“U… ugh…!”
Eun Seo-jin’s body convulsed. A wave of emotion spanning more than 100 years, incomparable to his three years of despair, struck his soul violently.
Shock and astonishment rose in Eun Seo-jin’s empty eyes.
‘This man… What on earth is this man….’
It was a torrent of emotion so overwhelming that his own three years seemed endlessly shabby, a torrent that made it impossible to even imagine what in the world he had gone through.
And yet this man was still standing, and still fighting.
“You are… just what….”
“Get up.”
Song Ji-hu’s voice was cold.
“It isn’t over yet. You have to fight.”
“I’m… tired… I want it to end.”
BOOM-!
Cracks began forming in the thin Mental Barrier under the bastards’ attacks.
Song Ji-hu grabbed Eun Seo-jin by the collar.
“So you’re going to give up? After I risked everything to come this far? Your enemy isn’t your comrades. It’s you. You’re the one who sentenced yourself guilty!”
“…!”
“So get up! And declare yourself innocent! Say you did nothing wrong!”
Song Ji-hu shoved away Eun Seo-jin, who was reaching out a hand, and readjusted his grip on his sword.
“I’ll buy time, so find your sword.”
“But…!”
“You can do it.”
Song Ji-hu let out a faint laugh. The Swordmaster he had only ever heard of through rumors was surely someone capable of that much.
“You can definitely do it. Because you are Eun Seo-jin.”
It was a cold smile, but it held a strange trust.
At that one sentence, a very faint vitality returned to Eun Seo-jin’s dead eyes, and Song Ji-hu threw himself toward the masses of thought to buy time.
.
.
.
.
.
“Hoo… hoo….”
It had not even been a full month since he had awakened as a Hunter, and his body had not been trained yet, so this was no easy challenge. But he had to succeed no matter what.
Numbness reached his fingertips, and his entire arm began trembling.
“This is filthy long. Shouldn’t he be coming to his senses soon?”
The dagger did not even weigh much, but it felt like a lump of iron, and each time he swung it, he breathed out roughly.
‘Hoo… Ten minutes.’
If they were caught in an infinite loop, the one who would tire first was Song Ji-hu.
But at that very moment.
SLASH-!
A cold wind blowing from behind swept through the black masses.
Eun Seo-jin was standing. The chains rattled and dropped against the floor.
“…I apologize. For making you fight alone.”
Eun Seo-jin swung the chain once again. Cold exploded and froze the masses of thought.
“As long as you weren’t late, that’s enough.”
Song Ji-hu grinned and sank down where he stood, then slapped Eun Seo-jin’s palm.
“Tag. Now fight by yourself for a bit.”
“Please rest.”
Eun Seo-jin tried to break the chains, but they were still sturdy.
“Hmm….”
An ice sword slowly began forming in his hand. Transparent and sharp, a pair of blue twin swords.
Still bound in chains, he swung the swords.
SHWAAAH-!
The blades swung, cold exploded, and the masses of thought froze over.
CRACK-CRACK-CRACK-
Then the chain he swung shattered the thoughts that had turned into lumps of ice, sending them flying.
“Ah, that’s refreshing.”
Song Ji-hu gave a faint laugh as ice crystals fell on him from the sky like snow.
At last, when the final mass turned to ash.
“Ahh… Is this the second stage?”
Song Ji-hu dusted himself off and stood, steadying his breath.
“The second?”
“If it isn’t the end, then it’s the second stage.”
As if the gates of hell had opened, five shadows fell from the cracks in the dark-red sky.
THUD-
The first shadow landed in the wasteland. A tall man holding a gigantic shield. It was the form of the tanker Kim Do-hun.
Then came the second, third, and fourth.
The healer Han So-mi. The archer Park Jun-seo. The mage Lee Hyeon-u.
And finally.
The secondary damage dealer Choi Yu-jin.
Their appearances were completely different from the ones Eun Seo-jin knew.
Bloodless, pale skin. Black liquid flowing from empty eye sockets. Twisted smiles hanging at the corners of their mouths.
They were monsters.
“Eun Seo-jin… you killed us….”
At their voices, Eun Seo-jin’s body stiffened again.
“Ah….”
Song Ji-hu tapped his shoulder.
“Look closely. Those aren’t your comrades. They’re dolls that grew by feeding on your guilt.”
Eun Seo-jin answered briefly. But the hand holding his sword was trembling as well.
“…Can I do this?”
“You can. You’ve already stood up. Remember, this is your mental imagery world.”
Even if the Abyssal Monarch had played plenty of tricks here.
Song Ji-hu spoke firmly.
“Now we go all the way. Until the stage ends.”
“Yes… I understand.”
The moment the five shadows rushed in, Song Ji-hu and Eun Seo-jin stood back-to-back and swung their blades.
The form of Kim Do-hun charged forward with his shield raised. Song Ji-hu instinctively dodged to the side, and Eun Seo-jin aimed for that opening and swung his dagger.
“Do-hun….”
The moment the name unconsciously flowed from Eun Seo-jin’s mouth.
“You were the one who ran first!”
The form of Kim Do-hun roared. At the same time, an arrow flew in from behind. It was Park Jun-seo’s bow.
WHOOSH—!
Eun Seo-jin barely twisted his body and avoided it, but the arrow grazed his cheek as it passed. Red blood flowed.
“If not for you, we could’ve lived!”
“Murderer! Murderer! Murderer!”
The five monsters shouted at once. Their voices tore at Eun Seo-jin’s mind.
Eun Seo-jin’s knees wavered. The hand holding his sword drooped.
“…I’m sorry….”
An apology flowed from his mouth. Words he had repeated countless times over three years, worn down and worn thin.
“I’m sorry… I’m truly… sorry….”
At that moment.
“Come to your senses!”
Song Ji-hu’s shout cut through the air, and he blocked the attacks of the masses of thought wearing his comrades’ faces.
“Those aren’t your comrades.”
His strange ash-gray eyes pierced through Eun Seo-jin. Mental Barrier wrapped around Eun Seo-jin.
“Everything those bastards are saying is what you’ve been telling yourself for three years, isn’t it?”
Eun Seo-jin’s eyes widened.
“Think carefully. Who are you sorry to? Who deserves your apology?”
“…!”
Song Ji-hu shoved Eun Seo-jin aside. Then he swung his dagger and cut down the approaching form of Kim Do-hun.
RIIIP-!
The monster screamed and retreated.
“Get up. And fight.”
Song Ji-hu’s voice was cold, but what it held was trust, and at the same time, an order.
Eun Seo-jin stood firmly on trembling legs. He looked at the ice sword in his hand.
‘Right… He’s right….’
For three years, he had judged himself. He had condemned himself. He had pointed a blade at himself.
And those monsters were the crystallization of that hatred.
“…I understand.”
Eun Seo-jin gripped the hilt of his sword tightly. The trembling in his fingertips stopped. The cold that had stalled at the tip of his blade began to rise.
Kim Do-hun screamed as he was cut by the ice sword and vanished. Then the second, third, and fourth.
Song Ji-hu could see brief moments of hesitation, but that was unavoidable as long as they charged at him wearing his comrades’ faces.
Each time Eun Seo-jin swung his sword, the masses turned one by one into ice crystals and scattered.
Han So-mi, Park Jun-seo, Lee Hyeon-u, and even Choi Yu-jin.
“I… only wanted to save you.”
Because he wanted to save them.
That was all.
“…Yes.”
A groanlike word flowed from Eun Seo-jin’s mouth.
He slowly rose. With trembling hands, he looked at the debris scattering across the ground.
“If you call that a sin….”
New ice swords began forming around Eun Seo-jin.
“…then I.”
He raised his sword.
“…I did nothing wrong!”
SHATTER-!
The moment Eun Seo-jin realized the truth, the ice chains binding his body shattered into pieces.
FWOOSH-!
Pure cold exploded from his body. The dark-red sky turned white, and the entire wasteland was covered in snow.
Song Ji-hu smiled faintly.
“…You did it.”
Song Ji-hu let out a sigh and sank down where he was. Fortunately, Eun Seo-jin had regained his senses faster than expected.
The wasteland grew quiet.
The cracks in the sky began to close, and the dark-red clouds cleared. A cold wind blew, but it was no longer the despair-filled chill that pushed Eun Seo-jin into a corner.
“Is it… over?”
Eun Seo-jin, who had fought for the first time in ages, also sank to one knee and panted roughly.
“…Who knows.”
Because if it were over, they should have left this world, yet there was no reaction at all.
“Hah… Prepare for battle.”
The experience and instincts he had built up over more than 100 years were sending a warning.
“Battle…?”
Before Eun Seo-jin could fully voice his question, a black shadow rose from beneath their feet.
“What is…?!”
Startled, Eun Seo-jin stepped back. The writhing shadow slowly began to assume its form. Eun Seo-jin’s form.
But the feeling was different. Completely different. Everything about the shadow Eun Seo-jin was dyed black as pitch.
“…What the hell is that?”
Song Ji-hu clenched his teeth.
“…A manifestation of self-loathing. Another you, raised by the hatred you directed at yourself for three years. And the opponent you have to overcome.”
The black Eun Seo-jin opened his mouth. The same voice as Eun Seo-jin, but what it held was nothing but mockery and contempt.
“You broke the chains?”
Laughter filled the wasteland.
“Don’t make me laugh. You’ll never escape this guilt. Not for the rest of your life.”
An ice sword formed in the black Eun Seo-jin’s hand. It was longer, sharper, and colder than Eun Seo-jin’s.
Eun Seo-jin stepped in front of Song Ji-hu, who was exhausted and barely managing to stand.
“This… I will handle.”
He felt it instinctively. This was his fight. Song Ji-hu had opened the path for him enough. Now it was a path he had to carve through himself.
“By yourself…? Against me?”
The black mass bounced this way and that as it laughed at Eun Seo-jin.
“You’ll never beat me alone for the rest of your life. Because you’re a bastard who has never accomplished anything alone.”
Alone.
That word gouged into Eun Seo-jin’s chest.
It was right. He had always been with someone. He had grown under the shadow of his master Baek Mu-jin, fought by leaning on his comrades’ trust, and now he had come this far with that man’s help.
A weak existence who could do nothing alone.
That was who he, Eun Seo-jin, was.
“But.”
So what?
“At least….”
Eun Seo-jin adjusted his grip on his sword.
“A sword that protects someone must never fall.”
That was the very conviction Eun Seo-jin had held.
“All the more if it means protecting someone who believes in me.”
Eun Seo-jin felt Song Ji-hu’s presence behind him.
“You can do it. Because you are Eun Seo-jin.”
Song Ji-hu’s words flashed through his mind. Those words were not empty flattery. That man truly believed in him.
“So? What does that prove? Does your sin disappear just because someone else believes in you?”
“No.”
Eun Seo-jin smiled coldly.
“But I won’t be swayed by you anymore.”
The rest was something Eun Seo-jin himself had to carry.
FWOOOOOSH-!
Cold on a completely different level began bursting from Eun Seo-jin like an explosion.