I was held by Woo Seohyuk in a strange atmosphere, unable to move. Alice, who had reached out to me from the window, also looked at Woo Seohyuk in surprise.
"...It's dangerous."
Woo Seohyuk, his eyes narrowed and his head slightly bowed, spoke after a long time in a rough voice, pulling me towards him.
"The same goes for Deputy Master Alice, please refrain from making such sudden demands."
"Oh, no. I'm fine…"
"If you want to check out Han Yigyeol's abilities, I'll show you to the rooftop garden."
"Hmm…"
Looking at Woo Seohyuk with a strange expression, Alice came back into the room and sat down on the window sill, smiling.
"This is the first time I've seen this side of you, Secretary Woo. I guess you and Han Yigyeol-ssi [1]are much closer than I thought?"
Alice's emphasis on the word 'much' caused Woo Seohyuk's thick eyebrows to twitch.
An invisible current sharply clashed between the lightly smiling Alice and the stiffened Woo Seohyuk.
'How did this happen?...'
Caught in the middle, I sighed, unable to do anything.
Alice's secretary, who hadn't said a word until now, stood at the door of the drawing room and didn't seem to have any intention of intervening in this situation.
"It's scary, are you glaring at me? A high-ranked wolf doing this to a fragile swan?"
Alice, who had casually accepted Woo Seohyuk's cold gaze, began to stroke both of her forearms, pretending to be hurt.
"I don't know why Secretary Woo Seohyuk is stepping in if Han Yigyeol-ssi is fine? He's even glaring at me like this."
"I'm here to protect Han Yigyeol-ssi, so I have no choice but to stop any unreasonable demands."
"Gee, I thought Han Yigyeol-ssi was an independent, but... Requiem gives him an S-class guardian? And from what I've heard, he's very, very close to Master Cheon Sayeon."
Alice asked sarcastically in a rhythmic voice, causing a shadow to darken between Woo Seohyuk's brows. I could feel the stale drawing room air on my skin.
'You owe me…'
I can't believe that Woo Seohyuk would fight with Alice. If you think about it, Woo Seohyuk didn't get along with Park Geonho either... But shouldn't he be getting along with people who have similar abilities?
"You two, stop it."
I never thought I'd say this to these two. I'm tired of having to stop Cheon Sayeon and Ha Taeheon every time they argue, but now these two are a problem.
"Deputy Master Alice, if you want to see my abilities in detail, the guild's rooftop garden seems much better as Woo Seohyuk-ssi suggested. If you don't mind, shall we move?"
"Hmm... Okay. I don't think I'll be able to do anything here anyway, with Secretary Woo Seohyuk glaring at me like that."
At my request, Alice obediently stepped down from the window sill. I breathed a sigh of relief that the situation was over.
"Huh?"
Alice's eyes widened and she suddenly turned towards the window. At the same time, Woo Seohyuk also turned his gaze to the window.
"What's wrong?"
"Wait, something's wrong, it's..."
Alice approached the window again and flapped her folded wings. The breeze ruffled her dark hair as she stared intently into the distance, stepping up on to the window sill like before.
"I'm not mistaken, I can definitely sense... I can feel the aura of a monster."
"What?"
"I've got to go right away! Theo!"
Alice's shout made Theo, who had been standing in silence, blink.
"Stay here for me, just in case. Okay?"
"Yes."
As soon as Theo heard her command, Alice used her large wings to soar into the sky.
Theo looked at her as she quickly flew away, then turned to Woo Seohyuk and asked.
"A monster... Are you sure, Woo Seohyuk-ssi?"
"It's faint, but I can feel it."
If Woo Seohyuk and Alice could feel it, apart from me, an A-ranked person, the monster must be pretty far. Even if it was, this was the middle of Gangnam, and I had a bad feeling.
"Woo Seohyuk-ssi, let's go."
This won't work. I'll have to follow Alice and find out for myself where the monster's energy is coming from.
I stepped onto the window sill, climbed up, and held out my hand to Woo Seohyuk. Unlike Alice, I can easily carry a person, so it was a natural decision. More importantly, I needed him to find out where the monster was.
"..."
Woo Seohyuk stared down at my hand. I was puzzled by how different his expression was from when he glared at Alice.
"Woo Seohyuk-ssi?"
"...I'm sorry. It's nothing."
Woo Seohyuk, who had come to his senses at my call, reached for my hand with a slow gesture. I grabbed his hand which was much larger than my own and wrapped the wind around our bodies.
This was the first time I had ever used my powers when I was alone with Woo Seohyuk. Woo Seohyuk, who had only ever travelled with me in a group, leaned against me, stiff.
"If you put an arm around my shoulder, it'll be more comfortable."
As I explained, he hesitated and put his hand on my shoulder. I hugged his waist as we stood close together and increased the intensity of the wind.
As Alice flew straight in the direction of her disappearance, she could hear people screaming and car horns blaring. Looking through the black smoke surrounding the Olympic Boulevard, she could see crushed cars and people running away.
Krrrrr!
"Ahhhhh!!!!"
-
Giant centipedes the size of street lamps were bursting out of the ground everywhere, trying to pounce on people. I hastily lowered my height and let go of Woo Seohyuk.
Woo Seohyuk landed with a fluid motion and transformed, swinging both his arms in an instant. The monster's body was pierced by his sharp black claws and collapsed, spewing dark green blood.
I also ripped apart the head and body of another monster right next to me with a gust of wind.
'Are these monsters about… B Class?'
Tss! The green blood from the dead monster's body spread out on the ground, and a crackling, burning sound was heard. white smoke began to rise as well. It seemed like it wasn't just blood, but an acidic liquid.
"Talented Han Yigyeol."
As if sensing our presence, Alice flew in from the next building, a gun in her hand that I hadn't seen before. Is that... a shotgun?
'You're nicknamed an angel and yet your weapon of choice is a shotgun?'
Though I had to admit it was pretty cool, even in the midst of all the chaos.
"I've taken out all the monsters at the back of the building, though I'm not sure how many are left."
"Just by looking around, it seems there are quite a lot of them."
As the wind blew away the thick smoke that had been blocking our view, the centipedes filled the road. The screaming still persisted.
"Where the hell did they crawl out of?"
Had something gone wrong with one of the gates around here? But... There was no sign of them crawling out of the gate.
"Ha… do you know anything about what is going on here?"
Woo Seohyuk wiped the blood off his fingernails and replied calmly.
"I haven't heard anything about a runaway monster from a gate that exists nearby."
"Then where did these monsters come from?"
"We don't know at the moment."
Kugugung
The floor rumbled briefly, and centipedes popped out here and there, letting out menacing cries. Luckily, they were all B Class, so we could handle them on our own...
"The blood flowing from their bodies doesn't look too good."
I nodded at Alice's words. We were higher ranked, but there was a great risk of damage if blood was splattered all over the place with all these people around. The blood of the monsters was acidic enough to dissolve the floor, so we had to be careful.
'In a situation like this…'
Woo Seohyuk, who fights with his transformed body parts, and Alice, who uses her gun, would be unable to attack the monsters without spreading all their blood. I could support them with the wind to keep the blood from spreading far, but then it would be hard to get into the fight.
There were as many people pinned under wrecked cars, screaming for help, or injured and unable to move as there were monsters. Wracking my brain, I kept trying to figure out how to deal with the monsters and save them at the same time.
"Han Yigyeol-ssi!"
The ground I was standing on shook slightly, and a monster suddenly burst out in front of me. Woo Seohyuk hugged me and hot flames engulfed the monster.
"Ugh, what..."
"..Han Yigyeol?"
As the monster, engulfed in flames, fell down, a familiar voice was heard. I, too, opened my mouth in surprise after being met by an unexpected person.
"Cha Sooyeon-ssi?"
"What? Why are you here?... Oh, speaking of which, the Requiem Guild is also nearby?"
Cha Sooyeon walked towards me, stepped on the monster's corpse, looking around casually.
"I was on my way back to the guild after finishing an interview, and I heard some noise, so I came here, and this is what it looked like. Is that why you came too?"
"Yes, and not just Cha Sooyeon,"
In the distance, police car and ambulance sirens wailed. And then a familiar car stopped nearby.
"It seems like the others have heard the news too."
The car door opened and Cheon Sayeon got out with a cold expression. Then Ha Taeheon stepped out of the second car which stopped next to it. They both walked straight towards me.
"…?"
It was only for a moment that I felt happy that Cha Sooyeon and Cheon Sayeon had arrived, since they would be able to help me deal with the monster's blood from spreading. I frowned at the heavy atmosphere that Cheon Sayeon and Ha Taeheon were giving off.
"Han Yigyeol."
Cheon Sayeon took out an S-class sword from his inventory, approached me, and whispered softly.
"Stand behind Woo Seohyuk and don't show your face."
"...What?"
"Quietly."
Cheon Sayeon and Ha Taeheon stood shoulder to shoulder, blocking my path. I raised my head, a bad feeling coming over me.
Beyond the black smoke blowing in the wind, we could see a helicopter in the sky taking pictures of us with its camera.
Cha Sooyeon, who had been standing next to us, must have sensed something unusual as she narrowed her eyes and said something.
"Something... doesn't feel right?"
"Right."
Cheon Sayeon, who seemed to be in the lowest mood, slashed his palm without hesitation. Crimson blood spurted out, searing heat rising from it.
[1] ssi/씨 (pronounced ‘she’) is used to be polite when calling someone's name, without being too formal.