The Tiger's Demise and the Lamb's Salvation
In that instant, all the sounds enveloping Jinwoo's body vanished.
He glided forward like a ghost, piercing the darkness toward the Jangsanbeom. The creature hadn't sensed this third presence at all. Every nerve in its body was fixed on the final prey before it.
It spoke in the most perfect imitation of her brother's voice, laced with overflowing affection.
"Sea-ya..."
Right then, Jinwoo reached its back.
"Kyaargh!"
With a scream of agony unlike any it had ever uttered, the massive body lost its balance and crashed to the floor.
Jinwoo mounted the thrashing beast and smashed its skull like a watermelon with his hammer.
Without a moment's hesitation, he rummaged through the corpse with his bloodied dagger.
He severed the repulsive tongue that had deceived countless people at its root and skinned a portion of its white, elongated fur, stuffing it into his pouch.
But when he sliced open its belly, something glittering caught his eye amid the half-digested flesh.
Carefully extracting it revealed two gold rings that appeared to belong to a woman, a slender gold necklace, and a damaged men's gold watch.
These were the final mementos of other victims whose souls had already been extinguished.
'This should fetch a nice sum.' Jinwoo thought.
'Enough to open a mage's workshop and buy property to escape this damn semi-basement.'
[Wise thinking, my master.]
The Magic Grimoire read his thoughts and offered counsel.
[Sell it this time to build your foundation. But remember: gold and silver are more than mere currency. They are precious catalysts that stabilize and amplify mana. In the future, use the precious metals you acquire to bolster your power rather than selling them.]
Jinwoo nodded in agreement, a silent affirmation.
Gathering all the spoils, he finally turned to his first target of conquest.
Kim Sea stared up at Jinwoo in a daze, utterly oblivious to the sudden shift in her dire situation. The horrific monster—the entity that had killed her over and over—had been reduced to a pile of meat by this stranger in mere moments. Her shattered mind couldn't process this reality.
Jinwoo approached slowly, careful not to intimidate her. He deliberately set his hammer and dagger on the floor at his waist. Raising both hands to show he was unarmed, he borrowed the Magic Grimoire's power through his mask to produce the softest, most trustworthy voice.
"Kim Sea. You're safe now. It's all over. Your brother sent me."
"...My brother did?"
The emotion woven into the word "brother" felt deeper and more tender than mere familial love. Jinwoo caught the subtle shift and nodded.
"Yes, your brother. I'll show you proof."
He pulled out his smartphone from his pocket. Before being dragged here, he'd screenshotted the oldest post by "PleaseSavior-nim" and downloaded it. He showed it to her.
'Oppa... hasn't given up on me.'
That single fact made hot tears flood from Sea's eyes.
In her life, "oppa" had been her sole knight and protector. The exotic beauty inherited from her Russian mother had made her childhood hellish. Girl students jealous of her called her a "show-off" or "foxy bitch," ostracizing her, while boys and adult men leered with lewd, overt gazes, treating her as potential prey. Amid all that contempt and lust, the only one who shielded her was her non-blood-related brother. It was only natural that her feelings for him evolved from sibling affection into deep romantic longing as a woman.
Seeing her trembling gaze, Jinwoo knew he'd pierced her psyche perfectly. Pretending to scan the surroundings, he said,
"This place is dangerous. Other things might smell its blood and come swarming. Let me guide you somewhere safe."
Without a hint of doubt, Sea nodded. When Jinwoo extended his hand, she hesitated shyly for a moment before taking it. He led her past the monster's sprawled corpse down the hallway, deeper into the building.
The Magic Grimoire whispered in his mind. [End of the left corridor, third room. Its structure is the most stable, easiest to defend from intruders.]
But Jinwoo gleaned unspoken info too: that room was ideally suited for such acts.
Their destination was what had once been a luxury hotel suite on the top floor. The windows were shattered, but vast floor-to-ceiling glass offered a panoramic view of the blood-red sky and ruined cityscape. In the room's center stood a massive round bed of unrotted material, surrounded by velvet curtains and ornate, worn furniture exuding decadent allure. It was a perfect stage for final trysts at the world's end—utterly arousing.
"This should be safe," Jinwoo said, reassuring her as he led her inside.
He pulled a bottle of water and a piece of hard, dry whole-wheat bread from his backpack and gave them to her. Mere survival rations devoid of flavor. Yet to Sea, they shone brighter than any feast.
Her trembling hands took the bread. During her cycles of death and revival, it wasn't just terror that tormented her—ravenous hunger and thirst too. This world's water tasted of rancid metal, and food was nonexistent. Staring at real sustenance for the first time in days, she hesitated briefly before devouring it ravenously.
Tough and crumbly, it melted in her mouth as saliva flooded, but she gulped chunks without chewing. Choking and coughing repeatedly, she didn't stop. She chugged the water Jinwoo opened, then tore into the bread greedily. Tears and crumbs mingled on her cheeks—a visceral affirmation of life, a ray of salvation in hell.
Having wolfed down the piece, she regained a spark of vitality. Clutching the water bottle, she bowed deeply to Jinwoo.
"Thank... thank you... truly... thank you so much..."
Her voice choked, but sincerity poured through. No longer the numb doll from moments ago, she burst into sobs, overwhelmed.
"Hic... sob... It was... so scary... I died so many times... came back to life... The worst was hearing oppas voice... But you saved me... and gave me food..."
Jinwoo sat silently beside her, listening patiently. As her story lengthened, his presence loomed larger in her heart. He was the overwhelmingly powerful man who rescued her, the sole thread of hope sent by her beloved brother. Unaware of the world's changes or the "Crow Mage's" fame since her arrival, to her, Jinwoo was a mysterious savior appeared solely for her.
As her tearful outpouring waned from exhaustion, Jinwoo murmured low, "You'll be fine now. I'm here. Rest a bit. You need to recover your strength to get out of here."
His reassuring tone contrasted sharply with the voice echoing in the mage's inner self. Years of suppression at society's bottom had twisted his starved lust, festering without outlet. Now, perfect prey lay before him: pure, fragile, trusting him utterly. He could endure no longer. Nor did he need to. Tonight, on this hellish stage, he would make her his.
He spread a clean blanket from his backpack over the massive round bed. With eyes full of trust, Sea curled up on it. "I'll check for something to block the entrance," he said casually, rising.
He slipped into the deepest shadow behind a shattered mirror in the corner, out of her sight, and set up his smartphone. Camera on, positioned for the most stimulating angle of her on the bed.
All preparations complete.
Slowly, he approached the innocent lamb who had just begun to see him as the savior sent by her brother—to bestow true salvation.