episode_0083

‘Uh… what… is this?’ ‘Why can’t my body move….’

The only thing visible before her eyes was a doll. She had only heard a certain sentence while looking at that doll.

Just that, and Coco completely froze. She couldn’t even twitch a finger. Only the sensation of sweat trickling down her cheek felt excessively vivid.

“Coco Teacher-nim, can you not move? Is your soul properly trapped in this doll?”

Club’s voice was heard. Coco tried to say something, as if protesting to Club, but still, she couldn’t even make a sound.

She could only stare at the doll in front of her without blinking. She could do nothing, absolutely nothing.

As if her soul and will had been trapped within that doll.

“Teacher-nim. It’ll be uncomfortable if you keep your eyes open. I’ll close them for you.”

Club said that and covered the doll’s eyes. Along with that, Coco’s eyelids also closed. Her vision was blocked, and she could no longer see the doll, yet her body still wouldn’t move.

“Now, Teacher-nim. It’s time for the doll to sleep. Since its eyes are closed, it will soon fall asleep.” “Likewise, Teacher-nim, with your soul trapped inside the doll, you will also fall asleep with it.”

Club’s voice was heard. With her vision blocked, the voice somehow seemed even clearer.

“Now, I’ll count to ten, and when I finish counting, you will fall asleep.”

And Club’s countdown began. Coco tried to resist somehow, but it was as if her body was no longer her own; she couldn’t twitch a single finger.

One… two…

Three… four…

The count went up. Her body still wouldn’t move. In this helpless situation where she could do nothing, the count was ticking down even faster than she thought.

Seven… eight…

“Nine… Now, Teacher-nim, you will fall asleep… Ten.”

And so, when Club finished the last count,

The strength drained from Coco’s body, and she slowly tilted and collapsed sideways.

Her body, lying on the floor in a deep sleep, remained completely still except for her chest rising and falling with her breath.

* * *

Club took out new restraints from the toolbox that 13 had prepared in the corner and tightly bound Coco.

Then, she searched Coco’s body, found the antidote for the paralyzing agent, gave it to 13, and freed his restrained body.

The paralyzing poison used to stab him was fast-acting, but fortunately, its effects didn’t seem to last long. Even without the antidote, it would have worn off on its own in about 10 minutes.

In any case, he felt a little stiff, but it wasn’t enough to prevent him from moving.

“I thought my ‘Resurrection’ ability wouldn’t be known, but I can’t believe they used a paralyzing poison. Were they trying to interrogate me?”

A while ago, 13 had shown Spade and Club at the department store how he would revive even if he died.

However, Club had been kidnapped ever since, and in Spade’s case, Apple had appropriately manipulated her memory.

So, his abilities shouldn’t have been known, and he had naively thought that if he were targeted, they would aim for instant death anyway.

But poison. Paralyzing poison. He hadn’t thought of it. If Coco hadn’t been allowed to do as she pleased, he wouldn’t have even considered it.

‘I had thought of scenarios like, “die immediately and then unexpectedly revive to exploit an opening”…’ ‘That won’t do. If I think about it, someone skilled would try to capture me alive rather than kill me right away.’

If he were knocked out and dragged away, it would be the end.

If he tried to use a mind-control keyword, there’s a chance he could be misunderstood as casting a spell, get his mouth shut, or even his tongue pulled out.

Just knowing that was a gain. And the instructions he had given Club as a precaution seemed to have worked well.

“…Club, let’s go. We need to hurry.” “Yes, 13-nim.”

13 sat the sleeping, restrained Coco on a chair and went outside with Club.

Of the two who had come, Coco was subdued. The next target was Check, who was fighting Spade.

If possible, they had to arrive before anything happened to Spade, without delay…!

* * *

“Whoa, you’ve really gotten a lot stronger, Spade? That’s surprising!” “Ugh, urgh…!!”

Check spoke as if impressed.

However, Spade, who received the praise, was battered, kneeling on one knee and slumped on the ground.

The two truncheons she had held, one in each hand, lay scattered on the ground, one of them broken.

Her entire body was covered in bruises from the truncheon and dirt from rolling on the ground, with no uninjured spot.

She was completely toying with her. If Check had been holding a bladed weapon like a spear instead of a blunt truncheon, Spade would have already lost an arm and a leg.

Moreover, even if it wasn’t a bladed weapon, the damage from the truncheon was by no means negligible. The truncheon, imbued with enough magical power to be violent, yet delicately controlled, each strike was strong enough to punch holes through steel.

The only reason Spade’s body was still intact was thanks to barely dodging the attacks by a hair’s breadth, or by reinforcing her body with abundant magical power to defend.

But even so, the damage steadily accumulated in her body….

‘What… am I… doing….’

Her vision flickered. The metallic tang of blood spread in her mouth.

Spade had come here after receiving a call. Her opponent was Villain 13. He should be an enemy, yet strangely, he didn’t feel like one.

The man had said there was someone trying to kill him. So he had asked Spade to protect him.

‘Right… that’s what happened.’

The opponent was Villain 13. The opponent was a villain. Moreover, the target he had named for her to defeat was Check.

Why, she thought. She was a hero, so why was she protecting a villain?

Furthermore, why did she have to bare her fangs at Check, her comrade and senior?

“Alright then, Spade. You seem to have calmed down a bit, so how about we talk? What are you thinking?”

Check, who had approached, gently pushed up Spade’s chin with the tip of her truncheon. Forcing her to look up.

“I thought about it a bit while fighting. Because, well, I know you’re not the type to betray, Spade.” “If you were such a foolish girl with a yellow streak, I wouldn’t have taken you as my disciple or taught you, would I?”

If that’s the case, then what? Why is Spade doing something she would never do? What is the meaning of this abnormal behavior?

“Is she being controlled?”

She couldn’t think of anything else. It wasn’t as if similar cases hadn’t happened before.

Although it was a fairly peaceful and uninteresting world now, during the time when the ‘Great Calamity’s’ influence still lingered and crime and conflict arose everywhere, there were plenty of similar incidents.

There were necromancers who controlled corpses, and also vile individuals who turned living humans into Jiangshi to use them.

Check had also directly fought such types of villains before. Not very pleasant memories.

‘The culprit is definitely that trash, Villain 13.’

‘…First, I’ll knock this Spade girl out, then I’ll have no choice but to capture that man and interrogate him.’

A short while ago, a signal had come back from Coco, whom she had tasked with searching, indicating that she had found the man.

Fortunately, it seemed she could catch him and question him right away.

“…”

Thinking that, she carelessly gathered magical power into her truncheon to knock Spade out.

Suddenly, Spade’s hand grabbed the truncheon that was touching her chin. Forcing it away from her chin, she held onto the truncheon and wouldn’t let go.

“Let go. I won’t kill you. You just need to fall asleep for a bit. You might not know it, but you’re not in your right mind right now. I’ll get you back to your senses soon if you just sleep for a while, so just give up.”

“……He asked.” “? Asked what?”

At the tip of the truncheon, the magical power Check had gathered was concentrated.

Even as her hand burned from the magical power, enough to be scorched, Spade didn’t let go of the truncheon.

She raised her red eyes and looked up at Check.

“He asked for help. That man.” “…Huh?”

“He asked to be protected. He pleaded for protection. …Because a hero protects those who ask for help.”

He had said that it was okay to run away if the situation became unfavorable.

But if she did, she wouldn’t be able to protect him. He had asked to be protected.

So she mustn’t run away. She must protect him. Because she was a hero.

To stand by the weak and confront the strong, that was the essence of a hero.

Snap…

“…I’m sorry, Check-ssi.” “I don’t know what it means to be controlled.”

“I can’t stop here. I mustn’t stop.” “And I mustn’t run away.”

At the tip of the truncheon, where Check’s blue magical power resided, Spade’s surging red magical power mixed and clashed.

And a moment later, perhaps unable to withstand the force of the clashing magical powers, the tip of the truncheon snapped and shattered into pieces.

Spade threw away the fragments of the truncheon, which had turned half to dust in her hand, and picked up the truncheon that had fallen to the floor.

“I have to fight…! Even if my opponent is Check-ssi…! I…!!” “Because I’m a hero! I must fight!! I cannot run away!!”

Red magical power surged. Spade leaped back, instantly creating distance.

Check didn’t pursue Spade. She briefly examined the broken tip of the truncheon, which had snapped despite containing her magical power, then threw it away and instead created and equipped a new truncheon.

“This is your last chance, Spade. If you stop now, maybe, but if you go any further, I might really kill you.”

“…….”

“My, she’s really not listening to me. Whose disciple is that girl anyway?”

Instead of answering, Spade held her truncheon, her entire body flaring with red magical power.

Facing Spade, Check also infused magical power into the truncheon in her hand. A pale blue magical power, almost white. This wasn’t the playful level of magic she had been using until now, but true magical power capable of killing an opponent.

Thus, the two heroes faced each other.