Clink, clink!
Thanks to the violent movement, the sound of chains clashing echoed loudly through the otherwise quiet space. The metallic noise grated on Han So-young’s ears so harshly that she bit her lips until they bled.
Until now, she hadn’t heard a single groan from the man. The only sounds were the relentless clinking of chains and the occasional sobbing moans of a woman.
If she focused on what was most disturbing, it wasn’t the chains but the woman’s pained cries that got under her skin. Still, Han So-young didn’t open her eyes.
Because the man had begged her not to look. And she had felt the desperate emotion behind that plea.
Truthfully, she wanted to rush over right then and there. To hold him tightly and whisper that everything would be okay, that he shouldn’t push himself.
But with her wrists bound tightly, she couldn’t move. And even if she tried, she doubted Lilith would react. Worse, if she acted rashly, the man’s sacrifice might be for nothing.
In the end, there was nothing Han So-young could do. She wished she could block not just her eyes but her ears too—shut out every sense. But her heightened perception was relentless, flooding her with information she wished she didn’t have.
So she gritted her teeth and endured alone in that room for what felt like an eternity. Then, suddenly—
“Ugh… uuhhh…”
The woman’s sobbing shifted abruptly into full-blown crying.
Clink, clink!
The chains kept rattling.
Instead of fading, the noise grew louder and more intense with time. The woman’s cries were soon drowned out by the clanging chains, but a creeping sense of unease took hold. It was a deeply ominous feeling.
Han So-young hesitated briefly, but her moment of doubt didn’t last long.
She forced her eyes open slowly.
“…”
The first thing she saw was a dark, hunched figure about a meter away.
Her vision was blurry from how long she’d kept her eyes shut. The air was thick and hot, heavy with the scent of night-blooming flowers. She struggled to clear her sight, and gradually, the room sharpened into focus.
When she finally recognized the figure, Han So-young couldn’t believe her eyes.
It took longer than expected to be sure it was Lilith. The great demon queen who had once boasted of her power was nowhere to be seen. Instead, there was only a pitiful woman, soaked in tears, snot, and semen.
Her eyes were rolled back so far it was impossible to tell where she was looking. Her limbs twitched like a broken puppet’s. She looked drunk or drugged, but every so often she shook her head weakly, as if begging for it to stop, pleading for her life. It was a scene utterly at odds with the confident Lilith who had first appeared.
Above Lilith, someone had their back turned, moving their hips mechanically.
“Ah…!”
When Han So-young caught sight of Kim Soo-hyun, she couldn’t help but let out a breathless sigh.
His head was bowed low, pressing down on the collapsed Lilith as if to crush her. From the start until now, he hadn’t stopped once, seeming completely absorbed in what he was doing.
On the surface, yes.
“Mer… mercenary…”
But Han So-young—Han So-young alone—felt differently.
What she saw between the two wasn’t jealousy. Not even pity. It was no longer something that could be called sex. At least, not when it came to Kim Soo-hyun.
More precisely, the emotion spreading across Han So-young’s face was closer to fear.
How to put it?
Sadness turned to pain,
Pain to resignation,
Resignation to despair,
Despair to self-loathing,
Self-loathing to madness,
Madness to emptiness…
All these negative emotions overflowed inside Kim Soo-hyun. In that unfathomable sea of feelings, Han So-young suddenly sensed his collapse. Something he had barely held together was crumbling, moment by moment. So utterly, so hopelessly.
If this act ended and those emotions spilled out, what would become of Kim Soo-hyun?
The moment she realized this—
“Mercenary Lord!”
For the first time, Han So-young shouted instinctively. More than anything, she just wanted it to stop.
“Mercenary Lord! Mercenary Lord!”
“User, User Kim Soo-hyun!”
“Kim Soo-hyun!”
“…Hey!”
Her urgency made her slip into informal speech without thinking.
But maybe that was what it took.
After calling out repeatedly, her voice finally reached him. The constant movement of his hips faltered.
Yet his mind seemed elsewhere. Kim Soo-hyun looked around with an expressionless face. His cold, sunken eyes radiated a chilling emptiness that sent shivers down the spine.
“Stop… please, just stop…”
When she spoke in a pleading voice, a flicker of confusion crossed his face. When he finally turned to look at Han So-young, his dazed expression was half vacant, as if his mind had briefly returned from the brink.
“I-Istantel…”
He muttered, as if unsure of what he’d done.
But Han So-young ignored understanding and shook her head frantically. Above all, the tears welling in her eyes for the second time struck Kim Soo-hyun deeply.
“Huh… huhhh…”
As Kim Soo-hyun slowly came back to himself, Lilith, still sobbing uncontrollably, instinctively flailed her hands and moved her body. She barely lifted her upper body and began to crawl away. With Kim Soo-hyun’s actions stopped, her body reacted on its own—she had to escape, she couldn’t endure any longer.
She stumbled weakly several times on the way, and the sight of clumps of semen dripping from her, tracing thin lines on the floor, was pitiful beyond words. Yet her will to live remained, and she crawled desperately until she disappeared from sight.
Left alone again, the clinking noise ceased, and silence reclaimed the room.
Han So-young took a deep breath to steady herself.
“Mercenary Lord.”
Exhaling roughly, she looked at Kim Soo-hyun with a face that was hard to read—half smile, half tears.
“I-I…”
Kim Soo-hyun stammered.
“It’s okay. It’s all over now. It’s okay.”
Han So-young repeated the words as if to calm him, but Kim Soo-hyun’s face remained confused, as if he didn’t know what to do next.
Truthfully, Han So-young felt the same. She was led by emotion, not reason.
Not knowing what to do, she just spoke whatever came to mind.
“Could you… come closer to me?”
“Y-yes?”
“Please, come this way.”
“…”
Kim Soo-hyun trembled, uncharacteristically anxious, but Han So-young’s voice carried an undeniable desperation.
Though his wrists were still chained, the restraints were much looser than before. Lilith had stretched them out to make movement easier. Not enough to roam the room, but enough to reach Han So-young.
Hesitantly, he approached. Han So-young quickly brought her knees together, as if inviting him to lie down.
Maybe emboldened by that, or still dazed, or simply wanting to lean on someone, Kim Soo-hyun paused briefly, then rested his head on her thigh. He let out a long-held sigh.
“…Thank you. And I’m sorry.”
Han So-young knew that if Kim Soo-hyun hadn’t obeyed Lilith’s words, he might have been the one suffering. His gratitude was sincere, but he didn’t respond for a long time. He just curled up quietly, eyes closed, resting on her thigh.
The only change was that the ring on his finger, which had been glowing brighter than ever, began to dim slowly.
In the awkward silence, Han So-young opened her mouth countless times. For the first time, she truly resented herself. She wanted to say something comforting, but her mind was a complete mess. She’d never been good at offering solace, so it was no wonder she was at a loss for words.
If only she could hold him.
At that moment—
“…Clan Lord.”
Kim Soo-hyun, whom she thought was asleep, suddenly spoke.
“Yes.”
Han So-young answered reflexively, feeling two emotions at once.
Relief. His voice was calmer, as if his excitement had finally settled.
But also a strange sense of déjà vu. He always called her Istantel Low Lord, but now he said Clan Lord. It felt odd. And somehow, she felt like she’d been through something like this before.
“A long time ago,” Kim Soo-hyun continued, eyes closed, unfazed.
“Long ago… maybe about fifteen years ago.”
“Fifteen years ago?”
“Yes. I’m currently in my fifth year, so it must have been around then.”
“……”
In that moment, Han So-young fell into a quiet silence.
“There was a man in the modern era. He was a soldier. After completing two years of military service, having finished all the discharge paperwork, he boarded a train home feeling a bit adrift.”
It felt somewhat out of the blue, but there was an instinct that this was an important story—maybe something he’d meant to tell earlier but hadn’t gotten around to.
His light, easy tone continued.
“Maybe because I’d drunk too much the night before—back then, I was really sensitive to alcohol. Even one beer would get me tipsy. On the morning of my discharge, I was called by the sergeant, and the two of us ate chicken and drank beer to our heart’s content. So, as soon as I sat down in my seat, I passed out without a care in the world. …But then.”
“…Me?”
“When I woke up feeling good, I wasn’t at Seoul Station. Instead, I found myself lying in some strange place called the Summoning Chamber.”
“……!”
Meanwhile, on the Northern Continent…
The sky at dawn was clear and bright, without a single cloud, but Atlanta was unusually noisy from early morning.
It was strange. Something felt off. Until last night, the city had been gloomy and downcast, but overnight, the atmosphere had completely changed. It wasn’t exactly bright or hopeful, but there was definitely a buzz of energy—something you could call vitality.
“This method… it’s really ingenious.”
At that moment, Ko Yeon-ju, who had been quietly watching the source of the commotion, broke into an incredulous admiration.
“Me too, me too. It was such a taboo that I never even considered it before.”
Standing beside her, Lee Yoo-jung shook her head but had a faint, knowing smile playing at the corners of her mouth.
Again, it was truly strange. How had the mood reversed so completely in just one day? What on earth had happened?
“It’s all thanks to you.”
In response to the two women’s praise, a low male voice spoke calmly. It was Kim Yoo-hyun. As if preparing to leave, he tightened the strings of his robe and continued evenly.
“All I did was propose the plan. User Lee Yoo-jung strengthened it, and user Ko Yeon-ju led by example to bring it to life. So, if anyone should be thanking someone, it’s me.”
Surprisingly, Lee Yoo-jung twisted uncomfortably at the compliment.
“Oh, no… I just mentioned something that reminded me of what I’d done before…”
Ko Yeon-ju smiled gently and winked.
“Hoho. It’s not just me. Da-eun and Mard also joined in.”
Kim Yoo-hyun chuckled lightly at the playful remark, then thought to himself:
‘Right… soon…’
After gazing off into the distance for a while, he looked back at the two women.
“Well then… I’ll leave the rest to you.”
Ko Yeon-ju clenched her fist slightly.
“Yes. Don’t worry about what’s left. By the time you return, everything will be ready.”
With that reassuring answer, Kim Yoo-hyun nodded calmly.
Then, without hesitation, he turned and quickly set off.
Toward the Iron Mountain Range.
---------------------------= Author’s Note =---------------------------
Wow… today was incredibly busy.
To make matters worse, once one thing happened, everything else just kept piling up.
I have a feeling this week is going to be hectic all the way through.
I hope things get resolved quickly… ^^;
Oh, and the illustrations of Kim Soo-hyun and Hwa-jeong are gradually coming together.
I think I’ll be able to show them to you very soon.
Hwa-jeong is really pretty, but personally, I like Kim Soo-hyun’s illustration better.
He turned out looking quite handsome, you know. :)