Side Stories Chapter 96 – What If Story (11)

Evacuation Shelter? Yoo Yeonha read the letters on the sign. Was there an evacuation shelter around here?

She tilted her head in confusion, but decided to enter the tunnel in the end. The fog became even thicker inside and her vision and hearing were completely hindered.

She relied on her remaining senses as she walked. It was truly not a pleasant experience. She felt extremely frustrated from not being able to see or hear anything. Her anxiety grew with every step she took as her back started to break out in cold sweat.

However, she didn’t have to worry so much. Her body was tied by a rope with her other comrades, so…

She reached out and fiddled with her lifeline, but felt chills spread throughout her entire body.

The rope was cut. The long rope that should have connected all of them was cut cleanly and less than a meter was left behind her. The rope was sturdy enough to withstand any attempts from most monsters to cut it since it was manufactured with the special fiber created by Essential Dynamics, but…

No, that wasn’t what was important right now.

Yoo Yeonha froze on the spot like a statue while holding onto what was left of her rope. Panic slowly set in and she started to be shaken.

Her mental fortitude had strengthened after becoming a hero, but there was one thing she couldn’t personally handle.

Alone, no one else but her in this vast space. She couldn’t see or hear anything.

Her trauma slowly started to creep in and sapped the strength from her legs. She sat on the ground and covered her face. Then a hallucination started whispering in her ears.

The sound grew louder as it turned into a scream and her fingertips were covered with a hot, thick liquid.

Yoo Yeonha gritted her teeth and screamed at the top of her lungs, but couldn’t even hear herself. This, in turn, only caused her to feel more fear and anxiety.

She trembled in horror within the darkness. She had no idea if her eyes were opened or closed. Her vision and hearing were stripped away from her. The only thing that remained with her was her consciousness.

This experience was truly horrifying for her, but it was at that moment…

She heard footsteps in the distance and looked in that direction. A wind was gently blowing away the thick fog and a man’s silhouette was walking towards her.

Everything looked like a hallucination.

That man, Kim Hajin, was smiling at her.

Yoo Yeonha was dazed for a moment, but immediately walked towards him. She tried to say something, but couldn’t utter a word. In the end, she hugged him and cried in his embrace.

He was flustered at her response, but soon patted her on the shoulder.

Then…

He suddenly crumbled into dust and Yoo Yeonha fell face-first onto the ground.

He was an illusion.

***

At a mountain peak with a bird’s eye view of the tower cut in half.

“… Do you see it?” this informant called Yoo Sunghwan asked me.

“Yes, I see it,” I replied.

The entire area around the tower was getting contaminated by its mana. I had no choice but to hire an expert around this area.

▶ [Master Sharpshooter]

[High Rank] [Permanent] [Growth-Type – Proficiency Tier 2] [Experience – 15%]

My Master Sharpshooter was quite high-leveled, so I was probably the best out there. I could even see through the disturbances spread across the tower.

I was busy looking into the tower when a kid suddenly popped out of nowhere.

“You can see it? Are you lying right now? I think you’re lying… You’re lying, right?” the kid nagged while waving her magic staff.

I let out a sigh and replied, “I am not lying.”

“How can I believe you? Even I can’t see what’s going on over there,” Aileen retorted while waving her hands to disturb me.

Thankfully, Jin Seyeon appeared beside her and grabbed her shoulder with a smile, “Please stay still, Aileen. He’s an expert that I hardly managed to convince to come.”

“What the? You know this guy?” Aileen narrowed her eyes and asked.

“Yes, Hajin operates under the alias Black Wolf,” Jin Seyeon replied with a gentle smile.

“Oh… Really?” Aileen muttered. Her eyes shot wide open as if she recognized me.

“Do you know me?” I asked.

“There’s no way she doesn’t know you, Hajin. After all, you have quite a stellar record,” Jin Seyeon replied instead.

Well, I guess I did work quite hard to become somebody…

Aileen still seemed dazed before she said, “Yeah, I know you. You do a lot of small jobs in the United States and the Middle East, right?”

“What do you mean by small jobs, Aileen? Hajin stopped a calamity,” Jin Seyeon corrected her.

“What are you? His lawyer?” Aileen snapped back.

I ignored the two and continued analyzing the situation as my thousand-mile eyes helped me get a satellite view of what was going on around the tower.

“… I think there are around forty-eight fragments,” I said after I analyzed the situation.

The entire area was about sixty-six thousand square meters. There were forty-eight fragments in it. Every single one of them was separated into their own independent spaces and we would have to subjugate them one by one to bring this matter to a close.

“Around?” Aileen said as she tried to nitpick at my words.

However, Jin Seyeon placed her hand on her shoulder.

“Damn it!”

I ignored her rambling and continued, “There are forty-eights aboveground, but we can’t exclude the chances of some existing underground as well.”

I looked at Yoo Sunghwan and said, “We will need to create a map first. Please prepare large paper and stationeries.”

“Yes, sir.”

Every fragment had different entrances. One could enter from the north, but they would find themselves in the east while another could enter from the east and find themselves in the south. I didn’t want to exaggerate, but there was no one else who could create a map for this complex structure aside from me in this world.

There could be a hero out there who was as good as me, but drawing a map required quite the dexterity at the same time. I doubted that any hero would possess that.

No, I was certain that nobody else possessed both abilities as I did.

“A map? Is that even possible?” Aileen sneered as she asked.

“Yes, but I think it will take a long time to complete,” I replied.

It was definitely going to take a long time. An A4 paper was nowhere going to be enough to completely draw what was going on over there. The entrances and exits were intertwined, yet independent from each other. People were bound to get lost if I didn't meticulously draw the map.

“I brought what you requested,” Yoo Sunghwan said as he passed me the paper and stationeries.

It was impossible to draw the map with a computer. I had to manually draw it with the help of my [Dexterity] gift.

“Will this be enough?” he asked.

“Yes, it’s more than enough,” I replied as I started to draw the map.

I started to move my hand to draw the flow of mana, the entrances, the form of the fragments, the exits, etc. and people soon gathered behind me.

“Wow… you’re like a computer, Hajin.”

“Hmm… I guess he has a trick or two up his sleeves.”

Jin Seyeon was thoroughly impressed by me while Aileen refused to acknowledge my skills.

“There. It’s complete,” I said as I wiped the sweat off of my forehead.

It took me three hours to complete the map.

Yoo Sunghwan looked shocked and was in awe as he stared at the map, but he immediately came back to his senses and called for somebody.

“Scan this map at once and print it out! Disburse it to all of the parties and upload it to all guild databases! We don’t have time to waste. Hurry!”

They moved quickly.

I massaged my tired arms and eyes before I stood up.

“Are you going to enter, Hajin? I heard Yoo Yeonha went with the advance party,” Jin Seyeon asked.

Yoo Yeonha. That name was a bit burdensome to me, but I nodded without any hesitation.

“I will have to go…”

“Yes, did you see where she is?”

“I will start looking now.”

I opened my eyes and infused stigma into them. My eyes started glowing blue as my vision expanded into the thick fog…

***

How much time had passed?

Yoo Yeonha didn’t have the luxury to wonder about that. She even forgot how many tears she shed.

However, she came back to her senses after crying a river and was slowly adapting to her situation.

She continued walking with the resolve to make it out of the fog. Her body moved out of pure instinct.

“…?”

Then, she spotted a silhouette in the fog and felt her heart drop in fear. The silhouette started approaching her and was getting closer and closer.

Yoo Yeonha’s eyes shot wide open when the silhouette emerged from the fog. She recognized this face. He looked younger than she recalled, but she was certain that it was him because of his distinct facial features.

It was her father, Yoo Jinwoong.

He looked exactly like he did when he was younger. He was carrying a blanket in his arms and there was a baby soundly sleeping in the blanket.

Yoo Yeonha ran towards him as if she was possessed. She desperately grabbed his arm and tried to say something. However, she couldn’t utter a sound.

Yoo Jinwoong continued to look at the baby in his arms before crumbling into dust.

Yoo Yeonha collapsed on the spot.

Thud…!

Thud…!

Thud…!

She suddenly heard a strange sound in her ears. She covered her ears, but the sound kept ringing in her mind.

A portion of the fog suddenly cleared up and she looked towards that spot.

A dark figure was approaching from the end of the tunnel.

Thud… Thud…

The figure was tall and wearing a long weathered robe. Its face was half-disfigured and the sound of his footsteps sounded sinister for some reason.

The man’s hideous appearance was difficult to put into words and he soon looked at her with excited eyes.

“Hello…”

His voice was just as hideous as his appearance.

“It was you… as expected…”

His voice was quite difficult to put into words as well. It sounded like numerous tones were mixed and as if he was purposely manipulating it to sound strange. The voice was a mix of a man, a woman, and a child every time he spoke.

One thing was for certain. He was not a human being.

Yoo Yeonha gripped the whip on her waist.

“So it was you, Yoo Jinwoong’s daughter.”

Those words suddenly lit a light bulb in Yoo Yeonha’s head and she recognized the hideous disfigured face.

It was one of the Nine Evils, Destruction, who was also her father’s old nemesis.

“It’s nice to meet you,” Destruction said.

“Hap!” Yoo Yeonha swung her whip.

Destruction easily caught it with his hand, but that was what Yoo Yeonha was hoping for. She infused her mana into her whip and sent electric shockwaves through it.

Bzzzzt!

The electric shockwave zapped and illuminated their surroundings. Destruction crumbled into dust and her surroundings became dark again.

Was Destruction also an illusion?

She couldn’t tell what was real anymore after having her sense of sight and hearing stripped from her. The only thing she could do now was tremble in fear again.

“…!”

Then a hand suddenly grabbed her shoulder.

Yoo Yeonha flinched and turned around to swing her whip, but instantly froze on the spot after seeing a familiar face.

“Ack! … Kim Hajin?” her voice flowed out.

He rubbed his arm after getting hit by the whip and bitterly smiled, “O-Ouch… That really hurts… What are you doing here?”

His voice. It was real. It was really him without a doubt.

Yoo Yeonha felt a hot sensation well up from the depths of her core. She covered her mouth with both hands.

“Real…?”

“What do you mean by real?”

She shed tears before hugging him.

Kim Hajin was taken aback by her sudden action, but soon patted her back and consoled her. He comforted her while she continued to cry and listened to his warm gentle voice.

However…

She was certain that she was in his embrace, but… her body suddenly tilted in midair before she crashed into the ground.

Thud!

A sharp pain radiated from her hips and shoulder.

She sat on the ground and looked around her surroundings in a daze. She looked like a lost child looking for her mother. It was at that moment that she realized…

“Waaaaaaah!”

It was another illusion.

***

“Ah, all of that was fake? Damn, that’s giving me the creeps…” Chae Nayun said while shuddering.

I lit the flashlight into the tunnel and asked, “Yeah, but more importantly. You got separated in there?”

“Yeah. The rope suddenly got cut, but everyone’s probably in there,” Chae Nayun replied.

I bumped into her around half an hour ago. She was putting on quite a show all alone at the tunnel’s entrance.

She looked like she was going wild swinging her sword and wasting her mana, but she said that she was fighting to the death with a horde of monsters. It was definitely the tower’s doing.

“But it’s amazing how nothing is happening when I’m with you,” she muttered in amazement.

“That’s because I have a gift that makes that happen…”

Things like hallucinations wouldn’t work on [Master Sharpshooter] while my other gift, [Bodyguard], also rendered Chae Nayun immune as long as she was under my protection.

“Wow~ Really?”

“Yeah, it’s useful for protecting others.”

“Wow… no wonder Yeonha likes you.”

“Pfft!” I almost spat out the water I was drinking. I cleared my throat and nonchalantly pretended that I was alright.

— … So you are Kim Hajin.

A hideous voice suddenly came from somewhere in the ceiling.

Both of us flinched at the voice and retreated a few steps.

— I have been watching you… paying attention to you…

The voice sounded like a corrupted voice note. ‘Geez… Would it kill him to speak properly…?’

Chae Nayun frowned and retorted to the ceiling, “What the fuck do you want? You want a fight? Who the hell are you?!”

— Your past is in my memories too… including the culprit…

“Stop hiding and show your face! Moron!” Chae Nayun continued taunting the voice, but the voice didn’t seem to be affected at all and kept going.

— The name of this place is… the Kwang-Oh Evacuation Shelter.

“Hey, aren’t you going to come out? I’ll beat you up only a little bit if you come out now or else I’ll beat you to death if you make me come looking for you!” Chae Nayun threatened with her sword drawn out.

I had no idea what she learned on Mount Baekdu, but she became extremely violent for some reason…

— …

However, the voice no longer said anything after that.

Then, the tunnel lit up and a downward slope that led deeper into the tunnel appeared.

Tik… Tik… Tik…

The sound of a light bulb flickering made it seem more eerie.

“Is it asking us to go down? What’s your plan? Do you want to stay here?” Chae Nayun asked.

I went over my gear and calmed myself down. It wasn’t that hard for me to calm down since the world’s most talented swordsman with the most hidden potential was by my side.

I nodded in response and said, “Let’s go. We have to look for Yoo Yeonha.”

“… Wow, what a romantic you are.”