You Didn't Tell Me the Start of My Transmigration Was a Gate

Chapter 27 Part 2:  Counterattack

At that, Kim Ki-taek fell silent. It was the last cathedral, which meant that his fears had come true. We had lost our purpose, and there was nowhere to go. When he realized that further searches were pointless, he immediately ordered the search to end. We gathered up and decided to spend the day inside the Cathedral.

“What are you going to do now?”

Hye-won approached Kim Ki-taek. As the Guild Leader of Backwater, she was entitled to hear what the next move would be. Kim Ki-Taek glanced at my direction, then looked straight ahead.

“Nothing has been clearly decided yet. We’ll have to hold some more meetings within Red Flames and talk to some people outside of the organization to find out.”

He circled around plausibly. Simply implying that it’s best for Hye-Won not to get involved. She agreed, and told him to let her know if there were any changes or anything she needed to know.

“Of course.”

Kim Ki-Taek smiled coyly. I’m sorry for him, but that smile only arouses suspicion on the onlooker. It would be better to restrain himself a little. Before I followed Hye-won out the door, I glanced back. He was looking at me, too. We exchanged a wordless glance. The I turned around and left.

❖

I returned from hunting monsters as usual, but the place was chaotic. Everyone seemed to be in a hurry, as if they were preparing for something. I asked what was going on, and got an unexpected answer.

“Uh, I heard they found a suspicious area some distance away, and they’re heading there. It’s only a few days from here, so I guess the Clearing Units are trying to get there immediately. I’m guessing they’re probably going with a small number of elites, since it will take longer to move around if there are a lot of people.”

“Just the Clearing Unit?”

“Seo-ha, you might be going with them too… I don’t know the details.”

A suspicious area huh. The odds of ‘That Place‘ appearing suddenly is quite slim. Hye-won and I took three years to search for it, and haven’t really found a trace of it. The boss territory. It’s probably an excuse.

“Han Seo-ha, be careful.”

Jo Yeon-ho approached and said exactly what I expected him to.

“So the Clearing unit is taking you too?”

I nodded at him.

❖

“Don’t starve yourself, don’t wear thin clothes, don’t do anything reckless… And when the monsters appear, hide behind immediately……. Do you understand?”

Hyewon-Unnie’s words were full of worry. It was almost like a family bidding her goodbye. Just before I left, she hugged me tightly and whispered to me that it was going to be a rough trip. I was unable to promise to see her again so I smiled at her lightly instead.

How far had I traveled? I walked for at least three days. At first, even I, who thought that I was going to pull a fast one, wondered if I was going to find something really suspicious. But I didn’t say it out loud. Neither Kim Ki-taek nor Jeon Chung-Woon said anything to me. I ate some dry food for dinner and went to sleep in my simple tent.

[Read only on Salmonlatte.com]

I was awakened by a sudden sensation. I instinctively reached for the karambit on my bedside table, but an unknown assailant grabbed my wrist and held me down. He was stronger than me. I flailed a couple of times, but he didn’t budge. I tried to throw him off balance by pulling on his wrist, but this didn’t work. I did the next best thing and swung my leg up. There was a wind-cutting sound, but even that was blocked.

Silence fell as all my movements were sealed, and only then did I see the silhouette of the intruder. Black hair that seemed to glow blue in the light. The white skin was pale, and those hands that held me had thick calluses. His long eyelashes cast shadows on his face as the moonlight fell on top of him.

It was Jeon Chung-woon. 

For a moment, a moment of realization suddenly dawned on me. At the same time, -POOF! His sword stabbed into my abdomen. Jeon Chung-Woon supported my collapsing body and laid me on the bed. It was an overly affectionate gesture for someone who had just stabbed me. All I could do was gasp for air.

Koop! My internal organs were severely damaged. Blood trickled out, soaking my bed. The amount of blood loss was very alarming. I should have felt an excruciating pain, but instead I felt numb, like I was under anesthesia. I even wondered if I’d really been stabbed, and I doubted it. I could barely move my hands to scan my abdomen, and I felt a hole in my stomach. Blood was gushing out of it. Jeon Chung-woon was staring at me. He was standing at the head of the bed, with a very indifferent look in his eyes. He was watching me slowly die. I tried to reach out to him and swept away everything on the bedside table. The plastic canister clattered as it hit the floor. I reached out with a bloody hand, but it wasn’t able reach him.

“What happened?”

Kim Ki-taek stepped into the tent. Apparently, he was the watchman tonight.

“Ah… That… ”

I couldn’t get the words out of my mouth. I had to tell him what was going on, but what came out of my mouth sounded like the cry of a strange beast. However, Kim Ki-taek seemed to have realized the situation when he saw me stabbed and Jeon Chumg-Woon standing next to me. He immediately covered his nose at the smell of blood.

“You did it in style.”

His tone was nonchalant.

“I knew it would be like this, but… It doesn’t look very nice.”

He frowned slightly. There was no bravado, no attempt to save me. I’ve lost too much blood, and I was becoming extremely disoriented. I was too cold. The sensation of pain was not normal, but the cold was strangely intense. My whole body was shivering.

My vision was blurry and I was having trouble focusing, but the blood showed no signs of stopping.

‘I…… just like this…….’

At that moment. The space between me and Jeon Chung-Woon was immediately torn apart. A familiar and disgusting face was revealed.

“……You finally showed up.”

“Boss Monster, ‘Beelzebub’. I’ve finally seen your expensive icy face.”

Jeon Chung-Woon and Kim Ki-taek prepared to fight. Jeon Cheong-woon’s sword started emitting a blue light, and behind them, Sun Ha-Rang arrived. The Jewel on her swung left and right, as if signaling her readiness for battle.

As they set up their formation, Beelzebub slowly walked out of the void space. The last time I’ve seen him, he’d worn a soft purple robe, but this time he was in full uniform. It was all black, and looked like it was made of tough leather-like material.

Beelzebub didn’t pay any attention to them. He was looking directly at me. The dying me.

“Hah……”

When he opened his mouth. I could tell from the way he spoke that he was very angry. His usual boredom was gone. He looked as sharp as a well honed blade.

“You’ve got some nerve.”

A man who belonged to the Red Darkness, also known as the Demon King, was coldly furious.

❖

TL NOTE:

Not gonna’ Lie, I was really surprised about this. I know it was part of their protocol to sacrifice some people for the sake of majority but I didn’t know that they would even use Seo-Ha as bait. Although, I have a feeling that Seo-Ha already knew about it. I was just a bit disappointed. ಥ⁠‿⁠ಥ