Ch.8282. Morgan’s Identity Revealed, But Irreversible Consequences

“Damn it. Why is this place so huge?”

Ji Se-hwa complained as she continued running.

The infiltration had been successful, but the Galaxy Empire’s ship was so vast that finding Choi Minseo was proving difficult.

“Watch out!”

Kang Yerin pulled Ji Se-hwa’s arm and darted into another corridor. Combat troops were patrolling everywhere.

“This is endless. And there’s no trace of Quetzalcoatl’s residue either.”

“There’s no way to move around a space this large without transportation. There must be some method. Let’s follow them.”

The two followed the patrolling combat troops and soon witnessed them using portals.

“This is… a teleportation device.”

“If we can operate it, we might be able to catch Minseo… Damn it. It’s not responding. Do we need some kind of access card?”

“Let’s hide and subdue the next patrol team to find a way.”

As they discussed their plan, the portal in front of them suddenly activated.

Kang Yerin and Ji Se-hwa were startled but had no time to hide before a figure emerged from the blue light. They immediately recognized who it was.

“Yerin, this freak!”

Kang Yerin realized something upon seeing her.

It was clearly Morgan, an executive of the Dark Kingdom, but her equipment and the energy emanating from her body had changed to that of the Galaxy Empire.

This meant Morgan was an executive of the Galaxy Empire.

“Morgan…! So Ursula was Morgan. What a persistent connection we have.”

“How interesting. Let me take care of you as an appetizer before Choi Minseo!”

Ji Se-hwa immediately entered combat stance. She wrapped the blue dragon, Leviathan, around her saber. The blue dragon became cruel, focused solely on killing its enemy.

Kang Yerin also wrapped the yellow dragon around her knuckles and stomped the ground.

KWAAANG!

The shockwave distorted the space, causing the walls and ceiling to collapse with a single strike.

Unable to properly defend against their attack, Morgan coughed blood as she was slammed into the wall.

‘My body won’t move…!’

Morgan barely managed to raise her arm to grip her whip. Choi Minseo’s curse was eating away at each node of her nervous system.

This proved only one thing.

Choi Minseo had become a monster stronger than herself.

And she had been hiding this fact until now. She had been waiting for the right moment to betray and corner Morgan.

She was a dangerous entity.

Morgan thought that above all else, she needed to inform Jung Ui-seok of this fact.

Choi Minseo’s base specs remained at Dark Kingdom levels. Even with Dorado’s support in becoming a monster, Morgan never imagined she would wield such power.

It wasn’t that Morgan was weak. In fact, her skills could overwhelm any executive in the history of the Galaxy Empire.

Whether it was Pegasus, Cancer, or Eridanus, regardless of who her opponent was.

Recter had seen through Morgan’s power, which was why he kept her close.

If even Recter had failed to properly gauge Choi Minseo’s power…

‘She might even be on Recter’s level…’

Morgan gritted her teeth. Trapped in this situation, she couldn’t even properly face the former Dragon King Sentai before her.

“She’s incredibly weak! No, I guess we’ve just gotten stronger!”

Ji Se-hwa swung her sword with momentum. Her strikes were too fast to follow with the naked eye. The power of the sea became a violent tsunami, brutally slashing Morgan’s body.

“She should have an access card that allows movement to other sectors. If we defeat Morgan and take it…”

“Minseo must have a free pass too! Ha, do you know how much trouble you caused us during the Dark Kingdom days? I’ll send you to your beloved Dark Arthur!”

Kang Yerin and Ji Se-hwa’s attacks grew even more fierce.

Morgan stepped back, allocating all her resources to defense, but even that wasn’t working as planned. Choi Minseo’s curse had blocked her magic pathways, preventing her from converting to aura.

‘…Is this karma?’

As her flesh was torn and bones crushed, Morgan thought to herself.

No matter how unconscious her actions had been, she had taken the lives of countless civilians and heroes.

She was the one who revived the Dark Kingdom’s momentum when it was in crisis after three executives fell, pushing the Dragon King Sentai to their limits once again.

She never expected to die comfortably as a human.

If there was one regret remaining…

‘…I must lift the curse on Ui-seok…’

Morgan’s consciousness faded along with her vision, and the sentence that had been circling in her mind broke into words and eventually disappeared into the void.

***

“Done. We’ve taken her down…!”

Ji Se-hwa wiped the sweat from her forehead and swung her Leviathan saber to elegantly shake off Morgan’s blood.

“What might the access card for movement look like? Maybe if we hold her heart, we can operate it since it’s engraved on her body?”

“Let’s try it right away.”

As Kang Yerin and Ji Se-hwa discussed, the portal in front of them activated. Both immediately went on alert.

The side profile of the monster emerging from the portal, holding a staff, was unfamiliar to them.

However, they could tell it was an executive-level entity by its unique form.

“What is this one?”

“No way.”

POP!

The monster turned its head.

Kang Yerin and Ji Se-hwa gasped in shock. On the left side was Choi Minseo’s face skin, staring at them with a grotesque smile.

“She’s gone insane. Completely lost it.”

“It’s convenient that you came to me. Remaining operational capacity: 67 percent. Let’s go, Se-hwa.”

The two entered combat stance. Seeing them, Choi Minseo raised the corners of her mouth.

“You two, how does it feel?”

“You’re still conscious…?!”

“Ahah. I don’t know how you found me, but you did well. It’s polite to welcome guests kindly. Did you like my gift?”

“Morgan was a gift?”

“Yes. I sent her to you with plenty of curses so that even weaklings like you could kill her. You didn’t realize? I didn’t expect you to anyway.”

Ji Se-hwa snorted.

“Ha, we’ve gotten stronger. You and Morgan, who remained at Dark Kingdom levels, are no match for us!”

“Ahahaha! Se-hwa, you’re always consistent, which makes you likable. You and Shin Yukyong both have noodles for brains, which made you so easy to handle.”

Choi Minseo began emitting aura from her body. Witnessing its concentration and volume, Kang Yerin unconsciously held her breath and broke into a cold sweat.

She had seen aura of similar intensity before.

From none other than the Emperor of the Galaxy Empire, Recter.

At the same time, she realized something was wrong. Choi Minseo had known about their infiltration from the beginning. Looking at her now, it was clear she intended to kill them.

Yet she deliberately sent Morgan to trap them. To make them kill Morgan.

Why?

If it was internal strife anyway, there wouldn’t be much difference between killing Morgan herself or using them. Recter would know what happened inside the ship regardless.

Choi Minseo had a reason for specifically wanting them to kill Morgan.

As her thoughts reached this point, Kang Yerin instinctively felt she had made a terrible mistake, though she didn’t know what it was.

She had acted according to Choi Minseo’s wishes, and Gerogius certainly wouldn’t applaud that.

“…Was Morgan on Gerogius’s side?”

Kang Yerin asked with a trembling voice. Ji Se-hwa was shocked.

“What? What are you talking about?!”

Choi Minseo placed her index finger on her chin and tilted her head.

“Hmm~ Probably? It would be stranger if she wasn’t, right? Ahah. Of course! Hey, so how does it feel?”

“…What nonsense. We didn’t know.”

As Ji Se-hwa desperately tried to explain, Choi Minseo laughed and shouted the truth.

“I’m asking how it feels to kill Han Somi for the second time, you idiot!”

Kang Yerin and Ji Se-hwa froze in place.

After a moment, Ji Se-hwa was the first to draw her sword and charge at Choi Minseo.

KAAANG!

Choi Minseo easily blocked Ji Se-hwa’s sword with her staff.

“What bullshit are you spouting, you fucking bitch!! Don’t try to drive a wedge between us! I’ll kill you!!”

“Ahaha! They say ignorance leads to lifelong suffering. Hey, do you know the principle behind Quetzalcoatl’s healing ability? It restores the body to the original form of the soul. Get it? I can see souls! But you know what!”

PAANG! Choi Minseo released her aura, slamming Ji Se-hwa to the ground.

“Originally, those Dark Kingdom monsters didn’t have souls! But the Morgan I saw here had her soul returned? And its shape was exactly like someone I know very well! Someone I absolutely despised!!”

Choi Minseo swung her staff. Arms sprouted from the ground, grabbing Kang Yerin and Ji Se-hwa’s bodies.

“Ui-seok oppa must have known about my ability, right? That’s why he never appeared before me as Gerogius. Because I would have discovered his identity. I thought it was strange that Dark Matter never showed up either. Hmph, whatever.”

Kang Yerin and Ji Se-hwa tasted despair as they were overwhelmed by Choi Minseo.

Despite thinking they had prepared and grown stronger, they couldn’t even match the footsteps of Choi Minseo, who had sold her body to monsters and surrendered to desire.

But that was the second reason.

The first was the fact that they had killed Han Somi with their own hands.

They couldn’t understand why. Why was the Dark Kingdom executive Morgan actually their former comrade, Pink Wings Han Somi?

But if that wasn’t the case, Choi Minseo’s actions made no sense either.

“No, no.”

Ji Se-hwa looked at the fallen Morgan with a miserable expression, but the body that her sword had pierced multiple times showed no signs of movement.

Her relationship with Jung Ui-seok was already ruined.

She was barely clinging to life in the current situation.

If he learned about this, what kind of rebuke would she receive, how much anger would engulf her? Fear weighed down her entire body.

“…Why?”

It was the same for Kang Yerin.

She had been harboring hope.

Unlike Ji Se-hwa, she had no direct responsibility for the Dragon King Sentai’s betrayal, and she had nothing to do with Han Somi’s death.

And she had proven her abilities in the battle against Eridanus. She thought the Milky Way switch in her hand was proof of that.

She thought if she continued to prove herself…

She could gain recognition from Gerogius.

But why?

Why was this happening?

“No, no, NO!!!”

Kang Yerin activated her ability. Time stopped within her radius. This time, the range was a bit wider. It covered about half of the Galaxy Empire’s ship.

Kang Yerin fled.

In the frozen time where everyone was stopped, she ran with all her might without looking back.

“What? Where did Kang Yerin go?”

When Kang Yerin suddenly disappeared, Choi Minseo licked her lips in disappointment.

“Let’s take it slow. There’s nowhere to escape anyway. Se-hwa, I’ll kill you first.”

Choi Minseo raised her staff with a grin.

Ji Se-hwa, her face covered in blood, could only glare at Choi Minseo without even uttering a curse.

And then.

—Thud.

Both Choi Minseo and Ji Se-hwa turned their heads at the sound of footsteps.

A devil was approaching.

“Ahah! Perfect timing, Ui-seok oppa!”

Choi Minseo welcomed Jung Ui-seok. Ji Se-hwa was too terrified to even speak his name.

Jung Ui-seok spoke with an expressionless face.

“I heard everything.”

Jung Ui-seok pulled out the communication device from his ear. Choi Minseo opened her mouth to mock him.

The next moment.

KWAAANG!!

With a thunderous sound, Jung Ui-seok’s fist, moving at sub-light speed, precisely struck the remaining part of Choi Minseo’s face.

WADDDEUK!!

Choi Minseo couldn’t even open her mouth before she was shot through the long corridor, breaking through hundreds of walls and disappearing.

Jung Ui-seok knelt on one knee in front of Morgan, cradling her.

“I won’t let you die twice.”