Chapter 93
Chapter 93
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Translator: Ebonarch
Chapter Title: Root of All Evil
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I regret it.
Not being able to protect you.
If I could turn back time, I would give everything for you.
I would do anything to ease your pain.
But reality is cruel, and time flows by with merciless honesty.
As if nothing can be undone.
As if the sins I bear can never be washed away.
I wanted to be a hero. One who saves people from danger and brings them hope.
But I couldn't.
I wasn't a hero who saved anyone. I was nothing more than a sinner who dragged them into peril.
That's why I still regret it today.
Not recognizing you for who you were.
Being born into this world.
Han U-sol remembered that day. The day the magic beasts came crashing in like a tidal wave, engulfing and devouring the city.
The sight of someone's head exploding right in front of his eyes, limbs torn apart and ripped away—it was still vivid in his mind.
And the emotions he felt when he realized it was all his fault.
Because he was born, his mother died.
Because his mother died, the burden on Yeriel grew even heavier.
And because of that, the city's barrier weakened and ultimately shattered, letting the magic beasts pour in.
In that desperate moment, they managed to escape danger thanks to Han U-sol's barrier, but the damage was still immense.
Many heroes died. Not ordinary ones, but veterans who had seen it all beyond the city walls, rushing in late from the northern and southern fortresses. From humanity's perspective, it was a massive loss.
— I resent you. For being born into this world.
Yeriel's words pierced his heart like a dagger.
Until then, he had blamed himself while watching the dying, thinking, "I failed to save them from the magic beasts."
But that wasn't true.
They hadn't died because of the magic beasts. They died because of Han U-sol.
Because he was born.
And...
Anis, she too...
— I had no choice. I had to make that choice.
Her being summoned to this world was his fault, and her death was his fault too.
Because he was born, Yeriel grew increasingly burdened over time and eventually summoned her.
Because of his mistakes, because he couldn't give her firm conviction and hold onto her, her unstable mind—tormented by demonic energy—pushed her to the brink, and she couldn't overcome it.
...She passed away quietly, unknown to all, her body growing cold.
Han U-sol always tormented himself over that fact.
The emotions he felt upon hearing of Anis's death still lingered coldly in a corner of his heart.
No, they had grown even heavier and darker than before. The sorrow and regret had twisted into pitch-black despair and guilt, weighing on his chest.
He tried to recover her body, but he couldn't. The hordes of magic beasts clustered outside the barrier wouldn't allow any heroes back into X District.
The barrier surrounding X District kept the magic beasts from escaping outward, but it also served as a boundary line dividing inside from outside. Ironically, X District—once teeming with people—had become an inaccessible hellscape.
Along with reinforcements from other heroes, they slowly whittled down the magic beasts over a long period. But even in that process, many more died. Countless bodies, faces buried in the dirt, vanished into the bellies of the magic beasts.
The deaths of so many plunged Han U-sol back into an endless cycle of guilt.
They too, because of him.
"……"
— If only you hadn't been born.
A thin trickle of black blood dripping along the blade of the dagger that had stabbed him. It was the original sin he was born with.
He had even considered giving up everything and dying. But the guilt deep in his heart wouldn't even allow that.
If he died here, the barrier would vanish, and the magic beasts would spill out. Then, once again, countless people would die because of him.
He had to take responsibility.
For the sin of putting people in danger, and ultimately causing their deaths.
For atonement to them.
— How?
Somehow.
— That won't bring me back.
Today too, Anis visited Han U-sol in his dreams.
"Hey."
"……"
"Hey, what are you doing? Didn't you hear me?"
"...Huh?"
Snapping back to reality at the voice, he saw Yoon Na-rin looking at him with slightly irritated eyes.
"Why are you spacing out? Depressed again?"
"...No. Just haven't been sleeping well lately."
"Same excuse every time. Make sure you take your meds."
Yoon Na-rin spoke curtly, then yanked a can from the vending machine with a clunk.
"That's mine?"
"Get your own."
Han U-sol, who had been sitting in a chair, went to the vending machine and got himself a can.
The place where Han U-sol and Yoon Na-rin were was a building at the edge of W District, close to the barrier around X District.
Inside it was a break room where heroes rested.
Most heroes stayed in this building and entered the barrier to fight magic beasts only when orders came from above.
Three years.
Many heroes had fought and died.
As heroes fell, the number of magic beasts dwindled too. Proving it, the number of heroes dying in combat inside the barrier was steadily decreasing lately.
"Not going in today?"
"Who knows. Probably not this week."
"...Really?"
"Refugees are causing trouble, they say. You know, the ones from X District. This incident was bigger than expected, so they sent several heroes from here to deal with it. No operations this week."
X District was one of the largest districts in the city. Even though it was a squalid gathering of the wretched, it was still vast and populous.
So when the magic beasts overran it, a massive wave of refugees poured out.
It had always been a place full of rough characters. Having lost their homes and places to go, they started causing problems across various districts in all sorts of ways.
"Heard the refugees in Reisi's district are being particularly rowdy too."
"K District?"
"Yeah."
Thanks to Han U-sol's barrier trapping all the magic beasts in X District, humans could concentrate their forces in one place. In short, they had some manpower to spare.
With no more magic beasts appearing elsewhere, the association pulled all heroes from the northern and southern fortresses into W District, aiming to exterminate every last one inside X District.
And in that process, they assigned some heroes to other districts that had been short-staffed.
To prevent and minimize damage in case magic beasts suddenly appeared elsewhere like before.
Reisi was one of those reassigned.
"Honestly, I don't completely fail to understand the refugees' side."
Yoon Na-rin took a sip of her drink and spoke up.
"Sure, they're providing some aid, but not every refugee's getting enough. Excluding the central district, the others aren't well-off enough to lavish on refugees. Losing everything overnight, wandering homeless, facing discrimination—naturally, they're pissed."
"……"
Han U-sol listened quietly to Yoon Na-rin. She crumpled her empty can and muttered under her breath.
"...It's all because of those magic beasts. They're the root of all evil."
Because the magic beasts invaded, people lost their homes, and the resulting refugees caused nonstop big and small incidents throughout the city. Yoon Na-rin firmly believed the magic beasts were the source of all misfortune.
"……"
She was right.
The refugees came because the magic beasts overran X District.
But before that...
The magic beasts invaded because of him.
The root of all evil.
The source of misfortune.
The origin and cause of every bad thing.
"...No. The root of all evil is..."
"Huh?"
"...Never mind. Anyway, didn't you call me here for something? Why'd you summon me?"
"Oh."
Yoon Na-rin tilted her head at Han U-sol's quick subject change but soon remembered her errand.
"The captain wants you. In her office."
"Captain Aselrika?"
"Yeah."
"...Why?"
"Why do you think? Because of the guy who ignored orders and charged ahead during the last op."
"……"
"Anyway, message delivered. I'm out."
Yoon Na-rin tossed the crumpled can into the trash and left the break room.
"...Haa."
Letting out a deep sigh, Han U-sol sat in the chair a moment longer before standing and heading to Aselrika.
"...You wanted to see me."
"Yes."
Aselrika nodded curtly to Han U-sol as he entered.
"Sit."
Since when had it been like this? When did her tone become so stiff?
She hadn't always been this brusque. If anything, she used to be friendly and playful rather than curt.
So when had she turned this cold?
Maybe after her close friend Yoon Kang-woo died. Or after donning the unexpected mantle of captain, something she never imagined.
Either way, Aselrika had changed. She had to.
From a warm, approachable person to a cold one responsible for many lives.
"You know why I called you."
"...Because I disobeyed orders to stay in the rear and acted on my own in the last battle."
"Yes."
"But if I hadn't stepped in, the casualties would have..."
"Been even higher."
"Then...!"
"Hah, fine. Sure."
As Han U-sol raised his voice indignantly, Aselrika snorted and cut him off.
"Then what if an unexpected variable cropped up and you died there? The barrier vanishes, magic beasts scatter everywhere, and people get slaughtered helplessly."
"……"
Aselrika was one of the few who knew about the barrier—and even Han U-sol's origins. She spoke coldly on purpose but pitied him inwardly.
A pitiful child saddled with an impossibly heavy burden from birth. That was Aselrika's view of Han U-sol.
"This isn't the first time. Far from it. You have no idea how startled I get every time you push yourself like that."
"...I'm sorry. But everyone else is risking their lives on the front lines, dying one after another, and I'm just sitting back in the rear watching..."
"...Better anyone else dies than you."
As she said it, Aselrika's stoic face twisted slightly for the first time.
"But... before, I fought on the front lines too. Even when there were way more magic beasts than now. I don't understand why you're telling me to stay back now..."
"That was then. This is different."
Indeed, Han U-sol had fought up front before. But that was when Aselrika knew nothing about him.
And unlike now, the barrier was swarming with magic beasts back then—they desperately needed every hero. Especially Han U-sol's superior prowess in battles against hordes.
But not anymore.
"Now we have enough with the other heroes. Unlike before, everyone in this building is a veteran who's danced with death a dozen times over, and the magic beasts inside the barrier have thinned out."
"Still, people keep dying. If I stepped in, some who would die wouldn't have to because of me..."
"Han U-sol."
Aselrika tapped the desk once with her finger. As if to say no more.
"I know. That guilt eating at you, blaming yourself for everything. I get wanting to prevent more damage even if it means overdoing it. But if something goes wrong and you die, that would be the unforgivable sin. You need to understand that."
"...But."
"You've been lucky so far. You're always one step from death anyway."
Tap, tap, tap. Her finger drummed the desk rhythmically several times.
Aselrika knew that hugging all the guilt and blaming himself only tormented him. She was telling him now to ease up on that excessive self-blame.
"From now on, stay in the rear like always and keep making weapons with your ability. That's the surest way to boost humanity's chances of victory."
"What if a demon pops up out of nowhere while I'm just waiting in the back? I have to deal with it."
"...Weapons infused with your holy power work great on magic beasts. Demons too. You don't need to step up."
Aselrika waved him off, signaling the end of the conversation.
"The association's deliberations will lead to disciplinary action. Rest until then."
"...Yes, ma'am."
Han U-sol nodded reluctantly and left.
Aselrika stared at the closed door, then shifted her gaze to the papers on her desk. A damage report from last week's battle.
The last line had a brief note.
[Fatalities - 9]
"...Haa."
Aselrika sighed deeply and slumped over her desk.