Chapter 101
Chapter 101
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 101
Chapter Title: Into the World's Abyss: Samcheong-dong Investigation (4)
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8.
Intelligence Assistant AI.
Caduel Online.
Searching requested data…… Executing output protocol.
Abyss.
If you're consumed by its power, there's no escape.
Unless you rewind time to just before the consumption. That's the only solution.
9.
No…….
Overwhelming despair washed over me. It was then that Jeong Ha-kyeong's dying breath touched my neck.
“So…… cold…… Oh, there's a decent house right there…….”
“……?”
“Doesn't look like there are any Heteromorphs inside…… Let's go there.”
“But if we do that─”
“─If we don't, we'll…… freeze to death…… first.”
“Ha-kyeong.”
“……Please.”
Jeong Ha-kyeong pleaded softly.
It was a tone I'd never heard from her before. What emotion was carried in that tone?
Despair? Release? Resignation?
I couldn't tell, and even if I asked, she wouldn't answer.
In the end, I……
Headed toward the house she pointed at, in a half-dazed state.
The house was quite cozy.
No collapsed sections, so the blizzard couldn't blow in.
“Could you light a fire? In the breast pocket of my coat…… there's matches.”
Those matches were useless.
Everything Jeong Ha-kyeong had was completely dried out. Except for her clothes.
I used the forge's fire starter to light a blaze. Torch staves served as kindling.
“Ah…… warm…….”
Jeong Ha-kyeong held her hands to the flames and spoke in a languid voice.
A brief silence.
Jeong Ha-kyeong spoke again.
“Do you know what my dream used to be?”
“……No idea.”
“To stay buried in bed all winter long.”
“……What about food and bathroom breaks?”
“My husband would take care of all that, of course. Even empty the chamber pot.”
I let out a weak cough.
“Time has passed, so rescue teams should be here soon. It'll be fine. They say women's dreams get harder as they age, but for you─”
“─Why talk like an amateur?”
Amateur?
Jeong Ha-kyeong gave a quiet smile.
“Let's skip the hopeful stories. We…… know. What kind of world this is.”
Yeah, I know.
Better than anyone.
That's why…… I'm desperately denying it like this.
“So let's just talk. Stay with me until the end.”
“What…… kind of talk?”
“About your childhood. What made you happiest. Who your first love was.”
Happy……? First love……?
In the middle of this nightmare?
As I hesitated, Jeong Ha-kyeong turned her head to stare at the fire.
“You know my name. Do you know what it means?”
“……?”
“Ha-kyeong (夏慶). It means 'summer celebration.' They say I was born in the middle of summer.”
“…….”
“You know, I've always hung out well with boys since I was little.”
I felt my eyes growing hot.
Even as she spoke.
Jeong Ha-kyeong was slowly shrinking. Fading away. From my life.
“You know how girls are. Most of them just stay cooped up inside playing.”
“…….”
“I was close to a lot of boys…… but I never liked any of them.”
“…….”
“In high school, there was this super handsome guy like Kim Gye-sang.”
Recalling Kim Gye-sang's overwhelming looks, I unconsciously asked.
“Not even once?”
“Nope. Not even once.”
Jeong Ha-kyeong flashed a grin, then turned to look straight into my eyes.
“Until I met you.”
Her expression then.
Her voice. So heartbreakingly relieved, yet so fleeting.
I stifled a sob.
Jeong Ha-kyeong crawled over on her knees and rested her head on my shoulder.
“Sorry. I wanted to…… go together until the end…….”
Her body was now about the size of a child's.
So frail and delicate, it seemed it would shatter if I embraced her.
“Ha-kyeong…… You tried to…… save me…….”
“No…… Don't you remember?”
Had her body reached its limit?
Jeong Ha-kyeong's breathing grew more labored. Cold sweat dripped from her face, falling to the floor.
“The one who saved me first…… was Kim Baek-jun…… you.”
10.
“Sorry…… I wanted to…… go together until the end…….”
It was the limit.
She had barely held on against death.
Just to stay together a little longer.
To say the words she'd been too shy to voice.
“Don't you remember?”
Her heartbeat grew harder.
Irregular throbs. Labored breaths. Even amid the chill seeping into every vein, cold sweat dripped from her face.
“The one who saved me first…….”
But this, at least.
This thank you, she wanted to convey.
“……was Kim Baek-jun…… you.”
Her heart thudded to a dull stop.
Then, complete darkness enveloped her ash-gray vision.
“So…… I…… have no regrets…….”
She thought it was over.
Until that girl's voice rang in her mind.
「Quitting faster than expected?」
The voice echoed in her head.
Jeong Ha-kyeong barely gasped for breath.
That unreal presence…… felt like it was crushing her lungs.
「Really, what an idiotically stupid thing to do. Can't believe you shielded Kim Baek-jun back then.」
Her eyelids were heavy as barriers.
Somehow, she forced them open, and the girl's silhouette flickered before her instead of Kim Baek-jun.
「Hey, you idiot. That attack? It wouldn't have hurt Kim Baek-jun much. It was only fatal to you.」
Prim suit.
Long umbrella used like a cane.
A ridiculous form she'd never seen. But she knew instantly.
“Ba…… Baladon…… Baladon's…… First…… First Administrator…….”
「Hmm! Impressive mental strength for a plain human. You can still move your tongue.」
“Bitch, you…….”
Her tongue grew heavier.
Jeong Ha-kyeong took a deep breath.
“Bitch, you…… fucking bitch…….”
She finally spat out her rage. The suited girl bristled.
「What did you call me?」
“You…… You took our…… our world…… my daily life, everything…… you…… you all…….”
「Me? Us?」
“Yeah…… that's right…… turning the world into your toy…….”
The girl burst into shrill laughter.
She laughed and laughed.
The sound pierced one eardrum like it had burst.
「Wow, you dumb bitch. Totally deluded.」
“……?”
「Listen. The one who turned your world into this shithole wasn't me. It was that bastard.」
“What…… nonsense…….”
「Ha, you fucking moron. Your brain must be completely rusted.」
Kick, kick kick kick.
A wicked cackle.
「Well, can't be helped. I get it. Last time this world axis got destroyed, you weren't even on the list of key players.」
What was she saying?
Last time? This world had been destroyed before? How?
Then her body crumbled.
Jeong Ha-kyeong collapsed to the floor.
A sense of helplessness like the deep sea's gravity pulling her whole body. Her flesh instinctively reverting to primordial dust.
“W-What…… happens to me…… now…….”
「What happens? You turn into a bloody pulp and die, obviously. That bastard Bingryong built it that way.」
Tap.
Something touched her forehead.
It was…… the tip of the long umbrella.
「I was going to raise you up to use against him when he shows…… but plan change.」
Plan change?
「I need to take your body now.」
Take her…… body?
She barely lifted her gaze, and saw the girl's twisted smile.
「It'll strain the flesh a lot, but with my divinity, I can halt the intrabody time regression.」
“N-No.”
「No? You don't have a choice, idiot. Even without me, you'd die soon anyway.」
She tried to stand and resist.
「It won't hurt.」
But she couldn't. She'd already exhausted all her strength.
「Don't worry. I've done this a couple times.」
Instead, deathly chill pinned her body to the floor.
「Anyway, you and I have similar personalities. Kim Baek-jun won't notice the difference.」
Bullshit, she wanted to say.
But now even her mouth wouldn't open.
No…… just let me die.
「Alright, that's enough.」
She couldn't accept this mad bitch taking her place by Kim Baek-jun's side.
「Time to say goodbye.」
But what could she do.
Her limbs were smaller and weaker than a five-year-old's, her body devoid of any strength.
「Bye, Extra A.」
It was right then.
Flames suddenly ignited on her body, overtaken by frost, and on the long umbrella sucking in Jeong Ha-kyeong's soul.
Black Flame.
The dark blaze granted Jeong Ha-kyeong a sliver of warmth, while……
「Fuck…… what the……?」
It completely incinerated Baladon's First Administrator's umbrella.
「This can't be. Labelhain's power here of all places.」
11.
“So that's why Skesaria was rampaging. A servant of the Abyss was here.”
In an instant.
Primal terror swept through my mind.
An indescribable presence.
How could……?
The air felt several times heavier than when a Subordinate descended.
I kicked off the ground and lunged with the Dawn Sword.
“You only reacted after I said something? You still need to grow more.”
……A person?
A boy in a black cloak and hood.
Tattered eyepatch covering his eyes.
“East Asian? Same race as ■■■? Same nationality too? Korean, right?”
His features were grubby, his frame skinny as a boy's, yet eerily, he carried the authority and dignity of an elder.
“You being here means…… I see. The endgame has begun on Earth too.”
“Who…… are you?”
“Is my identity important right now?”
Ignoring my threat, the boy walked to the fireside, pointed at Jeong Ha-kyeong, and snapped his fingers.
I was shocked in that moment.
Black flames began enveloping and blazing over her entire body.
But I didn't strike at the boy then……
I don't know why.
But because of those black flames, Jeong Ha-kyeong's life force was intensifying.
“Do you know what Skesaria's power is? Intrabody time regression.”
“Intrabody time…… regression?”
“The way to banish the Abyss's seeds back to the past and defeat them.”
“I don't…… I don't understand. What are you saying?”
“It's the achievement of the Black Sun Karenden. Your lover fell victim to that curse.”
Banish to the past? Black Sun?
Amid the barrage of complex terms, I shook my head to swallow the headache.
“Why…… why are you helping us?”
The boy seemed to give a subdued smile.
“Because of a promise.”
“……?”
“The previous owner of your sword, Berkenxia, and I.”
What……?
In that moment, I clearly felt the Dawn Sword trembling with a high-pitched whine.
Like when I met Shin Tae-yeop.
Like when I met Gaineib, Byronica, Xerenia, Roheiritz.
No way.
The Dawn Sword reacting like this…… this boy……?
“A promise waited on for over 40 years. You've pierced the veil of time at last.”
“40 years…… but you look like a kid.”
“This form? It's because the race I'm possessing is the Childmankind. A race that lives forever as children, without aging.”
Possessing? Childmankind?
I couldn't comprehend, so I could only ask.
“Who the hell…… are you……?”
The boy lifted his hood and said.
“If you're asking the name my flesh and blood gave me, it's Paul.”
“……?”
“If you're asking the title the Administrators gave me, it's Elite Archer.”
He made me raise the Dawn Sword again.
“If you're asking what the Outer Universe calls me, then I am the apostle of Labelhain, sovereign among the five absolute gods.”
I doubted my ears.
Absolute gods?
In this moment of life and death.
The being who extended Jeong Ha-kyeong's lifeline…… was not an ally, but an enemy?
Intrabody Time Regression.
The solution to that was granted as a characteristic to create the biological weapon [CODE: 259].