Chapter 399
Chapter 399
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Translator: crow
Chapter Title: 399. Heart
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I pull the trigger.
At the same time, the slowed world snaps back to normal, and the colors begin returning to their original vibrancy.
"Damn...!"
I draw in a deep breath, and the others stare at me with bewildered expressions.
"Jaeheon-ssi?"
"What's going on, what happened?"
Yoo Daon gazes at me with worry etched across her face, while Song Arin mutters in confusion, her eyes meeting mine.
"That thing's off."
"Off how?"
Song Arin narrows her eyes at my murmur, and Jang Chaeyeon whips her gaze forward, her expression tense.
"What about it?"
"My eyes couldn't read it."
"It's not like we haven't dealt with unreadable things before. How so?"
"...Normally, when I fire, the world slows down for me?"
"You got some kinda implant in your eyes or what?"
Out of the blue. I press on with the same thought.
"Anyway, it tracked my eyes and movements perfectly."
"...Probably."
Yoo Daon keeps her guard up as she continues.
"That thing from earlier in the basement, the one that looked like Jaeheon-ssi..."
"It didn't look like me."
"Right, the one modeled after Jaeheon-ssi..."
"Not even modeled."
"Y-Yeah..."
"Ah, just get the rough idea!"
Yoo Daon stammers in flustered response to my nitpick, until Song Arin snaps irritably and clamps my mouth shut.
These things need clear explanations.
The thought flickers briefly before Yoo Daon picks up again.
"For starters, it seemed like it was trying to mimic Jaeheon-ssi somehow and caught on midway."
"..."
"It doesn't have a perfect read on Jaeheon-ssi, but it knows his abilities to some degree... right?"
Yoo Daon glances at me as she asks, but the answer comes from her own parents.
"That's right, Daon-ah."
The woman smiles and claps her hands.
"Just like you said, honestly, the first time we saw that boy... I mean, we were truly... well, astonished."
She goes on with a smile.
"It's an ability even easier than yours, Daon-ah. If the conditions line up, it can definitely take down a containment object."
"And clean and convenient to boot."
"Yeah."
The two exchange smiles.
"So, like you pointed out, we tried making a Kim Jaeheon, but it just wouldn't take."
"Especially the eyes... like they didn't even exist."
They speak with regret, and Yoo Daon bites her lip before continuing.
"With me here, Jaeheon-ssi will be fine."
"With you and Kim Jaeheon? That'd be perfect."
"Did it hurt you at all?"
The two turn to Yoo Daon, and her mother soothes her in a gentle tone.
"You don't need to take it too hard, Daon-ah. It doesn't mean we don't love you."
"Exactly. We just figure we can love that Jaeheon kid too."
"Seems like those two don't even get why the black-haired one's pissed."
"Yeah."
Song Arin and Jang Chaeyeon whisper among themselves, but I stay silent through it all.
"I've hated him from the start anyway."
What matters is the person's own feelings, right?
I shoot Yoo Daon's parents a look like that, and both beam back gently.
"Your take doesn't matter much."
"Right."
Figured as much.
I raise my gun again, and the three of them ready their stances.
But we can't land any real hits on them either, and they haven't touched us meaningfully—so how do we handle this?
Some solid plan—
—Thud!
Before I can think it through, a distant rumble of something charging echoes.
—Kyaaack!
The scream we've heard before rings out.
"That..."
I turn my gaze.
Countless human-like monsters barrel toward us.
A translucent panel pops up.
[Name: Kim Jaeheon]
[Age: 27]
[Specialty: X]
[Talent: X]
[Background: Kim Jaeheon is a young man working in the HR Team at the Management Bureau's Gangseo Branch, and his gaze is peculiar.]
[Weakness: To begin with, he isn't Kim Jaeheon.]
Everyone sees the same info.
"Hey, no way those are..."
Song Arin tugs my sleeve in horror, and I nod.
"That's the no way."
"Shit."
She mutters the two-letter curse under her breath and flanks me.
"We just block 'em, right? Block."
"If we can see 'em, shouldn't be an issue."
I scoop up my pistol and start plugging shots right between their brows; the monsters drop one by one in sync.
Jang Chaeyeon thrusts out her hand, sending a swarm flying.
"..."
Easier than I thought?
I swap magazines and fire anew, the others piling on with me.
Song Arin draws a pistol from God-knows-where and blasts away too.
Her stance mirrors mine eerily close, but she's nailing shots anyway, so whatever.
I methodically drop the ones in front of me with those thoughts.
Once the monsters are all down...
"Everyone good?"
"Fine."
"A truckload of these? I could sweep 'em."
Jang Chaeyeon and Song Arin's confident voices ring out.
"Glad to hear it. Daon-ssi—"
I turn to where Yoo Daon had been...
"..."
An empty space greets the three of us.
*
Nauseous.
That's what Yoo Daon felt.
Put her head in a centrifuge and spin it—wouldn't feel much different.
She'd never been spun in one for an experiment, even if anyone had, so maybe that's it. Yoo Daon lifts her head and scans her surroundings.
A dark room.
Maybe one she knows.
It felt strangely familiar.
"Daon-ah."
Her parents watch her.
"...You've grown so much."
Yoo Daon stays silent, and her parents shift from loving gazes to sad ones.
"Rebelling against your loving parents now."
"..."
Yoo Daon says nothing.
Love.
"...Mom, Dad."
"Yes, Daon-ah."
Her mother replies tenderly to the call, and Yoo Daon finally voices the question she's always harbored.
"What is love?"
It was always her thought.
What is love?
Not from ignorance of it.
Just which emotion gets defined as love.
She didn't know.
Because to her eyes, Jang Chaeyeon and Song Arin loved that man.
Jang Chaeyeon's smiles she never wore otherwise when seeing him, Song Arin's pained grimaces now and then— that was the love she'd observed and heard about.
But seeing him, she wore no such smiles, twisted no face in heartache.
She simply pondered endlessly if there was anything she could do for him.
That's why she wondered what love was.
Such a tangled emotion.
"..."
"..."
Her parents share a look, and her mother smiles softly before speaking.
"Love is..."
"..."
"...dedication."
"Dedication?"
"Yes."
Dedication.
Yoo Daon blinks, and her parents smile as they begin explaining.
"I'll keep it simple, Daon-ah."
"..."
"You love us."
"..."
"So you do what we want. Right?"
Her mother smiles with affection, and Yoo Daon stares blankly at her.
She does what her parents want because she loves them?
Maybe that's it.
Yoo Daon nods slowly, and both parents smile.
"Yes, Daon-ah. You've finally come to understand our hearts."
"You'll believe now that we sent you to the hospital with bleeding tears, out of necessity?"
They pass words back and forth while watching her, but Yoo Daon merely stares at them impassively.
Slowly, she speaks.
"I believe you."
"...As expected of our Daon."
Her father curls the corner of his mouth upward.
"So, won't you lend us just a bit of your power to bring Kim Jaeheon here?"
"Yes, Daon-ah. Just a little more... You get to be with him, and we save the world."
Yoo Daon shuts her eyes briefly at her parents' words, lost in imagination.
Kim Jaeheon by her side.
No Jang Chaeyeon or Song Arin alongside—just him, sharing joy and pain with her alone.
"..."
With him beside her, she'd surely be so happy.
Happy enough that every day wouldn't feel real.
But.
"...No."
Yoo Daon shakes her head slowly, and her parents stare at her in confusion.
"...Daon-ah?"
"Daon-ah, we love you."
"Yes. I know you two love me."
Yoo Daon murmurs flatly.
Dedication.
For Kim Jaeheon, Yoo Daon could give everything.
She asks for nothing in return.
No faith. No trust. Of course, no hatred either.
But one thing alone—she wishes for it.
[I am... so happy right now.]
Her already-dead self had said it.
Was it because she craved faith from that man—no, from Kim Jaeheon? Craved trust? Hoped he'd carry her in his heart forever, unable to forget?
No.
It must have hurt. Pain never gets familiar.
Must have been terrifying. Death always is.
And yet, why call it happiness?
Was she truly happy?
No.
Yoo Daon simply wants Kim Jaeheon to be happy.
A desperate lie from someone who barely understands people, all to leave not even the slightest burden on his heart.
If she said it hurt, he'd hurt.
If she said it scared her, he'd fear.
That's why.
"But I don't want to."
Yoo Daon smiles softly at the two of them.
She moves only for his happiness.
Whether that counts as love, she doesn't know.
"Jaeheon-ssi wouldn't be happy."
That vague, wordless something—that was her heart.