Chapter 58
The helicopter propeller spewed out a tremendous roar. Eunseong stood at the edge of the heliport, taking the full brunt of the swirling wind. Having finished boarding Hanyeong, Lee Haesu leaned out of the sliding door and called to Eunseong.
“Eunseong-ssi, over here!”
Just as he was about to duck his head and jump toward the helicopter, a strong bursting sound came from beyond the wind.
Bang-!
As the changgui landed in front of the building, the floor shook enough to make everyone standing on the rooftop stagger. The warning lights in the helicopter’s cockpit flashed frantically as it momentarily lost balance.
“Guild leader, it’s dangerous!”
Yeon Seokchun stepped in front of Eunseong and stretched out both arms, deploying a bluish sparkling barrier. A dark shadow cast over it, naturally drawing their gazes upward.
“Team Leader!”
At the same time as Eunseong shouted, clang! the barrier shook violently. The barrier that had been hit by the changgui’s huge hand cracked thickly.
It was a movement as if trying to swat a fly to death. When the hand bounced away, the changgui’s huge face that had blocked the entire view was hideously distorted.
The creature, whose entire body had been burned by Mujin’s fire, had its skin melting, but it didn’t care. Thump! Thump! It didn’t give up and repeatedly struck down on Yeon Seokchun’s barrier. Yeon Seokchun, who was blocking it, let out a pained groan.
“It’s going to break!”
Eunseong gripped Seorin while grabbing Yeon Seokchun’s arm. He intended to pass Seorin to him, who was absorbing all the impact.
It was when the shadow covered overhead again.
Crack! Mujin’s body flying in from the side struck away the changgui’s hand and pushed it backward with the same momentum. The giant arm bent in a large arc, and the changgui lost its center and fell over. Mujin, who had grabbed onto its hand, also fell down below the building with it.
“Mujin!”
Eunseong ran all the way to the rooftop railing. Looking down, dust and smoke were rising thickly from the shattered ground.
Mujin, who had slammed the changgui down, pulled out dozens of blades and slaughtered it. Each time the blood-red blades rippled, the heat seemed to burn even the air. With countless roars, the earth that had been hit by the bombardment shook wildly.
“…!”
The changgui, turned to rags, let out a hideous cry. When vibration waves rather than crying sounds burst out, the windows of nearby buildings shattered all at once.
The creature’s body changed once again.
It trembled all over as if writhing in pain, then vomited out all the trash and debris it had swallowed. What remained was a jet-black, mucus-like mass. A black sphere that bristled with spikes like a sea urchin flew up into the air, avoiding Mujin.
Eunseong’s gaze followed it too.
“To-together… to… go… go…”
When his eyes widened at the sound he heard, the black mass began melting in mid-air. As it fell like rain drops, the smoke that erupted when it hit the ground stung his nose. Eunseong instinctively held his breath and stepped back.
‘This smell…!’
It smelled similar to the spider monster’s bodily fluid that had poisoned Hanyeong. It was a nauseating stench similar to sticky, oxidized blood.
At that moment, what Eunseong saw was a group of civilians who hadn’t been able to evacuate yet. Both on the street and in the building across, there were plenty of people huddled together, embracing each other and trembling in fear. Eunseong’s pupils shook at the sight of someone nearby screaming after being poisoned.
They’ll all die.
He had a premonition close to certainty. The monster would explode.
“No…!”
‘But nothing must ever â– â– â– â– â– â– again.’
His father’s voice echoed in his head.
‘You mustn’t create it, Eunseong.’
As his heart beat violently, the voice became even clearer.
‘Do you understand? Promise daddy.’
This wasn’t a forgotten memory from three years ago. It was much earlier than that, or perhaps it wasn’t forgotten but erased.
Eunseong stared with wide-open eyes at Mujin flying toward him. The black mass exploded and covered the sky in black, and with his back to it, Mujin was coming toward him.
Everything felt slow like a video playing in slow motion.
The curtain of fire that Mujin spread densely covered above the guild building. He seemed intent on burning up all the poison. At the same time, Eunseong also felt Mujin’s core pulsating uneasily. At the feeling that it might shatter at any moment, Eunseong’s heart also ached.
Life everywhere was in danger. The flames going out moment by moment reached him vividly. Hanyeong’s face, which seemed like it would never open its eyes again, also flashed before his eyes.
‘Nothing must ever again!’
At his father’s warning that shook his head, Eunseong squeezed his eyes shut.
Eunseong didn’t know what he feared so much. But his father couldn’t have known that heart-wrenching feeling of being left alone either.
“I don’t want to.”
Eunseong stood unable to move as if stuck to the rooftop floor.
The sound of swirling wind and the loud propeller noise had long since become inaudible. Yeon Seokchun’s shouts, someone’s screams, explosion sounds, dust – none of it could be felt.
Everything settled quietly as if time had stopped.
There was a clear image that his consciousness, having blocked out distracting thoughts, brought up.
The monster. And besides that, everything he wanted to protect.
Mujin was visible. Hanyeong was felt. Guild members, innocent people. The faces of complete strangers also began appearing one by one.
Eunseong recalled the peaceful embrace of his father, mother, and older brother. He remembered that longed-for and yearned-for sensation. He also knew that such warmth was something he could never hold again in his life. Then a sharp pain arose around his chest as if cut by something sharp.
Creak, it cracked and broke. Emotions flooded in like a deluge.
It was anger rather than sadness. At the same time, he felt an intense impulse to never want to lose anyone again. Because the loss he had experienced was so painful.
“I hope no one… becomes like me.”
Eunseong’s wavering pupils gradually began to hold light.
“I hope no one here dies. I hope there’s no occasion for sad news to reach anyone.”
Wanting to be together forever isn’t such a big greed, is it?
That was the moment.
Something that had been blocked burst out from within Eunseong. The lock that had been tightly bound broke open without a key.
Instinct moved his body before consciousness did.
Eunseong spread both arms as if embracing the sky. The wind became calm.
Silver threads appeared in the air. The thread that was initially one strand soon multiplied into dozens, then hundreds of strands. The threads that began interweaving at precise angles spread a dazzling blueprint in the air.
A structure more precise and beautiful than anything in the world. To Eunseong’s eyes, all the secrets of that spider-web-like dense thing were visible. His mind cleared and his vision opened up dramatically.
It was the moment he understood the principles of how things work. As if he had become a prophet of this world, he came to know what to do and how.
He recalled the sensation of experiencing the plane crash, of falling into the rift. The structure of the rift, the passage to another world, the way back there…
Open the door.
Eunseong moved his hands to materialize the blueprint.
“Go back.”
A rift opened in the very center of the sky below the exploding monster. The purple door that appeared quietly operated according to Eunseong’s design and generated powerful suction.
Shwaaaaek-! With a strange sound, the changgui’s remains and poison were all sucked into the rift as if being pulled into a black hole. At the same time, an indescribable silence settled in.
Finally, when he clenched his fist, the open rift condensed into a single point and-
Pop. With the sound of a small water drop bursting, it disappeared.
The sky after everything ended was dazzlingly bright. The sun that had been hidden was revealed and the sky regained its bright blue color.
Eunseong gasped for breath. Sweat poured down his entire body like rain.
“Yoo Eunseong!”
With a trembling voice, Mujin landed in front of Eunseong. Heat and the smell of ash wafted strongly from him, having just withdrawn his flame barrier. But his entire body was covered in wounds. The blood that had soaked his t-shirt instantly stole Eunseong’s soul.
Anxious hands touched Mujin.
“Mujin.”
It was the end of a long battle. Mujin, finally facing Eunseong, was only happy, but Eunseong, facing him, trembled in shock.
Now he understood why Lee Haesu had been evasive when asked about Mujin’s condition. He had only felt it vaguely, could only guess at some uneasy pulsation… but now he could see that condition clearly.
“Eunseong, you’re okay, right?”
Mujin was just busy examining Eunseong’s condition. He busily felt around checking whether Seorin was properly in place, whether there were any injuries.
“You, why is your core like this…”
He asked in a trembling voice as if interrogating. Tears welled up in Eunseong’s eyes.
“Your core is broken, Mujin.”
“……”
The person in question himself just remained expressionless.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
