Chapter 113
Chapter 113
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Translator: Ebonarch
Chapter Title: Lifeline
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Memories fade.
As time passes and one goes through various experiences, feeling all sorts of emotions, past memories naturally grow dim.
The first day of school, entered with thrilling anticipation.
The classmates with whom she exchanged light, smiling conversations.
The countless people who passed by on the way to and from school.
Unless they were special to her, they all faded.
Resolve was the same. The determination that had been vivid until yesterday dulled once today arrived.
Yoon Na-rin was no different. She, too, had faded and dulled.
The face of the coffee shop owner she used to stop by with Anis every morning grew hazy. The names of her classmates she greeted each morning didn't come to mind easily.
The vow she made when entering the academy was completely forgotten, not even a shape remaining. The resolve to become a hero following Anis afterward had worn thin and become faint.
Three years ago, when the city's barrier broke, she had forgotten how many died there.
The flames she poured out toward the magic beasts there.
The muscles throughout her body screaming as if they would tear from her rough movements.
The ragged breaths rising to her jaw from overusing mana.
The faces of the other heroes who fought beside her and died.
All faded. They were memories that had dimmed because they had become everyday life.
"……."
Beneath her hazy sleep, in pitch-black murkiness that felt like it was suffocating her, Yoon Na-rin sifted through her memories.
What remained clear was...
Her brother Yoon Kang-woo's death, and her friend Anis Harper's death.
And the hatred-fueled resolve to kill all the magic beasts and demons.
Only those were clear.
###
"……Cough."
A dry cough. Yoon Na-rin opened her eyes amid burning thirst.
The moment she did, the hospital room ceiling came into view. She winced briefly at the uncomfortable pain in her chest, then sat up.
"……Ah."
Was it because of the nightmare she sometimes had? She didn't feel great.
As she propped herself up, a wave of dizziness made her head spin. Yoon Na-rin clutched her forehead with one hand and swayed.
"Na-rin, you okay?"
A voice laced with worry. Turning her gaze, she saw Reisi's face.
"……Water, please."
"Here."
A boy with a familiar face handed her a cup of water. It was a face that seemed familiar yet not, strangely sticking in her mind.
Yoon Na-rin tilted her head as she took and drank the water the boy offered. Reisi resolved her confusion.
"It's Daniel."
"Daniel?"
Yoon Na-rin examined the boy closely. She had thought his face rang a bell somewhere, and sure enough, it was Daniel. Though his build had changed with time, his old features remained.
"...Long time no see. Both of you."
Reisi after a year, Daniel after three. Yoon Na-rin greeted them lightly. She wanted to sound a bit happier since it had been so long, but her body, having just risen from the bed, only produced a weak, sunken voice.
"……Ugh. My head."
"Don't push yourself. You nearly died."
"...Me?"
What happened? Yoon Na-rin gripped her throbbing head and tried to recall.
It started with Asellikka's sudden summons. The gathered heroes followed her to Sector A.
Upon arriving in Sector A, they found Han U-sol's barrier, and...
While trying to get an explanation from him about the gathered refugees and the child's corpse...
—Bang!
'...Gunshot.'
And with explosive pain, her memory cut off.
"...What? Did I get shot?"
"......Yeah."
Reisi nodded, her expression grim. Yoon Na-rin sensed something seriously wrong had happened.
She needed to hear what went down first. Before she could ask Reisi, a familiar woman's voice came from across the room.
"Even if it missed your heart, you got up incredibly fast. It's only been a few hours."
"...Ronel."
"Yep. Hello."
She waved at Yoon Na-rin.
Ronel. Back on the front lines, she'd stuck to Han U-sol like glue for some reason. Yoon Na-rin remembered smacking her occasionally when she got cheeky.
"...Did you get shot too?"
"Yes. Not as bad as you, Senior Na-rin, though. Thanks to that, I couldn't even get healing magic and had to walk to the hospital. Gotta save mana just in case, or whatever."
Ronel, with bandages on her shoulder, grumbled as she spoke.
Not on the front lines, but in the center—why save mana? Feeling a twinge of unease, Yoon Na-rin pressed her.
"...Explain what happened. Where are the other heroes now?"
"Who knows. Probably cleaning up the association executives' bodies by now."
"What...?"
"Ah, don't panic. It's not serious, all sorted out. Right?"
Ronel glanced at Reisi and Daniel, who nodded awkwardly. Their reactions suggested magic beasts weren't rampaging through the city.
But none of the three explained in detail what had happened. That only fueled Yoon Na-rin's anxiety.
Frustrated, she looked for the one absent.
"...Where's that bastard Han U-sol?"
"...Why do you ask?"
"You guys seem hesitant to tell me something, so I'll hear it from him."
"Hmm... Senior's busy getting chewed out by the captain right now."
"What did he do this time?"
"No, it's not exactly like that."
Ronel, usually blunt, was circling around the point this time, reluctant to get to the core.
Under Yoon Na-rin's relentless prodding, Ronel finally spoke.
"Senior's old friend, who we thought was dead, turned out to be alive. As a defector to the demons' side. So he's gone to the captain to somehow defend her... Fat chance."
"......What?"
Grab!
In that instant, Yoon Na-rin shot up without thinking and seized Ronel's shoulder.
An old friend thought dead—could it be?
"Stop beating around the bush and get to the point. Who is it? Tell me the name."
Yoon Na-rin glared at Ronel, demanding.
"......Ah, this is why I didn't want to say."
No way.
Half hope that she might be alive, half denial that she would ever defect—her heart pounded with the mix.
Her head still spun, her stomach churning, but her eyes seeking Ronel's answer burned clear.
After glaring at the slightly annoyed Ronel for a while, her closed lips finally parted.
"Anis Harper."
".........Really? Not a lie?"
"Why would I lie? But..."
Her friend, thought dead, had returned alive.
The joy surged briefly.
"Don't get too happy. She's a defector now."
Ronel's indifferent voice pierced her ear. Yoon Na-rin fell silent.
"......... "
"I'll head out now. I just stopped by while getting treated anyway. Take care."
Ronel stood and walked slowly to the door, adding,
"I think you get what I mean. You two as well."
Slide. The door closed, and the room quieted.
Ronel had told the three:
She's the enemy in the end. Don't let emotions sway you.
Even after Ronel left, Yoon Na-rin stood silently for a long time.
Standing motionless like that, she finally muttered,
"...How do you know. I won't believe it until I see it with my own eyes."
At least Han U-sol. She needed to hear his side and judge.
Yoon Na-rin pulled out her phone and texted Han U-sol.
[Come visit alone later. Or you're dead.]
###
'......What.'
Han U-sol muttered inwardly upon checking Yoon Na-rin's text.
'Is she mad?'
He'd taken a serious injury and been laid up, yet his friend hadn't stayed by her side—sulking over that?
Han U-sol resolved to buy an expensive get-well gift. Otherwise, she'd hold it against him forever.
'...Who was it that carried her to the hospital?'
He was sorry for not staying, but circumstances were unavoidable. He couldn't focus solely on Yoon Na-rin.
After Anis vanished, Asellikka and the heroes headed straight to the association to meet Colton. He'd heard the full story from Ronel beforehand, but the conversation between Asellikka and Colton dragged on.
Asellikka didn't take kindly to Colton's radical, dangerous plan. Lucky the outcome was good, but what if it hadn't been?—she was pretty angry.
He wanted to explain about Anis, but there was no opening. Asellikka had long viewed her as a defector.
No, even if he explained, could it change anything? Han U-sol recalled Anis's final words.
[Sorry. Please, let's never meet again. Goodbye.]
It was Anis's will. She had chosen the demons' side over humanity's.
But to Han U-sol, it looked different.
As if, despite lingering attachments.
Despite wanting to return, she had no choice but to choose them.
At least, that's how it seemed to him.
But even if so, how could he explain that to Asellikka?
He knew nothing himself.
"......Haa."
He let out a deep sigh. Self-loathing rose again at his own incompetence, unable to do anything. He should stop by now, yet here he was.
What had happened to Anis all this time? He couldn't guess what she'd endured or seen over three years.
Overwhelmed by the hopelessness with no solution in sight, he clutched his head and bowed. His eyes moistened again.
Was this the end? Would Anis really turn against humanity like this? An inexplicable sharp pain stabbed his chest.
If only he could learn what had happened to her in those three years. Maybe then he could find a way.
Bowing his head like that, he lifted it at a calling voice.
"Senior, crying again?"
It was Ronel.
"...Didn't peg you for it, but you're more sensitive than I thought?"
Ronel said, stepping back from Han U-sol. He bristled at her treating him like a crybaby and avoiding him.
"......I wasn't crying."
It was true. His eyes were just moist; no tears had fallen.
"So, why were you crying this time?"
"I said I wasn't."
"Okay then."
"...Where are you going?"
"After checking the hospital, I'm off to interrogate the defector we caught this time..."
"......Defector?"
".........Ah."
At Han U-sol's question, Ronel covered her mouth. Her face showed she realized her slip.
Han U-sol's near-dead expression brightened instantly. In the deadlock, it felt like a lifeline from the heavens.
And he intuited. If he clung desperately, maybe.
He could learn what happened to Anis, find a way to save her.
Something.
"Oh, right, Senior Na-rin woke up..."
"I know."
"Shouldn't you go then?"
"Later."
Ronel's attempt to change the subject fell flat as Han U-sol cut her off.
And then,
-Grab.
He roughly seized Ronel's arm.
"Wh-what. Let go!"
Ronel flailed her captured arm hard to shake him off, but it was futile. Han U-sol's grip was like a crocodile's jaws, clamped tight.
"Damn it... Let go! I said let go!"
"I'm coming too."
"N-no means no! Don't do this!?"
"Then I'm not letting go."
"You think I'll take you just because? Dream on!"
"I'll never let go even if I die. Take me."
"You psycho!!! Get lost!! Don't cling!!"
"Take me!!"
"Hey, you bastard!? Where are you touching!!"
"Take me!!!!!"
For about 30 minutes, the man-woman tussle continued.