𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝟏𝟏𝟑
Arietta hardly remembers her childhood days.
「. . . 𝘼𝙡𝙡 𝙨𝙝𝙚 𝙘𝙖𝙣 𝙧𝙚𝙘𝙖𝙡𝙡 𝙞𝙨 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙧𝙚 𝙬𝙚𝙧𝙚 𝙢𝙖𝙣𝙮 𝙙𝙖𝙮𝙨 𝙬𝙝𝙚𝙣 𝙨𝙝𝙚 𝙬𝙖𝙨 𝙩𝙚𝙧𝙧𝙞𝙗𝙡𝙮 𝙘𝙤𝙡𝙙 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙝𝙪𝙣𝙜𝙧𝙮.」
Arietta was once a vagrant.
Despite her young age, she wandered the streets, and due to the harsh environment, she was busy surviving each day.
「. . . . . . .」
While receiving orders from someone to beg for money and sometimes stealing things to get by, she happened to meet Myung-yul, who had come to England to see an acquaintance.
That completely changed Arietta’s life.
『Come with me. Let’s live together from now on.』
For some reason, Myung-yul took a special interest in Arietta, and Arietta also opened her heart to Myung-yul and was reborn as a true family.
However, the following year, Arietta, who suddenly collapsed without warning, was bedridden for a year.
Myung-yul only said that she would be fine, but Arietta could sense her own future from his unusual reaction.
Like that, Arietta had given up on everything once.
However.
『Just take a deep breath and sleep. When you wake up, you’ll be able to go home and live together like before.』
For some reason, Arietta regained her health and continued her days with Myung-yul in even better condition than before.
It was probably around that time that she realized that her body was different from others.
One day, when Arietta couldn’t contain her curiosity and asked about it, Myung-yul replied like this.
『It’s fine. Isn’t it a blessing that you have a body that surpasses others? If you’re worried, just use that power in the right place.』
Since it was certainly a valid argument, Arietta didn’t mind it after that, but she vaguely knew that wasn’t all.
And after hearing Shin Do-hoon’s extraordinary resilience and his stories, Arietta was able to vaguely understand the secret of what had happened to her.
「𝙈𝙖𝙨𝙩𝙚𝙧. . . . . . .」
She didn’t resent him. Myung-yul surely couldn’t have watched her die as she was.
However, if she herself was no longer human, she wouldn’t be able to live among people like she had been doing.
As she regained consciousness, she saw Han Kang-yoon supporting her and holding her in his arms.
“Are you awake?”
There was still a lingering sweetness in her mouth, and the appetizing scent kept teasing her nose from all directions.
Realizing that, Arietta opened her mouth with a trembling voice toward Han Kang-yoon.
“I asked you, junior. . . . . . ?”
The incomparably ecstatic liquid she tasted in her mouth. It wasn’t difficult to figure out what it was.
That’s because the exact same scent was coming from Han Kang-yoon, who was holding her.
“. . . . . . .”
Han Kang-yoon shook his head at Arietta’s hardened expression.
“To be exact, it was just enough to taste. I only put blood in your mouth to calm you down for the time being. I apologize if you were offended.”
“Hmm. No, it was very sweet. . . . . ., not that. Are you not hurt?”
“Yes. I’m fine except for the bruises.”
Han Kang-yoon’s attitude was more indifferent than she thought, and Arietta slowly calmed her heart and got up with his support.
Then she asked Han Kang-yoon.
“. . . Junior. Am I not human either?”
“. . . . . . .”
“This is the first time I’ve been in this state. But there’s no guarantee that it won’t happen again in the future.”
It was a natural thought. She couldn’t just shrug it off when her body went out of control and attacked an acquaintance who was right next to her.
However, Han Kang-yoon replied without much concern.
“Is there a need to delve into it that deeply? There are plenty of people in the world with that level of uniqueness.”
“. . . Junior, this is a serious concern right now.”
“My answer is serious too. There are so many special beings in the world that having a bit of strength and recovering quickly doesn’t seem like a big deal.”
“Where exactly?”
“I do that much too, right in front of you.”
When Arietta looked at him with a confused expression, Han Kang-yoon shrugged and uttered meaningful words.
“I can come back to life even after I die once.”
“. . . Even so, that’s too much of a lie.”
“I don’t say such nonsense.”
At his brazen attitude, Arietta was speechless and stared blankly at Han Kang-yoon.
As she did, it felt like the worries she had been harboring were becoming meaningless.
Arietta opened her mouth with a slightly sullen expression.
“. . . Okay, I’ll think about it later.”
“Yes. Because there’s something we need to do first right now.”
According to Han Kang-yoon’s testimony, Shin Do-hoon seemed to have gone to Myung-yul to get his hands on the Elixir of Immortality.
In that case, there was no time to stand around here and be lost in thought.
Arietta shook off her thoughts and put all her strength into her two feet again.
“Junior, I’ll run the shortest way.”
“Yes. I’ll leave the guidance to you.”
Like that, Arietta headed to Guryong Mountain, where Myung-yul was, with Han Kang-yoon to stop Shin Do-hoon.
Cling.
【Unidentified trait recognized.】
▶【True Noble Blood (S)】
Completely unaware of the significant changes happening to her own body.
🔷🔷🔷🔷🔷🔷
Halfway up Guryong Mountain.
For some reason, the schoolhouse was completely empty, devoid of its usual hustle and bustle.
Shin Do-hoon, who had arrived there, could feel two familiar auras emanating from inside.
“Oh my, it seems like you were waiting for me after all.”
“. . . You were alive after all.”
Myung-yul, who revealed himself from the dark room, slowly walked outside and met Shin Do-hoon’s gaze.
“You’ve become a being that truly deserves to be called a wraith.”
“Keuk, keuk, keuk. How can you say that when you turned your back on us knowing that this would happen?”
Shin Do-hoon, who had been laughing in despair for a moment, changed his expression and asked Myung-yul with sharp eyes.
“Hey, Myung-yul. You were following orders from the upper management at the time, right?”
“. . . That is correct.”
“And then you tried to dispose of all of us who were caught up in the forbidden spell and neither alive nor dead, according to orders.”
“. . . . . . .”
“Yeah, I can understand that far. You had that responsibility.”
However, Shin Do-hoon immediately ignited intense murderous intent in his eyes.
“But didn’t you know everything, you bastard? The fact that we, who were thought to be dead, were alive and would become experimental subjects for the upper management from then on and be used for research on the forbidden spell.”
“. . . I have not heard anything about that either.”
Myung-yul didn’t seem to be lying. However, Shin Do-hoon continued, tightly shutting his eyes as if suppressing something.
“Answer me, Myung-yul. If so, why have you been keeping my finger, which you thought had been cut off that day, until now?”
“. . . . . . .”
“Answer me properly!”
But Myung-yul had no answer to that. He didn’t know the whole truth either, but it was also true that he had been sensing the truth in a corner of his mind.
“. . . Yes. I see. I understand.”
Shin Do-hoon understood the wordless answer and immediately let go of his emotions and regained his composure.
“They really are disgusting bastards. Seduced by the nice-sounding words of extending one’s life, they tried to research it by deliberately touching the forbidden spell. To them, we were just lab rats that were easy to dispose of.”
“. . . Let me tell you, I did not cooperate with them.”
“Shut up, you’re the same as them no matter what you say.”
Shin Do-hoon gritted his teeth and snickered heartlessly.
“Let me tell you one thing, Myung-yul.”
“. . . . . . .”
“The one who planned this ridiculous play and ordered you to kill you and bring the forbidden elixir, whose existence isn’t even certain, was none other than one of those in charge at the time of the incident. Just like back then.”
At those words, Myung-yul was also able to grasp the general situation.
The victims who had been attacked until now were just excuses to create a justification.
Although he had retired from the front lines, Myung-yul’s death would cause quite a stir, so to avoid getting caught, they had created a kind of story by targeting the people involved in the Night Parade of a Hundred Demons one by one.
In the end, it was clear that their goal was to kill him to silence him and extract information about the Elixir of Immortality.
“. . . In the end, it means that everything comes full circle.”
“I didn’t believe it at first, but that greedy bastard’s senses seem to be pretty accurate. Isn’t that right? The fact that you actually stole the Elixir of Immortality and completed it, it’s really pissing me off.”
However, at Shin Do-hoon’s words, Myung-yul shook his head slightly.
“I’m sorry, but the Elixir of Immortality has been destroyed. You won’t be able to find it no matter how much you search.”
“. . . Don’t lie, I just saw the completed work you made.”
“You bastard, did you meet Arietta by any chance?”
Myung-yul’s expression distorted greatly for a moment. Shin Do-hoon replied indifferently.
“I didn’t do anything in particular. I’m also interested in the finished product, so there’s no need to touch it right now.”
“. . . Don’t touch that child.”
“Well, I wonder?”
“You bastard. . . . . . !”
It had come to this anyway.
Accepting the unavoidable fight, Myung-yul slowly invoked spiritual power into his body, which had been resting for a long time.
“Since it’s come to this, I won’t be convinced unless I finish it properly.”
“Yeah, that’s how it should be. Show me your great skills with your old body.”
Swoosh.
Swish!
As Shin Do-hoon finished speaking and raised his hand, a sound of destruction could be heard from inside the schoolhouse, and something flew in and landed on top of it.
It was Shin Do-hoon’s index finger that Myung-yul had sealed away.
Thud.
Clatter.
Immense energy began to rise from Shin Do-hoon’s body as he retrieved and regenerated it.
It seemed that he had fully restored the incomplete power by recovering the lost fragment of his body.
“That’s a really refreshing feeling. I’ve been waiting for this day ever since ten years ago.”
Myung-yul, who sensed that irresistible power, also heightened his tension to the fullest.
Like that, the battle finally began.
🔷🔷🔷🔷🔷🔷
BOOM!
CRASH!
CRACKLE!
「 𝙃𝙚 𝙬𝙖𝙨 𝙘𝙤𝙢𝙥𝙡𝙚𝙩𝙚𝙡𝙮 𝙖𝙗𝙨𝙤𝙧𝙗𝙚𝙙 𝙞𝙣 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙁𝙤𝙧𝙗𝙞𝙙𝙙𝙚𝙣 𝙀𝙡𝙞𝙭𝙞𝙧. . . . . .!「
30 minutes after that, the battle itself was proceeding in a flow that Myung-yul was dominating.
Shin Do-hoon’s body was ripped apart several times by Myung-yul’s spells, and conversely, Myung-yul had not suffered any visible injuries.
However, as it was repeated several times, the situation began to change gradually.
WHOOSH!
“You’re exhausted. Even you can’t lie about your age.”
“. . . . . . .”
Compared to Shin Do-hoon, who directly received all the damage and recovered, Myung-yul was visibly out of breath.
“Why, are you surprised? This is the result of the karma you brought about. Many of my comrades couldn’t accept the power of the forbidden elixir and lost their existence, but I alone adapted to it to near perfection. Soon, I’ll reach the same level as the perfect product you boast about.”
“. . .Ugh, gasp.”
In the end, Myung-yul, who had exhausted his strength, collapsed on the spot. Soon after, Shin Do-hoon, who approached him, aimed a small knife at Myung-yul’s neck and opened his mouth.
“Even if you really destroyed the Forbidden Elixir, all of it would still be in your head.”
“. . . . . . .”
“The moment I cut your neck with this dagger, all your memories will flow into me. Do you have any last words?”
However, Myung-yul’s face, looking at Shin Do-hoon, was filled with only compassion, not fear.
“That’s not it.”
“What?”
“You didn’t adapt to the forbidden elixir.”
“. . .What are you talking about.”
Others wouldn’t have been able to tell, but Myung-yul, who had already witnessed the completion of the forbidden elixir once, could tell right away.
“You’ve just been completely consumed by the forbidden elixir. That strange regeneration proves it. No matter what the outcome of this fight is, you’ll soon come to ruin.”
“Don’t make me laugh. This is just the result of reaching the completion of the forbidden elixir. The finished product must have the same power.”
“. . .Right now, you’re constantly restoring your body without the flesh and blood of a human or a yokai. What do you think the price is for that?”
What the forbidden elixir was consuming was Shin Do-hoon’s very soul.
He conveyed that fact without hiding it, but Shin Do-hoon couldn’t accept it in the end.
“. . .Be quiet. Stop struggling disgracefully and just atone for your sins obediently.”
Thus, the small knife in Shin Do-hoon’s hand gave off a cold light under the moonlight.
And, at that exact moment.
“Eight-sided Rotating Lotus Net!”
A wave of intense spiritual power swept over Shin Do-hoon.
