Chapter 592: Her Decision (1)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 592: Her Decision (1)
He and she were different.
Different in every way, from one to ten.
He was a dirt-spoon, abandoned by his parents at birth, who grew up never knowing what abundance was.
She was a golden-spoon, born into a wealthy family and showered with love, who lived a life far from hardship.
A warrior and a mage.
A struggle for survival versus experiments conducted solely to satisfy her own curiosity.
A man who was always alone and a woman who was always surrounded by people.
A man and a woman, so utterly different, became teammates on a fierce battlefield where life and death shifted in an instant.
The result was obvious.
-“Hey, you crazy bitch! Are you trying to get the whole party killed?! What kind of lunatic uses that kind of magic at that timing!”
-“To wipe out the monsters in one go, that much firepower and time was…!”
-“Oh, here we go again, the classic fucking mage trait. Are you under some spell that makes your head explode if you don’t wipe them all out at once? Every damn mage I meet is always going on about ‘wiping them out in one go.’ What a load of bullshit.”
-“You…!”
-“This is a place where two or three people can die in a single second, you stupid bitch. While you’re wasting time on your mage pride, the front line protecting you is getting wiped out.”
Her mind went blank, hearing such harsh profanity and scathing criticism for the first time in her life.
A stubborn streak flared up.
She was angry, even though she knew he was right.
It was surely because of the smug look on his face.
-“Sigh, right. What sin is it of yours? The real villains are the assholes who follow a mage like you around, never pointing out your mistakes and just kissing your ass.”
His sweeping provocation made all those who had partied with her a few times bristle.
-“What the hell are you talking about…!”
-“How dare you say such a thing?!”
The situation was a hair-trigger away from exploding.
But no blood was shed.
-“What, you fuckers? If you’ve got a problem, let’s settle it in the dungeon. I’ll take care of you so quietly no one will ever know.”
Because all those who had stepped forward in anger were crushed by his coarse words and overwhelming aura, forcing them to back down.
For her, it was a moment of realization, along with her anger.
She understood that, in fact, none of the people she had been with had ever pointed out her flaws.
That even though she hadn't wanted it, she had been acting like a queen bee, and was seen as one.
She hadn't known until then.
She had lived a life accustomed to being taken care of and put on a pedestal.
To her, the man was a breath of fresh air, a shock to her system.
-“It was disgusting working with you. Let’s never see each other again.”
No one had ever shown her such scathing criticism and naked disgust.
At the same time, a sense of defiance sparked within her.
A determination to fill that man’s foul mouth with nothing but praise for her.
And so it began.
The long, fateful connection between the two of them.
-“Oh my, we’re in the same party again?”
-“No, fucking… what the…”
They were terribly intertwined.
-“Looks like we’re in the same party this time, too.”
-“…Are you serious?”
They were intertwined to the point of exhaustion.
-“How was that, this time?”
-“…You’re not expecting praise for acting normal just once, are you?”
-“……”
-“Nah, couldn’t be. No matter how unskilled a mage you are, you can’t be that shameless.”
-“Of… of course not.”
This repeated itself hundreds of times.
One day, the party they belonged to faced a life-or-death crisis. He and she displayed outstanding skill and teamwork, pushing back the shadow of death that had fallen over the party and succeeding in their return.
And on that day.
-“You did well.”
-“……!”
For the first time, she heard praise from him.
It was different from what she had imagined—an incredibly simple and quiet voice, but at the same time, it was so sweet.
And on that day.
-“Say it again.”
-“…Twice is a bit much.”
-“I said I want to hear it one more time.”
-“Ah, I said you did well.”
A new emotion sprouted between them.
*
The love between a man and a woman from two different worlds was not a smooth one.
Doesn't it appear often in dramas?
Quarrels arising from differences in values, or facing fierce opposition from their families.
The two, who had nurtured their love while crossing the line between life and death together, were no exception.
After fighting, making up, and loving, they became certain.
They would be happy to spend the rest of their lives with this person.
No, they wanted to.
But it wasn't easy.
-“I’m against it.”
-“Absolutely not!”
Her parents did not approve of him.
They said that no matter how much money he had made as a Hunter, his roots wouldn't just disappear.
They pointed to his orphan origins, hurting him and tormenting her.
-“I’m so sorry.”
-“No. It’s not your fault. And it’s not like they’re wrong, are they?”
She felt sorry.
As if she had negated the life he had lived so arduously, yet so proudly.
She seriously considered it.
Whether she should stop here to keep from hurting him any further.
Then, in the midst of it all.
A major incident occurred in the middle of Seoul, and he, who happened to be nearby, resolved it.
His recognition skyrocketed for preventing massive casualties.
The fact that he was a veteran who had conquered hundreds, even thousands of dungeons became known, earning him the goodwill of all.
An image of a noble hero was thus created.
Her parents, recognizing its value, quickly changed their tune and permitted their marriage.
He, who had become the son-in-law of a chaebol family, immediately became the model for the company her parents ran.
And as his fame grew, the company's image rose along with it.
The more it did, the more the tone and gaze of her parents, who had once not even treated him like a human being, changed.
-“Welcome, Son-in-law Son.”
-“Hoho, I heard you did something great again? Come on in, you must be hungry.”
That was when he realized.
That for this family to be at peace, he couldn't let go of the image he'd stumbled into.
No, he had to climb even higher.
It was at this moment.
The starting point of Son Si-woo, the noble hero and guardian this country would never see again.
The man who would later be called the National Hunter.
Once he made up his mind, he moved like a storm, swiftly surpassing the existing heroes.
To do this, he sometimes had to take on jobs others avoided and overcame numerous brushes with death.
Each time, she would hold the hand of his unconscious, collapsed form and whisper.
-“I’m sorry…”
Every time he climbed higher, she felt the immense love he had for her.
At the same time, her sense of indebtedness toward him, for sacrificing himself for her, also grew.
And so, time passed.
They had a beautiful daughter, suffered hardships because of that daughter, and overcame them.
Their love did not crumble.
With every crisis and trial, it only grew more solid, more resilient.
As certain as she was that even if everything else changed, their love would not.
At the same time, a small seed of anxiety that had taken root in her heart began to sprout.
‘How long can we be happy like this?’
She became afraid.
Of a future that had not yet come.
Of the terrible end her husband, who lived with scars both large and small, might one day face.
She asked herself.
‘Can I live without him?’
No.
The answer came quickly.
So she gently suggested it to her husband.
-“Honey, what do you think about resting now? You’ve done enough.”
Rest meant retirement.
She sincerely wanted him to retire.
To take a step back from death and walk with her in the peace he had created.
But he did not accept.
He just smiled bitterly, as if he were truly sorry, as if he had no choice.
-“I really want to retire too, but there are still too many things that only I can do.”
He had, at some point, truly become a righteous person.
No, to her, he looked like a man who had been devoured by the false sense of justice he had created for himself.
She tried to stop him several times, but failed every time.
And then.
An incident occurred that made the anxiety building in her heart explode all at once.
The worst monster wave in Gangnam.
The disaster that appeared at its end, Leviathan.
A being that could devastate its surroundings with a simple twist of its body, the signal for South Korea's destruction.
When everyone was saying this country was finished, scrambling to prepare their escape.
He, Son Si-woo alone, did not step back, but forward.
He faced the disaster with a single sword.
Awakened by his nobility, other Hunters charged forward, disregarding their own lives.
At the end of that desperate, fierce battle, Leviathan fled beyond the rift.
Countless Hunters died for this.
And Son Si-woo had an indelible scar carved into his flesh.
Even so, he did not stop his activities as a Hunter.
It was around then that she came to a conclusion.
That he could no longer stop of his own free will.
That to make him stop, the threats and malice directed at this world had to disappear.
It was right at that moment.
A member of Hexagram approached her.
He made a proposal.
-“Wouldn’t you like to try changing the world?”
It was just when she was beginning to feel disillusioned with this world.
The people who belittled and disparaged her husband, who worked only for peace.
The politicians who had nothing in their heads but issued flawed orders from on high.
It was all their fault.
The reason her husband’s body was so broken.
If only they had been a little more careful.
If only they had realized that the strange signals from all over were a prelude to a monster wave.
The damage wouldn't have been so great, and there would have been no reason for her husband to get hurt.
She thought.
If she couldn't change her husband's mind, she would change the world to make him stop.
She would bring the peace he desired and place it right before his eyes.
Even if she had to burn her very being to do it.
So she said to the agent who came to recruit her.
-“If you want to bring me in, then first show me you have the power to do so.”
They showed her.
A fraction of the power they had built.
With that alone, she felt a thrill and saw a possibility.
So she decided.
For her husband.
And for her daughter, who had begun to walk a path of thorns, following in her father’s footsteps.
She would burn her own body to let them live in eternal peace.
-“…Let’s give it a try.”
Her joining hands with Hexagram was solely for his sake.