Chapter 137: Vatican (3)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 137: Vatican (3)
It was only after the sun had completely set that we returned to our lodgings.
The dinner provided by the Cult was quite delicious.
It was memorable enough that I could see myself craving it again.
The lights of Rome filled the view outside the window.
For a brief moment, the existence of the Fragments was erased from my mind.
After I’d taken off my outer clothes, the room was perfectly silent.
Cheon Yeo-wool opened the window for a moment, letting in the outside air. A cool night breeze brushed past the curtains and seeped into the room.
She turned to me, the corners of her mouth lifting into a smile.
An unreadable playfulness shone in her eyes.
“Should we get washed up?”
“No.”
I shook my head lightly.
Cheon Yeo-wool’s eyes widened.
Today wasn't over yet.
We still had something to do.
“A night walk. How about it?”
Soon, the museum's lights would go out and the streets would grow quiet.
It was about time for people to start disappearing, one by one.
Cheon Yeo-wool's expression quickly changed to one of anticipation.
“A walk? At this hour?”
“Yeah.”
Cheon Yeo-wool smiled and nodded.
“Well, I’m… more than happy to.”
She stuck close to my side and asked in a low voice.
“But where are we going?”
“The place we went to earlier. The museum.”
“Ah… It was nice there.”
Our eyes met for a moment. I was the first to step out into the hallway.
At the end of the hall, as always, a nun stood silently.
As we approached, the nun stepped forward first this time.
“I will prepare it for you.”
She declared it with a confident expression, as if she thought we were finally going to ask her to prepare a bath.
Her expression was quite resolute.
But once again, that wasn't it.
“No. We're just going for a short walk.”
“…Understood.”
Cheon Yeo-wool let out a small laugh.
“Thank you. We've been quite a bother today.”
The nun quietly bowed her head and retreated to the end of the hall.
We slowly retraced our steps, heading for the museum.
The crowds that had bustled here during the day were gone without a trace.
Cheon Yeo-wool spoke softly from beside me.
“There's really no one here, huh?”
I nodded.
“They're tourists, so they've probably all gone back to their rooms.”
Plus, the Vatican doesn't allow people to wander around this late.
Even the path connecting the park to the museum was empty.
Just the two of us, and the sound of the night wind.
We arrived at the museum entrance.
Judging by its exterior, you could easily mistake it for another cathedral.
As we climbed the moonlit stairs, a marble slab greeted us in solitary silence.
The space was open to the sky, but the lights had been off for a long time.
Only the moonlight faintly illuminated the slab in the darkness.
It was silent.
Without a word, I slowly walked toward the slab.
I heard footsteps from behind; Cheon Yeo-wool was silently following me.
No questions, no hint of curiosity. Nothing of the sort.
We arrived in front of the slab.
At times like this, a certain thought always comes to mind.
A worry I've had for the past ten years.
When I have to pass something on, teach something, show someone a new world.
Each time, the question of ‘How on earth should I explain this?’ would wash over me.
The concept of Fragments, which had only recently been revealed to the world.
A fleeting fear would sometimes brush past me—what if she couldn't accept it, or what if she misunderstood my intentions?
But I wanted to believe in this relationship.
We'd only built it over a short time, but I believed its quality was quite solid.
That it hadn't been built in vain.
“Cheon Yeo-wool.”
So, I looked at Cheon Yeo-wool and asked quietly.
“Do you trust me?”
At first glance, it was a very sudden question.
But it was a question I had been holding in my heart all this time.
Why do you trust me so much?
As I thought this, I held out my hand.
Just for this moment, I wanted to ask her honestly.
What she thought of me, or if she had ever found me suspicious.
Cheon Yeo-wool's eyes widened for a second, then she quietly lowered her head.
She steadied her breath.
Her hair, bathed in moonlight, shone with a soft glow.
And quietly.
Cheon Yeo-wool took my hand.
Without a word, she interlaced her fingers with mine, her grip firm.
She even reached out with her other hand, lacing those fingers with mine as well.
I could feel a distinct warmth from her fingertips.
“Unconditionally. I trust you.”
Two simple words.
But it was enough.
I slowly nodded.
“Here, try placing your hand on this.”
Releasing one of our clasped hands, Cheon Yeo-wool placed her palm on the marble slab without any hesitation.
In that instant, a faint light seeped out from between the patterns on the slab.
At the same time, the strength quietly drained from Cheon Yeo-wool's body.
I caught her in my arms to keep her from falling.
Even as she lost consciousness, her hand held tightly onto mine until the very end.
The warmth of her fingertips still lingered.
Now.
Her own trial begins.
*
The principle of all creation.
Everything that exists in the world operates according to a fixed principle and order.
Jung Hae-in. He, too, must have vaguely realized it at some point.
How reckless it was for one weak human to try and change that grand operation.
That thought. That fact, from a long, long time ago.
He must have known, yet continued to push his mind and body to their limits.
Pitifully.
This time was no different.
There was a clear limit to how much the star named Jung Hae-in could defy the flow of the world.
“I told you I'd kill you!”
Before Cheon Yeo-wool's eyes, the lowest-ranking of the Apostles.
Mary, the red-blooded spider, was in a frenzy.
Every time she had encountered Cheon Yeo-wool, she'd nearly had her head torn off and her limbs ripped apart.
It was perhaps only natural that she had been grinding her teeth for this moment.
Jung Hae-in had deployed his forces with optimal tactics... but this time, the Evil God's move was half a step faster.
Cheon Yeo-wool and the paladins she led were gradually pushed to the brink.
“Haha…”
Cheon Yeo-wool wiped the beads of sweat from her forehead with the back of her hand and smiled.
The corners of her mouth lifted.
The enemy before her numbered over three legions, by a rough estimate.
An abnormally large force gathered in front of her meant that another place was left empty.
On other fronts where a power vacuum had been created, her comrades would achieve results.
If it was Jung Hae-in, he would surely notice. And he would achieve even better results.
She was certain that he would exploit that gap to achieve an even greater victory.
She had walked too easy a path until now.
The very fact that she had survived this long was a miracle.
Someone always fell, and the fact that it wasn't her sometimes left her with a sense of guilt.
“It's enough.”
Cheon Yeo-wool said, as if whispering to herself.
She truly believed that sacrificing her one life would be enough.
Her breathing grew ragged.
Mary's ferocious presence drew closer and closer.
Fatigue and pain wracked her body, but a corner of her heart was strangely calm.
“You can't, Saintess!”
Cheon Yeo-wool used the last of her strength to push away the paladins blocking her path.
Forward, just a little more.
Mutual destruction.
She was resolved to meet her end with Mary.
Her target, however, burst into a crazed laugh and shouted.
“Finally… Finally…!”
Behind her, two other Apostles appeared like shadows.
As expected, this fight was abnormal.
Cheon Yeo-wool clenched her hands, drawing up her mana as if wringing it out.
A final explosion that would burn out all of her circuits.
This should be enough…
It was in that moment.
A cold hand grasped her wrist.
She hadn't felt a presence, heard a sound, or sensed anything at all.
Instantly, Mary's face twisted into an expression of revulsion.
A look mixed with fear, disbelief, and despair.
“Muk… gui?”
Mukgui?
That title.
Only one person could possess it.
Startled, Cheon Yeo-wool turned her head.
Jung Hae-in, with an expressionless face that gave no clue as to when he'd arrived, was channeling his internal energy into her hand.
The flow of energy spread through the pressure points in her body, and her rampaging mana subsided as if it were a lie.
Jung Hae-in's voice was low and firm.
“There's no need for that.”
Jung Hae-in immediately looked at the paladin beside her.
“Take her.”
The order was given, and the paladin did not hesitate.
In an instant, he grabbed Cheon Yeo-wool and retreated.
Huh?
Her body wouldn't move properly.
Jung Hae-in's energy had sealed her pressure points, completely binding her power.
No.
Why?
Why did he come all the way here?
No matter how she thought about it, he was more valuable to humanity than she was.
A scream erupted in her heart.
Even her tongue was frozen, unable to form a sound.
Jung Hae-in's back, growing more distant.
A distance that could no longer be closed.
He was strong, but facing three Apostles was impossible.
He would surely, absolutely, die.
-BOOM!!!!!
The battlefield was filled with the sound of an explosion.
That was the last she ever saw of Jung Hae-in.
Strength drained from her entire body. Endless helplessness and despair, and welling tears soaked the collar of her clothes.
She didn't know how long she cried.
Her consciousness gradually faded, and at some point, she opened her eyes.
And Cheon Yeo-wool realized she wasn't in a hospital bed, but lying in her own familiar room.
Cheon Yeo-wool carefully pushed aside the covers and got up.
She opened the door and went outside.
Outside, under a dim light.
Jung Hae-in was quietly holding a map.
He was readjusting the deployment on the front lines, quickly moving the piece with Cheon Yeo-wool's name on it to another spot on the board on his desk.
The battle had not yet begun.
Jung Hae-in, seeming to notice she was awake, turned his head and smiled.
“You're awake.”
Cheon Yeo-wool met Jung Hae-in again.
And that.
Was the moment Cheon Yeo-wool first remembered a ‘Regression’.