Chapter 183: Her Ex-Boyfriend
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 183: Her Ex-Boyfriend
Just as I was feeling incredibly reassured by Heuksan joining us, I opened the door to the conference room.
“Huh?”
The moment I saw who was inside, a look of bewilderment crossed my face.
The first thing I saw was hair the color of a peach.
“Ha-chan-oppa!”
The moment she saw me, her eyes lit up with delight. She started to run toward me but then glanced around and restrained herself a little.
“Kkotbi? And…”
At the same time, I saw the others standing behind Kkotbi.
“It’s been a while.”
“Hyung-nim, I’m here.”
“I’m here too, you know.”
It was Eva-noona, Seo-ho, and even Jo Si-a.
“Ha-chan-oppa, I’ll help.”
“Haa, I can’t believe he’s going to such a dangerous place.”
Ji-eun and Yu U-jeong were there as well.
“Yahoo, I’m here too.”
“I will help as well.”
Naek and Do Hwa were present, and next to them, even Juksim had come.
[The Divine Realm has its own problems, they say.]
My eyes widened for a moment at her words before a smile spread across my face.
Everyone had willingly stepped up for this.
“Thank you, everyone.”
Although this wasn’t exactly a personal matter of mine, I was incredibly grateful that they had all gathered like this.
When I expressed my thanks, they all smiled back.
“Don’t worry. I’ll take command,” Seol-hyang said, and I nodded, feeling a sense of security.
“Ha Si-ho, can I count on you?” Seol-hyang asked, looking at Si-ho. It seemed they had already assigned roles for the teleportation.
“Don’t worry. It’s me, Si-ho.”
Si-ho replied with the confidence befitting an S-rank hunter.
“I’m going to teleport everyone to their assigned positions one by one. Be ready to engage the moment you arrive.”
While I had been persuading Heuksan, they had clearly worked out a solid plan. Si-ho said this and met my gaze.
I met her eyes and gave a firm nod.
“I’m counting on all of you.”
With that, Si-ho’s spatial teleportation began simultaneously for everyone.
In the past, Si-ho would have needed to hold hands to teleport people, but now, the sight of her moving everyone with a simple gesture was a testament to her growth.
As if proving that all her efforts had not been in vain, our vision shifted, and in an instant, we found ourselves in the middle of a battlefield.
Boom, boom!
“It’s dangerous over here! Requesting support!”
“Support? What support? There’s no one left!”
“Aaargh!”
High-rise buildings.
The scene was one of chaos, with dimensional entities from the Divine Realm collapsing buildings and sowing confusion while American hunters tried to fight back.
Thanks to the translators in our ears, we could hear their voices clearly, but most were filled with despair.
Here and there, a few returnees could be seen.
They were swiftly taking down the dimensional entities and working hard to rescue people.
“Kyaaaaah!”
Just then, a civilian was about to be trampled by the foot of a dimensional entity.
The moment I saw it, I kicked off the ground and reached my hand toward the creature’s massive leg.
Crack!
“Kiiieeeek!”
As the dimensional entity, its leg shattered, screamed and collapsed, I looked at Si-ho.
The moment she saw me, she instantly teleported the civilian to safety and came to my side.
Zzzzzzzap!
At that moment, a bolt of red lightning flew past and blew the dimensional entity away.
Seeing that, I realized that Si-ho, Heuksan, and I had all been teleported to the same location.
“Si-ho, did everyone else arrive safely?”
“Yes, they’re already engaged in combat.”
None of them were lacking in skill.
Trusting in each of them, I looked around.
Seol-hyang had definitely said she would send me to Eunnamu.
But for some reason, Eunnamu was nowhere to be seen.
“It’s coming,” Baeksan said, looking straight ahead.
Following his gaze, my eyes widened in shock.
In the distance, a pitch-black storm cloud was rolling in.
The problem was that this black cloud wasn’t a cloud at all, but a horrifying amalgamation of dimensional entities and other miscellaneous things all mixed together.
At its forefront was a familiar face.
Her black hair streamed behind her as she ran, clad in a black dress I had never seen before, a scythe held in her hand. Soon, her eyes met mine.
In that instant, her pupils slowly dilated.
It was none other than Eunnamu.
“Ha-chan?”
Her expression seemed to be asking why I was here.
Then, as if she realized something, her eyes reddened with emotion.
“For me…”
Hearing her call my name, I immediately drew Thunderbolt.
I didn’t know what the situation was, but I figured it wouldn’t hurt to blow away whatever was behind Eunnamu right now.
“Hah, I’ll help.”
The moment I took out Thunderbolt, Heuksan came to my side.
I glanced at her and nodded, immediately aiming Thunderbolt at the dark cloud.
A bullet of Brain Thunder began to form in my hand.
Heuksan started to place her hand over mine, then hesitated, and simply rested her index finger on top.
In that instant, Heuksan’s aura and my own intertwined, and the Brain Thunder bullet began to form at a rapid pace.
Because her aura and mine stemmed from the same source, they were able to merge.
Zzzap!
With a crackle of sparks, the Brain Thunder bullet, created by Heuksan and me together, was complete.
“Thanks.”
I immediately loaded it into Thunderbolt and aimed the muzzle forward.
“Si-ho.”
As my voice rang out, Si-ho raised her hand and teleported Eunnamu to our side.
The moment I saw Eunnamu, who had been instantly moved through space, I pulled the trigger.
KRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRACK!
A storm of red electrical charge swept through the dark cloud.
The amalgamation of dimensional entities and other things was swallowed by the storm of electricity and completely incinerated, leaving the city clean except for a few lingering red sparks.
A few cars had been blown away, but with the state America was in, no one was going to care about that.
“Ha-chan.”
Suddenly, I felt a soft touch on my side and flinched, turning my head.
Eunnamu had, at some point, gently taken my hand.
A single scythe was floating behind her back.
“Eunnamu?”
Startled, I called her name. She held my hand with both of hers and looked up at me with moist eyes.
“…Did you come all this way because you thought I was in danger?”
Well, she wasn’t wrong.
But for some reason, it felt like a few other things were being drawn in Eunnamu’s mind.
She wasn’t like this when I first met her.
How did she end up like this?
“Wait, get away from him!”
Si-ho suddenly appeared between Eunnamu and me, pushing her away.
As Si-ho glared at her with sharp eyes, Eunnamu flinched as if she had just realized she had gotten too close.
It was as if she had touched something precious that should never be touched.
She looked at me with an anxious expression.
“Sorry, the job isn’t over yet…”
What was she sorry about?
“The moment I thought I wanted to see Ha-chan, you appeared, and I got greedy.”
As she spoke, Eunnamu looked at me with an incredibly affectionate expression.
The emotions dwelling in her eyes were clearly a deep mix of love and hate.
Looking at her, I was naturally filled with questions.
Having been loved by many people, I had recently grown accustomed to receiving affection.
Just look at Si-ho—she would smile whenever our eyes met, looking at me with loving eyes.
The emotion in Eunnamu’s gaze was no less intense.
And if I had to describe it, it felt quite similar to Seol-hyang’s.
As if she had been watching me for a very long time.
Her gaze was a mixture of longing and affection.
‘But Eunnamu and I only met last summer.’
I was twenty-seven this year, and Eunnamu and I had known each other for half a year at most.
And the time we spent together was only about a month at the academy.
It wasn’t enough time to develop such a deep sense of longing.
And that process was also very far from the emotion of love.
After all, she and I were originally enemies.
‘I had a feeling something was off from the moment she switched to my side.’
She had even betrayed Girasung to give me information.
As I began to feel that something was strange, Baeksan, seeming to have noticed something, narrowed his eyes slightly.
“…I was a bit unsure when I saw this one before.”
Baeksan’s eyes scanned Eunnamu with a look of displeasure.
“Kang Ha-chan, this one’s memories are connected to another worldline.”
Hearing that her memories were connected, I turned to look at Baeksan.
My eyes demanded an explanation.
“It’s probably the work of those things attached to her.”
I recalled the hands I had seen in Eunnamu’s shadow.
At the same time, I remembered what Eunnamu had said before about an ex-girlfriend.
I did carelessly use the words “ex-girlfriend” during our fight back then.
Could my words have been some kind of trigger?
For some reason, I had a feeling that the current Eunnamu wasn’t so different from the one in Baeksan’s worldline.
‘I’m sure I heard we only dated for a single day.’
Since I didn’t know the full story of that worldline, I looked at Eunnamu and opened my mouth.
“Eunnamu, are you okay?”
Right now, I was more worried about Eunnamu herself.
She had been pursued by dimensional entities from the Divine Realm.
Moreover, she had been coughing up blood the second time we met, so I asked with concern. She looked at me and gave a small smile.
“Thank you for worrying about me.”
This level of concern was only natural, but she smiled as if even that was precious.
One thing was certain: the feeling of her smile had changed a lot.
Her old smile was somewhat artificial, a gentle but weary smile.
Then, she suddenly frowned and turned her head.
As if sensing something, she stared in that direction.
“Ha-chan, thank you for coming, but please leave now.”
Eunnamu said this and was about to turn away from me.
The moment I saw that, I knew she was about to do something that was, at the very least, not safe.
She had called herself immortal.
And because she was immortal, she often didn’t spare her own body.
Realizing that this was surely one of those times, I quickly grabbed her wrist.
“Eunnamu, wait.”
When I grabbed her wrist, Eunnamu looked back at me with trembling eyes.
Looking at her, I tightened my grip.
I was sure of it.
Nine times out of ten, Eunnamu was about to do something dangerous.
“Let me help, too.”
“…”
Eunnamu’s lips parted slightly.
She wore a complicated expression, as if she didn’t know what to say.
“I have the right to help you, too.”
When the large-scale rapid gate opened, Eunnamu’s help had been greater than anyone’s.
She had even betrayed Erebos and suffered the consequences for it.
Eunnamu, who had been staring at me silently, carefully opened her mouth.
“…Are you saying that because I’m your ex-boyfriend?”
The moment I heard her next words, I knew.
I was sure of it.
Eunnamu possessed the same memories as the one from the worldline Baeksan had described.