Exposure (3)
The thick green fog was filled with the roar of explosions and screams. In the muddy chaos where friend and foe were indistinguishable, Baek Seoyeon surrounded her body with a barrier spell to block the poisonous mist and calmly walked forward. Several enemies tried to attack her without warning, but she ruthlessly fired particle bullets and dispatched them with ease. Soon, the shadow of a figure continuously erupting in maniacal laughter began to flicker before her.
Yeon Jeong-mun stood within the fog, his eyes bloodshot a vivid red, blood streaming from every orifice on his face. He looked exactly like a demon that had crawled out of the fiery pits of hell. The man who had been turning the faces of those who dared challenge him into honeycombs suddenly turned his head. Just as Baek Seoyeon had recognized him, he sensed her presence, abruptly stopped laughing, and their eyes met. Then he clicked his tongue lightly, as if disappointed.
“Tsk. It seems it still doesn’t work on those of higher rank. I wanted to watch the so-called strongest of this generation lose their mind and rampage like a beast.”
“Yeon Jeong-mun. You really have gone mad.”
Baek Seoyeon’s words dripped with genuine contempt, but he simply stretched his mouth into a wide, tearing grin as though he hadn’t heard her at all.
“What a shame. If I’d had just a few more days, I could have covered the entire capital with this fog. It will be my eternal regret that I never got to watch your father die inside it.”
“You are to be executed on the spot. Surely you don’t expect to keep your life after committing these atrocities one after another.”
Baek Seoyeon leveled her sharply honed ice blades at him, her voice a cold murmur. The sheer chill of her aura was enough to freeze anyone who met her gaze.
“Hahaha! The moment the plan failed, my life was already forfeit! Do I look like some petty coward who would cling to it now?”
Yeon Jeong-mun laughed as if the matter were trivial, then suddenly cut the sound off. He stared at her with manic intensity.
“Still, I can’t simply offer my neck. How could I face my ancestors and the child I love with such a face? On the road to the afterlife, I ought to bring at least one head from the Paecheon family with me!!”
Before he finished speaking, he charged at her, scattering blood. His speed was blinding.
Baek Seoyeon remained motionless, simply glaring at him. And at the exact instant his hand reached for her throat—
Squelch!
The wet sound of flesh being pierced, the freezing pain that spread through his entire body—Yeon Jeong-mun unconsciously looked down at his chest.
“Cough…!!”
What filled his vision was the tip of a sharp ice awl that had impaled him from behind. He was lifted into the air, entangled in a massive icicle that had erupted from the ground. His feet dangled helplessly, kicking at empty space. Wheezing sounds kept escaping his lips.
There had never been any chance that the man could drag Baek Seoyeon down with him. His body had already reached its limit, and the capacity for rational thought had long since abandoned him.
Baek Seoyeon watched him hanging there like a criminal on the gallows and slowly spoke.
“Yeon Jeong-mun. Don’t be too resentful. This is simply retribution for the sins you committed.”
“Cough…! Retribution…!! What the hell are you—”
“Two years ago. Sending demons to that small pioneer village in the north. Do you remember?”
“I think… cough… there was something like that…”
Baek Seoyeon forced down the rage rising in her chest.
“Yes… that’s right… At the request of the Paecheon successor… I did command the beasts that had entered the south… So that woman even leaked that information… But why does that matter…”
“The person who lived in that village… was me.”
“What…?”
Only then did realization dawn in Yeon Jeong-mun’s eyes. At the same moment, Baek Seoyeon drove the sharp ice blades floating behind her—radiating lethal cold—straight into his heart.
“Urk…!”
He looked like a porcupine as he coughed violently. The hands and feet that had been thrashing with desperate strength went limp, drooping toward the ground.
“F-finally… that child… again…”
The man let out a small, bitter sigh as the light in his eyes gradually faded.
“Still, don’t be too heartbroken. The person you’ve wanted to kill all this time will soon join you.”
Baek Seoyeon muttered the words as if to herself. Whether they reached Yeon Jeong-mun, she would never know.
A fleeting sense of relief and dark satisfaction brushed through her.
Only then did she look around. The surprise attack of black magic and Interference Magic had caused considerable casualties, but the commanding officers—including herself—had kept their sanity and maintained formation. The poisonous fog was gradually thinning, revealing the battlefield once more. Thanks to their overwhelming numerical advantage, the suppression of the last remnants was proceeding slowly but steadily. At this rate, everything would be finished before dawn.
Yet just as she moved to rejoin the lines, a sudden presence made her turn. From within the fog, two crimson eyes met hers—eyes that had been wandering lost.
She instantly shifted into a combat stance, but Yeon Minha’s gaze was not fixed on her. It lingered on what lay behind her.
“Ah… Father…?”
Yeon Minha recognized the owner of that ice tomb without difficulty.
“Ah… ugh… ah…”
A low, keening wail escaped her. The gruesome corpse, the ice radiating cold that covered it completely—it was not hard to guess who had killed him.
The light in those red eyes gradually dimmed. The last thread of reason finally snapped and vanished without a trace.
“Baek Seoyeon!!”
BOOM!
“Hup…!”
Baek Seoyeon frowned at the enormous shockwave that erupted. There was no question where Yeon Minha’s lost anger and fury were directed.
“…Ha.”
Facing that rage, Baek Seoyeon let out a small, icy sigh.
BOOM!Bang!
Clang!Clatter!
“Aaaagh!” My eyes… my eyes…!
Whine!Yelp!
The chaotic cacophony battered my ears. I had barely managed to raise a barrier to block the poisonous fog, but the toxin now circulating through my veins was taking its toll. My skin burned, my mind grew hazy. My vision kept blurring and clearing, making it difficult even to keep my bearings.
When I looked around, Yeon Minha was nowhere to be seen—perhaps the shockwave had thrown her somewhere else.
I forced my heavy body upright, picked up a blade that had fallen nearby in the melee, and headed into the fog to find her.
I desperately tried to sort through my tangled thoughts. Only one thing was certain.
The Red Fire had fallen. Anyone could see that Yeon Jeong-mun’s crimes were undeniable. The matriarch was already dead by his hand, and he himself would not survive. Yeon Minha had no connection to any of it, but unfortunately the ones who had obtained the information and launched the raid were the elites of the Paecheon family—mortal enemies who had been watching for any chance to destroy each other. If she fell into their hands, the outcome was obvious.
No matter how I considered it, the chance of a proper investigation felt far lower than the chance she would be swept up and eliminated alongside him. Yet because they held the moral high ground, any reckless intervention from me would only make it harder to protect her.
For now, the best option was to find her, escape this place, and hide. The problem was that I had nowhere suitable to take refuge. The cradle, with its extraterritorial status, was too far away, and I had no connections in the capital. What was I supposed to do?
As I pushed through the fog, wrestling with those thoughts, something I had forgotten suddenly rose to the surface.
There was one place.
Exactly one place I could entrust myself to.
‘Make sure to remember this.’
‘…What is it?’
‘You’ll find out later. If something happens to you, we’ll come for you. But if the situation is urgent, go to this address and ask for help.’
Before leaving the northeastern garrison to enroll at the cradle, the leader had handed me a note with an address written on it. I had taken it, but since nothing came of it afterward, I had shoved it into a corner of my mind. I only knew the address—nothing else was certain—but right now it was the only hope I had. The leader would not have given it to me without reason.
Just then, the sound of flapping wings drew closer, and Yeon Minha’s now-familiar crow suddenly dove into my arms. The creature had created a round barrier similar to a shield to protect itself from the fog. For something that looked like this, it really was a Rank 1 monster.
Caw!
After catching its breath, the crow stared at me with intent eyes. Its gaze seemed to urge me to hurry and find its master.
When I stood, the stubby crow that resembled a sparrow spread its wings again and began to lead me slowly forward.
Beyond the fog, shadows and shouts tangled and parted repeatedly. Some of them charged at me, but most rushed forward mindlessly, like people who had lost all reason. Subduing them was not particularly difficult.
As I followed the crow’s guidance, a familiar woman in heavy armor suddenly blocked the path ahead. Round glasses, hair braided into twin tails. Choi I-re, second-year student at the cradle. She smiled brightly, as though genuinely pleased to see me.
“Nice to meet you, junior.”