Blood Demon of the Past Life – Chapter 134

Chapter 134: The Mystery of the Red Zone （6）

The so-called Kang San Rescue Team.

With Saito Shusuke’s joining, as the rescue team was formed, a truly countless number of people expressed their intention to participate in the rescue. Among them were Jessica, Eileen, and Jo Han-byeol’s group, but team leader Saito Shusuke announced his position to form a rescue team mainly composed of “Japanese citizens” for a swift and cooperative rescue.

Those who remained.

They prayed for good news.

However, seeing the devastated state of the returning rescue team, Jessica, who was watching, clenched her red lips tightly.

“…Eileen. Can you stay alone?”

“I’m going too.”

“And you know what I’m trying to do?”

“You’re thinking of rescuing Kang San-nim, right? Whether I go with you or stay here, I’m not letting you go alone.”

Eileen showed a resolute expression.

Jessica had a headache.

Belatedly, she realized how stubborn her only younger sister was.

“With an S-rank Hunter dead, there’s no way to rescue Kang San-nim with individual force. In the end, the only way would be to hide your presence and rescue him quickly. I specialize in concealment skills, so I can do that, but if I take you with me, the monsters will surely notice us. So, please, stay here.”

“No. If that were possible, you would have already rescued the survivors in the Red Zone. Unni, ‘Evil Spirits’ roam beyond the Red Zone. Without mental healing skills, you’ll be just like the others, unable to resist. Let’s go together. I can’t wait for you to come back alive like you did, Unni.”

“Eileen!”

“Shouting like that won’t work.”

They argued.

Even though Jessica was stubborn, Eileen didn’t back down an inch, as if proving they were sisters.

“Ha━ You’re really crazy.”

Her head hurt.

The rescue team’s crushing defeat.

Kang San’s disappearance.

She couldn’t figure out where to start or how to respond.

The mysterious events unfolding beyond the Red Zone were completely beyond common sense for an individual to handle. People said that from S-rank onwards, it was the realm of disaster. It was a category of the extraordinary, with an unfathomable level of power, and the Evil Spirit that could even bewitch an S-rank was undoubtedly an insurmountable monster.

Would Kang San be alive?

No matter how great he was, if it was a monster that could kill Saito Shusuke, wouldn’t he have already been defeated?

It was hopeless.

As she stared blankly at the sky for a moment, she saw a bright light rising.

“…Huh?”

She was sure.

That was definitely the light of a teleport.

As Jessica and Eileen made eye contact, they ran towards the direction of the light without hesitation.

✦✦✦✦✦✦

It wasn’t just Jessica and Eileen who gathered.

Jo Han-byeol’s group.

They had also arrived at the scene.

Seeing a group of people appearing, enveloped in light, Jo Han-byeol asked urgently,

“What in the world happened!”

It was desperate.

It was a question that pressed those who were still out of their minds, and naturally, the survivors showed bewildered reactions.

Eventually.

They realized it was a question asking about Kang San’s life or death.

After taking a moment to calm down, one survivor said,

“…I’m not sure if the Evil Spirit attacked him, but after he rescued us, he looked very exhausted. And he has a message he wanted me to deliver.”

“A message?”

“Yes.”

It was the first time.

Kang San left his thoughts to the people here.

“I don’t know how many people I’ve saved, but if I go back like this, tell them. If I lose everything and return alive, please know that there was a sacrifice from someone like me. If no one recognizes this sacrifice, it might sound pathetic, but I think I’ll be very sad.”

With a completely broken mentality.

He forced a smile and said those words.

And with a weary gait, leaving the survivors behind, Kang San walked back into the fog.

“Ah…”

“What the…”

People interpreted Kang San’s message differently.

It wasn’t an attempt to flaunt his achievements, but a situation so difficult that he had to say those words.

He was a human being, just like them.

In a difficult situation where he couldn’t sacrifice himself without pushing himself, Kang San still didn’t stop his rescue efforts. No one could speak carelessly. Because they couldn’t know how much hardship Kang San was enduring, they couldn’t even begin to guess.

In the end.

There was nothing they could do.

Evil Spirits existed beyond the Red Zone, and Kang San moved deeper and deeper as time passed.

Now that even the rescue team had been shattered at the very entrance, stepping forward to save him was suicide. Even an S-rank Hunter had been defeated, hadn’t he? Overwhelmed by a sense of helplessness they couldn’t handle, everyone showed devastated expressions.

“…What the hell are we supposed to do?”

Jo Han-byeol and his younger siblings.

Seeing them despair, Eileen, who had been observing the situation, stepped forward.

“Let’s all pray.”

“Huh?”

“What do you mean…”

It was an absurd suggestion.

Pray?

As everyone looked at her with puzzled eyes, Eileen spoke with a calm face.

“The fact that Kang San-nim is still continuing the rescue means, although I can’t understand it, that he has the strength to withstand the Evil Spirit’s attacks, right? I have a skill called Wish. It’s a skill that grants buffs to the target of earnest prayer, and the more people who join my prayer, the greater the effect of the buff. So, let’s all pray together. That Kang San-nim will return safely. If Kang San-nim returns alive, it will be because of his own will, not someone else’s rescue.”

“…Is it a skill that can be used on a distant target?”

“Yes.”

“I’ll do it.”

It was Yeon Woo-bin.

He actively expressed his intention.

“How do we do it?”

“I’ll do it too.”

“Me too…”

People gathered.

And so, led by Eileen, people began to fall into prayer one by one.

✦✦✦✦✦✦

Inside the building overlooking the square.

Swish.

Through the curtains, Congressman Shimizu Hiroshi looked down at the square with a cold face.

“…It’s a spectacle.”

Prayer?

It was an absurd method.

However, as a politician, he couldn’t ignore this situation.

His aide said,

“Public opinion is not looking good right now. At first, it seemed like Ito Kentaro would be criticized, but with the situation of continuing the rescue despite the existence of Evil Spirits, an atmosphere of deifying ‘Kang San’s existence’ itself is forming. They say a hero has appeared in these troubled times.”

“That’s absurd. A hero? Surely, he’s just been lucky enough not to be attacked by the Evil Spirit.”

Flick.

He lit a cigarette.

It was a side of him he didn’t show as a politician, but right now, he needed a tranquilizer to calm his bubbling insides.

Smoke billowed thickly.

Among those praying.

Ito Kentaro’s figure was visible.

As expected, a hypocrite.

Knowing what the public loved most, he willingly knelt among the people and clasped his hands together. That’s why Shimizu Hiroshi hated Ito Kentaro. He was someone who could do anything for public sentiment, but the politics that Shimizu Hiroshi envisioned required a certain distance from public sentiment.

“Why don’t people know the truth?”

In the end.

The cruel but unavoidable truth was that Evil Spirits were an unsolvable existence.

For the past three years.

Had the Japanese government just been sitting idly by?

They had asked for help from powerful nations to solve the existence of Evil Spirits, but even they showed a perplexed reaction to this incident. The mystery of the Red Zone. Evil Spirits were a different kind of monster than the S-ranks that had appeared so far. S-ranks caused tremendous casualties every time they appeared, but the form of attack that instantly dominated the weak human mind was a point that even powerful nations had to be wary of.

It was a foreign country, after all.

No country would risk it for Japan.

So they covered up the South.

Just as other countries ignored Japan’s affairs, they downplayed the incident so that people in other regions would ignore the South’s affairs.

‘Italy’s Priest. I was hoping to get his help, which I’ve been working on for years, solve the South’s problem, and succeed the Prime Minister splendidly. But that Kang San guy ruined everything.’

An S-rank Priest.

Priest was the only way to solve the Evil Spirit problem.

Now the situation had changed.

If Kang San returned on his own, there wouldn’t be much political gain for Shimizu Hiroshi.

Rather, Ito Kentaro, who was kneeling before the people, would surely gain a few more pathetic votes from public sentiment. This was why showmanship was important for politicians. Whether Ito Kentaro’s actions were sincere or not, the general public would think he was sincere because of those actions. And even knowing that, Shimizu Hiroshi could never act like Ito Kentaro.

Then.

‘It would be better to wait for the moment of complete failure.’

Kang San’s death.

A hopeless and devastating defeat.

If such a moment came, people would realize the reality and want a realistic politician.

Until then.

“You idiots.”

Swish.

He closed the curtains.

Congressman Shimizu Hiroshi decided to ignore reality for a while.

✦✦✦✦✦✦

It was a bizarre experience.

Kang San, who had escaped from the nightmare, continued his rescue efforts without stopping.

But the Evil Spirit’s attacks didn’t end.

Time and again, something that tried to take over his mind surged in.

『You are falling into the status effect ‘Nightmare ‘.』

Spin.

The world changed.

This time, before his eyes.

There was a person who looked like a black shadow.

He mocked Kang San and brutally slashed Kang San’s parents with a sharp blade.

Stab.

Stab, stab━!

He heard a chilling sound.

A murderous intent that he had to stop the shadow immediately boiled up, but unlike his agitated emotions, Kang San showed calm eyes. Now it was certain. Status effect Madness, Qi Deviation. By repeatedly experiencing mental problems, Kang San’s mental strength had surpassed the realm of ordinary people. Even when faced with the miserable sight before his eyes, he could remain unfazed once he realized it was a virtual something trying to provoke him.

‘In the end, it’s just an illusion.’

At the same time.

Pop.

He escaped from the nightmare.

The way to escape the nightmare was not through the intervention of force, but through recognizing it as an illusion.

Beyond the fog.

He could feel the unknown entity’s bewilderment.

『What are you?』

He heard a murky voice.

There were no living beings in the immediate vicinity, but the voice pierced his ears as if it were whispering right next to him.

『How is this possible?』

“….”

He didn’t answer.

At first, he had tried to converse.

But with the entity repeating the same words over and over, Kang San realized that responding was a waste of time.

’10 hours left.’

Time was running out.

Solving the Trial was the top priority.

『Yes, you. You’re not an ordinary human. Your abyss is already filled with nightmarish moments. The nightmares you’ve experienced countless times probably don’t affect you at all. How is this possible? How can a mere human harbor such a miserable hell in their heart?』

The pattern changed.

The words that had been unilaterally repeated changed into a form of conversation he was hearing for the first time.

But then.

『That’s why I don’t like it.』

Pop.

‘Killing intent?’

Kang San reacted immediately.

He raised his shield to block the murderous intent that was rapidly shooting from somewhere.

Kwaang━!

Kwarururururung.

“Ugh.”

He was pushed back.

Despite blocking the tremendous impact, his insides were completely churned.

He confirmed the presence before him.

In the thick dust cloud, something in human form was walking towards Kang San step by step.

『So, just die.』

Swish.

A spear stretched out on the ground.

Kang San instinctively knew.

That his opponent was a considerably powerful being.

Saito Shusuke.

“…I’ll kill you.”

He, who had fallen into a nightmare, was staring at Kang San with bloodshot eyes.