novelraw Chapter 74
Chapter 74
Chapter 74
I liked to think I understood people’s nature fairly well.
You shouldn’t expect anything from people. That was the one fact my years of living and experience proved.
It didn’t really matter how many people I saved. The acquaintances of those I failed to save could blame me no matter how many I had saved.
“Back then, one hundred thirty-two people died.”
One hundred thirty-two. It was natural that some of them would blame me. I had even killed people who were still alive.
That was how humans were. Even if there was no way to bring them back, there had to be people who would aim their arrows of resentment at me, the one who killed those still breathing.
Questions like, was there really no other way.
Accusations like, didn’t Yoo Chan-seok kill people too hastily.
But I couldn’t find a single complaint or doubt about me on the internet. Of course that couldn’t be the mainstream opinion, but even so, the total absence of even a shred of skepticism or criticism was far too strange.
No, when someone did well, it was normal for others to get jealous and try to drag them down. Right now I couldn’t find any sign of that. None.
This couldn’t be. It couldn’t happen naturally. I had only one conclusion.
‘Someone was controlling the media now for use later. Probably… the government.’
They were likely suppressing the voices of the bereaved for the moment and only collecting materials. Then they’d plan to use those statements and files later.
They would praise me as a savior and a hero, and when my usefulness ended, they’d try to bury me by releasing disgruntled testimonies they had gathered and some plausible research results.
I’d pulled that kind of cheerful con plenty of times. So I was going around early and apologizing, to head off any attempt to run that con on me.
“Going to each one to apologize will take quite a bit of time. While I go around apologizing, Han Sang-ah, and Mr. Jung, keep training.”
After I finished speaking, I put on my coat and got in the car. As we drove, I searched through various articles on my phone and let out a low sigh.
[Threat outside the Erosion Zone. Blue House says “More than anything, this was a time when national unity had to come first.”]
[The tragic incident that unfolded in the heart of Seoul, what would the government’s policy be going forward.]
[Citizens trembling with fear, shifting government policy.]
[The world’s only safe zone, what if it’s no longer safe. We must overcome through thorough preparation and public cooperation.]
Most of the pieces focused on the incident that had taken place in the middle of Seoul. On top of that, they were using my name as a garnish.
The point was simple. People living in Korea would have to pay a little more in taxes, and the hours of power and water cuts would be extended.
And any inconvenience from that would be papered over with lines like, wasn’t Korea getting dangerous now, did you really have time to complain.
A sense of community like, if we didn’t unite at a time like this, we would all die. Honestly, that wasn’t bad.
More precisely, it wasn’t my concern. Either way, the Korean government wanted to collect more tax from the people and stockpile more supplies. In that process, any means was fine so long as they didn’t get caught.
The problem was that in the process they were hawking my name. That annoyed me. I had no intention of just taking it. This was Earth, and it was where I had to live for the rest of my life.
I met them one by one, all one hundred thirty-two. Of course, some among them understood graciously and said they were thankful I had come.
“Get lost!”
And there were people who hurled filthy curses and tried to hit me while saying that. Naturally, I got cursed at, and I got hit.
They howled, they rushed in, they raged, they cursed. As if I were the cause of all the pain, emptiness, and despair they were going through.
“Are you all right? Honestly, I don’t think Hunter Yoo Chan-seok should have to be treated like this.”
Later, the driver who had been taking me around asked me that.
There was no reason I wouldn’t be all right. I hadn’t come seeking forgiveness. I was doing it to make a shield I could use later, when they tried to use these victims to cut down my reputation.
I felt nothing for those who thanked me and tried to understand, or for those who spoke warmly to me, and the reverse was the same.
“Yes, I’m fine.”
I said that and smiled at the driver. He would be the same.
Could that driver say I didn’t deserve this treatment if I had been the one to kill his wife or child, his parents or siblings.
Of course not. And honestly, whether the driver resented me or forgave me, I didn’t feel anything. My goal wasn’t to save the handful of people in front of my eyes, my goal was to haul a ruined world back to normal.
Oh, and I had no intention of doing it while getting cursed out forever here on Earth. That was why I hustled around like this, apologizing.
“We’ll need to be on the road a few more days. Please bear with the trouble.”
Back at the Seoul Hunter Association building, I thanked the driver and got out of the car.
“Well, in Nanami’s case it was clear she’d gone neatly wrong.”
Look at me.
After briefly looking up at the Association building, I headed for the training room where Han Sang-ah and Jung Oh-hoon would be staying.
“Woah, this looks a little too rough.”
When I got there, Jung Oh-hoon’s face was swollen pitifully from the training beating carried out by Han Sang-ah.
“It was hard to do it like you. I kept making mistakes.”
At Han Sang-ah’s words, Jung Oh-hoon let out a damn.
“Still, looks like you took a few hits too.”
“Yeah.”
Han Sang-ah fought at close range, and Jung Oh-hoon specialized in ranged. Even so, the fact that he had managed to land a few on Han Sang-ah was good news.
“Whatever else, my body feels incredibly light.”
Without sparing a glance for the prone Jung Oh-hoon, Han Sang-ah stretched as she spoke, and Jung Oh-hoon glared at her, then let out a long sigh.
“My fate was burrowing into the bedrock. Son of mine, if you’re born in some far future, I’m sorry. Looks like your dad dies here.”
I clicked my tongue and tapped the floor with my spear. The shock traveled along the floor and popped Jung Oh-hoon upright again.
He looked at me like he’d seen a ghost.
“What was that? How did you just do that?!”
“You don’t need to know. Cheap parlor tricks anyone can do if they keep training, so don’t worry about it.”
It was like the ketchup that came with a hamburger.
“Strike the Mountain, Hit the Ox, weren’t you unable to do that?”
Even Han Sang-ah looked a little surprised. I said to her,
“Sure, while you two were training, I was just sitting around doing nothing.”
As if. How many elixirs had I drained, and how many days had I put into training?
“Then what if you fought that thing again, the one we ran into when you fought Sohwi.”
It was Jung Oh-hoon’s question. He meant that walking corpse that dumped bugs like droppings. The name was Ballea, right? I let out a small sigh.
“Mr. Jung, the road we have to walk is very long and rough.”
Even if I stayed still, I polished my body’s meridians with ambient magic and got a bit stronger. But even then, this body was frustrating, and I still had a long way to go.
If I faced it now, I’d die. It had popped out by borrowing Sohwi’s body, so there was a time limit, and that was what saved me. You could call it a win, but it was only a narrow win.
“So we could die in a First-Class Erosion Core like Jaun Valley if we slip up huh.”
At Han Sang-ah’s words, I made a flat face.
“Of course.”
If you did this job thinking you could always survive, your mind might be at ease, but the price was getting closer to the death that lurked.
“We are all lumps of flesh and bone that could die, and it wouldn’t be strange if we died at any time.”
If you want to live, you shouldn’t cling to useless hope. You had to claw and thrash to get better.
“Mr. Jung, it might be an unpleasant experience, but can you help me?”
“Unpleasant experience? What are you talking about.”
Experience was faster than explanation.
“If you really don’t want to, you don’t have to.”
I figured it would be possible anyway. And I was almost certain my guess about the realm I had reached wouldn’t be wrong. Still, there was always a maybe, so I wanted to check once.
“Is it dangerous? I need to make money.”
“It’s not dangerous. It’s just an unpleasant experience.”
At my words, Jung Oh-hoon nodded.
“In that case, sure. How bad could “unpleasant” be anyway?”
I didn’t think he’d still say that after going through it. Either way, since he offered to help, I should gratefully accept it.
Paradoxical Flame flared at the tip of the spear in my hand.
“Hold on, that was the help you needed?”
“There won’t be any permanent damage.”
We had to enter the First-Class Erosion Core, Jaun Valley, together right now. I had no intention of crippling Jung Oh-hoon.
“Don’t resist, I’ll be gentle.”
“I know what I’m supposed to say now. No, please don’t, spare me.”
“Wasn’t the last one ‘please don’t do this.’”
The whole world already knew that didn’t work. Was there really anyone who believed those bastard child predators would run just because a kid said three little lines like that?
Oh, I guess there was. The idiot who first suggested teaching that to kids.
Jung Oh-hoon said he’d cooperate, but he didn’t do it meekly. In the end I smacked him a few times to subdue him, then set Paradoxical Flame on his body.
“Uaaaaaah?!”
He screamed for a moment, then his expression went a little blank.
“What… did you do? No, what did you… what did you do.”
I watched him for a bit, then snuffed out the Paradoxical Flame clinging to his body. From the side, Han Sang-ah, who’d been watching with interest, spoke.
“What did you burn?”
She had fought alongside me a few times and sparred plenty. Naturally, from experience she had a rough idea of what my Paradoxical Flame could do.
“Thought.”
At my answer, Han Sang-ah spoke in pity.
“I figured you burned his reason.”
“If I did, he’d have to live like that forever.”
Thought was just a by-product of reason. If reason was intact, even if I burned thought, once I put out Paradoxical Flame, he could think again. If reason was intact, thought could be generated.
It was like how even if you lost a lot of blood, if your hematopoietic stem cells were fine, you could produce blood again.
“Can you burn something like reason too?”
I shook my head. Long ago, yes, but not right now. Concepts like reason or emotion, the things that made a being that being, were extremely hard to burn in the first place.
“Ugh, as expected, it’s hard to control.”
Wiping the sweat from my brow, I put out the Paradoxical Flame gripping Jung Oh-hoon’s body. The ignition point for that concept was so high that control was difficult.
On top of that, since he could still talk, it looked hard to amplify Paradoxical Flame enough to burn away all thought in a human-level creature.
“What happens if you lose control?”
At Han Sang-ah’s question, I answered simply.
“That black flame would spread out of control. Fire spreads by nature. If it got serious, the world would become a place where the concept of thought didn’t exist.”
You shortened that kind of thing to two syllables, hell, didn’t you. Paradoxical Flame was my ability, but it was one I had to use carefully.
While trying to save the world, I could end up burning away the important things that made up the world.