“Yeah, the pharmaceutical industry. It has to succeed. We’re colleagues, aren’t we? Or should I say shareholders?”
“......”
At my words, Yu Yeonha bit down on her teeth and lowered her head gloomily.
That was when it happened.
Kooong!
A massive explosion rang out.
I looked down through the window, beneath the Ferris wheel, then looked back at Yu Yeonha. She was staring at me with a resolute expression, as if she had suddenly made up her mind. As though she had no interest at all in the commotion unfolding below.
“.....Why?”
“........ I told you I had something to say. To you.”
“Yeah. Say it.”
“You see. You....”
Boom!
At that moment, the Ferris wheel shook and came to a stop. Yu Yeonha showed no reaction, but I hurriedly looked down.
The ground beneath the Ferris wheel.
At the place that the thunderous explosion had swept through, a man and a woman were standing off against each other.
I focused my eyes and ears on them.
—So it was you after all. But you were giggling around with a woman.
Jin Sahyeok, who had now become a woman, said while glaring at Kim Suho and Chae Nayun beside him.
?.......
—You recognized me after all. Well, then again, there are only two of us. You’d have to be an idiot not to.
—What are you picking a fight for?
Chae Nayun stepped forward with her brows furrowed. She was wearing a polar bear hat she had gotten from who knew where.
—Shut your mouth, you empty-headed bitch.
—What? You fucking crazy bitch......
Chae Nayun was a woman with a strong spirit in her own right, but the moment Jin Sahyeok said those words, she erupted with magic power. In an instant, a wave of magic surged up and struck Chae Nayun directly in the abdomen. Chae Nayun was sent flying hundreds of meters away and slammed into the asphalt.
“Hey, hey. Looks like we’ll have to talk later.”
The situation was quite bad. No matter how you looked at it, Chae Nayun getting knocked away in one hit wasn’t right. Jin Sahyeok was a “growth-type” final boss, after all.
I hurriedly opened the Ferris wheel door and tried to jump down.
However, Yu Yeonha grabbed my wrist.
I looked at her hand gripping my wrist, then raised my gaze to look at her.
“I don’t think I’ll be able to do it later. Later...... I don’t think I’ll be able to say it.”
With a face that looked as though she was on the verge of tears, Yu Yeonha let out that desperate voice.
I froze for a moment.
Just what kind of situation was this......
Ah. It came to me like a light bulb flashing on.
The puzzle pieces fit together.
Part of the “Yu Yeonha scandal” had already begun.
If so, it made sense that she’d get stress-induced gastritis.
“........Then you don’t have to say it.”
Even if you don’t, I’ll help you.
I smiled rather brightly and lightly tapped Yu Yeonha on the head.
Then I jumped down from the Ferris wheel.
End
I jumped down from the Ferris wheel, a hundred meters in the air.
For a moment, it felt as though the pressure of the air was squeezing my whole body, and before I knew it, both my legs touched the ground. My body was weak, but there wasn’t any particular pain.
However, the smartwatch spoke coldly. It said that because of this fall, nearly fifteen percent of the stats gained through Vitality Conversion had been lost.
And I’d been preserving them so carefully.
It was a shame, but for now I ran toward the direction Chae Nayun had been thrown.
“Ah, shit....”
Chae Nayun was sitting collapsed on the asphalt, clutching her stomach. Even though she had taken a magic wave of tremendous power head-on without any protective aura, her injuries didn’t look that serious.
“Gueek!”
......Or so I thought, but with one cough, a lump of blood poured out. Chae Nayun staggered and fell back to the ground.
“Hey, hey. Get a hold of yourself.”
“......What the. Kim Hajin?”
Chae Nayun looked up at me blankly, breathing heavily.
I took a potion out of my belt bag, popped the lid open, and poured the red liquid into Chae Nayun’s mouth.
“Drink.”
“Mmgh.”
Chae Nayun swallowed all of the potion, but the healing of internal injuries by potion was naturally accompanied by considerable pain.
“Aaagh!”
Chae Nayun writhed in that agony before fainting.
But her pulse was normal, and soon her breathing returned to normal as well. She’d probably recover on her own in about twenty minutes.
I hid Chae Nayun in a nearby thicket, returned, and looked at Kim Suho and Jin Sahyeok.
—Just try going to that woman. I’ll kill both of you.
—....Why did you change like this?
—What? No, hey, no matter how much the world has changed, you don’t get to speak informally to me. Not with the relationship we used to have.
Kim Suho and Jin Sahyeok began exchanging words as they faced each other. The two spoke of their shared past. Nobles, commoners, knights, the continent, swordsmanship......... Their conversation continued amid a hollow sense of kinship. Once that conversation ended, combat would follow.
—Siqoal, Rowle!
Before long, along with a thunderous shout I couldn’t understand, Jin Sahyeok spread her magic power in every direction.
Her magic power condensed into dozens of spears and swords and rose into the air. The weapons of magic lined up as if embroidering the sky, their edges flashing as they aimed at Kim Suho.
Before those magic blades, Kim Suho merely picked up a single iron pipe rolling on the ground.
—You idiot. You think that’ll be enough?
After a short sneer, she fired the spears and swords like bullets.
The spears and swords shot out at a speed the naked eye could never follow, accompanied by ferocious destructive power and explosive waves of air. Like missiles rushing forward at high speed, yet with tremendous weight, a baptism of magic swords and spears rained down.
Kim Suho dodged what he could dodge, and deflected attacks he couldn’t avoid with the iron pipe.
Magic power that failed to hit its target or had its path bent by the pipe embedded into the asphalt and created enormous craters. As a result, the road surface was brutally gouged out, and the amusement rides were hideously destroyed.
After only one minute of such consecutive spear- and sword-throwing, Djerin Land had transformed into a desolate wasteland that had lost all dreams and hopes.
“........She’s fucking strong.”
Without moving a single step, Jin Sahyeok warped everything around her through nothing but manipulation of magic power.
To make matters worse, Kim Suho didn’t have Mistilteinn right now. It would be one thing if he at least had a favorable matchup, but Jin Sahyeok, as Kim Suho’s antithesis, didn’t use anything like weapons. That overwhelming steel-colored magic power itself was her strength and origin.
Kim Suho could not defeat Jin Sahyeok.
In accordance with her role, Jin Sahyeok would plant thorough despair and stimulation in Kim Suho.
“Hup!”
Kim Suho swung the pipe and turned the magic spear’s force against her. The spear and sword he sent back were easily blocked by her shield of magic power.
At the same time, a spear struck Kim Suho’s shoulder directly.
“Ugh!”
Thanks to his perfect protective aura, it didn’t pierce him, but Kim Suho’s body was sent flying far away.
Jin Sahyeok did not miss that opening. Toward Kim Suho, who had risen into the air, formless magic power delivered heavy impacts.
Bang, bang, bang, bang.
Kim Suho bounced through the air like a jegi. After dozens of those blows, Kim Suho lost consciousness, but the attacks continued.
I had no choice but to step in between them.
But before that, I should take some elixirs first.
[Your stats increase by 1.5 for 10 minutes!]
[Due to repeated ingestion, your stats increase by an additional 0.75 for 5 minutes!]
[Due to repeated ingestion, your stats increase by an additional 0.375 for 2 minutes and 30 seconds!]
Feeling tremendous vitality circulate through my entire body, I slowly walked forward and blocked his path.
I wondered what the hell I was doing among the main characters, but the script had been twisted anyway. And a twisted script had to be corrected by someone who had no set role from the beginning.
“Why don’t you stop now?”
“......You?”
Perhaps thanks to the eye contact from last night, Jin Sahyeok stopped attacking for a moment.
“What, you were a teacher?”
“........A teacher?”
Well, I suppose I didn’t look like I had a high school student’s face right now.
I gave a faint laugh and tried to accept it.
But at that very moment, spears and swords of magic power rushed toward me. A speed that was impossible for the naked eye to handle.
There were probably six of them in total. They brushed past me in the blink of an eye—over my shoulders, between my armpits, beside my neck...... I kept my eyes wide open and stared straight at their movements. No, I didn’t even have time to close my eyes.
Kwaaaang!
A thunderous explosion rang out behind me.
For a moment, my mind went blank from the sudden barrage of attacks, but I quickly came to my senses.
Her killing intent had not receded.
In other words, the attack wasn’t over yet.
I hurriedly activated Bullet Time.
At that instant, a spear charged toward my eyes like a wild beast. In the world that had slowed down momentarily, I could at least feel the movement of that attack.
I twisted my head to the side and barely avoided it.
Kwaaang!
The spear that passed me embedded itself in a merry-go-round and exploded.
“......Oh?”
If the next attack had followed immediately in this situation, I probably wouldn’t have been able to dodge and would have died.
However, instead of attacking, she looked at me again with admiring eyes.
“Interesting.”
My heart was pounding like mad.
However, perhaps because of what happened last night, Jin Sahyeok was overestimating me.
If so, wouldn’t it be fine to put on a bit of an act?
“Why don’t we leave it at this? Neither he nor I brought a single weapon.”
I spoke in a deliberately solemn tone. The Jin Sahyeok I knew wasn’t the type to lose control of her temper and see things through to the bitter end. At least, this wasn’t the kind of situation where she would. Besides, she had beaten Kim Suho to a pulp, so this should be enough for her to be satisfied.
“I asked if you were a teacher.”
However, Jin Sahyeok asked me that again.
I shook my head.
“No. I’m a friend of the girl you sent flying.”
“Then get lost. Unless you want to be buried the same way.”
Jin Sahyeok was more violent than expected.
With no other choice, I put my hand into my pocket. No matter how I looked at it, she didn’t seem like she would stop here.
In that case, I had no choice but to rely on her arrogant personality.
I secretly condensed Aether into the shape of a 500-won coin and slowly brought it out into the world.
“What’s that?”
Looking at the 500-won coin made of Aether, Jin Sahyeok furrowed her brows deeply.
“Ah, I told you. I didn’t bring a weapon.”
“So, you’re going to try doing something with that?”
“I’m going to throw it. At your forehead.”
As I said that and shrugged my shoulders, Jin Sahyeok began to cackle.
Fortunately, it seemed her arrogant personality was still the same.
I cleared my throat for no reason and carefully asked,
“Can I try?”
“Yeah, try it. If you can hit me.”
She spread both arms wide, showing her willingness to receive the attack.
I smiled inwardly and gripped the 500-won coin.
Then I won’t refuse.
There was only one chance.
I had to drive this coin into her forehead.
I consumed all of Stigma’s magic power, wrapped the coin in anti-magic power, and added one more technique to it.
[Wild Ginseng Elixir]
—Permeates discharged magic power and strengthens that magic power.
It was a method similar to the one I had used before when I killed the witch Evandel, who had been guarding Aether.
I dissolved the elixir into the anti-magic power wrapped around the 500-won coin.
Then I glared at her again. She was watching me with interest. There was still no sign of defense, but the magic power infused with the elixir was giving off an even brighter blue light.
“Oh, now that’s something curi—”
“...Hup!”
Without delay, I put the strength of my entire body into my right arm. Muscles swollen as if about to burst, and Stigma’s magic power squeezed out without leaving a single drop behind.
Literally with all my strength, I hurled the coin.
Paaaang!
The coin charged forward while spinning violently. Stigma’s magic power clung to it in brilliant blue, multiplying the coin’s power.
She smiled leisurely and wrapped herself in a shield of magic power.
As expected, the clarity and sturdy defensive power of magic power on a completely different level.
However, no matter how strong it was, it was still nothing but “magic power.”
Using centrifugal force and rotational force as its weapons, the coin bored a “hole” through the shield, then rushed through that gap and struck the space between her eyebrows—her pure white forehead.
“......What the!”
The coin that had pierced through the shield began fiercely pushing against her forehead. She endured the coin with her eyes wide open. The asphalt split apart along the path of her feet as she was pushed back.
“......Fuck.”
However, the coin’s strength had already faded, and Jin Sahyeok endured the attack completely, without even something as common as fainting.
Clink—
The coin fell.
Drip.
Almost simultaneously, two streams of blood flowed from the bastard’s head.
“It hurts, you son of a bitch.”
Glaring at me with killing intent, Jin Sahyeok condensed her mana. But the damage from my coin had clearly reached her brain. The brain is the most important organ when it comes to handling mana. Thanks to that, her mana couldn’t coalesce properly, merely repeating the cycle of condensing and scattering every which way.
This was undoubtedly a golden opportunity.
However, I simply stood there, looking at her.
And sure enough, I didn’t have the strength to lift a finger. I had squeezed dry every last bit of mana from my Sacred Mark and the stats from my Vigor Conversion.
Then, as if he were a savior... a man appeared.
“That’s enough. Come on.”
He was the unidentified man I’d seen with Jin Sahyeok last night.
Appearing from somewhere, he grabbed Jin Sahyeok’s arm and pulled her back.
“......... Let go. I’m going to kill that bastard.”
Vicious words kept spilling from Jin Sahyeok’s mouth, but her own situation was far from good. She couldn’t plant her legs firmly on the ground and kept sliding around.
“Tch.”
The man smiled bitterly and struck the back of Jin Sahyeok’s neck. In an instant, her pupils vanished and her body crumpled. Hoisting the unconscious Jin Sahyeok over his shoulder, he looked at me.
His gaze was cold.
“Hey, we’ve met before, right?”
I only nodded slightly. My tongue wouldn’t move.
“Thanks. Because of you, I don’t think I’ll let my guard down next time.”
Leaving behind only that brief sentence, the man disappeared like the wind.
* * *
Around the time heroes and police arrived and the chaos at Dijerin Land began to settle.
The man was moving while carrying Jin Sahyeok. The unconscious Jin Sahyeok was light and still, but something wet flowed down from behind her.
“Ah, what the hell, drool...”
“You’re filthy, you know that?” The man used his mana to form a mask over her mouth. Then, just as he was trying to slip out through a corner of Dijerin Land.
“Where are you going?”
A cold woman’s voice stopped him.
It was an all-too-familiar voice.
He paused briefly, then smiled warmly as he looked toward where the voice had come from.
“.......Jane.”
The voice calling him was a woman’s. But the appearance was not that of a woman. It was the figure of a male searcher at Dijerin Land, but the voice was unmistakably Jane’s, so the man could recognize her easily.
Jane scoffed and nodded.
“Yeah. Long time no see, Black.”
“........ I threw away that color a long time ago.”
Hearing the name of a color he hadn’t heard in a while, faint memories of the time when he was called by a color instead of a name came back to him.
But he quickly put away the useless reminiscence and asked Jane.
“I heard your merits seem to be almost full. But it looks like our little one didn’t come?”
Jane answered simply.
“I didn’t want to let her die.”
“Ah~ worried about me?”
“No, worried about the Captain. The Captain can’t beat you.”
“......Hmm.”
The man stared directly at Jane. With that gaze alone, Jane’s disguise crumbled, and soon her beautiful true form was revealed.
“........ If that’s the case, what reason do you have to come find me?”
“I just wanted to see how well you’ve been living.”
Jane said that while glancing at the woman on his back.
“But it seems you’ve already found a new child.”
At those words, the man simply smiled.
“Yeah, she’s my disciple. Though she’s too special to be called a disciple, and too desperate to kill me to be called a disciple,”
In the very next moment, mana swirled in the man’s hand.
No, part of his grip transformed into mana itself.
A grip of mana flickering like a heat haze. It was clear that touching it would make preserving one’s life intact impossible.
But even at that clear warning, Jane remained calm.
“Yeah, you said it yourself. People who have something to protect can’t act recklessly.”
Jane’s finger moved subtly, pointing at the woman on his back.
“Just as you can kill me right now, I think I can kill that woman too.”
“........ I suppose that’s true.”
The man smiled faintly. At the same time, the surge of mana that had been raging until moments ago subsided like a lie.
“I’m going.”
After that, the man passed by her.
Jane glanced at his retreating figure as he brushed past her, then slowly continued.
“But mister. Is it really okay for you to just leave?”
Without any answer, the man kept walking.
“The new Black that the new Captain found.”
Jane’s voice flowed from behind him.
“A wolf hired solely to kill you.”
The Fenrir that devoured Odin alive