Chapter 11
Chapter 11
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 11
Chapter Title: The Last Choice of the Expelled (4)
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Choi Min-seok let out a beastly roar and bolted out of the office.
The frantic sound of his footsteps faded away beyond the roughly slammed door.
Until that noise completely vanished, Siwoo stood motionless in place.
Left alone, Siwoo stared out the window.
The sky over Gangnam was stained blood-red.
The ominous mana spewing from the warping space made even the office windows rattle.
The atmosphere churned unstably, like the pulsing of a massive heart.
Siwoo steadied his trembling hand and pulled out his phone from his pocket.
His fingers unhesitatingly dialed a shortcut number.
It was a calm movement, as if he had foreseen this situation and prepared for someone's help in advance.
Ring. Ring.
The signal tone didn't last long.
"Yes, this is he."
Siwoo's voice was lower and heavier than usual.
"Could you come to St. Mary's Hospital in Gangnam right now?"
A panicked voice came through the receiver, but Siwoo calmly cut in.
"Yes, I'm heading out immediately as well. Yes. Yes, I understand."
After hanging up, Siwoo grabbed his jacket without hesitation and slipped it on.
Then he opened a desk drawer and tucked a glass vial sloshing with red liquid into his pocket.
"Now, shall we go?"
A cold glint flashed in Siwoo's eyes.
He snatched the car keys from the desk and strode out of the office.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ His heart felt like it was about to burst out of his mouth.
Choi Min-seok ran like a madman.
The soles of his worn-out shoes pounded the asphalt as if they might wear away completely.
Pain tore at his lungs, and his thighs felt as heavy as if lead weights were tied to them, but he couldn't stop.
No, the terror that his daughter would die the moment he stopped whipped him onward relentlessly.
The roads were already a scene from hell.
Cars trying to flee the sudden gate outbreak tangled with those trying to enter, gridlocked in chaos.
People screamed as they dashed along the sidewalks, horns blaring deafeningly.
It was like the end of the world.
"Get out of the way! Please, move!"
Min-seok shoved through the crowd, leaping over car hoods on the jammed road as he charged forward insanely.
His face was drenched in sweat, his hair disheveled, his clothes torn.
His appearance was wretched, but his eyes burned like a predator's.
His mind held only one thing: the face of his daughter Ji-yu in her hospital room.
'Please... please be safe...'
Far ahead, the St. Mary's Hospital building came into view.
And above it, a massive dark-red vortex gaped open like a maw.
The gate portal flickered unstably, on the verge of exploding at any moment.
It looked like the devil's eye, poised to swallow the city whole.
By the time Min-seok reached the barricade line in front of the hospital, the scene was already beyond control.
Police had set up barricades to block access, but horrific screams from patients and staff trapped inside echoed out.
"Move! Get out of my way! My daughter's in there!"
Min-seok thrashed to cross the line.
He was like a beast that had lost its reason.
"You can't! You can't go in! There's a risk of secondary collapse!"
An Association staffer blocked Min-seok.
The man's face, clad in a yellow vest, was pale with fear.
"Let go! There are people inside! Why are you just standing there? Where are the hunters? Where's the raid team?"
Min-seok grabbed the staffer's collar and shook him, screaming.
A gate yawned open right before their eyes, yet no one was trying to stop it.
The empty hospital courtyard held not a single hunter.
"I-I don't know! I don't know either! Gates have broken out across Seoul! No high-rank hunters we can contact! They're all deployed to other areas!"
"What the hell does that mean? There are people in that hospital! My daughter... my sick daughter is in there!!"
Min-seok wailed, but the staffer snapped back irritably.
"What do you want me to do? If you're pissed, block it yourself! You think we want to stand here?"
The staffer shoved Min-seok off and fled with his radio.
Min-seok stared up at the hospital in a daze.
Terrified patients waved desperately from every window, begging for rescue.
Those desperate gestures tore at Min-seok's heart.
That was when it happened.
Weeeeng-!
With an eerie vibration, the portal's color shifted to red.
It was the harbinger of doom, moments from monsters pouring out.
'No backup. Seoul's paralyzed. Then the people inside? My Ji-yu?'
"No..."
Min-seok's eyes trembled.
There wasn't a single hunter on site besides himself.
Just one F-rank.
An awakener, but barely tougher than a civilian—a useless porter.
Before this massive disaster, he could do nothing.
Krugugrugu-!
Then, with a heaven-shattering roar, the portal shifted from black to vivid blood-red.
As if a wound tearing open, monsters began spilling out.
Green-skinned goblins, wolf-shaped blood wolves, massive orcs.
Dozens, hundreds rained down like hail onto the hospital courtyard.
Asphalt cracked, parked cars crumpled.
In an instant, the courtyard became a monster playground—no, a slaughterhouse.
"Aaaah! Run!"
"Help!"
"Kyaaak!"
Citizens outside the line panicked and fled.
Police fired guns, but they couldn't pierce the monsters' tough hides.
The monsters charged the hospital lobby and fleeing people like starving beasts.
Min-seok forced his trembling legs to stand.
He wanted to run. He wanted to live.
Instinct screamed to turn and flee. But.
'Ji-yu... she's in there.'
That single fact anchored his feet.
Heavier than iron, it bound him.
He couldn't leave this place. He mustn't.
"Raaargh! Get away!! You bastards!!"
Min-seok roared beast-like and charged the hospital entrance.
Bare fists. No weapons, just his body.
All he wore was the Weighted Vest Siwoo had given him and his sweat-soaked shirt.
"Kiek?"
A goblin heading into the lobby spotted him, grinned viciously, and lunged.
Min-seok didn't dodge. He had no skill to dodge.
He threw himself straight at it, colliding head-on.
Thud!
Min-seok's shoulder throbbed, but the goblin tumbled back.
He stomped mercilessly on the fallen goblin's head.
Crack.
Green blood splattered the floor.
Min-seok shoved past monsters and entered the lobby.
Then, low-rank hunters who had received the Association's emergency call began arriving one by one.
E-ranks, D-ranks. Mostly freelancers or from small guilds, unable to join major ones.
"Block them! Seal the entrance first!"
"Patients inside!"
The hunters drew weapons and engaged the monsters.
But it wasn't enough.
Too many monsters pouring out.
And these ragtag hastily assembled fighters lacked coordination.
"Kraaak! Help!"
"We're being pushed! Fall back!"
Hunters screamed and fell one by one.
Claws ripped bellies, clubs burst skulls.
The air reeked of blood.
Yet amid the inferno, one man alone refused to yield: Choi Min-seok.
Thud!
Min-seok's fist smashed into a goblin's face.
"Kieeek!"
The goblin rolled away.
Seizing the gap, Min-seok rushed the entrance and barricaded it.
He dragged fallen benches and signs to block the way.
"You won't pass... No one passes!!"
Min-seok bellowed desperately. But he was outnumbered.
Dozens of monsters charged him.
He threw his body to block an orc's charge.
No sword, no shield.
Just bare body colliding, forearms blocking fangs, shoulders shoving.
Kwachik!
The orc's axe grazed his arm.
Flesh tore, blood gushed.
"Kuhuk..."
Pain stabbed his brain, but he roared instead of screaming.
If this broke, it was over.
Behind were elevators, stairs.
If they went up, Ji-yu on the sixth floor died.
'I have to block it. Me... I have to.'
He became a human shield.
His body was covered in wounds. Clothes shredded to rags, blood blurring his vision.
What sustained him was one thing: mad obsession to protect his daughter.
Another orc club smashed his shoulder.
Crack.
His collarbone snapped. But he didn't fall.
Like a zombie, he rose, grabbed the orc's waist, and clung.
Stamina depleted, mana exhausted.
His legs shook; standing was a miracle.
Thud. Thud. Thud.
Then, heavy footsteps shook the ground.
Other monsters parted in fear.
A massive shadow emerged from the darkness, looming over Min-seok.
Over three meters tall. Bluish skin, grotesque muscles, massive bone club in hand.
The regeneration monster: a troll.
"Grrr..."
The troll drooled, glaring down at Min-seok.
Like eyeing a bug to crush.
Min-seok looked up through blurring vision.
Instinctual fear froze him, but he didn't flee. He couldn't.
'Ji-yu...'
The troll's brow twitched.
Irritated by the insolent bug, it reached out and snatched Min-seok's throat.
Min-seok couldn't resist; his neck was gripped.
Vise-like force choked him.
His body lifted into the air.
'Is this it...'
"Guhk... Hek..."
His legs kicked futilely.
Oxygen cut off, his vision flashed white.
Limp limbs dangled.
The troll licked its lips and opened its maw.
Foul saliva dripped between yellowed teeth.
No strength left in his dangling limbs.
'Is this how it ends? Have I protected nothing in the end? Ji-yu... I'm sorry.'
"Daddyyy-!! Nooo!!!"
That was when it happened.
Amid the hellish din, a clear scream pierced his ears.
Min-seok's fading eyes snapped open.
His gaze instinctively sought the source.
Sixth floor of the hospital. Through the shattered window, a girl clung to the frame, wailing.
IV line tangled, she pounded the window, sobbing.
Watching her dad seized by a monster, about to die.
"Ji... yu..."
Min-seok's lips moved.
No. He couldn't let her see her dad die.
He promised to protect her.
Tears welled. No.
If he died, that thing would go for his daughter. Tear her apart.
'No. Absolutely not.'
But his body wouldn't obey.
Consciousness faded, heartbeat weakened.
The moment death's shadow fully enveloped him.
"Snap out of it, Choi Min-seok!!!"
A thunderous shout slammed his eardrums.
Thwack-!
Something flew in, smashing the troll's forearm.
A fire extinguisher thrown by Siwoo.
White powder exploded, blinding the troll.
Caught off guard, it flinched and loosened its grip.
"Kreurk?"
The troll staggered sideways.
Thud.
Min-seok's body hit the floor.
He coughed violently, hacking.
"Cough! Cough!"
Through hazy vision, someone rushing toward him appeared.
A familiar man stood there.
But utterly changed.
His usually neatly combed hair was messy over his forehead, tie loosened, drenched in sweat.
He glared at Min-seok, breathing raggedly.
Gone was the impassive, cool face.
For the first time, fierce anger burned on his features.
Siwoo grabbed the fallen Min-seok's collar and hauled him up.
"You giving up here? Gonna let them take Ji-yu?!"
The shout struck Min-seok's ears like thunder.
His dying eyes shook. Siwoo pointed to the sixth-floor window.
"Ji-yu's watching! You gonna show her nothing but ugliness to the end?!"
Min-seok looked up.
Through the window, Ji-yu's tear-streaked face. Memories flashed by.
His daughter groaning in pain.
Himself weeping, unable to do anything.
And... her bright smile in the hospital room: "My dad's a hero."
'No.'
Deep in his chest, something hot stirred.
Rage, sorrow, immense love.
'My daughter... not Ji-yu...'
"Then get up!! Get up and protect her!"
Siwoo's near-scream.
Min-seok's heart pounded wildly.
Thud! Thud! Thud!
Not mere heartbeat.
A knock on his soul.
The sound of dormant power awakening.
'I protect.'
Min-seok's hand pressed the floor.
Nails broke, blood flowed, but he felt nothing.
'I... protect.'
He staggered to his feet.
Body screaming in agony, but his eyes blazed like a beast's.
Dragging his bloodied form, he advanced on the troll again.
Siwoo clenched his fists, watching.
System messages flashed madly before his eyes.
⚙ SYSTEM NOTIFICATION ⚙ [Warning: Target's emotional level has broken through the critical point.] [Re-awakening conditions being met... 98%... 99%...] "Kraaargh!"
The troll raged at Siwoo, who attacked it, and Min-seok, who rose again.
It roared and raised its massive bone club high.
Poised to smash them flat.
If that hit, Siwoo, Min-seok, and the hospital behind were done.
Min-seok staggered forward, blocking Siwoo's path.
"Can't... pass..."
Back to the hospital with his daughter, arms spread wide.
Blood-soaked shirt, crushed shoulder.
The father's back was small and pathetic, yet in that moment, vaster than any fortress wall.
Whoosh-!
The troll's club tore the air toward Min-seok's crown.
An unavoidable trajectory.
KABOOM-!
A deafening explosion ruptured eardrums.
The entire courtyard shook, dust storming upward.
Windows shattered, shards flying everywhere.
"Nooooo!!!!"
Ji-yu screamed, voice tearing.
All who watched from windows, unable to evacuate, held their breath.
Sssshhh-
Through the thick dust, radiant golden light began to seep.
Like dawn piercing darkness, it grew blinding, dispersing the dust.
Humm- Hummm-
With mystical resonance, brilliant golden light bloomed.
Golden mana dominated the space, shielding before Min-seok.
The troll's club halted in mid-air against the mana barrier. It couldn't touch.
Behind the golden light, Min-seok raised his head, glaring at the troll.
From his wounded body, golden aura rose like heat haze.