The Honored One

From evening into the deep midnight,
and on until the sun rose in the morning.

A long, brutal battle that had gone on for a while.
Surely, a fight between Hunters and Villains that would be remembered in Korean history.

All of it was over.

Shkek-!

“Ugh…!”

The last Villain trying to flee had his head severed.
A nameless Hunter grabbed it and lifted it.
She shouted confidently.

“W-we won…!”

Even shouting, her voice was weak and mosquito-like.
Soon, countless Hunters’ cries answered her.

“We won! We won!!”
“We’re alive!!!”

Some howled and raised their arms.
Some hugged each other, relieved to be alive.
Some cradled dead comrades’ bodies and wept.

Countless emotions swept through them,
but there was no need to enumerate each one.

As always, the world cares about results.
And the cold fact was the Hunters’ great victory.
They had won.

The massive evil force called ,
or rather, considering the many who joined the fray,
had effectively succeeded in toppling the three major crime clans in Korea.

Of course, many remnants remained.
But out of the 419 Villains and Demons who attacked,
only four had survived and escaped.

No one could give a detailed account of the battle’s course.
So within about five hours, a was assembled.
When the force swept in, the Villains and Mahn could barely respond.

Various crime clans in the underworld were waiting for news.
What they heard first was not a sweet victory report,
but the merciless judgment of the invading extermination squads.

“Master! Right now the bastards are—ugh!”
“W-what!? Ev- everyone, prepare for battle—”

-Kraaaargh!

At the forefront of the operation were the four major clans.
Among them, bore extreme hatred toward the Villains and demons.

Hunters from various factions, centered on Dragon Sword Mir clan members, swept the back alleys like fish in water.

Among them, a black knight stood out.
A woman who sent green-tinged wind-blades shouted loudly.

“Don’t let a single one go! Take this chance to crush them so they can never rise again!”

Belonging to ,
the leader of the ‘Red Wyvern’ team, Cho Seol-hwa.

She, exploding with anger over losing the eldest lady, danced her blade relentlessly.

Beside her were Hunters in suits representing the ‘Association.’
They were all a task force personally assembled by Su Ok-bin.
Picked solely for skill and character, they showed excellent operational results.

With this overwhelming victory, Su Ok-bin solidified her position as a candidate for Association head.
Rumor had it the current head, threatened by Su Ok-bin’s rising power, schemed to remove her but failed and fell from grace.
Either way, one thing was certain: within a month at most, Su Ok-bin would rule the Association.

Additionally, the quietly joined the extermination.
They aimed to use this chance to raise their status from the depths to the mantle.

Team leader Cho Seol-hwa was not pleased at all.
But it was the clan master—no less than
Ju Yae-young ho had given permission, so she had no right to complain.

The superficial reason was that Saints Natsu & Yuri had done great deeds.
The main reason was the request of the hero Yu Seha, who played an essential role in this war.
Under his influence, Ju Yae-young granted permission without protest.

Thus proceeded several days of a massive extermination operation never to be seen again in history.

They succeeded in such a sweeping victory that surviving Mahn and Villains were hard to find.

Everything literally fell into place.
Then the protagonist and hero—
what on earth was Yu Seha doing?
He was currently resting at a villa with his companions.

Specifically…

Sqqrrk-sqqrrk-!

“M-muang…”

Ssqwoo-!

“M-muaaaang.”

Squish-squish-!

“M-mushyaaack!”

“Hehe…”

He had the angelic Meowi on his lap, squeezing her cheeks roughly.
But only for a moment,
Yu Seha quietly pulled Ma Hana into his arms.

“Seha?”
“…”

He felt an immense sense of relief.
He might never have felt this touch again.

For a moment, he felt a subtle gaze from the side.
Turning, he saw Ju Na-young and Moon Bora watching this scene with pouty, envious faces.

Smiling radiantly, Yu Seha grabbed the startled pair and pulled them into his arms.

“Hungeeng!”
“Yongaa!”
“Hehehe…”

Undoubtedly, it was a happier and more precious time than anything.
But Yu Seha’s heart was not entirely at ease.

He rolled his eyes and stared into the air.

[Remaining time: 17 hours]
[‘King of Demon’ leaves a strange silence.]

“…”

No proper explanation, but
the blood-red info window was ominous.
It was steadily heading toward zero.

Perhaps sensing this ominous feeling,
Meowi on the center perked up her ears.

“Mua? Seha?”
“Hm?”
“Your expression… is dark. Is something wrong?”
“…”

Yu Seha simply stroked her.
He glanced at the remaining time again.

‘Right…’

Seventeen hours is…
enough.

Let’s go back a moment.
Team leader Cho Seol-Hwa, and sister Su Ok-bin as well.
They had reported that a massive extermination was underway,
But Yu Seha didn’t pay much attention.

After all, even without his meddling,
he knew they would manage fine.

‘What’s important are our kids…’

Was it divine favor?
Despite a battle unlike any before,
No one had suffered serious injuries.

In Ju Na-young’s case, there was a penetrating wound,
but it was healed as if patched immediately, leaving no scars.

“—Yong hehe… This wound, it was the gauntlet you gave me that protected me. Thank you.”

He breathed a sigh of relief at those words.
He had taken a direct strike infused with the Demon King’s power.
Normally, he would have needed surgery and suffered severe aftereffects.

Moon Bora had no major issues aside from exhaustion.
She had used too much mana and her mana circuits were a bit fried…
but time would heal even that naturally.

As for Meowi…
she was the healthiest, no need to mention her.

“—Muaaa.”

Muuua, mmuung,
Muaa? mshamuwah,
mrrrrr, mkyahhh!!!

“…”

Of course, sensing some psychological shakiness, they planned to ask,
But Yu Seha had been taken to for treatment, so they postponed it.

“It’s really a relief, right?”
“What’s there to be relieved about, junior!”

The nun treating him scolded loudly in response.
She put her hands on her hips like, ‘I can’t hold it in!’ and puffed her cheeks.
Her subtly golden hair tied in twin tails shimmered.

“…Pfft.”
“Neeeng! Don’t laugh! I’m angry!”

Even her huffing was cute—the nun and senior.
It was Divine Light Garam.

The nuns of who had earned great credit in this battle.
Without them, a truckload of Hunters would have died in the golden hour.

The Hunters knew this well,
and prioritized protecting them in battle.
Thanks to that, aside from a few injured, most could return to normal life.

“—Sisters, thank you so much for your great help in this battle.”

But there are still times when our strength is needed.
It is also our mission to save those writhing in pain and suffering.

“—Please, even if they lack sanctity, treat them without prejudice. We implore you.”

This was the request of Divine Light Garam, who had become the cult leader.
And these were comrades who had fought alongside them.

The nuns healed the wounded without objection,
and the sect’s reputation rose accordingly.

In any case, returning to the present, Divine Light Garam took primary responsibility for Yu Seha’s treatment.
Originally Cho Mari and saintess were supposed to help,
but they had used too much power in this battle, so the three were exempted.

“…”

Yu Seha watched Divine Light Garam as she focused on his treatment.
He suddenly let out a bitter smile.
He spoke softly, as if it wasn’t necessary.

“Senior, I’m fine now.”
“…”
“There’s nothing left to heal anyway.”

It was as Yu Seha said.
In his sculpted, muscular body,
there was no sign of injury anywhere.

Therefore, even more,
Divine Light Garam’s face froze like stone.
She remembered the state of his body when he first arrived at the infirmary.

‘…It was terrible.’

A ragged, torn body here and there,
ribs clearly visible,
some ripped-out organs messily exposed.

Seeing it, Divine Light Garam squeezed her eyes shut.
She had a feeling it would require a massive surgery.

But…
Just five minutes.
Yes, after exactly five minutes,
Yu Seha recovered rapidly.

In the blink of an eye, the broken ribs were back in place,
and missing organs fully regenerated.

Of course, Divine Light Garam knew
that an awakened person at the extreme has absurd recovery,
and that he bore traces of treatments because he possessed the divinity.

But this exceeded all bounds.
It transcended the concept of recovery,
it was close to creation.

At the same time, it wasn’t ordinary mana;
it was a unique, vast, overwhelming energy.

Divine Light Garam had felt this energy before.
The comforting yet exalted sanctity she felt whenever she prayed.
A power commonly called ‘divinity.’

With trembling eyes, Divine Light Garam spoke.

“…Junior.”

Her gaze mixed worry and awe.
Yu Seha snorted and laughed.
Her caring attitude, without fear, was itself a great comfort.

He slowly raised his hand,
and stroked her hair.

“Nee, neeng!?”
“Thank you.”
“Ne, neoueng…”

The watching nuns whispered in surprise at the sight.

-Oh my, oh my… they’ve been together often…
-I heard they even met a lot during vacation…
-After all, the Mother Superior is a woman in her prime… it’s natural.
-No wonder she got confessions many times and always refused… as expected…

Divine Light Garam was embarrassed and didn’t know where to look,
And Yu Seha, who had been watching, stood up.

“Thank you always. I’ll go to our kids now.”
“…”

Yu Seha turned his back.
At the moment they saw his back,

Divine Light Garam felt an inexplicable unease.
Unconsciously, she placed her hand on his shoulder.

“…Senior?”
“Junior…right?”
“Hm, yes? What do you mean?”

Divine Light Garam asked with trembling eyes.

“…You’re not going to leave us and go far away, are you?”

A truly odd question—
where would he be going?
But hearing it, Yu Seha seemed to guess something and only smiled bitterly.

He put on his dress shirt,
leaving only the reply, ‘Tell the kids there’s no problem, please.’

As Yu Seha slowly prepared to leave,
a loud voice came from behind him.
Turning, he saw everyone, including Divine Light Garam, bowing their heads.

“Seniors…?”
“Junior, thank you so much for protecting this Academy.”

Divine Light Garam had ears, too.
She had also heard the greatest backstory of the victory.

Sword Ghost So Hong-woo.
He was the most overwhelming terror and absolute force Divine Light Garam had ever seen.
Those who knew roughly knew that Yu Seha had struggled fighting him.

Of course, very few knew how he managed to fight on equal terms,
and nobody cared to pry.
What was certain was that he had paid a heavy price.

Gratitude for that.
Yu Seha smiled warmly,
and bowed his head in return.

Anyway, returning now.

was utterly wrecked by this battle, so it naturally entered a hiatus.

Rebuilding the buildings alone would take months,
But the whole Academy grounds being a ruin was the biggest issue.

The image of Chairman Yu Neung-hae cursing at the sight was still vivid.

“—Wow~ you really made a spectacle, damn villain bastards, Mahn bastards… they’d deserve being quartered!”

Yu Seha turned his head slightly at Yu Neung-hae’s trembling curses.
In fact, including the grounds and most rear buildings,
most were destroyed as an aftermath of the fight with Sword Ghost.

Unaware, Yu Neung-hae simply believed it was the Villains’ doing.

‘I should give the chairman some gift later.’

Yu Seha was silently stroking the kids’ heads.

Moon Bora pressed a plump magic pouch to his arm and asked.

“…Are you okay?”
“Hm?”
“…You look tired.”

Hearing that, Yu Seha smiled with dark circles under his eyes.
He was still in his suit.
He had been summoned here and there for days and had no time to change.
He was only now finally catching his breath.

“Can’t be helped; it was that big a deal.”

Still, compared to the gravity of the situation,
there were few tasks he had to handle personally.
Various miscellaneous matters that would come to him and the kids…
such as politics, money issues, and so on.
There was someone who took care of all of those.

“Nice to see you again, Yu Seha.”
“Ah, yes, nice to see you.”

Yu Seha smiled and shook hands with the woman before him.
A lady with flaming red hair elegantly tied, exuding aristocratic air.

A woman who resembled Ju Na-young,
a young, beautiful woman who could pass for his older sister.

The clan master of , Ju Yae-young.
She was the first high-ranking person Yu Seha met publicly.