Chapter 65 – Earning Your Keep (Part Six)

The scene was Eastern Siberia, where monsters had appeared without a Gate.

Outside, Aegis’s backup team was controlling the area while a Russian team busily handled the spiders that had emerged from the ground.

And watching the scene from a distance were two men dressed in expensive suits.

All the civilians living nearby had already been evacuated, and the two didn’t look like they were involved in the operation.

Their attire was out of place near such a dangerous scene.

“Of all things, Araxia… This would have been dangerous twenty years ago.”

“There have been too many variables lately. Suspicious movements, too. How much longer do we have to keep this up?”

“Wait until the risk factors are gone. It won’t be long now,” the man said quietly, as if to placate him.

The other man, wearing a hat, glanced at the luxury watch on his wrist and hurried him.

“So, just decide what you’re going to do. I can’t be away for this long at this hour.”

“We’ll have to silence them.”

As he spoke, he placed his right hand on the ground.

*Rumble!*

A faint tremor, imperceptible to an ordinary person, vibrated through the earth.

He was careful to control his power.

The ground would collapse without much fanfare, swallowing the Awakened below.

A few minutes passed, and the ground sank with a soft whoosh.

“It’s done.”

The man in the hat stared ahead, his expression blank.

He could see Aegis’s backup team moving frantically after confirming the collapse.

They would probably do their best to mount a rescue, but it was too late. There was no way to save those buried hundreds of meters underground.

*Sssk.* The two men vanished in an instant.

* * *

Inside a Chinese restaurant quite famous for its food.

The eyes of every customer were fixed on one spot.

Plates were stacked so high they seemed poised to reach the ceiling.

Two people sat at two separate tables.

It was Jeong Sang-soo and Hyeon-seo, who had just started a competition.

The man and woman, neither of whom looked like they had much of an appetite, had already devoured more food than all the other customers in the packed restaurant combined.

– *Wow, are they insane?*

– *Someone’s gonna die at this rate.*

– *Aren’t you overdoing it today? You might get indigestion.*

Even the viewers, who were already familiar with Jeong Sang-soo’s special power and monstrous appetite, were expressing their concern in the chat.

Jeong Sang-soo, inhaling a mouthful of noodles, shifted his eyes slightly to glance at his side.

*What kind of monster is she?!*

With his mouth full, he couldn’t speak, but his eyes were wide with shock as he stared at Hyeon-seo.

Having just finished a bowl, she had a hand on her cheek, savoring the taste with a pleasant expression.

Unlike Jeong Sang-soo, who was now struggling to force food down, she was eating with a refreshing ease, her pace as steady as when she had started.

This wasn’t just a matter of eating a lot.

How could all that food fit into a stomach that looked so small?

It was impossible to explain unless she wasn’t human, or the food she swallowed was magically disappearing somewhere.

*I’ve been completely had…!*

His face darkened in dismay.

He didn’t know how she did it, but he mentally kicked himself for being so careless.

He should have been suspicious the moment she just happened to sit next to him and tried to order everything on the menu.

With an ability like this, she was undoubtedly a new competitor in his field, one who posed a serious threat.

After swallowing the food in his mouth, Jeong Sang-soo slumped forward onto the table first.

“Ugh…”

– *He lost, lmao.*

– *Wow, Sang-soo got wrecked.*

– *Guess he has to give up his title as the eating champion.*

– *LOL.*

As the epic showdown of the century came to an end, the chat exploded.

It seemed word had spread, as there were far more viewers than usual.

Jeong Sang-soo, who had never lost first place in any of the competitive eating contests he occasionally entered, had been utterly defeated by a woman he had met by chance.

The chat was filled with people wondering about her identity or praising her.

“Phew, what a relief. I was just starting to feel full.”

Hyeon-seo said with a smile on her lips.

She took a napkin and wiped a little sauce from the corner of her mouth.

The winner’s bold declaration sent the chat into another frenzy.

Meanwhile, Hyeon-seo approached Jeong Sang-soo, who still had his face buried on the table.

“Are you okay?”

“Ah… yes, I’m fine.”

Jeong Sang-soo sluggishly lifted his head.

He, who had always won by an overwhelming margin, had struggled in a way he had never anticipated. He had pushed himself too hard, and his stomach was churning.

“You’re not thinking of backing out now, are you?”

“N-No, of course not…”

At her words, Jeong Sang-soo shook his head, cleanly admitting defeat.

It was hard to believe, but a loss was a loss.

He always told his viewers that the moment he broke a promise or backed out of a deal, he would quit streaming, and he had kept that promise for the past few years.

The terms of the bet were just paying for the meal and her shopping, which wasn’t a huge burden, so there was no reason not to honor it.

*This is bad…*

But Jeong Sang-soo felt a sense of crisis.

Looking at her again, she was truly beautiful.

With looks like that and such an overwhelming eating capacity, she was already more than halfway to success.

Moreover, she had used him to create a buzz for her broadcast. The moment she started streaming, she would climb the ranks at an incredible speed.

Seeing how clever she was, he knew it would be a tough fight to keep his number-one spot.

The two exchanged contact information to settle the bet.

At this point, inviting her onto his broadcast was out of the question, but he needed to have the number of a powerful rival.

Of course, she had no intention of streaming whatsoever; it was all his own misunderstanding.

“How old am I? I’m one. Haha.”

While Jeong Sang-soo was trying to settle his stomach and lost in thought, Hyeon-seo started interacting with the screen.

Fascinated by the scrolling chat and the broadcast screen, she even made a V-sign with her fingers in front of the camera.

But then, she suddenly shot up from her seat.

Her smiling expression vanished instantly, and she looked unwell.

“I’m sorry. I have to go.”

“Wh-What? Where are you going?”

Jeong Sang-soo asked in a panic as Hyeon-seo suddenly gathered her things and prepared to leave.

Instead of the jacket she had draped over her chair, she took out the black coat from the box, put it on, and answered as she headed out with her belongings.

“To… no, I have to go protect someone precious to me.”

The word ‘Master’ had almost slipped out, but she remembered Il-hyeon’s words and managed to swallow it back down.

As if she couldn’t delay a second longer, she immediately pushed through the door and left.

“W-Wait a minute!”

Jeong Sang-soo scrambled out of the restaurant after her, but she was nowhere to be seen.

“That was a Defensive Coat, wasn’t it…? What in the world…”

Dumbfounded, Jeong Sang-soo stared blankly at the street for a moment.

A spatial movement ability that could be used that quickly had to be at least high-rank, even with significant restrictions.

Returning to the restaurant, he picked up the receipt she had left on the table.

He had picked up the paper without much thought, but as he read the text, his eyes widened and his hands began to tremble.

“The number of zeros at the end is seven… eight… nine… ten…”

His stomach already felt like it was about to burst, and now, he fell backward and collapsed.

* * *

*Squelch!*

*Kiiieeeek!*

Il-hyeon and Seok Pil-joon ran, swinging their swords relentlessly.

Cobwebs and spiders blocked their path ahead, Shadow Entities pursued them from behind, and the ceiling of the maze-like structure was collapsing.

In a situation of total chaos, the two were struggling desperately to escape.

“We’re still over two hundred meters from the surface!”

“We just need to get to a place where we can hold out for a bit!”

“Dammit, ahead!”

Il-hyeon shouted urgently as he saw what was in front of them.

Five giant Armored Spiders, along with other spiders, were blocking their way.

They didn’t seem to care that the passage was collapsing around them.

With that many monsters, it was impossible to ignore them or clear them out in one go.

They had no choice but to stop.

*Fwoosh!*

A torrent of fire engulfed the spiders in the front row, setting them ablaze.

The Armored Spider at the very front, though covered in intense flames, roared and charged recklessly. Seok Pil-joon, carrying Ghost with one arm, leaped up and plunged his sword into the creature’s head.

He then jumped off the falling monster, landing with perfect stability.

Il-hyeon dealt with the Shadow Entities swarming from the opposite direction.

With Lee Soo-yeon still unconscious like Ghost, one of his arms was occupied, but he cut down the creatures charging with the wolves one by one.

*How the hell are we supposed to deal with these things?*

Il-hyeon wondered as he fought off the Shadow Entities.

This would be a problem even if they managed to escape.

He could slice off their heads or cut them in half, but they would be perfectly fine moments later. They were also fast and showed no signs of giving up the chase.

*Slaaash!*

Il-hyeon first subdued every last one of them and then looked forward again.

Seok Pil-joon and the two flame-wielding summons were clearing a path, but the sheer number of enemies prevented them from pushing through quickly.

This was bad; the ground was shaking unstably even as they fought.

*Craaash!*

Just then, a section of the wall beside them exploded, creating a slanted hole.

As expected, monsters poured out of the newly formed opening.

*Did the queen’s death make them lose their minds?*

Digging tunnels in a place that was already collapsing was practically a suicide mission for everyone.

To make matters worse, the ceiling behind them caved in, burying a few spiders along with it.

The cracking passage began to collapse in earnest.

Soon, the front part of the passage crumbled with a roar, forcing Seok Pil-joon to retreat to where Il-hyeon was.

They were blocked from both the front and back, completely trapped.

“Is this it…?”

Even with Il-hyeon’s transformation ability, there was no way to survive being buried at this depth.

On top of that, the resistance to abilities in this monster-infested area was unusually strong.

The monsters that were now trapped with them surrounded them, still intent on killing them despite the circumstances.

Just as an Armored Spider was about to charge at them, space distorted.

*Slice!*

A sharp sword strike appeared out of nowhere, instantly splitting the Armored Spider’s tough body into four pieces.

It wasn’t a sword swung by Il-hyeon or Seok Pil-joon.

It was the back of a woman who had emerged by tearing through space itself.

She wore a black coat, and strangely, each of her hands held a sword. Her long brown hair swayed with her movements.

The woman immediately began to dispatch the surrounding spiders one by one, while Il-hyeon and Seok Pil-joon watched in stunned silence, mesmerized by her movements.

Without moving an inch from her spot, the woman annihilated every spider that charged at her.

Her right sword split the heads of two spiders, while she simultaneously swung her left arm to crush the jaw of another with its mouth wide open.

She swung both swords at once, and the sword energy emanating from their tips pierced through the monsters.

Then, for the last spider lurking on the ceiling, she drew a dagger from the small of her back and threw it with lightning speed, hitting her mark.

*Thud!*

Dozens of spiders were wiped out in a matter of seconds.

Without even a hint of heavy breathing, the woman calmly turned to face Il-hyeon.

“How are you…”

Hyeon-seo, whom he had definitely left behind in Seoul, had appeared right before his eyes.

Not only that, but she had torn through space to arrive in a monster den two hundred meters underground and had displayed incredible skill against them.

But before she could answer, the Shadow Entities that Il-hyeon had subdued rose once more.

In response, Hyeon-seo stepped forward and began to cut them down in an instant.

“Those things are immune to attacks—!”

*Kiiieeeaaak!*

Unlike before, the creatures struck by Hyeon-seo’s sword screamed and collapsed.

Their wounds remained torn open, showing no signs of regeneration.

Dozens of Shadow Entities were struck down, writhing in agony on the ground before dissipating like mist.

Before his mind could even process what had happened, the ceiling completely gave way, as if to swallow them whole.

Il-hyeon pulled Lee Soo-yeon into his arms to brace for the impact, and his summons moved to shield the team from above.

But Hyeon-seo didn’t even flinch. She simply stretched one arm straight up.

*Kugugung!*

Deep within the collapsed earth, a forcefield she created formed a protective dome around them. The immense weight of the rubble was completely blocked by the field, leaving the team unharmed.

Il-hyeon stared blankly at Hyeon-seo, and she turned to look back at him, a bright smile on her face.