Chapter 735: Value (1)
‘Does it have to be now? For real?’
My mouth tasted bitter for some reason.
‘She’s just trying to satisfy her greed. This isn’t right.’
I felt so ashamed to look at her.
I remembered her saying before that she could do it and that she would create the right scene, but I never expected her to do it now.
“Wow… that’s so absurd.”
It was already a busy time, Cho Hyejin.
‘We’ve got a lot of work to do. Why are you doing this right now?’
I didn’t know what she exactly came to the temple for yet, but I thought it must’ve been Cho Hyejin’s judgment to come all the way.
I had some doubts, but when I looked around the battlefield one more time, I understood. Deokgu and Hayan didn’t know I was here. They weren’t the only ones, either. It felt like most of them didn’t know.
They were only moving according to the manual they received in advance. Seeing that they weren’t moving emotionally, I was somewhat convinced.
It wasn’t just. If the entire force didn’t secure a retreat, there were other purposes other than rescuing Lee Kiyoung.
Rather, they spread in all directions and were divided into groups and engaged in guerrilla warfare in the temple. It wasn’t a bad tactic.
‘Yeah, that’s not a bad call.’
At least they could block the wings of the pigeons in the temple.
It was the enemy’s camp, but we had the advantage in combat.
The disadvantage was that their number was overwhelmingly unfavorable, but if they delayed the time in that way, they could do it with ease.
The bigger one was, the more they wouldn’t be able to move properly.
The troops who infiltrated the area were fighting a bottleneck battle on a single line and were continuing to move in order not to be caught.
There had to be a reason why they divided our soldiers.
It was a very definite story that Cho Hyejin would’ve had some other purpose.
She was blocked by Dominions, a soul predator who suddenly appeared.
“Dominions the Soul Stealer?”
I didn’t know where she picked up the storytelling and soul-hunting settings, but the naming itself seemed tacky.
Did she really have to name it ‘Soul Stealer’? Wouldn’t it be better to call it a soul collector? Of course, I admitted that it was a cla.s.sic naming, but at that point, I thought it was a little too much.
Contrary to my face, which was getting wrinkled, there was a very satisfied smile on the mouth of Dominions.
‘Actually, it’s a little cool. I wish I could’ve put in that kind of setting… I can steal souls.’
I didn’t feel comfortable because I thought I was admitting that we had similar tastes.
I looked at the telescope with a suspicious expression on my face, wondering if that would work, but apart from my feelings, there was already a story about them.
Cho Hyejin’s desperate struggle to regain Lee Jihye’s soul from Dominions, a Soul Stealer, was already beginning that day.
-Dominions!
Cho Hyejin took her spear with a loud roar.
I had never seen Cho Hyejin full of determination to kill like that.
Lee Jihye, who wasn’t familiar with combat, thought about how to get out of that crisis, but she seemed to not allow distance unexpectedly.
It seemed sensible to me that she continued to pressure Cho Hyejin with the curtain of light.
“That’s not like you, Noona.”
Ronove, or Dominions?
It didn’t matter who it was, but Lee Jihye’s light was actually sharp.
I couldn’t find Lee Jihye in her movements and the beams of light while floating slightly in the air. Perhaps it was similar to when I had gotten Belial’s help.
After several push-and-pull battles, it entered into a lull.
Cho Hyejin was breathing heavily, and the Soul Stealer was looking down at her. She had yet to go beyond her standards and couldn’t deal with her one-on-one.
I didn’t know if it was because of her stuffy mind, but anger was still on her face. It was pure rage.
‘I feel sorry for her.’
It was so heartbreaking.
-You’re…
-…
-You’re a good person.
-I’ll never forgive you. Never.
-I also like the fact that you don’t break down. I don’t know much about you, but I think I can tell who you are.
-I’ll never forgive you!
-You’re a human being worth saving, so I’ll say it politely again. Please go back.
-What?
-Go back to where you came from right now. If you go back, I’ll forgive you for your rudeness. I’ll think of it as a mistake and move on. The new continent we’ll be managing needs people like you. It’s people like you who need to be the peaceful, just, and proper inhabitants of the continent.
It was abominable to see her slowly getting into it. Naturally, Lee Jihye knew that Cho Hyejin wouldn’t go back.
-Unlike her.
Cho Hyejin’s expression was once again stained with anger. It could be expected that she would throw a famous line shortly after biting her lips as if she wanted to say something.
Unsurprisingly, she was seen slowly talking.
-…
-She was a person who cherished every little life.
‘What, who are you talking about?’
-She didn’t know how to hold a sword and avoided fighting. She was a person who always gave way because she was uncomfortable with even a little conflict. She always pretended to be strong on the outside, but she was soft on the inside.
‘Who is it? It’s… You’re talking about me, right, Hyejin?’
-She was a person who got sick even with a scratch. She sacrificed herself for others and was able to handle a lot with her small body.
‘Who are you talking about?’
-She wasn’t a match for this kind of battlefield.
-No, you’re mistaken. She was uglier than anyone else. She was not worth saving. To put it bluntly, she’s the cancer of the continent. She was just hiding it in front of you. What an ugly, despicable human being she was… Useless, too.
Jihye was well-thought-out.
-Shut the f.u.c.k up.
-…
-…
-…
-There’s no such thing as a useless human being.
-…
‘Wow, a famous quote. Sh*t.’
Wow. Hyejin. Really. Wow. I wanted to save that moment.
I got gooseb.u.mps all over my body. I never thought that there would be such a positive line.
‘There’s no such thing as a useless human being.’
I never thought I’d actually hear a line that seemed like a cla.s.sic hero quote.
What gave me gooseb.u.mps was Cho Hyejin’s extremely serious face. She didn’t seem to have a single doubt about what she said.
What I didn’t like was that I wasn’t the one who heard that line.
-Everyone has a dark side. Human beings can’t just be good. I used to think like you, but not anymore. Dominions, you can’t define a human being. No, no one can define an individual, not just you. My beliefs have already been broken countless times, and I’m not a good person. However, she was a better person than me.
-…
-I hear that from you who doesn’t even understand human factors. I mean, I’m not such a tough person to allow that.
-You can’t evaluate a human being when you can understand them. Rather, you can look at them more objectively from my perspective. This is her soul. This murky, dirty thing is the soul you’ve been looking for.
What appeared in Dominions’ hands wasn’t even a soul. It was just some black bead that Ronove had made for her.
But Cho Hyejin, who bit her lips tightly, seemed to think that’s really Lee Jihye’s soul.
-It’s a filthy soul, isn’t it?
-Don’t insult her.
-…
-Don’t insult her. The way she lives is different, and her life and thoughts are not worthless.
‘Ahhhhh…’
-The same goes for all humans.
‘Ah, should I play the Lee Kiyoung, the Soul Stealer too?’
-Everyone deserves to live. A person’s soul is not something that can be defined as unsympathetic.
I could see Cho Hyejin slowly pulling out her spear. It was so cool, the way she was preparing herself for something.
It didn’t seem to be a sudden awakening, but Cho Hyejin looked to be correcting her mind once more.
A sharp spear thrust was executed while she quickly opened her eyes, which had been closed for a while, and settled in front of Dominions, a soul s.n.a.t.c.her.
-I’ll prove it.
Baaaaaaaaaang!
‘There’s going to be a lot of excitement over there.’
I wanted to watch some more, but I felt like I’d seen all the important scenes.
Was it okay to leave them like that?
‘Don’t you have something on your mind too, Noona?’
I was out of my mind for a while because of the sense of betrayal, but there must’ve been a reason for it.
Jihye fighting Hyejin might help us find out why she came here, although there were many things we still had to do.
If she wanted to show her work without meaning, it could be said to be the worst situation, but Lee Jihye didn’t exert effort without purpose.
I was sorry that I couldn’t get help, but… That didn’t mean I couldn’t just say what I wanted. As time went by, it wasn’t them but us who would sustain damage.
Cho Hyejin continued to stretch out her spear as she moved fast, while Dominions continued to move around, avoiding it.
It was hard to watch the two get tangled up in a complicated battlefield. I also started walking right away and searched with my telescope, but I couldn’t see anything.
‘Where is he?’
So far, he hadn’t appeared on the battlefield. Though I agonized for a while, it was quick to make a judgment. If I were him, where would I go?
‘The New Plan.’
I was sure he went to protect it first. There was a lot at stake, and he had invested a lot, so that was inevitable.
I tried to flap my wings, but I started to think that I’d rather run instead.
There were bombardments everywhere. Humans didn’t seem to have come in yet, but the battlefield was already full of heat.
‘Park Deokgu?’
The troops operated by him were also nearby. Maybe if it took a little longer, I would head to them.
-Move! Move! Hurry up!
It was like they were talking to me. I took the next step thanks to his voice.
Only then did I see a more familiar place than my house. When I opened the huge door, Seraphim slowly looked back.
The platinum pigeon was staring at me, tapping his thigh with his fingers while sitting in my chair.
I could feel an extraordinary atmosphere. It seemed quiet and a little subdued. I wondered if something was wrong, but I didn’t show it. Raphael would arrive in 20 minutes. Hence, I could build this up slowly.
“There you are, Seraphim.”
“…”
There was some doubt in his face, looking down at me quietly.
“Yes.”