#181
Someone rushed over and grabbed his shoulder. It was members of the field support team who were running around the collapse site conducting rescue operations.
“Hunter, are you okay? Are you injured anywhere?”
“……”
“Hunter Lee, you need to tell us if something is wrong…! Hunter Lee Han-sol…!”
They urgently examined Han-sol, who remained silent. Hunter Lee, can you hear us? Can you see this? You can hear and see, right? Can you stand up, perhaps? Hunter Lee Han-sol…! No matter what questions they asked, no answers came. Han-sol just staggered as they shook him, following the touch of their hands. A quiet demeanor, as if his soul had evaporated. With the intuition that something was wrong, a field support staff member who was thoroughly examining him suddenly paused. He quickly waved his hand toward the back.
“Hunter Ki Baek-woo’s condition…! Support…!”
Ki Baek-woo, limp and unconscious, was cradled in Han-sol’s arms.
“Recovery team support over here, please!”
The surroundings quickly became chaotic. Staff members who gathered urgently moved in perfect coordination. Someone took out an emergency kit for Baek-woo’s face, which was stained red with blood; someone pulled Baek-woo from Han-sol’s arms and laid him on the ground; someone quickly checked his consciousness.
“Secure his airway and bring the defibrillator, quickly!”
A busy atmosphere full of tension. Han-sol quietly watched the urgent hands strongly pressing down on Baek-woo’s chest with interlocked fingers. One, two, three, four, five…! Hands pressing down on the chest with all their weight, numbers regularly extending to thirty. One, two, three, four, five…! The count starting again. One, two, three…. A continuous repetition.
People with grimacing faces, people running urgently somewhere and shouting, a stretcher being placed beside him, and a portable defibrillator. In this place where everyone was busy and chaotic, only Han-sol was as quiet as a black and white image. He was just blankly staring at the tips of Baek-woo’s fingers that swayed weakly with each compression of his heart. It felt unreal, like a dream. With the ringing in his brain, other sounds just hummed and scattered, and everything felt distant like a scene in a screen. His senses were dull.
‘Because of me.’
Han-sol didn’t know what else to think besides that.
‘Because I was too weak….’
Trash, waste-rank. Because he was a useless C-rank who couldn’t handle a single gate core as he wanted.
‘So Baek-woo….’
Baek-woo is dead. It’s all because of me. Pretending I could do anything, but because I couldn’t even kill Jung Yi-dam who was just lying there quietly. Because of me, a weakling, a pathetic person who trembles at crucial moments….
‘I killed him.’
Now it can’t be undone. The system collapsed along with the gate, so there’s no going back anymore. The repetition of time that he wanted to escape from because it was so tiresome was broken. With Baek-woo lying there as if dead, not breathing… it was all over already.
Han-sol wondered. What should I do now? He thought carefully. What he could do, what he wanted to do. What he would have wanted to do if he could live one more day. So…, so I….
‘What can I do without Baek-woo?’
Even just living alone was already a miserable failure. Without Baek-woo, what do I want to do? How will I… alone without Baek-woo…
‘How will I live alone?’
Why should I live like that?
I don’t know, Han-sol said to himself in scattered thoughts. He felt helpless, as if trapped in a maze without an exit. He wanted to know. The reason to live without Baek-woo. No matter how much he thought, no matter how much he dug through his long past, over and over again, he couldn’t find an answer.
‘Then the only option is to die.’
Han-sol was not in despair. He wasn’t sad or suffering either. His eyes were dry and parched, and his heart was just quiet, without the pain of being torn apart. While people were compressing Baek-woo’s chest, giving him breaths, shouting something, and running around frantically, Han-sol felt lonely as if he were disconnected in deep water with nothing around. So he just groped the floor. Sharp fragments of the gate scattered everywhere. His hand just quietly picked up one of them.
If Baek-woo is really dead… if I made him like that, and now there’s no way to turn it back.
‘I should die. There’s no particular reason to live anyway.’
There’s no meaning. So it’s better to just die. It was a simple conclusion. Han-sol tightly gripped the sharp fragment in his hand that could pierce human skin and sever blood vessels in an instant. Blood seeped out and pooled in his palm with a stinging sensation, but he didn’t care. What does it matter whether it’s sweat or blood? I’m going to die anyway. With his head hanging weakly toward the floor, he fell into thought.
When should I die? Now? Or when these people take Baek-woo away? When I’m left alone? Or should I go back home and die there? The home where Baek-woo and I promised to fill with new things. So isn’t it too irresponsible to leave it completely empty? Going there, even if it’s just me…
‘No, I don’t think that will work. I don’t want to die separately like that. I should take Baek-woo away right now. Take him away, escape to a quiet place, and slit my wrists while holding his hand tightly.’
At the end of these thoughts, Han-sol made his decision. He clenched his fist again tightly, gripping the fragment. It was when his blurred consciousness became slightly clearer from the aching pain.
Tuk.
Someone placed their palm over his fist, which was dripping with blood. Weakly, but firmly. Han-sol slowly raised his head.
“……”
“…Hyung.”
It was Baek-woo.
Is this a dream? Han-sol thought.
Baek-woo’s face was a mess, stained with blood, and his breathing was rough as if it might stop at any moment. Huhk, huuhk…. A slow and deep connected breath, as if trying to gulp in air that he hadn’t been able to breathe for a long time. The appearance of a living person.
“Hunter Ki Baek-woo, you shouldn’t move like that right away!”
“You might get dizzy if you move suddenly! If you just wait a moment…!”
As if he had rushed over as soon as he opened his eyes, Baek-woo was half-sprawled, and behind him, the murmuring of astonished people followed. Han-sol’s gaze still moved blankly, as if wandering in a dream. People running with blankets to cover Baek-woo’s shoulders, people waiting with stretchers, and Baek-woo, who was just caressing Han-sol’s hand as if he couldn’t see any of them. Going back and forth between them many times, Han-sol moved his lips.
“…You.”
“Hyung, open your hand. Don’t do this….”
“Youuu….”
“You’re bleeding, hyung….”
Baek-woo’s faint touch on his hand, his clearly audible breathing, his voice that was severely cracked but affectionate.
Is this a dream?
It’s hard to believe.
No. But I can feel his body temperature. The hand touching mine isn’t cold. So it’s not a dream.
It wasn’t a dream.
Han-sol relaxed the strength in his hand, which Baek-woo’s weak touch kept tapping. With blood dripping, the sharp fragment fell to the ground with a thud. Baek-woo exhaled a long breath as if relieved and pulled Han-sol’s wounded hand. Then, with eyes that seemed pained as if the wound were on his own body, he examined the injury for a long time. In Han-sol’s vision, Baek-woo rippled as if blurred by water.
Until just a moment ago, he felt as if his body was empty, with no thoughts, no emotions. He had learned that the emptiness at the very bottom makes even tears dry up. But as soon as he saw Baek-woo holding his hand with the lukewarm temperature that proved life. Han-sol’s lips trembled with tears that welled up as if they had been waiting.
“Baek-woo, Ki Baek-woo… youuu….”
His voice, which couldn’t tell whether it was sad or happy, flickered weakly like a candle flame. Han-sol repeatedly opened and closed his lips, wandering. Not knowing what to say, he finally offered the thoughts that had been filling his mind just moments ago.
“Because of me… you because of me like, like this….”
“No.”
“I you… because of me, but now we can’t go back, I really….”
“That’s not it. You did everything right. If it weren’t for you, I would have really died… so don’t cry….”
I tried to hold on because I knew you would be like this, but I couldn’t manage it well. So don’t blame yourself, it’s all my fault….
Baek-woo laughed softly, haha, like an exhale, with a face that looked like he might collapse at any moment.
“It’s really not your fault… where should I start explaining this from….”
He fumbled as he recalled the moment before he lost consciousness and collapsed. That moment when he truly thought he would die. But if Han-sol could be free from the torment of the system, it was a moment he was willing to endure.
‘Get lost, I’m going to die, kuhak, by Han-sol’s, hands…!’
‘Why, do you think he’ll remember you forever then?’
‘You, son, of, kughk, huk, a bitch…!’
‘I know because I’ve had similar thoughts many times. There’s no way they’d leave it alone. Die.’
‘Kut, anyway, you’ll, kek, die, huk, too.’
Baek-woo looked down at Jung Yi-dam’s eyes, which had turned red as blood vessels burst simultaneously. Toward the black pupils full of hatred and anger, he answered inwardly.
If I want you to suffer no more, and if I lose my life as the price for killing you to achieve that. I don’t mind. Because then you’ll never forget me until you die. Just as you dreamed.
Because you’re kind, you’ll bury me in your heart forever. You won’t forget. You’ll love me. Even if someone else comes along, you’ll never open your heart due to guilt. If that’s the case, I’m willing to sacrifice my life, Baek-woo thought, swallowing the blood flowing back up and collecting himself.
[Causality_Core.dll_ERROR]
The instruction at ‘0xDEAD0007’ referenced memory at ‘0xFFFFFFFF’.
The memory could not be ‘read’.
Error type: E_CHARACTER_CONFLICT (Character Conflict)
Error module: Causality_Core.dll
Error description: Fatal collision between main models has occurred. This is not an allowed operation.
System response: Applying Absolute Algorithm to forcibly adjust the conflict.
A red warning window covered his vision. The more Baek-woo applied pressure to his hand around Yi-dam’s neck, the more Yi-dam’s pupils dilated, the more intense pain struck the top of his head. He sensed that death was approaching, and he was okay with it. Whatever happened, he was satisfied if he could rescue Han-sol from this mess.
‘…Kk, ugh.’
And it was when Jung Yi-dam, who had been glaring at Baek-woo with eyes overflowing with hatred until the end, stopped breathing. As the gate core exploded, an intense light that could blind his eyes illuminated the pitch-black interior white. He was dying. He had experienced death many times. Because of that, Baek-woo could feel it. An unknown pressure was squeezing his windpipe. He was dying now. So, in the moment when he thought he wanted to see Han-sol one more time…
In front of his scattering consciousness, a system window appeared once more.
‘Applying Absolute Algorithm’ to forcibly adjust the conflict.
Applying…
[ FAILED ]
[CRITICAL] Unknown bug detected: A character that has not been deleted exists. Cancelling algorithm application.
– Bug Source: _log.ch.e.Leehansol_
– Action: Attempting to delete bug.
Running Purge.exe on _log.ch.e.Leehansol_ …
…
//PURGE FAILED: PERMISSION DENIED/
Failed to delete bug.
[FATAL] Cannot recover from E_CHARACTER_CONFLICT (character conflict) error.
[FATAL] Forcibly terminating all recovery processes.
At the same time, Baek-woo felt the pressure that had been squeezing his neck through the predetermined algorithm disappear. He was alive. Gasping for breath that had been blocked, he silently called out, “Hyung,” for Han-sol. He had saved Baek-woo once again. The one who had twisted everything designed by the system and dragged the story to this point had saved Baek-woo once again just by existing. Like when Han-sol had taken his hand at age seven. Like when he had run across the apartment corridor toward five-year-old Baek-woo…. Han-sol had once again unfailingly led Baek-woo to life.
On the ground shaking from the exploded gate core, Baek-woo could no longer endure the dizziness and collapsed. He tried to collect himself, thinking that he should hold on, that Han-sol would worry if he collapsed like this. Because you’re kind, you’ll definitely think it’s your fault. You’ll worry and be sad. So I need to hold on until the end… somehow tell you it’s not because of you… like that… I need to tell you… Such thoughts hazily followed, but he ultimately failed. Before his consciousness ceased, a final system window appeared and disappeared in his blackened vision.
[SYSTEM HATED]
“…You are my salvation.”
Baek-woo, not knowing how to organize all these stories, just wiped Han-sol’s wet eyes.
“Don’t doubt it. From the beginning until now, there was never a time when you weren’t. This time is no different.”
“……”
“Thank you for always saving me.”
Baek-woo leaned his still dizzy body against Han-sol. Ssssk, he regulated his slow breathing. Han-sol’s hesitant arms soon crossed his back. Embracing tightly. Baek-woo embraced him back and sighed as if relieved. Holding each other tightly, it felt distant, as if everything had already become a faded past.
“I love you, hyung.”
“…Yes.”
“I love you enough to die for you.”
“…Yes.”
“And congratulations.”
“…For what?”
“You won, didn’t you?”
“……”
“Against the world, a perfect victory.”
Yes, Han-sol answered softly. His sobbing voice was a bit pitiful, and the shining sunlight was bright and warm.
He wanted to photosynthesize.
<Delusive Fate> End.
Continues in the side story.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
