Chapter 318

Dae-Man, Min-Seo, and Su-Ryeon had a lot of fun. Dae-Man threw Min-Seo into the sea and shouted an unfamiliar technique name.

"Tombstone Pile Driver!"

"Arggh!"

Min-Seo retaliated against Dae-Man, shouting a strange technique name of her own.

"Gut Buster!"

"Ahh!"

They both continuously threw each other into the sea. Min-Seo lightened up from being serious and angry as soon as she hit the water. Su-Ryeon chuckled and played in the water, splashing Dae-Man and Min-Seo.

“

Pant, pant

! Hey, let's take a break. Honestly, this is tiring," Min-Seo said.

"Agreed. Let's have a temporary ceasefire," Dae-Man replied.

"How about an alliance instead of a ceasefire?" Su-Ryeon suggested.

Tired and bored of throwing each other into the water, Min-Seo and Dae-Man accepted Su-Ryeon’s suggestion of allying together instead of forming a ceasefire. They started eyeing their next target. Their gaze shifted toward In-Ah, who was playing near the shallow shore where the waves lapped. She had yet to step into the water.

"In-Ah?"

"In-Ah."

Dae-Man, Min-Seo, and Su-Ryeon exchanged signals and ran toward In-Ah. In-Ah had no chance to resist against the three who lifted her arms and legs.

Splash!

They mercilessly threw her into the sea. In-Ah fell into the water without even screaming. In-Ah struggled and then stood up in a hurry.

She glared at the three who had thrown her. "Haha! Hey, you guys!"

"One more time?"

"One more time."

Splash!

The three didn't even give In-Ah a chance to retaliate. In-Ah barely had time to think as she was repeatedly dunked into the sea. She was completely dazed.

The alliance’s next target was Jin-Seo, who had not yet set foot in the ocean and was talking to Sun-Woo.

Dae-Man and Min-Seo didn't say anything to each other. Just by exchanging glances, they could tell what each other was thinking. Dae-Man and Min-Seo, along with Su-Ryeon, all rushed toward Jin-Seo. However, Jin-Seo was not as easy to catch as In-Ah. She quickly caught on to their intentions and started running.

"You're next, Jin-Seo!"

"Oh, oh! She's running! Get her!"

𝐟𝕣𝗲𝕖𝕨𝗲𝐛𝗻𝗼𝐯𝗲𝚕.𝗰𝚘𝐦

Jin-Seo was nimble. Min-Seo and Dae-Man chased after her, shouting at the top of their lungs, but Jin-Seo managed to evade them. Eventually, Min-Seo and Dae-Man resorted to using a blessing to catch Jin-Seo.

Jin-Seo glanced back while running and was baffled.

"You crazy lot!"

Using blessings meant to deal with demons and demonic beasts for such a trivial matter? Jin-Seo couldn't understand them at all. Jin-Seo also tried to use a blessing to shake them off, but by the time she tried to focus on channeling her blessing, Min-Seo and Dae-Man had already caught up to her.

"Gotcha!"

"W-wait, wait! Hey!"

"No waiting, just die!"

Splash!

Min-Seo and Dae-Man pushed Jin-Seo into the sea. Su-Ryeon and In-Ah pressed down on her to prevent Jin-Seo from getting up.

After struggling, Jin-Seo finally managed to get up and gasped for a breath of air. Jin-Seo looked at Min-Seo and Dae-Man, as well as Su-Ryeon and In-Ah. However, they seemed to have lost interest in Jin-Seo. Their gaze was directed toward Sun-Woo who was staring blankly somewhere on the beach.

"Hey, look at that guy looking all wise and dandy down there. Don’t you find him annoying?"

"Sun-Woo?"

"Sun-Woo."

"Let's go!"

They ran toward Sun-Woo in unison. Sun-Woo did not resist. He simply let them grab his arm when they reached for them and gave them his legs when they grabbed onto his feet.

Even though he was suspended by all four of his appendages, Sun-Woo's gaze was fixed on a point far away.

Splash!

Without hesitation, the alliance threw Sun-Woo into the sea. Sun-Woo had not had the chance to change his clothes, but slowly disappeared underwater. Min-Seo chuckled as she watched Sun-Woo fall underwater without any resistance.

"That was refreshing. If you come to the sea, you should go into the sea."

"Is this the same Min-Seo who said she wouldn't enter the sea earlier? I'm trembling with disgust at this hypocrisy..."

"Dae-Man, why are you picking a fight again all of a sudden? Anyway, I had a good time!"

Dae-Man and Min-Seo playfully bantered while Sun-Woo was still struggling in the sea.

Suddenly, everything went quiet. Sun-Woo was not resurfacing. Only a dark shadow floated in the sea.

"Is he dead?"

"Ha, as i..."

In-Ah and Jin-Seo's faces turned pale.

Splaaash!

Right then. Sun-Woo rose from the water, creating a water spout as he stood up abruptly. Not able to contain their surprise at the fact that Sun-Woo was alive, Sun-Woo started walking toward them with big strides.

Min-Seo spilled a giggle and hesitantly took a few steps back, then turned around and ran away like crazy, shouting, "Hey, this guy is pissed off. Run!"

Dae-Man started to break out in a run. "Run!"

As they ran away, a question suddenly popped into their minds.

"Hey, why are we running away?"

"You’re right. One more time?"

"Let's do it."

They gathered their courage again and grabbed Sun-Woo, throwing him into the sea. Sun-Woo was completely beaten up after falling into the water twice. Unable to regain his composure and catch his breath, Sun-Woo let out a bitter, hollow laugh. Dae-Man, Min-Seo, Su-Ryeon, Jin-Seo, and In-Ah also laughed.

They played, tossing each other into the sea. It was a kind of day where both sides, the dunkers and the dunked, smiled the whole time.

***

In-Ah gazed at Dae-Man, Su-Ryeon, and Min-Seo after she retreated to the beach to catch a breath.

"Aren't they tired?" she asked.

Jin-Seo, In-Ah, and Sun-Woo felt fatigued from playing in the sea and came to rest, but the other three were still scampering about in the water. Among the three, Min-Seo was having the most fun despite the fact that she had caused a scene at first, saying that she didn't want to go into the water.

Sun-Woo watched the three playing energetically in the sea. His eyes glinted with more life than before. He looked like he was truly fine now.

Everything was fine. The trip went smoothly as planned. Everyone had fun, no one got hurt, and the weather was nice. Everything was going just right.

"Uh, uh...!"

Suddenly, the waves started acting strange.

Splash–!

The sound of the crashing waves became unusually rough. The faces of those who had cheered at the high waves gradually stiffened as they sensed something was wrong. They slowly tried to come out of the water, but to no success. They swam toward the beach, but for some reason, they seemed to drift further away from it.

"A rip current?" Dae-Man muttered.

He had been playing at the shallow end when the riptide had hit.

"Huh? I-I keep getting sucked into the sea! H-help me!"

The problem was Su-Ryeon. She had been playing with another tube where her feet didn’t touch the seabed, and the water suddenly increased in depth. Her body was drifting slowly away from the beach.

Dae-Man's face turned pale. Su-Ryeon wasn’t the only one asking for help. Many people playing in the sea were being dragged deeper into the sea by the strange flow of the waves. The lifeguards waiting on the beach blew their whistles. Some guards had already jumped into the sea, swimming to rescue people.

Dae-Man also prepared to rescue Su-Ryeon.

Min-Seo frantically escaped from the grasp of the sea, but she frowned when she saw Dae-Man.

"Hey! What do you think you’re doing?"

"Isn’t it obvious? I'm going to rescue her."

"What if you get caught, too? Then there's no way out!"

Dae-Man chuckled. "I have a lifeguard certification. I won't get swept away by that kind of riptide."

"Students can do that?"

"They make an exception for paladin students. Only if they want to."

"Oh? Then hurry and go rescue her!"

Splash!

Without a moment's hesitation, Dae-Man dove into the sea. With his skilled swimming, he approached Su-Ryeon. Dae-Man roughly grabbed the tube she was holding onto, swam back toward the beach, and dragged Su-Ryeon back to the shore.

Barely able to return to the beach, Su-Ryeon’s face looked pale as snow.

"Wow, I r-really, I really thought I was going to die. Wow, shit. Shit!"

"It would have been dangerous if I hadn’t been there. This incident shows the gap between crusaders and paladins," Dae-Man said excitedly.

Meanwhile, the lifeguards who had entered the sea were skillfully rescuing people. Those who had yet to be rescued were crying out for help.

The loud cries for help and the caws of the raven mixed, creating an unpleasant and eerie sound.

"..."

At that moment, Sun-Woo stood up from his seat. Jin-Seo and In-Ah looked up at Sun-Woo at the same time.

Sun-Woo's eyes were glued to something far away. His eyes, which had always been empty, were filled with intense emotion.

"La Sirene."

Shoo—!

The waves lurched strangely once more. They were high and rough. However, despite the rough waves, people were returning to the beach. Even those who had drifted far away and had not been rescued were coming back to the shore one by one with the waves.

Jin-Seo and In-Ah did not hear exactly what Sun-Woo had muttered, but they could tell that he had moved the waves.

"What? How...?" Jin-Seo muttered.

That was not miracle replication. There was no sign of divine power, the precursor to miracle replication.

Sun-Woo had not unleashed divine power in the first place. He simply controlled the waves by muttering some words. It was strange—no, it was more abnormal than strange.

Abnormal.

Jin-Seo was familiar with that word. A sense of unease crept in. She hadn’t taken the train with the other kids because of that abnormal feeling.

An earthquake near the West Sea. That was an abnormal natural disaster.

"What's going on?" Jin-Seo asked.

Sun-Woo didn't reply. He was looking somewhere. He wasn’t staring at a vague distant mountain. He was looking at another abnormality, far away, walking on the waves, and the woman with a strange aura beside the man.

In-Ah's gaze also turned in that direction. Her expression hardened.

The security guard blew their whistle and shouted, “Come out of the water as fast as possible! Stay clear of the sea. If you go in—"

The security guard gestured for the man and the woman beside him to come out of the water.

Jun-Hyuk frowned and pointed his finger at the security guard.

"You dare to talk when the protagonists are speaking? Shut up. Bang!"

Crack.

A massive black finger emerged behind the man. The crimson flames it let out pierced the guard's body, vaporizing the lifeguard’s entire torso. Like branches falling from pruning, the lifeguard’s arms, legs, and head plopped into the sea.

The sea turned crimson red. Someone screamed, and the screams started to spread like a plague. One person's scream soon became everyone's, and they all fled in confusion.

"Jun-Hyuk," In-Ah muttered with a hardened face.

"We finally meet. And at no place other than the sea,” Jun-Hyuk said.

“...”

In-Ah fell silent. Sun-Woo also fell silent. Jin-Seo looked at Jun-Hyuk and then at Sun-Woo. Tears streamed down Sun-Woo’s eyes that were fixed on Jun-Hyuk. More precisely, he was looking at the mysterious woman next to Jun-Hyuk.

*

I had endured it all.

There were many people in the park when I visited it with Ji-Ah. I imagined all those people dying, the park ablaze, and the sight of all the people falling, bleeding.

Soon, the visions didn’t seem imaginary. It felt as if the sight was unfolding right in front of me. I thought I had gone crazy again.

When I closed my eyes to sleep, I heard hallucinations. Passed ones that had died because of my incompetence or because I had killed them appeared in front of me, blaming and spouting curses. They reeked with the stench of rotten flesh. Their blood was on my hands.

"Aaah!"

"It’s the Satanist! Quick, call, call for help!"

"Save me, please! The Satanist, the Satanist!"

They were already dead. They wouldn’t die from dying once more. I stayed up all night, killing them. Once I had finished my massacre and returned to sleep, they would rise again to whisper curses in my ear. I spent the entire night awake, hacking them down.

Amongst the dead, my mom was there. I killed even my mother countless times. The shocking death of my mother repeated itself dozens, hundreds of times every night. Yet, I could endure it.

In the park, I would pet a dog. I felt nothing. My senses had dulled. Still, I could feel that it was soft and warm.

If I couldn’t sleep at night, I went to find Ji-Ah. Even when I cried so disgustingly and shamefully in front of her, Ji-Ah didn’t say anything. She simply hugged me. It was warm within her embrace.

I went to the beach and had fun with friends. Just because we had gone to the beach, it didn’t mean much changed. To me, the sea was just an ordinary landscape. It didn’t bring me much excitement.

Yet, I enjoyed pushing and being pushed into the water with my friends. I felt as if I had blended among them for a brief moment. It made me wistfully think that I might be able to forget the days when I chased the past, leave the pain I had felt, and blend in with everyone, existing between them most ordinarily. I thought it was okay to live like that.

"Ahhhh!"

"Run away! Don't just stand there!"

"Save me, please, ugh, ahh!"

It was only for a second.

I caught a glimpse of the woman standing next to Jun-Hyuk. She wore white and emitted a strange aura.

"Sun-Woo, a reunion gift!"

"Sun-Woo."

The woman called my name. Her voice was so affectionate, so warm. It was my mother. The mother who died in front of my eyes. The mother I had killed over and over every night. She had appeared before me again alongside Jun-Hyuk, who should have been in the underground prison.

"..."

I realized that the woman was merely the work of Jun-Hyuk. She was not my mother but a doll perfectly resembling her. This wasn't a hallucination. I had killed my mother countless times every night, but I couldn't lay a hand on the mother in front of me. She was real.

I had never let Jun-Hyuk escape from the underground prison. That was why everything unfolding before me felt like a hallucination or a figment of my imagination.

"Let’s get rid of the nuisances. It'll be easier for you that way."

Swish!

Jun-Hyuk raised his finger. Black flames erupted from his fingertip. His finger pointed at Jin-Seo, who was beside me. Behind Jun-Hyuk, dozens of black fingers appeared, black flames decorating each fingertip.

The black fingers pointed at Dae-Man, Su-Ryeon, Min-Seo, and many others fleeing.

"Sun-Woo," Jin-Seo called my name.

I looked at Jin-Seo. She looked up at me with a smile mixed with resignation. She looked like she anticipated her end. It was as if she had finally realized everything about me. She merely smiled.

Through the process of facing, crumbling, and recovering from my mother’s death, I gradually began to envision the future. In that future, Jin-Seo, In-Ah, Su-Ryeon, Min-Seo, and Dae-Man were all there. I realized that the hopeful future I had envisioned was nothing but hope without any possibility of realization.

"Damballa."

She appeared from the sands where she had been hiding in the form of a small snake. She turned into a staff, and I grasped it.

Swish!

I struck the ground with the staff. The ground vibrated. Giant plant stems emerged from the sand. The plant stems blocked the black flames Jun-Hyuk had shot with black magic. The plant stems hit by the black magic rotted and turned black. Plant stems simply filled the void. Thanks to Granbwa's power, no one was harmed by Jun-Hyuk's black magic.

Jin-Seo looked at me with wide eyes.

I looked at her and croaked, "I..."

She could not be where I was. Neither could In-Ah, Dae-Man, Su-Ryeon, or Min-Seo. Their place was not next to me. Furthermore, there was no place for me to be next to them either.

The only reason why I had been able to belong with them and mistakenly thought I had found my place was because my existence had been adorned with lies.

"I am the Cult Leader."

I was a charlatan. It was the truth that could not be changed, nor would it be changed. I raised the staff.