The Saint Wants to Rest - vanish into fiction

Clearly, Ian was standing right before their eyes, yet he could not be felt. While he was visible, his presence could not be grasped. It was like looking at a substanceless illusion, a ghost, or perhaps a mirage.

“Ian?”

Choi Jae-heon reached out urgently, but his hand simply passed through Ian’s shoulder and cut through the empty air.

“Catch me if you can.”

With a chilly smile, Ian walked boldly between the two men.

Vermouth also reflexively tried to grab him, but Ian passed through him like the wind. Currently, he was in a state where physical interference was impossible.

“Oh dear.”

Vermouth clicked his tongue and came to a halt. Soon, Ian’s figure blurred and eventually vanished. In this state, not even he could find Ian. Whenever Ian got upset, he would often hide away like this.

“Ian!”

Thus, in front of the entrance where Ian had vanished, the two remaining men stared blankly at the spot where he had been. A breeze blowing from somewhere swept away the lingering scent of blood.

The silence was brief, and the explosion was swift.

“…It is because of you.”

Choi Jae-heon growled. Starting from beneath his feet, the concrete floor began to crack with a sharp sound.

“If you hadn’t pulled that stunt, Ian wouldn’t have run away.”

“I wonder. To me, it seems like Choi Jae-heon-ssi’s murky confession is the cause.”

Vermouth brushed off his blood-stained clothes and retorted nonchalantly. Unlike the way he had been smiling constantly in front of Ian, his expression had now completely vanished, making him look even colder.

“I could hear everything even from outside. How could you act like that toward your brother?”

Choi Jae-heon’s expression was distorted fiercely.

“I’m going to kill you!”

Kwang!

Choi Jae-heon’s telekinesis swept toward Vermouth like a storm. However, Vermouth raised a dagger and blocked the formless attack. As an aftermath, the door that had been barely hanging on was blown away entirely.

“My temperament is also better than yours.”

This time, a powerful force pressed down on Vermouth from above. However, he avoided it easily by shifting his body slightly.

“And it seems I am also more handsome.”

Even in this situation, he did not stop provoking his opponent. Since he couldn’t find Ian while the Sanctuary was active anyway, he felt like taking this opportunity to deal with Choi Jae-heon.

‘I want to kill him.’

However, even a person like that was Ian’s family. The Goddess said that maintaining harmony within a household was important. Therefore, he had no choice but to back down this time as well.

“Well, I shall stop here for today.”

Having said that, Vermouth leaped and distanced himself. Seeing him, Choi Jae-heon’s fists trembled violently. He wanted to chase him down and kill him, but there were too many complications. And for now, he had to find Ian.

In the end, he had no choice but to let his anger subside.

In the meantime, perhaps the reporters who had been keeping their distance had called it in, as the sound of police sirens could be heard from afar. Furthermore, seeing a reporter cautiously approaching again made a fire rise within him. Yes, there was work that needed to be handled.

***

South Korea was truly calm before the storm. No, it was already in the eye of the storm.

The scandal regarding ‘Vermouth’s lover’ that had caused such a stir was suppressed in just one day. The method was as ruthless and efficient as one would expect from S-class awakened individuals.

The first to step forward was Choi Jae-heon.

He mobilized the entire legal team of his guild, Stigma. Dozens of the best lawyers in South Korea clung to the task, scouring the internet.

[We will sue for the distribution of false information or defamation regarding Choi Mr. Ian. There will be absolutely no leniency or settlements.]

The wealth and power of an S-class awakened person were terror itself. Requests for police attendance flew at malicious commenters, and lawsuits for astronomical sums in damages were filed against media outlets. Posts digging into Ian’s personal information on internet communities were deleted in real time, and netizens shut their mouths out of fear of lawsuits.

Next was Vermouth’s turn.

He stepped before the public and told a perfect ‘lie’ with a holy face.

“That night, I was suffering from a severe mana backflow as an aftereffect of a dungeon raid. My life was in critical danger.”

Standing before numerous cameras, Vermouth smiled elegantly with a pale complexion. That paleness was due to excessive bleeding from self-harm, but the public had no way of knowing that.

“As a healer, Mr. Ian merely performed an urgent medical act to treat me. That kiss was a noble act to save a life.”

In this process, they had no choice but to reveal some of Ian’s abilities. This was because an excuse could not be crafted otherwise. Sometimes, awakened individuals had triggers for their ability activation. Though it was a rare case, Vermouth claimed that Ian was such an individual.