IRNH C79

Chapter 79

The poison-filled passage stretched on for quite a distance. At first, Sihyeon underestimated it, but since he had never trained in any poison-resistance arts, the accumulated damage from the toxin was slowly building up.

“Master, are you all right?”

Compared to him, Taewoon looked perfectly fine.
Even in a situation like this, the stark difference in their abilities hit Sihyeon hard, leaving a faint bitterness.

So that’s why I couldn’t push him away back then—

Sihyeon abruptly stopped walking and slapped his own cheek.

“Master!”

“It’s nothing.”

He hated how his mind kept leaping in the wrong direction.
Avoiding Taewoon’s concerned red eyes, Sihyeon quickened his pace.

Just wait till I meet those Union bastards.

He clenched his fist tightly, forcing himself to refocus and planning to vent all this stress on the Villain Union when he found them.

The hallway continued for a long while after that.
There were no more forks, so navigation was easy, but the environment grew filthier and more chaotic, raising questions.

If this was where they produced or distributed the drug, shouldn’t it be cleaner?
Even if they didn’t manufacture anything here, wouldn’t they at least tidy up the place they lived in?

Sihyeon picked up a filthy stuffed toy lying on the floor and examined it, then looked around.

Cardboard boxes, shelves, glassware—
a jumble of objects with no clear connection.

“Master. There is a door up ahead.”

Taewoon’s voice pulled Sihyeon from his observations.

“So we’re finally here.”

He had gotten far from Hajung; he couldn’t waste time.
Sihyeon picked up a metal rod from the floor and approached the door carefully.

One person?

He moved cautiously, expecting traps, but the presence he felt from inside belonged to a single individual.

And strangely… that individual was weak.

Not guard-weak—
just weak.

Sihyeon exchanged a look with Taewoon, then stepped back.

Bang!

Crash—clatter!! Cling!

The noise didn’t come from Sihyeon kicking the door.
The moment he stepped inside, the scene stunned him.

A pot full of something freshly spilled lay on the ground.
A chair had toppled over.
A table was pushed aside.
And on the floor, a small girl sat with tears in her eyes.

Toys and books scattered around her, but none of that mattered.

“What is… this?”

The most shocking part was the metal shackles around her neck and limbs.
But the girl, startled for only a moment, calmly looked at the metal rod in Sihyeon’s hand—
then simply resumed scooping up the spilled liquid.

What is happening? Seriously, what is this?

Sihyeon stared blankly as the girl completely ignored him and Taewoon, continuing her motions as if they weren’t even there.

There were no other presences nearby.
So she really was the only one here.

But this place, which should have felt like the lair of some major villain, was so strangely wrong.

Still, he had to try something.
Sihyeon cleared his throat and spoke carefully.

“Uh… have you seen any bad grown-ups around…?”

He caught sight of the rod in his hand.
Too late, but still—
he tucked it behind his back.

“Have you?”

The girl glanced at him, then tapped her lips and ears with her index finger.

Sihyeon blinked, confused.

“She seems unable to speak.”

Taewoon’s quiet voice suddenly chilled the air.
Even though his tone was gentle, the expression he wore while looking down at Sihyeon made a cold sweat run down Sihyeon’s back.

The girl was clearly kidnapped, chained, forcibly muted, and made to work—
but Sihyeon suddenly found stepping forward difficult.

Sensing this, Taewoon smiled faintly.

“If you’re so desperate to save her, then kiss me first.”

“…What??”

“Why?”

Why the hell was the conversation going there?

Sihyeon stiffened at Taewoon’s completely serious face.

Didn’t we settle this? Didn’t he accept it?

But thinking back—
Taewoon had only said “I understand,”
not “I’ll stop,”
and definitely not “I misunderstood.”

“Taewoon, listen… anyone would feel compelled to help in a situation like this, right? She’s been suffering, and—no! It’s not like I can just ignore this! Right? Right?”

He forced a smile, frantically trying to coax him.

“You used to do it all the time when I was little.”

“That’s because you were a child.”

“You keep saying I’m still a child.”

Sihyeon’s words caught in his throat.
True—
but that had nothing to do with this.

Explaining it logically was impossible in his flustered state.

“And what exactly are you so hesitant about? In the past, you used to wash me until my skin peeled—”

“AaAAAARRGH!! STOP! ENOUGH!!”

That was bathing!
He was eleven!
And how the hell did this kid turn out like this?!

Taewoon smiled innocently, the picture of purity, but Sihyeon no longer trusted that expression.

He even forgot that the girl couldn’t hear, and panicked, covered Taewoon’s mouth.

He genuinely wanted to cry.

“…Hurry.”

His voice was muffled by Sihyeon’s hand, but the meaning stabbed straight into Sihyeon’s ears.

For a moment, Sihyeon wanted to walk away entirely.

But no—
that would look worse.
Like he was the one who cared too much.

Whatever. I used to do it all the time when he was little. It’s not a big deal. He’s still acting like a kid…

He repeated the thought until he could breathe again.

“Don’t move.”

“I won’t.”

Taewoon answered instantly.

Sihyeon shut his eyes, then opened them, looked at Taewoon’s pale face waiting expectantly, leaned forward—

—and slapped a hand over Taewoon’s eyes before quickly pecking his cheek like a headbutt.

“There! Done!”

“…On the lips.”

Sihyeon pretended he didn’t hear that, stumbling away toward the girl.

He definitely wasn’t running away.
He had things to do.
Real work.
People waiting.
No time to waste being emotionally blackmailed by a martial-arts prodigy.

“H-Hey, sorry, can I check your condition for a moment?”

He approached the girl, who had resumed mixing something in the pot.

She nodded.

Sihyeon activated Insight.

Tenor Mitchell — Last Successor of Alchemy (A)
Title: [Midas’ Hand]
Health — 10 (45)
Strength — 10 (32)
Agility — 10 (56)
Intelligence — 102
Mana — 98
Luck — 28
Status abnormalities — Curse of Weakening, Sensory Seal (mouth, ears)

Sihyeon frowned.

What the hell…

She was in terrible shape.
More than enough to guess the situation.

Forced alchemy.
Chained.
Cursed.
And the substance she was making—

He checked it with Insight.

Soul-Withering Agent of Suffering & Gloom (A)
Consumes the life force of whoever ingests it. Highly addictive. (Creator: Tenor Mitchell)

A harsh curse left Sihyeon’s mouth before he could stop it.

He looked down at the girl.
Her eyes were empty, resigned.

“I’m sorry. I’m going to remove the seals on your mouth and ears. It’ll hurt, but hold on.”

She nodded again.

Sihyeon placed his hand on her back.

“Taewoon, hold her.”

The physical curse was manageable, but the curse of weakening spread like mist throughout her body—
he couldn’t remove that immediately.

But the sensory seals could be broken.

Would it hurt? Absolutely.
Could she endure it alone? Absolutely not.

Taewoon came over silently to restrain her.

“This won’t be that hard. You know that, right?”

“Of course.”

Sihyeon steadied his breath, then pushed internal energy into her.

The energy split—
one stream entering the throat,
another entering the ears—
and struck the clumped magical seals.

The girl trembled violently.

She reached for her throat instinctively, but Taewoon blocked her hands.
Sihyeon adjusted his energy so he wouldn’t damage her small body.

Pop!

Mitchell felt something burst inside her ears—
then, for the first time in years, real sound flooded in.

“Hey, are you okay?”

It was the voice of the man who had stepped into her space.

Still trembling from the pain, she lifted her head.

“Mister, you need to run. You can’t be here.”

He was helping her.
Trying to save her.
She couldn’t let him stay.

Her voice cracked from disuse, but she forced the warning out.

“What? What is that supposed to—”

Then suddenly—

The air shifted.

As though gravity had flipped upside down.

A heavy pressure slammed down on them, followed by a thundering crash as the entire place shook.