episode_0080

A chill that seemed to freeze at any moment came from the girl’s voice.

The girl took out a piece of paper with something drawn on it and threw it at the warlock, who was overcome by the force and became mute.

There, a magic formula that looked like it had been written was drawn there.

At the site, where only ashes, debris, and a ring remained, she desperately collected traces and was able to restore only a small part of it.

Originally, even this would have been impossible, but her magical talent made it possible to see traces of even the smallest and faintest particles.

“This is… ”

“This magic formula. Do you know what it is?”

“… I know. Cough… !”

Baek Seo-yeon’s fist reflexively clenches at his answer.

In addition to cleaning up the trash, today’s visit also had the purpose of confirming questions.

“This… Military magic… The Archduke’s fire… Cough… !”

However, at the next moment of trash talk, Baek Seo-yeon’s thoughts stop for an instant.

“Military use… It’s magic… ?”

“Cough… ! exactly… It’s hard to find out, but… Things I’ve seen so far… Very similar… Cough!”

Seoyeon couldn’t listen to his lies any longer.

Immediately, a thick spear of light was pulled out of the air and smashed into his hand, causing the shameless warlock to scream in all directions like a wriggling shrimp.

◦ at ! Ouch! Wow!”

“Dirty criminal bastard!! Where are you trying to deceive me with such nonsense? This is the magic formula that was at the scene of the victim you killed!! How dare they try to blame their sins on others!!”

“That’s not a lie!! Looking at the traces of what happened to my comrades… Cough!! You know it!! this is… This is not the magic we use!! Wow!!”

Seo-yeon’s fierce spirit gradually began to waver along with the sincerity felt in his words.

“Ha… ha… Cluck, cluck… !!”

Baek Seo-yeon pointed the ice spear at the neck of the warlock, who was bleeding heavily.

“Tell me everything you know about this magic.”

“Heo Eok… Cough!! Trust me… The Archduke’s fire… It’s military magic given only to the military… It’s a magic that has a lock in the first place, cough! Even if outsiders recognize the magic formula, it’s magic they can’t use… ”

The leader of the organization that once commanded the back alleys at night could only desperately make excuses like a child who had made a mistake.

“And it took a long time to write in the first place… Cough! It’s not for hitmen like us… Cluck, cluck!!”

“You’re not telling a lie.”

“What can you do by lying in this situation? Please believe me… Cough… ! Moreover, if you are the daughter of Patcheon… There must be a way to cross-verify… Cough!”

Seoyeon couldn’t find any errors in his words. She paused for a moment and asked the man one last question.

“… What is it for?”

“Cough… ! Bringing maximum pain and death to the victim… It’s a torture spell.”

“What… ”

At his words, my vision darkens for a moment. I could barely support my shaking legs with superhuman willpower.

Seoyeon stood there in silence for a long time. The criminal, who was coughing repeatedly, just glanced at her like a scared dog.

The girl lowered her head and turned back toward the passage.

Due to unexpected luck, a light of hope appeared on the warlock’s face.

-Phew!

However, his expression, which had been anticipating the joy of survival, soon became distorted along with the heavy pain he felt in his chest.

He barely lowered his head, and in his field of vision, he saw a large magic spear lodged right in his heart.

“Cough… ! Ugh… ! Uh, why… !”

“… That doesn’t change the fact that you dared try to kill him.”

“Kuhuhuk… ”

The warlock sighs and dies, and the girl stumbles through the frozen passage.

However, he falls down in his seat before he can even reach the exit.

“Ah… ”

The sighs that flowed out of confusion soon turned into cries filled with grief and sorrow, echoing in the hallway.

“Ah… Ugh… Ahhh… Ugh… ”

As she held the burnt ring preciously with both hands, she thought of the boy who must have died in pain.

I couldn’t even imagine what he must have felt.

Without even having time to confess his mistake, he left my side in an instant.

After crying for a while, Seo-yeon finally regains her composure, and Seo-yeon’s thoughts begin to rapidly accelerate again.

In the military documents she saw, it was recorded that the boy was attacked and killed by a group of wandering marauders, and that the military arrived on the scene late and killed the group of marauders.

However, this is completely inconsistent with the truth he knows.

Why on earth did they fill out false documents?

The one who defeated the warlock and recorded his death was Unit 66, who happened to be passing through the area at the time.

Unit 66. The commander is Sa Jae-hyuk of Black Lotus.

All the information I knew about him was negative.

A gangster who seemed to have reformed at one point, but ultimately could not abandon his true nature. The fallen student council president.

And if the operation is interfered with, even the civilians…

“… A vicious personality that kills.”

Seoyeon’s eyes shook violently as she remembered that fact.

In addition, I knew that black lotus and red flower clearly maintain a close relationship.

Is all of this a coincidence? Is it really a coincidence that someone with close ties to the boy arrived in his hometown, which was targeted by enemy fire?

Is it really a coincidence that traces of military magic were discovered on his body?

“… ”

Seo-yeon bit her lip gently and then walked unsteadily along the frozen passageway again.

It was clear what she had to do anyway. Also, only one thing was certain.

He died a cruel death in pain and loneliness, and it was all his fault.

Now the girl is not weak. The power relationship was completely reversed, and now she was more beautiful and powerful than anyone else.

The natural talent made sense in an instant, and those who wanted to follow it themselves hovered around like clouds.

But in the end, this was just an empty shell of a life.

*

The seasons pass, and the ironic spring comes to visit her again.

Young wizards who have just blossomed are sent applications for admission to the cradle, whether they succeed or not. Upperclassmen busily operate their information network to find people with outstanding ambition and talent who share their cause.

Baek Seo-yeon was no exception to this.

She muttered as she looked through the preliminary list obtained through the Academic Affairs Office.

“Jinhyeon Yoo… That’s it.”

A male student who entered school after receiving a letter of recommendation from Black Lotus for the first time in 18 years. My hometown is the southern border. This is personal information that is nothing special other than the fact that there is no photo attached to the application.

However, next to the list was confidential information about him that Seoyeon had obtained separately.

This was a measure she took after feeling a strange intuition through her connections in Paecheon’s military, and in the end, her intuition was correct.

His real identity is a former soldier from Unit 66. Also, the time of enlistment was 2 years ago.

One unique thing is that, despite his short military service, he made a career of slaughtering countless demons, beasts, and bandits.

Also, the ferocity and cruelty repeatedly pointed out by the superiors were also noteworthy.

There was another most important point.

He enlisted a few months before the boy’s death. In other words, there is a good chance that he was at the scene at the time.

or… You could have done it yourself.

-Far away…

Seoyeon gritted her teeth and tried to control her mind.

Now that there is no way to reach Sa Jae-hyuk, the best way is to somehow get him to reveal the truth about the incident.

However, even though she always wore a smiling mask, I wasn’t confident enough to execute him.

I’ll give it a try… Just thinking about the possibility of him being involved made my heart boil with anger.

***

Although she had to wander a few steps further than the location her biological brother had mentioned, she was eventually able to find the storage location by mobilizing her and her collaborator Choi I-re’s information network.

Indeed, all the data and detailed evidence he spoke of were stored there.

From the details of cooperation between the enemy and the demons, to evidence that they studied forbidden interferometric mental magic.

What was even more shocking was that they even committed illegal human experiments for research.

A mutant outbreak occurred in the B-143 district of the capital not long ago.

This was the result of an accidental escape of failed experiments conducted illegally in the research laboratory of their own company, Hokyung Industry.

This case was also reported to Yoram as a request. However, the subject of the request was not Hokyung Industries, but the Public Security Bureau branch in charge of security in the area.

That means they wouldn’t have been able to submit the request themselves. If you are not careful, the connection to the illegal experiment may be revealed to the outside world.

However, the escaped mutants eventually caught the attention of the Security Bureau, and without knowing the inside story, they sent a request to Cradle to stabilize the area.

And the person who filed the case on the cradle side… A group centered around a masked male student who is a recommended student at Black Lotus.

As her thoughts reach that point, her suspicions deepen.

“This is… ”

The female student who accompanied her, Choi I-re, also could not hide her astonishment as she checked the materials.

“No matter how Seoyeon said it was you, I couldn’t believe it… Really doing something like this… ”

“… Seven days. Where are you two now?”

Ire, who understood the meaning of ‘two’ that Seoyeon mentioned, nodded.

“Two days ago, I left the crib for a mentoring group experience. The name was a tour of Hogyeong Industries, but considering the circumstances, it would have been to Jeokhwa’s private land.”

“… It’s perfect.”

The interior of the cradle was subject to special laws, so emergency provisions could not be applied.

It was an opportunity that seemed like a gift from heaven. Seoyeon closed her eyes and organized her thoughts.

If there are people who are the most annoying in the current cradle, it is those two.

First, Jinhyeon Yoo.

It goes without saying that the person involved is highly suspected of having killed him.

In addition, Baek Seo-yeon felt a strange sense of déjà vu every time she encountered him, a feeling that helped make him even more uncomfortable.

Not only the way you speak, but even small gestures.

And pity.

The person who interfered at every turn in establishing her own power from the cradle.

At the same time, he possesses extraordinary ferocity and arrogance.

When I think about how hard I tried to hide my personality over the years, I often felt like I was looking at a mirror reflecting my inner self.

This was also the type of personality that the dead boy hated the most.

Moreover, since he was the heir of the family that directly caused his death, there was no need to express his disgust now.

Yeon Mye-ha’s condition, which seemed to have suddenly improved recently, also fueled her suspicions.

Perhaps, through cooperation with the demons, they may have finally found a way to overcome the curse of the spirit master using interferometric magic.

And the foundation for that was the countless people who were innocently sacrificed through internal fraud and illegal experiments.

Whether it was personal resentment or something else, there was not a single reason to leave them like this.

“… Seven days. What kind of private soldiers can you mobilize now?”

“… what? but… ”

“You saw it too. If it’s too late, there may be additional victims. I don’t know what more plots I’m planning with the dirty demons.”

She looked surprised for a moment, but Choi Ire soon realized what she meant and nodded.

As successors to each famous family, they also had the authority to move the private armies of the family and company.

According to the data obtained, only a routine level of security was maintained at the enemy base.

There was no way they could stop the surprise attack from the two families.

“Mobilize all the soldiers that can be mobilized. Because we will do the same here.”

“Okay.”

“Right now. You have to hurry. If the movement reaches the ears of the General Intelligence Service, I don’t know what kind of interference it will cause. Since we have clear evidence in our hands, there will be no problem with reporting after taking preliminary action.”

Baek Seo-yeon took a hurried step.

On that face glimmering in the darkness, many emotions were complexly tangled together at the same time.

Sadness and anger.

Regret and lamentation.

Even the terrible self-loathing that covered it all.

“Redization is… It’s over now.”