Judgment and the Miracle of Life
"Regrets? Are you still out of your mind? You think you're in any position to give us orders?"
"I can't give orders, no."
I looked at them with eyes frozen cold as ice.
...
For safety's sake, I had to take them all down at once. Before they even realized the fight had started.
"But I'm the kind of guy who believes in redemption."
"Redemption? Ha, what a retard. We've lived like this our whole lives. What, you gonna spout some dumb shit like 'everyone has a good heart deep down'?"
"No. Personal experience."
When you threw about thirty of those utterly brutal bandits into prison, a few would end up regretting their ways and repenting. People who didn't really want to do bad things from the start, but got swept into evil by harsh environments and rough company. Those types would go around apologizing to their past victims, become model prisoners who followed the rules in jail. After release, some turned into honest farmers or upright merchants.
At first, I handed them over to the guards thinking, "What's the point of this?" But eventually, I realized it wasn't meaningless.
"So, if I can help it, I want to keep you alive too."
"You think you have a choice right now?"
"Of course I do. But... honestly? It's kinda daunting."
In this world, there were no facilities to lock up sinners and rehabilitate them. Even the Empire during the war with the Demon King hadn't been that stable a society, but this place lacked even that.
With food so scarce, keeping them alive meant burning through supplies. You'd need manpower for re-education, people to tie them up and watch them. Someday they might repent. Maybe there's goodness buried inside them.
But right now, I didn't want to invest that much time and effort in them.
"It's a hassle. Honestly, I hate it..."
It might be a double standard. Cowardice, even. Han Seohee, whom I'd desperately tried to save, had tried to kill me just like these guys—fact didn't change. She'd begged me to let her live, but killing these people? That was on me.
"I just hate you all too much."
They'd betrayed me. They might argue it technically wasn't betrayal, but it felt like it to me.
They'd tormented young Heea. They might claim shifting Roa's crimes onto Heea was normal in this world, but it pissed me off.
They'd kidnapped me and tried to rape me. Back before I became a hero, thinking just of their looks, I might've gone "Not bad?" But not now.
I hated them. No desire to do anything for them. That was it.
"So go ahead and hate me."
"You're still saying that crap—"
"You're just gonna die because I'm too lazy to deal with you."
I drew my sword. My heart moved. Mana stirred.
The power I'd gained from the status window since arriving in this world was just a fraction of what I truly had.
"That's all."
Dozens of blades manifested and vanished.
Blood sprayed.
All the women around me—everyone except Heea—had their heads severed clean off.
But I had no intention of mourning their deaths.
"You okay?"
Someone was still alive.
"O... oppa?"
She looked up at me with fading eyes.
Her life force...!
I barely caught Heea, realizing her condition was far worse than I'd thought.
If I move her now, she'll really die.
Taking them out in one go might've been the smart play. The moment I'd tried to subdue them without killing, Heea's breath would've stopped.
"Unni... don't hate her too much. It's because of me, all because of me..."
"Yeah, yeah. I don't hate her. It's okay. You're okay..."
I could see it. Her life force draining from her body. Roa's words—that she was "forcing Heea to stay alive"—weren't a lie.
She was dying. One step, and I couldn't guarantee her life.
But I have to move...
Even now, she was slipping away. I needed to decide fast.
"Thank you. For trying so hard... because of me. Tell unni... thank you, and I love her..."
"Y-you tell her yourself..."
Powerless. I was a hero. Master of the sword, killing. But saving lives? Useless.
Nothing I could do.
"I think... it's gonna be tough..."
Heea's eyes trembled. She knew better than me. How little time she had left.
"H-here, eat this first. At least this..."
I desperately pulled medicine from my pocket and shoved it into her mouth.
"It hurts. I can't anymore—"
Another death. Right in front of me. Everything felt futile. I bit my lip hard, silently watching her fade—
Ah?
Wait. There was one thing. The miracle allowed to me. The last variable.
"Status... window."
A blank slot appeared in the skill window.
"Anything... just give me a skill to save Heea right now...!"
Your level has decreased. Acquirable skills are limited to passive skills activatable at Lv.1.
Acquire skill?
I'd asked Sua and Seohee about skills, so I knew the basics. Skills generally granted what someone desperately desired or dreamed of.
To a wanderer without weapons: a skill summoning pistol-level firepower anywhere with mana.
To the starving: one to find supply points. To those craving power: berserk strength at the cost of reason.
Naturally, more restrictions meant more power. Time limits, mana drain, Lv. requirements, loss of body control.
A no-restrictions Lv.1 skill? A loss for me personally.
"Of course... I acquire it...!"
But losses didn't matter. I was strong enough. Saving the girl before me—Heea—that mattered more.
When an ally nearby enters critical condition, their status will not worsen.
⚠ Skill deactivates if the beneficiary takes further damage.
⚠ Applies only when passive skill holder and beneficiary are within 5m.
⚠ Does not activate on already deceased allies.
"...Huh?"
"Perfect..."
Since dropping into this world, I'd never found the status window all that meaningful. I was already strong. Even at Lv.1, nothing could threaten me. Minor stat boosts were negligible; Lv.1 or 4, I was still overpowering.
But this skill? Invaluable to me.
It wasn't amazing. Useless in combat, impractical for rescue. I still couldn't heal the wounded. Just... keep them alive a bit longer, that's all.
"Y-you're alive. You made it, Heea..."
"...Huh?"
She gazed at me with dim eyes, confused. She wouldn't feel it yet. My skill just maintained her critical state—no healing.
But it was enough.
"Let's go home. Your sister's waiting."
"I-in this state... I don't want unni to see—"
"I wanna show her."
I hoisted her on my back and bolted like the wind.
Heea was alive. Her faint heartbeat pulsed against my back.
"Shin Roaaaaa!!"
The moment I burst into the building next to the burned hospital, I roared her name.
"Sh-she's alive?"
"Un... ni?"
"I even used my skill. Save her. Now!"
"I-I know, no need to tell me!"
I laid Heea on the least damaged table and gripped her hand tight.
"It's okay. You can beat this. You'll do great. You trust your sister, right?"
"But, but... even if I live—"
I flashed her a bright smile.
"That's what she's been fighting for all this time. Time to repay her. Healthy and whole."
"...Yeah."
Shin Roa picked up the scalpel. Mana surged around her.
It'd be life-risking for her too. Her body wasn't fully healed—my makeshift meds and treatments weren't enough for normal.
But she gripped the scalpel. The "Pulse of Life" I'd given her.
"Here we go, Heea."
She began the surgery.
Intense cuts that seemed to halve the body. Healing so fierce it looked like it'd drain all her mana.
I held Heea's hand, supporting her.
Time passed. Roa collapsed, exhausted, but a smile played on her lips.
"We... did it."
Like she'd achieved everything in life, pouring out her all in those words.
Heea's sleeping breaths suddenly sounded so peaceful.
They'd survived.