Chapter 93
Chapter 93
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: -5
Chapter Title: Aftermath
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It could probably be called an afterword, if anything.
Having witnessed the deaths of their neighbors and family once again, the survivors didn't seem likely to bounce back, even with our help.
Some had half-lost their minds, unresponsive and just shedding tears in silence. Even those who weren't like that chose to stay in the complex, claiming they no longer had the will to keep living.
For something born from my loss of taste, Moon Woo-seok's death, and the chief's long struggle, it felt regrettably lacking.
Well, I chose to do this, and so did the others, so I'm not particularly angry about it.
It's just regrettable.
Separately from that, our investigation into the incident uncovered something peculiar.
In other words, we found traces of a very distinctive monster.
The clothes it had been wearing were familiar—a black shirt and jacket with a hole in the center caused by some external force.
The moment we spotted it, the chief and I couldn't help but say the same thing.
"Kwak Young-cheol?"
Naturally, Kwak Young-cheol's grave had been torn apart, which meant he had turned into a monster.
It's only natural for a corpse to become a monster under the influence of the sky.
But thinking about it, there was no way Kwak Young-cheol could have turned into one.
Monstrous transformation is caused by the heavens, so it should be impossible inside this complex, where no one was exposed to the sky's influence.
Plus, he was buried underground.
"Chief, do you have any idea?"
"I'm no detective... I haven't a clue."
The chief still looked in a foul mood.
Even during that past month when he was searching alone for traces of corruption, he looked tired but was otherwise fine.
It's probably the natural reaction for someone who wants to save people.
As for me, I regret the loss of so many lives, but not to that extent.
"Chief, let's move for now. Staying here forever isn't helping."
I stuffed the core Moon Woo-seok had given me into my pocket.
"Right..."
We headed toward the complex's entrance.
The absence of the device also meant the sky's surveillance had resumed, so we had no choice but to follow the clouds once they reappeared.
And then, something else odd caught my eye.
There were drag marks at the entrance, right at the end of the wall, but they looked too deliberate to be from a monster.
My mind kept piecing together various pieces of information, generating new insights in the process.
Then, suddenly, I realized there was a flaw in my thinking.
"Aha."
"What's wrong?"
"I think I know why this all happened."
Moon Woo-seok is gone now, so it doesn't matter anymore, but it seems the device's malfunction wasn't what caused this mess.
I never got to ask him, but one question had lingered in my mind.
Out of all those people, why choose Kwak Young-cheol's wife as fuel?
Was it Moon Woo-seok's way of easing a widow's grief for her lost husband, or the psychopathic act of killing her to send her off to him?
All those thoughts were wrong.
No—before that, the very assumption that Kwak Young-cheol's wife had died was incorrect.
Thinking back, Moon Woo-seok never once said he used her as fuel.
I'd only assumed it from the ring on the machine.
And if you consider who else might wear a wedding ring like that, there's one more person.
Kwak Young-cheol himself.
I turned toward the faint presence I felt from one side of the housing complex and spoke.
"Why on earth did you do this?"
The chief gave me a look like he had no idea what I was doing, but soon sensed the same presence and fell silent.
The one who approached with a rustling sound was Kwak Young-cheol's wife.
"Because my husband didn't die."
The ring was still on her finger.
Given how mangled her body was, it was a wonder the ring was intact at all.
"...I never meant to bring this disaster. I loved my neighbors... They were all so kind..."
She shed red tears mixed with blood.
"When everyone thought my husband was dead, he was actually still alive. No one noticed, but I knew..."
The chief clenched his fist tightly, stunned that she was still alive.
Even a psychopath who feels no emotions could tell he was furious.
"He was in so much pain... Just frozen like that. Then I saw the doctor take my husband somewhere."
Her words didn't connect smoothly.
This must be what rambling sounds like.
But there didn't seem to be any lies in what she said, so to sum it up:
She'd followed Moon Woo-seok down to the basement and seen him put her still-living husband into the incinerator (she'd mistaken the device for one).
She knew her husband would die, but didn't want him to suffer burning agony.
Once Moon Woo-seok left, she secretly pulled her husband from the device, carried him outside, and buried him in a sunny spot.
As a result, the fuel-less device gradually lost its power.
After hearing that, the chief couldn't bring himself to get angry.
His rage, which had been on the verge of exploding moments ago, shifted from hatred toward this tragedy to something faint and fading.
She had caused the complex's downfall, but without malicious intent.
The chief's altruism toward humans extended to her too, so he couldn't lash out.
We left the woman behind and walked away slowly.
"What are you thinking?"
I lightly tapped the chief's arm; he looked dazed.
His face was sallow, like a patient with some grave illness.
"Hm? Just pondering the secret of that complex you told me about."
The chief pulled a hardtack from his bag and started chewing.
"Crunch. Even if it hadn't fallen like this, I doubt it would've lasted much longer."
"Yeah. I think so too."
"Considering Moon Woo-seok's personality as you described... this world must've been too much of a burden for him."
"My senior seemed like a fundamentally fragile person. He probably would've broken down in a few months anyway."
If I had to sum up Moon Woo-seok in one line, he was a kind but weak-willed man.
That kindness had hidden his frailty as he maintained this little utopia.
"In a way, he was remarkable. Makes me wonder what he could've created if he'd just focused on research."
If we could somehow reverse this apocalypse, I'd want to give Moon Woo-seok the honors he deserved as a researcher.
"Speaking of which, I really feel bad about that deal you made with the angel. What did you give as payment?"
"My sense of taste."
"...Try this."
I popped the hardtack the chief handed me into my mouth.
It felt like chewing hard dirt.
Losing all taste was more inconvenient than I'd imagined.
"How is it?"
"Hate to say it, but... it's shit."
At that, the chief made a sad face and patted my back.
"Wouldn't want to take that contract with the angel off your hands? I could handle it for you."
"...No, this is my responsibility."
I thought of Park Se-jin, who had lost everything and could only weep.
"Alright... Let me know anytime if it gets tough."
We kept walking.
We had no destination, but we couldn't just stand still.
No matter how strong the chief was, he needed food to survive, which meant constantly scavenging for it.
Several months had passed since the apocalypse; electricity was out, and running a generator would draw monsters with the noise.
With fridges dead, food spoiling was inevitable.
In the end, preserved rations were our only option.
"Still, life in the complex was decent with the generator running."
I felt a pang of regret thinking of those relatively comfortable days.
At some point, screams had all but stopped.
Optimistically, you could say people adapted to this world, finding ways to avoid monsters and the sky's gaze...
But I knew most humans were simply dead.
So, running into other survivors in a situation like this was something I hadn't even imagined.
When we climbed a building for a short break, we quickly realized it was someone's hideout.
Soon after, following rustling sounds, we came upon a man and woman—a couple.
Hm... Maybe that optimistic view of people adapting was right after all.
The man eyed us warily, gripping a kitchen knife in one hand.
His hold was clumsy; he clearly wasn't used to this.
Well, even if he was skilled with knives, he wouldn't stand a chance against the chief—or even me.
"D-don't kill us! Get lost!"
He swung the knife while yelling, creating a somewhat threatening vibe, but seeing the trembling woman beside him just made me pity them.
That guy looks kinda familiar, though.
Pretty handsome too. An idol or something?
No, wait...
"Hyuk Tae-jun?"