Bundles of Crimson Thread – III

I held Seohui close and then thoughtfully mulled over the information I obtained from her assassin.

A ridiculous situation. It seemed like I underestimated just how extreme my actions were over there in Paradise. That, and I underestimated how much of a bastard Seora's dad was. No, not just him. That guy... Yun Seojin. He was a bastard for trying to kill his two daughters, but the board of directors were bastards as well for trying to get rid of Hannah.

If it wasn't for the fact that I made that ring to protect her then maybe...

"Oppa?"

A calm voice called out from nearby. Seora's. Not long after, she stepped into the alleyway.

Her clothes were a bit ruffled and burnt from the explosion. Her hair was frazzled as well. But she was fine.

And shortly after her, the driver... Shin, I think his name was. Anyway, Seora's right-hand man... butler... person followed, his eyes sharp.

I looked towards them and said, "Any issues?"

Seora shook her head. "No. But..." She looked at Seohui in my arms and frowned. "...Did they really try to get rid of Unni?"

I let out a cold laugh. "Not just her. It seems like I'm more of a boogeyman than I thought to Sinyoung since they tried to get rid of Hannah as well in a 'car accident.'"

Seora's eyes widened for a fraction, and then they narrowed. "Father- No. That man..." She shook her head and said, "Is Miss Hannah alright?"

"She's fine. It's a good thing that I had some good foresight... Though it might be hard for her to explain things."

I flicked my eyes towards where I sensed her. As if in response to my thoughts, a glowing window popped up.

[Kim 'Seol' Hannah]

Your wife.

Currently frazzled from surviving a car explosion.

In perfect health.

Being interviewed by media about the situation.

Along with that window, I could see her. Hannah was talking with some cops and examined by some first responders. Of course, since she was such a skilled actor she played up the role of a rattled and shaken woman. Because of that, she'd be fine. Not only were the authorities helping her out, but I saw some Triad members already heading over there along with my new men. My bro, Hao, being on top of things as always, it seemed.

I shifted my gaze away from her and instead on the corpse lying on the ground in front of me.

A corpse that was slowly turning pale as the blood drained from the bullet wound in its head made after he spilled everything he knew.

I crinkled my nose and then dissolved his body into ambient energy, erasing all traces of blood and gore by converting it straight to heat and draining the excess energy.

Shin's eyes widened and he let out a relieved sigh. "It truly is a miracle that our Miss met you, Mister Jihu."

"I wouldn't say that when we aren't out of the fire yet." I adjusted Seohui in my arms and frowned.

She was fast asleep. But that was reasonable. After all, she was publicly discarded despite being groomed and molded to be the perfect 'ruler' of Sinyoung. Not only that, but she was betrayed by those who once treated her as an absolute goddess and forced to this miserable state...

"Dammit." I muttered and said, "Maybe I do have a problem with women..."

I always seemed to end up running into and helping out women who were at the ends of their ropes...

Seora snorted.

Shin chuckled.

I shook my head and then focused on our surroundings.

I noticed some spatial distortions. Probably other people trying to come through from Paradise to check on or finish the job with Seohui.

But that wasn't about to happen on my watch.

Instead of letting those distortions open up here, I sent them into random spots in Seoul. At the same time, I made sure to conceal our presence from the surroundings and cut space off to prevent people from peering in.

Only after that did I relax a bit.

Seora noticed and then nodded. "I take it the area is secure, Oppa?"

"It is now. And speaking of now... It looks like we'll have to speed up our plans even more." I frowned and muttered, "I didn't think that Sinyoung would try something like this."

To act up so much even on Earth... Either they didn't know about the Martial God here in Seoul or they didn't care.

Hopefully it was the former, because things would get troublesome if it was the latter.

I wasn't worried about my chances if something happened, but I *was* worried about the collateral damage. From what I remembered about that guy, he was pretty callous about people that weren't 'his.' At the least, I knew that he let his wives do whatever to people here on Earth as long as they didn't go overboard.

...Another thing that bothered me, but as long as they didn't mess with me, I wouldn't mess with them.

In any case... That restricted a bit what I could do.

After the stunt Sinyoung just pulled, I wanted to walk right up to their HQ and start ripping things apart. Cause a modern mystery as a bloody massacre happened and about a dozen men just vanished from the face of the Earth.

But that wasn't good.

This wasn't the place for that. Earth and everybody on it didn't deserve to be embroiled in that sort of chaos. So... we needed a battle plan.

Seora frowned and said, "That's true. I wonder if something happened? To go after Unni as well... I would have thought that Fa- *that man* would have kept her in place for a bit longer. At least until the situation with you was resolved."

Shin shook his head. "You underestimate your father a bit too much, Miss."

Seora's frown deepened. "It seems so. Then..." She looked to me and said, "What do you have in mind, Jihu?"

Back to calling me by name. Which meant it was business mode.

Seora looked at her sister and said, "Since you saved my older sister... I take it that you have a plan?"

...I didn't. But now that she mentioned it...

I remembered it. That vision I saw with both Seora and Seohui.

Since it first came up when I examined the Sinyoung contract, I thought the future I saw wouldn't come to pass. But now...

"...I see. So just because Destiny is severed doesn't mean that it won't come to pass."

"Hm?" Seora tilted her head.

"Nothing. But for now... We need to get you and your sister somewhere safe. Because of how chaotic things are, Sinyoung is probably thinking that you two are dead. And if I read the situation right... Well, if you can't kill the hero, you make the people he saved do it instead."

Seora's eyes widened and then she placed her hand on her chin, thoughtful. "I see... Yes. With us out of the picture and with your history..."

"Sinyoung will try to make it seem like it was me lashing out. And of course since I pulled off a bunch of miracles, nothing is out of the question for me."

Seora frowned. "...This is a delicate situation. Jihu." She looked at me and said, "If you do anything too overt-"

"It'll come back to bite me. I know. But fortunately for us..." I looked down at Seohui and said, "We happened to run across the best ally for this type of conflict."

Yun Seohui.

A terrible enemy to have. A beauty who was all too familiar with pulling strings and slowly strangling her enemies to death from behind the scenes. One who could marshall forces and make meticulous plans to snuff out even bright lights... and who had done so in the past.

But she wasn't my enemy. Not here... And not ever.

[Because you're a crazy ass motherfucker. Have I told you that yet?]

Oh fuck off already. And why the hell are you still around commenting in my head?

[About that. We need to talk... but I'll let you sort this out first.]

"Anyway." I focused on my surroundings. Specifically, on the black threads that I recently forged with Karmic Binding on my new men.

There weren't many around... but there were a few.

Good.

I pulled them over.

Immediately, a pair of sketchy looking men appeared in front of me. Buzzcuts, tattoos, harsh expressions contrasted by their sleek suits.

Seora flinched. Shin reached for his gun. But when they saw the men kneel down before me, they relaxed.

"Master!"

My eye twitched. But I took a deep breath and focused. "You two. Work with Mister Shin over there and protect Seora and Seohui... And for good measure, use these."

I tossed them a pair of belts. Nothing too extreme... at least in Paradise. But here they would turn the guys into superhumans.

"Yes!" The closest man put on the belt and then stood up, giving me a deep bow. "I will protect them with my life!"

The other man did the same and then nodded. "I will do the same, Master!"

I let out a wry smile.

...Since when did my life become a Chinese cultivation novel?

[When you decided to-]

I wasn't asking you!

I sighed and then said, "Alright. For now... let's get you guys somewhere safe and start coordinating things. Since it's gotten to this point, I should probably let Hao know. Pretty sure he'd love to help out... Ah, but he's probably going to chew me out again. Dammit, and now that I saved Seohui as well... Argh."

I could already hear the guy teasing me again...

"...Yeah. Let's just go."

xxx

In a starry void, a veiled figure laughed as she watched the events unfolding on Earth.

Footsteps echoed and then another figure appeared. A man with cracked armor and a spear strapped to his back. He looked at the scene and then clicked his tongue. "You know, that guy's not the only crazy bastard around here, Gula."

The veiled figure... No. Gula turned to look at him and smiled. [True. But even I would have never believed such a small change could result in this drastic shift.]

"I'll say." The man... No, Black Seol shook his head and said, "For that bug queen to make such a beginner mistake because of that guy... Well, he really knows how to shake things up at least."

[That's putting it quite lightly.]

"Yeah, yeah." Black Seol spun his spear around and rested it over his shoulders. "So... I'm guessing this isn't a social call. Bringing 'me' here when that guy's future is completely different from mine isn't cheap. What's the deal?"

[Well.] Gula turned towards Black Seol and smiled. [It's quite simple. Since the Parasite Queen already brought back a 'Seol Jihu' to wreak havoc in Paradise, it's only fair that I do the same, right?]

"...That bastard *must* have an innate ability to turn women crazy. I swear..."

[What was that?]

"Nothing, Gula."

[I thought so.]

Black Seol sighed.