Chapter 158 – Old Bonds (2)

“This coffee is delicious.”

Audrey spoke as she finished her story, sipping the coffee Henri had made for her.

She was at Henri’s house.

Listening to her, Henri’s heart grew heavy.

He had no intention of condoning the Union Hunters’ actions, nor did he wish to understand them.

Henri had only chosen the organization that paid the most, all to save his family.

While he had never killed an innocent otherworlder himself, he couldn’t claim to be blameless.

He had, after all, protected murderous criminals simply because they were his colleagues.

The organization suspected David Henri.

As the man who murdered the revolutionary Jean Pierre, and as a subversive element who harbored resentment toward the Union.

He had wanted to fight Jean Pierre, yes. But he had never thought of killing him.

The organization didn’t care about his thoughts. Based on all the circumstantial evidence, they had simply deduced he was the culprit.

There were few people in the world capable of killing someone as skilled as Jean Pierre, and Henri’s well-known aversion to the slaughter of otherworlders also played a part.

‘Damn it.’

Still, having been a part of the organization for so long, he had thought there would be at least a sliver of trust between them.

“Is it alright for you to be telling me all this?”

Henri asked Audrey.

She fiddled with her left ear, her face expressionless as she answered.

“Because I said I would repay your kindness.”

Kindness.

It was an unfamiliar word.

All he had done was give her a single pair of earrings.

The Dancing Empress.

Her aggressive sword dance, performed with dual blades, made it clear to any onlooker how she had earned that title.

Some even called her a berserker, seeing how she fought with no regard for her own body, drenching herself in blood.

He wondered what was going through her mind. But her eyes, devoid of any emotional warmth, seemed to reject all judgment.

And yet, she could read others’ emotions with remarkable speed.

“You could be in danger. Do you know that?”

Audrey was a young woman of only twenty-one.

She was now a member of the Union.

What Jean Pierre had so desperately wanted in life was only achieved after his death.

Audrey’s official reason for coming to Korea was to meet Lee Hyunbin, the new Global Hunter member.

Her internal mission from the organization was to investigate David Henri. And her personal reason was to warn Henri of the danger.

Henri didn’t understand it, but to Audrey, the reason was perfectly obvious.

“I’ve had my coffee, so I’ll be going now.”

With those words, Audrey rose from her seat. Watching her, Henri asked with concern.

“Do you have a place to stay?”

“The investigators who came with me are here. I just need to take a taxi to the hotel.”

“I see.”

He figured she would be fine if he just put her in a taxi.

David Henri was the only person in the world who would treat the great Empress like a helpless child.

“Could you, perhaps, wait a little longer?”

“A little longer…?”

Audrey tilted her head at Henri’s words.

“If you don’t mind.”

If his guess was right, Audrey was not an enemy.

The Audrey he knew was an incredibly pure child.

“I was hoping you could meet someone I know.”

“Meet someone?”

“Yes.”

Henri trusted Audrey, but he didn’t know how his benefactor would react.

Henri decided to call Hyunbin.

Of all the people he knew, if there was anyone who had understood his true heart, it was him. Surely, he would be able to see the real Audrey as well.

“Hyunbin. It’s Henri.”

-Henri-hyung. Perfect timing. You can start work tomorrow. I’ll send someone over in case you can’t find the way…

“Hyunbin. Can you meet me now?”

-Now? Hey, no soju for me today. You’ve got work tomorrow, remember?

“Not for soju. It’s about something else.”

Maybe it was because he’d praised how amazing soju was when they drank yesterday.

Hyunbin immediately assumed it was about drinking.

-Can’t you tell me over the phone?

“No.”

It wasn’t something to be discussed over the phone.

It would be an inconvenience for Hyunbin, but since he was calling for Hyunbin’s sake as well, it should be fine.

-I’ll be right there.

Henri let out a sigh.

The distance from the Hanul Guild to his house was about a 25-minute drive.

“Just wait. He’ll be here soon.”

“Okay.”

Henri said to Audrey before stepping outside for a moment.

He hadn’t been thinking about soju. But hearing Hyunbin mention it suddenly made him crave some.

It wasn’t his fault. It was Hyunbin who brought it up.

No, more importantly, it would be better to have a little alcohol for the conversation they were about to have.

To accept Audrey without misunderstanding, he needed to talk about her past.

A part of Henri’s heart still held the memory of Audrey like a lingering guilt.

A child so gaunt she was practically skin and bones, a miracle she was still alive.

A young girl on the verge of death had stared at him with hollow eyes.

***

Audrey waited quietly.

She was curious how he would react. And, just as she expected, he reacted as she’d predicted.

‘Just as I thought.’

Seeing that Henri wasn’t hostile toward her, Audrey smiled.

She took out a hand mirror and looked at her reflection.

She was smiling, but her face wasn’t. Just a cold, lifeless doll stared back from the mirror.

‘I want to smile.’

But she couldn’t.

Not long ago, upon returning from a high-level dungeon raid, she had been informed of her father, Jean Pierre’s, death.

News articles lamented the death of France’s great hero, the revolutionary Jean. But Audrey, far from being sad, felt her heart pound with excitement.

He was finally dead.

The monster who had controlled her like a marionette.

The shell of darkness that had imprisoned her, an absolute terror she could never defy, had finally been shattered.

In accordance with her father Jean Pierre’s will, she inherited all his assets. And she took over his position in the Union.

She didn’t want it. Any of the achievements he left behind.

-As the daughter of a great hero, you must have a heavy responsibility.

-I thought you’d at least look like you were mourning your family’s death.

She was still a doll.

Because no tears of joy came.

She knew very well why she had become this way.

She’d had to hide her expressions, to live a life where she could not reveal her emotions.

She was relieved to hear that David Henri was safe.

Her savior.

He was the sun that had shown her there was a single ray of warm light in the pitch-black abyss.

Audrey touched the crescent moon earring on her left ear.

It was this object that had allowed her to endure that living hell.

To repay his kindness, she was willing to become an enemy of the Union.

No, it was better to be their enemy.

That organization was where *that man*—the demon she had called her father—had belonged.

She was glad she had been able to meet Henri and see that he was safe.

As she was feeling relieved, she heard the sound of someone opening the front gate.

‘Could it be… a tail?’

Wondering if it was an investigator sent by the Union, Audrey hid and peered outside.

A Korean man with Western proportions.

Judging by the movement of the muscles hidden beneath his clothes, he seemed to have undergone considerable training.

‘A Villain…?’

Her detection abilities were far superior to others.

So much so that she could have been called a detection-type supporter.

Her eyes widened as she sensed the man’s mana.

The person who had come to the house possessed two different types of mana.

In other words, he was a person connected to two status window systems.

Although no official research results had been released yet, possessing two status windows highly suggested one was a Villain.

Each dimension has a host system, and these host systems can be individually synchronized.

In other words, a person linked to multiple host systems is someone who travels between dimensions.

Of course, it wasn’t an absolute rule. But only a Villain could possess such powerful mana, let alone from multiple systems.

‘He’s after Ajeossi.’

Audrey reached into her inventory with both hands.

When she pulled her hands out, two swords formed from wireframes materialized in her grasp.

“…!”

Audrey flinched.

The man who had entered the yard turned his gaze, pinpointing her exact location.

She saw the man’s lips curl into a smile.

A demonic smile.

The moment she saw it, Audrey felt a sense of crisis.

If she couldn’t take this man down, she feared what harm might come to Ajeossi Henri.

She shattered the glass window and leaped into the yard.

“Villain?”

“Villain?”

The man repeated her word, a demonic smile playing on his lips.

Audrey scoffed.

He clearly didn’t know who she was.

No matter how high his mana capacity was, she was an S-rank Hunter from France.

‘First, I’ll subdue him.’

Korea was a country extremely sensitive about killing.

A place where you could become a criminal just for striking a robber who broke into your home.

Audrey charged at him without imbuing her blades with mana.

‘The right side first.’

Her blade flashed. Her opponent stood there blankly, unable to react properly.

It was almost laughable how nervous she had been after sensing his large mana pool.

‘Got him.’

She swung her blade horizontally. A sharp jolt shot through her fingertips.

She instinctively retreated backward.

‘An HP Shield?’

Something hard had blocked her blade.

She was sure it had been a clean hit. At that moment, Audrey doubted her eyes.

Her opponent hadn’t activated an HP Shield.

Only his clothes were slightly torn.

The man’s expression changed as he looked at his torn sleeve.

He took off the shirt he was wearing.

Only then did Audrey realize why her attack had been blocked.

His shirtless body was a mass of hard, well-trained, practical muscle.

‘A skin-fortifying skill? I didn’t see any skill effect. Maybe an item?’

There were countless types of items and armor.

‘Time for the sword dance.’

Audrey prepared her specialty, the sword dance.

She poured a generous amount of mana into the swords in both hands. A skill effect flared to life in her palms.

In the next instant, she vanished, leaving only an afterimage behind.

She moved too fast for the eye to follow. All that could be seen were the footprints left on the ground.

The sword dance, a technique that maximized the advantage of dual-wielding. It was a continuous series of attacks that rained down on the opponent like a storm, making even guarding impossible.

It consumed a significant amount of stamina, but few enemies could withstand this technique.

Once again, her opponent stood perfectly still.

‘Good.’

Before, she had attacked non-lethally, but this time was different.

Her opponent, unaware of this, was clearly letting his guard down.

Swish! Shing!

Fwaaah!

She unleashed a barrage of attacks laden with sword energy.

A searing current of air erupted, hot enough to melt the very atmosphere.

She felt no impact on her fingertips.

‘Why?’

Audrey saw that her opponent was deflecting all of her attacks.

When she swung her sword horizontally, he would strike her wrist to deflect the blow.

When she thrusted to prevent him from breaking through, he would dodge by a paper-thin margin and charge forward.

‘Danger.’

Audrey tried to create distance between them.

Although the one with a weapon had an overwhelming advantage, fights between awakeners were often decided by skill matchups.

In other words, her opponent was bare-handed, but he wasn’t unarmed.

“This is justifiable self-defense, right?”

Crack!

Audrey gasped as a body blow landed, knocking the wind out of her.

It was an unimaginable pain for a bare-fisted punch.

Audrey was horrified to see a large chunk of her HP Shield get carved away.

If her opponent used that ‘Justifiable Self-Defense’ skill again, she might not be able to withstand it.

Thump, thump. He was charging toward her, his footsteps shaking the ground.

He looked like a charging bull.

Audrey scrambled to her feet.

She had taken some serious damage, and it would be hard to maintain her footwork. But she couldn’t back down after just one hit.

She was afraid. But she couldn’t retreat.

Audrey’s past flashed before her eyes like a reel of film.

Jean Pierre.

She had lived her life being abused by that demon she couldn’t even call a father.

Getting beaten for upsetting him was a given, and going hungry was a daily occurrence.

She thought all that was left for her was to die.

A man with a gentle face, one that was impossible to believe belonged to a friend of the demon, had looked at her.

His bald head, shining brightly like a sun god, seemed to her a beacon of radiance.

She clung to the vague hope that he might be a savior, that she might receive kindness from a stranger for the first time.

But soon, his face contorted.

She was scared. His face, too, had become like a demon’s.

He went outside.

For a long time, loud noises came from outside the warehouse.

It was like a prayer filled with the demon’s curse.

She could hear the sounds of violence from outside.

It was a familiar sound, one she had always been on the receiving end of.

The girl trembled, realizing that the terrible assault would soon be directed at her.

But when the warehouse door opened again, the bald man, his demonic expression wiped clean, was smiling gently and holding out his hand.

She was led out of the warehouse.

Led by the hand of a stranger she had never seen before.

For her, that was the moment she first encountered the world.

She could hear her father—no, the demon—screaming as he crawled on the ground like a disgusting insect.

The bald man gave the girl freedom.

No, he tried to give her freedom.

Jean Pierre was a hero, and no one would believe Henri’s words.

No, there was no need to believe them.

To the people in power, the name of a hero was more precious than an abused little girl.

In the end, Henri had the girl taken from him. But he gave her a gift.

A crescent-shaped earring.

As he gave it to her, he said that wearing it would make the pain go away faster.

When the girl returned to the house where Jean Pierre waited, she found that Henri’s words were true.

It was only after she became a Hunter that she realized the earring was a unique item with a regeneration skill.

“…!”

Audrey snapped out of her reverie.

Almost unconsciously, she swung her sword with all her might, unleashing all her power.

This will work.

That’s what she thought, but it was nothing more than a delusion.

Her wrist was shattered by her opponent’s kick.

Her HP Shield was meaningless.

Crack!

Audrey failed to dodge the punch coming at her face and took the hit.

She skipped across the ground like a stone on water before crashing into a wall.

It was humiliating, but her opponent was an unbelievable monster. She was no match for him.

She saw the muscular Villain grinning rapaciously, a vicious look in his greedy eyes.

“You pass.”

As she lost consciousness, Audrey thought she heard the devil’s whisper.