Ch.153Kiss of Fire 4

1 AM.

Yet, the sky burns red like a sunset afternoon.

The penthouse’s glass walls and frame have been completely blown away.

The cold night air tickles my lungs, as if I’m standing on an open-air terrace.

I stare blankly at the crimson sky.

Perhaps because it’s my first time seeing Vice Chairwoman Na-hyun’s technique, everything still feels like a dream.

Until now, the molted skins of the enemy and piles of corpses.

Anna’s abnormally strong physical prowess.

Even for me, who has witnessed Sister Ji-su’s firestorms, Na-hyun’s technique was awe-inspiring.

It almost feels like the Vice Chairwoman is some divine being visiting Earth.

“—.”

However, that thought completely vanished when I saw her hiccupping after using her technique.

Perhaps it was due to using such a powerful finishing move while intoxicated in the middle of the night.

She staggered and collapsed onto the sofa.

“Those things were really an-noying. Don’t you think, Si-ho?”

I was hiding behind the sofa and cautiously peeked out.

Then I nodded with a terrified expression.

“Yes… Thanks to you, I survived. Thank you, Vice Chairwoman.”

“Saving my future daughter-in-law is so- difficult!”

The Vice Chairwoman shouted with her head tilted back over the sofa.

Then she coughed lightly as if the cool night air had touched her lungs.

“Should I make you some honey water?”

“No, what honey water at this hour? Do you have another drink by any chance?”

Looking for alcohol even after what just happened.

Normally, I would have refused, saying who drinks at this hour.

But I witnessed firsthand how she fights while intoxicated.

Probably no amount of alcohol could trouble her liver.

That thought made the corners of my mouth curl up involuntarily.

I slowly got up and answered her question.

“I do. I’ll mix you a drink.”

I slowly approached the kitchen.

But my steps came to an abrupt halt.

The kitchen, having been hit by a solar storm, was in shambles.

It was a complete disaster, as if a nuclear bomb had gone off.

The cabinet glass, drinking glasses—all shattered.

Avoiding the sharp glass fragments, I fumbled around until I spotted a shaker rolling around in the sink.

Perhaps it survived because it was made of stainless steel.

I’ll at least use this to make her drink.

I opened the cabinet under the kitchen.

Inside was an unopened bottle of vodka.

Since she’s a drinker, a strong cocktail should be fine, right?

I put all the ingredients in at once and shook it vigorously.

The Vice Chairwoman listened to the shaking sound.

She lightly tapped her thigh, enjoying the friction sound.

The shaker, chilled with ice.

I carefully wrapped a towel around it and approached Na-hyun.

But…

Suddenly, my steps halted.

Because something was slowly falling from the sky.

Snow…?

No.

White, fluffy feathers.

Did a bird just fly overhead?

But this place is on the 24th floor.

Although the sky has brightened due to the Vice Chairwoman’s solar storm, it’s still dawn.

Yet white feathers are falling from the sky.

Feeling that something was off, I slowly raised my head.

And…

My eyes began to tremble at a sight I’d never seen before.

“Angels…?”

“What did you say, my daughter-in-law?”

The words I muttered without thinking.

Hearing that word, Na-hyun also turned her gaze to the sky.

Soon, her half-lidded green eyes widened in shock.

The broken ceiling.

Above it stood people with white hair and red eyes, dressed in white togas.

Five of them, no less.

They all had white wings on their backs.

“What… is that?”

Na-hyun blinked in disbelief at the scene.

But no matter how much she blinked, the angels didn’t disappear.

Rather, as if to confirm this was reality, they all landed in the living room at once.

“W-who are you?”

Both my hands holding the shaker trembled.

I slowly backed away until my back hit the wall.

Even worse, my bare feet stepped on glass shards, causing them to bleed.

But I was too frightened to feel such wounds.

Because all the angels were staring intently at me.

Their red eyes.

They seemed so alien, as if they didn’t belong in this world.

“…”

The angels gave no answer to my question.

As if I wasn’t worthy of a response.

Instead, they formed a pentagonal formation.

Then something magical happened.

A bizarre phenomenon like something from a movie.

The ground they covered in their pentagonal formation.

A soft radiance began to emanate from that ground.

Soon.

Someone’s silhouette wavered within that light.

A form that gradually became clearer.

When I recognized who had appeared, I thought my heart would stop.

“Congresswoman Park Sin-ae…”

The person who stole my ability.

The root cause of the plague devouring society.

It was Park Sin-ae.

Summoned from the light, she gazed down at me intently.

She was wearing a white silk dress.

As if she were a goddess.

“It’s been a while, Si-ho.”

The voice was definitely Park Sin-ae’s.

But I swallowed hard at her somewhat changed appearance.

Like the angels around her, her hair had turned white.

Only the blue color of her eyes remained the same.

Soon those eyes held a seductive smile.

“No, should I call you my little lost fox?”

“Don’t call me that.”

I was very irritated by the word “fox.”

I glared at her with sharp eyes and spoke firmly.

However, despite my demeanor, Park Sin-ae still didn’t lose her smile.

An arrogant yet benevolent smile.

She seemed very relaxed, as if she had become some divine being in the time we hadn’t seen each other.

“Step back, Si-ho. That woman doesn’t seem ordinary.”

Na-hyun rose from the sofa.

Then she picked up her greatsword that was lying on the floor.

But even seeing that sword, Park Sin-ae remained calm.

Instead, she asked the Vice Chairwoman as if pleased to see her.

“You’re Vice Chairwoman Choi Na-hyun of Ilshim, right?”

“Yeah, that’s right.”

Na-hyun answered firmly to Park Sin-ae’s gentle question.

“If our Zero hadn’t marked the coordinates before dying, we wouldn’t have made it here. I’m glad to meet you in person.”

Park Sin-ae extended her hand for a handshake.

But the Vice Chairwoman didn’t even glance at that hand.

“Am I your friend? You came to my home and caused havoc, how could I be glad?”

The Vice Chairwoman pointed her greatsword at Park Sin-ae.

Even after unleashing the solar storm, her sword still had a red outline.

“Seeing you use magic, have you become a witch or something?”

“A witch… I was called by such a wicked name once. But now it’s different.”

Park Sin-ae spread her arms benevolently.

The white silk draped over her elbows spread out like wings.

“As you can see, I’ve become a god.”

When Park Sin-ae stretched out her arms, it seemed as if a halo shone behind her.

We all frowned at that alien sensation.

“I’m still imperfect. I haven’t fully absorbed the Angelic Hand yet, because I didn’t expect Misha to betray me.”

Misha betrayed her…?

What does this mean?

Come to think of it, when I was dragged to Park Sin-ae’s laboratory, I thought all my abilities had been taken.

But since a tiny bit remained, I assumed she just couldn’t absorb it all…

Was it actually Misha who hid a fragment of my ability?

Suddenly, I recall the face of the young girl who looked down at me with pity.

“So I came to find it myself.”

Park Sin-ae’s blue eyes soon pierced through me.

I faced that gaze proudly, not giving in.

“I will never give it to you. It was my ability to begin with.”

“I knew you’d say that.”

Park Sin-ae gave a slight eye-smile.

And when she half-opened her eyes again…

“But abilities should be used by people who deserve them.”

She clapped her hands lightly.

Then the five angels spread their wings at once, and a strong wind began to spread.

I covered my face with both arms against that wind.

The glass fragments scattered on the floor all flew like bullets.

Na-hyun quickly threw herself to block the fragments coming toward me.

“Vice Chairwoman, it’s dangerous!”

For the Vice Chairwoman who was shielding me and couldn’t see ahead.

I shouted with all my might.

Five white blades rushing in.

The Vice Chairwoman rolled onto the floor with me, avoiding those blades.

“My daughter-in-law… hide here for a moment. I’ll be right back.”

The Vice Chairwoman, still on top of me, gave a painful smile.

Red blood was already flowing from her forehead, but…

She didn’t show any sign of pain.

“Vice Chairwoman…”

I mumbled in a sorrowful voice.

But she paid no heed and got up from her spot.

Then she firmly gripped her greatsword and faced the five angels.

Park Sin-ae watched the fight with her hands behind her back.

Those angels wielding translucent, pointed swords like animal bones.

They all leaped at the Vice Chairwoman with movements far faster than Zero’s Adam and Eve.

“…!!”

The five of them, moving as if they were one, stabbed at multiple places at once.

Na-hyun’s previously relaxed eyes widened at that intense attack.

Head.

Neck.

She barely avoided the bone swords aimed at those two areas.

The sword aimed at her heart was barely deflected with her blade.

The third sword targeting her leg was also evaded with quick footwork.

But…

The strike aimed at her abdomen.

Even the great Vice Chairwoman couldn’t avoid that blow.

“Kugh…”

Red blood drips from the bone sword that pierced her stomach.

Black blood also flows back from Na-hyun’s lips.

“To block four swords of God’s messengers… As expected of the third strongest woman in this country.”

Park Sin-ae walked slowly toward her, looking at the pierced woman.

Then she gently rubbed the bone sword stained with Na-hyun’s blood.

“But these angels were all made from the hair of the original Rank 1. You couldn’t possibly face them alone.”

Sin-ae smeared Na-hyun’s black blood on her finger.

Then she lightly tasted it.

“You’re definitely much weaker than Chairman Choi Ho-sun. If it were him, he would have not only blocked but counterattacked.”

Her angelic blue eye-smile.

Na-hyun’s green eyes turned vicious like a snake at that smile.

“Don’t speak my father’s name with that filthy mouth…”

“Why not? I was his colleague too, so of course I can say it. Choi Ho-sun-. Choi Ho-sun-.”

Her father, bedridden with old age and illness.

But Park Sin-ae, maintaining her youth.

The Vice Chairwoman couldn’t believe that the creator of the New Government was her father’s former colleague.

Moreover, how many humans had she killed to maintain that youth?

“Crazy bitch…”

The Vice Chairwoman muttered through gritted teeth.

She looked ready to split Sin-ae in half, but her pierced body couldn’t move easily.

Sin-ae knew her predicament well.

Thanks to that, she could leisurely turn her head toward me despite having Na-hyun right in front of her.

“Now, Si-ho. Here is Na-hyun, the woman who has saved you until now.”

“If you don’t transfer your ability to me, this person will eventually die.”

“What will you do now? Will you just let the person who saved you die? Just like in that snuff film?”

Snuff film…?

Those five syllables strike my head.

Is it because of that shock?

Memories I had forgotten began to creep up.

Sindorim Station.

Wyvern.

Dead Hyun-su and Gyu-sun.

The Counters.

And… Sister Ji-su dying.

Her whites and pupils flowing out.

That image overlaps with Vice Chairwoman Na-hyun.

I look at Park Sin-ae with trembling eyes.

Then the Vice Chairwoman shouted in an urgent voice.

“Si-ho, don’t worry about me! Don’t follow that woman!”

“Vice Chairwoman…”

Seeing my wavering appearance, Park Sin-ae approached me gracefully.

Then, holding my hand, she speaks in a serious voice.

“Just transfer your ability to me. Then I won’t trouble you anymore.”

Our Angelic Hands respond to each other.

In that moment, I realized that Park Sin-ae’s heart was sincere.

That if I just handed over the ability…

She would really spare both of us.