Chapter 30
Chapter 30
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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 30
Chapter Title: Long-Awaited Holiday
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I marveled at Justitia's technical prowess—they'd already performed a full autopsy (or whatever it was)—and turned off my smartphone. Safety alerts were just as annoying here as back home, I thought, glancing around.
Raphael was sprawled on her stomach, kicking her feet excitedly. I wanted to ask what she was doing, but it was obvious.
"Lachesis, check this out. Doesn't this girl do mukbangs amazingly well? Watching her makes me hungry too. Tomorrow, let's beg Seong-hoon to buy it for us."
[That's a great idea, nya. But I think the chicken that comes up later looks even tastier, nya.]
"Let's get both. Just."
[You're a genius, nya!!]
They were deep in conference on the most efficient way to blow someone else's money. And the one buying for them was Isia, not me.
Feel sorry for Isia, why don't you.
I was really regretting giving them smartphones. Was this what parents felt when they saw kids glued to their phones these days?
I crept up slowly and snatched the smartphone they were giggling over.
"Ack?! What are you doing?!"
"Confiscated. Do you know what time it is? If you want to train tomorrow, you need to sleep now. No phones after 10 from here on out."
"I won't make a sound. I'll watch quietly. Give it back!!"
Raphael jumped up to grab the phone from my hand, but she couldn't reach. She was short, so her jump was pathetic too.
I'm 175cm, average Korean male height. If she couldn't even snag this...
"The light's the problem. Tomorrow. If you don't sleep like this, I'll be the tired one tomorrow."
"If I still had my wings, you wouldn't treat me like this, Seong-hoon."
What was that supposed to mean? Wings would just make her stronger, that's all.
"Even one pair of wings would restore my power. How could you treat a high-ranking being like me so roughly? Don't you have any faith, Seong-hoon?"
"Nope."
"What?!"
"Atheist. The only thing I believe in is myself. Even after seeing God for real, I'd rather start the Infinite Seong-hoon Cult than believe in that guy."
"That's a cult!!"
That God bastard's the real cult leader. I swallowed those words. I knew Raphael would come at me seriously if I said it.
Realizing I wasn't giving it back anyway, Raphael grumbled and shuffled to her bed.
She pounded the mattress, saying, "Lachesis, sleep with me tonight. Don't sleep with that jerk."
Whatever. Do what you want.
I lay down on my bed.
"Seong-hoon."
"Sleep."
"For real. Even if you don't believe me, if I got back just one pair of wings, I could wipe out a demon army."
Shut up already. If you had that kind of power, why'd your wings get sealed? And Raphael leading the charge against demons up front? No way I could picture it.
"Raphael."
"Yes! You believe me now?"
"No. If you've got the energy for pointless chatter, go jog outside."
"......"
Trash. Human scum. Idiot. The words floated over, but I ignored them and closed my eyes quietly.
Still, getting all six pairs back would probably make her strong. Her status had been impressive, after all.
Not that she'd ever get them back, though.
The next morning, I couldn't believe my eyes. It was because of the disaster alert that had been blaring all night.
"Five people?"
No way. This was supposed to be a minor event. At most three victims? How five in one night?
One night was weird too. The incident spanned a week. Three people over a week.
So how five in one night?
Something was off. But I didn't really want to get involved.
Even if it was wrong, it wasn't my problem. No one was dying anyway—just knock out the wraith, and the souls return to normal. Why bother?
If people were actually dying, I'd stay out even more. I'm fragile.
Besides, this was Justitia. The world's top academy. If they couldn't handle this, were they really the best? Nah. You got this, Justitia. You got this, Kim Tae-hyun. Solve this weird incident quick.
Right. Repeat after me. My life philosophy. My motto.
Interfering is Kim Tae-hyun's job. Rolling around in the mud is Kim Tae-hyun's job too.
Yes. So I'll enjoy my long-awaited holiday.
"Raphael, wanna play games?"
"Games? Hmm~ I'd play fighting games!"
We partied hard until dinner.
The sun had set. The light that illuminated the world dipped away, replaced by the rising blue moon.
Sophia gazed at it with crimson eyes redder than blood itself, brimming with vitality. Vampires were children of the night. As darkness fell, their physical abilities and mana exploded, and their blood powers strengthened.
Considering how her Progenitor vampire ancestors were called Night Emperors or Empresses, it was clear just how strong they became at night.
"Alright then. Shall we hunt?"
Crack. Crunch.
Her bones emitted an ominous sound as they realigned. Feeling the refreshing pain, she scanned the dark city streets.
Everything was crystal clear. Every rat scurrying in the city. Every block number.
Yet her gaze kept sweeping around. Searching for one thing, naturally.
The wraith.
"Five people."
Five in a single night. Sophia couldn't just leave this wraith be.
Vampires were already scouring the country looking for her, making things noisy enough. She couldn't let incidents of people collapsing keep happening at Justitia.
That's why she was here. Atop the clock tower in the bustling district. The spot vampires favored.
It felt a bit embarrassing, like she was posing for the media, but oh well. It was the highest point.
Her gaze kept rotating. Focused on the forest.
A place few people frequented.
How long had she searched? At last, it appeared. Not that she'd found it—it came to her, blade drawn.
Black cloak, faceless, bone-white joints.
She knew without checking. This was the wraith.
Sophia recalled the info she'd gathered on wraiths during the day and entered combat stance.
'Wraiths react to strong souls.'
So it coming to her was natural. She'd come here to lure it.
'They accumulate souls and consume them in crises.'
Counter: sever the hands first to block soul intake.
'Best is to end it in one strike.'
One hit meant no need to chop hands. Sophia smirked at the wraith aiming its sharp claws at her.
What a joke. Did it know who she was? Lunging like it'd found tasty prey, screeching.
"One strike, huh."
As she pondered her attack, the wraith screeched first and charged.
Irritated by the ear-grating noise that shattered her thoughts, Sophia squinted one eye and formed her hand into a gun shape.
And from her lips came just two phrases.
One phrase. A magic circle appeared at her fingertips, emanating brilliant crimson light that asserted its presence in the dark night.
Two phrases. Mana swirled. From her heart—the mana tank—it surged explosively to her fingertips.
Finally, the mana reached the circle, and the spell fired.
Blood erupted from her fingertips. A massive amount.
Nothing special about it. Just blood bullets. Like shotgun blasts, they pierced the wraith's body in an instant.
No chance for a dying scream. It crumpled.
That easy. For Sophia, it wasn't even a warm-up. Dead from a mere two-verse chant.
She landed lightly where it fell, feather-like grace, and examined it.
"Now the soul should emerge and return to where it belongs."
Sophia watched expectantly, like "One down!" But nothing came from the body. No matter how long she waited.
Silence. What the hell? She scanned around with a puzzled look.
「GUOOOOOOOOO!!」
Instead of a soul, dozens of wraiths—at a glance—surrounded her.
"Tch."
Yang Min-ji sat on a bench, swinging her legs restlessly. Her cheeks puffed out in a pout, lips protruding stubbornly.
The reason was simple.
Lee Seong-hoon.
"Why does he run whenever he sees me? I just try to talk, and he bolts. Even I get hurt if you do that~~"
No matter how airheaded Yang Min-ji seemed, this hurt her feelings.
She was the daughter of the nation's top guild, precious and never ignored anywhere.
Far from ignored—people were upset they couldn't even talk to her. But this Lee Seong-hoon, this jerk, ignored even her personal attention.
"Always. Always. Always. Ignore or run. Why? Am I ugly? No? I'm pretty? I'm cute? So what's the problem? That girl next to him turned his eyes funny? As if. How many girls are prettier than her?"
There weren't any, were there? She kicked up the dirt around her furiously.
She'd been excited at first hearing 1028th place beat Isia.
But checking his abilities with her unique mana sense had been a huge letdown.
Still, she'd learned one thing: Don't blindly trust unique mana readings.
He'd taken down a drake easily, and replaying his fight with Isia showed acrobatics beyond words.
Rumor had it he'd even cleared an instant dungeon in 1st place.
"And."
Space mage. Dropping steel beams from thin air, then storing them back.
Space mages weren't common. People were born with mana affinities.
Take Isia: dark attribute. Born people could only use two kinds of magic.
Their innate attribute magic. And neutral, attribute-less magic.
Isia's dark was rare too—maybe ten thousand worldwide, if that.
But space? A thousand. A thousand.
Different league. Out of billions worldwide, only a thousand born with it.
Impossible not to covet. Structure of it was tempting.
"But he won't even talk to me. What am I supposed to do~~?"
Frustrated, she let out a roar. No response.
Wait. There was.
Yang Min-ji felt it. Sometimes people instinctively sense danger.
Goosebumps everywhere, instincts screaming to flee.
But sensing it didn't mean you could always run. Every book said so.
People unleash triple strength in crises, but right before death, the body freezes.
That's how Yang Min-ji was now. Frozen stiff. Her eyes fixed on the thing before her.
Humanoid shape, but inside the black robe: pure white.
Not skin color. Truly white. Snow-white.
Gaunt frame, faceless, yet emanating pressure.
「Huuuuman...」
It muttered. Angel? Normally, she'd quip, "How'd you know I'm angel material~," but not now.
Her mouth was frozen shut.
The black robe approached. Wielding a massive scythe.
Like the Grim Reaper proclaiming death. Slowly. Then swiftly.