Chapter 201
Chapter 201
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Translator: crow
Chapter Title: 201. At the End, Always
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I once watched a superhero movie a long time ago. Back then, seeing someone catch bullets barehanded or flick them away with their body, I remember thinking, where in the world could a person like that possibly exist?
But.
*Bang!*
Eileen steadily aimed at the branch chief and fired, but with every swing of the chief's hand, the bullets were snatched right out of the air or smacked harmlessly to the ground.
"You crazy bitch...!"
Eileen screamed in exasperation, but I could totally understand how she felt.
If someone caught the bullets I'd fired with their bare hand right in front of me, crushed them, and dropped them to the floor, I'd be yelling about insanity too.
"Urgh...!"
The branch chief looked down at Yoo Daon, who was groaning and clutching the floor as if the shots fired at her meant nothing.
"You two are probably out of your minds right now."
"Doesn't take a genius to see that."
The chief gazed at the groaning Yoo Daon, clenched her fist,
*Thwack!*
and gave her a solid knuckle rap right on the head.
"Eek...!"
Yoo Daon crumpled flat to the floor on the spot.
"Kim Jaeheon, come here and sit on Yoo Daon."
"Huh?"
"Now.
*Bang!*
The chief caught an incoming bullet between two fingers and smiled.
"Ah, got it."
I did as she said and sat on Yoo Daon.
The chief looked at Eileen and slowly advanced.
*Click!*
Soon, a dry click echoed from Eileen's gun as it ran empty. She fumbled in her coat pocket with a panicked expression,
and in a flash, the chief lunged forward,
*Thwack!*
rapping her on the forehead.
Eileen clutched her forehead, staggered,
and collapsed to the floor.
...
All of it happened in under a minute.
As I stared at Eileen sprawled on the ground,
"Urgh..."
a voice came from beneath me.
"Jaeheon...?"
Yoo Daon was squinting up at me, eyes narrowed.
"Why are you sitting on me...? Not that I mind or anything..."
"Wow, I aimed to knock her out for half a day, but she was only out for exactly thirty seconds."
The chief muttered in amazement as she examined Yoo Daon.
"Half a day?"
"Yeah, I botched the force control..."
Botched the force control? Her? The branch chief who'd probably been beating on humans for at least a century?
The chief let out a small laugh, and suddenly, Yoo Daon's words echoed in my mind.
"Grandma's makeup smell..."
At my mumble, the chief snapped her head up and stared at me.
"I switched perfumes. To one the young kids use these days."
Her voice carried a hint of real concern.
The chief stared at me intently, and Yoo Daon sniffed the air, nodding.
"It's true."
...
The chief didn't look too pleased to hear it.
*
While explaining what had happened with the chief, she listened with her arms crossed.
"So that's what went down."
"Yes."
"Honestly, I don't have much to say."
The chief sighed deeply and looked away.
"If I'd wrapped things up quicker, you wouldn't have gotten dragged in. But it took too long."
...
"Eh, whatever. Just bury your head in the dirt for half a day and call it even."
She flashed a faint smile at me like it was no big deal.
"What about the other two?"
"Ah, they haven't made it up yet."
"It's a tough climb for normal folks."
The chief nodded, glancing at me and Yoo Daon.
Eileen was still out cold.
"Alright, time for the briefing. First off, don't look at the moon. Except for me and Kim Jaeheon."
The chief stated firmly and pointed behind her.
There was a small...
"...Cabin?"
That's right.
A cabin.
And its exterior was identical to one I'd seen somewhere before.
"...It feels just like the cabin from the pyramid incident, doesn't it?"
Yoo Daon muttered, thinking the same thing as me.
She was spot on.
There was a cabin that looked exactly like the one we'd seen during the pyramid incident.
Built at the top of the stairs.
It was an eerily bizarre sight.
...
I looked at the chief, and she nodded with a small smile.
"Correct. This cabin is the Management Bureau's 'Final Outpost.'"
"Final Outpost?"
"Kim Jaeheon, you know this well enough, but humanity's always one step away from annihilation."
The chief nodded as she replied.
"This is one of the forward bases we left behind while recording all those near-extinctions."
...
The notes from that cabin flashed through my mind.
Apologies for failing, words like final farewells.
"This place is one of them."
...
With a calm expression, the chief pointed at the cabin.
We walked toward it as she spoke,
*Creeeak...*
and when Yoo Daon and I opened the door together, the interior was exactly the same as before.
A desk, scraps of paper, and a bed.
*Rustle!*
The manual unfurled with a loud flap.
[Office Manual]
[HU - Cabin (Near the Moon)]
1. Welcome to the cabin near the moon.
2. If you've come here to resolve the issue, please refer to [NP - Path to the Moon].
3. If it's already too late, check [T - Suicide Methods].
4. This cabin has special measures in place, so you won't fall asleep even if you lie on the bed. Note that.
5. You've worked hard. Your efforts were never in vain.
...
I slowly approached the desk and checked the notebook on it.
[Moon Exploration Log]
Scrawled handwriting caught my eye.
Unlike the playful tone, what stories lay within?
I swallowed the bitter taste rising in my throat and turned the page.
[Year 56, Month 2, Day 1. Leaving the first record. Entrusting it to the next ones.]
[Year 62, Month 3, Day 13. Heard it was tough, but actually failing... It doesn't feel real. If there's an afterlife, I hope my family forgives me.]
[Year 64, Month 6. Sorry. I thought I could do it.]
[Year 86, Month 11, Day 5. Miss Mom.]
Sometimes neat, sometimes trembling script.
Different hands had jotted down their brief tales.
Some wrote at length, some kept it short. Some might not have written at all.
I read on through the entries stretching down below.
"...How heartbreaking it must've been."
Yoo Daon murmured beside me as she read along.
"Left alone in the world, realizing they could do nothing, scribbling in this notebook... How much helplessness did they feel?"
...
Yoo Daon looked from the notebook to me.
As always, she was smiling.
"We can't let it end like that, but if it does... I'll stay by your side until the very end, Jaeheon."
"...Then you might end up alone, Daon."
No, Yoo Daon would almost certainly be the one left behind. She couldn't die.
At my words, Yoo Daon smiled faintly.
"But you won't be alone till the end, Jaeheon."
...
"That's enough for me."
I tore my eyes from the notebook and gazed out the small window.
If the end came, I had to make sure she went first, no matter what.
That would be the last kindness I could offer Yoo Daon.
Brilliant blue moonlight streamed through the window.
"All done?"
The chief spoke from behind me.
Her expression was profoundly bitter.
"We've gotta work hard not to add our names here."
Then she pointed outside the cabin.
Footsteps were approaching.
"...Huff... huff..."
"Hoo... hoo..."
Along with the sounds of two people on the brink of collapse.
Looking toward the noise,
"...Shit... seriously..."
"Haa... ugh..."
Song Arin and Jang Chaeyeon stood there, clutching their trembling legs.
The blue moon hung in the sky, and a sudden migraine hit me.
But I wasn't particularly worried.
At that moment, the blue moon flashed,
"Quit being annoying..."
Song Arin muttered, poking Jang Chaeyeon's dazed back.
"Snap out of it, white-hair."
...
Jang Chaeyeon blinked wide, turning to Song Arin.
"...Thanks."
"Yeah, sure."
The two exchanged awkward greetings and looked my way.
"Hey, what kind of stairs are this many... ...Chief... ...ma'am?"
Song Arin, mid-complaint, spotted the chief and trailed off. The chief waved at her with a smile.
"Song Arin. Hello. Doing well?"
"...Yes."
Song Arin replied, uncomfortably avoiding the chief's gaze.
...
...
Then Jang Chaeyeon's eyes met the chief's.
Jang Chaeyeon gave a slight nod in greeting, and the chief smiled and nodded back.
Both wore faintly awkward expressions.
*
Eileen woke up sooner than expected.
The chief broke out in a sweat stopping her from bowing at a full ninety degrees and apologizing the moment she stirred.
"Honestly, I tried to handle it alone..."
After calming Eileen, the chief turned away.
Her gaze drifted outside the window.
"But the incident ballooned bigger than I could manage solo."
"Where's the Containment Team?"
If Ahn Sanghyeon were here, wouldn't it have been way easier?
"The Containment Team's off handling another crisis elsewhere."
The chief replied flatly, walking to the window and
*Slide...!*
opening it.
"I'll say it again. It's important."
The chief jumped out the window.
"Chief!"
...!
Eileen shouted, and Jang Chaeyeon reached out quickly.
But she didn't fall.
She stood outside the window, looking back at us.
The bright moonlight illuminated her.
"From here on, we're heading up to the 'moon.'"
The chief declared firmly.
"On the way, some might have to stay behind, while others press on."
...
"But I guarantee you this."
...
"When it ends, we'll all return safely. I'll stake everything on it."
The blue moonlight shone on her resolute face.