Chapter 86: Life Doesn't Always Go Your Way.
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 86: Life Doesn't Always Go Your Way.
Si-ho would soon regain her powers.
Even after she did, it would take some time for her to adjust, but if she used her recovered strength to find Eva-noona’s body, Eva-noona could be saved. And then, Song Hyeok-seo would no longer have any reason to remain in Girasung.
If that happened, it would also eliminate a major headache for Ahyu and Seol-hyang. It was the perfect solution.
“Eva-hyeong.”
“It’ll get confusing with her. Just call me Hyeok-seo-hyeong. My name is Song Hyeok-seo.”
He stated his name so readily, yet despite having attacked the Hunter Training Academy with Eunnamu and the Girasung remnants, he didn’t seem to recognize my face.
Did he only memorize my name?
Back then, Eunnamu was the only one who had laid a hand on me.
Girasung had clearly noticed my existence and made their move, but it seemed he knew my name without having memorized my face.
“Then, Hyeok-seo-hyeong, I heard about Eva-noona’s situation.”
“…So you heard.”
He gave an awkward smile.
“Can we talk for a moment?”
As I said that, Song Hyeok-seo hesitated, his lips twitching.
Seeing him deliberate, I was about to speak again when I suddenly remembered someone.
Wait a minute.
Wasn’t there someone Seol-hyang had assigned to stay by my side?
Eunhyeon-ssi.
The person assigned to be my bodyguard.
The moment my thoughts reached Eunhyeon-ssi, I reflexively turned my head to look outside.
Just then, the lights in the pub went out.
“What? What’s going on?”
“Hey staff, the lights are out! Whoa…”
Thump!
The moment the pub filled with the clamor of people’s voices, they suddenly began to collapse.
The space became dead silent.
As Song Hyeok-seo’s eyes slowly sharpened, the shadow beneath his feet began to stir.
And at that moment, a figure walked in through the entrance.
With all nine of her pure white tails unfurled and her blindfold removed, Eunhyeon-ssi stood there.
“Domi, take her and hide for a bit.”
At that, Song Hyeok-seo gestured toward Eva-noona before slowly walking forward.
The shadows beginning to envelop his body shimmered like a suit of armor.
“Asura.”
“Silver Fox, what do you think you can accomplish coming here alone?”
He casually placed a hand on the wall, and a long, shadow greatsword was pulled from it.
Faced with such a volatile situation, my mind raced.
Right now, I could resolve this through a conversation with Hyeok-seo-hyeong.
But Eunhyeon-ssi, of course, knew nothing of the sort. She must think Hyeok-seo-hyeong was here to kidnap me, which was why she was preparing to fight.
No.
I absolutely could not let those two fight.
“You know what it means for me to have unfurled all nine of my tails, don’t you?”
“Means you won’t go down easy, I guess.”
The instant their exchange ended, Eunhyeon-ssi and Hyeok-seo-hyeong were about to kick off the ground.
CRACKLE!
My body erupted with red lightning at full power, forcibly halting their movements.
The surge of aura was too intense for them to simply ignore me and fight.
Both of their gazes turned to me simultaneously.
“Kang Ha-chan-nim?”
“Domi? You… what’s that? And what, Kang Ha-chan?”
Seeing Eunhyeon-ssi’s puzzled expression and Hyeok-seo-hyeong’s bewildered face, I struggled to suppress the erupting aura and spoke quietly.
“Both of you, let’s just talk first. I think I can solve this. Please, just trust me.”
At my words, Eunhyeon-ssi and Hyeok-seo-hyeong glanced at each other for a moment.
I had heard a little from Seol-hyang about Asura, Hyeok-seo-hyeong.
He was once a member of the World Returnee Association but left for some reason to join Girasung.
And that “some reason” was, of course, Eva-noona.
That meant the two of them were once colleagues.
“Kang Ha-chan-nim, if you insist. Yes.”
“What is all this? Hah…”
Perhaps for that reason, neither Eunhyeon-ssi nor Hyeok-seo-hyeong wanted to fight to the death, and they readily complied with my request.
Thank god.
As the tension drained out of me, I felt the alcohol in my system completely burn away from the aura surge. I hoisted Eva-noona onto my back.
“Domiii?”
Eva-noona, her eyes finally fluttering open, looked at me with a dazed expression.
Nuna, this is no time for that.
“Naek, wake up.”
“I’m already awake.”
When I tried to wake Naek, she simply lifted a hand, her cheek still resting on the table.
From her grin, it seemed she’d been up for a while.
“Our Domi’s got charisma, huh? I was surprised.”
“Damn it, if you were awake, you should have helped.”
“I’d rather not get my back broken in a whale fight. I’m an outsider here, aren’t I?”
Pushing herself up, she looked toward Hyeok-seo-hyeong and gave a cheerful wave.
“Eva-hyeong! Good to see you. It’s Naek.”
“…Yeah, I’m so happy to see you I could die.”
“You can’t die. Now, now, let’s hurry up and go talk!”
As the beaming Naek helped me get Eva-noona properly situated on my back, I let out a bitter sigh and walked over to Hyeok-seo-hyeong’s side.
“Eva-noona… are you sure it’s okay to leave her with me?”
Since I was technically on the Association’s side, I had to ask. He just nodded.
“If you were gonna do somethin’, you would’ve taken her hostage from the start, wouldn’t ya? Why would I doubt a guy who asks to talk instead? Besides.”
He let out a small sigh and trudged forward.
“I know you well, Domi. Ain’t that right?”
He was still the Eva-hyeong I knew, not just Asura from Girasung.
The guy with the dialect, who was playful.
And deeply caring.
He was our guildmate, Eva-hyeong.
*
I was now at a cafe, in a three-way meeting with Hyeok-seo-hyeong and Eunhyeon.
The problem was that the atmosphere was incredibly heavy, given that they had been about to fight just moments ago.
And with this group, we were drawing way too much attention.
Not only were my companions naturally good-looking, but their appearances were so striking that every passerby was sneaking glances at us.
We really stand out.
I took a sip of my Americano and glanced at Hyeok-seo-hyeong.
Completely at odds with his appearance, he was drinking a strawberry chocolate frappe.
Come to think of it, he always did like sweet things.
I remembered him once saying that when he was much younger, he wanted to be a barista and a baker.
In contrast, Eunhyeon-ssi was drinking an espresso, which perfectly matched her image.
But she didn't seem to handle hot drinks well; she took one sip, flinched, and then started blowing on it before drinking.
She has a cat’s tongue.
Meanwhile, I slapped the hand of Naek, who was braiding the hair of Eva-noona, slumped over in the seat next to me.
“Naek, stop playing with Eva-noona’s hair.”
“Yessir.”
Anyway, this awkward situation.
I cleared my throat once and looked at Hyeok-seo-hyeong.
“Hyeok-seo-hyeong, you probably know a bit about me already.”
Judging by his reaction earlier, he seemed to know my name.
It was probably the same case as with Eunnamu.
“Yeah, we figured out that you, Domi, are close with Ha Si-ho, and that you were involved in the death of that spatial ability user and the capture of Thunderbolt and Umbrella by the Returnee Association.”
“Is that all?”
“Girasung’s Korean members have been pretty much wiped out because of the Returnee Association, ain’t they? So it’s not easy to gather information.”
Hyeok-seo-hyeong shot a glare full of dissatisfaction at Eunhyeon-ssi.
Eunhyeon-ssi, who was still blowing on her espresso, glanced back at him, her un-blindfolded eye curving into a crescent.
“That is Girasung’s fault, is it not? If you have a complaint, you shouldn’t have committed illegal acts in the first place.”
“I bet you guys aren’t exactly squeaky clean yourselves.”
“At the very least, we do not take lives. How many selfish acts has Girasung committed? Is it just one or two?”
“That was before I joined! Now it’s business. Business. What’s so bad about sellin’ artificial dimension gates?”
“You are doing something that could create a rift in a dimension, and you ask if it’s bad? Besides, for a member of a criminal group that kidnaps people without a second thought, that’s a pathetic thing to say.”
So they don’t get along.
But I thought Eunhyeon-ssi was right.
What Girasung was doing was a crime.
They had tried to kidnap Si-ho, and they were endangering countless people by casually using dangerous things like artificial dimension gates.
And that wasn’t all.
While their activities in Korea had been limited to this, on a global scale, Girasung was nothing more than a criminal organization that couldn’t be defended in any way.
Perhaps because he knew this well, Hyeok-seo-hyeong just clicked his tongue and didn’t argue further.
He had joined Girasung despite knowing that fact.
“Are you doing well in Girasung?” Eunhyeon-ssi asked, turning to look at him.
Hyeok-seo-hyeong rested his chin on his hand.
“Like shit. I don’t wanna be in a place like this either.”
His gaze drifted toward Eva-noona.
I could vaguely guess what kind of emotions were contained in his long sigh.
“But what can I do? You guys absolutely refuse to touch anything related to dimensions. Ain’t that right?”
“That’s right. Because we do not know what consequences it could bring.”
“I’m not askin’ for your understanding. But I have no other choice.”
He, who had turned his back on the World Returnee Association and joined the criminal organization Girasung solely to save Eva-noona, gave a bitter smile.
Eunhyeon-ssi must have known this for a long time, as she said nothing more.
“So, what is it you want to talk about?”
His question sounded like he already had an idea, and I gave him the answer he was likely expecting.
“Hyeong, you probably have a rough idea of my relationship with Si-ho.”
“Well, I know you’re close. So you’re thinkin’ of askin’ her to help find Eva’s body?”
“On September 14th, Si-ho will get her powers back.”
I brought that up to persuade him.
“If I ask her then, we might be able to find Eva-noona’s body.”
As I finished, Hyeok-seo-hyeong began to tap his chin with his finger.
Then, he slowly let out a chuckle before dropping his hand and looking at me.
“Domi.”
“Yeah.”
“Let’s say she gets her powers back. We also figured out she wasn’t normal. But Domi, in her current state, she can’t save Se-hee. I’ve done a lot of research myself. Maybe later, but at her current level, the chances are 50/50 at best.”
“We don’t know that. We haven’t even tried.”
“No, we can know. We can estimate the output of the spatial ability dwelling in her body.”
As if to say Girasung wasn’t stupid.
Hyeok-seo-hyeong informed me that Girasung had already completed a full investigation while observing Si-ho.
“It’ll definitely be resolved later. That kid will keep growing. Someday, it won’t even be a difficult task.”
Later.
For him, that was the problem.
Hyeok-seo-hyeong’s eyes turned to Eva-noona.
“But she doesn’t have that kind of time.”
“…But Girasung kept trying to kidnap Si-ho.”
“There’s a method of awakening that forcibly draws out future potential.”
My face hardened at his words.
“That method is doping. Of course, there are side effects, and it’s dangerous. One wrong move and it could be irreversible.”
Hyeok-seo-hyeong was being deliberately honest with me.
And that honesty meant that even though he knew this was wrong, he would go through with it for Eva-noona’s sake.
“…Hyeok-seo-hyeong, Si-ho… she’s only nineteen.”
“I know. You think they call Girasung a criminal organization for nothin’? They’re criminals because they’ll do anything. A filthy group that uses and exploits everyone—kids, adults, the elderly. I don’t have any loyalty to Girasung, but I need them right now. The doping agent, the power to kidnap Ha Si-ho, the knowledge of dimensions—Girasung has it all.”
He was in Girasung, knowing all of this.
Solely for Eva-noona.
“But you obviously wouldn’t want Ha Si-ho to be doped, would ya?”
“…Of course not.”
That was something I could never accept.
And that meant I wouldn’t be able to help him.
I started to feel anxious.
What would happen if I let Hyeok-seo-hyeong leave without reaching an agreement?
I had a dreadful feeling that he would cross a point of no return.
No.
I absolutely could not let that happen.
“But if Si-ho becomes more proficient…”
“She’ll be at her limit by next month.”
I tried to hold onto him somehow, but Hyeok-seo-hyeong bluntly presented me with reality.
Her limit was next month.
That meant Eva-noona would die before the next month was over.
“There’s not enough time to wait for that.”
“So you’re saying you’ll kidnap Si-ho and force her to awaken through doping?”
I stared at him, my expression making it clear that was the one thing I could not tolerate. He met my gaze.
I could feel the various emotions in his eyes clashing like sparks.
Seeing that emotion, I slowly swallowed.
“Domi, I’ll do anything to save her.”
His will to burn everything for his twin sister was something that could never be broken.
“Even if it means betraying a dongsaeng I was close to.”