Chapter 89

As if it had never opened its mouth in the first place, it snapped shut.

It didn’t slash with its blade, either. The toothed sword merely brushed past me.

Seo Moonchan retreated, widening the distance between us.

“…Huh? What the…”

The most bewildered person there was Seo Moonchan himself.

As the weapon’s owner, he understood better than anyone how absurd what had just happened was.

Mischievous Predator was an exceptionally violent weapon, true to both its name and appearance.

It unleashed relentless attacks, sometimes becoming so aggressive that even its owner struggled to control it.

If anything, it usually bit enemies far more than necessary.

As far as I knew, this had never happened before.

‘Why won’t it attack me?’

I couldn’t understand it either, so I stared at the toothed sword.

“Huh…” Seo Moonchan muttered as he swung his sword around experimentally before charging again.

Won Taebeom immediately blocked with his gauntlet.

But with both Mok Saehwa and Seo Moonchan focusing all their attacks solely on me, he quickly reached his limit.

This time, Mok Saehwa’s bullet succeeded in hitting me.

Or rather… it almost did.

“Wow, Goyo-nim!”

Mok Saehwa exclaimed in surprise.

I was even more shocked than before.

Just before the bullet touched me, it popped into a blossom with a soft poof.

Having somehow become someone who got hit by a flower, I instinctively caught the falling bloom.

Originally, the bullet should have embedded itself in my flesh before blooming and draining my life force.

Instead, it had simply turned into a flower and fallen to the ground.

Even Won Taebeom finally asked after witnessing the second anomaly.

“…Is it… supposed to do that?”

There was no way I had an answer.

“Uh… I… don’t really know either.”

Watching the battle from atop my head, Dominic slid down onto my shoulder and calmly explained.

“Roasted Chestnut. No matter how insignificant a creature may be, the instinct to revere and worship a god cannot be denied.”

He explained as though there were nothing surprising about it at all.

That it was simply the natural order.

Of course, I was extremely surprised.

The idea that magical items would worship me was almost as unbelievable as me being a Young God.

I still had no idea what any of this meant.

But one thing about the current situation was clear.

‘They can’t attack me.’

I immediately revised the plan I’d been forming in my head.

“Lieutenant Won.”

Then I raised my right hand, still wearing the gauntlet.

“I’ll apply the mark.”

Paladin’s Oath only displayed its true power when both gauntlets were used together.

Its mechanism was simple.

Mark an enemy with the right gauntlet.

Then attack that marked enemy with the left gauntlet to dramatically increase the damage dealt.

The amount of bonus damage apparently depended on Won Taebeom’s condition, though even I didn’t know the exact details.

Right now, because he had been carrying me, Won Taebeom was only wearing the left gauntlet.

I intended to wear the right one and apply the mark for him.

Since the items were on my side, the directors couldn’t attack me at all.

That meant I could move much more boldly.

It would be difficult to reach Mok Saehwa since she fought at range.

But Seo Moonchan would have to keep approaching Won Taebeom to attack him.

I planned to seize that opportunity.

Just from that one sentence, Won Taebeom immediately understood what I was planning.

His reaction, however, wasn’t encouraging.

“Trainee Han. Is this how you behave even with the Special Mission Team?”

“…Huh?”

I thought it was a good plan, but Won Taebeom answered coldly.

“I gave you the gauntlet for defense. Focus only on your own safety.”

“…Yes.”

I immediately shrank back.

Still, Won Taebeom seemed willing to take advantage of our current advantage.

He clenched the gauntleted hand into a fist before opening it again.

Then he adjusted his grip on me and said,

“We’ll move quickly.”

He shot forward.

Boom!

His gauntlet slammed directly into Seo Moonchan’s toothed sword.

The heavy punch made the blade vibrate violently.

Seo Moonchan redirected the blow and stepped backward.

The instant he created an opening, bullets flew through it.

Won Taebeom deflected the bullets aimed at him with his gauntlet.

The ricocheting rounds struck a nearby wall before transforming into flower petals and vanishing.

He then brushed aside the toothed sword lunging for his head and drove a heavy punch toward Seo Moonchan’s abdomen.

Seo Moonchan dodged the punch effortlessly.

At the same time, he also avoided my outstretched hand, which had nearly touched him.

“Whoa there, Goyo-nim. That’s cheating.”

My fingers barely missed him.

I withdrew my hand with a disappointed sigh.

Won Taebeom shot me a glance, but the battle was too intense for him to scold me.

Several more exchanges followed.

Now that he no longer needed to devote as much attention to protecting me, Won Taebeom’s movements became far smoother.

He still couldn’t seize the advantage, but he managed to hold his ground by the narrowest margin.

As time passed, the situation slowly tilted in our favor.

Mok Saehwa cried out impatiently.

“Director Seo! At this rate we’ll never get Goyo-nim to sign!”

She turned her gun toward herself.

Bang! Bang!

Successive shots rang out as flowers bloomed all over her own body.

Seeing what she was doing made me panic.

Sacrificing her own life force to increase her attack power was something Mok Saehwa only resorted to in battles she absolutely had to win.

Her eyes turned bloodshot.

Her flushed face heaved as she tore the withered flower from her magazine and threw it onto the ground.

Breathing heavily enough for her chest to rise and fall, she looked straight at me.

“Goyo-nim… haa… just… sign… the contract… please… okay?”

A chill ran down my spine.

She smiled brightly at my reaction.

Then…

Click.

She reloaded her weapon and aimed at Won Taebeom.

“Sorry, but I’m upgrading this to eight weeks of hospitalization. Please don’t take it personally!”

Ratatatatat!

The gun that had been firing single shots switched to full-auto, unleashing a torrent of bullets.

With machine-gun-like suppressive fire filling the area, Won Taebeom’s mobility was severely restricted.

Seo Moonchan instantly seized the opportunity and closed in with the toothed sword.

Won Taebeom dodged the blade.

But just as if it had been waiting for this exact moment, the sword split open wide and bit down on his gauntlet.

Clang!

Metal crashed against metal.

Neither the teeth nor the gauntlet suffered any damage.

However, the gauntlet’s surface was now coated in thick poison.

If even a little of it splashed onto his skin, he would be poisoned immediately.

Won Taebeom tried to pull away from Seo Moonchan while shaking the poison off his gauntlet.

That was when a bullet finally hit him.

“…!”

Won Taebeom narrowed one eye.

A brilliant flower instantly bloomed from his shoulder.

Mok Saehwa’s eyes shone even brighter.

After draining another person’s life force, she intensified her barrage.

I did my best to swat away the incoming bullets, but with Seo Moonchan constantly pressing the attack, it wasn’t easy.

The poison coating Won Taebeom’s gauntlet further restricted his movements.

‘We still have to survive for at least five more minutes.’

At this rate, I’d end up being forced to sign that contract.

I decided to rely on item power.

“Lieutenant Won! Just take the bullets! I have a healing item!”

His eyes met mine.

I looked at him as if begging him to trust me.

Mok Saehwa sounded almost disappointed.

“The bullets from my Blooming Funeral can’t be countered with healing items, Goyo-nim!”

I know.

When someone was riddled with Blooming Funeral’s bullets, the life force it stole couldn’t be restored by ordinary healing items.

But…

‘This isn’t an ordinary healing item.’

A six-star Phoenix Meringue Cookie from Sla2Plate should be more than enough.

The question was whether Won Taebeom would trust me.

What I was asking was essentially for him to gamble his life on my word.

There was no way we shared that level of trust.

Honestly, it wouldn’t have been strange if he simply ignored me.

If he did, I’d try suggesting another plan.

But unexpectedly, Won Taebeom immediately charged straight at Seo Moonchan.

Boom!

Seo Moonchan blocked the incoming punch with his sword and let out a dry laugh.

“Lieutenant Won… I didn’t know you were the type to listen to your juniors so obediently.”

Flowers bloomed all over Won Taebeom’s body.

A bullet even embedded itself in his cheek, forming another flower bud.

But he never faltered.

Calmly deflecting the relentless barrage of punches, Seo Moonchan sneered.

“Even so, trying to beat me with only one arm is asking a bit much, don’t you think?”

I agreed.

Which was exactly why I intended to make sure it wasn’t just one arm anymore.

As their increasingly rapid exchange brought them completely within arm’s reach…

I reached out.

Straight into the path of the toothed sword’s swing.

Seo Moonchan’s eyes widened.

Before he could react…

The toothed sword opened its mouth first.

Because it opened its jaws, it barely avoided cutting me.

But in doing so…

The tips of its teeth ended up pointed directly at Dominic.

I noticed that.

But I didn’t care.

Unless it was another god, nothing could affect Dominic.

A mere item would simply pass straight through him.

Or so I thought.

Apparently unwilling to let something filthy pass through him, Dominic flattened himself more firmly against me.

He seemed unwilling even to let it phase through him.

The moment he squished against me in annoyance…

Crunch.

The sword’s teeth shattered.

There was no need to wonder who the culprit was.

Startled by the completely unexpected turn of events, Seo Moonchan froze for just an instant.

I grabbed him by the collar.

“…Goyo-nim!”

Then I pulled myself straight into his arms.

Already thrown off balance because of the sword, Seo Moonchan instinctively caught me.

I slammed the right gauntlet against him, branding him with the mark.

“Lieutenant Won!!”

I didn’t even have time to finish shouting before Won Taebeom was already moving.

Freed from restraint, he punched straight at Seo Moonchan despite being covered in flowers.

Seo Moonchan immediately threw me aside and raised the toothed sword to defend himself.

But the timing was just slightly off.

“Ghk!”

Blood burst from Seo Moonchan’s mouth as the punch landed squarely in his abdomen.

The bespectacled man in the business suit flew through the air before crashing into a building with a tremendous bang.

After rolling across the ground, I couldn’t stop the corners of my mouth from lifting.

Won Taebeom hurried over and picked me back up.

At the same time, he growled at me in a low voice.

“Are you insane?”

“Eat this first.”

With one hand I plucked the flowers blooming from his body.

With the other, I pulled a cookie from my inventory and held it out.

Won Taebeom swallowed the meringue cookie in a single bite.

His brow furrowed.

Recovering almost instantly, he stared at me with even greater suspicion.

I hurriedly explained.

“It’s an item from Sla2Plate. I brought it out after clearing the trial.”

Meanwhile, Mok Saehwa lowered her gun and spoke with heartfelt admiration.

“Seriously… Goyo-nim really belongs in Paseong…”

Just as she once again began preaching the virtues of recruiting me…

Flash!

The surroundings became as bright as midday.

There was only one thing that kind of explosion of light could mean.

Daeil Yeorae.

The moment I worried about Samra’s safety, a powerful gust of wind swept past.

My hair whipped violently across my face, making me squint.

Something wrapped around my waist.

I was yanked violently backward, crashing into something as solid as a wall.

I turned my head.

“…!”

A white mask filled my vision.

“Han Goyo.”

CEO Cha spoke in his mechanical voice.

“Ready to sign?”