DL Episode 148

#148

Ha-gyeom threw himself forward, but it was pointless—Assemblyman Tak’s blade flashed through the air without hesitation. A chilling sound of flesh tearing followed.

“Ugh…!”

At the very least, Tak’s knife didn’t pierce her neck. It only sliced the corner of Assemblywoman Kang’s mouth and cheek, but the blood spurted too much to tell exactly how deep the cut was. Clutching her cheek, Assemblywoman Kang collapsed without another word. Assemblymen Chae and Ji turned pale, their eyes flickering wildly.

Assemblywoman Kang had simply been overpowered by brute force. Yet Assemblyman Tak bared his teeth in triumph, looking every bit the victorious animal.

“Serves you right!”

In that moment, Ha-gyeom instinctively moved to block Assemblywoman Kang, but in doing so, he met Assemblyman Tak’s gaze directly.

Tak’s heaving chest, his shoulders, his fierce face were suddenly right in front of him. His breath was hot from the adrenaline. Ha-gyeom’s bewildered eyes traced the man’s rough outline and features.

“……!”

His heart nearly stopped. He looked far too similar to the man from twelve years ago—the one he had seen through Ah-rang’s memories.

More wrinkled now, more vicious, but there was no way this man was different from the one who had driven his family to their deaths.

“How dare you, not knowing your place, and irritate me?”

As awareness flooded in, a strange ringing filled Ha-gyeom’s ears. His heartbeat quickened so sharply he had to gasp for air. His own memories tangled violently with Ah-rang’s, making it nearly impossible to suppress the emotion rising within him.

At one moment, he heard phantom gunshots—bang, bang, ringing in sequence—and then saw his family collapsing before him. He smelled the damp air of that old pigsty-like detention camp, the metallic stench of blood that never faded, the footsteps of men, the cries of people… all of it swirling together, scraping across his senses.

“Get out of my way!”

Assemblyman Tak swung his hand as if Ha-gyeom were merely an annoyance, and a cut formed on Ha-gyeom’s cheek. Staggering back several steps, Ha-gyeom barely registered the pain.

He only felt despair. That such a monstrous man would become the leader here. That he would climb onto the throne and seize whatever he desired. Before his greed, sweat, blood, and even life itself would mean nothing.

“……”

Thinking that, the heat raging through Ha-gyeom’s body suddenly chilled. Even in the chaos clouding his senses, he steadied his ragged breathing. He glared relentlessly at Tak, who was returning to the head seat. The sweat that had poured off him like rain now felt cold, and a deeper chill crawled across his skin.

The greed and cruelty Tak had carried for more than ten years now seemed ridiculous. And now he wanted to conquer other districts and even the Center. The depths of his ambition were unfathomable.

The chain of his atrocities had to be broken. That fierce resolve made Ha-gyeom recognize the true nature of the immense emotion swelling in his chest.

Revenge.

Ha-gyeom wished more than anyone for Assemblyman Tak to suffer. Wishing for the man’s death, he thought of Baek Seung-woo—who had saved his family and himself—and of Ah-rang.

He wasn’t proud of craving personal revenge under the name of justice. But he wanted Tak to understand the meaning of the despair he had inflicted on countless others—including Ha-gyeom.

Not only the innocent people of District 0, but all humanity could not be allowed to suffer again under the threat of an unknown being. A guide might bear the fate of being a medium, but they had the right to reject it. This was for Ah-rang, for himself, and for humanity.

“……”

Ha-gyeom reached for the table he had been leaning against and grabbed a clean, unused knife. Leaving behind the groans of Assemblywoman Kang, Tak’s heavy breathing, and the fearful eyes of Assemblymen Chae and Ji, he walked along the table’s edge.

One of the mercenaries pointed at him, and Assemblyman Tak, still panting, sharply looked his way. Ha-gyeom felt the man’s gaze, but he ignored it and stepped toward the towering, flame-like energy.

“What are you—!”

Because of the strange sound the energy produced, Assemblyman Tak’s voice was faint. Ha-gyeom paused a moment before the massive energy, large enough that he had to tilt his head back. He had been inside it once before, but the presence of the unfamiliar being had grown—making fear stir.

But only he possessed the ability to enter this place. Stirring the air in defiance, Ha-gyeom walked into the flame-red energy.

At the same time, a mercenary fired at him under Tak’s command, but the bullet lost all power the instant it touched the energy and fell to the floor. Inside this energy, Ha-gyeom was certain—no one could interfere with him saving Ah-rang.

As the surroundings turned red, the disorienting chaos attacking his mind intensified. And yet, through the splitting pain in his skull, one voice rang clear.

Kill me!

Ah-rang’s unmistakable cry. And then—

If that’s the case, then ending her suffering is the only way to save her.

Baek Seung-woo’s answer from the moment Ha-gyeom had been drowning in doubt.

Hurrying forward, Ha-gyeom reached the chair where Ah-rang sat and gazed up at the looming shadow above her. The shape of the shadow, resembling the unknown being, was not yet complete. Though it had devoured Ah-rang entirely, it still seemed to lack enough presence to reach this world.

Ha-gyeom’s eyelashes trembled. He pulled the knife from his sleeve and looked down at Ah-rang—her eyes and mouth pitch black, like a rotting corpse. Remembering the lively expression she once had made his heart crash to the floor.

But even in the suffocating pressure that felt like standing in a raging storm, he refused to bend his resolve. He had to prevent her from being used by Assemblyman Tak until the last moment. It was something he must do—and something he had every right to do. But he also knew he could never justify what he was about to do.

He only wished for her release from suffering. And he wished for that alone.

Gripping the knife, Ha-gyeom knelt in front of Ah-rang, who was swallowed in the red vortex.

I’m sorry I’m so late.

Were these words spoken aloud, or only whispered in his mind?

Ha-gyeom spoke to Ah-rang again, who showed no reaction.

I’ll take your revenge for you.

Sweat gathered thickly on the hand holding the knife. Ha-gyeom gripped the handle with all his strength. He didn’t think she could feel pain anymore, but if she somehow did, he prayed it would be brief.

Ah-rang would want to hear Assemblyman Tak’s screams just as desperately as he did. Even if the unconscious Ah-rang had no way of knowing Tak’s fate, it still had to be done. He could not risk a mistake. Heat spread over his entire body, and sweat poured down like rain.

Feeling the rush of blood pounding through him, Ha-gyeom aimed the knife’s tip at her heart.

“…No!”

Tak’s shout echoed dully, as if it were coming from someplace impossibly far away.

Ha-gyeom had never stabbed anyone in the heart before. He had never dared to even imagine doing such a thing. But he did not falter.

He reached out and raised the knife as high as his arm allowed. Then he drove the blade down with all his strength into the center of Ah-rang’s indistinct chest.

“……!”

The sensation of piercing through was chillingly foreign. He could feel muscle and organs tearing vividly. But he could not leave even the slightest possibility behind. Ha-gyeom twisted the blade clockwise, rupturing Ah-rang’s heart completely.

“Ugh…!”

At the same time, his vision flickered as if caught in a sandstorm. A violent wind surged. In that cutting cold, Ha-gyeom felt the fierce resistance of the unknown being. Ah-rang herself didn’t move even when her heart was pierced, but the energy surrounding her whipped around chaotically, as if rampaging.

Strange sounds reached him in broken fragments—agonized screams from hell. Every noise he had ever heard in his life felt like it merged into one, drilling into his ears. The cries of monsters he once heard, the voices that tormented him inside anomalies—everything crashed into him, making his eardrums feel like they would tear apart.

“Ugh…!”

Ha-gyeom finally let go of the knife handle and clamped his hands over his ears, gasping. Unspeakable pain struck him, and he had to endure it, locked in a battle with the agony.

“Urrk…!”

His chest burned as if it were being scorched. Soon he began coughing up blood. The blood leaking from his ears trickled down his jaw. He choked several times as he vomited more blood, unable to breathe properly. He couldn’t gather his senses at all. The pain coursing through his body was so overpowering that his mind could think of nothing.

And then Ah-rang’s memories flashed through him like a passing lantern. Scenes once so vivid they felt indistinguishable from reality now faded as if being sucked into a whirlpool. The raw emotions that had once reached him as if he were Ah-rang herself drained away into black and white. Mixed with them, his consciousness drifted all the way back through his earliest memories. Ha-gyeom wandered, overwhelmed by the tingling sensations consuming his entire body.

Time stretched unbearably long.

He didn’t know how much had passed.

Then suddenly, the pain vanished.