#179
The back of his neck bristled. Lee Han-sol frantically crawled toward him. He grabbed the arm that was extended toward Jung Yi-dam’s neck.
“Stop it. Stop it, Ki Baek-woo! Stop it!!!!”
Jung Yi-dam’s face, pinned beneath Baek-woo, was a mess. Blood was spreading like paint over his frightfully bloodshot and swollen skin, even redder than the skin itself.
“You’re bleeding!!! I said stop it!!!!!”
It was all blood flowing from Baek-woo. Baek-woo’s expressionless, mechanical face. Nose, ears, mouth. Blood was dripping from everywhere except his eyes.
‘Baek-woo can’t kill me. I can’t kill him either. Because there’s no bad ending here where you kill someone you love.’
The protagonist Jung Yi-dam and Baek-woo who was meant to love Yi-dam. Initially designed that way, they couldn’t harm each other before the ending, Yi-dam had said. Han-sol desperately clung to Baek-woo’s arm. He used all his strength to push, pull, and hit him wildly, trying to separate him from Yi-dam.
“Stop it, Baek-woo. Please stop… You’ll die like that, stop…”
Han-sol pleaded. He was terrified. Baek-woo was unmoved. The flowing blood gushed out more and more. It seemed like he might die from excessive bleeding even before Yi-dam died. Blood that couldn’t be swallowed back seeped through his tightly closed lips, eventually bursting out with a cough.
“No…”
No, Baek-woo. No, you can’t die… I really don’t want that. Han-sol thought desperately. What should I do? What do I need to do? How can I stop this? Jung Yi-dam, Jung Yi-dam said to time it exactly with his death, the gate core, the core… getting the timing just right… Ah. Han-sol, almost in a panic and trembling, quickly twisted his body.
‘Rather… I’d rather fail. We can go back. Just, just living like this forever is better.’
Better to struggle in this damn loop forever than for Baek-woo to die.
Han-sol scrambled across the hard floor, staggering as he barely managed to stand up. He was so frantic that he could hardly breathe. He ran desperately, truly the most desperately in his entire life. Before Jung Yi-dam died. If he destroyed the gate core before Yi-dam died, the ending and Yi-dam’s death wouldn’t overlap. Then the system wouldn’t stop, and time would revert. That could happen. Since Yi-dam doesn’t know what happens after failure, since he doesn’t know what will happen. Han-sol thought that Baek-woo would be safe then, even if the system found him strange for being alive and realized everything, even if such an opportunity never came again. Even if Baek-woo abandoned him again.
He can’t die. I can’t live alone without Baek-woo…
‘It doesn’t make sense without Baek-woo…’
Han-sol staggered in front of the gate core. Ughk, kuk, he was in agony because he simply couldn’t breathe. But he couldn’t delay for even a moment. He summoned flames with all his might. Before Baek-woo died, before Baek-woo killed Jung Yi-dam…!
KWAAAANG!!!!
Han-sol’s ability engulfed the core. The core cracked. His ability, lower-level than the gate, wasn’t enough to destroy the core in one go. He summoned flames again. He hurled his body at the hard core. “Break, I said break!!!!” He ignited flames again and punched wildly. And again, and again.
Please. Please…. A metallic taste flowed back up Han-sol’s throat. He had never hated being C-rank so much. Even if he were S-rank, regardless, it was just a gate core, not even a living destruction. The pathetic Han-sol seemed unable to break even that, his already depleted ability making him feel miserable. He was terrified.
“Please… Mom… Mom, what do I do… I… Please…”
He struggled with all his might. He truly used his dying strength to ram his body against the gate and pour out his ability. His consciousness was kneaded by the feeling of wanting to collapse and cry from the wretchedness, and the urgency that didn’t even allow him the luxury to breathe.
No, not Baek-woo… Absolutely not…
Please… Please please please…!
Just when he felt like he would collapse from desperation, the gate core, with deepening cracks, exploded in white light and shattered. Han-sol, who had been gasping, finally managed to catch his breath with a “huhk, huuuhk…!” Relief washed over him, enough to make his mind go blank.
“It worked. It worked, finally… Baek-woo…!”
He needed to check on Baek-woo. Before the system completed the ending calculation, he had to embrace Baek-woo and tell him.
We’re going to go back again. You might hate me again then. But that’s okay. I did this knowing everything, so it’s okay. Even if miraculously you remember me again later, you don’t need to struggle. It’s all because I’m like this.
Baek-woo, I love you. I love you so much, so, I love you too much…
He needed to say that.
“Uh…”
But he couldn’t.
What…?
With the question, the world cracked. Like an unbroadcasted TV, everything twisted with a static sound. A sharp ringing that pierced the eardrum was heard. Beeeeeep- In the pain that made him feel like he would go deaf, Han-sol saw something strange.
[ERROR]
An unspecified data collision has occurred.
CODE: 110-SUB_E_ROUTINE_FAILURE
What is this…?
[Error / ACCESS DENIED]
You cannot access the requested database _ E_1_ project.
Conquest calculation is delayed.
CODE: 771-AUTH_CONFLICT
Blue boxes like game error windows were rapidly, innumerably generated.
Network warning / NETWORK WARNING
Connection between servers is unstable.
Packet: Sent=30, Received=0, Loss=30(100% Loss)
Some data may be missing or displayed as past information.
Attempting to restore connection… (3/10)
CODE: 408-REQUEST_TIMEOUT
Network warning / NETWORK WARNING
Unable to recover server.
CODE: 051-REQUEST_FAILURE
Han-sol couldn’t think of anything. Electronic sounds like screams were penetrating his brain as if they would kill him. It really felt like he would die right then.
CASCADING FAILURE WARNING
MODULE ‘CHRONOS.DLL’ not responding
> Fatal exception in ‘LOGOS_MAIN.EXE’.
>> Buffer overflow in ‘PATHOS_PROTOCOL’.
ALL SECURITY PROTOCOLS TO ENTER A FAILURE STATE
Attempting to recover security protocol.
Attempting to recover system.
He could understand. The collapse of the system that Jung Yi-dam talked about. Han-sol sensed that this was it. Which means…
[Sec. urity P # !T&*0$ %cov FAILUREFAILUREFAILUREFAILURE]
[Sys(^tem FAIL0RE reFAILUREcov FAILURE)
‘Jung Yi-dam… is dead.’
And I… destroyed the gate core at the perfect timing. Just as Jung Yi-dam wanted, exactly as Jung Yi-dam told me to do…
Because I was weak.
Han-sol felt as if his soul was leaving his body. Because I was weak, because I couldn’t destroy the core right away… So…
[FAILUREFaiLUREFAILUREFAILUREFFFFFFFFFAAAAAAAAAAA00000000000010000001000011101110000000FAILURE%%REFAILUREFAILURFFFFFFFFFFMFNvcfrdz2000000FFF]
Jung Yi-dam is dead, and the system is collapsing. Baek-woo cannot kill Jung Yi-dam. The causality between protagonists dictates that it shouldn’t happen. Jung Yi-dam had said. Baek-woo was bleeding. His eyes were bloodshot with pain.
Then…
‘What about Baek-woo…?’
[EMERGENCY SHUTDOWN SEQUENCE INITIATED
!!! CATASTROPHIC FAILURE DETECTED !!!
Chain collapse due to Main Power System damage.
Core Processor overheating. Cooling system not responding.
Erasing all memory data… DATA PURGE IN PROGRESS.
This procedure cannot be interrupted THIS CANNOT BE STOPPED.
All system functions will be permanently terminated in 10 seconds.
TOTAL SYSTEM SHUTDOWN IN T-MINUS 10… 9… 8…]
The regression will no longer be repeated. Han-sol has brought down the system. It’s the perfect victory for him who was a supporting character to be used and discarded. He will not go back. Never again to that bed where he lay with Baek-woo.
‘Then… what about Baek-woo…?’
Will I never see Baek-woo again?
[SYSTEM HATED]
I should die as soon as I open my eyes.
Han-sol thought. And his consciousness ceased.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
