I'm Sparing You This Once
"I'm sparing you this once."
Fujiwara stared at me with a flustered expression.
I paid her no mind and simply handed the phone back.
"……."
Even so, her gaze refused to leave me.
"If you've got nothing else to say, stop staring."
"Huh? That's not it……."
She flinched, phone still in hand.
Another emergency alert blared from the device.
"…They just found another gate. Looks like we've already passed a hundred."
"So? Why are you telling me?"
From the moment I left that place half a year ago, none of this had anything to do with me anymore.
Just as they had decided it no longer had anything to do with them.
Fujiwara fell silent for a moment at my words.
"O-Oppa……."
My little sister's anxious voice rose from where she was nestled against me.
There was no reason to stay here any longer.
I slipped the dagger back into my sleeve and issued a warning to the Japanese hunters.
"How about you all clear out already? I think we're done talking."
"You arrogant little……."
"Or would you rather continue?"
At that, the Japanese hunter shut his mouth.
He was still glaring, but I ignored him and smiled down at Jian.
"Jian. Tired? Let's go home."
"Oppa, I'm sorry. I was the one who asked to come……."
She looked up at me with teary eyes, clearly blaming herself for everything.
But today's mess wasn't her fault. The ones who created this situation were me and the Japanese hunters standing in front of us.
I wiped the tears from her cheeks and gently stroked her hair.
"What are you talking about? I got to go on a date with Jian today. That's more than enough for me. So stop crying."
"Hic… sniff……."
"Next time, Oppa will bring you again."
Instead of answering, Jian buried her face in my chest. She must not have wanted anyone to see her cry.
I rubbed her back soothingly and turned my gaze back to the others.
"Japanese hunters. Final warning. Get out of my sight. Now."
"Ugh……."
The moment I released my power, Fujiwara quickly scrambled out of my range.
Not that it would make any real difference, and she knew it too.
A tense silence stretched between us as we faced off.
Around us, cheerful music mixed with the laughter of tourists.
Fujiwara hesitated, glanced at the crowd, and finally stepped aside.
The Japanese hunters looked at her in pure disbelief.
"F-Fujiwara-sama……?"
"What, you want us all to die here together? Forget protecting the civilians—do you honestly think you can beat that guy? Stop wasting time and get out of the way."
The hunters' faces twisted with wounded pride.
Ignoring them, Fujiwara waved me forward.
"What are you waiting for? Hurry up and go."
Just as she was clearing a path for us—
"That won't do, Sakura. You can't just let a criminal walk free like that."
An unfamiliar voice cut through the air as someone pushed through the tourists toward us.
The speaker wore a mask and stopped right in front of me, smiling.
"Well, well. We finally meet, Lee Seoyun."
"Guildmaster Kujo!? Why are you here……."
"Because my adorable subordinate tipped me off, of course. I came running."
He glanced at one of the hunters behind him as he spoke.
Fujiwara glared at the two of them, but Kujo paid her no attention and kept his eyes on me.
"Haha. Nice disguise. Did your little sister here help you with it?"
"Move. If you don't want to die."
"…Wow. This guy's personality is something else."
Kujo smiled the way only the strong ever did—relaxed, unhurried, the product of long habit and absolute certainty that he would never lose.
His eyes narrowed as he looked at me.
"Don't get the wrong idea. I'm not here to do anything to you. I just figured this was a good chance for us to get along."
"I already told you. Get lost."
"Come on, at least hear me out. Truth is, I just failed my Special S-rank challenge. Went all the way to America only to come back empty-handed."
I watched him ramble on while my mind raced.
If a fight broke out here, what should I do?
Kill them all? That would put my existence back on the world's radar.
Then Jian and Grandmother would no longer be able to live freely the way they did now.
Or… should I just lock every last one of them inside a gate?
"Hey. Lee Seoyun. You listening?"
"……."
"What I'm saying is, I want you to help me with my next Special S-rank attempt. Call it… cooperation."
"Why would I?"
I asked while keeping a firm grip on my dagger.
He snorted at the sight.
"Because in the end, you'll have no choice but to do as I say. Right?"
I stared at him in silence, taking in that overflowing confidence.
Arrogance. Conceit. The unshakable belief that everything would go his way.
His eyes were steeped in pure self-absorption.
He patted my shoulder as if looking down on me.
"Don't worry. I'll make sure you're well compensated. And of course, I have no intention of telling the government or Korea that you're alive. If you want, I'll even help hide your and your sister's identities."
"What?"
"In return, you just show up whenever I call and spar with me. Using that power of yours."
"…Ha."
A dry laugh slipped out before I could stop it.
He was dressing it up nicely, but what he really meant was a threat: refuse, and I'll expose you.
I checked on Jian and pulled her closer. Kujo watched my reaction with a smug little grin, clearly enjoying himself.
"So how about it, Lee Seoyun? As you can see, it's not a bad deal for you either. You know I'm already making a lot of concessions here. So you'd better think carefully before you—"
His eyes went wide.
Zzzt— crackle-crackle-crackle!
I swung my blade right where I stood.
A gate bloomed into existence, and I slowly lifted my head.
"W-What the hell is that!?"
"A gate… It's a gate!"
"Aaaaaah! Everybody run!!"
Tourists who spotted the gate screamed and fled in every direction.
In an instant the amusement park turned into pure chaos.
Yet Kujo still couldn't tear his eyes away from the gate, as if he couldn't comprehend what had just happened right in front of him.
I called his name quietly.
"Hey, Kujo."
Only then did he look away from the gate and meet my gaze.
The easy confidence from earlier was nowhere to be found.
"I don't care if you reveal my identity or go around blabbing about me."
"……."
"Just remember this one thing."
Slowly, I raised the dagger and pressed it against his throat.
"I'm sparing you this once."
This wasn't a threat.
It was a final warning—and an ultimatum—that I could come kill him whenever I felt like it.
When I withdrew the blade, Kujo flinched as if he'd actually been stabbed.
I stepped into the gate, then glanced back at him.
"Or you can follow me in right now."
"……."
Thud. At my words he moved his feet.
Not forward—backward.
I smirked at the sight.
"It'd be better for you if you never see me again. For your own sake."
With that, I closed the gate.
That should be enough for him to understand.
Even if he did expose me, all I had to do was make him pay the appropriate price.
"O-Oppa. Is it over?"
Jian's small voice rose from my arms.
I crouched down so our eyes were level.
"Jian. You okay? You're not hurt anywhere?"
"Mm. I stayed right next to Oppa the whole time."
Good. As long as you're safe.
I stroked her hair and smiled.
"Sorry, Jian. You must've been really scared because of Oppa."
"Huh? No way. Oppa was so cool! My affection points for you actually went up. Does Oppa know that?"
"R-Really?"
What a strange place to gain affection points.
Where exactly in that situation was the appeal supposed to be?
"Then shall we head back to Grandmother? We have to show her everything we rode and the souvenirs we got today."
I waved the hat Jian had picked out for Grandmother as I spoke.
Just as we were about to leave, she suddenly grabbed my collar.
"Hey, Oppa……."
When I turned, Jian was standing there with an uneasy look on her face.
I opened my arms and scooped her up.
"Yeah. I'm listening."
"You're not going back to Korea, right……?"
I paused for a moment at those words.
Her voice was trembling in a way it never usually did.
Jian's arms tightened around me.
"I don't want Oppa to go."
She must still be stuck on what she heard earlier.
When I burst out laughing, Jian stared at me with wet, wide eyes.
"Of course I'm not going. Why would I leave you behind and go there?"
"R-Really? Oppa's really going to stay by my side forever?"
"Heh. Looking at me with such a serious face… I thought something was wrong."
The fact that my little sister had been fretting over something so unnecessary made me laugh.
If this had been the old me, I probably would have rushed straight into that gate the second I heard the news.
But just now, even after hearing everything, nothing inside me had stirred.
All I realized was that the emotions that had already burned out completely didn't so much as twitch.
"More importantly, Jian. Want to get down from Oppa soon? If we keep going like this, Grandmother's going to scold us for being too clingy again."
"Zzz… zzz……."
"Jian?"
"Soft… soft breathing."
Looks like she fell asleep.
"Heh."
I smiled at Jian, who had buried her face in my shoulder.
Yeah. My happiness is here now.
An ordinary life with my family. From now on, that was everything to me.
Holding Jian close, I walked toward where Grandmother was waiting.
Republic of Korea. An abandoned amusement park in Seoul.
Looking at the Red Gate that had appeared there, the hunters let out incredulous laughs.
"Wow, look at this bastard. He quietly planted an egg right in the middle of all this chaos."
And in a place with almost no foot traffic, no less.
If not for the American detection hunter, they might never have found it.
"That Death Knight bastard. Did he really think we wouldn't find it if he hid it here?"
"Guildmaster. What should we do now?"
Yoon Seah asked, looking at Kang Hanna beside her.
Kang Hanna surveyed the hunters gathered around them.
Over a hundred hunters. The full force prepared for the Death Knight operation was already assembled in one place.
There was no reason to delay any longer.
"We move immediately. This time, we're striking first."
Current time: 10:23 a.m.
Two days before the deadline the Death Knight had set.
"Death Knight subjugation operation. Commencing now."
The hunters gathered there stepped into the Red Gate.