Ch.61Blue Sky 8

I arrived at the bus stop.

Sweat naturally forms due to the arms linked through both of my hands.

“That’s enough now. You can go in, girls.”

“We’ll just watch you get on the bus before we leave.”

The two girls spoke simultaneously as if they had planned it.

They seem to have become quite close in that short time.

I asked Se-ah to look after Ji-yoon and make sure So-hee’s group doesn’t bully her.

“Of course, unni. We’re pretty close now!”

Se-ah wrapped her arm around the wolf girl’s shoulder, telling me to trust her.

The visual resembled a school bully pretending to be friendly, but seeing Ji-yoon smile in response allowed me to feel at ease.

No matter how much So-hee’s father might be a senator, he couldn’t easily mess with the academy’s ace.

Attacking a hunter who would bring glory to the nation would be a national loss.

Above all, I would report to the school and make sure she couldn’t approach the two of them.

“—.”

A foreign car appears over the horizon.

I recognize that car.

A car so familiar now that my lips curl up automatically.

Jaguar XJ12.

I waved brightly toward Jeoksa, who would be sitting in the driver’s seat.

“Huh…?”

But something seems off.

The car that should skillfully stop at the bus stop wasn’t slowing down at all.

It’s racing toward us as if it’s going to crash into us.

I unconsciously placed my hand on Se-ah’s arm.

The Jaguar only reduced its speed when it reached the bus stop and barely managed to stop.

The emergency brake was so sudden that thin smoke rises from the car.

“Unni… don’t tell me this is the car that’s picking you up?”

Se-ah asks, seemingly bewildered by the intense arrival of the Jaguar.

Ji-yoon also swallowed hard and pressed herself closer to me.

“Um… probably?”

It’s not a car you see often in Korea.

The tinted window rolls down.

A woman wearing sunglasses leisurely rests her arm on the window frame and looks at us.

“Siho.”

Silver, elegant hair.

Fair and soft skin.

Even the killing intent felt through the sunglasses.

Anyone would recognize it’s Anna.

But why are you riding in there…?

“Anna…?”

The expressions of the two girls weren’t much different from mine.

They couldn’t take their eyes off the white hair they were seeing for the first time.

“Unni, who is this person?”

Se-ah asks, seeming wary of her.

Ji-yoon was equally hostile.

She tightened her linked arms even more, as if afraid I might be taken away.

The pain makes me furrow my brow involuntarily.

“Ahaha… Say hello. This is my friend Anna.”

Anna lowered her sunglasses as if responding to my introduction.

Her white pupils stared directly at the two girls.

“Hello…”

The girls greeted her in a crawling voice.

But Anna showed no reaction to the children’s greeting.

The killer, who roughly scanned their appearances, simply ordered me to get in the car.

Worried the girls might be frightened by her gaze, I quickly got into the passenger seat.

“G-girls, I’ll see you tomorrow then. I had fun today!”

“Yes, see you tomorrow…”

The children bow their heads in unison to say goodbye.

Ignoring their greeting, Anna immediately stepped on the gas.

Due to her pressing hard on the accelerator, the car starts with a loud noise.

I watched the children getting farther away in the side mirror.

Se-ah seems to have many complaints about Anna, glaring at her.

Ji-yoon also has a disappointed, empty look in her eyes.

Look at their expressions…

Why is this grown woman so harsh even to children?

I clicked my tongue at Anna as if looking at a wayward daughter.

“How did you get here? I definitely called Jeoksa.”

“I borrowed the car and came instead.”

She said while turning the steering wheel with her shoulders perfectly straight.

She looked like a proper race car driver with her posture.

But compared to that, her driving is very unstable.

Her speed control is clumsy, pressing the brake in small increments, making my body jerk.

“You did borrow it, right…?”

I asked, holding my dizzy head.

“…”

Anna didn’t give any answer.

She just continues driving back to Seoul along the national highway.

Don’t tell me… you really stole it?

I opened my mouth to ask that question.

“What’s with that outfit?”

But the silver-haired woman cut me off, changing the subject as she looked at my attire.

Her gaze alternates between my tightly buttoned shirt and short skirt.

“Oh, I spilled something on my clothes so I borrowed these.”

“…”

Despite asking, Anna showed no reaction.

What’s with her? Why ask if she’s not going to respond?

Soon the car stopped at a traffic light.

She then reached her arm to the back seat.

Her hand returned holding a blanket.

Anna raised her body toward me while the car was stopped.

Soon her silver hair tickles my cheek.

I almost stopped breathing at the sight.

Because her face was close enough to feel her breath.

Anna gently pushed back her hair and covered my thighs with the blanket.

Even after she sat back in the driver’s seat, her fragrant soap scent remained on me.

I didn’t know she could do things like this…?

I’m confused by her kindness, which I’ve never experienced before.

I looked up at the killer with a dumbfounded expression.

“Earlier. I didn’t recognize you. Because of those clothes.”

“I know, I’m uncomfortable too. I hate things like skirts. They don’t suit me at all.”

I said with a deep sigh.

Anna lightly shook her head.

“…”

She mumbled in a voice quieter than the car’s engine.

“What did you say?”

When I asked, the killer pressed her lips shut.

Then she focuses on driving again as if she hadn’t said anything.

As if she didn’t want to answer my question, the car roughly changes lanes.

But she didn’t use the turn signal.

A vehicle following behind honked in surprise.

“Hey, speed bump!”

As we turned into an alley, the Jaguar jumped over a speed bump.

The car shook violently, and my bottom lifted from the seat, causing my head to hit the ceiling.

“Ow…”

I clutched my head.

Anna drove through the alleys, avoiding this way and that with an expressionless face.

That’s when I realized.

This wasn’t just a matter of driving style.

“Do you not have a license? What kind of driving is…”

When I asked, Anna opened her eyes wide like an animal.

Then she tells me something chilling.

“What’s a license?”

“Huh…?”

For a moment, my eyes lost focus.

Anna’s expression, looking at my empty eyes, was like that of a clueless leopard.

“Hey, hey! Look ahead. Don’t look at me!”

I pushed Anna’s face to make her watch the road.

But the car was already heading toward a building wall.

I squeezed my eyes shut.

Because of this damn woman, I’m finally going to die.

“—!”

Anna turned the steering wheel 180 degrees.

Jeoksa’s car barely twisted its body, scraping against the wall.

But driving isn’t just about instinct.

The car, having barely avoided the wall, turned the corner due to its acceleration.

And it crashed straight into a black Starex that was driving straight ahead.

The Starex had its side completely crushed and hit the wall.

“Ugh…”

The Jaguar is a beautiful classic car.

But the biggest drawback of classic cars is… that the airbags don’t work properly.

I thought I was going to die from hitting my head.

But at the moment of impact…

Anna held my chest with her arm to prevent me from being thrown forward.

“What should we do… because of us…”

I barely regained my senses and looked out through the broken window.

The Starex was completely crushed, shaped like an empty can.

“No, not because of us.”

“What?”

My eyebrows twitch at her shameless words.

When you hit a car driving straight, it’s obviously our fault, so what is she talking about?

Even someone without a license knows this common sense.

Anna kicked open the crushed car door.

The poor Jaguar’s door completely separated and rolled on the ground.

If Jeoksa finds out about this, we’re…

“It deliberately crashed into us.”

Anna points to the crushed SUV.

I look inside the car following her gesture.

It’s definitely strange.

The Starex was clearly driving at high speed.

But there was no driver or passenger inside.

Soon we hear car sounds from the back alley we came from.

Eventually, an Opirus stops.

Two men wearing black masks get out of the car.

Their broad shoulders make me tense up automatically.

“We weren’t informed there would be a vehicle.”

The burliest one speaks first.

He mutters while looking back and forth between his phone and me.

“Height 160, tear mole, school uniform. That’s her.”

The man flicks his finger.

The man standing next to him takes the lead.

“What kind of trouble are you getting into that you keep getting kidnapped?”

Anna asks in a flat voice.

Her words make me snort involuntarily.

“You were one of those kidnappers too.”

She turns her head as if ignoring my words.

Instead, she clenches her fist and faces the two approaching men.

“They’re coming.”

One aims for the left shoulder.

One for the right side.

They target multiple areas at once, as if they’ve practiced dozens of times.

At that moment, the killer blocks the descending fist with her elbow.

She counters the fist diving for her side by raising her knee.

The two kidnappers step back, clutching their throbbing fists.

The killer doesn’t miss the timing as they retreat.

The leading man immediately takes a boxing stance to block the advancing killer.

But the experienced killer’s target is his legs.

Her trained shin strikes his thigh hard.

She drives her fist into the temple of the staggering kidnapper.

With a sound like something breaking, the man collapsed to the ground.

“…!”

The other man involuntarily steps back at the sight.

They clearly hadn’t expected such an opponent when planning a simple kidnapping.

“Anna, don’t kill him!”

I shouted at her.

“What, are you going to lecture me again about not killing people?”

Anna responds indifferently to my cry.

“We need to keep at least one alive to find out who’s behind this.”

I tell her with a serious look.

Anna seems satisfied with my answer and pulls out a dagger from inside her clothes.

“I like that for a change.”

She raised the dagger.

And rushed toward the man who had pointed me out.

The man reaches out toward the approaching woman.

Then fragments from the crushed Starex rise up.

The kidnapper slammed his palm down on the ground.

The fragments all became giant blades and rushed toward Anna.

It’s much more powerful than the telekinetic girl I saw earlier today.

“…”

Anna, who had been running in a straight line, immediately starts running diagonally.

Even though a single gesture should be faster than running speed, the man’s blades couldn’t reach Anna.

The sharp dagger aims for the guy’s neck.

Just as the knife was about to touch his neck, the kidnapper knocked Anna’s blade away with the back of his hand.

Simultaneously, he rotates his body and strikes Anna’s side.

“…!”

Feeling the proper contact, he was confident in his victory.

But the hand that dug into the killer’s side soon begins to tremble.

Because Anna’s body was as hard as steel.

Even at the side, where there’s relatively less muscle.

Moreover, her expressionless face despite being hit by a large adult male.

It was terrifying, like encountering an incomprehensible being.

“I… I surrender.”

Only then does he realize the level of his opponent.

But despite his surrender, Anna’s arm didn’t stop.

She raised the dagger high in the air.

And tried to thrust the blade into the kidnapper’s neck.

I calmly watched that cruel scene.

Anna’s dagger strikes the kidnapper’s car instead of him.

She no longer kills people indiscriminately.

While Anna stands beside me, I ask the kidnapper.

“Who ordered you to do this?”

My black pupils pierce through him.

Honestly, I could guess without asking, but I need to confirm it properly.

He stared blankly at my thin, long eyes.

I approached him with my hands behind my back and whispered.

“Was it a girl with short blue hair?”

A faint floral scent tickles his nose.

“T-that…”

As the man stammered, breathing heavily, Anna struck the kidnapper’s head hard as he stared at me.

“Stop looking at her.”

“I’m sorry… So-hee ordered it.”

Only after taking several hits did he finally start revealing who was behind it.

I grabbed his bangs and gently rubbed them with my finger.

“What did So-hee tell you to do with me after kidnapping me?”

“…”

You’re slow to answer.

I don’t feel like being kind to a kidnapper anymore.

“Anna?”

As soon as I spoke, the killer raised her fist again.

The man shook his head frantically and opened his mouth.

“T-to prevent you from reporting to the school… to scare you…”

“Hmm, I see.”

It’s pretty much what I expected.

Still, it feels satisfying to hear it directly.

“Should I kill him?”

Anna asks me.

I shake my head with a slight smile.

“Nah. He told us what we needed to know.”

The important thing now is what to do about So-hee going forward.

Reporting her misdeeds to the school is obviously the right thing to do.

But it seems a bit weak.

She might try to silence someone else someday, not just me and Ji-yoon.

I walked in small circles with my hands behind my back.

Then I stopped abruptly as a good idea came to mind.

“Mister. Can I borrow your phone for a moment?”