Chapter 62
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 62
Chapter Title: Palace in the Gap (2)
-----------------------------------------------------------------
‘…Damn.’
The moment the flesh of a dead demon splashed into the Cyclops’ eye.
Demons charged at me from all directions even more ferociously.
The instant my glasses were covered in blood, my field of vision narrowed.
But I wasn’t allowed the time to wipe them clean or even take them off.
What I needed right now was just a moment to clear the blood from my glasses and catch my breath.
I gripped the greatsword in my right hand and the dagger in reverse grip in my left, swinging them wildly as I backpedaled.
My hurried movements naturally carried more force.
The black net of afterimages slashed through the space, scattering the demons in pieces.
I realized too late what Fraus was aiming for, but even at a high level, dodging attacks from foes who disregarded their own lives to target only my glasses was no easy task.
Splat—
As the greatsword cleaved another demon in two, red blood sprayed like a crashing wave, forming a curtain.
And piercing through that curtain came a hand, dyed blue when it should have been pure white.
‘…!’
Just like that, over my exposed eye where the Cyclops’ gaze had been stripped away.
A ruby-red pupil floated into view.
* * *
“Ugh…….”
My head felt like it was splitting open.
When I opened my closed eyes, white light poured into my pupils.
‘Where am I? I was definitely fighting Fraus….’
As my blurry vision gradually sharpened and the surroundings came into focus, my dazed brain began analyzing the situation.
What I saw around me were wallpaper thick with mold from condensation and shoe lockers lining the walls.
And lined up there were small children’s shoes.
“…….”
It was a familiar scene from my memories.
“Waaah! I don’t wanna go!”
I turned at the sound of a child crying.
A boy around four years old with a buzz cut was throwing a tantrum at a woman who looked to be in her early twenties.
“Our baby, be good, okay? If you just wait one night for Mommy, I’ll buy you pork cutlet.”
“No! I don’t want it!”
“You have to go! You! Why won’t you listen to Mommy!”
The woman, who had been coaxing and soothing the child, finally spanked his bottom, and the boy burst into tears.
“Waaah!!”
Why? Why hit the poor kid like that? What did the child do wrong….
I took a step forward to stroke the boy’s head, but my hand passed right through him like an illusion.
Whoosh—
Passing through the child, I reached the other side, where Fraus stood.
“Oh, how pitiful…. Abandoned by your parents in your childhood?”
“…You fucking bastard.”
I kicked off the ground and charged at him, swinging my fist.
But once again, I passed right through the illusion, tumbling back into pitch-black darkness, free-falling toward somewhere.
.
.
.
Thud!
“Gasp……! Cough. Cough.”
I’d fallen from quite a height; my breath caught for a moment before I finally managed to suck in air.
Coughing from the pain of the fall, I looked around.
A long, straight corridor. Rust-red flooring spiked with jagged thorns.
Shoe lockers along one wall and a window on the other.
Another place I recognized.
- I was going to let you go. This is all on you.
“You piece of shit……. Show yourself! Get out here!”
I stood and yelled into the empty air.
I knew it was an illusion. Still, it was hard to contain the rage boiling up inside me.
The bastard was toying with me by reconstructing memories I’d rather not recall.
Creak— Creak—
The sound of worn flooring underfoot made me turn.
Amid groups of children walking home happily in pairs or trios, one little kid trudged along alone, shoulders slumped.
Unlike the others clutching shoe bags, he held enormous triple-striped slippers—one in each hand, far too big for his feet—glancing around nervously.
- You spent such a long time alone. You were a kid who needed affection.
“I don’t need that crap.”
“Really?”
I spun at the voice behind me, swinging my fist.
Boom!
It felt like punching a solid wall—my hand throbbed like it might shatter—but there was nothing there.
Nothing visible, just the strong rebound in my hand.
Fraus’s form was nowhere, only his voice echoing in my head.
- Then why did you make friends?
Suddenly, like a car speeding by.
Everything in the space turned to lines, and time froze again in a stall of some bathroom.
Footsteps approached outside the stall, followed by the chatter of two boys just hitting puberty.
“That punk climbs all over you if you play with him a little, right?”
“Fuck, the orphan bastard can’t even read the room…. Gonna have to stomp him with the crew soon.”
“Hey, hey, take it easy. Take it easy. If he whines and kills himself, it’ll be a headache.”
“What’s it matter? Orphan bitch cries—who cares? Cops’ll just shrug.”
“Oh, yeah?”
“Fuck yeah, kid.”
Painful memories.
I don’t wallow in them now, but back then, it taught me desperately how to deal with people once I entered society.
- Let me ask again. Why make friends again? Weren’t you scared of betrayal?
“Shut up! Shut the fuck up!”
Bang!
I smashed through the stall door yelling, and there in front of the urinals stood So-hee and Uncle Dong-gil, side by side, staring at me.
They gazed at me coldly and spoke in unison.
““What makes you think they won’t betray you?””
“This shitty illusion…….”
““Is it really just an illusion?””
- Aaaah!! Uncle, help!
Suddenly, Dan-woo’s scream came from outside.
I shoved them aside and burst through the door. The scene had shifted to a school rooftop.
There, on the railing, Baek Ki-hyuk—the shooting club captain I’d killed—held Dan-woo by the collar, dangling him over the edge.
Baek Ki-hyuk looked at me and opened his mouth.
“Because it’s fake……. Can I let go?”
“…Like I’d fall for that shit?”
“Do you know how much time has passed since you entered the gate? Your comrades outside died to my subordinates, some captured, and you just kept walking the desert.”
“…….”
“It was So-hee, right? ‘Min-jun will come. Min-jun will definitely come.’ The girl parroting like a bird got caught in the end. When she saw you lost in illusions, what face do you think she made? Not you?”
“……This is an illusion. This is an illusion. This is an illusion.”
“Yeah? Then I’ll drop him?”
Baek Ki-hyuk let go, and against my will, my legs moved.
I caught Dan-woo and plummeted to the ground.
Bang!
“Cough!”
Even as my insides churned, I shook off the daze and looked at who I held.
It wasn’t Dan-woo I’d saved.
It was the politician I’d beheaded at Jamsil Station.
He shed bloody tears, cursing me.
“What are you fighting for? You’re just a hypocrite anyway. Because of your half-assed help, more people died by my hand. Isn’t that right? Look now—your comrades died because you got cocky for no reason.”
No. I did my best back then.
We couldn’t stay trapped here forever. We had no choice but to fight this guy.
“Really? Did you really have to fight today? When you first left the hideout, today wasn’t the day you planned to fight me.”
Right—at the moment I sensed their attacks intensifying.
I was the one who insisted we fight now, brushing off the group’s worries.
But in my mind, that was the best choice.
As I sank into thought, I suddenly looked up to find myself in a cavern.
“…….”
The past.
Not long ago, a past I didn’t want to remember.
A massive hornet hovered in the air, facing off against a man with a greatsword representing the survivors.
‘No…….’
Boom!!
With a roar that shattered the cavern wall, the man’s swordplay began.
The watching survivors screamed and scattered.
But trapped in the confined cavern, they couldn’t dodge the pouring slashes.
“Kyaaah!!”
“Ugh…. Save me!”
They didn’t die to the hornets.
They all died by my hand.
‘Stop…….’
Hornet ichor and human blood splattered everywhere.
“You madman…. Argh!”
“Ugh, I don’t wanna die—”
Shattered hornet corpses and human limbs littered the ground.
“……Stop it!!”
Boom!
I leaped into the fray and punched the rampaging bastard flying with his greatsword.
This time, I felt the impact in my hand.
The lunatic who’d butchered everyone around like a maniac flew off, smashing the hornet nest.
But as the dust from the crumbling cavern walls settled, the severed heads of the survivors on the ground opened their mouths in unison.
- Mortal, why struggle so? Come to my mother’s embrace. She will warmly hold your wounded soul.
An illusion. It’s all an illusion.
I knew it rationally. But my emotions wouldn’t settle.
My stomach churned.
Gripping the cavern wall against the rising nausea, I vomited up everything inside.
For someone who claimed to save people, I’d given up on too many without even trying.
No, worse—I’d swung my sword without a thought for the lives of those struggling to survive.
And yet…. Had I fully accepted my selfish side?
I pretended to be humane, to care for others.
While despising those who clung desperately to petty gains.
‘Yeah, exactly.’
I was a nauseating hypocrite.
Step. Step.
At the sound of someone approaching, I wiped the vomit from my mouth and looked up.
It was Atlnak’s demon man and woman.
“If you’d just helped a little.”
“If you’d shown us a shred of mercy, we wouldn’t have died.”
“Haa…. So what do you want me to do about it!”
Yeah, no excuses.
I’m a hypocrite, a murderer, utterly selfish.
To survive, I’ll stand by while others die, and I won’t waste my precious time saving people I don’t like.
I wasn’t strong enough, still needing far more than I could give others.
Of course, if I were stronger, I could’ve saved others in the Songpa Castle gap, caring for their lives.
If I were strong enough to easily subdue these two demons before me, if I had overflowing survival time, I could’ve purified them with sheer abundance.
But I wasn’t.
I’m just a pathetic human, and humans aren’t omnipotent.
I struggle, but in crucial moments, I’m always the weak one.
And the weak must always abandon something to choose.
Fine, I admit it.
Life is unfair. Contradictory. Irrational.
A chain of such absurdities.
In the situation given to me, I just make the best choice I can.
‘Judging right and wrong….’
At least, not this spider in front of me.
Hoo—
I took a deep breath and closed my eyes.
The best thing I could do now wasn’t wallowing in past regrets—it was killing Fraus, escaping this place, and saving my friends.
[The user senses and recognizes the flow of time.]
[‘Time Perception’ proficiency has reached its limit. (100/100)]
[Transcendent will reflects the user’s intent!]
[Confirming the narrative of ‘Time Restrictor.’]
Ding!
[Acquired skill ‘Time Perception Lv.1’!!]
Ignoring the noise in my ears, I gradually rose above my memories.
In the middle of the lake I’d seen in the desert.
Behind me as I climbed up, the lake rippled in waves.
No way to spot the distortion like this.
I had to calm it. Only then could I find the anomaly, like discovering the palace.
The ripples settled, my mind grew peaceful again.
And at the lake’s center, a circular ripple formed.
Plop—
.
.
.
‘…?! There.’
I spotted where the circular wave distorted.
I stared straight at it, slashing horizontally with the greatsword in my hand.
Swoosh—
I slowly opened my closed eyes.
In my half-lidded vision, a single line was drawn.
My eyes fully opened, my briefly blurred sight shed its haze and refocused.
“……How?”
The emaciated half-human, half-beast white spider stared at me in shock.
“Who knows, talent?”
Its illusions no longer worked on me.
And without that, I could chew these vermin to pieces.
‘Three on the left, three on the right, five behind.’
The demons lunged as I regained my senses.
Even without looking, I felt everything in this moment.
Left? Right? No. Instinct said I could handle it my way.
Want to clear this easy? Start from behind? Not even a lethal threat.
‘No need to overthink.’
Maybe from mental fatigue. This time, I just wanted to rip them apart the brute-force way.
‘Why was Fraus so desperate to illusion me?’
Because at their level, they couldn’t even scratch me.
Boom.
With an explosion from the floor, I charged at Fraus.