Chapter 71: Fox and dog.

Red energy split the heavens and the earth, cutting down the demons. The demons pouring out from the cracks became sparse, and eventually their numbers noticeably decreased. At the end of the sword strikes that lasted for tens of minutes, finally all the cracks closed, and only six people were left in the desolate land.

“Hoo-woo, Hoo-woo.”

Chayeon quietly caught her breath, and Arena, who was helping Chayeon and pouring out white sword energy, wiped the sweat flowing over her dirt-covered face with the back of her hand.

“We’re alive.”

Byeol breathed heavily and then sat down with a thud. Others felt the same way.

Dawn was breaking. The still reddish sunlight was splitting the navy-blue sky, and the dawn air filled her lungs.

“Arena, are you okay…”

Wharak.

Just as she was about to talk to Arena, Arena hugged Chayeon first. Arena jumped into Chayeon’s arms, but because Chayeon’s height was smaller, they ended up being hugged backwards.

“Really, you’re too late. Why are you so late…………”

“I’m sorry.”

“You have to get over something like a dream right away and come………….”

“Yeah. I’m sorry. I’m okay now.”

It hadn’t even been 24 hours since Arena found out about Chayeon’s condition, but as much as she had to deal with demons without rest during that time, the time she had to endure must have felt much longer. Chayeon put her hand on Arena’s head and gently stroked it.

While listening to Arena’s words, she had new thoughts. This was Arena. The Arena who unilaterally embraced her, cherished her, and protected her from everything unconditionally, was just a fleeting fantasy. Arena always believed that Chayeon could stand on her own, that she could stand on the earth with her own two feet.

Not a child who only knew how to act spoiled, but her lover, her rival, and a stronger classmate girl than anyone else. That was Arena’s Jeon Chayeon.

The wind blew and her hair fluttered. Before she knew it, the hair tie had come loose and fallen to the ground. Chayeon quietly detached Arena and then put the hair tie in her inside pocket.

“I’m sorry to say this as soon as you woke up, but we have to leave right away.”

Yeonkyung, with a tired expression but still in her unique cold tone, came to Chayeon.

“According to Melara and Meridi, no, the Doppelgangers, there are only four hours left now.”

“Four hours?”

“They said they would give us 3 days, and told us to rescue Seohee by then.”

3 days. What would happen if they passed that time? It was obvious that it wouldn’t be pleasant.

“Okay. Let’s leave quickly.”

When Chayeon moved away from Arena without hesitation, Yeonkyung’s eyes shone.

“You’ve changed.”

There was no way she wouldn’t understand what she meant. Chayeon quietly looked at Yeonkyung, and Yeonkyung also looked back at Chayeon and nodded.

Chayeon was no longer a child holding a nuclear missile.

She was a reliable ally, the vessel of the Heukgumiho, and the strongest Ineungnyeokja in the world.

“I’ll guide you to Jindal Heart. Follow me!”

After passing through the large site classified as Jindal Heart and the various buildings filling it, the group stood in front of the stairs leading to the basement in the middle.

The passageway leading to the basement where the heart, which Jindal Heart truly meant, was. The barrier was deactivated as well.

“Jo Namyeon, Mephistopheles, is in here, right.”

On the way here, Chayeon had told everyone about the identity of Mephistopheles that she had learned in her dream. Only after hearing the name Jo Namyeon did they realize that such a person had been in Jindal. Even Yeonkyung, who had been captivated by him, had forgotten his existence until Chayeon had spoken.

“And Teacher Seohee is probably in here too.”

Mephistopheles, using Chayeon’s dream as a medium, was showing the clues one by one like taking things out of a bundle.

The final boss battle in the game that she had seen in her dream. She didn’t know what the goal was, but he was presenting a game to Chayeon.

She hadn’t cleared Jindal in the end. Was that an implication that Mephistopheles had shown, or was it the result of her own weak heart? Either way, she had no intention of accepting it as it was.

“Let’s go in.”

With Yeonkyung in the lead, the six people went inside. The stairs that dug into the tunnel relied on the faint torch light attached to the walls sparsely.

They said that there hadn’t been anything like this originally, so this too was something that Mephistopheles had prepared.

The further they went inside, the more the dirt walls disappeared, and they were taken over by jet-black darkness. The uniformly and artificially painted walls surrounded the six and continued endlessly.

“This is…”

“What’s wrong?”

“It seems the heart has been completely suppressed.”

Yeonkyung groaned. The space was distorted. Even though the torches had stopped and only jet-black walls that didn’t allow even a point of light were spread, she could see clearly in front of her. It was a strange feeling.

According to Yeonkyung’s words, the space that they were seeing and walking in was the heart itself that was widely spread out.

The deliberately manipulated and formed interior of the heart. The most powerful force that protected this world from demons had already fallen into the enemy’s hands.

“Fortunately, it doesn’t seem like they were able to destroy the heart.”

The heart itself was said to contain enormous energy. If the heart was broken, the boundary between the demon world and this world would be completely destroyed, and there would no longer be a need to distinguish between humans and demons.

The influence of the Shinsu would decrease even more, so only good things would happen to the demons one way or another.

What was fortunate was that the heart wasn’t only in Jindal, but was divided into several pieces all over the world, and even though the heart that was here had fallen, it hadn’t been destroyed.

“Perhaps, Mephistopheles isn’t that powerful of an opponent in terms of physical power.”

“You shouldn’t be certain, and you shouldn’t let your guard down.”

“I know.”

Wolmyeong and Yeonkyung continued their words. Even though Chayeon, before she woke up, might have been stronger than anyone else in terms of martial power, Mephistopheles’s stratagem and mind control, even though he might not have had the power to destroy the heart, couldn’t be seen as something to be taken lightly at all.

The black walls continued endlessly. Just as the group was becoming uneasy that this passage would never end, the scenery suddenly changed.

Grayish-black sky, and a dark-blue sea below it. On the waves that were rippling gently, a dingy and giant ship was floating. The wooden ship was tattered, and the sails were dusty and torn, so it looked like a ghost ship right before it was wrecked.

Six people were standing in the middle of that ship.

“What is this?”

“He’s manipulating the space with the power of the heart.”

Yeonkyung answered Byeol’s question briefly. Even while doing that, her eyes were watching the front. Chayeon also quietly put her hand on the sword hilt at her waist.

“Hello-? I’m Meridi-, I say. I’ve been waiting!”

Ppak.

From atop the wooden boxes that were stacked in layers, a girl who had the same hair color and the same eye color as Chayeon jumped down.

There was no need to wait. Just as she was about to draw her sword right away, a black sphere enveloped the group.

“What is this?”

“Wait, stop.”

Yeonkyung stopped Chayeon, who was trying to cut it.

“…This sphere is also a part of the heart. If Chayeon-nim cut it, the heart itself would be destroyed as it is.”

If it was Chayeon, who was drawing out almost all of the Heukgumiho’s power, she could have sliced the entire heart to pieces in one blow. On the other hand, the remaining people besides Chayeon didn’t have enough destructive power to damage the heart.

“That Ajumma is right!”

“…Ajumma?”

It was the first time she had seen Yeonkyung get this angry. But she quickly regained her composure. It was clear that she had said that on purpose.

“Of course the Unni who is Daddy’s friend over there can break it and come out, but you don’t want to do that, right? So Daddy prepared a game!”

Meridi, who was spreading her arms wide and doing a banzai, showed it.

“He said he’ll send you away leaving just one person! So pick one person. The person who stays here will play with me.”

So that was it.

Chayeon had seen this scene in her dream already. The last stage where she had to set the order appropriately and move forward. That game itself was also an implication from Mephistopheles.

“What should we do?”

“Hmm……..”

The male teacher from Jindal, who was now the only one left besides Yeonkyung and Wolmyeong, asked from behind, and Yeonkyung frowned. What they could choose right away were two things. Chayeon could just destroy the heart, or they could put up with being played on by the other party and move forward.

Finding another way was the best, but they didn’t have time now.

Her deliberation was short.

“Let’s pick one person.”

“Would it be okay?”

Byeol asked without hiding her uneasy look. It was natural since their strength would be decreasing.

But they couldn’t give up on the heart. If they did that, it might really become irreversible.

“I’ll stay.”

“Yeonkyung!”

Wolmyeong called Yeonkyung with a voice that was so loud that it was surprising.

“You don’t even have any fighting abilities, what are you going to do by saying that you’ll stay…!”

“It’s rather because of that. The opponent is Meridi, a demon who copied one of Heukgumiho-nim’s abilities, the mind control type.”

Yeonkyung glanced. Meridi was sitting still and waiting with a beaming smile.

“…It’s the same ability as Yuna. Her fighting power probably isn’t high. It would be reasonable for me, who has the strongest mental resistance, to stay.”

At those words, Wolmyeong could only groan without saying anything.

“……………If you leave, who will lead us. You’re clearly the leader of this team right now.”

“It doesn’t matter now. You’re here too, Wolmyeong. Besides.”

This time, Yeonkyung looked at Chayeon.

“It doesn’t seem like the opponent is waiting for me.”

At the eyes that were looking at her and seemingly conveying something invisible, Chayeon nodded silently.

She could tell without saying it.

She had definitely received it.

“I’ll definitely rescue you. Teacher, and Jindal…”

“Thank you.”

“…At least the heart.”

Yeonkyung also nodded and then looked at Meridi.

“I’ve decided. I’ll stay.”

“Waaa! So I get to play with the Director? Heehee, I like it!”

Meridi, who was calling her title back to the original, jumped, and jumped off the wooden box that she had climbed on again before she knew it.

“Wolmyeong, I’ll leave the children in your care.”

“……Come right after.”

“Of course. Geez, my trustworthiness has also decreased a lot, huh.”

Yeonkyung shook her head, and the blue flower petal earrings hanging on her ears jingled. She took off the black gloves she had been wearing all along and handed them to Wolmyeong.

The festering and deficient hands and fingers, which couldn’t be healed even with Yggdrasil’s power, and rather had to pay the price because of Yggdrasil’s power, were revealed.

“This is……..”

“I can’t have them get dirty while fighting, so you have them, Na Rae. I’ll go get them right after, so.”

Yeonkyung handed her husband’s last gift to her friend and said with a bright smile. It was the first time Chayeon had seen Yeonkyung’s bright smile.

“Okay. I’ll sell them if you don’t come right after.”

Wolmyeong snatched Yeonkyung’s gloves with a hwik.

“And.”

As she was, she punched Yeonkyung’s shoulder with a tuk.

“I told you not to call me by my name.”

With those words as the last, everyone including Wolmyeong disappeared from in front of Yeonkyung’s eyes. Only Yeonkyung and Meridi were left on the ship.

“Heehee, what should we play? The Director was always busy and couldn’t play with us, so. Let’s play to our hearts’ content today!”

“Meridi-nim, I’m sorry, but I don’t think I’ll be able to play with you for long today either.”

A red glow shone from Meridi’s eyes. The same color as Yuna, Kang Teacher’s pupils. At the same time, Yeonkyung’s blue pupils also shone.

Even though a long time had passed, Yeonkyung was bound by the shadow of her husband. The fact that she had never taken off her gloves, using the excuse of hiding her hands, was the evidence of that.

That gap in her heart eventually allowed Mephistopheles’s intrusion and led to a terrible ending that put Jindal and the world in danger.

There was no need to mind it. She shouldn’t either. The past flows by. She fulfills her responsibility. She only makes the best choice at this moment.

“Uuung, I want to play for a long time!”

At the same time as Meridi jumped, Yeonkyung spread her arms wide. The wide sleeves of the hanbok fluttered.

She didn’t need gloves anymore.

She didn’t even have the slightest thought of losing to an opponent with the same ability as Yuna.