Chapter 500: The Cliché: Growing Soon After Collapsing (3) |
‘Wow, thanks, Hee-Young.’
Her speech almost made me cry.
Her impassioned speech while on the verge of crying made me wonder if she was the same Sun Hee-Young I[1] knew. She had a strange side, but she was usually withdrawn, so that side of hers truly caught me off guard.
‘Her current personality and her personality in her past life aren’t that different from each other. I’m not that sad, so you can stop now. You’ll make Hee-Ra noona mad.’
Objectively speaking, I completely agreed with Cha Hee-Ra’s decision because if she had let her emotions control her and made the troops push forward, they would have been annihilated.
A tactical retreat to recover and plan the next course of action was the best course of action Cha Hee-Ra could have taken. It was also what I wanted her to do, and it was the most reasonable decision back then.
Therefore, it wasn’t strange that Cha Hee-Ra pressed the execute button to retreat.
In addition, it wasn’t a situation where one could find fault with others.
Cha Hee-Ra had always been the type of person to let her emotions take over her, but she had chosen a rational approach for some reason, so I presumed that she felt desperate as well. Of course, overcoming the sense of guilt was a different problem.
- You wretched bitches! Wretched bitches! Ptooey!
The situation had become more interesting because of Sun Hee-Young, who had unexpectedly met my expectations. It was a bit absurd, but the members of the Red Mercenary Guild seemed like they had no idea what to do with her.
‘This is crazy.’
In the end, Cha Hee-Ra showed up to handle the situation. The red-headed woman looked really exhausted as she Sun Hee-Young with a gloomy look that I had never seen before.
‘What’s wrong with all of them?’
There was something off with everyone’s expression. I looked back at Sun Hee-Young and saw her slapping Cha Hee-Ra. There was a crisp sound as Cha Hee-Ra’s head was forcefully turned to the side.
The people around them immediately went quiet.
If Cha Hee-Ra were to swing her fist, then Sun Hee-Young would die right there and then.
I was afraid that Cha Hee-Ra would run rampant, but the red-headed woman behaved in a way that didn’t fit her usual demeanor.
She didn’t look like a beast that got hurt. It seemed that Cha Hee-Ra had no plans of harming Sun Hee-Young because she neither avoided nor blocked Sun Hee-Young’s slap. Still, it was interesting to see a different side of her.
In addition, Cha Hee-Ra finally started talking. I couldn’t really hear what she was saying because the familiar was quite far from them, but I was able to pick up a few words from reading her lips.
- Are you satisfied now?
- …
- I asked if you’re satisfied now.
- Kgh.
- If we send the troops back there, what are you going to do?
- You, you…
- The mages are out of mana, and they can barely cast their spells. If we were to take them back there along with your dumb guild master, it would be tantamount to suicide. I don’t plan on dying like that, and I am not planning on giving up on my darling. If you want to vent your anger, then do it somewhere else. You can also go back there and die by yourself. If you don’t want to do either of those, then shut up and follow my orders.
- Are you serious right now…
- Do you think that bastard will like it if we go back there? I don’t really like reasonable decisions, but our situation calls for reasonable decisions. Basically, we’ll have a better chance if we regroup with the others and plan our next course of action rather than making the troops go back there right now. Do you understand?
- D-d-do you really think that I don’t know that? Do you really think that I’m acting like this because I don’t know that?! Heuk, do you really think that I don’t already know that?!
Sun Hee-Young slapped Cha Hee-Ra again. Cha Hee-Ra didn’t do anything other than take the hit.
Hwang Jung-Yeon appeared out of nowhere to stop Sun Hee-Young from slapping Cha Hee-Ra, but she couldn’t really stop Sun Hee-Young because she was exhausted. Of course, Sun Hee-Young became tired first, and her hand was bleeding rather than Cha Hee-Ra’s cheek.
- If you’re done venting your anger, then go away and recover. Doing that will be more helpful than throwing a tantrum like this. And you—
- I’m Hwang Jung-Yeon of the Blue Guild. Miss Dialugia has said that they have successfully conquered the 17th base… she told me to tell you to move even quicker, and I-I came here to deliver that; I’m really sorry...
- Well received, and there’s no need to apologize.
- No, I’m sorry for the trouble…
- No, I completely understand.
- You… Whoo, whoo. If something happens to Mr. Lee Ki-Young, I’ll seriously kill you. I’ll really kill you…
- Miss Hee-Young, please stop. I’m sorry. I’m really sorry. She’s usually not like this…
- Do whatever you want. If that actually happens, I don’t plan on living a long life, anyway. Anyway, you heard the report just now, right? Stop interrupting the march and get out of my sight. I won’t punish you.
- L-Let’s leave, Miss Hee-Young. Please stop this…
- I’m really going to kill you. You heard me, right? I’ll kill you no matter what. I’ll rip you to pieces. Remember what I said. You better pray that Mr. Lee Ki-Young is alive. You better pray…!
- …
Lee Chang-Ryeol arrived, and they managed to forcefully drag Sun Hee-Young out of the scene.
I thought about sending the familiar to the Blue Guild, but I couldn’t look away after seeing Cha Hee-Ra looking at the ground, surrounded by her guild members.
I couldn’t tell whether she was laughing or crying, but the way her shoulders trembled made me feel sad.
The guild members surrounded her to prevent outsiders from hearing the commotion earlier, but it made her feel even more isolated. She couldn’t show her weak side since she was the current leader of the expedition team, and I was sure that her guild members also didn’t want to see this side of her either.
- We should have punished her…
- What do we stand to gain by punishing a priest who’s on the same level as the saintess? We need her on the battlefield. Just make sure that what happened here won’t spread because it’ll most likely confuse the others.
- Yes, ma’am.
- …
- I’m sure he’s safe…
- Thanks.
Cha Hee-Ra briefly stopped walking to express her gratitude. Eventually, she started walking once again, and I could see on her face that she was both anxious and worried.
She was definitely having a hard time. Not only did she have to handle the current situation by herself, but she had to fight with that burdensome feeling of guilt. I was sure that she was thinking about all sorts of things right now, and she was definitely thinking about whether she had made the right choice or not.
To be honest, I was surprised that she was still standing. It would have been great if she had someone who could share some of her burdens, but they were in the worst-case scenario with everyone else on the same level as her out of commission.
I felt the same way when I looked around the guild earlier.
Jung Ha-Yan would scream, attempt suicide, and faint whenever she was awake.
Elena couldn’t do her job properly because she was constantly crying.
Kasugano Yuno wasn’t a Blue Guild member, so I had no idea what she was doing.
Park Deok-Gu and Cha Hee-Ra were the only ones who were mentally stable, but their current condition actually made me feel nervous.
However, I was the most worried about Kim Hyun-Sung’s condition.
‘I really should check up on him…’
I wanted to run over there and check my lovely Hyun-Sung’s condition, but I couldn’t approach him. According to Hwang Jung-Yeon’s conversation with Kim Ye-Ri, it sounded like he still hadn’t come back to his senses.
Still, I had to check up on him because he was mankind’s last hope.
‘At this rate, there will be neither dream nor hope. You have to come back to your senses, Hyun-Sung. Seriously.’
My plan succeeded, but it was too successful. I knew there would be some issues, but I didn’t expect him to directly collapse from the shock.
The troops were on the brink of death, and the atmosphere was a mess.
I didn’t have to look around to know the general atmosphere of the expedition team.
The incident involving Sun Hee-Young just now was the only time the issue bared its ugly fangs. However, many things were already bothering me, especially the troops.
Some of them were already suffering from the effects of the reveal.
‘I’ll be pushing it, but should I take a look?’
At this point, I started missing Jung Ha-Yan’s Anemone’s Eyes. I had no choice but to express my disappointment to my comrades in the situation room.
“Excuse me…”
- Yes?
“About the 17th base…” I started.
- Ah, yes, Advisor Lee Ki-Young.
“Are you able to deploy familiars there? Those that are more discreet…” I asked.
- We have already deployed them.
“That’s a relief. Thank you,” I said.
- It’s nothing. You’re the one doing all the hard work since you’re monitoring everything. I could have never imagined that you would be able to focus on your work this quickly despite the recent victory. Haha.
‘That’s because it’s not over yet, man. This is the important part…’
It looked like things were going to fall apart before my plan even started. Still, once the expedition team entered the 17th base, I should be able to take a closer look at the situation—no, at Kim Hyun-Sung’s condition. Perhaps it was because of Dialugia, but the expedition team reached the 17th base in just a few hours.
The familiars on standby came to life and displayed many different scenes on the magic holograms.
The army of the Republic that had already conquered the 17th base joined forces with Cha Hee-Ra, and they were talking about many different things.
Not only were they discussing things related to the overall situation, but they were also discussing new issues that had come up.
However, our lovely regressor’s condition was the most important issue that had to be addressed as soon as possible.
‘Mankind’s last hope!’
The stepping stone to turn the tables.
‘The main character of the story.’
He was the perfect protagonist.
‘He’s the protagonist of this game and the terminator who will end this scenario…’
I started looking for Kim Hyun-Sung at the 17th base with great expectations, and I finally found him inside a small room. Jo Hye-Jin was supporting him, and I couldn’t help but gulp when I saw his face.
‘What’s going on…’
“Guild Master, I’ll… be heading out now,” Jo Hye-Jin said.
‘What’s wrong with his face?’
His soulless face didn’t look any different from the first time he saw the corrupted version of me. It looked like he hadn’t recovered at all. I couldn’t help but think that perhaps Rimoura’s tentacles had injured him quite badly as well.
‘M-M-Mankind’s last hope…’
Mankind’s last hope didn’t even notice the familiar inside the small room. He was looking at the sky with a thousand-yard stare. He was mumbling something, so I decided to let the familiar walk even closer to him.
“It’s… over…” Kim Hyun-Sung mumbled.
‘What do you mean it’s over, man? What’s wrong, Hyun-Sung? Seriously…’
I couldn’t help but think that I had gone too far this time.
“I’m… tired…” he continued.
‘D-don’t be tired, man. If you’re tired, it’s over.’
His condition was even worse than I imagined.
‘Don’t be tired… Shit…’
Kim Hyun-Sung looked like he had given up on everything.
1. Lee Ki-Young’s POV ☜
Hikari’s Thoughts
Veela: Happy 500th chapter to us!
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