Kim Sukho looked down at the Han River Bridge from a skyscraper in Yeouido.
There was nothing strange about the scenery. The sky was clear, cars and buses went about their way, and sunlight reflected on the water’s surface.
Everything was peaceful and serene just like any other day.
“Hoho…” Kim Sukho laughed while biting on a cigar.
Even he couldn’t see within the mirror barrier set up over the bridge. Of course, he didn’t have to see what was going on inside as those brats would never survive against that person.
“I gave you numerous chances,” Kim Sukho said in a low voice.
Those brats were truly foolish.
He wasn’t sure if it was because they were young, possessed a strong sense of justice, or just out for revenge. However, their actions could no longer be considered innocent as they reached the verge of utter foolishness.
“I didn’t want to go this far…”
Kim Sukho already knew what Kim Hajin was planning. The boy was trying to dig up dirt from his past and use it to threaten him. Of course, thinking it was possible in the first place was a huge miscalculation on the boy’s part.
“You only have your own foolishness to blame.”
Kim Sukho planned to keep his sturdy stronghold forever. He was going to pressure Essence of the Straight, dismantle Daehyun, and reform the association. He would get rid of his only obstacle, Chae Joochul, and take possession of not only the association, but the entirety of South Korea.
Not to mention, anything dirty or illegal that occurred along the way would be solely blamed on the djinns. Fabricating all sorts of lies would be extremely easy as long as he controlled the association.
“Hoo…”
He belched out a cloud of smoke and smiled. He couldn’t stop himself from smiling and it didn’t take long for him to start snickering.
“Ke… Kehehe…!”
He let out a sinister laugh and ended up even shedding a tear as he looked out the window again. The shining waters of the Han River, the skyscrapers, and the Hero Association’s building were all underneath his feet. South Korea was under his feet.
“All of these…” he muttered.
‘Are mine. My kingdom and my world. No one else in this world will be able to say that these aren’t mine. Nobody…’
***
“Hey!”
Tomer, Loelle, and the rest of the protection unit drove over to us. Kim Suho had Misteltein raised as he stood alert while I observed the civilians trembling on the bridge.
“Hey, are you alright? What the hell is going on…” Tomer said, but her voice slowly drifted away from my ears.
A child was crying beside a bleeding man whom I presumed to be the father. An old woman was hugging her grandson and crying out for help. A man was trying his best to pull out his wife from the wreckage of what was once their car. A man with a severed leg cried out in agony while holding his knee…
“Ah…”
I was thrown into confusion at the sudden turn of events. There were hundreds of civilians trembling and crying in fear right now. All of them would die if the bridge collapsed or monsters appeared.
… All of them.
My body reacted before my head did. I immediately transformed my Desert Eagle into a machine gun and pulled the trigger at the countless flying monsters diving down.
I activated my thousand-mile eyes at the same time to count the number of civilians in my vicinity. There were four hundred fifty-eight of them.
I wanted to save them all. This strange feeling started to well up from the depths of my heart.
… Although I was nothing more than the novel’s extra.
I separated aether from the Desert Eagle and formed multiple strands with it to gather all of the civilians into one place. Hundreds of civilians screamed in horror as aether yanked them together.
I formed aether into the shape of a dome after confirming that everyone was gathered in one place. An igloo with no entrance stood tall at the center of the bridge.
Kim Suho and the rest of the heroes instantly jumped into action and surrounded the igloo as if they had already agreed beforehand.
“They’re coming!” Kim Suho shouted.
Then, a man wearing a crumpled mask suddenly jumped out of the water.
I knew who he was from his story settings. He was one of the Nine Evils, Destruction.
“… Greetings,” Destruction said with a snicker.
The way he smiled and snickered was quite repulsive for some reason.
“That’s Destruction. A named djinn,” I said.
Kim Suho and Shin Jonghak immediately reacted by cutting down the monster they were fighting and stood in front of Destruction.
“Hohoho! You brats are quite cute…” Destruction nonchalantly said.
However, Kim Suho and Shin Jonghak immediately rushed at him before he managed to finish speaking.
Kim Suho zipped through the air and swung Misteltein with all his weight and mana at the named djinn’s legs. On the other hand, Shin Jonghak rushed forward and swung his Green Dragon Crescent Blade at the named djinn’s upper body. The mana in his spear cut through the air and let out a ripping sound.
That signaled the start of the battle.
The Green Dragon Crescent Blade and Misteltein complemented each other as they faced Destruction. The Green Dragon Crescent Blade made up for Misteltein’s lack of range while Misteltein made up for the Green Dragon Crescent Blade’s weight with its speed.
The two of them had dueled countless times, which in turn, ironically made them aware of how to support each other in combat.
Destruction initially had a smug smirk as he fought against them, but his smirk was soon replaced with a grimace.
“These brats dares to…!”
He was currently getting pushed back by two Cube freshmen. That was more than enough to make him feel ashamed.
Meanwhile, I shot down all of the flying monsters diving towards us while Chae Nayun and Rachel took care of the squid-looking monsters jumping out from the river.
The tides of battle on the bridge completely shifted in our favor.
“Hey! Activate it!” Destruction suddenly shouted.
A light glowed brightly from underneath the river before a massive amount of evil mana spread throughout the surroundings.
I was certain of that despicable evil mana’s objective. It was none other than to wreak havoc. They were planning to cause an explosion that would swallow not only this bridge, but a portion of the surrounding areas as well.
I was flabbergasted for a moment and fell deep in thought.
“… Kim Hajin!”
A single voice pierced through my confusion and I knew at that moment that the owner of that voice was the key to all of this.
Chae Nayun was walking towards me. She was the key.
I hugged her tightly. She flinched in surprise at my sudden action, but I ignored it and poured all of my remaining stigma into her.
Chae Nayun was stunned at the sudden surge of mana in her body.
“You can do it, right?” I asked.
She immediately understood what I meant and nodded.
What we needed to fight against that evil mana was an equivalent amount of mana or even more mana.
“… Sure,” she said.
Only Chae Nayun was capable of unleashing such huge amounts of mana. Her mana capacity was as vast as the ocean. After all, her gift in the first place was called the Sea of Magic Power.
“Phew…”
She calmed her breathing and gripped her sword. Her mana instantly amplified the moment she tightly gripped it and my stigma amplified her mana as well.
The third main catalyst to amplify her mana was none other than the ancient artifact, Eye of the Sun.
Chae Nayun’s mana was now amplified to an extent that was impossible to measure. Her sword emitted a powerful surge of mana that covered the entire bridge.
Baaaaaaaam!
At that moment, her mana covered the entire bridge as a powerful storm of evil mana shot out from underneath the river.
Chae Nayun swung her sword with all her might and faced the powerful storm of evil mana head-on.
Boooooooom!
Chae Nayun’s mana and the evil mana slammed against each other. The powerful stream of red and blue energies pushed each other with neither giving more than an inch.
Meanwhile, that was the last thing I saw before I fell unconscious.
***
“Then… there’s a chance that the child you saved was Kim Hajin?”
Meanwhile, Jain was scratching her head at the Chameleon Troupe’s hideout. Her forehead creased as if she was annoyed or upset.
“I’m not saying there’s a chance. I’m telling you that he is, so let me go will you? Please let me go…”
A man bound by ropes squirmed on the ground like a caterpillar. The man was none other than Yoo Yeonha’s uncle, Yoo Jinhyuk. He divulged everything he knew about Kim Hajin as soon as the Chameleon Troupe abducted him.
“Haaa…”
Jain let out a sigh before looking at Boss. On the other hand, Boss looked like she was deep in thought.
“So, what are you going to do about it, Boss?” Jain asked.
“…”
Boss didn’t respond. Instead, she looked up at the empty ceiling as she reminisced about what happened in the past.
“… Beats me,” she finally muttered.
Sympathy was a foreign feeling to her now, but that incident took place when she still had some of it left. She was young at that time, but vividly remembered what happened that day. No, it was more like that specific incident was a very memorable one that shaped who she was today.
“A debt must be repaid,” she reiterated the iron rule of the Chameleon Troupe.
Jain pursed her lips before replying, “Sure, do as you like. However, we can’t be out in the open. You know that, right? We should never ever be exposed.”
Boss’ debt was the Chameleon Troupe’s debt in the end. That was the reason the Chameleon Troupe was forced to agree to her decision.
***
I opened my eyes and saw Chae Nayun holding me. Her smile made me come back to my senses.
“Are you awake?” she asked.
I couldn’t move my lips and my ears were ringing. I didn’t respond and silently looked around my surroundings instead.
I was in a place that I had visited a few times, the VIP outhouse’s garden in the hospital where Chae Jinyoon was currently admitted.
“… Yeah,” I muttered.
I caught sight of Jin Sahyuk. She was sitting at the entrance of the VIP outhouse like some kind of hooligan while looking straight at me.
I could feel mana all around me. It seemed like she was protecting this entire hospital.
“What happened…?” I asked.
“Seoul is a mess right now, but there were no civilian casualties thanks to you. Your ability is still protecting them as we speak,” Chae Nayun replied.
“That’s a relief…”
“Right? Kim Suho, Shin Jonghak, and the others are wrapping up the situation. I used that opportunity to escape with you. The Chameleon Troupe helped us. That lady, Jain or whatever her name was, is probably disguised as me right now,” Chae Nayun explained with a smile.
I nodded in response and stood up with Chae Nayun’s assistance.
I looked at her and smiled, “Then… shall we go?”
“… Yeah.”
“Hey, Jin Sahyuk,” I called out.
She didn’t respond or anything, but followed right behind us without uttering a single word.
We passed the empty corridor and reached the VIP ward. My heart raced after reading the nameplate on the door, [Chae Jinyoon].
I composed myself and opened the door.
Chae Jinyoon was still lying motionless on the bed.
“What about the ingredients?” I asked.
“It’s all here,” Chae Nayun replied.
“It didn’t get contaminated by the teleportation magic or scroll, right?”
“Of course, I had to run all the way here, you know? Do you think I’m stupid or what?”
These ingredients had dense concentrations of pure, raw, and unrefined mana. This made teleportation magic and scrolls fatal to them. The mana within them could be distorted the moment they were exposed to teleportation mana, which could end up altering their entire composition.
“Here,” Chae Nayun took out the Hope Plant and Soul Mana Vermilion.
“Hooo…”
I composed myself again and took out the [Heart of Adaptation] from my chest. Then I offered the Hope Plant and Soul Mana Vermilion to the heart.
I looked at Jin Sahyuk and said, “Put Chae Jinyoon’s soul into this heart.”
“… Soul?” Chae Nayun muttered as her eyes shot wide open.
“Yeah, Chae Jinyoon’s soul is probably trapped right now. We’re going to extract his soul, place it into this heart, and put this heart in his body. That should wake him up.”
It was highly likely that Chae Jinyoon’s soul was trapped inside his own heart. The only person I could think of who was capable of extracting his soul was none other than Jin Sahyuk.
“Can you do it?” I asked.
Jin Sahyuk looked a bit unconfident, but soon nodded in response.
I checked how much stigma I had left to support Jin Sahyuk, but I had exhausted most of it at the bridge and it was just starting to replenish.
“Hold on. Let’s wait for an hour or two before beginning…” I said.
I immediately added a new gift, [Breathing Technique]. It cost me 1,000 SP to add this gift with the effect of, ‘Will increase recovery of stamina and stigma when breathing.’
It took three hours for me to finally recover all of my stigma.
Jin Sahyuk glared at me with a frown, “Are you ready?”
“Yeah, let’s start,” I replied.
“… Then, I’m going to start,” she channeled her mana.
Her mana seeped into Chae Jinyoon’s body. The mana started to heat his body and something like steam rose from him soon afterwards.
I immediately used stigma to assist Jin Sahyuk, and the steam grew more visible.
“Keuk…” Jin Sahyuk groaned as her mana condensed and spread throughout her body like a powerful surge of electricity.
Extracting a soul was something only she could do thanks to the gift [Incarnation], which only she possessed in this entire world.
At that moment, her mana reached its peak and she shouted…
“NOW!”
I immediately stored Chae Jinyoon’s soul in the heart.
Badump!
The heart jumped.
“Is it done…?” Jin Sahyuk asked.
She was drenched in sweat and fell on her butt after her legs gave out.
“All that’s left is to…” I muttered and swallowed the words, ‘put this in him.’
I nervously gulped and brought the heart closer to Chae Jinyoon’s chest. I had to squeeze every bit of my willpower to stop my hands from trembling.
The heart seeped into Chae Jinyoon’s chest.
“Hap…”
I suddenly heard someone lose their breath. I looked to my side and saw Chae Nayun holding her breath while looking over her brother.
No one said a word after that. A complete silence descended on the entire room. It felt as if the entire room was transported into a silent realm only filled with expectation and anxiety.
“Hoo…” Chae Jinyoon exhaled.
It wasn’t a silent exhalation, but rather, the breath of someone teeming with life.
A tear dropped from Chae Nayun’s eye.
“Nayun…” I wrapped my arms around her.
Chae Nayun looked at me with tears flowing out of her eyes.
“It’s time to call your grandfather,” I said.
We still had work to do because Chae Jinyoon was in danger. He was still the Achilles’ heel of the entire association and Kim Sukho.
The only person in this world capable of protecting Chae Jinyoon until he testified was none other than Chae Joochul.
“Yeah…” Chae Nayun nodded and wiped her tears.
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