Chapter 376:

Cha Seohu recalled the status window of Cha Sahyeon he had seen last time.

[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 (68% complete) (Synchronization 75% complete)

The seed’s progress had gone from 68% to 72%. The synchronization value had also risen from 75% to 80%.

‘...It went up again.’

And it had not even taken a few days.

What had happened in Spiderweb’s central headquarters had been close to an accident.

He had never expected that the ring passed down from the former leader would be connected to those cult bastards, and when that ring shattered and the energy contained inside it was transferred to Cha Sahyeon, that was not something he could have stopped.

He had been shocked even when the seed’s progress had shot up because of that incident, but since it had been something sudden, he had at least been able to steady himself by telling himself it could not be helped.

But this time......

‘Should I not have brought him into the Rift.’

He vividly remembered what kind of state Cha Sahyeon had been in inside the Rift, and what he and the others had gone through in order to stop him.

They had been no match for Cha Sahyeon.

Strictly speaking, it had not even been the “real Catastrophe.” It had been a fake created by the Rift, and even so they had not been able to put up a proper fight.

And in the end, even Cha Sahyeon’s condition had worsened.

Without a doubt, it had been his own blunder, and his defeat.

‘...Maybe from now on, it would be better to move without Cha Sahyeon.’

Something similar kept happening every time Cha Sahyeon came along and tried to help him.

Before the Spiderweb incident, Cha Sahyeon’s numbers had been 62% and 60%. Now, in just a matter of days, they had become 68% and 75%.

If he kept taking him to places connected to those cult bastards like this, an even worse situation might come.

The awakening of the Catastrophe. Something even stronger than what he had just seen inside the Rift......

‘No, stop.’

Cha Seohu consciously cut off the ominous thoughts running wild in his head and lifted his head.

The speed was very slow, but even so, his skill was definitely working.

Feeling relieved as he looked at the wound in the abdomen slowly closing up, Cha Seohu glanced around.

The guildmaster office was still a wreck. The Rift was nowhere to be seen, perhaps because it had vanished when they came out. And then—

“Why are you here?”

Spotting Eun Woojeong, Cha Seohu furrowed his brow.

“Finally.”

Eun Woojeong sneered briefly before saying,

“If you’re asking why I’m here, obviously because I went into the Rift too?”

“What? Since when?”

“I don’t know exactly, but I checked your last location and came to this office, so it probably wasn’t that much later.”

“Hah......”

Running a dry hand over his face, Cha Seohu looked away.

Come to think of it, Eun Woojeong had said he would contact him when they parted at Spiderweb headquarters. Since he had said he was going to get information on the cult, it could have been important enough for him to come straight to the pinned location.

Deciding to ask later, Cha Seohu first checked the others’ condition as well.

For some reason, they were all sprawled on the floor groaning as if someone had thrown them there, but fortunately they did not seem to have any external injuries.

‘The problem is that only the outside looks fine.’

Remembering the nightmare Cha Sahyeon had shown inside the Rift, Cha Seohu let out a sigh as soon as he realized the others must have gone through it too.

He himself had nightmares almost every night, so by now he could endure situations where trauma was reenacted to some extent, but for people who were not used to it, it would not have been easy.

Mental trauma was never something simple to overcome. Especially since, fake though it had been, it was still a nightmare created by the “Catastrophe,” so it made sense that the blow had been severe.

‘Seeing that they still haven’t come to their senses, I guess my assumption was right.’

For now, it would be better not to force them awake and just leave them be.

After that, Cha Seohu looked at Song Jiwon for a moment, but since he was not someone to speak to in front of others, he turned away as is.

At last, his gaze landed on Representative Seo.

Eun Woojeong’s presence was absurd enough, but Representative Seo was even more unbelievable.

How on earth had he known to come here? On top of that, he had even brought healers, as if he had been certain Cha Seohu would be badly hurt.

No matter how he thought about it, it was suspicious.

Cha Seohu was glaring at Representative Seo with open suspicion and was just about to speak when—

“......!”

His upper body lurched violently.

Cha Seohu’s eyes dropped straight to his own hand. More precisely, to the hand resting on Cha Sahyeon’s abdomen.

“Wh, at.......”

The wound had already been completely healed, but the energy was still being used.

No, it was beyond that. It was as if Cha Sahyeon’s body were greedily devouring his energy and sucking it in.

Startled, Cha Seohu pulled his hand away, but nothing changed. Even with the naked eye, he could see the pure white light wrapping around his body being absorbed into Cha Sahyeon’s body.

“Mr. Cha Seohu?”

Alarmed, Eun Woojeong grabbed Cha Seohu by the shoulder as he sat collapsed and urgently shoved him backward. Right after that, Representative Seo came up behind him, caught him under both arms, and lifted him clean off the ground.

Even then, the white light filled with energy continued to be drawn into Cha Sahyeon without pause.

“Hhk, ugh.......”

After regressing, Cha Seohu had never once lacked energy while using Divine Power.

He had coughed up blood before, but that had only been the penalty for failing a quest.

That was how vast the amount of energy Cha Seohu possessed was. But now, as that enormous amount of energy was being sucked wholesale into Cha Sahyeon, Cha Seohu felt the agony of energy depletion for the first time.

“Ah, ugh, ngh!”

Cha Seohu reflexively struggled and clutched at his chest. An enormous amount of energy was being consumed in a short time, putting too much strain on his heart.

“Get out of the room right now!”

Thinking the same thing as Eun Woojeong, Representative Seo quickly moved while pinning the writhing Cha Seohu against his chest.

Click.

The moment he grabbed the battered office doorknob, opened it, and stepped out into the hallway—

The struggling body in his arms suddenly went limp. The white light that had been getting sucked into Cha Sahyeon vanished, and the Divine Power skill was deactivated as well.

Representative Seo looked down at the unconscious Cha Seohu in his arms, his face gone cold.

They had only just healed his injuries, and now he had fainted again with his complexion pale all over. Beneath Representative Seo’s coldly sunken eyes, his jaw muscle twitched.

After standing still for a moment to steady himself, Representative Seo was about to leave the building with Cha Seohu still in his arms when a gentle voice came from behind him.

“The district is a bit far from here, so wouldn’t it be better for him to rest here instead?”

It was Song Jiwon.

Song Jiwon, who had been quietly watching the situation the entire time, smiled faintly and spoke to Representative Seo.

“There’s an empty room downstairs. There’s a bed too. And... it’s also a room Seohu is familiar with.”

“.......”

Without answering, Representative Seo silently gazed at him with pitch-black eyes.

“Of course, you can refuse and leave if you want. But won’t that be awkward later, when Seohu wakes up? If he wakes up alone in the district after leaving his younger brother and all his companions here, he’ll obviously say he’s going back to see them again. If that’s the case, it would be easier on Seohu to rest in the room downstairs.”

At the repeated use of “Seohu,” Eun Woojeong’s brow twisted.

Representative Seo, who had been silently looking at Song Jiwon, turned first.

“Lead the way.”

The short order fell.

***

The bright sky turned red, then was dyed black.

Cha Seohu, who had come out of the Rift during the day, still did not wake even after night fell and the view outside the window went dark.

After sending the healers away, Representative Seo remained at Circle Guild, standing in the room Song Jiwon had shown him.

Lying on the bed, Cha Seohu’s complexion was better than before, but he was still sweating coldly and tossing now and then. Small groans escaped him too, as if he were having a nightmare.

Taking his eyes off him, Representative Seo slowly looked around the room.

It was such a small room that it already felt full just with Representative Seo’s large frame standing there. The only furniture was a bed, a small desk, and a bookshelf holding a few books.

More than a room someone lived in, it was closer to a storage room.

Standing with his arms folded and leaning against the wall, Representative Seo surveyed the cramped interior and noticed Cha Seohu’s fingertips twitch faintly where his hand lay outside the blanket.

“Ugh.......”

As if he were regaining consciousness, Cha Seohu let out a faint groan and his eyelashes trembled.

Representative Seo unfolded his arms and straightened away from the wall, then stepped over to the bed. The room was so small that one step was enough.

His large hand caught Cha Seohu by the face.

Supporting his chin and lifting his head at the same time, Representative Seo watched as Cha Seohu slowly opened his eyes.

Their gazes met at close range.

“You’re awake.”

Representative Seo said it in a dry voice.

Cha Seohu’s eyes, still hazy, gradually cleared, and then shook violently.

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