The Boundary of Dreams (20)
For her, everything was incomprehensible. The fact that he had carved a path alone through a horde of black mages that clearly numbered well over two hundred. The fact that he had walked straight into the jaws of death to find her instead of fleeing. Today alone, he had staked his life for her twice. He had claimed from the beginning that his approach was born of necessity, yet risking his life was an entirely different matter.
“Haa… Didn’t you say you’d come right away, senior?”
“S-sorry…”
Lee Hyun’s attempt to inject some levity only made Yeon Minha bow her head in genuine remorse, her words stumbling.
“…I was joking. What does it matter who arrives first? The other students…?”
“They scattered along the way. I don’t even know if they’re still alive…” Yeon Minha shook her head heavily.
“I see. Understood. At least you’re safe, senior. That’s a rel—cough… cough…!”
The masked student suddenly doubled over in a violent coughing fit. Dark, almost black blood mixed with flecks of flesh splattered onto the ground with a wet sound. Only then did Yeon Minha truly register that his condition was anything but normal.
His hand gripping the blade and every muscle in his body trembled visibly. His particle suit hung in tatters, and from the deep lacerations across his frame, droplets of blood fell steadily. He looked like he could collapse at any second.
“You… your wounds…”
“Cough…! No need to concern yourself. I only got lightly torn up while dealing with the ones inside the city…”
“Those… those things…?”
“I killed them all.”
“What…?”
Yeon Minha’s eyes widened in disbelief as she stared at him.
“Kid. That nonsense of yours is getting a little excessive.”
A gruff voice rang out from directly ahead of them. The black mage’s openly contemptuous attitude bled through his leisurely tone. While they exchanged words, the encirclement had tightened even further.
“We sent well over two hundred comrades into Jinling. You’re telling me you killed every last one of them by yourself?”
Three crimson spikes of demonic energy now floated above the black mage’s palm, having multiplied from the one before. He took slow, deliberate steps forward.
“If you’re going to win a woman’s heart, at least pick the right time and place. Then again, the fact that you’re wearing that bizarre thing on your face already proves you’re not right in the head…”
The black mage sneered as though mocking a defeated soldier’s empty boasts. Laughter and ridicule echoed from the forest filled with glowing red eyes, spreading like a chorus of mockery.
But a moment later, a single bat with the same crimson eyes darted toward his ear. Shock flooded the black mage’s blunt features.
“What kind of ridiculous—Confirm it again, properly—”
“You. Red leader. Lee Ji-sang, commander of the People’s Liberation Front southern guerrilla directorate. Correct?”
Lee Hyun stepped forward without hesitation, cutting the man off. He could have recited the wanted poster from memory with his eyes closed, but the words were closer to deliberate provocation. Whatever news he had received, the black mage’s previously relaxed face now showed clear irritation and unease.
“…And this arrogant little bastard has been—”
His uncomfortable growl never finished.
Lee Hyun charged with blade in hand, aiming instinctively for the heart. A heavy metallic clang rang out as the blade was deflected. The man had parried the strike with only his left hand wreathed in demonic energy.
-BOOM! Bang!
“Kuh… This bastard… has some skill…”
Several more exchanges followed. Lee Hyun’s blade repeatedly targeted vital points with lethal precision. The man frowned in mild surprise yet blocked every strike. At the end he even launched several fully charged magic missiles in a sharp counterattack.
-BOOM!
“…Tsk.”
After dodging and deflecting the missiles, rolling across the ground twice before regaining his feet, Lee Hyun clicked his tongue in clear displeasure. A numb pain spread from the arm holding his blade throughout his entire body.
He glanced behind him. Yeon Minha was forcing her trembling legs to stand, leaning weakly against a boulder.
“Senior. Can you still move?”
“…Impossible.”
Yeon Minha shook her head with a look of utter despair. She had already exhausted every last ounce of her strength in the previous battle.
“You… hold on.”
After deflecting the attack, the black mage suddenly muttered as if recalling something.
“That movement… Predictive Eye… and that mask…!”
Volcanic fury erupted in every direction. The black mage charged, swinging his right hand now dyed crimson. When Lee Hyun raised his blade to block, the resulting shockwave exploded outward like a tidal wave.
-CRAAAASH!!
“Kyaa!”
Yeon Minha, barely propped against the rock, tumbled to the ground. The direct impact delivered a devastating blow that worsened Lee Hyun’s internal injuries.
“Cough…!”
“The shape is slightly different, but there’s no mistake… and those movements…! I’ve heard the reports!! You’re that bastard from the 66th Brigade!! The one who slaughtered our brothers in the northeast branch is you!!”
-BOOM!
Lee Hyun gathered his strength and knocked the attack aside, then kicked the man in the stomach to create distance.
“Haa… Hoo… For a pack of reds… you seem awfully attached, don’t you? Going so far as to look after comrades so far away… Hoo…”
“You counter-revolutionary piece of shit…!”
The man glared at Lee Hyun with bloodshot eyes full of murderous intent.
“How are you here? Did you set a trap? The 66th Brigade was definitely stationed in the northeast—”
“I’m not a member of the 66th Brigade… Hoo… I’m just… a student at the Cradle.”
“What kind of ridiculous—”
The black mage ground his teeth so hard they nearly shattered before regaining his cold composure.
“This is actually perfect. I’ll cut off your head to comfort the souls of our fallen revolutionary comrades. And that body—I’ll tear it to shreds and send it to Sa Jaehyuk.”
“Our commander… Hoo, has neither blood nor tears… He’ll probably just toss it in the trash bin.”
“…”
After the relentless provocations, the black mage no longer answered. He simply fixed Lee Hyun with eyes brimming with bone-chilling hatred.
A chilling wind began to howl. The surrounding demonic energy and mist churned violently, as though being sucked into his body. Soon an unbearable mutation began to overtake the black mage.
His complexion and muscles turned a deep, sickly blue-black. Every muscle in his body swelled two or three times over in an instant, transforming him into a colossal demonic beast. His snout protruded, razor-sharp fangs jutted past his lips, and thick black fur covered him completely.
Black magic originated from the demon race. It spread through infection; the farther from the source, the faster the corruption accelerated. In the end it reduced its users to dregs or even twisted them into mutants. His current form proved he had received the infection directly from the purest source.
It was also the exact appearance of the kind Lee Hyun hated and loathed most in this world.
“…Did you cross the barrier and swear allegiance?”
-That’s right. Power personally granted by the Baekdu bloodline for the liberation of the homeland.
“Ugh…”
An unpleasant voice reverberated directly inside his skull. Yeon Minha grimaced as though hearing a horrific noise and trembled violently.
Lee Hyun scanned their surroundings. Similar mutations seemed to be occurring throughout the forest in response to the commander’s transformation. It felt as if they had fallen into the heart of a demonic realm.
“…”
When he had arrived to rescue Yeon Minha, his body had already reached its limit. The optimal plan had been to conserve as much strength as possible and escape with her somehow.
But that plan had been doomed from the start. Yeon Minha had already exhausted all her energy fighting them. Even if he tried to flee with her, there was no way to shake off the monstrous black mage before them. Their brief exchange had made that abundantly clear—the man was not an opponent he could defeat with half-measures.
-Grip…
He felt his hand tighten reflexively around the blade. If he revealed his Authority, he would have to kill every living enemy here. Was that even possible in his current state? If his sisters and the commander saw him like this, they would be furious.
“…”
Yet even in that fleeting instant, the conclusion came naturally. It was simply something he had to do.
He pulled out every remaining accelerator and awakening agent in his pocket and swallowed them all at once. He crushed the capsules between his molars and forced them down. The drugs flooded his veins, agony and vitality tearing through his body simultaneously.
He constructed the spell formula and released the Predictive Eye to the seventh path. Particles surged like a storm through the forcibly widened channels. He pushed the blade to its absolute limit, saturating it with power and destructive force. A haze-like distortion rose along the upward-sweeping edge, warping the air itself.
“…You, what… what are you doing…”
Yeon Minha, sensing his resolve, pleaded with desperate urgency.
“Are you really an idiot…? If you have that kind of strength, just run…! Why, why are you going this far… Why… for me…”
“Senior.”
“Eh…?”
“Golden Star Military Merit Medal. Congratulations in advance.”
“Wait—!”
With only those brief words and a single glance back, Lee Hyun charged straight into the horde of black mages.
-I’ll rip you to pieces!
The unpleasant voice echoed in his mind once more. The black mage split his mouth in a hideous grin and raised his massive right arm. Demonic energy writhed viciously above his fur-covered fist, condensing into a colossal whirlwind of crimson power. He had clearly forgotten his earlier boast about leaving only the head—the attack was now on a completely different scale.
The condensed storm of demonic energy hurtled toward the charging Lee Hyun. No matter how superb a barrier he raised, completely neutralizing that attack was impossible. He would be torn apart like a sheet of paper, just as the monster had threatened.
The instant Yeon Minha squeezed her eyes shut, unable to watch—
-Clink!
“Huh…?”
It was bizarre. The ferocious demonic storm rushing toward Lee Hyun scattered instantly as though it had never existed. The air around them sparkled with crimson particles being reduced back to their base form.
-Impossible! What the hell is—!
The black mage’s panicked thought transmission was cut short. The blade, reinforced to the absolute limit of its potential, sliced through the monster’s neck like soft tofu. The movement was too fast for the eye to follow. The giant creature’s head tumbled across the ground with two heavy thuds. Its eyes stared at the body it had been attached to only moments before.
Lee Hyun leaped onto the thick torso, drove his blade into the spring above the heart, and tore it apart in every direction. The demonic energy inside erupted. The limbs twitched like a dying cockroach before finally going limp.
-Comrade… Guerrilla Commander!
“Charge! Charge him…! Kill that bastard!!”
No one had expected this outcome—not Yeon Minha, not the beasts that had been leisurely mocking them from the shadows. Panicked shouts erupted as attacks rained down from every side.
Did I do something wrong? Or not?
I did… wrong…
The rare sight of my sisters’ truly furious faces flashed through my mind. They had warned me again and again—never exceed the absolute time limit. My body had already accumulated severe overload and consumed a significant portion of my lifespan. They had stabilized me for now, but every time I crossed that line, my remaining life would be devoured at an alarming rate.
I had always answered their pleas with obedient promises. But there was one thing I had never told them.
In truth, I placed little value on prolonging my life. I knew better than anyone that powerless survival only prolonged suffering without meaning. Through loss, I had learned that there are things a person must protect even at the cost of their own life. Even if I died here, I could no longer tolerate the weakness that had once kept me from protecting what mattered.
“Kuhk!!”
“What the… the demonic energy isn’t working…! Aaargh!!”
Signs of overload were now visible across his entire body. Every muscle and nerve screamed in protest. A liquid—whether blood or sweat, he could no longer tell—poured down his face, turning his vision into a dark tunnel. Still, Lee Hyun continued cutting down every enemy that charged him.
By the time he finally severed the last evil thing breathing inside the gorge, an unfamiliar laugh pulled him from his trance. He turned around.
The place where he stood was no longer a blood-red gorge filled with demonic mist. A brilliantly blue sky stretched overhead. Thick, fluffy clouds drifted lazily across it. Warm sunlight and a gentle breeze brushed against him.
He was standing on a hill covered in white baby’s breath in full bloom—the homeland he longed for with aching intensity, yet could never return to. At the edge of the flowers stood a girl smiling brightly at him, waving her hand.
It was the landscape he had failed to protect. The burden that had cast his life into the abyss and still tormented him every dawn.
What Yeon Minha saw was an unreal illusion. Crimson blood and demonic energy clashed in the air, scattering like fireworks. The evil power could not touch him. Any demonic energy that entered his range oxidized instantly and dispersed like butterflies.
Lost in the endless pyrotechnics, Yeon Minha suddenly felt a strange sense of déjà vu. She slowly scanned her surroundings. A primitive forest thick with blood-colored mist. A man drenched head to toe in blood, his ruined particle suit lying at her feet like scrap. Around him swarmed countless red shadows screaming in malice and hatred.
In the middle of that nightmare stood a man. His entire body was broken and twisted; not a single part remained uninjured. Yet his spirit remained unyielding. With his back to her, he continued slaughtering the endless tide of red shadows.
She looked down at the ground. The white wildflowers were splattered crimson. Sticky blood pooled and flowed like a river.
She remembered. It was that day’s nightmare—the night she had agonized over the spirits’ inexplicable fear and terror. Of course she hadn’t been able to see the man’s face; even now he wore a pure white, smooth mask splattered with dark red blood.
And then she realized one more truth.
No. It had never been a nightmare. The dream of that day had never been a nightmare at all.
“Ah…”
Yeon Minha, who had been lost in the illusion, regained her senses. Footsteps echoed softly through the now deathly silent forest. The man who had slaughtered every last black mage and demonic beast was walking toward her.
The sight of him drenched in blood was terrifying, yet it belonged to the person who had fought to protect her. Steeling herself, she tried to speak.
“You… are you alri—”
Her words never finished. The masked man had already closed the distance until she could hear his ragged breathing. His powerful arms pulled her close, drawing her into his embrace in an instant.
“Hup… Y-you…”
The timid resistance she tried to offer was silenced by his next words.
“You… what is this… Hic…”
“I said… I would protect you…”
His actions continued without pause. He gently stroked her disheveled, filthy hair with a touch so tender it seemed as if he were handling something precious. Her futile struggles were trapped against his firm, reassuring chest.
“Huu… Hic…”
“Still… this time…”
-THUD!
Yeon Minha, who had surrendered to his ruthless embrace with her eyes tightly shut, slowly opened them again at the sound of something collapsing.
“Huh…?”
What filled her vision was the masked male student, who had expended every last ounce of his strength and now lay collapsed at her feet.