Chapter 94
Chapter 94
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 94
Chapter Title: Rest to This Fallen World, Gyeongbokgung Siege (3)
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7.
An intense surge of acceleration crashed over her entire body.
Screeeeech... The hook scraped against the steel wire.
In the next instant, Do Ye-jin clutched her chest with her right hand.
Recall it.
Recall it again.
Recall that sense of loss.
The way to awaken despair.
「The incense from Mom's funeral」
「The birthday gift from Dad」
「Cha Seung-hyeon being swallowed alive」
「Hong Byeong-gyu's laughter」
Reliving in her mind the scenes from the day despair had reached its peak.
It's coming...
Her vision flooded with dark teal.
An illusion as if her whole body were sinking heavily. In the next moment, the world had transformed into a swamp of despair.
Do Ye-jin gazed into the swamp of despair.
Images floated on its surface like videos—Do Ye-jin's memories. The great and small despairs she had endured in life.
It hurts.
It hurts so much.
Don't turn your head.
She remembered thinking that. But the girl turned her head anyway.
Don't collapse.
She remembered thinking that. But the girl sank to the ground anyway.
And then, the whispers of despair came swirling in.
Yes... that's right...
Entrust everything... to despair...
Her entire body sagged heavily.
Strength slowly ebbed from her limbs.
The abyss began to swallow the girl's body, inch by inch, slowly. Feet... legs... hips... stomach... chest... collarbone... and finally up to her chin, in a moment of utter desperation.
"Why are you crying, our Dong-sang?"
A voice pierced through like light.
She lifted her head in startled confusion... how... it was impossible to believe... Hong Byeong-gyu was smiling right before her eyes.
8.
"Can we do this?"
Jeong Ha-kyeong asked, but I couldn't respond.
It was a tense moment.
Everyone in the Association was staring at Do Ye-jin as she slid down the zipline toward Gyeongbokgung Palace.
Hang in there.
Ye-jin, hang in there.
It was right then.
A blinding dark teal flash exploded from Do Ye-jin's body, forcing us to squeeze our eyes shut.
A deafening roar as if the world were crumbling.
When we opened our eyes again, the colossal form of the second nightmare, Arishel'rap, had smashed into the new Gwanghwamun Gate.
Its form was that of a dragon-man.
The strongest nightmare, with a human body topped by a dragon's head. Dragon scales covered its entire body like armor.
Goosebumps prickled across my skin.
Its intimidating form was overwhelming no matter how many times I saw it... to crumple that massive iron gate in one go.
From within the dust cloud, dark teal eyes gleamed. In the next instant, a tremendous roar tore at our eardrums.
「PHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!」
What the hell happened?
Which side is it? Rampage? Or control?
The moment I thought that... Arishel'rap stepped toward us and assumed a charging stance.
"Son of a bitch."
Jeong Ha-kyeong spat a curse and tossed aside her zipline gun.
"We were idiots for hoping. Another failure. Get ready to capture it now."
"Not yet, not yet."
"Ye-jin! Ye-jiiiiin!"
It was then that Seo Hwa-yoon used 《Form Memory》 to create a megaphone and shouted.
"Smash the gate! Not the front—the baaaack!"
9.
"Uncle Byeong-gyu... you're alive..."
Do Ye-jin fell silent for a moment.
Hong Byeong-gyu's body was translucent. Was it not flesh and blood? Do Ye-jin began muttering through sobs.
"Uncle, listen... My mom died when I was little."
"......"
"When the world ended, my dad died... Then Oppa Geon-woo... And Seung-hyeon too... And you, Uncle Byeong-gyu..."
Hong Byeong-gyu let out a soft breath and chuckled faintly.
"You saying Ye-jin's life is cursed, huh?"
"...Yeah."
That was her true feeling.
The thought she'd harbored ever since losing her mother.
Do Ye-jin finally burst into tears.
"If it's just... this painful... if life's nothing but despair... I wish... I hadn't been born at all..."
It would have been better that way.
If she hadn't been born...
But then a warmth enveloped her entire body. Hong Byeong-gyu, crumbling into motes of light, was hugging her.
"Uncle doesn't think that way."
"...?"
"Thanks to this, Uncle got to meet our Ye-jin Dong-sang."
"...?!"
"If the world hadn't ended, how could a pathetic old man like me get close to a beauty like Ye-jin Dong-sang?"
Hong Byeong-gyu laughed heartily and patted Do Ye-jin's back.
"Not saying the world's end was good. But... it let us gain some things. Ye-jin Dong-sang, was the world's end nothing but sadness for you?"
Of course it was.
What kind of question is that?
Nothing good came from the world's end. Really.
...Really?
No, that wasn't true.
She could reunite with her sister as a subordinate weapon. She could see Hong Byeong-gyu's smile, joke with Cha Seung-hyeon, hear Yoon Geon-woo's stutters. She even earned the nickname "Magical Girl Middle Schooler Who Summons Typhoons."
Bonds forged in despair.
The subordinate weapon had brought her new connections.
Those bonds.
Those bonds were so dazzling.
So warm they made her forget even despair.
For a moment, she had forgotten despair.
Ah... So this is what Kim Baek-jun meant when he said life is filled with infinite possibilities?
In that instant, Do Ye-jin clenched her fist.
- Always remember this.
She gathered strength in her legs and stood. Then she stared straight into the abyss of despair.
- When facing despair, don't look at the despair itself—look to the hope beyond it.
Despair is the opposite side of hope.
Despair binds you to the past. Hope propels you into the future.
- Whether you use despair as despair, or turn it into hope, is entirely your choice.
"What do you want to do, Ye-jin Dong-sang?"
"I... I..."
The despair began to boil and surge.
In the midst of that overwhelming despair, the girl finally chose her fate.
"I... from now on... won't cling to the past... I'll move toward the future..."
As she peered into the despair.
As she watched Hong Byeong-gyu fade into motes of light.
"Uncle... thank you..."
The girl smiled desperately.
But she couldn't just smile simply, so she laughed through choking sobs.
"So now... goodbye..."
10.
"That crap won't work!"
Was Jeong Ha-kyeong's quick judgment right? In that instant, Arishel'rap slammed the ground toward us.
"See? It's coming right at us!"
Jeong Ha-kyeong's sharp rebuke.
"Whoa, shit, it's coming!"
"Association Leader! What do we do?"
Terrified voices.
"Look at those glowing eyes. No sign of reason anywhere."
Im Yong-gon drawing his sledgehammer.
"Yeah. Where's the reason in eyes like──"
It was right before everything descended into chaos.
Arishel'rap landed in front of the building we were on, exhaled a hot snort, and spun its body around.
In the very next moment.
Arishel'rap charged ferociously at Gwanghwamun Gate.
I shuddered.
A hollow laugh escaped me.
A power that could only be described as overwhelming.
──Kwaaaaaaaaang!
The grand iron gate was ripped clean off its hinges.
Rivets... hinges... debris...
I glimpsed the wreckage of the collapse scattering in disarray.
- Uncle, believe in me.
In that moment, did I recall my conversation with Do Ye-jin?
- I'll open the path.
The gateway into Gyeongbokgung Palace.
The greatest obstacle, Gwanghwamun Gate, had been breached by Arishel'rap itself.
"Oooooooooh!"
"Waaaaaaaaah!"
"It completely... smashed Gwanghwamun?!"
Cheers erupted from all around.
In the midst of that thrill, I remembered what Seo Hwa-yoon had said to Do Ye-jin just before the operation began.
- The key to controlling subordination is mental strength.
- I get it.
- Yeah. If your mental strength holds, you can even eject yourself from the subordinate's body. Ye-jin, just smash the gate. Smash the gate and eject right away.
Yes... she did it.
I clenched my fist tight. Do Ye-jin had followed Seo Hwa-yoon's instructions to the letter.
Beyond the dust cloud from the fallen gate, I could see Arishel'rap sprawled on the ground.
Do Ye-jin would soon be exposed defenselessly.
"Choi Uk!"
I shouted urgently.
Choi Uk had been staring blankly at the miraculous sight, but he snapped to attention at my call and gestured to his subordinates.
Bwooooooo bwooooooo bwooooooo.
The signal corps and hunters blew their horns. Three times. The signal to begin the hunt.
"First and Eighth Hunting Platoons, secure Do Ye-jin's safety! All other platoons, focus on the breach! Provide cover until Kim Baek-jun arrives before midnight!"
The advance began.
We leaped from the rooftop one by one, charging toward Gyeongbokgung Palace.
The subordinate's domain.
The enemy wasn't pushovers either. Revenant crossbowmen unleashed volleys from both sides of the walls.
"Support team!"
But we were the same.
In an instant, barriers of every color unfurled in the air. The work of hunters with wide-area defensive unique skills.
While the barriers deflected the arrows.
The Association's main combat units surged past Gwanghwamun into the palace grounds.
"1 o'clock, enemy reinforcements appearing."
"The knights are herding soldiers in droves."
"Archers on both sides of Heungnyemun!"
As fierce combat loomed between Gwanghwamun and the second gate, Heungnyemun, Choi Uk grabbed my shoulder.
"Save your strength! We'll clear the path to the subordinate. Wedge formation!"
In a flash, the formation shifted to an arrowhead.
That arrowhead flew toward Heungnyemun at terrifying speed.
Leading the wedge was Im Yong-gon.
Clad in heavy plate and swinging his massive hammer wildly as he advanced—he was a tank in human form. Revenant knights and soldiers were smashed to pieces, tumbling across the ground.
"Eyaaaaaaaap!"
The next moment.
Im Yong-gon slammed his sledgehammer into the central gate of Heungnyemun with ferocious force.
The wooden gate couldn't withstand the blow.
The instant Heungnyemun shattered miserably, a sudden volley of arrows rained down from beyond.
"Im Yong-gon!"
Im Yong-gon, pierced through the body by countless arrows. He dropped heavily to one knee.
"I'm... I'm fine... Keep going forward... forward, Kim Baek-jun."
Even if I stayed here, nothing would change. The true way to help Im Yong-gon was to hunt the subordinate quickly.
"Let's go! I'll cover you."
"I'll take the left."
Jeong Ha-kyeong and Do Su-jin had already flanked me solidly. I nodded.
"Move out!"
The battle between the second gate, Heungnyemun, and the third gate, Geunjeongmun, was even fiercer. Fewer soldiers, more knights.
Zing zing zing... The Dawn Sword began to hum.
As always.
Choi Uk's judgment was spot on.
The subordinate was beyond that gate, Geunjeongmun.
"Shit, damn it, I can't keep up."
Jeong Ha-kyeong shouted urgently while running.
"Looks like I have to hold here."
"Please."
"I'm the one asking."
Jeong Ha-kyeong was the last.
Those escorting me were already locked in desperate individual combats with the heteromorphs.
"Go! Don't worry about me!"
Leaving Jeong Ha-kyeong behind, I rushed to Geunjeongmun.
Geunjeongmun wasn't the hanok style I remembered. Medieval... otherworldly style?
「This gate is sealed with an ancient incantation.」
Then came Roheiritz's voice from the necklace.
「But if you're Berkenxia's successor, it's no trouble. Place your hand on the gate.」
Hand on the gate...?
Half-doubting, I pressed my left palm to the gate.
In that instant.
Array of colorful magic circles appeared on the gate's surface, interlocking and rotating.
So beautiful...
It was like a work of art. When that artistic rotation ended.
Rumble rumble rumble...
The iron gate began to open on its own, parting to the sides.
「Well done. Enter.」
Screams and shouts echoed from behind.
A race against time. No room for hesitation. As soon as I stepped inside, the gate slammed shut behind me with a boom.
Gyeongbokgung Palace, Geunjeongjeon inner courtyard.
This place... was similar yet different from what I remembered.
The rank stones were still there, at least.
Rank stones are stones designating positions for high and low officials to stand according to their rank during court assemblies or events.
Twelve on each side of the lingmu path.
A total of twenty-four rank stones.
But there was a problem.
Unlike before, knights in dark teal robes embroidered with white mu patterns knelt before the rank stones.
「Those are the knights of the Yeongmok.」
And crucially... Geunjeongjeon was gone.
In its place, atop the altar where Geunjeongjeon once stood, "that tree" towered.
The one from all the murals.
The one Dragon Lady Xerinia had shown me.
The Yeongmok itself.