Chapter 44
This was exactly why I patiently bided my time.
Since I’m uncontracted, I can’t freely use divine power on humans.
I hastily pulled out a necklace from inside my top, seemingly made of small beads woven together.
I had anticipated that there would be a belongings check when entering this place.
If a non-Awakened had a magic stone, it would undoubtedly raise suspicion.
So I came up with a clever solution.
I broke the magic stone into small pieces and wove them into a necklace.
‘This will reduce the output, but that’s fine.’
My synchronization rate with Indra had increased enough that even small magic stone fragments were now sufficient to exert considerable power.
In other words, it was more than enough to deal with this pervert.
“Huh? What’s that…?”
I infused power into one of the small grayish beads on the necklace.
An iron magic stone obtained from killing a golem made of rock in the mountains.
Sensing the mana manipulation, the man flinched and stepped back.
“W-what? Weren’t you non-awakened? I couldn’t feel any mana at all!”
I raised one corner of my mouth towards him and ominously muttered.
“Where should I cut you?”
“W-what…?”
“Your tongue? That wrist? …Or maybe, your neck?”
[(Messenger) Indra advises not to kill the man to avoid karmic review.]
[He suggests making it so he can’t function as a man anymore.]
[If accepted: Synchronization rate with Indra will increase to 2.55%.]
If I’ve even received a suggestion, there’s no reason to hesitate.
I immediately infused power into the iron magic stone fragment.
Pssst.
As the small magic stone fragment scattered like dust, a sharp blade extended from me towards the man like a bullet in an instant.
“…Ugh!”
Right to the man’s center.
[(Messenger) Synchronization rate with Indra increases to 2.55%!]
Not seeming to grasp what had happened, he blankly lowered his head.
And then.
“Aaarghhhh!”
He screamed, seeing his blood-soaked pants.
His appearance looked so painful that even I slightly furrowed my brow.
“See? Don’t you know about karma? You should have thought about the consequences before carelessly wielding your body parts.”
I coldly added, looking down at the man who had fainted from shock, foaming at the mouth.
“This is a punishment even karma allows. …You bastard.”
💎
At the same time, on a windy hill a little distance from Dowonhyang.
“…I miss Noona already.”
Sehun mumbled dejectedly, looking at the barrier in the distance through the window.
It had only been three days since they parted.
Though his anxiety about Noah leaving him had subsided somewhat, he still felt uneasy without her by his side.
The person who saved him from that hellish bunker.
Sehun would never forget that white hand reaching out to him as he trembled beside his bleeding mother.
“Noona will be back in a week, right? Right?”
But something felt off.
He hadn’t heard any response from Yi-heon for a while now.
Though taciturn, he was a kind hyung who had never ignored Sehun’s words before.
“…Hyung?”
Sehun approached Yi-heon with a puzzled expression.
Yi-heon was lying on the bed with his eyes closed, breathing heavily.
Even to Sehun, who didn’t know much about illness or infection, his condition seemed serious.
“H-hyung…! Are you okay?”
Alarmed, Sehun quickly brought a thermometer from the first aid kit.
The measured temperature was 40.8°C.
It was a dangerously high fever that would have rendered an ordinary person unconscious.
“Hyung! Are you okay?! Sh-should we go to the hospital?”
Yi-heon shook his head with great difficulty.
“Wait… Noah…”
“Sniff. Yes! Noona will come, so hang in there a little longer, Hyung!”
Yi-heon smiled faintly at the crying child and closed his eyes again.
Despite the fever that felt like it was melting his body, there was only one thought in his mind.
‘Noah…’
To send her alone to such a dangerous place.
A fragile woman who couldn’t even properly use her abilities, contracted with a weak minor deity.
Struggling to hold onto his fading consciousness, Yi-heon kept praying.
‘Please, be safe. Noah…’
✦
“You son of a b*tch! Serves you right, huh?”
I kept hurling insults at the fallen man.
Though his appearance, foaming at the mouth and occasionally trembling, was quite pitiful, I felt not even a speck of sympathy.
I’ve always believed that all sex offenders should have the root of their problem cleanly cut off.
[(Messenger) Indra says that’s enough, and warns that any more will really trigger a karmic review.]
[Indra cautiously adds that you should control your temper.]
The voice frantically trying to stop me kept echoing in my head.
It meant that if I arbitrarily increased the punishment any further, I might face karmic consequences.
“Hmph. That damn karma. I don’t understand how it works…”
As I grumbled and turned around.
I froze on the spot.
Beyond the broken tricolor light of the hair salon, my eyes met with those of a giant man staring at me intently.
He had a massive build like a wild bear.
His gaze moved from me to the bleached-hair man lying on the floor bleeding.
Black clothes, with a decoration of three black trigrams on his waist.
‘Damn… A Dowonhyang Guild member.’
Probably a high-ranking one at that. And judging by that huge build, undoubtedly a combat-type Awakened.
I hastily removed the beaded necklace from my neck and held it in my hand.
Crack—
As the man tried to open the old salon door, he failed to control his strength and ended up ripping it off.
Seeing him tear off the door panel as easily as if it were paper, I became even more alert.
Can I confront this man with these small magic stone fragments?
Thud, thud.
The man walked into the salon. He was so tall his head almost touched the ceiling.
“Why did a laborer come here? … Were you trying to enter Building E?”
He looked down at me with his tall stature and quietly pondered.
I hesitated for a moment before simply nodding.
There was no point in making excuses, as only the fallen man and I were in this abandoned building.
‘I’ll have to ambush him if I see an opening where he lets his guard down.’
The man who had been staring at me turned his gaze to the fallen guild member.
…Now’s my chance!
Just as I infused power into the magic stone fragment in my hand.
“I apologize.”
“Take thi— Huh?”
A low voice was heard.
I quickly looked down at the necklace in my hand, but the magic stone hadn’t moved at all.
It wouldn’t lend me power against a human who wasn’t evil, that’s what it meant.
How embarrassing to have shouted something like “Take this!” with such a serious face.
‘King of gods, they say. How petty, how petty!’
[(Messenger) Indra flinches and mutters that this is why I should hurry and make a contract with him.]
But that wasn’t all.
The man not only apologized but even bowed deeply to me.
“I apologize on behalf of what that punk was trying to do. Dowonhyang is no better than a ragtag group because we hastily gathered Awakened ones.”
“Ah, yes, well…”
I awkwardly mumbled while hiding the magic stone fragment necklace inside my clothes.
I couldn’t hide my bewildered feelings.
‘I thought they were all just thugs, but there’s someone like this too?’
As if reading my thoughts, the man spoke in a slow tone.
“You were brought here forcibly too, I suppose?”
I hesitated before carefully nodding.
“Yes. And the one who kidnapped me was this man.”
At my words, the man frowned his bear-like face menacingly.
“Oh my. He might have brought you here with this intention from the start. …Haahh. I wonder what’s becoming of the guild.”
That somewhat irresponsible remark rekindled the anger that was about to subside.
“Hmm, indeed. Judging by that emblem, you seem to be quite a high-ranking person.”
I couldn’t help but retort in a chilly tone.
If I hadn’t been half-awakened, or rather, I was just about to suffer a really dirty fate.
“You’re talking as if it’s someone else’s guild. Aren’t you the one who led or condoned this whole situation?”
💎
Thank you for reading! ♡
