Park Hyo-Su, the leader of the criminals who had attempted to ambush Bae Seung-Woo, belatedly realized that he was screwed.

They were criminals to begin with, all of them on the most wanted list. Their reasons for turning to crime each varied, but his rap sheet in particular included multiple counts of killing a party member inside a dungeon.

It started as a simple impulse, but he’d found a thrill in it and repeated it several times before eventually getting caught.

Naturally, he became a wanted man, but his fairly strong Awakened ability allowed him to stay out in the wild evading capture.

However, even someone as practiced in fleeing as he was couldn't see any way out of the current situation.

He knew that Park Ji-Hoon, the one who proposed the deal and backed him, wouldn’t dare show up there to save him. It wasn’t like he didn’t know who the three girls he was facing currently were. Worse was that even if he did, Park Hyo-Su knew there’d be no difference in outcome.

The girls were so pretty that he would’ve drooled over them if they had been just ordinary girls, but the only thing he felt in that moment was pure terror.

“P-Please... just spare me,” he begged while trying in vain to contain his trembling.

“Hmm. Sure! First, go on and tell me what you were trying to do, exactly,” Willow prompted with a smirk.

Strangely, unlike with the other two girls, he couldn't bring himself to raise his head and look her directly in the eyes.

That wasn't all. An inexplicable, intense sense of guilt was consuming him.

“Again, I was told to... injure his liver. Awakened individuals have excellent detoxification abilities, so I-I was told that I absolutely had to make the liver's condition disastrous and failing before using the poison...”

The liver was indeed the organ that performed the body’s detoxification.

“So. What's the poison?” She was just a young girl, yet the absolutely dominant and authoritative aura she gave off somehow felt natural to him.

“T-the thing I was going to use is...” he began, clearly still hesitant.

Boom!!

Suddenly, a crater appeared in the ground right in front of him, and his eyes shot wide open.

“Keep talking,” Willow told him, acting as if nothing had happened.

“A-a deadly poison! It’s a drug that makes a lower-rank Awakened’s mana scatter, ensuring they can’t properly use their power!”

“Lower-rank?”

“Y-yes! B-But I heard that it has some effect on higher-rank Awakened individuals as well. It weakens their power for a long time. In some cases, it can even permanently lower their level of power...”

Super Ribbon frowned at his words, and Evangeline fell silent for a moment in thought before speaking up. “There's a poison like that? I've never heard of it.”

“It's probably a substance from Yurgian,” Willow offered. “I heard Dad talking about it before. Apparently, there are components that can be found there which mess with Awakened individuals and prevent them from using mana.”

“Y-Yes! That's the one!” Park Hyo-Su desperately agreed, trying to save himself. “It... it was all that guy Park Ji-Hoon who ordered it! He told me to sneak in when your party’s guard was down and leave a wound on his body with the poison.”

“Huh. It just seemed like you let the others go.”

“That's...” he lowered his eyes as he spoke.

Just then, pure white rabbits approached from a distance, carrying three men on their shoulders.

“Where have you been?”

One of Killer Rabbit's clones then made a gesture and tried to communicate something.

Soon after, a cold smile spread across her face with realization.

“Well... the deal was just to slightly harm him, so there was no real need to touch the others...” 𝒻𝘳𝘦𝘦𝘸ℯ𝒷𝘯𝘰𝑣ℯ𝑙.𝘤𝑜𝘮

“The real reason,” she demanded, not believing his excuse.

“It's... I had some pent-up stress lately... so I figured I'd take out the men and enjoy the women a little...”

“You crazy bastard!”

Thwack!!

Willow mercilessly kicked him, and he tumbled on the ground. Even though it had been a light kick, his arm was snapped back at a strange angle. She then ruthlessly stomped and broke his remaining arm and legs as well, for good measure.

“Aaargh!!!”

From the start, these bastards had no intention of just letting the mixed-gender party that Bae Seung-Woo was with go.

“So, Park Ji-Hoon ordered this?” Willow confirmed.

“Gaaa! Hic... Yes. P-please spare me!”

“Sis, what should we do?” Evangeline asked.

Willow turned back to the man. “How many wraith remnants do you think are stuck to you?”

“What?”

“How much hate do you think is clinging onto you?”

She then snapped her fingers, and the earth tore open. A pit of hellfire soon formed beneath.

Everyone seemed taken aback by the violently shaking earth, but they all shut up after seeing Willow’s calm demeanor. The horrifying and hellish scene in front of them sent chills down their spines.

“It's a hellfire pit. While it's not usually used for this... as long as it's just a living hell that I have to manage, I can absolutely do it.”

It was the same sight she had shown Park Seo-Hyung, who had picked a fight with her before. The difference was, what she showed then was merely a hallucination, while this was as good as the real hell.

“P-please spare me! Please! I made a mistake!!”

“Did you really expect to get away with doing such a thing in a world where gods exist?”

“Uuuh. Uuugh.”

Willow slowly approached, then reached out her hand to him, making him slowly float up into the air.

“The original procedure is to throw your soul into the River of Souls, but I can't bring myself to do that.”

The remnants of those whom he had killed, and the criminals who accompanied him, were too intense.

“Spend some time down there and think about all the evil you’ve done. If one day you truly repent, I'll guide you onto the right path for your soul.”

Crack!

With that, something translucent slowly came out of his body. She had forcibly extracted his soul, then casually tossed that soul into the depths of hell.

“Aaaargh!!!!”

Starting with Park Hyo-Su's soul, she extracted the souls of the remaining criminals and hurled them into the bottom of hell as well.

Witnessing her ruthless actions, everyone simply stared at her.

“Sis...”

“Being a goddess is truly messed up... I’m always shown things I don’t even want to see,” Willow quietly murmured.

Ignoring how the others stared at her, she reached out her hand into the air. “I can only provide you what little comfort it is to tell you to finally rest in peace...”

Her voice sounded slightly choked. Soon, particles of light began to scatter in the empty air. They slowly circled around her before disappearing.

“What was that just now?”

“The vengeful remnants of the people those bastards wronged throughout their lives. Their souls were recovered by the River of Souls, but their resentment remained.”

Of course, she didn't bother to tell them what exactly had happened to the victims.

“Oh. Aah! You mustn’t do that!” Just then, the air tore open, and Jeo-Seung shouted, his face pale.

“Mustn’t do what?”

“The... the souls...” he began, clearly worked up.

“It's fine. I'll handle it, so you can just turn a blind eye to this.”

“But...”

“I'll talk to Uncle Woochi about it, so just drop it.”

Jeo-Seung, who had been scrambling to mediate the situation, sighed in the face of her forcefulness.

Super Ribbon couldn’t help but marvel at how drastically his personality had changed, compared to how he had been before taking on his position.

* * *

“He failed?” Park Ji-Hoon rubbed his face in frustration and sighed.

‘I have to stay calm. This was one of the predicted outcomes. However, at least I can now be certain of one thing.’

It was questionable how a mere commoner like Bae Seung-Woo, who started with nothing, had connections with so many powerful and influential figures.

However, when operating under the assumption that he had some kind of relationship with the Saint of Tionis’s daughters, all the recent events finally fell into place.

Bae Seung-Woo was planning his revenge, and they were helping him through the entire process. There was no longer any doubt in Ji-Hoon’s mind that he was the victim of their terrible plot to ruin his good reputation.

“Fucking shit!!”

Bang!

He wrecked his office. He had swept away everything around him in a frenzy.

He panted heavily, a throbbing headache pounding at his skull.

“Just how goddamned unlucky can I be?!”

His encounter with Jeong Min-Ah was just a coincidence. He’d thought he had only messed with a moderately pretty woman he happened to see on the street.

However, her ex-boyfriend was suddenly revealed to have rare S-rank Awakener potential that the whole world now paid attention to. On top of that, the bastard even had ties to the Saint of Tionis.

Having to deal with just one of those difficulties would already be a headache for most, but to run into both? It was frankly absurd.

“Looks like Bae Seung-Woo isn't the real problem. If this leads to upsetting and starting a conflict with the Saint of Tionis...” He shuddered at the mere thought of it.

The Saint of Tionis, as far as he knew, was a reasonably sensible person. However, becoming that man’s enemy would mean any future for him essentially disappeared overnight.

If he stepped forward, Park Ji-Hoon knew he had no chance at mediation, no matter what he did. When people like Park Ji-Hoon gathered, they would warn each other not to even look in the direction of the Saint of Tionis. Many often said that if you stirred up trouble for no reason, it’d already be too late.

Although it was unfair, the Saint of Tionis was just that terrifying. Not only was he a powerful being, but the entire world already relied on him heavily.

There were several past examples in other countries where people fucked around and abruptly found out, with such harrowing consequences it was practically biblical.

“What are those old-ass politician fuckheads doing?! Getting their ass whooped by some fucking outsider!!” He nervously chewed on his fingernails. “How can I be this fucking unlucky?”

If he had known this would happen, he wouldn't have messed with Jeong Min-Ah. He wouldn't have so much as even glanced in her general direction.

Of course, he had no time to spend crippled by his anxiety.

While he had yet to hear any news of the Saint of Tionis appearing, considering the man's cherished daughters were involved, Ji-Hoon’s first priority was to cut all ties and mediate the situation.

However, there wasn't much he could do. His position had narrowed considerably ever since he was stripped of his successor title.

Knock Knock Knock!!!

Just then.

“Park Ji-Hoon!!”

He heard a loud shout, clearly furious. It was none other than his father, the Guild Master of the Silla Guild.

“Father? What's— AARGKH!!!”

His father burst into the room and immediately clocked him right in the jaw, forgoing slaps altogether.

As an Awakened individual himself, the punch was fierce.

“Guh...”

“You incompetent fool! What the hell have you been doing?!”

“W-what’s the matter?!”

“If you have eyes, look at the news!”

He pointed to the TV placed in the corner. Park Ji-Hoon quickly turned on the news channel.

Upon seeing the headline story, he slumped down to the floor. “Fucking shit...”

He instantly sensed that the situation had already spiraled out of control.

The news reported that wanted criminals had attacked an Awakened party, including Bae Seung-Woo.

Of course, that alone wouldn't be a problem. What followed was unbelievable.

A rumor was spreading that claimed they were members of the Silla Guild and had acted on Park Ji-Hoon's orders.

“Father! T-they’re framing me! I swear!”

“You idiot. Did you think I wouldn’t know? I already knew you were involved with those punks a long time ago.”

“B-but... T-there's no proof! What the hell are those TV station bastards doing?! Treating a baseless rumor as fact...”

“Proof?” his father asked with angered exasperation.

Ji-Hoon didn't know what to say.

“Proof came out, you fool...”

He felt his stomach drop.

“Proof? I really didn't leave any proof—” He suddenly flinched once he reached that point. “Wait, no way...”

“Yes way. They know everything. The times you used those punks to carry out your work, and the times you bankrolled or bribed them.”

All the information detailing his under-the-table work, allowing the wanted criminals to work under him without being caught, had been handed over to the authorities.

“That's impossible! That was in a database I already took care of!! There's no way that someone...” he said before trailing off, face losing color.

“Exactly what you’re thinking. I don’t know how they found out, but that information we kept as a last resort? It was all in there. Not just you, but both the Silla Guild and even the political figures backing us—we’re all about to get wiped out.”

It wasn’t just Park Ji-Hoon who was in trouble now.

“Didn’t I tell you? I always said not to take unnecessary risks...”

“That’s impossible! I personally disposed of all that information! It has to be fake!”

“They said it was restored. We of course stuffed it all with dummy data and insane encryption so it’d take a long time to recover, like usual. But... they apparently broke through it in two hours.”

Ji-Hoon knew that restoring data which had been so thoroughly destroyed would take serious effort. He had no idea who could’ve snuck into the guild building, extracted their data, and restored it that fast.

Even if recovery was possible, it had special encryption which should’ve made it take much longer.

“T-then...”

“The ones backing you have already cut you off. They’re denying everything and trying to use you as the scapegoat to cut their losses.”

“Ah... Aaaah!!”

No matter how certain it was he had S-rank potential, practically guaranteed to reach that rank in the future, he was still only A-rank. Rather than risk their own positions, they chose to abandon a future S-rank Awakened individual.

“Take this,” his father sighed and said, putting an encrypted and untraceable phone in his son’s hand. “I prepared a flight ticket for you, and everything you need is on the phone. Officially, you left the country a week ago.”

“Father!!”

“It’s too late to turn things around now. You need to lay low until things quiet down.”

With trembling hands, he grabbed his son’s similarly shaking shoulders.

“You useless bastard. Worthless!” He spoke harshly, but his eyes shook violently. “And yet... even if you’re that worthless...”

No matter how harsh his words were, it seemed his feelings as a father were above all. “Go. Once the prosecutors show up, it’ll already be too late.”

Ji-Hoon could hardly contain his grief. “B-but the guild!”

“That’s no longer your concern.”

Facing those words, he took the passport his father handed him and hurried out of the guild building.

The moment he stepped out, someone locked their gaze on him from the rooftop of a building across the street.

“Lady Willow, it’s me. Just like you said, he’s leaving,” Yuria reported as she watched without even using binoculars, relying only on her overwhelming eyesight.

- I figured he would.

“Is it really okay to just let him go?”

Willow’s smirk even came through over her voice on the phone.

- Once the police catch him, there will be nothing we can do. Instead, we’ll finish our revenge before that can happen. After that, whether he gets arrested or not doesn’t matter. He might even lose his Awakened powers along the way.

“Sometimes... you’re really scary, Miss.”

- I’m the kind of person who goes all in once I decide to do something. And the reason I’m going this far... ah... nevermind.

With nowhere left to fall, she knew he was going to make the worst move. Once that happened?

- That’ll be the end of the revenge. Funny, isn’t it? Someone who’s crushed countless lives cherishes his own family so much.

“Yeah. Just like with Jeong Min-Ah, the world really is something.”

- My dad always said that every grave has a story. That’s why I hate this damn goddess position. It shows me things I don’t want to see.

Her irritation showed through in her agitated tone.

- It makes the world feel completely messed up...

“Miss?”

- It’s nothing. Don’t worry about it.

Two days passed after Park Ji-Hoon disappeared from the guild. Yet, he had never boarded the plane he was supposed to.

“Ugh, this is all giving me a headache. So where’d this guy go?”

“Where else? Didn’t I tell you that he’ll definitely come back?”

Evangeline had no idea what her sister had done to make him abandon everything and come back like this. She still didn’t know the key portion of the plan.

“So what did you show him?”

As the others talked, Super Ribbon geared up Seung-Woo with the equipment they had obtained from Grape-Flavored Cat Tower, Maga, and even Al Hajat, who used to be a top crafter.

She then leaned in with them. “I’m curious too.”

“You are?”

“Yeah. He’s looking for Seung-Woo right now, right? He seemed like a pretty level-headed dude, so for him to lose it and come after him like this...?”

Her eyes sparkled, and Willow looked at her with a slightly bitter expression before turning away. “It’s nothing special. I just told him that if he runs overseas, I’ll expose all the corruption his father committed, too. I told him to decide for himself and come find us.”

It was a truly devastating blow.

“Sometimes... you’re kind of scary...” Evangeline shivered. She then continued, “Willow, I really like you. You know that, right? Let’s stay close sisters forever.”

She even threw in unnecessary flattery.

“It’s like some tragic drama, isn’t it? I just wish they understood that this is what it feels like to have your life completely destroyed, the same way they do to others all the time.”

“Yeah...”

“He’s already at the end of his rope, so he’ll charge in without thinking. He’s too prideful to bow any further.”

Realizing what Willow had shown him, Bae Seung-Woo quietly nodded. “So I just step in now?”

“Yeah. Whether you forgive him at the end, or finish your revenge—that’s entirely up to you.”

“There’s no forgiveness for that bastard. He needs to take responsibility for what he did. But... let me correct one thing.” Seung-Woo smiled. “My life isn’t ruined. I met you all, and got a new chance at life. If anything, it turned out for the better. I’ve received a kindness I’ll never forget.”

“Then live your best life, so we won’t regret going this far for you.”

He bowed his head. “Thank you. Really.”