Chapter 28
Chapter 28
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 28
Chapter Title: From Now On, I Am Faust
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As the situation unfolded with me facing Faust directly, only then did I notice my own body.
‘Blood… damn it… I’ve lost too much blood.’
The shattered fragments of the dagger had struck me dead on—that was the root of the problem.
Faust’s incomplete body combined toughness and fragility. Since it was still unstable, collapsing at any moment during such an intense battle wouldn’t be surprising.
‘…It’s the backlash.’
Hallucinations and auditory illusions.
The backlash defined as mental delirium.
In this world, when an ordinary person uses a demon’s weapon, they typically lose their mind to it. Even though it was a weapon Faust could wield, at this early stage of the episode, he couldn’t control it perfectly.
That was why the backlash, a problem that often occurred in the early parts, had come now. This wasn’t just a simple issue.
The battle was still in full swing, and the hallucinations and voices meant my body had reached its limit.
But why was Faust appearing? Why was he calling my name…?
Was it inducing the most fatal delusion for me? If so…
- Oppa, sorry. I’m just too tired. Wasn’t it my turn?
- No, it’s fine. You’re tired, right? I’ll handle the rest.
‘…No.’
Memories with Seunga flowed out like film from one side.
I had to stop the backlash.
“Why are you like that? Blaming yourself for how things turned out?”
“Stop…”
“You resemble the old me. Those eyes… the eyes of the dead.”
“I said stop…”
“Not the eyes of someone struggling to survive!”
- Kim Seojin. Is that really all it takes? If you’re just fooling yourself… is that enough?
Shut up.
“Shut up!”
- Even after losing Seunga, nothing’s changed. Still indecisive and cowardly.
“Don’t say that name! Don’t you dare say it!”
A hollow echo drifted through the void.
“…Mental delirium? I see. You’re being toyed with by the demon. Interesting. It turns out the one facing the end isn’t me—it’s you.”
I had to focus.
First, I needed to win this battle.
- Why? Why do you want victory?
Because I don’t want to die!
- You don’t want to die? Hmm… I doubt it.
‘What are you talking about…?’
- Think carefully. Don’t lie to yourself. Look down.
‘Look… down?’
…No.
That can’t be.
This is…
Between the tears in my clothes from the battle, my wrist was covered in clearly etched lines.
Traces of self-harm.
- That’s right. You did that to yourself.
No!
- You wanted to die, Kim Seojin.
“Nooooo!”
No! I have to snap out of it.
Kal Kurs…
‘…He’s coming!’
Thud-!
“Urgh… cough…”
“A guy who can’t even control his own mind lecturing others on how to live… What a bizarre thing.”
“Kal… Kurs.”
“I’d pity you, but this is your last chance.”
He grinned wickedly.
“Abandon the demon. Then it ends.”
“I can’t… do that.”
“Then… die.”
Clang-!
The Lake clashed with Kal Kurs’s longsword. Each clash made my body tremble as blood dripped steadily.
The wounds were deep, and death loomed if this continued. Yet why was my stifled heart slowly easing?
Like the days of aimless wandering were a lie, like the truth hidden behind clouds was finally revealed.
As if… I was finally facing the suffocated version of myself.
‘Kal… Kurs…’
Clang-!
Clang!
I looked into his eyes as our swords met.
Not at the sword, but at him.
No hesitation.
No evil or good.
Just fighting for his goal.
Those eyes filled with battle spirit looked different from mine.
‘…Ah.’
I finally understood.
What had bothered me about Kal Kurs was envy.
It was the form I wanted to become.
I wanted to be free, unbound by whether I was a murderer or loathed evil to someone.
His willingness to sacrifice everything without hesitation for his reason to live made me look back at myself.
Was I any better than him?
Screech…
Screech…
Clang-!
The more our swords met, the more erased memories exploded like fireworks.
- What were you going to say?
- Well… I decided on a name.
- Really? What is it? Can you tell me?
- Faust!
- Nice name.
- Hehe… right? I knew you’d like it.
Yes.
It hadn’t been okay.
- Seunga… our Seunga… save our Seunga!
Without Seunga, I was a tree with dead roots. Just a walking corpse—my mind and heart had died long ago.
That day, right there.
From the accident where I lost Seunga.
Did I want to die?
Because I had no reason to live?
‘I… want to live.’
It wasn’t that I didn’t want to die.
I wanted to live.
I just wanted to live.
That’s why I’d cried out every day, begging to be saved.
‘So that’s it…’
Everything came back to me.
The pathetic liar who’d been spouting falsehoods until now was me.
Before coming here—that is, on the day the game Remegaton bid farewell to everyone—I was about to lose even the last memories of Seunga.
I didn’t have the courage to face dead Seunga.
I couldn’t… accept that reality.
So I decided to die.
Because I had no reason to live.
‘It wasn’t falling asleep. I…’
Swallowing all the pills in that bottle was my last memory.
…Had the real me died? Or was I still alive?
I’d lived conforming to so much. Never bothered anyone, never did anything to frown upon. Never broke the law, valued morals, always treated others with courtesy.
Yet I lost Seunga.
…Why?
- My daughter… just let her go. You have to send her off…
- I said I’ll pay for my sins! What’s the problem?!
The world hated me.
Even here, it seemed to not want me to live.
So… now, I hated the world too.
Clang-!
Urp…
“Ptooey…”
“Looks like you’ve hit your limit. Figures. I’ve never heard of a demon kin using a demon’s power. You’ll collapse soon enough.”
“Haa… haa… cough…”
“Die, you who doesn’t want to live.”
For Faust’s happiness, I’d face much resistance.
Faust’s happiness would make far more people unhappy. That was the only reason I’d hesitated until now.
For me to live, many would die. No one had told me how that end would play out.
- I’ll definitely give Faust happiness. Join me!
And yet…
A reason to live.
A reason I must live.
It was right here.
As if someone prepared it for me. As if telling me to live even in pain.
Ah, is that it?
‘Seunga… my Seunga… was it you…?’
Did you call me here?
If so—if that’s the case… I’ll accept it.
From today onward, I am Faust.
Even if all of Kim Seojin dies, if it’s what you want.
I’ll live as Faust.
Faust must be happy.
I’ll keep that promise.
…So you can rest easy.
Thud-!
I pulled back, catching my breath.
“Huff… huff…”
“Hoo… hoo…”
How much strength remained… no, what methods left…
‘Is that so…’
Still, I could kill Kal Kurs.
This fragile body seemed ready to shatter anytime, but it was eerily sharp.
Kal Kurs was strong.
Far stronger than I’d expected.
But,
‘…He can’t beat me.’
Faust wouldn’t die here.
Whoosh-!
I stirred a torrent in the pit.
A curtain of water made from corrupt energy unfurled around Kal Kurs.
“There!”
Sensing presences from the front and back of the spray, Kal Kurs swung his sword. His limited visibility, barely seeing past his nose, must have made him more alert than usual.
That’s why he swung without hesitation.
Screech-!
Splash-!
Screech!
Splaash-!
“…What?”
Kal Kurs slashed a crude clone resembling me, made of searing corruption, and got drenched in the torrent.
Drenched twice now, he had no room for error.
The next attack had to be blocked.
“Raaah!”
I leaped over the spray, appearing above him and swinging my sword down.
I couldn’t even recognize what shout I was letting out.
My body was already in ruins.
“Raaah!”
It just felt like the beastly roar he’d let out earlier was now mine.
Kal Kurs cleanly parried the two-handed overhead strike.
Clang-!
Screech…
Up to here, it was the repeating pattern.
The path I couldn’t advance because of hesitation.
Now… I’d kill him.
“Urgh… that last strike must’ve been your final one. Pity.”
“Haaa… haaa…”
“I can feel your strength draining. Rest easy. It’s over now…”
Kal Kurs couldn’t finish his words.
“Blub…”
He’d noticed by now.
“…Poison?”
“The corrupt energy scattered in the air.”
“No way… since when…”
From the moment he attempted the transformation.
I’d arranged for him to continuously inhale the black mist.
“This… can’t be…”
Sss…
He’d feel it too.
In this moment with our swords locked, the corrupt energy seeping into his body was moving to his arms.
Crack…
Cracks began forming on his arms. The energy overflowing from the Lake where our swords met invaded his sword and arms.
Rotting from inside and out.
Pitch black.
“This can’t… my arms…”
Crack crack…
“Haa… haa…”
Blood kept pouring from my nose and mouth.
“Uwaaaaaah!”
Crack crack crack!
Shatter!
The once-stalwart holy knight’s arms shattered into pieces and scattered.
Fsssh…
Like black lotus petals past their prime.
And piercing that space was the Lake.
My sword, freed from restraint, sliced horizontally through the world.
It wasn’t the will to kill.
It was the will to live.
To keep living.
“Sa…ve…”
Splash-!
Kal Kurs’s head floated into the air and rotted away.
Fsssh…
A massive fountain of blood erupted.
Black blood gushed from his body like an overturned cup, then went still.
“Haa… haa…”
Hot.
Incredibly hot blood.
“Ha… hff…”
And tears.
I survived.
Step…
Step…
A presence from behind.
I half-turned to look.
“…Lord Faust.”
“……”
“You’re smiling.”
My blood-soaked form.
Tears on a face masked as Satan.
An unconscious smile at my lips.
Like a dam bursting, everything was a mess. A torrent of emotions raged.
I had expressions now.
Vivid colors spilled into a gray world.
Homework.
If this was homework, I’d accept it.
In the place where Kim Seojin died, Faust is born.
“…Lucifer.”
“Yes.”
Faust must be happy.
“Bring me some tea.”
[Episode 1 Act Finale: Kal Kurs will end soon.]
[The dungeon’s level was exceeded by defeating a powerful foe.]
[Luck is infused into loot acquisition.]
……