novelraw Chapter 118 : Polaris (2)
Chapter 118 : Polaris (2)
Polaris (2)
"Oh, wow, Eugene. I never thought you'd actually remember me."
Victor Garcia grinned as he raised both hands.
Eugene, who was glaring at him for a moment, slowly asked,
"What did you do with the Chinese man you disguised as?"
"He's Korean."
At Yeon-ji's bored interjection, Eugene's gaze briefly turned to Yeon-ji, then shifted back to Victor.
"What did you do with the East Asian man you disguised as?"
"I told you, he's Korean."
Eugene's strong will not to say anything Victor wanted was palpable.
"Don't worry, all the passengers are~ nice and quiet. I kept them as hostages, just in case you followed me. But maybe since you're later than I thought, they're not all that useful anymore."
"What do you mean?"
"That's my answer to the first thing you asked. You wanted to know why I've done all this, didn't you?"
He looked out the window. Wherever Minerva was passing through, it was nothing but monster-dominated, devastated land.
Where a village might have once stood, monsters roamed.
"There's someone interested in that thing inside Minerva."
"I don't know what you're talking about."
"Don't play dumb. I know Heart of Prometheus is in here."
Heart of Prometheus?
Yeon-ji could guess that was the thing Eugene had been keeping hidden.
'What kind of item could it be?'
For someone to unleash such chaos, it could never be ordinary.
And the fact that someone wanted that thing was disturbing as well.
Who on earth could have commissioned such a thing to UnderStellar?
"Who's the one that gave you that request?"
"Hmph, did you really think I'd tell you that? You've gotten naïve."
"Then I guess I'll have to catch you and ask you myself."
As Eugene gripped his sword tighter, Victor sniffed with a laugh.
"It's unfortunate, but that's impossible. Eugene, you should worry about yourself first right now."
He still looked as confident as ever.
Even facing the fastest man in America, he acted as if he could still escape.
'How?'
Yeon-ji's question was soon answered by the trembling ground.
Kugugugung!!
"An earthquake?"
Eugene frowned and muttered, but Yeon-ji shook her head.
This wasn't an earthquake.
As a half-demon, Yeon-ji could feel the aura.
The omen of calamity crawling up from beneath the earth.
Kwa kwa kwa kwa kwang!!!
Something shot up a little away from the tracks Minerva was traveling along.
Dirt flew everywhere, and the monsters nearby shrieked and began to flee.
"Kyaaa!!"
"What is that!!"
From not far away, the hostages' screams could be heard.
What was visible through Minerva's window was enough to terrify everyone.
"... A hand?"
A gigantic hand burst from the earth—one that could easily smash even an ogre several meters tall. That massive hand was only the beginning of the coming disaster.
Kwa kwa kwa kwa kwang!!!
After the hand, a huge, thick arm emerged, and something colossal was climbing to the surface.
A giant monster whose whole body was made of enormous metal.
As its upper body surfaced, its blunt head turned towards Minerva.
Even though it was still far away, it was so big it seemed only an arm's length away.
"The King of the Demonic Zone."
With his back to it, Victor spread his arms wide.
Like a priest worshipping a god.
"You didn't take part in the Demonic Zone subjugation a few years ago, so this is your first time seeing it, huh?"
No one paid attention to Victor's gleeful words.
Because the King of the Demonic Zone was reaching out toward Minerva.
A shadow like a blanket over the sky fell upon the train.
"Damn it!!"
Eugene's feet moved.
At the same time, chains spread out from Yeon-ji's shadow in all directions.
And almost simultaneously──
Kwaaaang!!!
With a deafening roar, the enormous hand smashed down on Minerva.
***
"Oh my god."
Everyone watching the video on the TV groaned in unison.
Some even began to pray.
A giant had appeared in a place not far from Denver, referred to as a "Titan" on the news.
The King of the Demonic Zone, Titan.
Up to now, five Demonic Realms existed worldwide, but never before had a King of the Demonic Zone appeared first.
"Uh, do you think Yeon-ji is okay?"
One staffer watching the news asked PD Jung Jun-soo.
Of course, PD Jung Jun-soo found it hard to speak.
They'd heard that Yeon-ji, along with Eugene, had gone after Minerva, but hadn't the monster that just appeared smashed Minerva apart?
Everyone inside must have lost their lives.
There seemed no other way to interpret the sight.
"Manager Park didn't return after seeing Yeon-ji off, right?"
"Yes, if he sees this news, he'd be beside himself with worry..."
Breaking news reported that the hunters in the western region were now being gathered to confront the King of the Demonic Zone. The mobilization of various hunter guilds and organizations made clear how urgent the situation was.
"So, PD-nim. What do we do now? That monster isn't coming this way, is it?"
The staff looked visibly anxious.
Of course—they now had to wait until another train could be prepared, since Minerva, their only means of transport, had been destroyed.
"The accident happened about 600km from here, so we should be fine. Don't worry."
PD Jung Jun-soo tried to reassure the cast, but honestly, he himself could hardly remain calm.
What if something really did happen?
The King of the Demonic Zone was bad enough, but monsters were surging forward too.
Even knowing the distance, it was hard to hide his anxiety.
Kwaang!!
Just then, the hotel room door burst open.
Startled, everyone turned to see a woman with dazzling blonde hair.
"Ah, Alencia?"
The Alencia who'd stormed off after Jung-woo's words was standing there, panting, wiping sweat off her brow.
"... Where's Manager Park Jung-woo."
"Yes?"
"Manager Park Jung-woo—do you know where he is?"
PD Jung Jun-soo cautiously studied Alencia's oddly teary eyes.
"The last I heard, he was near the station. I haven't been able to reach him since, so I'm not sure."
"Thank you."
With that, Alencia dashed off again.
As PD Jung Jun-soo watched her hastily fleeing figure, another staffer asked, looking puzzled,
"Why is she looking for Manager Park?"
"Well..."
Naturally, PD Jung Jun-soo had no idea why Alencia was seeking Jung-woo.
But for some reason, he had a strange feeling.
"All the same, I think we'll be able to keep filming."
Even he himself couldn't explain why he suddenly thought that.
***
「Be an ordinary person. There's no need to be someone great or special.」
Alencia's guess was right.
The video Leon had hidden was sliced up and thoroughly concealed.
No ordinary means could ever find or restore it.
But that didn't matter to Alencia.
「But, Alencia.」
Jung-woo had said,
His power was like magic.
The "magic" he spoke of was akin to a miracle.
「You're our daughter, so I thought you wouldn't be satisfied with something like this.」
So, using that power to find and recover the edited video was not difficult.
He could finally see the true feelings of Sarah Walker, which Leon had so wanted to hide.
「Surely, Alencia, you don't really wish for such ordinariness, do you?」
Her mother's confident smile as she remembered it.
「The value of the Saintess, the weight it carries. And the hopes people place upon it.」
Alencia did not know just how frightening that was.
But she didn't want to give up on everything just because she didn't know.
Surely her mother would understand her stubbornness.
「To bear that burden alone is too much. I wished you wouldn't take that path, Alencia.」
The Saintess's power represented the universal values of her era.
Strength coveted and desired by all.
No one with such power was left alone by the world.
It was impossible for an ordinary person to bear it.
「Our daughter was a crybaby—and you never even studied hard.」
She knew.
She wasn't someone born to shoulder such power.
Alencia—she was never as noble or talented as the heroes in stories.
Just an ordinary human being.
Alencia Walker, and that was herself.
「So, Alencia.」
Her mother said to her,
「Find someone who can fill your shortcomings.」
She didn't have to carry everything alone.
「Someone who will always be by your side when you're having a hard time.」
Someone who would bear the heavy responsibilities, the uncertain value formed by people's hopes.
「Someone who can set you back on the right path if you stray.」
Someone who would take her hand and not let her be led astray by the world's desires.
「Your polaris.」
A star that lights the dark night sky, the brightest star that guides the lost.
Someone who would always be by her side.
Someone who knew her shortcomings and could fill them with light like a star.
「If you do that...」
Just as Sarah Walker herself had, she would surely become happy.
「Alencia, you can become someone great.」
That was the last message her mother left in her memory.
"Haa, haa..."
Out of breath, Alencia wiped her sweat-blurred vision.
He was there, on the hill overlooking downtown Denver.
"... Why are you here?"
"I had something to find."
He carried himself like a person a step removed from the world's turmoil.
"I mean me."
Alencia said to him,
"I still don't want to give this up."
She didn't know what answer he wanted.
She still didn't understand why he'd sent her away on Leon's word, either.
Still, she didn't want to lose him.
"To you, I must look really lacking."
He was the hero who'd saved the world.
The Saintess who had been with him was a woman of unparalleled nobility.
Compared to them, she was nothing but flaws.
"So."
Lacking in talent.
Lacking a strong mind—an immature child.
Compared to the noble Saintess, she came up short on everything.
But—there was just one thing.
Just one thing.
"You're the one who came to me, aren't you?"
He was the one who had first reached out.
He'd offered her his hand and led her.
"You believed I could do it."
He surely knew all her flaws.
Even though he knew all her shortcomings, he was the first to reach out.
In the past, she'd never understood his reason, but now she knew.
He had known.
"That you could fill the gaps I have."
That he could make deeply flawed Alencia into a competent Saintess.
"That's why you came to me, isn't it?"
Alencia glanced up at him gently.
"... Isn't that right?"
She asked weakly.
Idly.
She'd come running to him, just on a whim.
Because the moment she heard her mother's words, he was the first one who came to mind.
But if—if he rejected her again.
"You're not thinking of giving up on me, are you...?"
What difference was there between this and just childish stubbornness?
But to Alencia, she had nothing else.
At this rate, she would be nothing.
She wouldn't be a great person, she wouldn't be able to save her father.
Alencia and Jung-woo's eyes quietly met.
In the silence, Jung-woo spoke first.
"It's ten thousand, seven hundred fifty-one kilometers."
It seemed an oddly random thing to say.
"... What?"
"The distance I traveled to meet you."
From Korea to America.
"I came all that way..."
Jung-woo stepped closer to the anxious Alencia and smiled gently.
"... I'm not about to give up so easily."
At those words, Alencia involuntarily looked up at his face.
There was not a hint of anxiety about her in his expression.
At last, she understood why he'd stayed quietly in this place for so long.
He had been waiting.
Waiting for Alencia to seek him out on her own.
To think long and hard, to struggle with herself.
To choose Jung-woo with her own will.
"Let's go, Alencia."
He smiled and held out his hand.
"Let's show the world that you exist."
Alencia hesitantly reached out and took his offered hand.
Warm and strong, pulsing with life.
Then, at last, Alencia realized.
'I've found it.'
My polaris.
-------------= Clacky's Corner -------------=
Polaris is the North Star that is used for navigation due to it being relatively stationary compared to other stars.
Sarah wanting Alencia to find her Polaris meant finding her guide.
The same with the story of the Saintess and the Guide mentioned from previous chapters...
At least that is what my understanding of it is.
【ദ്ദി(⩌ᴗ⩌)】