Chapter 774: Searching for My Brother (2)
The difference between Yuhyun and me was painfully obvious.
Even if I wrapped myself head to toe in SS–rank items, I’d be hard–pressed to keep up with an A–rank, let alone an S–rank. In a head–on fight, my odds of winning were basically nonexistent. Worse, Yuhyun knew me too well. Against some S–rank who didn’t have enough information, I might have been able to aim for an opening, but even that was impossible here.
I drew in a short breath. At the same time, I used the teacher skill on Yuhyun and immediately jumped back.
Crunch!
A blade skimmed right past me and pierced the ground. Gripping the upright sword by the hilt, Yuhyun spun around it, his foot whipping toward me. Even with the teacher skill showing me his movements in advance, there was no way to dodge speed like that.
“Ugh!”
My body lifted off the ground and got kicked hard. Thanks to Grace, all I did was tumble backward, but before I could even gather myself, something clamped down again. A piece of rebar curved like a horseshoe hooked around one wrist and drove deep into the asphalt road. Then my other hand and both feet were pinned down too, as if I’d been tied in place.
Before I could so much as twitch, Yuhyun was in front of me, one foot lightly pressing against my chest.
It hit me all over again. On my own, I really was weak.
But, well. Having people around who were willing to reach out for me was a skill in itself.
“Yuhyun, listen to mmmph–”
I tried to talk fast, but Yuhyun bent one knee, pressing down on my chest with it instead of his foot, and covered my mouth. Was he afraid he’d waver if he heard me out?
…Still, I really wished I were just a little stronger. A man ought to be allowed to talk, at least.
[H ㅏ yul!]
I sent a message to Park Hayul. I was clumsier at it than when I sent messages by speech, but thanks to Puppeteer drilling me last time, it wasn’t hard.
[Bombs! Move me some bombs!]
[Hyung, I can’t move those items! I told you, anything with mana or magic past a certain amount is hard for me to touch. Otherwise I would’ve stopped your brother too. Even setting off that bomb earlier was rough.]
Yeah, if he could move anything he wanted, that would be outright broken. It was already ridiculously useful as is.
[Not items–]
“Hyung.”
Yuhyun spoke. His voice was dark, as if it had been drenched in shadow.
“I don’t think you’re weak. If anything, you’re strong.”
I wanted to tell him thanks, but his hand was still clamped firmly over my mouth. My messages were blocked too.
“But look.”
Yuhyun’s gaze moved to my arm, nailed to the ground. Even when I strained with everything I had, the bent rebar only gave a faint creak.
“Pure physical strength is something you can’t do anything about. No matter what I do to you right now, you can’t dodge. And it wouldn’t have to be me. Any other S–rank could do the same.”
Even a Hunter weaker than an S–rank could.
I knew that too. I’d been on the receiving end more than enough times. Yuhyun’s eyes twisted. A short breath scattered over the back of his hand.
“Even then, it was fine. Because you gave me permission.”
Permission.
“You were better alive, Hyung, but even if something went wrong… even then, you said it was okay for me to stay by your side.”
I had told him he could follow me. I had known Yuhyun was different from me and decided to accept it. Instead of telling him to keep living, I had told him we should stay together. It was hard for me to stomach, but I had believed that was how Yuhyun lived.
“So I followed you and protected you, even when things got dangerous.”
That was true. After that, Yuhyun had tried to hold me back less than before. Chatterbox’s party, the Transcendents’ wager, one dangerous mess after another – and still, he hadn’t overdone it. He had gone along with me.
“But not anymore.”
The line of Yuhyun’s jaw tightened, as if he were grinding his teeth.
“Not when you’re going to end up as nothing but an empty shell.”
‘…An empty shell?’
I wanted to ask what he meant, but I couldn’t speak. Fortunately, Yuhyun kept talking.
“When I saw the me from before the regression, I understood. At first, I didn’t really get it. But once I felt it up close… that thing, slowly being washed clean of everything except my memories… it isn’t me.”
Even if it wasn’t him, still.
“If your Source breaks, you’ll end up the same way. Nothing left but traces. Not even enough for me to devour.”
Yuhyun’s eyes were visibly shaking.
At some point, Iryn had climbed onto my shoulder. He spoke in a subdued voice.
Hyung, we can mix together and burn as one, so we can stay together forever. Iryn didn’t know exactly what that meant either, but I think it meant our Sources merging. Iryn and Yuhyun both knew it instinctively. That’s why the one and only thing we truly love, the one thing we want to be with forever, is something we want to devour completely! We can’t do that with lots of people. Just one.
So it wasn’t something that ended with death. It was something more fundamental. In the language of our world, maybe it meant our souls would be together.
But if you disappear, Hyung, if you yourself are gone, then Yuhyun really can’t do anything!
Iryn circled anxiously.
If my Source shattered and the being called me vanished completely, Yuhyun would be left alone. My permission wouldn’t matter anymore. Fire that had lost its world would simply gutter out by itself.
I wanted to reach out and hug my brother. I wanted to tell him that would never happen. I wanted to sit him down and calmly talk through enough of this to ease his fear.
[…Regular bombs.]
[Huh?]
[They don’t have to be items. There are regular bombs everywhere. I’ll tell you where.]
To do that, I had to get him away from me first.
[Found them! Where do I move them?]
“Even now, Hyung, I could–”
[To me. Put a detonator in my hand.]
Park Hayul moved. Bombs rolled down onto and around my body. Yuhyun reacted. But my fingers moved faster.
One bomb went off.
The blast set off the rest in a deafening chain.
KABOOM!
For an instant, I couldn’t breathe. The air evaporated, and an overwhelming pressure slammed into us. Ordinary bombs without mana couldn’t break through the magic power of a high–rank Hunter.
But pressure was a different story.
The force of the blast shoved Yuhyun away in one burst. I got caught in it too. My limbs were yanked violently, and the rebar pinning my arms and legs rattled until the repeated explosions finally tore it out of the ground. My body went flying. A building wall rushed toward me, and I barely managed to twist midair with the help of the Lynx item.
Tap.
My toes touched the wall. Smoke and flames blanketed the road. I used stealth at once. In this chaos, even Yuhyun would have a hard time finding me.
Sure enough, he seemed disoriented. Blue willow leaves scattered through the smoke. Yuhyun burst up into the air, cutting through the aftermath of the explosions.
[Hayul!]
Holding my breath, I ran along the building wall. Red–tinged black eyes calmly swept the area. The flames from the explosion fell under Yuhyun’s control, and the willow leaves spread thicker. Threads of fire like a spiderweb.
No, worse than a spiderweb. Those things were constantly dancing.
They’d be almost impossible to avoid in human form. I leaped to the neighboring building and transformed into a Delroux cub. Fire grazed the tips of my fur. The instant I got out of the bomb zone, I turned human again. At the same time, the flames touched me.
Boom!
Yuhyun shot forward like an arrow. He landed right behind me. Unlike me, he didn’t have a skill for climbing walls, so his feet dug into the concrete instead. Right before he could grab me, I aimed the precharged Lynx Gun at the building wall.
And fired.
Bang–!
The powerful recoil from the magic bullet shoved me away. Yuhyun’s fingertips seized the empty space where I’d just been. I reached the building across the street in an instant and jumped down. The motorcycle Park Hayul had prepared was waiting there. Without even looking back, I sped down the road.
[That bike’s supposed to be really good!]
Yeah, the acceleration was no joke. It hit a hundred kilometers an hour in no time and kept climbing. Even an S–rank had a hard time matching a machine’s speed. Yuhyun didn’t have Peace with him right now either.
I was just starting to feel relieved when–
[Hyung, your brother’s following you!]
The sound of a motorcycle came from behind me.
Right. No reason Yuhyun couldn’t ride one. He’d probably been using one from the start. Must have stashed it somewhere safe.
I quickly checked the area. Map, map.
[Rookie, can you pull up the map here?]
[Yes, one second!]
Good. I turned. I entered a slightly narrower road.
[Hayul, put bombs on the window frames of that building.]
Pile them up low. I pulled out the gun and fired at the bombs stacked along both buildings.
Boom, kaboom!
Explosions roared.
Then–
Rummmble–
The building began to collapse. A building didn’t go down easily just because you blew up part of the exterior. But this one had already been loaded with bombs and items in advance. When explosions erupted along one lower side and then inside it, it couldn’t withstand the damage and started falling toward the road. Crash, boom! The furious noise rolled on and on.
The building came down on Yuhyun, who had been lagging a little behind because of his late start. Without slowing down, I looked back.
“…”
Yuhyun stood on top of the debris, pale dust rising around him. Silently, he watched my back. The black butterflies fluttering around my brother felt ominous enough to make my skin crawl.
‘It’s like this Yuhyun ended up in Gardener’s hands too.’
Yuhyun’s figure grew distant. The spreading cloud of dust swallowed him completely.
“…I said I wanted to talk, to talk!”
That brat. Why wouldn’t he let me get a word in? A deep sigh escaped me.
‘I get that he’s upset.’
He had found out I might not just die, but disappear completely. If it were me, I’d lose my mind too. Still, couldn’t he at least let me talk? He got to say his piece and everything.
“I did not raise you to act like this.”
When he was little, he barely talked, so I usually did all the talking by myself, but still. In any case, settling this with words looked difficult. He wasn’t just refusing to listen. He was outright shutting my mouth. Which meant I’d have to get Yerim’s help and somehow pin Yuhyun down first if I wanted any chance at a conversation.
[Yujin–hyung, are you really okay going on like this? From what Blue Willow Leaves said, it sounds dangerous.]
“Yeah. My brother’s the most dangerous thing out here.”
The rest, well.
The Han River came into view. Since Yerim’s water had surged along the Han River, many of the subordinates had fled beyond it. Even now, they were gathering on the other side of the river.
In other words, near Seoul Station.
‘Not that far from Sesung Guild. But because of Yerim, they probably won’t want to come near the Han River.’
Twenty–one–year–old Yuhyun had probably come out to scout. Unlike the other subordinates, he knew this place well, and Yerim wouldn’t be able to seriously attack Yuhyun. The other one was probably with the subordinates.
“Chief Song, how are things over there?”
[I just captured one subordinate. I heard several explosions. Are you all right?]
“Yes. I got out just fine.”
I crossed the Han River and kept going. With the roads wide open and no traffic in the way, I neared Seoul Station before long.
[Honey!]
Just then, Rookie sent me a panicked message.
[I think I need to go for a bit. Looks like there’s a problem!]
“A problem?”
[Yes. I think it has to do with the subordinates. I’ll check and let you know!]
What now? I hoped it was good news.
Thinking about approaching my pre–regression brother made my mouth go a little dry. That Yuhyun had been like that too, but it didn’t seem like this Yuhyun was in any state to talk properly either.
‘Aside from protecting me, he really doesn’t care about anything.’
At least the current Yuhyun was asserting his own desires. He had said he wanted to stay with me. But my brother from before the regression wasn’t like that.
I had no idea how to persuade him, but I still had to try.
[Subordinate!]
Park Hayul’s message blinked urgently.
Right, about time one showed up.
The thought had barely crossed my mind when–
Ruuumble!
The ground flipped over. Asphalt cracked like a turtle shell and flew in every direction, and I was thrown along with the motorcycle. I kicked off the bike and landed in a spin. With a guttural scrape, a flat cobra–like head burst up from beneath the ground.
By some twist of fate, the snake Transcendent had more or less become one of my kids. Do you two know each other? I’m his dad, so technically, if you trace it back, I’m basically your ancestor.
I am–
“Hey! What the hell are you doing to a fragile F–rank! Is this what your bosses told you to do? ‘There’s a weird F–rank over there, so go turn him into a crushed lump of corpse and bring him back’?”
The cobra head froze. I held out the palm I’d scraped while running from Yuhyun earlier and raised my voice in a woe–is–me cry.
“An F–rank can trip wrong and end up crossing the River Styx! We’re glass marbles! Touch us and pop!”
I’m gonna die! A snake head bumped me and I died!
…Calm down.
“Oh, my back. My legs. My arms. Every bone in my body aches. I think you shaved ten years off my life. Ow, ow, ow.”
I climbed onto the bicycle Hayul had newly brought over and rang the bell at the cobra.
“Move it, would you? I’m rolling right in on my own two feet, so why are you making a fuss?”
I leisurely pedaled the bicycle. The cobra twitched. At the same time, the ground heaved, and I toppled sideways.
“Aaah!”
The cobra stiffened.
Hey! Touch me and I’ll die! I’m the one who’ll die!
“This is the problem with strong guys. They can’t even guess how flimsy an F–rank’s durability is.”
Grumbling and groaning, I stood the bicycle back up. The snake head hissed low under its breath. Mm, maybe I’d provoked it too much. Judging by its appearance, it seemed like it would use poison. That wouldn’t be a problem, but if it constricted me with its body or something, that would be dangerous.
The ground stirred again. Behind me, I heard the sharp click of fang against fang.
Still, it probably wouldn’t try to kill me outright. It knew I was weak, so it would underestimate me and make its first strike light–
Thud.
Something heavy fell.
I turned my head.
It was the snake’s head.
The severed head rolled across the ground without so much as the sound of being cut. The cross section was burned black, not a single drop of blood spilling from it. The body, half buried underground, soon toppled over with a heavy crash.
“Hyung, you’ve gotten even more reckless.”
Yuhyun’s voice came with the flutter of butterfly wings.
–TL Notes–
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