CH 288

- Umm… Do… Do you want to wait there?

- No, I’ll go there. Just wait.

[You have entered the Habitat of the Dead (4).]

Ghoul bodies were all over the place, and the ground was slippery with their vomit and rotten internal organs. The stench coming from there was worse than the gutter that had been abandoned for decades. The neatly sliced heads appeared to be Yeon-Hee’s masterpiece, whereas the corpses that had been stabbed wildly looked to be the work done by some kind of giant monster.

It wasn’t long before I saw the city, and it was bleak as night even though it was currently daytime. It used to be the Awakened’s refuge in Act Two, Stage Three, but it now had become a fortress of the dead.

The guild leader had followed me well, but he suddenly stopped. It must have been his first time facing the city that was occupied by the dead. His eyes were fixed at the sight of the bodies drooping throughout the collapsed outer wall.

However, he stiffened when he heard the more disgusting sounds coming from deep inside the street. Even in his eyes, the city must have had the impression of having something on the verge of explosion, the darkness of death.

I knocked him in the back of the head.

Slam!

I hit him hard on purpose, so he fell forward with shock in his face. He stared at me as if he was protesting, wondering why I had attacked him out of the blue.

I wanted to crush his face, but I suppressed my anger and snarled, “Did you leave Mary alone in this place like this?”

I knew exactly how this punk thought of Yeon-Hee and why he was scheming so much in front of me. The Awakened on this stage like Sean and Seong Joo-Hwan considered Yeon-Hee only as a bitch. They only thought of their losses and turned a blind eye to the greater gains. Whatever her reign was like, there was no doubt that this stage could exist until now because she was going around the City of the Dead. Just like how I had destroyed the Light Pillar by myself in Act Two, Stage One.

He whined, “It was Mary’s order. We also didn’t know this place would be like this…”

Kwaaaak-!

There was a scream in the city, and the noise of something collapsing followed.

“I’ll organize a corps,” he added hastily.

It was an obvious excuse as he clearly didn’t want to enter the city.

Then, her smile caught my eyes, and the haggardness behind it made my heart ache. Yeon-Hee was so soaked in blood to the point I couldn’t recognize her. Her tired eyes and slightly unbalanced posture proved how much she had struggled alone. I was finally meeting up with her, but she merely glanced at me and turned her head toward the guild leader immediately.

“Take it,” Yeon-Hee said and threw the head that she was holding in both hands to the guild leader.

He caught it reflexively. It was the head of a ghoul, who was once Awakened. It was blinking its eyes even though its head had been cut off. The guild leader widened his eyes, and it seemed like he knew who it was.

The guild leader left with the head as if he was running away.

Thud! Thud!

A giant Kciphos monster appeared behind Yeon-Hee’s shoulder, making the earth tremble. The heads of the ghouls were rolling around inside the monster’s widely opened mouth, and their limbs were floundering as they were stuck to the monster’s sharp, elongated quills.

Srrr…

The monster quickly miniaturized itself as the distance narrowed, and its quills disappeared into its soft fur. The ghouls that were hanging on the monster’s body were left unattended throughout the street. The monster eventually became small enough to be held in Yeon-Hee’s arms. Its hideous face was also covered by fur, so it just looked like a cotton ball.

It was difficult to spot the difference between this powerful monster and the regular Kciphos monsters when it was miniaturized.

She commented, “I got it from the last stage.”

Yeon-Hee was a natural at stroking the monster’s back as if she had always been doing it. She didn’t mind the ghouls’ disgusting organ tissues and flesh that were still tangled in its fur.

She continued, “It thinks of me as its master. It took a long time. Isn’t it cute?”

What the heck? What is wrong with her?

Yeon-Hee continued to stare at the Kciphos in her arms, and she didn’t look at me.

“Anyway, I didn’t expect to see you here, Seon-Hu.”

I replied, “Thanks to you, the door of the sealed area was connected to here.”

“I see.”

She smiled faintly, and I realized she wasn’t happy to see me.

I asked curiously, “Why didn’t you use the returning stone when you returned from the Baclan’s mainland? Do you have any idea how long I have been waiting for you?”

Yeon-Hee was still focused on the Kciphos in her arms. She raised her head and seemed determined as if she thought it would be better to confess everything. She finally sighed. “Do you still not get it, Seon-Hu? You shouldn’t be connected to me.”

Was that the only reason?

That wasn’t even funny.

I growled, “Do you think I care about such a thing? No. I don’t care about what they call you.”

Yeon-Hee shook her head. “You should think about the future after we get out of here. People will doubt your sincerity if I stick around you. Ask anyone about how they want to deal with me.”

Yeon-Hee finished her sentence with a smile that mocked herself., “Here, I’m called ‘Mary, the Bitch.’ I’m a public enemy. Should someone who will lead the entire human race get involved with such a wicked woman?”

***

“That should never happen, Seon-Hu. I should be behind you, not next to you.”

The conversation ended because the ghouls that Yeon-Hee’s pet had brought ran toward us without any problem even though their abdomens were stabbed. The energy that enabled them to move didn’t come from their heart or intestines that were flowing out of the holes in their body. Instead, it was from their heads. To be exact, their brain was the basis of their vitality as they directly received orders from the necromancers, the bipedal reptiles. That was why they could move even if their hearts were pulled out and their limbs were sliced off. That was also why they didn’t die even if their heads were cut off.

Therefore, there were two ways to handle them. A person could crush their brain, either splitting with their skull or trampling on it. The other way was finding and killing the necromancer who was controlling them. I threw a head toward Yeon-Hee’s feet, then she looked at me while blinking her eyes. She seemed to wonder why I kicked it to her. The gloom that had been hanging around her face had cleared up a bit. It was the opposite of what I had been worried about.

I said blithely, “If you nitpick like that one by one, I must be the worst villain in history.”

“What do you mean?” she asked, frowning slightly.

I smiled mirthlessly. “You told me to think about the future after we get back outside. I don’t know exactly how many you have killed, but it can’t be more than the number I have. What about those who were sacrificed during the aftermath of me being sealed? Do I have to be responsible for them as well? Do I also have to be responsible for what happened to everyone?”

Crush!

The head of the ghoul burst as I pressed my foot down.

I continued, “I don’t care what others say, but if you call yourself a bitch, then that means I am guilty of all sorts of crimes.”

“...”

I chuckled and said, “I meant it when I said I’m the owner of the earth. I monopolized all of the world’s capital. Have you ever thought about how many lives have been ruined by me? I concentrated my power by coercing the press behind the curtain and forcing those who approached us to shut their mouths. There are so many who died without anyone noticing. The entire world has been tainted by my sin even before the Stage of Advent began.”

“...”

I asked, “Since you see yourself in such a negative light, why don’t you consider me to be an asshole?”

Yeon-Hee shook her head and hurriedly said, “It’s different.”

“What is different?” I asked.

She argued, “You saved the human race.”

I pointed out, “And you saved me. You should be proud of yourself.”

She shook her head. “I did it only because it was you. There was no other reason.”

I shrugged. “The same goes for me. I did it for my family, not for all of mankind. I just couldn’t see my family dying at the end.”

I took one more step toward Yeon-Hee so I could see her face at a closer angle and to narrow the distance between us.

I said softly, “Think about it. What will the public call me when they realize that the world’s capital is concentrated on only one person? How will they deal with the reality that the global economy, politics, and culture are dictated by one person’s taste? It’s obvious.”

Yeon-Hee became quiet as if she lost her ability to talk.

I smiled viciously. “But do you think I would flinch even if it happens? No. They should appreciate what I have done for them instead of criticizing me. You should be proud of your work, Yeon-Hee. Look at what you have achieved.”

“...”

“People would have fought wars without you and without me.”

Was everything acceptable if the results were good? No. The reality was that no philosophical or ethical ideas worked in this world. Those who clamored for such a thing should experience what it was like having their limbs torn apart by monsters and living a miserable life in a world that had regressed to a primitive era.

I continued, “That’s the fact. Whatever our original purpose was, we were saving humanity.”

It might have been because I trained Yeon-Hee, but we had a lot of things in common.

“Let them say whatever they want because the truth won’t change anyway. What we have done so far and will do in the future could be only done by us.”

***

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“I’m sorry. I know what you mean, but don’t call yourself a villain. No one should call you like that.”

That was what Yeon-Hee told me in the end.

I responded, “As for why I’m a villain? I’m just saying that people could call me like that based on your logic. So don’t make me repeat the same thing, Yeon-Hee.”

“But you should know that I’m not the same person who you used to know. I can’t even go to your stage. The more you spend time with me, the more disappointed you will be. There will be rumors about me as well,” she argued.

I shrugged. “I’ve seen enough in the Baclan’s mainland. Is there anything else I should be aware of? I’m honestly relieved that you’ve gotten braver and have become more confident in your skills.”

On the Baclan’s mainland, Yeon-Hee was like a person living in darkness. She was so reckless that she reminded me of the Second Evil. Compared to back then, she was much better now. I didn’t know what had happened after I left, but I noticed that a long time had passed since that day.

Then, Yeon-Hee’s red lips opened, “I’m glad it looked that way, but if I see someone pointing a finger at you, calling you a villain, I might kill them immediately.”

She turned to get rid of the ghoul that had popped out of the outer wall. The ghoul seemed to have decent ability when it was alive. It sprinted fast, jumped high in the air, and fell like a bird, but Yeon-Hee had instantly pierced its head with a branch.

“Like this.”

She snorted slightly and brought her face to me, then smiled like she was saying she was a dangerous woman. She was soaked in blood, but the wrinkles on and around her nose looked cute. I was happy that her mood had lightened up to the point where she could joke around. She usually narrowed her eyes that were filled with murderous intention, but every Awakened who had reached this stage had those same eyes.

Meanwhile, the Kciphos in her arms grabbed my attention. It was no different from a puppy as it continued shaking its small tail in her arms. Her positive change seemed to be due to this monster.

Yeon-Hee responded after she noticed me looking at it, “He is a good boy and helped me a lot while you were away.”

Even the Second Evil wouldn’t call such a monster like that. Yeon-Hee would be the only person in history who could call the King of Kciphos a ‘good boy.’ It was ironic how she was using a monster to recover from the psychological wounds she had gotten from humans. That was why I couldn’t tell her to get rid of it right away.

“I can finally tell you this. I really missed you a lot, Seon-Hu.” Yeon-Hee burst into tears which she had clearly been suppressing, and the sight of her tears broke my heart.