Chapter 83
Chapter 83
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 83
Chapter Title: Assembly
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Night torments him. Even with his eyes open or closed, Crow feels like he's hearing voices amid the pitch-black darkness.
All of this is your fault.
If you'd been stronger, none of this would have happened. If you'd handled things without a single flaw, everyone could have been happy like before.
Unable to find even a single word to refute those filthy whispers, Crow begins to tremble violently. Guilt and self-loathing seep into the cracks of his body and mind, ravaged by drugs...
It's ridiculous. Stripped of his ability, Crow was just an ordinary man in the end—and after about a decade of trials and tribulations, he'd become a full-fledged hero.
Now, everything he'd built was crumbling away. No matter how desperately he clawed to hold on, it slipped through his fingers like grains of sand.
"No... no..."
Covering his eyes with his palms, Crow breaks down sobbing. He simply lacks the means to endure any of this.
I don't know what's right and what's wrong anymore.
Maybe everything's been going wrong from the very start.
Crow dredges up hazy old memories, recalling every one of his past failures and mistakes. Faces of the victims he couldn't save flicker before his eyes.
He'd saved so many more people.
The ones he failed to protect weren't lost because he was weak—it was the villains' cunning deceptions and sly schemes.
Failing to see through them wasn't his fault. He'd thwarted dozens—no, hundreds—of terrorist plots and evil schemes ahead of time, saving countless citizens.
But days like today happened too,
days when he couldn't protect everyone.
In those moments, Crow had certainly felt guilt. Healing the body didn't heal the mind.
And yet what had let Crow endure was
undoubtedly his sense of mission to save the innocent.
"Huh... ugh..."
The agony he'd bottled up until now bursts forth like a dam breaking. Confronted with his failure to protect even the last person precious to him, Crow gasps for air and writhes.
A sensation both alien and familiar surges up from within him...
A 13-year-old boy,
far too young to play hero.
While other kids his age were dreaming big in middle school, his ability had manifested, sending him off to a special facility,
and there, to test that ability...
"Ugh...! Ugh...!"
Crow had no choices.
Orphan,
the only male ability user,
and on top of that, bearer of the [Recovery Ability] with boundless potential.
It only made sense to join the Hero Association rather than be a lab rat. The nations' obsessive drive to monopolize rare ability resources was utterly repulsive.
So,
he'd taken the hand extended by his country's association,
and trained to survive.
He'd never once harbored hopes of a normal family life.
He'd simply wished
that no one else would have to suffer like him.
Justice, sitting alone and nursing her glass, reflects on her former self as she sorts through her thoughts.
The sweet yet bitter liquor slides down her throat. At the same time, a fiery aroma rises back up, shaking her to the core.
She has her own mission.
For a better world,
she believes she could even lay down her own life.
The reason that resolve is starting to waver
is surely because of Crow.
If she can sacrifice herself for the world,
can she sacrifice Crow too?
Justice couldn't tolerate injustice.
That personality had started in her childhood,
and it didn't discriminate by situation or timing.
Put nicely, she was a model student;
put harshly, a stubborn lone wolf.
She meddled in everyone else's business,
prioritizing the truth over others' feelings.
A woman whose nosiness was backed by real ability, making it hard for anyone to argue back.
A woman who could gladly endure any backlash for a better world.
With the manifestation of her ability, Justice's full-fledged hero career began, gradually changing her life.
The public was captivated by her fighting evil. No longer chasing petty everyday wrongs, she now strove for greater justice.
She herself seemed satisfied with this new way of living. People respected and followed her—even those who'd found her annoying had no choice but to heed her words.
That was influence.
A righteous influence that could make the world a better place.
Justice finally understood why she'd been granted her ability.
She had to become a hero for everyone. For a better world, she had to roll up her sleeves and step forward.
And right now,
Justice is receiving unprecedented levels of support and acclaim.
The hero who ultimately triumphed over the fallen villains Crow and Lily,
choosing justice through tears.
Impartial, unswayed by old affections.
Selfless,
unwavering justice.
All of it torments Justice's heart.
Crow,
if only he weren't there.
Then she wouldn't have to wrestle with these doubts.
Or perhaps, if he really was the one who killed the Director...
"..."
Justice loved Crow. To claim otherwise would be a blatant lie.
That's precisely why her heart weighs so heavily. For the world's advancement, must she accept even this kind of sacrifice?
His skin,
muscles, lips, fingers,
the way he kneaded her, his hot breath,
she remembers it all.
In this ever-growing emptiness, can she truly let him go?
A path so terribly lonely,
painful,
solitary.
Is this really the road she must walk?
Just once,
just one single time forgiving an injustice could let her achieve so much more.
If she turns away from her ex-lover, who can't even be saved,
everything would surely change.
Justice can protect the world right now.
Perfectly.
"..."
And yet Justice can't bring herself to decide in the end—she just downs another drink. She can't sacrifice Crow, can't save him, can't even properly utilize him.
But deep down, she already knows.
Maintaining the status quo is tantamount to abandoning him and leaving him to his suffering.
What is justice, really?
To Justice, justice means
a world where the wicked are punished,
and the good can live in peace.
A few sacrifices are inevitable for that.
Others preach pretty theories and fret over hypocrisy, but Justice acts directly for the sake of the many.
She never forgives villains,
but she's the kind of woman who saves a hundred over one citizen.
Crow secretly agonizes over that one unsaved soul, but Justice never regrets her choices.
That's true justice.
If she can't save everyone, she chooses the best option.
She saves the people on the unstoppable subway
over the single child tied to the tracks.
But then
what if it were Crow tied to those tracks?
Who should Justice choose?
Even if she can't protect him, if it accomplishes the greater good...
"..."
Until now, Justice had wavered countless times because of Crow.
Because of personal ties.
The bond of shared bodies, the bond of dancing on the edge of death,
and
the subtle pull between man and woman she'd never felt before.
"Damn it."
Now she has to choose.
A lifetime devoted to justice?
Or the man who once whispered love to her?
Under the flickering light,
the woman carries on her endless torment.
And finally,
the woman who absolutely cannot let Crow die stands beneath blinking lights.
Orca
washes herself in the small shower tucked into one corner of her office.
Not particularly hot water, yet steam rises. As her cool-headed mind gradually sharpens, so does her chill.
In truth, Orca and Justice had a massive clash just days ago, but at their core, they're walking similar paths.
Both are determined to uphold their own justice.
But Orca's justice has crossed an irreversible river.
The fall of the one man she'd admired,
and her own desire, which she couldn't resist and ultimately indulged.
Now Orca has reached a point where she must conceal every truth proving Crow's innocence. Her position, his body, even his mind— the worst might come to pass.
That's why she must be even more ruthless.
She has to preempt every possible incident in the prison to protect Crow.
The next 3 days.
Just 3 more days, and she can pull Crow out and lock him in solitary.
Once separated like that, she can fully mend their relationship. Time solves so many things, after all.
So Orca lets her long blue hair cascade down as she drenches herself. This bath helps suppress her emotions, restoring her reason for optimal judgment.
Just endure a little longer.
If she can properly care for and train Crow in solitary, his body and heart will surely become hers.
The Crow who struck terror into villains is gone now. So Orca can boldly claim ownership.
She's fallen,
but so has Crow.
They're quite the matching pair. Both spend their days trembling in inescapable guilt and anxiety.
The chill thickens.
Orca shivers with resolve to freeze away every last one of her weaknesses.
In her short moan, the shower stream freezes solid in an instant. Amid the cold that seems to freeze even time and emotion, the shower room turns into a freezer.
All their plans and wishes converge on one point. The prison, filled with a quiet hush, brims with unusual tension and unease.
In the midst of it, Crow trembles as he stares at his own hands.
Something's off. His senses, already hypersensitive from the drugs, begin acting abnormally.
The pain intensifies because of it,
but Crow simultaneously feels an euphoric detachment and agony beyond his own perception.
"Guhk—"
He still has no idea what it means.
But at least one thing is certain:
his body is slowly adapting even to the pain amplified by the drugs.
And so, 3 days pass.
A quiet morning begins,
indistinguishable from any other.