Exposure (2)
Baek Seoyeon's golden eyes, radiating a brilliant glow, swept across the surroundings. As it happened, the very people she had targeted today were all gathered in one place. The head of the Red Fire family, his daughter, and even the masked male student. It was undoubtedly a stroke of good fortune, yet she felt none of the positive emotions one might expect—no joy, no sense of accomplishment. Instead, the fury she harbored toward each of them fused together and swelled even larger. Because of that, she had no way of noticing the extreme conflict that had erupted between them just before her arrival.
From the thick fog spreading behind her came the heavy clank of metal, growing steadily closer. Soon after, soldiers from the Heavenly Baek and Seongsan families—clad in full combat armor and anti-particle suits—began to emerge. Having fought fierce battles to reach this point, their helmets and gauntlets were caked with dried, dark crimson blood. The roar of artillery and screams that had once shaken the sky had now faded, leaving only an eerie silence in their wake.
The soldiers fanned out, forming a standoff against the Red Fire family's elite guards. With more than twice the numbers, the confrontation instantly turned into a complete encirclement. One of them stepped forward and approached Seoyeon.
"Seoyeon. All core areas have been secured. This is the only place left."
With her gaze still fixed straight ahead, Seoyeon gave a small nod.
"You've worked hard, I-re."
The person who had spoken pressed a button near her temple. With a hiss of hydraulics, the translucent visor of her helmet automatically retracted. It was Choi I-re—Choi Woojin's older sister, the successor of the Seongsan family from the 27 Magic Families, and a female student with braided twin tails and glasses.
"Not just the Heavenly Baek, but even the Seongsan... What the hell is this outrageous nonsense?!"
Yeon Jeong-mun, recognizing their identities, protested in a voice thick with rage. The Heavenly Baek were the Red Fire family's greatest rivals, and the Seongsan had always joined them in pressuring the Red Fire. There was no need to speak of his hatred for that group, but even he had never anticipated an assault like today's.
A hundred years ago, when the current Tenth Republic had just been established, the families that participated in creating the new system had made a single vow: a permanent, mutual non-aggression pact for the sake of the nation and their eternal prosperity. Everyone knew it was little more than a polite fiction, but thanks to the complex web of interests involved, it had more or less held up until now. Behind the scenes, assassinations and terrorist attacks on key facilities had never truly stopped, yet open armed conflicts waged under their family names had gradually been replaced by political maneuvering within the Cradle and the Supreme Council.
"Where did you sell off the Mage's Pact—"
"How shameless, Yeon Jeong-mun. A state of emergency has been declared. The Mage's Pact no longer applies to the Red Fire. You couldn't possibly be unaware of that."
Yeon Jeong-mun's protest, born from that very context, was swiftly swallowed by an even greater inferno and vanished without a trace. A pair of golden eyes, blazing like the sun, fixed upon him.
"On charges of treason against the state, all special privileges and authority granted to the Red Fire as one of the five great families are hereby revoked as of this moment."
"Treason...!"
"Colluding with demons, researching forbidden interference-type mental magic, and even illegally kidnapping citizens to conduct human experiments for that purpose. You've committed numerous capital crimes—any one of which would be enough to warrant the extermination of your entire clan."
"...!"
Yeon Jeong-mun's eyes widened dramatically, as if asking how she could possibly know. Standing a short distance away, Yeon Minha stared at her father with an expression of utter disbelief.
"We already possess all the evidence. Before storming this place, we first suppressed your Ho-gyeong Industries research facility in Sector B-143. We received word that they discovered dozens of mutants who had lost their sanity after being subjected to various experiments and were being held captive there."
Having finished speaking, Baek Seoyeon took one step forward and lowered her hand. A sharp ice blade, infused with high-density particles, sprouted from the ground and extended toward her fingers.
"Furthermore, we executed the research director along with one second-grade demon and seven third-grade demons who had been disguising themselves as janitors. By now, an emergency resolution imposing sanctions on the Red Fire should have been submitted to the Supreme Council. All business assets and foundation funds owned by the Red Fire will be frozen. Its members will soon be arrested and subjected to intensive investigation."
Seoyeon drew the completed blade and pointed it at Yeon Jeong-mun.
"Yeon Jeong-mun. I won't waste any more words. As the executor of the emergency measures, I order you to disarm and surrender unconditionally. If you flap that tongue of yours any further, I'll cut off all four of your limbs. Keep in mind that the power over life and death for you and every member of the Red Fire now rests in my hands."
"..."
The head of the Red Fire, upon hearing her words, took on a hollow gaze. Then, like a man who had let go of everything, he hung his head low.
The one who stepped forward in his place was Yeon Minha.
"Baek Seoyeon. You suddenly turn someone else's private property into a wasteland and then spout this nonsense?"
Yeon Minha's eyes shimmered with a deep crimson hue. For someone who had been suppressing her boiling rage because her true opponent was unavailable, Baek Seoyeon was the perfect target to unleash it upon. In a situation where her mind had been pushed to its limits, questions of cause and responsibility no longer mattered.
The masked male student who had been standing beside her silently watched Seoyeon.
"Emergency measures...? Power over life and death...? How dare a wretch like you spout such rubbish in front of the Red Fire...!"
"Yeon Minha. I understand you want to deny reality, but that's enough. Let me make this clear: you too will be investigated as a primary suspect in acts of treason. And..."
Seoyeon's eyes shifted to the masked male student standing behind Yeon Minha. His once-flawless mask, without so much as a speck of dust, was now covered in chaotic cracks.
"So will your junior."
"You...!"
"W-what the hell is this..."
Just as Yeon Minha, incensed by Seoyeon's retort, was about to summon flames in her hand, the main gate of the inner residence behind them opened. A bewildered voice rang out.
"Ah..."
The hostility burning in Yeon Minha's eyes toward Baek Seoyeon suddenly wavered. The mistress of the Red Fire, Gang Jagyeong, staggered out from within. She couldn't keep her balance, and a heavy stench of alcohol wafted from her body. Her hair was disheveled as if she'd just woken up, and her slurred speech suggested she was still thoroughly drunk.
"I-I didn't do anything wrong...!"
With unfocused, cloudy eyes, she glanced around before belatedly grasping the situation and shouting. Then she stumbled unsteadily toward Seoyeon.
"Y-you're the young lady of the Heavenly Baek, right? I was the one who secretly sent information to the former successor of the Heavenly Baek...! So... ugh!"
Her desperate plea never reached its end. A particle bullet fired from behind pierced straight through the mistress's head. Half of her skull blown away, her mouth twitched as if trying to speak before she collapsed to the ground with a heavy thud.
"A-ah..."
Yeon Minha let out a trembling whimper as she witnessed the scene. Her mind was rapidly approaching its breaking point. She couldn't process the situation unfolding before her eyes.
Yeon Jeong-mun, who had fired the shot, lowered his finger and let out a hollow lament.
"I wondered where the leak came from... So she was pretending to behave while pulling this kind of stunt behind my back..."
Then he threw his head back and unleashed a chilling, eerie laugh that spread in all directions.
"K-khuhuhu... Kha-ha-ha-ha...!"
His eyes were filled only with resentment and hatred.
"Heavenly Baek... Heavenly Baek... Heavenly Baek...!! You filthy bastards... You've always stood in my way!!"
-Squelch!
After his outburst, before anyone could stop him, he plunged his hand deep into the chest of a nearby soldier.
"Kyaeng!! Kyaeng!!"
The soldier, struck without warning, writhed in agony and screamed at the top of his lungs. The being that had clearly been in human form now emitted the guttural howl of a beast covered in coarse fur. Then it collapsed to the ground and lay motionless.
In Yeon Jeong-mun's blood-dripping palm rested a still-pulsating demon heart and core.
As a mage, he could not wield dark magic. That was why he had tried to use the heart and core of a demon—saturated with demonic energy—as a medium. Most of what he had been doing in secret had already been exposed, but there was still one thing the successor of the Heavenly Baek did not know. Even an incomplete magic formula would be more than enough to cover this entire area.
His continued, incomprehensible erratic behavior momentarily froze the thoughts of everyone around him. Just before he raised his hand, only one person realized what he was about to do.
"No! Stop him!"
-BOOM!!
"Ugh!"
The masked male student charged at Yeon Jeong-mun, but the violent shockwave that erupted sent him tumbling backward. A fierce vibration spread across the ground, like an earthquake. It was so intense that simply standing on two feet and keeping balance was extremely difficult.
Seoyeon's face also showed a flash of alarm at the sudden anomaly. Then, in the sky, a geometric pattern the color of fresh blood was etched. It was enormous, large enough to cover the entire vast estate of the Red Fire family. The dark magic inscribed for a brief moment soon lost its form, shattered into pieces, and vanished. And with no time to respond, a thick green cloud laced with poison began pouring down toward the ground.
"Cough... cough...!!"
"Ugh...!!"
The intruders surrounding the area began coughing violently. Those who couldn't react in time to erect barrier magic bled from every orifice on their faces. Those with lower levels of attainment collapsed to the ground, twitching before falling still.
In the midst of that hell, Yeon Jeong-mun remained standing in the same spot. Without any barrier, his eyes were bloodshot red and he shed tears of blood that dripped onto the floor, yet he continued his bizarre actions. He traced his fingers through the air, drawing particles to instantly complete a unique magical formula that no one else could see, then spread it in all directions.
-Vwoong!
As Lee Hyun rose to his feet, he felt as though something deeply unpleasant had swept over his body. Yeon Minha seemed to feel the same, shivering uncontrollably. The same sensation struck Baek Seoyeon and Choi I-re as well. The moment after they sensed the abnormality around them, it happened without warning.
Suddenly, the army of intruders surrounding the garden began slaughtering one another.
"Why are you doing this all of a sudden! It's me... Argh!"
"Snap out of it! What the hell are you—"
"Young lady, something's wrong! We must retreat...! Ugh!"
"Puhahaha! That sight is truly a sight to behold!"
He wore a satisfied expression as he burst into laughter filled with madness. Then he stretched out his hand and gave orders to his elite guards. Even as they shed tears and nosebleeds of blood, they stood rigidly in place with glazed eyes.
"Go! Show hell to those who dared defile the land of the Red Fire!!"
At their lord's command, they obeyed without hesitation and charged toward the intruders. The garden where beautiful flowers had once bloomed was now long buried beneath green toxic fog and filthy mud, reduced to utter ruin.