Chapter 181:
Elizer, summoned immediately after the Guiding session, readily agreed when Seo Jae-yi asked to borrow his power.
“I thought you’d complain after I pushed you so hard during the boss fight.”
Seo Jae-yi was surprised by his easy agreement, and Elizer shrugged.
“Even at my worst, I’m still no match for you.”
Seo Jae-yi had single-handedly taken down several dragons, even taking a breath attack head-on, while also protecting Elizer and the Guides.
He couldn’t complain about being overworked when she had done so much.
“And you’re not going to use my ability just to return to the hotel. What are you planning?”
“You know me too well. Just open a portal to Korea. I’ll explain on the way. There’s someone I need to take back with us.”
Someone else besides Seo Jae-yi and Baek Joo-won?
Elizer tilted his head, curious, but he didn’t ask and followed them. This “someone” was apparently nearby.
The three of them headed towards a small sand dune, about an hour’s drive from the gate.
A faint presence could be sensed from behind the dune.
“…Huh?”
Elizer, who had been following them without much thought, stopped abruptly, his eyes widening in surprise as he saw who it was.
A large rock. And tied to it with chains, a man covered in blood.
His face was gaunt and vacant, his body limp, his hair matted and thinning, his clothes stained and dirty.
He looked like he had been tortured.
“What is this? What did you do?”
“Calm down. I’m not planning on committing a crime with your ability.”
Seo Jae-yi patted his shoulder reassuringly and then approached the chained man, Park Jung-soo.
Park Jung-soo, who had been slumped against the rock, drooling, looked up at her approach and his eyes widened in recognition.
“Mmm! Mmm!”
He tried to yell, his mouth gagged, but Seo Jae-yi ignored him.
“Long time no see. You don’t seem to have been doing well. That’s good. I was worried you might be enjoying yourself, conducting your… experiments.”
His sunken cheeks, the dark circles under his eyes, his thinner, more stooped frame, the vacant, almost lifeless look in his eyes…
Park Jung-soo was clearly not well. Seo Jae-yi was… satisfied.
“You’re so obsessed that you followed me all the way here, you fool. You should have just turned yourself in. Then I wouldn’t have this opportunity.”
“…”
“Or… are you happy? You finally get to see me again. Rejoice, Park Jung-soo. I’ll be with you… until the day you die.”
Seo Jae-yi grinned, a predatory glint in her eyes.
She wouldn’t let him off easily, not like Park Hyung-woo or Jang Woo-seok. She wanted her revenge on him, a slow, agonizing revenge.
She wouldn’t entrust her revenge to the government, which had done nothing but harm her, not when it came to Park Jung-soo.
“…Park Jung-soo?”
Elizer, who had been watching, muttered, his face hardening.
“The Park Jung-soo who… experimented on you?”
“Yes, that’s him.”
Seo Jae-yi nodded and kicked Park Jung-soo’s limp leg.
“He was after Baek Joo-won’s Guide Factor. We anticipated that he would approach Baek Joo-won if I entered the dungeon alone, while separated from him.”
His obsession with Seo Jae-yi was unparalleled.
They had been certain he would take the bait.
“You could have done that in Korea. Why America?”
Elizer, his initial sympathy gone, asked, puzzled.
Sympathy? Sympathy was for humans, not for monsters like him.
“Too many prying eyes in Korea. There’s no better place to… take care of things quietly than a foreign country.”
Seo Jae-yi smiled brightly at Elizer.
It meant she was going to kill him, not imprison him.
But Elizer’s expression didn’t change. He understood her rage; revenge was her right, her prerogative.
And as Seo Jae-yi’s friend, he couldn’t forgive Park Jung-soo either.
“Where in Korea should I open the portal?”
Seo Jae-yi grinned and gave him the coordinates, as if she had been expecting the question. He immediately opened a portal.
“So you’re leaving now? The Association Head has prepared a generous reward for you.”
“No. I’ll just drop him off somewhere safe and then come back. Wait here; it won’t take long.”
Elizer nodded.
Long-distance portals couldn’t be maintained for long, so Seo Jae-yi quickly dragged Park Jung-soo towards it.
He struggled weakly, but he was too weak to resist.
Seo Jae-yi grabbed him by the scruff of his neck and dragged him through the portal. It led to the gate of Baek Joo-won’s forest dungeon.
The area was deserted, as the dungeon plant sales were suspended while she was in the US.
She checked to make sure no one was around and then entered the forest dungeon.
“Ah, that’s refreshing.”
The cool, clean air of the forest enveloped her, soothing her weary mind, despite her physically refreshed state.
This place was the best.
“Is this what they call forest bathing?”
“Something like that.”
Baek Joo-won, who had followed them through the portal, chuckled.
“Mmm! Mmm!”
His smile vanished, replaced by a murderous glint in his eyes, as Park Jung-soo, still held by the scruff of his neck by Seo Jae-yi, thrashed and groaned.
“I would kill you right now, but…”
“We can’t. We have to go back before Eli’s portal closes.”
Seo Jae-yi dragged him deeper into the dungeon. He struggled more violently, but she didn’t even flinch.
“This should be far enough.”
She finally threw him onto the ground, deep within the dungeon, a place where a Guide would never be able to escape alone.
He was still struggling, despite having no visible wounds.
“Stop whining. You’re acting like you’re seriously injured.”
Park Jung-soo looked at her with a resentful expression at her annoyed words, and Seo Jae-yi was even more dumbfounded.
“Do you think you’re in more pain than I was?”
Seo Jae-yi had been only eleven when she was experimented on.
She had been tormented by Park Jung-soo until Kwon Yi-soo became the new Center Head and consolidated his power.
She was disgusted by his pathetic display.
He was whining about his pain, but he hadn’t cared about her suffering, a child’s suffering.
“…You don’t seem to understand.”
But Park Jung-soo didn’t seem remorseful, only groaning.
She gave up. She hadn’t brought him here to rehabilitate him.
“How’s Logi?”
Seo Jae-yi turned to Baek Joo-won, who took the shrunken Airok out of his bag.
He was recovering, relying on Baek Joo-won’s regenerative power after being scorched by Seo Jae-yi’s flames.
“He’s hibernating.”
Even with Baek Joo-won’s regenerative abilities, it would take time for him to recover from his injuries and being burned by Seo Jae-yi.
He would probably remain asleep until he was fully healed.
“He’ll wake up in a few days, so don’t worry.”
Seo Jae-yi’s worried expression relaxed slightly at Baek Joo-won’s words.
Even though both Baek Joo-won and Airok had been prepared for this, she still felt uneasy seeing Airok unconscious.
“Since Airok’s out, I’ll have to leave this one to… other guards.”
Baek Joo-won looked down at Park Jung-soo, his eyes cold.
He stomped his foot, and the surrounding dungeon plants stirred, their grotesque forms turning towards Park Jung-soo.
“Mmm! Mmm!”
Park Jung-soo trembled, his eyes wide with terror as he looked at Baek Joo-won.
“Behave yourself. Unless you want to be dissected and become fertilizer for my plants.”
The light in Park Jung-soo’s eyes died, replaced by the dull emptiness of despair.
“Let’s go.”
Baek Joo-won turned and walked away without hesitation.
Seo Jae-yi, instead of following him immediately, looked down at Park Jung-soo, who was looking up at her with a pleading expression. Her gaze was cold and unforgiving.
“It’s time for you to pay for your sins. You tormented me for eleven years, so you have to suffer for a hundred.”
She had only been directly experimented on for four years, but the psychological trauma had lasted until now.
And he had toyed with not only her Factor, but also her deceased father’s.
This was his retribution.
Seo Jae-yi turned away, leaving him to the… tender mercies of the dungeon plants, their gazes fixated on him like hungry predators. Park Jung-soo let out a muffled scream.
But only a choked sob escaped his gagged mouth.
“…Sob…”
He looked around, his face stained with tears, snot, and blood.
Despite the dense, jungle-like surroundings, there were no sounds of insects or birds. The unnatural silence was a stark reminder that this was a dungeon, amplifying his fear.
He had rarely entered dungeons, being a researcher. He had only been inside a few times, heavily armed and accompanied by Espers, to assess Seo Jae-yi’s abilities when she was younger.
And now, he was trapped in this terrifying place, alone, with nothing but… dungeon plants!
Why did he have to suffer this? It was Seo Jae-yi’s fault.
It was her fault for being such a powerful Esper. Moths were drawn to flames; it was only natural. It was the flame’s fault for being too bright.
He should have… broken her, completely subjugated her will, turned her into an obedient puppet during his experiments.
How ironic, that his single moment of carelessness had come back to haunt him like this.
“Sob…hic…”
But there was no one here to hear his complaints, his self-pity.
Park Jung-soo curled up on the ground, his body trembling, and continued to sob.
He wanted to go back to the past, when he could control Seo Jae-yi, when every day had been filled with excitement and anticipation.