Ch 100-106 - Online Story Read Mode

Chapter 100 Dinner with Roxanne and the Villain Hunt (2)

The Church.

Since ancient times, the church has been a symbol of power.

Historian Kenneth Latourette once said, "In terms of inﬂuence, no single force in human history has had as much impact as the church."

To protect lost sheep from otherworldly beings and evil forces, the church became a shepherd, amassing power, wealth, and fame.

It stood as a rock in the chaotic world, both guardian and sword at the edge of a blade.

To survive in a world ﬁlled with threats, the church established specialized exorcism divisions, and the most prominent of these was the Execution Division.

And now…

"Hello, Lee Jinhyuk. It's nice to ﬁnally meet you."

"Yes, it's nice to meet you too."

"Hehe. I'm Cynthia Gwyn. Feel free to call me Cynthia."

The woman welcoming me inside the Church of Noon was none other than Cynthia Gwyn, a former commander of the Execution Division and one of the UK's most celebrated heroes—a high-ranker.

A genius who became a high-ranker in her late twenties.

While she may not have been quite on the same level as Hong Daye in her prime—when she was considered a Top 10 contender—Cynthia was undoubtedly stronger than the current Hong Daye.

Cynthia might have been able to defeat the Black-Handed Long-Armed Monkey and the Minotaur that had appeared at the academy all by herself.

'I wonder how she compares to Yoo Dahee.'

By now, after the end of the ﬁrst semester's ﬁnals, Yoo

Dahee's strength had likely grown to the level of a high- ranker.

As a growth-type munchkin character, Yoo Dahee grew exponentially stronger every day. But compared to Cynthia?

In the game's setting, Korean high-rankers were somewhat stronger than those from other countries.

However, considering experience, skill, and raw power, Cynthia was still likely superior for now.

After all, Cynthia had been a high-ranker for several years, whereas Yoo Dahee had only just reached that level.

But that wouldn't last long.

If the game's progression was any indication, Yoo Dahee would continue to grow at a terrifying rate until she became a single-ranker.

I want to deal with her before she grows even more… But right now, that's a bit diﬃcult.

That's why I'm thinking of starting by targeting her weak points, one by one.

"Your Korean is really good." "Oh~ this is just basic stuff."

Cynthia waved her ﬁngers as if it were no big deal.

She seemed to have the lively and friendly personality I had heard about.

She was loyal, but also very stubborn. Once she set her mind on something, she had to see it through.

"Cynthia, you can speak comfortably. You're older than me, after all."

"Oh, should I? Well, when in Korea, follow Korean customs~."

Cynthia nodded enthusiastically, as if she had been waiting for this.

She scratched her chin and hummed for a moment, then openly scrutinized my face.

"Well, your personality seems decent enough, and your face isn't bad either."

"…What?"

What the heck is she talking about?

"Cynthia."

"Oops." Right on cue.

"Cynthia didn't say anything inappropriate, did she?" Roxanne appeared from the back of the room.

She gently swept her soft pink hair aside as she approached with graceful steps.

Unlike at the academy, she was wearing her priestess robes, just like in the game's illustrations.

The design was clean and simple—a white robe that radiated purity.

It was like a scene taken straight out of the game, and seeing it in real life was strangely moving.

Of course, in the game, it was a very different Roxanne who had stained those same robes with blood while threatening the protagonist's group.

"Oh my, what's with the staring?"

"Ah."

Cynthia's voice snapped me out of my thoughts. I shook my head, clearing my mind.

Glancing sideways, I noticed Cynthia chuckling softly, her lips half-covered like a mischievous girl.

"I get it. Our Roxanne is quite the beauty, isn't she?" "Uh, yes, she's very…."

That was a bit of a tricky question.

A typical teenage boy might have stuttered at that point.

But having awakened my memories of my previous life, I was no typical adolescent. I had no problem openly acknowledging someone's beauty.

"Roxanne is indeed beautiful."

"Hehe."

"But staring for too long was still rude of me." I turned to Roxanne and continued.

"It's just my ﬁrst time seeing you in priestess robes, so I was a bit curious. Sorry, Roxanne."

"N-no, it's ﬁne."

"Deﬁnitely understandable. After seeing you in your academy uniform all the time, it must be quite a sight to see you in priestess robes."

Cynthia chimed in, her lips curling into a grin as she spoke nonsense.

"Boys have fantasies about priestess robes, you know. Seeing Roxanne in that pristine outﬁt might stir some… impure thoughts."

"Cynthia Lu Gwyn."

Roxanne's voice dropped slightly as she addressed Cynthia by her full name, causing Cynthia to grimace, realizing her mistake.

Across cultures, getting called by your full name rarely signaled anything good.

"Sorry, Roxanne. Don't be so scary, alright?" "…There's a guest here. Please mind your manners."

"Got it, got it. Anyway, I'll go check on the food preparations. You can show him to the dining area."

With that, Cynthia disappeared in the direction of the kitchen.

Roxanne sighed softly, her gaze lingering where Cynthia had just been.

It seemed that, despite being a high-ranker and an Executioner, Cynthia's playful nature often caused Roxanne a bit of trouble.

"Sorry about that. Cynthia can be a bit mischievous…."

"No need to apologize. She seems like a good person. And she's funny."

Despite her playful behavior, Cynthia was someone who would rise to the occasion when it truly mattered.

If anything happened, she would become Roxanne's most dependable shield.

"Well, follow me."

Roxanne began to lead the way, her steps slow and graceful.

"The dining hall is occupied at the moment, so I'll take you to the reception room instead."

"I hope I'm not taking up too much of your time."

"Not at all. Work has slowed down a lot lately."

"Really?"

"Yes."

Judging by the faint dark circles under her eyes, she seemed to pull all-nighters often.

"Oh, by the way, have you heard about Seong Yura?"

"…Yes."

Roxanne hesitated for a moment.

"They say she was attacked during transport." "...."

The Seong Yura assassination. She, along with everyone else in the transport vehicle, had been killed.

The audacity of the crime—ambushing the transport and killing everyone inside—shook Korea for a while.

But they still hadn't found any clues about the culprits. "What you sow, you reap… I suppose."

Roxanne's expression grew complicated.

It wasn't as if she sympathized with Seong Yura, who had tormented her for so long and had hurt so many people. But having known her for years, it was only natural for Roxanne to feel a bit unsettled.

"Though the afterlife is the domain of higher powers, Seong Yura should have paid for her sins in this world."

Roxanne's face showed clear signs of inner conﬂict.

The reason I brought up Seong Yura's death wasn't just to stir Roxanne's emotions.

It was meant as a build-up for something else.

A setup to discuss the villain organization that had orchestrated Seong Yura's death.

'Well, there's no need to rush it. I'll bring it up after dinner and see how she reacts.'

"Ah, we've arrived. Here we are." We had reached the reception room.

The spacious room was large enough to accommodate several people and had a clean, elegant interior.

In the center was a dining table surrounded by plush chairs. Roxanne led me to one of the chairs.

"Please have a seat and wait for a moment. The meal will be brought out shortly."

– Knock, knock.

There was a knock on the door. I could sense someone outside the room.

"Room service~. Can I come in?"

"Yes, Cynthia."

As soon as she got permission, Cynthia ﬂung the door open, carrying a tray laden with various dishes.

…Wait, Cynthia was serving the food herself?

Considering her power, authority, and social standing, this was absurd.

Cynthia shouldn't have been doing such menial tasks.

Even though Cynthia wasn't the type to care about prestige, fetching and serving food herself seemed excessive.

"These are traditional British dishes. Both of you, enjoy your meal."

"British food?"

"Hey, were you just thinking that it's going to taste bad because it's British cuisine?"

Cynthia suddenly snapped, seemingly out of nowhere.

"That's just a stereotype! British food isn't bad, alright? Stop the British food slander!"

"Uh, okay…."

I was just surprised, that's all.

"Anyway, thank you for the meal. And thanks for inviting me today, Cynthia, Roxanne."

"You're welcome."

I glanced over the food laid out on the table.

There was steak and kidney pie, roast beef, Yorkshire pudding, bangers and mash, beef Wellington, beef stew, ﬁsh and chips, and so on.

Had they just made everything on the menu? In any case, we started our meal together.

The food was surprisingly good, well-seasoned and ﬂavorful.

We engaged in some light conversation, sharing small talk and keeping the mood pleasant.

After a while, when the atmosphere had become comfortable enough, I began to check Roxanne's reaction.

Time to bring it up, huh?

"Roxanne."

"Yes? Go ahead." "Um, well…."

I glanced at Cynthia, who was standing off to the side as a bodyguard, and trailed off.

I was planning to reveal some personal information, so having Cynthia around made it hard to speak freely.

"I have something to discuss… privately."

"Privately?"

"Yeah, it's something important."

Roxanne tilted her head slightly in confusion.

Then, she glanced at Cynthia, who was dramatically covering her mouth and pretending to be shocked, and her shoulders twitched as if something occurred to her.

Roxanne lowered her gaze, looking somewhat conﬂicted. "Is it something you can't say in front of Cynthia…?" "It's a bit diﬃcult, yeah."

"I see…."

Roxanne seemed ﬂustered and unsure.

Understandably so. After inviting me here for dinner, it probably felt awkward for her to hear me ask for a private conversation.

Since she had invited me as a show of thanks, even if there were security concerns, refusing such a request would have been hard for someone like Roxanne.

"Wow, I really didn't pick up on the vibes, huh? Well, I'll excuse myself now… Hehe."

"Ah, Cynthia?"

Despite Roxanne's ﬂustered call, Cynthia just grinned mischievously and quickly left the room.

Roxanne glanced at me sideways, not sure what to do. "Uh, well…."

"Was my request too much? I guess, as a saintess candidate, you have to be cautious about security and appearances."

After Seong Yura's downfall, people had begun to rally around Roxanne again, and the rumors about her being a saintess candidate had spread even to the academy.

It had only been a few months, but quite a few people had already aligned themselves under her banner.

Big names like Cynthia, as well as people in politics, business, and the hero world, were all drawn to Roxanne.

As future events in the game had shown, Roxanne would rapidly build her faction, drawing all sorts of people to her side.

No wonder she became one of the ﬁnal bosses. Her charm was almost like a superpower. Thinking back to the fanatics who followed her after she fell from grace in the game, this all made sense.

"No, I mean… it's ﬁne to be alone, but…."

"Yeah?"

"From my perspective… accepting your feelings might be diﬃcult…."

"Huh?"

I couldn't help but feel confused as I saw Roxanne looking at me apologetically.

Wait, what?

"Of course, you're very charming, Jinhyuk, but I…."

"Wait, what are you talking about, Roxanne?"

I stared at her, baﬄed.

"I was just going to talk about the organization responsible for Seong Yura's death. Where's this coming from?"

"…What?"

"Did you really think I was going to confess to you?" "Uh, um, well, that is…."

Suddenly, Roxanne's face turned bright red, like a ripe tomato.

Chapter 101 Dinner with Roxanne and the Villain Hunt (3)

"Ah, s-sorry… I said something strange…."

Roxanne, looking visibly ﬂustered, ducked her head in embarrassment.

Her normally pale cheeks were ﬂushed red, and her blue eyes wandered, unable to settle on anything.

She sneaked a glance at me, and when our eyes met, she gave a little start, quickly lowering her gaze again.

I'd never seen Roxanne so embarrassed before—someone who was usually so composed.

It seemed she was mortiﬁed by her assumption. Well, I couldn't blame her.

"Did I give you the wrong impression? If I did, I'm sorry."

For some reason, she had misunderstood the situation, thinking I was about to confess to her.

Why would she think that?

I hadn't shown any romantic interest in her, and Roxanne wasn't the type to misinterpret things like that…

Could it be because I said I had something important to discuss privately?

The more I thought about it, the less sense it made. 'Wait, could Cynthia have put weird ideas into her head?' Knowing Cynthia's personality, that seemed plausible.

After all, she had made strange comments earlier, like saying I had a decent personality and looked good enough.

Now that I thought about it, hadn't she left the room earlier with a sly smile?

So, it *was* her fault.

"But… what did you mean when you mentioned the organization responsible for Seong Yura's death?"

Roxanne suddenly changed the topic.

Though the shift was a bit awkward, I didn't want to put her on the spot any longer, so I let it go and nodded.

"The villains who attacked Seong Yura were likely members of the same organization she belonged to."

"Seong Yura was part of… an organization?" "Yes."

Roxanne blinked her large eyes in surprise.

It seemed she hadn't considered that someone as powerful as Seong Yura might have been part of a larger group.

Well… to be honest, calling it an "organization" might have been an exaggeration.

It was more like a club or a loose association.

They helped each other to some extent, but generally stayed out of each other's business.

If I had to joke about it, it was like 'Yoo Dahee and the Villains.'

"…How does Jinhyuk know about that?" It was a natural question.

Out of the blue, I was claiming knowledge of something that lacked credibility.

"Before I explain further, could you set up a barrier to prevent sound from leaking out?"

"…Alright."

Roxanne hesitated for a moment, giving me a slightly puzzled look, but eventually nodded.

She seemed unsure, but willing to follow my request. "Just give me a moment."

Roxanne quickly activated her unique ability.

Her powers allowed her to create various types of barriers.

A translucent veil slowly wrapped around the reception room—a soundproof barrier.

"Thanks."

There were two reasons I asked for the barrier.

First, I didn't want anyone eavesdropping from outside.

Second, I wanted to signal to Roxanne that what I was about to say was important.

"You asked how I knew about this…."

I had brieﬂy debated whether I should tell her, but in the end, I concluded that Roxanne could be trusted.

Her character, as shown in the game and her actions up until now, reassured me that she wouldn't reveal this to anyone else.

"…The truth is, I have the ability to foresee the future."

"Ah." Roxanne let out a soft gasp.

I carefully observed her face.

She looked confused, as if unsure why I was suddenly sharing this or whether I was truly telling the truth.

'Well, it *is* hard to believe just from hearing it.'

Come to think of it… this was the third time I had lied about being a future seer. First to Yoo Seolhyun, then to Soyeon, and now to Roxanne…

At this point, it was almost becoming an open secret. But none of them were the type to share it with others.

Soyeon and Roxanne were too kindhearted to reveal it to anyone.

And Yoo Seolhyun? She wouldn't tell anyone because it wouldn't beneﬁt her in any way.

Though, to be honest, Yoo Seolhyun was the one I trusted the least. But given how helpful she had been so far, maybe she could be relied on more than I thought.

"Future sight… Jinhyuk, are you serious?"

As Roxanne asked, her voice ﬁlled with surprise, I began my explanation.

"Do you think it was just a coincidence that I saved you when you were ambushed by Seong Yura's forces on the mountain, and again during the midterm battle survival?"

"Ah… come to think of it."

Roxanne's eyes clouded with recollection as she thought back to those events, nodding unconsciously.

The timing had been too perfect for it to be mere coincidence.

Her trust in me seemed to grow, especially since I had saved her twice before.

…But honestly, both times *were* just coincidences.

It might sound ridiculous, but back when I saved Roxanne on Mt. Yuksung, I didn't even know it was her—I hadn't recognized her because her disguise was so good.

And during the midterm survival, saving Roxanne had just been a bonus. My main goal had been to rescue Soyeon. I had no idea Roxanne would be with her.

"When I asked you about it before, you said it was for personal reasons… but was it really to save me?"

"Uh, yeah. That's right." No, it wasn't.

A pang of guilt poked at me.

At the time, I hadn't been particularly intent on saving Roxanne at all.

In fact, I'd done my best to keep my distance, afraid of getting entangled with Seong Yura.

So, could you stop looking at me like that? It's making my conscience hurt.

"As you know, I can't see everything I want with my future sight, but I can see enough."

"Then… why did you save me? Even if it meant getting involved with Seong Yura?"

"Because I saw a future where you met a grim fate because of her."

"By grim fate… you mean…."

"Hmm. I won't go into details. It doesn't matter anymore, anyway."

That part, at least, was true.

If I hadn't intervened, Roxanne would have almost certainly fallen into darkness.

"Though, I made a mistake and ended up getting Soyeon kidnapped."

"…I'm sorry."

"There's nothing to apologize for. It wasn't your fault."

"No, I had promised to protect Soyeon, and she was kidnapped anyway. Even though she was already taken before I could send people after her, I still can't avoid responsibility for that."

Roxanne lowered her head in apology. What a righteous personality she had.

And because of that, she would likely be willing to help me with my current request.

"Let's not dwell on it. You already apologized before. Soyeon said she's ﬁne, too."

"…Yes."

"Anyway, do you think you can believe me when I say I'm a future seer?"

"It's surprising… but I don't think you'd lie about something like this, Jinhyuk… Oh, wait, I do have one question, though."

"Go ahead."

"During the ranking match… it seemed like you were using a unique ability…."

"Ah, that."

That incident had caused quite a stir within the academy.

While a few heroes kept their powers hidden, failing to register one's ability entirely was illegal.

All unique abilities had to be registered with the authorities.

I had managed to cover it up by claiming I had awakened an ability to absorb mana, but there were still people who were suspicious.

No one could believe I had blocked Baek Yoorin's ﬁnal attack so easily.

There had been various rumors about me having multiple unique abilities or possessing some kind of powerful artifact.

Things had calmed down a bit now, but suspicion still lingered.

"Oh, I'm sorry. It was rude of me to ask such a question."

Before I had a chance to respond, Roxanne quickly apologized.

"You already explained it at the academy, so I won't pry further."

It wasn't polite to delve too deeply into someone's unique abilities, so it seemed Roxanne had decided not to press the matter.

Whether I had multiple abilities or one that could be used in many ways, it didn't concern her.

As long as I wasn't committing any crimes, that is.

"Actually, there's another reason I helped you. I've been tracking the organization Seong Yura was part of for a while."

"Seong Yura was part of an organization…? I mean, I don't doubt you, but… it's surprising."

"They're dangerous villains—too dangerous to leave alone." I continued speaking.

"That's why I need your help to apprehend them." Getting Yoo Seolhyun involved in this would be diﬃcult.

She wouldn't move unless there was something in it for her.

Capturing villains wasn't really her clan's job, and even if they did, there wasn't much proﬁt in it.

The Gaon Nuri Clan, while a group of heroes, primarily pursued public interests.

Sure, I could offer some compensation.

But Yoo Seolhyun didn't have that many clan members at her personal disposal.

Moreover, they weren't strong enough to capture Rebellion members without suffering casualties.

To capture those villains, she would need to mobilize team leaders or their deputies, but would those people even listen to her?

Not to mention, if anything went wrong, Yoo Seolhyun could become a target for Rebellion.

Without a high-ranker by her side, she wouldn't survive. Roxanne, on the other hand, had Cynthia.

Not just Cynthia, but several other members who were on par with top heroes.

Thanks to Roxanne's natural charm, many people had fallen under her inﬂuence and would likely be eager to follow her orders.

In short, she could command them easily.

"Of course, I know it's hard to trust me just from this story alone."

As an aspiring hero and priestess, Roxanne didn't calculate personal proﬁt when helping others.

She valued human life above all else and was willing to sacriﬁce herself for it.

…The irony, though, was that this same Roxanne would eventually fall into darkness and harm countless people.

"Take a look at this." I handed her a few photos.

They were pictures I had secretly taken of a diary found in someone's house, thanks to a private investigator.

"A diary?"

"Not just any diary."

"Wait… could this be…?"

"Yes." The so-called Murder Diary.

It was the personal journal of Han Jihyo, a member of Rebellion and the culprit behind the Gyeonggi province serial killings.

The diary meticulously detailed her experiences with the murders.

This corpse-obsessed woman had a habit of writing in her diary after killing someone.

In the game, many people called her "the crazy woman," "the artist," or "the essayist."

"Han Jihyo, a woman in her early thirties who works as a novelist, is the culprit behind a series of murders that have terrorized Gyeonggi province for years."

"Shouldn't we report this to the police?"

"The police wouldn't believe me, and there's no solid evidence. The Murder Diary? She could just claim it's ﬁction. Suspicious, sure, but suspicion alone isn't enough." Circumstantial evidence at best, but not enough to convict.

"She's an unregistered ability user. The police won't be able to catch her without casualties. We'll need multiple heroes— strong ones—to capture her without any victims."

In the game's lore, Han Jihyo had recently joined Rebellion, and even Yoo Dahee had been impressed by her potential.

Right now, she was probably a bit stronger than Baek Yoorin.

But I needed to catch her before she grew any more powerful.

"I know it's hard to take me at my word without solid proof, but the longer we wait, the more victims there will be."

"...."

"Could you give me a chance to conﬁrm whether Han Jihyo is really connected to Seong Yura's organization and whether she's the Gyeonggi serial killer?"

"…Jinhyuk."

Roxanne remained silent for a moment, then slowly opened her mouth to speak.

"As much as I'd like to, I can't move people based on unveriﬁed information."

Even though Roxanne was a saintess candidate, it would be diﬃcult for her to command church members based on the words of a fellow student.

Besides, she probably didn't want to stir up unnecessary trouble while expanding her inﬂuence.

"But…"

Roxanne's eyes met mine, resolute and unwavering.

"As an aspiring hero, I can't stand by after hearing about something like this. And as part of the church, it's our duty to protect people from villains. Not just me, but everyone in the church."

"Roxanne…"

"And I can't ignore the organization that Seong Yura was involved with either."

"I know this might sound strange coming from me, but are you sure? You could end up becoming their target."

"Yes, I'm sure."

Roxanne nodded without hesitation.

"Jinhyuk, you said you've been pursuing the organization Seong Yura belonged to, right?"

"Yeah, I have."

"I don't know why you're chasing them, but…" She trailed off and locked eyes with me.

"…I promise I'll do everything I can to help, just as you helped me."

"Well, I didn't expect you to say that."

I hadn't anticipated such a strong commitment from her.

'Still, this is great. With Roxanne's promise, I can ﬁnally start moving forward with the plan.'

The operation to take down certain members of Rebellion's villain group.

Chapter 102 Dinner with Roxanne and the Villain Hunt (4)

A back alley in Dongdocheon City, Gyeonggi Province. A faint crescent moon hung high in the sky.

The night street, cloaked in darkness, was as quiet as ever. There was barely any sign of life. It was a rarely used alley.

Being an impoverished area, there were no CCTV cameras. No cars were parked, so there were no black boxes either. It was a place completely hidden from the human gaze.

Today, the alley seemed even more eerie.

Perhaps it was because of the murder cases that had occurred here over the years?

Primarily happening in deserted back alleys, slums, and outskirts, these mysterious murders took place late at night.

The victims had no apparent connections to each other, and the clean methods of the killings led the authorities to classify them as random, untraceable serial murders committed by the same culprit.

It had been quite some time since the ﬁrst murder, but the investigation was still at a standstill.

Since the killer struck only every few months, wandering across the vast Gyeonggi Province, identifying the criminal was exceedingly diﬃcult.

The case was stuck in a labyrinth with no way out. "…Hiccup, ugh."

Far down the alley.

A woman was stumbling clumsily through the street.

She appeared to be drunk, unable to maintain her balance, swaying precariously from side to side.

Her steps were so unstable that she looked as if she might fall at any moment. The woman eventually collapsed onto the ground, panting heavily.

As she hiccupped and buried her head in her arms, a young man passing by cautiously approached her.

It seemed he was concerned about a woman wandering alone and intoxicated in a dark alley at such a late hour.

Of course, one would worry if they saw an ordinary woman loitering in a deserted alley.

If, that is, she were an ordinary woman. "Excuse me, are you okay?"

"...."

"Excuse me?"

"…Ah." The woman slowly raised her head, her eyes dull and unfocused. She stared blankly at the young man. He had a rather sincere appearance. It seemed the sight of a drunken woman collapsed in an alley was too much for him to ignore.

The woman awkwardly tried to rise, but her body wasn't cooperating due to her level of intoxication.

After a few more attempts, she ﬁnally managed to stand. However, she immediately stumbled again.

As she was about to fall, the man instinctively reached out to support her.

"Whoa, are you alright?"

"Y-yes… thank you for helping me."

"No problem, it's nothing… huh?" Stab.

The man could no longer speak.

A sharp, blood-red blade had pierced his abdomen. The woman manipulated the blood ﬂow inside him,

wreaking havoc on his internal organs. His vital organs were

shredded. This feels good. The sensation is satisfying.

"Haah~♪"

The man's lips moved soundlessly as he died. The look on his face as he drew his last breath—how splendid.

The woman chuckled as she slowly withdrew the blade.

Though blood should have gushed out, thanks to the woman's unique ability, she managed to keep the scene clean without spilling a single drop.

She had become all too familiar with murder. With an unsettling ease, she reabsorbed the red blade back into her body, liquefying it.

It was a blade hardened from her own blood, capable of being used and then reabsorbed at will.

The murder weapon had disappeared without a trace.

"Why would you approach a strange woman like that? In times like these, don't you know how dangerous people can be?"

The woman giggled.

She mocked the poor man's kindness.

If he hadn't meddled, he might not have died tonight. His compassion had cost him his life.

Ah, but the feeling of taking a life… it was simply exhilarating.

As much as she wanted to savor the sight of life fading from his eyes, she couldn't linger for too long.

If she wasn't careful, someone else might discover her.

Of course, with her heightened senses, she could tell that there was no one within a radius of several dozen meters.

Still, she had her own set of rules.

The entire process, from killing to ﬂeeing, had to be completed within 15 seconds.

It had only taken her around 5 seconds to kill the man. She had spent another 4 seconds messing around, so she still had 6 seconds left. Plenty of time to get far away from the scene before anyone arrived.

Her method of killing was primitive, but the chances of getting caught were low.

A night with limited visibility. A deserted alley with no CCTV or black boxes. A sparsely populated, rundown area. Her superhuman senses.

All these factors made it highly unlikely her crime would be discovered.

So far, her success had only boosted her conﬁdence.

The woman glanced back at the man's corpse and thought.

'Ah… I'd love to collect some of his blood as a trophy… but leaving such solid evidence at home would be problematic…'

Like a protagonist in a certain crime drama, she wanted to collect the blood of her victims as a memento, but she had to be more cautious if she didn't want to risk getting caught.

A sample of the victims' blood linked to the serial killings? That would be undeniable evidence.

'How foolish. If I were really afraid of getting caught by the police, I shouldn't have started this in the ﬁrst place…'

But it was too late to stop now. Murder was an addiction.

When was the ﬁrst time she killed?

It was after she'd dropped out of the academy. She had been wandering through a back alley when an older man picked a ﬁght with her, and she killed him.

Back then, she'd been terriﬁed of what she had done and ﬂed the scene, trembling in fear for weeks, unable to leave her room.

Afraid that the police would catch her. Afraid that heroes would come for her.

She had lived in constant anxiety day after day, but, fortunately, the case went cold, and the police never found her.

Han Jihyo had buried the memory of that murder deep in her heart and tried to give up her dream of becoming a hero, focusing instead on becoming a novelist…

…But she could never forget the sensation of taking a life.

The thrill. Her heartbeat. The look in the victim's eyes as their life drained away. The feeling of violating human dignity. The sense of superiority. She wanted to feel it all again.

It was a thirst. A craving.

That ﬁrst murder had awakened the villainous nature Han Jihyo had kept hidden deep inside.

'It's about time I got out of here… huh?' Fizz.

Smoke began to rise from the man's corpse.

With a strange, ethereal haze, the man's form dissolved into dust.

As if he had never existed, his body completely disappeared

—corpse, blood, clothes, everything.

'Could this be… a clone?' A clone ability.

She had seen it a few times during her academy days.

It was the ability to create a clone identical to oneself in order to deceive enemies.

'Why a clone? Was this a trap?'

Realizing something had gone terribly wrong, Han Jihyo bit her lip and quickly tried to make her escape.

"You're Han Jihyo, right? Surrender." "Y-yes… please surrender…."

"Is this woman really the serial killer?"

Several people, who had been concealing themselves with cloaking abilities, began to reveal themselves.

Almost ten people, all heavily armed. They were watching Han Jihyo closely, ready for battle.

They were all ability users. So, it was a trap after all. The concealment abilities had hidden them from her senses. Damn it, what the hell is this?

'Who are these people?'

The police? The association? A clan? Who on earth?

Had they been tailing her?

How had they identiﬁed Han Jihyo as the culprit? There was no way to know at the moment.

But that wasn't the important thing right now. What mattered now was ﬁnding a way to escape this situation.

"Han Jihyo, give it up. We've caught you in the act. We recorded you stabbing the clone."

"…You know my name?"

So, they knew something about her, huh?

Well, the fact that they had set up this trap and recorded her stabbing the clone was proof that they were conﬁdent she was the serial killer.

"Hah… this is troublesome."

Han Jihyo sighed deeply.

It's true, you get caught if you let the trail get too long.

Well, she had always anticipated that the police or heroes would catch on to her eventually.

She wasn't optimistic enough to believe she'd never get caught. The serial murders had been reported on the news several times, after all.

The authorities were doing everything they could to ﬁnd the culprit, so it was unreasonable to think she'd stay hidden forever.

But she hadn't expected it to be today… 'Getting caught so soon is a bit disappointing.' But it couldn't be helped.

It was time to give up her civilian identity.

From now on, she would be living as a full-ﬂedged villain.

Well, at least she wouldn't have to sneak around and kill people in fear of being caught anymore.

The thought of being able to freely kill without watching her back as a villain made her feel a bit more at ease.

'Should I seek out Yoo Dahee…?'

She had been unsure when Yoo Dahee had ﬁrst tried to recruit her into that strange organization called Rebellion.

But given the current situation, it seemed she'd have to rely on her for a while. Well, she could think it over after getting out of this mess.

"Whoever you are, it's best if you step aside unless you want to get hurt."

Han Jihyo used the blade of her ring to slice her ﬁnger.

She reopened the wound from earlier when she had reabsorbed the blood weapon.

Soon, blood began to gush from the wound. The blood droplets ﬂoated in the air around her.

The crimson liquid circled Han Jihyo, threatening those around her.

"So, it really is a blood manipulation ability."

"It seems you've been doing your homework. You already knew this, didn't you?"

Han Jihyo's unique ability was Blood Manipulation.

It allowed her to control blood freely, making it incredibly versatile.

For example, she could accelerate the blood in her body to boost her physical abilities. She could expel blood and shoot it like a water cannon. She could coagulate or harden blood into weapons.

It was a nearly all-purpose ability, but most blood- manipulation users had one signiﬁcant weakness.

They could only control their own blood.

A normal adult male has about 5.2 liters of blood in their body.

Losing even 10% of that can cause anemia, and losing 40% could result in death.

In other words, there was a clear limit to how much a blood manipulator could use their ability.

In a sense, it was like exchanging life for power. But this limitation didn't apply to Han Jihyo.

That's because Han Jihyo could control not only her own blood but also the blood of others—whether it was dead blood or blood she came into contact with.

Her blood manipulation ability was on a completely different level from that of typical blood manipulators.

Her range of control was far broader.

That was why Yoo Dahee saw such great potential in Han Jihyo's future.

The more Han Jihyo wounded her enemies, the more power she gained. She was an ability user perfectly suited for chaotic battles.

'Though, this also gave her a critical weakness that other blood manipulators don't have.'

A double-edged sword, if you will.

No one had ever discovered this weakness, but Han Jihyo's blood manipulation had one fatal ﬂaw.

And that was…

"W-wait a second?" Fwaaah!

Suddenly, one of the men sprayed water. He seemed to be a water-type ability user.

As soon as the water touched the blood droplets, Han Jihyo's control over them weakened, and the blood quickly lost its form and fell to the ground.

Once the blood mixed with water, it became impossible to control.

"I'd heard about it, but water really is her weakness, huh?" "No way, you? How did you…?"

Han Jihyo's blood manipulation's fatal weakness. It was water.

Most blood manipulators could control blood regardless of whether it was mixed with water, but Han Jihyo was different.

Perhaps it was a side effect of her ability to control others' blood, but for some reason, when her blood mixed with water, the osmotic pressure destroyed the red blood cells, making it impossible for her to control.

But how did they know about Han Jihyo's weakness? How could they possibly know?

She had hidden it so well. No one should have known. End of Chapter.

Chapter 103 Dinner with Roxanne and the Villain Hunt (5)

Han Jihyo frowned as she stared at the people before her.

'It's no coincidence. They deﬁnitely know my weakness is water.'

It wasn't hard to ﬁgure out that she was a blood manipulation ability user.

But how had they discovered that she couldn't control blood that came into contact with water? That was a secret she had carefully hidden since her academy days.

No other blood manipulators she knew of had such a weakness.

So how had they immediately countered her ability by spraying water? She couldn't make sense of it.

'This is getting tricky.'

She could no longer recklessly expel blood to attack.

One of Han Jihyo's specialties was to release concentrated blood in one go to strike down her enemies.

But in her current situation, if she released her blood carelessly, it could mix with water and become unusable.

She had already lost about 300 milliliters of blood onto the ground.

Under normal circumstances, she would've easily been able to recover it, but with a water-type ability user present, it was too risky.

She couldn't afford to waste precious blood.

The more blood she lost, the worse off she would be.

If she continued to lose more, her body would be pushed to its limits, and they wouldn't miss the opportunity to exploit that.

"You should surrender, Han Jihyo." "But I don't want to."

Surrender? Yeah, right. Sure, it was diﬃcult to discharge blood externally, but it didn't matter.

She could still manipulate the blood within her body, overproducing adrenaline to temporarily enhance her physical abilities.

She was also skilled in hand-to-hand combat.

And if she could make even the smallest cut on her opponent, she could easily kill them by reversing the blood ﬂow through the wound.

So, it wasn't exactly a hopeless situation.

She wasn't sure how strong her opponents were, but judging by their aura, they didn't seem particularly dangerous.

If she could take down one or two of them and use them as hostages, she had a good chance of turning the tables.

Unless they were ruthless villains, they wouldn't be able to launch a full attack with their comrades being held hostage.

"Han Jihyo, right? Why don't you just surrender and save us all the trouble? Let's not waste our strength."

Right at that moment—

"If you surrender now, I'll make sure you pass out painlessly. How does that sound?"

"…You're Cynthia Gwyn, aren't you?"

Han Jihyo was startled when she recognized the short-haired woman strolling out from behind the others, yawning.

Of course, she was shocked.

She had never imagined that someone as renowned as Cynthia would show up here.

Cynthia was one of the high-rankers representing Britain.

An Executioner of the Church of Noon, her strength was beyond words.

Not long ago, rumors had spread that she had come to Korea to serve as the bodyguard for a saintess candidate

named Roxanne, but why was she here…? "Are those people all from the Church?"

"Bingo."

"Why… why would the Church come after me?"

"Well, the Church has always led the way in hunting down villains, haven't they?"

What a joke.

Since when did the Church care about anything that didn't make them money?

Besides, wasn't Cynthia part of Roxanne's faction? Cynthia was far too important a ﬁgure to follow anyone's orders except Roxanne's.

Roxanne was supposed to be extremely busy with internal Church matters. Why would she waste her time on something like this?

Were they trying to bolster their image by capturing the culprit behind the random serial murders that had terrorized Gyeonggi Province?

"Cynthia, please take care of it."

"Fine, ﬁne. When the boss rushes me like this, what choice do I have? Let's ﬁnish this, little villain."

At that moment, a girl with pink hair, standing a bit further back, spoke up, and Cynthia immediately drew her sword.

That pink-haired girl… could she be Roxanne?

The very same Roxanne who had taken down Seong Yura, a member of Rebellion, and ﬁrmly established herself as a saintess candidate.

Han Jihyo never thought someone like her would be targeting her.

She still had no idea how they had ﬁgured out she was the serial killer.

"But Roxanne, you didn't need to come all the way here. It's dangerous."

"How could I just sit idly by while you all were risking your lives to capture this villain?"

Roxanne glanced at Cynthia, her expression as serene as ever.

"And if I hadn't come, Cynthia, you wouldn't have come here yourself, would you?"

"Come on, I'm your bodyguard. You know I can't leave your side on my own, right?"

At ﬁrst, Roxanne had asked Cynthia for help in capturing the villain.

Since catching villains was extremely dangerous, it made sense for a high-ranker like Cynthia to personally intervene, as it would reduce the risk and ensure success.

But Cynthia had refused.

She had used the excuse of being Roxanne's bodyguard.

Cynthia kept saying, "What if something happens to you while I'm away?"

So, Roxanne had come directly to the dangerous scene herself, forcing Cynthia to accompany her.

Of course, given Roxanne's personality, it wasn't just Cynthia she was worried about. She was also concerned about the others involved and wanted to keep an eye on the situation as long as she didn't interfere with their work.

"It's not just that you found this to be a hassle?"

"Come on, Roxanne. You already briefed us on Han Jihyo's weaknesses and abilities. You even handpicked the right team members for the job. I trust my team, and I didn't want to step in unless absolutely necessary. If I did, it would look like I don't have faith in them."

"Really?"

"…O-of course."

Cynthia awkwardly smiled and quickly turned her head away.

She then raised her sword, ready to strike down Han Jihyo.

Even though the notorious serial killer was standing right in front of her, Cynthia remained calm and relaxed.

It was as if no matter what Han Jihyo did, she could take her down without breaking a sweat. And that was probably true.

Han Jihyo's potential and talent were so high that even Yoo Dahee had been impressed, but Cynthia was in a completely different league.

Even Yoo Dahee would struggle to face Cynthia right now.

Han Jihyo tried to attack while Cynthia was talking to Roxanne, but there wasn't a single opening.

How could Han Jihyo, who had been half-forced into joining Rebellion after being subdued by Yoo Dahee, possibly defeat someone stronger than Yoo Dahee?

And it wasn't just Cynthia here.

Aside from Cynthia, there were members of the Execution Division, speciﬁcally chosen to counter Han Jihyo.

Escaping from all of them was virtually impossible. "…Damn it. Nothing is going right today."

"Isn't that just how life is?"

Han Jihyo bit her lower lip and, half in despair, charged at Cynthia.

But as expected from a high-ranker, Cynthia easily deﬂected Han Jihyo's attack.

Han Jihyo couldn't help but be amazed by how effortlessly Cynthia handled her.

Cynthia, who usually didn't appear to take anything seriously, was more than capable of taking Han Jihyo down without any diﬃculty.

If Han Jihyo had been at full strength, she might have lasted a little longer, but every time she tried to use her blood manipulation ability, someone sprayed her with water from behind, preventing her from doing anything.

"D-damn it… Ugh, urgh…." Thud.

Han Jihyo collapsed onto the ﬁlthy ground. She had lost consciousness. Cynthia sighed in mild disappointment and then looked over at Roxanne.

"That's one down, right?" "Yes."

There were still more villains that Lee Jinhyuk had informed them about.

"But Roxanne, isn't this a particularly sensitive time for you? You could've just left this villain hunt to others or postponed it for later."

"This is an important matter. Besides, from what I know, these people aren't just random villains… they seem to be part of a highly dangerous organization."

And they were also meant to serve as a shield for Lee Jinhyuk, Roxanne thought to herself.

Of course, she couldn't say that part out loud.

If Cynthia knew, she would've stopped her, saying it was too dangerous.

That was why Roxanne couldn't tell her about Rebellion or the information Jinhyuk had provided.

"Hmm, I see. I'm still a bit suspicious of your source, but… it's not that I don't trust you."

Cynthia glanced down at the unconscious Han Jihyo and muttered.

"In that case, should we interrogate her before handing her over to the police?"

"Interrogate…."

"Don't worry. It's not the kind of interrogation you're thinking of. We've got a few mental ability users on our side. We'll extract the information in a very humane way. We need to ﬁnd out if she's acting alone or not."

"If that's the case."

Roxanne quietly looked up at the night sky and reﬂected.

Thanks to the information Lee Jinhyuk had provided, they were able to capture Han Jihyo.

Her identity, the time and place she would appear, her abilities, her weaknesses—everything had been spot on. It was just as Lee Jinhyuk had said.

To be honest, she had been a bit skeptical when Jinhyuk claimed to be able to foresee the future, but now she could be certain.

He really could see the future.

***

At an oﬃcetel located in Seoul.

A silver-haired girl paced around the spacious room.

After ﬁnishing her drink, she hurriedly ran over to the others gathered there and stood before them.

"Alright, is everyone here?"

The girl's voice echoed throughout the oﬃcetel.

Yoo Dahee, brushing aside her pale hair, glanced around at

the people sitting on the sofas or standing idly.

Rebellion members came into her view one by one.

Kim Seohan, Ryan Jones, Isabelle, Baek Yoorin, Alex Kim, John Carter, and more…

Some looked indifferent, some looked annoyed, and some looked intrigued as they gazed at Yoo Dahee.

"Not everyone, but it looks like most of us are here."

After scanning each face, Yoo Dahee nodded to herself, satisﬁed.

"Aren't you all curious why I called everyone here? Let's just say we have some business to discuss. Well, I know none of you like wasting time, so I'll get to the point."

Yoo Dahee licked her lips and continued.

"Not too long ago, some of our members were ambushed by priests led by that saintess candidate Roxanne from the Church of Noon. They've all been captured. It doesn't seem

like a coincidence either. Looks like she learned something about us after dealing with Seong Yura…"

She smiled slyly.

"…If we leave her alone, she's only going to cause more trouble. So, what should we do about Roxanne?"

Chapter 104 Rebellion Meeting (1)

"Who were the members that got ambushed?"

A girl, who had been lounging on a soft sofa, casually raised her hand and asked the question.

She had a rather calm impression.

With her small frame, she looked no older than an early teenager.

Her name was Isabelle Raygarden.

She was a perception-type ability user, and despite her youthful appearance, she possessed considerable skill.

If not for Isabelle's help during the Union Battle Survival, they might have wandered the vast forest for much longer.

When it came to observation, detection, and tracking, she was the best among the Rebellion members.

"The ones we recruited after the Union raid."

Ever since Yoo Dahee's fame rose due to the successful raid on Union Academy, where she toyed with heroes and their trainees before making a clean escape, it had become much easier to recruit capable villains.

But…

"Han Jihyo, Ju Jeongseon, David… Ugh, all the new recruits got taken down."

They all had promising futures as villains.

In terms of abilities, talent, and malice, they were top-tier.

She hadn't expected to lose such remarkable prospects so quickly due to a sudden ambush from the Church.

"I still can't ﬁgure out how that Roxanne girl knew who our people were and managed to target them."

"Could it be that they found out while investigating Seong Yura's mansion? If it's Seong Yura, she might've been secretly digging into our members' personal details and weaknesses," Isabelle mused.

Isabelle thought back to Seong Yura.

Seong Yura had always been wary of the Rebellion members, whether openly or in secret.

Given her distrustful nature, it wouldn't be surprising if she had prepared for the possibility of a fallout with Rebellion by gathering information on them.

Roxanne might have found these details while rummaging through Seong Yura's mansion.

And then, considering the Rebellion members a threat, she attacked them.

"I heard the mansion burned down, but it wasn't completely destroyed, was it?"

"Hmm~. I dunno."

Yoo Dahee tilted her head from side to side before shrugging her shoulders.

"To be honest, I never really told Seong Yura much about the new recruits."

She glanced at Isabelle before continuing.

"You didn't even know who the new recruits were until now, right? I was planning to introduce them all at once when we had the time, but, well, things turned out the way they did, sigh."

"Ah."

"The only ones who knew a bit about the new recruits were…"

Yoo Dahee slowly turned her head, scanning the faces of the other members.

"…Kim Seohan, Ryan, and me, I guess?"

Only three of them had enough knowledge about the new recruits to potentially leak the information.

Since Yoo Dahee herself would never betray the recruits she had worked hard to bring in, the pool of suspects narrowed to two.

Kim Seohan and Ryan Jones.

If asked who might have leaked the information, the answer was obvious…

"…Hah."

Suddenly, Alex Kim, the notorious phantom thief, scoffed. The members' gazes shifted towards Alex.

Without caring about their attention, Alex casually spoke. "Then it's obvious."

Although Alex had maintained a disinterested expression up until now, he suddenly raised his ﬁnger and pointed it at one of the men.

All the members followed the direction of his ﬁnger. Kim Seohan came into view.

"Huh?"

"Kim Seohan, wasn't it you who secretly leaked the information?"

"Me?"

Caught off guard by Alex's accusation, Kim Seohan scratched his cheek awkwardly.

"Yeah, you, Kim Seohan."

"Haha, this is a bit problematic."

As usual, Kim Seohan smiled in that unreadable way of his.

His constant smiling made it diﬃcult to ﬁgure out what he was thinking. And with his perpetually squinting eyes, it was nearly impossible to read his expression. It was unsettling.

"Why are you accusing me?"

"You're the one who loves heroes so much that you even snuck into the academy, aren't you? All for your twisted satisfaction."

Kim Seohan, the hero fanatic.

He was well known for openly professing his love for heroes, making him a person of interest.

Of course, his love for heroes stemmed from a perverse and twisted desire.

He was a psycho who found pleasure in watching heroes rise from hardship or crumble under pressure.

Kim Seohan was the type of deranged individual who would willingly destroy himself for his own enjoyment.

He was the perfect deﬁnition of a hedonistic villain. "Roxanne, isn't she your type?"

He wasn't talking about romantic preferences. He was referring to Kim Seohan's twisted hobby.

Kim Seohan had always favored those who remained steadfast in the face of trials and tribulations.

Roxanne, who had endured all kinds of torment from Seong Yura without breaking, must have piqued his interest.

Maybe Kim Seohan hadn't been able to touch her before because of Seong Yura, but now…?

"Did you set this up just to give Roxanne a 'trial,' hoping to watch her struggle against us?"

As Alex glared at him accusingly, Kim Seohan's lips curled into a sly smile.

"Haha, why would I do something like that? That would just be me digging my own grave."

"But you're the type who would."

"Come on now, getting Rebellion involved like that? That's no fun. A challenge one can't overcome isn't a trial—it's just bullying. That's not my style."

"Don't give me that. You're deﬁnitely—"

"Ah, ah, they're at it again, ﬁghting like always."

Yoo Dahee shook her head and sighed deeply, as if she had a headache.

"Why is it that every time we get our members together, they always end up ﬁghting?"

This was why Yoo Dahee usually met with the Rebellion members separately.

It was like putting a bunch of wild animals in a cage—they always ended up ﬁghting each other.

No wonder they were called irredeemable villains. Each one of them was just too unique.

"Anyway, I gathered you all here to discuss a few important matters, so let's not start any unnecessary ﬁghts, Alex. Got it?"

"…"

"Got it, Alex?"

"…Tch. Fine."

Alex clicked his tongue in irritation.

But despite his displeasure, he nodded and took a step back.

No matter how bold Alex was, he couldn't openly defy Yoo Dahee.

After all, the reason Alex was even part of this ridiculous organization was because of Yoo Dahee. It was because of her that Alex had been half-forced into joining.

"Good. Now, let's discuss something more constructive. For example… should we try to rescue the captured recruits or not?"

Yoo Dahee glanced over at Alex.

"When Seong Yura got captured, I hesitated too long, and someone took matters into their own hands…"

"Ahem."

Alex looked away, avoiding her gaze.

"…Well, as I said before, it was my fault for acting too slowly. I won't blame anyone for that. So, this time, let's decide quickly."

She turned to the other Rebellion members. "What do you all think? Let's hear your opinions." "…I'm against it."

Baek Yoorin immediately cast a dissenting vote. "Why?"

"…It's a hassle."

Baek Yoorin yawned, her expression vacant as if she was bored just being present.

Yoo Dahee gave a bitter smile.

She knew Baek Yoorin only cared about swords, but to deny the idea with such a simple excuse of it being a hassle?

She really wasn't cut out for social life. "Well, that's just like you."

"I'm against it too." "Hmm? You too, Isabelle?" "Yes, it could be a trap." "A trap, huh…"

Yoo Dahee nodded to herself.

"That's deﬁnitely possible."

Given that Seong Yura had been ambushed during her transport, it was likely they had set up various precautions. Perhaps Roxanne was using the new recruits as bait to lure more members of Rebellion into the open.

Those who hadn't been located yet might be drawn out.

"Like you said, going to rescue them could just land us right into a trap."

"And there's no need to take unnecessary risks to rescue them."

"Aah, that's harsh. I wanted to at least try and help them since I went through all the trouble of recruiting them."

Yoo Dahee scratched her cheek at Isabelle's rather cold logic.

As she had said, there wasn't much need to save the new recruits.

It was a personal disappointment, but they weren't crucial assets.

Besides, even if Roxanne and the police interrogated the recruits, they didn't know enough about Rebellion to warrant a rescue or assassination for the sake of silencing them.

"…So, is everyone against rescuing the new recruits?" "…"

As expected, no one seemed particularly interested.

They only looked at Yoo Dahee with indifferent expressions.

Well, it wasn't like she had expected them to care about their comrades.

This was a group brought together out of self-interest. A few of them were even forced to join.

"Then it can't be helped. We'll drop the idea of rescuing the new recruits."

It was a shame, but it wasn't worth Yoo Dahee risking her neck over.

Even though Yoo Dahee had the skills of a near-high ranker, she wasn't foolish enough to walk into a trap alone.

"Now, for the second agenda item. I didn't get to ﬁnish earlier, but… what should we do about Roxanne?"

"Hmm…"

Isabelle fell silent for a moment.

It was tricky to just leave Roxanne alone.

Roxanne had already mobilized the powerful forces of the Church to ambush three Rebellion members.

No one knew how she had learned their identities, but if they allowed her to continue, it was only a matter of time before she found and attacked Isabelle and the other members.

"As much of a hassle as it is, assassinating Roxanne would probably be the surest option."

Of course, the Church's inﬂuence and Cynthia Gwyn, a high- ranker, were signiﬁcant obstacles to consider, but it wasn't entirely impossible.

If the other members pitched in, it could be done.

However, if they killed the candidate most likely to become the next saintess after the Seong Yura incident, there would undoubtedly be consequences.

Still, if Roxanne continued to pursue Rebellion, they would have no choice.

They would either have to kill her or ﬁnd some other way to make her stop.

Chapter 105 Rebellion Meeting (2)

"So, everyone, what's your opinion? What should we do about Roxanne?"

Yoo Dahee glanced around at the members as she subtly asked the question.

"Should we kill her? Or not? Or does anyone have another good idea?"

Unlike the previous topics, they couldn't ignore the discussion about Roxanne.

After all, Roxanne posed a direct threat to the Rebellion members. Since their own safety was on the line, whether they liked it or not, they had no choice but to be actively involved.

"In my opinion, it's better to kill her, even if it means taking some risks…"

Yoo Dahee wore a sinister smile, clearly showing her excitement.

She knew that Cynthia was currently by Roxanne's side, but that only fueled her interest.

The Executioner, known as the Church's sharpest sword.

How strong could a high-ranker, the 3rd Executioner, possibly be?

Would her strength live up to her reputation? 'Ah, I'd love to face her at least once.'

Of course, no matter how intrigued Dahee was, going up against Roxanne's forces alone would be suicide. She deﬁnitely needed the cooperation of the other members.

If they didn't help, she wouldn't risk her life just to ﬁght Cynthia.

She didn't have a death wish yet.

"We'd have to take some risks, but wouldn't you all ﬁnd it troublesome if Roxanne keeps pestering us? So, how about considering assassination?"

"Is it really necessary to kill her? Even if the assassination succeeds, I'm worried about what happens afterward…"

Unlike the grinning Yoo Dahee, Isabelle frowned and voiced a negative opinion.

She was concerned about the aftermath of killing Roxanne. Currently, Roxanne's faction boasted a signiﬁcant size.

With her continuous expansion of inﬂuence and the inﬂux of followers, many people's attention was focused on her.

If they assassinated Roxanne under such circumstances, the Church followers would likely frame her death as martyrdom.

Then they would pour all their efforts into ﬁnding the culprit who killed their martyr.

Considering that one saintess candidate, Seong Yura, had already been killed during transportation, causing a massive uproar, and now another saintess candidate was assassinated?

And not just any candidate, but the one most likely to be chosen as the next saintess?

The media, the Church, the government—everyone would be a pain as they scoured for the culprit.

There was also the issue of Roxanne's fanatical followers. What would happen if she were assassinated? Fanatics never knew when to stop. If they decided to come after them, it would become quite an annoying problem.

"How about we threaten or negotiate with her instead? No matter how righteous Roxanne is, if we take someone close to her hostage, surely…"

"No." Yoo Dahee shook her head ﬁrmly.

"If she were the type to compromise through threats or negotiations, she would've surrendered to Seong Yura long ago."

Roxanne wasn't someone who bowed to malicious intent, whether for good or bad reasons.

That's why she had endured Seong Yura's harassment for so long.

The path Roxanne had walked until now was undeniable proof of what kind of person she was.

"You're right. A ruler who doesn't yield to evil… how troublesome."

Isabelle sighed as she pinched the bridge of her nose.

"So, what should we do then? We can't just leave her alone."

"It's simple, isn't it? Let's kill her. Cleaning up afterward may be annoying, but leaving Roxanne, who's actively targeting us, is even more dangerous."

In any case, they couldn't just let Roxanne roam free.

If negotiations, threats, or coercion wouldn't work on her, what other choice was there? They would have to take the risk and kill her.

"Wait a second…" Suddenly.

"Wouldn't it be better to wait and observe the situation ﬁrst?"

Out of nowhere, Baek Yoorin, who had been silently watching, voiced her opposition.

Yoo Dahee blinked in surprise.

"Huh? Why bother?"

"How do you think… Roxanne found out the identities of the new recruits?"

Yoo Dahee's eyebrow twitched at Baek Yoorin's cryptic words.

"Are you saying one of us might have leaked the information?"

"Well… it's possible, don't you think?"

"I don't want to believe that."

But it was the most rational suspicion.

Unless someone knew the future, the most realistic scenario was that someone inside had given her the information.

However, talking about betrayal was a sensitive topic, so she hadn't wanted to bring it up openly.

There was already a lack of trust among the members.

If she said something like that, it would just deepen the atmosphere of distrust.

"Oh dear? Am I being suspected again? Baek Yoorin, are you suspecting me like Alex did?"

"…Who knows?"

Of all the people who knew the identities of the new recruits, Kim Seohan was the most suspicious.

He pointed to himself with a troubled expression.

"Wow, harsh. I thought we were Union classmates. Hm?"

"…"

"Or are you upset with me about something?"

"…I just wanted to suggest that information might be leaking. After all, didn't we all kind of expect this? We just hadn't said it out loud."

Baek Yoorin rolled her emotionless eyes and stared directly at Yoo Dahee.

Her gray eyes bore into Yoo Dahee's face.

"Right now… even if we plan an assassination on Roxanne, it might be leaked to her, and we could end up walking into a trap. So, wouldn't it be better to wait and strengthen our internal affairs?"

Well, it made sense.

It deﬁnitely made sense. "Hmm."

Yoo Dahee stroked her chin, looking somewhat intrigued as she gazed at Baek Yoorin.

It was a little unexpected.

Normally, Baek Yoorin would just yawn with a blank expression, throw out a vote against whatever was being discussed because it was a hassle, and be done with it.

But today, Baek Yoorin was unusually assertive with her opinion.

Was it because she was particularly concerned about the possibility of internal information being leaked?

Given her circumstances, it made sense. After all, Baek Yoorin would be in a lot of trouble if her identity were exposed.

That's because Baek Yoorin was a direct descendant of the Baek family.

Though, she didn't seem to care much about whether her involvement with Rebellion got exposed or not. She didn't seem to have any particular attachment to her family.

"I'm in favor of attacking Roxanne, but I also think we should prioritize ﬁnding out how she discovered the new recruits' identities."

Alex, who had been observing with his arms crossed, also voiced his support for Baek Yoorin's argument.

"As Baek Yoorin said, there could be a snitch among us." To be honest, Alex was suspicious of Kim Seohan.

He wanted to press him further.

"Or, Roxanne could've found out on her own. Though that seems less likely."

"Hmm."

The Rebellion members each expressed their thoughts.

Some wanted to assassinate Roxanne, some suggested waiting and watching, others pushed for ﬁnding the traitor, and some proposed threats or negotiations.

After much back and forth.

In the end, it was decided to delay the assassination of Roxanne.

The priority was to root out the internal traitor, if there was one.

And if there wasn't, they needed to ﬁgure out how Roxanne had learned the identities of the new recruits.

"Hah, my head hurts. Things have gotten so complicated. Isn't our organization starting to feel a bit scattered?"

After the meeting ended.

Most of the members had left the oﬃcetel.

In the now-empty oﬃce, Yoo Dahee sat in a chair, speaking privately with Baek Yoorin, whom she had asked to stay behind.

"A traitor, huh… I really don't want to believe that." "…Yoo Dahee."

"Yes?"

"Why did you ask me to stay?"

"Oh, no need to be so on guard. It's not because I suspect you. I just have something to give you. Here, take it."

Yoo Dahee casually tossed a book to her.

It was a martial arts manual, the kind you'd ﬁnd in old Chinese wuxia novels.

"It's a swordsmanship manual I snagged from a master of the Original Nation Sword. Unlike the one in the ancient Military Martial Arts Manual, it's been modernized and reinterpreted."

"…"

"How about it? Think it might help you break through to the next level? It's kind of a secret-edition book."

"…Hmm."

Baek Yoorin quickly skimmed through the swordsmanship manual with an intrigued expression.

After ﬂipping through it brieﬂy, she blinked several times.

She drew the sword at her waist and swung it through the air a few times, her face suddenly taking on a subtle expression.

Though her face was typically expressionless, it was clear that she wasn't all that impressed.

"…Well, thanks."

"You don't sound very grateful. Didn't help much, did it?"

"…To be honest, I don't think it'll be of much help."

"Really? Aww, that's a shame. I went through a lot to get that."

Yoo Dahee felt a bit troubled, having recruited Baek Yoorin to Rebellion by promising to help her reach a breakthrough or ﬁnd the Vigilante, but now it seemed like she couldn't offer much help.

Oh, come to think of it… Is Lee Jinhyuk the Vigilante? Suddenly, the thought crossed her mind.

"Baek Yoorin, didn't you say you faced Lee Jinhyuk during the Ranking Battle?"

"Why?"

"So, what was he like? Was he the Vigilante you were looking for?"

"…"

Baek Yoorin let out a deep sigh and pressed her lips together.

Then she looked up and met Yoo Dahee's gaze. Her eyes were ﬁlled with a mix of emotions.

"…No."

"What? He wasn't? I heard he even blocked a few of your attacks during the Ranking Battle…"

"Seems like… he's someone else."

"That's surprising in its own way. For a regular trainee to have given you and even managed to wound my hand… Union really has no shortage of talented people, huh…"

Yoo Dahee grumbled, her face turning sour.

"Our recruits are all in Roxanne's hands, though. Ugh, thinking about it again just pisses me off."

"Yoo Dahee, are we done talking?" "For now, yeah."

"Then I'm leaving."

"Tch, so cold. Fine, go on, get out of here." Without hesitation, Baek Yoorin turned and left.

Yoo Dahee watched her ﬁgure disappear into the distance.

Once Baek Yoorin was out of sight, Yoo Dahee sighed deeply, leaning back in her chair as she mumbled to herself.

"A traitor, huh… I wonder." Could there really be a traitor? If so, who could it be?

How could they root them out?

…Yoo Dahee's head was ﬁlled with complicated thoughts.

"…So that's what happened."

"I see. Good work."

Sitting silently in a chair, I listened as Baek Yoorin relayed everything from the Rebellion meeting.

Chapter 106 Summer Break (1)

It was easy to predict that Yoo Dahee would gather the remaining Rebellion members for a discussion after three of them were ambushed in such a short period.

Naturally, I could also guess what they might talk about when they met.

That's why I had asked Baek Yoorin for a few favors. "Just as you asked, I spoke negatively about rescuing the

new recruits and attacking Roxanne… I also mentioned the

possibility of a traitor…"

"Thank you. That must've been a bit of a burden for you."

I was genuinely relieved that plans to rescue the captured Rebellion members and assassinate Roxanne hadn't been put into motion.

Even with all the precautions in place, once the Rebellion members decided to attack, there would have been considerable damage.

I guess it's thanks to sowing distrust about the possibility of a traitor?

Oh, well, there is indeed a traitor, after all.

'I've managed to spread distrust about the possibility of a traitor within Rebellion, made them abandon the idea of rescuing the new recruits, and even stopped the assassination of Roxanne. The results aren't too bad.'

A part of me wanted to ambush the meeting and capture Yoo Dahee, but that would've likely backﬁred.

It wasn't just Yoo Dahee; almost all the Rebellion members were gathered there.

Attacking recklessly in that situation would have only led to the unnecessary deaths of innocent allies.

It still wasn't the right time for a direct confrontation.

"By the way, Baek Yoorin."

"What?"

Baek Yoorin tilted her head, causing her purple hair to sway. She stared at me intently.

"How's your progress? Are the things I taught you helping?" "Yeah…"

Baek Yoorin nodded calmly.

"Thanks to you, I feel like I'm on the verge of breaking through."

"Really?"

"I might get some good results soon…" Wow, already?

This girl is really something.

Though she's overshadowed by world-class monsters like Yoo Dahee and Soyeon, Baek Yoorin is seriously a freak of nature too.

Honestly, I'm a little envious.

If I had her kind of talent, I probably wouldn't be in this position right now.

'It's only been a few months, and she's already on the verge of breaking through…'

Currently, Baek Yoorin's skill is likely at a top-tier level.

It's absurdly high for someone who's still just a trainee hero.

She's already stronger than most active heroes, yet she's still pushing to take another step forward.

It seems like she's growing much faster than she did in the game.

"So, can you teach me the next set of techniques? I've almost mastered the things you showed me last time…"

"Baek Yoorin, there's no need to rush. Master everything I've taught you ﬁrst, then we'll talk. Got it?"

"…Yeah. Got it."

Baek Yoorin looked a little downcast.

Her face remained as expressionless as usual, but her slumped shoulders gave her mood away.

When I really think about it, Baek Yoorin tends to express her emotions more through her body language than her facial expressions.

'Still, I'm not sure if Baek Yoorin's rapid growth is a good or bad thing for me.'

If she were a trustworthy ally, it'd be a different story, but Baek Yoorin is fundamentally a villain.

'Well, there are cases like Roxanne, but Baek Yoorin's personality is a bit ambiguous. I can't exactly call her good or bad.'

Right now, she's friendly because I've been helping her break through the wall in her training, but who knows what could happen once she no longer needs my help.

Of course, I know Baek Yoorin's character well enough to trust that she wouldn't easily forget a favor related to the sword.

But, you know, they say you can know someone's heart less than you can know the depth of water.

It's best to stay cautious. "…What's with that look?" "Huh, what?"

At some point, Baek Yoorin had moved right in front of me, staring closely at my face.

Her pale, unreadable eyes gazed at me silently. "What are you zoning out about?"

"Oh, nothing. I was just lost in thought for a moment." I gave a wry smile and gently backed away.

Well, whatever. Let's try to stay positive.

For now, it seems like the immediate ﬁre has been put out.

Now that summer break is right around the corner, should I focus on leveling up a bit before the auction house episode?

Maybe do some farming, too.

The summer break is approaching fast.

During the break, I have a lot planned with Soyeon, who will be much stronger by then.

Since I've already told Soyeon a half-lie about having future sight, it wouldn't be suspicious to search out dungeons and "discover" hidden relics.

This summer break would be the perfect time to do all the things I couldn't before—farming items and relics, conquering dungeons, and hunting down villains.

Of course, it might be tough for just Soyeon and me. Even though Soyeon has awakened, tackling dungeons,

slaying monsters, and taking down villains with just the two

of us would be dangerous.

But now, I can rely on some help from Yoo Seolhyun, Roxanne, Baek Yoorin, and Lee Siwoon to some extent.

Ah, having connections is such a blessing.

At ﬁrst, I kept my distance from Soyeon, thinking I'd need the male protagonists' help, but now it seems I won't have to rely on them as much.

With the combined help of Yoo Seolhyun, Roxanne, and Baek Yoorin, we should manage just ﬁne. Though, of course, the more help, the better.

'This summer break, I need to collect as many items and relics as possible to keep shaking Rebellion.'

There's no need to waste as much time as in the game. I basically know the future already.

By leveraging my knowledge of the original story, I've already dealt with Han Jihyo, the one from the serial killer episode in the second year, Ju Jeongseon from the second- year school trip episode, David from the third-year drug dealer episode, and even Seong Yura and Roxanne from the third-year saintess corruption episode.

There are two reasons I could handle them so easily.

First, as I mentioned, I know every detail of the original story. Second, the Rebellion members haven't fully matured yet.

Just like the protagonist party hasn't fully grown, neither has Rebellion.

Right now, Yoo Dahee has the skills of a near-high-ranker. But that's just it—she's only at a high-ranker level, at best.

A high-ranker is someone who ranks among the top heroes of a country, but in the end, they're still just an individual.

If she were a single-ranker, that'd be a different story, but a high-ranker? There are those on Roxanne's side who can match that level.

Which means… she's still within our reach.

If I can use the backing of Yoo Seolhyun, Roxanne, and Baek Yoorin well, it's worth a shot.

Of course, if Yoo Dahee grows to the level of a single-ranker, it'd be almost impossible to take her down with any reasonable force, but we're not at that point yet, are we?

That's why I plan to make my move before Yoo Dahee reaches the level of a single-ranker.

Before she grows too powerful to handle.

***

"Excuse me."

"Yes?"

"You seem really nice. Can I have your number?"

"Ah."

Jin Soyeon could only blink in surprise at the sudden request while she was out shopping for the ﬁrst time in a while.

A young man, who appeared to be in his early to mid- twenties, had approached her out of nowhere, asking for her number.

How should she put it? It was a bit ﬂustering.

She was, after all, just a student at the academy, yet this adult man was asking for her number. It's likely that, because Jin Soyeon was dressed casually, he mistook her for an adult, or… maybe he was just a creep targeting a minor.

"I'm sorry."

"I see. My apologies."

The young man gave a bitter smile and backed off, disappointed.

Jin Soyeon watched the man's slumped shoulders as he walked away, then sighed deeply.

"…There've been a lot of people asking for my number lately."

It had happened before, but it seemed even more frequent these days.

'Is it because I've started putting more effort into my appearance recently?'

Up until now, Jin Soyeon had little interest in cosmetics and fashion, usually opting for minimal makeup and simple clothes.

But, much like a girl who's fallen in love, she had started practicing new makeup techniques and wearing trendy clothes, all in an effort to look prettier for the person she liked.

And the result? Ta-da~

Even though she was already a beauty capable of making hearts ﬂutter, now that she was putting effort into her appearance, it was nearly impossible for anyone, male or female, not to be captivated.

Every time she walked through the shopping mall, she felt the stares of men locking onto her.

Some male students gawked with their mouths wide open, some men stole glances at her while trying not to get caught by their girlfriends, and some middle-aged men couldn't help but look on in admiration.

With this kind of charm, she should be able to win over a teenage boy's heart easily.

But Lee Jinhyuk…

'What's the point of getting attention from other guys? The person who should be noticing… Ugh, seriously.'

Jin Soyeon let out another long sigh.

She had put in so much effort with her makeup and appearance when meeting with Jinhyuk, but his reaction had been… underwhelming.

Maybe it's because they've known each other for so long and he's just used to her?

Could it be that he's so accustomed to her beauty that he doesn't feel anything anymore? That would be a little heartbreaking.

'Or maybe it's because there are so many pretty girls around him. Maybe he's just become desensitized.'

There really were too many beautiful girls around Lee Jinhyuk.

Ugh.

Jin Soyeon bit her ﬁngernail lightly.

Yoo Seolhyun, Sunari, Roxanne, Baek Yoorin… Why are there so many?

Perhaps the only girl who's actually expressed interest in him is Yoo Seolhyun?

Though Yoo Seolhyun hadn't directly made a move on Jinhyuk, Jin Soyeon distinctly remembered the times when she hinted at having some interest in him.

In actuality, Yoo Seolhyun was one of the few girls close to Jinhyuk.

The fact that Yoo Seolhyun, who usually kept her distance from guys, allowed Jinhyuk to stay by her side was something that bothered her.

…Ugh, it's stressing me out the more I think about it.

Come to think of it, whenever Yoo Seolhyun caught me watching, she'd casually laugh and sneak in some skinship with Jinhyuk, right?

Provocatively, teasingly, as if to show off.

It's infuriating. She acts just like one of those villainous young ladies from a novel. Honestly, I just hope Jinhyuk doesn't fall for someone like Yoo Seolhyun. Please, anyone but Yoo Seolhyun.

"Excuse me?"

"…"

"Hey, excuse me."

"…Huh? Yes?"

Suddenly, a man was standing next to her.

He was attractive but gave off a slacker-like vibe.

With a smirk, he parted his lips and asked, half-nonchalantly.

"Are you alone? How about hanging out with me?" "…Sorry, but I'm a bit busy."

"Come on, don't be so cold." "I said no."

The man grinned slyly as he grabbed Jin Soyeon's wrist. In that moment, she felt her anger ﬂare up.

Without thinking, she swung her arm, knocking the man's hand away.

But in the process, the bag she was holding slipped from her grasp and hit the ground. A few books spilled out from the bag. Ugh, seriously!

"Oh, sorry about that. Let me pick them up—"

"Don't touch them. Just leave."

"Are you mad? It was just an accident. Cut me some slack." "I said, leave."

At that moment.

"Oh, I was wondering who that was. It's Soyeon, huh? What a coincidence."

"…Yoo Seolhyun?"

In a crisp outﬁt, Yoo Seolhyun approached Jin Soyeon with the distinct click of her high heels.

Behind her stood two men, likely either porters or bodyguards.

Well, she certainly looks the part of a rich lady. "Hmm? And who's this guy?"

"I don't know."

"Really? Well then…"

"Wow, you're pretty too."

Yoo Seolhyun smiled. Though her lips curved upward, her eyes were cold.

Getting a compliment from some random guy didn't seem to make her happy.

"I have no desire to be complimented by the likes of you."

Yoo Seolhyun released a tiny sliver of her magic toward the man.

The man ﬂinched and began to break out in a cold sweat. "Uh, ugh?"

"Oh my, look at all that sweat. You don't look so well. Maybe you should head home?" Realizing that Yoo Seolhyun had done something to him, the man swallowed hard and suddenly ﬂed.

Yoo Seolhyun snorted in amusement at his retreating ﬁgure. "He had no spine. How boring."

"…Using magic to threaten a regular person is a bit much."

"Hehe, it's not a problem as long as I don't get caught. Well, even if I did, it wouldn't matter much."

Suddenly, Yoo Seolhyun clapped her hands together.

"Ah, come to think of it, I don't think I've heard a thank you yet. Or am I mistaken?"

"I didn't really need your help, but thanks, I guess. Happy now that you got your thanks?"

"Hmm~ Not bad."

"Honestly…"

Jin Soyeon shook her head. "But, what are these books?" "Ah, wait a minute!"

Yoo Seolhyun glanced at the titles of the books Jin Soyeon had dropped and smirked meaningfully.

"…'How to Seduce an Aloof Man'? 'Mastering the Art of Ideal Romance'? '36 Ways to Win Over Your Crush'?"

"Uh, ugh, ah! P-Please stop!"

Jin Soyeon's face turned red with embarrassment as she shivered from the wave of shame washing over her.

Why are you reading the titles of those books out loud in the middle of a shopping mall?!

Everyone around us is staring!

"Interesting. I didn't know you read this kind of stuff." Yoo Seolhyun teased her with a mischievous expression. "So, is there a guy you like?"

"None of your business! Ugh, honestly."

Flustered, Jin Soyeon grumbled and pouted as she quickly shoved the scattered books back into her bag.

That's when Yoo Seolhyun spoke. "Ah~ could it be Lee Jinhyuk?" "…"

She grinned as she looked at Jin Soyeon.

"You like Lee Jinhyuk, don't you? It's been blatantly obvious lately."

"What the… you…"

"Then why did you two break up? Oh, right."

As if remembering something, Yoo Seolhyun clapped her hands.

"You didn't break up with him; he dumped you, didn't he? Because of your long history with other guys?"

Chapter 16 - Ch 100-106