HVG Ch 16

Episode 16

The moment he realized it, the world slowed down. As his sliding gaze locked onto the Demon charging toward him, Haewon felt a searing pain burning through his eyes and groaned.

He raised his arm to press his eyes shut, but blinding flashes stabbed at him and “sound” filled his ears indiscriminately. It was screaming—someone’s lament, voices of bitter resentment.

— “Save me!! Someone—ugh!”

— “Get out of the way! That bastard’s got an axe!”

— “What kind of monster is that, shit! It’s already hard enough just trying to live!”

— “Don’t run! Everyone, rush in and kill him! There’s only one of him!!”

Like an old black-and-white film projected on a screen, hazy afterimages flickered before him. Haewon squinted against the glare several times. But before long, he found himself standing in a battlefield swept by a storm of blood.

Under the Tree of Good and Evil, someone was swinging an axe. People were struck by that blade, their bodies hacked apart as they died with blood spraying everywhere. Someone reached out, begging to be saved, clutching onto the hem of a man’s pants.

That man was “Seo Haewon.”

— “Save me! Seo Haewon, me too!”

His eyes were filled with even more venom than now, his lips cracked and parched, and his body was gaunt with bones jutting out beneath his clothes. “Seo Haewon” wore a weary face, and he stomped his foot down on the man clutching his pant leg, tearing him away. 

— “Why are you clinging to someone else’s pants? Live by your own strength. I’m barely surviving myself, okay? Get lost!”

Then… he kicked the man, sending him sprawling.

As the man rolled on the dirt, the blood-soaked edge of an axe came crashing down on his head. As “Seo Haewon” turned with a bag of rations, his eyes met those of the man with the axe.

“Seo Haewon,” spitting curses, had chosen the “sacrificial lambs.”

Click—

<Frost Snare LV.8>

Haewon tried to stop him. But before he could grab hold of the body of the “Seo Haewon” standing before him, his fingertips passed through it as if it were nothing.  A sound, piercing and chilling, erupted from the gun’s barrel and stabbed into his ears, announcing its trail.

Zzzzzk—

The whole area froze as if a frost had settled. Leaving behind people’s screams, wails, and pleas, “Seo Haewon” turned and sprinted away with all his might.

Only the sickening sounds of heads being severed echoed, one after another, from where he had been.

“Haaagh!”

Haewon exhaled all the breath locked in his lungs at once and gasped for air with a pale face. His vision flipped, and confusion overwhelmed him.

That just now… that was him.

No. It was “Seo Haewon.” Not him.

Biting down on his trembling lips, Haewon tried to rein in the heart that was about to scatter in every direction. Could it be true… that everything written in the “passage” had really happened?

Could “Seo Haewon” have used people as sacrifices and left this place? With not an ounce of remorse?

A wave of nausea hit him. He gagged, clapped a hand over his mouth, and staggered. While he retched, the time that seemed to have stopped gradually returned to normal.

In front of him, the man with the axe stood again.

“Those fucking bastards… Why am I the trash? Those cowards wouldn’t even look me in the eye outside, but here they come, relying on one skill and acting like big shots? I hated seeing that, so I kept thinking every night whether to gut someone. I wanted to kill! Smash them with this axe! Cut them all up! That’s how I feel, okay?!”

The man, who had been violently rubbing his face to the point of distorting his features, suddenly stopped. Then he let out a cackle. 

“Yeah… I should’ve killed you from the start. But what’s with you now…? Do I disgust you? Make you want to puke? Why? Ah, right. You awakened into a good class, didn’t you? Tried playing noble for a while, and now I just disgust you? What did you awaken as? Huh? What the hell did you awaken as!!”

The man’s shout made Haewon flinch. If he moved now, he had the feeling his neck would be cut immediately. The man was stronger than Seo Haewon.

“All those bastards who stuffed themselves full all this time deserve to die. They’re disgusting. Disgusting things don’t deserve to live. Look at them now, abandoning friends and comrades to run away to save themselves.”

For now… I need to buy some time, somehow.

With trembling hands, Haewon pulled the safety lever on his rifle, when suddenly someone grabbed his shoulder from behind. Reflexively twisting the hand that grabbed him, Haewon caught sight of the man clutching a medicine bottle, the corners of his eyes raw and festering.  

“Hey, Seo Haewon. You get back. That guy… I think I’ll have to take him on myself. That bastard keeps spouting nonsense… No matter how I look at it, those axe marks looked like what I saw on my brother’s stomach.”

“You can’t handle him alone anyway. So do it together.”

“My name’s Chae Woongbin. Chae In-ah, that was my brother’s name. He was two years younger than me. When I told him you were the one who gave me the medicine… he smiled. Said last time too, you turned a blind eye when I snuck medicine out. That’s how my brother died. Belly torn to ribbons… but still smiling.”

Chae Woongbin took a knife from his pocket. The hand holding the pill bottle plunged deep into Haewon’s pocket. When it slid back out, it was empty.

“So you step back. The bastard who wouldn’t show a single hair when we looked for him appeared on his own feet. I gotta kill him. Fuck, he’s the bastard who killed my brother!”

Blood vessels bulged in Chae Woongbin’s eyes as he twirled the knife. His fierce gaze fixed on the axe-wielding madman. Before long, the man with the axe was staggering forward, axe swinging in his grip. The moment his slow gait quickened, Chae Woongbin lunged and slashed with his dagger.  

“Go, now!”

Clang—

The axe and the short blade slammed against one another and flew apart. Haewon, rifle in hand, hesitated, then squeezed his eyes shut and turned away. But he wasn’t fleeing. Fighting at close range was entirely unfavorable to him, and if he was going to help Chae Woongbin, he needed distance.

“Where do you think you’re going?!”

Feeling a cold murderous intent, Haewon ducked, and a bloodied axe flew in, burying itself in the ground. He slipped on the incline, tumbled, and immediately turned to pull the rifle’s trigger.

Bang—!

“Get the hell out of here!”

His aim wavered, and his shots went wild, but a few shots grazed and struck as they passed.

“Cough, cough…!”

His whole body felt heavy. His mouth had gone dry, and his throat was raw; coughing kept bursting out. Down below, he saw Chae Woongbin collapse, his shoulder struck by the axe. Seo Haewon raised the muzzle again; this time the bullet skimmed the man’s thigh.

“The bastard’s got a death wish, huh?”

“Who, you? Shut your disgusting trap, you psycho bastard.”

Even if he ran now, he’d probably chase Seo Haewon all the way to the guild’s fortress. If he dragged him back to the guild, the damage would grow uncontrollable. Not knowing his full strength, Haewon couldn’t recklessly risk it. 

Besides—

Click!

Haewon had no desire at all to turn people into sacrifices and run away like the “Seo Haewon” in the “passage.” A hollow laugh escaped him. If this was what the system had planned, to drive him into repentance, then fine. It had half succeeded.

<Frost Snare LV.8>

An earthquake shook the area around the Tree of Good and Evil once again. Dirt flew like waves, and those standing on the wasteland all staggered and fell at once.

“Right now, I feel like I could kill anyone. Seriously… really. From the very beginning, I should’ve just smashed their skulls in. Why the hell did I hold myself back from something so easy?”

Where the hell did that bastard Kim Il-hong go? He said he followed along just to see his brother, but if he ran away alone, I’ll make sure to kick his ass later.

Dodging the axe-wielding man charging after him, Haewon scrambled up the slope on all fours. But halfway up, his ankle was grabbed, and he was dragged down. The feel of bare skin coiling around his ankle made a wave of disgust surge through him, and he kicked wildly.

“You bastard! With your filthy hands—!”

“Oh, filthy? Then, how about I start by cutting off this ankle?”

“Your head’s the one that’s about to fly first.”

As the axe rose, Haewon swung the rifle butt and struck; the axe blade slammed against it and bounced away. He drew the short blade strapped to his thigh and slashed it beneath the man’s jaw.

Thud!

The quake jolted the ground, and the dagger narrowly grazed past the man’s chin. At the rumbling that felt like something thrashing beneath the ground, both of them grimaced. Seizing the chance, Haewon hurled a fistful of dirt into the man’s face, then drove a hard kick into his shoulder and broke free.

“What kind of tricks are you pulling, fucker! Hah, still got energy to spare, do you? Must mean life’s still worth living, huh?”

No matter what the man spewed, Haewon poured all his focus into scrambling up the slope. Even though it was only food, he did not set down the heavy pack slung over his shoulders, not even for a moment.

If I just use my First Class Advancement skill right now—

< No! Not “Necromancer.” Don’t. You’ll be exposed. Then it’ll all fall apart. Don’t! >

The “system’s” words came not in its usual mechanical tone, but in something that almost sounded like a panicked, urgent shout. Haewon clenched his teeth. What was he supposed to do then?

That was how Seo Haewon was. Someone who had nothing, always wandering, yet still stubbornly determined to endure and accomplish what little he could.

It was a burden he carried, half out of stubbornness, and half because someone had to do it. It didn’t have to be Seo Haewon doing it, but if he didn’t, far more victims would pile up.

Some would call that hypocrisy. But breaking away from something that had always seemed like the obvious thing to do was as difficult as pulling your feet free from deep, sinking mudflats.

Whooo—

A gust swept across the barren land. Caught in a sudden sandstorm of sand and dirt, Haewon raised his arm to shield his eyes. Then boom, the quake thundered again like a convulsion, and Haewon, unable to take the final step forward, staggered and fell backward.

No. Don’t fall. Don’t—

He flailed, arms reaching into the empty air. His rifle toppled sideways with a dull thud. His head tilted back further and further, gaze still fixed on the faded sky above.

“!”

His pupils dilated, the world around him washed out. Too late, he realized the weight of his backpack had thrown off his balance. He reversed his grip on the dagger in his hand, but in this situation, it was utterly useless.

All the more so with a man behind him, swinging an axe straight for his skull.