Chapter 89
A look of urgency appeared on Kim Jaekyung’s face.
Her ability was mental attack.
Aside from the C-grade skills Subjugation and Brainwashing, she had no other means of attack.
Even so, she had never thought it was lacking.
Until now, there had never been anyone she couldn’t subjugate if she set her mind to it, nor anyone she couldn’t brainwash.
At least, not in Dongdaemun.
Because of that, even as she entered Sinchon, she was confident she could subjugate Zeon in an instant.
But for some reason, her skills didn’t work on him.
“Ugh! Subjugation!”
She activated her skill once more.
Zeon simply stared at Kim Jaekyung.
As expected, a massive backlash struck her.
“Aaaagh!”
Overwhelmed by intense pain, Kim Jaekyung clutched her head and screamed.
It was her first time encountering someone immune to her mental attacks.
Because of that, she fell into panic instead.
Fear filled her eyes.
The way Zeon looked down at her felt terrifying.
I need to get out of here…
Kim Jaekyung gave an order to the customers at the stall.
“Everyone, attack him.”
In an instant, the men’s expressions changed, and they rushed at Zeon.
“Die!”
“Haaah!”
They weren’t Awakeners.
Yet they attacked Zeon without a trace of fear.
Because they had already been brainwashed.
The moment they approached Kim Jaekyung and tried to flirt with her, they had already fallen under her control.
“Tch!”
Clicking his tongue, Zeon swung his fist.
Thud! Thud! Thud!
There was no need to use a skill.
With just three punches, all three men were knocked down.
By the time Zeon turned around after taking them down, Kim Jaekyung had already disappeared.
She had escaped by using them as sacrifices.
“I can’t just let you go.”
Regardless of the reason, she had tried to brainwash him.
Awakeners who could interfere with and manipulate another’s mind were extremely rare.
It was only because Zeon’s mental strength was firm—if it had been even slightly weaker, he would have been brainwashed and forced to obey her commands.
In some ways, a C-grade Awakener capable of mental manipulation was more terrifying than a B-grade combat-type Awakener.
He couldn’t let someone like that walk away so easily.
She had to pay the price for targeting him.
Zeon dashed in the direction she had fled.
Her escape route was obvious.
She’ll head to Dongdaemun.
Before the Great Cataclysm, areas like Jongno and Euljiro had existed between Sinchon and Dongdaemun.
But those places no longer existed.
They had disappeared along with the fall of Seoul.
Now, only sprawling slums filled the area.
Unlike Sinchon or Dongdaemun, the lack of a dominant power made the place even more rundown and chaotic.
Kim Jaekyung used that to her advantage.
“Hmph! No matter how fast he is, once he enters here, he’ll get lost.”
On the other hand, she knew the terrain like the back of her hand.
She sprinted through the maze-like slums at high speed.
In the distance, she saw a tall spire.
It was the church—the symbol of Dongdaemun.
“I made it.”
The moment a look of relief spread across her face—
Thud!
Someone tripped her from the front.
Maintaining her running speed, she tumbled across the ground.
After rolling several times and crashing into a wall, she shook her head and stood up.
“What bastard—”
As she lifted her head to find the culprit, her eyes widened.
The man who had tripped her at the crucial moment…
…was Zeon.
“H-how…?”
“You should train your physical abilities too. Being that slow, how do you expect to make it to Dongdaemun?”
“Damn it!”
Kim Jaekyung sprang up in a frenzy.
She hurriedly looked around, about to use her skill on the nearby people—
“Tch. You shouldn’t do that.”
Zeon moved first.
Thud!
His strike landed squarely on her abdomen.
Without even being able to scream, Kim Jaekyung was sent flying backward.
The impact felt as if a hole had been punched through her stomach, and she couldn’t get up for a while.
Damn it!
Tears and snot streaming down her face, she glared at Zeon.
He didn’t go easy on her just because she was a woman.
Before being a woman, she was an Awakener.
And Zeon knew better than anyone that you couldn’t deal with an Awakener half-heartedly.
Kim Jaekyung raised her hand to stop his approach.
“W-wait! Let’s talk.”
“Talk…?”
“Why are you being so petty? Let’s resolve this through conversation.”
“Conversation with someone who tried to brainwash me? That doesn’t sound like a wise choice.”
“That was my mistake. I’ll apologize like this. I just got greedy because I wanted you so badly. Since it’s come to this, I’ll be honest. Let’s join hands with Dongdaemun. It’ll be good for you too.”
“What’s good about it?”
“I’ll acknowledge you as the ruler of Sinchon.”
“I don’t need that. Why would I bother with something so troublesome…?”
“Th-then what about me? I’ll assist you. I’ll do anything you want.”
In the end, Kim Jaekyung pulled out her final card.
There was no fool who wouldn’t understand what it meant when a woman said she would do anything a man wanted.
At first glance, Kim Jaekyung looked plain, but upon closer inspection, she possessed a subtle, unusual beauty.
Any man would inevitably be captivated by her appearance.
She believed Zeon would also find her offer appealing.
But his reply plunged her into despair.
“Even so, you’re just one of Johan’s fanatics. I don’t need fanatics.”
“Aah!”
Keeping a fanatic around would only become exhausting.
Zeon had no desire to deal with that kind of mental fatigue. It was cleaner to just end things here.
Whoosh!
Flames flickered from the Superheated Gauntlet, and Kim Jaekyung’s eyes widened.
“No!”
Zeon swung his fist without hesitation.
Intense flames engulfed her in an instant.
Kim Jaekyung couldn’t even react—she simply shut her eyes tight.
This is the end.
Boom!
At that moment, a miracle occurred.
Just before the flames could consume her, someone intervened and blocked them.
The figure wore a red hat, a crimson priest’s robe, and a mask that covered even the nose.
An eerie presence whose gender was impossible to discern.
Kim Jaekyung shouted,
“Joshua?”
The one called Joshua grabbed her and leapt toward Dongdaemun.
His speed was like a flash of lightning.
In an instant, he vanished from Zeon’s sight.
Joshua the Inquisitor.
Another blade wielded by Johan.
He was also known as Joshua of Swiftness.
When it came to speed alone, no one in Neo Seoul could match him.
“Tch!”
Zeon clicked his tongue.
It wasn’t that he couldn’t chase them—but doing so would mean crossing into Dongdaemun.
And that would mark the beginning of a real war.
“A war with fanatics… no thanks.”
Even Zeon was reluctant to start a war with fanatics.
Because once it began, it wouldn’t end halfway.
It would only end after killing every last person loyal to Johan.
There was no telling how many that was.
Even if only half of Dongdaemun’s population were loyal to Johan, that would still amount to tens of thousands.
No matter how strong Zeon was, he couldn’t kill them all.
Not because he lacked ability—but because he still retained his humanity.
“Tch!”
Clicking his tongue again, Zeon turned away.
There was some regret, but this alone would be enough of a warning to Johan.
If they provoked him again, he would deal with it then.
Thinking that, Zeon began walking.
His steps back home were not light.
＊＊＊
“Put me down!”
At Kim Jaekyung’s words, Joshua stopped and set her down.
She bent forward, hands on her knees.
“Haa… haa… I thought I was going to die.”
Her face was flushed red, and her heart pounded wildly.
Thanks to Joshua, she had barely escaped with her life—but the sense of danger she had felt moments ago was unlike anything she had ever experienced.
Even recalling it now made her heart race and her stomach churn.
In fact, she collapsed to the ground and dry-heaved for a while.
Joshua watched her silently.
Only after some time passed did Kim Jaekyung straighten up.
Wiping her mouth with her sleeve, she said,
“I’m okay. Thanks… for helping me.”
“Being alive is a miracle.”
Joshua spoke for the first time.
Unlike his androgynous appearance, his voice was rough and metallic.
Joshua was a man.
Kim Jaekyung asked,
“Even you had trouble handling him?”
Instead of answering, Joshua raised his sleeve.
It was half-burned.
Kim Jaekyung’s eyes widened.
The priest’s robe Joshua wore was a specially crafted item.
It was a rare piece with strong resistance to fire and water.
Yet it had been damaged.
That alone proved how powerful Zeon’s attack was.
Joshua spoke,
“He’s at least a B-grade Awakener.”
“Then it makes sense my skills didn’t work on him.”
The difference was only one rank—but the gap in power was like heaven and earth.
There was a reason Awakeners risked their lives to raise their rank.
But ranking up was never easy.
Some spent their entire lives trying and never progressed.
Kim Jaekyung was no different.
She had awakened at a relatively high rank, so she never felt the need to risk her life to climb higher.
Because of that, she had remained stagnant.
She clenched her teeth, suppressing her anger.
Joshua suddenly looked back.
Toward where Zeon had been.
But he was already gone.
“He has good judgment.”
“What do you mean?”
“Great skill, and cold decision-making. Not an easy opponent.”
“You too?”
“When I blocked his attack, I took a heavy impact. If I faced him head-on, even I wouldn’t handle it easily.”
“That much?”
“That’s why he took down Goran and claimed Sinchon. If we go to war with him in our current state, we’ll suffer heavy losses.”
“Then what are we supposed to do?”
“Persuade Lord Johan.”
“What?”
Kim Jaekyung looked at him in disbelief.
It was the first time she had seen Joshua show such weakness.
Joshua was an Inquisitor.
His role was to eliminate those in Dongdaemun who did not believe in Johan.
That required immense strength and an unyielding will.
He had never once regretted a mission.
Which made his words now hard to believe.
“If you can’t persuade Lord Johan, then we must commit all our forces and eliminate him. He’s not someone you can handle half-heartedly.”
“…!”
“Whatever choice you make, it’s up to you.”
“Fuck!”
Instead of answering, Kim Jaekyung cursed.