Chapter 375: 32. Narrow Escape

CEO Seo gestured with his eyes toward the sofa set off to one side.

When the office had been thrown into chaos, the sofa had been overturned as well and rolled into a corner, but now it was sitting intact in the middle of the office in a relatively clean state.

It seemed they had deliberately straightened it up while waiting for Cha Seohu to come out.

Song Jiwon carefully laid the Cha Seohu he had been holding in his arms onto the sofa. The healers who had been waiting immediately rushed over and began treating Cha Seohu as soon as Song Jiwon stepped back.

Watching that, Eun Woojeong only let out a breath of relief after seeing some color gradually return to Cha Seohu’s face under the healers’ skills.

After the relief came a wave of weakness, along with deep exhaustion.

Breathing out tiredly, Eun Woojeong carelessly dropped the rest of the group he had dragged out bound in chains onto the office floor.

None of them were injured, thanks to Cha Seohu’s Divine Power skill that he kept active at all times. They were simply unconscious, asleep.

The problem was Cha Sahyeon.

“Sir.”

Most of them had gone to Cha Seohu, but a few of the healers headed toward Cha Sahyeon, the other injured person.

However, after trying their skills several times, one of the healers turned to CEO Seo in surprise and reported,

“This person... our skills aren’t working [N O V E L I G H T] on him properly.”

The blood flowing from the abdomen pierced through by Cha Seohu’s sword was not slowing at all.

CEO Seo, who had been looking at Cha Seohu, turned to Cha Sahyeon at the healer’s words.

“.......”

Gazing calmly at Cha Sahyeon with an unreadable look in his eyes, CEO Seo soon spoke.

“That’s enough for this one.”

He made a short gesture telling them to back away.

“When Cha Seohu regains consciousness, he’ll treat him himself, so don’t touch him any further. He’s got a Dealer’s body, so he won’t die that easily, either.”

At the order, the healer quietly stepped back.

Standing near the place where they had emerged from the Rift and watching the situation, Eun Woojeong sensed the flow of an alien energy and turned around.

Wooooong!

With a sound like space itself was vibrating, the unidentified Rift passage that had been glowing in an oval shape gave a small tremble. Then the passage slowly shrank inward before disappearing without a trace.

Eun Woojeong remembered the previous Rift.

‘Back then, it definitely vanished after Cha Seohu got that strangely shaped flower and came out.’

The golden flower that had appeared after the monster identical to “Ryu Sunghyun” died.

The color was different, but Eun Woojeong knew it was the same kind of flower the cultists planted wherever they caused incidents.

A flower giving off an ominous aura, with dark green petals and a black stem and roots.

Because during the Gyeongbokgung incident, Eun Woojeong himself had pulled one out and handed it to Cha Seohu.

‘They planted the flower, and the energy contained in the flower maintained the inside.’

The flower had acted as a battery.

And this time, since they had not been able to find a flower, the Rift had been maintained by some other method.

Staring at the empty space after the Rift vanished, Eun Woojeong turned to Cha Sahyeon lying collapsed on the floor.

What had been used instead of a flower was Cha Sahyeon.

The three fragments he had gone searching for.

Finding those fragments—fragments made by splitting and hiding three parts of Cha Sahyeon’s past—and returning them to him had ultimately led to stopping the rampage and erasing the Rift.

Once he realized that much, Eun Woojeong shifted his gaze to Song Jiwon, who was standing not far away, watching over Cha Seohu as he was treated.

The moment he saw that calm, perfectly normal face, his brow furrowed on its own.

The blond man who had told him to find Cha Sahyeon’s fragments. The man who had created the exit and carried Cha Seohu out in his arms.

Eun Woojeong knew well enough that appearance and reality could differ inside a Rift. Everyone, himself included, had been dressed in clothes they had never seen before, and even their hair had grown longer.

But Song Jiwon was not that kind of change.

Not just his appearance—even the very atmosphere he gave off was vastly different from how he was now.

It was not simply a matter of “he changed.” Eun Woojeong had instinctively felt that he was a being beyond approach.

“Looks like there’s quite a lot I need to hear. Don’t you think?”

With his arms crossed, Eun Woojeong curled one corner of his mouth and drawled mockingly.

But Song Jiwon merely smiled gently and gave a shrug, as if he had no idea what the problem was.

Eun Woojeong was just about to say something more at that shameless response when—

“Ugh.......”

A faint groan was heard. It was Cha Seohu. Eun Woojeong’s head whipped around at once.

“Cough, ugh.......”

Cha Seohu coughed softly, his eyes tightening as his eyelashes fluttered. Then he slowly opened his eyes.

His complexion, which had been as pale as a corpse, had regained its original color thanks to several healers treating him in quick succession.

Blinking with a dazed expression, Cha Seohu soon seemed to come to his senses and abruptly pushed himself upright with a stiff face.

“What—”

Feeling how light his body was, he looked himself over in surprise.

He checked his completely healed arm, the smaller injuries that had all neatly disappeared, and then his hair and clothes, which had returned to normal after leaving the Rift.

Only then did he realize belatedly that this was Circle Guild’s guildmaster office, and confusion showed on his face.

“What is this, how.......”

After confirming that Cha Seohu was fine, the healers quietly withdrew and returned behind CEO Seo.

“Cha Seo—”

Eun Woojeong had called out to Cha Seohu without hesitation and was about to walk toward him when—

CEO Seo moved before him and stopped in front of the sofa. Standing tall with his large frame as if shielding Cha Seohu from everyone else’s eyes, CEO Seo looked down at him.

“Your body.”

Still not fully understanding the situation and staring down at his intact hands, Cha Seohu lifted his head to face CEO Seo and his eyes widened. Shock trembled in them.

“Report, Cha Seohu. What’s your condition?”

“Hah.”

Letting out a hollow breath, Cha Seohu ran a dry hand over his face as if he were going out of his mind, then spoke.

“I did take a look at the River of the Dead, but right now I’m fine. Thanks to whoever dragged a whole bunch of healers all the way here.”

Answering with sarcasm, Cha Seohu continued,

“Why are you here? I don’t think I ever reported that I was going into a Rift. Why did you have healers prepared? How did you know?”

“You ask a lot of questions.”

Replying indifferently, CEO Seo turned his body slightly aside, the one that had been blocking him.

“I’m not sure you have the luxury to sit here and leisurely trade questions with me.”

As CEO Seo stepped aside, the collapsed members of the group lying on the floor came into full view at once.

Cha Seohu’s eyes widened, and he practically tumbled off the sofa.

At high speed, he scanned the group, all of them asleep but physically unharmed, and at last his gaze landed on Cha Sahyeon.

“Kid!”

Seeing Cha Sahyeon unconscious, deathly pale, and covered in cold sweat, Cha Seohu rushed over and dropped to his knees.

His faintly trembling hand moved back and forth between Cha Sahyeon’s face and abdomen.

After first checking that he was still breathing, he examined the abdomen that was still wet with blood seeping out.

It was the very place his sword had pierced.

It had been unavoidable, but confirming that wound directly with his own hands was another matter entirely.

Cha Seohu did not wait any longer and activated his skill.

《Skill: Divine Power (SS-rank) activated!》

《Holy energy overflows!》

As the skill activated, pure white light wrapped around Cha Seohu’s body, and the shape of large wings appeared on his back.

Divine Power, which had risen in rank after he cleared the hidden quest inside the Rift, poured into Cha Sahyeon’s body.

Because the difference in rank was too great, the other healers’ skills had not worked on him, but fortunately Cha Seohu’s Divine Power did get a response.

The bleeding stopped, and the wound could be seen recovering. But Cha Seohu’s face instead turned cold.

‘The speed... it’s too slow.’

No matter that Cha Sahyeon was L-rank, his own Divine Power was SS-rank now. In terms of rank difference, that meant it was only one step below.

Because he was using the skill directly, the gap came through even more clearly.

It should have been faster than this. At the healing progressing more slowly than expected, Cha Seohu swallowed dryly.

‘No way.......’

Pouring Divine Power into him, Cha Seohu quietly called up his status window inwardly.

‘Status.’

Ding. Along with the notification sound, a system window appeared in the vision filled with white light.

[User Information: Sahyeon (Villain)]

Age: 22

Primary Skill: Living Shadow (L-rank)

Title: The Master of Shadows

Attack Power: L-rank

Attack Speed: L-rank

Movement Speed: L-rank

Agility: L-rank

Special Notes▼

└Seed of Catastrophe (72% complete) (Synchronization 80% complete)