Chapter 63

EP.63 Sehwa in Distress #3

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Sehwa, who had left Seunghyun behind, was on her way to Syria in the doctor’s fighter jet.

“Jihyuk… took the portal?”

“Yeah. The portal at your house was activated. The destination is Syria.”

“Wh-why? Why did he go to Syria alone?”

“That’s what we need to find out. Syria is dangerous right now due to the civil war. If something goes wrong…”

Though the doctor trailed off, Sehwa knew exactly what she was trying to say.

If something went wrong, Jihyuk could be in serious danger.

That’s what the doctor was implying.

Sehwa bit her lower lip.

Her face turned red, her hands and feet trembled, and she couldn’t stay still.

Seeing this, the doctor tried to calm her down.

“He’s someone who takes care of himself well. It might not be as bad as you think.”

“I… I should take the portal now…”

“No, don’t do that.”

“What are you saying to me…!”

Sehwa was about to yell but stopped herself.

The doctor looked at her with a surprised expression.

“I-I’m sorry…”

The doctor sighed lightly at Sehwa’s apology and said,

“I understand your concern for Song. But if Song took the portal without telling me or you… there must be a reason. He wouldn’t act recklessly if his life was in danger, right?”

“Yeah… that’s true…”

“Take a look at this first.”

The doctor manipulated the monitor to show the camera near the portal.

Footage from a few hours ago.

Sehwa saw Jihyuk appear with a flash of light, vomiting violently.

Fortunately, there was no one near the portal.

Given that Syria is a poor country in the midst of a civil war, there were no defense forces, and the barrier around the portal prevented ordinary people from approaching… it made sense.

After vomiting, Jihyuk looked around and then walked away.

His back looked exactly like that of an Islamic follower, as if he had prepared the clothes in advance.

Jihyuk soon disappeared from the camera’s view with unsteady steps.

Sehwa asked,

“Can we track him?”

“All I know is that he’s in Quneitra now. We need to attach a tracker or something…”

“What kind of place is that?”

“It used to be a military stronghold… but now almost no one lives there.”

“Then why would he…”

“I told you. We need to find out. We’re almost there, so put this on.”

The doctor pointed to a niqab and abaya.

Since it’s a dangerous place, someone like Sehwa would be an easy target if she showed her face.

It was better to cover her face and body tightly rather than waste Device energy unnecessarily.

“Okay… what about you?”

“I’ll wear it too…”

Beep!

[A message from Song Jihyuk has arrived.]

Both of their heads turned sharply to the monitor.

The doctor hurriedly opened the message.

[Doctor. Are you listening? I made a mistake… damn it…!]

Bang!

Along with Jihyuk’s urgent voice, the sound of gunfire was heard.

Sehwa’s heart sank.

The doctor was equally tense, thinking they might lose a valuable comrade.

[I was too careless…! Come immediately when you hear this message. Quneitra, Syria, longitude 33.12778, latitude 35.82905… damn it! Get lost!]

Bang!

More gunfire followed by swearing.

Then…

[Argh!]

Jihyuk’s scream and a crackling noise were heard before the message cut off.

Sehwa brought her hands to her mouth.

“No… no…! No…!”

She was on the verge of tears.

The doctor urgently said,

“Sehwa, calm down. First, mark the coordinates on the Device…”

“Hurry… hurry…!”

As Sehwa urged, the doctor nodded and was about to send the coordinates when…

Boom!!

An explosion occurred on the left wing of the fighter jet.

“Ahhh!”

“Ahh!”

The plane suddenly lurched violently due to the massive impact.

Fortunately, both of them were unharmed as they tightly held onto their seatbelts… but they couldn’t stop the plane from crashing.

“Oh no…! The stick isn’t responding…”

Crash!

The fighter jet tumbled ungracefully onto the sand.

The doctor, who had suffered a major impact, didn’t even care about the blood dripping from her head as she struggled to unbuckle her seatbelt and approached Sehwa, who had lost consciousness.

She then moved Sehwa’s arm and tapped the Device twice.

Whoosh!

Sehwa’s body surged up, tearing off the seatbelt and breaking through the cockpit, transforming into Leona.

As if regaining consciousness, she blinked her eyes and quickly descended to the doctor.

“Doctor…! I’ll take you to a safe place…!”

“I’m fine, go to Song first…! I just sent the coordinates…”

“But we were attacked!”

“The detector shows the attack came from very far away… I have enough time to get out… Besides, if Song is speaking so urgently… it means the situation isn’t good, right?”

She was right.

Jihyuk always remained calm even when fighting demons.

“I’m sorry… I’m sorry, Doctor!”

Leona apologized to the doctor and then…

Whoosh!

Kicked the air with all her might, launching herself toward the coordinates marked on the Device.

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Someone once said.

Human greed knows no bounds.

The human experiments happening in Quneitra, Syria, where I am now, were a result of that greed.

“Arghhhh!”

The scream of an innocent human strapped to the experiment table in front of me was horrifying.

Due to the injection of strange cells by terrorist researchers, his entire body bubbled and boiled like foam, soon oozing pus and beginning to melt.

These strange cells were from demons.

To be precise, they were dead cells extracted from the corpses of demons that had been smuggled after being killed by Leona and various military forces.

They were using these cells to create chimera-like experimental subjects.

I had intentionally gotten myself captured here.

“Ahhh… pl-please…!”

Sizzle!

Smoke began to rise from the human’s body.

Demon blood is incompatible with humans. So just give up on life.

I’ll take care of the bastard who did this to you.

The human, struggling against his restraints, soon melted away without a trace, emitting a foul stench.

Only I and Marcella knew about this place, and we hadn’t intervened yet.

Which means, these experiments were the work of a terrorist group.

A heinous act that ordinary people couldn’t even imagine, violating all human ethics.

And they were doing it without batting an eye.

The researcher, who had roughly cleaned the experiment table with water from a hose, ordered his subordinates to drag me over.

The researcher, who had been examining my face closely, looked intrigued.

“An Asian. Asia was where the monsters first appeared, right?”

The researcher spoke in fluent English.

He looked like a local, enough to rival a Muslim… no, let’s not discriminate.

Everyone will be equally decapitated.

By whom? The Beast Slayers.

Seeing my calm expression, the researcher frowned, displeased.

“Since you’re an Asian, which we don’t see often here, I’ll give you a special gift. It’s the cells of the horse-headed monster that appeared in Korea. Try to endure it. I heard you put up a big fight when you were captured, so you seem quite lively… you should last quite a while, right?”

Cells from Amducias, huh.

It’s an old demon, and they smuggled its corpse… I’ll give them credit for that.

By the way, why is Leona so late?

If this keeps up, I’ll have to use my power… Did Marcella attack the fighter jet from too far away?

Whoosh!

Ah, I hear the sound of air being torn from afar.

Leona’s coming. Now I can just stay still.

Just as the researcher was tilting his head at the line drawn in my eyes…

Boom! Crash!

A tremendous noise came from above, and the ceiling shattered into pieces, falling down.

The researcher was crushed under the debris without even a groan.

I don’t know if he’s dead or alive, but whatever, you’re all going to die here anyway, so don’t worry about it.

Leona, who had performed a superhero landing from above, approached me and untied my restraints.

With a clattering sound, the sturdy restraints broke like brittle noodles.

Leona then cut the gag in my mouth.

“Gasp! Huff…”

I exhaled the breath I had been holding and panted for a moment before looking at Leona.

“Leona…!”

She was crying.

With a face full of worry for me. She even looked resentful.

“You idiot…! Why did you come to such a dangerous place alone…? Are you hurt…? Anywhere?”

Leona spoke in a trembling voice.

As I stepped back and bumped into the wall, I sighed.

Then Leona yelled.

“I asked if you’re hurt anywhere!?”

“I’m fine… I was almost dead, but you saved me. Huff… I came to investigate after getting information about a suspicious group related to demons…”

“Is this why you sent me to Seunghyun…? To move alone?”

“I just came to check… but I got caught…”

Bang!

As I was making excuses, the laboratory door opened, and terrorists with weapons came in, shouting something.

The moment their gun barrels pointed at me, Leona moved and began to crush them all.

Crunch! Crack!

The brutal sounds of bones breaking and flesh tearing as the terrorists fell helplessly.

Seeing her take them down without mercy, it seemed she wouldn’t show any kindness to those who captured me.

As I moved my aching body and stepped into the hallway, nearly fifty terrorists were all knocked out.

Some of them had limbs twisted in bizarre ways.

With all the non-combatants also unconscious, Leona released her transformation.

Then she walked over to me and…

Thud!

She hit my shoulder hard, just like at the Jeju hotel.

“You…”

Thud!

“Bad…!”

Thud!

“Bastard…!”

A triple hit, nice.

I let out a tired sigh and hugged Sehwa tightly.

“Waaahhh!”

Then Sehwa burst into tears.

Doctor, I’m going to start working now, so come as late as possible.

I patted her back and picked up a weapon lying at my feet.

Sehwa wiped her eyes and looked up at me.

Her eyes asked what I was going to do with it.

Without a word, I took Sehwa’s hand and tapped the Device.

Whoosh!

Leona, transformed again, looked puzzled at my serious expression.

“Why…? What’s wrong…? Is there more?”

I silently walked past Leona, opened the intact laboratory door, and gestured for her to look.

She turned her head to look inside the laboratory and, after a moment,

“…. Wh-what is this…”

She was utterly shocked.

To be continued―――――――――――――――――――――

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