Chapter 76
Chapter 76
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 76
Chapter Title: The Girl Ultimately Despairs, Great Library Investigation Operation (7)
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12.
I remembered thinking it wasn’t an injury bad enough to make me pass out.
But it seemed I had collapsed anyway.
When I came to again, I was lying in a hospital room where the curtains swayed in the gentle breeze.
As I tried to sit up.
A pain like cold flames scorching my entire body exploded through me.
……This is strange.
This sensation of pain.
For some reason…… doesn’t it feel similar to when I use Humanization?
“Kim Baek-jun?”
At the familiar voice, I turned my head, and a familiar face came into view.
“You shouldn’t move yet.”
“Ha-kyeong? ……Good. You’re safe.”
A sigh of relief escaped me.
I hadn’t seen Jeong Ha-kyeong since Yu Xlrem’s counterattack.
“Yeah…… I’m fine. I’m…….”
For some reason, at those words, Jeong Ha-kyeong gave a miserable smile.
I wanted to ask what was wrong.
I wanted to ask why she looked so sad.
But I didn’t, perhaps because I feared the answer.
“You’re already awake? Your recovery is faster than expected.”
It was then that Choi Uk entered the hospital room in plain clothes. I tried to nod lightly in greeting but ended up gasping in agony.
“There’s nothing urgent. Rest easy. The survivor relocation plan for Sajik-dong has been fully approved, and casualty counts and new recruit enlistments are proceeding smoothly.”
“……How’s Ye-jin?”
“She’s in the room right next to yours, also laid up in bed. No threat to her life.”
Light, thank you.
I murmured that as I lay back comfortably on the bed. Choi Uk said.
“Need anything?”
“Could you call Hong Byeong-gyu? I have a favor to ask. If his injury’s too severe, Yoon Geon-woo or Cha Seung-hyeon would be fine.”
At that, Jeong Ha-kyeong suddenly made a strange face.
“You don’t…… know?”
I didn’t need to ask what. Choi Uk immediately began explaining.
“The casualties the <Association> suffered from Yu Xlrem were immense. Countless veterans died, and squads were shattered.”
“……What?”
“And that…… Kim Baek-jun, even the 1st Hunting Squad wasn’t exempt. Steel yourself.”
Seeing Jeong Ha-kyeong bite her lip with a devastated expression, I realized the situation was dire.
“Not exempt? They died? Who? Who…….”
I tried to bolt upright but collapsed again from the pain.
“The 1st Hunting Squad has Hong Byeong-gyu, Yoon Geon-woo, and Cha Seung-hyeon…….”
Which one of those three…… Who else had I lost?
“Truly regrettable.”
Choi Uk gestured toward the hallway, and a hunter brought in a wooden box.
Inside the wooden box, red silk was laid out, and atop it sat three blood-red stones.
Blood essence stones.
“May the deceased rest in peace.”
It was just like when Kim Gye-sang died.
I barely clung to my fading consciousness.
“No…… no…… there’s…… some mistake…… how…… how…….”
In my mind, Hong Byeong-gyu’s laughter, Yoon Geon-woo’s stammers, and Cha Seung-hyeon’s puns spun around and gradually faded away.
There was no way that had happened.
We’d promised to go to the end of the nightmare together, to always rely on and protect each other…… How could all three die at once?
And with that, I lost consciousness again.
13.
“Remarkable.”
Choi Uk said flatly.
“To think the lower heteromorphs might have been humans.”
It was an <Association> executive meeting.
Do Ye-jin had just finished her testimony, and I sat silently at the head seat.
Two days after losing three comrades, it didn’t feel real to be here peacefully handling post-op cleanup.
“Thank you for your testimony. You’re dismissed.”
Do Ye-jin gave a feeble nod and left.
A heavy silence descended.
For starters, there were two empty seats.
Hong Byeong-gyu had died in battle. Shin Tae-yeop was on medical leave.
“I can’t believe it.”
Scout Section Chief Lee Seong-mi said, and Choi Uk replied.
“You just don’t want to believe it.”
“You don’t seem particularly surprised, though.”
Scout Section Chief Eom Jae-beom added. Choi Uk responded.
“I’d half-expected it. No civilian corpses turn up in the Nightmare Zone.”
“That’s not the point.”
2nd Hunting Squad Leader Yu Seong-deok said.
“What mindset are we supposed to have going out on hunts now? Everything we’ve done so far was murder?”
“They’re already dead people. If we must use old-world terms, zombies or undead fits.”
Seo Hwa-yoon firmly rejected the murder theory. Her face was a mix of confusion and pain.
“That’s how we have to think of it…… for now. And maybe only the librarians turned that way. No rushing to judgment. We don’t know anything.”
No one argued back.
Perhaps because it was their last solace. I spoke.
“Maybe we’ve misunderstood the meaning of hunting all along.”
My words.
Five pairs of eyes instantly turned to me. I continued.
“When we hunted Yu Xlrem…… the person stuck to it said thank you.”
I gave a bitter smile.
“Thinking back now, most heteromorphs were crying in agony. Or laughing madly.”
A sudden memory hit me.
Right before the Gwangnam-dong assault, my conversation with Kim Gye-sang in the Central Library.
- The power of creation…… Stars don’t have the power to create anything, so how do heteromorphs come to be?
And as if realizing something, Kim Gye-sang’s face had twisted for a moment.
……You knew back then.
Did you not tell me for my sake? Probably.
“I’ve come to think hunting is a funeral rite.”
Paying the utmost respect to one who was once human.
Remembering their honor one last time.
So their honor wouldn’t be sullied further.
“Granting rest to blood gone mad, a funeral.”
So the soul could awaken from the nightmare.
And greet the eternal dawn……. These words came from the Dawn Sword’s message to my crumbling heart.
“That’s why we must continue hunting.”
“……?”
“Knowing it’s not mere slaughter, respecting their honor—that’s us.”
A deep silence fell.
Everyone needed time to sort their thoughts.
“So, can we consider the subordinate weapons deployed for combat?”
A while later, Lee Seong-mi asked. Choi Uk answered.
“About half. But per Kim Baek-jun’s report, they were highly unstable.”
“Control?”
“The part about handling the power. Control fits.”
I explained weakly.
“Simply put, it’s like when we first couldn’t handle our unique skills well. Training’s needed.”
“No time for despair.”
Choi Uk said plainly.
“We’ve lost much, but thanks to those sacrifices, we now hold overwhelming force.”
A few more discussions followed, but I don’t remember them. After the meeting, I quietly held Choi Uk back.
“You said the Star Messenger personally told you there’s a catalyst in the Great Library.”
“……?”
“Just checking.”
I looked straight into Choi Uk’s eyes, like interrogating criminals as an active cop.
“Did you know it would turn out like this?”
A heavy silence flowed.
Choi Uk shook his head with a sigh.
“Didn’t expect this.”
There was no flicker in Choi Uk’s face. I…… couldn’t not believe him.
“I see.”
Not much time left for me anyway. People I could trust.
“I’ll believe that.”
14.
“I’m sorry.”
Do Ye-jin sat on the hospital bed.
She’d passed out from the aftereffects of <Subordinization>, then been dragged in upon waking to give testimony, looking utterly exhausted.
“What for?”
“It’s all my fault.”
Do Ye-jin gave a hollow smile.
“If I hadn’t become a subordinate weapon…… if I hadn’t been there…….”
“Don’t say that.”
Even I was surprised at how expressionless I sounded.
“Did you ask Hong Byeong-gyu, Yoon Geon-woo, or Cha Seung-hyeon to protect you? Even as they were dying?”
“……No.”
Reciting those names one by one tore at my chest.
I still couldn’t believe it.
This is a dream. It has to be a dream. I prayed, but reality doesn’t bend to prayers, so it’s reality.
“They all chose it themselves. To protect you. It’s not your fault. You didn’t do anything wrong.”
My breath caught, suffocating.
I wanted to run somewhere. Be alone where no one was.
“Is that so?”
Do Ye-jin smiled hollowly again. I knew instantly.
That’s a fake smile.
I’d worn it often after losing my parents.
“Ye-jin. Hiding pain or sadness is easy.”
I said.
“But hiding doesn’t make it vanish. If you’re sad, cry. Cry. That’s human.”
Do Ye-jin bit her lip, still smiling.
Soon her brow furrowed.
Tears leaked from both eyes, and her whole face crumbled.
I quietly slipped out of the room. Do Su-jin leaned against the wall by the door.
“Please take good care of her for a while. The shock will be huge.”
“……Yes. Got it.”
“Then, I’ll go.”
As I turned to leave.
Do Su-jin called me back, hesitated, then asked.
“Is Baek-jun…… okay?”
“I should say I am at a time like this.”
I gave a bitter smile.
“Sorry. Right now…… I can’t even politely say I’m fine.”
I don’t know how I spent the rest of that day. Memories were hazy, dreamlike.
Soul stone distribution. Funeral proceedings.
When I came to, I stood before the Gyeonghui Park memorial.
It was pouring rain.
Cold, thick raindrops seeped deep into my body, bringing chills.
I stood before the memorial.
Hunters who’d attended the funeral began leaving one by one.
I stood before the memorial.
How long had it been? It took a while before I mustered the courage to reach out.
The newly engraved names on the memorial.
“Hong Byeong-gyu, Yoon Geon-woo, Cha Seung-hyeon.”
I traced the names with my fingers, read them, read them again, over and over until my throat grew hoarse.
“Hong Byeong-gyu, Yoon Geon-woo, Cha Seung-hyeon.”
The day my birth parents died.
The day my adoptive parents died.
The day my special forces comrades died.
And the day Kim Gye-sang died.
“Hong Byeong-gyu…… Yoon Geon-woo…… Cha Seung-hyeon…….”
I couldn’t comprehend what the scholars said.
Humans adapt to anything, didn’t they?
But why, why then.
Why does the pain of loss never grow familiar?
- Stronger than before, but…… the path you must walk remains narrow, treacherous, and sorrowful…….
As the [Master of the Broken Dawn] said?
I have to keep walking.
But how do I embrace this pain and stand again?
“Hong Byeong-gyu was apparently some no-good laborer. Community college dropout.”
Jeong Ha-kyeong, who’d stood by me the whole time, spoke dismissively.
“Never done anything meaningful in his life, never even wanted to. But…… after meeting you, he changed his mind.”
“……Yeah?”
I gave a bitter smile.
No surprise. It was in the info from Hong Byeong-gyu’s blood essence stone.
“Wanted to help. Just wanted to stand by your side and watch.”
“We should heed Hong Byeong-gyu’s words to the end. Wasn’t it an American joke?”
“No. His wish was pretty funny too. Said it was our wish coming true?”
That’s right.
Jeong Ha-kyeong’s face kept streaming with rainwater, steam rising from her mouth as she spoke.
“Asked me to keep it secret since it was drunk talk, but now he’s dead, no obligation to keep secrets, right?”
I didn’t answer.
The rain was letting up. We tried not to cry.
“Yoon Geon-woo…… he wanted to be a historian, right?”
Crying would mean accepting their deaths. Surrendering to the nightmare.
“Yeah. Said he’d be the historian recording history after the fall.”
“That dumbass…… gotta live to do that. How’s a dead guy gonna record history? He God or something?”
Jeong Ha-kyeong muttered, then coughed as her throat caught.
“But Cha Seung-hyeon…… that kid had no dreams…… too young to even get a chance…….”
Only the sound of rain in the silence.
Raindrops endlessly seeped into the memorial’s engravings and flowed out.
An hour later, the rain stopped.
That’s when my knees gave out, and I collapsed blankly before the memorial. Jeong Ha-kyeong too.
“They’re all gone.”
Jeong Ha-kyeong sobbed wretchedly.
“Now it’s really just us.”
“Yeah. Now it’s really just us.”
In the end, we acknowledged reality.
And before that cruel reality, we pressed our shoulders and heads together and began to cry.
Quietly, and for a long time.
Because the heavens wouldn’t weep for us, we had to do it ourselves.
June 3, 2045.
I was still in the nightmare, and its end remained out of sight.
Yeah.
I’m in the heart of the nightmare.
Hong Byeong-gyu, Yoon Geon-woo, Cha Seung-hyeon.