Chapter 116:
With rumors spreading that even Haeil Guild and Sunghwa Guild were seeking dungeon plants, the number of customers visiting the flower shop increased even further.
As a result, the dungeon plants were disappearing at an accelerated rate, and Seo Jae-yi and Baek Joo-won were practically living at the shop.
Tonight, too, they were stuck in the greenhouse long past midnight.
“What would you have done if I hadn’t revealed my identity?”
Baek Joo-won, digging up and replanting the bulblets from the parent plants, sighed.
As soon as he covered them with soil and patted it down, sprouts emerged. Far from being unfamiliar with the non-dungeon environment, the sprouts danced as if welcoming Baek Joo-won’s touch, growing visibly with each movement.
The speed was on a completely different level compared to when Seo Jae-yi and Airok cultivated them. As expected, the dungeon master’s ability was extraordinary.
“I would have figured something out. Just like I started putting you to work as soon as I knew your identity.”
Seo Jae-yi, watering the newly grown plants, grinned.
“It’s not unpaid labor, though. Where else can you find a shop that pays its employees with magic stones? Work hard.”
“I should have stopped you when you said you wanted to grow dungeon plants.”
Baek Joo-won lamented, saying he shouldn’t have dismissed her as just eccentric.
“Master! I’ve finished organizing the plants over there.”
Airok fluttered over. His job was to care for the dungeon plants until they were big enough to sell.
“Good work. It must be tough with all the work lately.”
“No! It’s okay. Thanks to this, I can stay with Master for a long, long time.”
How could Logi be so sweet?
Seo Jae-yi planted kisses on her reliable employee’s forehead.
It was around then that the incident occurred.
Seo Jae-yi was the first to notice.
“What?”
She turned her head sharply. She sensed an unsettling presence all around them.
“What’s wrong?”
Baek Joo-won and Airok looked at her quizzically.
“Don’t you feel it?”
At her words, the two looked around. Their expressions quickly turned grim.
“What is this presence? It’s too suspicious to be just people wandering around at night.”
“I agree. And this… isn’t this the energy of Espers?”
Someone was prowling around the greenhouse. And not just one or two.
“Could these be the same guys who tried to break into the shop when we went to Pohang?”
It was a distinct possibility. Taking off her mud-caked gardening gloves, Seo Jae-yi stood up.
“We’ll find out once we catch them. Both of you stay here. Unlike the shop, it’s not easy to break into the greenhouse.”
Unlike the flower shop, which was a remodeled existing building, the greenhouse was newly built from the ground up.
The reason was simple: she could afford to lose the flowers and the shop to fire, but not the entire greenhouse.
‘And it’s coming in handy now.’
Preventing the dungeon plants from escaping and keeping out intruders.
Applauding her foresight, Seo Jae-yi sat by the door connecting the greenhouse to the shop and extended her senses. Like a thermal camera, she detected seven presences.
‘I don’t know if they’re Espers or not, but they’re definitely human.’
Even Seo Jae-yi couldn’t distinguish between non-Awakened individuals and Espers with just thermal detection.
Well, it didn’t matter. Even if they were non-Awakened, subduing criminals who forced their way into a closed shop past midnight was self-defense.
Because of the ridiculous laws, even injuring an intruder could be considered mutual assault, so she had to subdue them without causing too much harm.
‘They’re coming.’
Having deemed the greenhouse too difficult to infiltrate, they were all heading towards the shop. They couldn’t see her yet.
But something felt off.
‘I should be hearing voices by now. Why is it so quiet?’
She could hear their stealthy footsteps, but no conversation. And unlike ordinary burglars, their steps were heavy, as if they were armed.
These weren’t ordinary thieves.
‘Whether they’re from the government or not, it’s fortunate. If they’re armed, I can apprehend them without any issues.’
Unaware of the monster lurking inside, the intruders finally crossed the threshold into hell.
They ripped the shop door off its hinges. Telekinesis.
Now it was certain. They were Espers, not non-Awakened individuals.
Gesturing for Baek Joo-won and Airok to stay quiet, Seo Jae-yi jumped up and waved at the intruders.
“Blazing Trail is closed! Put the door back and behave yourselves, and I won’t resort to violence!”
The intruders, who had been cautiously entering, were startled by her cheerful voice. As Seo Jae-yi had expected, they were all wearing black masks and heavily armed.
“Fire!”
Dark muzzles pointed at Seo Jae-yi, and bullets flew. While the silencers muffled the gunshots, the impacts against the walls echoed with the shattering of debris.
But there was no sound of a body being hit.
“What do you think you’re doing in my shop?”
Dropping to the floor in a flash, Seo Jae-yi plunged her hand into a nearby water tank. She pulled out a handgun.
Now wielding two handguns, she moved with terrifying speed, firing at the intruders. Short cries of pain erupted from around the room.
The telekinetic Esper, presumably the one who removed the door, deployed a shield, deflecting Seo Jae-yi’s bullets. Taking advantage of the opening, a large water projectile hurtled towards her.
Sizzle. It evaporated into thin air before reaching her.
‘What? They came to face me and brought a low-ranking Water Esper? Are these really government agents?’
She grew even more curious about their identities.
Leaping onto the high ceiling, Seo Jae-yi ran along the walls, firing at them. Her agile movements in the confined space, combined with her low, ground-skimming maneuvers, made it difficult for them to keep up.
Shaking them off, she lunged at the telekinetic Esper at the edge of the room, pressing a gun to the top of his foot.
Bang!
The telekinetic Esper, his foot shot through, choked back a scream and stumbled. Seo Jae-yi fired two more shots, one into each hand, before kicking him out of the shop.
She made sure to lodge a bullet in his knee as well, disabling his ability.
“Ack!”
Suddenly, a bullet from out of nowhere knocked the gun from her hand. The intruders quickly snatched it up.
Though momentarily disarmed, Seo Jae-yi wasn’t concerned. There were plenty of water tanks left in the shop.
Immediately pulling out another gun, she charged towards the one who had disarmed her.
Scratching her beloved sister Won-yeong’s custom-made waterproof gun? Unforgivable.
Kicking another approaching intruder in the rear, she confronted her target.
As she blocked the incoming bullets with her heat, the intruder cursed. Discarding his useless gun, he swung his fist. His arm muscles bulged, suggesting he was an Enhancement Esper.
‘If I block with the gun, it’ll break.’
Changing her mind, Seo Jae-yi tossed the gun back into a water tank and blocked the incoming fist with her bare hand.
Thud! Despite the light sound, she felt the heavy impact in her palm.
The intruder was shocked to see her easily grip his enhanced fist.
“An Enhancement Esper shouldn’t be this easy to grab.”
“K-Kill her!”
As the captured intruder yelled, the others lunged at her.
Seo Jae-yi fired the gun in her other hand, aiming for their joints—knees, elbows, ankles, wrists—difficult spots to protect.
“Ugh!”
“Argh!”
The bullets, also Seo Won-yeong’s special magic stone creations, sent the Espers crashing to the floor, screaming in pain.
Seeing his comrades injured, the Esper trapped by Seo Jae-yi desperately swung his other fist, but she easily dodged it by tilting her head.
“Ah!”
Suddenly, a gust of wind grazed her cheek. A stinging sensation, followed by a spurt of warm blood.
There was a Wind Esper?
Crack! Crack!
“Aaargh!”
Seo Jae-yi broke the bones in the Enhancement Esper’s captured hand. Ignoring his pitiful screams, she snapped the bones in his other arm as well. Gasping, he collapsed to the floor.
No one was left standing.
“Now, who was the one who sent that wind at me? Confess and be spared!”
Tossing the broken arm aside, Seo Jae-yi looked around. But no one confessed.
“No choice then. I’ll have to find out by breaking each of you one by one. I gave you a chance.”
Seo Jae-yi raised her foot, aiming for the knee of the Esper whose arms she had broken.
Just as her foot descended like a guillotine blade, another sharpened gust of wind flew towards her. This time, from all directions, as if trying to shred her to pieces.
But their objective wasn’t achieved.
Small flames erupted around Seo Jae-yi, detonating the incoming wind blasts. The wind dissipated harmlessly.
The difference in their abilities was too vast.
“You’re the Wind Esper, aren’t you?”
She sensed the power signature emanating from an intruder in the corner, his knee joint shattered.
His eyes widened. A self-deprecating voice escaped his lips.
“Damn it, I didn’t hear that a monster like you was attached to her.”
A monster, huh? What a shameful compliment.
“Hmm. I thought maybe a jealous competitor hired you to kill the beautiful owner of this successful flower shop, but it seems that’s not the case. So, what was your original target? The dungeon plants? Or the S-rank Guide?”
Stepping over the fallen intruders, Seo Jae-yi grabbed the cursing Wind Esper by the collar and hauled him up.
Unable to support himself on his shattered knees, the man choked and grabbed at Seo Jae-yi’s hand. But she didn’t budge.
“Are y-you, F-Firestarter?”
the intruder asked with difficulty.
Her proficient use of firearms, her swift movements in the confined shop that they couldn’t follow, the way she quickly subdued them as if accustomed to hand-to-hand combat…
She even neutralized an A-rank Esper’s water attack without a sound. Only a Heat Manipulation Esper could do that.
And in Korea, there was only one Heat Manipulation Esper capable of such feats: the infamous Firestarter, Seo Jae-yi.
“W-Why, cough, why is Firestarter running a flower shop…?”
“A flower shop? Do you know how hard it is to run a flower shop? It’s incredibly exhausting!”
Seo Jae-yi shook her head, muttering about how one shouldn’t deal with ignorant Espers.
“Sh*t, if I knew Firestarter, ugh, was here, we wouldn’t have come with so few… p-people…”
“Don’t flatter yourself. Even if you had a few more like you, it wouldn’t have made much difference.”
Well, the fight had ended quickly because they were caught off guard by the unexpected presence of an S-rank Esper. Otherwise, it would have been much more challenging.
And in that case, the shop wouldn’t just be damaged; it would have been completely destroyed.
“……Ha. This hurts my heart.”
Looking around the shop, Seo Jae-yi sighed deeply.
Vases were shattered, bullet holes riddled the walls, and the floor was a mess of debris from the stray bullets.
The sight of her devastated shop almost brought tears to her eyes.
“Do any of you have anything valuable? You’re paying for the repairs.”
She’d have to hang them upside down and shake them until they coughed up the money.
“But before that…”
Seo Jae-yi tossed the man she was holding behind her. Leaving the groaning intruders behind, she stepped outside. She saw the man she’d thrown out, his limbs broken, desperately crawling on the ground.
It was fortunate that no one was around at this late hour. Otherwise, someone would have called the police.
She hadn’t even interrogated them about why they broke in or extorted the repair costs. She couldn’t let the police take them away just yet.