Igyeol walked with long strides and threw open the sliding door of his room. In that room was the old mother-of-pearl cabinet that Grandma Oksoon had used. Igyeol opened the second drawer at the bottom of the cabinet.
Inside the drawer, in the deepest part, was one long wooden box. It was something he hadn’t taken out even once since returning from that hell. After meeting Grandma, he had no occasion to use it even once. Grandma had told him to bury it forever, and Igyeol had thought he would do just that. That he would, that there would be no revenge or anything like that. That it would decay and crumble away like this. If the day came when he took this out again, that would only be when he became a monster again.
Click.
His hand released the lock mechanism familiarly. It was a dry, matter-of-fact touch.
The lid opened.
The air in the room changed. Rapidly. Heavily. A sense of pressure came rushing from all directions as if just breathing was crushing his lungs. The paper cup placed on the counter rattled and rolled to the floor. The fragments of the medicine decoctor slid across the floor making a grating friction sound.
Even Sung Yohan stopped breathing.
Inside the box, a long sword well over one meter was sleeping. The long sword contained in an old-looking black scabbard carried a sense of pressure just by its existence. Igyeol took out the sword from the box. He drew the blade as he opened the scabbard. Not even the sound of drawing the blade could be heard.
“……”
Dark crimson Demonic Energy rose like a heat haze over the blue-tinged blade. A blade that once drank blood while slaughtering countless demons of the Demon Realm. The blade that beheaded Demon King Beelzebub.
Ding—
[Item: Corrupted Guardian Long Sword (S+) equipped.]
A system window appeared. It didn’t enter Igyeol’s eyes.
Igyeol gripped the handle of the long sword. The weight in his hand after two years. It wasn’t heavy. Nothing had changed. This blade still fit perfectly in his hand. The fact that his fingers fit exactly where the handle was worn from use swept through Igyeol’s chest coldly.
The Demonic Energy bursting from the blade completely swallowed up the herbal medicine smell that had remained in the health clinic.
Sung Yohan stood behind Igyeol’s back and watched that scene. Black veins were spreading from the back of Igyeol’s hand up to his forearms over his pale skin. Between his hair, white streaks had noticeably increased. Just by holding the long sword, the Fragment had begun to exert its power.
…If it continues like this.
Sung Yohan’s heart tightened coldly. But he didn’t open his mouth.
Igyeol sheathed the long sword again and turned around.
He looked up at Sung Yohan while holding the long sword at an angle. The murderous intent that had been so fierce earlier had lifted, and a terribly calm emptiness had taken its place inside. It was like the eye at the center of a typhoon. It was infinitely quiet, which made it even more frightening.
“You said you’d find them, right?”
A low, dry voice.
“……”
“The bastards who dragged Hyungil away. If it’s Sanctum, you can find them quickly.”
“…Yes.”
“Just find the location. Just the location. I’ll handle the rest myself.”
Sung Yohan stared at Igyeol. He couldn’t tell what was contained in those empty eyes. Whether it was anger or hatred. Or a desire for revenge.
“…I can track them. Hunters leave traces of magical power.”
“Guide me.”
Igyeol walked past Sung Yohan toward the broken health clinic door. Sung Yohan sighed quietly and followed behind Igyeol. He took out his cell phone and immediately contacted Cha Taeju.
—Yohan-ah. I got the message. They say Baekya moved—
“Taeju-ya. Hyungil was kidnapped. Track the magical power response in the Miyang-dong area right now.”
—Those fucking crazy Baekya bastards!
“…I’m counting on you.”
—Just wait a little.
As they exited the health clinic, Gi Taeyeon jumped out of a black jeep that was parked in the alley. Wearing a bulletproof vest and holding a radio. Gi Taeyeon glanced at the devastation inside the health clinic and shut his mouth. His face, which had been full of playfulness, hardened like stone. He spat out the candy he’d been holding in his mouth.
“Why is it in such a state? Don’t tell me Yeongwon—”
“Not him.”
Igyeol cut him off shortly.
Gi Taeyeon’s eyes narrowed coldly. There was only one person left. Sung Yohan explained quickly.
“It’s Baekya. There’s a magical power trace remaining inside the health clinic. Civilian kidnapping, assault, business premises damage. UNP can intervene, right?”
“Of course. Ha, I came here because of that actually—I was going to tell you it was strange because a location was identified. No, but more than that, this is a special crime!”
Gi Taeyeon raised his radio.
“UNP Hunter Special Crimes Investigation Division, Gi Taeyeon. Surround a one-kilometer radius around the abandoned factory zone in the Miyang-dong outskirts. Don’t let a single one of those bastards over there escape.”
A response came back from the other end of the radio. Gi Taeyeon cut off the radio and looked at Igyeol.
“I’ll block the outside. What about the inside?”
“I’m going.”
Igyeol hung the long sword crookedly on his shoulder. It was a nonchalant and comfortable posture as if he was just going to a convenience store. Gi Taeyeon was momentarily flustered. Since he had thought Igyeol was just an ordinary C-rank hunter, Igyeol’s aura that felt like nothing was disconcerting. The appearance of the expressionless Igyeol with no sense of murderous intent stimulated quite a bit of fear. Enough to make the back of his neck stand on end. Gi Taeyeon swallowed dryly and nodded.
“Sung Yohan.”
Igyeol said while looking ahead.
“Never stand in front of me. Under any circumstances. If you want to follow, follow from behind.”
“…Understood.”
Sung Yohan’s eyes met Gi Taeyeon’s. Gi Taeyeon read the mood at the strange atmosphere, but Sung Yohan ignored Gi Taeyeon’s gaze and nodded.
***
The entrance to the abandoned factory in the Miyang-dong outskirts was opening its maw in pitch-black darkness.
A worn sign that read [Under Reconstruction. Entry Prohibited] dangled from rusty barbed wire swaying in the wind. On the surface, it was a common abandoned building in the city outskirts, but the closer they approached, the magical power that could be read warned that it wasn’t.
It wasn’t the natural flow of magical power that usually flows normally. Someone had intervened and twisted the flow of magical power. Due to that, a crack had formed in the air, and finally a Gate had been created. This was an artificially created Gate made by humans. From inside it came the distinctive smell of a Gate. A subtle and foul smell that was like the smell of iron, or like the smell of blood.
Igyeol stared at the black entrance that was half-split open in front of the abandoned factory while holding the long sword at an angle. Gates usually “suddenly” generated as an entrance in mid-air. The Gate of Reversed Heaven was also a giant gate. But this was torn blackly as if the air itself had been ripped.
Igyeol lightly slashed the barbed wire blocking his way with the long sword. The barbed wire split like paper. He pushed his body through the gap and walked in. From behind, the sound of Sung Yohan’s dress shoes followed.
They entered inside the Gate that was split like a crack. The inside was very crude.
Thick wires were tangled like blood vessels on the ceiling, and on the floor, talismans and Magic Stone debris used to forcibly amplify magical power were scattered everywhere. Magical power detection-type CCTVs installed here and there on the walls blinked red light in the darkness.
Igyeol moved his steps as if he didn’t care about CCTVs or anything. His eyes read the floor one by one.
Traces where dust had been swept away. Signs of something heavy being dragged. At the end of it, one very faint dark red blood droplet that was hardening.
“This way.”
Igyeol turned right without hesitation in front of the split corridor. Sung Yohan closed his mouth at Igyeol’s confident movement and followed. It was a direction with no magical power response, but Igyeol was moving while searching and confirming as if he was familiar with all of this. He wasn’t looking at magical power but at something else.
“It’s not footprints, but drag marks.”
Igyeol pointed to the traces where the dust on the floor had been lightly swept away with the tip of his long sword.
“The blood hasn’t dried yet. Looking at the viscosity, it’s within 20 minutes. Those bastards didn’t carry Hyungil on their backs, they dragged him on the floor.”
When Sung Yohan lowered his gaze, a blood droplet could be seen at the end of where Igyeol pointed. It still had a luster.
“We need to hurry.”
Igyeol’s voice dropped one more tone. Sung Yohan looked at Igyeol’s face with an expressionless face, then lowered his gaze. Igyeol was only concerned about Hyungil right now.
He was in danger. Because they couldn’t know what kind of things would be done to him after being kidnapped. There was a so-called golden time. But Sung Yohan was more concerned about the black veins spreading from the back of Igyeol’s hand. The Demonic Energy felt from the man ahead was getting stronger and stronger. This man was also in danger.
