Chapter 277

‘…That’s what I thought, back then.’ After being submerged in memories of the past, Ryu Hyerin returned to her senses at the sound of someone tearing at their fingertips and looked straight ahead. Chasing the sound with her head, she soon found Bae Jaemin staring vacantly out the window, picking at his fingertips so much that it bled.

She thought they had finished their conversation from earlier, but Bae Jaemin still acted uneasily, as if there was still something seizing his thoughts. Ryu Hyerin, goosebumps raising on her skin for some reason, suppressed her irritation and spoke shortly, “Don’t do that.”

“……..” Bae Jaemin blinked, as if he didn’t realize that he was ruining his fingertips until she pointed it out.

However, now that she pointed it out, he stopped picking at his nails; though he still looked to be in a bad shape. Bae Jaemin let out a totally hoarse sigh and groaned in pain.

Ryu Hyerin couldn’t understand what was wrong with him, but she approached the Priest for now.

As she patted him gently on the back, Bae Jaemin opened his mouth and said, voice cracking, “…Something feels off.”

“What is it?”

“It’s strange. I keep feeling like I’ve been missing something.”

“Because of Lim Jisoo?”

“……”

Ryu Hyerin quietly stared at Bae Jaemin and his lack of answers.

It seemed that what made Bae Jaemin anxious currently was the aftermath–the consequences–that may arrive after summoning Lim Jisoo. Of course, Ryu Hyerin also knew what a dangerous individual Lim Jisoo was; she didn’t want to drag that person into the plan to get rid of [Red Lotus]. What a shame it turned out this way. It felt like they had held hands with a fox in order to drive away a tiger.

However, from Ryu Hyerin’s perspective, Lim Jisoo was destined to rot in prison for life after helplessly losing to Seo Dawon if the woman had not met them. Even if she avoided prison, she would have to leave East Asia, her main stage; she wouldn’t be able to live life as she desired.

So, the Priest treated Lim Jisoo like a partner. And, compared to the notoriety the woman had acquired, Lim Jisoo was quite kind to Ryu Hyerin. Therefore, Ryu Hyerin couldn’t fully understand Bae Jaemin’s internal agony.

No matter how long she waited Bae Jaemin wouldn’t answer, so she spoke in a firmer tone, “You know that the people that joined in on the [Oath] can’t kill each other.”

“It’s not that…” Bae Jaemin kept bowing his head while listening to Ryu Hyerin. He looked precarious and unstable, like cracked glass.

She noticed that Bae Jaemin had been like that ever since their renewed raid on the [Tower of Command] dungeon. His depression had gotten graver after Park Hoseok’s death. Eventually, Ryu Hyerin decided to stop pretending ignorance and waiting for him to climb out of his depression on his own. She broached the topic they both had been avoiding, “Have you realized that you’ve been a bit…unstable ever since the new raid on the [Tower of Command]?”

“……”

“Is this something you can’t vent about? Even to me?”

“I’d never deceive you…”

“Then, tell me. You’ve been weird since then.”

“……” Bae Jaemin eventually clenched his fist at the gentle urging. He knew that Ryu Hyerin endured months of his behavior without getting angry at him.

She wasn’t the type to wait patiently for something she desired–whether it be material items or information; her temper was fiery. However, when Bae Jaemin failed to confide in her, she did him a service and loyally turned the other eye.

In the end, Bae Jaemin revealed the anxieties that were hidden deep within his heart, one after another. “…I think things have gone wrong ever since then.”

“Ever since the [Tower of Command] raid?”

“Yeah,” Bae Jaemin automatically bit his lips. To stop him, Ryu Hyerin gently stroked his lips. Bae Jaemin stared at her hand before gritting his teeth, “Actually, there’s something I haven’t told you.”

“What is it?”

“On the day we renewed our raid on the [Tower of Command], I had a strange dream. Seo Dawon appeared in the Tower’s basement…”

“……”

“In my dream, he stood in front of me.”

Ryu Hyerin’s complexion changed when he emphasized the word, ‘dream.’ Bae Jaemin always adopted a particular nuanced tone when talking about his [Clairvoyance] skill.

At first, she found his skill to be an utterly unbelievable ability, but Bae Jaemin truly had the ability to see the future. She could no longer calmly pass by his claims as nonsense anymore since Bae Jaemin had always used his ability to great effect before initiating their plans. Ryu Hyerin removed her arm from around his body and sharply asked, “Why are saying that now?”

“It doesn’t make sense. How could a dead man appear before me?”

“…….”

“Of course I didn’t realize the dream was part of my [Clairvoyance]. I just thought it was some silly dream. But, it made me uncomfortable…so I went to the place where Seo Dawon appeared in that dream.”

“Was there anything strange there?”

“…No. I didn’t find anything.” Honestly, that day, Bae Jaemin wanted to take a closer look around the area. However, he was with Lim Jisoo, who knew nothing about his [Clairvoyance] skill.

Bae Jaemin had never revealed the existence of that skill to anyone except for Ryu Hyerin. Therefore, he had to drag around Lim Jisoo without responding to her acerbic and sarcastic remarks and could only investigate halfheartedly. Furthermore, he found it hard to shake off the temptation to just optimistically label his dream as an impossibility.

“Then, what’s the problem?” Ryu Hyerin asked.

“However…the fact that I didn’t discover something was strange. I definitely thought someone was there. There were a lot of things that bothered me.”

“……”

“What bothered me the most was the ‘guide.’ That meant someone else entered the hardcore route before me… I’m the only User alive who knows the shortcut; not even Lim Jisoo knows about this. However, I still couldn’t find it–and I searched until the end. Lim Jisoo would have no reason to lie about finding it ahead of time, so I thought I might have been deluded or the scenario might have changed. But…”

As Ryu Hyerin listened to her companions’ words, she said, with a pale face, “We made certain Seo Dawon is dead, though?”

Bae Jaemin answered, a half-beat delayed, “…I couldn’t confirm his death with my eyes.”

“I confirmed it, though.”

Bae Jaemin stared at her. Ryu Hyerin perceived his suspicious gaze, so she spoke louder in a confident voice, “I saw it. I saw Koo Kyungman making holes in Seo Dawon’s corpse, and I saw Lim Jisoo melting him with hydrochloric acid! Even as I held my nausea and desire to vomit in, I distinctly saw it with my two eyes. How could he survive that? What, are those guys immortal or something?”

“……”

“And, if they survived, what have they done for these past three years? No way–your dream is truly nonsense this time.”

Bae Jaemin didn’t contradict her. However, soon, he muttered something they had been desperately trying to ignore, “…But, it is creepy how well Park Hoseok’s murderer imitated Jung Garam. It’s as if… that person knows everything.”

“……”

“Ryu Hyerin, don’t deny that you also feel uncomfortable about that.”

“It’s only a speculation.”

“No, actually, I should have noticed something was off when Koo Kyungman was dealt with: Koo Hui-seo. You probably wouldn’t know anything about this, but that man wasn’t in a state to leave the hospital on his own. He wasn’t even alive.” Bae Jaemin had not told Ryu Hyerin that he had fulfilled a secret commission for Koo Kyungman in order to secure the guildmaster’s cooperation. Of course, she vaguely knew the two had some sort of agreement, but she wasn’t too curious about the details.

From the moment Koo Kyungman saw Ryu Hyerin, he was like a tiger, stalking its prey…flirting and waiting for the opportunity to snatch her away. ¹ They were only able to disappoint him by showing that Ryu Hyerin and Bae Jaemin were in a deep relationship; otherwise, he may have done something truly disgusting.

Therefore, Ryu Hyerin wasn’t happy about cooperating with Koo Kyungman, but, without his help, they would have suffered a huge setback in their efforts to manipulate the evidence after their misdeed. So, she left all dealings with Koo Kyungman to her partner. Bae Jaemin was aware of her attitude, so Ryu Hyerin didn’t think Bae Jaemin was intentionally hiding information from her.

She asked, lowering her voice, “What did you do for Koo Kyungman?”

After a short silence, Bae Jaemin replied, “He said he’d cooperate with us after I killed Koo Hui-seo.”

Something came to mind when she heard the name Koo Hui-seo, “That man… Didn’t you say he was under some curse?”

“That’s right. A curse that rendered it impossible to wound him.”

“Then, how did you kill him?”

“…Koo Kyungman said that he can delay the curse’s effects.” Bae Jaemin grimaced. “Originally, the curse was supposed to instantaneously activate when you hurt him, but you can extend that time with a specific item. For example, if the curse comes into effect 150 years later, it won’t matter–I’ll be dead by then.”

“There’s an item that can delay the effects for that long?”

“It’s possible if you use [Beatrice’s Prayer]. However…that didn’t fall into my hands back then.” ²

Ryu Hyerin frowned as she recalled who the first owner of [Beatrice’s Prayer] was.

TL: Sorry guys, when I said we’ll be returning from our flashback, I think a couple of ya’ll thought we were returning to Choi Lee-kyung. But soon! We’ve just got a little more to go.

And!!! I’m officially COVID negative today whooot!!!