Jin held his breath, frozen in fear, as he watched his grandfather Adrian collapse under the Chaos Lord's hands. The creature's red eyes glowed as its claws slowly tore through Adrian's guts, as if it enjoyed every moment of it.
Adrian's blood splattered on the ground as he staggered backward. "R— run…" he directed his gaze toward Jin before falling to the ground.
He coughed violently, blood flowing from his mouth, his desperate eyes fixed on his grandson who now seemed like an easy prey.
Jin fell to his knees, paralyzed by helplessness as the creature extended its claws toward him. "No, no, nooo, Grandpa!"
Jin accepted his fate and prepared for the end, staring at the creature in front of him.
But suddenly, Adrian began laughing hysterically. "Ahahaha!"
Adrian's laughter was weak but mocking. "Ha ha, your end is truly near."
Jin's eyes widened in shock as he turned to his grandfather. "Grandpa?"
His laugh sent a chill through Jin's bones. Is he laughing at me? Is he happy that I'm going to die with him?
But as Jin sat there stunned by these thoughts, he felt something was off. The creature was completely ignoring him, its gaze fixed on something behind him.
At that moment, someone appeared beside Jin, lifting his leg to kick the creature's head.
The creature tried to block the attack with its hand, but the moment it did, its entire hand shattered, and the kick smashed its head, sending it flying backward at high speed.
All that had just happened in a second!
The creature's black blood sprayed through the air as it slammed into the trees with a deafening crash, leaving a path of shattered trunks behind.
"You don't look well at all, Adrian…"
The man who kicked the creature was tall and muscular with blond hair, wearing casual summer clothes, his hands in his pockets, and didn't seem to care about the creature he had just thrown.
Then a girl appeared in front of Jin. She was beautiful, with perfect skin and long black hair. Her black eyes were both scary and beautiful at the same time.
She wore a stylish black suit and carried a long scythe as she looked at the creature beginning to rise to its feet.
"Ugh, how ugly."
"Yeah, so you deal with that thing and I'll help that old man."
The man in the summer clothes headed toward Adrian.
Adrian managed a weak smile as he coughed blood. "Park, you scum, you were late."
Park smiled and said, "We'll finish this quickly. Just hang on and don't die."
Adrian coughed and laughed weakly. "You know very well that there's no more time for me."
Park sighed. "Alright, but hang on a bit at least to say goodbye to that poor guy.
" He then pointed his finger back at Jin.
The creature stood on its feet and charged toward Park.
"Why do they always try to attack me instead of her?" Park sighed as he looked at the creature again.
He stood strong, not caring about the creature's anger, looking at it with contempt. "Better see what's behind you," Park waved at the creature.
The girl stood behind the creature, holding her scythe, and with one swift swing,
"swish!" she cleaved the hideous creature in half.
The creature's upper half was blown into the air, its expression turning into a severe and grim frown for the first time ever as it used to just smile!
The chaos leader tried to regenerate its body but couldn't…
At that moment, Park quickly moved toward the creature's lower body. "Hello…"
He kicked the lower half so hard that the creature's flesh turned into a scattered pile of blood.
The creature's upper half fell to the ground, shivering and glaring angrily at the two.
Some of its limbs began to regenerate through its stomach, but Lamar stomped on it with the heel of her shoe, turning the creature's remains into yet another pool of blood.
Everything ended so quickly that Jin was left in complete shock, unable to comprehend what had just happened before him!
"Eww, I'm covered in blood," Lamar said as she pulled out a tissue from her pocket and began wiping the blood from her hair.
Park approached Adrian, brushing the blood off his clothes, then knelt at his feet and said, "Adrian, you're going to die soon."
Adrian chuckled tiredly. "You're really shameless!"
He coughed hard before adding, "Looks like my time is running out, so listen carefully."
Park sighed and leaned closer to Adrian's mouth to listen.
"Help that poor boy and make sure he gets into Lucaria. That's my last wish."
Park looked at Adrian and scratched his head.
"I might not be able to do it. You know how difficult it is to get someone into that academy, especially right now."
Adrian coughed again, blood spilling from his mouth.
"Don't worry about it. Just tell the academy director he's from Yoshta."
Park sighed deeply and called out loudly, "Lamar, bring that boy here to say goodbye to his grandfather."
Lamar sighed in annoyance. "Fine."
While Jin was still sitting on the floor in a state of physical and mental shock, Lamar grabbed him by the neck and lifted him up like a cat, heading toward Adrian.
Then she threw him to the ground next to Adrian. "Just finish this quickly."
Adrian looked at Jin, coughing weakly, and smiled gently.
"It seems I'll be seeing your Hana soon." He then raised his blood-stained hand with difficulty to pat Jin on the head.
"Do you remember the promise you made to me?"
Tears streamed down Jin's face as he looked at him. "Don't go… you can't leave yet."
Jin begged, his voice weak and sorrowful, biting his lip.
"Don't go. I told you you can't meet her yet…"
Jin's sobs intensified, leaving him unable to speak further as he still couldn't even move his body from the shock.
Adrian smiled kindly. "Don't worry. Everything will be fine."
"No, I said no!" Jin shouted at Adrian.
But as much as Jin kept shouting… Adrian had already passed away.
"Answer me, why are you ignoring me!"
Jin gripped his grandfather's shoulder and shook him violently.
"Answer me, you foolish old man! Stop playing around!"
"Answer me, I said answer me now!!!"
Lamar, who was annoyed by Jin's shouting, approached him and struck him hard on the neck, causing him to lose consciousness.
"What an annoying kid," she muttered.
Park sighed and gently closed Adrian's eyes. "What a bothersome last wish, Adrian."
Lamar looked at him and then asked, "What will you do now?"
Park looked at her and said,
"First, I'll give this old man a decent burial. Then I'll place the boy in a field hospital temporarily while I check if he can join Lucaria."
Lamar scoffed. "You want to send this weak boy to Lucaria? Are you serious?"
Park sighed deeply, looking at her.
"It's the last wish of his grandfather. Besides, he mentioned something that seems interesting… He said this boy is one of the Yoshta."
Lamar's eyes lit up with interest. "Yoshta? Impossible. No descendants could have lasted and you know it."
Park smiled. "I thought the same thing at first, but based on my knowledge of that old man, I'm sure he's not lying."
"So, I'll just try to grant his last wish."
Lamar raised an eyebrow. "As you want. I'll leave now, so see you later."
"Ah, goodbye."
After that, Park buried Adrian and took the little boy in his arms as he moved toward the city.
-----------------------------
After several hours, Jin slowly opened his eyes to find himself lying on a comfortable bed in a sterile medical room.
He stared at the ceiling, clutching the bed he was lying on, trying to hold back his tears.
"Fuck that old man," Jin muttered, his voice heavy with grief and sadness.
He kept thinking about that night. It was his mistake… if he had listened to Grandpa and stayed away, he would have survived.
"I'll kill them. I'll kill them all, whatever that fucking thing is, I'll kill it!" Jin continued to curse as his tears started to fall.
His eyes burned with anger as he clenched his fists.
A sweet and tender voice called out to him, "Are you alright?"
The girl was strikingly beautiful with long, shiny red hair and looked at him with compassionate eyes.
"That's none of your business," Jin replied sharply, still tearful.
Unfazed by his cold behavior, the girl approached with a gentle smile and sat beside him on the edge of the bed.
She suddenly hugged him gently and said, "You'll be fine. Cry if you need to, then tell me why you're sad."
"Huh?" Jin felt embarrassed by the unexpected hug.
With a calm smile, she replied, "You are Adrian's grandson, right?"
As she hugged him, she gently stroked his hair and added, "Your grandfather was truly a great man."
Unable to hold himself back, Jin began to cry intensely in her embrace, biting his lip, unable to find words to respond.
After he had cried and shouted out curses and anger toward her, the girl gently let him go and looked at him.
"Can you tell me what is your name?" she asked kindly.
Jin hesitated while wiping his nose. "Why do you want to know?"
"You shouldn't be so serious around a pretty girl, you know," she said, winking at him with a smile.
Jin felt embarrassed and muttered, "As if I care."
After a moment of silence, he looked at the girl, who was still smiling at him, and said, "I'm Jin."
"Hello, Jin. I'm Elena," she replied.
She took his hands in hers and asked, "How old are you, Jin?"
"I'm fourteen," Jin answered.
Elena smiled gently. "Aha, still young."
Jin sighed as he took another tissue and wiped his nose with it. "I'm not young! What about you?"
She laughed. "You can't ask a lady about her age—that's rude."
Jin felt embarrassed. "Tch, I don't want to know."
"Anyway, I'm 29 years old," she answered with a smile.
"Now, would you mind telling me what happened to you before you got here?"
Jin's expression turned angry again, then he told her everything that had happened to him in the forest…
Elena listened patiently.
"Don't be too hard on yourself—it's not your fault," she said, stroking his hair gently.
"So what should I do? He's dead and I didn't do anything about it!" Jin asked bitterly.
Suddenly, a voice from behind him said, "Ah, I think you should head to Lucaria."
The sudden sound behind him startled Jin, and he jumped up. "What the—! Who the hell are you? How did you get here?"
Park laughed loudly. "Haha, what a reaction."
Elena smiled. "Is Jin going to Lucaria?"
He nodded. "Hmm, well, not officially, but yes, I'll try to get him to join there," he answered with a tone of amusement.
"Going to Lucaria? Me?" Jin asked while pointing at himself.
Park answered excitedly, "Well, almost. Yes, you'll accompany me to Lucaria soon if things go smoothly."
Elena clapped excitedly. "What wonderful news!"
Park smiled. "Isn't it?"