Chapter 12
When exactly two days had passed, Eunseong suddenly lost consciousness. It was a natural result since he had endured 48 hours sitting with his eyes open without drinking even a sip of water. However, the shallow sleep didn’t last long.
Beep- beep- beep- beep-! A piercing warning sound suddenly rang out.
Eunseong, who had been defenseless, startled awake with a shock. His heart was pounding so hard it felt like his breath would stop at any moment, but what immediately came to mind was Mujin.
Had something happened to Mujin?
The sound loud enough to make the entire building ring was a fire alarm. The sound was so sharp that he even had the illusion that the floor beneath his feet was shaking. Just as the back of his neck grew cold with a bad premonition, Eunseong’s phone screen flickered as a call came in.
[ Guild Leader Baek Sangyeon ]
His name felt like a death sentence. Eunseong froze for a moment. He barely pulled himself together and pressed the call accept button with trembling fingertips, and a sobbing voice came through the receiver.
– Eunseong, Mujin is…
Outside, torrential rain was pouring down. Exactly 48 hours since Mujin had entered the rift—it was clearly morning, but the world filled with dark clouds was as dark as midnight.
– I’m truly sorry to you, Eunseong.
“…”
– How… is there really no method at all? Please, save our Mujin.
Please.
The pleading voice scattered in his ears. Without thinking of listening any further, Eunseong immediately got up and started running.
‘Isn’t it kind of ridiculous that Huiseon has so many fire suppression systems? It’s because there are so many uncontrollable guys.’
There was something Mujin had once said jokingly in passing. When he was surprised to hear that Huiseon Guild, which was mostly flame-type ability users, had spent tens of billions on fire suppression systems, he had joked about it. He laughed, saying fires weren’t a once-in-a-while occurrence, and that they only knew how to start fires but not how to put them out.
“Underground isolation area.”
A place that couldn’t be reached by elevator. Mujin would definitely be there.
As soon as Eunseong got off at the underground entrance that could access the isolation area, he began running without hesitation along the spiral slope. The further down he went, the more he could feel acrid smoke and soot, and the air grew increasingly hot.
When he reached the end of the slope, Eunseong’s body was soaked with sweat. Dense smoke and the energy of flames rushed in as if to burn his skin.
Baek Sangyeon, who had been standing in front of the thick iron door, recognized Eunseong and approached him. He was crying with a complex expression mixing anger and despair.
“Eunseong, Mujin is inside here. But… approaching now would be impossible. I think it’s too late.”
“Too late?”
“Nothing was of any use.”
The various expensive items, medical equipment, and medicines scattered around explained the situation in place of Baek Sangyeon. It seemed like everyone else had evacuated when Mujin finally went berserk.
“Everything we prepared… was useless. My son, Mujin is now…”
“Ajussi!”
Eunseong grabbed Baek Sangyeon’s shoulder. In the desperate moment, Eunseong’s mind worked faster instead.
“Stop saying such meaningless things and let me in. Quickly!”
Eunseong’s eyes, shining with determination, even held a glint of madness. Baek Sangyeon, who had hesitated for a moment, finally sighed and nodded.
“There are plenty of protective suits here that block fire. Put on any of them and go in. But if you drag it out too long… you won’t be able to endure it. Looking at the current state, 5 minutes would be the limit.”
5 minutes.
Without a moment’s hesitation, Eunseong took the protective suit and hastily put it on. When he finished all preparations, Baek Sangyeon unlocked the door and stepped back.
“…Be careful.”
“…”
Even though it was made of materials that could withstand high heat, when he grasped the metal door handle, he could fully feel the heat transmitted to his palm.
As the door slid open with a swoosh, flames blazing from inside poured out. Eunseong closed his eyes for a moment, then gritted his teeth and stepped inside.
The heat enveloping his entire body made him lose his senses without realizing it. Flames danced as they licked the walls and ceiling. In the center of the large burning isolation room was Mujin.
He was kneeling, submerged in flames erupting from his entire body. On the red-hot metal floor, his very existence looked like a ball of fire. Since his skin was hidden within the flames, Eunseong couldn’t even be certain whether Mujin was still alive.
“Mujin…”
Eunseong called his name with a trembling voice. Naturally, no answer came back. In the middle of the flames, Mujin seemed to be fighting something.
Eunseong reached out and approached Mujin. He could feel the outer surface of his protective suit slowly melting from the heat, but he couldn’t retreat.
“You’ll die like this, Baek Mujin! Snap out of it!”
The desperate voice couldn’t spread and was swallowed by the flames. Whether his reason had been stolen by the Hwanghwa surrounding his body, Mujin’s bright yellow eyes didn’t recognize Eunseong.
Eunseong knelt facing Mujin. He forced himself to meet his gaze while swallowing his tears.
“Rather me, let me take his place…”
It was in that moment of muttering. Eunseong’s eyes widened.
‘How about being completely swallowed?’
Ah. He felt like he finally understood exactly what those words meant.
It meant to offer himself as sacrifice to the monster and steal away the core, that Seorin would become his shield at the moment of death.
Eunseong placed the Seorin he had been clutching tightly in his hand onto Mujin’s palm.
“Mujin, I’ll take your Hwanghwa with me.”
This was the original fate. He was someone who should have died, living in place of receiving his hyung’s share.
When Eunseong drew out his dagger, Mujin tilted his head and blinked. Since he was unconscious, he must be moving by the Hwanghwa’s will. The golden flames moved to Eunseong’s body like a curious small animal and playfully wrapped around his arms and back.
Hwanghwa was a power that parasitized Mujin’s core. It would surely perish after burning up its owner’s body completely. But why did it feel so purely innocent? As if it coveted Eunseong’s body too, it tried to burrow into his embrace, melting his protective suit. Amid the burning pain on his skin, Eunseong nodded as if in acceptance.
“Yes, this is right.”
Having reached the very end, he could see the path.
No one had told him, but he was certain this method was correct.
Destroy Mujin’s core to extract the Hwanghwa, and nullify the damage with Seorin. He didn’t think about what would happen to him afterward.
Thunk! The dagger Eunseong thrust pierced through Mujin’s defenseless chest in one strike. In an instant, a shockwave burst out and time seemed to stop. The flickering flames came to an abrupt halt.
“Come to me.”
It was the moment he whispered.
Kieeeek-! The Hwanghwa’s scream split the air. As if rewinding time, the fireball that had spread throughout the entire space instantly shrank and gathered at the tip of the dagger in a flash. Blinding light condensed at the sharp blade’s tip, and Mujin’s eyes regained their original black color.
In that instant, Mujin, who had regained consciousness, urgently embraced Eunseong as he collapsed before his eyes. Having gathered and swallowed all of the Hwanghwa’s flames, Eunseong was crumbling at a rapid pace. Under his skin, glowing heat pulsed red. Unable to overcome the power of Hwanghwa, his entire body trembled. Even so, he stubbornly wouldn’t let go of the dagger in his hand.
It was clearly the dagger that had stabbed Mujin’s chest, but not a single drop of blood was on it. The blade had properly pierced the core where Hwanghwa had resided. Eunseong’s reckless plan had succeeded.
Freed from Hwanghwa’s curse, Mujin’s body received Seorin’s protection and rapidly restored its vitality. As his body recovered and his mind became clear, the devastating situation right before his eyes began to appear more vividly.
Yellow writhing streams of light spread like a net across Eunseong’s skin, finally devouring Eunseong completely.
“…Ugh!”
There wasn’t even time to continue his thoughts. When Mujin tried to move, an explosion burst out centered on Eunseong.
BOOM-! A thunderous roar struck his ears and the entire isolation room shook. A flash of light swallowed his entire vision and waves of flame spread in all directions. Mujin was also blown backward by the shockwave and crashed.
The cracked ceiling collapsed, and steel beams and concrete poured down. Amid the dust and smoke where nothing could be seen, the earth-shaking sound grew closer and closer.
A sharp piece of steel plate that fell from above cut across Mujin’s shoulder as it passed, but there wasn’t even time to feel the pain. Only then noticing the presence of Seorin clutched in his hand, Mujin ground his molars to pieces.
“Yoo Eunseong-!”
At that moment, the entire isolation area began to completely collapse with massive vibrations, as if exhaling its final breath. Mujin reflexively covered his face. Beep- tinnitus rang out and his ears became muffled. In the moment when he felt cut off from all sounds, the entire building collapsed helplessly.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
