Episode 63: Apostle (5)
In the prestigious yet conflict-ridden world of the family, where the power struggle between half-siblings was fierce, she was the youngest.
Kang Arin’s life had never been easy, not even from childhood.
At the mere age of five—
While other children were learning Hangul and making friends, the first things she learned were political maneuvering and combat.
Because she was the second daughter of the chairman’s legitimate wife.
The scrutiny from surrounding factions was inevitable, and the burden placed upon her was far too heavy for a child.
Yet, even in such a harsh world, there was someone who protected her.
Her older brother, Kang Yuseong.
He had always been her shield.
One of the few people she could trust and rely on.
And so, time passed.
“Wow!”
At a young age, Kang Arin mastered Ki Art.
A soft, dark aura flowed gently from her fingertips. A feat unthinkable for a six-year-old.
Her tutor, Anna, was overjoyed at her achievement. But at the same time, she was terrified.
Her talent… was overwhelming.
Displaying such prowess at a young age was both a blessing and a curse.
It was enough to provoke the jealousy of her siblings, and for Kang Arin, who had yet to establish her own faction, it was extremely dangerous.
“Young Miss… What if we keep this a secret between us?”
This was the only solution she could offer as a tutor.
“Hm? Why?”
Kang Arin tilted her head in curiosity.
“Well… think of it as a kind of surprise party. Wouldn’t it be more exciting to show it to the chairman once you’ve honed it a little more?”
“Oh, I see~”
The innocent child nodded without suspicion.
But then, she added—
“Then… how about I tell just my brother? I’ll keep it a secret from everyone else!”
She placed a finger to her lips and grinned mischievously.
‘If it’s Kang Yuseong, it should be fine.’
Her biological older brother.
He was kind-hearted, and above all, it was clear how much he cherished his little sister.
“Alright.”
Anna nodded cautiously.
At that, Kang Arin beamed and eagerly ran off.
‘Poor child.’
Watching her small figure disappear, Anna couldn’t help but feel pity.
It was not an emotion a mere tutor should have for her employer, yet she couldn’t help it.
Kang Arin ran straight into the arms of the one she always trusted.
“Oppa!”
The moment she arrived where Kang Yuseong was, she stretched out her hands with excitement.
Dark energy swirled at her fingertips.
She was certain that her brother would be delighted.
“Isn’t it amazing?”
As always,
She expected him to ruffle her hair and praise her, calling her incredible.
But he did not respond.
Kang Arin slowly lifted her gaze. His face came into view.
A hardened expression.
His usually gentle eyes had turned strangely sharp.
But soon, he returned to his familiar self.
“You did well~”
At last, he smiled as usual and patted her head.
At the time, Kang Arin didn’t realize it.
But in hindsight, it had likely begun from that moment.
And as time passed—
“You expect me to believe that?”
Kang Arin’s eyes trembled.
“Believe it.”
At this point, on the brink of graduation, she had come to trust most of Jung Haein’s words.
Somehow, he was always right.
So, she had tried to believe him this time as well…
That her brother was a spy for the Demonic Humans?
That, she could not accept.
So she pretended to believe but remained hesitant.
Yet, once again, his words proved to be true.
Kang Yuseong, as a sacrifice for the resurrection of the Evil God, had burned an entire city to the ground in an instant.
The screams of fleeing citizens.
The desperate cries for help.
The blackened ruins of buildings and streets.
All of it—
Might as well have been Kang Arin’s doing.
And within those flames, her brother slowly emerged.
“Ah…”
Kang Arin realized it too late.
At last, she opened her eyes again.
A realm beyond time and space—a domain of an absolute being. She sensed it instantly.
“So we finally meet.”
A massive shadow moved slowly. Blocking Kang Arin’s path stood an Apostle.
The Colossal Statue, Balak.
He was the Demonic Human who had colluded with Kang Yuseong until the very end.
The one who had orchestrated all that destruction from the shadows.
Kang Arin’s gaze darkened.
“When you suddenly killed your brother, it was truly baffling.”
Balak muttered softly.
“I had considered him a valuable card, you see.”
His lips twisted into a sneer, his enormous body lowering slightly under its own weight.
An arrogant smile. A relaxed demeanor.
He looked down at her as if she were nothing more than an insect.
But Kang Arin said nothing.
“Hmm…”
She closed her eyes and slowly inhaled.
After everything that happened with Kang Yuseong, she had come to a realization.
‘Jung Haein’s words are always right.’
The truth of the world.
She had realized it too late, but it was undeniable.
Balak spoke again, as if he had been waiting.
“It was all my doing.”
His voice echoed like the deep rumble of a cavern.
“I was the one who led your brother to betray you. The one who saw the talent of his little sister and amplified his pathetic fear of her.”
He deliberately paused for a moment.
As if he wanted to savor her reaction.
“It was all… me.”
But she simply raised her hand, slowly.
—Slash!
A black energy blade sliced through the air, cutting across the side of his face.
It wasn’t a strike filled with all her strength. Just a simple movement.
Like reaching out to touch a glass window.
Yet, his stone-like skin was effortlessly torn.
Dark red blood trickled down as shattered fragments of rock crumbled away.
“…”
Balak sensed that something was wrong.
His body had been bestowed by the Great One—
A divine alloy, infused with mithril.
An immortal body.
It was not supposed to break.
It could not break.
And yet, now, it was crumbling like ordinary stone.
She spoke softly, her voice languid and gentle.
“I miss him.”
But she wasn’t truly listening to him at all.
Did his provocation anger her?
Not in the slightest.
‘Anger’ was a negative emotion born when one’s desires were obstructed or when one was forced into a situation against their will.
But Kang Yuseong’s transformation into a Demonic Human no longer stirred any emotion within her.
Kang Arin had only one desire left.
Absolute composure.
A graceful intent to kill, directed toward a single, unwavering goal.
She raised her hand again.
Dark energy flickered and flowed along her fingertips.
—Rustle.
From somewhere, a black fox emerged, moving slowly.
It slithered up from beneath her feet, its form curving elegantly as it coiled around her legs.
Kang Arin’s pupils gradually turned crimson.
The light within them flickered, then deepened and spread.
She ran her tongue over her lips, slowly.
Balak’s massive body trembled ever so slightly.
A sensation he had never felt before in his life.
His primal instincts screamed at him—
The human before him was someone who could kill him.
Kang Arin raised her hand once more.
Somewhere, the sound of a fox’s laughter echoed.
And then—
The black energy engulfed the entire space.
***
Have you ever resented the talent given to you, endlessly and endlessly?
“Hic… sob….”
Once again, Ha Sion was silently weeping in a corner of the training ground.
The disappearance of Sung Siwoo.
A burden far too heavy had once again been placed upon his shoulders.
Kang Arin, Cheon Yeoul, Yu Hana, and now… Sung Siwoo.
They had all accepted the power of the Fragments, gaining the strength to stand against the Demonic Humans.
They were necessary. Their power was essential.
But now that Sung Siwoo had vanished— the burden grew even heavier.
‘Oh, God.’
Why?
Why wasn’t I even given the chance to accept the Fragment?
She clutched the ground, lying face down.
Blood seeped from her fingertips.
Regret, lamentation, resentment.
Swallowing all those emotions, the only thing she could do was…
- Crack.
To pick up her bow again.
Practice.
Someday.
Someday, she might ignite a flame that could burn brightly.
And when she opened her eyes again…
The surroundings were engulfed in complete silence.
No sound, no light, no existence.
It was an eerily quiet space.
Ha Sion realized it in an instant.
There was only one Apostle who enjoyed such eerie theatrics.
“Blag.”
As soon as he turned his gaze, a pale figure slowly began to take shape in the darkness.
A being with no eyes, no nose, no mouth.
And yet, it was undoubtedly speaking.
“It is a pleasure to meet you, lovely young one.”
Its voice crackled like static from a broken speaker, carrying an ominous resonance.
“Allow me to introduce myself properly.”
The entity slowly tilted its body, as if offering a formal greeting.
“I am…”
From within that strange, white void, the figure became clearer—
“The Apostle, Eighth Seat— Blag.”
A hollow voice echoed deep into the space.
“Welcome to my domain.”
Blag gave a faint smile.
Its face was featureless, yet Sion could somehow tell that it was smiling.
“I have many questions, but…” Blag mused.
“Since the great one has gifted us this most sacred of spaces, it would be rude to waste time with chatter, wouldn’t it?”
And the moment those words ended—
— BOOM!
The formless space trembled violently.
Sion felt no particular emotions.
She simply scanned her surroundings.
White mist curled and thickened, wrapping around everything.
Blag slowly raised his hand.
And then—
— SCHLICK.
His forehead split open.
From within, an ‘eye’ revealed itself.
The Third Eye.
The entire space rippled and shook.
“Miss Sion.”
The eye on Blag’s forehead opened narrowly.
“Who are you?”
Blag’s third eye slowly rose. The once-blurry space sharpened in an instant,
As if revealing the hidden layers of the world itself.
Anyone caught in this gaze always met the same fate.
Their weaknesses were exposed, and they were inevitably dragged toward defeat.
However— the moment that eye analyzed Ha Sion—
“…….”
Blag’s fingertips trembled slightly.
It couldn’t comprehend. No— it shouldn’t have been possible to comprehend.
Her age— barely twenty years.
Someone who had lived for such a short time should not have a record like this.
The number of Demonic Humans she had slain.
Thousands?
No.
Tens of thousands?
No.
More than that.
And then—
A black flame ignited at her fingertips.
A fire dark as the abyss, yet burning with the radiance of divine flames.
Somehow— it felt holy.
The Flame of Demon-Slaying.
Ha Sion was never granted a Fragment.
She was never chosen by the sacred power.
So— she hunted Demonic Humans alone.
To reach them, she had to do whatever it took.
Whether she died hunting, or fell to an Apostle, she had no other path.
At first, it was reckless slaughter.
But as time passed, she learned.
She adapted to combat efficiency.
The once-unfamiliar sensations became second nature.
The movements of Demonic Humans,
The feel of her fingertips piercing through flesh,
The rising black smoke as their bodies crumbled—
She studied them.
She read them.
She understood them.
And after an endless cycle of hunting—
Finally, at the very edge of death—
She grasped the very essence of Demon.
No god had chosen her.
She relied on no divine power.
And yet—
Blag instinctively understood.
To the Demonic Humans— she was the apex predator.
Their natural enemy.
Ha Sion.
An Apostle stood before her.
A life-or-death battle.
Can she win?
She asked herself— but it was a meaningless question.
Has she ever once hesitated because of possibilities?
No.
She simply acts.
— Sshk.
Without a word, she raised her bow.
— Creak.
The string was pulled to its absolute limit.
So taut, it could stretch no further.
An Apostle was no different from a Demonic Human.
Big or small, strong or weak—
She had already slain hundreds of thousands of them.
And now—
She would kill again.
— WOOOOOOOM.
The flames surged along the bowstring,
Gathering at the tip of the arrow,
And creating a silent void.
She didn’t need to think.
She didn’t need to aim.
She simply— released.
— FWOOSH!
The bowstring snapped— launching the arrow like an explosion.