Chapter 176: Living Armor (1)
Isabella and Kwon Oh-Jin arrived in the Yonghyeon-dong neighborhood.
“Hmm... I didn’t know places like this existed in Korea,” Isabella remarked.
The remains of crumbling buildings filled the area, trash littered the ground, and the pungent stench of urine wafted through the air. It starkly contrasted with Korea’s usual image as a safe nation.
“Well, this place may have suffered less, but it wasn’t completely spared.” Kwon Oh-Jin looked around the dreary surroundings.
Even though this scene was far from the typical image of Korea, it wasn’t unfamiliar to him. After all, the place where he had lived before becoming an Awakener had looked just like this.
This must be new for Isabella, though.
She was the daughter of one of Europe’s most prestigious families, so this post-apocalyptic atmosphere likely felt foreign to her.
“You’re not used to this kind of place, right?”
Isabella shook her head with a bright smile. “Hmm? Oh, no. That’s not it. I used to visit places like this often for volunteer work.”
“Ah...”
Come to think of it, Isabella had frequently volunteered for the gypsies. He had completely forgotten because of the shocking impression of her after that incident.
“If anything, this is nothing.”
“This is nothing to you?” he asked.
“It’s gotten better now, but Italy had it far worse.”
Worse than this ghost town filled with trash and filth?
“After the monster incident, Italy was completely taken over by the mafias.”
She’s probably referring to the Marco Family.
“Among the garbage and filth on the streets, bodies were also scattered everywhere. Children, adults, the elderly—it didn’t matter.”
“That’s...”
Kwon Oh-Jin now understood what she meant by things being far worse.
He gazed silently at Isabella’s somber expression as she walked. Was she just wearing another mask as the Saintess of Rome, or was this her true self?
I don’t know.
Looking back, he realized how little he actually knew about Isabella. Not as the Saintess of Rome nor the Black Star Society’s Leech Queen, but as a regular woman.
“Why did you join the Guardian Stars, Isabella?”
“Hmm? Didn’t I mention it earlier? I contacted them first because I heard you were here.”
“I know that, but why did you join just because of me?”
The lingering question had yet to be answered. Why was Isabella so interested in him?
Of course, he was aware of her obsession with his blood, but was that really enough to justify everything she had done? If it were just about his blood, she could have easily kidnapped him and kept him locked away, draining him whenever she pleased.
“I missed you, Mr. Oh-jin. Isn’t that reason enough?” Isabella smiled beautifully like a star.
Kwon Oh-Jin was at a loss for words at her smile that didn’t match a bloodthirsty witch.
“You were the first,” she said.
“The first?”
“The first person to protect me.”
Isabella tilted her head back slightly. As if recalling the past, she looked up at the gloomy sky filled with dark clouds.
“What about your family? They must’ve protected you before.”
For someone like Isabella, who even had personal bodyguards, it didn’t make sense that he was the first to protect her.
“Hmm. Those people were only protecting me because they were being paid, but you weren’t like that.”
“That’s true, but...”
Isabella’s eyes curved into a delicate smile. “You were the first person who protected me without expecting anything in return.”
The first, huh.
A question naturally arose in his head.
“What about your family?”
Isabella chuckled softly, covering her mouth with one hand as if she found it amusing.
“Haha. Well, I suppose it’s only natural that you don’t know much about my family.”
“What do you mean?”
“The Colgrande Family doesn’t protect its children. Not until they’ve survived.”
Her voice was laced with an unpleasant tension.
Kwon Oh-Jin narrowed his eyes, asking for an explanation.
Isabella’s expression turned bitter. “Colgrande children are exposed to danger from a young age. Assassinations and kidnappings, things like that.”
“And your family doesn’t protect you from that?”
That was no different from being abandoned by one’s parents from birth. No, in some ways, it was even more cruel. At least Kwon Oh-Jin hadn’t grown up under the constant threat of assassinations or kidnappings.
“To be precise, you’re only protected until the age of ten. After that... you have to survive on your own until you’re chosen as the successor.”
“What a fucked-up family.”
Isabella’s eyes widened like a startled rabbit at his brutally honest remark.
“What?”
“Ah, no... It’s just that you’re the first person who’s ever cursed my family so openly.”
Isabella repeated his words softly under her breath and finally burst into laughter.
“Fucked-up family... hehe. Ahahaha!”
Kwon Oh-Jin had never heard such genuine laughter from her.
“You’re right. They really were a bunch of fools.”
The way she spoke in the past tense made him wonder if they had all died when the monster incident happened or if she had killed them herself.
Isabella wiped away the tears that had formed from laughing too much and nodded.
“What happens to the children who aren’t chosen as successors?” he asked.
“They’re all removed from the family name and forced into exile.”
“With nothing?”
“Nothing? Oh, you mean money. Yes, that’s right. They’re thrown out onto the streets. Sent far away to foreign lands where they can never return.”
Kwon Oh-Jin hollowly laughed, “Ha.”
There really are all kinds of crazy families out there.
“So, after you became the successor...”
“Yes. My older sister was forced into exile.”
She sounded calm, but the sorrow beneath was impossible to hide. It didn’t last long before Isabella innocently smiled like usual and gently tugged on Kwon Oh-Jin’s arm.
“Hehe. Now do you understand why I was so eager to see you again, Mr. Oh-Jin?”
“Hmm.”
He felt a soft sensation pressing against his arm and swallowed hard.
This could all be a lie to put him at ease. She could have approached him with entirely different intentions.
After all, Isabella is an executor of the Black Star Society.
No one knew the Leech faction’s true objectives, so he couldn’t let his guard down. Nonetheless, he felt like it wouldn’t hurt to let himself be deceived by her words just once.
“Well... okay.”
“Then, let’s get started with the demonic beast hunt!” Isabella exclaimed with enthusiasm and strode forward.
Kwon Oh-Jin chuckled and followed after her.
“Is the supporter supposed to be leading the way?”
Isabella’s face flushed red as she lightly gasped, “Ah. I-I got a bit ahead of myself because I was embarrassed.”
“For someone embarrassed, you’re pretty eager.”
“D-Don’t say things like that!” Isabella stammered, clearly flustered.
He shrugged and walked past her, taking the lead. They had chatted enough. It was time to get serious and start tracking the demonic beast.
There are no obvious traces.
They patrolled every corner of the alleyways, but couldn’t spot any distinct traces of the demonic beast due to the destroyed streets.
“What kind of demonic beast do you think it is?” she asked.
“I’m not sure. It’s probably not a big one since there aren’t any noticeable traces.”
A massive monster of ten or twenty meters couldn’t move around without leaving a mark.
At best, it’s probably the size of a person.
Some demonic beasts had a human-like build, so it was a possibility.
“Let’s keep looking for a bit longer,” Kwon Oh-Jin suggested.
“Ah, have the other teams reported anything?”
“Not yet.”
Thirty minutes had passed since they started searching, but the communication orb hadn’t lit up once.
“Let’s search for another thirty minutes and check in.”
“Okay, Mr. Oh-Jin!” Isabella responded cheerfully and nodded with a bright smile.
Kwon Oh-Jin couldn’t help but smile at her excitement, which made her look like a puppy wagging its tail.
They continued searching for another thirty minutes. Just as they finished covering their assigned area, they could hear a faint sound from a dark alleyway.
Shhhhhhk.
The chilling noise sounded like gas leaking from a pipe.
“Mr. Oh-Jin.”
“Yeah.”
Kwon Oh-Jin pulled out the palm-sized metal rod from his waist. As he infused it with mana, the rod extended and transformed into a spear.
Clang!
Isabella raised her staff high and shouted, “I’ll give you a buff!”
A brilliant golden light radiated from the gemstone at the tip of her staff and flowed into him. Vitality coursed through his body, which still ached from his unhealed internal injuries.
This won’t completely heal my injuries, but at least I can use my mana to fight.
A metallic sound echoed in the distance like someone walking in full plate armor.
Clank. Clank.
Kwon Oh-Jin pointed his spear in that direction. Tension filled the air. Just beyond the alleyway, he could feel the demonic beast moving.
It’s coming.
Blue lightning crackled and flared along his spear tip.
Ssshhhhhhh.
Like air escaping from a tube, the ominous sound echoing through the alley began to fade.
“What the...?” Kwon Oh-Jin frowned and quickly rushed toward the alley.
Was he hallucinating? The unsettling sound from the dark alley had now disappeared without a trace.
Where did it go?
Kwon Oh-Jin narrowed his eyes and kicked off the ground.
He darted through the maze-like alleyways after the monster.
For about a minute, he ran without a break. When he leapt over a crumbled wall, a sickening squelch echoed out as liquid splattered.
Splash!
The familiar stench hit his nose.
This is...
When he looked down, a pool of blood had gathered on the ground. At the center of that pool was...
“Shit.”
Jegal So-Young’s head lay severed in half, rolling lifelessly.
Isabella, who had just caught up, trembled and gasped with a deathly pale face.
“M-Mr. Oh-Jin, this is!”
She appeared terrified on the surface, but Kwon Oh-Jin could tell her eyes were cold.
No way... it can’t be, right?
An ominous thought flashed through his mind.
He instinctively turned toward Isabella and swallowed dryly.
Gulp.