Chapter 187: A Moment in Barbara
Chapter 187: A Moment in Barbara
Cha Seunghyun’s eyes were wide open. His mouth was agape, letting out a scream. And seeing that expression, a strange excitement washed over me. In the 1st playthrough, the Martial God, Cha Seunghyun, was a User so far above me I couldn’t even dare to look at him, let alone fight him. Of course, he was still a long way from earning that title now, but killing a powerhouse of this caliber one-on-one still stirred an unfamiliar feeling within me.
He was quite strong, I’ll give him that. We’d had a fairly intense battle. But that was all. Having not yet reached his full potential, he was no match for me now. All his stats, except for Stamina, were lacking. Compared to my high-quality weapon and gauntlets, his equipment was far too shabby. And that was to say nothing of our special or Latent Abilities. Even if all the above conditions had been equal, I still had plenty of useful abilities and trump cards influenced by Tanay's privilege hidden up my sleeve. If I had been serious from the start and drawn Eternal Flame, I would have won even more easily.
“Aaaaaaaah!”
A desperate cry, as if held back for an eternity and then suddenly released in a single burst, echoed through the inn. Without even looking, I knew it was Yoo Hyuna’s shriek. But I didn’t stop the Sun and Moon Divine Sword. As Cha Seunghyun staggered from his severed right arm, I swung with all my might toward the nape of his neck. And then.
“Ghk!”
With a final, deathly scream, a gruesome sensation traveled up the spine of my blade as it sliced through flesh. At the same time, a User’s head shot high into the air. The head, cleanly severed, floated for a moment before tracing a gentle arc and falling to the ground.
Thud, thud, thud, thud. Slump.
Finally, the headless body collapsed limply onto the inn floor. And as if by a twist of fate, Cha Seunghyun’s head rolled a little before coming to a stop near Yoo Hyuna. From the cross-section of the severed neck, what looked like warm blood spurted intermittently, like a small fountain.
Yoo Hyuna was a sight to behold. Propping herself up with her hands on the floor, she was sitting up with an expression that was hard to describe with words. If I had to put a name to it, it was a look of utter disbelief. She kept muttering, “Ah… ah…,” and it seemed like the slightest touch would cause her to erupt into a full-blown scream.
For now, I planned to let Yoo Hyuna live. To her, Cha Seunghyun and Ban Dahee were siblings more precious than anyone else, but to other Users, they were just a couple of clan members. However, if I touched her, things would get a little tiresome. Had she drawn her sword and attacked me from the start, it would be a different story, but since she hadn’t, ending things here was the right way to draw the line. Watching Yoo Hyuna, who looked as if she might faint at any moment, I was lost in thought for a moment.
How would her future change now? As I’d said before, the reason Yoo Hyuna was able to rise as the “Holy Queen” was because she had so many truly capable Users under her command. At the peak of the Beech Tree Clan’s power, four of the Ten Strong were her subordinates.
But now that I had cut off Cha Seunghyun and Ban Dahee, who had been her right and left hands in the beginning, I was intensely curious about what would happen. It would be one of two things: either she would break, unable to overcome their deaths, or she would overcome it and rise again.
It didn’t matter which path she chose. I preferred the former, but I already had a plan in place to disrupt the latter. I intended to either intercept or secretly assassinate most of the Users she would meet and recruit in the future. And even now, that intention hadn’t changed.
“Phew.”
I let out a light sigh and turned around. I had no more business here, nor did I have any desire to deal with Yoo Hyuna, who seemed to have already lost her mind. When I looked at my clan members, I saw some unexpected reactions.
Ko Yeonju was clapping silently, while Vivian wore a placid expression. Jung Hayeon was gazing at me with calm eyes, and Shin Sangyong, though looking at Yoo Hyuna with a pitiful face, slightly bowed his head when our eyes met.
And the kids’ reactions helped to soothe my sharpened nerves, if only a little. Ahn Hyun was trembling slightly, but his eyes were shining. It was proof that he hadn’t shied away from this whole situation and had watched it head-on. Lee Yoojung was holding the Demonic Sword Skurepf in her right hand, staring at me with a peculiar expression. The way her slender fingers fidgeted, it seemed she was being influenced by the demonic sword and the Blood-Soaked Heart. Come to think of it, I still needed to solve the issue with Yoojung and the demonic sword, but I’d forgotten about it. Her reaction now was both pleasing and displeasing at the same time.
In any case, getting out of here was the top priority. We couldn’t be held up in Mule any longer. Even if we had to be investigated, it would be better to do so after we’d left for another city. Seeing Ahn Sol gulping with a tense face, I slowly closed the distance to my clan members.
“Good work.”
“Are you hurt anywhere?”
Ko Yeonju and Jung Hayeon greeted me one after the other. I gave a slight nod.
“There was an unfortunate incident, but our plans haven’t changed. We will leave Mule immediately.”
“Um… Orabeoni.”
“Yes. What is it?”
“That person is…”
Ahn Sol trailed off, biting her nails. I glanced at the still-dazed Yoo Hyuna and shook my head. There was a chance the situation could escalate, and I lacked sufficient justification. Besides, I had just managed to turn the situation in our favor; killing her now would tarnish the justification for killing Cha Seunghyun and Ban Dahee. I could probably find a pretext if I tried, but I wanted to avoid any tiresome business that could affect our future actions.
“Let’s go.”
After urging the group once more, I immediately left The Demure Lady. The clan members followed silently behind me, while the kids scrambled out with slightly flustered steps. Then, Ahn Hyun quickened his pace, came forward, and walked beside me.
“Hyung. Still, for this to happen inside the city… Will it be okay?”
“It’s fine. No matter how powerful a representative clan is, there are lines they must abide by. The situation just now was perfectly justifiable from multiple angles. It’s in our favor, so it’s unlikely we’ll be put on a wanted list.”
The answer came not from me, but from Jung Hayeon. Despite her reply, Ahn Hyun’s expression remained uneasy. Something seemed to be bothering him. Reading his expression, Ko Yeonju spoke up this time.
“Kiddo.”
“Y-Yes.”
“Who do you think I am?”
“Huh? That’s…”
Ahn Hyun trailed off, closing his mouth. He seemed flustered by Ko Yeonju’s sudden question. She chuckled for a moment, then gently stroked his head. Leaning in slightly, she whispered something in his ear. Seeing Ahn Hyun’s face quickly harden, I sharpened my hearing.
“The reason I always smile at you all is that you’re Soohyun-ssi’s comrades and the younger siblings he cares for.”
“……”
“And now, we’re fellow clan members. But, before all that, I am the Shadow Queen. I don’t expect you to understand what that means right now. You’ll probably come to understand it gradually as you gain more experience. So for now, don’t worry about a thing and just keep your wits about you. You little brat.”
“Ah, I understand.”
With that, Ko Yeonju came over to my side, and Ahn Hyun’s stiff expression relaxed. He let out a sigh, his face filled with relief. The emotion on his face was clearly relief. It seemed he was less concerned about the fact that I had killed Cha Seunghyun and Ban Dahee, and more worried about the potential consequences of their deaths—like us getting put on a wanted list or becoming fugitives.
I was suddenly reminded of when I first met the kids during the Rite of Passage. They were the same kids who had been terrified when I shot a single arrow at Woo Jungmin’s group. Compared to that, they had grown a lot. Of course, looking at Lee Yoojung, it was hard to say that growth was entirely in a good direction.
“Soohyun. Did you hate them that much?”
“Hm?”
A soft whisper suddenly came from my side. I turned my head to see Ko Yeonju, who had approached me at some point, gazing at me with a subtle smile. She glanced behind us before continuing in a quiet voice.
“It’s just that you look so unburdened.”
Unburdened. From Ko Yeonju’s perspective, the kids and I were both Year 0 Users. I thought I had managed my expression well, but it seemed she had seen through me.
As a brief aside, back when I was still in the modern world, there were a few things in novels and comics that I could never understand. There were many situations, but to put it simply, it was the protagonist’s hero complex. I didn’t like it. I couldn’t understand why they would willingly court danger when they had a perfectly good opportunity to kill their enemies and navigate the situation smoothly. I always clicked my tongue when I saw those things, and I was often left questioning the protagonist’s actions.
Of course, that doesn’t mean I want to act recklessly without weighing my options. Even if someone was an enemy in the 1st playthrough, if there’s a possibility of recruiting them, I plan to wait and see. Woo Jungmin’s group and the User Ko Yeonju are good examples of this. Still, isn’t it better to do what you can, at the very least, when the situation allows for it?
Why did I finish the 1st playthrough and start the 2nd? To become a hero? To gain fame and flaunt my power? No. I absolutely did not come here to play such children’s games. The real reason I turned back time was because there were things I failed to achieve in the 1st playthrough. And this time, I wanted to achieve them, no matter what.
For that reason, for the sake of that goal, I was confident I could be more ruthless than anyone else. Yes. Ko Yeonju wasn’t wrong. Just as she said, I felt unburdened right now. Contrary to what Cha Seunghyun had said, I didn’t feel a shred of guilt for abandoning my duty as a human being. My heart was simply filled with the relief of having easily dealt with a formidable enemy who could have been troublesome to face in the future.
In response to Ko Yeonju’s question, I offered a faint smile and shrugged. Without another word, I quickened my pace toward the Warp Gate. I had only been here for about three months, but I’d been through so much in Mule that it felt like I’d stayed for half a year. Perhaps because of that, a sense of excitement at the thought of leaving Mule seemed to spread throughout my entire body.
*
They were gone. An eerie silence had fallen over The Demure Lady. The carnage that had unfolded inside stood in stark contrast to the quiet atmosphere. Two pools of blood had formed, and in each lay a corpse.
“Heuaaah…”
Yoo Hyuna lifted her head and let out a sound that was hard to understand. Dried tear tracks left clear marks on her cheeks, and her lips were parched. With bloodshot eyes, she slowly turned her head. A cold, face-down corpse and another, its head and body separated, lying forlornly on the floor, came into her view.
“Heua… Heuaah… Heuaaaaaah…”
Every time Yoo Hyuna’s mouth opened, a hoarse sound flowed from her throat. Unable to bear the sight any longer, or perhaps unwilling to accept it as reality, she hung her head low once more.
…. ……. ………. …………. …………….
How much time had passed? Suddenly, a strange sound began to escape from her as she stared at the floor.
“Hee, he-hee. Hehehe. Hehehehe. Hah-heuh. Heu-eu, heu.”
It was a sound that made it difficult to tell whether she was crying or laughing. After making noises like someone who had lost her mind for some time, she finally let out a rattling “Grrrk,” and her body collapsed. White foam bubbled from her mouth.
But even then, her lips twitched, endlessly letting out a hoarse, deflating sound. Her eyes were rolled halfway back into her head, and the pupils, barely visible, seemed to have lost their focus. White foam trickled from her mouth. Her expression was that of someone who wanted to forget everything. Like a little girl who believed that when she woke up, it would all have been a dream.