Chapter 168

The black-clad men crashed in, and the giant at the head jerked his chin at the twins on the floor.

"These the ones?"

The father, gone ashen at the murderous aura, blurted out,

"Y-yes, that's them! Take the kids, as per the deal! A-and — don't lay a finger on any of the adults!"

The giant gave a curt nod and made a short gesture.

"Grab 'em."

The moment the order dropped, jet-black gloved hands reached toward the kids on the floor.

No…!

Teeth clenched, I yanked the Mana Pistol from my coat and squeezed the trigger.

The mana round flew — but a transparent curtain shimmered up right in front of the giant and flicked it aside like nothing.

"A Mana Pistol?"

He gave me an annoyed once-over and scowled.

"He's a pain. Put him down first."

At the order, the whole armed group rushed me at once.

A rain of merciless blows was an instant from landing —

Flash—!

Inside my coat, the Warding Jade Talisman shattered and unleashed a dazzling curtain of light.

Clang!

Clank, clang!

The blunt weapons about to come down on me bounced away, meeting nothing.

"What, he's got defensive gear on him too? Loaded, huh. Tch, forget it. Stop wasting time — grab the kids!"

Watching them turn back toward the kids, I shouted, voice full of fury.

"Where do you think you're—!"

I frantically brought my hand to my own wrist — to the rabbit bracelet in the exact same design as the kids', only black.

Without hesitation, I pressed both of the rabbit's eyes at the same time, hard.

Zzzzt—!!!

In that instant, Hajun's body — collapsed on the floor — turned translucent in a heartbeat, melted into the air, and vanished completely.

"W-what the hell?!"

"Insane! That's a space-teleportation artifact! He put something that pricey on a kid?!"

While the armed men were stunned and scrambling, I whipped my head around toward Hayun.

But unlike Hajun, Hayun stayed right where she was.

Damn it…!

Only then did it hit me — in the earlier scuffle with the woman, Hayun's bracelet had snapped off and gone rolling across the floor.

"The girl's still here! They're both Awakened — grab at least one, fast!"

Reading the situation, the men surged at Hayun in a flash, eyes gleaming.

"No! Hayun!!"

I threw myself at them like a madman.

But the Warding Jade Talisman only deflected direct blows — it did nothing against them just grabbing hold of me and dragging me down.

They pinned me roughly to the floor and pulled out thick rope.

"Ngh! Let go! Let go of me, now!"

"Hold still. Not a shred of strength on you."

"Th-that man — that man mustn't be hurt, no matter what!"

With the father's ashen, panicked shouting as backdrop, they had me trussed up tight in an instant.

Meanwhile, another man hoisted Hayun over his shoulder rough, like a piece of luggage.

"Direektuh!!! Waaah, Direektuh!!!!"

Hayun's desperate cries — thrashing midair, terrified — filled the café.

Maddening self-loathing and something close to murderous rage blazed through me.

"Hayun!! Number Three!! Where's Number Three?!"

I whipped my head around, searching — but Kang Taemin, probably because of that unidentified device the man had pulled out earlier, was already out cold on the floor.

"Hayun!!! Hayun…!!!!"

Rage was about to boil up hard enough to turn my vision red — and just at that moment —

"Uughh…!"

A horrific pain slammed through me, as if a knife were being driven into my stomach without mercy.

My breath caught, my vision — pushed to the limit — began flickering violently.

With my child's cries fading away as the last thing I heard, I sank, helpless, into a bottomless dark.

"Director."

Somewhere in the deep dark, at a low voice that seemed to reach me from far away, I forced my eyelids up.

The café — a wreck, like it had been bombed.

Kang Taemin — rope still in his hand as if he'd just cut me free — was watching me, face hard.

I snapped to and stood up, scanning around — but Hayun was nowhere to be seen.

Hajun I'd sent to safety with the space-teleportation artifact — but Hayun had, in the end, been dragged off by them.

"Damn it!!"

Slam—!

I hammered the floor hard enough to draw blood. Bone-deep regret and self-loathing crashed over me like a tidal wave.

I never really thought they'd sell their own child off…

Trusting the paltry conscience of the so-called parents had been a bitter miscalculation. The dossier on the twins' parents I'd had Lee Jinwoo dig up flashed through my mind. Cornered at the edge of a cliff by a failed pyramid-scheme business — and yet a grotesquely lavish lifestyle. Watching that contradiction, I'd felt an ominous prickle.

In the underworld, Awakened go for whatever price you name — a minor with limitless potential, even more so… but surely not…?

Of course, in case the worst happened, I'd doubled up — put both a location tracker and a costly space-teleportation artifact on them. But that Hayun's artifact would snap off and fall in the middle of a rough scuffle — that I hadn't accounted for. In the end, my complacency had shoved the child straight into a death trap.

Just as I was flailing in a bottomless swamp of self-loathing —

"Director."

Kang Taemin's low, solid voice hit my ear. That steady tone snapped me back.

Smack—!

Without hesitation I raised my hand and slapped my own cheek, hard. I could feel Kang Taemin's shoulders twitch at the sudden sharp sound beside me, but I had no room to spare for that.

…Snap out of it. This isn't the time to fall apart.

Thankfully, it wasn't over. By some blessing, one "last line of defense" — hidden away against the worst — was still in play.

Please. Please…

Praying with everything I had that that last line was holding up its end, I shoved off the ground and stood.

"Number Three! With me!"

I stormed out of the wrecked café, shouting sharp. From here on, every minute, every second was a blood-draining fight.

Hnnghh… sho shcared…

Blindfolded and hauled off somewhere, Hayun trembled and curled up tighter.

Where am I… did everyone come out okay? Did our Hajuni get away shafely? The Direektuh looked like he wash hurting sho bad… hnngh, I wanna shee the Direektuh…

Fear finally squeezed a few tears out despite her, but Hayun shook her head hard.

She'd hold the bad thoughts down and think only good ones — she decided.

No! It'sh a good thing I'm the one here and not Hajuni! I'm the big shishter, so I can handle thish much shcary shtuff!

She swore it firmly to herself — but she couldn't fully wipe out the small, mushroom-soft anxiety welling up in a corner of her tiny heart.

To make matters worse, thanks to the familiar mana restraint clamped around her neck, Hayun didn't have the strength to lift so much as a finger.

Sluump—. As her heavy body was about to well up with tears again —

"Kid awake? Go check."

At rough footsteps and men's voices, Hayun quickly squeezed her eyes shut.

Creak—.

"Still out. But… why does her face look so familiar? Like I've seen her somewhere."

One of the men who'd come close stared down at Hayun's silver hair and muttered, puzzled.

"Hey, when the guys downstairs brought her in, was she alone? No twin or anything with her?"

"How the hell would I know what the grunts scooped up? Why?"

"Bosses put out a bulletin a while back — kids we're supposed to leave alone under any circumstances. Pretty sure a set of silver-haired twins was on it."

"This one's alone, not twins. Even if she is the one, we just move her before the higher-ups catch on, that's all. She's going overseas anyway — no way they'll find her."

Hayun hid the pounding of her heart and, holding her breath, strained after every word.

"So — where's the destination this time?"

"Some island country, apparently. A big Gate breach went off there a few days ago, whole place is a mess. Word is they're desperate for Awakened to shove into Gates immediately."

"A little kid like this? Total meat shield."

"Eh, we hand the goods over and pocket the cash, that's it. Even after the parents' commission, it's a nice margin. Supply's low these days, so prices are way up."

The man snickered nastily and flashed a greedy smile.

"Ship leaves tonight, right?"

"Yeah. We meet at District Seven's port, so we roll out in about an hour."

Soon the iron door slammed shut with a bang and the men's footsteps faded.

In the deep dark that returned, Hayun — having caught every word of the skin-crawling exchange — clenched her small, trembling hands tight.

Meat shield? Commissiion?

The unfamiliar words spun dizzily through Hayun's little head.

She didn't know exactly what they meant, but instinctively, she could tell they didn't mean anything good.

And on top of that —

Time left… one hour.

From the men's talk, it was clear — exactly one hour from now, she'd be hauled off to somewhere far, far across the sea.

The tick of an invisible clock hand seemed to drum at her ears.

What do I do…

Body trembling with fear — that was when it happened.

Ripple—.

The dark shadow at her feet started rippling, eerie.

"!"

At the familiar motion Hayun's eyes went round — and out of the gaping crack in the shadow, a face she'd been overjoyed to see rose up.

"Opp—!"

Just as she was about to shout in her joy, without thinking —

Whip—!

A shadow shot out and clamped over Hayun's small mouth.

It was Sihyeok.

He put a finger to his lips in warning, and Hayun hurriedly clamped both hands over her own mouth and nodded hard.

Only then did Sihyeok start controlling the shadow at her feet.

A shadow slid out from his fingertips like a living snake, and neat, clear writing rose across the floor.

[Anywhere hurt?]

Fighting back tears welling up, Hayun shook her head bravely.

Confirming Hayun was safe, Sihyeok's shadow slipped stealthily this time into the mana restraint clamped around her neck.

Click.

Along with a faint metallic sound, the firmly locked restraint gave way.

To avoid suspicion, Sihyeok — meticulous — didn't take the restraint off completely; he left it balanced precariously on Hayun's neck.

A moment later, the deep dark rippled and swallowed Hayun whole.

"Oppaaa!"

The instant she was inside the cool, cozy space, Hayun let out the tears she'd been holding and threw herself into Sihyeok's arms.

Sihyeok, for his part, held Hayun's small, trembling back tight in return.

"…That was scary, huh."

"Whaaah!! It wash really shcary. I couldn't even ushe my power!!"

After sobbing pitifully in Sihyeok's arms for a good while, Hayun seemed to settle down. Face far more at ease now, she whispered in a tiny voice.

"Oppa, how're we gonna get out? I wanna get out… let's run away, hurry! Yeah?"

Sihyeok, wordless, shook his head.

"…The building's too big."

He could carry another person hidden inside his shadow for maybe ten minutes at best.

Hayun knew the limits of his power too, so all she could do was nod, dejected.

"Then… can't we jusht fight, jusht us two?"

Sihyeok shook his head firmly again.

"…Hajun isn't with us."

At that, as if hit right at the vital point, Hayun flinched and hunched her shoulders.

"Oppa, actually…"

Just as Hayun's lips were moving cautiously — about to say something —

Sihyeok abruptly raised his hand and covered her mouth.

"…Someone's coming."

Before that short whisper had even finished, the shadow space flipped.

Spat out onto the hard warehouse floor in a heartbeat, Hayun heard the heavy iron door swinging open near her ear.

Clank—!

Reflexively, Hayun squeezed her eyes shut and held her breath, still as death.

Then came the sound of men — deeply flustered.

"Y-you'd come out to a shabby place like this in person…! Wh-what brings you here…?!"

But no answer came back.

Eyes clamped shut, Hayun tilted her head internally.

Huh? I didn't hear anyone anshwer, though?

"A-ah — leave, you say? Y-yes! Understood! If you need anything, please call anytime!"

Along with the scuttle of scraping bows, the men filed out in a rush, and the iron door shut again.

Deep silence settled over the warehouse again.

Can I open my eyes now? Hayun was just wondering —

When abruptly, a large, solid hand came near and lifted Hayun's small body clear off the ground.

"Hic!"

Clunk—.

At the rough motion, the restraint balanced precariously on her neck dropped limp to the floor, and Hayun's startled eyes flew open before she could stop them.

And what met her — a jet-black mask covering the lower half of a face, and above it, blood-red eyes glittering.

…!!

Gripped by heart-stopping terror, Hayun couldn't even scream — her mouth only fell open.

Those cold red eyes looked down at Hayun steadily, then without hesitation plunged a hand straight into the shadow cast on the floor beneath her.

Splash—!

The hand that had dived into the black shadow — as if into deep water — clamped hold of something by the scruff of the neck and hauled it up into the air, merciless.

"Kkh…!"

It was Sihyeok, who'd been perfectly blended into the shadow.

And even on Sihyeok's face — hauled helplessly out by the unknown figure — sat a shock unlike anything he'd shown before.