Chapter 6
Lee Cheo-eum glanced at White through her throbbing headache.
If I refuse his request for help here, he’ll likely take it as meaning we should never interact again.
Then she would lose the chance to complete the counseling log.
She would be discarding a counselee gifted to her at tutorial-level difficulty by fate itself.
Lee Cheo-eum let out a deep sigh.
…Still, maybe it’s worth trying.
“Just one more thing.”
Her gaze toward White grew intent.
Misinterpreting that as something negative, White’s expression stiffened.
[…]
[…This won’t work after all? Ah… should I withdraw my deposit, sell my house… money… but would money even solve this? Intervening in an S-rank reversion… with mere money…?]
Panic-like thoughts leaked out in fragments.
“…This is distracting.”
Lee Cheo-eum, having turned off thought-structure analysis, spoke.
Now, a very important question was asked.
“What’s your MBTI?”
……
“Pardon?”
“…Personality type test.”
“Yes.”
“Right now? Here?”
“You seemed like you’d do anything if it helped. Can’t you answer even this?”
“N-no! Of course I can do anything! It’s not that I can’t—!”
Wasn’t the atmosphere extremely serious just a moment ago? I was crying my eyes out here…
Though still dazed, White answered quickly.
“ENFP.”
“Accepted.”
“What?”
Leaving the confused White behind, Lee Cheo-eum walked over and brought her motorcycle nearby.
“Get on the back.”
“R-really? You’re going to help me?”
“Is that a problem?”
“No!”
Receiving a look that said “I’m grateful, but why?”, Lee Cheo-eum took a helmet from the motorcycle’s trunk.
“I needed an ENFP to interview for my thesis.”
Park Gil-dong is ESFP.
The main goal is still the counseling log, but I’ll make full use of this situation.
As she started the engine, a strange light flickered in Lee Cheo-eum’s eyes.
“I’m writing my graduation thesis.”
“……”
“Topic: <A Study on Beard Style Preferences of 19th Century Psychologists According to MBTI Personality Types and Modern Preferences>.”
……
Only then did White realize he had come to the wrong place.
Vroooom—!
Lee Cheo-eum and White sped forward against the flow of evacuees, heading toward the reversion zone.
“Ugh…”
Seated behind her, White groaned inwardly.
Lee Cheo-eum had pushed to maximum speed from the start, continuing with dizzying, acrobatic maneuvers.
White’s stomach—already sensitive to motion sickness—was completely overturned, but his concern for his younger sister outweighed everything, so he had no intention of asking her to slow down.
Ignoring the nausea, he began explaining.
“This reversion started from an A-rank trial called ‘Rabsake’s Pride.’”
“……”
“‘Rabsake’s Pride’ appeared after the Fifth Catastrophe, so there isn’t much information about it. It was only known as a trial resolved by killing the ‘Proud Reaper’… but during this resolution, it seems some unknown condition was triggered. It was a trap.”
White bit his lip.
“After it evolved into an S-rank trial… a reversion began, led by a psychic calamity known as the ‘Judge of Pride.’”
Amid the roaring sound of the headwind, Lee Cheo-eum nodded.
“Was your sister an apostle who entered to resolve it?”
“Yes. When the reversion began, she tried to retreat along the route she came from, but she’s being controlled by the Judge of Pride.”
“I see.”
There was urgency in White’s voice, carried through the wind.
“The branch leader will arrive soon. We have to get there before that.”
White belonged to the Bureum faction. There was only one person he would refer to as “branch leader.”
Even Lee Cheo-eum, who knew almost nothing about the apostle world, recognized the name…
“Yuseongu.”
A man named after falling stars.
“If someone that strong arrives, won’t everything be resolved…?”
“No—!”
Suddenly, White shouted loudly, startling himself as he shifted direction with too much force. The abrupt drift made him quickly cover his mouth.
“S-sorry. But the branch leader… that is…”
“……”
“…actually the boss I’ve been complaining about all this time.”
“Oh.”
Lee Cheo-eum had known he was a personal assistant to someone, but she hadn’t expected it to be Yuseongu.
She immediately recalled the insults White had repeatedly vented during counseling sessions.
“That man is a truly vile monster. He smiles while ordering massive incidents to be covered up.”
“Nobleman? Don’t be ridiculous. That’s all marketing. If you saw his bank records, you’d never say that. He buys tons of poison.”
“Please… I hope his life is filled with misfortune—everything drying up when he needs it most, five consecutive red lights at critical moments…”
If someone as gentle as White said things like that…
“Then the branch leader will kill my sister immediately upon arrival.”
White’s voice trembled as if he were about to cry.
“He’ll sacrifice my sister to cut off all controversy…”
Lee Cheo-eum frowned slightly.
“Even so, she’s an A-rank apostle. Would they discard her so easily?”
Even in Korea, a country strong in apostles, A-rank apostles were rare. Not something to be casually abandoned.
“That’s… because you don’t understand the branch leader.”
White wiped his face.
“Have you ever thought the image of the Bureum faction is too perfect?”
“…Hmm.”
When thinking of other major factions, scandals and incidents came to mind. But for Bureum, nothing immediately surfaced.
At first, Lee Cheo-eum assumed it was simply because she hadn’t paid attention to the apostle world.
“No. That’s due to the branch leader’s pathological image management.”
“……”
“Any consequences of a reversion must be borne by the faction responsible for that trial. Even if it was a trap, even if casualties were minimal, the mere occurrence is branded as proof of incompetence.”
And this was an S-rank reversion. That alone would deal a massive blow to Bureum’s image.
“Now imagine a Bureum apostle being controlled by a calamity and attacking civilians.”
Permanent reputational damage would be unavoidable. To suppress it, Bureum would need to clearly demonstrate that they had done everything possible.
…Executing an influential A-rank apostle under the branch leader’s own hand would likely be considered an appropriate performance.
“My sister…”
“I understand.”
Lee Cheo-eum cut him off as his voice trembled uncontrollably.
In short, he meant this was the kind of person who would use human lives as disposable tools.
Screech!
At that moment, they reached the boundary of the civilian evacuation zone.
“White! Where have you been?!”
A member of the Bureum faction rushed out from inside a translucent barrier.
“Is the branch leader coming?! Is he on his way?!”
“Well…”
Just as White was about to answer that they had only barely received confirmation—
Scratch, scratch.
The sound of a pen moving came from White’s Toledo.
<branch leader> : I’m on my way. 🙂 +
“—Aaaagh! Damn it! He’s coming! He’s coming now!”
White screamed in panic, turning toward Lee Cheo-eum.
At that moment—
Grip.
“Let’s finalize our agreement first.”
From behind, Lee Cheo-eum wrapped her arm around White as if embracing him and pressed lightly against his chest.
“[This is the mark of a covenant between you and me.]”
At that instant, a page from White’s Toledo fluttered into view.
[Something is requesting a covenant from you.]
The apostles’ method of agreement: a “Covenant.”
A binding oath that connects souls through a spoken contract. Among beings with Toledo, such covenants could be formed at any time.
In a low voice, Lee Cheo-eum recited the conditions:
“You will not disclose anything about me to others, and you will continue counseling with me sincerely. I will do everything in my power to rescue your sister from the control of the psychic calamity.”
Her pale fingertips pressed precisely at the center of White’s body.
In ancient Near Eastern traditions, when making an oath, two parties would pass between the split halves of a sacrificed animal—symbolizing that if either broke the oath, they deserved to be torn apart like the animal.
This covenant was a simplified version of that ritual…
[If the covenant is broken, all abilities will be weakened for three days.]
Perhaps it was meant to represent the emptiness of spoken promises. The penalty for breaking such a covenant was relatively mild—far from something that would force compliance out of fear.
White felt a sharp, pain-like sensation at the spot she pressed.
“…Is that really all?”
It suddenly felt real.
Was his counselor, Lee Cheo-eum, truly willing to go against an S-rank reversion for the sake of someone unrelated to her? Could she really do that?
Perhaps she was a hidden hero operating in the shadows.
“Oh, and you will also do your best to complete the interview regarding MBTI and beard-style preferences.”
…Or maybe she simply lacked common sense.
“Do you swear?”
[Do you accept the covenant?]
Looking into her unfocused, unreadable eyes, White slowly nodded.
“…I swear.”
[The covenant has been established.]
[A faint binding connects your souls.]
Blue text engraved itself like a vow, and a subtle sense of restraint spread throughout his body.
