Chapter 3
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Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 3
Chapter Title: Touched the Star
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I wonder if that idiot who tossed me aside felt the same way.
"Lord, grant me the strength to embrace the child before it's too late..."
I know it.
I'm an idiot. A fool.
That's why I'm about to do something idiotic.
I yanked the suit expansion lever strapped to my side.
"Let me stay ever vigilant..."
Paak!
A massive pair of wings unfurled from my back.
Originally designed to shield evacuation targets from flames, they were basically an expansion pack.
- Senior!
- Kim Jang-gun, come out!
My comrades yanked from behind, but it was no use. This was top-tier gear from Earth's premier arms manufacturer, after all.
"Let me hear even the faintest cries..."
Normally, the door should've exploded the second it opened. But my wings were reducing airflow, delaying the blast.
Still, the moment the door cracked, the outcome was sealed.
If I blocked it with my wings spread like a frilled lizard's collar, the explosion would punch through the ceiling and vent outward—away from my comrades.
"If it be Your will that I lay down my life..."
Block this place, and the people behind me live.
May my wings shield my brothers from the inferno.
"By Your grace..."
Hey, since I'm dying anyway, let's be real.
No God, right?
Just my life flashing before my eyes.
That's why my brothers, fighting for me in this moment, come to mind.
- "Kim Jang-gun, hand him over!"
- "What the hell are you doing to the guy who hates dying the most! Don't you pity that kid?"
- "Is surviving that hell your crime?!"
- "You ain't a firefighter, Bong!"
After that incident, I'd volunteered for the investigation, but they kept protesting, demanding they hand me over.
"Look after my wife and family..."
Ahh... no wife, actually.
Suddenly pissed off.
Still, God, if You're there—
Kuooooh—
Falling from the building, time crawled. Now it raced.
No time for goodbyes. No room to finish my prayer.
"I, frail as I am, am afraid."
Starstruck torture. Health. Wounds.
Days so agonizing I wished for death.
Yet I wanted to live.
Even tormented by migraines and eye strain, unable to taste fresh air or water.
"Please let them remain living family, not dead heroes..."
Living was good.
Being able to live was good.
- Hey, you idiot!
- Senior! No!
- What the fuck are you doing!
Goddamn it. So damn loud I can't even die in peace, you bastards!
I couldn't fathom why they were flipping out over a dumb understudy repeating his dumb mentor's dumb shit.
"Still... I'm glad I lived in the same world as you all."
I killed the helmet speaker and activated noise cancellation.
Silence.
Tung— doong—
All I felt was the atmosphere and the building's tremors.
The whirlwind morphed into a golden imoogi, then a brilliantly blazing dragon.
'Damn, looks badass.'
Where eyes should be, black voids glared at me.
It opened its maw. The fire's core ballooned like a snowball.
That pressure would pop my eyeballs instantly, turn my guts and brain to mush.
My eyes smiled at someone else.
The star terrorist, now a blur of hate or love.
I wanted to smile back, but my lips trembled.
I asked the star.
'Can those people live?'
A chill pierced my head.
Such freshness, for the first time.
'Yeah, that's enough.'
Kugagagaga—!
Fwoosh—!
The dragon breathed.
Flames and flash.
That was it.
Ugh, goddamn eye strain.
My body vanished.
My mind slipped into unconsciousness.
'Good.'
The terrifying moment whooshed by painlessly. Sweet.
I lost light, lost strength, shrinking away.
One lingering regret dominated my fading consciousness.
'Did my comrades survive?'
Crazy bastard.
Ridiculous. Pathetic.
Dust harboring grudges and worries.
'Ahh— the crazy bastard died and became crazy dust.'
Huh?
My dissolving mind sharpened, swelling as it swallowed rambling thoughts.
I wanted to check if they were safe, if my death meant anything.
'Whoa— memories in ultra HD.'
Unlike when pain had half-maddened me, forgetting yesterday.
I sifted through jumbled memories for what I sought.
'Here it is.'
Ah...
Nothing after the fire dragon's blaze and flash.
Regrettable, but I had to accept it.
That was the end of my history.
The rest belonged to the survivors.
Curiosity swelled my mind; the grown obsession fanned more curiosity.
I pored over memories at random.
I'd been that tiny fetus.
Now dead, even smaller.
The fetus wailed silently.
'Don't hit our mom, you bastard!'
Feeling the fetus's rage, I burned with it.
The flame of obsession grew, feeding on emotion.
"Jang-gun! Skip academy, let's go play at Ra-on's!"
Who was Ra-on...
Oh, that quiet study bug.
Later dated his sister for six months. Heh.
Friends liked me.
Laughed at my jokes, praised any stunt lavishly. Good kids.
"Whoa— look at this psycho."
"Gotta be this crazy to be an innie, huh."
Innie mention? Ultimate praise. Fucking posers.
Born a total tryhard.
Endless edgelord bullshit.
Didn't even mind being called crazy.
Reliving friend memories made me happy. If I had a mouth, I'd grin.
'Mind's clearer now.'
I avoided family memories on purpose.
Emotions stirring—I'd empathize with their grief, but couldn't handle it.
I even ignored the day my dumb senior saved me.
But damn, I wanna see him again.
Eye-strain terrorist.
Memories flipped fast.
Accelerated mind spurred on.
'Found it.'
The day he first appeared.
I reached out.
In memory's space, milky obsession fluttered toward the star.
Immeasurably far.
Still, I sent it steadfastly.
A bit more—
"Nam aj! Luke Seid! Nak ud aretnah nim igolotym!"
"Rah dår. Ellik nas ne rä gaj."
What?
Holy shit, startled me.
I yanked back in shock.
Strange voice, strange words erupted from the star.
The woman's roar mimicked cracking glaciers—chilling.
The man replied low and flat.
Unfamiliar tongue, alien as foreign speech.
Yet I understood.
"You bastard! Luke Seid! You dare try to bear my legend?!"
"I can bear it. That's the kind of man I am."
"Oh ho! Now I see! You're scheming something greedy with the covetous pearl, just like those heretics!"
"Fools wish everyone thought and saw like them. They judge the world simply. You're a fool too, Ruler of Frost."
"Are you claiming you're different?!"
"If it's greed, so be it. I'll take the eye."
"Wait! No mortal body can withstand that power! You know it! That's why even the heretics—grrrraaah!"
"I will bear it."
"I'll hunt you to the world's end and tear you apart! Hide if you can! Tremble in fear forever!"
"I won't hide. I fear you not. Next we meet, I'll claim your other eye too."
"I curse you!"
"Feel free."
Hmm...
No clue what was happening.
Just shedding my crazy mask for solemn soul mode, then awkward as hell hearing a fight.
Whatever, hope they make up.
'Did that witchy teacher curse me, causing my pain?'
Curse missed and hit me?
No star to ask. Sucks.
'Frustrating as hell.'
Ah, shit.
Dead guy thinking he'll die of frustration... reality hits.
Couldn't solve why the star appeared in my head.
No more voices after.
'Dying of curiosity.'
Agh— again.
'How long do I stay like this?'
Alone in nothingness, muttering to myself. Total loner vibes.
Wished to sleep deep, but no fatigue means no sleep.
Pathetic me.
How much time passed?
A year? Ten? A century? Or an instant? I couldn't sense time.
'Wanna see the star again?'
Craved to touch it.
Startled by voices last time, pulled back too soon.
'Just once. Lightly...'
Thought it, and my muffler-shaped consciousness stretched toward the star.
Okay, touch! High five!
That instant, delusion swallowed my soul whole.
Into the star.
Tiny soul couldn't resist its gravity.
'Even if the tiger bit me, shake it off mentally!'
Finally sane in death—didn't wanna vanish.
Me, so desperate to exist.
The star devoured my soul.
Slurp— Yeah, heard that.
Or not.
The star's gravity I'd briefly felt vanished.
Kuooooh—
'Sound?'
Made no sense, but sounds began.
At first, distant waves.
Figured memory noise.
'Nah? Real?'
Kugugugu—
Growing louder. Close, like waking from deep sleep.
Kwaaang—!
Kwajajajak—!
What terrifying roar?
Stayed calm, focused hearing.
"Uwaaaah!"
"Kwaaaah!"
Fuck, screams too. Curiosity killing me.
Dropped into hell's battlefield maybe?
Blasts, booms, this noise, that noise.
Eardrum-shattering volume.
Kaeng! Klang!
Kagak—!
Tung—!
Metal clashing, grinding.
"Uwaaak! My leg!"
Not my leg—some teacher's scream for his.
"Gilbert! You alright?"
Another checking on Gilbert.
"Don't retreat! Can't miss this chance!"
Stock seminar scam line: seize opportunity.
Gilbert injured, but they're pushing instead of helping? Ruthless.
Tsk— scammers.
Hope they drop to hell.
"Angel! Yuderg!"
"Lord Jerd! Alonso's down!"
"Chavi! Stay sharp!"
"Get disabled knights to the rear fast!"
Oh, they are rescuing.
Misjudged them.
'Huh? Voices sound weird.'
Definitely alien tongue.
Yet sounded like my native language.
Heard it once before.
From the star, for sure.
Chatter made it feel different, but certain.
Hearing unlearned words fluently— as wondrous as zoning out in death's void.
"Etni Acab!"
Don't fall back!
"Moromp Nid Ardnoe!"
Restructure the formation!
"Adolf! Kraaak!"
Adolf! Kraaak!
Names and screams—no translation needed, huh.
'So, in death...'
Holy shit.
I became a translator? Boom?
"Wandering in delusion alone?!"
"Truly mad, are you?!"
Those sharp bastards?
If not, fine—no need for personal attacks, you pricks!