Memories (1)

The headquarters of the Angel Guild.

A place known as one of South Korea’s four major guilds, even the government couldn’t touch it carelessly.

Not only were the powers of the hunters belonging to it outstanding, but their intelligence network was also something not to be dismissed.

In the Guildmaster’s office atop the guild’s main building, an old man was seated.

“Cough!”

Rare among Koreans, he had white hair and blue eyes.

One might think the white hair came with age, but his appearance resulted from his rebirth as an Awakened.

The golden halo above his head was also a manifestation of his awakening.

The halo radiating brilliant golden light above his head marked him as the master of the Angel Guild.

‘Radiant’ Baek Suhyeok.

“What did the Prosecutor’s Office say?”

“They just sent some clues.”

A guild member who entered Baek Suhyeok’s office handed him a tablet report.

Baek Suhyeok quietly murmured to himself as he turned over the pages one by one.

“They think there may be a lead in a D-rank gate that opened recently.”

The Prosecutor’s Office was cooperating to capture Yun Jaeho, who used to be an executive in the Angel Guild.

It took some time, but with the clues they provided, Baek Suhyeok’s eyes sharpened.

“This is…”

There was a list of missing persons in the report. Among them, there was even a child whose parents had been murdered, an especially grave breach.

“Yun Jaeho. Just how far are you willing to cross the line?”

Baek Suhyeok tapped on the missing child’s name.

A profile popped up, showing the photo of a girl with wings.

Name – Ha Eunseol. Class 10, 1st Grade, Daesang Elementary School.

Parents killed by the suspect in question.

This kind of information made Baek Suhyeok feel stifled inside.

He too had once lost his family.

“I was about to send guild members to D-rank gates nationwide anyway.”

“Don’t act too hastily. There are more than just one or two D-rank gates in the country. Besides, it says right here it’s a newly-appeared D-rank gate.”

Very few D-rank gates had appeared recently.

No need to take unnecessary steps—instead, they only needed to investigate within that narrow range.

“That would be the D-rank gate in Yanggu City, the one in Inje City, Gangwon Province, and one in Yong-in City.”

“I’ll go to Gangwon myself. Not only the D-rank, but there’s even an S-rank gate there. No telling what could happen if I’m not there.”

Since S-rank gates were so difficult, often the hunters entering them were at a disadvantage.

Eventually, the defense would be breached and powerful monsters would break out, which sent top fighters like Baek Suhyeok into the field.

At SS-rank, no one doubted Baek Suhyeok’s abilities.

Yet…

“Cough! Cough!”

Baek Suhyeok covered his mouth and coughed hard.

Seeing this, the guild member was startled.

“Guildmaster! Are you alright?”

“Hmm… I’m fine.”

Now over 80 years old, his body looked badly deteriorated, whether he admitted it or not.

There was blood on the hand he had covered his mouth with.

“I’ll be cured once I get through just this.”

Gulp—

Baek Suhyeok took some medicine out of a drawer and swallowed it with water.

The declining health of the master of one of Korea’s top guilds, the Angel Guild—

If word got out, their rival groups would bare their teeth, waiting for a chance.

For that reason, his condition was a closely-guarded secret.

“Guildmaster…”

“Haha… It really is a crisis. At this rate, I might end up with a ‘real halo’ above my head.”

The halo was part of his Awakened traits.

The Angel Guild’s name came from that, but now, seeing the possibility of becoming a real ‘angel’ made him scoff.

“If I just hang on a few more years, I’ll fly away to my children, won’t I?”

“Please don’t say such scary things. There’s no one to succeed you, guildmaster.”

As mentioned earlier, Baek Suhyeok had no direct successors, no blood lineage.

His only daughter had died in a gate, body unrecovered.

For Baek Suhyeok, maintaining the Angel Guild, which his daughter had protected till her last breath, was his remaining responsibility.

Therefore, if anyone tarnished the guild’s name, like Yun Jaeho, he had to be captured with all his might.

That was the duty Baek Suhyeok had to fulfill before he died.

“For now, divide up the team for the D-rank gates—”

Ding—

Just as they were starting to assign task forces, a sudden message popped up on the tablet, making Baek Suhyeok and his secretary open their eyes wide in surprise.

If it was just a normal text, it would be nothing, but it was an emergency message that only executives could send.

“Who could have sent this?”

“Something’s wrong. Normally, emergency messages require a security code, but there’s no code set here.”

The code, changed periodically, was required for sending such messages.

The absence meant someone had sent it through abnormal means.

Someone not an executive who could still use the system.

With a mix of doubt and suspicions, they checked the content.

“Just as I thought.”

It was a message sent from Yun Jaeho’s phone.

He had quit the guild, but the application for access was probably still on his phone.

It was suspicious enough that a wanted man sent a message to the Guildmaster’s tablet—but the content was just as odd.

“Yong-in City D-rank gate. What could this mean?”

“Check the origin of the message.”

Checking it, they found it had been sent from Yong-in City.

And there happened to be a newly-appeared D-rank gate there.

“They called it the Black Flame Cult, right?”

“Yes. It’s a pseudo-guild luring people with the promise of granting wishes.”

“They say they grant wishes?”

“The usual trick is to promise to reunite people with deceased loved ones.”

Baek Suhyeok clicked his tongue and let out another bitter laugh.

He could now understand why Yun Jaeho had been seduced by those people.

“Get the helicopter ready right now.”

Though their circumstances were similar, he couldn’t allow the guild to be endangered by it.

****

The Angel Guild’s exclusive helicopter cut through the sky.

The golden-painted rotors whirling looked like a ring above an angel’s head.

The white body combined with it, making it look as if a giant swan was flying.

One large craft led several more helicopters in a fleet.

[December 24th.]

Being Christmas Eve, many places below were in a festive mood.

The Angel Guild’s helicopter passing overhead, from afar, looked like an angel come to earth to celebrate Christmas.

But their purpose was hardly to enjoy the festivities.

“We’ve arrived.”

Yong-in City shared in the festive mood.

With an amusement park in the area, everything seemed extravagant.

The Angel Guild’s hunters disembarked, one after another, from the helicopter as it landed on a hill.

Guildmaster Baek Suhyeok exited the lead craft.

“It’s been a while since I’ve seen a D-rank gate.”

Right before them loomed a massive dimensional portal.

As he led the hunters toward the gate, their faces went pale.

“What on earth…!”

A horrifying scene played out at the gate’s entrance.

Hunters lingering to enter and soldiers guarding the gate—all had collapsed, tied up in ropes.

Some hunters were even a pulpy mess, bleeding on the ground.

The fact that someone had deliberately attacked this place caused the Guild’s hunters to wonder.

“Could it be Yun Jaeho’s doing?”

“We should ask, just in case.”

Thankfully, everyone was still alive.

Baek Suhyeok approached a still-conscious soldier and asked:

“Hey, you there.”

“Yes…! Please save us! Just a moment ago…”

At first, he sounded worried, suspecting Yun Jaeho’s involvement from the circumstantial evidence.

But then—

“Tell me what you’re hiding.”

“Pardon…?”

“I said, tell me right now what you’re hiding.”

When Baek Suhyeok suddenly spoke forcefully, the soldier was bewildered.

But no matter how he pretended otherwise, before Baek Suhyeok’s eyes, it was useless.

“I see it all. The evil energy from tampering with wicked rituals.”

“Eek!”

“Everyone here, not just you!”

The halo above Baek Suhyeok’s head could detect evil energy.

The Black Flame Cultists, who gained strange power by offering sacrifices to demons, carried that energy with them.

It was true of everyone collapsed in this place.

“Tie up all these people. And contact the government.”

“Yes, sir!”

The subordinates carried out the order rapidly.

Half of them restrained the fallen hunters, and the others went into the gate to investigate.

Baek Suhyeok himself remained at the gate’s entrance, keeping watch.

“There’s still someone here.”

Baek Suhyeok’s halo could sense even living life force.

He hoped it would be Yun Jaeho, but unfortunately, that reading wasn’t present.

However, sensing the holy energy, Baek Suhyeok caught his breath.

‘A familiar energy…’

He walked toward the source of that sacred life force.

As if drawn by something, he found a child lying there.

A child with white hair and wings.

Unlike the others sprawled in agony, this child was lying peacefully with a gentle expression.

“…!!”

Seeing the child up close, Baek Suhyeok was struck by a powerful sense of déjà vu.

It felt like seeing his departed daughter again.

The appearance wasn’t identical, but the energy detected by his halo was similar to that of his daughter in childhood.

“This child…! It’s that missing child!”

A guild member, who had followed Baek Suhyeok, said so.

The wings on the back and silvery white hair matched the photo from the report precisely.

It made sense she was here if she’d been abducted, but why was she lying so serenely, unlike everyone else?

Soon after, the guild members who’d entered the gate came back outside, carrying the completely charred corpse of Yun Jaeho. Baek Suhyeok was appalled.

‘Who in the world…’

With his halo, Baek Suhyeok could discern the facts.

Whoever had killed Yun Jaeho and set all of this up wasn’t present.

Yun Jaeho’s burnt black corpse.

The missing child lying here.

The message sent with Yun Jaeho’s phone.

It seemed that another person had already resolved everything and left.

And had summoned them here.

‘Are they telling us to take care of the aftermath?’

Whoever it was, he couldn’t help but feel grateful.

If they ever met, the Angel Guild would owe this person considerable thanks.

At that moment, the missing child opened her eyes.

Blinking, the child spoke up.

“Who are you?”

“Are you awake now?”

“Where is this place? And I… what have I been doing until now?”

Apparently, she’d lost her memory.

There was no need to ask for her name; he’d already checked her identity in the report.

Baek Suhyeok still felt a strange sensation around the child.

She kept reminding him of his own daughter as a girl.

“Can’t you remember anything?”

“No, but…”

Around the child’s neck was a red scarf.

Seeing it, the child suddenly smiled in contentment.

“For some reason… I feel a good energy from this.”

Whatever it was, the child’s mental state seemed stable.

Someone had resolved the incident, taken Yun Jaeho’s phone, and sent the message. Then, they’d set it up so the Guild would come here and find her.

As for the child, things would be resolved on their end—she could simply be sent to the Angel Guild’s rookie care center.

Suddenly, Baek Suhyeok felt a mix of strange emotions.

To the man who had lived alone, dedicated only to protecting the guild, this child no longer looked like just another rescue case.

“Little one. Would you like to come with this old man?”

She was a child whose parents had been killed by a member of the Angel Guild.

But it wasn’t just for sentimental reasons that he wanted to take her in.

Baek Suhyeok had a responsibility for the child’s future.

Bang—!

Fireworks erupted from the direction of the amusement park.

Vivid bursts of color filled the sky.

Brilliant hues reflected in the child’s red eyes.

For some reason, her soul remained untainted.

Red eyes, once symbols of rage… began turning blue.

“Huh?”

The darkness cleared, and vision returned.

Not by sensing presence, but seeing with both eyes.

Paang—!

Hunters in white garb reminiscent of angels, and an old man.

The fireworks celebrating Christmas.

That was the first sight the child saw after regaining her sight.

————-= Clacky’s Corner ————-=

Did the old man heal the girl’s eyes?

【ദ്ദി(⩌ᴗ⩌)】

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep