novelraw Chapter 44 : Heaven, Earth, and Man (2)
Chapter 44 : Heaven, Earth, and Man (2)
Chapter 44: Heaven, Earth, and Man (2)
While I was staring blankly at Lee Taebaek.
“……!”
Tang Ji-hye’s ears perked up like a rabbit’s. Even though it was a completely sealed room, I could feel the commotion from downstairs.
That manifestation of superhuman senses came from Tang Ji-hye’s bloodline. Since the Sichuan Tang Clan handled hidden weapons, their sensory perception was highly developed.
Go-eun seemed to have no room to look away as she was in the middle of entering Qi Regulation and Meditation. If the guide lost focus for even a moment, Lee Taebaek would fall into Qi Deviation.
‘Not to mention Lee Taebaek while he’s regulating his qi.’
Once I calmed my startled heart—
Tang Ji-hye swiftly left the room, only to come to an abrupt halt at the balcony. She leaned her upper body forward as if she might spill out.
The source of the disturbance was the direction of the entrance.
Thud, thud, thud, thud,
Each time the main gate shook, pale dust trickled down from the ceiling. It was an ominous vibration.
“Block it!”
“X-fuck! Even one more is fine, just one more!”
The kids were huddled together, trying to stop the gate from opening. It looked like they were trying to push back an immovable wall.
At the forefront, of course, stood Ban Lionheart. With grim eyes, he shouted,
“Girls, fall back! All the boys, get over here! Eric! Go to the storage room and gather every steel pipe you can find!”
“B-but we threw all the steel pipes away under the overpass earlier.”
“You idiot—! That’s just how people talk! I mean bring anything that can be used as a weapon—no, self-defense! Even chopsticks will do!”
“O-okay!”
Even with a face that looked ready to explode, Ban kept issuing orders. The kids who had been stiff like wooden dolls began to regain their senses one by one.
The boys either brought back stick-like objects that could be used as weapons or added their weight to the human barricade.
“Forty seconds! Just until the girls finish hiding!!”
“Ugh, damn it! These gangster bastards—why are they so strong?! How much time is left?!”
The pink-haired Angela answered. If Ban was with the boys, she was with the girls.
“Just three more!”
“Grrr—! We can only hold for ten more seconds, so evacuate everyone within ten seconds—!! Got it, Angela?!”
Angela nodded and moved busily. The girls followed her commands faithfully, scurrying away like mice hiding in holes.
It was thanks to Jin Sobang, the overall person in charge, who had created hidden side passages everywhere. One had to prepare for contingencies. This was the Bottommost District.
“Uuughhhhh, X-fuuuck.”
“Done! Done! All the girls are evacuated!”
It wasn’t orderly, but it was desperate. There wasn’t a single person who wasn’t fighting with everything they had. It was hard to believe these were kids who normally had clear, unclouded minds.
I bit my lip hard. Watching this, the members of the 3rd Battalion almost looked stupid by comparison. It even brought back memories of my own past…….
‘When I get back, I should crack some joints.’
For now, I set those thoughts aside. The moment Tang Ji-hye lightly vaulted over the railing and landed like a cat—
Boom!
With a thunderous roar, the entrance burst open to both sides. All the effort the boys had put in was rendered meaningless as they were blown away.
Step, step.
The uninvited guests stormed inside like wind and rain.
Krrrraaaash!
Just then, lightning struck once more. Backlight cast their faces in shadow.
“Who the hell are you!”
Ban barked. He tried to stand while bracing himself on a steel pipe, but the floor was too slippery.
Step.
Without answering, the intruders parted to either side. Two men walked out, slicing through the human curtain.
“We’re entering our jurisdiction—do we really need to introduce ourselves?”
The man on the left spoke while brushing off his coat. He wore straight-lined goggles that were an inseparable, integrated unit. He had gouged out his natural eyes and implanted cybernetic goggles.
“Honestly, kids in the bottom districts these days are rotten to the core. Back in my day, huh? We were already running errands for gang bosses at five years old.”
The man on the right snickered. He had no cybernetic prosthetics, but instead wore a bamboo hat. The contrast with his flippant tone was jarring.
Ban swallowed hard. His biological father had been, in name at least, a member of the Monterrey Gang. Because of that, he had heard about these people a few times.
‘The Monterrey three executives.’
The two who remained, excluding the dead Baron Marlow.
“Damn it, you remodeled this place like absolute shit. The smell of a new house is giving me a headache, you bastards.”
The one wiping his straight goggles with his thumb was Pin.
“Wow, Pin. Look at their expressions. How dare they glare at seniors who are like the sky above them? Damn punks. Back in my day—!”
That bamboo-hat-wearing old fart’s name was Vander.
Their appearances were so distinctive that I couldn’t help but recognize them instantly. Seeing those two, even the iron-jawed Baron Marlow looked normal by comparison.
‘X-fuck.’
I was scared.
I was terrified.
Even so, Ban stood at the front.
“This place is the Baekbaek Order First Branch, lawfully seized by the Gaepa Investigator! It’s not somewhere trash gangsters like you are allowed to enter—!!”
Starting with Ban, the boys stood up. The fishy smell in the air dulled the stench of reality just a little.
“Heh.”
The boys’ teeth kept chattering, but their steel pipes were stubbornly angled toward the gangsters.
“Ah, looking at it this way, it’s such a damn waste. All these kids could’ve been the ones to inherit our legacy.”
“Yeah. Even compared to our time, they’ve got decent guts. What a shame.”
Even as he spoke, Vander pulled out a folding jackknife and approached.
“Since we have to kill them.”
Just as he seemed to click his tongue, his figure vanished.
“……!!”
Before I knew it, Vander was right up close, blade flashing. The brim of his bamboo hat lifted slightly, revealing gleaming snake-like eyes.
“Still, since you talked back to seniors who are like the sky above you, you’ll have to pay the price, right?”
Ban swung his steel pipe downward. He twisted the jackknife’s blade path, aiming to counterattack!
Normally, it was a speed he wouldn’t even be able to react to. But the crushing responsibility piercing his spine explosively increased Ban’s mental strength in that instant.
“Whoa, he reacted to that?”
Rather than panicking, Vander kept sneering.
They were close enough for their breaths to collide. Vander slipped his body aside like a ghost. His high agility easily overcame the inertia of his dash.
Clang!
The steel pipe sliced through the air and slammed into the floor.
At the same time, Vander flicked his wrist and properly regripped the knife handle he had been holding in a reverse grip.
Shraaak!
The sharp jackknife lunged for Ban’s eye. A situation just shy of blindness. The last thing Ban saw was Vander’s rotten grin hanging beneath the bamboo hat.
“Ah.”
So this is how I die.
A thousand thoughts flashed through my mind.
Even so, Ban didn’t close his eyes.
“Baaaan—!!”
Chapter 44: Heaven, Earth, and Man (2)
Turning my eyes away even at the final moment made my life feel unbearably fleeting.
‘Wait for me in Valhalla first.’
Ban spoke, moving only his lips.
“Daeeejang—!!”
The believers of the Baekbaek Order charged all at once, gripping steel pipes. That was when it happened.
A shadow clearly fell across Ban’s vision.
Thud.
A dull sound. The blade was stopped by the shadow. When he slightly lifted his eyes, what he saw was a pair of dumplings.
“X-idiot. Learn to value your life.”
Tang Ji-hye rolled only her eyes backward. She was gripping Vander’s fist.
The blade was exquisitely trapped between her fingers. Discomposure filled Vander’s face.
“……Tang Ji-hye?”
Vander mouthed her name. Regardless, Tang Ji-hye carried on a conversation with Ban.
“No matter how much you try to act grown-up, you’re still a kid. And when you’re young, you get to whine sometimes. Geez, X—why am I lecturing a kid anyway. Seriously!”
“Ah, y-yes.”
Ban nodded awkwardly.
“Tang Ji-hye?”
“That Tang Ji-hye?”
As her name surfaced, the gangsters began to stir. Anxiety spread in an instant.
“Y-you bitch, why are you here?!”
“I was standing guard, you insect bastard.”
“W-what……?!”
Without even looking at Vander, Tang Ji-hye snapped her wrist. His arm twisted like a wrung rag.
She pushed further.
Shluurk!
The moment the long bone pierced through the shoulder and burst out near the shoulder blade, Tang Ji-hye’s elbow drove into Vander’s lower jaw.
Thunk—!
The bamboo hat flew all the way to the ceiling. Vander convulsed briefly, then collapsed starting from his knees. Instant death.
Twitch, twitch.
His face was utterly mangled. With his lower jaw crushed inward, he looked like a crushed tin can.
“From now on. If you take even one more step forward, it will be considered an intrusion into Resistance territory.”
Tang Ji-hye coldly brushed aside Vander’s hand. The rain pouring in through the broken door grew heavier.
“The ones who already came in can’t be helped.”
The door’s hinges flapped precariously, as if voicing the gangsters’ fear.
“Mancheonhwau.”
A sudden downpour swept through even the interior.
Lightning struck down.
Kwarung! Bang! Kwaaaarrrrung!
Countless blue flashes fell and fell again from my mental world. The thunder was so loud my ears felt like they would go deaf.
[※An emergency situation has occurred.※]
The lightning did not directly touch me, Lee Taebaek. It merely ceaselessly scoured the surrounding area, like a cage meant to trap me here.
[※Your safety is being threatened.※]
It happened in an instant.
The localized natural disaster that had been shaking heaven and earth ceased. I half-opened my eyes. Something round was shading me from above.
I blinked.
“Para Blade.”
In that gap, I stretched out my arm. The solar system that had been floating drifted down into my hand.
Crunch.
I clenched it. It turned into particles. I felt grains of light seep into my entire body.
[Emergency Inspection will be executed immediately.]
It happened in an instant.
The localized natural disaster that had been shaking heaven and earth ceased. I half-opened my eyes. Something round was shading me from above.
I blinked.
“Para Blade.”
In that gap, I stretched out my arm. The solar system that had been floating drifted down into my hand.
Crunch.
I clenched it. It turned into particles. I felt grains of light seep into my entire body.
[A Medium-Scale Patch is activated.]
At last, I opened my eyes as reality—Lee Taebaek.
Go-eun removed her palm from Lee Taebaek’s back. The color of her eyes returned to normal.
“Uh…….”
Having kept retreating step by step, her back ended up hitting the wall. Soon, Go-eun slid down along it.
Rest—she needed rest.
Go-eun steadied her ragged breathing. Then, without thinking, she blurted out a statement ripe for misunderstanding.
“I’ve never met a man like this.”
Go-eun had been born with a Jin Gi-do-in constitution.
That meant she possessed extraordinary innate talent for guiding internal energy. Because of that, she had been semi-forcibly placed in the position of cult leader by the Heavenly Demon.
The number of mages who had passed through her hands so far was, without exaggeration, countless. And she could say with certainty that she had never been exhausted.
Not even once.
‘If anything, it was the opposite.’
When she caressed another’s internal energy, a certain amount of it flowed back to her. Since the other party also consented and entered Qi Regulation and Meditation, there had been no complaints on either side.
In any case.
“Haa, haa.”
Go-eun was now completely drained. Her legs trembled, and her brain throbbed. To put it simply, her soul felt slightly adrift.
On the other hand, Lee Taebaek remained perfectly upright in his seated posture. It was as though he had never asked, ‘Do I really need to sit cross-legged?’—there wasn’t the slightest disturbance.
“…….”
Go-eun stared blankly at Lee Taebaek’s back. Then her gaze slowly slid downward.
Twinge.
Her hand stung as if static electricity had jumped. No—that wasn’t it. It was more like touching a transmission tower.
‘Did he not permit absorption…….’
The internal energy had will of its own.
This, too, was a first in her life.
She froze briefly at the shocking sight. Then, as she breathed in sharp, shallow gasps, she felt a sense of wrongness. Was there still more left to be surprised by?
Haaaah…….
White breath leaked from her lips. It was early summer, after all.
The abnormal phenomena didn’t end there.
Tap, tap.
The sound of wind and rain struck the glass windows. But as time passed, the raindrops bloomed into frost flowers, cracking—crk—across the panes.
‘W-what is this.’
Go-eun’s pupils shook. Thin ice was scraping and tightening across the floor, creeping inward toward Lee Taebaek, who was meditating at the very center.
Suddenly, a ring of mist formed around him. It looked as though he were meditating atop a pale lotus.
Gulp.
Supporting herself against the wall, Go-eun moved to check Lee Taebaek’s expression.
‘Just in case.’
It could be another form of Qi Deviation. The probability was slim, but she couldn’t rule it out, so she approached him from the front with the quietest steps possible.
That was how Go-eun faced him, with the window at her back. A chill ran down her spine—physically and mentally.
Lee Taebaek opened his eyes. His bold gaze wrapped around Go-eun, cutting through the silence.
“The downstairs… is noisy…….”
With that single line, the air changed. The glass began to rattle, and then the double windows were flung wide open.
Raindrops frozen into hard frost fell onto the floor. Ting, ting—clear sounds rolled around her feet.
Whoooosh.
With an empty expression, Go-eun murmured. A gentle wind brushed past the nape of her neck.
“Ice magic.”