novelraw Chapter 154 : Mission 10: The Hunters of Old (27)
Chapter 154 : Mission 10: The Hunters of Old (27)
Fifteen years ago.
Children were gathered. Starving, filthy, withered.
“As you commanded, I’ve gathered the orphans from the area,” the director said.
The man, so arrogant and vicious before the children, now bowed low like a dog before the guest who had just arrived.
“What should I do with them?”
“...Select the talented ones from among them.”
The guest was a middle-aged woman with unsettling red eyes and a face that seemed stiff, as if unused to expression. Her gaze swept over the huddled children as she continued.
“A child with the talent to open ‘the Gate.’”
The director cautiously asked, “And the ones without talent?”
“Eliminate them, one by one. Make the survivors desperate enough to awaken their own talents. Turn this place into a crucible of survival.”
A cruel smile touched the woman’s lips.
“Repeat this process until you find a worthy gemstone.”
The director silently lowered his head.
The middle-aged woman met the eyes of each child, one by one.
“Since this orphanage is called Heaven’s Garden, these children will be…”
The woman’s eyes met the Boy’s.
In that instant, he noticed it. Around the hair rising from the crown of her head… a light was spreading.
Like a halo.
“Let’s call them the ‘Children of Heaven.’”
***
“Ugh…”
Jae-hee slowly opened his eyes.
“Ow, my head. Did I doze off…?”
And then he saw Ghost, standing right in front of him.
Her piercing blue eyes were narrowed, her cold hands resting on his cheeks.
“Whoa! Master?!”
“...You didn’t drink something ordinary, did you?”
“Huh? Oh, right. Soju Bottle said it was a medicinal liquor, good for the body…”
Ghost seemed to realize something, but she didn’t press the matter, instead staring intently into Jae-hee’s eyes.
“Fine. There’s something more important right now.”
“More important?”
“I will now pass on ‘Domain Break’ to you.”
Ghost slowly lowered her hands from his cheeks.
“Or perhaps it’s more of a simple guide. In the end, you’re the one who has to open the door.”
She moved slowly behind him.
Meanwhile, Jae-hee took in his surroundings.
CRACK-ROOOOAR!
Right in front of them, Iron Knight was summoning dozens of castle walls to block the Demon Lord’s venomous breath, while Chevalier and the 1st Deck team fought off the Dragon Tooth Soldiers that slipped through.
Chevalier was a given, but the 1st Deck team was the real surprise.
“Hyaaaah!”
Wielding a sword made from a Dragon Tooth Soldier’s bone, Razor tore through the enemy ranks.
Status Window called out enemy positions, Jail Mojik bound them, Romeo and Juliet opened fire, Rabid Dog mauled them, and the Flying Tentacle God lashed out with its appendages.
Thanks to Soju Bottle’s medicinal liquor, they were all half-crazed, eyes wild, but they were fighting far better than he’d ever expected.
“They’re stronger than you think. So don’t worry. Focus on yourself,” Ghost said, her cool voice coming from behind him.
“Draw your sword.”
Jae-hee did as instructed, drawing his sword.
Standing behind him, Ghost reached forward and placed her hand over his, so they held the sword together.
“Slowly, pour your heart into it, and cut through the empty air.”
“My heart?” Jae-hee tilted his head. “How do I do that?”
“That… is genuinely difficult to explain,” Ghost grunted, still a novice as a teacher. “First, picture the world you wish for.”
“Umm…”
“And with the desire to reach that world—to create it—swing the sword.”
Though it varied by user, most Domain Breaks embodied the user’s soulscape. It was how a person perceived the world, or how they wished to approach it.
A Domain Break was that inner world made manifest.
“Ah, Chevalier said something similar before.”
It was just like what he’d heard from him once.
“A sword only gains weight when there is something to protect, something to achieve. Only then does it transcend being a simple weapon of murder and become a means of imposing one’s will upon the world.”
Lost in thought for a moment, Jae-hee muttered, “Maybe it’s because I’m not very educated, but I still don’t get the hard stuff. I don’t know anything about politics or the world.”
“…”
“I just wish everyone could eat good food together and laugh.”
It was a crazy world where people dropped like flies. A hopeless world, slowly marching toward a predetermined doom.
Still, he wanted to be happy, just for today.
Some might call it childish, but that was his honest feeling.
“A world where everyone can watch that rock fest… the one we saw together.”
Ghost paused, then asked stiffly, “Were you happy that day?”
“Yes,” Jae-hee answered, a little sheepishly. “I didn’t know it then, but looking back, I think it was the happiest day of my life.”
“…”
“The day we ate good food, watched the band parade, and screamed and sang along at the top of our lungs.”
“...I see.”
Ghost’s voice trailed off for a moment before she continued.
“Then picture that scene. Make that day… the anchor point for your world.”
As his master instructed, Jae-hee closed his eyes and focused.
“A moment ago, you were drunk, but with the sole desire to breathe fresh air, you succeeded in slicing away a small piece of the world.”
“…”
“It’s the same this time. With that ardent wish to see that day again…”
Ghost’s voice grew firm.
“Open the way.”
With his master’s hand covering his own, Jae-hee swung the sword forward with all his might.
And the tip of the sword… sliced a small piece of the world away.
***
The next moment, Jae-hee found himself in a completely different place.
“Huh.”
The Boy looked around, bewildered.
It was empty all around. A plain of absolute nothingness, devoid of even color.
In the distance, a single door stood alone.
It was a massive—a truly massive door. He couldn’t even guess what it was made of. The great door was shut tight, bound by long chains and a gigantic lock.
As Jae-hee cautiously approached, he finally realized something.
Those aren’t chains and a lock.
The thing wrapped around the door… was the long, enormous body and head of a snake.
“Hmm?”
The snake binding the door slowly opened its eyes, tilting its lock-like head. Hissing, it asked:
“What’s this, new ‘prey’?”
“Huh? Prey…?”
“Ah, no. You’re one of the ‘keys.’”
The snake narrowed its translucent eyes.
“But… haven’t you been here before? You seem familiar.”
Jae-hee swallowed nervously.
He’d been here before? That couldn’t be right…
“Big bro.”
Surely not.
As Jae-hee stood in confusion, the snake continued, “Did you forget how to open the door already?”
“Uh… um…”
“Well, I suppose that can happen. It matters not.”
With a surprisingly friendly demeanor, the snake asked gently, “Where do you wish to go?”
“Uh, what do you mean by that…?”
“You open a door because there is a place you wish to go, is there not? What does the world you want look like?”
Jae-hee’s thoughts were on his outing with Ghost, but then he gasped, his hand flying to his neck.
The bomb collar, the Guillotine, was still there.
Suddenly, its weight felt immense, as if it were tethered to the ground. It was hard to breathe.
“...But I’m a prisoner.”
After struggling with the collar for a moment, Jae-hee gave up on removing it and asked, “Is it okay for me to go where I want… without permission?”
“All humans are prisoners, in the end. All life is bound by chains,” the snake laughed. “Even without that collar, you are already entangled in countless restrictions.”
“…”
“Nevertheless, if you wish to be one who opens ‘the Door’ toward a place of your own choosing, chasing the mirage of ‘freedom,’ you must have the courage to break every chain and leave the nest.”
So said the snake, which itself had the form of a chain.
“Whatever the price may be.”
Swallowing hard, Jae-hee asked cautiously, “Who are you?”
“I am the lock,” the snake chuckled. “A being that opens the door when someone brings the proper key.”
“…”
“Boy. You wish to leave but don’t know your destination. You have a dream but don’t know how to achieve it.”
Feeling a little embarrassed, Jae-hee scratched the back of his head and looked down.
“You are immature, but that’s fine. To begin a journey to find the answer, you must first open the door. I shall make a special exception this time.”
Clink, clank—
With a metallic sound, the snake’s chain-like body slowly uncoiled from the door.
“Such reckless departures are a privilege of youth, I suppose. But next time… be sure to decide on your destination and perfect your own key.”
Finally releasing its own lock, the snake moved its head away from the doorknob.
“Until we meet again, Boy.”
The snake vanished completely.
Jae-hee stood before the unlocked door.
He swallowed hard, then reached out with both hands and pushed.
With all his strength.
The great door began to rumble open.
***
The battle in the valley below was fierce.
The Domain Breaks of Iron Knight and Ghost, spread to the east and west, were being relentlessly pushed back by the Demon Lord’s domain expanding from the north.
Defeat seemed inevitable, but neither of them withdrew their power. They knew all too well the damage that would be wrought if they did, allowing the Demon Lord’s domain to bleed into reality.
But they were nearing their limit. Most of their territory was already covered in the Demon Lord’s corruption, and Deyana Ludens, knowing time was on its side, continued its leisurely assault.
At this rate, the entire area will be consumed by corruption…!
Iron Knight seethed inside.
Are the New Five Heroes really going to wait until I’ve exhausted Deyana Ludens, until we take each other out, before they make their move…?
If his death was the trigger for the next phase of the operation, perhaps it would be better to end his own life now.
But just as that thought crossed his mind… a spring wind blew.
Whoosh—
Iron Knight spun in shock as a new Domain Break unfolded to the south.
A gusting wind tore through, sweeping back the toxic corruption in a single blast and shoving aside the tainted domains of both Iron Knight and Ghost.
“Thankfully…” Ghost exhaled in relief. “He made it in time.”
From within the swirling blue gale, a boy’s voice drifted softly.
“Domain Break: Curtain Rise.”
Thus began the Domain Break of Jae-hee—the nation’s eleventh S-Ranker, a third-generation Awakened.