“An evil ghost! It’s an evil ghost! A ghost! Aaaaargh! Aack!”

Im Hyomun screamed at the top of his lungs.

“Byeoksadan?”

Jaegyeom stared through the ✪ Nоvеlіgһt ✪ (Official version) haze of smoke at Byeoksadan, doubting his own eyes.

Then, all at once, he doubled over.

His surprise lasted only an instant. The moment his feet touched the ground, his head throbbed as if it were about to split open. It was the Buddhist power taking effect. Unable to keep his balance, Jaegyeom staggered, retched, and collapsed to the ground.

“Ugh...”

It felt as though a ball of fire had lodged itself in his chest.

Sprawled on the ground and struggling to breathe, Jaegyeom clutched at his chest.

At that, Black Emperor strode half a step forward as if about to rush toward him, only to hesitate.

It was a reflexive reaction, but no one noticed except the intelligent ghost standing beside him.

When Jaegyeom collapsed, Im Hyomun, who had been shrieking, gasped.

“Seventy-Seven! Are you okay?”

What should he do?

The situation was spiraling into the worst possible direction.

His mind had gone completely blank.

He couldn’t understand how this had happened. There wasn’t just one intelligent ghost from Byeoksadan. There were two. And one of them was wearing red. The moment he saw the red overcoat, his thoughts seemed to freeze. He had heard a few times that while Byeoksadan’s intelligent ghosts wore black overcoats, their leader appeared clad in red.

And now that rumor was standing right in front of him.

He had never imagined he would run into them like this.

This was a touch-and-go situation.

Even meeting a tiger wouldn’t have shocked him this badly.

On top of that, Seventy-Seven was in terrible shape.

Facing an unexpected enemy, Im Hyomun’s fear was overwhelming. Worse, neither he nor Jaegyeom had any weapons or ritual implements for dealing with ghosts. Meanwhile, the intelligent ghost from Byeoksadan was holding a sword. The only thing Im Hyomun had was a talisman he carried for emergencies.

As a temporary measure, Im Hyomun frantically pulled a talisman from his robes.

He had to do something.

Anything.

He pinched it between his thumb and middle finger, and when he channeled spiritual force into it, the talisman stiffened.

Im Hyomun shot the Reduction Talisman toward Black Emperor in the distance like a throwing star.

But the talisman did Black Emperor no harm.

The moment it reached him, it flared up and burned away, vanishing into thin air without leaving even a speck of ash behind.

It wasn’t a low-grade Reduction Talisman used on stray ghosts, but a fairly high-grade one he had received with approval from his superiors. Yet against an intelligent ghost, it was useless.

When his only weapon disappeared so pathetically without causing even a scratch, Im Hyomun was left dumbfounded.

It seemed the saying that intelligent ghosts were the strongest among ghosts was true.

As if he had known from the start that the talisman would not work, Black Emperor did not move to swat it away or dodge.

He simply stood there, motionless, not even twitching, and continued looking this way.

His face was hidden behind a black veil, but Im Hyomun had the instinctive feeling that his gaze was fixed on them.

Then Black Emperor, who had been frozen like a statue, seemed to tilt his head slightly toward the intelligent ghost beside him and whisper something.

The intelligent ghost nodded as if he understood.

Stepping one pace forward as though to assist Black Emperor, the intelligent ghost opened his mouth.

“You may flee.”

His deliberately lowered voice was stiff and sinister.

Surprisingly, however, the intelligent ghost from Byeoksadan was showing them mercy.

Just when Im Hyomun had thought they were done for, what was this?

It was a narrow escape.

He should have dropped flat to the ground and bowed in gratitude.

But for some reason, the moment he heard those words, the fear that had filled his heart vanished.

An emotion that came before fear balled up inside him and surged forward.

I can flee?

“Don’t... don’t make me laugh.”

The truth was, Im Hyomun was hot-headed by nature and had a naturally belligerent streak.

He was diligent, but he did not possess any particular sense of identity or mission as a Naja. What he wanted was lifelong employment. A pension and job security.

But the words “you may flee” had struck a nerve deep in Im Hyomun’s heart.

Im Hyomun could not trust the words of Byeoksadan’s intelligent ghosts.

He thought it through with a cool head.

They might be telling him to run as if they were showing mercy, only to attack him from behind. He couldn’t fall for an intelligent ghost’s trick. He’d rather die like a dog.

Die after being humiliated and toyed with, or just die.

Im Hyomun chose the latter.

But he could not let Seventy-Seven end up the same way.

Seventy-Seven had a much younger sibling and lived with an unemployed uncle. Of course, Seventy-Seven had never openly talked about his circumstances. But for someone so young to give up his studies and act as the head of the household, he had to be a wreck inside.

He couldn’t let Seventy-Seven, who was so young and still had a bright future, be put in danger.

Steeling himself, Im Hyomun glanced around.

The smoke made it hard to see, but when he looked closely, he spotted a sword lying near an unconscious Naja.

Im Hyomun quickly got to his feet.

He scrambled over and picked up the sword from the ground. Taking a deep breath, he gripped it tightly.

He had to focus.

Squeezing his eyes shut, Im Hyomun spoke.

“Seventy-Seven. C-can you move?”

His face taut with tension, Im Hyomun lowered his voice toward Jaegyeom behind him.

“I’ll hold them off here, so you run first.”

Jaegyeom, who had been kneeling on the ground, laboriously lifted his head.

“...What?”

“D-don’t worry. I have a third-degree black belt in Korean swordsmanship.”

“......”

Im Hyomun stepped forward, putting Jaegyeom behind him.

The intelligent ghost stood beyond the smoke.

It would have been a lie to say he wasn’t afraid.

But Im Hyomun forced himself to stand firm. He took a deep breath and glared at the intelligent ghost.

“Hey, cough, wait a minute...”

“Run? You sons of bitches, what kind of bullshit is that!”

Before Jaegyeom could say anything to stop him, Im Hyomun shouted in a booming voice.

“I know you’re just telling me to run so you can stab me in the back!”

At Im Hyomun’s provocation, Black Emperor silently tilted his head to the side.

“Let’s see how this goes, for better or worse. Bring it on!”

Im Hyomun let out a battle cry and charged toward Black Emperor.

He squeezed his eyes shut and swung the sword wildly.

The intelligent ghost assisting Black Emperor shot forward in the blink of an eye. As if protecting Black Emperor, he immediately deflected Im Hyomun’s sword.

It was a move that declared he would not even allow him to get close.

CLANG! CLANG!

In the thick, acrid smoke, Im Hyomun’s sword clashed with the intelligent ghost’s.

But there was one problem.

Im Hyomun was not yet skilled at imbuing objects with spiritual force.

In a way, it was only natural.

It was impossible to block an intelligent ghost’s sword with a sword that had not been imbued with spiritual force. Im Hyomun tried to hold out with sheer physical strength, and although he managed to block a few blows, he no longer had the strength to endure.

In the end, unable to withstand the overwhelming force, the sword was knocked out of Im Hyomun’s hand.

Torn from his grip, it clattered to the ground.

It was a moment between life and death.

“Uwaaah...”

Seizing the opening, the intelligent ghost stood with his sword raised, looking down at Im Hyomun.

The ghost’s aura was terrifyingly menacing.

Im Hyomun instinctively stumbled backward and covered his head with both arms.

His life flashed before his eyes.

Mom. Dad. I’m sorry... No, Mother Im Sungyu and Father Jeong Deokcheol, I’m sorry. Looks like this is it for me. I died on the job, so will they process it as a workplace accident? They’d better, for humanity’s sake... Anyway, your unfilial son Im Hyomun is on his way...

Just then, a hand shot out from behind Im Hyomun and grabbed his shoulder.

“Kyaaaaaaah—!”

He screamed, thinking the intelligent ghost was attacking him from behind.

But the one who had grabbed his shoulder was not the ghost.

It was Seventy-Seven.

Im Hyomun’s eyes widened as he turned to look at Jaegyeom.

“Se-Seventy-Seven!”

Jaegyeom staggered to his feet.

He could feel the intelligent ghost hesitate.

“Wh-what... I told you to run! Why didn’t you go?”

“Don’t yell. My head’s ringing, and I feel like I’m going to throw up.”

“Hey! I did that to save you, but if we both die...!”

Jaegyeom swayed as he picked up the sword and steadied himself against Im Hyomun’s shoulder.

“Who’s going to die, idiot...”

Jaegyeom struggled to find his balance.

He had been momentarily thrown off when Im Hyomun charged in without giving him a chance to stop him, but there was nothing to be done now.

He had no choice but to fight back rather than be killed by the intelligent ghost here.

That was fine for him, since he couldn’t die, but Im Hyomun was in danger.

He had imagined meeting the leader of Byeoksadan a few times before.

If he met the leader, there were many things he wanted to confirm, including what connection he had to the Bangsangsi and what his ultimate goal was.

But he had never thought they would meet in a situation like this.

He had not even been able to check whether Yoon Taehee was safe, and with Im Hyomun beside him, he could not carelessly ask about anything.

For now, the best course was to break through this situation.

His head felt as though it were splitting open, and his stomach churned, but Jaegyeom adjusted his grip on the sword and steadied his breathing.

The burning smoke made his vision blur, and his eyes and nose stung.

He couldn’t see any other Naja nearby.

He had come to protect Yoon Taehee, but instead he had ended up protecting Im Hyomun.

There was nothing he could do about that.

He had to end this as quickly as possible.

“Run when you see an opening.”

Deathly pale, Jaegyeom aimed his sword at the intelligent ghost.

“I’ll handle this.”