Chapter 93
Chapter 93
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 96
Chapter Title: Deadlock (4)
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‘Cha Su-ho!’
Jin Seong-hyeok’s shout echoed like a distant reverberation. Tinnitus followed right after. His body, sinking deeper into the darkness, was utterly still.
So still that not even the sound of his heartbeat could be heard.
No, of course not—his heart had burst.
He couldn’t die like this. No, he absolutely couldn’t. He hadn’t even set foot in the Last Zone yet, and if they failed to stop the monsters there, the world would end.
Su-ho was the only one left. The only one with even a sliver of possibility. He had received the power of SSS-grade Jin Seong-hyeok himself—he couldn’t just die here.
I won’t die. Not here, of all places. I won’t die!
Su-ho’s eyes snapped wide open. In that instant, a blazing inferno surged from within his chest.
Thump. Thump. Thump. Thump. It rang crystal clear in his ears. The vigorous pounding of his heart, pumping powerfully.
He could feel his cooled blood boiling once more, spreading through his body and filling it with searing heat.
But it wasn’t just his blood surging. The power that had lain dormant, unused, erupted forth. Jin Seong-hyeok’s power and his innate Helper abilities began to fuse together seamlessly.
In the place where his heart had exploded, a new one now beat. Stronger and more forcefully than the original ever had.
Su-ho slowly drew in a breath.
“Ha.”
After a deep inhale and exhale, he slowly opened his closed eyes.
“H-how...”
His heart had definitely burst. Whether human or monster, that should have meant instant death.
Yet there stood Su-ho right before Deadlock’s eyes.
His head, bowed like a zombie’s, slowly lifted. Deadlock flinched as their gazes met.
A red haze gleamed in Su-ho’s pupils, rippling with murderous intent.
“This was getting fun for once.”
The corners of Su-ho’s lips curled up. It was a cruel smile, more monstrous than any monster.
“Can’t end it here, right?”
Throwing Deadlock’s own words back at it, Su-ho moved.
In a flash, he seized Deadlock by the throat and leaped into the air, then slammed its head straight into the ground.
Kwachik-!
One of Deadlock’s horns snapped off as its head cratered the floor. Blood began to bead where the horn had been. As if it meant nothing, Su-ho hoisted Deadlock up and smashed it down again.
With a sickening crunch, Deadlock’s neck vertebrae shattered.
It was overwhelming power. Had the heart explosion triggered some kind of awakening? Su-ho was a completely different person now. And his speed was impossible to track. He moved at velocities too fast for the eye to follow—no one would believe this was the same man.
To Jin Seong-hyeok, though, it felt familiar. Just like when Su-ho had gone berserk before.
The difference was that this time, Su-ho’s mind was fully awake.
‘Cha Su-ho. You okay?’
‘I’m fine.’
Black auras began writhing at the feet of Su-ho, who stared at Deadlock with eyes brimming with killing intent.
‘Aside from wanting to kill Deadlock, that is.’
The black auras shot into the sky in an instant, each one clamping onto Deadlock’s arms and legs.
Su-ho crooked a finger, and the auras dragged Deadlock before him. He tilted his head at the monster.
“Having your heart burst feels absolutely awful.”
Su-ho raised his hand, pressing his thumb and middle finger together. He closed his eyes and focused. Listening for Deadlock’s heartbeat.
Thub, thub, thub, thub.
Capturing the rapid thrum of Deadlock’s heart, Su-ho opened his eyes.
“Your turn.”
Snap.
He flicked his fingers. The targeted force struck Deadlock’s heart dead-on. The monster convulsed violently, then went limp. Su-ho crooked his finger again.
The auras holding Deadlock hauled it into the air, back silhouetted against the sunlight. Su-ho took a step back as he gazed up at the sky-blocking form—and then splatter, blood sprayed everywhere.
Plop, drip. Watching Deadlock’s remains fall, Su-ho drew his Flame Chains. As they swept over the debris, it burst into flames.
Staring at the roaring inferno consuming Deadlock’s corpse, Su-ho’s legs suddenly buckled beneath him.
“Ha...”
Hands on his knees, gasping ragged breaths, he slowly straightened up. Even stumbling, he scanned his surroundings. There wasn’t a trace of playfulness on his face.
The Dead Zone’s boss, Deadlock, was dead. That meant it was over. The Dead Zone cleared.
Only then did the tension drain away, leaving his entire body feeling limp.
‘Cha Su-ho.’
Jin Seong-hyeok’s voice reached him. Hearing it made his body slacken even more. He’d felt this before—back when his rampaging mind settled after hearing Jin Seong-hyeok’s voice amid the chaos.
He’d blacked out then, and it seemed he would now too.
‘Hyung... I think I’m pretty tired.’
‘Open your eyes. Gate’s opening, hey. Cha Su-ho!’
His heavy eyelids finally won out.
“Cha Su-ho!!”
It wasn’t Jin Seong-hyeok’s voice. The shout from afar was familiar, though.
“Open your eyes! Snap out of it!”
Forcing his eyelids up, Su-ho’s blurred vision caught familiar faces. Ji-young, and behind her, the 1st Branch crew.
“Su-ho! Su-ho!”
Kwon O rushed in, checking Su-ho’s body. The shredded clothes, the lingering metallic tang of blood. Even with regeneration, Kwon O instantly grasped what had happened.
With his 1st Branch comrades here, he could finally rest easy. As Su-ho closed his eyes, voices filled his ears again—Ji-young’s, Kwon O’s.
‘Cha Su-ho.’
And Jin Seong-hyeok’s too.
The 5th Branch examiners buzzed around Chief Examiner Trevor.
“Vitals?”
“Stable, sir!”
“Still unconscious?”
“...Yes.”
Jin Seong-hyeok stared at Su-ho, who lay surrounded by machines.
It had been exactly one day since Su-ho entered the Dead Zone. When the 1st Branch Hunters and Helpers set out in worry for him, the 5th Branch ones had followed to help.
Half a day after both branches arrived at the Dead Zone, the 1st Branch teleported out—with Su-ho in tow.
He hadn’t walked out on his own two feet. Drenched in blood and slung over Kwon O’s back, he was out cold.
The examiners, shock be damned, rushed him straight to the treatment room. Treatment began immediately. Trevor, Derrick, and the 5th Branch’s best were all on him.
Outwardly, Su-ho looked fine. His injuries had already regenerated. But his organs moved sluggishly, his heart rate abnormally slow. As if his body remembered the internal trauma.
The examiners moved swiftly. A thick IV needle pierced his arm. The hanging bag was loaded with every drug imaginable.
Trevor watched calmly. He’d seen this before—the day Jin Seong-hyeok and Su-ho were found “dead.” Su-ho had been in a coma then, just like now. And he’d woken after three days. Trevor was certain: Su-ho would wake soon this time too.
On the third day of Su-ho’s coma, the 5th Branch training field felt like a funeral parlor. They believed he’d wake, but the vague dread that he might not lingered.
Ji-young and Kwon O visited the treatment room daily.
“He won’t wake today either?”
Trevor answered Ji-young’s question.
“Exactly three days after being found with Hunter Jin Seong-hyeok, Hunter Cha Su-ho opened his eyes. It’ll be the same this time. Today’s day three, so...”
Trevor and Ji-young’s gazes turned to Su-ho simultaneously.
“He’ll wake soon.”
He had to. With Jin Seong-hyeok gone, Su-ho was irreplaceable. The one who could stand in his place.
An examiner monitoring Su-ho’s vitals went wide-eyed.
“Uh... uh?! Hunter Cha Su-ho—his heart rate’s rising!”
Trevor hurried to Su-ho’s side at the shout. Derrick began checking his status too.
“...Ha.”
A faint breath escaped Su-ho’s parted lips, and everyone erupted.
“Hunter Cha Su-ho!”
“Hunter Cha Su-ho?!”
His furrowed brow relaxed as his eyelids slowly lifted. His eyes, accustomed to darkness, watered instantly at the light.
“Hunter Cha Su-ho, are you with us?!”
Su-ho blinked sluggishly at Trevor’s voice. His hazy vision took in the stark white ceiling, the lights, Trevor and Derrick staring down at him, and other serious-faced examiners. Seeing them all, Su-ho let out a small chuckle.
“Yeah, I’m coming around now.”
The examiners sighed in relief.
“Resuming vitals check!”
As they bustled about, Trevor stood still, watching Su-ho.
“While you were out, we checked for external and internal injuries.”
“Ah. Deadlock burst my heart...”
“Wait—your heart burst?”
“Yes.”
Monstrous regeneration. Surviving a burst heart? If true, Su-ho was practically immortal—not against aging, but against any trauma, internal or external.
The ultimate Hunter ability.
“...It’s unbelievable, but it seems to have regenerated right away. All tests came back normal.”
Conventional medicine didn’t apply. This was SSS-grade Su-ho.
“Anywhere you feel off?”
“Nope.”
Trevor spoke to Su-ho, who closed his eyes as if craving more rest.
“You probably know, but just in case.”
Su-ho opened his eyes at Trevor’s words.
“Up to yesterday, zero monsters in the Dead Zone. Including the boss Deadlock, not a single one remains.”
“...Not a single one?”
He’d checked meticulously. Killed all the Catchers on the way to Deadlock, took out any monsters he spotted. He just hadn’t seen any others.
But truly zero left in the Dead Zone?
“Yes. Unless it resets or monsters come down from the Last Zone, it’ll stay at zero.”
A complete, perfect sweep.