episode_0141

A silence, utterly chilling, so cold it felt as though it might cut, enveloped Haru and me.

Her golden eyes, fixed on me, seemed to even betray a hint of killing intent.

‘…Did I overdo it?’

Even after speaking so confidently, I had to slightly shrink back. After all, the woman before me was a villain of special S-rank or higher.

Even if I included Yang Chan-ho and Seol Hayeon, I wasn’t sure if they could truly measure up to this Moonlight Cult Leader.

Since I’d openly threatened such an opponent, if things went south, she might just say, ‘To hell with freezing, let’s see which one of us dies.’

What should I do then? I’d tried my own form of threat, but I didn’t have any further recourse.

“…Hoo.”

It was then, as I managed my expression, my heart burning with various worries.

Haru let out a very deep and loud sigh, seemingly on purpose.

At that moment, I, too, glared defiantly, refusing to admit that I was scared.

So what? Want to fight? Should we both get trapped in a glacier and wait for Yang Chan-ho?

Despite those radical thoughts, Haru’s first words were surprisingly gentle.

“Could you… release my hand?”

She merely said that, looking at my right hand, which was roughly binding her wrist.

I swallowed hard and tightened my grip, and this time, I saw her frown.

“I’m not just saying this, but you’re squeezing too hard, it hurts. Why is a mage so well-trained physically?”

“…Hm.”

Her tone seemed genuine. If she was asking about my physical abilities, it was due to the insane physical training from my teacher, Seol Hayeon, during my teenage years, and Baek Ayun’s leg strength.

There was no need to ramble on about that. I simply eased my grip slightly.

Even so, I was wary of her using spatial movement if I completely released her.

“I wouldn’t try to fool you with something like this.”

Haru clicked her tongue, as if she could perfectly read my thoughts.

She then looked up at me askance, a cold smile gracing her lips.

“Quite impressive, aren’t you? It’s my first time facing an ice mage, and it seems this kind of application is possible. I’ve learned something new.”

“…”

“Well… in any case, I understand your intentions. For today, I’ll withdraw.”

The moment I widened my eyes at her subsequent words, her fingertip was instantly aimed at my chin.

At the tip of her slender index finger, a black hole of a terrifying hue shimmered.

I tensed my body stiffly, and Haru, laughing sharply, murmured softly.

“So, let go.”

“…”

“I’ll really kill you, you know?”

I could tell that this time, her words carried genuine intent.

Her eyes clearly showed her will to discard any notion of being from the same hometown if push came to shove.

What could I do? I had no choice but to release her hand. Still, I had the seawater gathered, so if things seemed to go wrong, I could just freeze the entire artificial island.

I might miss the cult leader and the bishop, meaning Eileen, but…

Not all cult members would be crazy ability users who could use spatial movement like her, right?

From what I saw on my way here, there were about a hundred Moonlight Cult fanatics confronting the professors of Red Tiger Academy.

That must be why reinforcements for Lee Cheonsang hadn’t arrived yet.

If even I hadn’t come, wouldn’t this Swordsman gentleman have been sliced up by Eileen by now? Or perhaps defeated by Haru.

“Hoo.”

In any case, Haru simply flexed her wrist, as if it was stiff, and didn’t make any further moves.

Was she not planning to fight anymore? Just as I was hoping, she looked at me and spoke.

“Lee Hyunjin-kun.”

“…Why.”

It was amusing, in a way, for the leader of a villain group to call me so familiarly, but I swallowed my awkwardness and replied anyway.

“Today, I definitively learned that your ideology and mine differ in many respects.”

“…”

“You must feel the same way, right?”

“…Yeah.”

When I replied softly, Haru’s eyes crinkled smoothly, as if something amused her, and she continued.

“Still, I hope you’ll seriously consider what I’ve told you, if possible. Though I will give up on Red Tiger Academy today.”

“…If you’re talking about the moon migration plan, I intend to resist it as much as I can.”

But the moment I uttered those words, her expression instantly fell.

It had changed into a somber look, a rather drastic shift.

“…You know nothing.”

That’s what she said. Reflexively, I wanted to retort, ‘What do I not know?’ filled with rebellious spirit, but…

“You haven’t even properly read the original novel of this world, have you? You just read the prologue and tossed it aside, didn’t you?”

“…”

She was right about that. There was no rebuttal.

Haru roughly ruffled her hair.

“Hah, do you even know? How many Awakened Ones died trying to stop ‘that disaster,’ without ever getting to properly use their powers?”

“…No, I don’t. I’ve never read it.”

“That’s why you can speak so carelessly. Because you’ve never seen that insane gate directly, or even encountered it through indirect descriptions.”

‘That insane gate,’ huh. I quietly mulled over the words she had casually let slip.

So, the disaster was indeed linked to a gate, it seemed. Was that obvious?

As far as I recalled, the largest and most dangerous gate and disaster in human history so far was the Jörmungandr Gate incident from over a decade ago. The one Yang Chan-ho resolved.

And from what I could tell, the current president of Cheongsong Academy, the Hero Yang Chan-ho, had not fallen in skill compared to then.

Watching him handle Violet, the old man of the demonic sword, and Kederak, he seemed even more hale and potent than before.

‘Does that mean even someone like him, standing strong, couldn’t stop it?’

…If an insane gate of a higher caliber than the Jörmungandr incident had occurred, whether domestically or abroad, Yang Chan-ho would naturally have stepped forward personally.

It wasn’t that there were no special S-rank Awakened Ones comparable to him worldwide, but if asked who was clearly the number one, it was the ‘Hero’.

Yet, he failed. Furthermore, the world is destroyed, and Earth explodes as a planet…

It was an utterly infuriating and despair-inducing prophecy of the future.

“…Think about it carefully.”

As I frowned and bit my lip, Haru soon looked up at me and spoke in a complex tone.

“You, somehow, seem to have formed a deep connection with Thunder Lord Cheon Soyul, who was the protagonist of this novel’s second part…”

“…? …Wait, what ‘Lord’?”

“Be quiet. Besides that, if you don’t want to see the school friends you made at Cheongsong die off in the future, it would be best for you to lend your strength to my plan.”

I felt deep doubt at her referring to Cheon Soyul with that title and asked unconsciously, but Haru paid no mind and spun around.

“Remember this, Lee Hyunjin-kun.”

Finally, as if warning or advising me…

Leaving a brief remark.

“The gentle attitude I showed you today was purely due to the joy of meeting someone from my hometown.”

“…”

And the moment she snapped her fingers. Haru’s entire body, her blue hair fluttering once with the wind, vanished with a pop!

Along with the subtle presence of Eileen Lewis that I had faintly sensed from afar.

I had no way of knowing, but perhaps she had taken all her cult members and disappeared.

I wasn’t certain, but at least the menacing atmosphere that had filled this artificial island was gone.

Had this crisis, which had been perplexing and revealed many new facts, truly ended well?

It was then, as I thought that and was about to check on Lee Cheonsang behind me.

Whoosh!

A pillar of scorching flame, hot enough to completely vaporize the seawater I had gathered around the artificial island, shot high into the sky.

I sighed weakly in exasperation and greeted the person who had created that phenomenon.

“What took you so long to arrive?”

“…Hm!?”

“You’re very late, Grandfather…”

Hong Myeongseon, who had appeared in the sky, eyes wide and sharp, holding a fireball of hellfire in each hand, registered my presence and showed bewilderment.

“Why are you here? Didn’t you say you were returning to Daejeon?”

“…”

*I struggled hard to protect your city’s pride and joy.* I was about to answer that way, but then I thought it sounded truly impertinent and swallowed my words.

Instead, I looked up at Hong Myeongseon and briefly stated what I wanted.

“Did Yeonhwa come with you, by any chance?”

“…Huh?”

“Because if I don’t bury my head in her ample chest right now and heal, I don’t think my sanity will survive…”

“…??”

Hong Myeongseon looked down at me with a bewildered expression, as if experiencing cognitive dissonance. For a long, long time.