Chapter 441 — Night Walk
The smell of burning hung thick in the air. It was only a smell, invisible to the eye, and yet it felt so dense that it almost seemed like a sticky mass wrapping itself around his entire body.
The military buildings and facilities that had once packed the area were now gone, leaving only traces behind. Collapsed heaps of concrete and scattered shards of glass. A charred tire lay rolling beside a pillar with only its base left.
Screeech.
A hand with exposed bone pushed aside a crumpled sheet of iron. The corpse of someone who had once been a high-rank Hunter staggered to its feet. There were no living people left anymore. The dead were reviving without end.
And yet.
Crackle!
The current that leaped up wrapped around the corpse that had just risen. Its body, shattered to pieces as though it had taken a direct hit from a bomb, writhed slowly. Its regeneration was definitely slower than before.
Even the power of resurrection had its limits.
“So this is all an A-rank amounts to.”
With the cold gaze of an observer fixed on the corpse, Sung Hyunjae muttered quietly. The resurrection ability of the undead varied depending on the original body’s stats. Lower-rank Hunters were finished after being smashed apart three or four times. Mid-ranks had to be shattered at least ten times, and at most close to fifty.
And A-ranks and above were so persistent that it almost seemed as though they would revive forever.
As for S-ranks—
- Grrrgh.
Its clothes had become nothing but rags, but the corpse had regenerated almost exactly as it had looked in life. It raised its shield. Its expressionless, pale face spilled out an incomprehensible guttural noise. But its movements were swift. There was no strategy left, yet its battle instincts remained, and it even used skills as it lunged toward the only living being here.
The sole of his shoe, the blood on it beginning to dry, kicked up a length of rebar lying nearby. It spun once in the air. Golden current ran along the iron bar, and then—thud—he kicked it hard toward the corpse. The rebar shot through the air like an arrow and pierced the undead’s leg. Almost without any gap, a second piece of rebar pierced the remaining leg as well, and then—
Kwarrrung!
Using the two iron bars as lightning rods, a bolt of lightning came crashing down. The blackened body collapsed with a thud and immediately began to regenerate again. Over it, bursts of light exploded one after another. The current, rampaging without pause, delivered dozens, hundreds of attacks in the span of a moment. A sharp light, too fierce for an ordinary person to even watch with both eyes open, tore relentlessly into a single target.
At the very least, several thousand times. Perhaps over ten thousand deaths.
When the violent light subsided, what remained—closer to wreckage than a corpse—twitched faintly. It still seemed to have some regenerative power left, but not enough to rise again.
Sung Hyunjae stepped forward until he stood before it. Finger bones that had barely retained their shape tapped the toe of his shoe, then scraped weakly downward.
“If words could reach you, I’d like to hear your thoughts.”
If any sense of self remained, then about the immortality that had been forcibly imposed upon it. But this was nothing more than a moving lump of flesh.
‘Even if you break free from Crescent Moon.’
At dawn that day, Young Chaos had said:
‘Your existence itself will remain the same.’
The things that had piled up over time would not disappear. They were already part of what made Sung Hyunjae who he was.
‘You can peel a little away. Those two by your side helped do that too. But that has its limits as well.’
The piled-up things were also him. They were like water that had already mixed together; if too much was scooped out, it would inevitably affect the present Sung Hyunjae as well. Even taking only a little, just enough not to overflow, came with a certain amount of loss.
‘So you’ll have to keep living. If, unlike the transcendents, you intend to remain in a single world, then you’ll have to be prepared to fall into an even deeper ennui than you have until now.’
The day would come when everything around him would pass on first, and the things that came again would also brush past, leaving him standing alone in an empty wasteland. Even if shoots sprouted, forests formed, and beyond the flowing water something new came to him once more, it would again be a life that disappeared before he did.
The reason transcendents only associated with one another and kept their distance from the beings of the worlds they managed was also to protect themselves. If those beings were not merely like characters in a book, but friends who stood right beside them, then enduring the countless farewells that would follow became too difficult.
‘You’re one who’ll endure for a long time, so it’ll hurt you more. It would be easier if you built walls or simply let go altogether.’
But he was not the sort to try to protect himself in that way. Perhaps it was greed. A kind of self-love close to severity, a refusal to give up anything that belonged to himself. His weaknesses, no less than his strengths, were also himself.
Scrape, scrape. Bones dragged across the ground. Several A-ranks staggered closer, only to be swept away by golden chains.
Han Yoojin would not live long. Even if his lifespan were extended to that of an ordinary person, it still would not reach a hundred years. He would watch that end, put things in order, and a few things would remain in Sung Hyunjae’s hands.
‘I’m lending it to you, so bring it back in one piece. And don’t go thinking of wandering off somewhere strange for no reason.’
Sung Hyunjae’s gaze briefly fell to the hem of the blackish-red coat. This, too, would probably be among the few things left behind. Even if he said aloud that it was his own, Han Yoojin would return it in the end.
Perhaps with a smile.
Should he ask him not to forget him, or ask him to forget?
Song Taewon would likely live far longer. But whether he could endure that long was another matter. A hundred years, two hundred at most. For him, living to that point and growing old would probably be happiness.
It was difficult to imagine Song Taewon living through a thousand years or more. But the image of his final moment for someone else came to mind with vivid clarity, as though he had witnessed it many times already.
“How lonely.”
Perhaps joyous times were all the more precious because they did not last forever.
‘Read only on MugenCodex’
‘I hope you don’t try to hold on to those two.’
Just before the dawn light broke, Young Chaos had spoken one last time. It would be hard to give them up. So he should keep the contract safely until the very end.
Sung Hyunjae passed by the pile of bones whose movements had nearly stopped. The moon in the sky had tilted almost completely away. Though he had poured his power lavishly into the undead that kept reviving over a long span of time, his body still felt light.
It was thanks to drawing out part of what had accumulated inside him.
It was not a skill that had taken shape. A simple lump of power in itself could still be moved, however slightly. Of course, since there was always the possibility of it slipping out of control if he mishandled it, Young Chaos had warned him very firmly.
Try it only in a place where it would be fine even if he lost his mind for a short while and rampaged.
‘This isn’t the time for you to gain new abilities. You’ll be stuck spending years just trying to digest what you already have.’
Very slowly, little by little. From what Young Chaos had confirmed, Sung Hyunjae’s control over himself was exceptional. So it was worth attempting to carefully take in the powers piled up inside him. But dragging out skills had been forbidden, because it risked destabilizing his sense of self. He was to touch only the condensed mass of power itself, and nothing else.
And the result had not been bad. For now, rather than his abilities themselves rising, it was more that his endurance had grown stronger.
Should he start heading back. Sung Hyunjae looked around at the desolate surroundings. Then he slightly raised the end of one eyebrow, as though troubled.
‘…This is enough to make me want to draw out at least a flight or teleportation skill.’
There was nothing left, so walking was the only option. No matter how versatile he was, turning burnt, melted scrap metal into a car or a helicopter was impossible. Even the communicator the Murim Alliance had given him had been damaged by an undead Hunter’s wide-area skill.
Of course, there were people waiting for him, but they were several kilometers away. Just as he resigned himself to setting his direction and starting to walk—
Whup-whup-whup-whup—
He heard the beating of helicopter blades. Sung Hyunjae stopped moving and lifted his eyes to the sky. He could not distinguish friend from foe, but the helicopter needed to remain intact, so he waited quietly for it to land. Once the helicopter confirmed his location, it descended several dozen meters away.
‘Two S-rank Hunters.’
Since the other side made no effort to hide their presence, he could sense them without difficulty even from a distance. It seemed there were high-rank Hunters besides them as well.
Unfortunately, only one of the two S-rank Hunters stepped out of the helicopter. Sung Hyunjae gave up on seizing the helicopter for the time being. Subduing an S-rank Hunter without destroying the aircraft was close to impossible.
“Today of all days, I could have been such a docile passenger that even Mr. Tired Civil Servant would be startled.”
Whether they were military or some other force. In the helicopter’s searchlight, two figures walked toward Sung Hyunjae. One was an S-rank Hunter, and the other felt, at best, no higher than mid-rank. Both were dressed in dark robes.
“It’s a pleasure to meet you for the first time, Seseong Guild Leader.”
The smaller of the two opened his mouth. It was a fairly clear male voice, and he was speaking English. The eyes visible beneath the robe’s hood had a green cast to them. He certainly did not seem to be Chinese military.
“You can pay the interview fee with the helicopter instead. I’d appreciate it if you’d keep your purpose short and clear. I’m in quite a tired state.”
“Considering who you are, I can’t exactly call that expensive.”
The man gave a small laugh and continued.
“I heard you already know. About the beings outside the world.”
“You’re quick.”
When he had heard it from Han Yoojin, he had expected someone would approach him. The contract had been severed, but Sung Hyunjae had once joined hands with the Immoral people’s side before. Since there had already been one connection, it would naturally be easier for them to interfere.
Even so, only a single day had passed. It was faster than he had expected.
“I’ve known for a very long time.”
The man smiled softly.
“The appearance of dungeons in this world is all God’s will.”
“I’ll decline the religious pitch. Come to think of it, it’s not bad weather for a walk.”
Taking a leisurely stroll suddenly seemed like a fairly good option. There had always been groups that claimed the emergence of dungeons and the pouring forth of monsters were the will of God. Sung Hyunjae had run into them overseas several times himself, and his conclusion had been that it was best not to deal with fanatics.
As he turned away without hesitation, the man said,
“I can see the future.”
“…Good heavens.”
A fanatic and a prophet too. That was rather far from Sung Hyunjae’s taste.
“It only started appearing clearly a month ago. Most of the futures I see have been accurate. With one exception. Korea.”
Sung Hyunjae, who had been about to ignore him and keep walking, came to a halt.
Not the future.
‘…Memories from before the regression.’
Then of course Korea alone would be different.
Because of Han Yoojin’s influence.
“That makes it even more useless to me. As you know, I’m Korean.”
“But Seseong Guild Leader, you spend more time active overseas, do you not? And also.”
The man lowered his voice.
“A being outside the world contacted me directly a week ago.”
“God, you mean. How impressive.”
“No. He serves God, and he told me that the manifestation of dungeons is God’s will itself. He answered that our faith was correct.”
A week ago would have been before the negotiations among the transcendents had ended. In that case, it was highly likely to be Chatterbox, who had already been interfering with this world together with the King of Harmlessness.
Sung Hyunjae slowly turned to look at the man. Would it be better to deal with him here? Perhaps sensing the shift in his mood, the man quickly said,
“We must not harm each other right now. Did you not receive that message as well?”
“I’ve only been forbidden from overseas travel. I’m curious what would happen if I broke it. I happen to be rather curious by nature.”
The S-rank Hunter standing beside the man drew his weapon. The white-bladed sword gave off a faint glow.
“I came here to make you an offer, Seseong Guild Leader. Those who oppose God will be able to give you nothing. But those who serve God are different.”
“That’s so obvious it’s already getting boring.”
“Is there not something you desire? You too are human, after all.”
If there were something he desired. Sung Hyunjae’s eyes narrowed.
“Unfortunately, the two by my side are stubborn. If I brought back something obtained in exchange for a bizarre religious recruitment pitch, both of them would refuse. I might even hear them ask if I’ve gone mad.”
He would probably get grabbed by the collar as well. Song Taewon’s dumbfounded expression would be worth seeing, though.
“…Pardon?”
“I’ve been living well these days, so go find someone else.”
The instant Sung Hyunjae finished speaking, light spread outward. The S-rank Hunter reacted as if he had been waiting. White frost settled over the blade, hardening the lightning as though freezing it. Then the tip of the sword came flying toward Sung Hyunjae. His head tilted slightly, and with a slice, a long line was drawn across his smooth cheek.
And the very next moment—
Kwaa-boom!
The helicopter exploded. Amid the continuing blasts, the golden chain flew back to its owner.
“Have a pleasant night walk.”
With an exaggerated bow, Sung Hyunjae spread a broad wave of nonlethal current one last time. Then he turned and began to walk away, step by step. Watching his retreating back, the man let out a short sigh.
“As expected, he wouldn’t listen in the slightest. Though the purpose was a greeting to begin with.”
From behind him came a troubled shout.
“All of the communicators are broken!”
“…What?”
They, too, were left with no choice but to walk.
