Chapter 104
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Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 104
Chapter Title: Gallery of the Savior's Deaths
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Creak.
Thud.
As I pushed open the back door, the aroma of coffee tickled my nose.
'Where... is this?'
The hum of printers and computers, the frantic clatter of keyboards, the ringing of phones.
Republic of Korea Hunter Association
The words printed on the wall clock caught my eye. It seemed like the association's office.
"Huh, Director? Didn't you just get back from overseas yesterday?"
At that moment, Se-bin pushed open the door and walked in. Everyone in the office tilted their heads in confusion at her entrance. Se-bin gave a faint smile and strode confidently to her desk at the far end.
"I had some urgent business to handle."
"Oh no, that must be tough. Finish up and head home to rest right away!"
I stood pressed against the wall like a potted plant in the office, watching Se-bin. She looked exactly the same as now, at least on the surface. I couldn't recall whatever nightmare had happened here recently.
Se-bin tapped away at her keyboard, scanning through messages and reports meticulously. It was her everyday work routine.
Bzzz, bzzz.
Se-bin's phone buzzed. She glanced at the screen, her eyes widening slightly, then cautiously held it to her ear.
"Hello, Ji-ui's dad. How have you been?"
'Dad?'
Shocked by the unexpected caller, I rushed toward Se-bin's desk.
Clatter.
Suddenly, Se-bin shot to her feet. The commotion drew every head in the office her way.
"Ji-ui's... in a dungeon?"
Crack.
A fissure spiderwebbed across the entire office, like a stone hurled onto thin ice—the hairline fractures spreading rapidly until they shattered the space completely.
The moment Se-bin's phone hit the floor, the ground gave way, and Se-bin and I plummeted endlessly.
Thud.
We landed in the hospital corridor where I'd been right after awakening.
Turning the doorknob, I entered the room. Beyond the curtain around the bed, I could make out a silhouette. Pulling the curtain aside revealed me, asleep, with Se-bin silently keeping watch by my side.
"People shouldn't get too arrogant."
Se-bin brushed dust off the blanket and spoke.
"Because they think they might spend their whole life with you, they try to whisk you away right away."
Se-bin tilted her head back and closed her eyes gently.
Whoosh―
Like a sand drawing swept away by the tide, the hospital room around us vanished in an instant. In place of machine beeps came suffocating silence; plush beds and sofas were replaced by mountains of corpses.
The floor was still carpeted with Se-bin's corpses, slick with black, viscous fluid.
"This is the entirety of my nightmare."
"What? That's it?"
"What, you wanted more?"
"No, it's not that..."
'Then where's the root of the nightmare?'
The Se-bin before me smoothed her hair with one hand and grinned at me.
Crack.
At that moment, a rift opened beside the mountain of corpses. Only I could see that pitch-black fissure.
"What..."
Se-bin's eyes widened in panic. Seizing the chance, I snatched the Gourmet's Fork zipping through the air and approached the rift.
[Latent Nightmare]
[Viewable with the Savior's left eye and the Regressor's right eye.]
[Qualification verified.]
[Reproducing the latent nightmare.]
"Wait, Ji-ui...!"
I stepped into the rift, ignoring Se-bin's cry.
Tap.
"...An art gallery?"
It was an all-white space. Identical frames lined the walls. This didn't look like any real-world gallery.
'Not related to past timelines?'
Questions aside, I moved to the nearest frame.
The One Who Witnessed the Savior's First Death
―By Kang Se-bin
"...Ah."
A photo was inserted in the frame: me, sprawled dead after being killed by a monster, and Se-bin kneeling before me.
'Don't tell me all of these are...?'
I raced along the frames, scanning every title beside the photos.
The One Who Witnessed the Savior's Second Death
―By Kang Se-bin
The One Who Witnessed the Savior's Third Death
―By Kang Se-bin
...
The One Who Witnessed the Savior's Twenty-Third Death
―By the Forgotten Existence
...
The One Who Witnessed the Savior's Ninety-Ninth Death
―By the Forgotten Existence
"...She saw everything."
Like Choi Min Hunter, Se-bin had witnessed my deaths. Not just once or twice, but in every timeline so far.
Thump, thump.
My heart pounded wildly at the unforeseen revelation. 'The causality of witnessing the Savior's death'—something only those who'd seen me die possessed. The higher it rose, the more past deaths they recalled.
"In my dreams, Hunter Shin Ji-ui kept dying right before my eyes."
Choi Min Hunter's words echoed in my ears. That meant Se-bin in this timeline was seeing my deaths repeatedly too.
"Ugh..."
I couldn't even imagine the agony Se-bin was enduring. My chest ached, making it hard to breathe, but I didn't stop thinking.
The One Who Witnessed the Savior's Ninety-Eighth Death
―By Kang Se-bin
I turned to the ninety-eighth frame. There I lay dead beside a rolling 'Shadow', a faint smile on my lips. The odd thing? No Se-bin in the photo.
'...No way.'
Click.
Heel sounds echoed. Turning toward the rift's entrance, I saw the Se-bin who'd wandered the nightmare with me, staring back.
To be precise, it was the ninety-eighth Kang Se-bin.
Until entering the rift, she'd looked like past Se-bins, but now she was a wreck. Having taken countless hunters' lives, her clothes and face were splattered in blood, her eyes hollow voids.
"You figured it out and came in anyway."
Her voice reverberated through the space as the ninety-eighth Se-bin spoke. She approached slowly, placing a hand on a frame.
"Truth is, I was scared."
"..."
"Of fighting that hell again. Of you being a regressor. Of people's gazes suddenly changing."
Swish.
"It all terrified me."
Black tears streamed from Se-bin's eyes. As they hit the floor, the white surface stained dark.
"Your deaths from the dreams kept flashing before me, and my body moved on its own."
"...Haa."
"I didn't want to kill..."
Se-bin covered her face with both hands. Through the gaps in her fingers, her trembling eyes flickered anxiously.
The ninety-eighth Se-bin's subconscious likely held even more of my deaths. Maybe even me impaled on her own weapon.
'I have to find her fast.'
I needed to calm Se-bin, even with a white lie. Otherwise, the same outcome awaited after resolving Hell Path.
"Where's Se-bin."
"..."
"Answer me. You know where she is."
The ninety-eighth Se-bin gazed down at me, tears flowing.
"She won't want to see you."
"Why?"
"Because she ended up showing everything to the one person she least wanted to see it."
"What, what...?!"
'Does that mean the current Se-bin saw me rummaging through her nightmare?!'
Unable to form words, I just stared wide-eyed, and she continued.
"Of course, she wouldn't know what's happening in this space. She's no regressor like you, no savior, not even from this timeline."
"But she saw everything up to then."
She nodded. My mind went blank, like I'd been struck. Now I knew whose gaze I'd felt watching me.
"Disappointed in me?"
"..."
"You saw how ugly my true nature is."
It wasn't entirely wrong. Until recalling the ninety-eighth regression, I'd seen Se-bin as foolishly kind.
"No."
'But no.'
Before Se-bin could respond, I pressed on.
"If I were going to be disappointed over something that trivial, I wouldn't have made it this far."
Rumble.
The space shook. Se-bin flinched, grabbing a trembling frame. She stared at me blankly.
"Every 'me' in these frames wished to have my memories erased upon regression."
"Memories...?"
"Because if I didn't erase them, I'd end up hating you."
The ninety-eighth Se-bin inhaled sharply. She slowly turned to a frame, placing her hand over the me inside. Fresh tears fell from her eyes.
"And the current me probably made the same choice."
"Ji-ui..."
"Kang Se-bin."
Grip.
I seized her collar and yanked her toward me. The metallic tang of blood assaulted my nose, but I ignored it.
"I'm here so no more frames get hung in this place."
"..."
"So send me to where Se-bin is, now."
Click.
Se-bin stepped back. She glanced between the frames and me in confusion, then extended her arm toward the corridor's end. Forcing a smile, she lifted the corner of her mouth.
"Now that it's time to part, it feels a bit regrettable."
Even if I pulled Se-bin out of the nightmare, the ninety-eighth would drift here forever. It felt like punishment worse than death.
I opened my mouth cautiously to the sadly gazing Se-bin.
"Sorry for leaving you alone. When it's what you fear most."
"...It's what I brought on myself, so no helping it."
Prod.
Se-bin pushed my back.
"Hurry and go. Too much time has passed."
"Take care."
I ran toward the corridor's end, leaving the ninety-eighth Se-bin behind.
"Goodbye, Ji-ui."
Her lonely voice echoed through the gallery of tragedies alone.
Running straight as Se-bin had indicated, I reached a white wooden door.
"Huff, haa, whoo..."
Catching my breath up to my chin, I gripped the Gourmet's Fork. Jamming it into what looked like a keyhole produced a click, and the doorknob turned.
Creak―
Opening the door revealed another white space. Amid scattered wooden shards, someone knelt face-down.
Flame-like shadows flickered around her, menacing as if ready to reduce everything to nothingness.
Ting.
The Gourmet's Fork whirled furiously above her before dropping at my feet. I picked it up, knelt beside her, and drew a deep breath.
"I've come to get you, Se-bin."