Chapter 91

Episode 91. The road to the top (1)

As Lee Jin-woo requested, we didn't say anything like, "Did we finish her?" and walked slowly toward Seol Ah-rin.

"......."

Seol Ah-rin was lying among the scattered rocks and monster carcasses.

The overwhelming modern firearms, the various rifles, and heavy weapons disappeared as if they had never existed. Seol Ah-rin looked like nothing more than an ordinary woman in her 20s.

"Ahh... Cough. What have you guys done...!"

Seol Ah-rin had collapsed on the floor. Her voice was full of pain, and she was struggling to move. There was a huge arrow stuck in her chest. Blood gushed out of her wound. Lee Jin-woo's characteristic enabled his arrow to penetrate Seol Ah-rin's barrier easily and fatally injure her.

"Uhhh... I can't breathe, I can't breathe......."

Seol Ah-rin groaned, grasping at her chest. The terrible characteristic dismantled all defense methods against the first attack and slowly gnawed away Seol Ah-rin's life.

I leaned over the Third Disaster, who had fallen in vain.

"Wait, man. It's dangerous. This is the strongest poison I got...."

I heard Lee Jin-woo's warning, but a stronger impulse overcame me. Something in my head kept shouting at me to look into Seol Ah-rin.

['Access to Information' activated.]

Regardless of my will, the Akashic Records craved the information that Seol Ah-rin contained. My hands moved automatically, and the moment I touched her, memories rushed in like a tidal wave.

* * *

'Dad was a soldier. A soldier who carried a gun and proudly defended his country. His tone was stiff, and he was always strict, but I liked my dad.'

I see Seol Ah-rin, who is much younger than she is now. She's eight years old at most. Her bright smile didn't suit her present image.

'I thought that my dad was the strongest man in the world. I thought he could protect my family from any army, and that he could defeat any villain.'

'When I was young, I imagined my dad was Superman.'

Little Seol Ah-rin painstakingly drew her father on a big sketchbook. The drawing was a mess and didn't look a bit like him, but you could see how strong Seol Ah-rin's father was in her eyes.

But even if her father could defeat all villains and armies, he could not stop the disaster.

One day a hole appeared in the sky. From the hole, Monsters poured out. Not only civilians but also soldiers fled in terror. The Monsters had hard scales that bullets bounced off of, and whenever the Monsters shrieked, neighbors and friends turned into puddles of blood.

Seol Ah-rin stood blankly. It was because she couldn't comprehend what had happened. It was basic human instinct, wanting to let go and flee from reality.

Seol Ah-rin's father hid her inside the dead body of a Monster. It was an amazing way to hide both her smell and figure. But he only cared about his daughter's survival. He didn't think about what kind of trauma his daughter would suffer from in the future.

'I still remember. The shape of my father's innards spilling out of his body, my mother's head rolling out of the living room, and the Monsters that poured out of the fallen ceiling.'

'I closed my eyes and covered my ears. Everything I could see was a nightmare, and everything I could hear was a horror. The only sense I could not block out was the smell. The stench that came from the Monsters. The stink instinctively repulsed you, unlike any other smell of rotting meat.'

Seol Ah-rin could not leave the Monster's carcass even after the situation calmed down. Rigor mortis had set in, trapping her inside.

When she came to her senses and called for help, it was too late. There was no one left to rescue her. It was there that she awakened her powers.

[Leftovers of the Past]

[Great Legacy]

[Summons unforgotten 'memories' from the past into reality.]

[Can apply to a person, a power, or an event.]

It was the perfect ability for Seol Ah-rin since she had completely fled from reality.

'Everywhere I went, I could smell the stench of monsters. I didn't like it all.'

After her moment of Awakening, which was Seol Ah-rin's most intense memory, time passed very quickly.

A villain that killed everything she did not like, living as she pleased. Seol Ah-rin did not age past her 20s and slowly built up her evil reputation over the years.

That was how a woman trapped in her past where monsters didn't exist came all the way here.

* * *

"Huhhh... cough, cough."

Seol Ah-rin coughed repeatedly. Her entire life permeated my body. I slowly opened my eyes and talked to Zhang Wei.

"Save her. Just enough for her to barely breathe."

"...What?"

"Mr. Si-woo, what are you talking about? You've seen what this crazy woman has done!"

The others rebelled against my decision. No wonder they did. Everyone here saw how dangerous and powerful she was. But I found a better option than just killing Seol Ah-rin. I had found it in nowhere other than her memory.

"That's right, I saw her. I know that she is an incredibly powerful bomb."

"......."

"But if used well enough, she might become a useful weapon."

I tore off my sleeve and covered Seol Ah-rin's eyes.

"Hyun-woo, turn everything in her mind upside down. Mess it up so that she can't tell her memories apart."

"...What?"

"And combine her memories into a plausible world so that she can live inside that world like a mental patient. And make her forget her powers. Make her forget the Monsters, too."

Sung Hyun-woo's eyes shook at my words. Yeah, I never taught him how, but he definitely knew how to destroy a person. He had read my memory.

He knew the other side of Jeong Si-woo, the side that had tortured numerous villains, turning them into useless idiots.

I looked at Sung Hyun-woo, who looked intimidated, and spoke to him.

"I don't feel inclined to do this either. But we need even a madwoman like her... In order to fight that guy who will appear later."

Nobody in the world knew, but Sung Hyun-woo had looked inside me and would know.

The Great Overlord. The Worst Disaster. If these people had seen him at least once, they would understand.

To fight against the man born to destroy the world, we needed to use everything possible as a weapon. And considering Seol Ah-rin's hate for monsters... She could become one of the best allies.

"Okay."

Sung nodded painfully and slowly reached his hand out towards Seol Ah-rin's forehead. Her eyes were covered.

That day, the Third Disaster that originally would have terrorized the world and the Association that had controlled the Awakening industry disappeared.

"Ahhhh..."

I inhaled after looking at Seol Ah-rin tremble. Her face was blank.

The world will change now. Into a totally different world than before.

I inhaled deeply again.

"...Hmm?"

And when I regained my composure, I realized that someone who had always been by my side had disappeared.

"What? Where did he go?"

The Traveler who was always there whenever I looked behind me was gone.

* * *

"Didn't I say it over and over? If you disturb what is mine, I'll rip you apart, whoever you are."

The Traveler's voice rang in the air. Unlike the voice that used to whisper by Jeong Si-woo's side, now every word he uttered penetrated deep into the heart.

Stomp.

The Traveler took a step forward, and his hermit-like appearance slowly transformed.

"Ca... ca... calm down......."

The other beings that occupied the same space trembled and bowed in fear. Each of them owned great myths and dominated worlds. But the moment the Traveler revealed his true identity, the majority of them became nothing at all.

A speck of dust floating in outer space. A worm crawling on the ground. The gods that were worshiped by mortals were simply that insignificant to the Traveler.

"Who disturbed my possession? Let me make myself clear. What kind of bastard messed with the world that I hand-picked?"

He was no longer a benevolent, elderly hermit. He did not resemble a human anymore. He was a peculiar being that was likely to appear in myths or horror stories. The brutal being who could destroy the world with a single word was dominating the atmosphere.

"We... we don't know either. Us beings do not interact with one another, as you know. Please, please stop. Please..."

One of the cowering deities pleaded. The Traveler shifted his huge body. His eyes looked upon him.

"So, what you mean is that I have nothing more to learn here by making a fuss, so I should get lost? Is that what you mean?"

"That... that's not true! How dare we...."

"Don't bother. I don't dwell on words. I'll leave as you wish. But I will warn you one more time."

"......."

"Nobody touches what is mine. Some newborn gods don't seem to know how to take a hint, but if I glimpse even a small figure and smell even a small whiff, I will show you exactly what it is that I used to be."

His many eyes swept over the bowing deities. With those words, the Traveler slowly vanished, like smoke disappearing into the sky.

"I almost lost the user of the Akashic Records once and barely recaptured him. If I lose him because of some idiot, I will become very angry."

* * *

Quite some time has passed since that day. And a lot had happened in the meantime.

-President Kim Min-jae of the Association gone missing?

-The Association has lost its leader. How will it find its way?

Kim Min-jae was in charge of a big part of the world, and his disappearance was a serious issue. The media argued over picking a new head of the Association or searching for Kim Min-jae.

"Still, President Kim Min-jae did a good job. There's no one as talented. The Association and the government need to search for the President's whereabouts."

The general opinion was to search for Kim Min-jae.

Although many people criticize him, isn't he a remarkable man? The Association won't function without him, so we must find him now! However, Kim Min-jae did not show up despite the countless searches by numerous people.

The Hunters from the field didn't bother to reveal that I killed Kim Min-jae. Naturally, the media's focus shifted towards other interesting topics.

- Jeong Si-woo distinguishes himself in the Monster Fields, having joined as back up....

- Hunter Jeong Si-woo, a choice that did not fail yet again.

The most sought after person apart from Kim Min-jae was me. I had destroyed the Monster Fields, which had been a nuisance for such a long time, and played an important role. Everyone had worried, but I succeeded.

And then.

"Hunter Jeong Si-woo, please come in."

"Ah, yes."

"Everyone's waiting."

I had achieved a great deal, and it was finally time to shine.

The door opened, and I could see the people inside the hall.

"Since hunter Jeong Si-woo is now here... Let us start the qualification exam for promotion from 1st class Hunter candidate to 1st class Hunter."

There was a round of applause.

I sat down, receiving everyone's attention. Now it was my turn to rise to the highest position among Hunters. The position that I had dreamt of for so long.

I could see several people who were so famous that everyone in the hunting business knew their names.

'Hm......'

But instead of looking at them, I was staring under the table.

'I suppose I won't need to use it now.'

[You have succeeded in stopping the Third Disaster Seol Ah-rin.]

[The method of suppression has never been recorded in the Akashic Records.]

[You have recorded Seol Ah-rin's memory in the Akashic Records.]

[Spirit Level has grown.]

[The memories have intertwined into one.]

.

.

.

[The Akashic Records reward you for a large amount of information.]

[Characteristic, 'Trace of the Past(C)' acquired.]

[Skill, 'Great Legacy(B)' acquired.]

I was looking at the shining results of the long battle.

I pried my eyes away from the window and slowly opened my mouth.

"Yes. I am ready."