Chapter 279: Aspiration (2)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 279: Aspiration (2)
Han Ju-yeon was a trustworthy person.
However, the basis for this judgment was entirely rooted in my memories as Son Si-woo.
Back then, we were bound by the ties of family, which allowed for unconditional trust. But things were different now.
Although she showed me a kind of blind affection, we were, in the end, strangers.
Even blood relatives fight amongst themselves; how much more so for strangers?
So, just how much could I trust her?
I was about to ask a question to gauge the answer.
“Everything.”
Before I could even ask, she answered in a small but intense voice.
Her eyes were sincere, without a trace of deceit.
Of course, I’m no lie detector, and it’s not like I can see through a person 100% of the time.
But the look in her eyes right now seemed to go beyond truthfulness; it was almost desperate.
“I must seem a little strange to you. Right?”
“…”
Ju-yeon smiled wistfully, seeming to peer right into my thoughts.
She was right.
I did find her baffling at times.
Why had she shown such strong affection for me from the moment we first met on the Korea University campus?
And why did she sometimes give off the impression that she knew me well?
Whenever these doubts I couldn't resolve on my own arose, another thought would even cross my mind.
Could she know that I’m Son Si-woo?
But that wasn’t a clear answer either.
If she knew I was her brother-in-law, she wouldn’t have been so blatant in her romantic advances.
“But, Do-jin.”
“Yes.”
“There’s no grand reason for my actions, other than the fact that I like you.”
“…”
Han Ju-yeon gave a self-deprecating smile.
“I won’t ask you to understand my feelings right away. But… please, just believe this.”
Placing a hand on my shoulder, she continued in an earnest tone.
“I will never do anything you hate or don’t want me to do.”
So please, trust me, she pleaded.
“…”
My questions weren’t answered.
If anything, more had piled up.
Is it even possible to build such heavy affection after only a few meetings?
At the same time, I was certain.
“I’ll trust you.”
Separate from my growing questions, I had a conviction that she would never betray me or do anything to harm me.
Seeing her let out a sigh of relief made my conscience prickle slightly.
“Um… I did trust you, you know? But like I said, the people who came with us are so suspicious that I couldn’t help but consider the one-in-a-million chance…”
What am I even saying?
She smiled softly at my rambling.
“Yes, I can tell you feel sorry.”
“…Glad you know.”
“But if ‘sorry’ was enough to solve everything, why would we need police or laws?”
That sounded like she wasn’t just going to let it go. Am I hearing this right?
While I was still looking bewildered, Han Ju-yeon opened her arms.
“Hug me. Then I’ll forgive you.”
“…”
What are you going to do if I don’t, you punk?
…I thought, but I dutifully walked over and gave her a hug.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
After a rather complicated verification process, Ju-yeon and I stopped our search.
And then.
“Multiple zombies, 100 meters ahead.”
Under my lead, we began to slaughter the nearby zombies and grotesque creatures.
「Phoenix.」
A single bird made of crimson flames, endlessly burning, powered by my mana.
It was the fire version of Bing-dak-i, which I had showcased inside the Kraken.
So I gave it a similar name.
“Buldak, there’s a whole bunch more to burn over there.”
-Screeeech!
The creature flapped its blazing wings violently, showing its rebellious side.
Did it hate the name Buldak that much?
Well, too bad.
How could I change a name once it’s been given?
After throwing a tantrum, the bird eventually tired itself out and flew weakly in the direction I pointed.
And then.
-Screeeaaak!
Fwoosh!
What’s that saying? Getting slapped in one place and taking it out somewhere else.
That’s exactly what Buldak was doing now.
Since it couldn’t defy me, its creator, it was taking out its frustration on the zombies.
Guwoooock!
The zombies shrieked as they were reduced to ashes in the flames.
“You’re wasting too much mana, Buldak.”
-Chirp…
Grumbling, the creature began to reduce the size of the rising flames.
“A little more, that’s right. That’s a good level.”
Once the firepower was limited, the mana consumption finally decreased.
Buldak was a flame in the shape of a bird.
Perhaps because of that, its mana efficiency when using fire was exceptionally high.
Thanks to that, even when it went around burning things to its heart’s content, the mana drain wasn’t too burdensome. Still, I had to conserve mana, not knowing what might happen.
“This is really amazing…”
Ju-yeon, standing next to me, marveled at Buldak acting with its own free will.
To be honest, I found it amazing too.
I had created it, but I had no idea what the principle behind it was.
A being made of mere mana was acting with a will of its own, however limited.
If Han Ju-hee had seen this instead of Han Ju-yeon, she probably would have lost her mind.
“Looks like that’s all of them. Let’s start looking again.”
“Okay.”
Killing zombies was Buldak’s job, which was sustained by my mana.
Our job was something else.
“Ah, I found one!”
It was to find torn notes or journals amidst the ash covering the ground.
What she brought over was a note, folded into a crumpled, palm-sized square.
It was clearly aged, so I unfolded it carefully. The page was filled with dense handwriting.
【XXXX, Month X, Day X. Weather: Cloudy.】
【On my way to a distant supermarket to find food, I ran into a turncoat.】
【A traitor to humanity, the Sword Demon, who turned his back on the world faster than anyone instead of saving it.】
【I thought I was a dead man, but he just walked past me.】
【Was it because he already considered me as good as dead?】
【Shamelessly, I shouted at him.】
【I don’t remember the details, but… I think I demanded to know what whim had possessed a traitor to humanity, who loved cutting down humans more than anyone, to simply pass one by.】
【That’s when he spoke.】
【He said he’d already eaten his fill.】
【A chilling feeling made me turn my head… and there, what looked to be at least a hundred people lay dead, all of them slaughtered with countless sword wounds.】
【I lived thanks to them.】
【I was inadvertently relieved.】
“The Sword Demon…”
I murmured the name written on the note and looked around.
The ruins of a building, with only pillars remaining.
In the past, this must have been the writer’s hideout or a temporary shelter.
If so, there were three keywords to be gained from this.
‘A distant supermarket,’ ‘a pile of over a hundred corpses,’ and ‘Sword Demon.’
The problem was, I had no way of knowing if this Sword Demon was a Seeker or simply a boss of this area…
Separate from that, a small spark of competitiveness ignited within me.
Just how skilled with a sword was he to be called the Sword Demon?
Meanwhile, Ju-yeon, who had been reading the note with me, asked.
“What on earth is written on this note?”
“…?”
What was she talking about all of a sudden?
The handwriting was a bit messy, but there was no way she couldn’t read the words written so clearly in Korean… huh?
Wait, could it be… that it only looks like Korean to my eyes?
“Ju-yeon.”
“Hm?”
“Could you try copying the letters you see on this note onto the ground?”
“Uh… just a second.”
Ju-yeon picked up one of the countless stones scattered on the ground and began to move.
The characters she wrote were in a language I had never seen before, its origins completely unknown.
I asked her again.
“So… to you, all the letters on the note look like this.”
“Yeah… They don’t to you?”
Should I tell her the truth or just brush it off?
After a moment of hesitation, I spoke.
“To me, they don’t look like the strange characters you wrote on the ground. They look like Korean.”
“Huh… really?”
She looked at me, half-doubting, so I relayed the contents of the note to her. Only then did she seem to understand.
“I guess it must be true.”
Perhaps this was some kind of mechanism.
A sort of security system, accessible only to the 504 people with the ‘One with Aptitude’ trait.
Otherwise, there was no explanation for why only I could read it.
I quickly changed the subject.
“For now, let’s continue our search based on what’s written here.”
If she started grilling me about why only I could see it, it would take too long whether I told the truth or made up an excuse. For now, I had to redirect the conversation.
“Ah, right. It said a distant supermarket, didn’t it…?”
“Yes. It’s probably gone or only faintly remaining, so we’ll have to look carefully.”
“Okay, got it.”
As we moved slowly through the city, carefully scanning our surroundings, I fell into thought.
This was an apocalyptic world.
The person who went out for food surely had only their own two feet for transportation.
If all the nearby supermarkets were empty and they had to rely on one far away…
Just how far would they have gone?
An hour, or maybe two?
If not that… then half a day?
“Haaa… this is tricky.”
I had obtained some pretty solid keywords, but it wasn’t enough.
I’ve been to a place similar to this before, and I know the scale is no joke.
Trying to find a single supermarket without even knowing the direction was a truly inefficient endeavor.
“This won’t work. For now, let’s hunt some more monsters and then…”
I was about to finish my sentence, suggesting we continue the search later, when I felt a presence nearby.
Dozens, no, hundreds of pairs of hostile eyes watching from all directions.
In front, behind, and to both sides.
Zombies were rushing toward us at a ferocious speed from every direction.
Kraaaaaa!
It seemed we were surrounded.