41
041 ― Garden
Tudududududu―
The helicopter's rotor blades noisily whirred as it turned back. The helicopter tilted its fuselage toward western New York and flew in the direction of Ireland.
"Can you see it? That's Ireland."
The helicopter pilot spoke in simple English that Jin-woo could understand.
"Yes" Jin-woo replied, meaning he could see it well.
'Looking at it from this far away, it looks like some mountain is moving.'
The distance between the helicopter and Ireland was more than enough, yet even so, Ireland's size came into view.
With each step it took, the ground rumbled, causing earthquakes, and the buildings that blocked its path collapsed helplessly.
Around the creature, lightning and fire fell, and whirlwinds rose up—attacks resembling natural disasters continued, all of which were the abilities of S-rank Hunters.
After observing those things from a distance for a while, the helicopter arrived near the command vehicle.
"Good luck."
The helicopter pilot said this in an earnest yet solemn tone, then lifted the helicopter again and flew back.
Jin-woo, who had been dropped off alone, approached the command vehicle, and as if they had received contact, four figures were waiting in front of the vehicle.
Or was it five?
"Jin-woo!"
The first to rush out and run over was Shartia, and she had an expression on the verge of tears.
Perhaps having had a difficult time, her hair was disheveled and matted, and her face was haggard without any makeup, but even so, the innate dignity that came from her Elf soul was not hidden.
"Shartia! Huh?"
She who had run over threw herself directly into Jin-woo's arms and trembled.
Jin-woo, who was flustered and about to push her away, couldn't do so when he saw her shoulders twitching.
Truly, only now did she recall again the moment when she heard news of Jin-woo.
When she heard from Cheon Ju-hyeok that Jin-woo might have died, it felt like the sky was falling.
Losing a colleague wasn't the first time. For her, who had entered Gates enough to reach the 5th floor, losing someone wasn't a first-time occurrence either.
But in Jin-woo's death, there was some emotion different from those others. Something rising from an instinct she herself couldn't understand.
Meanwhile.
"That's impossible! What on earth did Johan..."
David was on the verge of losing his mind in a different sense. He, too, similar to Shartia, wasn't in his right mind due to accumulated fatigue and sharpened nerves.
And in the midst of this, Jin-woo had appeared.
He had continued to deny Cheon Ju-hyeok's claims. That the Management Bureau knew nothing about whatever Johan had done in the Gate.
But such a reaction was a statement that would foster seeds of suspicion.
A mistake he would never make under normal circumstances. However, the other S-ranks didn't stop David or anything. They just quietly observed.
"Are you David?"
After Shartia barely separated herself and went to wipe her tears with her head bowed, Jin-woo confronted David.
Though they couldn't communicate with each other, the atmosphere alone suggested the relationship between the two.
David was still making faces as if finding it hard to believe, scrunching and relaxing his expression, while Jin-woo observed everything about such a David. From head to toe.
'David uses a sword, they said.'
According to what he heard from Shartia, David was a swordsman. Someone who used a sword as their main weapon, like himself.
Whatever expression David looked at him with, Jin-woo was only interested in the guy's body, not his face.
'He's certainly well-trained.'
The intensity of training was higher than anyone he'd seen so far. Not only that, but the appearance of muscles optimized for using a sword.
Rona was also an S-rank level swordsman, but Elf muscles were completely different from human ones, so she was an exception.
"Johan, Johan is... Gasp!"
David, who was about to ask if Johan had been defeated, finally noticed his surroundings and covered his mouth.
'Johan was defeated instead? That's impossible!'
Johan was S-rank. The same grade as those here, those pouring disaster-like attacks on that Ireland!
But to be defeated by a mere E-rank who just had good detection abilities? It was an impossible occurrence. Such a thing shouldn't happen in the world.
While he was still unable to hide his confusion, Jin-woo had already exchanged greetings with the other S-ranks.
"I'm Kang Jin-woo from Seoul. Please understand that I'm not good at English."
His words were interpreted by Shartia, who had come back after wiping her tears.
"It's been a while, Jin-woo. Have you been well?"
"Kurenai. I didn't know you'd be here too."
"I'm a more diligent man than you think, I am. Hahaha."
Kurenai Masato, the S-rank assassin from Tokyo.
"I'm Reinhardt from England. Please treat me well, Seoul rookie."
"I'm Mahiri from New Delhi. This child is Kalesian."
The hearty-built Thunder Emperor Reinhardt and the Dragon Tamer Mahiri, who was holding a baby red dragon in her arms.
They were all names he had heard of before. Not only had he heard of them, but they were idols to many Hunters.
Jin-woo shook hands with them with interested eyes. However, since the situation was what it was, he couldn't discuss other matters and immediately got to the point.
"I briefly observed Ireland while coming by helicopter. It seems I should be able to detect the core safely."
"Oh!?"
"Really?"
Reinhardt and Mahiri's reactions were passionate. They thought it could be a means to break through the current deadlocked situation.
"However, the helicopter was too far away. I think I need to look more closely to get a detailed estimate."
Simply put, reconnaissance was needed. The S-ranks nodded at the obvious statement, and Shartia quickly raised her hand.
"Jin-woo, then I'll go to Ireland's side..."
"Excuse me for a moment."
Before Shartia's words could finish, Jin-woo's body was lifted into the air by itself. Kurenai Masato had suddenly scooped him up.
In that state, he kicked off the ground and leaped. The two people instantly distanced themselves from the command vehicle and climbed up the walls of a half-collapsed building.
At the rare experience of rapidly shooting up to the top of a building against gravity, Jin-woo let out a gasp.
"Kurenai Masato?"
"I'll help with the reconnaissance. I was playing around with nothing to do anyway, so I should at least do something like this, shouldn't I?"
The sound of hearty laughter spread in the wind as the two people climbed to the top of the collapsed building.
***
Kurenai Masato carried Jin-woo on his back and leaped between buildings. Mobility that was hard to believe while carrying a person.
However, it was a very uncomfortable position for Jin-woo. Above all, it was difficult to observe Ireland.
"Please put me down."
"You're going to run and chase after me directly? Can you keep up?"
"As long as it's not faster than this."
"Well, I'll be" Kurenai Masato said, and put Jin-woo down.
Then he leaped again, and Jin-woo chased after him.
Jin-woo's movement was by no means inferior compared to his, while overall it was slightly slower, in certain sections it was actually faster.
'Oh, not bad?'
Kurenai Masato, who was quite seriously surprised, observed Jin-woo's movement.
When leaping between buildings, nothing particularly outstanding was visible. When stepping on concrete floors, his leg strength was only at the level of a fairly strong A-rank Hunter.
'Of course, that's surprising too.'
But what was truly surprising was the moment he stepped on and leaped from the trees.
The moment he stepped on the tree—the area of his foot touching the branches, the flow of his body weight, the moment he converted the rising rebound into force and leaped up.
Everything was perfect. Only at those times was it a leap at a level where A-rank was nothing, not even falling behind S-rank. Even Kurenai Masato himself couldn't leap as cleanly as that.
It was similar to the leaps of Elves he had seen countless times in Gates.
'Indeed. There's a reason he's especially close to Shartia.'
Was Jin-woo's previous life also something related to Elves? If there was such a commonality, it would certainly be understandable why Shartia was so obsessed.
"I knew you wouldn't have died."
At his words, Jin-woo made a questioning expression.
"How so? If you heard that an E-rank Hunter fought Johan, ten out of ten would think he died."
"That's because Johan can't see me either."
"......"
If David can't see and Johan can't see, then who exactly can see?
'His standards for judging people are consistent.'
Even if he seemed like an oddball, at least he had consistency.
Having arrived at an appropriate distance, the two people maintained their distance and observed Ireland.
Kwaaaaang!
Kwagwagwagwagwang!
Even at this moment, magic resembling missiles was repeatedly falling on Ireland. Sometimes lightning struck, sometimes whirlwinds arose, sometimes huge seething masses of lava fell.
The might of S-rank Hunters resembles natural disasters. Rather, the area being destroyed by the S-rank Hunters' attacks was becoming larger than what Ireland was destroying.
However, even receiving such attacks, Ireland was fine.
'Its regeneration is insane.'
It wasn't that its body couldn't be destroyed. It was just that regeneration was insanely fast.
Black energy wrapped around massively destroyed areas like tentacles and instantly restored them.
As a result, the S-rank Hunters' attacks were, yes, as meaningless as shooting magic into the domain of Erosion. Erosion devours everything and makes what it devours its own instead.
'Still, thanks to that, its steps are being slowed.'
But during the moments of regeneration, Ireland's speed slowed down. As much Erosion energy went into regeneration, the energy needed to move its body decreased.
It was because they were there that the creature was at least stagnant. If there had been only New York's Hunters without support, the creature might already be crossing through the heart of New York.
"How is it? Does it seem possible?"
"I found the core."
"Oh! Really?"
"However..."
Jin-woo's mouth, which had been continuing his words, stopped. Not only that, but everything stopped.
The flames of Kurenai Masato that had been flickering beside him, the Hunters' attacks that had been pouring down like a storm on Ireland, even Ireland's footsteps that hadn't stopped despite everything.
There was no expression more appropriate than saying time had stopped.
[A fragment of a previous life surfaces.]
In the stopped time, the only thing flowing was the message that appears when an ability awakens.
'An ability in this situation?'
What ability had suddenly awakened? Jin-woo thought so, but no ability appeared.
What appeared was memory.
Truly, literally a memory of a previous life.
***
That place was a small garden.
No, it wasn't actually small, but it felt too small to him.
In the garden was a vegetable patch where he farmed, and there were fruit trees too. There was also a pond.
There was no fence, because everywhere his feet touched was his garden.
Since this entire place where the horizon stretched was his land, no fence was necessary.
In the pond of that place was one small life form.
A being with life so precious to this small garden.
Even when fully grown, that life form smaller than a palm was a turtle that cried with cute kyuu sounds.
'This is...'
With trembling eyes, Jin-woo watched the short fragment of memory.
***
A moment later.
Time began to flow again, and Jin-woo came out of the memory and regained his senses.
The memory of his previous life was truly short. Short enough that the word ‘fragment’ was fitting.
A turtle was growing in the garden, and he had been very fond of that turtle.
It was a little one that would cutely bite when he put his finger to it, and when he stirred it around in the pond in that state, it was a child that loved it so much.
Like a turtle, it lived for a very long time, but it was buried in the earth before it, which made him very sad.
He looked at Ireland with sunken eyes.
―Uooooooo!
A crying sound that hadn't been audible to Jin-woo's ears before was now heard. The mournful crying sound was the sound of something suffering while alive.
"Kurenai Masato. Can you hear a sound right now?"
"Hm? A sound—you mean the Hunters' bombardment sounds?"
"...It's nothing."
As expected, that sound seemed to be audible only to him.
It wasn't Korean, let alone a human language, but the cry of a lowly creature, yet its meaning was conveyed to Jin-woo.
Please kill me, anyone.
However.
'If you just die, your soul will be recovered and returned to the Lord of Erosion.'
It was the same as monsters. Even if a monster died to an ordinary Hunter, its soul couldn't escape from Erosion.
The Elves at Tokyo Erosion were the same. They, too, wanted to die but couldn't die, suffering as slaves of Erosion for eons.
What could liberate them was...
'My previous life, perhaps.'
He didn't dare say it was him. He was just an insignificant human. What was great wasn't him but his previous life.
"Hey! Where are you going?"
Kurenai Masato chased after Jin-woo, who suddenly leaped toward Ireland.
"There's something I need to check briefly."
"I'll go with you."
"By myself... I see. Just in case, please follow me."
He had only seen a fragment of memory. That alone didn't resolve any situation.
The Eroded Ireland might attack him, or he might be hit by stray fire from other S-ranks' attacks.
Together with him, Jin-woo landed on Ireland's shell. It was the shell directly above where the heart was located.
"What are you trying to do?"
"I'm going to drill down through here."
"Here? You'd better stop. This creature's regeneration isn't ordinary, so you might be buried as soon as you go in. Can you even cut through the shell in the first place?"
Instead of answering, Jin-woo drew his sword and swung it.
Kwagwagwagwagwang!
A slash that generously poured the Magi obtained from the Dragon Sword.
The ability to unleash slashes obtained from defeating the Black Knight greatly helped, widening Ireland's wound further.
Leaving behind Kurenai Masato, who was amazed at the unexpected power, Jin-woo fell downward.
Mysteriously, Ireland's regeneration had stopped precisely in this part. No, not this part, but only the part Jin-woo had cut.
"How can such a thing..."
While he was surprised at the phenomenon whose principle he couldn't understand, Jin-woo continued cutting flesh and headed toward Ireland's heart.
The heart he eventually discovered was as huge as a building.
A red building beating vigorously was caught and entangled like a spider web by all sorts of black tentacles.
If he cut this, it would end.
'Ireland. No, nameless turtle.'
The name ‘Ireland’ was given by Earth's humans. He didn't yet know the turtle's real name.
Before giving the creature rest, Jin-woo asked one last time.
'Who was it that corrupted you and sent you here?'
Who is your enemy? Which of the 13 Lords is targeting this Earth?
―Uooooooo!
The turtle's cry, audible only to Jin-woo, echoed.