Chapter 58
Chapter 58
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 58
Chapter Title: Find the Right Path (4)
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8.
A brief silence fell.
The only sound was the crackling of the torch flames flickering away.
Finally, it was Do Ye-jin’s sigh that broke the quiet.
“Does it require my sister’s sacrifice?”
Do Ye-jin let out a girlish hehe laugh.
“I’m done now. No dad anymore…… I don’t really want to live. You’re all I have left. I’m tired now.”
“No. There’s a way for you and Do Su-jin to both survive.”
Do Ye-jin froze.
“Before that, there’s something I want to confirm.”
Do Ye-jin looked up at me, her eyes filling with hope.
“The being presumed to be the master of this nightmare told you to gain power from it and seek the truth. Right?”
“……In my memory.”
“I’m also searching for the truth in this apocalypse. With a different motive from yours. But I expect the means are the same.”
- To the end of this nightmare, come find me.
The end of the nightmare meant just one path. Hunting the Exalted Ones.
“If so, you and I will inevitably clash. If you follow that master of the nightmare.”
“I never said I’d follow it.”
“That’s why I wanted to confirm. Do Ye-jin, what do you want to do with that power?”
Do Ye-jin couldn’t answer right away. The information flooding her mind probably hadn’t sorted itself out yet. So I added more.
“……Huh?”
The girl rubbed her eyes, then her face lit up as she bounced up.
“It’s the chocolate uncle!”
“I’ve got such a tasty nickname now. Have you been well?”
“Yeah! Uncle, uncle, the teacher’s here too?”
“Teacher?”
Only after replying did I realize.
The teacher…… meant the hunter who saved me and died.
“The teacher. He gave me homework. I finished it all. He said the top student gets a prize.”
The child rummaged and pulled out a sheet of paper.
It had about ten math problems written in delicate handwriting, solved with the child’s crooked calculations and answers.
“The teacher…… won’t be coming anymore.”
I barely managed to say it.
“Why? He said he’d come. Definitely.”
“He won’t be able to come for a while.”
The girl’s expression was so earnest that I unconsciously told a lame lie.
“Then when will he come?”
“When all this is over.”
“So when’s that?”
“The day you can go to school, chatter with friends, and eat breakfast with your family.”
“Wow!”
The girl smiled purely and brightly.
“Then I can go out by then? Outside too. On a field trip. With the teacher.”
Her smile stabbed into my heart like a blade.
“Yeah. The teacher will say let’s do it.”
The girl bowed politely to me, then ran toward the bathroom. I watched her go with a wistful gaze, then turned away.
The quiet station master’s office.
Dim light leaked through the door crack, but no answer to my knock.
When I stepped inside, I froze.
Park Ji-yeon was slumped over her desk, sleeping soundly.
Long hair.
Clear features.
Seeing her healthy again felt good.
Her sleeping face was so cute, I couldn’t bear to wake her.
I muffled my footsteps and approached the desk.
Oddly, a modern typewriter sat on it, surrounded by scattered papers.
What’s this? I picked one up and skimmed it.
April 16, 2045.
Eleven days after the world’s end. The direction of humanity’s second counterattack was decided.
=====
Most were like that.
Dates. And sentences summarizing the situation then. I admired the elegant prose and literary flourishes.
But what’s this?
“Eek!”
A startled, cute voice.
I looked up from the parchment to see Park Ji-yeon staring at me, eyes wide.
“B-Baek-jun?”
“Ah. Long time no see, Ji-yeon.”
April 11, 2045.
Day 7 of the apocalypse. One human’s will conquered a mad world.
But that light wasn’t yet enough to illuminate the world—the world’s darkness was still thick and deep.
“They’re not the gods, at least. In any case, it’s only natural most hunters turned into ferocious beasts…… Beasts that snap at others’ throats at the first chance.”
And she sighed as if in lament.
“With law and justice gone, controlling such beasts requires ten lives and it still wouldn’t be enough.”
“…….”
“But I realize anew…… The stars destroyed our world, that truly beautiful world…….”
The middle-aged man fell silent. None of us spoke.
They didn’t want a raise—they seemed to genuinely want to resign.
“Thank you for putting up with my stubbornness until now.”
I paid them seven days’ wages. After they left, I sat alone at the table for a long time.
It felt like everything had crumbled.
No, maybe it had crumbled long before. I’d wanted to pile up hope, however vaguely……
- Our world, that truly beautiful world……
The middle-aged man’s voice echoed in my ears.
A voice mixed with resignation and lament. A voice reminiscing lost old days. I groaned.
A world where everything that made it a world was gone……
I muttered to myself and stood.
This world had no time. I had to turn it all back as soon as possible.
Subordinate Weapon.
Do Ye-jin would be that stepping stone.
I had to save Do Ye-jin……
But how?
I had a vague plan in mind, but whether it would succeed was questionable.
I wasn’t the smart type.
05:20.
After thinking for a while.
I finally stepped out with no answer, heading to climb into the carriage.
That’s when I paused.
I’d be too busy ahead—no more frequent visits to the west…… Better to tell the DMC station residents ‘that’ now.
11.
Yes. Conditions at DMC station had noticeably improved on my return. The stalker who opened the bulkhead explained.
“We’re running the station ventilators on backup power. Feel it? The steam engine fumes aren’t as bad as before.”
“True enough.”
“And the station’s overall brighter.”
“Impressive.”
I smiled.
Hearing about the west, then DMC, eased my mood.
“Thanks to the soulstones those hunters left. And other things…….”
The stalker chattered excitedly until a female stalker gave him a look, and he shut up.
“You’re here to see Ji-yeon unnie?”
“Ah, yes.”
“Wow, how fateful! She’s on duty today! Is this the red thread of destiny?”
Her attempt to pair me with Park Ji-yeon was blatant, but I brushed it off with a smile.
“Coincidence. Can I go see her now?”
“Of course. She’s in the station master’s office—want me to show you?”
“No. I know where.”
Heading down to the platform, I ran into a familiar girl. Looked like she was coming from the bathroom.
“So…… When the rumor spread that the Lead Hunter was dead. Yes. It vanished when word came he’d come back alive.”
I was sitting in a luxurious hotel restaurant in the west.
The west, frequented by hunters, was practically a bustling district, so many facilities ran even at dawn.
“Honestly, it’s not something I want to keep doing.”
The female manager hesitated, then confessed her true feelings.
“Our lives hang on your survival…… It’s really tough.”
Silence fell when I didn’t reply.
I just stared wordlessly at the rain pouring down the window.
“How’s civilian life?”
“Peaceful. I can say that much. We didn’t touch those who dove into drugs voluntarily. You told them not to.”
“Got it. ……So you’re thinking of resigning now?”
The managers exchanged glances.
The three I’d placed as west managers after wiping out the White Society. The middle-aged man who’d stayed silent nodded.
“I’m truly sorry, but I’ll step down after today.”
“…….”
“No human on Earth ever got this much power. Probably because the gods knew how cruel humanity can be.”
“The Holy Apostles?”
At my words, the middle-aged man shrugged.