novelraw Chapter 14 : Chapter 14
Chapter 14 : Chapter 14
Chapter 14: Two People (4)
I closed my eyes.
“…….”
Seeing my past self was, in itself, painful.
A person could be stupid, but this was so excessive it was nauseating.
Beyond my closed eyes, I heard the voice of Lee Chulwoon trying to hold onto me.
“If you die, this opportunity……!”
He was trying to speak calmly, but it also sounded desperate.
“Die?”
……Pathetic bastard.
“Just from falling from here?”
Ttuduk.
The cloth of my clothes, which he was holding, tore a little more.
A pitiful human who had barely grasped a dangling hope……. But who had become unable to even have a conversation without resorting to threats.
Myself.
My body was still being held, but my mood had already plummeted.
Indescribably…….
It was rock bottom.
“Do you not know how big of an opportunity this is?”
However, Lee Chulwoon could not give up.
“Han Chulwoon! If the two of us join forces, we can seize destiny.”
The more my clothes tore, the more strongly Lee Chulwoon gripped them.
So much so that he forgot that the stronger he gripped, the faster the clothes would rip.
He was desperate.
“Not interested.”
Eudeudeuk.
The cloth tore even more.
“If we join forces, even the Constellations in that sky……”
“Constellations……. Fuck, is that still as far as you see.”
“……What?”
“If the things you aim for are just Constellations.”
I grabbed Lee Chulwoon’s hand and twisted it.
“Uk!”
“It would be good to see a little farther.”
Now, I was in a state of hanging by my own hand.
“This, how?”
Lee Chulwoon was aghast.
This side was clearly stronger.
He could tell just by grabbing.
That this side was superior in stats.
But, to have my hand freed so easily.
Even when he tried to move the captured arm again, it just trembled.
It wouldn’t move.
“I’ll get lost on my own, so just shut your mouth.”
“……You, no way?”
I smiled shallowly as I looked at the shocked Lee Chulwoon.
Thinking it was an expression that suited that uncool face well.
“And that pathetic face won’t change no matter what you do, so stop striking that damn pose. It’s so bad it’s making my eyes rot.”
“……!”
“Additionally, your name is now Fake-Chulwoon. I won’t accept any rebuttals.”
I said, and raised the fingers of my other hand.
“But did you think I really came without a plan?”
“What?”
“It’s homework. Watch the method I’m using now and learn it well.”
As I snapped my fingers!
Deureureureuk- Kwaang!
Thump. Thump. Thump. Thump. Thump.
Small shocks spread in a chain reaction from the lower part of the building.
“When I was getting the Massacrer title, I used this method.”
Lee Chulwoon knew what that meant.
The building rooftop shook as if there was an earthquake.
In other words, I was planning to collapse this entire building.
“T-that!”
It was an impossible feat.
Because modern architecture was not so simple.
Because even for someone who handled Magic Power skillfully, collapsing a building with one person’s power was no ordinary feat.
“It’s nothing. This building, they left out a few reinforcing bars when they built it.”
Thump. Thump. Thump. Thump.
As this shock came up from below, Lee Chulwoon could tell for sure.
‘The scale of the magic itself is weaker than my Magic Bullet.’
But these small vibrations were stimulating the building’s weak points, inducing it to collapse.
With every moment, the vibrations were getting rougher.
‘Right now……!’
For a moment, Lee Chulwoon’s gaze turned back.
He had the thought that he needed to grab me so I couldn't leave, but.
‘Kang Yuha!’
If this building collapsed, she would never be able to survive.
He let go of the hand he was holding and ran back.
“Bastard. Got some romance?”
Behind him, he heard my voice.
But that too was brief.
Crrrunch!
The building couldn't withstand the continuous shocks and began to crumble.
There was no telling how much time was left until the collapse.
Kkwak!
He hugged Kang Yuha with all his strength, and constructed a protective barrier with his entire body’s Magic Power.
A deep blue sphere was overlaid on the two people.
Only after that.
‘The future me?’
When Lee Chulwoon turned his gaze, I was standing leisurely on the corner of the building.
“If you aim for the weak points, you can take down an impossible-looking enemy with very little strength.”
Gugugugugu-
A thick crack began to form on the rooftop floor, and with that as the starting point.
Kwang!
A faint shockwave exploded from the middle of the floor.
It created a giant crack between me and Lee Chulwoon.
His vision blurred with the dust and debris that rose up in clouds.
Through it, Lee Chulwoon saw the opponent, who was not preparing any defense.
“……No way! Are you trying to die first like this!”
I shook my head.
A face that looked a little sad.
The next moment.
The entire building slumped down.
The ground beneath his feet became empty, and his body plummeted.
Kkwaak!
Lee Chulwoon hugged Kang Yuha tightly, and focused all his remaining Magic Power on defense.
Geudeudeudeuk.
Guuuuuuu-
The sound of all sorts of hard things splitting, cracking, and colliding.
He was swept away by the building's debris pouring down like a wave, fell, and collided with the floors of each story multiple times.
Where was the sky and the ground…….
Tumbling and rolling, he fell.
Finally, the barrier couldn't hold and shattered.
“Keuuueuk!”
Even as he was struck by countless fragments, Lee Chulwoon thought.
‘I should have died first!’
But it was too late.
Now was the time to focus on protecting Kang Yuha in his arms, somehow.
All sorts of thoughts bloomed.
What if he was also real?
What if he died from the collapse?
And so, if he regressed after dying?
‘Damn it!’
What would happen to me?
And this world?
The next life?
The chance to save the world?
Kang Yuha…… She…….
………
……
…
Thoughts bloomed dizzily.
Like branching out, another assumption attached to one assumption, and countless hypotheses spread out like a mirage.
His thoughts were hindered by too many thoughts, as if his brain was tied in a spiderweb.
Thump.
Thump.
Thump.
His wildly beating heart was loud.
Louder than the countless falling fragments of the building.
Thump.
Thump.
Thump.
However, even after a long time passed, this world remained as it was.
“…….”
Hudududuk.
The dust slowly cleared, and the sky, vivid with starlight, was being revealed.
“Keolleok!”
Lee Chulwoon had suffered internal injuries and vomited blood.
And then, a message appeared.
[Quest Clear]
[Cain has learned the identities of the two people.]
[You have acquired 1000coin.]
Cain appeared.
“Oho. That was an interesting conversation. The story about regression among them is special. Would you not like to have a conversation regarding that matter?”
Lee Chulwoon didn't pay attention to Cain's jeering tone, and checked on Kang Yuha first.
“Keck! Miss Yuha.”
She was curled up tightly, her eyes squeezed shut, and was weeping small tears.
“Heueueu……”
His heart ached so much at her appearance, trying to hold back even her sobs.
The woman he loved the most.
The woman he still loved.
But she was a person he couldn't protect, no matter what he did.
“Are you okay?”
At that one phrase, Kang Yuha burst into the tears she had been holding back.
He was just asking after her well-being, but with just that, the emotions she had held back until now burst out as if a dam had broken.
Lee Chulwoon patted her gently.
“Don’t worry. It will be alright.”
As he comforted her, he forcibly swallowed the words he wanted to say, ‘I will protect you no matter what.’
‘I still have my hands full just protecting one person.’
He had seen Kang Yuha’s death several times.
He eventually turned his eyes away.
‘If I don't become strong enough to return this world to how it was, this time too, she will…….’
Would that day come?
This hellish world that repeats endlessly, could I be the one to end it?
He had vowed that when that time came, he would come to get her.
He thought he would start over from the beginning, save countless people, and become the breakwater for all this tragedy.
However, he had not once seen the end of the world.
No matter how many times he tried, he was in the same place.
He was still in a situation where he just woke up on the toilet.
He would fail again this time, and he would lose everything, including her.
“…….”
But as long as she was here, he wouldn't be able to give up this life easily.
As if making a resolution, he said one more time.
“It will be okay.”
Please, let it be okay…….
***
Lee Chulwoon spent time in the ruins, waiting for his body to recover.
Going outside would only cause problems because of the ‘Star Ash’.
In the middle, he fell asleep for a while, as if fainting.
When he woke, he said.
“……Cain. I have a request. Change Kang Yuha to be under your charge too.”
“Hm. Checking, she is a woman with no Watcher in charge.”
“Is it difficult?”
“If you cooperate with me, by all means.”
“Alright. I’ll cooperate.”
After finishing the simple process.
He raised his body.
“Uk!”
His whole body throbbed, but it was at a level he could bear by gritting his teeth.
‘Endure it. I have to bear it.’
When his heart was pushed to the extreme, he tried to become even colder.
Now was the time to do so.
He had to be calculating.
So, he thought.
‘……The situation has become complicated.’
The opponent was definitely himself.
But he was uncooperative.
‘It must mean this isn't a situation to be relaxed about.’
If he too was a regressor, he would know the important hidden pieces.
‘I have to hurry.’
To get even one more hidden piece, he had to move even faster than usual.
It was then.
Throb!
A pain, like a burning sensation, was felt in his wrist.
‘This is.’
It was a bright red handprint.
It was the spot Han Chulwoon had grabbed when he broke his grip.
‘Homework…… was it.’
He had said that if you aim for the weak points, you can take down a strong enemy with little strength.
The trace of that remained on this wrist.
“…….”
***
Kwang!
“Uk! Shiiit! Aww……. Dammit.”
I, having jumped down, spat out rough curses.
I had spat it out as if this was nothing to Lee Chulwoon, but…….
In truth, I almost died.
Especially this time, it was more dangerous.
‘Getting hit by that one Magic Bullet hurts quite a bit.’
I had rapidly drawn on my Magic Power to scatter that shock, but I couldn't completely block the impact.
That body was not in a normal state.
My Magic Power was already lacking, but I had overused it one more time.
The Qi Deviation phenomenon was about to happen again.
If anything, it was fortunate that I had already used up all my Magic Power.
Since the Magic Power to even go rampant was paltry.
‘It was close, though.’
If I controlled the order in which the building collapsed, I could greatly mitigate the shock of the fall.
‘I’m used to falling.’
Because there were many hidden pieces that required jumping off cliffs or under waterfalls, I had fallen often.
‘What a memory.’
Failing at that, I had died futilely countless times.
The numerous experiences of surviving when I tried to die, and dying when I tried to live, had made me a master of falling.
‘Master of falling…….’
Thinking, I let out a quiet laugh.
‘It’s not some kind of gag.’
In the process of the building collapsing, I rode down the crumbling building, which was half-falling, and to disperse the shock, I aimed for and hit the roadside trees, fell onto a car, and at the end, barely applied a safe falling technique…….
I preserved my life.
I did preserve it.
But that was all.
‘This is dangerous.’
The ‘Star Ash’, the poison that makes one dream forever, was full on all sides.
[The Constellation ‘Ruin of the Gigantes’ is closely watching your actions.]
[The Constellation ‘Ruin of the Gigantes’ says that trials are necessary to become a hero.]
‘I thought that guy was attached to Lee Chulwoon.’
I thought as I looked at the message from ‘Ruin of the Gigantes’.
He was someone with the nickname ‘Hero of Heroes’.
I thought that because Lee Chulwoon was more serious about playing hero, he had gone to him.
Or, maybe he was watching both sides.
“But if it’s something to be called a trial……”
I muttered to myself.
“Isn’t this much too obvious.”
And with that, I lay down flat.
[The Constellation ‘Ruin of the Gigantes’ is bewildered.]
[A majority of Constellations express doubt at Han Chulwoon’s eccentric behavior.]
‘……Eccentric behavior, huh.’
[The Constellation ‘Six-Eyed Prophet’ smiles brightly. It wants to tell you the future it glimpsed from him.]
Slowly, the ‘Star Ash’ was seeping into my body, putting me into a state of suspended animation.
And on one side.
“Kyak. Kyak.”
From far away, a group of Goblins discovered me.