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Siwoo’s white face was reflected in the pitch-black eyes.
Although a much larger gate was emitting light, Taebeom’s eyes only saw Siwoo. He couldn’t see anything else.
“Huh, Leader…”
As their eyes met, Siwoo’s lips trembled and tears flowed.
Tears mixed with cold sweat scattered in the strong wind. A fierce wind was blowing from the gate entrance. It was a signal that monsters were gathering.
“Wow.”
Kwak Seokjin exclaimed, tightening his arm around Siwoo’s slender waist.
“So even Guild Master Kang Taebeom is human like us.”
He looked down at Taebeom with deep admiration.
“To think someone who seemed like they wouldn’t bleed even if stabbed with a knife could make such an expression.”
Seokjin felt the urge to see Taebeom’s face up close. The rigid look on that usually composed, haughty face was satisfyingly beyond his expectations. He almost regretted not being able to capture it in a photo.
“Hey, you there.”
Seokjin’s grinning gaze fixed on the secretary holding a gun. The bullets that failed to penetrate the barrier surrounding him fell to the ground.
“I won’t stand for any rash actions.”
He made a gesture as if to throw Siwoo into the gate by the nape of his neck. At this, the secretary who was aiming his gun at Seokjin again hesitated and cursed.
Gradually, attention from the surroundings gathered on this sudden situation. The Espers who were digging the ground in search of the plant looked puzzled at Seokjin and Siwoo standing in front of the dangerous gate entrance. They didn’t recognize Seokjin, who had become a white-haired old man. Not a single person realized that he was the leader of Seowol.
Kehak! Kuk!
Just then, the remaining monsters on the ground twisted their own necks and collapsed. The monsters bound by Taebeom’s ability died in an even more horrific manner than before.
Seokjin laughed happily watching Taebeom kill the monsters so cruelly, as if warning him. Thin blood trickled from his upturned mouth corners. Despite many eyes watching, he didn’t even attempt to wipe the blood.
As if he had given up on everything, he laughed like a madman who owned the world.
Taebeom’s power didn’t work on Seokjin, who was surrounded by a solid barrier. Mental abilities couldn’t penetrate the barrier. The barrier protecting Seokjin, created by Lee Ho-il, was quite powerful.
“Don’t touch the guide.”
Taebeom spoke for the first time after eliminating all the monsters. His expression, which had briefly tensed, was now cold and composed again. It was the same reaction as when he heard the news of Siwoo’s abduction.
He put his control bracelet back on, which he had removed, and faced Seokjin. He no longer looked at the white face brimming with tears.
“I’m your target, aren’t I? Not some guide.”
“Leader!”
The secretary shouted at Taebeom, who had dropped his defensive stance. Taebeom even withdrew his waves. It meant he wouldn’t even maintain basic defense.
“Yes, you are my target.”
Seokjin, who came down to the ground as if falling, immediately struck Taebeom’s face. Lee Ho-il, who appeared in his place, firmly grabbed Siwoo.
After knocking Taebeom down, Seokjin trampled his face to his heart’s content. He broke his high nose bridge and forcefully kicked the eyes that always looked down on people.
“Leader!”
As the secretary tried to rush in, Lee Ho-il twisted Siwoo’s arm as a warning. Siwoo’s piercing scream stopped the secretary in his tracks. Taebeom also raised his hand to stop the secretary. The secretary gritted his teeth in anger and pounded the ground.
Seokjin, quickly out of breath, pressed Taebeom’s neck with his foot. His eyes, filled with a triumphant smile, turned red. His eyes, with all blood vessels burst, no longer looked human.
“Ha, haa… Kang Taebeom.”
Seokjin had the eyes of a diseased beast. One facing imminent death.
“Baekya, which you established.”
He savored Taebeom’s blood-soaked face and grinned from ear to ear.
“Destroying it is my goal.”
Finally, after crushing the face of this young man who always looked down on him, he felt relief. His body no longer hurt. How long he had waited for this moment.
Taebeom tilted his head to the side and coughed up blood. An enormous amount of blood burst out as if a hole had opened in his body.
Seokjin’s smile, which had been laughing excitedly at this sight, gradually faded. Seeing Taebeom’s blood-stained face, his laughter subsided.
Even after being hit so hard that one eye was swollen shut, Taebeom’s expression didn’t waver. Despite being under Seokjin’s foot, he looked as if he was standing above his opponent. He remained proud until the end.
“If you destroy us.”
Taebeom swallowed the blood pooled in his mouth and stared at Seokjin with his one good eye. His lowered voice was as unwavering as his expression.
“What do you gain?”
Seokjin forcibly widened his fading smile.
“I’ll be able to close my eyes in peace.”
His death was approaching. After long denial, Seokjin finally accepted his broken body. He no longer even took guiding medication. He decided to stop struggling.
However, he couldn’t close his eyes under Baekya like this. That was the one thing he couldn’t accept.
He would end his life after driving those who lived only in the light into darkness. Without fail.
“…”
Seokjin’s face, which had been smiling grimly, slowly began to distort. It was because Taebeom, lying under his foot, was smiling.
It wasn’t Seokjin’s imagination. Taebeom was really smiling. His torn mouth corners formed a clear arc. A whistling sound could even be heard through his slightly parted lips.
“You’re laughing?”
Seokjin, doubting his eyes, drew the dagger at his waist. He tried to slash Taebeom’s mouth.
The moment the sharp blade touched the curved mouth corner, red blood burst forth. It was blood gushing from Seokjin’s shoulder.
“Aagh!”
Seokjin, his arm torn off, writhed in pain. His arm, which no one had touched, flew off on its own. Lee Ho-il’s barrier surrounding him shattered helplessly. It couldn’t withstand Geonho’s psychic power for even a second.
“Kuk, heuk…!”
Geonho mounted Seokjin’s body and broke his flailing legs. Then he looked at Taebeom lying on the ground.
He was speechless at the unfamiliar sight of his brother covered in blood for the first time in his life. He could only move his lips, unable to call out to his brother.
Taebeom, lying in a pool of dark red blood, didn’t look like a living being. He kept coughing up blood. It seemed as if all the blood in his body was pouring out. Geonho froze on the spot.
Meanwhile, Seojun, who had arrived with Geonho, was examining Siwoo. Lee Ho-il had been pinned to the ground by Geonho.
“Guide-nim, look at me. Does your arm hurt a lot?”
Seojun held Siwoo, who had his head bowed low, not knowing what to do. He couldn’t bring himself to touch Siwoo’s broken arm and only wiped away his tears.
“The secretary is calling for a teleport Esper. They’ll be here soon.”
As Seojun leaned in to examine Siwoo more closely while saying reassuring words, he suddenly felt a sharp pain in his neck.
“Esper Ha Seojun!”
The secretary, belatedly realizing the situation, shouted. But it was after Siwoo had already slashed Seojun’s neck with a knife.
A deeper wound was inflicted on the area where the knife mark had just started to heal. Even after being attacked, Seojun couldn’t immediately let go of Siwoo.
“How dare a monster like you pretend to be human.”
Siwoo lifted his chin and whispered in a chilling voice.
“You disgusting beastkin.”
The secretary rushed over and forcibly separated him from Seojun, who was sneering with a contemptuous expression.
The one Seojun was holding wasn’t the real Siwoo. The one who had imitated Jihan was now pretending to be Siwoo, deceiving Baekya.
Kuung―!
The body of Siwoo trying to escape was slammed into the ground. The illusionist, who had been hiding his body with invisibility, was also caught by Geonho’s psychic power. Geonho could detect the other’s presence just by the flow of air.
“Where is Han Siwoo.”
Geonho, who had gathered the fake Siwoo and the illusionist and crushed them with a rock, stepped on Seokjin’s ribs, breaking them. With each crack of bones breaking, Seokjin screamed in pain.
However, after screaming to his heart’s content, Seokjin soon began to laugh while coughing up blood.
“You think I would have kept him alive?”
Seokjin’s eyes gleamed with murderous intent as he mumbled with crushed pronunciation. The gazes of Geonho, Seojun, and Taebeom all converged on Seokjin at once.
Seokjin, receiving the full attention of Baekya, opened his torn mouth wide. He shouted loudly, straining his neck veins so everyone could hear.
“Han Siwoo is dea―!”
“Who the hell is dead?!”
Simultaneously, an even louder voice appeared, drowning him out. Literally, it forcefully trampled his face with both feet.
The moment they saw the snow-white hair fluttering in the wind, focus returned to the eyes of the Espers who were about to go berserk.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
