Chapter 67
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 67
Chapter Title: #2 Exorcist Yang Mi-na, Come Here!
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Dom didn't leave the chairman's side. Instead, she watched the scene from behind with delighted eyes and a pounding heart.
Just in case, she'd sealed the back door with a spell to ensure no one could escape.
One devotee was currently struggling to open a door that refused to budge for some inexplicable reason.
Of course, if things got dire, she'd escape from here—but not right away.
She was even willing to let Gyeol Ryeong's attack reach this far, allowing part of her body to burn away in that spiritual flame.
If anything, she hoped it would.
To be consumed by Gyeol Ryeong's beautiful flames...
Though she didn't want to die, of course. Death would mean she could no longer stay by Gyeol Ryeong's side.
'Show me something fun, my love☆'
Bathed in Dom's fervent gaze, the exorcist moved through the gaps in the crowd.
And in the next moment...
"......?"
Suddenly, Gyeol Ryeong's presence shifted.
Dom found this puzzling.
The cause was someone who had abruptly approached her.
This person wore priestly robes, was somewhat short, and had the hood of their robe pulled up.
They seemed to exchange words, and then, in an instant, the spiritual flames blazing in Gyeol Ryeong's hand flickered out.
I hurriedly slipped away from the spot and left the noisy hall.
The show of humiliating and toying with the captured exorcists was still going on in there—all scum who deserved to be wiped out—but for now, I had to push those thoughts to the back of my mind.
The place I ended up was the restroom connected to a side corridor off the hall.
After confirming no one was around, I entered a stall in the women's restroom and locked the door.
I also layered spells within the stall to ensure our voices wouldn't leak out, taking every precaution.
Only then did the person who had entered the stall with me—the one in black priestly robes—speak up.
"It really is you, Senior! Amazing. To dispel a spell like that in an instant...!"
"...Don't call me Senior. You're older than me."
"You're a Special Grade—like, the sky itself—and the youngest ever, plus way more experienced than me! Someone like me is a late bloomer, no good, no good. I just wanna be your eternal junior~."
Her voice brimmed with enthusiasm as she pulled back the hood of her priestly robes.
What emerged was pink hair reminiscent of bubblegum, and eyes a clear green like emeralds.
Her twin tails, styled in a way that didn't match her age, suited her youthful face surprisingly well, giving her a criminally baby-faced look that could easily pass for underage.
"C-Rank Exorcist from the Association☆ Gender: female, blood type: O, MBTI: ESTP!
Likes fermented soy crab, but says strawberry cake to look cute—sensibly girlfriend-material number one☆ Truth is, she prefers makgeolli and squid over sweet desserts... but that's a secret!
Age: blooming twenty-three, real name: sadly a secret☆ Call me by my nickname, Mina, and with that, my intro's done!
So, do you remember me, Senior? As expected from a Special Grade, you probably don't recall a lowly exorcist like me, right? Boo-hoo, that hurts my feelings!"
She flashed V-signs by her eyes, blew finger hearts nonstop, then suddenly switched to a sobbing face—all in this cramped space, never stopping for a breath.
Feeling my head throb already, I muttered with a sigh.
"Of course I remember you, Seo-bong-ssi."
"Keeek!"
"...Mina-ssi."
I'd been at the Association for a long time, but honestly, I didn't interact much with others there.
And Seo-bong-ssi—no, Mina-ssi—was one of the few I had interacted with.
Her real name was Yang Seo-bong.
She hated that name with a passion and had told me multiple times how much she despised her father for giving it to her.
"Watch out, Young Master? Or is it Young Lady now... Nah, too much hassle. I'll just call you Senior!"
"Not Senior... Mina-ssi...."
I'd once teamed up with Mina-ssi on a mission in the past, and ever since, she'd been calling me "Senior~ Senior~."
And though she said that, our experience levels weren't that far apart. Just a few months' difference. She was exaggerating on purpose.
Honestly, back then I wasn't in this female body, and at an age where I was plenty interested in the opposite sex, so I'd been a little tempted...
'No, no, that's not it.'
I didn't want to recall that horrific dark history of being thoroughly rejected and crushed afterward.
And yet, despite shattering me so completely, she'd casually approached me later like nothing happened. Mina-ssi had left me with all sorts of feelings.
'...Keep drifting into random nostalgia on my own.'
This wasn't the time for that.
It was a seriously dire situation. We needed to talk business.
But Senior's still so cute. Her head's small, her stature's petite—adorable.
How does she not change after all these years? Amazing. And I envy that bright personality...
'No no no no! This isn't the time to think about that!'
Fortunately, Mina-ssi was one of the few who knew about my gender transformation.
I hadn't told her on purpose, but she had a habit of striking up conversations with everyone she met. She'd done the same when I visited the Association as a woman.
It was something I wanted to hide, but she saw right through me immediately...
And thanks to that, she'd recognized me today in the hall.
Otherwise, she probably would've just watched without approaching.
Plus, since she was undercover in priestly robes, she might've even gotten swept up with the other devotees and sliced apart right there.
Thinking about it that way made my heart race for entirely different reasons.
I'd come way too close to disaster. Calming down now, I realized just how reckless my actions had been moments ago.
Well, if it happened again, I'd probably do the same.
For now, let's reflect for five seconds.
"So, Seo... Mina-ssi. Could you explain the situation? What you're doing here, how you've been up till now, and why you're wearing priestly robes."
Mina-ssi smiled in her inscrutable way and began explaining in a calm tone, unlike before.
Mina had been dispatched from the Association along with her fellow exorcist teammates.
An A-Rank exorcist led the team, and the Association had judged the target of investigation, the [Mysterious Fog], to be low-risk.
Still, she didn't think they'd underestimated it.
Yokai and demons often exceeded expectations.
To survive long as an exorcist, you had to stay cautious—always.
Without letting their guard down, they reached the fog-shrouded city and the 「District of Sin」.
The sudden environmental changes and the fog's disruption of detection spells caused initial confusion, but it was a veteran team with an A-Rank exorcist.
They quickly adapted and clarified their objectives.
Their mission: investigate and eliminate the source of the fog.
They suspected it was the ruling yokai of this district, so they began their probe.
The investigation progressed smoothly from the start.
In the process, they gradually pinpointed the ruling yokai's location.
The hypnosis from the district's most dangerous "grace" posed little threat to exorcists like them.
None of them were weak enough to fall for a yokai's hypnotic spell. As long as they stayed vigilant, they wouldn't be affected.
The team had started small but soon grew to nine members.
Another team dispatched from the Association had joined them midway.
Everything was going perfectly, and their combined forces were more than enough to take down the ruling yokai.
—Or so it should have been.
One day, as the investigation proceeded so smoothly...
The exorcist team fell into a trap.
At a site they'd visited for scouting, devotees of a yokai-worshipping cult surrounded them en masse.
Each one had already fully yokai-fied, and among them were types that even an A-Rank exorcist would struggle against in groups.
Poison had also been deployed, further weakening the exorcists' resistance.
They'd been thoroughly trapped.
Probably, their information had leaked.
Rumors said someone had been taken hostage, or seduced by lust.
But the truth was lost now.
The traitor who sold out the team was already dead.
In the end, the exorcists fell to the meticulously prepared ambush.
The male exorcists were slaughtered outright.
The female ones couldn't withstand the numbers and were dragged away, offered to the yokai as sacrifices.
"...That's the situation right now. On top of that, it feels like they've gotten even stronger by draining the exorcists' power. Probably, even a single A-Rank couldn't handle a vice-bishop-level one alone anymore."
With a sigh, Mina finished her explanation.
Having heard it all, Gyeol Ryeong frowned and clicked her tongue lightly.