Chapter 125 - Chapter 122: Episode 120 - Seo Ju-ha
The Hwaryong Guild's vanguard team arrived in front of the Han-il Guild building.
Kim Soo-ah, the leader of the vanguard team, had a bad feeling about today.
They had successfully defeated the scavengers through coordinated efforts several times before, but those bastards weren't stupid.
Every time they failed, they came back with even more cunning tactics that made things increasingly difficult.
Just last time, they had barely managed to avoid a crushing defeat.
She felt that this time would likely be the real crisis.
With such dangerous situations mounting, she'd had no choice but to bring along the newcomer, Lee Seon-ah, but she was worried he might get hurt.
Even though they had only met today, she wondered if it was really right to drag him into this perilous battle.
That was why Soo-ah intended to send Seon-ah to the Han-il Guild's coastal guard branch, where he could stay in a safe place and heal the injured after the fighting died down.
"Seon-ah, it would be best for you to stay inside the Han-il Guild building with their command staff until the battle is over. I want you to heal the wounded once the fighting concludes. We can't have a newcomer who hasn't even finished his training involved in combat, so just wait here for a bit. I've already contacted them, so you just need to go in and identify yourself."
"Understood."
Seon-ah decided to follow Team Leader Soo-ah's instructions.
Unlike the monsters in the Gates, it was clear that in a large-scale battle, they wouldn't be able to protect him when his only utility was his recovery ability.
Thinking he would only be a hindrance in the fight, he decided it would be better to stay back and heal the guild members who got injured.
Lee Seon-ah entered the branch building where the Han-il Guild's command staff was located.
It seemed the fight had already begun.
The air was filled with the sounds of clashing weapons and the roar of explosions.
The sound of ability user groups fighting always made her ears ache.
There were far too many barbaric types who didn't know how to handle things quietly like she did.
Seo Ju-ha, along with other scavenger groups, had a plan.
She would take her subordinates to raid the command center and then ambush the Han-il Guild and their allies.
The thought of the Han-il Guild and their allies easily collapsing, caught completely off guard, made her feel good.
Of course, she planned to attack only after assessing the situation.
Since she knew how to take advantage of opportunities, if the tide of battle had already turned and there was no chance of victory for the scavengers, she could just raid the command center and flee without bothering with the ambush.
It was a task with almost no risk.
Thinking this, she entered the building with a few of her subordinates.
As the subordinates who had been touching her body pulled their hands away, their transparent forms gradually regained their color.
"I'll go up first to scout, so you guys clear out the first floor. Got it?"
Watching her subordinates nod and start roaming the first floor, Seo Ju-ha headed to the second floor once they were out of sight.
She looked forward to how much she could make by looting the guild branch.
'First, I'll have to slit the throats of everyone in the command staff.'
With that thought, she listened at the door where voices were echoing.
Judging that the command staff was inside, Seo Ju-ha opened the door gently.
Perhaps because they kept the hinges well-oiled, the sound of the door opening was barely audible.
Once she was fully inside the room, she closed the door, drew the dagger from her bosom with both hands, and moved quickly to throw it at the woman who appeared to be the commander in the center of the room.
As it left her body, the dagger revealed itself.
She had no doubt that the dagger would soon make the woman spill red liquid.
However, the dagger she swung did not enter the woman's neck.
It was as if it had hit an invisible wall; the blade couldn't go any further.
"See? I told you, didn't I? The radar picks up four signatures, but only three are visible, so I said it was a stealth ability, right? It turns out I was right that Seo Ju-ha would come here."
"You're right, Branch Manager-nim... It's a stealth ability. I was so surprised when the door suddenly opened. I was so nervous trying not to show it."
The dagger had stopped in mid-air, held by the telekinesis of the Han-il Guild's West Coast Branch Manager.
It was as if they had known she would come.
Seo Ju-ha realized her plan had failed.
She had to escape, and quickly.
But it was obvious that the telekinesis user had spread her power in front of the door.
The moment she tried to step out, that telekinesis would surely engulf her.
As the sound of her panicked footsteps in stealth mode echoed, the telekinesis user waved her hands, trying to pinpoint her location.
Seo Ju-ha's mind raced as she moved.
She needed a way out.
A way to get away from them safely.
She fell back on a method she had used several times before: a hostage.
She acted quickly, scanning the room for the weakest-looking person.
Upon discovering someone who didn't seem to fit in this space, Seo Ju-ha decided he would serve as a perfect hostage.
Strangely enough, a 'man' was in a place where hunters were gathered.
He might be an important figure.
As Seo Ju-ha grabbed him, her stealth ability extended to him as well, rendering him invisible.
"Cunning bitch..."
Realizing that Seo Ju-ha had snatched the man while the Branch Manager was off guard, the manager knew they were in big trouble.
'He', whom the Hwaryong Guild had entrusted to them as a non-combatant, had now fallen into the hands of a scavenger.
"I'm in quite a hurry too, you know?"
Seo Ju-ha said, revealing her figure.
As she held the remaining dagger to the man's neck, they realized the gravity of the situation.
Lee Seon-ah realized what was happening to him now.
'How many times is this now...'
He felt like he was going crazy, constantly being taken hostage whenever he had a moment of peace.
He looked at her, confused as to why she'd picked him when there were plenty of other non-combatants in the command staff.
As if answering his expression, the woman holding the blade to his neck said:
"I caught you because you looked the cutest. How is it? Aren't you happy?"
She was half-serious.
"It seems clear you won't be able to get away anyway, so why don't you let me go?"
He was annoyed by how many times this had happened.
He just accepted it calmly now.
"Unlike how delicate you look, you've got quite a lot of nerve, huh? But it doesn't seem like the people over there are the same."
The Han-il Guild Branch Manager had heard the Hwaryong Guild's vanguard leader emphasize several times that Seon-ah was an important figure related to their executives.
Since she'd said a high-ranking executive was his relative, it was certain that if something went wrong, the alliance between the two guilds would be over.
"I'll let you go, so put down the hostage and leave. I'll let you off just this once."
The Branch Manager said in a desperate voice.
"But this is my lifeline, you see. I'll let him go once I'm safe."
"How can I trust you? Seo Ju-ha."
"Then watch this man die right here. He seems to be quite an important figure. Sigh... what a waste... Sorry, cutie."
Seo Ju-ha looked at Seon-ah playfully and made an apologetic face.
However, the smile on her lips made it clear she wasn't sorry at all.
There was no other way.
The irony was that the only way to keep him alive was to let Seo Ju-ha take him away.
She had no choice but to say:
"Let him go once you get to a safe place. I heard that the person you've taken hostage is a relative of a Hwaryong Guild executive. If you don't want to see the Hwaryong Guild move out in full force, you have to let him go."
Her tone was half-threat.
In reality, if something happened to him, Seo Ju-ha would definitely be hunted by the Hwaryong Guild.
She didn't know if she, an A-rank stealth ability user, would be caught, but her range of activity would certainly be narrower than before.
That was why she thought she would definitely let that man go.
"Fine, then let's go for now."
The moment she tried to step out of the door with those words, someone pounced on her from outside.
The second stall of the second-floor restroom.
She was sitting on the toilet, head bowed, staring blankly.
She hated her own ability, which didn't even flinch despite the daily humiliation she faced.
Feeling that the tears she had shed earlier had dried, she wiped the corners of her eyes with her sleeve.
After going outside and washing her face at the sink, she felt refreshed.
It was strange to be heartbroken again when it wasn't just happening today or yesterday.
She headed to the command center where the others were gathered.
Strange voices were coming from in front of the door.
"I'll let you go, so put down the hostage and leave as you are. I'll let you off just this once."
As the Branch Manager's desperate voice was heard, Lee Hyun-ah noticed the signs of what was happening inside.
"But this is my lifeline, you see. I'll let him go once I'm safe."
The voice of a woman who treated the hostage like an object was heard.
This woman's voice was one she was hearing for the first time.
"How can I trust you and do that? Seo Ju-ha."
"Then watch this man die right here. He seems to be quite an important figure."
Seo Ju-ha.
She was definitely an illegal ability user with a nationwide wanted poster, known as an A-rank stealth ability user among the scavengers.
After the woman and the Branch Manager's voices were heard, silence continued for a long time.
"Let him go once you get to a safe place. I heard that the person you've taken hostage is a relative of a Hwaryong Guild executive. If you don't want to see the Hwaryong Guild move out in full force, you have to let him go."
She thought that if he was a relative of a Hwaryong Guild executive, he was quite an important figure.
'Even though I have no ability... if I rescue the hostage from that woman's hands... maybe Mother will look at me again...'
It was certain that if they let her go like this, it would smear the face of the Han-il Guild.
Furthermore, if they let her go while they were in charge of someone from another guild, the Hwaryong Guild, which had been in an alliance with them for a long time, might turn into an enemy.
The woman seemed to be moving toward the door.
The sound was getting closer.
Hyun-ah was counting numbers slowly in her heart.
She planned to launch a surprise attack the moment this woman opened the door and let her guard down.
She intended to force her to release the hostage through a sudden, decisive strike.
As the door began to open little by little, Hyun-ah threw her body and pounced on the woman.