Chapter 27: Fragment (3)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 27: Fragment (3)
It was a night the snow fell so heavily it could bury a person. Kang A-rin ran like a madwoman, pushing through the raging blizzard.
In a city where all the lights had gone out, only one remained—the top floor of the tallest building, shining brightly.
“Faster… Faster…”
She was gasping for air, but Kang A-rin didn’t even wait for the elevator, instead bolting furiously up the stairs. Her steps grew more and more frantic.
Slam!
She threw the door open to find him there—the man she loved more than anything.
Jung Hae-in.
He was maintaining his weapon, carefully wiping the blade of his spear as he always did.
Calmly, as if nothing was wrong, just as he had always been.
Kang A-rin called his name, her voice on the verge of tears.
“Hae-in…”
When Jung Hae-in saw her enter, he gave her his signature bright smile.
His smile only made her heart clench tighter.
Jung Hae-in glanced quietly at the clock and spoke.
“Sorry.”
He set his spear down and stood up.
“I must have woken you.”
He walked slowly toward Kang A-rin.
Tears welled in her eyes. Breathing in ragged gasps, she asked in a desperate voice, “You’re going alone…”
Jung Hae-in smiled bitterly and nodded.
“Yeah. I have to be the one to go.”
“I’ll… I’ll go too. Please, let me go with you.”
He approached her slowly, placing his hands on her shoulders.
“You know you can’t.”
On the battle map hanging behind him, names were written in dense rows.
Yu Hana, Cheon Yeo-wool, and Kang A-rin. The three names were grouped together, but Seong Si-woo’s name was nowhere to be seen.
But Jung Hae-in… he was positioned alone in Central Africa. On the front lines where the enemies were pouring in, he was set to become the final line of defense.
“You all have to kill the Demon. You, who have gained the power of the Fragments, have to be the ones to go.”
Jung Hae-in didn’t lose his smile, but it seemed lonely somehow. Kang A-rin shook her head, tears streaming down her face.
Damn Fragments.
That was the problem. If she had her way, she would have ripped the one embedded in her own body right out.
Or at least, the Fragment of that bastard who had suddenly disappeared.
“Then what about you, Hae-in? What happens to you…?”
Jung Hae-in cut her off.
“While I hold them off, you’ll all do your part, won’t you?”
His voice was as calm as ever.
Kang A-rin quickly continued, “The Fragment, we can find it soon. Glory is turning the whole place upside down looking for it…”
“…There are only four Fragments.”
This time, his voice was firm.
“How… How can you be so sure…?”
Jung Hae-in smiled slowly, looking at her. His gaze was unwavering.
“Have I ever been wrong?”
Kang A-rin’s sobs burst out uncontrollably. She clung to him, weeping.
“Everything will be okay.”
That’s what he said.
And that choice would become a regret that haunted her for the rest of her life.
Kang A-rin shot up in bed.
Panting, she looked around. Her heart was pounding like crazy, and cold sweat beaded on her forehead.
Again…
It was the same nightmare she always had.
She covered her face with her hands, trying to steady her trembling breaths.
Rustle.
A small sound brushed past her ear. She instinctively turned her head.
And there he was, sitting right there—the man she loved more than anything.
He was sitting by the campfire, carefully wiping his spear.
“Hae-in…”
She called his name softly.
Jung Hae-in looked up at her. A flicker of surprise crossed his eyes, but it was quickly replaced by an apologetic expression.
You don’t have to look like that.
“My bad.”
He set his spear down and stood up.
“Looks like I woke you. Was I being too loud?”
The him in her dream had been walking toward a cold death.
But the him before her now was alive and breathing, radiating warmth in front of the campfire.
Kang A-rin clenched her jaw, making a silent vow.
I will never, ever make the same mistake again.
*
“It’s true they’re incomparably weaker than their modern counterparts.”
I spoke to her as I warmed up in front of the mountain lodge.
“Even so, we can’t let our guard down…”
But she didn’t seem to be listening.
She was crouched down, chin in her hands, just watching me stretch.
“…What are you doing?” I asked.
She stood up and replied nonchalantly.
“Just watching. You’re handsome. Shall we go?”
Then she pulled a pair of fingerless gloves from her pocket and put them on.
“…Let’s.”
‘Warming up is for people who live relaxed lives.’
That’s what the old man used to tell me relentlessly.
For a student of her caliber, it was indeed a waste of time.
I had no intention of going all the way to the Cheonji area today.
The plan was to approach as gradually as possible.
A few minutes after weaving through the trees, a large clearing appeared before us.
A silent space covered in pure white snow.
I closed my eyes and felt the flow of energy.
Slowly drawing the spear from my waist, I called out curtly.
“Prepare for battle.”
“Okay.”
Kang A-rin gave a short reply and moved to stand right behind me.
The moment the spear left my side, the snowy field stirred.
The blanket of snow swelled upward, and a pair of blue eyes slowly emerged.
It was as if two sapphires embedded in the snow were glaring at me.
A massive figure revealed itself.
It was a Snow Leopard, a giant magical beast covered in pure white fur.
Grrrrr…
Judging by its fur, it wasn’t a subspecies. Strong, but manageable.
Besides, I had Kang A-rin behind me.
First strike.
Snow Leopards are fundamentally fast and aggressive magical beasts.
However, their defensive capabilities are relatively weak.
Which meant the first thing to do was—
“Kang A-rin, can you put up a curtain?”
Swoosh!
Before I even finished my sentence, mana gathered at her fingertips and a dark screen unfurled.
A perfect screen of darkness, allowing one to see out from within, but preventing anyone from seeing in.
I was impressed by its perfection.
But there was no time for admiration.
The priority was to take down the beast in front of me.
The Snow Leopard seemed flustered by the black screen, something it had never encountered before.
But only for a moment. With a subtle shift, it lowered its stance, coiling its body to spring into action at a moment’s notice.
I raised my spear, bending my body to its absolute limit.
I drew my entire body taut like a bow, gathering elastic energy.
Then, as I released that tension, I threw the spear and launched myself into the air.
It was a move adapted from Bow God's Bullet Shadow.
Pang!
The spear tore through the dark screen and flew in an instant.
As if it had been waiting, the Snow Leopard dodged the incoming spear with lightning-fast reflexes and leaped into the air.
Its movement was almost instinctual.
But I was already where it had leaped.
“Nice of you.”
My body, launched into the air, was perfectly positioned to meet the Snow Leopard.
Grayish mana swirled at my fingertips, generating an aura.
“To show up!”
The Aura Reinforcement I hadn't been able to use before.
I slammed my fist, condensed with that grayish mana, down onto the Snow Leopard’s head.
CRACK!
A powerful impact echoed as the Snow Leopard was driven straight into the snow.
The surrounding snow was blasted away by the shockwave, revealing the ground beneath.
But it wasn’t the kind of beast to go down with just that.
It was already pushing itself up, preparing to counterattack.
I shouted from mid-air.
“Kang A-rin!”
As my cry cut through the air, Kang A-rin shot across the snowfield, closing in on the Snow Leopard.
The beast was barely on its feet, staggering.
In that instant, before it could react, Kang A-rin’s palm touched the space between its eyes.
Tap.
Silence fell.
A perfectly executed palm strike. It had landed right between its eyes.
There was no flashy explosion of mana, no menacing roar.
At a glance, it looked as if she had simply placed her hand there.
But I was watching from above as I fell.
Wow…
C-c-crack!
The Snow Leopard’s body vibrated as the sound of its bones shattering from the inside out echoed across the clearing.
It was a chilling, gruesome sound.
Dark Explosion.
I watched her attack.
The technique she used was one that forcibly injected mana to tear apart and destroy an enemy from within.
Seeing the light fade from the Snow Leopard’s eyes, I knew it was dead.
I landed lightly on the ground and walked over to her.
She was looking down at the beast’s corpse, casually brushing the snow from her hands.
“Nice.”
At the sound of my voice, she turned to look at me.
Her face held a sly smile.
“I am number one, after all.”
She replied, completely unfazed.
*
Clearing the path to Cheonji progressed faster than I’d expected.
My condition after taking the Elixir was better than anticipated, and Kang A-rin’s assistance was flawless.
To be honest, she was obedient today.
I’d expected her to always try to take the lead and boss me around, so this was a surprise.
A satisfying battle always puts one in a good mood.
We hunted a wild boar and feasted on it.
We didn’t forget to smoke some of the meat to prepare a week’s worth of rations.
By the time we returned to the lodge in the evening, a torrential rain had begun to pour outside the window.
A completely different scene from the morning, when snow had been piled high.
The weather here was definitely abnormal.
Then, a flash of light.
CRACK-BOOM!
“Oh, great.”
Now there was lightning.
The roar of thunder and lightning was relentless.
I turned to get ready for bed.
But there was Kang A-rin, trembling and covering her ears.
Ah, shit.
Seeing her like that, my mind grew complicated.
Kang A-rin had a trauma.
One day, during a thunderstorm, her mother had been brutally murdered by a Mine.
It might sound like a common trope, but for her, this memory was carved exceptionally deep.
Therefore, she was terrified of thunder. And with no earplugs or anything of the sort here, it was even worse.
Later in the story, she would personally tear that Mine to shreds and overcome her trauma.
But right now, we were still in the very early stages of the story.
The fact that I was the one who had created that backstory surfaced, and a strange sense of guilt washed over me.
She won’t be able to sleep…
We had to climb higher tomorrow.
If she didn’t get proper rest, it would seriously hinder our exploration.
I approached her cautiously.
“Are you okay?”
She looked up.
Her eyes were red-rimmed and trembling.
She tried to act fine, but she only looked more fragile.
A heavy sense of guilt seeped into me.
At that moment, she spoke softly.
“Can I sleep with you?”
Her voice was impossibly low and shaky.
“Huh?”
“Just… for a little while. Just stay next to me.”
She lowered her head and spoke quietly again.
My mind went blank for a second.
Before Kang Yu-sung was corrupted by the Mines, he used to comfort his little sister this way.
Even though she was a grown adult, no vulgar desires stirred within me.
She just looked so vulnerable.
“…Alright.”
In the end, I quietly lay down beside her.
As if she’d been waiting, she burrowed into my arms.
Sniff… Haaa…
She buried her face in my chest and took a deep breath.
I couldn’t help but tense up at her warmth and proximity.
CRACK-BOOM!!
Thunder and lightning crashed again.
But she was focused on breathing me in.
Feeling something was off, I asked carefully.
“…Are you okay?”
At that, her body flinched as if startled.
Then, she immediately started trembling, pressing herself deeper into my embrace.
And again.
Haaa…
Tsk.
It seemed a peaceful night’s sleep was out of the question.