Chapter 823 On the Verge of Breaking (1)
Chapter 823 On the Verge of Breaking (1)
“Ehehe… Sorry if my arrival surprised you. I’ll be careful next time. Are you okay?” Elysia rushed beside Erina.
“Mm, I’m fine.” Erina nodded with a smile.
“Fufu, is this a little play on your side, Erina? You only wore underwear to welcome Ely’s arrival. Do you want to tease our Ely? Naughty girl.” Sylvia covered her mouth as she giggled.
“Eh?” Erina checked her body. She had just applied the night cream and hadn’t finished putting on her clothes after bathing. Elysia’s arrival was sudden, and she wasn’t ready.
“I, I’m not a naughty girl.” Erina immediately took her pajamas and put them on in a hurry. She then pouted to Elysia with a blushing face.
Elysia responded with a smile while waving her hand. She then invited Erina to sit on the sofa.
“Ah, you can speak Japanese now, Sylvia-san?” Erina just realized that she understood Sylvia’s words just now.
“Mm, it’s thanks to Ely. Anyway, long time no see, Erina. I can see you are a bit stronger than the last time we met.” Sylvia pointed her open palm at Elysia.
“You noticed? Yes, I currently only need one more step to breakthrough to rank five. It was a month of intense training. I worked hard.” Erina clenched her fists in front of her chest.
“It’s impressive achievemnt. May I know how old are you?” Lynn suddenly asked.
“I’ll be twenty in a few days… Uhm, may I know your name, miss?” Erina looked at the new lady and compared Sylvia to this new lady. Their hair color was somewhat similar, and they were probably from the same country.
“My apologies for my late self introduction. My name is Lynn. It’s a pleasure to meet you, Erina. I’ve heard a few things about you.” Lynn introduced herself according to the disguised identity procedure as her group did.
“Ah, mm. The pleasure is mine, Lynn-san.” Erina wanted to ask something, but her attention was drawn to Lynn’s unique hairstyle. She saw a hair accessory such as an animal ear headband hidden among Lynn’s light blue-hue white hair.
Erina then glanced at Elysia. She was acquainted with another of Elysia’s friends now.
“…” Lynn rubbed her head and used disguise magic to hide her fox ears.
“Erina, the message you sent made it necessary for us to come here. Is that young master from the Hong Clan bothering you?” Elysia brought up the main topic of conversation.
“Young Master Hong Ju-Won? It’s more like… he won’t give up before seeing you, Ellie. He came this afternoon, but we couldn’t just fulfill his request. However, he said that he would be here again tomorrow morning, afternoon, evening, then the next day, and the next day again…” Erina loosened her shoulders and heaved a subtle sigh.
“He wanted to meet me on a request for help, right? However, I don’t even know what he’s going to ask for. Do you know his situation, Erina? He came to Japan and would bother you because of me. He seems to be desperate.” Elysia made a steeple of her fingers.
“Based on the information we dug up, the current situation of the Hong Clan is not good. The current patriarch fell ill and was in a coma. Several clan’s important people have been exposed to a mysterious sickness.
Hong Min-Joo, Hong Ju-Won’s mother, is one of them. If the current patriarch of the Hong Clan died, Hong Ju-Won’s father and uncles would likely fight for power and control. It will cause the Hong Clan to crumble and split apart. Hong Ju-Won doesn’t want to talk about his reason before he can see you, but I think he’s just trying to save his clan and loved ones.” Erina shared the information she just found out a while ago.
“I see… That’s a rotten scheme of power-hungry people, hmm?” Elysia put her hand to her chin. She could imagine the situation, and it disgusted her.
“Are you going to see him, Ellie?” Erina asked curiously.
“Um, I’ll go see him to listen to him first. Whether I’ll grant his request or not is another matter. Who came with him this afternoon?” Elysia nodded slightly.
“He came with his grandfather’s trusted bodyguard, Grandpa Five, and his best friend, Sung Se-Yeon.” Erina raised two fingers.
“Grandpa Five? Is that a codename?” Elysia blinked her eyes a few times.
“Hmm, that might be true. He is only known by that name, and that’s the name on his ID. He is a powerful person. If my grandfather fought Grandpa Five, he would win but with heavy injuries. That’s what grandfather told me.” Erin shrugged her shoulders. She wasn’t so sure either.
“All right. Can you tell him to come see me now?” Elysia nodded in understanding.
“Now? You mean now?” Erina was a bit surprised.
“Yep, I’m sure he’s staying at a hotel nearby, right?” Elysia rubbed her hands together and leaned back against the sofa. She felt a little cold now.
“O-okay. I’ll tell Mio about this.” Erina got up from her seat to take her smartphone. She also turned on the heater. “It gets cold at night. It will be warmer now.”
After saying that, Erina made a call to Mio.
Elysia, Nell, Sylvia, and Lynn briefly exchanged words via telepathy. Elysia announced her intentions to everyone.
‘It’s fine if you want to help that person. There is no harm.’ Nell didn’t mind.
‘Yup! We can also get an advantage in another sense. Hong Clan is a powerful clan in South Korea, right?’ Sylvia had another idea to take advantage of their upcoming situation.
‘I can help. If it’s based on Erina’s story, Hong Clan needs to do a clean-up immediately.’ Lynn understood Elysia’s view toward the Hong Clan’s young master. She would also feel hopeless if her clan was infested with many parasites and pests.
‘Mm, we might be able to spare some time for that tomorrow morning. The Association and that Ancient God managed to capture five evil deities today. We’re going to imprison them tomorrow. So, there are only twenty more targets left.’ Nell shared the information she just got from her big sister a few seconds ago.
‘Twenty, huh… Is there a possibility that other deities have been eliminated without our knowledge?’ Elysia had a hunch that the number wasn’t accurate.
‘This is hard to determine, Ely. We can only track the deities if they are nearby, or using chess pieces. You need to talk to Earth Mother for exact info. We got that number from Sora two days ago, right?’ Nell shook her head.
‘I’ll check it out to Earth Mother tomorrow morning. The day after tomorrow she may have recovered and can help us more.’ Elysia thought it was the only thing they could do.
‘Hmm, we’ll probably go to the Heaven Realm the day after tomorrow.’ Nell predicted their departure might be sooner than the initial estimation.
“Ely, we have already sent a notice to Hong Ju-Won, and he will be here in a few minutes.” Erina sat back down on the sofa.
“Then, let’s go to the living room. However…” Elysia stood up and looked Erina up and down.
“Hmm?” Erina looked at Elysia with a curious look.
“Are you going to meet them in just sleeping pajamas, Erina?” Elysia pointed her hand at Erina.
“That may be inappropriate. Please wait a moment. I will change my clothes.” Erina rushed to her wardrobe and wore a long-sleeved dress over her pajamas.
“Simple yet perfect. You’d better keep wearing gloves in public or in front of a third party, Erina. Your abilities are actually feared, and it will give you an untouchable impression that will keep some trouble away from you.” Elysia gave a pair of black gloves with gold accessories to Erina.
“Eh? Mm, all right. Thanks, Ellie.” Erina accepted the gloves happily and put them on. She didn’t have to worry about her golden touch anymore and didn’t wear gloves in the last few days, but she took Elysia’s suggestion seriously.
Erina then offered her hand to Elysia, and they went out of the room hand in hand. Sylvia and Lynn followed right behind like bodyguards.
“Erina-sama, sorry for my delay. Someone caused a bit of trouble a few minutes ago.” Mio rushed over in a bit of a hurry.
“Did something happen? Who is causing trouble in the current situation?” Erina responded with a worried look.
“That’s the agency manager. He wants you to attend the grand festival next week. You’ve been absent for a month, and it will be bad for Angelic Diva Agency if you are absent from this grand music concert. However, his behaviour has displeased Kenji-sama. “Mio reported the incident while glancing at Elysia and the other two girls secretly.
“Oh no, that’s bad. Why does he upset father? He can be fired at any time.” Erina blinked her eyes in surprise.
“Uhm, it’s already happened. Kenji-sama fired him and replaced the manager with someone better with good etiquette and manners. She will come here tomorrow.” Mio smiled awkwardly.
“Has he lost his mind? Well, that’s what he will get for putting business above all else. Even so, I do intend to attend the grand festival next week.” Erina held her forehead and sighed.
“Fufu, long time no see Mio. You shouldn’t leave your princess alone unattended under any circumstances. Erina was alone in the room. Even though it might be safe there, that’s still not a good bodyguard attitude.” Sylvia waved her hand.
“Syl- Sylvia-sama is using a language I can understand!?” Mio gasped in surprise.
“What’s wrong with you? So shocked when I giving you a piece of good advice? Is she all right, Lynn?” Sylvia pursed her lips and scratched her head.
“I think she need proper rest, Sylvi. But, yeah, still bad bodyguard with terrible time management.” Lynn folded her arms and nodded.
“I-I needed to come on Kenji-sama’s orders earlier.” Mio was taken aback by the accusation. She was annoyed, but she couldn’t give a proper reason.
“Then you have to make yourself clear. Who do you take orders to and who do you serve? Is it for Erina, Kenji or whoever it is. A bodyguard is sometimes a partner and protector. You can’t protect everyone. I’m sure they have their own personal bodyguard. Do you understand? You are Erina’s. My apologies for reprimanding you, but we just want you not to leave Erina alone unattended in any case. If you truly need to go, then order someone to protect or accompany your princess.” Sylvia gave some detailed advice.
She felt the kidnapping case was partly due to the negligence of this incompetent bodyguard.
“…” Mio couldn’t reply because it would only backfire on her.
“Mio has done her best, Sylvia-san. Please don’t be so strict with her. She is always by my side.” Erina defended Mio firmly.
“Are you sure that every time, Erina? Always? Anyway, this is just a suggestion from me. Your princess is important to our princess too, Mio. The world can be too dangerous sometimes.” Sylvia waved her hand in front of her face.
“…” Elysia didn’t know what to say. It seemed Sylvia had already adopted the overprotective notion.