Chapter 196
Chapter 196
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 196
Chapter Title: Toward Seongsan, Nowon-gu Breakthrough Operation (7)
-----------------------------------------------------------------
16.
“Can’t I start calling you sis from today? Pretty please?”
Gong Min-yeong……?
Right, Gong Min-yeong, wasn’t it?
The extra detail that Kim Baek-jun had picked her up in Gangbuk-gu didn’t sit well at all.
“When did you even see me to start acting all buddy-buddy, you crazy bitch.”
“Sis, when did you see me to hit me with that spicy trash talk first…… I fell head over heels for you, sis.”
That instant.
A monster hunter leaped down from the clock tower on the left, tackling Gong Min-yeong.
“Fuck off.”
《Super Acceleration》.
And a swift trigger pull.
“I wouldn’t take a bitch like you even if you handed her over.”
The moment the large-caliber bullet pierced its body, the whole thing rotted away and collapsed on the spot.
“Awww whhyyyy~?!”
Even after that brutal dismissal, Gong Min-yeong didn’t give up and threw a tantrum.
“My Holy Apostle says I should get along with you.”
She leaned her staff against her neck and pulled a flute from her breast pocket. Jeong Ha-kyeong raised one eyebrow.
Holy Apostle……?
[Holly Apostle, ‘Baladon’s Top Manager,’ expresses intense fondness toward Holy Apostle, ‘Girl King Who Walks Time.’]
What a ridiculous spectacle……
She sighed and opened the revolver’s cylinder, loading three large-caliber blood bullets.
……Kiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiik……!
Gong Min-yeong blew the flute.
A bizarrely eerie tone rang out like a sharp scream.
The dimension…… is tearing apart?
Around the second passenger car, the space rippled and tore open here and there, spilling out three-eyed hunting dogs.
This bitch…… a summoning-type sorceress?
“GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!”
And just like that.
The dogs tangled with the snail monsters, rolling and fighting. Jeong Ha-kyeong, scanning the battlefield, shouted.
“The coupling! The coupling!”
“……?!”
“Those fuckers are trying to disconnect the second car!”
Gong Min-yeong instantly changed the flute’s tone, and the hunting dogs reacted immediately, leaping toward the coupler between cars 1 and 2.
Soon, the snail monster’s roar mixed with the dogs’ growls…… and before long, the snail’s death cry echoed.
“Sis, how’s that? Pretty good, right?”
Gong Min-yeong pulled the flute from her lips.
Saliva stretched long from her mouth and mouthpiece, freezing in midair.
The sight was strangely seductive.
For some reason, it made her seem dangerous.
“I have no intention of getting chummy with you. No. Go home.”
“Why? If sis-lil-sis won’t work…… Fine, I’ll be the concubine.”
“Concubine? Second wife? What second wife?”
“Yeah, you be the first wife. I’ll yield to you, sis.”
“What bullshit, you crazy bitch.”
“Kim Baek-jun oppa’s wives!”
?
This fucking bitch?
Should I just shoot her dead right here?
She’d thought it was a decent combo for a first-timer……
Huh?
Jeong Ha-kyeong furrowed her brow.
Not because of Gong Min-yeong’s bullshit talk.
The clock tower ahead.
A menacing silhouette appeared atop it.
What the hell…… is that……?
It looked like the figure was raising something……
Kiiiiiiiiiiiiing─────!
In an instant, with a pale gunshot, a streak of white light flew in.
《Super Acceleration》.
A world where only her internal time accelerated.
Jeong Ha-kyeong holstered her gun at her waist and kicked off the ground, tackling Gong Min-yeong and flipping her onto the roof.
“Wh-what? Did I piss you off that bad, sis? I was kidding, kidding!”
Gong Min-yeong shouted that, then froze with her mouth agape.
“This is……?”
The freezing shot that flew in for an instant.
It had struck the spot where Gong Min-yeong had just stood, and in that moment, the impact point froze solid.
“……Instant Freeze?!”
A bone-chilling cold stabbed through her body like a blade.
Gong Min-yeong jerked her head up.
She saw the silhouette of that woman on the clock tower…… that woman gripping some bizarre gun, and her body shuddered.
“Im Ga-hee…… Im Ga-hee.”
“What? Ga-hee who?”
“Im Ga-hee! The bitch who’s one of Nowon-gu’s Four Great Priests, just like me!”
And.
The psychopathic maniac who became a Hunter through a contract with the god born from Hwang Ga-in.
“Sis…… this just got super dangerous……”
17.
“Right now. This instant…… I…… I have to go help them.”
I panted for breath.
I looked at Tersia and Liam’s faces with a pleading gaze. Tersia shook her head.
「101st, I can’t allow that.」
“Why not……?”
「Let me lay out the reality for you. Choi Sin-yul is currently one of the overwhelmingly strongest among the Absolute God’s Apostles.」
What……?
I doubted my ears.
Sure, he was stronger than Im Yong-gon. But…… the strongest among all Apostles? Overwhelmingly so?
「He’s already ascended to the rank of Demigod.」
“Like the [Nameless Demigod]?”
「Yes. His divine growth rate is even faster than that man’s.」
How…… could that……
My legs gave out in an instant.
It felt like a cliff of despair loomed before my eyes.
The [Nameless Demigod] defeated the [Master of the Broken Dawn].
And yet.
A monster growing even faster than that overwhelming beast was none other than Choi Sin-yul?
“Arbahyer, how did he grow that much in such a short time?”
Liam asked in a puzzled tone, and Tersia bit her fingertip with a sigh.
「I don’t know the details either…… but it’s probably pure craving for power.」
“Pure craving for power?”
「He seems to have little attachment to his humanity…… his human senses and memories.」
Liam flinched in surprise.
So did I.
Did he sell everything that was himself to the outer cosmos?
「Otherwise, his synchronization with the Absolute God couldn’t have progressed that quickly……」
Tersia muttered that and sighed while gazing at the twilight.
「Pure craving for power…… It just hit me, but he bears an eerily similar essence to Sherashul’Toryak.」
Craving for power?
The essence of the Absolute God Sherashul’Toryak?
None of that mattered right now.
“Then, then you know full well……?!”
I pleaded again.
I have to go. I have to return to their side.
“There’s no way anyone can beat a monster like that. Not a single soul in the <Association>!”
Those I must protect.
Those I can lean on.
Before they all vanish from my path, one by one.
“You know that better than I do───!”
That was when I had to falter in bewilderment.
「────101st!」
For the first time, Tersia snapped at me sharply.
「The 100th told you back then! To face reality, to see reality!」
“……!”
「If Choi Sin-yul goes all out, he might even wield up to 40% of the Absolute God’s power.」
40% of the Absolute God’s power……?
That bastard Choi Sin-yul wielding 40% of the supreme being at the pinnacle of all Holy Apostles?
「The silver lining is that descending through a human body sets clear limits.」
From that angle, it’s fortunate. But still a hopeless situation.
「Are you saying you’ll go face a being like that right now? One close to a fragment of the Absolute God?」
“…….”
「Without even finishing your training?」
When I didn’t answer.
Tersia pointed to the holy flame graveyard, the weapons stabbed into every grave, and shouted again.
「You can only wield five out of a hundred weapons properly. And even those imperfectly!」
“………….”
「If you leave now! You might never get another chance to train under Liam and me.」
What…… does that mean this could be the last time?
From that moment.
The fury faded from Tersia’s voice, replaced by a sob.
「If the 101st…… fails to complete the succession’s mission and falls…… we’ll be stuck forever…….」
If I fail……
Tersia gazed at me with mournful eyes, and Liam silently looked down.
「Even in a situation like this…… do you really…… have to go there…… right now……?」
The training from Tersia and Liam. These absolute successors.
Of course I knew.
This was an opportunity I absolutely couldn’t miss.
In the end, to fulfill my mission and all the beacon keepers’ missions, I had to face reality.
- Uncle, I’ll open the path for you.
But…… but……
- Kim Baek-jun.
- Mr. Baek-jun.
- Baek-jun hyung.
Those bonds.
The bonds I left behind in that pitiful world…… what happens to them……?
Just like that.
As my fists trembled and I chewed my lip, a warm breeze blew from somewhere, caressing my cheek.
The direction of the wind…… huh……?
The broken Verkensia……
The grave where the [Dawn Sword] was embedded. Its blade flickered quietly.
[Master of the Broken Dawn]……?
That instant.
The memory from that day surfaced vividly in my mind, as if engraved there.
- Shall I ask you one question?
Amid those long days of training.
The question Tersia had asked when she came to me.
- Friends or the world. If you could save only one of the two, what would you choose?
Ah………….
My eyes burned hot, my vision blurring white.
Right.
That’s exactly what it was……
[Master of the Broken Dawn], you’ve once again…… shown me the way to live……
“Tersia.”
I gave a feeble smile.
I looked at her with those eyes, then at Liam.
“You told me back then that successors must emulate their predecessors in every way, right?”
Tersia had said it clearly.
To become like the [Master of the Broken Dawn]. To follow in those footsteps.
“The 100th became the 100th beacon keeper by emulating the 99th, didn’t he?”
A very trivial truth.
“The 99th emulated the 98th, the 98th the 97th…… and tracing all that ‘emulation’ back.”
But so trivial.
I could have easily overlooked it.
“To Liam Talorden, and finally above that.”
「……………………!」
“At the top stands Tersia, the origin of all beacon keepers.”
Now.
Only now.
I finally understood the meaning of that day’s question.
- His answer was to save both.
It was a question for my future self.
- Without hesitation or doubt.
When that moment came.
When the time for choice arrived.
Could you do as the 100th did, and as all beacon keepers had? ……That’s what Tersia had asked me.
“I haven’t completed the succession yet…….”
I looked around the graveyard.
No one was visible, but I could feel it. All the beacon keepers here watching me.
“But I am the 101st chosen by the 100th, and the successor to all of you predecessors here, right?”
It felt like one of the predecessors nodded.
One, one, one, another one.
I nodded back to Tersia and Liam.
“Then, I’ll go.”
I desired it.
From the depths of my soul.
“To emulate…… the footsteps of life my predecessors walked.”
As Tersia had.
As Liam Talorden had.
As the [Master of the Broken Dawn] had, and as the unseen 97 holy flame keepers had.
“I am the disciple…… of the [Master of the Broken Dawn]…… and of all you predecessors here.”
Back.
Into the world.
To shine a handful of beacon flame on those left behind in the world.
A quiet silence flowed.
A long while later, Tersia smiled with a tear-streaked, mournful face.
「Truly…… the 101st never disappoints us until the very last moment.」
What……?
What the hell……?
「Congratulations, 101st. With this, you’ve passed the first gateway of the succession’s final task.」
Why did that smile of Tersia’s.
That congratulatory laugh…… feel so heartbreakingly sad?
「What if, just what if? If the 101st had said no.」
It was as if.
Receiving a farewell.
「If you’d turned your back on those you must protect like the outer cosmos, obsessing only over your own power…… that would’ve been our first disappointment.」
“I’ve already disappointed you many times…….”
「No. The 101st didn’t until the end.」
As I gazed darkly at the 100th’s grave, Tersia comforted me.
「This time too, you chose humanity over self-interest. Even if you hesitated a bit.」
“Th-that’s…….”
「Kidding! Almost no beacon keeper faced that without hesitation.」
Tersia covered her mouth with her sleeve and giggled. For a moment, my heart pounded wildly……
Dangerous, that was dangerous.
If I hadn’t harbored feelings for Jeong Ha-kyeong, I might’ve fallen for that smile alone.
「Now…… borrowing this final chance…… there’s something I must apologize to the 101st for.」