Chapter 26 Golden Sun's End, And Then
Golden Sun's Last Moments, And
Chapter 27
The rooftop door hung crooked on its hinges, its lock torn free.
Kang Yu-seong hesitated at the top of the stairs, still short of breath, then pushed the door open. A cold wind struck his face, along with that same inexplicable fear.
Beyond the railing, the ruined city stretched beneath a dark sky. Yu-seong froze at what he saw.
Flames rose from districts across Seoul. Zombies surged through the streets amid fleeing crowds, and above the devastation loomed the enormous Tower.
Park Si-hyun stood between Yu-seong and the Tower, his back turned.
Yu-seong advanced a step and tried to sound casual.
"You know, I don't think we've ever hung out together this late before."
Si-hyun didn't turn around.
"I doubt we'll get another chance."
Yu-seong looked out over the ruined city and forced a laugh.
"Quit messing around. Give me my phone, you little shit."
"Sure. You can have it."
Yu-seong held out his hand with a smirk, but Si-hyun spoke again.
"First, answer one question."
Si-hyun raised the phone. Its screen was already unlocked.
Yu-seong went rigid.
"How long have you been doing this?"
The smartphone Park Si-hyun held out was filled with videos of naked women. There were videos of Kang Yu-seong raping women he had gotten drunk and left passed out, the sexual assaults committed while they were drugged, gang rapes involving several men, and women who, unable to withstand threats that their photos would be spread, had been forced to offer up their bodies every day.
Even upskirt photos of Kang So-eun and Park Se-eun were there. Kang Yu-seong's smartphone held the most private, shameful secrets of countless women.
"..."
Shock crossed Yu-seong's face. He recovered quickly, studying Si-hyun's expression for a way out.
'How the hell did he unlock it? Damn it. Picking a fight with him now would be stupid.'
Si-hyun's face was composed. He looked faintly disgusted, but not openly furious.
'Ha. Of course. He hasn't even told So-eun. He's probably going to lecture me like some concerned friend.'
An apology would be enough, Yu-seong decided. Si-hyun always caved in the end; he wouldn't have the nerve to push this any further.
Yu-seong twisted his face into a remorseful expression and dropped to his knees.
"I-I'm sorry. I made a terrible mistake... I didn't want any of this, but someone had something on me. They made me do it. I'll apologize to the girls, I swear. Just... please don't tell Hye-na. Please."
If that phone's contents spread, the survivors would cast him out. He had to look convincing.
"I only realized after all this... how badly I've..."
"It's fine."
Si-hyun tossed the phone. It landed against Yu-seong's knee.
Yu-seong couldn't help smiling.
'Knew it. He's such a pushover.'
Then the smile died.
"You don't regret any of it, do you?"
Yu-seong reached for the phone—and froze.
Bang!
A gunshot tore through the air. Pain erupted in Yu-seong's thigh as a bullet punched through it.
"Huh...?"
Yu-seong stared at Si-hyun in disbelief.
"Then there's nothing left for us to discuss."
Si-hyun held an automatic pistol in his right hand—the weapon he'd retrieved from the dean's office after reading the fifth floor's layout.
He leveled the barrel at Yu-seong's other leg.
Bang!
The second shot pierced Yu-seong's remaining thigh.
"Aaaaaaaaagh!!"
Yu-seong screamed and collapsed, clutching at his bleeding legs.
Si-hyun watched without flinching.
"Y-you... you motherfucker...!!!"
Pain and rage tore through Yu-seong. He could think of nothing but hurting the man who'd shot him.
"Sh-shi... shiiit...?"
But something about Si-hyun's expression unnerved him more than the gun.
'What the hell? Is this really the Si-hyun I know?'
He swallowed his rage and tried a different tactic: guilt.
"Fuck... How could you do this to me? To your own friend?!"
"We're not friends."
"......?"
Kang Yu-seong froze.
"You never saw me as a person. I was someone to exploit, someone you could use to get close to the women around me. You were never my friend."
Yu-seong's mouth worked soundlessly. He needed to say something—anything.
Before he could, he caught the anger burning behind Si-hyun's otherwise controlled expression.
But he couldn't let Si-hyun's accusation stand.
"Bullshit! You're shooting me over some delusion? Have you lost your mind?!"
His protest died when he met Si-hyun's eyes. It was the same cold stare Si-hyun had worn while slaughtering the zombies. Now it was fixed on him.
"..."
What could he possibly say to make Si-hyun let him go?
'If I can't talk him out of it, I have to make him believe I'm sorry.'
Yu-seong pressed his forehead to the rooftop.
"I'm sorry... I was wrong. I'll delete everything, I swear..."
Si-hyun listened without a flicker of sympathy. When Yu-seong finally faltered, he gave a bitter smile.
"Friend..."
Yu-seong clenched his teeth at the flatness of that single word.
"If an apology could fix everything, the world would be a peaceful place. People have found reasons to justify killing in self-defense, but..."
Si-hyun's gaze hardened.
"But rape has never once been forgiven."
He ground the phone beneath his heel and brought the gun up again.
"Prison is too good for you, you fucking bastard."
『Strips away all air except 「Oxygen」.』
The air around Yu-seong changed as every gas except oxygen was stripped away. The suddenly oxygen-rich space turned dangerously volatile.
"!"
As Yu-seong gasped in the altered atmosphere, Si-hyun fired.
Fwump!
The shot ignited the oxygen-rich air, and flames swallowed Yu-seong. Si-hyun kept firing.
Bang. Bang. Bang.
Every bullet struck its mark.
"Guh-guh-guh-gak...!?"
Yu-seong writhed amid the flames and gunshot wounds.
His screams filled the rooftop. Si-hyun didn't turn away.
He felt no pity.
The women Yu-seong had hurt were still suffering. Some would carry those wounds for the rest of their lives.
Crackle-crackle.
Perhaps his awakened body was the reason.
"Guuuh...!"
Yu-seong refused to die. Even as he burned, he managed to glare at Si-hyun.
"P-park... Si-hyun...!"
Si-hyun's lips curled into a thin smile.
"Oh, and. Your 「Copulate」. It was insane. Kang So-eun really loved it."
"!"
Si-hyun took aim at Yu-seong one last time.
"Y-you..."
"Goodbye. I don't leave loose ends."
He pulled the trigger. The final shot echoed into the night, swallowing Yu-seong's last cry.
Yu-seong's burning head dropped.
That was the end of him.
The man responsible for so much suffering in the Tower was dead.
#
『Took 「Strength 1」, 「Agility 1」, 「Stamina 1」, and 「Mana 1」 from Kang Yu-seong.』
Yu-seong's remains crumbled into ash and blew away. Without a forensic investigation, no one would find a trace of what had happened here.
"..."
It was over, but I felt no lighter. I couldn't pretend there was no guilt at all.
Even so, I believed Yu-seong deserved to die. I hadn't hesitated when it mattered.
'Repent in hell. Maybe I'll end up there myself. If I do, save me a seat. Maybe we can finally be friends down there.'
To others, we might have looked like friends. In truth, neither of us had ever understood what friendship meant to the other.
Would I have spared him if he'd been a better person? I couldn't say.
I forced the question aside and walked to the rooftop's edge. There was no time to dwell on it.
-Kkarrrrr!
Zombies clambered over each other as they scaled the building.
Yu Yeon's barrier still held around the second floor, but the mass of bodies had climbed nearly to the third.
"Seriously? Where's the dating sim in any of this? You've got to be kidding me."
Every building seemed to be under siege. Flashes of light pushed zombies back in some places; elsewhere, luminous barriers held them at bay.
I swept my gaze across the campus, trying to gauge the scale of the swarm.
'I can't break through all of them alone. I have to reach Se-eun...'
I was still staring at the sea of zombies when a notification appeared.
『A powerful threat is approaching this way.』
『The time limit has 9 seconds remaining.』
The warning was still there, even though I'd failed the 「Seize」 Plunder Quest. I'd almost forgotten about it.
'Park Ha-rin...'
A monster far stronger than anything else the Tower could throw at us.
A woman whose beauty was matched only by how terrifying she was.
'That's just my guess, though...'
『The time limit has 3 seconds remaining.』
I searched the surrounding rooftops for any sign of Park Ha-rin.
But.
『The time limit has 0 seconds remaining.』
The countdown had reached zero.
And yet—
『The time limit has 0 seconds remaining.』
The same notice appeared again. The timer remained stubbornly at zero.
"?"
I looked around, unable to make sense of it.
That was when I heard it.
Wooooong!
"Ugh?!"
The air seemed to thicken. High above us, the Tower began to glow violet.
"Huh?"
Then the light erupted.
A brilliant ring radiated from the Tower, washing Seoul in an instant of unnatural brightness. Three meteor-like beams split away from it and streaked across the sky.
Three beams, heading in different directions.
One was coming straight toward me—faster than I could follow.
There was no time to defend myself.
Paaaang!
I barely managed to lift a foot before—
The light was already overhead, flooding the rooftop with an unbearable glare.
Then—
"!"
The rooftop exploded beneath me.
#
"Ughhh..."
When I came to, blood was trickling across my right eye. My head throbbed, and I couldn't remember what had hit me.
"Ugh... What happened?"
I forced myself to look around.
The sight stopped me cold.
A huge hole had been blasted through the building, from the rooftop down to the first floor.
People stared down at me through the opening, their faces stricken.
Only then did I realize where I'd landed: the first floor.
A sharp clattering sound interrupted me.
Ttudududuk.
Bones clicked somewhere beyond the settling dust, and every muscle in my body tensed.
"Ahh~ I thought this was supposed to be a special event. Instead, you just throw people around? Where are your manners? Seriously."
The newcomer had crashed through to the first floor. Now she rolled her neck as she stood amid the debris.
A figure stepped out of the dust.
Her pink hair was divided into three trailing sections. Indigo skin and pointed ears marked her as anything but human.
Her features were unremarkable, but the vicious expression she wore was unforgettable.
A tank top. Short shorts.
Her eyes darted around the room, whites showing above, below, and to either side of her irises.
I recognized her at once.
One of the Tower's front-line fighters—a lunatic who should have been up on the fifth floor.
"Aha!? Humans, huh!?"
Do Ro-rang. A half-dark elf and indiscriminate killer.
"Nice to meet you?"
A woman who despised humans had just arrived on Earth.
『The time limit has 0 seconds remaining.』