Chapter 54
Chapter 54
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 54
Chapter Title: Epilogue, in Gyonam-dong
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0.
After the strategy battle.
I had become a bona fide Lead Hunter.
The Nightmare Hunters showed their respect and gratitude toward me in their own ways whenever they saw me.
They said it was because I had stood at the vanguard of the Subordinate hunts three times and ultimately completed those hunts, ensuring their efforts weren't in vain.
Even telling them it wasn't a victory from my efforts alone was pointless.
- Every victory needs a hero.
Choi Uk assessed the phenomenon that way. So, though it felt burdensome, I humbly accepted their reactions.
The day of the strategy battle was hectic with cleanup. There were three major tasks, all of them dramatic.
The first was distributing the soulstones.
In principle, they were to be equally divided among all participants, resulting in an enormous quantity...
But something strange appeared for me as well.
“I found it while searching. I really want to study it, but it seems only right that you take it.”
What Seo Hwa-yoon handed me was a truly small blood-red gemstone.
But the moment I took it.
[Acquired combat consumable: Hunter, Kim Gye-sang's Blood Crystal]
My mind went blank for a moment.
I stood there silently for a long time.
The Blood Crystal.
Proof of Kim Gye-sang's death.
And peering into the trajectory of his life.
- If only I had been as strong as you, Baek-jun...
That sad smile he wore in the library back then—was it because of this pain?
“Why is this here?”
It wasn't a question expecting an answer.
But Seo Hwa-yoon, the born scientist, answered right away.
“I don't know the exact reason. But Kim Gye-sang's body was never found anywhere.”
Seo Hwa-yoon patted my shoulder as if to comfort me.
“Maybe they leave behind Blood Crystals once they reach a certain level? Like how Heteromorphs leave soulstones when they die.”
I couldn't keep it with me. Because whenever I did, Kim Gye-sang's dying cry kept flickering before my eyes.
“Then... could you give it to me?”
“You sure?”
“Yes.”
So I gave it to Cha Seung-hyeon.
Sometimes when I see him clutching the Blood Crystal and weeping soundlessly, I regret giving it to him.
The second task was the funeral.
We recovered the remains of the total 12 deceased and held a cremation.
“Their names are Kang Bong-il. Kim Ga-ram. Kim Gye-sang. Kim Seo-ah. Na Ji-ho. Park Da-bin. Park Ra-on. Shin Jun-woo. Lee Seok-ha. Jeong Se-jin. Cha Du-pil. Heo Kyung-ae.”
Pastor Park, who had half his forehead exposed as a man in his thirties, officiated the funeral. He had been a pastor before becoming a Hunter.
“These friends, who came from places both far and near. They loved their comrades and the world until death, and were loyal to their mission until the end.”
The strategy team members surrounding the cremation site.
A sob leaked out from somewhere. The crying spread.
“Now their hunt is over.”
Pastor Park shouted, raising a torch.
“Now their hunt is over.”
I, we, echoed him.
It was the phrase Pastor Park had requested for the funeral rite, and it passed unanimously.
- Now the hunt is over.
Why did that phrase...
Even leave solace in our hearts, left behind in the Nightmare.
“Have mercy and embrace them in endless peace.”
Pastor Park lit the fire.
The cremation platform, where 11 bodies lay (Kim Gye-sang's body was absent), was instantly engulfed in flames.
Total participants: 32.
Survivors: 20. Dead: 12.
Wails covered the hall.
I bowed my head, bit my lip, and silently mourned.
No one left the site of mourning. Not until the bodies were completely burned, leaving only ashes and bone fragments.
Only Do Su-jin, who had been absent from the start to care for his younger sister, was missing.
Their ashes were interred at the National Cemetery.
The National Cemetery referred to the site purchased on the grounds of the old Gyeonghui Palace. With soulstones gathered by all the strategy team members.
It was a good place to rest.
The palace had transformed into something like a Western courtyard, but the park still had its groves of young trees in tender green, cozy as ever.
A memorial stele was erected there.
So that all Nightmare Hunters who had fallen so far—and those who would fall in the future—could find rest here.
1.
“This really is the best spot, right?”
At my question, Jeong Ha-kyeong and Hong Byeong-gyu’s group nodded.
“Agreed.”
“Me too.”
We were looking up at the old Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education.
The office building, which had changed into a modern school-like structure due to civilization attunement.
“Gye-sang would definitely say this is the best place for his statue too.”
Kim Gye-sang's dream had been to build a school. We, who had shared that dream through Dreamline, had promised to make it happen in his place.
“For now, let's run it with ten students and one teacher. We don't have spare soulstones. Everyone needs gear and level-ups too.”
“Okay. So what's the school name gonna be?”
Cha Seung-hyeon answered Jeong Ha-kyeong's question immediately.
“Gye-sang School?”
“That sounds kinda like a cafeteria.”
“You dissing hyung's name right now?”
Jeong Ha-kyeong flicked Cha Seung-hyeon on the forehead.
“I'm saying your thinking is too simplistic, you punk.”
“Ky, Gyeonghui Academy?”
It was Yoon Geon-woo's suggestion.
“Gyeonghui Palace is close by... and more than that, the connotation and hanja meaning of Gyeonghui (慶熙) are great. Gyeong as in celebration. Hui as in shining.”
“Geon-woo, you bastard, you're surprisingly well-read?”
“I'm from Sogang University's History Department.”
As Yoon Geon-woo boasted, Jeong Ha-kyeong crossed her arms like he was being cocky.
“I'm from the Army Academy. Kim Baek-jun probably went to the Police University too. Who are you to brag about pedigree here? You dropout high school punk.”
Suddenly, both looked at me.
I smiled awkwardly and shook my head.
“I'm a high school grad myself. Went straight into patrolman track after high school.”
They must have mistaken me for a police executive because of the sergeant title. It was something I often encountered even before the fall.
“Oh... really?”
Jeong Ha-kyeong cleared her throat awkwardly, then brightened.
“Whatever. What matters more than pedigree is a person's heart.”
“You said don't get cocky if you're high school grad.”
“Shut your trap, you little shit.”
Jeong Ha-kyeong put Yoon Geon-woo in a headlock. Then they both laughed like it was fun.
It was then that Cha Seung-hyeon, who hadn't even graduated high school, defused the topic.
“Hyung, not bad.”
It really wasn't bad.
No, it was great. There was no better alternative.
“Alright, alright. School name: Gyeonghui Academy. Chairman: Kim Gye-sang. Foundation: Lead Foundation.”
“Enough with the Lead crap already.”
I was about to retort that way.
But seeing Hong Byeong-gyu solemnly pouring liquor into a glass, I slowly closed my mouth.
“Dying young and becoming chairman. Now that your dream's fulfilled, rest easy. Statue.”
Hong Byeong-gyu, who had never shed a tear once, was now bidding farewell to Kim Gye-sang in his own way.
I closed my eyes for a moment and thought of Kim Gye-sang, who had spoken of his dream in an excited voice.
- I'll build an elementary school. I want to teach there. Not despair, but hope.
I hoped hope would sprout from this school. So that Kim Gye-sang's dream could fully bloom.
Mr. Kim Gye-sang.
So now... rest in peace.
As I finished that prayer in my heart, a shadow passed over my head.
Caw. Caw.
I looked up, and a large crow was circling around me.
Choi Uk's one-eyed crow?
I extended my arm, and it landed immediately, spreading its wings to display a translucent [info window].
[Do Ye-jin interrogation complete and executive meeting convened. By 23:10.]
My brow furrowed instantly.
Do Ye-jin. Do Su-jin's younger sister, and the being that emerged from Arishel'rab, who killed Kim Gye-sang...
I still hadn't sorted out my feelings toward that existence.
“It's over?”
Jeong Ha-kyeong came up beside me and whispered softly.
“Yes. Can I leave the acquisition process to you, Ha-kyeong?”
I glanced at Hong Byeong-gyu's group and spoke softly again.
“Of course. But how the hell are you planning to handle her?”
“No idea... I don't have a feel for it yet. Maybe Choi Uk or Tae-yeop knows.”
“Got it. See you later. Let me know how it goes.”
As I turned away, the night sky suddenly caught my eye.
The sky, heavy with ashen rain clouds, looked gloomy and bleak.
Rain's coming soon...
I thought. An incredibly cold rain.
2.
Do Ye-jin was a murderer who killed 12 people.
She had no memory of it.
Up until April 5, 2045, she had been a 16-year-old middle school student, but how had it come to that?
That day was multifaceted.
The day the world fell. The day her father died. Also her birthday.
Even so, why...
The fragments she could barely recall were only the horrors of the fall.
「Humanity is no longer alone.」
The angel's sudden appearance.
The monsters pouring out after the speech.
Her father's figure, protecting her and dying gruesomely.
“Keep going straight down this road. You'll hit the shelter.”
“Sister?”
“You can watch from there. What do you take your big sis for? Go! Hurry!”
Even the last glimpse of her sister, becoming bait to shake off the pursuing monsters.
Remembering it made her shiver.
And... Do Ye-jin was running down the street, suppressing tears.
The street covered in the stench of blood and screams.
The street where gunshots burst from somewhere, soon turning into agonized death cries.
The street where buildings collapsed on both sides, and bizarre laughter echoed.
Then, at some point, she must have tripped.
The ground suddenly rose up, she thought.
It was then that her wristwatch on her left hand came into view in her fallen sight.
A simple yet elegant analog watch.
Suddenly, her eyes welled up with tears.
The birthday gift her father had smilingly placed in her hand today.
- Happy birthday, my daughter.
It wasn't an ordinary watch.
It was now the only link to her gone father. Do Ye-jin hugged her left hand and began to sob quietly.
Splash, splash.
The footsteps of grotesque humanoids approached.
Closer. Even closer.
She had to stand up right away.
Had to run right away.
But she didn't—because she didn't want to live.
What was the point of living now.
In a world without father or sister...
「You have been chosen.」
That's when the surreal voice rang out.
She looked up, and a man in a dark blue suit stood before her eyes.
Truly bizarre pupils.
A melancholic yet profound gaze. Eyes like a deep lake one could drown in and die.
「Step back.」
What was even stranger was separate.
The grotesque humanoids, who tore apart even burly men easily, knelt and slunk away.
「Much to say, but... little time permitted to this body.」
Then he performed a wondrous miracle.
As the suited man spread his left hand, dark blue lightning crackled, soon forming a shape.
「Two pieces of advice I can give.」
It was a pale lizard.
No... with its malformed wings, perhaps a dragon?
「Control this child, this child's power, with your reason.」
He grabbed her chin and forced her mouth open.
「You can do it.」
The lizard entered her mouth.
Down her throat... deep into her abdomen. A slimy, unpleasant sensation.
No resistance was possible in that time.
「And.」
From the moment she faced the suited man, that transcendent presence had made even breathing difficult...
「With that power, come find me.」
At that instant, her vision went black.
The moment she felt her whole body's blood boiling.
Suddenly, as her consciousness sank into the abyss, exhaustion flooded in.
「To the end of the Nightmare, pursuing the truth」
As her awareness blurred, Do Ye-jin fell into a long dream.
In that dream, she was the Nightmare, they said. A terror that massacred the world in dragon form.
The world called such a her the embodiment of Nightmare and fear, the Subordinate Arishel'rab.
The year she became a Hunter who massacred 12 superhuman Hunters, Do Ye-jin was 16.
[Hunter, Kim Gye-sang's Blood Crystal]
[Description Summary]
- 1: Spherical bloodstone
- 2: Pelriom of Yeonhwa-seong (軟化星). Remnant of the Hunter who served the ancient king.
[Usage Method]
- By breaking the Blood Crystal.
Unleash the power dwelling in this gemstone, the unique skill. 《Mystery of Pelriom》 once.
[Unique Skill: 《Mystery of Pelriom》]
- Summons 3 tentacles of Pelriom of Yeonhwa-seong.
- Usable times: (1)
Kim Gye-sang was an outstanding Hunter, yet foolishly kind man.
Facing death, he chose to sacrifice himself to save his comrades.
They say he died dreaming a happy dream then.
Fall Day. The dream he had abandoned in despair over failing to save his students.