Chapter 400
Chapter 400
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Translator: crow
Chapter Title: Hell Rather Than Heaven
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-Thud!
"I can't feel her!"
"I can't see her either!"
To Song Arin's urgent voice, I urgently reply while scanning our surroundings.
Endless bizarre monsters pouring out, ones that my eyes insist are copies of me.
And Yoo Daon, who vanished like smoke.
-Bang!
The pistol spits fire, piercing a monster's forehead, and as Jang Chaeyeon swings her hand, the monsters are crushed flat under the pressure.
Yoo Daon vanishing suddenly, and these monsters appearing out of nowhere.
I couldn't even grasp what was happening.
"Damn it..."
Unable to hold back my impatience, I spit out a curse and fire my gun.
Where the hell is Yoo Daon?
"Wait."
Then, Jang Chaeyeon, who had been crushing enemies until now, slowly opened her mouth.
"Where are all these things coming from?"
"...Beats me?"
Why bring that up all of a sudden?
I shot her a look conveying that, and she continued.
"I get that you're worried about Yoo Daon. But first, we need to stop these things. And..."
"Don't think about it logically from the start."
Song Arin chimed in, picking up where Jang Chaeyeon left off.
"Logically speaking, monsters copying you doesn't make sense to begin with. The black hair vanishing like magic to somewhere is the same deal."
"..."
If she put it that way, I had nothing to say.
"Got it."
-Bang!
I nodded, putting a bullet through the forehead of a charging monster—or at least, what my eyes claimed was a copy of me—and piercing its skull clean.
"What are you thinking?"
"Those monsters are coming from the opposite direction of us right now."
Jang Chaeyeon pointed expressionlessly to the opposite side and nodded.
"So we're heading that way too."
"..."
This is ridiculous, seriously.
"Let's do it right now."
I replied while swapping magazines, and both of them smiled and nodded.
"Chaeyeon will push forward, and Arin and I will support from behind."
"Sounds good."
"Okay."
They both nodded at my words, and with that, we began pushing forward through the monsters.
I hope nothing bad happens to Yoo Daon.
What's with this uneasy feeling?
*
"What did you just say, Daon?"
After a brief silence, her mother spoke, and Yoo Daon replied calmly while looking at the two of them.
"I don't want to."
"...Daon."
The two looked at Yoo Daon with troubled expressions upon hearing her words.
"We love you, Daon."
"Yes, I know."
"Since we love you, you should listen to us, right?"
"Yes, that's true."
"Then help us catch Kim Jaeheon."
"I don't want to."
"Daon!"
Her father yelled at Yoo Daon as if scolding her, but she just stared at them with an expressionless face.
"I'm... so grateful that you both love me."
She spoke in a calm voice.
"But I..."
What should she say about herself?
"I can't share my love with many people."
That was how Yoo Daon chose to express it.
Killing all containment objects for the sake of the world.
Some would call it the right thing, the noble thing, and praise those who did it.
Yoo Daon thought so too.
She believed it was right to save others if she could.
It was just that her priorities were a little different.
She too thought sacrificing for people was right. If not sacrifice, it could even be called laying the groundwork for a better future.
But Kim Jaeheon couldn't be part of that.
"I'd rather... live in hell with Jaeheon than in heaven without him."
She said in a calm voice.
Even if everyone was happy without him, she would be unhappy.
Even if everyone was unhappy because of him, she would be happy.
Their expressions shifted endlessly upon hearing her words.
From dismay to disbelief, from disbelief to anger.
"You... I didn't raise you like this...!"
Her mother began sobbing, covering her face with both hands, while her father glared at Yoo Daon in fury.
"Daon! Look at your mother crying!"
"I'm sorry."
Yoo Daon continued in a calm voice.
"What can't be done just can't... But if there's any way I can help you instead, I will."
The two froze at Yoo Daon's response.
"...Hoo..."
Her mother, who had been sobbing with her face covered by both hands, lowered them.
With a face devoid of emotion, looking not even human, she spoke.
"I thought emotions were essential for humans."
"..."
"Because to save humans, you need to feel empathy for what it means to be human."
She continued in a calm voice, while Yoo Daon simply gazed at them without reaction.
"Motivation naturally leads to desperate choices and actions, but it seems we made a mistake."
"Indeed."
The two looked at each other, then at Yoo Daon.
"Daon, you're not our daughter."
"...I see."
Yoo Daon replied calmly.
"..."
"..."
The two looked at each other.
"To be precise, you're a human made by combining my genes and your mother's."
"Is that so."
It wasn't particularly important.
Yoo Daon nodded with that thought, and the two exchanged glances again.
"..."
-Snap!
With a crisp snap of her fingers, Yoo Daon looked at them in bewilderment.
"...?"
What are they doing?
The thought lasted only a moment.
"...Huh?"
Yoo Daon's feet began moving on their own.
Just like before she fell earlier.
"...Ugh...!"
Yoo Daon gritted her teeth and twisted her body, and her mother sighed as she watched.
"Come here. Come here, Daon."
"...!"
She hurriedly reached into her pocket for the awl, but her body no longer obeyed.
"Ugh, urk...!"
Yoo Daon twisted her body every which way, and her mother spoke expressionlessly while watching.
"Daon, just give up now. Just... listen to us. We want you so badly—why won't you obey? We're really sad."
"..."
She gritted her teeth and twisted her body with her eyes shut.
Please, please...!
Her feet wouldn't obey, and Yoo Daon prayed with her eyes closed.
The person who always appeared to help her when she needed it.
The one who showed up like a comet whenever she needed...
-Bang!
At the same moment, a gunshot rang out, and before she could feel pain, the sensation of her forehead being pierced hit, her body collapsing uncontrolled to the floor.
But something caught her midair, holding her suspended, and her consciousness faded briefly.
It didn't take long to return, of course.
"...Ugh!"
Not even a few seconds later, she opened her eyes, fixed awkwardly in midair.
"...Huh...?"
Yoo Daon made a bewildered expression and moved her hand.
"Huh?"
As her body obeyed her will, she let out an even more bewildered sound.
Soon, a familiar voice reached her ears.
"Hey, you lunatic! You have to say something before shooting!"
"There wasn't time."
"At least say you're gonna shoot so we know!"
"You want me to tell Daon I'm about to shoot her?"
Yoo Daon's gaze turned toward the familiar voice.
A short woman with purple hair was grumbling and punching a man in the side, while the tired-looking man sighed in response to the hits.
"...Jaeheon."
Yoo Daon called his name, and the man turned to look at her upon hearing his voice.
"Daon."
He looked at her apologetically and spoke.
"Sorry. It was urgent, so I shot first."
"...No...!"
Yoo Daon shook her head hurriedly at his words.
She trusted him.
If he shot her, there had to be a reason.
"It's fine!"
And so, she smiled brightly.
*
I glance at the corner after looking at Yoo Daon smiling brightly.
[Critical: 1->0]
The Critical vanishing. And Yoo Daon moving properly.
It was the hypothesis I'd had for a while, and it worked after all.
Yoo Daon's ability is localized time manipulation.
More precisely, something close to rewinding her body's time to the most 'ideal' state.
But why didn't it affect her mind?
At first, I thought it was just how it was, but no.
When Song Arin hypnotized Yoo Daon first, her body followed the hypnosis—that was key.
It was like a program, wasn't it?
Once someone inputs a command beforehand, no other commands can get in.
A human brain isn't that simple.
It either does both or prioritizes, but here it just followed the first input command.
Hearing that made me realize.
Yoo Daon's mind—no, or perhaps her existence—was 'programmed' to obey the first hypnosis or mental attack that entered.
I look at Yoo Daon's parents.
"...It didn't work!"
"What...?"
The two mutter in bewilderment and look at me, and I just nod to them.
Yeah. I fixed it.
Just as Jang Chaeyeon said, we charged toward where the monsters were swarming from, and there were Yoo Daon and her parents, with her gritting her teeth and walking.
That's why I used Critical, spotted the glowing red light near her head.
And pulled the trigger.
"...Jaeheon!"
Yoo Daon approaches me, and I look at her parents.
Seeing her parents staring at me and the others in bewilderment, I open my mouth.
"The manual says it's okay to execute betrayers without mercy."
I say calmly while drawing my gun and aiming it.
The two couldn't say a word.