Ch.224224 – I’m Angry

<224 – I’m Angry>

The little lady is not just an innocent girl.

She grew up under the harsh education of the Foundation.

Such a lady could not possibly be just a good child.

“Lady Arcadia might have been shocked by your story. But you were the wrong opponent.”

“Gurk, kuk!”

“From the moment you told me that story, I had no choice but to kill you. I don’t want the lady to hate the little lady.”

The Clown Mask Group follows Oknodie.

They are a human trafficking organization that kidnaps children.

They are also closely connected to the slave trade.

The moment they removed their masks and revealed their faces, Giselle’s informants recognized them and had already reported their true identity.

From their somehow familiar threats, Giselle could guess where Oknodie’s circus training methods originated.

Oknodie had received their education.

In the process, she went through improper development from a young age when her personality was being formed.

The occasional glimpses of eeriness amid her innocence must be due to the wrong common sense instilled by such people’s education.

Perhaps she had already dirtied her hands.

But if she had used the Clown Mask Group as bait.

If they were the ones who educated her, instilled wrong common sense, and forced her to walk the path of evil.

Colleagues, peers, friends.

Whatever you call them, if Oknodie grew up watching those who didn’t perform well enough during their upbringing die or be sold off by their hands.

“No one will sympathize with things like you for being used and discarded.”

The truth was heavy, but not heavy enough for him to abandon Oknodie. She had reasons, qualifications, and appropriate consequences for her actions.

“Gurk!”

“Shhh. The pain will be brief. Go quietly.”

“Grrrrk…”

As she put the breathless corpse into a nearby trash can, Giselle wiped the blood from her hands with a handkerchief.

“Please take care of the cleanup.”

The informants, dressed as cleaners, carried the trash can openly to the roadside.

Citizens merely frowned and kept their distance from the dirty cleaners, not suspecting the contents.

* * *

They’ve been had.

Stepping on the back of a Clown Mask member rolling in the mud, the executive of the Ceviche family realized.

“The lady has joined hands with other Foundation minions.”

Wiheomhae Foundation.

They and the Ceviche family had long-standing ties.

The Ceviche family supplied the young children the Foundation needed, and the Foundation provided grown slaves as excellent talents in various fields.

Excellent talents who obey orders and occasionally don’t hesitate to dirty their hands.

The exchange of human resources led to trade between companies and exchanges between organizations.

Over generations, if there were no Foundation people now, the Ceviche family’s wealth would shrink to less than half in an instant.

As the family grew, so did the Foundation.

It wouldn’t be strange if the Foundation faction they joined hands with was different from the one the lady joined.

“This is difficult. If it’s a factional fight, we must never support the losing side…”

As with any factional fight, the moment you lose power, everyone in the faction gets cut off one after another.

“But we don’t have the right to choose that line.”

The weak are always forced.

Take this hand, they say.

If you don’t, we’ll drive you out on the spot, they say.

We’ll turn all your efforts into bubbles, they say.

We’ll even take your life, they say.

It was the same for him.

Starting with threats, they intervened in the family’s shame, and now it was too late to switch sides by claiming it wasn’t their business.

Because the moment he took their line, they forced him to become an accomplice.

“If the lady disappears with those slush funds, we’re dead. We must retrieve them at all costs.”

He easily recognized the lady’s appearance.

Her looks couldn’t be hidden just by wearing a robe.

The opposite was also true.

Lady Arcadia was a talented individual skilled in both literary and martial arts.

She wasn’t someone who wouldn’t be recognized even if she disguised herself and went into hiding.

“But hasn’t she already headed to the Academy? We’re already too late.”

“What about returning to the family now to ask for forgiveness or just running away?”

“Foolish ones.”

A sigh precedes his words.

Do they believe they can somehow get away with it because their hands are less dirty than his, the leader?

Short.

Too short-sighted a thought.

“You still don’t understand?”

“I don’t get it. Why can’t we run away?”

“Even if the family collapses, pursuers after its wealth will chase us to the end. And our lives are included in that wealth.”

“…!”

“Do I need to explain more clearly?”

“Let’s run away. If you come with us, we can manage somehow!”

“I see. You needed an even clearer explanation. Even after explaining this much, it wasn’t enough.”

The executive let out a heavy sigh.

The smoke that escaped from his lips enveloped the face of the subordinate who had been urging escape until the end.

“Kuk! Kuk, kuhak!”

With his face turning pale blue, the subordinate clutched his throat and pounded his chest in agony.

To the resentful gaze of his subordinate, Cloud, the leader of the Ceviche family’s watchers, shook his head.

“Don’t look at me like that. I gave you chances many times. I told you not to have foolish thoughts. To give up obediently. Yet you didn’t understand.”

“Kheok! Hueeee…!”

The desperate struggles of the subordinate who had lost his breath were just struggles.

There was a skill gap that would have made victory impossible even with a healthy body, and now he couldn’t even properly muster strength as he couldn’t breathe.

Cloud avoided the wildly swinging blade, easily grabbed the sword handle, and kicked the legs out from under him, making him collapse.

The sight of the subordinate dropping his weapon, clutching his throat, and crawling on the floor was misery itself.

But rather than living a miserable life being chased by the family forever, this short pain is better.

“Look. This is the most intact death a traitor can face.”

Fear filled the eyes of the other watchers as they looked at the one who had died in such a miserable state.

“School life dreaming of love and friendship. Work life dreaming of tomorrow and the future. Such things are not allowed for you. The family has bestowed grace. The Foundation has also bestowed grace. Repay that grace.”

“Even if the opponents are the lady who receives support from another Foundation faction and the scholarship student?”

“Because it was us, not them, who raised you.”

“…Tell us what to do.”

Now you’re making the right sound.

Cloud looked up at the sky and said.

“From here to the Academy, we can’t move with a single teleportation circle due to the distance. First, we catch up before they use the last teleportation circle to the Academy. After that…”

The lady’s boldness had always been good to see, but now he would have to feel regret.

“After that, I’ll make it rain with my magic. The teleportation circle can’t operate while it’s raining. Those 10 minutes will be your first and last chance for revenge.”

If they fail, only death awaits.

The pursuit of the Ceviche family’s watchers has begun.

* * *

“Of all times, it’s raining.”

Arcadia pouted as she looked out the window, waiting for the next teleportation circle to activate.

“Ugh, I hate it…”

“Di, do you dislike rain?”

“When it rains, troublesome events come.”

“Fufu. That’s true. I was really surprised when the heavy rain warning came as a weekly event, wasn’t I? I never imagined commuting to school by boat in the morning.”

“That too.”

As always, Oknodie was having a strangely off-point conversation.

Giselle quietly approached her secret guard who was protecting her while concealing his identity.

“How’s the security situation?”

“A communication interference mana field has just been deployed.”

“…!”

Something is starting to happen.

No sooner had she thought this than a burning bomb flew through the teleportation station window.

BOOM!

With the explosion, her sense of balance collapsed.

Her body wasn’t injured thanks to the automatic defense barrier function, but the use of gunpowder immediately put her on high alert.

Bombs are state-managed items with strictly limited uses in any country.

Mining. Subjugation. War.

They are dangerous substances that require reporting and permission to use.

If they were used for terrorism, there was only one group that came to mind.

“It’s the Ceviche family’s watchers. They’ve chased us all the way here.”

“They didn’t give up and followed? They intend to retrieve the slush funds even if it means killing Arcadia! Go protect Arcadia right now. If we’re late…!”

A vibration and firepower greater than the previous explosion came from around the corner.

The impact alone was enough to make her body float up and tumble on the corridor floor.

Wondering if it was already too late, Giselle returned to the waiting room with cold sweat, only to see the chaotic state of the room.

“Arcadi…!”

She wanted to find her even by calling her name.

She wanted to confirm with her own eyes that she was safe.

She wanted to see that things hadn’t gone wrong.

As if pushed by a great anxiety, she bit her lips tightly.

She shouldn’t do that.

If Arcadia, still alive somewhere inside, were to answer, that sound would definitely be heard by the enemy beyond the smoke.

Such a shallow act to ease her anxiety would push her toward certain death.

-Don’t waver. No matter what happens.

-A future that’s nothing compared to the Academy’s trials awaits you. Don’t you think you can do anything once you get out of here?

-Become strong. Strength gives you not only a healthy body but also absolute confidence.

The occasional words from professors during lectures gave her composure now.

‘I’ve already made a sound.’

No sooner had she pulled the secret guard’s shoulder to change position than another bomb sound came from where they had been.

The endless appearance of bombs made her wonder if they had robbed a mine somewhere.

In the devastated interior, the sound of stepping on glass fragments was heard.

‘Now!’

The guard’s magic struck the window where the sound came from with powerful telekinesis.

There was a terrible sound of bones bending in directions they shouldn’t as the body of a watcher who had just climbed over the windowsill and stepped on glass fragments collided with the wall.

‘Too late.’

Giselle’s intuition soon became reality.

The secret guard, who had been deflecting flying blades from the smoke, noticed a bomb rolling at his feet.

Just as he raised his telekinetic magic to the extreme and deployed a field, there was a sound of an invisible wall breaking, and the secret guard collapsed, spitting blood.

She was next.

And then it would be Arcadia and Oknodie’s turn, who might still be alive somewhere in that smoke.

Giselle regretted.

What if they had even a few more people to fight together at a time like this?

Had the murder of the Clown Mask member, which she committed to protect Oknodie and prevent Arcadia’s heart from wavering, instead driven them to death?

BOOM!

Beyond the encroaching anxiety, one thunderous sound swallowed all that wavering.

A hole blown through the building wall.

Someone walked out through the smoke, twiddling with an umbrella they had picked up from somewhere.

“Ah really. This is why I hate rain events. Getting all dusty, and my clothes almost ruined.”

Pouring raindrops.

The groans of the injured.

Gazes filled with killing intent.

As if to receive them all, the umbrella was gently raised.

Oknodie’s red eyes, which resembled a gentle puppy, transformed into inverted triangles, revealing enormous anger beyond the level of being quite upset.

“It’s an event that won’t end unless I kill everyone.”

As dark mana settled in her eyes that emitted a red glow, they gradually turned into a blood-colored radiance.