novelFinal Incident (3)
| ← Ch.140 | Ch.142 → |
Whish—!
Kim Suho swung Misteltein, which suddenly twisted up at an odd angle. It was a new technique Kim Suho developed after watching Kim Hajin's curving bullets. With this elegant sword technique, Kim Suho cut down the final Djinn.
"Whew, they just keep coming."
Kim Suho sighed and wiped off his sweat.
"Yeonha, are you okay?"
After fighting with a group of Djinns, Shin Jonghak asked Yoo Yeonha as he nonchalantly cleaned his spear.
"... Yeah, thanks to you~"
Yoo Yeonha looked a bit tired but she smiled sweetly.
"I'm glad."
Kim Suho smiled.
Including Yoo Yeonha, they already rescued 15 cadets with the pathfinder orb. Although there were many more to be saved, their current priority was to guide the rescued cadets to a safe place.
"Everyone!"
Kim Suho clapped and gathered the cadets' attention.
"We will guide you to a safe place so just follow us."
"... Why are you talking like they're a bunch of children? They're cadets just like you."
Yoo Yeonha narrowed her eyes.
"Huh? Oh, sorry, it's because I've been playing with my nephews recently."
"Cadets, stay on your guard and follow us to the central building!"
Kim Soohyuk shouted gallantly.
"See? It's the instructor's job to say those words."
"... Yeah, yeah."
In any case, as cadets began to walk towards the central building...
"E-Eh? Look over there!"
Someone pointed at the sky and immediately,
KOOOONG—!
The breath of a divine existence swept the island.
From the massive shockwave, trees fell, and a cloud of dirt rose up. Kim Suho kept his eyes open and watched the devastation.
The point of impact of the attack was the central building, which was now crumbling down.
"... !"
It happened too quickly. Before Kim Suho's thoughts could catch up to the situation, his body moved. He began to run towards the central building but stopped after a brief second. It was because of the pathfinder orb.
"Hurry up, everyone!"
Kim Suho urged the others on.
By the time he came back to the central building with the dozens of cadets...
"... T-This."
Only a devastating scene was left.
The building was toppled, and many cadets were collapsed on the ground unconscious.
However, there was one person standing in the middle of this horrific scene.
"Hm?"
This mysterious man wore a half-broken mask, and he looked at Kim Suho with a happy smile.
"Who are you?"
Kim Suho gritted his teeth and asked.
However, the man only gave an ominous smile through his strange mask.
Kim Soohyuk, who was standing next to him, stepped up.
"Fall back, Kim Suho. He's not someone you can handle."
"Ah, so you're Kim Suho."
The mysterious man muttered, his voice changing as he spoke. For one phrase, he sounded like a woman, then he sounded like a man for another, then he sounded like a child for the next.
This voice immediately caused Kim Suho to frown.
"... What Djinn are you?"
This time, Kim Soohyuk asked.
A deep smile emerged on the man's face.
"That's an interesting question. What Djinn? Are you asking for my name? Unfortunately, I don't have one."
As he said that, he grabbed the neck of one of the cadets on the ground.
"But I hear you guys call me Destruction."
Destruction.
This title caused everyone's eyes to widen.
Seemingly satisfied at this reaction, Destruction snickered and stared at the cadets who just arrived.
"There are many of you I want to take with me, but unfortunately I'm about out of time. I'll just have to take this child."
Destruction created a bundle with his magic power and put an unconscious cadet in it.
At that moment, a crescent sword slash and a spear beam shot towards Destruction. Kim Suho and Shin Jonghak had attacked him while his guard was down.
"Huaa."
Destruction breathed, unleashing a wave of magic power that scattered their attacks. Then, Destruction leisurely laughed.
"Unfortunately, you're too weak to do anything against—"
Before Destruction could finish his sentence, Kim Soohyuk charged forward. In the blink of an eye, Kim Soohyuk was within an arm's reach of Destruction.
Then, Kim Soohyuk reached out towards Destruction's face, and Destruction put his hand on Kim Soohyuk's neck without any defensive maneuver.
Next, a magic power blast shot out of Kim Soohyuk's palm that struck Destruction's head.
KOONG—!
The ground rumbled.
Even so, Destruction only laughed.
"Your courage, I praise it."
It was an ominous laugh.
Although Kim Suho and Shin Jonghak quickly charged forward...
PUAK—
The claws that shot out of Destruction's fingers pierced Kim Soohyuk's chest.
Kim Soohyuk coughed up blood and collapsed. It was only then that Kim Suho and Shin Jonghak arrived.
Destruction closed his eyes and shook his head.
"How unfortunate."
With a single wave of his hand, Destruction snapped Shin Jonghak's spear and pushed Kim Suho back. The difference in their power was too overwhelming.
"I said I would let you live. What makes you so eager to die... ?"
Looking down at the weaklings, Destruction muttered arrogantly.
It was then.
Kiiiiiik—
The sound of lightning and wind rang out in all directions.
"Hm?"
The eyes of everyone in the area went up. Soon, a lump of magic power appeared in the middle of the sky.
Like a shooting star, the lump of magic power landed in the middle of Cube.
KWANG—!
Along with an overbearing destructive force, the shooting star descended onto the ground. The shockwave from its landing caused the ground to rumble and a cloud of dirt to rise up.
Pzzzt— Pzzzt—
In the middle of a big crater, electricity crackled.
"...."
A brief silence descended in the area from this unexpected phenomenon.
Whiish... A slow-blowing wind lifted the cloud of dirt.
When the obstacle disappeared, a single man could be seen in the middle of the crater.
"D-Dad!"
Someone shouted in surprise.
It was Yoo Yeonha.
Naturally, everyone guessed the identity of their savior.
"...."
Yoo Yeonha's father, Yoo Jinwoong.
He glanced at Yoo Yeonha, then let out a sigh of relief.
"You're... Yoo Jinwoong... !"
Destruction and Yoo Jinwoong seemed to know each other as the former glared at the latter with eyes full of hatred.
Yoo Jinwoong muttered nonchalantly.
"It's been a while, Changdong."
"...."
Destruction's face immediately distorted.
"I thought I told you never to call me by that name again."
"Mm... did you?"
Yoo Jinwoong smiled.
"But you know..."
However, his smile quickly disappeared, and crimson electricity began to fiercely crackle around him. Yoo Jinwoong the Berserker tried his best to suppress the rage he felt inside him and spoke.
"It's none of your business what I call you, you motherfucker."
Yoo Jinwoong the Berserker.
The side-effect of his extraordinary Gift was 'rage'.
It was something Yoo Yeonha and her mother were quite embarrassed of. However, there was one man who was watching him with respect.
"... I can't believe it."
That man was Shin Jonghak.
**
The rooftop shook, and the entire building crumbled down. I floated in the air for a brief moment before plummeting. At the same time, steel and concrete rained down from the sky. The Azure Dragon's breath had caused complete chaos.
Koogoogoong—
The building collapsed almost instantaneously, and I found myself buried under pieces of the building in the blink of an eye.
Unhindered by darkness, I looked down at Chae Nayun who was in my arms.
She was sleeping with her eyes tightly shut.
"...."
Soon, everything became silent.
Buried under all the debris, I was surrounded by complete darkness.
But using my Thousand-Mile Eyes, I peered through the debris.
"Whew."
I wanted to see what the Azure Dragon was doing. Thankfully, its anger seemed to have subsided with the previous attack, as it was wagging its tail and returning into the ocean.
"Auuu."
My head was spinning.
I couldn't feel my right arm.
Thankfully, my barrier was still active. Of course, most of it was burnt and tattered, with the obsidian bracelet about to break, but what was left was protecting us from the debris.
"... Hey."
I poked Chae Nayun's cheeks. However, she was passed out completely. Her magic convulsion seemed to have subsided, so why did she suddenly faint?
"This is a bit dangerous..."
I wasn't sure how long my barrier could last. In fact, I wasn't sure how long I could last. Yi Yeonghan or Kim Horak might have dug through the debris with their body, but for me...
"... Haa."
The oxygen was running low, and my blood was boiling because of my Stigma expenditure. Even when I used my body's recovery potion medicinal effect, nothing changed.
My vision grew blurry. Just when my consciousness was about to cut off...
Something big shot out of my chest.
"Grrrr."
It was the wolf I named Fenrir.
Fenrir moved quickly. He opened his mouth and gathered magic power. Then, he blasted it forward and cleared a pathway for us.
I was genuinely surprised.
He knew how to do long-ranged attacks too?
"Krrrrr."
Fenrir put me and Chae Nayun on his back. Then, he began to walk towards the light on the other side of the tunnel.
**
On the other hand, at Jain's mansion located near London.
"Ah, I'm so happy~"
Jain was staring at the items she stole last night with an ecstatic smile. She had taken the shiniest and most expensive jewels from Pandemonium's notoriously rich Djinn.
"You guys are so pretty~"
Each of these jewels contained pure and high-quality mana, which gave them the effect of making whoever laid their eyes on them feel good.
"I wonder what it feels like to live buried under jewels? Ah, my goal will be to make a swimming pool filled with jewels!"
Jain grinned happily as she rubbed the jewels on her face.
"Jain."
At that moment, a young boy called her name. It was Droon, who was watching an anime in the same room.
"Yeah~?"
"I'm curious, why did you do it?"
"What do you mean~?"
Jain retorted half-heartedly. Although she found it annoying to deal with a 13-year-old kid, she felt like she could listen to any of his requests today.
"I saw it. You showing them."
"...."
Hearing this, Jain's expression stiffened slightly.
"Mm~ what do you mean~? Showing who what?"
"You know what I'm talking about."
During Chae Jinyoon's murder, Droon was in charge of the barrier. Although Boss only told him to set up a barrier in a designated place, Droon was smart enough to understand what it was that he was doing.
"I saw everything."
"Ah~ that~?"
Jain grinned as though she just remembered it.
"It's nothing much. It's just that I'm quite fond of that child too."
The silver bullet that can kill that man.
Jain stood shoulder to shoulder with Boss when it came to her hatred for Chameleon Troupe's traitor. If possible, she wanted to tear his limbs apart with her own hands.
"Eh?"
"You heard me~"
If Chae Jinyoon died, it was obvious that Chae Joochul would employ Yoo Jinhyuk.
However, Droon's Mimyo[1] was a unique lifeform that Yoo Jinhyuk couldn't see through. This lifeform existed only in the present, and not in the past or the future.
As such, Yoo Jinhyuk shouldn't have been able to see anything from that day.
"If you're fond of him, why did you do that? That doesn't make sense."
"Mm~ that's because you're still too young to understand."
However, Jain purposefully left behind evidence. Since revealing Kim Hajin's face would ruin the trust between them, she had only left a piece of minor evidence, but one that could surely connect the incident with Kim Hajin.
Thankfully, Kim Hajin had a special characteristic.
"You can only perfectly possess a person when he has nowhere to return to. That way, he won't betray us like that man."
In truth, when Kim Hajin was hospitalized from the recent magic power explosion, Jain thought he would be found out. Although she thought it was a bit too fast, she figured it didn't pose much of a problem.
However, an unexpected ally ended up helping him out.
"But Droon, didn't you also know about this? We thought for sure that your rabbit would eat the corpse, but it didn't."
"... It's not that it didn't. It just couldn't."
Immediately, a small rabbit shot up eerily from Droon's back.
Red eyes and black fur.
Just looking at this terrifying existence caused one to shiver.
Jain waved her hand to apologize.
"Sorry, Mimyo. I didn't know."
"...."
The rabbit then returned to Droon's body.
"Mimyo sure is pretty... anyways, why couldn't it eat him?"
"I don't know. Mimyo didn't tell me when I asked, and we didn't have time to properly investigate."
Surprised by the explosion of demonic energy that occurred after Chae Jinyoon died, dozens of Heroes came over to the spot of his death. As a result, Droon and Khalifa only barely made it out after cleaning up the area.
Tzzzzzt—
Suddenly, the anime Droon was watching turned off.
"W-What happened!?"
An emergency announcement was shown on TV.
"Oh, what's happening now?"
[Emergency! Djinns have simultaneously invaded Hero Academies all over the world... ]
"Aaah, I was just at the good part!"
"So they finally went mad..."
Unlike Droon, Jain had a big smile on her face.
**
With Yoo Jinwoong's appearance, the situation was quickly taken care of.
After receiving the pathfinder orb from Kim Suho, Yoo Jinwoong ran around the island like a bolt of lightning and rescued every single cadet.
When news reporters asking how he could arrive so quickly, Yoo Jinwoong answered:
—I learned that Cube wasn't a trustworthy organization. I have to protect my daughter with my own hands.
[... The United Nations and the Hero Association have condemned Djinns for today's attack and have declared that they can no longer tolerate Djinns' tyranny. As the clouds of war are filling the skies across the globe... ]
Most news agencies were reporting the same thing.
With the Djinns' attack on various Hero Academies and their provocation of the Azure Dragon, which was considered the guardian of the Korean Peninsula, the aftermath of the incident was on a completely different scale than many of the previous incidents involving Djinns.
Currently, the president of Korea was personally directing meetings with the Hero Association.
"... Hm."
As a storm was brewing in the outside world, many of Cube's cadets were now hospitalized in Gangnam's Severance Hospital.
Kiiik—
Yoo Yeonha carefully opened the door to Chae Nayun's hospital room.
"Um... Nayun, are you feeling better?"
"...."
Chae Nayun was silently staring at the window. Her usually lively eyes looked especially withered today.
"Nayun?"
"... Ah."
Chae Nayun responded only when Yoo Yeonha called her a second time.
"You're here, Yeonha?"
Staring at Yoo Yeonha, Chae Nayun spoke with a feeble voice.
"Yeah, but why do you sound so weak? You don't sound like the Chae Nayun I know."
Yoo Yeonha slowly walked in and sat down on the chair next to the bed.
"Weak, huh...."
Chae Nayun muttered and let out a sigh.
"... Yeonha."
"Hm?"
Chae Nayun's hollow gaze lost focus. She fiddled with her fingers and thought about what to say.
"A-About the tattoo I told you about last time...."
When Chae Nayun brought up the tattoo, Yoo Yeonha suddenly felt stifled for breath.
"Y-Yeah?"
"Do, do you think it's real?"
"W-What do you mean?"
Yoo Yeonha wanted to maintain her composure as much as possible, but her damned voice kept trembling.
"Haa... you see."
With a deep sigh, Chae Nayun murmured softly.
"Do you think... it's the real proof of the culprit? Can I trust it?"
Yoo Yeonha didn't answer Chae Nayun. She only swallowed her saliva and calmed her trembling heart.
"... Why are you saying this all of a sudden?"
Chae Nayun then raised her head. Her dry gaze seemed to pierce Yoo Yeonha's heart.
"I think I had a strange dream today."
"... Dream?"
"Yeah, but it's a bit vivid."
Chae Nayun placed her left hand on her right upper arm. Just this simple motion caused Yoo Yeonha's heart to sink.
"Kim Hajin. It's about Kim Hajin. On his upper arm, there's a tattoo...."
Chae Nayun smirked then stopped talking. It was almost as if she couldn't believe what she was saying.
"No, I think I'm misremembering things. I must have had a strange dream because of my obsession over it."
Unlike Chae Nayun, Yoo Yeonha didn't doubt what Chae Nayun saw. In fact, it looked like Chae Nayun was still only suspicious.
"... It's too vivid to be a dream, but it doesn't make sense. Why would Hajin...."
Chae Nayun mumbled to herself and dug into her blanket.
"Yeonha, I'm going to sleep now. I'm tired."
"... Y-Yeah, s-sleep. I'm going outside for a bit."
"Un."
Yoo Yeonha walked out of Chae Nayun's room in a daze. However, she quickly snapped out of it and moved her legs. Her destination was that person's hospital room.
—Tok, tok.
She knocked on his door. However, there was no reply.
"... Hello? Are you okay?"
Tok, tok. Yoo Yeonha knocked once again. However, she couldn't hear the presence of anyone inside. With a sudden sense of apprehension, she shot through the door.
"... Waah?"
There was no one inside the room.
On the table was a single document envelope.
Yoo Yeonha grabbed the envelope.
===
[Dropout Form]
Cadet - Kim Hajin
===
"What... !"
She quickly ran out.
"E-Excuse me!"
She grabbed a nurse and asked where the patient went. When the nurse tilted her head, Yoo Yeonha immediately went to look for another nurse.
Yoo Yeonha clenched her teeth.
'No matter what the situation may be, with everything we've gone through together, you can't just disappear without a farewell... !'
1. Mimyo (name) means Beautiful Rabbit.
| ← Ch. 140 | Ch. 142 → |