Chapter 384
Chapter 384
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>Translator: Ryuma
>Chapter: 384
>Chapter Title: The 31st Horse Overturns the Game Board
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Splashhhh…
Splashhh…
Rumble!
In the rough sea currents, something occasionally gulped down water as it drifted along.
Shin Yu, who had fallen from the cliff, surrendered his body to the ocean just like that.
‘Everything’s gone wrong.’
The pitch-black sea, the crashing waves. It was a situation that could easily inspire fear, but to Shin Yu, who had already recognized it all as an illusion, it merely looked like a frozen landscape.
He had entered a dream and regained his real body, one he hadn’t possessed since after his death.
Before realizing this was a dream, Shin Yu had been a genius swordsman with absurd talent.
And when he became aware of everything and looked back, what remained was…
‘Pathetic.’
A version of himself frailer than in the past.
He had been arrogant.
He had believed that reclaiming his body would make him a swordsman capable of achieving anything.
He had been certain of it, yet the future that unfolded was quite different.
He became a limb of the organization called the Faces, committing murders like a machine.
The drugs he continuously took for brainwashing and physical enhancement had made his body unable to endure without them.
‘Hyung… what should I do in times like this?’
Suddenly, he missed his third brother, Shin Kang, who had left him in the labyrinth.
A man who boldly pushed forward no matter what, enforcing his own will.
He wanted to become like that man.
Like his brothers.
But not everyone could be Shin Kang.
He had been dragged into the hell that Yacha had experienced and met with failure.
‘Yurim…’
The hell that Yurim had endured didn’t turn him into a swordsman; it turned him into a murderer. It dried up his heart, cracking the soil of his emotions until nothing could grow.
His singular devotion to the sword had been broken, and he grew disgusted with everything.
And… he came to hate people.
‘I see… that’s how Yacha was born.’
He could no longer endure this hell.
He wanted to end it all.
In the end, that had failed.
- Failure… you’re a failure…
“Shut up.”
Someone who looked exactly like him muttered as he climbed onto land.
It was a hallucination that had appeared after taking the drugs.
“Ugh…”
Without the drugs now, it was hard to maintain his sanity. It felt like the very existence of Shin Yu was crumbling.
Rustle…
Rustle…
He walked, soaked in water.
Then, the rain pouring down like a hole in the sky felt like it was washing away the saltiness.
“Hup…”
He tensed the muscles at the severed stump strongly, and the bleeding stopped completely. The power to finely control his muscles.
The Faces’ drugs had affected his physical enhancement as well. A strength befitting a machine built for murder.
“…They’re all dead.”
With the Faces gone, he had become a machine without purpose. Left like this, he’d gather dust and stop moving altogether.
‘No! I’m not done yet!’
When he finally found traces of Kang Seol after a time so long it made “long time” seem inadequate, a shiver ran through his entire body.
He believed that man could end all the pain Shin Yu felt.
But no.
Yurim. It was all because of her.
Everything had gone wrong because of her.
- That’s right, it’s her. Yacha ruined everything.
“I said shut up!”
The hallucination’s babbling persisted.
He was confused.
‘Those eyes…’
The eyes hidden beneath Yacha’s mask.
- Don’t… fall…
The calloused hands desperately grabbing him as he fell from the cliff,
And her tears.
The droplets falling from her mask were definitely not rain.
They were warm.
Those droplets held warmth.
The image of Yurim from their childhood, training together under Yu Hyun, lingered.
- Shin Yu’s so lucky. I want to become strong like Shin Yu.
- Why? You’re already plenty strong.
- No, I’ll get even stronger. There’s something I have to take back, no matter what.
Unlike him, who had lost purpose and will to power, she had pressed forward toward a clear goal.
- Kang Seol, my most precious friend.
- …Yeah? Where is he now?
She had smiled sadly.
- Far away. Really far away right now. But I’ll definitely find him!
When he asked what she planned to do after finding him, Yurim had dodged the question.
Pulling out that memory made senseless laughter spill from his lips.
Heh…
A refreshing laugh, laced with longing.
- You have to kill her.
The hallucination urged him, as if reminding him not to forget.
“Uwaaaah! Please just be quietttt!”
Whoooosh-!
Whoooosssh-!
With one arm severed and his balance twisted, he danced a sword dance in the rain.
Because he didn’t want to hear that warped voice telling him to kill Yurim anymore.
Rumble-!
He performed the sword dance with one arm alone.
A one-armed state with a different meaning from Shin Kang’s.
Shin Kang had become more perfect, while he had become uglier.
Thud…
The sword stabbed into the wet sand.
“Haa… haa…”
Exhausted, he collapsed, not wanting to get up.
If he died like this, it wouldn’t be a bad ending.
- I will cut you down.
A chilling voice.
The swordsmanship Yu Hyun had shown him.
Those words, those movements, wouldn’t leave his mind.
All of Yu Hyun’s power, which he had dismissed as illusion, was real.
In a world of fakes, he had left something genuine for him.
Like a dagger to the heart, implanting heavy anguish in his mind.
He planted inspiration.
“Ah… aahhh!”
He gripped the sword again.
Whoooosh-!
Whoooosssh-!
In the flashing world of the sword, he realized something. A fleeting spark of inspiration.
The last heavenly talent left in his broken self seized it.
Screeech…
Screeeech-!
His swordsmanship gradually improved.
“I… will do what I have to do.”
* * *
He buried Yu Hyun.
Then he immediately got up and walked aimlessly.
“Where to?”
“Dunno… anywhere. You choose.”
“…Me again?”
“Yeah.”
Yurim, mask removed, walked the continent arm-in-arm with Kang Seol.
Anywhere was fine for them.
In a world where everything was false, the place they belonged wasn’t a location.
It was each other.
Rumble…
Even as they crossed the continent, the ground trembled.
The people made of illusion performed rituals, claiming the heavens were angry, or tried to resolve it themselves.
Kang Seol and Yurim ignored it all and left.
Finally, at the foot of some northern mountain, they made their own nest.
They continued to lucid dream.
They knew exactly where this was and why they were in a dream.
Even so, they planned to live in the dream for a while.
Thunk-!
“Ouch!”
A snowball flew and hit Yurim’s head, shattering.
Winter had come.
A year had already passed since that incident.
“You okay?”
“Not okay… hyah!”
Thwack-!
“Ow! You put ice in it?”
“When throwing something, recall the object’s properties well and don’t overforce your shoulder…”
“…You put ice in it, right?”
“Hehehe… So, shall we end the snowball fight?”
“Yaaah!”
“Uwaaaah! Monster! Someone save me! A monster appeared! Villagers!”
“There’s no one in the village but us!”
For some reason, Yurim and Kang Seol laughed more than before. Every moment felt fresh.
Since losing Yu Hyun, neither she nor Kang Seol had cut their hair.
“Shouldn’t we put a carrot on its nose?”
“Huh? Isn’t it a button?”
“I thought carrot.”
“It’s a button! I learned button.”
“…Both?”
“Let’s do that.”
A button and carrot were attached to the nose of the snowman they made together.
“Ugh… cold, let’s go in.”
“Knew it, I lit the fire ahead.”
“As expected! Seol, you’re the best!”
“Hohoho… Again.”
“You’re the best! Kang Seol!”
“This feels strangely rewarding.”
Heh…
From the rumors they heard, missing persons cases had increased.
Living in the mountains, Kang Seol and Yurim occasionally heard warnings from villagers coming for firewood.
But those who needed to be careful weren’t Kang Seol and Yurim.
They wouldn’t disappear.
They were one of the few truths in this false world.
“Mmm…”
Yurim leaned on Kang Seol’s lap under a blanket and fell asleep.
Lately, she had been falling asleep like this often.
‘She doesn’t sleep well…’
We dream dreams inside a dream.
She mostly had nightmares.
“Ugh… ughh…”
She didn’t know what happened in the dreams, but she cried often. He had woken her a few times, but she said it was better to let her sleep.
She said she’d just have the same nightmare if she fell back asleep anyway.
Rustle…
He placed a pillow under her head instead of his lap.
Happy memories piled up, but ruin approached by the second.
Kang Seol prepared to confront the ruin.
He drew one step closer to the essence of darkness and disrupted his own body to a degree that even Agras would panic.
There were surely more possibilities left in the Primordial Blood.
There had to be a way to deal with Shin Yu.
Yurim silently rose, gazed at Kang Seol’s back as he immersed himself in training, then vanished.
Yurim trained too, to prevent her body from dulling.
They had to find the light before ruin arrived.
Crackle…
Crackle…
As time passed, memories accumulated alongside anxiety.
“Happy birthday, Seol-ah.”
“…Ah.”
Twenty-four.
Kang Seol didn’t remember exactly when he entered the dream, but he never forgot that he had been with Yurim since they were eight.
And now, they had somehow reached twenty-four.
“Thanks. Already?”
“Hehe… What’ve you been thinking about lately?”
“Just… this and that…”
“…Tell me. I want to hear.”
“What?”
Yurim beamed.
When she smiled, it felt like the snow-covered world melted away.
“How you’ve lived, what happened to you.”
“That’s not the me here, though?”
“Doesn’t matter. I’m ready to like the outside you too.”
“…Jeez.”
“…Tell me. The story.”
Kang Seol stroked Yurim’s head as she lay on his lap and chattered away.
He told her everything: the experiences because she wanted them, the emotions he felt then, without omission.
“…I see. So much happened.”
When he finished, Yurim was asleep.
For once, no nightmare; she even snored softly.
An ordinary winter day passed.
As that winter ended, the world’s collapse accelerated.
It was inevitable.
‘Yacha’s world, her memories… they already ended.’
After the Faces and the veil vanished, Yurim had already become Yacha. Her memories should have ended then.
The current point was a world forcibly patched together.
People ran out of power.
Like frostbite victims, they stiffened rigidly with no response.
Plants and animals too.
“…Tough, huh?”
“Yeah? It’s hot…”
“…Does this hurt?”
“A… little?”
“Can’t eat this. I’ll find something else.”
“It’s snowing…”
“It’s fine. Be right back.”
Twenty-five.
“Happy birthday, Seol-ah!”
“Yeah! Thanks!”
It felt especially loving, especially grateful.
In a crumbling world, only we seemed fine. No, that wasn’t true.
We were crumbling too.
“Kill… kill me, Seol-ah…”
“……”
“If I suffer just a bit, everyone will be at ease. I’m Yacha! You already know that!”
“Yurim-ah.”
“Please, don’t call me Yurim! I’m Yacha…”
Slap…
Kang Seol hugged her without thinking.
“Ugh… hng… It hurts, Seol-ah.”
“It’s okay. I’m right here.”
Once her crying stopped, Yurim leaned against Kang Seol and asked a question.
“Hey… can I ask something?”
“…What?”
“Ultimately, the choice you’ll make, Seol.”
“…Wouldn’t it be better to hear it later?”
“So I can… prepare my heart.”
“Then…”
Kang Seol clasped her hand in his.
“Yurim, to get this far, I’ve always chosen every path.”
“……”
“I prided myself on making the right choices each time. Because I tried.”
Then he shook his head.
“But this time, I’m certain. No matter what I choose, I’ll regret it for life. So…”
He smiled gently again.
“Not choosing… that’s my choice.”
“…Idiot, Shin Yu will get furiously mad.”
“Let him, not scared.”
“Liar.”
“Was I shaking a bit?”
Yurim murmured.
“We’ll lose… Shin Yu’s stronger than anyone.”
“I’ve always fought something. Always dangerous opponents. And yet… I have no confidence against Shin Yu. But this time, it’s not a fight to win.”
His eyes on Yurim held no tremor.
Like Yu Hyun in life.
“It’s a fight to protect.”
Yurim hugged him and cried silently.
Kang Seol and Yurim burned away like candles.
Like a candle burning its last wick, reaching the end of the wax.
They struggled to pile up more memories, to prepare for the coming ruin.
The tightening death, the approaching moment of choice.
“Happy birthday!”
Twenty-six.
“…Already another birthday?”
Twenty-seven.
Winter came again like that.
Winter came, winter went, another winter arrived.
“Got it… I got it!”
Around then, Kang Seol made a major discovery.
He realized he could fuse the Primordial Blood and the origin of darkness to achieve something.
Perhaps the fight with Shin Yu wouldn’t flow one-sidedly.
Whoooosh…
Winter came again.
On the birthday when Kang Seol turned twenty-eight, he received a visitor.
Whoooosh…
A blizzard raged.
“…So, it’s winter.”
Kang Seol swept the snow-covered yard.
From afar, a hazy figure appeared.
Kang Seol carefully set down his broom, changed clothes, and came out.
Huff…
Huff…
A man with a frozen beard.
One-armed, in a coat without adornments.
A broken man moving in a halted world.
“…Come in.”
“Kang Seol, long time no see. You were waiting for me.”
“Yeah.”
“……”
The two stood silently.
“You look cold. Want some tea?”
Shin Yu shook his head vigorously.
“…No, let’s start right away.”
Snow fell.
And Shin Yu’s eyes became visible.
“You… quit the drugs?”
Heh…
Clear eyes.
The familiar feel of Shin Yu that Kang Seol knew.
“Thanks to Master and Yurim.”
“Then…”
- Kill her…
Shin Yu lied.
He still saw hallucinations.
He had simply learned not to listen to them.
“But nothing’s changed. I’ll kill Yurim.”
“……”
“Now, time to choose. Kang Seol, what’s your choice?”
“……”
Kang Seol closed his eyes, opened them, and said.
“I’ll protect Yurim.”
It had been decided from the start.
Fate gives no choice.
And the girl caught in such fate takes the stage.
Crunch…
Crunch…
“…Yurim?”
“Yurim!”
Yurim walked over.
Through the snow, to Kang Seol’s side.
“Yurim… what are you doing…”
“Is that the path you chose? Yurim?”
“…Yeah.”
A mask covered Yurim’s face.
A grotesquely smiling mask.
The mask called cursed, Yacha’s mask.
No matter how far it was thrown, that grotesque mask always returned to Yurim’s side.
But since that day, she hadn’t worn it even once.
“Yurim! Take off the mask!”
Yurim shook her head at Kang Seol’s words.
“This is my will.”
“…What?”
Yurim looked at Shin Yu and said.
“Shin Yu, I’ve put on the mask again.”
“…Because you’re Yacha?”
“…To protect what’s precious.”
Yu Hyun’s sword.
Her hand rested on the scabbard.
It seemed to lend her strength.
“It’s always only brought me pain, but this is my choice.”
Yurim, hand on the scabbard, said.
“If you try to take something from me… stake everything.”
“……”
“Or else, you’ll lose everything.”
“You chose Yacha?”
A path chosen herself.
She smiles with the mask on.
“Even with the mask, I’m Yurim.”
The mask’s smile no longer looked grotesque.
Shing-