Ch.159Kiss of Fire 10

Anna and Jeoksa arrived at the rooftop of the building.

They encountered Jisu, who was sitting alone among the building debris.

“You’ve arrived.”

Her voice was somewhat hoarse.

Jisu staggered as she got to her feet.

“Did you already have a round?”

Jeoksa approached leisurely with her hands tucked in her coat.

Indeed, behind Jisu lay the corpse of a guardian angel.

It looked like a massive white whale.

Black blood was still bubbling from its body, which had been split in half.

“Yes… It was blocking the way to those stairs.”

“You did well.”

Jeoksa patted Jisu on the head.

She had come to appreciate Jisu’s efforts.

Even though she was Siho’s first love.

Encouraged by Jeoksa, she followed.

The two carefully approached the stairs behind Anna, who led the way.

“Let’s go, we don’t have time. Who knows what they’re doing to him right now.”

The stairway made of building fragments hung in mid-air.

One wrong step could lead to a fatal fall.

But the three rankers didn’t hesitate.

Just one step at a time.

Silently climbing the stairs, they ascended toward a beam of light breaking through the dark clouds.

A strange passage that felt more like heaven than reality.

They climbed all the way through the clouds.

What greeted the three afterward…

was a massive stone gate.

Like the entrance to hell, its surface was carved with images of suffering humans.

“So this is hell, and beyond this gate is heaven?”

How absurd.

Park Shin-ae acting so high and mighty.

Is she beyond this gate?

Jeoksa lightly rubbed the surface of the stone gate.

“Step aside.”

Anna gently pushed her away.

The white-eyed woman silently raised her fist.

KWAAANG—!!

And struck the stone gate with force.

A violent vibration.

Anna’s power was so immense that a deafening sound of rupture echoed.

The dark clouds surrounding the gate rippled from the impact.

“Are you okay…? Your fist…”

“Yes, Master. There must be another way!”

But Anna didn’t stop.

She swung her fists with the same expression she had in her days as a mercenary.

Even as her knuckles scraped and blood streamed down.

“I’m not the type to fight using my head like you two.”

The stone gate gradually caved in.

Both Jeoksa and Jisu were stunned by her overwhelming strength.

“So I’ll save Siho my own way.”

KWAAANG—!!

Between Anna’s fist and the stone gate.

A fierce white smoke rose from the impact.

As the smoke cleared, Jisu and Jeoksa could finally see.

The world that unfolded beyond the dented gate.

“There’s a meadow beyond the gate…?”

Anna inserted her hand through the gap in the dented gate.

Then she began to exert force, veins bulging on her forehead.

The view of the meadow gradually widened.

Eventually, a gap large enough for a person to enter appeared.

Blood dripped from between her knuckles.

But Anna paid no mind and silently entered the meadow.

The two rankers followed her.

Though impressed by Anna’s strength, they were even more astonished by the scene that unfolded before them.

They never imagined such a peaceful meadow could exist in the sky.

“Is this real…?”

Jeoksa, who had made dolls from countless corpses.

Even she found it hard to believe as she knelt down.

She touched the living grass and fluttering butterflies.

Feeling the living nature move beneath her fingers.

“This is impossible… How could one person create such a vast land in the sky…”

Jisu felt the same.

She too couldn’t believe the ground she stood on, gently pressing her foot against the grass.

“…”

But Anna said nothing about the world before them.

She bit her lip as if she had realized something.

“It was created by Siho’s ability.”

“Created by her ability…?”

Jeoksa asked in disbelief.

How could someone whose ability was merely making cocktails create an entire world?

“This place… looks exactly like the entrance to the amusement park Siho and I went to.”

Anna knelt down and looked at the ground.

And there…

A flower ring that Siho had once made for Anna lay there.

Even that was perfectly recreated.

Anna picked up the ring.

She gently put it in her pocket and stood up.

“Let’s go… If this is based on Siho’s memories, it should be that way.”

Anna’s finger.

It pointed toward the amusement park entrance beyond the meadow.

But there was no longer an amusement park there.

What stood there was a white cathedral.

The three approached the cathedral.

And they saw small buildings surrounding it.

People bustling beneath the buildings.

They all had white hair like Anna.

Everyone wore white togas like medieval people.

There was no sign of modern civilization among them.

Instead of cars, people pulled carts.

Instead of phones, they carried books and fruit baskets.

“She’s gone and created an entire civilization?”

Jeoksa clicked her tongue.

Dressed in her black suit, she looked around with her arms crossed.

And whenever she made eye contact with the residents of the sky island, she glared at them as if to say “what are you looking at?”

But…

The residents weren’t intimidated by her gaze.

Instead, they smiled and greeted her.

They paid no attention to the blood on Anna’s face or her bruised hands.

“You must be new residents.”

Especially a girl in what appeared to be a nun’s habit.

She clasped her hands together and smiled at the three rankers.

“New residents…?”

As Jisu tilted her head, Jeoksa grabbed her shoulder.

And whispered quietly.

‘Let’s hear what she has to say.’

‘Yes…’

“Yes, it’s amazing that you’ve received God’s blessing and earned the right to come to the Sky Island.”

God’s blessing, what nonsense.

Jeoksa’s already red eyes narrowed even more fiercely.

She already knew that to come here, one had to sacrifice five victims.

Everyone here was nothing but a murderer.

Crazy murderers who had each killed five people.

“Please follow me to complete the residence procedures.”

The nun headed toward the entrance of the cathedral.

The three followed her leisurely into the cathedral.

Unaware that the smiling residents of the Sky Island were now watching them with expressionless faces.

The inside of the cathedral was quite different from ordinary cathedrals in reality.

Of course, the stained glass and massive cross were similar to other cathedrals.

But there was a huge tree in the center of the hall.

The white-surfaced tree had no leaves.

A large pond lay beneath the tree.

The nun approached the pond.

She scooped water from the pond with a silver cup and handed it to the three.

“Drink this and you will be reborn as true residents of the Sky Island.”

It looked like clear water.

But becoming a resident just by drinking this?

It was more than suspicious.

The three silently stared at the cups the nun offered.

“Why are you hesitating…? You must drink this to receive God’s blessing.”

The nun’s expression showed confusion.

Usually, those who came to the Sky Island would kneel and beg to drink this holy water.

She seemed puzzled by their unexpected reaction.

“What’s so special about that water?”

Jeoksa asked first.

The nun forced a smile and answered.

“It’s holy water created by our prophet and angel who made this Sky Island. When you drink it, all desires in your heart will disappear, and you’ll be reborn as truly good people.”

Good people, huh.

In a place that can only be reached by killing people, they claim to make you good?

“Everything is contradictory.”

“Why do you think so?”

“Obviously. I know that those who came here committed murder to gain residence.”

Jeoksa’s indifferent remark.

The moment she heard it, the nun’s face hardened.

“By your words, you came here without sacrifices?”

The nun poured the holy water back into the pond.

She put down the cup and stared at Jeoksa with a cold, expressionless face.

“You’re intruders? But the Guardian should have been there, how did you…”

The nun’s red pupils moved eerily from side to side.

Then they stopped on Jisu.

“It was you. The smell of the Guardian’s blood…”

The nun tried to escape the moment she identified the three.

But Anna quickly moved behind her.

She grabbed the nun’s neck and lifted her up.

“Where is Siho?”

“S-Siho? Who is that… I don’t know.”

As the nun struggled, Anna dunked her into the holy water pond as if she had expected this response.

“Fine, I’ll help you remember.”

Bubbles rose from the pond where the nun was submerged.

Jeoksa casually approached Anna, who was torturing the nun.

She sat on the edge of the pond and took out a cigarette.

“I can’t quit these because of you people.”

Drawing deeply on the cigarette after a long time.

She inhaled nicotine beneath the sacred cathedral.

She even tapped cigarette ash into the pond.

And Anna continued water-boarding the nun.

Jisu just watched the two.

Despite their extreme methods, she too wanted to rescue Dohyun-il quickly.

In fact, inspired by their actions, she voluntarily kept watch in case someone entered the cathedral.

How much time had passed?

The nun finally emerged from the holy water.

She gasped for breath, panting heavily.

“Feel like talking now?”

“Haa… haa… It’s true. There’s no one by that name among the residents…”

It didn’t seem like a lie.

Anna finally dropped the nun to the floor.

The woman was in tatters.

Jeoksa sat with her legs crossed, looking down at her impassively.

“Then where is this great prophet of yours?”

The nun’s eyebrows twitched at the mention of the prophet.

She trembled as if she had heard something that shouldn’t be casually mentioned.

“I don’t know that either… They’re too busy for this world…”

“Not knowing about your boss, that Park Shin-ae woman is problematic too.”

Jeoksa threw her cigarette butt into the pond.

The nun frantically crawled toward the pond, desperately trying to retrieve the butt.

“Tsk…”

Jeoksa looked down at the nun with contempt.

“Anna, should we split up and search?”

“…”

Anna hesitated to answer Jeoksa’s question.

Then, as if something occurred to her, she looked at the distant residents of the Sky Island.

“Let’s kill them all. Then she’ll come out.”

“What…?”

Perhaps because Siho was missing.

Anna’s turbid eyes were once again filled with madness.

Seeing this, Jeoksa sighed briefly.

Without Siho, is she going crazy again?

Jeoksa tilted her head back.

The situation was too overwhelming.

What should they do…

“O-or maybe you could try drinking the holy water yourselves…?”

The nun looked up at Jeoksa, clutching the cigarette butt.

“If you drink the holy water, you can see the angel. If you ask them, you might find out.”

“You’re saying if we drink this, we’ll be transported to where she is?”

“Yes, your body will remain here, but your soul can temporarily go to the world where they reside.”

Jeoksa frowned at the surreal story.

But Jisu’s reaction was different.

If the prophet was called Park Shin-ae…

Who could the angel be?

She approached the nun and grabbed her by both shoulders.

“Can you tell me more about this angel?”