TINL Ch 8

Standing a few steps away, Jacheongbi, who had been watching the two, chuckled as she lightly tapped Sunwoo’s tightly clenched fist, which was bulging with veins.

“It might seem unbelievable that someone like that exists right now, but you’ll get used to it quickly once you start rubbing shoulders with them. Wol doesn’t usually lie unless it’s something serious. Just take what she says at face value.”

“It’s especially frustrating because everything she says is sincere and not exactly wrong, so it’s hard to argue back.”

Jacheongbi nodded as if she fully understood Sunwoo’s feelings and patted his shoulder. Meanwhile, Wol, who had lit a cigarette, stared blankly at the rapidly rising floor numbers on the elevator display and asked casually,

“Mr. Sunwoo, which god are you supposed to be assigned to?”

“I heard it’ll be either fire or the sun—whichever one suits me better.”

“So, your basic stats are tied to fire, and your specialties are purification and regeneration?”

“Yes.”

“Have you ever set a really nasty fire?”

“…I’ll give it a try.”

As Sunwoo answered, the elevator stopped at the 57th floor. The moment the thick steel doors slid open, a cloyingly sticky perfume hit them before they could even see who was waiting. All three people inside the elevator grimaced at once, and a flamboyantly dressed man leaned at an angle to greet them.

“Whoa. I’d braced myself after hearing about the Myung faction, but… seeing it in person, this is an even more ridiculous lineup. Jacheongbi being part of it is absurd enough.”

“More absurd than the solar gods’ standards? Putting a guy who’s never once done his job properly as the negotiation lead—that’s the level we’re talking about.”

Jacheongbi threw the man’s words right back at him. The man, Gusang, shrugged as if to say, “What are you gonna do about it?” and reached out toward Wol.

“Anyway, it’s been a while, so it’s nice to see you. How about a hug?”

“Our senior here has bad lungs. I’d appreciate it if you stepped back a bit.”

Sunwoo, standing protectively behind Wol, sharply swatted away Gusang’s shamelessly outstretched hand. As the tall man slid between Wol and Gusang with a bright smile, Gusang, who had been blocking the elevator, narrowed his eyes.

“Your name’s Bae… something, right? You probably don’t remember, but both you and I are just people who got used and tossed aside by this woman. Fellow victims shouldn’t be at each other’s throats, you know?”

“Oh, sorry. What did you just say? The perfume’s so strong it keeps clouding the air, and I couldn’t focus because of it.”

“Ha. Look at this guy.”

“Senior, are you breathing okay?”

Sunwoo waved his hand—the one that had slapped Gusang’s arm away—to purify the air while checking on Wol over his shoulder. Wol, completely hidden behind Sunwoo’s frame, let out a series of fake coughs—cough, cough—without the slightest effort. Jacheongbi’s lips twitched at the sight of the two, who seemed almost rehearsed in their coordination.

“You two still get along so well, huh? It’s nice to see. Guess that knack for sticking together in front of your old man hasn’t gone anywhere.”

Gusang sneered, clearly provoked, but Sunwoo ignored him and roughly extended his energy, pushing the man’s body a good distance away.

“Excuse me for a moment. The air’s especially stuffy here.”

“Huh? Did you just push me?”

“What? You got pushed? A mighty solar god getting shoved by a rookie like me—how could that happen?”

Sunwoo feigned innocence as he stepped out of the elevator with Myungwol in tow, while Wol quietly shook her head.

“Even back then, Mr. Sunwoo was better at everything than that guy—and stronger, too.”

Gusang, who’d been effortlessly shoved back, let out a dry laugh and clicked his tongue.

“Ha, they’re getting cocky just because I’m being nice. Nameless nobodies acting like they own the place.”

“We haven’t even started yet, so of course we don’t know where it ends.”

Wol exhaled a long stream of smoke and muttered in a tone dripping with disdain, tilting her head toward Sunwoo.

“Mr. Sunwoo, let’s get started. Show me how well your specialties fit.”

Sunwoo didn’t hesitate to follow her command. To him, Gusang was the bastard who’d stolen his precious fiancée—a wretch he could chew up and still not feel satisfied. There was no room for hesitation or reason. Without warning or signal, flames erupted from within Gusang’s body, quickly searing his insides and radiating intense heat.

“Aaagh! Arghhh!”

In an instant, Gusang’s skin blackened and cracked, splitting open to reveal the glowing red flesh beneath. Clutching his stomach and screaming, Gusang glared at Sunwoo.

“A nameless runt dares to set fire to a solar god’s body?”

“If a solar god can’t even block an attack from a nameless rookie, does he deserve to stick around for the next chapter?”

Wol replied calmly, gazing down at Gusang, who was writhing on the floor in agony, unable to endure the pain.

“When I was abandoned at the gates of the heavens, the gods who came to gawk at me must’ve felt like this. Pitiful, insignificant, laughable.”

Her voice was flat, devoid of sadness or regret—just pure detachment. That calmness ignited a surge of anger in Sunwoo. The flames, reacting to his emotions, ravaged Gusang’s insides even more fiercely.

“Urghhh!”

As Gusang rolled across the floor, sparks flared and embers scattered across the smooth marble. Jacheongbi pointed at the trail of fire and giggled.

“Gah!”

Gusang glared murderously before collapsing into twitching, insect-like spasms, his screams growing hoarse. Sunwoo’s eyes drifted to Wol’s hand. That delicate hand had once shyly offered him armor—armor that had tightened around him, burned him, and melted him down. Just like Gusang now.

In the final moments before his breath stopped, the last scene etched into Sunwoo’s eyes had been Wol, Gusang, and the flames. Gusang laughing maniacally as Sunwoo’s body melted, and Wol, cradled in Gusang’s arms, her face hidden from view. That image of the two embracing had been the end—his eyes burned away completely.

But the Wol before him now seemed like an entirely different person from back then. Standing tall and unyielding, relying on no one, she tossed the stub of her cigarette onto Gusang’s writhing form and lit another. Sunwoo stared at her face, trying to decipher her thoughts.

‘Are we remembering the same moment right now?’

‘Why did you kill me?’

Wol ignored the unwavering gaze Sunwoo fixed on her, focusing instead on the penthouse—once pristine, now a sea of flames.

“Haemosu! You promised to back me up!”

Gusang, burning alone for a while now, shouted in a rasping, desperate voice. Haemosu, the leader of the solar gods, who’d been lounging at a table watching the scene unfold like it was someone else’s problem, finally stepped in with obvious reluctance.

“Director Myung… isn’t this enough venting? According to the eviction terms decided by the attendees of this meeting, gods of the same rank in other branches will face the same process, right?”

“That’s correct. If these two leave here unscathed, the solar gods of other nations will remain as myths in the next world. If they burn up like this, the rest of the solar gods will be incinerated en masse as well.”

“Then put out the fire already. What other gods in the world are as important as the solar gods, and you’re treating us like this?”

Wol approached the negotiation table, her expression devoid of warmth, exhaling a long plume of smoke. At the massive wooden table—big enough to seat thirty comfortably—sat Haemosu, as ostentatiously dressed as Gusang, propping his chin arrogantly. She looked down at the man, unchanged in his haughty demeanor after eons, and called his name with disdain.

“Haemosu, you’re completely missing the point. I was sending you a signal to start kissing up to me if you don’t want to be humiliated on a global scale.”

“What?”

“Thanks to the solar gods of the Korean Peninsula, every solar god worldwide is about to become kindling.”

“In all my years, to think I’d be threatened by Gusang’s little toy—pathetic.”

Before Haemosu could finish his scoffing, the flames around Gusang flared even higher. Haemosu smirked crookedly, sneering at Sunwoo before turning to threaten Wol.

“Director Myung, what do you think Mago will do when this mess gets reported? How many years do you want to spend doing laundry in Wolha this time, huh?”

“I figured you’d threaten me like that, so I secured immunity. I have full authority over everything that happens during this eviction process.”

Wol watched Haemosu’s flustered reaction with evident satisfaction before lowering her gaze. At her designated seat lay a thick stack of white papers filled with black text—the demands from the solar gods’ side.

Her eyes swiftly scanned the absurd proposals. After reviewing every page, she stubbed out her cigarette on the hefty pile.

“You wrote an unnecessarily long essay just to say you want to be the first to get obliterated.”

“…”

“Jacheongbi, as a god of the earth, could you take care of these pitiful papers?”

Wol tapped the stack as if knocking, and Jacheongbi placed her hand atop it, letting out a mock wail.

“My poor babies. You weren’t born as trees just to end up like this.”

Before she finished speaking, the white papers stretched out like thin, white roots, wrapping around Haemosu’s neck. He flailed to shake them off, but Jacheongbi was just a fraction faster.

“Urk! Why are you getting involved, Jacheongbi!”

“Habaek had a message for you lot. Honestly, I was just supposed to deliver it and leave, but I got distracted watching the fire and missed my chance to slip out.”

At the mention of Habaek’s name, Haemosu’s face crumpled—not from pain, but something else. That expression only irritated Jacheongbi further. Her tone, playful until now, sharpened with anger, and the massive table morphed into thick tree trunks, enveloping and crushing Haemosu’s body.

“Urk!”

“Habaek has a lot of grudges against you. What Gusang did to Wol, what you did to Habaek’s daughter—it’s all the same filth. She wants to settle her daughter’s debt while she has the chance.”

Haemosu struggled to breathe under the crushing pressure, his face twisting in defiance. His eyes screamed indignation—why hold a grudge over abandoning some girl on Earth? Jacheongbi had expected as much, but seeing his utter lack of remorse firsthand made her voice cut even deeper.

“They say the Korean Peninsula is the only place where solar gods have been chased from the heavens to live on Earth. They’ve brought shame on the whole branch and don’t even realize it.”

“Urk, what does this have to do with you, Jacheongbi…!”

“What does it have to do with me? I’m a god of the earth and I govern ‘chaos.’ Can destruction happen without chaos?”

“…”

“Bae, what are you doing? I’m working this hard—you should know to start burning without me telling you!”

Jacheongbi, still binding Haemosu with tree trunks, scolded Sunwoo, who was focused on roasting Gusang. For Sunwoo, not yet ascended to godhood, even burning Gusang alone was a strain, and he clenched his fists, unable to respond. Then, Myungwol whispered faintly in his ear.

“I know it’s a tough order. But if you could push yourself and burn Haemosu too, just for five more minutes… could you manage it?”

“…I’ll try.”

Sunwoo swallowed dryly and gathered his strength with effort. Soon, blue flames erupted over the vines and roots Jacheongbi had conjured.

The fire spread rapidly, burrowing into Haemosu’s body. He clenched his teeth, barely holding back a scream, staring in disbelief.

“Even if Gusang’s a filthy wretch whose divine power’s faded to nothing, I’m the head of the solar gods! How can a rookie fresh out of training harm me?”

Too proud to scream like Gusang, Haemosu bit his lips until they bled, glaring at the trio. Unfazed, Wol tapped away at her phone, then approached Haemosu, exhaling a long stream of white smoke into his burning face. His hate-filled eyes locked onto her.

“You damned wench… you’re doing this knowing full well what it means?”

“You’re the one who should be prepared, Haemosu. I just announced that forced eviction via incineration is underway. Soon, every solar god from every branch will be bombarding you with threats and protests.”

As she spoke, phones began ringing incessantly from all directions. Wol shrugged lightly and blinked.

“I don’t know how they expect to answer calls while they’re burning.”

“Are you insane? How do you plan to clean up a mess this big?”

“Why would I clean it up? Can’t you figure out the situation even after seeing Jacheongbi?”

“What…?”

“It’s a declaration of war—submit quietly, or we’ll crush you all. You really don’t get that?”

Haemosu stared at the two utterly mismatched women with wide, trembling eyes. Jacheongbi was a troublemaker in the Korean Peninsula branch, constantly dragging petty incidents and accidents in her wake. At the same time, she was the only god capable of cultivating and wielding the Flower of Destruction. Haemosu, flustered for a moment, soon recalled a critical treaty clause and let out a loud, mocking laugh.

“The Flower of Destruction, a weapon of mass destruction like that, was banned from use by inter-branch agreement! What, you think empty threats are going to work on me?”

“That’s why I was granted full authority over the destruction process, along with immunity.”

As Haemosu’s pain-contorted face paled dramatically, Jacheongbi twisted her lips into a smirk, clearly delighted.

“If they’d known how tight we are, Ms. Mago would never have granted me immunity. I couldn’t even pretend to be chummy with Wol all this time just to play this card.”

The moment Wol nodded slowly in agreement, a bright yellow fireball came hurtling toward them.