Chapter 47
Chapter 47
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 047
Chapter Title: Return, New Seodaemun-gu (1)
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1.
“You’re smoking that cigarette... backwards right now.”
Only then did Jeong Ha-kyeong’s expression crumble.
We mourned Kim Gye-sang in silence for a while. His death wasn’t just the loss of a comrade.
It was a bond.
A bond we had barely grasped in this ruined world had been severed. The severance hurt, stung, and saddened us.
“...You okay?”
“The healing isn’t fully done yet, so there’s still some pain.”
“I’m not asking about your physical condition.”
“I know what you mean. The pain I mentioned... includes that too.”
Jeong Ha-kyeong patted my shoulder with a pained breath.
“Hong Byeong-gyu, Yoon Geon-woo, Cha Seung-hyeon. Those three idiots should’ve come in with us too...”
“Where’d those three go?”
“Kim Gye-sang wasn’t coming back, so they went looking for him. To the Nightmare Zone...”
“I need to go check.”
The Nightmare Zone is dangerous.
Especially now, with Subordinates wandering around.
I tried to stand abruptly, but pain lanced across my spine, making me collapse back down.
“No need to worry that much. The search party’s huge. Every raid team’s desperate to find their missing people.”
“Missing... how many survivors?”
“Five confirmed dead. Four missing. No, fuck... now it’s six dead and three missing.”
“My head’s starting to hurt.”
“Realistically speaking, though, it’s better than the last operation. Only about a third died.”
I bit my lip.
Every Nightmare Hunter is precious combat power... Is it right to calculate it like that?
“Ha-kyeong, I’m really glad you’re alive.”
I conveyed my sincere feelings with a pained smile.
Then Jeong Ha-kyeong’s face suddenly grew complicated.
“If things had gone normally, I would’ve died too.”
“Normally?”
“Well, you see...”
Jeong Ha-kyeong hesitated awkwardly, out of character for her, then shook her head.
“Fuck, obviously I’m joking. Why take everything so seriously?”
What kind of brutal joke is that...?
Jeong Ha-kyeong shook her head vigorously and stood up before I could ask.
“You’re going for revenge, right?”
“Of course.”
I answered without a shred of hesitation. Jeong Ha-kyeong sighed and took off her [Shadow Exoskeleton Battle Cloak], draping it over my shoulders.
“Good. Then fuck it, let’s go right now. Change your clothes.”
“To the Nightmare Zone?”
“No. <Romance>’s raid headquarters. Choi Uk said to bring you if the old man woke up.”
2.
Seodaemun-gu East.
Former Cheonnyeon-dong Community Center.
This frontline outpost, closest to Independence Gate, was being used as the raid headquarters for <Romance>.
Of course, the old community center was gone.
A large, luxurious three-story wooden mansion.
Only about ten employed civilians in administrative roles.
The structure, meticulously divided into [Information Room], [Underground Lab], [Operations Meeting Room], and more, hinted at just how thorough a hunter group <Romance> was.
“Doesn’t seem like we’re in the mood for jokes, either of us.”
Third floor, [Guild Master’s Office].
Choi Uk said as he offered me a teacup on the reception table.
“I lost thirty percent of my deployable forces, and you lost a friend.”
Choi Uk didn’t seem fazed by my return.
When the [Cleanup] civilian guided me into the guild master’s office, he’d been waiting as if he knew, and simply directed me to the reception table.
“One piece of good news: all the veterans’ anger is directed at the Subordinates.”
I didn’t respond.
I wasn’t sure if I should really take that as good news.
“But anger is the most volatile emotion. Who knows how long it’ll last.”
Jeong Ha-kyeong nodded toward me.
“Means we gotta hurry.”
“Can I ask one thing?”
“What?”
“What the hell happened? How could the entire [Bait Team] return alive, except for Gye-sang?”
I didn’t doubt Im Yong-gon’s strength.
But it was impossible to understand.
How did they break through that mess of a lure operation, carrying two people on their backs?
“Interesting question.”
Choi Uk’s eyes narrowed.
Strangely, his cold gaze fixed on me for a while, as if gauging my intentions.
“Let’s play a game. If I tell you the truth, will you tell me the truth?”
“...Truth?”
“Kim Baek-jun. What the hell are you, really?”
The unexpected question left me speechless. What had that genius brain of his seen to ask that?
“Listen first. One of my unique abilities is 《X-Ray Vision》. Not suited for combat.”
“I know. You said it lets you see enemies beyond walls.”
“It has other functions too. I’m only telling you, Im Yong-gon, and Seo Hwa-yoon this, but I can peek at other hunters’ status windows.”
Choi Uk held up his glass.
“Simply put, it’s like the Star Messenger’s power.”
So that’s what it was.
That’s why he sensed me in the carriage. Why he knew Kim Gye-sang’s name and unique skill.
It’s an incredible ability.
No need to explain its value to someone like Choi Uk, a supreme commander type.
“But yours... I can’t see your status window no matter what. Trying just gives me a splitting headache as backlash.”
...What?
No, it’s not that absurd, is it?
《Holy Flame Succession》 diverges from regular hunters in many ways.
“That led me to a few guesses.”
“Like what?”
“That you’re an incarnation of the Holy Apostles, for one.”
“What?”
I asked again in disbelief.
Jeong Ha-kyeong cut him off flatly. “That’s ridiculous.”
“There was plenty of mental evidence.”
Choi Uk calmly sipped his tea.
“If we assume the Holy Apostles are like the human gods from Greek myths.”
“...?”
“Think about it—nothing’s more boring than watching someone else play a game. Isn’t it possible they jumped into this game board with a special power others don’t have?”
His suspicion shocked me pretty badly.
- Like your existence.
So that’s what he meant in the carriage.
But thinking deeper, it made sense.
The Dawn Sword’s performance was uniquely superior to other unique skills.
“Of course, that’s not the only basis. It’s because of my contract conditions with my Holy Apostle.”
“...?”
“One was to monitor you closely.”
Looking into his eyes brought back that chill.
Like starlight wrapping around my whole body... but it vanished like a lie when Choi Uk sighed.
“The other’s important. It was to explain equipment tooltips.”
Equipment tooltips?
Absurd. Tooltips were those weird descriptions at the end of item windows.
Stuff like “Rebellion of a Nameless Demigod” or whatever about the Trap Hunter of the Ruined World.
“Isn’t it strange?”
“Definitely... Aren’t the stars the ones who made this game board?”
“Drop that preconception. Reverse your thinking.”
Choi Uk, the genius, tapped his temple, and the hypothesis he’d arrived at was truly shocking.
“This ruined world isn’t just the stars’ playground... It’s a two-way war.”
The Nightmare forces that destroyed the world.
And the Holy Apostles opposed to them.
“I don’t know the Holy Apostles’ intentions. But it’s clear they’re searching for something amid these Nightmares.”
That’s probably... me.
No. The fragments the [Master of the Broken Dawn] mentioned.
“Maybe the stars didn’t destroy the world. Doesn’t mean they’re good, though.”
Anyway, I couldn’t help but be amazed.
To reach that idea from such scant info made him seem inhuman.
“Something doesn’t add up. Why would the Nightmares show tooltips? To us, their Holy Apostle minions?”
“Everything’s a mystery, but if I dare guess.”
At Jeong Ha-kyeong’s rebuttal, Choi Uk offered another wild insight.
“They want us to reach the truth.”
Truth? What truth?
Choi Uk sighed, reading my expression.
“I don’t know what truth yet.”
But more importantly—
Nightmares and Holy Apostles as separate factions?
“Anyway, I thought the Nightmares were giving you orders.”
That explained Choi Uk’s hostility.
“Until I saw this.”
Choi Uk brought over a single sheet of parchment.
It had characters like “precious treasure jin (珍)” written on it, and suddenly an [Information Window] unfolded before my eyes.
=====
[Rin Letters: 珍]
[Description Summary]
- Lingering image of light recorded in script: 珍
[Usage Method]
- ????
Crow Hunter Choi Uk.
A transcription into script form of the light’s shape he witnessed.
珍 means grace.
It is the symbol of one of the creation gods who shaped and loved this world: Yurbel.
Choi Uk named it [Rin Letters] after his daughter.
So that, amid the frenzy of the hunt, he could eternally remember his fading daughter’s name and smile.
=====
I looked up silently.
I’d had many thoughts, but the final line made me forget them all.
Family... fading?
How could something so tragic... And how does the tooltip know?
“See it?”
Choi Uk’s gaze blocked any questions about his daughter. So I didn’t ask.
“Now back to your first question. How we survived. Truth is, it was impossible. The Nightmare Zone was a bloodbath. Realistically, only by abandoning you.”
“Yeah. That’s how it must’ve been.”
“Emphasize this: Im Yong-gon never gave up on you till the end.”
That cold-blooded guy?
“In the moment of crisis, the light recorded on this parchment appeared.”
“Light?”
“Light. Radiance.”
Choi Uk corrected Jeong Ha-kyeong.
“We were surrounded by three giant heteromorphs. I was neutralized too. Only Im Yong-gon could fight. Then a pillar of light poured from the sky.”
They said it was twilight light. Heteromorphs exposed to it burned up, turning to ash and scattering.
“Like your Dawn Sword.”
Is that... possible?
They said a girl walked out from the light pillar.
Her whole body emitted twilight light, so only her silhouette was visible—no facial features.
“She pointed to the escape route with her finger, then vanished... But she came down again every time crisis hit. Pointing the way out again.”
My heart pounded.
Who? Terry? No, Terry wasn’t a girl’s shape.
- We’re all rooting for you.
Nothing certain.
Still, it was hugely encouraging.
Thinking back, on the first day of ruin, when chased by an Exalted One, I’d received help from an unknown power too.
Doesn’t that mean the forces of light... are watching over me?
“Let me leap from this info. You’re separate from the Holy Apostles. And not part of the Nightmares either. One conclusion from those assumptions.”
Nightmares. Holy Apostles. Radiance.
Choi Uk raised a finger for each, then dropped his wild conclusion.
“This ruin is a three-way war.”
My mouth shut instantly. Three-way... meaning...
“And the Radiance faction is sneaking item tooltips to convey something.”
Doubt flickered in Choi Uk’s eyes.
“To you, specifically. No one else.”
I felt the weight of his suspicion. Choi Uk was smart and deep-thinking.
“I’ve told you everything. I swear on my daughter’s name. Now your turn.”
I hesitated briefly.
Whether to tell. But this incident made it clear.
Choi Uk was an ally I couldn’t afford to lose.
But he suspects me. Right now... isn’t earning trust the priority?
- The 30th rank or Seven Star Gods would guess that much.
Above all, the [Master of the Broken Dawn] said as much.
“I don’t know much either.”
“Yeah?”
“Like you and Ha-kyeong were chosen, I was chosen too.”
“That’s some favoritism. Let me see your level. After dying and coming back, it’s up 20 to [Lv: 64]?”
Jeong Ha-kyeong looked at me at his words.
It didn’t take long for shock to color her face.
“Ours combined wouldn’t match that?”
“I’ll tell only you two. If conditions are right. Choi Uk. What’s your Holy Apostle’s rank?”
If 30th or above, it’s fine. Choi Uk read my intent instantly.
“Seven Star God.”
My god... insanely high.
Right below the five absolute thrones.
“And Jeong Ha-kyeong’s Holy Apostle is one of the 30th ranks.”
“This crazy bitch is that high?”
Jeong Ha-kyeong scoffed, and Choi Uk nodded.
“My Holy Apostle doesn’t lie. Lots of beating around the bush, though. Fine. If chosen, what’s the purpose?”
“I have to find the fragments.”
“Fragments?”
I summarized as much as possible what the [Master of the Broken Dawn] told me about ‘finding fragments.’
“The Star Messenger said the reward would be beyond what she mentioned.”