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Hayan, as mentioned earlier, chose to flee carrying Choi Ye-na the moment my words fell.

If she had tried to help me or insisted on running away together, we might have all died for no reason.

Quick judgment and decisiveness are Hayan’s strengths.

Though she’s so quick that she immediately submitted an application to the Monster Club.

In the end, she got in and could only play games, so I guess luck was on her side.

“Kid, your friend just abandoned you and ran away?”

“…Yeah, what a terrible friend.”

“You’re calmer than I expected.”

I need to buy time somehow.

The moment I saw the Apostle of Jealousy, I pressed the button on my wristwatch and sent an emergency signal to the Association.

At the same time, my coordinates would be sent to the Demon King, and no matter the situation, he would rush here at full speed.

Unless it’s against the Skeleton Army of the 12 Apostles, fighting an Apostle directly is absurd.

I need Jeong Ha-yul.

If I can just hold out until she arrives… this fight is mine to win.

Then…

“She’s better than me, so she’s better at this too. Annoyingly so.”

Since it’s the Apostle of Jealousy, maybe showing jealousy will please her?

It was a simple thought, but it seemed like it might work.

“Are you jealous? How cute.”

“Th-thank you…”

I was a little scared, but the compliment made me feel somewhat proud.

The Apostle’s lips curled up, and her eyes formed crescent moons.

It worked.

They say the beginning is half the battle, so I’ve already won half.

If things keep going like this, I think I’ll be fine.

Noticing my gaze on the female student, the Apostle continued as if making an excuse.

“She was cute when she was jealous, so I thought I’d help her… but she ignored my goodwill.”

It was the moment when it became clear that Mr. D was the culprit behind the assignment incident, but I wasn’t particularly happy.

“Wow… really? That’s… You’re ignoring the Apostle’s offer to help?”

“Right? You get it. Come here. Relax your eyes.”

I had just tried to infuse my eyes with magic power to scan the Apostle.

‘Maybe I shouldn’t have…’

After all that bluster, if it turns out she’s just slightly stronger than me, I’d feel so cheated. So I tried to gauge her strength.

She told me to relax my eyes.

The moment I infused my eyes with magic power, it was clear I’d been caught.

She sensed it before I could even see through her. How sharp are her senses?

This is why I shouldn’t ignore my intuition.

Its accuracy is almost 99%.

‘I could tell just by looking…’

Her gaze seemed to already know what I was trying to do.

It feels like nothing I do will work.

Luckily, she didn’t seem to care much about me infusing my eyes with magic power.

“Come here, will you?”

“Yes!”

Logically, the closer I get, the more disadvantageous it is for me.

The closer I get to the Apostle, the farther I am from escaping, and the deeper I enter her territory.

But… escape? Impossible.

The moment I run, I’ll be caught.

My intuition was telling me that.

The quickest way to die is to try to escape.

Fight to buy time until Hayan brings the instructors?

‘I won’t last even ten minutes.’

And even if the instructors come, what good will it do?

From what I can see, she’s stronger than Yoo Soo-gap.

At least Yoo Soo-gap and Hong Eun-jung together might stand a chance… but they’re short on manpower protecting the shelter and other students, and I’m not even sure both are at the shelter.

Then…

I’ll be a good, obedient Gyeoul and appease the villain to buy time.

If the instructors come, I can fight alongside them and hold out.

Eventually, Ha-yul will come and save me with a bang.

Thanks to having a great sister, I can hold onto hope even in this situation.

“What’s your name?”

My name tag is hidden by my hair, so she’s asking for my name.

Hmm.

Am I screwed?

Not to brag, but my name is famous.

Jeong Ha-yul’s younger sister.

The Alchemist’s favorite doll.

The mascot of the Clock Tower.

The youngest Awakened One.

And so on.

The titles that describe me are numerous.

Even Hayan, the youngest S-Class, doesn’t have as many titles as me.

If someone like me shows jealousy… would she believe it?

For a moment, I thought about giving a fake name.

But my name tag is just hidden by my hair now; it’ll be exposed eventually.

The moment I give a fake name, the Apostle might brush my hair aside.

If I lie to avoid it, who knows what trouble I’ll get into.

“I’m… Jeong Gyeoul.”

“Jeong Gyeoul? So you’re the Demon King’s sister? No wonder you look alike.”

Luckily, the Apostle didn’t react much.

“Is that so? I’m always jealous because my sister is prettier than me…”

“You’re jealous of your own sister? What a naughty child.”

Her tone was scolding, but her expression was completely different.

It was the expression of someone who’d found an interesting toy.

Or like someone looking at a cute pet.

At least I can tell she doesn’t plan to kill me right now.

‘Shit, she’s not going to suddenly lunge at me, is she?’

You never know what a crazy person will do, which is why they’re crazy.

If she’s a member of the Satan Church, she’s the kind of lunatic who deserves to be called crazy.

If she attacks me from this distance… I might not be able to block it.

I’m fiddling with my necklace, ready to equip my suit at any moment.

But if I don’t get it on in time, instant death.

My body started trembling slightly.

“Scared? Don’t worry, I’m Jealousy, the Apostle as my name suggests. I’m not so bad as to harm a little lamb who harbors jealousy. Unless it’s fake jealousy like hers.”

Thud—

As soon as she finished speaking, the Apostle’s hand pierced Mr. D’s left chest.

‘Fuck. See, she’s definitely crazy.’

She pierced a person’s heart with her bare hand.

The sight of Mr. D collapsing on the floor might be my fate in 10 seconds.

Are you going to eat my brain and rip out my heart, calling me a fake jealous person?

My trembling grew a little more intense.

“Didn’t I tell you not to worry? I love those who can’t be satisfied with what they have and are jealous, and you’re exactly that kind of child, aren’t you?”

“R-really? Well, I’m not someone who falls behind anywhere, but when I see Lee Ha-yoon, I get so annoyed…”

“That’s it. It’s no fun if the last place is jealous of the first. It only gets interesting when the second place is jealous.”

For now…

She seems to see me in a somewhat favorable light.

I guess I’m not fated to die today.

***

Due to the sudden monster outbreak, the Hero Association was in a state of emergency.

It was like the monster wave that happened decades ago.

Even though there are more heroes now, the system is more organized, and the infrastructure has improved dozens of times over.

Yet, the Association was just as chaotic as back then.

Heroes were deployed across the country, and through cooperation with the police, fire department, and military, civilians were evacuated.

They had to gather real-time information on the monsters and find their weaknesses.

The situation was so urgent that not a single person in the Association was walking slowly.

Among them, the youngest member of the Hero Care Team was the fastest.

“Emergency! Emergency! Ahh!”

“Hey, kid, watch where you’re going!”

“Emergency, Team Leader!”

“Every team is in an emergency right now! The whole Association is in an emergency!”

“…”

Seeing the flustered youngest member, another team leader frowned and shouted.

“If it’s urgent, call! Are you carrying that expensive smartphone just for show?”

“It’s… the phone isn’t working…”

“The phone isn’t working in this situation? External calls? Are you free?”

“No… that’s not it…”

The youngest member’s voice grew smaller.

“I need to report to the Association President… but the emergency committee is in session, so the President isn’t reachable… The department heads scold me if I call… But this is something the President said to report immediately… In this situation, should I postpone it…?”

“Top priority report? What are you doing! Keep running! The President is in the meeting room, break the door if you have to!”

“But… that’s a bit…”

“Damn, are you useless? Shut up and follow me!”

The frustrated team leader grabbed the youngest member’s wrist and ran to the meeting room.

-Wh-what’s going on? Team Leader? We need you here quickly…

-Sorry, something more urgent came up. I’ll give instructions over the phone.

Handling work through the wireless earpiece, the team leader ran to the meeting room with the youngest member.

Bang—

The meeting room door burst open as the team leader and the youngest member rushed in.

“What’s this?”

“Who’s that?”

The eyes of those in the meeting turned toward the door.

“Eek… I-I might get fired!”

“If the report is late, you really will get fired. I hope it’s not late. I don’t know the details because I was running blindly, so you report.”

Catching his breath, the youngest member looked at the Association President and shouted.

“An emergency signal went off from the VIP clock tower!”

“What?”

As if time had stopped, silence filled the meeting room.

“Damn it…”

Someone’s curse broke the silence.

“What’s the time?”

“I ran as soon as I saw it… so about 3 minutes ago…”

“You should’ve called!”

“I did… but you didn’t answer…”

Frowning, Association President Jeong Ho-min picked up his smartphone and irritably dropped it on the desk.

“Damn it, it must’ve overlapped with other calls and caused a reception error. Send the coordinates to the Demon King immediately…”

“I sent a text as soon as the emergency signal went off! I also sent it to the Manager’s phone!”

“Good, is there anyone nearby we can dispatch?”

“Everyone’s focused on evacuation right now…”

“So there’s no one nearby?”

The VIP’s crisis.

The scenario we’ve only imagined has unfolded in this situation.

‘She just became A-Class, and S-Class heroes are always around her. I thought nothing would threaten Jeong Gyeoul anymore!’

“Well…”

“Don’t beat around the bush, answer straight!”

The President’s sharp command made it clear that anyone who hesitated would be marked.

“There’s no one available!”

“What about Kim Bong-du?”

“He’s on his way back from an outing. But it’ll take him 20 minutes to reach the Academy.”

“Where’s Jeong Ha-yul?”

“If the Demon King runs at full speed, it’ll take about 15 minutes.”

“So we have to wait for Jeong Ha-yul to arrive!”

The President felt frustrated.

What’s the point of having more heroes and better infrastructure?

It takes 15 minutes to save a VIP who sent an emergency signal.

An A-Class emergency signal—unless it’s another A-Class, even buying time is impossible.

We need at least a top-tier A-Class, but there’s no hero available to send.

“J-just now, we got information from Ohsung! Hwarang is 4 minutes away!”

“Send them immediately! Threaten them if you have to!”

Jeong Ho-min felt his head spinning.

‘Damn… I’m definitely going to die young because of the Jeong family.’

 

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