Kuuung!
The roof of the mansion collapsed with a deafening roar. In a very short time, Cheon Sa-yeon, who looked at me, fell down as the floor collapsed.
Kieeek! Kururuk!
Monsters poured out of the gate. Blazing fireballs continued to pour down towards the mansion.
Kururung, kuung!
The mansion collapsed and burned. The surroundings were covered with screams and pleas.
The servants and attendants, who fled out of the mansion in a hurry, got their necks broken and their heads exploded by monsters attacking them, and died. The garden from which the sprouts had bloomed quickly became an abyss.
I moved in search of Cheon Sa-yeon, who fell down through the thick smoke and flames that covered my eyes.
‘What the hell happened?’
The sudden appearance of the gate was quite possible. However, it wasn’t normal for monsters to pour out as soon as the entrance was opened.
Gate explosion occurred when not cleared for several months. I had never seen such a case.
The first gate was created 20 years ago and the guild was established five years later. So, even if there was a gate there, it was a time when there would be enough guilds to manage, so why…
Kururuk, kuruk! Kiik!
Stepping on the rubble of the ruined mansion, a huge number of monsters came rushing in. A humanoid monster with huge four arms, it had no eyes and seemed to use its other senses instead, protruding sharp teeth and long tongues, running around looking for prey like a beast.
「Ugh…」
Cheon Sa-yeon’s voice was heard from the corner of the first floor. As I hurriedly went there, I saw Cheon Sa-yeon struggling to get up while moving away the debris.
「Cough, cough.」
Cheon Sa-yeon, who let out a dry cough, grabbed his left arm. As it fell, it probably bumped into something by mistake and there was an iron the size of a palm stuck in its upper arm.
Red blood ran down his arm and dripped from his fingertips. A monster, smelling the smell of blood, approached between the blazing flames and scattered dust.
Kuruk, kuruk.
The long sword that the monster was holding shone eerily in the light. Cheon Sa-yeon, who found a monster exposing sharp teeth while drooling black saliva, leaned down quickly.
However, it wasn’t an opponent that could be avoided by hiding because it was a monster that distinguished its prey by senses other than sight. The sound of blood dripping onto the floor, the smell of blood, and even the sound of rough breathing. Cheon Sa-yeon, who saw a monster for the first time in his life, revealed his traces.
Kieeek!
A monster, crawling right in front of the debris where Cheon Sa-yeon was hiding, made a sharp cry and rushed to Cheon Sa-yeon. Cheon Sa-yeon hurriedly rolled down the floor and avoided the attack once.
「Gasp, cough…」
Cheon Sa-yeon instinctively searched for something that could become a weapon when he saw the howling monster holding a sword in front of him. The monster rushed back at the same time as he barely gripped the iron pipe by moving his bloody arm.
「Ku-ugh!」
A monster with a huge body of over 2m and covered in leather with strong skin opened its mouth wide to bite Cheon Sa-yeon. Cheon Sa-yeon, who barely blocked the monster’s neck with an iron pipe, kicked the monster’s upper body using his relatively free legs.
Kururuk, kuruk!
Cheon Sa-yeon, who barely escaped from under the monster, started running urgently. However, before he could even take three steps, a monster grabbed the back of his neck and flew to the side.
「Cough…!」
Cheon Sa-yeon, who was flew to the side and hit the collapsing railing pillar, fell down. Blood was pouring from his forehead and a strong headache came. He had to run away… but the body couldn’t move.
With his blurred vision, he saw the palm of his own blood, cut by a sharp cut. Cheon Sa-yeon recalled memories of his past when his hand had been cut by a garden shear.
The thoughts of Cheon Sa-yeon, which hadn’t been heard since the beginning of the book, were clearly communicated ahead of his death.
「I don’t want to die.」
Cheon Sa-yeon’s face, reflected in the yellow flame, was distorted.
「With doing nothing like this…」
Drops of blood ran down his chin. Blood from his pierced arm and cut palm ran down the floor.
「I don’t want to die.」
A bright red flame rose from Cheon Sa-yeon’s blood. Just like a bright red rose bloomed, the flame that bloomed used blood as its life and quickly grew in size.
Kuruk, kuruk.
Without knowing it, the monster approached by stepping on the puddle of blood and raised its sword high.
It was at that moment when the sharp tip of the long sword was about to fall in Cheon Sa-yeon’s forehead. Cheon Sa-yeon’s blood that had been buried in the monster’s sword boiled like lava and melted the blade.
Kieeeek! Kiik!
When the weapon suddenly melted, the left leg of the bewildered monster also caught fire. It was a flame rising from Cheon Sa-yeon’s blood.
The monster, who struggled with pain, was soon engulfed in fire and disappeared without leaving a trace.
「Haa…」
Cheon Sa-yeon, who staggered to his feet, let out a long exhalation of his breath, feeling the cold energy rising from the depths of his heart. Crack, crack, hearing the sound of a bone displaced, his physique grew at a tremendous rate.
The loose black turtleneck shirt stretched taut to fit his growing body. A group of monsters that sensed the energy emitted by Cheon Sa-yeon flocked in.
It was different from the last time he wanted to run away and almost died because of one monster. Cheon Sa-yeon grabbed the neck of the monster attacking him at once. The monster, covered in blood dripping from his palms, swelled and melted from its neck.
Cheon Sa-yeon, who picked up the long sword the dead monster was holding, squeezed out the blood on the blade. The blood dripping down on the smooth, silver-coloured blade turned into red flames and burned.
Seeing it all, I sighed.
The monsters that came out of the gate were B-grade. Ordinary people could never win, but it wouldn’t pose any threat to Cheon Sa-yeon, who had awakened to the SS-rank.
‘Those who awaken through intense experience are affected by it… this is what he meant.’
It was just bitter for me, having watched Cheon Sa-yeon’s unlucky childhood to awakening. In the end, it seemed like all fate forced Cheon Sa-yeon to bleed.
‘Really… I didn’t know I’d miss you.’
It was much harder than I expected to just have to watch Cheon Sa-yeon’s uneasy and precarious childhood. Maybe that’s why I wanted to see the future Cheon Sa-yeon waiting for me in the real world.
I followed Cheon Sa-yeon, who moved with a bitter smile. He easily killed the monsters that filled the area around the mansion and went inside the collapsed mansion.
「Cough, cough! Is… there… no one…」
A familiar voice came from the depths of the mansion, where no light came in. Cheon Sa-yeon, noticing who the owner of the voice was, stopped walking for a moment and then moved towards it.
The ceiling collapsed and all the lights were broken in the kitchen. The man, whose lower body was crushed by the large debris, called for help in a harsh voice.
「Hey, help me… gasp… put this away…」
The figure of the man who pushed his two sons with a coercive attitude had disappeared. The man, whose face was bloodied as if he had been banged hard on his head, continued to shake his head back and forth, unable to open his eyes properly.
Cheon Sa-yeon, who had been quietly looking down at him, opened his mouth soon.
「And the others?」
「Uh… what…? The others…」
The man, who couldn’t even hear his son’s voice, stuttered in the shock and horror that was applied directly to his head.
「Oh, no. no. There’s no one here but me. So, get this out of me quickly…」
Cheon Sa-yeon quietly heard that and laughed. It was an empty smile, with a deep sense of disappointment.
「You want me to bring you better conditions…」
The sharp blade of the sword cut through the man’s neck without hesitation.
The man died soon after bleeding from his neck and making gurgling noises. It was Cheon Sa-yeon’s first murder.
「Tsk…」
Cheon Sa-yeon wiped the man’s blood on the sword once as if it was dirty. It was then.
Rattle.
The sound of stones rolling down came from behind. Cheon Sa-yeon, who noticed a presence belatedly, turned to look there and saw Cheon Je-heon, who was sitting on the ground and sweating in a cold sweat.
「Da, damn it…」
Cheon Je-heon, who cursed at Cheon Sa-yeon, who was approaching him, retreated. Cheon Je-heon, who had been driven to a corner with nowhere to escape, cried out with a pale, tired face.
「Don’t come, you bastard murderer!」
「……」
「You monster bastard, you did all of this, didn’t you?」
Cheon Sa-yeon, who had heard the swear words with an expressionless face, looked down at the long sword he was holding. Cheon Sa-yeon thought.
「Shall I kill him?」
After all, from the moment he killed the man, he was a murderer as Cheon Je-heon said. Even if he killed one more, it wouldn’t change much.
「Shall I kill him?」
Cheon Je-heon was an opponent who had been tormenting him for a long time. He was an enemy who coveted and took away what was his.
He thought of Cheon Je-heon, who smiled while whispering his love to the woman just before she died. Then, the strength in the hand that was holding his sword came in.
But soon after, the brightly smiling face of the woman also came to mind. She also had a warm embrace that hugged him tightly. Even in the midst of suffering and exhaustion from her illness, she told him that she loved him with all her kindness.
The woman who smiled while whispering, ‘I love you, my son,’ in his ear as if she was telling him the biggest secret in the world. The happiness of that day shook Cheon Sa-yeon’s mind.
The tip of the sword lost its balance and shook wildly. It brushed past his face, not his black neck as he clenched his teeth.
「Uh…?」
A long cut across the centre of the face. Cheon Je-heon, who felt blood overflowing from his cut cheeks and nose, rubbed his eyes and groped his face.
「Fuck, what… what the… uh?」
Cheon Sa-yeon turned around without any regrets. Cheon Je-heon, who realized what Cheon Sa-yeon had done to him, screamed.
「Aaaah! Shit, damn iiit! Fucking bastard, damn it!」
Despite the terrible screams, Cheon Sa-yeon steadfastly looked ahead and moved forward.
As he exited the mansion through the thick smoke, he saw dozens of monsters remaining in the garden. The helicopter hovering in the sky lit itself up and the siren sounded beyond the main gate.
Looking up at it, Cheon Sa-yeon slowly closed his eyes. He knew instinctively.
He knew that he would lead a completely different life than before. Leaving the hellish mansion where he had been imprisoned, Cheon Sa-yeon took a weary step.
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