Side Story Chapter 85 - Intermission

"A-Arghh."

Pools of blood covered the ground. A middle-aged man spewing blood from his eye sockets crawled on the ground miserably. His well-groomed gray hair was nowhere in sight after being ripped out.

No words were descriptive enough to express the wretched state the man was in. His limbs were bent at unnatural angles, and his skin was torn off, exposing his muscles and fatty tissue. It was a miracle the man was still alive.

Oh Kang-Woo, who was apathetically looking down at the man, narrowed his eyes as he lightly kicked the crawling Salvatore's flank and asked, "So what you're saying is, you guys were never from Earth, right?"

"Th-That's r-right."

Bash!

Kang-Woo kicked Salvatore's flank like a football. Blood poured out from the torn flesh.

"Kurgh!!!"

"What gave you the idea to think you can speak casually to me, motherfucker?"

Kang-Woo understood it when Salvatore was talking disrespectfully before the battle, but he was not changing his manner of speech after he was beaten beyond senseless.

'Is it because he's bald now?'

Kang-Woo slapped Salvatore's smooth scalp. As a proud man born in Korea where respect was everything, he couldn't let such disrespect slide.

"This won't do. I'll have to teach this fucking alien some manners."

Kang-Woo crouched and grabbed Salvatore's front teeth with his fingers.

"H-Huh?"

Salvatore's shoulders violently trembled.

Kang-Woo gripped Salvatore's teeth tightly and shouted, "MANNERS MAKETH MAN!!!"

He pulled out Salvatore's front teeth as if he were pulling out a child's loose tooth.

"ARGHHHHHHHH!!!"

Salvatore screamed as the warmth of oriental etiquette flowed into him.

"Let's try this again. So what you're saying is, you guys were never from Earth, right?"

"Yazz... zur."

"What?"

"Yazs, zur!"

"SPEAK PROPERLY, MOTHERFUCKER!!!"

Bash!

Kang-Woo smashed Salvatore's face in.

"Are you making fun of me? Huh? What the fuck is wrong with your pronunciations?"

Salvatore quickly shook his head. "M-Mai hooh..."

"What? Are you blaming me now?"

"N-NAH AH ALL!"

"Then why aren't you pronouncing your words properly?"

"I-I will phonounze dem phopelly!"

"WRYYYYYYYYYYYY!!!"

Kang-Woo was boiling with rage as Salvatore continued to insult him with his terrible pronunciations. He was certain Salvatore was doing this on purpose to undermine him.

"Let's go for another round of molting."

"B-BWEAZE!!! A-ANYZING BUH DAH!!!"

"And another one."

'How dare he pull this shit on me?'

Kang-Woo couldn't stand being treated like this when he went out of his way to politely teach him oriental etiquette.

"HYAAAAAAAAAAAAHHH!!!"

Salvatore convulsed as he screamed in intense pain.

'That aside, this dude is gonna die at this rate.'

Kang-Woo would be in a predicament if that were to happen. He took his hand off Salvatore and continued his questions.

"Then how did you come to Earth?"

If they had come through a Gate, their presence would have been detected. However, Kang-Woo was only made aware of their presence after the Church of Radiance spread throughout Europe.

"V-Vee wode da lai..."

Kang-Woo used the Authority of Regeneration to only heal Salvatore's teeth because he could barely understand him.

"

Cough! Cough! Huff, huff

. W-We rode the light to get here."

"What?"

'Rode the light? What the hell does that mean?'

"Those blessed by the Great Akart can assimilate with the light by borrowing his powers. W-We assimilated with the light and reached Earth that way."

"What the fuck?"

Kang-Woo grabbed his forehead as if having a headache.

'No wonder we couldn't detect them.'

There was no way to detect beings who crossed the Gate by assimilating with light.

'I guess that's also why we couldn't detect the Wikiholic's movements.'

It was impossible to track someone who turned into light to travel throughout the world like some kind of ghost.

"Then why didn't you turn into light to run away earlier?"

'Though I'm sure he wouldn't have been able to since I enveloped the surroundings in the Abyss.'

"B-Because... I needed to borrow the Great Akart's powers to..."

"Ohh, so that's why you were praying like a motherfucker to him to grant you his light."

"..."

Kang-Woo thought Salvatore was trying to power up, but in reality, he was just trying to run away.

'Wait a second, that means...'

Kang-Woo's eyes narrowed.

'The Wikiholic transformed into light at will to travel around. If the Wikiholic could do it but Salvatore couldn't, that means...'

"You... how high are you among Akart's subordinates?"

"Pardon...?"

"What rank are you among that motherfucker Akart's henchmen?"

"M-Motherfucker?! The disrespect!"

"Stop fucking around."

Kang-Woo aggressively kicked Salvatore's flank again.

Salvatore winced. "I am... ranked f-fifth among the Great Akart's retainers."

"Fifth?"

Meaning there were four more that were stronger than Salvatore.

"Haaa, fuck."

Kang-Woo couldn't help but sigh. There were four more individuals which even Si-Hun would have difficulty against. Not only that but considering they were ranked, Si-Hun might not be a match for those ranked above Salvatore.

'Assuming one of the four is the Wikiholic...'

Kang-Woo still had no idea who the other three were.

"Tell me about the ones ranked above you."

"A-About that..." Salvatore answered tremblingly, "I-I don't know anything about them."

"What about the Wikiholic?"

"Wikiholic...?"

"Oh, I'm talking about that golden lion."

"I-I don't know. There is rarely a reason for the retainers to gather, so..."

"Then how do you know the ranks?"

"The Great Akart has designated me as his fifth retainer."

Salvatore did not seem to be lying.

"Alright, fine. Then what the hell is Akart doing right now? Why isn't he coming to Earth personally?"

He was only sending small fry as if he were a demon lord giving EXP to the hero.

"He is..." Just then, Salvatore, who had been writhing in pain, suddenly stopped. "Saving the world... of which the balance has been disrupted."

"..."

Salvatore mumbled emotionlessly, "Balance to the tilted scale! Balance to the tilted scale!!"

"Hey."

"Balancetothetiltedscalebalancetothetiltedscalebalancetothetiltedscale."

"For fuck's sake, hey!"

Kang-Woo frowned and violently grabbed Salvatore.

'Something's off. Is this another self-destruct flag?'

Kang-Woo looked down at Salvatore anxiously, but he was not glowing gold like the other pastor. Rather, the light, which had been shining dimly from Salvatore, was fading.

"Hey, hey, hey!! Don't die!!"

Kang-Woo quickly bit open his finger and shoved it into Salvatore's mouth. He used the Authority of Regeneration to treat Salvatore. His distorted limbs went back to their normal positions and his torn flesh turned back to normal.

"Balancetothetiltedscalebalancetothetiltedscalebalancetothetiltedscale."

"Shit..."

Kang-Woo sighed deeply. Salvatore was now physically fine but was lifelessly mumbling the same words repeatedly like a broken machine.

'What went wrong?'

Kang-Woo recalled their conversation.

"Asking directly about Akart... I would guess."

The minds of Akart's subordinates were likely set up to be broken if they even attempted to leak any information about Akart. It was the same setup used by the Demon Cult in the past.

"Salvation, my ass."

There was no way someone who brainwashed their subordinates so that their minds would break if they ever tried to leak information about him would save the world.

'The problem is, these motherfuckers really believe they're bringing salvation to this world.'

Nothing was more annoying than the convictions of a dumbass.

"No..." Kang-Woo shook his head after some thought.

'They're not completely illogical.'

He recalled the words of the young pastor.

"I am sure you're aware of it too! The endless otherworldly invasions! The collapsed Law and balance!"

As he said, Earth currently had no protections against the otherworldly invasions. Otherworldly beings such as the Parasites and the Galactic Federation could invade Earth at any moment, and Earth had no defense mechanisms to prevent it.

"This world will soon meet its end!! It is no different from a sinking ship!!"

"Sinking ship, huh?" Kang-Woo recalled.

The young pastor had a point. Earth could be endlessly bombarded by otherworldly invasions and one day meet its end. It was also possible that Akart's subordinates had come to Earth to save people. However...

"Fuck that."

Kang-Woo chuckled coldly. If the ship was sinking, he would raise it. If he couldn't raise it, he would block all the holes so that water would not enter. He would just trample on the invaders so brutally that no one would dare even come anywhere near Earth.

'So, Earth doesn't need salvation.'

"Well... I'm sure the son of a bitch will come crawling sooner or later whatever I do."

First, Singapore, and now the Church of Radiance— Akart was sending his retainers to Earth to exact his

salvation

.

'Though they're nothing but terrorists based on what they've been doing.'

They were killing people with the excuse that they were being sent to another world before Earth met its demise. Not only that but reincarnation was limited to a select few who received Akart's blessing.

"What a load of fucking bullshit."

Kang-Woo clicked his tongue and narrowed his eyes. He couldn't help but be irritated since people from another world were spouting shit about salvation when the people on Earth were already taking matters into their own hands.

"Jeez."

Kang-Woo sighed and turned around.

"Urgh..."

Only a black-haired girl remained on the empty live stage where the audience evacuated. Echidna flinched after meeting eyes with Kang-Woo.

"Is your wound okay?" Kang-Woo approached Echidna and examined the wound on her flank— it was quite serious. He bit open his finger which had already healed and remarked, "Here, drink."

"Kang-Woo..." Echidna looked up at him hesitantly.

"It's gonna disappear if you don't drink it. Go on."

"Okay."

Echidna licked Kang-Woo's finger. It ticked a little. Her wound healed in a flash because the wound was caused by her own magic rather than the Light of Akart.

"I'm sorry, Kang-Woo." Echidna lowered her head dejectedly after being fully healed. "I'm sorry... for not running away and fighting."

"..."

Kang-Woo remained silent as he stared at Echidna trembling in fear. She likely knew she was no match for Salvatore and that she could escape if she abandoned her fans. However, she decided not to.

"Honestly, I..." Kang-Woo slurred dryly. "Don't really understand."

"Kang-Woo..."

"I don't get why you would risk your life for a bunch of strangers."

"That's..."

"I would rather they all die than you fall in danger."

No, Kang-Woo wouldn't give a shit if everyone else gathered in the venue were mercilessly slaughtered if it meant Echidna would be safe.

"..."

Echidna clenched her fists in silence. Her fists were shaking as if she were suppressing her will to say something. Kang-Woo patted Echidna's head.

"But in the end, that's just what I think."

"Kang-Woo...?"

"Just because I feel that way doesn't mean you have to as well."

Kang-Woo and Echidna were different. They held different values and acted on different things. Things that weren't precious to him might be precious to her. He did not have the right to force his beliefs on Echidna just because she was different from him.

"But... I wish you'd take better care of yourself." Kang-Woo smiled faintly and kissed Echidna's forehead.

"K-Kang-Woo!" Echidna blushed. "Hm! Hm! Hm!"

She jumped up and down as she snorted excitedly, but then went back to lowering her head lifelessly.

'What's this? Is she bipolar?'

"Thank you... Kang-Woo." Echidna gently grabbed Kang-Woo's clothes. "You're... the most precious to me too, so I won't let myself get hurt anymore."

"Okay."

"Kang-Woo..."

"Hm?"

"Gimme a piggyback ride."

"Huh?"

Kang-Woo tilted his head, confused by Echidna's sudden request. Echidna pulled on his clothes more and twisted around to act cute.

"Hurry~ Piggyback~"

"Alright, sure. That's not so difficult."

Kang-Woo turned around and crouched. Echidna jumped on his back.

"Hehehe." She smiled widely. "Kang-Woo."

"Hm?"

"I wanna bear four."

"..."

'Four what?'