Chapter 65
Chapter 65
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 65
Chapter Title: The New Boss
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"Dammit. How long is she going to be invincible?"
The one who emerged from the shadows was Juyeol.
He clicked his tongue at Cue, who turned to him nonchalantly, and then created some distance.
Haon, who had been frozen by his sudden appearance, quickly got to her feet.
"Why are you here—"
"Why is a Hero getting involved in this!"
Cue shouted, cutting Haon off.
Without even glancing at Haon, Juyeol replied coldly.
"I don't care if you keep your position as boss or lose it, but I can't just stand by when there's a report of a child being kidnapped."
Cue's sharp eyes turned to Haon.
"I thought you were meeting up with Nova again, but you're still hanging around with Ghost? Quite the talent you have."
"A report? Who on earth...?"
Haon could only tilt her head in confusion.
"But Chacha already took Bani downstairs."
"...She might not be the only child who was kidnapped. Of course I have to check."
Just then, Cue laughed hysterically and said.
"Come to think of it, you were the one who attacked my men guarding the containers at the pier a few days ago, weren't you?"
"What was I supposed to do? A report came in that you were making counterfeit money there."
As Juyeol retorted dismissively, the fury in Cue's voice deepened.
"If you hadn't interfered that day, I wouldn't have ended up penniless!"
The muscles in one of Cue's shoulders twitched and bulged grotesquely.
Black veins spread past her neck toward the corners of her eyes, and her breathing grew unstable and ragged.
*The side effects are starting to show.*
As Haon was observing Cue's body, she suddenly lunged at Juyeol.
"…!"
In an instant, Haon changed the shape of the metal rack, causing it to shoot upward.
*Claaang!*
Cue's fist slammed into the suddenly appeared iron wall.
A startled Juyeol glanced back at Haon, then frowned.
Her face contorted in terrible pain, Cue screamed at the top of her lungs.
"What did I ever do to deserve this! I pay you! I somehow managed to pay you every month without being late!"
She was screaming while looking at Juyeol, but her words weren't directed at him.
"Why in the world won't you be loyal to me! Why does everyone look down on me!"
Cue's clenched fists trembled before she gasped and clutched her heart.
"Ugh, keuk..."
Haon watched with a heavy heart as the side effects progressed with increasing speed.
She must have seen her subordinates suffer from the potion's side effects, yet she still made such a choice.
*So she's decided to die here.*
Leaning against the wall, Cue was barely standing. Even so, she glared fiercely, as if unwilling to show any weakness.
As she had wished, she was waiting for the death she would meet while defending her turf as the boss of Area 1.
*Even if she's a Villain, we've laughed and talked before... It feels strange watching her die.*
Haon felt uneasy, but there was nothing she could do.
Cue coughed, spitting up black blood.
Both Haon and Juyeol waited for Cue's death.
Bent over, Cue suddenly pulled a bottle of viscous potion from her clothes.
"I told you... I wouldn't die... alone...!"
She opened the cap and was about to throw it at Juyeol.
Sensing danger, Juyeol backed away and fired his gun, but Cue was still invincible.
"Die!"
"Ah, no!"
Her heart sinking, Haon urgently fired a mana bullet at Cue's feet.
The metal rack Cue was standing on creaked and swayed.
What happened next was instantaneous.
Stumbling to regain her balance, Cue dropped the potion and staggered sideways.
Before the sound of the potion shattering on the first floor could even echo, Cue also plummeted from the rack.
"…!"
She wore a shocked expression, as if sensing her futile end.
"Aaaargh!"
"Cue!"
As the sharp scream rang out, Haon reflexively threw a mana hook.
*Fzzt—*
But the hook only sparked as it touched Cue's fingertips, failing to catch her.
"Ugh, the mana...!"
The viscous mana enveloping the Awakened being's body had fluctuated wildly.
Hearing the dull thud of impact, Haon flinched. Her heart pounded unpleasantly, and though she'd done nothing wrong, she felt guilty.
After hesitating, she was about to look down from the rack when a large hand covered her eyes.
It was Juyeol's hand, who had crossed over to her side at some point.
"You don't need to see that."
At his sharp voice, Haon grabbed his hand and pulled it away.
"I have to. This is the result of my actions."
The distant first floor was hard to see clearly, but she could tell that Cue's entire body was being covered in black.
"Blue! I'm going down there too!"
Haon fashioned part of the rack into a pulley and quickly descended to the warehouse's first floor.
Empty boxes and bricks were piled up here and there.
Covered in blood and crashed into a pile of bricks, Cue was still alive.
But she seemed to be just barely breathing as she coughed up a spurt of black blood.
With a somber expression, Haon knelt beside Cue.
Due to the side effects of the potion overdose, half of Cue's face was covered in black veins, and the muscles near her heart had swollen as if about to burst, tearing her clothes slightly.
Seeing her in such agony, as if she were about to draw her last breath, Haon placed a hand on Cue's shoulder.
*...I can't save her, can I? But maybe I can make it less painful?*
She tried to turn the viscous mana clogging the blood vessels into water and flush it out, but it was no use.
The blood vessels leading to her heart were hardening along with the potion's impure ingredients.
*What am I supposed to do?*
The moment Haon let out a bitter sigh, Cue grabbed her wrist tightly.
"…!"
Startled, Haon met Cue's gaze. With an expression hard to discern because of the black veins, she barely managed to squeeze out her voice.
"I can't... die... alone... I'll be waiting... in hell...!"
"..."
If there was a hell, the 'Eun Haon' who had gone before would probably be waiting there.
Cue's breathing stopped, her eyes still open. Unlike what she had hoped for, it was a rather futile and sudden death.
Facing the death of another, something she'd never get used to, Haon reached out to close Cue's eyes.
*Kwaang!*
Just then, with a loud crash, the warehouse shutter crumpled inward, and headlight beams flooded the space.
Squinting against the glare, Haon's vision gradually cleared.
"Huh...?"
The one who had smashed through the shutter with a dump truck was River.
The moment their eyes met, Cue's hand, which had been gripping Haon's wrist, fell away with a thud.
River, her expression turning to horror, spotted Juyeol who had just arrived on the first floor and yelled.
"What am I supposed to do if you just take off like that! You weren't answering my calls, I thought something terrible had happened!"
"What do you mean, 'take off'? I told you roughly what was happening before I left."
"What makes you think you can just run off alone when you're not even in good condition! Are you an amateur?"
"Stop shouting. My head is pounding."
As Juyeol clutched his head, trying to suppress his irritation, the presence of more people flooded in.
"Dr. Eun?"
A disbelieving voice came from outside the warehouse.
The bosses, realizing the warehouse connected to their base had been breached, had rushed over, thinking one of the outside Villains had slipped past them.
From within the murmuring crowd, someone shouted.
"D-Dr. Eun Haon killed Cue!"
Startled by the shout, Haon shot to her feet, waving her hands.
"N-No, that's not it!"
But then she trailed off, wondering if that was really true.
"How is Dr. Eun in there? We didn't see her enter the warehouse!"
"To think she snuck in alone like a rat while we were dealing with the others."
Two-Shot, Halla, and Rusty shot her disapproving looks, but with the situation already over and Heroes present, they didn't seem inclined to start a fight.
"Anyway, this means Dr. Eun is the new boss of Area 1, right?"
A hint of disappointment laced Weaver's voice.
A flustered Haon shook her head repeatedly.
"This isn't what it looks like—"
"My dear."
Nova, who had appeared from nowhere, knelt before Haon.
"N-Nova?"
As Haon's eyes widened, Nova lifted a box as if making an offering.
The box he clicked open contained a jewel that glowed with a brilliant light.
"This is...!"
The indispensable material needed to activate the Dimension Gate. The spoils of Area 1.
It was the large diamond she had planned to replace with a fake.
Haon, as if mesmerized, reached for the jewel, but then she hesitated. She could feel Juyeol's confused gaze on her.
He was looking at her with an expression that said, *'Surely not...'*
As Haon hesitated, Nova lifted the box a little higher.
"My dear. Don't you want this?"
"...I do."
"Then Area 1 is yours as well."
She couldn't even begin to imagine what would happen if she took it.
But one thing was certain.
*I have to go home. I have to go back to where I came from.*
This was the only way to return home.
As Haon took the large diamond in her hand, gasps erupted from the crowd.
Juyeol, who had been watching in silence, turned away with a hardened expression.
"Ju..."
Haon couldn't bring herself to call out to him.
As Juyeol's retreating back disappeared from view, a corner of her heart ached.
"My dear."
Nova pressed a kiss to the back of Haon's hand, which was stained with black blood.
"Congratulations on seizing Area 1. My boss."