Chapter 36
Chapter 36
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 37
Chapter Title: Evil Zone Sweep (12)
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It felt like his breath had suddenly been cut off. It was the same thing the Betded Boss had said the first time it encountered Su-ho. And Su-ho knew all too well who the "scent that makes them tremble in fear" referred to.
Jin Seong-hyeok.
The Betded Boss knew. It knew of Jin Seong-hyeok's existence. And it knew that his power flowed through Su-ho's body.
How it knew wasn't important in this situation.
"...You came here on purpose, didn't you."
Watching Su-ho mutter to himself like a soliloquy, the Betded Boss replied as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.
"Of course."
The Betded Boss's goal had been Su-ho from the very start.
"Aren't you curious?"
Its long claws tapped against Su-ho's cheek. The skin split open in a straight line with a sickening tear, blood trickling out. The Betded Boss swept up the blood with its claw and licked it off with its tongue, shuddering as its wings quivered.
"Why I sense his aura from you. You don't look like much."
[ "Su... Su-ho." ]
Takahiro, struggling to lift his head, called out Su-ho's name. At that, the Betded Boss turned its twisted face back to normal and spoke.
"Shall I clear away the boring ones and tear into you?"
If its target was him anyway, no one else should get hurt.
"Spare the others. Your goal is me, right?"
"You're so chatty."
Its eerie black eyeball turned toward Su-ho.
"Should I just cut your head off?"
Kwachik-!
"Guhk......"
The claws on the Betded Boss's wings pierced into Su-ho's feet and back. The talons that pinned his feet so he couldn't move were embedded straight into the ground.
The Betded Boss's mouth slowly opened. Its lips, torn up to its temples, loomed over Su-ho's head. It really intended to sever his head.
The half-open maw gaped wider and wider. Su-ho twisted to dodge, but the claws fixing his ankles kept him immobile.
Was his head just going to get sliced off like this?
'Mr. Jin Seong-hyeok! Please, please......!'
A tongue-click echoed in his mind, which had been silent until now. A low baritone voice resonated in Su-ho's head, as if it had witnessed everything up to this point.
'For someone who spoke so confidently, this is all you've got.'
'I'm sorry. I'll apologize properly later, so right now, this...! Uh...?'
Su-ho's eyes caught sight of Tae-il. The moment he saw Tae-il rushing toward him, Su-ho shook his head violently.
"D-don't come. Don't come over!"
Despite Su-ho's bloodshot yell, Tae-il showed no sign of stopping. He charged straight in, yanked Su-ho away, and collapsed to the ground with him.
Kwachik-!
Suddenly, the world seemed to slow down. Tae-il's figure blocking Su-ho's front moved in slow motion.
"Keurk......"
A short scream was followed by Tae-il's agonized cry. Su-ho's face hardened.
Tae-il's neck to his left arm had been torn clean off.
Su-ho's head slowly tilted upward at the something dangling overhead. A human arm hung from the Betded Boss's mouth, swinging back and forth. The Betded Boss tilted its head back. With a gulp, Tae-il's arm vanished down its throat, and Su-ho's heart began pounding madly.
"Mm, not bad."
No way.
"Kwaaaak!!"
Tae-il's scream rang out again. Right before Su-ho's eyes, Tae-il was being ripped apart by the Betded Boss.
Thud. Su-ho stared down at Tae-il, now armless on the ground, his eyes turning bloodshot.
"T-Tae-il......"
"...Hey... Cha Su-ho."
"Don't talk. I'll... no, Patch will... heal you......"
Tae-il managed a strained smile toward Su-ho, who frantically rummaged through his clothes like a madman searching for the patch.
"I... kept my promise."
Promise? Su-ho gazed at Tae-il through teary eyes.
"The promise... to save you."
Only then did Su-ho recall what Tae-il had said to him on the first night of camping.
"I'm scared of monsters too, but if you're in danger, I think I could save you."
"Cheapskate. Fine, save me, save me."
"Don't go getting all emotional by this big bro then."
Crazy bastard. A real madman.
"Shut up. Don't talk like you're dying. You're going to live, and I'll make sure you......"
Tae-il's pupils stopped moving. Seeing them glaze over like a curtain had fallen, Su-ho's heart plummeted.
"Won Tae-il."
Tae-il lay still, a faint smile frozen on his lips.
"Snap out of it. Tae-il, Tae-il!"
His stomach churned. A storm of emotions tore at his mind. Tae-il was dead. Because of him.
The arrogance that he could protect people with his own power now sickened him. How dare such a powerless being think he could protect anyone.
Instead, he'd been protected. In the cave, when attacked by the Betded, Kwon-oh had gotten hurt shielding him. And now, not only had Su-ho just come down with a cold on-site, but his first friend was being torn apart right in front of him.
Jin Seong-hyeok was right. Without his power, he wasn't even an A-grade Helper, let alone able to protect anyone.
He'd been an F-grade Helper from the start.
His thinking had been wrong from the beginning. Vowing to protect someone without even trying.
What a pathetic loser. Couldn't do a damn thing.
Self-loathing crushed Su-ho from the top of his head. And his helplessness in this situation plummeted his spirit to rock bottom.
He didn't care if he died like this. But he wanted to close Tae-il's eyes, still wide open in death.
Su-ho raised his hand. His trembling fingers choked back sobs with choked gasps.
"...I'm sorry, I'm sorry. Won Tae-il."
The first person to reach out to him, who taught him the word "friend."
As Su-ho forced strength into his shaking hand and reached for Tae-il's eyelids—
Through his tear-blurred vision, he saw the Betded Boss's foot.
And that foot was heading straight for Tae-il's face.
Kwachik-.
Su-ho held his breath. In the frozen world, the only sound was his heart thundering madly.
Having grasped the situation, Su-ho's face turned ice-cold.
Helplessness turned to rage. His mind had stopped thinking long ago. In this moment, Su-ho had only one thought.
I'll kill it.
Since it killed Tae-il, I'll kill them all.
Blood surged upward through his veins. His whole body burned so hot he could barely stand it. He had to vent this fury somewhere, right now.
'Cha Su-ho......!'
He thought he heard Jin Seong-hyeok's voice, but it faded away. In complete shutdown, Su-ho felt only one thing.
I have to kill it.
A red gleam flickered in Su-ho's eyes.
Whoosh-.
Along with scorching heat, flickering flame chains writhed above Su-ho's head.
Takahiro, watching this, froze solid.
Red chains. A technique usable by only one person—a man now dead, never to be seen again.
Su-ho, kneeling before Tae-il, slowly rose to his feet. A black aura ignited behind him.
Takahiro's eyes quivered faintly. The aura of the man he revered so much was right before him now. The one he'd thought he'd never see again.
Takahiro muttered in a dazed voice.
[ "Jin... Jin Seong-hyeok-nim......" ] ◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ Liu Xian, who had worn a grave expression throughout, finally spoke.
[ "This is weird. It said there were only a few Betdeds." ]
Ji-young nodded in agreement, her face puzzled as well.
[ "I thought there'd be even more today. Where are they? And where did the boss go?" ]
It should have heightened their guard instead. Contrary to expectations of indiscriminate attacks once inside the cave, the Betdeds they'd encountered even reaching the cave—and inside—could be counted on one hand.
Chwijit, jjijjit!
Eun-woo silently bisected three or four incoming Betdeds with his sword.
Chwaak. Even Eun-woo, lightly flicking the blood from his blade, looked baffled.
Unlike yesterday, when dozens had swarmed at once, only a handful now?
Staring at the Betded corpses thudding to the ground, Eun-woo furrowed his brow.
"Maybe they moved."
Moved?
"Wait, you don't mean they actually relocated......"
Ji-young trailed off mid-sentence. Even as mutated monsters, they couldn't abandon all their habits. They typically rested upside down during the day. Unless something unusual happened, they should be hanging from the cave ceiling now.
But the ceiling was clean. Of course, after yesterday's massacre, few Betdeds remained.
Still, even accounting for that, there was no way the boss's lair would have so few if it was still here.
Not unless, like Eun-woo said, they'd gone somewhere else.
"That boss had intelligence."
The Betded Boss was intelligent. So it would have thought ahead.
"Did it know we were coming and flee in advance?"
Or maybe the opposite—it came out to greet us. Ji-young glanced lightly around the cave interior and turned.
"No need to stick around. Let's go."
As Ji-young headed for the cave entrance, the others followed as if they'd been waiting.
Once outside, Ji-young scanned the surroundings. Not a bird chirped. It was quiet after the earlier sweep, but an inexplicable unease gnawed at her.
Like the calm sea before a storm.
Just as the unexplained anxiety began creeping up—
The hunters' and helpers' watches chimed in unison. Messages they'd missed inside the cave were arriving.
All eyes turned to their wristwatches. The hunters' and helpers' expressions turned grim upon checking.
[ Emergency ]
The red letters stood out starkly. Below them, coordinates were marked.
[ "Does anyone know... our camp coordinates?" ]
At Ji-young's question, Kai-cheng replied with a stiff face.
[ "06-17." ]
06-17.
The camp coordinates matched the watch's exactly. Meaning the four left at camp were in danger now.
"Ha, damn it. I should've known from that creepy grin on that psycho."
It planned an ambush.
"Right now."
The hunters and helpers broke into a run.
"We have to head back."
Without a word from anyone, they sprinted full speed toward the camp.