Chapter 121

As days passed without finding even a single strand of Giselle’s hair, there came a point where he could no longer hold back his anger.

He thought the ones who created this situation should be held responsible.

So he went to find <Daily Issue>, the one that had revealed her face.

“John Milton?”

“I’m John Milton… Red Shadow?”

“That’s right.”

“Guhk!”

Red Shadow swung his fist without hesitation.

He didn’t stop even when the director collapsed with a bloody nose.

Magic? A gun?

Using something like that to deal with him would be too trivial.

There needed to be a proper way, both for the one hitting and the one getting hit.

“S-stop! W-why are you doing this to me— Ghk!”

“S-someone stop him!”

When the reporters rushed at him, his mana lifted everything in the office into the air.

As their bodies floated, the reporters flailed and struggled.

In the meantime, Red Shadow drove his shoe into the director’s solar plexus.

Seeing him choke in pain and drool, he let out a scoff.

He grabbed the director by the collar and moved somewhere.

“You should go through the same thing.”

He grabbed the director who approved the article and threw him into the battlefield where Death Adder and Two Star were clashing.

Just like how Giselle, wherever she was hiding, had to entrust her safety to luck, this man too would have to entrust his life to fate.

Next.

“Daniel Humphrey… he listed wedding photos and moved to the social desk.”

“I-I received a tip….”

“Who gave it to you?”

“It was anonymous, so I, I don’t kn-know.”

“You talked a lot for someone who doesn’t even know their source. You couldn’t have been unaware that releasing that photo could put Giselle Moltke in danger.”

“That was all for the citizens’ r-right to know—!”

He had no intention of listening any further to such mindless babbling.

With a flick of his hand, Daniel Humphrey’s legs were seized and dragged across the floor toward him.

He gave Daniel Humphrey the same kind of retaliation, then shoved him into an underground holding cell at the police station.

There were no detainees on that floor, so no one would come there. It would take quite some time before he was discovered.

Last was Big Bear.

How dare she.

How dare she put a bounty on Giselle.

If she hadn’t put up a bounty, Giselle wouldn’t have had to run like this.

Tap.

The moment his shoe touched the floor of the building where Big Bear’s office was, a bullet flew in.

Without even needing a gesture, the bullet’s trajectory bent and embedded itself in the shooter’s shoulder.

“Guhk!”

“It’s Red Shadow! Bring the anti-magic gun!”

“Run! We’re out of bullets!”

“Where’s the boss!”

Everything in the office defied gravity and rose into the air.

Wooooong—

The atmosphere trembled.

He saw faces filled with fear.

Some he knew, some he decided to deal with soon, some he was seeing for the first time.

What they all had in common was that they were the kind who kidnapped people and sold them.

The floor shook. The building trembled.

The bullets fired wildly gathered into one point, forming a metal sphere that dropped to the ground.

Boom!

The metal sphere tore through the building, destroying everything.

Windows, floors, pillars. And people.

By the time blood from the upper floors dripped down and soaked the lower levels, an explosion engulfed the building.

Windows burst and concrete shattered.

In an instant, the structure was exposed, split in half, and began to collapse.

In the midst of it, Big Bear fled like a rat.

Police cars and fire trucks rushed in.

They didn’t even attempt to arrest Red Shadow.

Click, click!

Camera flashes went off.

The reporters who had flocked to the battlefield of Death Adder yesterday to cover Two Star’s downfall came today to film the scene he had created.

“How are you connected to the Duke of Valkenstein?”

“Is it true that the woman who accompanied you to the emergency room was Giselle Moltke?”

“Do you know where Giselle Moltke is?”

“Is it true that the duke provided Miss Moltke with a place to stay?”

“What do you think about Giselle Moltke’s disappearance?”

The cameras pointed at him made his blood boil.

Every single question was useless and disgusting.

The media that feeds on gossip and the public that revels in it.

If there was blame to assign, the media was the problem.

They have an obligation to uphold professional ethics.

‘Nothing but a tabloid.’

Crack, crunch.

The cameras aimed at him shattered all at once.

While the photojournalists let out short screams, Johan left the scene.

He sat on the rooftop of the tallest building on Mist Island and reread the note Giselle had left.

― I don’t want to drag anyone else into my life. I’m sorry.

It wasn’t that she dragged anyone in. He was the one chasing after her like a hunting dog following its master.

He hated Giselle.

But more than hatred, there was bitterness, and more than bitterness, there was affection. In the end, he arrived at the conclusion that he could never truly hate Giselle.

“Ah. Giselle….”

Johan closed his trembling eyelids.

In the darkness, Giselle’s face rose vividly, and a deep depression and emptiness washed over him.

***

He believed that even if she didn’t love him, she didn’t dislike him either.

He could have doubted the act of giving him the bracelet, but he accepted it as pure goodwill.

When she immediately noticed that he wasn’t in a good mood at the duke’s residence, he secretly held hope.

If he had the ability to turn back time like Black Cloak, he would have done so without hesitation.

Starting from the attitude he showed when he first took on Giselle’s protection, when he looked down on her, he wanted to correct every mistake he had made until now.

To smile more, to speak gently, to act with courtesy….

Once the imagination ended, the cold reality touched his skin.

The temperature against his skin felt empty.

He missed Giselle. He wanted to hear her voice.

“Maybe because you made me like the color purple.”

He still didn’t know what was so funny about that.

The clear sound of her laughter, the bright smile, the eyes curved in joy flickered before him.

The happiness he felt watching her like that was an unforgettable sensation.

That was why he chased Big Bear even more obsessively.

Big Bear was already aboard a smuggling ship.

The moment he set foot on the small mana-powered vessel’s deck, Big Bear immediately put on her knuckles.

“Looks like I’ve got a stalker.”

Every time Big Bear slammed her knuckle-clad fists together, the surrounding air vibrated.

“Red Shadow. Do you know which is stronger, the spear or the shield?”

“I don’t care.”

“A shield holding a spear.”

Red Shadow’s magic specialized in destruction, like explosions and cutting.

Big Bear possessed an ability that allowed her to defend herself from external attacks.

Boom!

Bang!

Crack!

Even when explosions went off, she protected her body with her ability, and even when he tried to throw her into the sea with mana, her ability overcame it.

Sparks crackled along the circuits embedded in the mana vessel.

Crunch! Boom!

The deck sank from the explosions.

Just as Big Bear tightened her grip on the knife,

A massive fireball fell from the sky.

Kwoooong! Crash!

Before Big Bear could react, the ship split in half and began to sink.

Big Bear, with her enhanced body, checked the direction of land.

She planned to swim back if she had to.

But Red Shadow was faster.

The sea churned and surged upward toward the sky.

“Ghk!”

He grabbed Big Bear, who had been flung upward, and moved her high into the sky.

Her body fell under gravity.

Big Bear pulled out a sword and stabbed Johan in the side.

“Die! Villain hunter!”

Even through the horrific pain, Johan didn’t let go of the hand gripping her collar.

Instead, his rampaging mana clamped down on Big Bear even tighter.

Even when she put in more strength than usual, her body wouldn’t move, and Big Bear panicked and cursed.

“Ghk! What the hell is this—”

At that moment, when he signaled with his eyes, a tiny explosion occurred inside Big Bear’s open mouth.

Thud, crack, crack, crack!

The explosions spread from inside her mouth down her throat and into her lungs.

Big Bear clutched her throat and vomited blood.

“Ghk! Cough—!”

If it weren’t for her physical enhancement ability, she would have died instantly.

The mana, beginning to run out of control, pressed down on Big Bear.

At first, she endured it with her enhanced body.

Boom!

When her body slammed head on into the seawater, intense pressure was applied to her physical enhancement for an instant.

“Ghk! Ughhh.”

Coughing up blood, Big Bear gasped and said, “I know White Hands’ identity.”

Red Shadow’s fingers twitched.

“Let me go and I’ll tell you who it is.”

“Are you talking about Giselle Moltke?”

The moment he saw her face freeze, mana exploded.

The deeper the longing, the more violent the magic became.

Crack. Crack.

Her ribs broke one by one, her upper body compressing inward.

“Gah—!”

With one lung pierced by a broken rib, Big Bear clutched her chest.

She wouldn’t be able to breathe properly.

She had suffered countless injuries, but this was the first time her body was ruined from the inside, and in her panic, her physical enhancement faltered.

“Damn it….”

Red Shadow didn’t miss that opening.