Ch.11Kahlua Milk 2

“How old are you?”

“Twenty-four, no, twenty-one…”

I pour tequila into the shot glass with trembling hands.

“Oh, so you’re older than me. Just speak comfortably, noona.”

Siwoong rests his arm on the sofa.

And that arm slowly moves closer to my shoulder.

“Sorry for scaring you earlier. You were talking so tough that I thought you had some amazing ability.”

“…”

“Who would’ve thought you’d be powerless? Fortunately, you have a cute face. That’s enough to get by in life, isn’t it?”

His rough hand wraps around my shoulder.

The touch makes my stomach churn like I’m about to vomit.

I want to smash his head with the tequila bottle right now, but if I did that…

I’d be crushed under that massive fist, with nothing left of me.

“Give me your number.”

Absolutely not.

My body instinctively sends warning signals.

“I don’t have a phone…”

“No phone? How is that possible?”

“It got suspended because I couldn’t pay the bill…”

“Oh, was that the problem? I thought you were just playing hard to get.”

Siwoong gestures to the male student who came with him.

The guy pulls out a backpack from the floor.

He unzips it with an arrogant expression.

When the bag opens, it reveals bundles of cash, far more than I’ve ever seen in a cash register.

“Take one of these.”

He places a bundle of cash on my thigh.

It’s clearly over 5 million won, a huge amount.

But I felt a fear greater than the money right in front of me.

I didn’t know how these kids had such large sums of money.

And I didn’t know what they would demand from me in return.

“Ah, don’t feel burdened. I’m just giving it to you because I like you, noona.”

He smirks and drinks the tequila I poured.

Then he dips his finger into the white powder sprinkled on the table and snorts it through his nose.

Wait, wasn’t that salt?

Why is it going up his nose…

Normally with tequila, you either rim the shot glass with salt or lick it off the back of your hand after taking a sip.

After inhaling the powder, Siwoong shudders as if in ecstasy.

Drugs.

These bastards must be making money by selling drugs.

“Just think of it as payment for hanging out with me today.”

His hand now slides further inside along my thigh.

My heart pounds frantically.

What’s going to happen to me now?

Am I really going to suffer something unspeakable?

“I have physical enhancement abilities. Maybe that’s why I like soft things, unlike myself.”

My whole body trembles at the unimaginable future ahead.

I focus my mind through my fingertips.

Rather than suffer this humiliation, I’ll knock him out with Angelic Hand.

He thinks I’m powerless anyway.

His hand touches the inside of my thigh.

At that moment, I reach for Siwoong’s nape.

“What?”

Just as my fingertips were about to touch him, he withdraws his arm.

It’s because the sound of a car stopping outside the inn was heard.

“Is it the Security Division from the Association?”

The other students whisper nervously.

“Sehee, didn’t you say this place was safe?”

Siwoong glares at Sehee with narrowed eyes.

She shakes her head vigorously.

“No way… how would they know we’re here?”

I immediately withdraw my hand.

The tension leaves my body, and I curl up involuntarily.

Tears pour from my reddened eyes.

Those tears fall to the floor along my bowed head.

“You, hide the bag, and you, go check who it is.”

Siwoong commands the students in a serious voice.

They act like a single organization, following the A-rank hunter’s orders.

“What’s wrong, noona? Why are you trembling… you’re making me worry.”

After they leave, he casually brushes my hair.

“Don’t worry. If there’s a problem, we can just move somewhere else. I know a much better place than this dump. Somewhere more comfortable…”

He puts powder on his finger.

Then he holds it in front of my nose.

“Take it, you’ll be there before you know it after a short rest.”

“Wait…”

The moment I take this, it’s over.

I tried to resist by turning my head away.

But his burly arm soon grabs my head.

And gradually guides it toward the powder.

“—!”

Just as the particles were about to touch the tip of my nose.

A scream from the student who went to keep watch stops Siwoong’s hand.

Soon, familiar footsteps are heard from the entrance of the shop.

I knew that sound.

The dull, cold sound of work boots.

A woman holding a carbon sword in one hand enters the shop.

Her sword is already dripping with fresh, young blood.

In contrast, her beautiful silver hair flutters.

Why is it?

Her cloudy eyes, which had always seemed bizarre and frightening, feel especially welcome today.

“Ha.”

Siwoong snorts and rises from the sofa.

He knew exactly who he was facing.

“Anna Danilova.”

He tilts his shoulders and loosens up his body.

A dull sound like gravel colliding emanates from his body.

“I’ve always wanted to fight a ranker.”

“…”

Anna shows no reaction to his words.

Instead, her eyes turn not to the massive Siwoong but to me, small and huddled.

Anna approaches and asks me.

“You… mental. Ability user?”

Why is she suddenly asking about my ability?

When I couldn’t give any answer, she grabbed my wrist and opened the system window.

“Powerless…?”

Anna’s eyebrows furrow.

The result was completely different from what she had thought.

That makes sense.

My ability was inherited from my past life, so it’s not in Siho’s registered information.

“Then that drink. Was it a coincidence…”

She slowly bows her head to look at me.

“Let go…”

When I groan in pain, Anna releases my hand with a sense of futility.

“Hey, Anna. Are you ignoring me right now?”

Siwoong asks the killer who has turned her back on him.

“…”

But Anna doesn’t respond to his second question either.

A dark shadow creeps over her face.

Siwoong’s fist plunges toward Anna.

I thought she would be crushed by that brutal fist.

But his fist only shattered the innocent floor; Anna was nowhere to be seen.

She was already standing lightly on Siwoong’s shoulder, raising her sword against him.

Soon, without a moment’s hesitation, her sword strikes down at Siwoong’s neck.

“—!”

The moment the sword makes contact, a gray energy surrounds the A-rank hunter’s body.

He tightened his muscle density to the maximum to deflect Anna’s sword.

“He blocked a ranker’s sword! As expected of Siwoong…!”

The other students exclaim with amazed expressions.

It’s certainly an impressive physical enhancement.

To so easily block a sword that can cut down enemies in a single stroke.

“Your skills don’t live up to your reputation. It’s just ticklish.”

Siwoong roars.

The sword strike that had hit him is reflected back toward its owner.

The ranker barely avoids it and retreats from his shoulder.

The cunning Siwoong charges quickly, targeting the moment she tries to land on the ground.

He caught her in a vulnerable moment.

His massive fist cuts through the air, rushing toward Anna’s face.

“—!”

But Anna doesn’t avoid the attack like before.

She stands proudly, as if willing to take his punch head-on like Siwoong.

“Ha, you think you can withstand my fist?”

Siwoong shouts unpleasantly.

Soon his fist reaches the tip of Anna’s nose.

As if waiting for that moment, Anna’s eyes flash.

She immediately ducks her body as if falling.

And she dives under Siwoong’s vulnerable posture after throwing his punch.

The reddish sword heads toward his exposed leg.

The sharp blade slices through Siwoong’s Achilles tendon.

Like Achilles, half-human and half-god, falling to a single arrow, the giant Siwoong’s body tilts at her single strike.

“You bitch…”

Siwoong struggles to get up again, staggering.

But due to his severed tendon, his body simply wouldn’t obey its master.

It feels like watching a bull that has broken its leg but continues to struggle, unaware of the fact.

Anna looks at the giant beast without emotion.

And slowly approaches.

What does a hunter do with captured prey?

Usually, they dismember it, separating flesh from bone.

Siwoong curls his arms and puts up his guard.

He hardens his body again to deflect Anna’s sword, just like before.

He deflects it again and again.

But Anna simply strikes down with her sword each time it’s knocked away.

The shop is filled with the sound of metal being hammered.

“Stop… stop it…”

It’s a voice I’ve never heard before.

Siwoong’s voice, which had been so deep, is now sobbing like a child’s.

Despite the drugs and alcohol, he was still just a young boy.

But Anna’s blade doesn’t stop.

Just as pretending to be strong is different from being strong,

A man pretending to be crazy is different from a truly crazy woman.

Soon, black blood spurts like a fountain from Siwoong’s arm.

Anna’s white face gradually becomes stained with that blood.

“…”

Finally, Siwoong’s arm falls limply to the floor.

The blade digs into his now defenseless neck.

At first, the knife bounced off as if hitting hard wood, but after several attempts, cracks form.

Eventually, white neck bones appear between the flesh, and even those are finally severed.

I couldn’t bear to watch the scene and turned my head away.

Her work ended only when Siwoong’s head rolled and reached Sehee.

The young girl clutches her face with an expression of mental collapse.

There’s no way teenagers could endure this horrific scene with a clear mind.

The children who witnessed the end of their trusted leader begin to back away.

They instinctively sensed it too.

That they would be next.

“Wait…”

I reach out to Anna to stop the situation.

But it’s already too late.

She turns her head toward the next prey.

And the moment targets are determined, she leaps and begins slicing the children’s necks one by one.

The child hiding under the table.

The child kneeling and begging.

The child frantically turning the doorknob at the entrance.

All of them ended up with their heads cut off by her sword.

Finally, Anna turns to Sehee, who is trembling alone.

It’s a scene that seems familiar.

That unpleasant familiarity awakens my frozen body.

Anna raises her sword.

I run to Sehee with all my might.

And just as Anna’s blade is about to strike Sehee’s crown,

I embrace the girl tightly.

“Stop it… please stop killing them..!”

“I don’t understand. Why are you trying to save. The enemy who tried to violate you?”

“Just because they did wrong doesn’t mean they deserve to die!”

When I shout, Anna brings her face close to mine.

Her breath tickles my skin.

“Eliminating all potential problems. By killing them. Is the most efficient way.”

It feels like there’s a lump in my throat, making it hard to speak.

But somehow I push through it and ask the killer.

“Then… why did you spare me?”

“The drink you made. Was helpful to me.”

Anna’s eyes narrow.

The killer only spares those who are useful to her.

“Then… spare this child too.”

“This child. Is of no use. To me.”

“If you don’t spare her….”

“If I don’t?”

“I’ll never give you drinks again.”

I looked up at Anna with tearful eyes but unwavering resolve.

This is all I have to leverage against her.