Chapter 19
“Ha, this bastard’s lucky until the very end.”
Geumseum doubted his own ears at the pure admiration in the voice.
“With that, it’ll end quickly without pain. He’ll die comfortably like falling asleep. That Hanyeong bastard is really blessed. Stop clinging to someone who’s about to become a corpse and put him down.”
“……What did you say?”
Even at Geumseum’s trembling voice, the Boss replied in an utterly calm tone.
“It’s helping a useless bastard like this to die. He’s just getting in the way anyway, isn’t that right?”
“Is that something a human being should say? You’re the useless one!”
When Geumseum shouted with a heart-bleeding feeling, the Boss chuckled.
“If it wasn’t for you, there wouldn’t have been any reason to run away. If we had stayed there, we could have gotten help!”
“Help? This stupid bastard… Hey, do you think someone like Baek Mujin would even glance at a vermin like you?”
“……”
At the name Baek Mujin, Geumseum’s breath caught. He couldn’t understand why that name kept making him shrink back. Like a ship that had dropped anchor somewhere wrong along the way, he felt pulled taut backward. Every time he heard that name, his throat felt choked and he couldn’t breathe properly.
“I thought you might be a bit different from other beggar bastards because your handiwork was useful, but did you catch their stupidity from living together? Huh?”
The Boss roughly pulled Hanyeong from Geumseum’s arms and threw him outside the cargo area. At the sound of the small body being thrown down, Geumseum momentarily lost his reason.
He planted both hands on the cargo floor and launched his body. As he rammed straight into the Boss, the huge body staggered and sat down from the unexpected attack.
Geumseum immediately rushed at the Boss and threw punches at his face. Thwack! Thwack! The impact traveled tingingly up to his elbows and shoulders, but to the Boss who had a hunter’s body, it was nothing more than child’s play.
“I was being nice to you, and this blind idiot!”
The Boss, his face twisted like a demon with rage, swung his fist carelessly. Though Geumseum, who couldn’t even see, managed to block it by raising his arms, no one paid attention to that fact.
“Argh!”
Because both of Geumseum’s arms broke from just one blow and he rolled on the ground. The Boss who jumped up from his spot looked down at the fallen Geumseum and snorted.
“Shit, because you climbed on top of me, hyung got excited and couldn’t control his strength. What use are your precious hands if they’re broken?”
The Boss took out a small bottle from his jacket. The sound of the liquid sloshing inside reached Geumseum’s ears clearly. The Boss opened the bottle’s cap and poured some over Geumseum’s arms, then pressed the bottle into his hands.
“Drink the rest. Then your bones will heal even stronger.”
Just from what had soaked into his skin, the pain was already fading. As Geumseum just trembled while holding the bottle, the Boss urged him to drink quickly, saying it was expensive and precious.
“With this, Hanyeong could also……”
As Geumseum supported himself on the ground and approached Hanyeong, the Boss narrowed his eyes and twisted his lips. The moment Geumseum tilted the bottle to give the remaining medicine to Hanyeong, the Boss quickly struck Geumseum’s hand away.
Crack—the bottle broke pathetically and the recovery potion spilled onto the ground.
“I told you not to waste precious things on vermin who don’t deserve to consume it.”
The Boss’s cold voice fell down onto Geumseum’s head. Geumseum trembled finely at the hope that had vanished before his eyes. Blood flowed down from his eyes that were burning hot with rage.
“What qualifications are there for life……”
The smell of cigarette smoke the Boss exhaled was terrible. He crouched in front of Geumseum and blew smoke onto Geumseum’s bandages stained with bloody tears. Then he stroked Geumseum’s cheek as if pitying him and whispered.
“That’s how the world is, kid. If you can’t adapt, you’ll be eliminated too. You’ve already rolled down to this bottom and you still don’t know that?”
Those words became the fuse. Something that had been quietly settled in Geumseum’s inner depths began to burst and boil up. The blood flowing from his eyes dried up from the surging heat. His head felt like it would split, so he curled up his body.
“What, what is this.”
The burnt bandages crumbled and flowed down from Geumseum’s head as he raised it again. His two eyes glowing bright yellow looked as if they were on fire.
The Boss hurriedly backed away and was on guard against Geumseum. The flames didn’t stop at his eyes but seemed to spread to his entire body. Heat haze rose around Geumseum as he stood up.
“What the hell is this bastard, shit—!”
Though the Boss shouted while drawing up his power, Geumseum showed no reaction. His eyes stained with bloody tears just burned yellow while captivated by something.
‘Let’s check once more. Is that really â– â– â– lying there…… The â– â– Guild Leader was at the scene together, so if he was in his right mind, that couldn’t be, right?’
‘Really…… he abandoned â– â– â– and saved â– â– â– ?’
‘He saved something completely useless! Now â– â– â– is going to die too.’
‘If you feel even a little responsibility, shouldn’t you do something too?’
‘Let’s try re-awakening.’
‘â– â– ah.’
The flames pouring out from Geumseum’s body grew fiercer and fiercer. The surroundings that had been completely dark became bright, and the fear cast on everyone’s faces could be seen clearly.
BOOM—! The moment the anxious Boss’s gaze reached the pile of rift byproducts, an explosion occurred. The bright red flames punished him as if scolding his dirty greed.
The fire swallowed both an intact van and the collapsed truck at once. The rift byproducts burned and spread acrid smoke in all directions. The panicked Boss’s gang screamed and scattered in all directions to flee.
The fireballs flew as if they had will and struck down the fleeing bastards. Having lost almost all his subordinates, the Boss held onto one of his remaining subordinates as a shield and tried to get away from Geumseum. When he was almost caught up to, he even went so far as to unhesitatingly throw his subordinate toward the fireball.
It was when Geumseum, having almost caught up to the Boss, raised his arm.
“Baek Mujin!”
The Boss pointed behind Geumseum with a face like he’d seen a ghost and shouted, and Geumseum had no choice but to stop dead in his tracks as if nailed down.
At the same time, someone fearlessly grabbed the wrist of Geumseum who was engulfed in flames. Whoosh—the flames licked and transferred to the other person’s hand. Even so, the strength of the gripping hand didn’t diminish. Rather, it wrapped around and pulled even more firmly.
When Geumseum turned around, he scowled fiercely. Baek Mujin was right in front of him.
His gaze was so sharp it felt like a blade cutting through skin. When Geumseum flinched and stepped back, Baek Mujin took two more steps closer. Now even their bodies were pressed close together, like they had become bundled logs burning as one.
“……What are you.”
Baek Mujin asked in a terribly trembling voice. Contrary to his fearsome presence, his eyes were twisted as if he was about to cry. His pupils looking down at Geumseum shook wildly with confusion.
“Hunter Baek Mujin!”
“Mujin-ah!”
With noisy sounds, a group of hunters gathered around the two. It was Huiseon Guild who had come out looking for Baek Mujin. They had followed the flames from the collapsed bridge, and then came following Geumseum’s flames. Since Baek Mujin had also come chasing the flames, everyone’s thoughts were similar, which led to this situation.
While Mujin was caught off guard by his father Baek Sangyeon’s appearance, Geumseum’s body blazed up brightly. Shedding his physical form, he became a giant fireball and flew up. The fireball went straight to strike the fleeing Boss.
BOOM! The giant fireball pressed the man down flat like crushing a bug.
“Kyaaaah! I was wrong! I was wrong! S-save me, uaaaah!”
Geumseum, transformed into a fireball, didn’t let go of the screaming Boss. He unleashed flames even more fiercely and engulfed his entire body. From the intense heat, all his hair burned away and his skin melted and stuck together. The Boss couldn’t even try to resist once and was burned to death in an instant.
Even though his breath had clearly stopped, Geumseum’s rage didn’t subside. The fireball’s form writhed as if punching the ground in frustration.
Not knowing the full context, Baek Sangyeon quickly raised his hand and ordered the strange creature to be bound. With one gesture, the hunters pulled out chains for capturing monsters in unison and threw them.
Then Baek Mujin intervened.
He stood blocking Geumseum without hesitation, deflecting some of the chains and grabbing and breaking others. Though the sharp blades at the ends of the chains tore his skin and blood flowed, he paid no attention.
“Yoo Eunseong…… it’s you, right?”
Mujin knelt in front of the fireball.
“Eunseong-ah.”
The blood flowing down from his arms formed a small puddle on the ground he was touching. Mujin glanced at the red blood reflecting the firelight, then turned his gaze back to the crouching fireball.
“Look at me, Eunseong-ah.”
“……”
“I came.”
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
