Chapter 501: The Cliché: Growing Soon After Collapsing (4) |
I knew Kim Hyun-Sung would be out of his mind. Kim Hyun-Sung’s eyes were blank in the expedition team’s journey toward the 17th base. I couldn’t help but get worried that he had suffered a brain injury or something after receiving a head injury from Rimoura.
However, he looked fine on the outside.
‘Shit.’
And that was why I felt more desperate. One of the biggest benefits I would get out of this project was living a successful life with our lovely regressor. I imagined us walking toward a happy future while holding hands, but on the magic hologram, Kim Hyun-Sung looked like he was in a vegetative state. I was anxious because he looked so bad that I started questioning if he was still alive.
He looked as if he had lost all motivation to live.
His eyes were empty as if he had been living a monotonous life.
“I’m tired…”
No one was talking to him or asking him a question, but the way he kept mumbling reminded me of a mentally ill patient. He seemed like he was talking without much thought behind it. His soul had left him. The best description would be to say that he was mumbling without realizing it. I had heard about how people with aphasia would do such a thing, but it was my first time seeing those symptoms manifest.
‘Was it really that shocking?’
The story about how he had been pampering me with luxury goods like the Chanelia Hermes Infinity Bag and various resources had long become famous in Lindel. There was even a rumor about how half of the guild master’s salary was dedicated to pampering the sub guild master.
I wasn’t sure where he got those items from, but he even gifted me a Legendary Beauty Slime Gel for the face, an elixir that was good for one’s health, and a strange ginseng root that was apparently good for men.
The various catalysts he gifted me were items that couldn’t be found even on the black market. It had gotten to the point that I was seeing his gifts more than his face.
At first, I doubted his intentions; I thought it was his way to tie down a talent. However, his gaze toward me kept on changing until I couldn’t question his intent anymore. I wasn’t sure exactly how much he liked me, but if I were to exaggerate a bit, he probably thought of me as his brother.
‘Brother is a good word…’
I smiled in satisfaction because our relationship was deep and well-established. We had experienced many life-and-death situations. He had saved me from danger, and I had saved him from danger as well. Whenever we drank or talked, his serious expression would always go missing, so we were naturally fond of each other.
Our bond was even more special if one were to consider the heavy burden that our lovely regressor had been carrying on his shoulder by himself because no one could understand him.
I remembered something after hearing him mumbling about how he was tired. For years in his past life and in his current life, he had been carrying the heavy burden by himself, so I presumed that his mental instability wasn’t strange.
I was sure that there were times when he got scared, lonely, and exhausted…
I was sure that there were times when he wanted to run away…
Saving the continent was an extremely heavy burden, and he probably thought that Light Ki-Young would help him carry that heavy burden. My method was different from Kim Hyun-Sung’s method, but I was definitely carrying the burden with him.
Everyone knew me as Benigoa’s Chosen, but for him, I was someone who was trying his best to be prepared for the future that only he was aware of.
Regardless, Light Ki-Young was definitely Kim Hyun-Sung’s close friend, and he was someone who was carrying his burden with him.
I had always been hoping that he would think of me as a brother, close friend, colleague, and someone precious enough for him to risk his life to save.
Therefore, I was happy when I received proof that it was indeed the case.
Anyway, the one-of-a-kind Light Ki-Young was suddenly corrupted and was now wearing a mask.
To make things worse, it looked as if all of this was his fault. In other words, it wasn’t strange that he was losing his mind. I wasn’t sure, but my mask probably reminded him of the same mask that the masked scum had been wearing in his past life, so there was a chance that he was thinking about running away from everything.
‘Otherwise, it could be something scary.’
He was still traumatized after being backstabbed so many times by the masked scum and losing everyone precious to him. He was most likely thinking that he could lose me in this fight.
Of course, I could make my own guesses, but I wouldn’t know for sure what he was thinking.
I wasn’t actually sure if his mind had collapsed because he thought that I was the masked scum or if he simply couldn’t endure the heavy burden anymore. If either of those two weren’t the case, then it was most likely that he was scared about losing me.
Actually, I was sure that he wouldn’t choose me over the world, so the thought that he was hiding like a coward right now because he was afraid of losing me didn’t really sound convincing.
Honestly, I had no idea which of the three was the answer; actually, all three could be the answers. The issue here was that Kim Hyun-Sung was now hiding like a turtle in its shell. To make matters worse, I didn’t think that he saw me coming back to my senses, albeit briefly, while the expedition team was still in Rimoura’s nest.
‘Shit. Finding out the reason is one thing, but it’s important to get him back on his feet.’
For the sake of my story and our relationship, I couldn’t let him give up like this.
‘Damn it. What should I do?’
I tried to think of ways to continue the story without Kim Hyun-Sung, but I couldn’t think of any way to do such a thing.
It would be nice if he came out on his own and said, “I’ve awakened, heh,” but in the current situation, it would be difficult to expect something like that.
An external factor had to stimulate him.
‘I don’t think I need to go out of my way to fix this…’
There were many people around Kim Hyun-Sung. In a cliche, the heroine would help the protagonist break out of their shells in hopeless situations like this.
‘Park Yeon-Joo, Jo Hye-Jin, and Kim Ye-Ri.’
I couldn’t consider Kim Ye-Ri a heroine, but she was a younger sister that Kim Hyun-Sung trusted and cared for a lot. Park Yeon-Joo and Jo Hye-Jin were openly acting like his advisors as well as his mistresses. Of course, he had rejected Jo Hye-Jin once, but they remained close despite that.
I thought it would be best to just let him rest for today, but I was sure that something would happen.
I hoped that if he heard a line that was touching enough to be engraved on his heart, I was hoping that he would stand up and exclaim, Hey! Grab your weapons! And let’s go save our Ki-Young!”
I couldn’t help but expect that kind of awakening cliche. As expected, I saw people walking around the next morning. They had to have thought that they needed to help Kim Hyun-Sung come back to his senses.
I saw them entering his room and talking to him slowly.
- Guild Master.
- …
- Have you eaten…
- …
- I’ll leave this here for now.
Jo Hye-Jin’s first defeat.
- Oppa…
- …
- Are you okay? You’re okay, right?
- …
Kim Ye-Ri’s second defeat.
- Guild Master, are you feeling better today?
- …
- I understand that… the situation isn’t good, but please hang in there. I know it won’t be easy, but I’m sure we’ll be able to save him.
- …
- It’s not your fault, Mr. Hyun-Sung. I hope you don’t blame yourself too much because of this incident.
Park Yeon-Joo’s third defeat.
- I’m sure the sub guild master is safe. I’m sure he’ll hold out until the end…
- …
- It’s not your fault, Guild Master. It’s not. I-I’m sure the sub guild master doesn’t want to see you acting like this. At least—
- …
- …
- …
- Whooo, I’ll come back later.
Jo Hye-Jin’s 4th defeat.
- We need to get revenge. Are you just going to stay here like this, oppa? Are you really not going to do anything?!
- …
- Get a hold of yourself. Please… please get a hold of yourself… I’m really scared. Heuk—really—heuk! I’m really scared.
- I’m tired…
- Heuuuk, please, get a hold of yourself… please…
- It’s over….
Kim Ye-Ri’s 5th defeat, Jo Hye-Jin’s 6th defeat, and Park Yeon-Joo’s 7th defeat.
‘Shit. This has become a really huge problem.’
A day turned into two days, three days, and four days. Jo Hye-Jin suffered her 11th defeat, Park Yeon-Joo suffered her 12th defeat, and on the fourth day, Jo Hye-Jin suffered her 22nd defeat.
They had said a few decent lines that made me feel touched, but Kim Hyun-Sung didn’t change. He wasn’t eating, and he never left his tiny room. At this point, it wouldn’t be strange to think that he had locked himself up in a prison of his own consciousness.
I had no knowledge of psychology, so I wasn’t sure what was going on, but what could I do otherwise? I couldn’t help but feel suspicious if he was wandering in his own consciousness like the protagonists of those old Shonen comics.
It was true that this was what I wanted, but I didn’t expect that things would go wrong. I thought he would get back on his feet at the right time, but his condition seemed to be more serious than I thought. He was hiding deep inside his consciousness.
‘It’s ruined. Damn it. It’s ruined…’
Kim Hyun-Sung’s time had stopped, but the ongoing situation continued mercilessly.
Belial’s territory and army continued to expand. The 41st, 42nd, and 43rd bases were finally recaptured by Belial’s forces, sending the people of the Federation into a frantic evacuation. To make matters worse, the incident was broadcasted all over the world.
The continent plunged into chaos, and everyone felt as if the peace of the continent was hanging by a thread.
In addition…
- Excuse me… Advisor Lee Ki-Young.
- Yes?
- Mr. Donovan said that after taking care of the 41st base, he’s going toward the 17th base. He said that he’d show you a performance that’s definitely going to satisfy you…
‘What is that bastard doing over there?’
The crazy Donovan was leading the hard-liner demons to destroy the 17th base, which was currently in chaos. I had prepared a few safety devices just in case, but I was honestly worried that this bastard would cause more trouble when things were already chaotic. The members of the Blue Guild had all approached Kim Hyun-Sung to talk and show how much they cared for him, but he didn’t show any reaction.
Jung Ha-Yan was still suffering from mana exhaustion, and she kept on slipping in and out of consciousness. Out of the 4-person tutorial members, the sanest one was Park Deok-Gu, but he—
- Mr. Deok-Gu, will you be okay? Really…
- Hyung-nim isn’t here… and the bro is suffering… Y-You’re bedridden as well.
- …
- I should do it. This time… I-I’ll do it. I can’t make hyung-nim and the bro suffer any longer. I’m going to do it this time. It’s my turn.
Park Deok-Gu didn’t encourage Kim Hyun-Sung at all. He left Kim Hyun-Sung alone to try and bear the entire situation on his own.
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