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 [Chapter 127]

[Your Heart is Heard (6)]

Disaster struck in an instant.

Monsters attacked Yokohama taking advantage of the time when the Cocoon stopped functioning. And mana flowing in from outside mixed with people's confusion and caused mana imbalances.

There was no place safe from mana imbalances.

No, safe places didn't exist from the start.

People just believed they did.

Woof woof!

Beeeep!!

Yokohama Marui City.

That place where people come and go was no exception.

The force that surged from the beach due to the Cocoon momentarily breaking shattered the glass windows.

Then a large-scale mana imbalance occurred, and flying monsters invaded.

"...Shit...!! Why isn't this coming! If the elevator doesn't work... emergency stairs! There must be emergency stairs somewhere!"

This is no time to lose your mind.

Choi Ye-jang saw a flying monster fly down to a lower floor and whipped his legs.

He who firmly grasped Seo-hyun's hand quickly pressed the elevator button.

But no matter how much he pressed the button, the elevator doors wouldn't open.

In the end, he had to stubbornly drag Seo-hyun towards the emergency stairs.

Kyaaaaaaah─!!

A sound heard as soon as he opened the door.

Choi Ye-jang heard that sound and closed the door leading to the emergency stairs again. He couldn't tell which floor, but this side seemed to already be occupied by them.

"...Seo-hyun, run!"

"...Kuk...!"

The only way to go down the building was the escalator.

Han Seo-hyun ran towards the escalator with her hand grasped by him.

She wondered how long it had been since she ran with all her might like this.

But the sprint stopped.

While Choi Ye-jang was pushing people in front and going down, the head of a person going ahead suddenly flew off.

""""...""""

Monsters.

They were cleverly waiting near the escalator where people would come down, looking for opportunities.

There wasn't just one or two of them.

People who had almost gone down to the 7th floor also became food for other monsters.

"H-help...!"

But there was no choice.

People took the risk and jumped straight to the side.

While unfortunate people were ravaged by monsters, survivors ran recklessly without looking back.

A chase began.

Han Seo-hyun went around the 7th floor following the path Choi Ye-jang took.

Some brave people brought things that could be used as weapons from stores and confronted monsters.

There were successes.

There were more failures.

She brushed past numerous thoughts while turning a blind eye to their lives.

Everyone is desperately trying to live.

Then what about me...?

19 years.

She was in the shadow of Sirius Group for 19 years.

She lived without lacking compared to others.

That much, she had to shoulder the weight of Sirius.

When she realized that weight, she learned how futile her life was.

She just had to live the life given to her.

Does that mean there's a reason to live?

From then on, she became indifferent to life and detached from worldly affairs.

"This way! This way!"

"Come quickly!"

Nevertheless, Han Seo-hyun didn't not understand why other people were struggling with all their might to live.

She just wondered if she, who had no will to live, could pass by their sacrifices while watching people clear the way.

Still, she runs.

She's not sure if she's running because she wants to live, or if she's running because Choi Ye-jang is holding her hand and running.

The thought that suddenly came to mind then was─.

─Ah, I have to live following this person for the rest of my life.

The doubt she had been trying hard to forget gently revealed its face.

In the shadow of Sirius when young.

In Choi Ye-jang's shadow from now on.

Han Seo-hyun newly realized that her existence was absent in any life.

Her existence is nothing more than a symbol connecting Sirius and YH.

"There's so many here...! Over there! Let's hide behind there first!"

It was when they came down to the 5th floor.

They were discovered by monsters.

People scattered and hid their bodies to survive.

The two were the same.

They hid in a corner and watched their surroundings while holding their breath.

Just then, a monster was approaching them with big strides─.

─Grrrr

The distance gradually narrows.

When the distance left for it to reach the corner was not much─.

"─I'm sorry."

"...!"

He suddenly pushed her.

She who lost his hand and fell outside the corner blankly looked up at him.

Choi Ye-jang ran away without looking back with an apologetic face.

Yes... that's how it is.

Everyone just desperately wants to live.

Han Seo-hyun understood his actions.

There was nothing not to understand.

Everyone prioritizes their own life.

She had no thoughts of resenting him.

She tried to accept her death looking back at the monster running towards her.

If a Japanese man hadn't suddenly jumped out and blocked the monster.

"─Go quickly!!"

The man shouted with a groan.

Han Seo-hyun who got up in a daze hearing that sound ran recklessly.

She deliberately turned a blind eye to the death of the man who saved her.

She just runs.

Her two legs that started moving once refused to stop.

Only then did she realize.

That she was running with her own strength.

"...Kuk...!"

Why, why.

Why is she running?

She couldn't understand.

But she runs.

She just runs.

Even when the path down to the 4th floor collapsed and people died, she kept running.

'You're wasting your life right now.'

Suddenly she remembered something from the past.

Looking back, it wasn't that she only thought this life had no meaning.

When she was living killing her emotions in a world dyed by people's gazes, 'he' who suddenly appeared wasn't wrapped in any color.

There were some occasionally.

But that color was special.

The color of sympathy and pity.

While people in the world revealed desire towards her, he had a gloomy color.

So she became interested.

Wondering why he wasn't interested in her.

She also became stubborn.

Because he looked at her pitifully from their first meeting.

'Just call me comfortably.'

This is a game.

Even if he comes to know her, will he be able to maintain his unchanging gaze towards her?

She who approached him out of curiosity soon had to admit defeat.

Rather, she was being dyed by him without even realizing.

At that moment, meaning in life arose.

'Even if you end up throwing everything away, can you say such words to me?'

But that's all.

The existence called Han Seo-hyun essentially couldn't escape from Sirius' shackles.

From the start, her meeting with him was under Sirius' name from the beginning.

It's an inevitable meeting.

If she hadn't been Sirius' Han Seo-hyun, the event of meeting him wouldn't have happened.

In a way, it's a dilemma.

While lamenting being bound to Sirius, she hopes to keep being bound to Sirius to meet him.

That tormented her even more.

"─Ah..."

She fell.

It seems she sprained her ankle. Her leg doesn't move well.

Kieeee!!

Monsters are chasing from behind.

She who turned her body on the floor blankly watched monsters running towards her.

This must be the end.

Han Seo-hyun closed her eyes sensing her death.

'─But it's because you were Han Seo-hyun.'

A single line that flashed by then.

Those words made her open her eyes.

"Ah..."

She moves her leg even though it hurts.

She gets up even if she has to lean on the wall.

Now she understands.

Why she was running.

She wanted to live.

Nevertheless, she wanted to live.

"...Ugh..."

It's funny.

Is this world better even if you roll in a dog poop field?

No, that's not it.

'When we meet next time, I'll be bigger than this?'

There's someone she wants to see.

She promised to meet again.

But she didn't want to die here without anyone knowing.

From here─.

Even one more step.

Han Seo-hyun gritted her teeth.

She doesn't give up on life until the end in a situation where death looms right in front.

'─Okay, I'll look forward to it.'

Mana manifestation is will manifestation, and will originates from emotion.

Therefore, strong emotion creates strong will, and strong will creates magic.

At that moment, the artifact activated.

─I don't want to die here.

Eun-ha.

I miss you so much.

Han Seo-hyun desperately pictured life while feeling death approaching from behind.

If, just if.

If she meets No Eun-ha here, it would no longer be an inevitable meeting.

It's coincidence, it's fate.

No, such things don't matter.

"─Hello. Have you been well?"

"Ah..."

It's just a meeting between just Han Seo-hyun and just No Eun-ha.

If that happens, she won't deny it anymore.

I─, like this person.

☆

Han Seo-hyun is here.

The moment he heard that name, Eun-ha immediately moved his legs.

'You're wasting your life right now.'

The day he first met Han Seo-hyun.

Eun-ha kept glancing at her who was looking out the window with a face like she was enlightened to the world amidst people's laughter.

It couldn't be helped.

Because it reminded him of himself who lived to die in his previous life.

It also reminded him of Ha Baek-ryeon who had to endure the weight of being a fairy.

So he spoke to her.

From that moment, the person called Han Seo-hyun entered his fence.

Eun-ha hoped this relationship would continue in the future.

Thousand Steps

Mana Crasher

However.

When he decided to change the future after being trapped in the past.

When he vowed to live happily with his people at the same time.

He had to acquiesce to reality.

'─I decided to study abroad in Japan after graduating middle school.'

You can't have everything.

If you gain something, you lose something.

That's the way of the world.

A mere human like himself isn't allowed to go against that principle.

Though he was prepared for a situation where he'd have to choose one or the other someday, Eun-ha was flustered when that time came faster than he thought.

Then he realized.

That he actually wasn't prepared yet.

'Can you say such words to me, prepared to turn the world, Sirius into your enemy?'

That's what Han Seo-hyun meant to him.

'Reality' that taught the fool with half-baked ideals of gaining everything that you can't have everything.

In the end, Eun-ha had to admit.

His existence is imperfect.

You can't have everything.

Therefore, he must give up Han Seo-hyun.

Then he couldn't help but feel powerless.

'If it's not white, it's all black.'

So he abandoned his ideals.

He decided to conform to reality.

He decided to walk the path of asura.

If reality is so cruel, he decided to become cruel too.

It's a heart that must not change.

By doing so, Eun-ha was able to make himself into an even sharper honed sword.

But─.

─Han Seo-hyun is here.

She is here.

She who taught him the reality that you can't have everything is right here.

So Eun-ha couldn't not run.

"Wh-what...!?"

Coming up to the 3rd floor was easy.

Because Japanese players had already conquered it.

Eun-ha ignored them who were surprised discovering him and looked for the way to the 4th floor.

The 4th floor was in the middle of being conquered.

Thousand Steps

Wild Dance

Breakthrough

Charging monsters are annoying.

Eun-ha swung his sword randomly and killed monsters in one strike.

He pierced the vital points of high-rank monsters Japanese players were struggling with effortlessly in one breath.

He jumped up the collapsed escalator while they made surprised sounds behind him.

"...Get lost."

He arrived at the 5th floor.

As if they sensed his presence, monsters were spread around.

He muttered in an annoyed tone and slaughtered charging monsters.

He deployed a detection net.

There are quite a few people.

Han Seo-hyun is somewhere here.

Thousand Steps

Eun-ha confirmed the person at the closest distance.

It's not her.

Thousand Steps

He kills monsters.

He rescues people.

He searches for Han Seo-hyun.

Thousand Steps

He is infinitely unlucky.

Luck is a distant thing for him.

Thousand Steps

But if he has even a little, just a rat's tail of luck.

Thousand Steps

He'll use that to correct reality.

He'll grasp the distant ideal.

─Found her!!

And finally.

Eun-ha found Han Seo-hyun.

There's no way he wouldn't recognize her leaning against the wall.

Thousand Steps

Eun-ha clicked his tongue.

The path to her is blocked by building debris.

He has to go around.

But then he'll be late.

That monster will kill her while he's running.

Thousand Steps

Reality is cruel.

Nevertheless, he ran.

Even while knowing he won't reach her no matter how much he runs.

While feeling infinitely powerless, he still didn't stop sprinting.

"Please─!"

Please─, reach her.

Eun-ha gritted his teeth.

He doesn't give up.

He can't miss this chance that came to unlucky him.

Though you can't have everything, he wants to have everything.

Just then─.

─I don't want to die here.

At that moment, Han Seo-hyun's voice flashed through his mind.

It's not a mishearing.

It's clearly her voice.

Eun-ha was startled by the sudden voice.

Then, his body moved on its own.

Ah─.

His vision opens wide.

The invisible comes into view.

Though he wasn't even conscious of it, suddenly mana flows appear before his eyes.

─Found it!

Tens, hundreds, thousands, maybe tens of thousands.

Among countless mana flows, Eun-ha found the flow connecting to Han Seo-hyun.

It's the mana flow she sent her voice through just now.

"...Hup...!"

He traces the flow.

He steps into that flow.

He designates coordinates.

A path connects.

─Ox Step

Like going a thousand li with an ox's steps.

Eun-ha entrusted his body to where the mana flow led.

His vision is pushed back.

When the jumbled distorted world finally stabilized─.

─Mana Crasher

Eun-ha was pointing his sword at the monster in a form protecting Han Seo-hyun.

There is no confusion.

He just swings his sword.

"─Hello. Have you been well?"

No Eun-ha smiled.