The injuries from the recent battle had long since healed.

There might be aftereffects from magic power exposure, but there were none. Rather, my body was lighter than before, and my eyes could see much more.

In contrast, Hyeon Sujin's condition looked even worse than before. Whether it was from the battle with Irina, or from the direct hit she took from me. One thing was certain: blood was dripping to the floor with every movement.

Yes. That's definitely how it should be. The advantageous side was definitely me.

'Damn it. Why is she so fast?!'

I barely managed to dodge the shadow that grazed past my neck. If I had been even a little slower, I would have seen red blood pouring out. Or my head might have been rolling on the floor.

Even after that, Hyeon Sujin's attacks were relentless. Black shadows thoroughly targeting blind spots and openings, flying in. The moment I show even a split second of carelessness, I'll become a porcupine.

I swung widely to cut down dozens of shadows flying from the front. Without time to catch my breath, I turned and swept away those surrounding from left and right. Even that wasn't the end. I dodged what was coming from behind by a hair's breadth.

My heart felt like it would burst. All the magic power in my body was shaking. I wanted to sit down and rest right away, but I gritted my teeth and endured.

Fortunately, Hyeon Sujin was getting as tired as I was. To push this hard, she too must be consuming tremendous magic power and stamina.

As expected, after several storms passed, a brief calm arrived. I could feel Hyeon Sujin regathering her magic power from far away. It was clear evidence that Hyeon Sujin was also giving her all to this battle.

"Whew!"

I tried to catch my breath once and assess the situation... damn, this is crazy.

Kwaaaaang!—

Does that make sense? She stabilized her magic power in that short time? Even I, who'm in perfect health, am gasping for breath and struggling. With a body practically covered in injuries, that fast? She's really a monster!

I gripped my sword while looking at the shadows filling my vision again. This time there were far more than before. And they were much sharper too.

Feeling the ominous presence from behind, I reflexively swung my sword left, not back. Then with a thunderous sound, the black shadow shattered and scattered in all directions.

This is Hyeon Sujin's terrifying aspect. This is exactly why she's stronger against the strong.

Being skilled means having excellent senses as well. All the strong were like that. Starting with Irina, through Ma Hakjun and Kang Minseong. The current Suhyeon and Lee Hyunwoo, even Kwak Hyuk were the same. They push their senses to the limit to exchange offense and defense in split seconds.

But Hyeon Sujin's shadows can perfectly deceive those senses. Clearly standing in front and emanating energy, but the real attack comes from elsewhere. For strong opponents who trust their senses the most, there's no sharper dagger.

I really suffered properly from these irregular attacks when fighting Hyeon Sujin before. Back then I was caught off guard, but now it's different. Being fooled once is enough.

Kwang!— Bang!—

If she's going to thoroughly deceive, I just need to thoroughly not fall for it. If I nullify everything, all that remains is an attacker whose moves are exhausted.

Hold on. Just hold on a little more. If I endure just a bit more, my turn will definitely come. Considering Hyeon Sujin's physical condition, it won't be long.

I almost dropped my sword from the attacks pounding my whole body. But I came to my senses and gripped it tightly until my hands tore. I recalled Kang Minseong's words to never let go of the sword even if I die.

'It's not overwhelmingly advantageous, but it's not very disadvantageous either.'

Looking at pure skill and abilities alone, Hyeon Sujin is superior to me. But in terms of condition alone, I'm ahead of that woman. I have to believe in that and go in. That's my powerful weapon.

"Cough, cough!"

Just looking at Hyeon Sujin's current state gives a rough answer.

Far from speaking or talking like before, she's actually coughing. And I could see something dark red flowing between those coughs. It was a moment when it became certain that time was not on that woman's side.

However, if there were some concerning points, the space was quite cramped. It wasn't a completely open space like during our previous encounter. Just as Hyeon Sujin had limited space to utilize, the places I could charge into were also restricted.

No matter how fast I move, no matter how fiercely I swing. Ultimately, considering it's underground, there are bound to be limitations. But for Hyeon Sujin, such things as space and limitations are meaningless.

I clearly caught her back, but her shadows catch my back. When I try to dodge to the side, she's already occupying that side too. When I have no choice but to break through head-on, she attacks from the front as well.

And another thing is that Hyeon Sujin's target isn't me.

Kwang!— Kuguugugugu!—

'Damn underground research facility.'

Even while fighting me, Hyeon Sujin thoroughly smashed facilities throughout. Even though she might get buried under that debris, she shows no hesitation. She was moving extremely quietly until just now, but now she has no intention of that?

"...Damn it!"

Just a few more steps and Hyeon Sujin would have entered my range. But damn it, I missed her by a hair's breadth because of the falling debris.

Pssssss—

After all the debris, fragments, and dust settled. Looking around again, I could see Hyeon Sujin standing ahead. I thought she'd attack immediately, but all the shadows were standing still.

"Why did you follow me?"

A voice obviously weary with fatigue. No, beyond fatigue, something else. That was what someone precariously walking the line between life and death would squeeze out with difficulty.

"No, that's not it. How are you in Changwon? Did you maybe tail me without me knowing?"

No way, woman. You're way off the mark there. Why would I be crazy enough to tail you? No, how could I even tail you?

Not only Han Jiyoon but even that Irina couldn't perfectly track you. Tailing Hyeon Sujin? Kwak Hyuk doing a fan dance would be more likely.

"...Looking at your expression, I guess not."

"Yes. Just really, by coincidence. We happened to meet here in Changwon."

"Haa. Really... my luck is damn terrible. I just barely shook off the S-ranks."

After that, Hyeon Sujin continued grumbling in an annoyed tone.

If she had known this would happen, she wouldn't have touched the branch and just gone on. She tried to create one tail but ended up getting her own tail caught instead. From her perspective it might be unfair, but what can she do? It's water already spilled.

"Baek Seojin."

"Don't think about attacking after starting a conversation."

"Caught me. Then, really just talking. You know there are hardly any people in this facility, right?"

I nodded at Hyeon Sujin's words.

That's why I can fight with peace of mind. That's why I don't lure Hyeon Sujin outside even though she's smashing everything and causing chaos. Anyway, this is a place that shouldn't exist in this world, and if there are no people, that's even better.

"Looking at how you keep fighting inside here instead of luring me outside, you seem to want to destroy this place too."

"You understand exactly. So what?"

"Since it's come to this, couldn't we stop here?"

It was a question asking if we couldn't stop fighting and back down. For that Hyeon Sujin to try to avoid battle? This is shocking in its own way.

"Why are you suddenly saying that?"

"Obviously because I have no intention of ending it here. I have to smash this place completely, expose to the world what kind of facilities this was built for. Then after that, I have to hunt down and kill all the bastards who commissioned this."

"You know those commissioners are high-ranking people, right?"

"What? Don't tell me you're going to say I shouldn't touch them because they're high-ranking?"

No way, that can't be it. Even if they're high-ranking bastards, if they did wrong, they should be punished. What I'm worried about isn't those high and mighty bastards but something else.

"High-ranking people always have many people who handle their odd jobs. Most of them are innocent people who know nothing about what happened to you and your fiancé."

"They're not targets of revenge."

"Right. But they're not. By that logic, the students and staff who died at the Academy were also innocent. They weren't direct targets of your revenge, but if they were nearby, you had no intention of keeping them away."

"..."

"You're planning to do the same this time, aren't you? You won't pay any attention to those who get swept up."

Hyeon Sujin couldn't answer my question. Of course she would. Looking at her track record so far, she hadn't cared about such things at all.

She had come this far driven only by revenge. She had thrown away everything for just one person.

"Probably..."

If she were just a villain, she would try to get away with lies. She would say she'd only eliminate the related parties, trying to pass it off like that.

"Probably, yes. Because caring for them might interfere with my revenge."

But Hyeon Sujin answered my question very honestly. She didn't pretend not to know or treat as if her past actions never happened.

Good. If she had lied, I might have really gotten angry. The moment I heard those words, I would have gripped my sword and charged at her immediately.

"Thank you for the honest answer. In that sense, I'll give you an answer too. I don't think I can back down. Precisely, I need to finish things here."

"Why? Because you can't stand to see more innocent people get hurt and die? Wow, how heroic. Amazing..."

"No."

If you ask whether that's everything, I would confidently answer no. If you ask whether that's the biggest reason, I would still say no.

"I... No, the reason I'm hostile toward you today is just one thing."

I roughly wiped my hands, slippery with sweat and blood, on my clothes. Then I gripped my sword tightly once more and aimed it at Hyeon Sujin.

"Earlier, because of you, my team members almost got seriously hurt."

"Team members..."

"You saw them too. Those students back then. The ones who tried to fight you."

"...You're saying your clear reason for hostility toward me is because of that."

"Yes. Just as that person is precious to you, those friends are precious to me."

Hearing my answer, Hyeon Sujin stared at me blankly for a moment. Then suddenly she smiled and burst into laughter.

"Ahaha! Ahahaha!! ...Hah. Good. That's much better then. Instead of throwing around grand causes and justice. A fight between those whose precious things were attacked. Yes. That's not bad."

Swish swish!—

The shadows that had been quiet raised their heads again. I could feel much denser magic power and deeper anger than before.

"Don't resent me even if you die, okay? You chose this."

"You're the one who shouldn't."

Don't blame me if you die before completing your revenge.