LIGHTNOVELONLINE Chapter 205
Every time I hear a sound similar to crying, my body jolts.
Pure terror gnaws at my mind.
With my invisible right eye closed, I stare at the Branch Chief.
In an instant, my body sways, and Song Ah Rin hurriedly grabs my arm.
“Are you okay?”
“No.”
“What are we going to do then?!”
“We have to do it, even if I’m not okay.”
When I need to do something, I must do it.
Thoughts continue to swirl in my mind.
I will put them to sleep.
It sounds good, but how?
I look at the Branch Chief.
Our eyes meet, and she nods.
“There are ways.”
“What way?”
“Now that we’ve come this far, I suppose I should explain.”
She lets out a deep sigh and walks toward the machine.
As she types again, groans escape once more.
-Ugh…
Then, a long test tube pops out.
Holding the test tube, she looks at me.
“From now on, it’s up to Kim Jae Heon and Song Ah Rin to finish this.”
“What do you mean?”
The Branch Chief smiles apologetically at my words.
“I’m going to hold this and run inside there.”
She points to the monster’s mouth.
“…Have you lost your mind? That’ll get you killed.”
“That’s right. I will die.”
The Branch Chief looks at me as if it’s the most natural thing.
“Did you think I would be ready to sacrifice only my subordinates’ lives and throw away my own?”
“…Not necessarily.”
“If I’m going to ask others to sacrifice, I must be prepared to risk my own life as well. No, I should have taken the first step to do that.”
She murmurs, regretting not doing it earlier while looking at me.
“Can’t you just throw the medicine in and call it a day?”
“No, it would immediately spit it out. Someone has to responsibly deliver it inside.”
With earnest eyes, she gazes at me.
“After that, Kim Jae Heon must confront that. And then, after enduring, look up at the sky.”
“…How?”
“Honestly, I don’t know well either. I’ve heard the pain will come to the extent that you’d rather die.”
The Branch Chief grins.
“Because when I fail, my role was always to jump in holding this.”
“…Can’t it be that you jump in, and I stay out instead?”
That seems more appropriate.
“That won’t work.”
The Branch Chief looks at me like an old friend and lightly taps my arm.
“If a civilian jumps in there, they will melt.”
“Melting?”
“That’s right. Before melting, someone needs to hold on until the drug’s effect kicks in.”
“That’s you.”
“Exactly.”
“Isn’t that just melting alive?”
“That’s correct.”
“…”
“Kim Jae Heon.”
The Branch Chief locks eyes with me.
“Don’t forget. The ground we are standing on was built upon many sacrifices and blood.”
“…”
“Of course, some people can live without knowing this and may act ungratefully.”
“…Right.”
“I heard someone say this.”
The Branch Chief smiles.
“It’s better to be thankful to the person who bandaged my belly than to hate the one who stabbed me in the back.”
“…”
“This is advice for your imagination, so listen well.”
—
The sound of crying comes again, and Song Ah Rin shrinks back.
“It feels like we might be out of time.”
The Branch Chief mutters and grabs my shoulders.
In my left-only sight, her face reflects back at me.
With her red eyes wide open, she gazes at me.
[Name: Lee Ha Neul]
[Age: -]
[Special Skill: Indestructible]
[Talent: Indestructible]
[Background: I believe.]
[Weakness: But that doesn’t mean I want to burden you!]
“…”
As I blankly stare at the translucent window, she suddenly smiles and turns around.
Then, she stomps her foot.
-Crash!
With the sound of the floor breaking, she kicks off the wall and flies up.
—
“Oh no, it’s noisy.”
The sound of her voice pierces through the din.
—
“Yeah, it’s me again.”
The Branch Chief says as if she’s talking to that thing,
“But this time, I brought a trustworthy person.”
And with that, she leaps into its mouth.
-CLANG!
After she jumps into the mouth, I hear a faint sound of glass breaking.
“…”
“…”
And then, all sound ceased.
Song Ah Rin clutches my arm.
“…I’m sorry. To be honest.”
“I’m listening.”
“I’m really scared right now.”
“Surprisingly, I’m the same.”
I respond calmly while looking up.
-Drip…
Warm something trickles down from my right eye.
In the face of the inconceivable, we were mere insignificant beings.
But what can we do? If it’s about putting them to sleep, then so be it.
The world begins to distort.
My temples throb, and Song Ah Rin grits her teeth, closing her eyes tight as she hugs me.
“Ah Rin…?”
“Stay still…!”
Song Ah Rin murmurs, holding me and closing her eyes tightly,
“…What…”
The headache fades away.
The sound disappears.
In an instant, peace descends upon me.
On the contrary, there were those who could not find it.
“Huh, ugh…!”
Song Ah Rin utters another groan, eyes clenched shut.
“Ah Rin…!”
“It’s… okay…”
She looks up at me, offering a small smile.
“I want to help you, even like this.”
“…”
Amidst the silent uproar, only I remained intact.
*
How much time has passed?
“Cough…!”
Song Ah Rin staggers and spits blood,
As sounds begin to return to my ears.
“What is… this noise…!”
Blocking her ears, Song Ah Rin murmurs, then stops.
Grabbing her aching head, I stare at her.
“Ah Rin?”
“…Run away.”
She turns her gaze to one spot.
“Run away from the truth.”
“Ah Rin, what do you mean—”
I hear whispers.
The moon was whispering to me.
Knowledge that must not be known to the world, the truth,
“Kegh…”
Song Ah Rin falls to her knees, spilling blood from her mouth.
Wiping the blood from the corner of her mouth, she looks at me.
“Quick, hurry…”
-Quick!
She grabs my leg.
Before I knew it, blood was flowing from my nose as well.
No.
Blood was streaming from my eyes too.
It felt like my brain was overloaded.
If there were circuits in my brain, they would probably all be burnt out.
“…”
She wipes the blood flowing from her mouth with her hand.
Her palm was stained with blood.
-Quick!
Then, she grips my leg,
Grabbing my thigh,
Grabbing my waist,
Climbing up on me as if to pull me up.
“…”
Her hand touches my neck.
“…”
Song Ah Rin looks at me.
Her eyes were already bloodshot, and she looked at me while bleeding from her nose and mouth.
“…Cough…!”
She vomits blood and slowly brings me down.
To be precise, it was that my legs had lost strength.
-Thud!
Song Ah Rin climbs on top of me.
Drops of her blood fall on my face.
“If this continues, you will go insane.”
After spitting out the blood, she looks at me with a calm face.
Her hands wrap around my neck.
She wasn’t wrong.
At this rate, it was evident that I would go insane.
But what about Song Ah Rin?
Wouldn’t she go insane too?
That can’t be. She would suffer all the more.
“It’s… okay.”
She looks at me.
“I’ll… cough…! endure well.”
“…”
“Just rest.”
Song Ah Rin smiles widely.
“It’s fine. I’ve worked in the Management Agency for several years. Trust me and leave it to me.”
The translucent window reappears.
[Name: Song Ah Rin]
[Age: 21]
[Special Skill: Hypnosis]
[Talent: Control]
[Background: She vowed to willingly thrust her neck into the jaws of hell for him. But a vow is just a vow. Soon she will go insane and lose herself. Of course, in the midst of it all, she will only think of that person.]
[Weakness: Leave it as it is. Soon she will lose her name and be devoured by her existence.]
Song Ah Rin’s face briefly overlaps with that time.
The first act, her face that choked my neck in the forest.
When she killed me and was murdered.
“…!”
I muster the strength to rise, pinning her down as I sit on top of her.
“…You!”
Struggling, Song Ah Rin shakes her body, but from the start, I was heavier than her, so she couldn’t shake me off.
“…Ah Rin.”
Ignoring the singing in my head, I look down at her.
“…Let go, now.”
“Do you know how many things I went through in the Management Agency?”
“I… experienced that too…!”
I clamp my hands around Song Ah Rin’s neck.
Thoughts didn’t connect properly.
Wouldn’t it be possible to just use a gun? That thought flickered across my mind, but I didn’t want that.
“Cough, you…!”
Song Ah Rin shook her head, gripping my wrist.
Her violet hair scattered across the floor.
“Then…! You can’t…!”
“…”
I tighten my grip.
Song Ah Rin keeps shaking her head.
“Cough…! You, alone…! If you stay…! Worry—”
Is it because she can’t breathe? Transparent tears start to well up in her eyes.
“My leg…!”
“…”
I continue to choke her.
Soon, she gives up the struggle.
Quietly, she caresses my hand and looks up at me with teary eyes.
Then, her hands fall away.
“…”
I lift my body.
Now, I couldn’t even see out of my left eye properly.
But I couldn’t collapse.
Everyone except me had died.
Jang Chae Yeon went to the pit, Yu Da On blocked the door, and Song Ah Rin protected me.
Of course, Yu Da On might have survived, but she shouldn’t be here. She wouldn’t have been able to hold out from the start.
In the end, this was something I had to bear alone.
In the time Song Ah Rin bought for me, I think amidst a throbbing headache.
I have to think.
That was my only form of rebellion.
Ears constantly whispered the truth of the world or its corruption, and my body hadn’t obeyed in a long time, while my mind was already being torn apart.
I didn’t stop thinking.
What is the moon? Why is the moon so close to humanity?
What on earth is this?
I look up at the wriggling bugs.
-Crackling!
My left eye grows hazy.
The translucent window disappears from sight.
The moon and the bug.
A pale shell and what lies within are small larvae.
It’s like this is…
“…An egg.”
The bug lays an egg.
The egg remains safe, and when the young hatch, they break the shell and grow by eating the surrounding food until they become adults.
Once it becomes an adult, it goes out to lay new eggs.
“…”
I raise my head and watch the bug.
I can’t kill it.
For if I do, the parents will come after me.
I must not wake it.
For if it wakes, it will break the shell and begin to devour.
In the end, the only thing we, the weak, can do is one thing.
To delay the impending doom as much as possible and seek a path for the future.
To offer our lives and abilities, hoping the future ‘us’ can do what we cannot now.
That is precisely.
“To put them to sleep.”
As I mutter, the red-stained translucent window rises, and the sound ceases.