The Worst Bad Ending (3)
The blood that had been falling drop by drop was already gathering into a pool.
Get a grip. Get a grip, Han Jaehee. I gathered the threads of my mind—threads that looked ready to scatter and vanish at any moment—and seized them tight. Look straight. Hana isn't dead yet. I can save her.
Blood began to seep from both of my clenched fists. I could see Hana's scar. The one she'd picked up as a child, back when she swore she'd protect me because I was terrified of dogs. She must have been scared too, and still she took the bite in my place. It must have hurt terribly. It still did. Back then I had only ever taken her help, and today I hadn't spared her a single thought.
Am I really going to send my childhood friend off like this, at the very worst? A childhood friend is supposed to be saved by their childhood friend.
I hauled my slack body upright with everything I had. An alien light spread slowly from my hands through the whole of me.
Out of the darkness, an oval face appeared. A single red eye stared me down, mocking, overwhelming. There was no expression, but I could feel it all the same. That thing was only watching me on purpose, perfectly still.
"Get off."
My eyes were filling with a single purpose.
"That filthy arm! Get it off her!!"
I screamed it, rage tearing out of me, and charged the aberration. In a flash I severed the arm that had run Hana through. The remaining arms immediately lashed toward me in a frenzy. One of them grazed just over my shoulder and shot past behind me, but I didn't stop. Another came flying straight at my front. I clenched my fist and drove it down hard. The park floor shattered, fragments spraying upward, and a shard skimmed my face and cut it.
I condensed imagery power into my feet, detonated it, and launched into the air. The loathsome red eye looked up at me. Sickening. With the moonlight at my back, I gathered every ounce of strength in my body and dropped.
Countless arms flew at me all at once. I knocked aside as many as I could, but my leg was pierced and I slammed into the ground. It felt as if every bone in my body shattered and ground itself to powder along with the floor.
Ghk—!
But I couldn't stop. I cut away the thing impaling my leg and charged again. The distance was closing. Just a little...! More!
From the side, an arm came flying with ferocious force. I blocked it in a rush with my sword, but I couldn't fully kill the impact. Blood poured from my mouth. In that instant my pierced leg gave out, and one knee hit the ground. I clenched my teeth and slammed my fist down on the leg.
Stand up! Please!
The more desperate I became, the more fiercely the alien light wrapping me burned. The aberration gathered its arms together. The more they clustered, the larger the shadow grew. A massive shadow was descending, as if to pronounce the end.
Like this. Is this really the worst ending? It can't be.
I drew together the strength of my entire body. Every bone and muscle was screaming. I bit down on my lip and thrust the sword out.
Krrraaaak—
I opened the eyes I had squeezed shut. The enormous arm had been sheared clean off, scattering the wreckage of the others into the air. There was no time to wonder how. I tore through the debris and leapt once more. Thrown off balance and collapsing, the aberration flung its remaining arms at me in a frenzy. I knocked aside the few that were left and fell.
This time, I'll reach it.
At last. The sword met the aberration's throat. Where steel touched it, a violent glitch erupted and ground the point of contact away.
Fwoosh—
The sword that had taken the neck carved hard through empty air. A neck gone without a trace. Head and torso, cleanly separated. The severed head rolled with a dull thud, and the massive body followed, collapsing without strength. The crash boomed. As the dust settled, the whole battlefield was losing its color to the glitch.
Hana! Please...
I dragged my legs toward her to check her breathing and brought my face to her lips. Faint as it was, she was still breathing. But what was I supposed to do now? My head, which had been nothing but rage, was desperately searching for an answer to a problem that had none.
"Kill... me..."
With that faint breath, Hana forced her mouth open.
"You... know... I'm about to be... Flood—"
I knew. Once you could no longer resist the black imagery of a Flooded Zone, you lost your sense of self and became one of the Flooded. And once you became one of the Flooded, there was no coming back. The best you could do, before it happened, was end it yourself—or have someone end it for you.
What do I do. Think.
"Jae... Jaehee... earlier... I'm sorry..."
Don't listen. I can't let Hana be the one to say it. If anyone should apologize, it's me. Why are you saying that...
Hana's eyes slowly closed. A sick, bottomless helplessness. My tears spilled down onto her abdomen. Even when I shut my eyes to hold them back, they kept pouring out without end.
Why... What am I supposed to do...
I had to kill my childhood friend with my own hands. The worst bad ending. I couldn't stop my hands from shaking. I couldn't breathe.
Then I heard something being dismantled with methodical precision. I opened my eyes, and together with the glitch a cluster of white light rose. The spike that had pierced her abdomen was disappearing. The moment my tears touched it, they vanished as if evaporating. The black imagery that had been flooding Hana was scattering too.
I can save her. This alien light I'd been seeing—this glitch. I didn't know if it was my power, or what it even was. But there was something in it. I pressed my hands to her abdomen and the spike and focused my imagery power. I can save her. I'll erase this damned black imagery. I will never let her be flooded.
The more the imagery power gathered, the more violent the glitch became. Agony swallowed me, as if my entire body were burning away to ash. Even my mind felt as if it would burn up and disappear. But I clenched my teeth. I grabbed onto the last fraying edge of a mind that was trying to flee, however I could.
The pitch-black spike turned achromatic and came apart. Pure white light flooded back in to fill the void. My consciousness was drifting away. Did it work? I don't have any strength left. It felt as if I had stepped into a room that was white from end to end—ceiling, floor, and walls.
"...You little—"
"...You rascals!"
At that familiar voice, the strength ran out of me. Is it all right to collapse like this?
"You rascals!!"
Team Leader Baek Hwaran... Our pint-sized big sis... She came... My eyes were closing...
Hwaran caught Jaehee as he fell.
"Medical team! Check their condition, now!"
Still holding him tight, she looked down at Hana. The wounds had healed to some extent, and the flooding had stopped completely. Jaehee had passed out as well, but there was nothing seriously wrong. The worry that had filled Hwaran's face eased all at once. The hand that had been clinging to her dropped with a soft thud, and the last faint achromatic afterglow scattered from it and was gone.
This... Genshin. Was that what you intended?
One corner of her loosened expression began to twist back into a peculiar suspicion.
Am I in a car? A rattling vibration ran through my whole body. Streetlight flickered across my closed eyes and passed. My head seemed to be resting on something soft and strangely firm at once.
"Sleep more, you rascal."
A palm over my eyes? A rough palm. The flickering light vanished, and a cozy darkness settled over me again.
Heavy. Something was pressing hard on my chest, getting in the way of my breathing. Annoyed, I opened my eyes and found the team leader asleep on top of me, sprawled facedown. Had she nodded off while looking after me? You've had it rough, our pint-sized big sis. Drooling and everything. I'll tease you about it later. And why did her cheeks look so soft? A sudden urge to pinch them came over me, but I stopped myself. She'd only bolt upright yelling You liiittle—! Let her sleep.
I gently shifted her aside and sat up. Hana! What happened to Hana?! I whipped around in an instant, and the recoil sent the team leader flying. Fortunately, Hana was sleeping like the dead. Seeing her sleep so soundly, she had to be all right. Thank god.
"Whew..."
The moment I confirmed she was fine, pain crashed over me.
"Gaaah."
I let out a bizarre cry and collapsed back down. Right. I was a patient too... A sound split the air, and a forehead flick landed square on my skull. A vicious flick.
"Gaaaaah."
"What are you doing to a patient?!"
"A patient? Doesn't look like one to me. You rascal—I nurse you all night and you fling me aside?"
"I didn't fling you. Ow, my head."
"Little miss! I'm a patient too, you know?!"
"You little—!!"
Then a small laugh came from the corner. The team leader and I turned at the same time.
"Hana!"
"You're so loud I can't sleep."
Hana was laughing quietly from the corner. Her unbound silver hair swayed lightly. Thank god. Truly. That smile I had thought I'd never see again. Wondering if it was a dream, I pinched my own cheek, just a little. It hurt.
"What are you doing?"
Watching me, she laughed as if she couldn't believe it. I was barely swallowing the tears that wanted to burst out.
"...Sorry."
A small voice came from behind.
"I'm sorry."
"Never again—"
The already tiny team leader had shrunk even smaller, whispering.
"I'm sorry, Hana..."
I joined the apology. Unable to watch any longer, Hana threw her arms wide.
"What's wrong with both of you. Just hug me once."
A faint blush began to spread across the team leader's cheeks as she blinked. After a short silence, I grabbed the hesitating captain and tossed her in. Then I went in and held on too. The three of us tangled together like that, and laughed for a long while. Early-evening sunset wavered through the blinds, and the room filled with a warm orange glow.
In the small hours, two men climbed the stairs to the rooftop.
"Taeseung. Is everything I ordered taken care of?"
"Yes. All materials related to the Purification have been disposed of."
"So Han Jaehee did awaken the power of Purification in the end?"
"It is certain."
"Understood. Stand by for now."
A massive man with his hair swept back in pomade stepped onto the rooftop. A fierce wind blew, and the coat over his shoulders flapped. The Chief Librarian's insignia caught the moonlight and glinted now and then. Genshin walked toward the small figure leaning at the end of the railing.
"Genshin. Did you know?"
"Which of the two are you asking about?"
"Both."
"I knew one. I didn't know the other."
"That short-form low-grade aberration—the Forger—appearing was not something I intended."
"Genshin!"
The small shadow began to tremble faintly.
"A disruption device was found there. Perfect for hiding a Forger that masquerades as a low-grade aberration and deceives."
Genshin went on without the slightest movement.
The small shadow soon stopped trembling, as if swallowing her anger.
"This time couldn't be helped, so I'll let it pass. But if something like this happens again."
"And if it does?"
Genshin stared at the small shadow without so much as a twitch. She said nothing more and began to leave the rooftop. Toward the receding figure, he whispered low.
"Hwaran..."
And so the secret meeting in the hour before dawn drew quietly to a close.