Chapter 57
Translator: Vine
Chapter: 57
Chapter Title: Sprint
A bright light appears.
The place Han Si-hoo had reached was blindingly bright.
"...A fire?"
Buildings were ablaze.
The closer he got, the more ferocious the flames became.
The crackling sound of burning filled the air.
Everything was on fire.
It resembled the research facility he had seen before.
The only difference was that this place was smaller and more ruinous.
It was as if magical beasts had trampled through, leaving nothing behind.
Perhaps another magical beast escape, just like last time, had occurred.
"Is anyone alive...?"
Could he find Seo-ah here?
Was Seo-ah somewhere in this building?
He didn't know yet.
The smoke was thick.
He decided to enter the nearest building first.
*Crash.*
He smashed through the locked door.
The door hadn't opened because a large part of the building had collapsed.
"-Help, help me, *cough*."
It was a person.
Trapped under debris.
Something like an ID tag hung around their neck.
They seemed to be a researcher.
"Is anyone else inside?"
*Creeak.*
Han Si-hoo pushed the debris away.
"No one, they abandoned me and ran, *cough*. Ugh."
The air was too thick.
A non-Awakener would struggle to endure it.
He hoisted the researcher over his shoulder and ran out of the building.
To a safe zone, for now.
"What happened here?"
He asked as he ran.
"An escape... some bastard let all the monsters loose. I don't know how."
"Why would they do that?"
"Must be a Villain. You're an Awakener, right? One of the good ones? *Phew*, what a relief. I might just live. Thanks."
He ran past a collapsed barricade to a spot the flames hadn't reached.
"Is there anyone else inside?"
He waited for the researcher to answer.
"Well, they're probably all dead or have escaped."
"What about the test subjects?"
"Huh? The humanoid one? You knew about it?"
"Is it here?"
Rumors of a humanoid test subject had been circulating for a long time.
"Of course, they were all disposed of."
"...Disposed of?"
"When the facility malfunctions, the protocol is to kill everything and escape. It's in the manual. The Suppression Team should be in there taking care of it all now."
"Where do I need to go?"
"The largest building in the center, in the basement... But why do you want to know... to save it? It's not human. I know I shouldn't be saying this after you saved me, but that thing really isn't worth saving—"
"Shut up."
*Thwack.*
He knocked him out.
And started running again.
As expected, the layout was similar to the last research facility.
Strange organizations like the Suppression Team and Rescue Team.
He knew they were government agencies.
He'd thought they were suspicious back then, but now he was certain.
These guys, the Suppression Team, were the enemy.
He ran.
The central building came into view.
*CRASH!*
He smashed right through the wall to get inside.
*Could Seo-ah be in here?*
He didn't know what the disposal procedure entailed, but he had to stop it.
No matter what condition Seo-ah was in.
The interior was engulfed in flames.
Flames of this magnitude were no problem.
The protective features of his academy uniform were more than enough.
The researcher's clothes had some protective functions, but they were inferior to the uniform.
"Seo-ah?"
He called out.
Hoping she might answer.
But there was no one in sight.
He continued to search the building.
It was an underground facility, so he looked for a way down.
"An elevator?"
*Screeech.*
He forced the elevator doors open.
Of course, the elevator was neither on his floor nor moving.
So he just jumped.
Falling down.
He plunged through the smoke to the lowest floor.
*THUD.*
It was hard to tell if it was a landing or a crash.
He couldn't tell if the dust cloud was from his fall or the fire.
He staggered to his feet and pressed on through the facility.
He saw signs of where the magical beasts had been kept.
Being the lowest floor, escape would have been difficult.
Indeed, most of the magical beasts seemed to have undergone the disposal procedure the researcher mentioned.
"-What the, someone's behind us!"
It was the Suppression Team.
They wore thick protective suits reminiscent of spacesuits.
Their voices were muffled inside the suits, making them hard to hear clearly.
Firearms and flamethrowers were mounted on their arms.
Killing magical beasts was the right thing to do.
The Suppression Team was just killing magical beasts.
*Wham.*
But Han Si-hoo suppressed the Suppression Team.
They were probably the ones who set the building on fire, so they would likely survive whether the facility collapsed or burned.
"Who—"
*Crack.*
A strike with his sword hilt was enough.
The Suppression Team's protective suits were tough, but specialized for blocking attacks from magical beasts.
Still, without the suits, they would have been killed instantly, so it was better than nothing.
"A magical beast—?"
*Crunch.*
"Behind you!"
*Crack.*
He neutralized the Suppression Team members as he ran.
But he couldn't take care of all of them.
He wanted to grab each one and interrogate them for information, but there wasn't enough time.
"It's all done. Follow me, quick!"
*Done?*
"What are you doing?"
It was hard to see because of the fog.
Looking closer, it wasn't smoke, but fog.
He'd thought they were spraying fire with flamethrowers, but they might have been releasing gas.
To deal with so many monsters at once, this type of weapon would be effective.
Even monsters wouldn't just stand there and inhale gas, but the ones here were all confined.
"I said it's done! Let's go up!"
"What about the humanoid subject?"
"What are you talking about? That thing was transferred ages ago! Let's go! We're gonna die!"
*Rumble, rumble.*
An ominous noise echoed.
Being deep underground, the collapse of the facility could be a much bigger problem.
"It could collapse!"
*CRACK-RUMBLE.*
The sound grew louder.
The lights, which had been barely flickering, finally died.
Smoke and fog covered everything.
"But who are you... damn it, it's collapsing!"
*CRASH.*
The building collapsed faster than he expected.
The structure, having lost its supports, crushed everything below it.
***
It was over.
The fire had spread to the adjacent mountain, but it didn't grow much larger.
Only ruins remained where the flames had swept through.
There were no signs of life.
Only ashes were left.
*Crack.* The concrete began to splinter.
Then it broke apart.
And a hand burst through.
It widened the gap in the concrete.
Once the opening was large enough, he crawled out.
"-*Gasp*."
He had almost died.
He wasn't in his usual condition, nor was this a usual situation.
But in the end, he survived.
Somehow.
Han Si-hoo does not die.
He will not die until he saves Seo-ah.
Seo-ah wasn't down there.
He should have asked where she was transferred.
Though it was questionable if she was ever here in the first place.
Blood dripped to the ground.
No matter how much he enhanced his body or used protective skills, there were limits.
Just running here had taken a heavy toll.
"Damn it."
Still, he had survived.
Somehow.
So where was the next destination?
Where did he have to go to save her?
Exhaustion.
It was a feeling he hadn't experienced in a long time.
"...I'll keep going."
His device was broken, too, so now it was hard to even figure out his location.
But he had to save Seo-ah.
The person he'd saved and then knocked out earlier.
Where was he?
Even running was difficult.
A few of his bones were probably broken.
It was fine.
He just needed to get treated.
Compared to the pain Seo-ah had endured, this was nothing.
He wiped the blood trickling from his forehead and ran, and ran.
He found him.
The researcher was lying unconscious.
"Get up."
*Stomp.*
He stomped on his fingers to wake him up.
"Ah, ugh. Huh...?"
He came to his senses.
"Tell me everything you know. Where would they transfer a humanoid test subject?"
"Th-that's..."
*CRUNCH.*
He pressed down harder.
"Aargh! I-I don't know for sure."
"Is there another research facility nearby?"
"I'm just a low-level employee, so I don't know about other facilities, but there is a factory that supplies resources here..."
"Which direction?"
"Just follow the road in the opposite direction. It's true. Really. Ugh."
A factory, he said.
There might be something there.
"If you go about ten kilometers, you'll reach a populated area. I know because I've followed the vehicles. We get supplies from there, so please, my foot..."
He was going to lift his foot anyway.
He sprinted in the direction the researcher had pointed.
Every second counted.
If Seo-ah was alive, if there was even the slightest chance she was somewhere, he had to go.
He had to.
He ran.
Of all things, it was in the complete opposite direction.
He cut across the entire facility, pushing through the flames.
"Si-hoo!"
Someone called out to Han Si-hoo.
Someone was standing near the facility entrance.
"I came to help! Are you okay?"
The silver hair was familiar.
"...Rena?"
"You know how there's an alert when a device is destroyed? We set it up last time we worked as a team."
"Ah."
His device had been destroyed when the building collapsed.
It seemed the signal had somehow gone through.
"I came too."
It was a girl with short blue hair.
"Cheon Yu-hwa? Why are you here?"
She was someone who considered Han Si-hoo her rival.
They weren't what you would call close.
"I called her. We happened to be together. After you snatched the number one rank at the academy and disappeared... anyway. What's going on? You're covered in blood... and everything here is burned down."
"There's no time right now. I have to go save Seo-ah."
There was no time.
Would his friends from the academy really be helpful in this situation?
"Seo-ah... who's that?"
Cheon Yu-hwa asked.
It was natural, since she knew nothing about his personal life.
"A friend."
"I see. Where are you headed?"
"To a factory district in this direction."
"Then get in the car. My sibling is driving. Cheon Yu-seong! Over here!"
She called to her twin brother.
"What a peculiar pair of siblings..."
Rena said with a laugh.
He had more allies.
Four people in total.
*Vroom.*
An SUV drove up.
"Greetings!"
Cheon Yu-seong leaned out the window.
"You have a driver's license?"
Han Si-hoo asked without thinking.
He was acquainted with Cheon Yu-seong, but he hadn't expected him to be driving a car.
"My family is a bit unique, so driving a car is no big deal. Get in!"
"Right, thanks. Thank you all for coming to help."
He said as he got into the car.
Was it a good thing for people who didn't know the full story to get involved?
But having more people was better than being alone.
"...But are you sure you're okay? The blood..."
"I'm fine. So let's go."
"Alright. We'll talk after this is over. The situation seems complicated."
Was making friends the right choice after all?
He remembered Seo-ah getting angry, saying he was going to see other friends besides her.
...Angry?
She got angry?
That never happened, did it?
He could feel his memories being tainted.
Damn Saintess.
"Is this the right way? Straight ahead?"
"Yes."
The existence of friends was a good thing.
Thanks to them, saving Seo-ah had become much easier.
Han Si-hoo took a moment to rest in the rattling car.
The burned-out facilities appeared and then disappeared outside the window.
Soon, only the scenery of a country road with no streetlights remained.
"...But, is S-Seo-ah alive?"
Rena, sitting next to him, asked in a whisper.
She looked strangely like she was about to cry.
"...Really?"