Chapter 25
Chapter 25
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 25
Chapter Title: A Night Without a Culprit (2)
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Something.
It was twisted.
Like forcing the wrong parts of a machine together, everything was out of sync.
'What... what is happening?'
Never mind how he found the hideout.
Suddenly throwing money around or randomly asking where his brother was made no sense.
"W-wait!"
He desperately reached out to stop Lee Woo-hyeok, but.
*CRACK!*
Trees thicker than a man's torso snapped and were violently flung aside.
A sword aura like a beast's claws shot fiercely toward Yujin.
"Damn it!"
With a frantic expression, he thrust out his arms.
The Stigma on his left chest blazed with light, creating dozens of black feathers in mid-air.
*KAGAGAGAK!!!*
The sword strike effortlessly pulverized the black feathers.
Yujin's face turned pale.
'He's strong!'
Lee Woo-hyeok, the Black Lion, boasted a monstrous martial prowess, just as the rumors said.
"Kuh!"
He poured out black feathers to barely slow the attack, then rolled across the ground to create distance.
"Disappointing."
Lee Woo-hyeok, his expression as cold as frost, closed the distance Yujin had made.
"You dared to target me with skills like these?"
An intense rage surged within him.
The thought of how much this incident would torment Lee Shin-hyeok, who already felt inferior to him, was enough to drive him mad.
'Just when...'
...a sliver of hope had appeared.
Just when he had started to dream that they could go back to how things were.
—It was all shattered.
"Wh-what did you say?"
Yujin's eyes widened.
He had targeted the Black Lion, Lee Woo-hyeok?
What kind of bullshit was this?
'Don't tell me.'
Yujin's face turned pale.
Too many things were out of place.
The logic, the flow of events—it was all twisted.
Which meant.
'Someone—is using the Black Lion.'
He didn't know who it was.
But he couldn't think of any other possibility.
*SHLICK!!*
"Keoheok!!"
The beast's claw that shot from the sword sliced a long gash from his chest to just above his navel.
Flesh parted, and blood spurted out.
"I-it's a misunderstanding!!"
he yelled desperately.
"I-I didn't do anything!!!"
"You didn't do anything?"
Lee Woo-hyeok wore a cold sneer.
Normally, he might have lent an ear to such a pathetic excuse, but.
"Don't give me that bullshit."
Not now.
*SHLICK!*
"Aaaaargh!!"
A long gash opened on Yujin's side, and blood poured out in a gush.
'D-damn it!'
He didn't know what trick had been used, but the Black Lion was firmly convinced that he was the culprit.
'I can't let this continue.'
There was no time to leisurely clear up the misunderstanding.
While he was talking, he would be torn to shreds by the enraged Black Lion's claws.
'I have to escape first!'
This was an opponent he couldn't hope to beat.
"Huff! Huff!"
He gasped for breath and crossed his arms.
He had only one chance.
Wringing out every last bit of his mana, he focused his entire mind on his Stigma.
He knew full well that no matter how desperately he struggled, he couldn't even scratch the man.
'But if I can create even the slightest opening...!'
He had saved a trump card for a time like this.
*SHLICK! STAB!*
"Kuh! Keuhaak!"
Even in the brief moment he focused his mind, the beast's claws savagely tore through his body.
"Black Wing Dispersion!"
*TUDUDUDUDUK!!!!*
He swung his crossed arms down in an X-shape.
Dozens, hundreds of black feathers created along the trajectory exploded forward.
"Useless."
On the contrary, Lee Woo-hyeok took a step forward.
Black feathers shot out, filling his entire field of vision.
It seemed like a reasonably powerful technique, but.
"It's pathetic all the same."
The Leo Stigma emitted a brilliant light.
A gale flowing from his sword was compressed to an extreme degree, transforming into a sword aura shaped like a beast's claw.
The beast's claw clashed with the storm of black feathers.
*KWAAAAJAAAAJAK!!!*
The surrounding earth, rocks, and trees were shredded as if thrown into a blender.
The flying dust and dirt obscured his vision.
Lee Woo-hyeok casually swung his sword to clear the dust cloud.
"Haap!!"
In the brief opening created while Lee Woo-hyeok cleared the dust.
Yujin quickly pulled a black dagger from his clothes.
And.
*STAB!*
Without hesitation, he stabbed his own body.
"...What the!"
Lee Woo-hyeok hurriedly approached Yujin.
But.
*FLUTTER!!*
Yujin's body instantly turned into black feathers and vanished.
"Damn it!!!"
Lee Woo-hyeok bit his lip harshly.
"Where... where did he go."
He frantically looked around, but whatever ability Yujin had used, he couldn't tell which way he had fled.
'I can't let him escape.'
*Grit.*
The Black Lion ground his teeth fiercely.
'He couldn't have gotten off the mountain.'
He had already requested help from the Association to set up a perimeter for this very situation.
*KWAAANG!*
With a sound like an exploding cannonball, the Black Lion raced through the darkened forest.
***
*Flutter!*
Hundreds of black feathers cut through the air.
Swirling together, the black feathers began to take on a human form.
"Huff! Huff!"
Yujin, having returned from feathers to human form, bolted without a moment to catch his breath.
*Tap! Tatatak!!*
He sprinted through the darkened forest.
His breath caught in his throat, and his vision blurred.
"Damn it!!!"
Where did it all go wrong?
Where did it all fall apart?
*THUD!*
"Kuh!"
His body, caught on a tree root, tumbled onto the dirt floor.
His wounds tore open, spilling blood.
"D-damn it!"
He hurriedly looked back, but he couldn't sense anyone following him.
'Did I... succeed?'
*Thump.*
The tension left him, and a wave of exhaustion washed over him.
"Haa, haa!"
His heart pounded as if it would burst.
His trembling legs wouldn't hold him.
"Kuh."
Yujin clutched his wounds and groaned.
His body was a wreck, and he had wasted his precious, treasured Sacred Relic, but.
'Still.'
A smile of ecstasy formed on his lips.
He clenched his fist.
'I succeeded.'
He had managed to escape from that crazy beast.
"Why... why did this happen."
But that was all.
He had barely saved his life, but he had lost everything else.
His subordinates, the chance to make up for his mistake.
"Fuck, fuck, fuck!!"
He tore at his hair and spat out harsh curses.
Far from retrieving the Black Star's Sacred Relic, he had lost his hideout and all his men.
And all because he was thoroughly played by some nameless person.
"Wh-what should I do..."
His mind went blank.
Even if he returned alive in this state, he would be killed by Cheon Do-yoon.
"......"
Yujin bit his lip.
'Ashad Khan.'
He hated the idea of asking that bastard for help more than death itself, but he couldn't actually die.
He had to bow his head and beg for his help.
"Damn it."
Just as he muttered a low curse and raised his smartphone.
*Rustle.*
"Wh-who's there!!"
Yujin frantically turned toward the sound.
Standing where the sound had come from was—
"Why are you here..."
The con man who had sold him the fake Sacred Relic.
That bastard he wanted to chew up and spit out was walking toward him.
"Puhuhu! Looks like you had a rough time. You're a real mess."
Oh-jin looked down at the slumped Yujin and chuckled, his shoulders shaking.
"What is this situation..."
As Yujin voiced his confusion, his eyes shot wide open.
"...Wait."
He touched his forehead with a confused expression.
"D-don't tell me."
—*Shudder.*
Goosebumps erupted all over his body.
The sensation of puzzle pieces that seemed completely mismatched suddenly fitting together.
The sound of misaligned gears clicking into place and turning.
'It was all... his doing?'
The situation had been too urgent before for him to think it through.
But looking back, there was no one else who could have known about the hideout.
Two of his subordinates who had been tailing him had been taken down, after all.
"Ah, ahh."
He had anticipated the possibility that the hideout had been discovered.
But he thought it didn't matter.
He thought it was meaningless.
Because the one being chased wasn't him—it was that bastard.
He was the strong one.
And that guy was the weak one.
'But.'
It was supposed to be.
That's how it was.
That's how it should have been.
So why?
Why was the weakling who existed only to be trampled looking down on him?
"You get it now?"
A gentle voice reached his ears.
Trembling, he lifted his head.
"Why I'm here."
"—Uwaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!!!!!!"
*KWANG!!*
Yujin shrieked as if having a seizure and kicked off the ground.
He squeezed out his remaining mana to create black feathers.
"Whoa, still full of energy, are we?"
*Clang! Kakang!*
Oh-jin, with a sly smile, deflected the black feathers aimed at his vitals.
"But you know, you probably shouldn't move so violently."
He ducked and swung his spear low, as if to sweep the ground.
"Kuh!"
Yujin lightly stepped back to dodge the attack, but he immediately clutched the wound on his chest and grimaced.
The wound from Lee Woo-hyeok's attack had opened up again, and blood was trickling down.
"See? Told you it's better not to move."
Oh-jin sneered.
"You, you son of a..."
"Why'd you have to do that?"
*Tsk, tsk.*
He clicked his tongue and shook his head.
"Shouldn't have messed with the Black Lion, should you?"
"Wh-what?"
"Aww. Playing dumb again."
"Playing dumb, my ass!!!"
Yujin's scream echoed.
"You!! This was all your doing!!"
"Huh? What are you talking about?"
He shrugged nonchalantly.
"You did it all, didn't you?"
The truth doesn't matter anyway.
Not once.
Has it ever mattered.
What has always mattered isn't the truth, but what *looks* like the truth.
"Kidnapping and threatening Lee Woo-hyeok's brother—that was all the Black Star Society's doing, wasn't it?"
"Y-you goddamn son of a biiiiiitch!!"
"Puhuhuhu!!!"
He let out a vulgar laugh and brutally kicked Yujin in the stomach.
"Keoheok!!"
He firmly stepped on the chest of the fallen man.
"I've got a lot of questions for you guys. Won't you tell me?"
"...What, did you say?"
Yujin looked up at Oh-jin, dumbfounded.
"Ha, hahaha-hat!!"
He soon burst into laughter, his expression twisting fiercely.
"Is this how you got information on our hideout?"
He was too flabbergasted to speak.
"Kaak, ptooey!!"
He spat a thick glob of phlegm at Oh-jin's leg, which was pinning his chest.
"I have no information for you, you fucking con man."
No matter how he had been tricked into this state, he had no intention of blabbing about the Black Star Society.
If nothing else.
"No matter what you do, you won't get me to talk."
His loyalty to the Black Star was genuine.
"Really? If you don't want to talk, can't be helped."
"...What?"
Yujin lifted his head to look at Oh-jin.
His gaze met the black eyes looking down at him.
"—Huh?"
Why was it?
The night sky was supposed to be filled with countless stars.
The brilliant Milky Way was supposed to be adorning the heavens.
'Why is it so.'
All I can see is a black sky, without a single point of light?
"Then, from now on."
As he took one of Yujin's fingers in his hand,
"Don't say a word."
Oh-jin smiled brightly.