Ch.7827. Yuri’s True Heart (1)

“Guild Leader. May I come in?”

Min-soo’s voice was heard from beyond the door. Yuri felt her heart racing.

‘I haven’t seen Min-soo for… such a long time.’

Right after the cooperation mission ended, Min-soo took sick leave. After contact with Crosel and Chae Min-ah. When the three of them escaped, he pushed himself the hardest.

‘Without Min-soo, we would have been consumed by Crosel’s demonic energy.’

When escaping from the demon Crosel, she and Soso had crossed their limits. When they were hallucinating from the curse, Min-soo’s flame spell had anchored their minds.

That warmth brought them back to their senses. But because of the intense demonic energy emitted by the great demon Crosel, the monsters in the boss area were greatly strengthened. A defensive line of over a hundred monsters stood in their way.

Neither Yuri’s ice spells nor Soso’s Heavenly Horse Divine Technique could guarantee their survival.

Min-soo once again released his flame bird. That bird opened a path for them.

‘He pushed himself so hard…’

Thanks to Min-soo’s efforts, they successfully completed the reconnaissance mission. But right after the debriefing meeting ended.

Suddenly, Min-soo collapsed with an extreme fever. Even after returning to Seoul, he didn’t recover quickly.

In that condition, he obviously couldn’t come to work, so he took sick leave.

Two weeks of sick leave. That time without seeing Min-soo felt like two months to Yuri. No, it felt like those two years when she couldn’t meet him.

During those two weeks, Yuri’s heart, like back then, grew cold. She felt trapped in a terrible eternal barrier.

Unable to bear it any longer, she went to Min-soo’s apartment. But Min-soo wouldn’t see her. Rather, Seong A-rin, who was leaving his apartment, blocked Yuri’s way.

‘Senior isn’t in any condition to see anyone right now.’

She wanted to ask A-rin, “Then what about you?” but she couldn’t. A-rin was a nun of the White Cross Society and a qualified medical professional.

She was clearly someone Min-soo needed more than her right now. And A-rin was the person who had been by Min-soo’s side for the past two years.

‘And yet…’

But thinking about Min-soo being alone with A-rin…

Shattered ice fragments. Each of those thousands of pieces felt like they were piercing Yuri’s heart.

In the temporary barracks, Yuri had seen them kissing. Not just a simple kiss, but one filled with intense passion between a man and woman, along with intimate physical contact.

That scene had become a nightmare over the past two weeks, making it impossible to sleep without sleeping pills. Two people sharing such a kiss couldn’t possibly be just friends.

Min-soo had already left her. She would never again see that gaze that looked only at her.

And the fact that she couldn’t be his lover was entirely her own fault.

“Guild Leader?”

At that moment, she heard a knock. She had been lost in thought.

“Come in.”

The door opened. And Yuri’s heart raced again. The joy of seeing Min-soo again after two weeks.

But at the same time, she felt the pain in her heart that she had experienced during those two weeks. It hurt. The fact that they could only be guild members, superior and subordinate, nothing more—it made her heart ache.

‘No. That can’t happen.’

She wanted to have Min-soo back by any means necessary. Even if it meant taking him away from Seong A-rin.

Yuri was surprised by the cold thoughts that suddenly entered her mind. But the moment she saw Min-soo’s face, she couldn’t think of anything else.

She quickly rose from her seat and approached him.

“Min-soo. Are you alright?”

Min-soo’s face, returning after two weeks, looked terribly haggard.

***

‘This feels like death.’

My physical condition had been terrible for the past two weeks. No, it was too serious to describe so simply.

The second-level seal of Hong-ok had been broken.

The Dual Element Resonance Compression, that fusion magic, showed power that exceeded my awakening grade. But when escaping from the boss area, I consumed mana beyond my limits.

‘And then I forced out even more mana…’

In truth, if I hadn’t done that, all guild members could have been wiped out.

Fortunately, no one was sacrificed and everyone survived. If that was the result of exchanging two weeks of pain, I could be satisfied.

‘No. Actually, it was more than that…’

My mana capacity increased as much as the seal was released. But at the same time, I felt as if something was leaking out from within me.

Undoubtedly, that was the source mana, which is equivalent to the life force of an awakened one. Unlike the body’s mana that generally recovers, it’s the source of life that holds together both body and soul.

In other words, the fact that this source mana is leaking means that my limited life is accelerating toward death.

And I was afraid. Not of the fact that my lifespan was shortening, but of the reality that I might die before completing my revenge.

‘The fortunate thing is that we’ve gained cooperation from the Vatican and the Association.’

Normally, a mere S-rank guild wouldn’t be able to properly obtain information about demons, which is the most confidential of secrets.

But this time was different. The contribution Flame made in sending the demon back to the netherworld. And the personal favor I asked of Choi Seung-hoon, the Secretary-General of the Association.

Through these two things, we were able to obtain information that Flame alone couldn’t access.

‘Information about the Red Lake. And about Chae Min-ah.’

The reason I went out of my way to request information from Choi Seung-hoon was, of course, because of Chae Min-ah. The demon contractor and medium who awakened the demon Crosel. Chae Min-ah.

Naturally, this fact was confidential not only to the media but also to the hunter community.

Without that request, neither I nor Flame, who couldn’t participate in the raid, would have known anything about Chae Min-ah.

“Come in.”

And I visited Yuri’s office. To discuss the information provided to Flame and me by the Association and the Vatican.

“Min-soo. Are you alright?”

At that moment, seeing me enter the office, Yuri suddenly approached. She looked startled.

‘Ah. Do I look that bad?’

Well, I had been suffering from high fever for the past two weeks to the point where I couldn’t even eat properly. It wasn’t strange if my complexion had deteriorated a bit.

“I’m fine.”

But the fever had subsided, and I could move around again, so it didn’t matter to me.

“But your complexion…”

“I’m really fine. If I were truly unwell, I would have taken more sick leave. I’ve rested well for two weeks, so now I’ll work hard again.”

“No! You absolutely shouldn’t overdo it…”

Yuri unconsciously placed both hands on my shoulders. Startled, she quickly lowered her head.

“Anyway… I understand. You can’t keep standing, so would you like to sit over there?”

I nodded. Yuri hurriedly brewed coffee. But as usual, when she handed it to me, it was an iced Americano.

Yuri seemed unable to calm down for a while. But fortunately, she found her composure and sat across from me at the reception table.

“The materials you requested, Min-soo. The Association and the Vatican sent them to us as confidential documents.”

It was information gathered by the attack team led by Choi Seung-hoon that targeted Crosel.

“To get to the conclusion first, the attack team lost Chae Min-ah. They succeeded in neutralizing Crosel, but that was all.”

“Was she… definitely the medium?”

“Yes, that’s right. She herself said that she was the villain who summoned Crosel.”

The relationship between a medium and a demon is difficult to explain precisely. But essentially, a medium is a kind of contractor who summons a great demon, a demigod of the netherworld who cannot exist on earth, to the earthly realm.

The medium itself is a demonized villain. But even as a villain, they are still an earthly being, a human. Through the connection with this medium, the great demon can use part of its power on earth.

“The fact that they couldn’t eliminate Chae Min-ah means that great demons like Crosel could be summoned again at any time.”

“That’s right. That’s why the Vatican has decided to move directly to find Chae Min-ah.”

Then Yuri displayed a screen on the tablet installed on the table.

“This is…?”

On the screen were the faces of two people. A Caucasian man who appeared to be in his late 30s. And a young Asian woman.

I knew both of their faces.

“This man is… Juan Soriano.”

About a month ago, at the end of February. He was a villain who had escaped from Saint Helena Special Detention Center, a facility famous for housing villains.

In Aka Hunter, he was a villain who would later have a major battle with Siwoo’s Justice, and a member of the Red Lake.

But my gaze was directed at the woman next to Juan Soriano.

“Chae Min-ah…”

Indeed. Her appearance during the escape from Saint Helena Detention Center was captured on CCTV. And the accomplice who helped him escape was none other than Chae Min-ah.

“At the Vatican’s request, the Association has raised the villain rank of both individuals to S-rank. And they’ve been working very hard to find information about Chae Min-ah, but…”

As expected, not much was known about her. She had already died in the Ains tragedy. And since her remains were recovered and cremated, she was officially a dead person.

We discussed this fact briefly.

“The Chae Min-ah you two witnessed was no amateur undead… so there’s only one conclusion.”

I nodded. Despite constantly denying it for the past two weeks, there was only one conclusion that made sense to me as well.

“From the beginning, Chae Min-ah was a villain. And at Ains, they thoroughly concealed her identity.”

Yuri was right.

I had to accept that Chae Min-ah, who was Siwoo’s girlfriend and called the Saint of Ains, was actually a villain.

And that she had hidden herself so well that even A-rin, a childhood friend of both of them, knew nothing about it.

I replied.

“Villains typically find it difficult to hide themselves due to their desire-driven thinking. But the fact that Chae Min-ah could do so means she was indeed a demon contractor…”

If she was a demon contractor from the beginning, it’s not strange that she survived even after being beheaded. As long as her soul wasn’t destroyed, she could be revived by the demon’s power.

“That’s probably the case. But even the Vatican can’t yet explain how Chae Min-ah was able to use so much holy power during her time at Ains.”

The two of us were silent for a moment. But there was one conclusion.

“We need to find Juan Soriano.”

Since Chae Min-ah personally broke him out, the two must have a close relationship. Yuri nodded and said.

“And the Association has found Juan Soriano’s recent whereabouts. Apparently, he made contact with Seo Moon-yeom.”

“You mean the Soul-Separating Mage Seo Moon-yeom?”

“Yes. Moreover, the Association seems convinced that Seo Moon-yeom is a member of the Red Lake. And that he’s also related to demons.”

If that’s the case, there’s a high possibility that Chae Min-ah is also a member of the Red Lake. Anyway, the target was clear.

‘Soul-Separating Mage Seo Moon-yeom. I need to become strong enough to face someone of his caliber, one of the Four Mages.’

Yuri conveyed a few more things. Including the fact that Flame’s advance team members had received an invitation from the Far East Diocese due to the success of this reconnaissance mission.

“That invitation is important. We might obtain the qualification of demon hunters, which isn’t given to just any guild.”

As Yuri said, the qualification of demon hunters was very important. Unless one is a priest of the White Cross Society, contact with demons is strictly prohibited.

But if Flame obtains that qualification, it means they can approach the Red Lake, which is related to demons, more actively.

I heard all the details about the schedule from Yuri. The purpose of my visit to Yuri was now complete.

“Since I haven’t been to the company for two weeks, I should return to the field team office and my duties…”

“Wait!”

And at that moment, Yuri grabbed my wrist as I was about to get up from my seat.