333 — Thank You

Clack.

On a cheap table, a long glass bottle sat.

The bottled cola—plain and ordinary—had been set out.

Yu Seha looked at it with a sour expression.

Then he asked the woman, who plainly looked ill-tempered and was muttering, “What, why, what!”

“…Isn’t this usually something like a high-quality black tea at times like this?”

“Hey, do I look like I know how to brew tea?”

“Ah, well… true, I guess.”

“You little damn brat…”

Moon Ha-yeon grumbled.

She glanced disappointedly at the few beer cans in the fridge.

With a hiss she popped one open and downed it in a single shot.

“Ah—nothing beats the swallow of beer.”

“……”

Yu Seha, sipping the bottled cola, asked softly, “What on earth do you drink that for?”

“Huh? What, you can’t drink alcohol?”

“I don’t like it.”

“C’mon, you’re such a kid… someone who doesn’t even know life’s bitter taste. Hey, have you ever had sex?”

“Gulp, ugh!”

“Judging by your face, you haven’t. You can’t drink and you’re still a virgin? With so many women flirting around you? Are you even a man? Off with your dick. Such a waste of a face.”

“……”

Yu Seha showed a faint surprise at Moon Ha-yeon’s chuckling and turned his head slightly.

He hadn’t expected this side of her.

‘Unexpected…’

The Moon Ha-yeon he knew was a brutal, merciless, hard-boiled villain.

Most villains and minions were hedonistic evildoers—despicable people who only pretended to be fine on the surface. She was the countertype.

He’d assumed she’d be cold and ruthless, scheming even now about how to kill someone.

But this appearance was… different.

‘……’

Yu Seha sipped his cola and felt suddenly how little he knew.

There’s an explanation.

In the story, Moon Ha-yeon is a villain who appears in the early-to-mid arc, roughly leading a rebellion but failing. She’s also Moon Bora’s biological older sister—basically a victim-turned-perpetrator who suffered the Moon family’s ugliness.

Beyond that, even if he wanted to know more, he couldn’t.

At best he could ask Moon Bora and guess.

Even that wasn’t exact.

‘It’s been over fourteen years since we parted.’

That was more than enough time to completely change someone you once knew.

Meanwhile, Moon Ha-yeon stared at Yu Seha blankly.

She wiped beer from her mouth and asked, “Hey.”

“What.”

“Do you love that child?”

The words “that child” made a cute young girl flash through Yu Seha’s mind.

He didn’t hesitate—there was no reason to.

“Yes.”

“Will you cherish her?”

“Yes.”

“How much?”

“I’d give my life for her.”

“Ugh, that’s cheesy…”

Moon Ha-yeon made a disgusted face and snorted a laugh.

“…That crybaby will like that. She was a head full of flowers even as a child. She’d be the same now… Of course, hearing her talk about killing her sister and such, she seems to have gained some backbone…”

“…She must have cried a lot before, huh.”

“Yeah, she used to just cry all the time and be of no help.”

She cried so much that I ended up having worse things happen because of it.

“The bastard father and mother were perverts who took satisfaction in watching their daughter cry.”

On the other hand, maybe because I glared at them like I wanted to kill them, they injected all sorts of things into me.

“……”

“Ah, sorry. I ruined the mood.”

“…No, but since that topic came up, I’ll make one promise.”

“What?”

“At least as far as things that reach my ears and eyes, a tragedy like the Moon clan will never happen again. Even now, informants overseas are reporting similar cases.”

And one by one, without exception, they were utterly exterminated by Yu Seha’s hand.

The fleeing ringleaders were killed on the spot.

Moon Ha-yeon sneered at the explanation. “How arrogant. Do you think you’re some kind of god?”

Yu Seha shook his head. “No way… I just thought that much needed to be done.”

He knew he couldn’t completely eradicate it.

As long as beings called awakeners and the law called <the System> exist in this world, it couldn’t be stopped.

“Still, it’ll get a little better, right?”

“……”

---

Moon Ha-yeon ate snacks from a bag without replying.

She suddenly trembled as if struck by lightning.

Yu Seha remained calm. “…He died just like you said.”

“……”

“Sigh, that damn old man. He was so confident—serves him right.”

Moon Ha-yeon wore an expression that could have been sadness or anger.

She muttered while watching sunlight stream through the window, “Well, he had a lot of karma, so him dying peacefully wouldn’t make sense.”

A delicate silence.

To change the subject, Moon Ha-yeon reached for the urn on the table.

Clunk.

She snorted when she opened it and saw the fine bone ash.

“Kim Min-su, you’ve gotten too light, haven’t you?”

Yu Seha set down his cola bottle and asked quietly, “Why did you do it this way?”

“What do you mean?”

“Why did you have to recklessly start a foolish frontal war?”

As he’d said before, the strength of villains and minions wasn’t superior combat power so much as vileness and the secrecy of shadowy beings who seize the initiative. That’s what’s frightening—especially if the one at the center is the Demon King.

Frankly, if Moon Ha-yeon had been pulling tricks with the Demon King’s powers, even someone like Yu Seha would have struggled to respond.

“You’re the same kind of villain, so you can’t say you didn’t know.”

“…What are you saying? You’d already blocked all overseas routes.”

Su Ok-bin, Ju Ye-young, and the ongoing surveillance and efforts of Natsu & Yuri the Saintesses.

But that wasn’t the answer.

Just looking at the forces Moon Ha-yeon had gathered now, they exceeded Yu Seha’s expectations.

“……”

Yu Seha gazed steadily at Moon Ha-yeon.

She frowned at that look, snorted, finished her last beer, and set the can beside the cola bottle.

Plop, clatter.

Because the table was cheap and tilted, the beer can tumbled to the floor.

An unglamorous aluminum can lay sprawled on the cold tiles.

Moon Ha-yeon deliberately didn’t pick it up.

She muttered softly, “…I promised.”

“A promise?”

―I have one request. If you rise again, if you get another chance…

―When that time comes, reveal yourself proudly. Show yourself openly and honorably.

“We’re destined to crawl like insects forever…”

―But I hope you are the exception. Stand with the sun at your back, reign higher than anyone.

“Kim Min-su?”

“Yeah.”

Moon Ha-yeon carefully wiped the urn.

She opened the darkness-filled space and gently placed it inside.

“You can’t say you can’t do it.”

“…So you liked him after all.”

“Well, I don’t really know. We spent childhood like that and became people who don’t really know what love is.”

Still…

Well, yeah…

“I guess I should’ve given him one or two chances…”

Moon Ha-yeon stood.

The sun beyond the window lit her in dazzling light.

She asked as if for the last time, “How was his last moment?”

“He was pretty cool.”

“A last word?”

“I was going to tell you that… I’ll say it in advance, don’t be surprised.”

Yu Seha took a deep breath.

The breath he exhaled and his tone were unmistakably Kim Min-su’s voice.

―Moon Ha-yeon.

“……!”

Even though she knew it wasn’t, Moon Ha-yeon shuddered. But she didn’t turn around.

―I’m sorry for daring to feel this way.

“……”

**

A few seconds… a few minutes… some indistinct, hard-to-define time passed.

Crack.

Moon Ha-yeon stretched.

“Let’s finish this. If we talk more we’ll get attached to each other.”

“……”

“Just in case… you’re not going to say some soft thing like surrender or that I’ll spare your life if you cooperate, are you?”

“Not at all. I’m going to kill you.”

Yu Seha stood and gripped the [Sword of the Saint] at his waist. “I’m not the type to leave repercussions.”

Moon Ha-yeon snorted. “Good, same here.”

Still, this needed to be said. “Thank you.”

“……”

Kugugu-!!!

Demonic energy swirled furiously.

A torrent of immense power stirred a storm.

At its center, where an eye might be, a red gleam erupted.

Kwak kwak kwak-!!!

Long demonic horns and two pairs of massive wings unfolded—the archetypal form of the Demon King.

Moon Ha-yeon floated in the air and looked down at Yu Seha. “Let’s settle this, Yu Seha.”

She raised her hand.

Pure, intense demonic energy formed a satellite and two rings spun around it.

A negating power that overturns the world’s laws—possible only for the Demon King—surged toward Yu Seha at high speed.

“……”

Yu Seha lifted the [Sword of the Saint] with a serious look.

Bang-!!!

The moment it touched the orb, he was pushed back endlessly.

The black sphere slammed against the blade as if to shatter its surface.

The floor cracked and split; the impact only stopped after the orb smashed into the wall.

Thud thud.

Yu Seha walked out calmly and dusted himself off.

He was uninjured, but the sword was not—it had shattered, leaving only the hilt.

The [Sword of the Saint] had long since been pushed to its limits.

Not surprising.

Yu Seha had deliberately not replaced it.

Even though it could no longer function as a normal sword, he didn’t change it. He also didn’t draw the <Heavenly Sword> that had once beheaded the Sword Ghost.

He simply gripped the hilt.

A powerful holy energy surged, casting radiant brilliance.

Moon Ha-yeon frowned as she watched; she instinctively realized the holy sword in his hand was revealing its true form.

Moments later, a blade-less, immaterial sword appeared.

Holy energy whipped around, bringing countless changes.

Yu Seha gazed at the fully awakened [Sword of the Saint].

‘Has it finally completed?’

It had taken a long time. It should’ve completed sooner, but due to my shortcomings it’s only bearing fruit now.

The signs had been there for a while.

At the <Sea Dragon Temple>, Choi Mari had demonstrated a high Holy Law called <White Facet> against the Remnant of the Fallen Dragon—producing countless varied blades.

Why a unique ability that manifests random Holy Laws became defined as that was the answer.

Yu Seha gripped the immaterial sword and slowly lowered it.

The changing blade fixed into a familiar longsword form.

An ominous aura wrapped the tip.

What formed was a single sphere— the secret art and ultimate of the Ghost-Shadow Sword.

The sphere multiplied to two, three, then five, repeatedly splitting and merging.

Moon Ha-yeon clicked her tongue in disbelief. “…Hey, isn’t that that old man’s finishing move?”

Yu Seha nodded as if it were no big deal. “I saw it once and learned it.”

“Fuck, you filthy talent-brat…”

Moon Ha-yeon spat a curse and unleashed all her Magi at full force.

The moment even one of those spheres touched him, she knew he would be defeated.

Massive demonic energy rose, washing over the temple and striking the cloudless sun.

As if an eclipse had begun, the sun darkened.

The Demon King’s authority—the manifestation of <Descending Night>—spread darkness across the world, strengthening Moon Ha-yeon’s power.

Moon Ha-yeon descended as she was.

Yu Seha dashed forward.

They clashed without regard for who struck first.

About thirty minutes later.

Kugugu.

The sun, which had been filled with darkness, regurgitated bright light as if nothing had happened.

Noon sunlight poured into the temple.

“……”

“Cough… haah, haah…”

On the temple’s second floor, Yu Seha stood victorious and looked down at Moon Ha-yeon as she coughed up blood and died.