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“BUM!”

Jin Se-ah didn’t enter through the guild’s door.

She didn’t even have time to wait for the elevator.

She leaped into the air and reached the window.

“……”

She forced open the window that wouldn’t open from the outside and entered.

But the room was empty. All that was left were two mugs of coffee that had gone cold.

Seonu was gone.

She ran out into the hallway and grabbed the secretary.

“Who was the last patient?”

“Yes, yes? It was Hunter Baek Si-eun…”

“She was kidnapped.”

“What?! Kidnapped… Who…?”

Jin Se-ah, as if wasting time explaining was too much, headed towards the end of the hallway, leaving her behind.

– BANG!

It was the office of Team Leader Wi Jae-wan.

However, Wi Jae-wan was slumped over his desk, unconscious, with his head buried in it.

Jin Se-ah immediately understood the situation.

It was certain.

It was Baek Si-eun.

She used her ability to control the team leader.

And then she kidnapped Seonu and disappeared.

Baek Si-eun didn’t have the ability to teleport so easily.

In that case.

It meant she had an accomplice.

Jin Se-ah headed back to the counseling room.

It wasn’t widely known, but the magic of an outsider always leaves a trace.

The mana in the atmosphere of this world and other worlds have different properties.

There’s no problem using it… but a slight trace remains.

And Jin Se-ah could sense that subtle difference.

She scanned every space, the walls, the floor, and the ceiling.

– Thud.

And she found it.

The counseling room door.

In the most secluded corner of the doorframe, a faint distortion of space remained, like dust.

And.

– Crackle…

Jin Se-ah shoved her fingers into the gap of the trace.

And she began to tear open the closed dimensional gate again.

– Crackle!

Space tore with a scream.

“……”

But nothing could be seen beyond it.

The cleanup was meticulous.

It was a rather skilled rat.

However.

It didn’t matter.

All magic is like a fingerprint.

No matter how much the trace is erased, the unique wavelength of the caster remains.

She knew who it was.

– BOOM!

The inside of the counseling room flashed again.

And Jin Se-ah disappeared.

***

Meanwhile, at the same time.

In the heart of the Demonic Cult, the Cheonma Hall.

Ja Hwa-yeon sat alone on the empty throne, resting her chin on her hand, gazing into space with a bored expression.

Just then, a giant figure rose silently from the shadow of the throne.

It was Geumgang, her Right Guardian and loyal servant.

He knelt on one knee and bowed his head deeply.

“Geumgang.”

Ja Hwa-yeon’s voice was tinged with weariness.

Geumgang, without lifting his head, spoke heavily.

“Supreme One. The aura of the protective incense you bestowed upon the Doctor has… just completely vanished.”

At that moment, the boredom on Ja Hwa-yeon’s face disappeared.

And she shot up from her seat.

Protective Incense.

It was the incense she had planted with a nameplate and placed on the desk last time.

A device set up for the Doctor’s safety.

The disappearance of the protective incense meant one thing.

There was a problem with the Doctor’s safety.

Ja Hwa-yeon slowly stood up from the throne.

“Find her.”

At her words, Geumgang bowed his head deeply.

“Yes.”

“Anyone who has touched even a single strand of the Doctor’s hair.”

Her black eyes blazed with a crimson light.

“Will have their body skinned alive and their head displayed in front of the Cheonma Hall.”

– Snap!

As soon as she finished speaking, Geumgang’s figure disappeared into the shadows.

Ja Hwa-yeon too.

– Click, clack.

Slowly, she walked out of the Cheonma Hall.

***

Meanwhile, at a city coffee shop.

Parking lot.

Lia was crossing a typical city shopping mall parking lot with a light step.

Baek Si-eun’s request had been perfectly fulfilled.

Opening a portal and safely delivering her and Beta to the cage.

It was a very simple mission.

She took a sip of the bitter coffee and licked her lips.

“…Slurp.”

Should I have done it together?

Her face was even more beautiful than I thought. Her real appearance was much better than the photo.

Her unconscious and defenseless slumped state, how should I put it.

It strongly stimulated the alpha’s protective instinct.

Meaning, she wasn’t a common beta.

It seemed the same for her other colleagues.

Everyone held their breath seeing the unconscious counselor.

However, with Baek Si-eun’s growl, all three of them exited through the portal and parted ways.

Lia gave a wry smile.

– Ring, ring.

Lost in thought, her phone rang from her pocket.

It was a call from the vice guild master.

She was the representative of the new guild she had recently established herself.

Lia answered the phone.

“Hello?”

She continued speaking as she walked towards her parked car.

“Ah, that… can you wait a little? I’ll be there soon. Yes, okay.”

And she hung up the phone.

She walked towards her car.

“……”

The parking lot was strangely quiet. Nobody was there.

She calmly headed for the front seat of her car.

And she grabbed the door handle of the front seat.

– Vrrrm….

– Click!

And immediately, she hastily opened the car door.

The opened car door led not to the inside of the car, but to someone’s house.

Lia had opened a portal to her house.

And just as she was about to quickly push herself inside.

– Grab.

“Aaaah!”

Something grabbed her by the hair forcefully.

Lia’s body was held in place.

“Where do you think you’re going?”

It was Jin Se-ah.

– Boom boom boom!!

Before Lia could even register that she was captured, she felt her vision flash white with a huge noise.

All sensation in her body disappeared.

And then it returned.

She opened her eyes.

She looked around.

And screamed.

What Lia saw was not the parking lot. White clouds and a distant city spread out beneath her feet.

She was now.

Floating thousands of meters in the air.

The buildings below looked like ants.

“Aaaahhhhhh!!”

Lia screamed like crazy, desperately holding onto the hand that was gripping her hair.

It was her only lifeline.

The cold wind prevented her from opening her eyes.

A voice reached her ears.

“I’ll give you 3 seconds.”

Jin Se-ah didn’t ask anything else.

“Before I throw you into your pathetic guild building and impale you.”

she looked down at Lia wriggling, hanging from her arm.

“Where is it?”

Lia answered immediately without any hesitation.

“Baek… Baek Si-eun’s villa…”

“Where is that?”

“Muwol-dong… number 3… Penthouse… Room 201…”

“It won’t take long to confirm. If you’re lying…”

“R-really…! Please…!”

Jin Se-ah released her grip on Lia’s hair with a slight release instead of answering.

And she chuckled and said.

“Then live well on your own.”

Whoosh.

– Aaaahhhhhh!!

Lia’s body plummeted freely into the air.

***

– Thud!

With a dull sound, a fist struck her abdomen.

– Crackle!

And then, a woman’s arm was bent at a grotesque angle.

An abandoned factory on the outskirts of the city.

“I… I’m sorry…”

“P-please…”

Two women were kneeling on the cement floor covered in dust.

They were begging with their hands clasped.

Their appearances were a mess.

Covered in blood and dust, their clothes were torn to shreds, revealing their flesh.

Blood dripped from their noses, and their cheeks were swollen.

“Why did you do this?”

The giant man in front of them was Geumgang.

Following Ja Hwa-yeon’s orders to track down those with the last remnants of the protective incense, he first politely asked.

‘Do you happen to know anything about the Doctor?’

But all he received was a sneer full of contempt.

‘Aren’t you getting out?’

‘Tsk, you smell awful.’

The two women, looking down on Geumgang, tried to get away.

And so, this situation occurred.

“If you had just told me, this wouldn’t have happened.”

Geumgang crouched down and met the women’s eyes.

“If this were Zhongyuan, your danjeon would have been destroyed, and you would have been thrown into the middle of the Demonic Cult completely naked.”

“In our world, there’s a saying that women should be beaten once an hour.”

He lowered his head and continued.

“But this is not Zhongyuan. Moreover, your world is even less so.”

“The world has changed… shouldn’t we protect what we must?”

“I… I’ll tell you…!”

– Thud!

“Oof…!”

Geumgang’s foot deeply penetrated Cara’s abdomen.

A groan escaped her lips along with her stomach acid.

Geumgang looked down at her with emotionless eyes and murmured.

“Woman… how dare you speak so casually.”

Just then.

“Are we far?”

Someone walked into the abandoned factory.

A woman emerged from the darkness, accompanied by the sound of high heels.

It was Ja Hwa-yeon.

“Supreme One.”

Geumgang immediately knelt on one knee and bowed his head.

“Tsk, step aside. I’ll handle this myself.”

At those words, the expressions of the two women lying on the floor slightly improved.

A futile hope that this delicate woman would be better than that ferocious beast.

Geumgang looked at them with a pitying expression and stepped aside.

‘If only you had told me honestly.’

Once the Supreme One took action, the aftereffects would be incomparable to mere physical pain.

– Swish.

Ja Hwa-yeon raised her hand upwards.

Then, the bodies of the two women were forcibly lifted as if pulled by invisible strings.

“W-we’ll tell you…!”

Kim Ga-eun said urgently, but Ja Hwa-yeon raised her index finger, gesturing for them to be quiet.

And.

Her black pupils slowly began to be dyed crimson.

“Behold.”

They made eye contact with Ja Hwa-yeon.

And.

The brains of the two women were forcibly rummaged through, as Ja Hwa-yeon violently excavated the memories and information contained within.

“Ugh… ugh…”

“Guhhh…”

Cara and Kim Ga-eun groaned in pain of a soul they had never felt before.

Ja Hwa-yeon watched them for a moment, then turned her head.

“Go.”

She had obtained all the information she needed.

Geumgang bowed his head and followed Ja Hwa-yeon.

– Thump.

The bodies of the two women collapsed to the floor like dolls with their strings cut.

 

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