Chapter 14: Oh, So You’ve Heard of Girasung!
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 14: Oh, So You’ve Heard of Girasung!
She strode into the abandoned building.
Outside, police who had arrived earlier were blocking off the area to unauthorized personnel and guiding people to evacuate.
Hunters had been contacted as well, so it wouldn’t be long before others arrived.
Unlike returnees, hunters had a lot to assess before entering a dimensional gate, such as its rank, so a slight delay was unavoidable.
It was the correct procedure, as long as it wasn't a rapidly expanding gate.
As she took a step forward with that thought, she sensed a presence.
A moment later, a sigil shaped like a sword began to form on the side of her neck.
[ Come out. ]
The instant she uttered the word, something came tumbling out with a soft thud.
It was a tiny, cotton candy-like creature.
Resembling a ball of black cotton candy, it rolled toward her.
It looked nothing more than cute, but Kkotbi frowned at the intense hostility radiating from it.
In that moment, the black cotton candy leaped into the air.
Like a hedgehog, it instantly sprouted spines from its entire body and shot toward Kkotbi, spinning as if to grind everything in its path to dust.
At that, the blade-shaped tattoo on Kkotbi’s neck spun around.
[ Explode. ]
Boom!
With a single word, the black cotton candy creature exploded and collapsed to the floor.
After confirming its demise, Kkotbi cleared her throat and started walking again.
As expected of an abandoned building, all the windows were shattered and broken furniture was scattered about, but Kkotbi paid it no mind.
It was still daytime, so sunlight streamed brightly through the broken windows. More importantly, she had seen far worse; a mere abandoned building couldn't instill fear in her.
‘What floor is the gate on?’
Kkotbi knew she had to find the gate’s location first.
Until the gate was closed, dimensional entities would keep pouring out.
Closing it as quickly as possible was the top priority.
Clack.
Just then, Kkotbi froze at the sound of high heels.
The sound clearly indicated a person’s footsteps.
This was an abandoned building.
One might think it was a vagrant who hadn't managed to escape, but unfortunately, the footsteps held not a shred of tension.
‘Who is it?’
A hunter, perhaps?
No, it was still too early for other hunters to have arrived.
Sensing something was off, Kkotbi cautiously extended her foot forward.
Crash!
Suddenly, two people burst in through a broken window.
Startled, Kkotbi was about to reflexively use her Word Spirit Art when she recognized one of them and stopped herself.
Instead, she quickly erased the tattoo from her neck and asked.
“D-Domi-oppa?”
“Oh, uh, hey, Kkotbi.”
It was none other than Kang Ha-chan.
He was clutching his head with a dazed expression, and carrying him on her back was a red-haired woman she had never seen before.
But Kkotbi had a faint idea of who she was.
She was Shin So-ra, a returnee like herself and Ahyu’s younger sister.
*
5
‘I am never traveling like that again.’
After meeting up with Kkotbi, I was leaning against a wall, trying not to throw up.
Since Kkotbi had taken her car, we needed to catch a taxi to follow her, but Ahyu had insisted that would be too slow and offered to carry me herself.
I was hesitant about being carried by a girl, but Ahyu was a returnee.
Arguing with a returnee seemed pointless, so I agreed. The moment Ahyu—now Cheon Hong-ryeon—hoisted me onto her back and began dashing through the streets, I was filled with a mad regret.
Ahyu had said she’d put up a protective barrier so I wouldn't feel the wind resistance, but the sight of the scenery blurring past as I clung to her back was more than enough to make my head spin.
Which led to my current state.
Thanks to her running while I was practically dying, we arrived here safely, but it was an experience I honestly never wanted to repeat.
“Domi-oppa, why did you follow me?”
Once I had finally calmed down, I heard Kkotbi ask in a tone of disbelief.
Hearing her voice, I took a breath, straightened my back, and spoke confidently.
If I didn't, I felt like my trembling legs would give out.
“What’s the fun in just eating and leaving? We should hang out more.”
Kkotbi’s eyes widened at my words.
“Let’s wrap this up quick and go for round two. Of course, this one will be doing the work, not me.”
Kkotbi let out a dry laugh as I pointed at Ahyu—no, at the Heavenly Demon, Cheon Hong-ryeon.
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“What do you think? It’s guildmate solidarity.”
“I appreciate the thought, but…”
Kkotbi looked at me with a mix of bewilderment and disbelief.
“…Domi-oppa, why did you, a civilian, follow me here?”
“Oh, right.”
Come to think of it, couldn't I have just waited downstairs?
As I had that thought and glanced at Ahyu, she touched her chin and smiled sweetly.
“Do you not trust me? My side is the safest place in the world.”
“Don’t change the subject. You just forgot, didn’t you?”
“I only ever speak the truth. What say you? Will you not stay by my side for eternity?”
Why does she say things like that so casually whenever she turns into Cheon Hong-ryeon?
Back in reality, if I made her repeat what she just said, she’d probably die of embarrassment.
“Well, since you’re here… it’s probably safer to stay with us than to go down alone, so just stay put,” Kkotbi said, then suddenly her gaze shot toward a wall as if she remembered something.
“What’s wrong?”
“Just before you two arrived, I heard footsteps.”
“Footsteps?”
I tilted my head at her words.
Who would be bold enough to wander around a place where a dimensional gate had opened?
“And no other hunters have entered yet.”
“Suspicious.”
“Right?”
It was impossible for a civilian to be bold enough to enter a dimensional gate area.
As I agreed, Cheon Hong-ryeon tapped her cheek with her index finger.
“Shall I find them for you?”
“Can you do that?”
“Who do you take me for?”
Smiling as if it were no trouble at all, Cheon Hong-ryeon immediately closed her eyes.
In that instant, Kkotbi and I held our breath as a formless energy flowed out from her.
The energy spread throughout the entire building in a flash, pulsing erratically. A moment later, Cheon Hong-ryeon slowly opened her eyes.
A deep smile spread across her lips.
“Found them. I’ll go catch them.”
With those words, Cheon Hong-ryeon vanished.
She disappeared so completely that even Kkotbi seemed shocked, unable to follow her movements.
“I heard So-ra was a returnee, but… was she this powerful?”
“Kkotbi, what rank returnee are you again?”
“I’m A-rank.”
“So-ra is S-rank.”
A clear power gap exists even among returnees.
Hearing the rank, Kkotbi nodded in understanding.
The Heavenly Demon was one of the most skilled individuals, even among returnees.
“Ahyu has a scary younger sister.”
“She’s not that scary.”
“By the way, Domi-oppa, I know you’re close with Ahyu, but how do you know her sister?”
I paused at her question.
Come to think of it, as far as Kkotbi knew, I had only met Ahyu in person a few days ago.
She seemed puzzled that I also knew Ahyu’s younger sister.
I wished her sharp intuition would help her realize that the Cheon Hong-ryeon who just vanished was Ahyu.
But it seemed she wouldn't figure it out until Ahyu told her herself.
“You can hear it from So-ra.”
“Hmm, okay. You mean we should focus on the task at hand, right?”
Interpreting my words differently, Kkotbi’s eyes burned with determination.
I got a somewhat artificial feeling from her sudden show of motivation, but I decided to let it go.
“I’ll definitely protect you, Domi-oppa. So let’s hurry and close the gate!”
“I’m counting on you.”
Since Ahyu left me here, she must have judged that there wouldn't be any major problems.
*
6
Clack, clack.
A woman with flowing red hair walked down the hallway of the abandoned building, the sound of her flats echoing.
She was none other than the Heavenly Demon, Cheon Hong-ryeon.
The atmosphere around her was completely different from when she was by the side of Kang Ha-chan, whom she usually called Domi-oppa. Her red eyes were incredibly cold.
“Must I come in and get you? Or will you come out on your own?”
Her voice echoed through the hall.
Spoken like a predator’s whisper, her voice was laced with an pressure so intense it could make an ordinary person faint.
And from within that pressure, a person stepped out from behind a dilapidated stone pillar.
He was wearing a school uniform and round, pitch-black glasses, making his age difficult to guess.
The only thing certain was that he was holding a white cane, suggesting he was blind.
“Who are you?”
“You followed me without even knowing who I am? Lady Heavenly Demon.”
Beneath the glasses, his lips twisted into a playful smirk as he mentioned her title.
The sight immediately made Cheon Hong-ryeon frown.
His relaxed attitude in her presence was endlessly irritating.
“My, what a scary face! It’s quite intimidating, you know.”
Despite her glare, the man’s demeanor remained utterly flippant.
During her time as the Heavenly Demon, she would have cut off the heads of all such insolent fools. With the intent to do just that, Cheon Hong-ryeon began to channel her energy into her sword.
“You know that I am the Heavenly Demon. Are you from the Returnee Association?”
“…I would appreciate it if you didn’t compare me to a group of cowards like that.”
For the first time, the man’s expression turned serious.
His face contorted with such profound displeasure that it was reminiscent of an Asura.
Simultaneously, following his intense emotion, the stone pillar beside him began to crack.
That alone was enough for Cheon Hong-ryeon to easily surmise that he was no ordinary opponent.
‘Distrust and anger toward the Returnee Association.’
Glimpsing that emotion, the Heavenly Demon realized who he was and pointed her sword at him.
“Girasung.”
“Ah, so you’ve heard of Girasung!”
“Stop being so annoying.”
As if his earlier anger had vanished, he began to smile brightly again.
Girasung.
If the World Returnee Association represented returnees on the surface, Girasung represented them from the shadows.
A collective of individuals whose ideals were the polar opposite of the Association’s, Girasung was a group that included a large number of abnormal individuals even among returnees.
They had committed countless crimes and had a relationship with the World Returnee Association that could only be described as hostile.
This man was none other than a member of Girasung.
“Our meeting is a coincidence, but what do you say, Lady Heavenly Demon? Isn’t it a waste of the tears we returnees have shed to simply accept the world as it is?”
“Don’t talk nonsense. Who do you think you are, opening your mouth in front of me, you cancer of society?”
“My, my, that’s so harsh, especially between fellow returnees.”
The man, who had been smiling cheerfully the whole time, tapped his cane on the floor with a sharp thud.
“If you have no intention of joining, then so be it. I judge that further conversation is pointless.”
“Shut up. Just tell me why you’re here.”
“Ahaha, why is a bitch who killed her own parents with her own hands so full of justice?”
His next words were enough to snap Cheon Hong-ryeon’s reason.
“Dimensional gates are quite interesting, aren’t they?”
A camellia blossom formed at the tip of her sword.
“Civilians seem to be under the illusion that gates can only be opened from the other side.”
A crimson afterimage scattered toward his smirking face.
However, the man’s form, torn apart by Cheon Hong-ryeon’s sword, simply disintegrated as if made of powder.
“But this… isn’t it something all of us returnees know how to open?”
As his last remaining lips vanished as if turning to ash, Cheon Hong-ryeon grit her teeth.
She realized his form had been a fake made of sand from the very beginning.
“…Girasung, what is your objective?”
Recalling the man’s final words, Cheon Hong-ryeon clicked her tongue in a sigh.
Then, she took out her phone.
The name on the screen read: Iron-Blooded Empress.
It was an unpleasant thought, but she knew she had to report what Girasung was up to right now.