Chapter 49
Chapter 49
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 49
Chapter Title: Return, New Seodaemun-gu (3)
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6.
“How are you here already?”
The front door was knocked on, and soon a young man cracked it open stealthily.
“I’ll come in.”
He was probably the husband.
I flung the door wide open and strode inside.
Where is it.
Not this room. Not that one either. Where are you.
Maybe because he was the station chief, the house was pretty big. Or... there was some other kind of backing.
“Why... why is the Lead Hunter here?”
“I don’t know... She said you already knew everything. I couldn’t lie anymore.”
As I wandered from room to room.
I could hear the couple whispering and sighing.
Another voice came.
When I grabbed the handle of the master bedroom door.
“Don’t open it.”
A woman’s voice I’d heard before. But it wasn’t Shin Tae-yeop’s.
I threw the door open.
The dim interior, lit by candlelight, filled my vision.
A red carpet spread across the floor.
Curtains dancing in the open window.
And on the bed... a boy hugging his knees.
For a moment, my breath caught.
No way...
The boy glanced up.
Beneath his messy yellow hair, the eyes looking up at me were hollow and gaunt.
...Shin Tae-yeop.
Why was that.
The fireball boiling up in my heart from that reunion wasn’t joy—it was anger born of sheer bewilderment.
“You’re here right now...”
I rushed to Shin Tae-yeop in one breath. Grabbed his small shoulders and shook him back and forth.
“What the hell are you doing here?”
“......”
“Nine more Nightmare Hunters died.”
“......”
“Kim Gye-sang, who fought to save you back then, is dead too.”
“......”
“Right now, more are out searching for the missing, fighting, maybe dying.”
“......”
“But you? What the hell is this? For a whole week!”
The pent-up yelling burst out.
Slowly, so very slowly, Shin Tae-yeop raised his eyes to meet mine.
Dead eyes...
The thought hit me suddenly.
Suddenly, moisture welled up in those eyes, and his body began to tremble.
- He proposed the expedition himself, so he’s blaming himself for getting people killed.
The boy’s sobs.
Jeong Ha-kyeong’s words from back then.
They cooled the suffocating fireball in my body in an instant.
“You can leave him alone now.”
That was when a blade touched the back of my neck.
“How much more do you need to hurt him, and let him get hurt, before you’re satisfied?”
I glanced back. It was her, as expected. The one from the Muak-dong raid who’d tried to stop Shin Tae-yeop’s bleeding. Park Ra-on, was it?
“Three friends died in Muak-dong. Kids we laughed and cried with, shared meals with after the world went to hell.”
Park Ra-on. The sole survivor from the GodSpring squad.
“A raid... isn’t a battle. It’s a massacre. Just a plain massacre!”
“......”
“You know that! The essence of a raid is getting brutally slaughtered by those horrors! And yet you!”
Sting. Pressure entered the blade tip.
I felt hot blood trickling down my neck to my back.
“You came to drag Tae-yeop back there? Yelling at him for how he could leave a place like that?”
“......”
“Go. Let Tae-yeop rest now.”
I raised both hands as a sign I had no will to fight.
“I’m truly sorry. I was so exhausted, body and mind... I’m sorry.”
“......?”
“If you’d lower the blade, I’d be grateful. I’ll just say what I really meant to and go.”
Before the huntress could argue, I spoke again.
“I promise. No yelling, no shouting. Just what I have to say... and a thank you, then I’ll leave.”
“You mean it?”
“I promise.”
After a long moment, the huntress sighed and withdrew the blade. I pulled up a chair and sat by the bed.
“Do you remember the Muak-dong raid council?”
“......”
“I still do. How you lit a fire in those crushed by helplessness with just a few words.”
“......”
“I thought it was amazing. Convincing nearly twenty people... including me.”
“......”
“That’s when everyone came back to life. Hearts that were dying, or maybe already dead. From meeting you in Independence Park, hearing your speech about hope.”
Thinking of that day brought a smile naturally. That’s what I had to repay.
“Thank you. I really wanted to tell you that.”
Shin Tae-yeop didn’t answer.
With a bitter smile, I stood, straightened my clothes.
“The raid strategy meeting is tomorrow at 09:00. In the cathedral’s [Hall of the Hunt]. Could you lend that power of yours there?”
“Hey.”
No response.
The huntress looked thoroughly pissed.
No choice now...
I sighed and turned to leave. Then suddenly.
- Could you pass on my regards to that guy?
That made me stop at the door.
“What else?”
But how?
If I said [Master of the Broken Dawn], would he get it?
Ah, no.
I extended my hand forward.
Dawn, I murmured inwardly, slowly.
Light burst from my grip at once, forming into a broken greatsword.
“Tae-yeop.”
For an instant. The moment Shin Tae-yeop glanced up.
“They asked me to pass on their regards.”
The Dawn Sword exploded on its own.
Light. An explosion of light. The room turned into a world of dazzling radiance.
“Ah...?”
Shin Tae-yeop’s dead eyes went wide.
There was no female huntress in this world.
Just me and Shin Tae-yeop. And...
“Tae-yeop.”
...[Master of the Broken Dawn].
“Why are you crying so sadly?”
Amazingly, Shin Tae-yeop’s mouth fell open. And [Master of the Broken Dawn] seemed to smile bitterly.
“You... you’re the same in that world or here. Hiding your fragility behind smiles and charging ahead more than anyone.”
That world?
No wonder he seemed extraordinary—was Shin Tae-yeop some reincarnator from the movies?
“You fool... how hard was it, pushing yourself like that...?”
[Master of the Broken Dawn] pulled Shin Tae-yeop into a trembling embrace, placed a hand on his head.
“No more pushing. I’m here now.”
Those words.
That oh-so-gentle voice.
Tears streamed from Shin Tae-yeop’s eyes.
“It’s real... it was all real... not a dream...”
The two then had a long talk. I couldn’t make out the reunion’s content, but somehow it was tear-jerking.
“Tae-yeop. It’s fine to blame yourself for people dying because of your mistake.”
“......?”
“But you can’t collapse with them. The survivors have to carry on that will in their memory. That’s the true way to honor sacrifices in this pitiful world.”
I couldn’t even guess.
What connection bound Shin Tae-yeop to [Master of the Broken Dawn].
“Kim Baek-jun.”
The unexpected call startled me.
By then, Shin Tae-yeop had vanished from the world, leaving just us two.
“You can go now.”
“And Shin Tae-yeop?”
“He’ll be fine.”
“That’s a relief, but... didn’t you say the stars can glimpse the akashic records?”
“You’re asking what if Shin Tae-yeop learns everything.”
“Yes.”
“No need to worry. He only got back fragmented memories.”
Ah... I see.
That’s why he said it wasn’t a dream.
“And crucially, Shin Tae-yeop’s power isn’t star power like yours. It’s his own.”
“......Yes?”
“It’s... well. Unfortunately, time’s up.”
Bewilderingly, they bowed their head then.
“Thank you.”
“......Why all of a sudden?”
“You let me... meet him one last time. Truly, thank you.”
7.
“So, you’re saying you were just chased out at the end?”
The next day, 08:53.
In the cathedral’s [Hall of the Hunt] round table. Choi Uk gave a realistic reaction.
“It wasn’t Shin Tae-yeop who chased me out—it was that female hunter.”
“Minor and guardian? Same difference.”
“His eyes were alive when he left. They’d been dead before.”
At my words, Choi Uk pulled a pocket watch from his coat pocket and opened it.
“Time must be respected as the final order. If he doesn’t arrive on time, we’ll have to proceed without him.”
“Of course.”
A tense air hung over the round table.
The Queen.
The Army Commander.
Various mid- and small-scale raid leaders.
The anger stemming from their hatred. Postponing the meeting for them was out of the question.
“You’re sure he’ll come on time? He’s actually coming?”
As I returned to my head seat, Jeong Ha-kyeong voiced her concern. She’d heard the story from me before Choi Uk.
“He’ll come. Definitely.”
“Hard to imagine the boy leader returning.”
I checked my wristwatch.
It was half-broken from the last fierce battle, but while I was down, Jeong Ha-kyeong had it repaired at the <Forge> and brought it back.
08:55.
“Hyung-nim.”
Perhaps feeling awkward, Cha Seung-hyeon, who’d kept his distance until now, approached then.
“Yeah?”
“Yesterday... I’m sorry. I mean... I wasn’t in my right mind.”
Had he cried all night?
Seeing his red-rimmed eyes hurt my heart.
“No. That was the normal reaction. I’m the one who’s sorry.”
“No. Hyung-nim came back. Gye-sang hyung... he can’t anymore.”
Couldn’t say “died,” huh. Cha Seung-hyeon squeezed his eyes shut and buried his head in my shoulder.
Sharing that hollow, heartbreaking severance of loss, I patted his head.
“Anyway, that fucking bitch needs to die. Gotta teach her a lesson.”
08:58.
“Why suddenly?”
“Why? That slut stabbed an innocent guy.”
“It’s over now. It was just a threat anyway, and it was partly my fault.”
08:59.
“Lead hyung. Ha-kyeong was just making an American joke.”
“Not a joke?”
It wasn’t?
Hong Byeong-gyu stammered in confusion too.
“Uh... no, this has to be a joke, right?”
08:59:40.
Murmurs began to rise from the crowd.
“Why hasn’t it started?”
“Isn’t it past 9 already?”
“They’re waiting for someone.”
08:59:55.
Starting to get anxious.
56 seconds.
57 seconds.
This guy, no way...
58 seconds.
Glancing desperately between the door and the clock.
59──
──Creeeak.
The hinges creaked.
At the same time, the massive doors swung open on both sides.
All eyes turned.
A silence so deep no breaths could be heard.
The next moment, two figures walked into the hall. And a bright greeting.
“Hello, everyone!”
Numerous people let out gasps one by one.
“Seriously?”
“T-The leader.”
“No way.”
......That guy.
I let out a sigh of relief.
“I’m a bit late, huh?”
Somehow.
He was exactly as before.
“You’ll understand since I was following the law!”
Golden hair neatly tied back.
Worn [Light Armor] gear. A small-statured, androgynous pretty boy.
“Intriguing. What law might that be?”
When acting leader Choi Uk asked with his signature cool intellect.
Former leader Shin Tae-yeop replied with a smile so pure it dazzled.
“The law that heroes arrive last!”
It was.
The leader of the First Raid, the hero. The moment Shin Tae-yeop returned to the front lines.
“You must be that Shin Tae-yeop.”
To Choi Uk’s intellectual charisma, Shin Tae-yeop answered with pure charisma.
“YES, I AM!”
Shin Tae-yeop was once the strongest hunter.
But now, he was among the lowest-level Nightmare Hunters, with initial gear that was sorely lacking.
“I’ve heard plenty. From the First Raid survivors, that is.”
Even so, why.
His authority was as evident as ever.
A presence that colored his surroundings.
“Embarrassing, really.”
“You can be proud.”
Shin Tae-yeop smiled in response.
Of course, I could sense the underlying sighs and guilt, brushed off with a laugh.
“Um... You’re Choi Uk, right? Can I call you Uk ajusshi casually?”
“Call me however you like.”
Q&A between former and current leaders. The room buzzed.
“Whoa, that’s Shin Tae-yeop?”
“Looks even younger than I thought.”
Of course, the dominant mood seemed like bewilderment born of awe.
“But this isn’t the time for welcomes, so take a seat for now?”