Ch.201201. Harmony

As I searched for Yuhwa, a question crossed my mind.

“Something’s strange.”

Is it normal for my sister to disappear? Adult Junho would have sent me a message.

But there’s been no word even from adult Junho. What’s going on?

With no other choice, I went to find Yuhwa at the place protected by the White Dragon Guild.

The problem was that since I’d left in secret, I couldn’t openly meet her.

But adult Junho would surely sense that I was nearby.

I planned to move around using optical camouflage, but getting inside was the issue.

It’s one thing to exit from inside the Association, but entering from outside is naturally much more difficult.

Not to mention they’d surely have systems to detect optical camouflage.

Still, I kept moving. Junho would definitely recognize me.

That child would notice my presence.

I deliberately lingered around for over an hour without approaching. What if Junho had a reason he couldn’t come out right now?

Unfortunate scenarios flashed through my mind. After about two hours of waiting with a pounding heart, adult Junho finally appeared.

[Hyung.]

“What’s going on? Where is Yuhwa?”

Adult Junho seemed reluctant to speak.

[It’s a dangerous situation.]

My heart sank at those words.

“Don’t tell me Yuhwa committed suicide…”

[The enemy took her. If it were the usual noona, things would be different, but right now she’s in a state of despair.]

“…Where is she?”

Junho hesitated.

[I wanted to see noona happy… but I couldn’t do anything. The enemy will use her. Going there would be walking into a trap, it’s dangerous.]

“Don’t worry. I just need her to be safe. Where is she?”

[Please. Hyung, save noona. She might try to kill herself if things go wrong.]

“I understand. Trust me.”

I smiled at Junho. The situation wasn’t good enough to smile so easily. But I had to.

After getting the location, I called Ariel.

“I found out where she is. But it seems dangerous. I’m thinking of calling the guild.”

[Can you tell me the details of the situation?]

“Seems like she’s been captured by the enemy.”

[…I see. They’ll use her as a hostage. Typical. Alright. You approach from the front, I’ll help from behind.]

That ended our call. I immediately ran toward my destination.

*

Jiho looked at Seol Yuhwa, whom he had taken hostage.

His original plan was to cut off at least one of her arms to incapacitate her before having the monster absorb her.

[Well…]

But Yuhwa’s gaze made Jiho waver.

Above all, her eyes were empty, like someone abandoned by their parents—just like himself.

Facing Yuhwa who seemed to want to die, Eun Jiho asked a question that wasn’t part of his plan.

[Why do you want to die?]

[Because there’s no meaning anymore. Everything’s over.]

This single answer extended her lifeline.

Eun Jiho was pleased by this.

‘There’s someone like me.’

Someone just like himself—different from normal people, treated as a monster, abandoned.

That’s why he kept her alive. With her limbs intact and treated gently.

In exchange, she would help him.

“Just stay as you are. Without saying anything. That’s all, noona.”

Feeling a sense of kinship, he merely had the monster keep watch over her.

The watching eye criticized his attitude.

[Analysis: Unnecessary emotion.]

“I have emotions because I’m human.”

Eun Jiho glared at the watching eye. At the same time, his mother Eun Serin’s words came to mind.

[If you want to live normally, follow the rules. Because you need to become human.]

The watching eye said nothing more.

[Advice: His information network is strong. Solution: Be ready to kill the hostage at any moment.]

“I know. Tell that larva to handle it.”

There was a cocoon around Seol Yuhwa. Thin threads from it were sticking to her body.

“Noona, if you just follow instructions, I’ll let you live. You’re bait to lure out Do Jonghyun. Stay still and you won’t die.”

With firm resolve, Eun Jiho left those words and waited for his enemy.

As Seol Yuhwa lowered her head sadly, Eun Jiho seemed to feel her emotion.

“I, I also…”

He understood. And he waited.

The boy didn’t bother calling for his enemy. He thought they would come on their own anyway.

The setup was simple. It consisted only of the watching eye that didn’t trigger alarms and larvae.

Moreover, the larvae also served as detectors. They would signal if anything unusual passed by.

“That person will come anyway. No matter what.”

A little while later, a vibration cutting through the wind really did sound.

Jiho began to release his magical power and smiled.

“He’s here.”

Like lightning, a well-crafted blade flashed through the trees.

The moment it flew straight toward Eun Jiho, smoke bombs exploded.

Dense smoke quickly covered the surroundings.

Eun Jiho didn’t try to find his enemy.

“If you try to ignore me, I’ll kill that noona. Come out! One wrong move and she dies!”

As if understanding Jiho’s warning, a magnificent wing vibration soon sounded from above.

The smoke scattered in the wind, and there Eun Jiho and Do Jonghyun faced each other.

“How is the person who was my mother? She abandoned me and chose you.”

“…”

“Well, to think love would come before her child. I was made that way from the beginning. To call me something like a child, it’s ridiculous. You probably thought the same inside? What kind of child is a monster like me?”

The insect said nothing. Eun Jiho soon nodded.

“I heard you can’t speak in that state? That’s fine. I don’t want to hear what you have to say anyway. If I kill you, mother will be sad. Just… thinking about it makes me h-happy.”

Eun Jiho was smiling with satisfaction. The abandoned child’s desire for revenge was now directed at Do Jonghyun.

Eun Jiho’s magical power began to spread like a wave.

The moment Jiho’s power activated, everything within its range began to collapse.

An avalanche.

This was nothing else but the space itself being “destroyed” by Eun Jiho’s attack.

As the middle layer disappeared, the mountain was collapsing.

At this moment, the insect’s jaws were charging forward, sharply cutting through the debris.

The response itself was easy for Eun Jiho. He just needed to destroy anything that entered his range.

Would Yoo Deokmin’s body have shattered in an instant when he attacked Eun Serin?

Destruction. It was Eun Jiho’s technique with a characteristic that rendered any defense useless.

But Do Jonghyun also had his own trait. The moment his jaws with their particularly strong cutting property sliced through space, that power extended its reach to where Eun Jiho was.

As Eun Jiho dodged, the space was cut apart.

Along with everything within that range.

But Eun Jiho was small and agile. His hit box was extremely small.

Eun Jiho began spinning around a tree.

From beneath the collapsing mountain, these two beings fiercely clashed again.

Both trying never to enter each other’s range.

And here, all of Eun Jiho’s physical abilities continued to improve.

Each time, his body became more grotesquely monstrous.

At this moment, Eun Jiho’s magical power scattered in all directions like beads.

These beads suddenly began to explode like bombs.

The surrounding trees and ground were all destroyed, starting a collapse.

But Do Jonghyun was nowhere to be seen.

Eun Jiho’s vision succeeded in finding the camouflaged Do Jonghyun.

‘Trying to hide and strike?’

“You think that will work?”

Confident of victory, Eun Jiho projected his magical power in that direction.

As everything it touched was being destroyed, surprisingly, Do Jonghyun made contact with that energy.

“?”

It was a choice so foolish that Eun Jiho was dumbfounded… but then something like a shell fell off before his eyes.

It was an outer covering surrounded by machinery. It was being shattered to pieces.

‘By quickly discarding what made contact…’

He escaped the effect of destruction. And attacked in that opening.

Do Jonghyun had just succeeded in a strategy that risked his life.

As those jaws flew toward Eun Jiho—

He would die. It was dangerous.

In that moment when all of Eun Jiho’s senses were on high alert, the monster’s instinct emerged from the crisis.

The boy’s entire body began to change.

Like a snake, his body transformed. That flexible body headed toward the ground, and Do Jonghyun’s attack missed pathetically.

And this opening saw its end as Eun Jiho’s strengthened magical power was fired.

A tremendous blow that completely blew away Do Jonghyun’s arm and side.

The insect was finally falling.

‘You took my mother away!’

Eun Jiho was about to finish him off with an attack full of rage.

But at that moment, he remembered the times he had walked with Do Jonghyun.

The brief moments when he had treated him kindly, like family.

‘Still, I have to kill him!’

As Eun Jiho gathered his strength again, the attack spread out.

This should kill him, but the attack spread in a different direction.

“…”

Do Jonghyun’s transformation was undone, and Eun Jiho looked not at him but behind.

“I told you to stay still…”

“I’m sorry.”

Seol Yuhwa. She was clutching Brisingamen while sobbing.

*

It was Ariel, who had circled around, who rescued Seol Yuhwa.

With additional help from adult Junho, Do Jonghyun, who had been informed of the location, confronted Eun Jiho from the front while she launched a surprise attack.

The sticky threads holding Seol Yuhwa burned in the flames of magical power, instantly incinerating even the cocoon.

Something tried to emerge from inside, but Ariel’s attack came first.

“Just finish it before it transforms.”

Ariel stood proudly. And now she stood in front of Seol Yuhwa.

To Seol Yuhwa, she looked like a triumphant general, needless to say.

“Ariel.”

“Let me tell you, it’s also your fault for lying. Honestly, what was the big deal?”

“Right, it’s nothing to you. It always is.”

Seol Yuhwa felt anger rising again.

Ariel looked at her.

“So the result was playing the role of a damsel in distress captured by a monster? When our Jonghyun could have been in danger?”

“I…”

Seol Yuhwa’s anger subsided again at the mention of Do Jonghyun’s name.

“It’s already too late.”

“What is?”

“You confessed to Jonghyun.”

“Yes. And did you?”

Seol Yuhwa didn’t answer. Ariel approached, seemingly frustrated.

“You’re really acting like a tragic heroine! If you like him, confess! You idiot! Why do you think there’s no chance? How do you know what might happen?”

“I don’t need to hear that from you! Who are you? Did you come to brag about saving me?”

“No! I came to help you.”

Seol Yuhwa momentarily couldn’t understand Ariel’s words.

“Help me? You? Why would you even?”

“…”

Ariel almost swallowed the words she had thought of saying, but then gathered courage and spoke them.

“I’m sorry, Seol Yuhwa. I apologize.”

“!”

This proud queen was apologizing in front of Seol Yuhwa.

Something no one could have predicted.

Seol Yuhwa stammered.

“What? For what reason? Are you crazy?”

At that very moment, the mountain began to shake. The power of the two fighters had finally caused an avalanche.

Amidst the landslide, Ariel grabbed Seol Yuhwa’s hand and pulled her.

“I said I’m sorry! I was jealous because you were close to Jonghyun and doing well! That’s why I started disliking you. I’m sorry that those rumors spread because of me!”

A loud, shouted apology. Seol Yuhwa’s eyes widened to twice their size.

“It’s too late for that now…”

“Do you like Do Jonghyun?”

“…”

That feeling still existed in Seol Yuhwa’s heart. Ariel pushed her back.

“Then go. Declare it proudly. This is your stage.”

“What about you, Ariel?”

“I have plenty to clean up around here. You’re the main character here. Convey your feelings. I’ll settle for second place.”

Seol Yuhwa couldn’t understand what was happening. Aside from Ariel’s apology, telling her to confess? Hadn’t Ariel already won?

‘Second place? What does she mean? Could it be…’

Seol Yuhwa began to suspect something. But her heart was also racing.

Because it wasn’t over yet.

Seol Yuhwa now ran toward the scene of the fierce battle.