Translator: Vine
Translated At: Nyx Scans
Chapter: 139
#139. A Sacrifice for the Greater Good
2022.12.17.
Siwoo, taking a step towards Roje, slowly gestured towards the air.
Thud, thud, thud—
An icicle sharper than an awl formed in the air.
After spinning around, it was finally aimed at Roje.
Siwoo's gaze was sharper and colder than that.
Eunha lifted her gaze and looked at his profile.
An atmosphere quite different from usual.
Eunha replied shortly.
"No."
That one word was enough to stop Siwoo.
The icicle that had been aimed at Roje silently melted and disappeared into the air.
Eunha turned her gaze forward again.
Roje, who had moved by dragging her body, was already that far away.
Her retreating figure, as she struggled with her body that wouldn't move as she wished, was as tenacious as it was tragic.
Eunha had a rough idea of what she was looking for.
It had been only a few tens of minutes ago.
Eunha, who had broken the system barrier in the 'Stem of Circulation', had used the pendant's tracking function to locate Siwoo.
Because where he was would be the space they had moved to after clearing the 'Scales of Choice'.
As she was moving through the passage, the cat had explained some information about this Unknown Gate.
[The divine beast 'Cat Wandering in Darkness' says that the 'Abundant Fruit of Life' you put in your inventory earlier is the heart of this Unknown Gate, that is, the source.]
At those words, Eunha had asked.
'Then you're saying if I destroy this right now, this gate will close?'
[The divine beast 'Cat Wandering in Darkness' shakes its head. It informs you that the 'Abundant Fruit of Life' is not the only one, and that they are already hidden throughout this gate.]
Roje was surely looking for the other hidden fruits the cat had mentioned.
To her, this golden fruit held a value greater than that of a gate core.
'Then what if I destroy all of them?'
Eunha recalled her conversation with the cat once more.
What was important was whether they could close this gate by finding and destroying all the hidden fruits.
However, the answer that came back from the cat was not the kind Eunha had expected.
[It warns that as long as there is nourishment, the fruit will bear again as much as it wants.]
[There is only one way to stop it.]
"..."
Recalling her conversation with the cat, Eunha unknowingly squeezed the parasol in her hand.
[Someone remaining here and continuing the destruction until the remaining nourishment is depleted.]
Rumble, rumble, rumble—.
A sound as if something were collapsing was heard.
The ground began to shake as if a landslide had occurred.
Rumble...!
Rocks fell from the ceiling, and roots writhed like living eels.
Eunha lifted her head and checked her surroundings.
The terrain was changing.
Meaning, this phenomenon now didn't just mean that the gate was collapsing.
"The roots and stems are filling the cracks."
Eunha quietly opened her mouth.
"It's trying to reset the gate. This giant tree is trying to heal its own wounds. If my prediction is correct, it's highly likely that the entrance will temporarily open during that time. If we want to leave, it's now or never."
Siwoo too had roughly guessed this, as he had been watching the changes in the field.
"Then let's hurry."
Siwoo said, pulling up the hood he had taken off for a moment.
It would be a lie to say he wasn't concerned about Doctor Plant, who had disappeared beyond.
However, there was no obligation to save her, nor was there any guarantee that he would find out more information by chasing after her.
Survival was always the top priority.
Finding out about Doctor Plant was something that could be done even after escaping the gate.
"I will clear a path."
He didn't know where the Monkey King and Maestro were, but the Phantom Thief and the unit members were probably gathered near the root.
Joining them was the priority.
Siwoo glared sharply at the collapsed inner wall.
Swoooosh!
At that, a white chill gathered around him.
It soon became a blade and aimed sharply at the collapsed inner wall.
But something was strange.
"...Sunbae?"
Shururuk...
Siwoo slowly turned back.
The chill that had settled around him like frost subsided in an instant.
Eunha, standing behind Siwoo, was just staring at Siwoo motionlessly, seemingly with no intention of moving from there.
"Listen carefully, Shin Siwoo."
Eunha, still not moving an inch, calmly moved only her lips.
The fruit in her hand could be seen glowing with an even more brilliant golden light.
Eunha, staring at that fruit, opened her mouth again.
"What's maintaining this gate is this fruit. It's the core, so to speak. So to destroy this giant tree, we have to destroy this. The problem is..."
Eunha, trailing off, lifted her head and stared at the collapsing ceiling.
"That this isn't the only core."
Siwoo, staring at her profile, suddenly realized.
She, Sunbae, could it be.
"Sunbae, don't tell me—"
"I'll stay."
Eunha cut off the end of his words.
Stay?
She's saying she'll stay alone in this collapsing gate?
Siwoo looked at her with a blank face, as if he had heard something unbelievable.
"I'll stay and destroy all the fruits hidden throughout the gate. Then we should be able to annihilate this gate. At the very least, it should be possible to seal it so that it doesn't go berserk."
Eunha spoke in a calm tone, as if she had already made up her mind.
Siwoo, who had been staring blankly at her, soon opened his mouth.
"No. I can't leave you alone, Sunbae."
Eunha's gaze met Siwoo's.
Eunha spoke with a face as if she had known Siwoo would say that.
"If someone doesn't stay and destroy the rest of this place until all the cores are gone, this gate will open again someday. It might even go berserk. Then it won't end like this."
"That's something to think about then."
Siwoo said firmly.
"If you stay here alone, Sunbae, you will die."
However, even at his warning, Eunha's expression did not change.
Death.
As if that was not a decisive threat to her, she just slowly closed and opened her eyes and said this.
"I'm already a life that died 30 years ago."
"..."
Siwoo's straight brow narrowed faintly.
At that moment, for some reason, he felt a sense of frustration.
Eunha had never hesitated in her choices, and Siwoo respected and admired that about her.
A first-generation hunter who had lived a life different from modern hunters.
Her values and behavior had given Siwoo, who had been trapped in the wolf's den, a fresh shock.
But now, looking at that calm, unaffected face, it felt as if a strange emotion was welling up.
Crack, crack...
Thick cracks began to spread on the ground they were standing on.
Siwoo raised his voice slightly and said again.
"I know well that you survived the Unknown Gate and returned to the present. However, there is no guarantee that it will be the same this time."
Siwoo lifted his gaze and looked at Eunha.
A blue gaze and a black gaze clashed head-on.
Siwoo added in a suppressed voice.
"This time, you might not be able to return to the outside. Ever again."
"It doesn't matter."
Thud... Thud!
The collapsing ceiling fell right next to them.
In the thick, spreading dust, Eunha smiled faintly.
"I don't have a place to return to anyway."
...No place to return to?
At those words, Siwoo closed his mouth as if he had lost his words.
'Representative, you're participating in this South Coast Gate operation with this hunter, right?'
Suddenly, Jehwi's voice played in his ear.
It was just before he left the Silver Moon Management headquarters after the South Coast Gate assembly order was issued.
'Could you relay a message to this hunter?'
'What message? You can just tell her yourself.'
'Well... she's not picking up her phone. I'm sure she thinks I'm going to nag her again.'
Jehwi said with a slightly sad face.
Siwoo, who had been looking at such a Jehwi, pulled up his hood and said, as if tossing it out.
'...What's the message.'
'Please tell her to come back safely. O-of course, I know it's her business and nothing will happen, but.'
At Jehwi's words, Siwoo lifted his gaze and looked at him.
Jehwi was smiling, but his clenched fist was trembling slightly.
'You know too, Representative. She's... the kind of person who throws herself without hesitation if she thinks it's necessary. So please tell her not to overdo it and to come back safely. That I'll be waiting.'
Jehwi, waving his hand, urged Siwoo until the end.
'That I'll prepare a five-course meal with freshly cooked white rice, with only the things the hunter likes.'
...Ah.
Siwoo's lips parted faintly.
He thought he understood a little.
Where this stuffy feeling that was pressing down on his chest was coming from.
It was probably because of her attitude.
That nonchalant attitude of worrying about the gate going berserk, worrying about others not being able to escape this place, but not caring about herself at all.
That way of speaking, as if concluding that there was no place to return to, no one to wait for her.
Siwoo didn't like that.
"Sunbae, I don't quite understand."
Siwoo moved his lips as if muttering.
He felt Eunha's gaze on him.
"—To sacrifice the few for the greater good."
Eunha slowly opened her mouth.
"That's the 'guideline' I've been hearing since I was a trainee."
And she lifted her gaze and looked at Siwoo.
Without wavering, without hesitation.
"This is the right thing for me to do, Shin Siwoo."
Kwa-deuk...
Thick tree roots were moving like the legs of a living octopus to block the cracks in the inner wall.
Fragments of stone scattered in all directions.
Behind the two standing opposite each other, a rock, presumed to be part of the goddess statue, fell with a thud!
"...I see."
Siwoo replied, as if muttering.
His blue gaze, which had briefly fallen, soon rose again and caught Eunha's.
"I understand. Then I will also stay here with you, Sunbae."
This time, Eunha's expression changed slightly.
But it was only a very slight change.
"...Is that so?"
Eunha, who had briefly moved her lips, slid the golden fruit she was holding towards Siwoo.
"Then can you break this?"
Siwoo stared blankly at the fruit presented before him.
Eunha, watching his reaction, opened her mouth again.
"What we need to do now is to escape and seal this gate in the most effective and fastest way possible. And I can destroy this fruit more reliably than anyone else."
Eunha's pitch-black gaze met Siwoo's.
"Is that possible for you too?"
"..."
At Eunha's question, Siwoo took the fruit she presented in his hand.
Crack...
A white ice that bloomed from Siwoo's hand enveloped the golden fruit.
The fruit, which had frozen for a moment, soon returned to its original state.
Shururuk...
The fruit that had broken the ice was shining golden, as if nothing had happened.
Siwoo's expression turned peculiar.
Why? Was the power insufficient?
He had thought that freezing a fruit of this size would be no trouble at all...
Siwoo created ice several more times to break the fruit.
However, no matter how many times he tried, the fruit eventually returned to its original state.
Because the fruit's regeneration was faster than its destruction.
Siwoo, not giving up, created ice once more.
"It's no use."
Eunha said, watching him.
"You're not weak. It's just that ordinary attacks won't be able to destroy this fruit that's overflowing with life force."
Eunha, who had stopped Siwoo, lowered her gaze to the fruit on her palm.
'But with my ability, it's possible.'
Even more easily than other hunters.
The fruit had wood and holy attributes, while Eunha had fire and dark attributes.
In terms of compatibility, there would be no hunter here with a more effective attribute than her.
Crack—
The tree roots wrapping the inner wall were gradually getting thicker.
"..."
Siwoo, standing still, said nothing.
He just kept his head bowed and didn't move.
So it was impossible to know what expression he was making, or what he was thinking.
Eunha, who had been staring at the top of Siwoo's head, turned her back with a whip.
"You go out of here with the unit members."
Leave the rest to me.
Leaving those words, Eunha moved her steps without hesitation.
She didn't bother to retrieve the fruit in Siwoo's hand.
It didn't matter.
Anyway, Eunha was planning to burn down this entire gate.
That would be faster and more effective than finding the fruits one by one.
'I have to do it, after all.'
It was something only she could do.
Clack—
There was no hesitation in Eunha as she began to walk towards the inside of the gate.
And so, one step, two steps, as she was moving forward without looking back.
Zzzzt, zzzzt... Chaaaeng—!
Suddenly, a sound as if something were breaking was heard from behind her.
"...?"
The moment Eunha, who had stopped walking, turned back, her black eyes widened.
Raining down on the floor was something that had been frozen solid—.
'The fruit.'
Eunha lowered her gaze with a slightly blank look.
What was piled up like shaved ice on the floor was definitely the fruit.
Siwoo had frozen the fruit solid and shattered it.
Eunha, who had been staring at the fragments of the frozen fruit on the floor, slowly lifted her gaze again.
Gooooo...
White hair, as if white frost had settled on it.
Beneath it, blue eyes were looking at this place.
"See, you can do it."
Drip—
A trickle of bright red blood ran from Siwoo's nose.
His clenched fist trembled.
Eunha noticed.
That was the aftermath of excessive mana release.
Not just any hunter could release as much mana as they wanted, whenever they wanted.
The mana granted by a divine beast, separate from what the hunter possessed, was vast, but it was too dangerous a power to use.
It was a reckless act that could lead to death from blood vessels expanding under the pressure of mana.
This was something possible because he was an S-Class and an incarnation of a divine beast.
"You, right now..."
"I broke it, the fruit."
Siwoo roughly wiped away the flowing nosebleed.
"So..."
Stagger—
And one step, and then another, he slowly approached Eunha.
Finally, standing before Eunha, Siwoo, under his completely white hair, slowly lifted his blue eyes.
Was it because of the aftermath of the mana release?
Despite exuding a cool chill, Siwoo said in a voice as tragic as it was powerless.
"Take me with you, Sunbae."
