Chapter 49
Chapter 49
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 49
Chapter Title: Dead End in Ark (5)
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Under the red sky pouring down cold rain, Kang Chang-su thought as he clashed with Baek Do-hyun.
The crumbling cityscape around him mirrored his own shattered state.
Was it because of the Experimental Awake he'd injected? Or the virus eroding his body? Even as the icy rain pelted him, his mind felt unbearably hazy.
Why had he crossed a river with no way back?
Drug-fueled, fragments of memory began swimming upstream like salmon.
'I'm Akaboshi Ichikaya. Thank you for saving me, Kang Chang-su...'
'If only there had been a little more time, you could have become a hero on par with Lee Gyeo-ul...'
'A hero has duties! The duty to endure suffering to save people! No time to grieve over your sister's death!'
'You are reborn here and now as the hero who will save the world!'
'Don't worry, Chang-su. Your big sister will always be by your side!'
Confused memories.
So incredibly confus■■■. Why am■■ I he■■ re■■ li■■.
■■ ■■ ■■■ ■■■■…
…■….
Kang Chang-su's consciousness sank completely into the abyss.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ I wiped the blood trickling down my forehead.
The barrier field had been shattered long ago. After taking so many solid hits from Kang Chang-su, my entire body screamed in pain.
Using Hypnotic Eyes repeatedly earlier had left my vision shaky. I'd lost too much blood, and my head spun.
Zone 5, once an ordinary urban district, had transformed into complete ruins.
The surroundings were filled with shattered asphalt. Amid the scorched and frozen wreckage, I gazed at Kang Chang-su.
Blood dripped from his entire body, leaving him as battered as me—but his appearance now was utterly different from before.
The ominous red sparks had turned pitch-black. His eyes had lost focus, and his unnatural movements resembled a jointed doll.
The golden hour had begun.
The sole window to revert a Psyker turning into a Dimensional Beast back to human.
If I didn't jam a stabilizer down his throat right now or kill him outright, Kang Chang-su would transform into a Dimensional Beast.
A special-grade one, leagues beyond the Predator I'd fought earlier.
To avoid facing a colossal shadow monster over 30 meters tall, I had to take action.
"You're... such a pain in so many ways."
With Kang Chang-su unconscious, his reason had vanished.
Facing him driven purely by instinct would be easier than before.
If I played my cards right, I'd get an opening for a 'fatal blow.'
Just like when he'd rampaged through the Cuvette athletic field in a frenzy—I could probably land a killing strike.
I could end Kang Chang-su for good.
But...
"Isn't dying to find peace a bit too sly, Kang Chang-su?"
Face the sins you've committed while alive.
Take in the sight of the city you've ruined and the people hurt and killed.
And for the rest of your life, grit your teeth and bear the guilt with every ounce of effort.
Someday, fighting Zero One and the Society to save the world might ease your heart.
Of course, you don't get a choice. This is an order.
I planned to force Kang Chang-su into being my ally, even if it meant something like a soul-binding contract.
Good or evil doesn't matter to me. I needed talent to oppose Zero One.
Kang Chang-su, now on par with an S-rank Psyker—you're useful enough.
"Aaah... Ah...!!"
Kang Chang-su charged at me, bereft of reason. He closed in much faster than before, but his movements were simplistic.
A brute-force sprint, barreling straight ahead.
His path and landing point mapped themselves in my mind.
It felt like I was a matador facing an enraged bull.
I stomped the ground hard. Crack! The wet pavement froze solid in an instant.
Kang Chang-su slipped on the ice sheet as he charged. This was the best chance I'd had all fight.
I seized it. While he flailed on his belly, I dropped the temperature around us.
Crack! His skin turned blue as ice crystals enveloped his body, but he began resisting desperately.
His monstrous physical prowess started shattering the ice.
I raised my palm skyward.
Beneath the crimson-glowing sky, the raindrops looked transparent—yet sometimes like red blood.
The red rain began to freeze.
The frozen drops coalesced into sharp forms.
Myriad icicles formed above Kang Chang-su's head.
Like stalactites in a cave, they descended.
They pinned him like nails. His arms and legs were firmly fixed to the ground.
Step by step.
I pulled the Erosion stabilizer from my pocket.
Gazing down at the man on the verge of becoming a Dimensional Beast, I recalled the original story.
'Kang Chang-su was a victim of the dual-awakening experiment that once rocked society. Lee Sun-jun, a contemporary of Dr. Hong Seung-hoon—the founder of Academy City—conducted secret dual-awakening experiments to artificially create Psykers with two superpowers in one body.'
'What drove Lee Sun-jun to those experiments? Inspiration from top hunter Lee Gyeo-ul's exploits. She had saved Seoul single-handedly, slain dozens of Grade 1 Dimensional Beasts and several special-grade ones, and lived—the undisputed hero everyone acknowledged.'
'Lee Sun-jun was captivated by her overwhelming strength. If the world had more like her, humanity would be safer, he thought. So what made Lee Gyeo-ul peerlessly stronger than other hunters...?'
'Innate Erosion Rate? High intelligence? Battle sense? Sure, those contributed—but Lee Sun-jun fixated on her superpowers.'
'The world's only mutant Psyker wielding two superpowers. Wasn't her dominance rooted there?'
'Lee Sun-jun gathered orphans through illicit channels and began his experiments. At age 12, orphan Kang Chang-su became a test subject.'
Kang Chang-su's life was bleak.
Abandoned by his parents with his twin sister Kang Ji-hye, he bounced between orphanages with her until they became test subjects.
Thrust into Lee Sun-jun's mad quest to create 'heroes' like Lee Gyeo-ul, he and his sister endured hell.
Experiments too horrific to speak: flesh torn open to swap organs with those from Dimensional Beasts, blood drained and replaced with virus-corrupted transfusions.
The other orphans turned into Dimensional Beasts or died. Even his twin sister—his pillar—couldn't endure and perished.
Kang Chang-su was the sole survivor of that nightmare—and a failure.
Unlike Psykers awakening at 16, he'd awakened at 13, but possessed only one superpower like any ordinary Psyker.
Lee Sun-jun refused to give up, studying him further—until he was caught.
The police and hunters halted the experiments, rescuing Kang Chang-su. But he was already a vengeful ghost, living only to kill Lee Sun-jun.
Lee Sun-jun's punishment was lenient.
He was at the forefront of Dimensional Beast research, heading two vital projects. He was indispensable to many researchers.
Tied to politicians and judges through tangled interests, once public outrage faded, he quietly slipped from prison to resume his research career.
Once free, Kang Chang-su relentlessly pursued killing Lee Sun-jun. He had to make him pay for his sister and the other orphans.
But his revenge never came.
The cause: lung cancer.
Before Kang Chang-su could act, Lee Sun-jun died first.
He'd escaped him.
Lee Sun-jun had no family. No close friends. Not even cherished possessions.
With him gone, nothing remained for Kang Chang-su to avenge himself against.
Stripped of revenge, the hollow man became a blank canvas.
"Had you just lived anew or ended it all then, you wouldn't have fallen this far. But you found a way to make the dead Lee Sun-jun pay."
It was ideology and deeds.
Lee Sun-jun was the mad scientist villain archetype—but with clear purpose and motive.
"A lunatic who saw test subjects as lab rats, yet also a researcher sincerely devoted to protecting the world and humanity from Dimensional Beasts."
I injected the stabilizer into Kang Chang-su's neck.
The pitch-black sparks slowly faded, his ragged breaths calming.
In the original, humanity, the grotesque beasts, and Dimensional Beasts all perished together—fulfilling Kang Chang-su's wish.
"That day you want will never come. So from now on, find another reason to live."
Gazing at Ichika rushing over from afar, I headed toward Han Cheong-ah's location.