“Hey, shoot! What are you doing, not firing!”
As Jeonghu froze in shock, Yohan shouted urgently.
“Th-that is…….”
Jeonghu looked at his father with wide, startled eyes.
Seeing Jeonghu like that, Yohan sensed something was wrong and cautiously peeked out at the main road.
“What, what is that?”
An unbelievable scene was unfolding.
Maybe it was just prejudice, but from their fashion, build, looks, and the way they hung out in groups, the men looked exactly like local thugs—and they were being massacred, in the most literal sense.
A woman with a pale white face, crimson eyes, and hair so white it hardly seemed human was alone in the midst of the slaughter, her long white hair fluttering in the air.
Whenever her hair swept through the air, the thugs’ arms and legs were severed as if by magic, and with a flick of her hand, a thug’s head would burst apart with ease.
Yohan was left speechless at the sight, reminiscent of a white-haired witch from an old Hong Kong movie.
Yohan thought to himself.
‘If I had to fight that witch, could I win?’
He concluded that, at least for now, he couldn’t be sure.
If nothing else, that hair was more terrifying than any weapon.
It was no different from swinging thousands of dangerous weapons at once.
Even with his current level of Diamond Body obtained from the Gray Orc, he wasn’t sure if he could withstand those strands of hair.
“Dad, what do we do?”
“Hey, let’s get out of here before she notices us. That one’s too much.”
When even Yohan shook his head and couldn’t step forward, Jeonghu quickly slung his gun back over his shoulder and retreated.
“That was fast?”
“Life is precious, Dad.”
“That’s true……. Huh?”
Yohan was about to quietly back away too, but suddenly stopped in his tracks.
“Son.”
“Yeah?”
“Over there, isn’t that… Soyul?”
Soyul? Juhui’s kid? Oh, it really is!”
Off to the side of the fight between the thugs and the witch, in a shadowy corner, Soyul was crouched down.
Her eyes were tightly shut, and her ears were covered with her hands.
“Why is she here in such a dangerous place?”
While Yohan stood there, puzzled, Jeonghu suddenly sprang up and dashed toward Soyul.
“Oh, such a busybody.”
Seeing Jeonghu rush into danger like a moth to a flame, Yohan clicked his tongue but got up from his spot as well.
It was a tough opponent, but he couldn’t just stand by and watch a child get hurt.
Keeping a wary eye on the witch who could attack at any moment, Yohan readied the Heavenly Demon Spear in one hand and the Asura Blood God Palm in the other, preparing for any sudden assault.
“Soyul! Why are you here?”
“Uncle?”
“……I’m not ‘uncle.’ I’m your big brother.”
Jeonghu lifted Soyul up in his arms and started running at full speed toward where Yohan was.
“Uncle—no, big brother, what are you doing?”
“What do you think? We’re running away. By the way, where’s your mom? Why are you here alone without her?”
“Mom’s over there.”
“What? Where?”
Jeonghu looked back.
No matter where he looked, there was no sign of Juhui.
Only the witch, still slaughtering the thugs, was there.
“She’s not here?”
“She is! Right there!”
Soyul pointed behind them with a frustrated look.
Jeonghu turned his gaze again, but the only woman he could see was still the witch.
“No matter how I look, it’s just the witch.”
“She’s not a witch! That’s my mom!”
Startled by Soyul’s outburst, Jeonghu stopped in his tracks without realizing it.
‘That witch is Juhui?’
He turned to look at the witch again.
With her blood-red eyes, pale skin, and snow-white hair, it was impossible to think of Juhui at first glance.
But when he looked closely, apart from those features, the facial structure was unmistakably Juhui’s.
“Wait, that really is your mom!”
Jeonghu shouted in shock, and Yohan, hearing him, stared wide-eyed at the white-haired witch as well.
“It really is. How did she get powers like that?”
Wasn’t it just a short while ago that Juhui was being threatened by villains?
Father and son stared dumbfounded, unable to imagine she’d been hiding such an ability.
The white-haired witch—no, Juhui—had already finished off the last of the thugs before they even realized.
“Hey……. She can still recognize people, right?”
As Yohan nervously muttered to himself, Juhui began walking toward the father and son.
Each step she took carried a menacing aura.
Just in case, Yohan didn’t lower the Heavenly Demon Spear, staying ready to fight at a moment’s notice.
Then it happened.
Juhui’s body began to change as she walked.
Her flowing white hair started to turn back to black, her face regained its color, and her crimson eyes returned to normal.
With a pained expression, Juhui looked at Yohan and Jeonghu, her eyes wide.
“……Sejeong’s father? And Jeonghu?”
“Ah, hello?”
“……Did you see?”
“Ah, yes…… well, sort of, just happened to…….”
Yohan scratched his head awkwardly, and her face twisted in even greater distress.
Seeing her like that, Jeonghu fumbled for words.
“Uh, well……. In times like these, having powers like that isn’t something to be ashamed of. Please don’t be too upset…….”
“Still…… I killed people…….”
“Ah…….”
It seemed she was more tormented by the fact that she had killed people—and that Yohan and his son had witnessed it—than by her own powers.
“If you hadn’t killed those guys, you’d be dead, Juhui. And Soyul too.”
Yohan spoke up, as if he understood it all, and Juhui’s face slowly regained composure.
“You should’ve used that power before. It was dangerous back then too.”
“I didn’t know how my ability would manifest. But when I was in real danger, it just activated. Now I can use it freely.”
“I see.”
“But…… even then, I can only use it for five minutes at most. Just like in the last Game I played.”
At her words, Jeonghu tilted his head.
“Was that Game……. Age Throne?”
“Oh, you know it?”
“What’s Age Throne?”
“Dad, do you know League of Champion?”
“What’s that?”
“It’s a Game that once took over all the PC rooms. You don’t know it?”
“When I was your age and going to PC rooms, we played Star, kid.”
“Well, then, I guess you wouldn’t know. Anyway, you pick a character and fight 5-on-5 in a computer Game. Age Throne is a mobile Game of the same genre.”
Yohan was impressed by Jeonghu’s explanation.
“Wow! My son really knows everything about Games, huh? I should’ve sent you to a Game Studies major. You’d probably get a scholarship or something.”
“Maybe so.”
“I wasn’t asking for your agreement, you brat. If you’ve got nothing to do, go pick up those thugs’ items. We need to appraise them and see if there’s anything useful.”
‘When will that kid ever grow up? I sent him to college and all he does is play Games.’
Forgetting his own past, Yohan clicked his tongue and looked at Juhui and her daughter.
He didn’t know where they’d been wandering all this time, but they looked like they’d been through hell, barely better than beggars.
“It’s dangerous out here. Why aren’t you at home?”
“I was actually going to my husband’s office to look for him. On the way, I ran into that gang I just fought. After that, they kept chasing me, so I kept running and fighting until I ended up like this.”
“Wow! Sounds like there were a lot of them. You took down more than just a few.”
“They called themselves the Bucheon Brothers Clan. Do you know them?”
Yohan clicked his tongue at the gang’s naming sense.
“How would I know a group like that?”
“I’m not sure if they always existed or if they just formed recently, but there were at least fifty people chasing me—not counting the ones I just dealt with.”
At that, Yohan’s expression grew more serious.
“That’s more than I expected. Are you just going to keep running like this?”
“I tried to use the military shelter, but they said it was full and wouldn’t let us in.”
“Typical government, huh.”
Yohan clicked his tongue at her words.
The government and the Army, who were supposed to protect the people, weren’t even trying their best. Instead, they just gathered a handful of people in one place and guarded them—it didn’t make sense.
“How about coming to our shelter instead?”
“Sejeong’s father’s shelter?”
“You remember the café, right? We remodeled it into a shelter for our family. It must be hard running around with Soyul. Living with us at the shelter might be better.”
“Would that… really be okay?”
Yohan smiled at her worried expression.
“People should help each other. And honestly, I’m interested in your power too. In times like this, the more strong people we have, the better.”
“Then… if you don’t mind, I’ll accept.”
Yohan nodded at her answer.
She might avoid using her power carelessly out of guilt, but even if it was just for five minutes, her overwhelming strength would be a huge help in protecting his family.
Of course, that wasn’t the only reason for taking her in, but he figured that bringing in trustworthy outsiders to strengthen the group when the family alone wasn’t enough was a good idea.
“Dad! I picked up all the items! Are you going to appraise them here?”
“We’ll go home first, then come back out. Looks like we’ve found a target.”
“A target?”
Yohan glanced at Juhui and spoke.
“Bucheon Brothers Clan.”
“Bucheon Brothers Clan? What a ridiculous name is that?”
“Exactly.”
Hearing their conversation, Juhui asked with wide eyes.
“A target?”
“This Game is a looting war. We’re going to hunt down bad guys and farm, just like with these items.”
“Ah…….”
Juhui’s expression darkened.
Seeing that, Yohan’s face grew stern as he spoke.
“Soyul’s mom, I understand feeling guilty and having doubts, but this is something we have to do. If we don’t, we’ll die.”
At Yohan’s words, Juhui unconsciously looked at Soyul.
Her only son, who had somehow come over from Jeonghu’s arms and was now holding her hand tightly, looked up at her.
If we don’t, we’ll die.
She remembered how heavy and painful her heart felt the first time she killed someone.
Her monstrous appearance as a witch, her blood-soaked hands, the countless corpses she’d created—she had even cried out in agony.
But thanks to that, she and Soyul had survived.
Now, though it was still hard and painful, she had even started luring the so-called Bucheon Brothers Clan to kill them on purpose.
Because otherwise, she would die.
After crossing the line of murder, could she really feel guilty about taking from others?
Suddenly, Juhui realized what a bundle of contradictions she was.
‘Right. If I don’t kill and take, I’ll die.’
“Rather than stealing from the weak like they do, it’s better to take from those bad guys and get stronger. That’s the better choice, isn’t it?”
Resolving herself, Juhui looked at Yohan.
Yohan looked back at her and forced a smile.
“That’s right. Even if it’s like this… let’s survive.”
They couldn’t die so meaninglessly.
‘Someday… someday’
It was no coincidence that the three of them, without thinking, looked up at the spaceship in the sky.
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