How A Mythical Holy Knight Lives As A Villain (Novel) - Chapter 3
Read At Utoon.Net
Chapter 3
News came that Shin Soo-kyung was injured.
“Where…!”
Lee Jae-kyung said urgently.
“Where… are you?”
The formal speech came out unconsciously.
Though Go Johan standing before him was just a 6-year-old boy.
But the extraordinary scene unfolding and the anger constricting his whole body caused Lee Jae-kyung’s natural formal speech.
Creak, creak.
The wooden floor wailed.
Soon, Johan came out carrying the unconscious Shin Soo-kyung.
“…!”
Her clothes were completely stained with blood.
Urgently putting down Shin Soo-kyung, he took out a potion that hadn’t been used despite being injured, just in case.
But all Lee Jae-kyung could see was a long cut mark over her outer garment.
“…The wound?”
There was no wound.
Swish.
Lee Jae-kyung looked at Johan in disbelief.
It all felt like a dream.
“I healed her. But she still needs rest.”
“…What did you just say…?”
Healing?
“J-just now, did you say healing?”
A player’s healing wasn’t something that could be spoken of so easily.
The only means to heal a player was potions, and even those couldn’t treat serious injuries, only quickly repairing minor wounds.
“Yes.”
Healing was a power like authority possessed by less than three players worldwide.
“H-how…?”
“The assassin called himself Lite.”
He wouldn’t have just said it.
The traces tell the story.
“…Lite.”
One of the five major guilds called the Big Five of South Korea.
Recently, they’ve been having frequent conflicts with Shinsung.
“It seems they were trying to kidnap me. Probably to negotiate for gate raid rights and jurisdiction.”
“These… crazy b*st*rds.”
That’s when it happened.
Swish.
Johan’s touch, which had approached unnoticed, felt as cold as an unavoidable blade.
“Why did you leave your post?”
Only then could he realize.
Johan’s anger was beyond imagination, and that anger and suspicion were directed at Lee Jae-kyung himself as well.
“Answer me.”
If he gave the wrong answer.
Gulp.
He could well imagine he would end up like the assassins sprawled on the floor.
“Kill me.”
Lee Jae-kyung said, squeezing his eyes shut.
Everything that happened here, the appearance Johan showed, none of it made any sense.
But even so, there was one truth that remained unchanged.
“The failure in protection is my responsibility. There’s no room for excuses.”
The fact that his failure in protection had put Johan and Shin Soo-kyung in danger.
Then.
Swish.
The blade that had approached was withdrawn.
“I’ll give you a chance for atonement.”
“Haa… Haa…”
Lee Jae-kyung dropped his head and exhaled rough breaths.
He had just realized that he had truly escaped from the crossroads between life and death.
“I heard the mastermind from Lite is Director Han Il-ho.”
“……”
“How dare they.”
The Goddess Church has no scripture.
Therefore, Michael had to gauge and carry out the Goddess’s will.
He tried to be good.
He thought goodness was what the Goddess desired, so he tried to abandon his worldly self.
But that day, as he threw himself at the gate to the demon realm, Michael resolved.
“My…”
To become a demon.
“Punish those who tried to harm what’s mine. This shall be the punishment of the Goddess’s… the Champion of the Goddess.”
And the Goddess answered as if affirming this path was right.
Lee Jae-kyung couldn’t understand.
Neither the scene caused by the young boy, nor the words he spoke.
What the Goddess was, and what this Champion was supposed to be.
Normally, he would have laughed it off as nonsense.
Called it puberty and pinched his cheeks.
“I will.”
But when he came to his senses, Lee Jae-kyung had truly become the Sword Demon.
*
*
*
It was an incident that shook South Korea.
An attack targeting Shinseong’s youngest son.
Even though the world of players was close to lawless, this crossed a line.
But what was more surprising was that on that day, the leadership of the Lite Guild who carried out this act were found as cold corpses.
The culprit was the Sword Demon, Lee Jae-kyung.
The incident, which almost led to all-out war between Lite and Shinseong, was settled with Lee Jae-kyung’s retirement as a condition.
“Johan, is there anything you want to eat?”
Shin Soo-kyung asked while stroking Johan’s head.
“…Chicken would be nice.”
“Chicken?”
Shin Soo-kyung’s face brightened.
“Great! Where should we order from? No, should mom make it for you?”
“I would be grateful if mother made it.”
“Alright! Just wait a bit!”
After that incident occurred, Shin Soo-kyung had become haggard.
The injuries from the assassins’ attack had healed completely thanks to Johan, but the mind was the problem.
-Because of me.
Johan had been in danger.
Shin Soo-kyung was tormented by the thought that she couldn’t protect Johan.
That’s why.
“What’s the occasion?”
A voice was heard.
“Because I want to be a source of strength for mother.”
Johan answered.
In one corner of the room, quietly leaning against the wall, was Lee Jae-kyung.
Lee Jae-kyung, who declared retirement from active duty at Shinseong.
The scar from that day was clearly etched on one of his cheeks.
It was known to be a wound from Lite’s rankers, but in reality, it was one Lee Jae-kyung had cut himself.
“You thought well. Madam has been very excited these days.”
A vow to never forget the sin of that day.
Such Lee Jae-kyung volunteered to be Johan’s guard.
Even Lite didn’t raise issues about that matter.
“You should do something about that way of speaking too.”
Lee Jae-kyung said.
“Really, what kind of six-year-old talks like that?”
Lee Jae-kyung was the first.
The first to glimpse a bit of Johan’s secret.
“It was just… like the scar on your cheek.”
That day’s events brought changes to Johan as well.
“Atonement?”
“Something like that.”
Michael’s world had changed.
Yet he didn’t completely let go of the past.
Of course, he had no intention of letting go even at this moment.
“Aren’t you going to ask?”
Johan said to Lee Jae-kyung.
“Ask what?”
“What I am, what I’m hiding.”
And.
“You’ll handle it yourself. Do you think I’m here because I want to be?”
Lee Jae-kyung said.
“It’s like the scar on my cheek, I told you.”
Atonement. Atonement for the fact that due to his mistake, a young boy, the one he served, had almost died.
“I see.”
Footsteps were approaching.
“Johan, let’s eat chicken! Half spicy! Half original!”
Shin Soo-kyung held out a plate of chicken with an expectant face.
“Thank you for the meal.”
The past, and the present.
Only one thing remained unchanged.
“Mom.”
Only his faith in the Goddess and hatred for demons.
“Johan… you…!”
*
*
*
“Johan’s going to be an elementary school student now?”
Shin Soo-kyung said while stroking Johan’s cheek.
“Does our handsome Johan want anything?”
After the incident at the Incheon villa, Johan changed.
‘These too are precious bonds given by the Goddess.’
If he were to rob them of the happiness and joy they should naturally enjoy by being too bound to the past, that would be no different than sinning against the Goddess.
“No.”
He changed his way of speaking.
“…Mom.”
He changed how he addressed people.
Just with those simple actions, Shin Soo-kyung wore an expression of incomparable happiness.
“Our Johan was so mature when he was little that I worried, and even now he’s mature but…”
Shin Soo-kyung said while rubbing her cheek against Johan’s.
“But mom is so happy now.”
Yet there were still things difficult for Johan.
“Kiss for pretty Johan.”
“……”
When Shin Soo-kyung pursed her lips as if expecting a kiss from Johan, he jumped up.
“The entrance ceremony is soon, so I’ll go prepare.”
“This kid… being shy.”
On the way back to his room.
“Is one kiss so difficult?”
Lee Jae-kyung, who was leaning against Johan’s door, said.
“She’s so happy just from you changing your speech and how you address her, wouldn’t it be nice to give her one?”
There was a strange hint of amusement in Lee Jae-kyung’s voice.
It had already been 2 years, the time Johan and Lee Jae-kyung had spent together.
From Shinseong’s perspective, Lee Jae-kyung’s withdrawal from gate raids was regrettable, but it was something to be happy about that such a talented person was in charge of Johan’s protection.
“You should accept the Guild Leader’s offer yourself.”
Recently, Go Johan had been suggesting to Lee Jae-kyung to return to Shinseong.
Now Shinseong had grown strong enough that they no longer needed to worry about Lite, and someone talented like Lee Jae-kyung couldn’t just keep doing protection detail forever.
“The Guild Leader would be very pleased.”
So the two entered the room.
“I’ll pass.”
Lee Jae-kyung said.
“…It’s like, I’ve come to know too big a world, you could say I’ve lost motivation?”
Then Lee Jae-kyung looked at Johan.
“Do you know the feeling of an ordinary person facing an enormous wall?”
“Stop talking nonsense again.”
Despite their age difference of over twenty years, the two had become quite like friends now.
“It’s early, but congratulations on entering elementary school. Is there anything you’d like? Should I buy you a school bag?”
“Stop teasing me.”
For Lee Jae-kyung, who knew about Johan’s special nature, the fact that Johan was entering elementary school was just amusing.
“If I could, I’d like to live independently.”
“I can already hear madam crying.”
That’s why.
“Just until elementary school…”
Following Shin Soo-kyung’s wish for Johan to be an ordinary child.
“I’m thinking of taking the qualification exam from middle school.”
He would attend until elementary school.
“You’ve thought well.”
It was time no different from usual.
Though he no longer prayed, he would call the Goddess’s name out of habit.
Whoosh.
Each time, the fading memories of the past would become clear again.
That’s when it happened.
[You have sufficient Karma Points.]
[Black Gate detected.]
The Goddess’s voice was heard.