Chapter 218
Chapter 218
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 218
Chapter Title: Exciting Amusement Park! (4)
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The cheers from those watching the live broadcast didn't reach the people outside the core.
The two moved busily, unaware that the people inside the core had let out gasps of admiration.
The golden-eyed Black Badger tilted his head back and looked up at the mountain.
[Sorry for leaving you alone.]
He sheathed his sword and leaped up onto the roof.
[Are you hurt anywhere?]
[No. What about Hilde?]
[I'm fine too. Let's go now.]
The white-haired Black Badger scooped up the bobbed-hair high school girl in his arms.
Then he jumped down from the roof without hesitation. The ground was covered in chunks of exploded corpses. As the man holding the high school girl leaped down there, a few people watching the screen swallowed hard.
The people were in the event area, now a total mess.
A live broadcast was streaming from the screen that had been set up for the event. People who had fled in panic and come back. People who had heard the rumors and shown up. People who had been passing by and gathered after seeing the crowd—they all stood behind the fence in front of the screen.
They took in the unfolding tragedy, sighing or cursing or shedding tears.
The Black Badger holding the child dashed across the street and climbed up a pillar supporting the rail.
[Climb up with both hands!]
After the student shouted that, she clung to the Black Badger's body.
The Black Badger nodded and began climbing the pillar, but his hands and feet suddenly lost strength.
The people gasped.
“Argh!”
“Did he fall?”
The people behind craned their necks.
“Did the kid fall or what?”
“No!”
“That Black Badger caught her.”
[Must be exhausted.]
The rookie Black Badger's calm voice echoed across the plaza.
[Can't be helped. He's been tense the whole time, so his muscles must be fatigued.]
“Ugh, should’ve trained climbing harder…”
The student's voice trembled.
“The climbing teacher kept telling me to come more often…”
The child began sobbing with hiccups.
[Should’ve listened to the teacher…]
Hooong. The child burst into the tears she'd been holding back.
It was a heartbreaking cry that made listeners feel sorrowful. A young, quivering, wavering voice.
The desperate wail turned the eyes of some watching the feed red-rimmed.
Inside the fence, in the area guarded by security personnel, the officials were sobbing.
The child's friends and parents who had heard the news and rushed over.
Reporters captured their tragedy, and the people watching shed tears or felt relief.
“She's okay, San!”
Then she turned her head toward the man gripping the fence.
The man in pitch-black fatigues stood outside the fence, clutching it and raising his voice.
“Come back and come out more often!!”
“Are you the climbing teacher?”
Reporters shoved through the crowd toward the man.
Several mics were thrust in front of him.
“How are you feeling right now?”
“Did San do well in climbing?”
“What made the student San start climbing?”
“What kind of personality does the child have normally?”
“Supreme Commander!”
The man bellowed suddenly.
Since mics were shoved right up, the voice drawn from his dantian echoed loudly.
It even made Ye-hyeon, who was inside the fence receiving busy reports, turn his head.
Ye-hyeon straightened his back and looked at the man.
“Please send her back for sure.”
The man in fatigues met Ye-hyeon's eyes directly.
Ye-hyeon nodded slowly.
“I will definitely do so.”
Amid the barrage of flashing lights, a husky voice mixed in.
The desperate pleas of parents.
The hiccuping sobs of a young trainer who couldn't hold back her tears.
***
“Done.”
While soothing the bawling San, I succeeded in climbing the monorail.
“See? We made it up safe. Now let's board.”
If I removed the brake blocking the train wheels, it looked like it would roll on its own naturally.
The rail was slanted in the direction I wanted to go.
Thanks to clearing them out once, we still had some distance from the creatures. I kicked open the door of the dilapidated train, then put the crying child inside.
It reeked of rust, but there were no creatures inside.
San, still hiccuping, didn't sit down and poked her head out instead.
“What about Hilde?”
“I'm boarding too, so don't worry.”
Remove the brake, give it a push for some speed.
“We're departing soon, so sit down and grip the bar tight.”
San hurried to obey my words.
The drone was still intact. I kicked away the brake blocking the car's wheels with my foot. After confirming slithering creatures gathering below the rail, I shoved the car forward.
Pushing it slowly at first, it started picking up speed.
I ran while pushing the accelerating train. Just as we were racing along the rail and San started making a weird “Hooeek!” noise, I hopped inside quick.
San stretched out her arms and grabbed me desperately.
“Why is it so fast!”
I grinned at the pale-faced child.
“Sorry. I'll wrap you up tight if we fall, so don't worry too much.”
“Huh? This is gonna fall?”
“If we hit a sharp curve section, yeah.”
At this speed, we'd derail turning a curve.
We were on a gentle curve now, but it seemed manageable. If a sharp curve came up, I'd pull the kid out and jump down from the rail before we derailed.
But for now, it was fine.
I sat the child in the safest spot. The speeding car raced along the monorail.
The scenery of the ruined amusement park flashed by outside the windows.
Various things crawled up onto the rail, but nothing faster than us.
The drone had made it inside the train by now too.
A brief peace settled in. Suddenly, nothing to do.
It'd be nice if the kid could catch her breath for a moment.
“Huh?”
But the peace didn't last even five minutes.
“Fog…”
Ah.
Shit.
Ashen Cloak—what we called the Dream Voice.
I cursed silently as I eyed the fog blanketing the rail. A position where you could die from a misstep, plus a confined space. We had all the perfect conditions for the Dream Voice to run wild.
Sure enough, the moment the speeding train plunged into the thick fog, the surroundings rumbled.
The cracked windows, the chairs with exposed metal frames, the rusted bars—all vanished in a rush.
Next, a space that seemed to be a school appeared.
'San!'
A stern woman's voice rang out.
'Is this your doing?'
“Huh?”
The hand tugging at my clothes loosened.
“No.”
San replied in a shaky voice.
Half-dazed, her eyes vacant.
“It wasn't me, teacher…”
The Dream Voice preyed on the weak.
San had a sprained ankle. Naturally, it'd swallow her first.
I spat a small curse and drew my dagger.
In this state, shaking her awake would be tough. Even healthy adults struggled to escape the dream realm.
Time for plan B.
I gripped the dagger in my left hand, then stabbed deep into my right forearm.
“Huh?”
The Dream Voice's prey switched instantly.
The school-like place began to scatter. Focus returned to San's hazy eyes.
The child blinked rapidly, snapped to her senses, and turned to me.
“Hilde!”
She must've been shocked.
I was hurriedly wrapping the wound, but with blood pooling everywhere, no wonder.
I'd have to soothe her right after stopping the bleeding.
“Why is it like this?! How did you get hurt?”
The child was pale and at a loss.
She even spotted the dagger I'd tossed on the floor.
“Did I stab Hilde?”
I couldn't hold back and let out a bark of laughter while biting the bandage tight with my teeth.
“No. If you had, your wrist wouldn't be fine right now.”
I dropped the bandage from laughing.
“I did it to myself. Don't worry.”
“Huh? Why?”
Her mutter of *that's even scarier* was funny.
I struggled not to drop the bandage clenched in my teeth again, tugging my lips up into a smile.
The drone inside the train.
Probably from a broadcaster. Hopefully one with a conscience, but more likely not.
The footage from the drone might be live-streaming everywhere.
That's why I'd inflicted the wound in a hurry.
Couldn't let the kid's trauma get shown to the masses.
Good thing the target switched to me as intended. The school vanished, replaced by a strangely familiar department store hallway.
Now the key was whether I could hold onto my mind.
I was confident. This wasn't like with Jonathan.
My resolve to protect this child safely outweighed the intensity of the hallucinations.
That didn't mean the visions appearing before me weren't painful.
'Hilde!'
Curly white hair caught my eye.
'How's this outfit?'
Ray.
I knew well I had no right to miss him, but I always did.
The hallucinatory Ray was proudly showing off a fitted suit.
'Blue stripes.'
'You like suits that much?'
My past self laughed from somewhere.
'It suits you well.'
'Right? They're good here. Get one yourself.'
'Ray. Be honest. How many custom suits do you own?'
'Wanna see?'
He curved his golden eyes in a smile and turned his body.
'Follow me.'
“Hilde!”
San tugged at my good arm.
“What's wrong? Does the wound hurt?”
No.
The pain wasn't bad. But the moment Ray's hallucination appeared, the amplified hatred from my kin surged viciously, making me grimace without realizing.
I'd fought in countless battles, but this was the first time I'd faced such poisonously immediate hatred and thirst for revenge.
They must be watching me somehow.
Yeah, I know.
That I have no right to miss Ray.
That they can't forgive me seeing illusions like this.
But what can I do? The longing that makes everything feel okay if I could just meet him one last time wouldn't fade.
San tugged at me again.
I smoothed my furrowed face, looked down at the child, and smiled faintly.
“I'm okay. Sorry for startling you.”
“You're breaking a cold sweat though? Doesn't it hurt bad?”
“No. The wound's really fine.”
I pulled the child close and peered out at the speeding scenery outside the train.
Ignoring Ray's hallucination. I stuck my head out the open door and checked the silhouette of the rail stretching through the fog.
Fortunately, still straight so far…
Huh?
What.
The straight section breaks off ahead?
“Crazy.”
I scooped San up with my left arm in a hurry and prepared to jump.
“The track's cut.”
“Huh?!”
San shrieked from inside my arms.
“What?! That's insane!”
If San hadn't snapped me out of it, we'd have been in big trouble.
I shoved the longing and my kin's hatred to the corner, preparing to leap from the monorail. I hugged the trembling child tight, curling my body around her.
Then I eyed the approaching end of the rail.
The area under the rail was packed with creatures again.
Had to jump before the train toppled.
“Jumping!”
Resolving to land and run immediately, I threw my body out of the train.
With San's shrill scream as background music.
***
“Commander! Five attack drones are about to link up with the Locker Broadcasting drone!”
The aide rushed toward Ye-hyeon, who was frozen staring at the screen.
Then he noticed his superior's face had gone even paler.
Eyes nailed to the screen, unmoving.
A bad sign. The aide suppressed his rising anxiety and quickened his steps.
“Commander? Is something wrong?”
He narrowed the distance, squinting against the flash lights.
Only when he got right up close could he hear the other's mutter.
“That's the guy.”
A very quiet soliloquy.
“The one I faced…”
The aide couldn't make sense of his words.
Ye-hyeon snapped out of it right away, so the chance to ask vanished.
The superior requested a more detailed report. The aide instantly forgot his curiosity and hurriedly gave the briefing.
The attack drones would arrive, and comms would be up.
It'd take some time for the Black Badgers moving to support him to arrive.
But Hildebert was no longer alone.
***
“O.”
I blinked at the drone hovering in front of me.
“This looks like HQ's?”
[Hildebert.]
Ah, startled!
“Eek! A human voice!”
“Commander?!”
[I can hear you. Run to where I direct.]
The drone floating before me poured out a familiar voice.
[To where your seniors are coming from.]