A Mirror Reflecting the Past
Rumble—
In an instant, the debris pinning people down was lifted clear. Nearby civilians burst into cheers and rushed in to pull the injured free.
The survival rate was higher than expected.
Most of the collapses had been upper floors or ceilings giving way, and every survivor had been found crouched against a wall, sheltering from the rubble. As it turned out, each building had reinforcement built into certain walls. Whether because of Gate Breaks or something else, civilian evacuation protocols were far more thorough than they had been in my previous life.
People outside actually died more than the ones inside.
With the unconscious grandmother as the last of them, I finished locating every survivor in the area.
"Mother! Oh, Mother!"
"Thank you! Thank you so much, Hunter!"
Even so, some people had not made it. Voices calling out names — some in relief, some in grief — tangled together in the air.
I found myself pursing my lips for a moment.
Those bereaved families and their wailing are keeping the survivors from smiling.
"...Get a grip, you psycho!"
People died — of course they should grieve. What kind of person gets annoyed about that?
I slapped both cheeks hard. Smack, smack!
What if Kang Jiye or Yena had been lying there among the dead? I would have been furious enough to use Joker — and I never would have come back to normal.
No. Starting today, I'm working on my empathy.
This was all the monster's psychopathic thinking bleeding into me. Just as Eldrisa had changed, I needed to train myself so I wouldn't lose my basic human feelings.
Of course, the priority was still saving lives, so I moved on to the next site. And if the mourning really bothered me that much, the better solution was to make sure no one died in the first place.
"Ah, finally."
Police cars and 119 rescue teams were starting to appear. They were straining to lift debris with low-level telekinesis spells, so I hoisted everything for them in one go.
"Heave!"
Rumble—
But the moment the rubble cleared, a precarious wall began to tip. It was about to crush the injured, and I scrambled to cast another spell to hold it in place.
While I kept the wall steady, the rescue workers moved in fast and pulled the casualties free.
...I'd almost become a murderer.
"Oh, thank you so much, Hunter."
A middle-aged rescue worker jogged over, pulling off his hard hat. Even in the dead of winter, sweat poured down his face. I shook his hand lightly and asked,
"Um, are you short on people? The rescue work seems to be going pretty slowly."
The worker let out a heavy sigh.
"Our vehicles and equipment warehouse got hit in the terrorist attack, so we're making do with magic. And we've got a lot of injured of our own, so everything's delayed."
"Civilians?"
"Our own people."
"Ah…"
They really went all out harvesting Mental Power, didn't they. Killing ordinary civilians wouldn't have been worth a drop of it.
"Would it be all right if I helped with the rescue work?"
"Oh, if you would, we'd be a hundred times grateful."
Given the situation, I was put to work immediately. There were already plenty of cooperating Hunters, so things were a bit chaotic, but a firefighter directed everyone with practiced ease.
It would be nice if Auntie were here too.
For the record, Kang Jiye was a cult target and couldn't move freely. Any travel required armed escorts, which would only waste more manpower.
The cost would outweigh the benefit.
So I decided to work hard on my own. Sure, I was a target too — but if they came for me, I'd just kill them all, so it was fine.
"Over here! Two kids!"
About thirty minutes had passed when a young volunteer shouted.
Everyone else was already occupied, so I had no choice but to go myself.
"Step aside."
But I'd already burned through every useful card I had, so I had to lift the debris by hand. When I cleared the concrete wall that had been sitting like a lid over the rubble heap… two young siblings came into view.
A boy of about ten, gasping for breath in short, shallow pants, and a little girl Yena's age, crying in his arms.
In that moment, my body locked up.
"Uh…?"
"I'll get them out."
The young man pushed past me and lifted the girl free. A female rescue worker who had come running from somewhere took the boy — and below both his knees, there was nothing left.
The worker laid him flat and checked his condition at once.
"Hey, open your eyes! Can you talk? Stretcher, now!"
The boy worked his mouth for a moment, but within seconds his eyes began to close. His labored breathing faded rapidly, and with one long exhale, his chest slowly settled.
His final gaze rested on his little sister as she was carried away… and somehow, there was a strange peace in those eyes.
"……"
The female worker stared blankly down at the still child, then silently shook her head at the team arriving with the stretcher.
I watched, motionless, as a white sheet settled over the boy's body.
I was shaken.
I had seen dozens of corpses by now and felt nothing — so why were my eyes stinging like this? Why now, of all times?
Oppa.
What.
I'm sorry. For getting mad that you wouldn't help me.
Ah, drop it. What's with the sudden apology.
Of all things.
Why did it have to be siblings.
Why force the comparison on me now. What did I do wrong.
This little boy made a sacrifice like it was the most natural thing in the world — and I couldn't?
Everything I touch turns to ruin. Incompetent, a coward, and all I ever do is get angry?
A single tear slipped down my cheek.
"Ah, what the hell are you crying for, you freeloader."
I scrubbed furiously at both eyes. The people who actually had a right to cry were somewhere else entirely.
Nothing is more disgusting than crying over your own mistakes.
But once the tears started, they wouldn't stop. No matter how many times I wiped them away, they kept sliding down my face, stubborn and annoying.
What kind of disaster was this, all of a sudden.
The harder I tried to erase them, the sharper the memories became. The days I'd laughed with him when he was still alive played out like film reels against my will, and a deep, aching longing clenched tight around my chest.
"Ah, stop replaying it, please."
What was I even doing here. It was already over — thinking about it only hurt me. So why come to a disaster site like this.
I should have just smiled the way I usually do and spread a little happiness to people. Idiot.
"I'm sorry. I'm sorry…"
Even so, I could only hang my head and clutch at my hair. If I didn't force the apology out somehow, I felt like I would lose my mind.
The knot lodged inside me squeezed my chest until I could barely breathe — like something was stuck in my throat, and I couldn't draw a proper breath.
Why did you have to show up in front of me, my friend.
It makes the comparison inevitable. You were just a kid. You should have been crying and looking for your mom. Why die saving your little sister with that look of relief on your face.
Why couldn't I have had courage like this child?
No — what if I'd just taken his hand and run somewhere, anywhere. I was scared of the kids who bullied you too. So maybe we should have just built a cabin in the wild and lived there together, the two of us.
"I'm sorry…"
At least give me a chance to apologize. Even if you were going to die, at least warn me. Tell me you wanted to die because of me, Oppa.
"…I'm sorry."
"So you do know."
"…!"
Suddenly a large hand pressed down on my head. I looked up to find a familiar face staring down at me with an expression of pure disbelief.
Kim Seojun crouched down and flicked my forehead lightly.
"I was wondering what was taking you so long. Was sending one text message really that hard?"
I stared at him blankly, then confessed my true nature.
"I guess it's because I'm a piece of trash. Sorry for controlling you like that, trash that I am."
"……"
The people around us burst out laughing. My vision had been too blurry to notice, but apparently Kim Seojun's crew had come with him.
Even Kim Seojun let out a short, incredulous breath.
"Who's controlling who?"
"Me. Controlling you."
"I don't get controlled. If anyone got controlled, it was you."
"I see. Anyway, I'm trash."
"What the hell have you been going on about?"
"Just that I'm trash. Agree already."
Kim Seojun glanced once at his companions, then answered with a look of utter confusion.
"…Fine, I agree. You're trash. Happy?"
"Yeah…"
Kim Seojun was the kind of guy who called people trash. Normally, if someone was crying like this, he wouldn't say something that stupid.
I was about to start crying again from pure misery when this absolute bastard delivered the finishing blow.
"Trash or not — you still put in the effort, didn't you."
"…?"
Kim Seojun gripped my chin with one hand and turned my head to the right.
"Stop staring at just this. Look over there. Whatever you really are — look how many people are alive because of you. It's tragic that the kid died, but that doesn't mean you get to collapse like this. Even a god couldn't stop every single death."
"What if they died because of me?"
"Offering a prayer for them is enough. That's the proper attitude for a Hunter. In this world, that's the right answer."
I nodded slowly.
"I see… But I haven't graduated from the Academy yet. I'm not a Hunter, so I guess I can't even offer a prayer."
"Obviously students get conscripted as Hunters in wartime. Stop saying stupid things. Quit getting in people's way and get up already."
Kim Seojun held out his hand.
Maybe it was because I was face-to-face with the protagonist I'd once played as, but I suddenly felt like I was having an out-of-body experience. It was strange.
I'd been bawling my eyes out just seconds ago. Maybe I didn't have a mental illness after all — maybe it was just ADHD?
"Ah… I used too much mana."
"Hm?"
The moment I tried to stand, the world spun. Kim Seojun reflexively grabbed the back of my collar and hauled me up before I could fall.
"Completely drained. You should've taken better care of yourself while you were at it. Anyway, get some sleep. You did well."
Being hoisted onto Kim Seojun's back was the last thing I registered before my vision blacked out.