Novel Full 138 Leader and Leader
[Top Floor]
Huff. Huff. Huff.
Reaching the summit of the hotel after some odd minutes of running with his exhausted body, Korain burst through the stairwell doors, bashing through it with the shoulder of his singular arm while breathing heavily.
To his surprise, his eyes met with a figure he shouldn’t be seeing–
“Boss?” He said in confusion.
Dae-Seong was standing in the hall leading to his office, obviously having recently been awakened by the tired bags beneath his eyes as he placed his glasses on, looking up at the man who had just abrasively made his entrance.
“…Korain. What’s the situation down there? From the noise, I can assume…” Dae-Seong began to ask.
He only just noticed it then, but Ma-Ri, the vice leader of Gangcheori, was present as well, having been using the secondary office of the top floor as her place of work as well.
They both seemed ignorant of what was going on below–which made little sense to him.
“Huh? What’re you talking about? You’re the one who told me to come up and oversee the top floor!” Korain asked..
Dae-Seong raised an eyebrow, adjusting his white coat and straightening it out, “I have no idea what you mean, Korain. I just woke up a minute ago because of the rumbling–are you alright? What’s happened to your arm?!”
“What? No…That’s not…” He shook his head, utterly confused.
“I can attest to the fact he’s been here the whole time,” Ma-Ri added, “Korain, what happened? Something is going on within the building, isn’t there? An attack?”
It was then he began to realize something, gritting his teeth as he looked past what his eyes told him, and scouted the previous situation itself.
The exhaustion set into his body, paired with the afflictions he suffered, paired for an unsteady mind of his own.
…A trick? Deception? Was it…Baek-Hyeon?! He thought.
Remembering that sly smile from the lips of Baek-Hyeon, and the very fact that Dae-Seong was present here, it wasn’t difficult when thinking rationally that there was something else at play here.
This was a result of his experience; it wasn’t intelligence beyond that of the norm, but simply the callused mind of somebody who has survived Armageddon thus far.
“Speak your mind, Korain,” Dae-Seong asked of him, “Right now, your input is invaluable. I trust your judgment.”
“…I think–no!…We’re under attack!” he finally began to put it together, “–Going off of the nature of this attack, I believe it might be the GOETIA System users. This feels like something they’d pull. But…There’s something else, ” he paused for a moment, “Listen to me–I know you don’t want to hear this, but…I think Baek-Hyeon might have a hand in this.”
Silence followed his words as he looked down, knowing that it was unlikely that his words would truly carry the belief he felt in this revelation.
But, alas, Dae-Seong’s hand suddenly befell his shoulder softly–
“I see,” Dae-Seong said quietly, yet sternly, “…If that’s the case, there is nothing more to consider.”
“–” Korain held himself high.
“Makes sense,” Ma-Ri put her hand to her chin in thought, “The GOETIA users have always lurked in the shadows. It only feels right that they’d finally get the gall to strike during a bleak time like this.”
“You share my thoughts, Ma-Ri. I just wonder…if it’s “that” group. That Jun-Seo…I imagine he’s grown strong now–but, it matters not.”
“What makes you think Baek-Hyeon is a part of this, Korain?” Ma-Ri asked him, “That’s not a light accusation to make.”
“You’ve been here since the inception of Gangcheori–I trust your judgment as much as my own, Korain. So tell me what you believe fully, and nothing else,” Dae-Seong asked him as well.
Put like that, there was nothing else he could do but tell them as it was: he explained everything that happened; the invasion of the centipedes, Baek-Hyeon affirming he had orders from Dae-Seong for the others to bunker in the basement, the fact that Infernals waited in the basement, and the “false Dae-Seong” that seemed to work in Baek-Hyeon’s favor.
“I see…” Dae-Seong held a pained look in his eyes as he adjusted his glasses, “…That’s how it is, then.”
“Yeah,” he nodded, “–Just the thought of it now is making me seethe!”
“–“
“If it’s Gangcheori they’ve chosen to attack,” Dae-Seong adjusted his glasses before walking towards the stairwell door, with Ma-Ri following behind, “–Then it’s by Gangcheori’s hand that they will be felled. There will be no mercy for traitors.”
Those words traveled from the silver-haired, taut leader’s lips as an augury of his anger, stopping for a moment.
Just then, Dae-Seong used the back of his hand to strike the wall, breaking an unseen spell that had been wrapped around the walls in a stringy, violet glow–shattering and releasing into particles of mana afterwards.
As soon as it broke, the sounds of battle from the floors below could be heard.
“Boss!” Korain looked at him in delighted surprise.
Dae-Seong glanced back at him, “You’ve done well holding out so far. It seems there was a noise-canceling spell at work to try and prevent us from catching on to this invasion. Rest here and recover, Korain.”
However, something didn’t quite feel right; in the engulfing darkness that filled the corridor, it felt as if something amiss sat in that abyss.
“–Boss!!!”
Korain’s yell this time came out urgently, prompting Dae-Seong to finally begin to catch onto what laid amiss in the top floor, but–it was too late.
Emerging from the shadows, something moved with a sudden swiftness that surpassed their surprised reflexes, moving straight past the silver-haired man, launching towards the black-haired vice leader.
“Ma-Ri!” He called out urgently.
Too late.
By the time he swung his head around, he could already see the darkly-dressed figure having sent his fist right against the girl’s gut, slamming into it without a thundering force.
“–“
Ma-Ri’s consciousness immediately left her eyes as she began to fall over backward.
It was so sudden; the figure clad in an all-black, hooded coat that was covered by a large, crow-like cape that flowed from his back had seemingly emerged from the shadows themselves.
“You bastard–!!!” Korain screamed out in rage.
Without hesitation, the man with one arm rushed towards the crow-caped figure, holding his claymore up in a blind rage in an attempt to get revenge for Ma-Ri.
“No, you fool!” He yelled out to try and stop the man, but again–
Too late.
The dark figure moved swiftly and without wasted movement, entering the personal space of Korain in a blink before elbowing the man directly in his throw–siphoning his consciousness away without another moment having passed.
Korain’s burly body fell over onto the ground, no later than the unconscious vice leader’s, leaving just himself and the mysterious attacker from the shadows.
“…It’s just the two of us, then. That’s what you wanted, right…” He trailed his words, adjusting his glasses with a quiet rage, “…Jun-Seo?”
Even past the shadows that sat in the black-dressed man’s hood, he perfectly called out his name.
Lifting his hands, the enigmatic man gripped his fur-lined hood with his black-leather gloves, removing it as he revealed his head of well-kempt, burgundy hair, eyes of a malicious existence, and snow-white skin that was unseen by the sun.
“As astute as ever, Dae-Seong. I would be disappointed if you’d dwindled over time,” Jun-Seo finally replied, leaving his hand by his sheathed, bone-made sword.