Post-Apocalypse Ward Visit
The monster waves that tore through Korea had drawn in four consecutive S-rank raid monsters, and if the rest of the world had known, they would have been shouting for everyone to run because South Korea would collapse as a nation. Yet this was no isolated Korean phenomenon.
[In Beijing, raid monsters appeared that resembled the Twelve Horcruxes, and some Chinese citizens began to worship them as divine messengers sent to punish the corrupt regime.]
[At Japan’s three great shrines, S-rank boss monsters manifested, and the government’s response was…]
[Monster waves erupting across every corner of the globe, and the cause behind them…]
[......hmm……]
They exploded in real time.
The disaster hadn’t stopped at Korea; it had crashed over the entire world.
Some argued it was the limit of entropy, others pointed to the overconsumption of mana stones, but I could read the exact reason with absolute clarity.
[...Is that something only I can see?]
[It’s visible to my eyes.]
[It’s visible to Nox’s eyes too!]
On the screen, in the articles, in the news, a certain something stood out plainly.
Even among the other S-rank monsters, the exceptionally large and strong raid bosses stood out.
And right above them, something crystal clear and unmistakable—
[Arthur────♬]
[Arthur… why aren’t you coming out? Do I not please you? Are you afraid?]
[Arthur no longer needs me anymore……]
[─I’ll smash you to pieces, I’ll smash you to pieces, I’ll smash you to pieces, I’ll smash you to pieces─]
The worst witch, Morgan.
Her wild, unhinged smile as the mad six-year-old boss monster.
Every time she smiled, an entire building crumbled, and every flick of her hand took lives.
[Is that even visible to normal eyes?]
Spirits aren’t visible to non-spirit-contractors.
Yet how could others see it, and how could it be captured in a photograph?
[They say a camera is a machine that captures souls.]
[Capture souls?]
[Photos of monsters like raiders or goblins can be taken even if they’re invisible to human eyes.]
[...That makes sense.]
Otherwise, no one would have been able to watch news footage of those monsters.
There had been a case once when a broadcaster with an enchantment ability went live and got arrested, and that was exactly the reason.
I gave a light nod in agreement, and the next news story continued.
[Only safe country in the monster wave—South Korea’s unexpected real estate boom?!]
[...Even in the middle of this, Korea is still Korea.]
In a world gone mad with the monster wave, the one and only safe country.
Even in this situation, K—real estate must have been unbearable.
Unexpected economic boom, land prices held firm, no, land prices skyrocketing with smiles on the faces of those who profited.
Some had lost loved ones to monster incursions and lost their precious assets, yet—
[Yuseong Group’s eldest son Yoo Hanseong: It’s all my fault for lacking ability—promises compensation to victims]
—Yuseong Group hadn’t let them go.
They protected them to the end and kept their promises of compensation.
Everyone watching smiled and nodded.
And
[Three hours of silence. Some cried, others—what?]
[Incompetent current government—citizen distrust at its peak]
[‘Bring Yuseong Group to the National Assembly!’, possibility of lawmakers resigning]
[‘I wanted to stay by the citizens’ side’, Hanseong refused—criticism directed at the current government]
[What a mess.]
A torrent of abuse and praise continued, stocks skyrocketing, the government trembling.
But to me, it was meaningless.
After all,
[...So when exactly will I wake up?]
[You’re not blaming Nox, are you…?]
[I’m not blaming.]
—thump……thump……
“…………”
My body had already died once.
It was like what people called a plant person state.
Nox explained that the gap in ranks between body and soul was so vast it had been unavoidable.
[No matter how much I trusted Nox… how could I have thought I could do something so reckless and still come back fine?]
[I saw what Morgan did… so I figured maybe I could too…]
I thought of Morgan’s case.
It turned out spirits become fully existent once they reach that level of strength.
So if I became as strong as Morgan, maybe I could come back as well——and…
[Papa……]
[......khum.]
In truth, I had been bluffing.
Still, I had thought Nox was there, so somehow it would work out.
And in the end, it had worked out somehow, hadn’t it?
[So I said it before. Sunwoo is the biggest idiot, the king of idiots.]
[....Even if I didn’t know before, I can’t deny it now.]
[No, I didn’t say——]
In the end, it had turned out well.
I tried to brush it off with a laugh, but Hecate clicked her tongue and spoke to me.
[Sunwoo. Your soul is now at least top-tier, possibly even a spirit king. But your body doesn’t match it. Do you know what that means?]
[...I didn’t die, did I?]
[Real Sunwoo, you should be on your knees thanking Nox.]
[....I have nothing to say.]
Normally, there was no way back at all.
Nox had somehow rebuilt the body with her power, but the gap between body and soul was too great, so I couldn’t return.
Still, the reason I held hope was.
[Spirit Dragon Bones……so pure humans have given up?]
I was no longer a pure human.
I never imagined I would use Spirit Dragon Bones as a weapon to rebuild my body.
It had only been possible because my body was pure spirit.
So had I, as a human, forever been unable to reach S-rank?
[Your body will wake soon, but it’ll take a bit longer before Papa returns.]
[That’s basically the same as a plant person, isn’t it?]
[A little different. We’ve moved as much as we can.]
[...???]
I couldn’t quite understand what it meant.
So time was weak, huh.
‘……I hope you wake up soon.’
I already knew from Nox that waking up would mean I’d wake up later.
Still, the reason I hoped was.
—drrrk
“I… came again.”
[Hye-won-ssi.]
[So sincere. Everyone else is the same.]
[……uuuh……]
After the monster wave.
People visiting me in my plant-person state.
“I love you.”
“I love you… love, yeah. I love you.”
“….It was that easy.”
Hye-won cried endlessly in regret.
“I’m sorry, Coach…”
“I’m not enough… if I had just been a little stronger…”
Harin blamed her own lack of ability.
“So when will you wake up?”
“Are you pretending to sleep again?”
“…I won’t bother you. I won’t skip training, and I won’t steal your underwear…”
Sujin, in denial, and
“…………”
Yeon-hwa, who always sat silently watching me without a word.
[You saw me before, but now you can’t?]
[When you’re a spirit king, even normal eyes can see you.]
[...Can we combine again?]
[Don’t make things up.]
[I won’t. I just said it once.]
Even when I was in a normal state, the wavelength was this huge.
If I tried it now while my body wasn’t stable, I didn’t know, but it probably wouldn’t end well.
‘...Ah, thinking about it.’
Thinking of my body, I realized.
Where were the other spirits besides Nox and Hecate right now?
[Ask Nox. They’re all there.]
[....Nox?]
[They’re all sleeping.]
[Sleeping?]
The idea of spirits sleeping was new.
Nox stared at me quietly, placed her hand on my lower abdomen, and spoke.
[You used a lot of strength. If you wake up, you’ll consume a lot of mana, so waking up will take longer, right?]
[That’s good news, at least you’re sleeping well.]
I let out a light sigh of relief.
[Eh…?!]
[What’s wrong? What’s gotten into you?]
Hecate’s startled voice.
I turned my head toward where Hecate was looking.
“Ugh… I came here to… hah… khuk…!”
[[[..........]]]
Yeon-hwa had always believed no one would cry blood from the eyes.
Yeon-hwa, who had never said a word since she came.
“You… idiot……!”
Tears streamed down.
Drip. Drip. Tears falling down.
She couldn’t hold back, so I grabbed my right hand with both of mine and cried.
[........]
I couldn’t say anything.
No words meant anything.
And
‘...Am I perverted?’
I felt a strange mix of joy and sadness, embarrassment and——in the end, closer to the part that didn’t matter.
Even if I died, knowing someone would cry for me felt oddly comforting.
I quietly walked behind Yeon-hwa and patted her shoulder.
No feeling or touch from the hand, but I hoped it would bring some comfort——
[——hwa?!]
“——uh…?!”
In an instant, something seemed to be sucked in.
Hot. Hard. And——filling, a sense of fullness.
[...What is this.]
“…Coach?”
[Eh?]
Was I visible?
I turned to Yeon-hwa, but she seemed still unable to see me, so she kept her head lowered and stared only at my hand.
After doing this several times, I finally gave up and sat back down.
“Hah… I must have gone crazy. How could I suddenly wake up…?”
[....hmm.]
Just in case, I placed my hand on Yeon-hwa’s back again.
—twitch
“.....ha?”
[O]
Twitch. This time my fingers curled enough for me to see.
At the same time, an unprecedented mana began to flow slowly into my body…
[...Like dirt and fire?]
My body had found a way to heal quickly.
By the way.
Even after Yeon-hwa left.
“Sun-ah… Dad, try it. Dad.”
“Ah……?”
“Dad.”
“Ah… hurts!”
With Ayoung and
“…If I had known it would turn out like this, I wouldn’t have done that.”
Narim also came to visit in the ward.
Ah, spirits can hear human voices? If someone asked that, my body lying here was hearing it.
People say hearing is the last sense to fade when death comes, so it wasn’t too far off.