<h4>Chapter 319</h4>


    Disaster had struck out of nowhere.


    The wind blew fiercely, and rain poured down. I couldn''t tell if the sea’s motion or the downpour contributed to the tall waves.


    In an instant, the sunny sky was covered with dark clouds. Sinister darkness and moisture covered the ground like a nket. Giant nt stems pierced through the sandy beach, and ck mes spewed from giant fingers, burning and eating the nts. Lightning shed, and the ground shook.


    People ran away to their loved ones, screaming and calling out to their families. The lifeguards, whether pdins, crusaders, or priests, all called for backup. People calling their family friends and begging for salvation echoed everywhere.


    Jin-Seo stood still. She gazed at the growing nt stems, the burning ck mes, and the darkened sky. To her, they seemed like harbingers of a great disaster. Sun-Woo was already gone.


    Suddenly,, she heard someone call her name.


    "Jin-Seo!"


    It was Min-Seo. Behind her was Dae-Man, carrying Su-Ryeon. Min-Seo sat down and shook Jin-Seo, who was standing still. Jin-Seo still did not regain her senses.


    Min-Seo, Dae-Man, and Su-Ryeon each spoke in turn.


    "What''s wrong with you? Are you out of your mind?"


    "Jin-Seo! Get up! We need to run!"


    "You''re not thinking of fighting again, are you? You don''t even have a weapon!"


    With their support, Jin-Seo managed to stand up. Even as she ran away with them in a hurry, her gaze was fixed on one spot where Sun-Woo had disappeared. The said spot was now the source of chaos and loud outbursts.


    After running away frantically, they finally arrived at a safe ce. People fleeing from the beach gathered there, and others hade looking for the noise source.


    Dae-Man and Min-Seo looked around.


    Min-Seo wore a tense expression as she broke out in a cold sweat. "Where did she go? The small, uh, brown-haired girl! Didn''t you see her on the way here?"


    Dae-Man set Su-Ryeon down.


    "In-Ah? She wasn''t there!" Dae-Man said.


    He also looked around frantically in search of In-Ah. However, among the many people, In-Ah was nowhere to be found.


    Su-Ryeon climbed down Dae-Man’s back and looked around. "What about Sun-Woo? Sun-Woo isn''t here either?"


    Sun-Woo was also absent.


    At that moment, Jin-Seo said, "He isn’ting. Sun-Woo... isn’ting."


    It wasn’t a guess—she was certain. She realized that Sun-Woo, who had just disappeared, would never return. No, he would not be <i>able </i>to return.


    Jin-Seo looked beyond toward the direction of the monstrous sounds. She tried to see if she could make out Sun-Woo. However, it was difficult to open her eyes properly due to the rain and wind, and it was too dark to see clearly because of the thick clouds. All she could distinguish were the incessant lightning strikes, massive tidal waves, constantly growing nt stems, huge mes, and dozens of red-hot swords dancing in the air.


    "What is that?”


    "Wow, fuck..."


    Those who saw the sight couldn''t formte a proper sentence. They either let out short exmations, spat out curses mixed with fear, or stared nkly at the spectacle.


    Dae-Man, Min-Seo, and Su-Ryeon looked at the scene with horror and awe, momentarily forgetting that In-Ah and Sun-Woo had disappeared.


    ***


    Jun-Hyuk had escaped the underground prison. The escape had been difficult. He had attempted to escape nearly every day for over a year. He had made a dozen attempts daily, but all his attempts had been futile. The only reason he was able to escape was thanks to Sun-Woo.


    On the day Sun-Woo entered the underground prison, Jun-Hyuk had seen everything. He had seen Sun-Woo wail in front of his mother, who had died in the cell.


    Sun-Woo hadn’t even been able to wail in his sorrow at peace. After shedding tears for a few minutes, no, a few seconds, Sun-Woo had put himself to sleep with a spell—so that he could continue to live as an ordinary Romanican without revealing his true identity.


    Jun-Hyuk seized the opportunity when the director of the Central Pdin Order and Sun-Woo had lost consciousness. In that brief moment, he created a taxidermied creature that looked exactly like his head. However, this didn’t change the fact that Jun-Hyuk was still stuck in his cell. He hid in a corner, biding his time, waiting for an opportunity.


    "Gu-Gu Jun-Hyuk! Inform all Pdin Order members that Satanist Executive Envy has escaped! No, alert all the clergymen!"


    His opportunity came soon enough. Feeling uneasy, the director had opened Jun-Hyuk''s cell door without securing enough personnel to prevent an escape.


    "I haven''t escaped yet, you know~"


    Jun-Hyuk revealed himself. He was now in his full form and was not a mere head. He had slowly constructed his body while hiding in the corner of the cell.


    The Central Pdin Order leader was shocked and tried to exin the situation to hismunicator, but Jun-Hyuk did not give him a chance.


    A long tentacle shot out from Jun-Hyuk''s mouth, piercing the director''s throat. Right after that, Jun-Hyuk also killed the clergymen behind the director. Jun-Hyuk left the underground prison carrying the bodies of the director of the Central Pdin Order director and the clergymen.


    There was a car parked at the entrance of the prison. It seemed that it was the car that the director had ridden to get to the underground prison. Jun-Hyuk killed the driver and sat in the passenger seat. He had already ced the bodies of the Central Pdin Order leader and the clergymen he had killed earlier in the trunk of the car.


    After killing everyone nearby, Jun-Hyuk sat for a while and did nothing. He just stood there feeling the breeze, basking in the sunlight, taking deep breaths. It’d been a long time since his lungs had breathed in fresh air, and it made him dizzy.


    "I''m happy," Jun-Hyuk muttered.


    He got into the car parked in front of the entrance to the underground prison. The driver he had killed earliery slumped on the passenger seat. Jun-Hyuk did not move him and started the car right away.


    While driving, Jun-Hyuk asionally spoke to the corpse of the driver sitting in the passenger seat. "The weather is nice, isn''t it?"


    Of course, the driver did not respond. He was dead.


    "No response. Are you the silent type?"


    "..."


    "That''s why Romanican Church clergymen are no good. Theyck sociability."


    He arrived at a ce not far from the prison, a dpidated building in thend ravaged by Satanist Executive Wrath.


    He casually carried the three corpses from the car and descended into the basement of the building. There were dozens of people wearing strange robes down there. As soon as Jun-Hyuk arrived, they all stopped their actions and kneeled in front of him.


    "The Lord has arrived!"


    They were Jun-Hyuk''s followers. They were in the middle of emptying the corpses'' insides and dismantling the human hides.


    This was Jun-Hyuk''s taxidermied creature factory. Jun-Hyuk chuckled as he looked at the dozens of followers kneeling before him.


    "Yes, I havee. Now slit your throats."


    <i>Swiiish! </i>


    At Jun-Hyuk''smand, dozens of his followers who had been bowing their heads pulled out daggers from their rears and cut their throats without any hesitation.


    Jun-Hyuk skillfully dismembered the bodies and gathered ''ingredients''—ingredients that he would use to make his final masterpiece, Lee Seh-Hwa, the most beautiful and powerful woman he had ever seen and also the mother of a friend.


    He created his art using her hair from the underground prison and ingredients collected from the corpses.


    "Art trulyes from pain," Jun-Hyuk said as he looked at the instantlypleted artwork.


    He only had one task left: handing thepleted artwork to the rightful owner. He was going to give this taxidermied creature to Sun-Woo.


    "I hope you like the gift, Sun-Woo!" Jun-Hyuk eximed.


    He watched as his creation approached in big strides toward Sun-Woo. As he watched, he recalled the image of Sun-Woo weeping and holding his deceased mother''s body in the underground prison. At the same time, he remembered Sun-Woo''s struggle to save Yoon-Ah. He thought about In-Ah reuniting with Yoon-Ah and shedding tears of joy. Jun-Hyuk had observed all these scenes through the misty eyes of his ravens.


    Loss, emotional reunions, and recovery—to Jun-Hyuk, that was <i>true</i> art. He hoped that Sun-Woo shared his taste. Through the reunion with his deceased mother, he wanted to see Sun-Woo''s recovery. It was not just for Sun-Woo but for Jun-Hyuk himself.


    "..."


    Sun-Woo silently approached his mother. Tears welled up in his eyes. With his mouth shut, Jun-Hyuk silently watched the scene unfold before him. The emotional reunion was moments away. If Sun-Woo embraced his approaching mother and shared a warm hug, Jun-Hyuk''s masterpiece would beplete.


    "Sobo."


    However, Sun-Woo did not embrace his mother. Instead, he raised his cane, pointed it at his mother, and softly called out Sobo’s name.


    <i>Zzzing—!! </i>


    Lightning struck. The lightning hit Sun-Woo''s mother, the taxidermied creature made to resemble her. Just like a split tree when struck by lightning, the taxidermied creature exploded into pieces. Charred cotton and sawdust burst out from the broken head. The ck ashes danced in the wind like petals.


    A single tear slid down Sun-Woo’s otherwise dry face, devoid of emotion.


    Meanwhile, Jun-Hyuk''s face contorted grotesquely.


    "Uh, uh? Why? Why?"


    Jun-Hyuk''s final masterpiece turned to ash.


    ***


    I could have considered the mother created by Jun-Hyuk to be my real mother. It was not much different in appearance from her. No, rather, it was more ''motherly'' than the pitiful and dreadful mother I had seen in the underground prison.


    Jun-Hyuk’s creation was gentle, affectionate, beautiful, and noble. It was just like the image of my mother I had imagined before entering the underground prison, before tasting the bitterness of my mother''s death.


    "Sobo."


    <i>Zzzing—!! </i>


    So, I killed it.


    The taxidermied creature, made to mimic the appearance of a mother, burned to a crisp when lightning struck. Spewing sawdust and cotton, it turned into ck ashes and disappeared as if it had never existed.


    A dreadful sense of liberation washed over me. Seeing my mother, or rather the imitation of my mother, burn to ashes from the sawdust and cotton, I realized how I had been grieving over something so meaningless and the choices I would need to make for the future.


    "Bade, Granbwa, Sobo, Bossou, Ogun..."


    I called upon the Loa. They did not respond, yet they answered my call. The wind blew, nt stems writhed and grew, lightning struck, my blood boiled, and molten hot metal rose into the air.


    Whether they were friendly Loa, or Loa who were against me, or Loa who remained neutral, they all responded to my call. They knew what choice I had made and what choice I nned to make in the future.


    "Why are you here?" I said to Jun-Hyuk.


    Jun-Hyuk had been screaming and crying at the gruesome death of the taxidermied creature made to resemble my mother, but he quickly regained hisposure at my question.


    He looked at me expressionlessly, then smirked. "I thought we could join forces and conquer the world."


    "Nonsense."


    I didn''t entertain Jun-Hyuk''s silly joke. Jun-Hyukughed.


    Iughed along and replied, "Are you here to die?"


    "Well, something like that."


    "Then you’ve found the right ce," I said, raising my staff and striking the ground.


    "La Sirene."


    As soon as I called her name, an ominous sound rang with the appearance of a giant wave.


    <i>SHRIEEEEK–!</i>


    The wave crashed into Jun-Hyuk, who was standing on the water. Inside the giant wave was a big, ck mouth. It was the mouth of a whale.


    La Sirene was the Loa of the Sea. Sometimes, she would sometimes appear as a beautiful mermaid and a disgusting behemoth of a whale on other asions. She was the whale that had appeared within the tidal wave, and she tried to swallow Jun-Hyuk whole.


    Jun-Hyuk turned to face the whale’s mouth and pointed his finger at the giant wall of water.


    “Leviathan.”