Chapter 159
Chapter 159
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 159
Chapter Title: Infiltration, Gangbuk-gu Papal Court Fierce Battle (12)
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24.
“No no. This deaaad huuunter can’t be saaaaved.”
Ryu Hyeon-ji couldn’t make sense of Black & White’s words. Her head throbbed just trying.
“W-what nonsense is that? No, he’s not! Hurry up and bring him over—what are you waiting for──!”
──Screeeeech!
In that instant.
A terrifying whoosh of air.
From below…… a pale crystal sword came charging up.
“《Crystal Lotus Guard》!”
She would’ve died, probably.
If Lee Seong-mi’s lotus flames hadn’t wrapped around Ryu Hyeon-ji right then.
“Fall back, Hyeon-ji!”
Ryu Hyeon-ji gasped for breath as she turned to Lee Seong-mi.
“B-Brigade Chief!”
“……?”
“G-give these idiots some orders. Make them listen! Tell them to go get him!”
Lee Seong-mi shook her head.
Suppressing the wave of grief and confusion, she grabbed Ryu Hyeon-ji by the scruff and hoisted her onto Black & White’s back.
“Ha-ram! Bring Gong Min-young over here too.”
Ryu Hyeon-ji desperately clutched at Lee Seong-mi’s sleeve.
“B-Brigade Chief……?!”
“We have to go.”
“But───”
Slap.
Suddenly, her cheek burned.
What? Why’d her head snap to the side like that?
She barely managed to turn and look.
There stood Lee Seong-mi, right hand raised, breathing raggedly.
“──We have to survive. That’s what the Chairman wanted.”
Ryu Hyeon-ji started to protest…… but shut her mouth.
Because of the tears.
She’d seen tears streaming from Lee Seong-mi’s eyes……. Soon her own eyes stung, and she began to sob.
“Th-the Chairman…… really…… died……?”
“…….”
“W-we…… to save us……?”
That’s when Lee Ha-ram brought Gong Min-young over and loaded her onto Black & White’s back. Lee Seong-mi climbed up too.
“Go! Hurry!”
Black & White soared through the air and landed on the terrace of the right tower. Lee Seong-mi drew in a sharp breath as she stepped down onto it.
[Grotesque Socket Helmet]……?
All around it, bloodstains splattered hideously…… Lee Seong-mi sobbed silently as she picked up the helmet.
Chairman Kim Baek-jun…….
Lee Seong-mi climbed back onto Black & White and looked down at her feet.
The blizzard hid everything.
Nothing.
She felt a cracked sob escape her throat.
She still couldn’t accept it.
Kim Baek-jun, the Lead Hunter and founding Chairman…… dead?
25.
Am I falling.
The sensation of plummeting. Gravity’s acceleration wrapping around my entire body.
“……You……
……idiot……
……brave…….”
Choi Sin-yul’s voice drifted faintly, caught in the updraft.
In that moment, Choi Sin-yul shoved my body away and formed an ice sword, jamming it into the tower’s outer wall.
───Scraaaaaape!
A piercing friction sound.
He’d anchored himself to the wall, escaping the fall.
Unlike that bastard…… I kept dropping.
- Never let your guard down.
Where did I…… let my guard down?
No…… it wasn’t that.
Face reality. I lost. Overwhelmingly.
- The enemies you must face are the apostles of the absolute gods.
I couldn’t track his movements.
Even if Dawn Sword hadn’t vanished…… the outcome would’ve been the same.
- Those outer universe overlords, who select solely based on merit.
That was it.
An ice plain covered in blue eyes.
My body slammed straight down onto it.
Craaaaaack──────
A thunderous split in the ice.
That’s when crystal swords rained from above, piercing my body relentlessly.
────Splatter────
Thorough……
Determined not to let me go.
The ferocious shockwave shattered the ice like an explosion.
───────Boom!
The next instant.
Freezing water numbed my veins…… and buoyancy enveloped me. Only then.
“Guh…… hack…….”
The blocked breath burst out.
And faintly, I could see it. Air bubbles and bloody froth trailing up from me in the water.
No strength left.
No pain, no sensation.
Breathing…… no need to breathe anymore…… now…… I……
Am I done?
No sooner had that despair hit than.
The consciousness I’d clung to desperately…… began to blur in an instant.
- Sorry…… I wanted to go all the way with you…….
- Don’t die, mister.
- Yeah, a promise. The promise between Kim Baek-jun and Do Ye-jin.
Ha-kyeong…… sorry.
Ye-jin…… sorry…… I should’ve…… saved you──
───────────Ah.
In that final dying breath, as my eyelids closed.
Twilight.
The twilight of rest…….
So warmly…… so cozily…… into my soul…….
I…… still……
Have to reclaim…… rebuild…… the dawn of this world…… so far…… away…… ■
26.
We’d all planned a summer beach trip. But there was a problem.
“What the hell, Gye-sang hyung still not coming?”
Cha Seung-hyeon whined like a kid.
Already geared up with underwater goggles and a snorkel. Is this guy actually in elementary school……?
“I wanna go already.”
“Our awesome Dong-sang must be off charming some girl.”
Hong Byeong-gyu chuckled.
Rocking a bright red aloha shirt. Total beer-bellied uncle vibe.
“Chicks my ass. You think that guy’s a punk like you lot?”
Jeong Ha-kyeong smirked as she flicked her cigarette ash. Then she looked up……
“What……?”
……Hong Byeong-gyu was gone.
Weird. He’d been right there 0.1 seconds ago……?
“Hey, hey! Where’d that uncle go now?”
She whipped around…… and couldn’t believe her eyes.
Gone. Vanished.
Cha Seung-hyeon was gone too. And Yoon Geon-woo.
“Hey, fuck! Quit screwing around and show yourself! Hey! Come out now and I’ll let it slide! Three seconds!”
What……?
Teleportation or something?
Her heart pounded at the inexplicable phenomenon.
“Two seconds! One…….”
In this vast world.
The loneliness of being left utterly alone crushed her.
Thump. Thump. Thump.
Am I the only one left?
“Yeah. Now it’s really…… just us.”
Thump. Thump. Thump. Thump.
A familiar voice answered. Kim Baek-jun’s. Kim Baek-jun’s voice.
“Th-this is weird. Everyone’s gone. Suddenly. All of them.”
Thump. Thump. Thump. Thump. Thump.
She spun desperately toward the sound……
“Kim Baek-jun……?”
……But no Kim Baek-jun there either.
“Where are you? Where’d you go?”
Thump. Thump. Thump. Thump. Thump. Thump.
No matter how she looked, no matter how she shouted, no one was there. No reply came.
“Please, where is everyone? Answer me…… leave me…… alone──”
A thunderclap jolted her eyes open.
The familiar ceiling stared back.
As she gawked blankly…… a chill swept over her body.
Cold sweat……
Fuck…… she was soaked.
Jeong Ha-kyeong dragged her heavy body up and let out a sigh.
“What a fucking shitty dream…….”
Rain and wind howled outside…… and the door kept thumping.
“……Captain, Captain!”
“Fuck…… what the hell this time of night?”
She mumbled half-asleep, and the door flew open. A familiar female hunter.
“Y-you’re back……!”
“You’re back? Well, damn, look who graced us.”
“No! You said wake you when the Gangbuk-gu strike team returned……!”
“What?”
Jeong Ha-kyeong kicked off the bed in an instant, jammed her feet into her boots.
“They’re just arriving now?”
“Yeah!”
“Finally, what had to come is here.”
She strode straight into the hallway.
No need to change. She’d slept in uniform.
The entire Gyeonghuigung headquarters buzzed.
The bell signaling the allies’ return. Association members trickling out of barracks one by one.
Something…… felt off……
Jeong Ha-kyeong found herself fiddling with the Kim Baek-jun watch on her wrist without thinking.
“Ah…… there they are.”
Soon, figures appeared at the main gate.
How many?
One, two, three, four…… seven.
“Ha…….”
Relief washed over her.
Seven, seven people. Everyone made it back.
That’s why Jeong Ha-kyeong dashed out into the rain, splashing through the muddy yard.
What to say first.
That she’d crushed all the bugs that crawled into Jongno-gu while he was gone? That she wasn’t giving the watch back?
What words would get that signature flustered look.
A faint smile on her lips as she scanned the returnees.
Scanned…… scanned…… scanned……?
Suddenly, her sprint ground to a halt.
Who…… is that?
No Kim Baek-jun.
Just some unfamiliar girl filling the count.
And.
Including the woman slung over Black & White’s back, that made eight.
But no Kim Baek-jun.
A prick of unease hit her…… just as lightning flashed.
In that split second, she glimpsed it.
The returnees’ faces…… they looked seriously wrong.
What……?
Heads bowed, staggering, eyes unfocused. Like defeated soldiers.
“Hey.”
Jeong Ha-kyeong finally spoke.
At the front, Lee Seong-mi looked up.
“Where’s…… Kim Baek-jun?”
Their eyes met.
Lee Seong-mi’s pupils shook like they’d shatter…… then she squeezed them shut.
“I’m sorry…… Ha-kyeong…….”
Sorry…… for what……?
Jeong Ha-kyeong held her breath. Suddenly, the watch on her wrist felt like lead.
“……The Chairman……”
In this world, some things you know…… without hearing.
“……in Gangbuk-gu……”
It’s just…… tragedy.
“……after taking down Pope Song Chan-un……”
From expressions and tone alone.
You can infer…… the severance of precious bonds…… in this nightmare world…….
“……died in battle.”
Jeong Ha-kyeong stood frozen.
Those few words plunged her world into total darkness.
“I’m sorry…….”
Rumble…… thunder rolled.
“Really…… really…… sorry…… he tried to save us…… us…….”
Lee Seong-mi placed something in Jeong Ha-kyeong’s hand.
“Ah…….”
She’d seen it countless times.
Kim Baek-jun wearing it…… [Grotesque Socket Helmet].
She turned it over blankly.
Dried blood crusted the inside.
Sour sweat stench.
Fetid blood reek.
Cold metal tang.
Those unmistakable…… scents of death mingled, tickling her nose.
Amid the storm of despair, one question arose.
What happened?
What pierced him, what slashed him, what struck him…… to spew so much blood it coated the helmet?
Jeong Ha-kyeong stood rooted.
It was the best she could do. She swallowed the sobs rising from her depths.
“He…… really went all out to the end…….”
A casual sigh escaped, like it was nothing. But.
It crumbled…… vanished…….
The final pillar holding up my life…….
Inside, her heart had long collapsed into ruins.
──Pouring rain intensified.
So loud no other sound cut through. Lightning cracked.
“Yeah…… that’s how it is.”
Jeong Ha-kyeong muttered flatly, face blank.
Yeah. That’s just how it happened.
She’d been dreaming all this time. This world…… always a nightmare.
“No helping it.”
She couldn’t tell.
The cold streams running down her face…… rain or tears…….
……Rumble……
At the thunder, Jeong Ha-kyeong turned sharply.
Splash…… splash…… splash……
She trudged across the muddy ground and slick stone toward headquarters.
As if nothing happened.
Association members crowded on both sides. But none offered comfort.
“No way…….”
“Impossible…….”
“The Chairman…… really……?”
“Ha…… haha…… ha…….”
They were all…… still reeling from the shock.
Fervent deniers.
Those resigned to despair.
Ones laughing hollowly.
Reactions varied wildly, but the cause was one.
August 6, 2045.
122 days since the world’s end.
That day, Jeong Ha-kyeong.
The <Association> in Seodaemun-gu.
Lost forever…… an irreplaceable existence.
It rained.