Chapter 92

The young Busan Girl, who had been appointed as the successor to the position of Busan Branch Manager, had always been curious whenever she heard about the abolition of the joint liability system.

Even though the law had abolished the joint liability system, people had not. She had always wondered why there was such a thing as law and why the country needed to exist if things were going to be this way.

While people think it’s good to release goodwill accumulated toward one’s parents onto their children, they believe it’s wrong to release accumulated bad feelings onto their offspring.

However, reality between people differs. Since law cannot prohibit the emotions in people’s hearts,

the good deeds happen rarely while the bad ones occur much more frequently.

Especially in South Korea, the joint liability system was actively practiced. The Busan Revolution Army, which had once incited rebellion, disappeared long ago, yet Busan was still regarded as a place of exile, and the punishment of dialect extinction was still ongoing.

Even though most of the Revolution Army had been punished, the nation had yet to fully forgive Busan. So who could dare to ask that the hatred and contempt for Busan cease?

Busan Girl was born in such an era—when the government had not fully forgiven Busan, when the joint liability system existed even though it seemed to be gone, and when her father had died after joining the revolution. Or, more accurately, when Busan Girl’s father had died while initiating the revolution.

Busan Girl herself was living proof of the revolution in Busan that the country failed to eliminate for months and an explicit sign that the country had abandoned Busan.

For this reason, Busan Girl could not avoid being ostracized in Busan itself, and the teachers turned a blind eye to it. Leaving an area of exile was only possible by pleasing the nation.

She had no choice but to attend school, where classmates would hurl abusive language filled with resentment: “Because of your father, our future path has been blocked.” Sometimes she faced violent retaliation infused with such resentment.

Because of the system of compulsory education, there was no escape from school.

Life itself was like hell.

If it were anyone else, they might have blamed their father for initiating the revolution. But Busan Girl did not.

“Your father was truly a remarkable person. To the point of raising as his own child someone with whom he did not share bl**d ties…”

She knew because of this.

“When the country offered money if they handed over that unrelated child, your father rebelled instead.”

She knew why the revolution had begun.

“The day the revolutionary from Busan died, you were kidnapped and somehow returned unharmed. Shortly after hearing about your abduction, the revolutionary mysteriously passed away.”

And she knew why the revolution had ended.

Her resentment did not fall upon her father, who had engaged in a reckless revolution. It was instead directed toward herself, who had been the weak link, and those who had taken her as a hostage to k*ll her father.

“Don’t blame your father, Hye-ri. And your father wouldn’t want you to blame yourself…”

A girl, who looked like a child playfully wearing a captain’s hat, once said this while looking up at the taller Busan Girl.

“It’s alright, Anka. From now on, I aim to revive the forgotten dialects. Continuing to speak will surely help restore the lost dialects, won’t it?”

“That’s informal language. Well, if you’re truly thinking and acting to revive the dialects, it’s fortunate. By restoring it, there won’t be any grounds for the country to erase the information again. But, are you truly serious about that?”

As Busan Girl recalled this conversation from when she joined the Busan Association after wandering aimlessly for a while, she quietly opened her eyes.

Even if hostages were taken, a person with a powerful supernatural ability would be necessary to k*ll her father. Specifically, unless the woman known as the Association’s Sword personally intervened, it would’ve been impossible.

However, she didn’t hold any major grudge about it. A sword cannot be blamed—it’s the nation that wielded the sword.

This incident wasn’t taken up by the Association’s Sword to protect someone by designating them, but rather because the terrorist group presented a reasonable offer and she accepted it.

“Starting today, Busan will no longer be part of South Korea.”

The girl, who considered herself a rational thinker and believed she had accepted the offer without bias, flicked her finger toward the approaching blonde delinquent woman who was wielding a bat.

Her finger flick sent soundless arrows flying toward the delinquent woman. It was the same power her father had possessed, and it embodied the essence of revolution.

Although her power was somewhat deficient compared to the revolution her father wielded, it was still the ability to instigate a revolution in the physical laws of the world and transform them according to her desires.

Undoubtedly, it was powerful. However, it was the very strength that had driven an entire country to attempt to destroy the revolutionary from Busan.

Of course, Busan Girl did not know that the reason she had not attained the same level as a true revolutionary was because she had not possessed a fragment of power left by the revolutionary of Busan, a fragment currently owned by Erica.

Kim Taesung, who was born with the ability to influence the times yet failed due to a lack of power, was known as the revolutionary of Busan.

A fight to decide who would inherit the power he once wielded had already begun, unbeknownst to the parties involved.

*

While deflecting as many sound arrows as possible created by Busan Girl’s fingers, the Student Council Vice-President continued to advance.

Busan Girl, who was arguably the strongest in Busan after the Branch Manager, created arrows made of sound. Using her revolutionary power, she applied a rule to convert the sounds she generated into arrows.

In short, it was unusual for Student Council Vice-President to even be able to block them. Sound-based arrows aren’t tangible; who could block sound, and even if someone did, how could they time it correctly?

What made this fight interesting was Vice-President’s ability to block these arrows, which were originally impossible to stop, as she approached Busan Girl.

Though they were impressed by her, they also expected her to win without further ado, yet a strange voice reached their ears.

[Ah, I don’t know if you can hear me or not, but if you can, listen carefully. To cut to the chase, I can’t defeat her.]

Although she fought well, this sudden declaration of defeat was logical because miracles don’t last.

The movements of the Student Council Vice-President, blocking arrows, were clearly slowing down compared to the start. The grazes on her arms and legs from the arrows were gradually increasing.

Though she was closer to Busan Girl than at the beginning, Busan Girl wasn’t a stationary tower.

When the distance seemed to have closed a bit, the blue-haired girl stepped back while continuing to fire arrows. The distance widened again.

[I won’t lose, but I can’t win either. It seems the other side is aware of your presence and isn’t using proper techniques. Reinforcements will probably arrive first, and the likelihood is high that they will be on the other side.]

If this situation continued, the battle between Busan Girl and the Student Council Vice-President would end inconclusively, and the winner would be whichever side received reinforcements first.

Just as one could predict from the name “Busan Girl,” the probability of her reinforcements arriving first in this area was high.

[I’ll buy you time. So tell me, how many minutes do you need to recover and re-engage?]

Therefore, the Student Council Vice-President asked Erica while deflecting arrows without giving her time to rest her tingling arms.

Even though Erica promised to buy time, considering how long she could last and how much till the other side’s reinforcements arrived, there was really only one answer.

“I need you to wait for only ten minutes.”

Since Erica couldn’t privately send out a message like in a martial arts novel, she had to resort to shouting.

This was her way of declaring her determination to recover her right hand within ten minutes, join the Student Council Vice-President, and end the ongoing fight.

[Ignorant! Don’t you realize that revealing to the enemy you’ll finish in 10 minutes is like giving them a countdown? Good job.]

She was immediately scolded by the Student Council Vice-President.

However, her movements became faster than before, though Erica couldn’t see it, the evidence of more arrows being shot by the opponent increased.

[10 minutes. I’ll hold out longer if necessary, so recover and make sure to join fully for battle.]

[Got it. Is this how I reply?]

No response came.

Nevertheless, that did not change the fact that Erica had work to do, so she closed her eyes and focused on the changes happening within her body.

Driving away the power of protection, the bl**d making her especially injured right hand hot—this change related to her supernatural ability, bl**d Erosion, was something that should be under her control, given that it was an ability.

It wasn’t the time to focus on healing.