Chapter 87
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Translator: True Detective
Chapter: 86
Chapter Title: The Trolley Doesn't Stop
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The Fixer who descended to the first floor successfully rescued the people.
The bodies of professors who were already beyond saving were carefully placed in a corner of the corridor to prevent further desecration, while the students who had lost their minds were tied to chairs under watch to keep them from moving.
"Fixer, we've rescued everyone we could..."
"Good job, Yu-rim and the others. Now, lay the injured in empty classrooms and bash any human-faced dogs that come with the tools I gave you. You can all handle that much, right?"
"Yes! Leave it to us. We can hold off human-faced dogs if we pool our HP."
"Perfect. Before I go, repeat the three rules I told you earlier."
The Fixer had the person who seemed especially confident recite the rules he'd shared before coming down to the first floor.
"Rule one! Don't suspect each other! Rule two! If anyone gets overly angry or acts strange, beat them first and tie them up! Rule three! Yu-ha, Ha-yeon, and Yu-rim, no fighting—get along!"
"Good. Perfect. Just follow that, and you're set. Got it? You're all on the same side."
The Fixer had perfectly mastered how to handle people whose memories had been overwritten.
He never denied their sense of self. Until the computer—the direct cause of all this—was shut down or destroyed, they would firmly believe those implanted memories were their own.
He simply used that to turn them all into allies.
With a Charisma stat of 50, it was a breeze.
"From now on, you'll fight the anomalies without me."
"Yes, Fixer. Don't worry and go ahead."
The first floor was now secure. They just had to watch for human-faced dogs coming down from above.
The silver lining was the high number of Judo Department students with Yu-ha's memories.
They were smashing the human-faced dogs reliably, so he could leave with peace of mind.
With that, the Fixer entrusted the first floor to his new allies and called the elevator to take him to the rooftop.
It was finally time to head to the epicenter.
Se-hyeong, Kang Se-yeon's younger brother, who had been fleeing from pursuing human-faced dogs, reached a dead end.
No windows to jump from, no empty classrooms to hide in, not even a bathroom to change floors.
The end of a corridor completely sealed off except for the path behind him.
This was it. What could he do against the horde of human-faced dogs?
He lacked the power to fight those beasts.
One alone might be manageable, but several? No chance.
Even if human-faced dogs were mere Alarm-class anomalies, to Kang Se-hyeong—a near-ordinary person—they were life-threatening monsters.
The dogs rounded the corner of the corridor.
Kang Se-hyeong's face drained of color.
His eyes, swallowed by fear and terror, fixed on the approaching anomalies.
He couldn't see reality clearly and failed to notice that these human-faced dogs' aggression was markedly lower than others.
"Shit..."
Kang Se-hyeong hurled the glass bottle he held at them, but the human-faced dogs didn't retreat.
They pressed forward toward him as if driven by some mission.
No matter how he threatened or attacked, they only wagged their tails more vigorously and barked at him.
"Woof! Woof!"
Drool dripped from the mouths of the dogs with human faces.
They stopped attacking and just barked at him, as if trying to convey a message.
At this point, anyone should notice something was off with the human-faced dogs. But Kang Se-hyeong refused to accept the reality before his eyes to the end.
The anomalies were approaching friendly-like, but he couldn't trust them as they were.
From childhood, Kang Se-hyeong had been taught that anomalies were enemies to be exterminated—pure evil that could never be trusted.
He never even considered anomalies siding with humans. It was common sense for a spirit medium, ingrained in him growing up in such a family.
'What is it? Why aren't they attacking? Trying to scare me? Or pretending to be friendly before killing me?'
What would his sister do in a situation like this?
No, she wouldn't even be in this crisis.
She wouldn't run from mere Alarm-class anomalies.
To the end, Kang Se-hyeong envied his sister Kang Se-yeon's strength.
He wished he had even a fraction of her abilities.
His sister was strong. So strong that admiring her felt burdensome at times.
He was tired of envying her. The weak dying was natural.
They say paradise isn't at the end of flight. It was time to follow his roommate Hyeong-woo.
"Oh my, puppies."
As Kang Se-hyeong sensed death and squeezed his eyes shut, someone approached him.
A bespectacled adult woman, around his sister's age.
Despite the warming weather, her turtleneck knit dress topped with a coat looked stifling and out of place.
"Grrrr..."
The human-faced dogs wagging their tails happily at Kang Se-hyeong went berserk at the sight of the woman, even charging at her as if to protect him.
As if instinctively realizing she wasn't human, the human-faced dogs tamed by Go Yu-rim's mind control tried desperately to shield Se-hyeong, but...
"Oh dear. Dogs that bite people get put down, you know?"
The bespectacled woman smiled sweetly at the charging dogs, then swiftly swung her hand, melting the anomalies alive.
Mold sprouted through their skin. Mushrooms spewing yellow spores bloomed on the half-melted faces.
Having dispatched the anomalies in an instant, she stepped over the human-faced dogs now turned to fertilizer and approached Kang Se-hyeong.
"Student, you're Se-yeon’s little brother, right?"
"Uh... y-yeah... that's me. Who are you...?"
"I'm Yi Hae-ri, the onmyoji now working with Se-yeon. I've been looking for you. Finally found you."
"Onmyoji...? Why would my sister team up with an onmyoji...? And why were you looking for me?"
"Something big's happening across Garam University. As you've felt. The school's in chaos, right?"
"Y-yeah..."
"So, the Lunar Blossom Sect and House of Moss are collaborating big-time. Kang Se-yeon is here at the school right now."
"My sister's here?"
"Yes. She came all this way to save you, Se-hyeong. She's probably on the rooftop now. Want to go meet your sister together?"
Yi Hae-ri asked Kang Se-hyeong.
Wouldn't he like to go see his sister?
She tempted him, saying he'd see the sister he'd longed for on the rooftop.
"If... if my sister's really there... I want to see her."
Kang Se-hyeong's mental strength had already hit rock bottom.
He didn't suspect Yi Hae-ri. Humans were more trustworthy than anomalies, after all.
Above all, he wanted to see his sister right now.
Might seeing her heal his broken spirit? With that hope, he followed Yi Hae-ri to the rooftop.
The real Kang Se-yeon pierced through floors swiftly using her spirit bell.
Most warped spaces required following a set sequence to reach the destination. This was basic knowledge among spirit arts users.
But the spirit bell Se-yeon wielded punched holes in that common sense, forging a path while sealing all other routes.
Believing the Fixer had his own way up, she used the spirit bell to block every other rooftop access.
This way, Go Yu-rim, Jeong Ha-yeon, and Nam Yu-ha wouldn't reach the rooftop easily.
Better that way. They only had implanted memories and egos—their bodies were still the originals'.
If those kids reached the rooftop, they'd hinder more than help.
Snap.
The rooftop, reached in a flash via spirit bell.
Rain poured from the sky.
A massive eye watched the ground.
'That's...'
Kang Se-yeon recognized it as the "Eye of the Sky."
Disaster-class anomaly, Eye of the Sky.
It was surveilling the entire Garam University.
As if searching for something here.
Exposed to the eye, Se-yeon quickly felt her mental strength draining.
'Disaster-class, at least. How the hell did the Fixer exterminate something like that?'
Hiding from the Eye of the Sky, Kang Se-yeon confirmed the culprit behind Garam University's chaos and what the eye sought.
In the rooftop's center sat a battered desk.
Atop it, a computer ran without being plugged in, impervious to the pouring rain, displaying a flickering blue screen.
Seeing the blue screen on the verge of crashing, Se-yeon realized destroying that computer would restore everyone at Garam University.
'Disaster-class in the sky. Two Catastrophe-class on the rooftop, and the remaining ten all Incident-class anomalies. No idea who unleashed them, but they're circling the computer.'
Kang Se-yeon noticed the anomalies orbiting the computer.
No one could approach it; the anomalies patrolled the rooftop, ready to tear intruders apart.
The one mercy: arriving before the others. Now, kill all the anomalies and destroy the computer.
Everything would return to normal.
'Start from the sky.'
Kang Se-yeon hurled her spirit bell at the Eye of the Sky.
A unilateral expulsion ignoring rules or laws.
The spirit within the bell pierced the Eye of the Sky.
Screeeeech-!
The Eye of the Sky shrieked and closed.
The spirit bell, neutralizing a Disaster-class in one blow, was unsummoned. Having expended all its power, Se-yeon vomited blood as payment.
Still, cheaply bought—for driving off a Disaster-class too perilous to even touch.
'Mental strength's razor-thin. But I'll hold.'
Feeling the sky's gaze fully gone, Se-yeon drew her sword from her waist and charged the anomalies.
Slicing through falling rain like an arrow loosed from a bow, she shot forward.
No hesitation or fear. She'd faced countless Catastrophe- and Incident-class before.
"Haaah..."
The anomalies turned toward her with incoherent whimpers.
They tried responding to the spirit arts user's assault, but Se-yeon overwhelmingly outpaced them.
Severing limbs of the Incident-class, relentlessly targeting vitals, she butchered all ten, standing alone before the two Catastrophe-class.
"Dinner... let's eat...!"
The Catastrophe-class patrolling the rooftop.
"Fresh Chef," face punched hollow, belly grotesquely swollen; and "Cooked Glutton," jaw agape, half-charred and starving, swung cleaver and fork at Se-yeon.
Kang Se-yeon had faced both before.
Fresh Chef required heart, brain, liver in sequence to kill.
Cooked Glutton revived unless burned or boiled.
Know the exorcism method, and no anomaly is unbeatable.
"Fresh human! Prep the ingredients!"
Se-yeon parried the charging Fresh Chef's cleaver like batting it away, then grabbed and twisted the sneaking Cooked Glutton's wrist.
In that stance, she snatched the fork stabbing at her right eye and jammed it into the off-balance Fresh Chef's chest.
Heart burst. Now brain and liver in order to exorcise the Chef.
"Ingredients... bucking wild... not fresh..."
Severing the wrist clutching the cleaver, Se-yeon stabbed the Cooked Glutton lunging from behind, filling its belly to seal movement.
Weaponless, she invoked arts, marking the Chef's head...
'Decapitate.'
Splurt!
A massive finger from thin air plucked off the Chef's head like a berry.
Her body spirit briefly manifested, ripping the Catastrophe-class head free. Now slice the belly for the liver.
Se-yeon retrieved the cleaver from the severed hand to finish Fresh Chef.
"Di... dinner! Dinner must... continue..."
"Have your dinner in death."
She slit the Chef's belly in the rain.
Warmly cooked vegetables spilled out.
One Catastrophe-class exorcised.
Fresh Chef died fresh to the end.
"Urgh...! Hu... hungry..."
Se-yeon approached the writhing Cooked Glutton, slapping a talisman from her bosom onto its forehead.
Forcing flame onto the sodden, mushy talisman, the instant it ignited, rainwater around the Glutton evaporated, engulfing it in fire.
The Catastrophe-class burned to ash in seconds.
Despite the rain, she burned it dead.
"Haa..."
Ten Incident-class and two Catastrophe-class massacred by Kang Se-yeon.
Having cleared the rooftop anomalies, she gazed at the Eye of the Sky sealed by her spirit bell and sighed.
Exhausted to the extreme. Good that the spirit bell got her here fast, but she hadn't anticipated a Disaster-class overhead.
'What the hell is going on? Two Disaster-class in one day. Same type.'
Unprecedented: two identical Disaster-class anomalies in a single day.
This meant someone was preemptively terrorizing the Fixer's path.
'Pitch Black's doing? What the hell makes that thing capable of this?'
Kang Se-yeon didn't fully grasp the situation.
Rushed to the scene on the Fixer's plea, she'd gotten entangled accidentally. She knew nothing of Pitch Black's schemes, goals, or motives.
Everything unknown. Even Sa-dan's Blue, Kang Se-yeon, was ignorant of this new world dawning.
Disaster-class summoned from the sky twice, an entire university occupied and turned anomaly hotspot—all in one day.
Over the top.
Suddenly, Se-yeon recalled the shrine maiden Ha-un's words.
The maiden said vile events surged in the 21st century.
Parents killing children, children parents—filial impieties daily.
Humans arson without hate, anti-human; psychos driven by baseless loathing harming kids roamed freely.
Era of humans hating humans.
Loathing rampant, crushing others normal.
Minor mistakes met with swarms tearing down, even killing—as everyday occurrences.
The era changes. Incomprehensibles multiply.
Might this be a harbinger of ruin?
Suddenly, that thought struck Kang Se-yeon.
Is this really okay?
Is the world truly fine?
'Is Se-hyeong safe?'
Standing before the blue-screened computer, Se-yeon pictured her brother before smashing it.
A bit low on confidence, but a good kid.
She prayed he was unharmed.
"Hold on."
"...?"
Right before smashing the computer, Se-yeon turned at the voice behind her.
Yi Hae-ri and Kang Se-hyeong had somehow reached the rooftop, standing soaked before her.
"Se-hyeong...!"
Her brother lived. Whole and intact.
Overjoyed, Se-yeon called to him, but her only brother didn't respond.
"Se-hyeong. Hey. Kang Se-hyeong. What's wrong? Say something."
Wondering if rain drowned her voice, she called again.
But no reply. Like a doll in her brother's shape.
Only then did Se-yeon realize something was wrong with him.
"...Hae-ri. What happened to my brother?"
Kang Se-yeon asked Yi Hae-ri.
Why no response from her brother?
Why were his eyes half-lidded?
Why were you holding him?
"Calm down, Se-yeon. Your brother's still fine. His consciousness is just out temporarily. I turned it off."
"What...? What do you mean?"
Se-yeon gauged the distance to Yi Hae-ri as she questioned.
Brother's state abnormal. Yi Hae-ri's too.
Perhaps both controlled by something.
That far, she moved to act—but Yi Hae-ri raised a hand first, halting her.
"No can do. Game hasn't even started. Attacking right away is no fun."
"..."
Se-yeon spotted the pitch-black cord around her brother's neck.
Move, and Yi Hae-ri would decapitate him.
Not fungal arts. Shadow arts.
Want to save brother now, but no opening in Yi Hae-ri.
It possessed her body yet exceeded her skill.
Wrong move, both she and brother die.
Se-yeon had depleted mental strength cracking "memory paste" anomaly, then again banishing Eye of the Sky with spirit bell.
Plus two Catastrophe-class. Incident-class bonuses.
Could she win now against equal or stronger foe?
No more body spirit aid.
Winning impossible. Stall.
"...What do you want?"
"I want you to choose between two options."
"Choose...?"
"Yes. Choice. Life's series of choices. Brother or world—which will you pick? I'm dying to know your decision. It'll change so much."
Yi Hae-ri's face blackened completely, clapping with a grin.
Se-yeon realized its identity.
Pitch Black.
The entity the Fixer hunted.
House of Moss's missed Apocalypse-class anomaly.
The monster blending into humans for terror.
Suddenly, the shrine maiden's warning resurfaced.
Never yield to whispers of world-harming beings.
'What should I do...'
She questioned the sky.
No one here to answer.
No one had reached the rooftop yet.
Just Se-yeon, her unconscious brother, and Yi Hae-ri consumed by Pitch Black.
No answer came.
"Se-yeon, two choices. First: Save brother, 100,000 random Koreans you don't know die instantly. Second: Watch him melt and crushed gruesomely by my hand."
"What...? That's insane..."
"100,000 lives vs. your brother. Family or strangers—which? Time's short. No choice, he dies and 100,000 more. Choose properly."
Darkness laughs.
Presenting two horrors.
Sacrifice brother for world?
Or save brother, kill 100,000?
"They won't die ordinarily. Disaster strikes. Who, where—you can't know or choose. Villains or innocents. Can you weigh their lives against brother's? Oh, you don't die. Don't worry."
"...."
Se-yeon's face twisted.
No lie or deceit from the being.
It spoke only truth now.
Choice could truly claim 100,000 lives.
In maximally gruesome ways.
"Humans call this trolley dilemma, right? Fun. Humans pose tough questions to themselves. I'm just echoing yours back. Save one or many? Lives equal value? Thoughts?"
"...."
"Can't dodge. Time ticks, trolley rushes. My patience thin—decide quick? Better pick who dies than all, no?"
"Why... do this? Why?"
"You ask yet realize questions meaningless? Yes. Answer fixed. I'm an anomaly. Anomalies attack, hate, kill humans. World's natural order, right? You defined us so. I just act accordingly."
Darkness in Yi Hae-ri's face prattled.
As if proclaiming universal truth.
Yes, anomalies kill humans.
Undeniable truth.
"Fun. Agonized face. Seeking answers in helplessness—I love it. Especially when fearless spirit arts users like you crumble. Thrilling."
Pitch Black's words no longer reached Se-yeon's ears.
She stood at choice's crossroads.
Faceless 100,000 or sole brother?
Unstoppable runaway trolley barreled on.
No choice, both tracks' occupants die.
"Can't decide? Let me help make it easier."
Darkness whispered to sweat-drenched, teeth-grinding Se-yeon.
Her brother's halted time resumed.
"Huh? Sis?"
"Se-hyeong..."
"Why're you... wh-where are we? Agh...! It hurts..."
Mushrooms sprouted from brother's arm.
Mold bloomed on his body.
Flesh rotted rapidly.
Brother cried in pain.
"Sis... Sis... Please... save me... Sis..."
Brother collapsed, begging for life.
Want to save now, but one step and he dies instantly.
Must choose. Only choice. No alternatives.
"Better? Seeing him suffer live clarify thoughts? Choose. Easy. Not hard. Kill sole brother for faceless 100,000?"
Choice dooms someone's family, father, brother, sibling, friend.
As Sa-dan's Blue, Lunar Blossom Sect guardian, humanity's protector spirit arts user, Kang Se-yeon must choose 100,000 lives.
But as Se-hyeong's blood sister, pitying the brother always compared to her since childhood, as family, she wanted to choose him.
Didn't treat him well. Busy excuses kept her away despite chances. Lately, sparse contact.
Maybe he waited.
Wasn't lonely? Always outsider kid.
All unheeded past returned as regret.
"Se-hyeong..."
Se-yeon collapsed to her knees.
No strength left to stand.
Dark whispers breaking her.
On knees, she agonized over forced choice.
From her eyes flowed rain... or tears?
Unable to forsake duty, Kang Se-yeon chose 100,000 lives.
"Good. As expected, crushed by your mission. Now, Se-hyeong. Despair. Your beloved big sis, family—abandoned you. Time to die wretchedly."
Pitch Black laughed down at broken Se-yeon.
Hearing the laugh, Se-yeon instantly drew and swung her sword.
Even choosing 100,000, she couldn't watch brother die passively.
Die fighting here? Fine.
Die with brother.
Never leave Se-hyeong alone again.
Sa-dan's Blue, her all-in assault.
Pitch Black's long-awaited opening.
Blade thrust into the gap, but...
"Oops, bit off. Should've aimed true. Gave you a kill chance on purpose. Wasting it like this?"
"....."
"That took your last strength. Now watch brother die."
Neck not severed. Kicked away, Se-yeon dropped her sword.
Slight miss. Blade grazed Yi Hae-ri's neck, but fungi stanched blood, healed wound.
Pitch Black maximizes host's potential and talent.
Turns non-genius to genius.
Perfected fungal arts by Pitch Black—exceedingly hard to kill—
Whoosh-!
Flames from nowhere incinerated darkness instantly.
Fungi shielding Pitch Black burned utterly; immense heat drew screams.
All spores to ash, scarlet hair whipping, inferno hurled at darkness.
"Burn all the bad stuff!"
Events too swift for Se-yeon to react; something struck Pitch Black's body at blinding speed—she barely registered it now.
Then rooftop puddles rippled, dragging Se-yeon and brother Se-hyeong to the edge.
Water enveloped them protectively, sweeping far from Pitch Black like a wave.
-Rooftop.
-Rooftop.
Elevator chime from somewhere.
Elevator materialized behind Se-yeon.
Doors opened.
From within, a mourning-clad woman glaring murderously at Pitch Black and one Fixer emerged.
"You okay?"
The answer she'd desperately begged skyward finally returned.
The one she'd awaited arrived at last on the rooftop of despair.
"Aren't you a bit late, Fixer...?"
"Had to save folks on first floor. Picked up what’s mine on way, met the kids too. That's why. But I trusted you'd hold without me, Se-yeon."
"...Don't trust next time. I... waited desperately for you."
The Fixer smiled reassuringly, stroking rain-soaked Se-yeon's hair.
Before rooftop, he'd met Nam Yu-ha claiming to be Fixer.
And Go Yu-rim claiming to be Kang Se-yeon, Jeong Ha-yeon thinking herself Yi Hae-ri.
Before ascending, he'd reclaimed his most precious treasures from them.
Anomalies kill humans.
Held as eternal truth.
But not for Fixer.
No absolutes.
Pitch Black wrong.
Anomalies not killing humans exist.
The White-Faced Bride laid out her spot, praying to save Se-yeon's rotting brother; the elevator-descended Threshold Guardian glared at the door-stealing thief; finally, unbound Ghost Kings flanked the Fixer.
Rain eases.
Sun peeks through dark clouds.