We didn’t talk at all as we returned to the other three who were waiting for us.
“I’ll give proper introductions now. This is Mary. Be sure to be very respectful when you talk to her.”
Then, Seong-Il looked at me and pointed at himself, showing that he wanted to confirm that he also needed to be careful in front of Yeon-Hee as well. Of course he needed to. Yeon-Hee and I had overcome life and death crises together as we conquered high-class dungeons and repeatedly grinded through them after we adapted to each dungeon. We had done this for nearly twenty years, and no one could have done it with me except her. Yeon-Hee had followed me to the end without complaints. Thus it was an insult to compare her to the people who were being nurtured under me in the Stage of Advent. Seong-Il was a C-class and Yeon-Hee was an S-class. Therefore, their abilities were as far apart as the earth was from the heavens even when taking into account that the Awakened were growing faster inside the new, revised System.
I continued, “Then, I’ll start the briefing. Keep in mind that our lives depend on this, so make sure to engrave the information in your brain.”
***
“The tribes of the alien civilizations are diverse, and they live in different dimensions. However, they hold a common cultural element, which is that they worship the Seven Demon Kings. This is different from religion on Earth because their gods, the Seven Demon Kings, have coexisted in their world as super-high beings and have had a direct impact on their civilization. That’s why they are fanatics.”
During Odin’s briefing, Kyung-Ah was conscious of Mary the entire time as the other woman’s gaze still lingered in her head. The other woman’s eyes were so terrifying that she would never be able to forget them. However, it wasn’t just a lingering memory that bothered her. In fact, Mary’s eyes filled the black background even when Kyung-Ah closed her eyes. It was as if she had been afflicted with myodesopsia, which was an eye disease where floaters moved across one’s field of vision in many different shapes and sizes. The only difference was that patients with myodesopsia only had small floats flickering around whereas Kyung-Ah felt like she could see Mary’s eyes staring at her, filling an entirely black background.
“I’ll be watching you.”
Did Mary’s creepy announcement mean this? That she would stay in Kyung-Ah’s mind and watch her? Kyung-Ah’s heart pondered.
No way.
However, it remained unchanged when she closed her eyes again. Kyung-Ah became seized with panic because she wouldn’t be able to live normally if she could see Mary staring at her for the rest of her life.
Mary’s eyes flashed from the darkness whenever Kyung-Ah blinked. However, the real Mary was actually staring at Odin’s side profile instead of facing her.
Odin continued, “The Baclan Corps worship Doom Arukuda. The commander-in-chief or monsters in similar positions often borrow powers from Doom Arukuda and use them…”
Although Kyung-Ah was in a stupid situation where she had to depend only on Odin’s instructions while she was in an unidentified land without a quest to even guide her, she couldn’t concentrate on his briefing at all. It was her first time hearing Odin say so much at once, and piles of new information about the Seven Demon Kings and Baclan Corps were pouring in. However, none of that was important to her
She jumped to her feet. Up until then, she had planned to yell at Mary to get out of her head, but when she made eye contact with the other woman, she felt like her beating heart had suddenly stopped all of a sudden. Then, she lost strength in her legs.
“Focus, Shin Kyung-Ah.” Odin stared at her and continued with the briefing. He was giving detailed explanations regarding all kinds of monsters in the Baclan Corps. “As I explained earlier, we can never catch the Baclan King by relying on standard tactics. Doing that would be just a foolish suicide attempt. Using their culture and power structure is the only way we can…”
When Seon-Hu was wrapping up his speech, Kyung-Ah’s downcast expression suddenly brightened.
“From now on, I’ll provide you with equipment. We’ll go in order. Kwon Seong-Il first, followed by Lee Soo-Ah and then Shin Kyung-Ah.”
I knew it!
The items Seong-Il and Soo-Ah received were outstanding from their appearance alone. The colorful lights from bronze, silver, gold, platinum, and diamond box emitted every time they armed themselves with an item. The item that came from the master box, which was something they had never seen before, was actually an A-class.
As expected, Odin didn’t just drag them to the dangerous place, so Kyung-Ah was touched. Odin was ready. She thought she could become as strong as him one day if she followed his instructions faithfully.
Odin, our leader!
It was finally her turn, so she rose up with great excitement to receive her items. She walked toward him without hesitation. For some reason, Odin stared at her and then turned his head to the side where Mary was standing. There was a Hispanic man with an attractive mustache standing there, but it was weird. Odin was looking at his old colleague in a confused manner.
“Why?” Kyung-Ah asked.
“Do you recognize the person beside me?” he asked.
She nodded. “Yes, Ms. Mary.”
“Tell me what Mary looks like in detail.”
“Why all of a sudden? It’s rude to her.”
Kyung-Ah alternately looked at Odin and Mary with an embarrassed expression.
***
I had been keeping an eye on Shin Kyung-Ah as she seemed to be in bad shape. She wasn’t that kind of woman, but I could tell that she couldn’t concentrate on the briefing. She frequently blinked her eyes and frowned, then suddenly stood up and interrupted me. The strangest thing was that she showed no signs of fear even after hearing my explanation to the end. Rather, she even looked happy in the end. While Seong-Il and Lee Soo-Ah’s faces hardened when they realized the seriousness of the situation, Shin Kyung-Ah’s eyes gleamed.
I noticed that her mental structure had altered from the moment I faced her. She wasn’t conscious of Yeon-Hee anymore even though she was right beside her. Not only did Yeon-Hee directly warn her before, but Kyung-Ah also constantly looked at Yeon-Hee with dread in her eyes, which started from the moment she walked in. When she met Yeon-Hee’s eyes, she instantly lowered her head to avoid eye contact.
“Do you recognize the person beside me?” I asked.
She nodded. “Yes, Ms. Mary.”
“Tell me what Mary looks like in detail.”
“Why all of a sudden? It’s rude to her.”
Ms. Mary? Although I had told them to respect her, she was supposed to be scared even when she mentioned her name. However, she said Yeon-Hee’s codename so easily. Seong-Il and Lee Soo-Ah, who knew Shin Kyung-Ah’s personality, frowned as they were completely bewildered by her attitude.
“Let’s talk for a second. Just you and me, Shin Kyung-Ah.”
I passed by Yeon-Hee and took the lead. I was chilled to the bone as I walked away.
***
The Second Evil was cruel in a different aspect from the invincible Kang Woo-Seong. She enjoyed killing the heads of other forces in order to occupy their position or manipulating their minds to do as she pleased. She did this instead of creating and maintaining her own group. In fact, she particularly loved extorting the Eight Virtue’s force from the inside.
The Second Evil was alone without subordinates, but everyone was afraid of her. No one knew where and how she would appear, and all targeted forces against her had ended in extermination. The most frightening thing about her was the possibility that she could control someone’s mind without them noticing, leading them to become a servant of the wicked woman.
People had believed she was a man until the First Evil made a slip of the tongue. Because of that incident, the First and Second Evil hated each other's guts. Since that incident, the two were never found in the same space except when they were on a fierce battlefield such as Revolucion’s uprising in Europe.
Anyway, everything about the Second Evil was hidden in the veil until then, including the age she had awoken, gender, nationality, and real voice. Only her gender was revealed by the First Evil’s mistake, and that was all I knew. In the past, I used to avoid her as much as possible in order to not get entangled with her under any circumstances.
However, things had changed as my era had come. I had no information about her other than the fact that she was female, but I had consistently planned to remove her as soon as I identified who she was. Similar to the First Evil, Seventh and Eighth Virtues, Kang Woo-Seong, she needed to be eliminated like the others I had identified.
I had the First Evil’s trait, the Second Virtue’s skill and the Fourth Virtue’s skill. At the time when Yeon-Hee had received Isis’s Gaze, I thought she would be in the same situation as me.
But now…?
It felt eerie as I remembered the way Yeon-Hee looked at Lee Soo-Ah and Shin Kyung-Ah.
“Shin Kyung-Ah joined because she wanted to gain the spoils, but she wasn’t prepared to die for us,” Yeon-Hee said.
She seemed to have no regrets about what she had done.
“So did you manipulate her mind?” I asked.
She shrugged. “I did it before I had that conversation with you. I would return her to normal condition if she stayed quiet, but women like her always end up causing issues. Wouldn’t it be better just to leave her as she is? It must be better that way for herself.”
I snapped, “Yeon-Hee. Woo Yeon-Hee!”
She continued, ignoring my outburst, “Lee Soo-Ah is very calculating, but it’s okay. She seems ready. However, Shin Kyung-Ah is and was not, so she keeps getting on my nerves. Kwon Seong-Il will continue to be useful if he keeps a handle on his temper. I like people like him because he will follow our commands faithfully in order to return to his family. If not, he will never be able to see…”
Yeon-Hee frowned slightly before saying, “It’s coming.”
However, I couldn’t sense anything with my A-class Sense. Even if I raised my Sense to the highest point, my Sense was still far inferior to Yeon-Hee’s. It was because I was going through the Second Round of Privileges while Yeon-Hee was at the end of her limit since she had reached S-class.
She commented, “I think I can handle it on my own now. If you go straight down south, you will see a mountain. The creatures there use a different language from the Baclans, but I should go check this out first.”
I shook my head. “No, we will go together.”
“It will be tough for you and your people at your current abilities. Also, you should take care of your group members. And.” Yeon-Hee began to smile faintly. “This opportunity doesn’t come often. Do you remember that I promised you that I will raise you until you reach your previous class? I will collect all the points I can secure nearby and then join you.”
Then, she pointed to the back with her chin. I had no choice but to let her go. “Be careful.”
She left without looking back as soon as I gave her permission. When I returned to the other three, notification messages popped up quickly.
[You have been distributed 15 points.]
[You have been distributed 1 point.]
[You have been distributed 40 points.]
[You have been distributed 1 point.]
[You have been distributed 200 points.]
[You have been distributed 500 points.]
…
A series of messages poured in, and the three widened their eyes in surprise.
Shin Kyung-Ah started smiling coyly. “Hohoho! Ms. Mary is amazing as expected. What should we do?”
As I looked at her, questions arose again in my mind.
Is it right to return her back to her original state?
And…
Is Yeon-Hee the Second Evil?