was his sole ally. Demonic will desperately suppressed the rampaging mana.
Thus passed an eternity in an instant, or an instant in eternity.
⚙ SYSTEM NOTIFICATION ⚙ [Attempting Talisman settlement......] [Attempting Talisman settlement......] [Settlement successful.] [Awakening A-Rank Superpower <Mana Absorption>!]
The moment success rang out, his blurred vision went pitch black.