Chapter 177
Chapter 177
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 177
Chapter Title: My Decision
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Lee Si-woo finally managed to soothe the clinging Isabelle and push her into a corner before sitting down next to Si-woo and speaking.
“This city is the first one you've given the vaccine formula to, right?”
“Yes.”
“Then they must have asked where you got the vaccine formula... What did you tell them?”
“I told them I got it by chance while raiding a research lab.”
“Is that lab a real place? Or...”
Si-woo, sensing the intention behind Lee Si-woo's question, shook his head and replied.
“I told them about the lab where I was experimented on. If they went there now, they probably wouldn't find anything because it's all burned down.”
“But you know, right? They won't give up.”
“I suppose so.”
“They must have suspected you and conducted all sorts of investigations. And in the end, even if they don't know everything, they've probably learned a fair bit about your past. They might even come to this conclusion.”
Lee Si-woo continued, his voice low and cold.
“That you might be connected to this whole disaster.”
At Lee Si-woo's words, which were true to an extent, Si-woo leaned his head back in his chair and let out a deep sigh.
“They might.”
Lee Si-woo said in a chilling voice.
“Be wary, and don't let your guard down. Assume the worst of the worst, and don't trust them. Sometimes, trust is the most foolish choice, one that leads to ruin.”
“What about you, hyung? Do you trust me? And... should I trust you?”
Lee Si-woo twisted his lips and replied in a tone as dry as desert sand.
“I don't trust anyone. Not even myself.”
With those words, Lee Si-woo stood up.
As if he didn't care whether Si-woo understood the nuance of that meaningful statement.
*Ding.*
Si-woo's smartphone chimed as a message from the Knight Commander arrived.
After checking the message, Si-woo spoke with a grim expression.
“It says Gigant is heading this way. Estimated arrival time is in three hours... I think we need to join the Knight Order right away.”
Lee Si-woo nodded and said.
“Time to get rolling. Let's go.”
* * *
As soon as the Knight Commander met Lee Si-woo's party, she explained the plan she had devised, and Si-woo let out a hollow laugh at the absurdly simple scheme.
“So, you want me to climb onto Gigant alone? Find a weak spot or some other method, and handle it all by myself? Is that... did I understand that correctly?”
At Si-woo's incredulous question, the Knight Commander affirmed.
“You've understood correctly.”
“...And the Knight Order will block the other white giants?”
“Well, you can't be expected to do everything alone.”
“What kind of plan is this? You're just dumping it all on me and washing your hands of it, aren't you?”
“We have no choice. We've already been defeated, and the only thing we can rely on now is the miracle that is you.”
As Si-woo stood there, dumbfounded and stuttering at the cringeworthy line about "the miracle that is you," Lee Si-woo, who was leaning against the wall, spoke in a voice dripping with sarcasm.
“Miracle. Such a convenient word. It lets you pass off your duties and responsibilities to feel better about yourself. Even when you're just incompetent.”
At Lee Si-woo's scathing remark, the Knight Commander didn't get angry or annoyed, but simply agreed.
“That's right. I am incompetent. I despaired and surrendered before the monster called Gigant. That's why I gave you the Faceless One's blessing. Normally, bestowing a blessing isn't something I can decide on my own. But I did it anyway, and I granted you the blessing. Because that was the best I could do.”
“So? You're going to urge us to risk our lives while you all take the easy jobs in the back?”
“What does it matter who has it easier? If we can't kill it, everything is over.”
“It's not over. Someone can just run away.”
Lee Si-woo deliberately provoked the Knight Commander.
He wanted to stir her emotions, disrupt her composure, and gauge her true intentions.
But the Knight Commander didn't even bat an eye at Lee Si-woo's repeated provocations.
“Run away... If you want to go, you may.”
“Well, you say that, but who knows what you'd do if we actually tried to run. As you just said, we're all you have to rely on.”
The Knight Commander looked at Lee Si-woo with eyes mixed with melancholy and emptiness and said.
“The wanderer, Si-woo, provided us with the vaccine, and thanks to that, our system, which should have collapsed long ago, has managed to survive until now. If he decides to leave us now... if we had any shame, how could we possibly stop him?”
“What about the people? Frankly, if you let Si-woo go, this city has no future. Countless people will lose their lives.”
“They are people who would have died from the virus long ago if not for Si-woo. Yes, I am already a failure, and all I carry are a vain mission and duty. So, how could I force that upon others?”
Lee Si-woo was accustomed to seeing into people's inner selves and skilled at detecting lies.
But, in this moment, he couldn't find any trace of falsehood in the Knight Commander's words.
Surprisingly, the Knight Commander was telling the truth.
Was that why?
Si-woo, who had been listening uncomfortably to the conversation between Lee Si-woo and the Knight Commander, stepped forward.
“Both of you, please stop. Whether I take the risk or not is my decision. And I've already decided to deal with Gigant.”
Lee Si-woo said in a dry voice.
“You could die.”
“Yes. I suppose so.”
“These are people you don't even know. If they die, will you feel bad for a few months? At some point, it'll just be a slight ache in your chest, and eventually, they'll be forgotten.”
“That's what you think, hyung. I... I'll probably feel guilty for the rest of my life. And I have no intention of carrying a crappy memory like that with me forever.”
“What about your childhood friend? You're not going to look for her? What about asking me to help you find her? And revenge? You're not going to do it?”
As he brought up the matters Si-woo had tried so hard to bury deep in his heart, Si-woo answered with a face as gloomy as a sky full of dark clouds.
“I've decided to think about complicated things tomorrow. The urgent matter is right now. We have to survive today to have a tomorrow, right? Don't you think? So you too, hyung... please stop. I know how you feel, but I'm starting to feel a little uncomfortable myself.”
At Si-woo's firm words, Lee Si-woo nodded and stepped back.
“If it's your choice, then I don't care. Do as you please.”
Si-woo gave a pleased grin at Lee Si-woo's attitude, which seemed to respect his decision, and spoke to the Knight Commander.
“We'll leave right away. And don't worry. This Gigant thing... I'll handle it somehow.”
As Lee Si-woo's party left, the city's mayor, who had been listening to their conversation while suppressing his anger, opened his mouth.
“What were you thinking, letting them go? What if they really run away?”
“If they run, they run. What's there to worry about?”
“What's there to worry about?! If they run away, what happens to this city? And the orders from headquarters? You said it yourself, Commander! Even if the city falls, we must secure Si-woo.”
“I did. But what can I do? I let him go.”
The mayor raised his voice at the Knight Commander's feigned innocence.
“Commander!”
“Don't worry, Mayor. He won't run away.”
“...How can you be so sure?”
“Because if he were the type to run, he wouldn't have crawled into a deathtrap like this to distribute the vaccine. Not when he was prepared to be suspected by us.”
At the Knight Commander's words, the mayor bit his lip and couldn't say anything more.
Because he knew it too.
How difficult a choice Si-woo had made, and what sacrifices he had made.
Wasn't that why the mayor had tried so hard to be considerate of Si-woo?
It was just that as the situation worsened, he had gradually started to act more harshly without realizing it.
“I know that. But... what will you do about the headquarters' orders? The Saintess has the Mind's Eye. She will see through all of this and hold you responsible, Commander.”
The Knight Commander closed her eyes gently and said.
“If I must take responsibility, then I will. But I will act according to what I believe is right, rather than following the headquarters' orders. Don't forget. We are servants of the Faceless One, not servants of headquarters. I serve a god, not the organization I belong to or my superiors.”
The mayor sighed and shook his head.
These knights, why were they all such frustratingly rigid people?
He sometimes found the knights' beliefs to be foolish and obtuse.
But, on the other hand, he thought he understood why he found them so frustrating.
It was probably because he was annoyed by, and yet envious of, their foolishness in crawling down a path he could not walk.
The mayor's eyes flashed with a cold light as he snapped.
“Si-woo is nothing but a greenhorn.”
“Perhaps.”
“And what about his party? One is a chubby girl obsessed with food, another is a slack-jawed idiot who got muscular overnight. And the last one is a moron with nothing but a sharp tongue, whose abilities are completely unknown!”
“If that's how you see them, then so be it.”
“The chances of them killing Gigant? Yes. As you said, Commander, it's close to a miracle! But if we capture Si-woo? Yes, this city will be destroyed, and you and I will die. But, we can still hope for tomorrow.”
The Knight Commander remained silent.
“Commander. You've played into your own hypocrisy and trampled even the smallest glimmer of hope. Do you truly believe your conviction is right? Are you sure it's not... just stubbornness?”
The Knight Commander didn't answer, and the mayor couldn't bring himself to say anything more.
He knew.
The commander had already made her choice, and the mayor had stood by and watched.
In the end, it was foolish to argue about which of them was right or wrong.
So the mayor's words were nothing more than an outpouring of his pent-up frustration.
Nothing more, nothing less.
Just as an awkward silence fell between the Knight Commander and the mayor, a knight came running up urgently, shouting.
“Commander! We have a problem!”
“What is it?”
“Gigant! Gigant has suddenly started running!”
“...Started running? Why?”
“I don't know the reason! The thing that was walking leisurely has started running... and it's approaching the city at a frightening speed.”
The Knight Commander pressed her thumbs against her throbbing temples, trying to remain calm.
“So? How much time is left until Gigant arrives?”
“...Now.”
The moment the knight finished speaking, a deafening roar, like thunder erupting from the ground, washed over them.
The mayor, his face pale with terror, rushed out and threw back the curtains of a window.
And then, he could see it.
A white giant, towering like a massive mountain, demolishing the city wall with one hand, and smaller giants pouring through the gap.
The leader of the white giants.
Gigant had invaded the walled city.
* * *
Si-woo stared with wide eyes at Gigant, which had appeared beyond the crumbling city wall.
Beside him, Lee Si-woo asked in a subtle tone, like a devil's whisper.
“It's not too late, even now.”
From his experience clearing chapters, the process might change in its details, but the main storyline never did.
It was as if there were choices, but the ending was fixed.
But what would happen if Si-woo, the protagonist of this story, acted on a whim?
Would the ending still remain unchanged?
To find out, Lee Si-woo tried to sway Si-woo.
Because he wanted to know.
Whether his past self was really foolish enough to sacrifice his life for others.
And whether he could change the story of the secret chapter, no matter how hard he tried.
“...You're really persistent, hyung. Instead of encouraging me, you keep pushing me to be a coward... You have a really bad personality.”
Behind them, Isabelle, who was eating one of Plenitas's breads to recharge her mana, snickered and said.
“That bastard's personality is pretty shitty.”
Si-woo casually ignored Isabelle's nonsense as if it were a dog barking and smiled brightly at Lee Si-woo, who was staring at him intently.
“Hyung. Did you know? The white giants wouldn't have been created if it weren't for me.”
“...What?”
“What's that saying, fight fire with fire? To escape the lab, I tampered with the white monster's genes. Yes. Just like that devil who captured me.”
In fact, looking back now, he sometimes thought the devil had intentionally passed on knowledge to him.
Because it wouldn't have been out of character for that devil to judge that he, struggling desperately to survive, would produce more abundant ideas.
And the devil's judgment was correct.
To survive. And to escape the lab, Si-woo had given birth to the absurd monster known as the white giant.
Yes, with his own hands.
“You said it, hyung, right? That I might be connected to this whole disaster. That's the honest truth. I sometimes think about it. If it weren't for me... things might not have gotten this big. That's why I can't run away. Dammit... Never.”
Starting with a curse so faint it felt weak, Si-woo began to run forward alone.
Lee Si-woo, watching Si-woo's sprint from behind as if he intended to put everything back in its place, clicked his tongue.
“We're really not alike.”
Lee Si-woo gestured for Luctator, Isabelle, and Plenitas to follow, then moved at a fierce speed after Si-woo.
Lee Si-woo muttered in a low voice.
“Not like me.”