Chapter 56
Chapter 56
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 56
Chapter Title: Face-to-Face (1)
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You said you'd tell me the backstory, though.
Wasn't the meeting and parting too rushed? There was still so much I needed to hear. Important stories and unimportant ones alike.
I lay sprawled in the speeding train car. The wind whipped harshly against my body.
Tears had dried on my cheeks.
The train raced through the darkness for a long while.
I had no idea where to go next. So it was only when the train jolted to a halt with a heavy thud that I finally pulled myself up.
A heavy impact transmitted through my body. The sound of gravel and sand falling below.
All that lay before me was the track shrouded in darkness.
Was Jin dead? Stumbling to my feet, I stared blankly ahead. They said they knew each other. So maybe they hadn't killed him.
With my hand on the scabbard, I jumped down from under the train.
Solid ground met my feet.
If you hated Ye-hyeon and the world enough to run, why not run to the end?
There was, of course, no reply.
After staring blankly into the void for a moment, I walked along the track swallowed by darkness.
That ashen arm. Staggering toward the wall of dirt and debris the train had crashed into, I sifted through my memories.
Why had Jin's arm turned ashen? Strangely, the color didn't feel unfamiliar.
I mulled it over for a while, but no answer came. Holding onto unanswerable questions was pointless. I walked to the shattered cockpit and reached out to grope the wall.
Was there a door here too?
Suppressing the urge to go to Jin, I felt around the surroundings.
I hadn't seen any screen doors on the way in. Going back wouldn't lead anywhere else.
As my eyes gradually adjusted to the dark, I kept my hands moving.
I had to find a way out. Get out, ask the seniors for help, and go search for Jin Silver, who might still be alive.
Even if it was just a hole...
My foot sank in.
My right foot plunged downward. Reflexively, I grabbed the ground. My body tilted awkwardly to one side. Looking down in shock, I saw a tunnel leading inside.
Ah. This time, not to the side, but down.
He really was sharp. Bitterly smiling as I recalled Jin, who had instantly sensed the pursuing creature and sliced the train in two.
"Please be alive."
I spoke to someone who couldn't hear.
"I'll come find you."
Until I confirmed his death with my own eyes, I wouldn't abandon hope.
I crawled into the tunnel. It was pitch black here too. Once more, I braced my left hand against the wall.
This passage was harsher than the last. Because I had to crawl. When I lifted my head, the back of it bumped the hard earthen ceiling. Head bowed, I crawled along on all fours, waiting for the tunnel to end.
Only when my neck ached unbearably did the passage finally end.
This time, there was no welcoming artificial light. Just blue mushrooms illuminating the track. Had Jin planted these too?
Ignoring the pain in my waist and neck, I slowly stood.
Drip. Drip. The sound of water droplets falling.
I walked onward blindly. Since Jin's death wasn't certain, I had to keep my wits about me even more.
Even Black Badger veterans of over ten years dropped dead in this subway.
Just entering was dangerous, and now there were those chasing me too.
What had I done?
Following the blue mushrooms, I sorted through the words I'd heard. They had come to Jin, who was living outside, one day. Come and told him to drag me back.
'The boss woke up a few months ago...'
I'd opened my eyes here a few months ago too.
Coincidence?
Could there really be a coincidence that fit so perfectly?
Who was the boss? Since being exiled from the Core, fragments of my past had been surging up one after another. I gathered them.
Their boss. The boss of those who called themselves my old comrades.
...I didn't remember.
I tried recalling differently. Not trying to remember my superiors, but the one I had sought advice from when making decisions.
The existence I had consulted.
Curtain-like hair.
A flash streaked by.
Memories backflowed. 'He' had regarded those people with amusement. Said they knew nothing, couldn't even guess at the inevitable events to come.
Those golden eyes brimming with characteristic confidence. A firm voice. Clean features.
Eyes that never avoided mine...
A fishy stench.
The piercing protein reek grew closer.
Gigantic teeth loomed before me.
The teeth lunged to bite my face whole.
Pshhh!
I split the gaping maw clean in half.
Flesh and bone fragments splattered. The blade sliced through the esophagus and delved deeper. The elongated body tore open with a rip. Its enraged shriek pierced my ears.
KyaAAAAA...
Twisting the blade free, the half-severed creature curled up, spewing blood.
I stared at the creature occupying the center of the track. I couldn't count its legs. But it was too massive for a centipede. Long enough to coil around an adult man's body three times over.
It bustled its legs, rolling its body into coils.
A face like a fish head was attached.
Sighing with the sword in hand.
"If you charge at me, I have no choice but to kill you all and pass."
Of course, it wouldn't understand.
The creature, gushing blood in spurts, gradually stilled. The motion of its dozens of long, thin legs ceased, but I didn't advance.
Instead, I gripped the sword tightly.
I felt the weight of the blood injection syringe in my right pocket.
"Just let me pass."
I crouched low, readying the sword swing.
"I have people I need to find."
Legs approached in reply.
The moment my sword traced a line, creatures poured from the ceiling.
***
My shoulder hurts.
Lucky that this centipede-like thing's teeth had no poison. Otherwise, I'd have collapsed and died.
Anyway, the situation was over. I pressed my bitten left shoulder hard with my right arm. The blood-soaked sword had just been sheathed.
An eerie silence settled over the space.
Now, nothing moved here except me.
The walls and track were covered in blood and flesh chunks.
Pressing my shoulder, I slowly walked the track, thick with the stench of protein.
Corpses crunched underfoot. No matter how I thought about it, there must have been another way through this station. Or I should have slipped away somewhere else before reaching their nest.
Either way, those options were gone now.
I'd succeeded in killing them all, but the cost was steep. Even after injecting supplementary blood, I felt dizzy.
Frowning, I steadied my wavering vision.
"But I've gotten a lot better, haven't I?"
Muttering to myself in the darkness, despite no one to hear.
"Maybe now I can even cut my master's cloak."
Maybe I could even match Ye-hyeon.
And if I won, maybe I'd get that sword from the video.
With no external stimuli, my thoughts drifted back to the past again. Dragging my leaden body like a lump of lead, I sifted memories. Jin who sliced the train. If Jin Silver hadn't sent me off like that, I might have just succumbed to instinct and collapsed.
Sword...
My sword. Trudging along, I recalled even older memories. The sword I'd wielded. The sword I'd aimed at the black-haired man in a clash.
Where was it now?
Buried broken underground? Or was the sword Ye-hyeon had mine? I wanted to see the real thing from the video. Even if he wouldn't hand it over, I wanted to know what it looked like.
That man's voice kept circling in my head.
The voice I'd recalled while gripping the controls.
'Want to spar with swords?'
Like the old days?
Kaaaang!
The blade vibrated.
Hatred-burning reverse eyes. Crinkling, ashen hair drying out. Human-like features.
I deflected the sharp claws aiming for my throat with my blade.
Excellent movement. It appeared in my vision, then was right before me in an instant.
I swung the blade with force.
Whoosh!
Instead of bouncing off, it staggered back a few steps.
Our eyes met. The entity that emerged from the dimly lit track ahead—the direction I was heading.
This one wasn't blocked by Jin Silver. Its hair was short.
"Traitor."
This again.
"You."
It closed the distance in a flash.
Words came haltingly, like something boiled in my throat. But the hatred in its eyes burned fierce.
"You, but, didn't."
"Sorry, but I've forgotten my entire past. Annoying, I know—mind explaining what I did?"
Kaaang!
My swung sword flew from my grip.
Immense raw strength. If I hadn't quickly pulled back my flung arm, its claws would have torn a hole in my throat.
Claws clashed with blade.
It gratingly pushed the blade with its claws, howling.
"You!"
"Yeah, me."
"You back then!"
Uh, back then.
Back then what!
"If you hadn't betrayed Kyle back then!"
Kaaaang!
With a flash, distance opened between us.
We retreated, then steadied our stances. The opponent glared at me, panting. Red veins crept into its eyes. Dazed, sword gripped tight, I stared at the figure opposite.
Eyes that had given up hope.
I remembered.
Not fully, but a scene etched deep within me resurfaced. Now vividly imprinted in my mind, a memory I'd never forget. Once recalled, a time I'd carry forever.
Kyle.
Blazing golden eyes. Gritted teeth and shaking hair. And the sword aimed at me.
Comrades stood behind him.
They too held their weapons. Standing on a spotless white floor. Eyes rippling with fury.
A place tinged with blue.
I recalled the betrayed gazes, the expressions saying there was nothing more to expect from you, the battle-lust vowing to crush me and everything included.
And the words I'd uttered then, suppressing my regret.
The context was missing, like a clipped video, but.
Back then, I'd pleaded.
To Kyle and his followers.
"...It's not too late yet."
"Traitorous bastard!"
"If it's now..."
Now, it could still be undone.
Kwaaaang!
My body flew backward. Outmatched by the fury-laden strike. My airborne form slammed into a square pillar dividing the tracks.
Thud.
A heavy impact racked my body.
A reflexive gasp escaped.
But there was no time to rest. I twisted away from the plunging attack.
Kwoong!
"Time out."
Kwoooong!
As if it'd listen.
Then I'd have to knock it down. Steadying my breath, I rolled desperately along the track. Tumbling across the floor, I dodged the incoming strikes.
Then, the instant it slipped and missed a step, I didn't miss the timing—I thrust my sword into the ground and rose.
Kaaang!
I parried the descending claws.
Distance opened. I reset my stance. Ah, good. Now I could counter. This time, with real intent to kill. Half-measures would get me killed.
I planted strength in my legs on the track and gripped the sword with both hands.
Then, raising both hands over my shoulder, I inhaled.
The moment my pleas fell on deaf ears.
The moment they charged at me. The moment I realized it was irreversible. I recalled steeling myself, suppressing my heavy heart. How I'd gritted my teeth and gripped the sword with both hands.
The strike I'd unleashed then, with that resolve.
Slicing the floor,
Repelling those who had become enemies.
Kwaaaaaang!
A chilling sword strike cleaved across the tracks.