What Only She Didn't Know. (3)

Shin Se-yeon's mind was still in chaos.

Bombarded by a torrent of information all at once, her scrambled thoughts clouded her judgment.

And the thing wearing Shin Chun-gyun's face, speaking the truth while looking at her with boundless ridicule, only stoked her anger.

Yet, even in the midst of all that, Shin Se-yeon instinctively shouted.

"No!!!!"

That's what she screamed.

What the man wearing Shin Chun-gyun's face said made her judgment falter and incited her rage, but even in that moment, Shin Se-yeon realized one clear truth.

That her father, Shin Chun-gyun, whom she had hated all these years, was no longer someone to hate.

"Wow~ You almost burst my eardrums."

The thing wearing Shin Chun-gyun's face continued sneering as it spoke, watching Shin Se-yeon scream.

"I guess family is family after all, huh?"

And as if there was nothing left to hide, it peeled off the Shin Chun-gyun skin it wore.

What was revealed was a man with the character '先' (First) tattooed across his face.

He nonchalantly crouched down right next to Shin Chun-gyun, who, like Shin Se-yeon, sat constrained to a chair, and slung an arm over his shoulder.

"This guy screamed just like that when he killed your mother and sister."

"You son of a bitch!!!"

At the same time as her scream, Shin Se-yeon thrashed wildly, but the restraints still bound her tight.

Across from her, the man just chuckled, gazing at Shin Chun-gyun.

For over ten years, Shin Chun-gyun had been kept barely alive—his appearance now pitiful in the extreme.

His face and body were covered with wrinkles she had never seen before; his hair, untended and hanging down to his waist, was wild, making him seem almost a madman.

Yet even in his wretched state, Shin Se-yeon had no doubt—this was her father.

"Sey... yon...?"

The old, cracked voice she heard in her ear—the voice she thought she'd never hear again after that day.

Shin Se-yeon tried to open her mouth to respond, but—

"Huh?"

She found herself unable to speak.

No—she couldn't make a sound.

And that was because, in the very moment she tried,

"You said you wanted your wish granted, right?"

The man who'd been crouched by Shin Chun-gyun's side stabbed the dagger Se-yeon brought into Shin Chun-gyun's shoulder.

"K-agh..."

Shin Chun-gyun let out a short, choked scream.

"You fucking bastard!!!"

Shin Se-yeon's body convulsed in a spasm.

"Let me go!!!"

She struggled so violently that blood started to flow from her bound wrists and ankles, but she didn't care, thrashing desperately.

The man only enjoyed her struggle, snickering as he continued.

"Why are you cursing? I just granted your wish. You wanted to kill your old man, didn't you?"

He sneered.

"Your dad ended up like this trying to save your mom and sister...!"

"Shut uuuuuuuup!!"

Eyes bloodshot, Shin Se-yeon bellowed her intent to kill.

But the man looked even more delighted by her screams, bobbing his head.

Thunk—!

He drove the dagger deeper into Shin Chun-gyun's shoulder.

"Kuh... agh!"

"Stop!!! I said stop!!! You bastard!! Can't you hear me!? I said stop!!!"

Watching Shin Chun-gyun's aged body crumble, Shin Se-yeon shook her head, shouting now, desperate.

The man, grinning, only pressed the dagger in further.

Drip, drip—

"Please, I'm begging you... don't...!"

Shin Se-yeon, voice stripped of venom, pleaded, tears streaming down.

"That—"

His sneer widened.

"I don't want to."

As though her reaction was exactly what he wanted, the man laughed, and, in front of him, Shin Se-yeon despaired.

For the first time in her life—

An unbearable despair, as if everything was tumbling into the abyss.

"Uh—"

Her eyes caught on Shin Chun-gyun.

Among the decrepit body, the still-clear eyes—the light in them fading, bit by bit.

Slowly, and forever—

As if to show there was no coming back—quietly.

"No, please... Please!"

Shin Se-yeon muttered in despair.

And the more she gave in to that miserable expression,

"Marvelous, this is a masterpiece...!"

She saw only the man, now howling with laughter.

'Please, please, someone—someone help me... Please...! Please!!!'

As Shin Se-yeon's gaze passed dying Shin Chun-gyun to the man—

She thought.

If only she'd had a little more strength.

If she'd had the power to kill that man, or at least enough to stand against him.

Or at the very least, the power to break free of these restraints.

Would this situation be different?

Yes, everything would have been different.

If she'd had such power, she wouldn't be bound here like this.

With the strength to escape, she could have saved her father, Shin Chun-gyun.

'If only... I'd had power! If only...!'

And so Shin Se-yeon thought—

[Do you want revenge?]

A voice echoed.

####

[Iron-Blood: Hey, come outside the village just once, would you?][18yoHighSchooler-chan: lol][Iron-Blood: Don't you play the game?][18yoHighSchooler-chan: I'm playing, duh?][Iron-Blood: ?][18yoHighSchooler-chan: The game of teasing you.][Iron-Blood: fuck off][18yoHighSchooler-chan: lol]

Whenever Kim Dojun logged into Lantiarval, he'd get spotted like a ghost and the girl would always show up to the newbie village to chat, and watching the chat start to fill up with swearing again, Kim Dojun thought.

'I think chatting alone won't cut it anymore with her.'

He'd already made her feel one of the four emotions she needed to, rage.

But the others still remained, so Kim Dojun decided he should try meeting Tia in person.

And if asked what he'd do when he met her?

To be honest, Kim Dojun didn't know either.

He just knew that, like this, progress would never move forward.

So, as Tia continued to curse energetically, Kim Dojun determined to make plans to meet her soon.

'Time to log off?'

[Iron-Blood: You little shit, is this fun for you? Fun?][Iron-Blood: You were behaving for a while and now you start this crap again? Am I a joke? Am I funny to you?!][Iron-Blood: Answer][Iron-Blood: Answer me, fuck][Iron-Blood: 3][Iron-Blood: 2][Iron-Blood: 1][Iron-Blood: You little shit, you're dead for real.][18yoHighSchooler-chan: I quit, bye][Iron-Blood: What?]

Watching Tia's stream of curses, and seeing her leave with a single message before immediately logging out of Lantiarval, Kim Dojun decided to call it a day, lay down in bed, and picked up his smartphone.

After playing around on his phone for a while—

[A maglignant spirit, "Azmo of Greed," descends!]

"!"

The alert popped up right before his eyes, making him bolt upright unconsciously.

####

Shin Se-yeon, in the midst of tears streaming down her face from that voice she heard by her ear, instinctively looked up.

And then, in the next moment, she saw.

Before her appeared a soul scattering blue spiritual power in every direction.

Even through her body's instinctive shivers, Shin Se-yeon instantly understood what it was.

'A maglignant spirit...!'

Without question, Shin Se-yeon saw that the soul staring at her was a maglignant spirit.

The spiritual power it radiated now gave off an ominous feeling just by touching her skin.

[I asked if you desired power.]

The maglignant spirit opened its mouth.

Shin Se-yeon knew.

If she said yes here, she would obtain the power she desperately needed, but would soon be robbed of her body.

And then, she would become a possessed entity, bringing calamity.

Still—

"I want it."

Shin Se-yeon answered the maglignant spirit's question.

Instant, without a second's hesitation.

She answered so, looking at Shin Chun-gyun.

Looking into those eyes in which life was slowly fading.

More precisely: her father's eyes, eyes in which his consciousness still remained for now.

'If I do it now, I might be able to save him...!'

Shin Se-yeon knew how overwhelming the power of a maglignant spirit was—knew that with it, she would surely be able to save her father.

The maglignant spirit that descended before her was, indeed, a calamity, yet to her, it seemed like a single ray of hope.

"I... want power...!"

She tried to make a contract with Azmo of Greed.

To make a contract—and gain hope.

But then.

She saw the maglignant spirit's grim face slowly twist upward into a smile.

By the time the corners of that mouth curled grotesquely into a chilling grin—

[Nope.]

"Wha—?"

She felt her hope shatter to pieces.

"W-what?"

Shin Se-yeon, her eyes wide with disbelief, demanded to know what was happening.

But the maglignant spirit snickered, just as the man earlier had sneered.

[It's true, I was drawn here by your greed. If there hadn't been a proper vessel, I'd have no choice but to make a contract with you, unpleasant as it might be, and free you from despair with my power.]

"But then... why?"

Now looking at Azmo of Greed with empty eyes, Shin Se-yeon asked.

Azmo replied,

[Because—]

With a twisted smirk—

[—It's more fun this way.]

That was the answer.

"What, did you just say?"

[I love humans best when they're in despair. I am 'Greed,' but dig deeper and my true nature is 'Despair.' Greed—stealing what is precious to others and relishing the despair produced from that!]

[So, when there's an obvious 'substitute' made to replace you in the vicinity, there's no need for me to enter you at all!]

Behind Azmo of Greed's gleeful laughter, the man's face appeared.

Just as if he'd known all along this would happen—eyes wide, his mouth splitting into a monstrous grin.

[This is fun! Delightful!]

As the maglignant spirit broke into hysterical laughter at the now emotionless, hollow-eyed Shin Se-yeon who had lost everything,

The man, who had been smiling with anticipation as if he'd seen it coming, followed suit, cackling alongside the spirit.

Amid their two demonic peals of laughter—

Shin Se-yeon could do nothing but sit there, dazed and powerless.

"── ── -─ ─"

All she could do was gaze, in silence, at her father whose faint signs of life were quietly fading away.

Her heart shattered.

At the same time, tears welled up again and streamed down her face.

Despair crushed her.

And within that despair—

"Someone, please—"

—Shin Se-yeon, clutching her broken heart, collapsed to the floor.

"Please, someone... help me...."

As she squeezed her eyes shut against the devils' howls of laughter—

KWAANG!

The basement ceiling exploded.

"—"

Shin Se-yeon saw.

A man grasping the shattered corpses of the Muryeong clan's sorcerers in both hands.

"...."

With infinitely calm eyes, he looked at her.

"Who are you?"

Asking so—was Kim Dojun.

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