Ch.149Chapter 149. Final Chapter (3)

“H-how?”

Elaine muttered as she watched Ryuyeong turning his body around as if stretching.

No matter how many times she pinched herself or closed and opened her eyes, Ryuyeong standing before her didn’t disappear.

What she was seeing now wasn’t an illusion or hallucination.

It was the real Ryuyeong.

The Black Shadow Corps leader Ryuyeong who sacrificed himself to protect her while fighting Satan.

The person she thought she would never see again.

‘Hic…!’

As the realization that the person standing before her was really Ryuyeong sank in, Elaine felt something hot rising within her.

An indescribable emotion she had never felt in her entire life.

“It’s been a while?”

Ryuyeong awkwardly rotated his wrist as he looked at her and spoke.

“Ah.”

Elaine didn’t know how to respond to Ryuyeong’s casual greeting.

So this is what it feels like when your mind goes blank.

Noticing her voice trembling excessively even to her own ears, Elaine hastily swallowed.

She didn’t want to appear flustered in front of Ryuyeong, whom she thought she might never see again.

“I’m glad you made it out of there safely.”

“…”

But Elaine’s resolve immediately crumbled at Ryuyeong’s next words.

While the content itself seemed ordinary, his voice carried deep sincerity.

A voice filled with relief and concern.

And the moment she heard that voice.

Whoosh-

“Wh-what?”

Elaine embraced Ryuyeong as if it were the most natural thing to do.

Emily’s surprised voice from the side or Ryuyeong’s stiffened body didn’t register in her awareness at all.

Ryuyeong’s embrace—not exactly warm, but solid and reassuring.

Feeling his embrace, Elaine realized more acutely that Ryuyeong had truly returned.

Tap-

When Ryuyeong’s hand touched her back, tears began flowing from Elaine’s eyes without her even realizing it.

An overwhelming emotion difficult to express, accompanied by profound relief.

The tears rolling down Elaine’s cheeks slowly dampened Ryuyeong’s chest.

**

Scratch- Scratch-

The office was so quiet that the sound of a pen, which normally would barely be audible, seemed to echo throughout.

Addy, moving her pen while barely making a sound, maintained an expressionless face as she turned the pages one by one.

It had been months since the leader had left his position, but the Black Shadow Corps was experiencing unprecedentedly busy days regardless of the leader’s absence.

The Black Shadow Corps underwent the biggest change following the reappearance and sealing of the nameless devil, Satan.

They had been working to prevent Satan’s revival from the beginning, and the Black Shadow Corps leader ultimately defeated Satan.

Thanks to this fact, the name “Black Shadow Corps” was now known to everyone across the continent.

Especially Ryuyeong, the Black Shadow Corps leader, who was hailed as a hero who saved the continent, comparable to the former Crescen Emperor.

Various countries invited the leader, and some even offered to bestow noble titles and territories upon him.

This was the goal Ryuyeong had mentioned in passing when he first created the Black Shadow Corps.

To someday become the continent’s strongest mercenary group, making countries desperate to recruit them.

Though the method was slightly different, the current situation was, if anything, even better than that goal.

“Sigh.”

Having finally completed the flood of paperwork, Addy exhaled briefly and put down her pen.

The Black Shadow Corps had grown and achieved beyond the leader’s initial goal, but it didn’t feel satisfying or joyful at all.

Because the core and most important person of the Black Shadow Corps, the leader, was no longer present.

After putting down her pen, Addy opened the drawer out of habit.

What she saw as soon as she opened the drawer was a slightly worn signal device.

The main signal device that tracked and received signals from the emergency beacons owned by the leader and captains.

Over the past few months, checking the signal device whenever she had a chance had become Addy’s routine.

The other captains tried to dissuade her, telling her to stop, but Addy never gave up.

“…”

After taking out the main signal device from the drawer and staring at it for a moment, Addy eventually gave a bitter smile.

The only signals detected by the device were those of the four captains.

Though she now checked it out of habit without any expectation, she couldn’t help feeling bitter.

Just as Addy was about to put the signal device back in the drawer after looking at it for a while.

Zing-

The signal device in Addy’s hand vibrated and emitted a faint light.

“Huh…?”

At first, Addy thought she had seen wrong.

Zing-

But the repeated vibration and flash made her snap to attention.

Zing-

She hadn’t seen wrong.

The signal device was vibrating and emitting blue light.

Blue light indicating that a new signal device’s location had been detected.

Addy, startled, began infusing mana into the signal device.

Thump- Thump-

Addy’s heart began beating uncontrollably fast.

The blue light indicating that a new signal device’s location had been detected on the main device could only mean one thing.

That they could now track the location of the leader’s signal device, which had been the only one impossible to track until now.

And that meant the leader had returned to the continent.

Ziiing-

As Addy infused mana, the vibrating signal device began to vibrate even more strongly.

Then soon, a small map appeared in the air, and the locations of each signal device began to be displayed.

The location of 4th Division Captain Yuria Phrysis in the Crescen Empire.

The location of 3rd Division Captain Felipe somewhere in the eastern continent.

The locations of 1st and 2nd Division Captains Erika and Jacqueline who had gone west.

And finally, the location of the remaining one, the leader’s signal device, which had not been detected at all until now.

“This is…?”

Addy muttered in disbelief as she focused on checking the location displayed on the map.

The location of the fifth signal device was, no matter how she looked at it, right here.

The Black Shadow Corps hideout, where Addy’s office was located.

“Wow, it’s been a really long time since I’ve been here. Was my memory hazy?”

Flinch-

Addy involuntarily trembled at the familiar yet awkward voice coming from behind her.

Someone who always appeared in her office without any warning or presence.

There was only one person who could enter and exit the Black Shadow Corps hideout, which boasted the strongest security, and especially Addy’s office, so easily.

Ryuyeong, the Black Shadow Corps leader, who could teleport without any restrictions.

“It’s been a while?”

“…!”

Addy tried to calm her pounding heart and trembling body as she slowly turned her head.

There was a reason why Addy had, at some point, stopped being surprised when the leader appeared in her office without warning.

Because the leader always appeared in the same spot.

Even while working, Addy was always conscious of the spot where the leader would appear.

That’s why, even when the leader appeared without warning, she wasn’t surprised and could even surprise the leader in return.

And the voice she was hearing now was coming from exactly that spot.

Behind Addy’s desk, between the bookshelf and the window.

The person standing there with a playful expression as always was.

“I’m a bit late, aren’t I?”

“L-Leader.”

It was Ryuyeong, the Black Shadow Corps leader.

Ryuyeong was looking at Addy while awkwardly scratching his head.

Addy, like Ryuyeong, stared blankly at the leader before reaching out toward him.

Thud-

“Huh? Are you picking a fight right now?”

Addy pushed the leader’s shoulder quite forcefully.

It wasn’t an illusion where her hand would pass through his body; there was a clear sensation.

That is, it was real.

Thwack-

“Ugh. Addy? That kind of hurts?”

Thwaaack-

“Oww!”

After pushing Ryuyeong’s shoulder once, Addy, with a blank expression, continued to touch Ryuyeong several more times in succession.

Addy began clenching her fist and hitting Ryuyeong harder and harder.

Even his exaggerated reactions while pretending to be in pain when it probably didn’t hurt much were the same.

It really was the leader.

“Where…”

“Owww, I said it hurts. Addy? What are you saying?”

Thwaaack-

As Addy’s fists became increasingly emotional and Ryuyeong’s reactions started to become genuine rather than exaggerated.

Addy’s hand finally stopped.

“Where have you been all this time to only come back now!!!”

“…Uh.”

Addy burst out with one intense sentence as if releasing all her pent-up emotions.

Seeing this, even Ryuyeong couldn’t respond immediately and just stared blankly at Addy for a moment.

The silence between the two, who were just looking into each other’s eyes without speaking, was first broken by Ryuyeong.

“Sorry. I was trapped in a place I absolutely couldn’t get out of.”

“…”

Unlike usual, the leader’s voice, as he spoke with a forced smile, wasn’t just full of playfulness.

His voice carried sincerity.

“Haaaa…”

Addy closed her eyes slowly while exhaling a trembling sigh.

Her mind was in chaos as various complex emotions swept through her heart in a short time.

Anyway, the most important thing was.

“So you did come back.”

“…Tsk. Something sounds off about that? ‘So you did come back’?”

Snicker-

That the leader had returned.

Addy couldn’t help but laugh as she watched the leader react irritably as usual.

Despite appearing after several months, the leader was exactly as Addy remembered him.

“Oh, you’re laughing?”

At the leader’s words, Addy’s laughter deepened.

Addy wiped away a small tear that had formed in the corner of her eye, making sure it wasn’t noticed, and looked straight at the leader.

“Do you know how much work has piled up during your absence?”

Saying the exact same thing as usual.