Chapter 169

“

Ah

... ”

Hae-Rin sighed.

First there was Yang Jun, and then there was Jeong Jae-Uk... Although Hae-Rin had hoped for Jaeng Jae-Uk’s death, seeing the gore firsthand was a shock.

Even so, Hae-Rin controlled her breath and mastered herself. She was a player. Life and death, blood and gore—these were destined to be her daily reality.

However, Jeong Ru-Han was different.

“F-Father?”

He had just witnessed the slaying of his own father. The death of a person and the death of a beloved family member held entirely different weight.

Jeong Ru-Han's gaze was nailed to the mutilated corpse of his slain father.

“This has to be a lie? Father... Fatheeeeer!”

The boy staggered toward his father. But, although he was traumatized, the broken windows and howling winds soon slowed him to a careful crawl.

The fear of death wasn’t easily forgotten.

Jeong Ru-Han pounded his fist on the floor.

What the hell is that bastard? Does he not feel? Does he have no fear?

Kang Jae-Hyeok had dared to stroll into Guardian’s headquarters and corner his father, an S-class powerhouse, into a life-or-death battle.

Sure, he had brought a large number of people with him, and he’d prepared Yang Jun as a potion, but in the end, Jae-Hyeok had faced his father alone, acting all the while as if it wasn’t a big deal.

Meanwhile...

Jeong Ru-Han clenched and unclenched his throbbing fist.

Meanwhile, I can’t even properly retrieve Father’s body.

Hate compounded with jealousy, and Jeong Ru-Han’s eyes turned wild.

“You son of a bitch! You lunatic! You caused such a big incident over some girl? You! You dared to kill the leader of one of the five major guilds! You have done something that will turn the country upside down!

Hah!

Hahaha!

This isn’t something you can handle! Your life is over, you idiot!

Kuhahaha!

”

In the end, Jeong Ru-Han burst into crazy laughter.

No matter if Jae-Hyeok was killed by the guild members that would soon arrive or thrown into prison like his siblings, his life was over.

Jeong Ru-Han felt a rush of joy when he thought about this bastard’s bleak future. It was as if he had already avenged his father.

“Don’t get your hopes up.”

Jae-Hyeok warned the manic Jeong Ru-Han.

“We have already secured all the evidence and witnesses, showing that Jeong Jae-Uk sent people to the Kang family to kidnap me. That alone gives the Kang family justification to handle Jeong Jae-Uk as we like.”

“Bullshit! Evidence or not—no fallen aristocrat has the right to punish the leader of one of Korea’s top five guilds!”

“And what is a fallen aristocrat? The Kangs are a ducal house, while status is a product of power. I have the power, so I have the rights. Besides, since when has Jeong Jae-Uk been the leader of Guardian?”

“G-Guardian’s master is practically a living corpse! My father was acting in his place! He’s practically the leader already!”

“Who knows? Isn’t it Jeong Jae-Uk’s one-sided claim that the master of Guardian is a living corpse?” Jae-Hyeok had high hopes for the Burning Evil elixir. Everything could be resolved if Burning Evil healed Hae-Rin’s father. “Personally, I wouldn’t trust the words of a monster.”

“Monster? Who the hell are you calling... Huh? Ehhh?”

Jeong Ru-Han’s eyes widened.

Both pieces of his father’s corpse were rising into the air. A mana that was as black and slimy as crude oil extended from his father’s top and bottom halves in the form of questing tentacles. When the tentacles met, they braided together, pulling tight, until both halves of his father joined once more, except the legs were backward.

“F-Father?”

Jeong Ru-Han shook. Should he be happy about this? His dead father had come back to life in such a horifying way.

“I almost died.”

Jeong Jae-Uk muttered in a voice that sounded both male and female, child and elder. Then, he glared darkly at Jae-Hyeok.

“How did you know I signed a contract with a demon?”

“?”

Jae-Hyeok blinked.

A demon? So that’s what that ominous mana was.

“Don’t want to say? Fine, then.”

Thump, thump.

Jeong Jae-Uk stepped forward slowly, a grim smile playing on his lips.

Yet...

Oddly enough, the distance between him and Jae-Hyeok widened. Jeong Jae-Uk frowned and increased his pace, but that only carried him back faster.

“......?”

Jeong Jae-Uk tilted his head in confusion and looked down.

He could see his buttocks.

Using the power of a demon contract, he’d done the impossible and restored himself from a mortal wound, but his legs...

“God damnit! Even something like this can happen? Forget it. Forget!

It’s fine if I don’t walk.

“Blackening.”

A pair of wings spread out behind Jeong Jae-Uk’s back, condensed from the same oil-black mana as before.

It was a Skill Jeong Jae-Uk had never before used, as it stemmed from his demon contract. But now that he did, the air around him vibrated with his power.

The whites of Jeong Jae-Uk’s eyes turned black, while his pupils turned white. His power felt bottomless, swelling every fiber of his body.

Jeong Jae-Uk smiled, his eyes bent into blissful crescents.

“I am full of strength.

Can you handle this power that has been borrowed from a great being?”

Baaaaang!

Jeong Jae-Uk shot forward like a ray of light with a beat of his wings and slammed his head into Jae-Hyeok’s chest.

The sonic boom that followed devastated the office. Jae-Hyeok flew back, skipping along the glass-ridden floor before he corrected his posture and slid to a stop mere feet from the adjacent glass-pane wall.

“How lucky.”

Silently, Jae-Hyeok agreed. Any further, and he would’ve been on his way to the pavement.

Just then, Iyarugt let out a whine as if begging to be let out.

Is it reacting to the demon?

Iyarugt was a demon sword that had contained a demon’s soul at one time. Who knew? Perhaps Iyarugt’s current tantrum was the precursor to the sword’s hidden quest.

“Bloom,” Jae-Hyeok whispered, and his black blade glowed scarlet.

***

“What is this...?”

Jeong Jae-Uk’s closest associates arrived via the VIP elevator and looked like they had seen a ghost.

Their boss's monstrous appearance and aura were unlike anything they’d ever seen. What was going on?

Just then, two other figures drew their eye.

“Jae-Hyeok!”

“Y-Young Lady!”

They grabbed Hae-Rin, who was running toward the danger in order to help Jae-Hyeok.

“Let go of me! Ah!”

Restrained, Hae-Rin’s initial panic turned to rapid calculation. She needed to help Jae-Hyeok, and fast.

“Father—I need to wake Father! Take me!”

“The master? He hasn’t woken up in half a month... ”

“Right now!”

“Ah, yes!”

A weak and passive girl—that was the image of Hae-Rin that the members of the Guardian Guild had. She had been groomed by Jeong Jae-Uk from a young age and never showed a side that gave people expectations for her.

Now, the current Hae-Rin was unrecognizable from the past.

Her eyes and voice were filled with a certainty that made the guild members hesitate to refuse her. If she wanted to see the master, what was the harm in letting her? It was safer than remaining here.

“This way!”

The guild members formed a protective circle around Hae-Rin, shielding her from the debris falling from the collapsing ceiling and exterior walls, and rushed to bring her to the master’s room as quickly and safely as possible.

“Are you all crazy?”

Jeong Ru-Han shouted as he followed them.

“Why are you helping her when you should be helping my father? Have you forgotten who gave you your positions?”

“A moment ago... was that really the sub-master?”

“......”

Jeong Ru-Han shut his mouth at the guild member’s question.

He didn’t have an easy answer. Was that thing really his father? Jeong Jae-Uk had implied that it was the result of a contract with a demon, but in Jeong Ru-Han’s eyes, his father seemed like the demon himself—as if a demon had taken over his father’s body.

“Let’s wake up the master first. He can give us some advice.”

In the end, Jeong Ru-Han was persuaded and followed the guild members to the master’s room.

“Father... ”

Hae-Rin sighed at the sight of her father lying on the bed.

His skin was bruised black and paper-thin. His condition seemed to be several times worse than the last time she had seen him. A multi-armed machine was connected to various parts of her father’s body.

“What is this?” Hae-Rin asked.

“It’s life support. It helps him breathe and recover his mana.”

“It must’ve been installed by the sub-master, right?”

“Yes...

Gasp!

”

Hae-Rin ripped out the power cord, and the machine’s blinking lights died. Then, she carefully removed every needle and tube connected to her father. Once she was done, Hae-Rin summoned a wooden box wrapped in a purple silk cloth. As soon as it appeared in her palms, a strange yet wonderful fragrance filled the large bedchamber.

She unlatched the box. The Burning Evil elixer, which was in the shape of a white bead, lay on a small pillow inside.

The Burning Evil elixer was something that the owner of the health store had long prepared for Hae-Rin’s father. Even at a glance, it looked precious.

Greed shone in Jeong Ru-Han’s eyes.

“Do you really want to feed that to a dying person? I should take it myself! Give it to me! If I eat it, I can kill that bastard Kang Jae-Hyeok... Ack!”

Hae-Rin’s sword appeared in her other hand, and with a motion, Jeong Ru-Han fell back shrieking as he clutched his bloody hand.

“Here, Father, try this.”

Hae-Rin pushed the Burning Evil elixir into her father’s mouth.

Fortunately, the elixir was easily administered, melting the moment it came into contact with his tongue. Steam rose from her father’s body. And a minute later, black blood welled from his mouth, and he began to cough.

“

Ugh!

Yuck!”

A terrible stench filled the room.

Hae-Rin relaxed slightly. That was good; it was a sign that the waste accumulated in her father’s body was being discharged through his pores and any other openings.

And then—

𝚏𝗿𝗲𝐞𝚠𝕖𝐛𝗻𝗼𝐯𝕖𝚕.𝚌𝗼𝗺

“How can this be?”

The Guardian Guild members exchanged looks of disbelief.

The master of Guardian had opened his eyes.

“I sense a foul energy... ”

His voice was cracked, and his body was gaunt, but—

“Bring me... my sword and shield.”

—The light in his eyes filled Hae-Rin and the guild members with awe.