Chapter 778: Culprit (2)
Moon Hyunah looked out over the sea of Gangneung. The ocean breeze brushed lightly through her red hair, where strands of its original black had begun to show again. On the sun lounger beside her lay Sigma, bundled up in a blanket.
“The sea in front, the lake behind. Guess you haven’t made up your mind completely?”
Hwang Rim said. The terrain favored Park Yerim and worked against Han Yuhyun. The fact that Hyunah had come here on purpose meant she hadn’t fully decided to hand Sigma over to the Gardener yet.
“It’s not a decision I get to make alone.”
Moon Hyunah tilted her head and looked at Hwang Rim.
“And it’s not like I trust every word you say.”
“I told you, I laid it all out honestly~.”
Hwang Rim drooped the corners of his eyes, looking wounded.
“You heard similar things from Little Jin and the Puppeteer too. It’s true that the Gardener doesn’t have much interest in other worlds. Unlike Crescent Moon, he won’t mess with the source either.”
“So if Sigma ends up in the Gardener’s hands, and that contract or whatever lets him reel in Seong Hyunjae too, Crescent Moon gets left empty–handed and our world stays safe. That’s what you’re saying.”
“Honestly, as things stand, it’s the cleanest solution.”
Hwang Rim winked as he said it. He was right. Let the Gardener take Sigma and Seong Hyunjae. That was the easiest and safest way to resolve the current situation.
A low sigh slipped from between Moon Hyunah’s lips. Far off, the waves kept crashing without end. Restless, like the inside of her chest.
“If everyone else found out what was going on, most of them would say it was the right choice too.”
“They would. When you get down to it, neither Sigma nor Seong Hyunjae is from our world.”
Sigma obviously wasn’t, and Seong Hyunjae was a planted existence too. How many people would agree to endanger their own world to protect outsiders? A few might hesitate over the ethics of it, but most would choose the safety of the majority.
“But I don’t think of it as doing the right thing. Right and wrong change depending on society anyway, don’t they? There were times when class systems and slavery were normal. Times when children were treated like adults’ property. It’ll keep changing from here on out too.”
Even now, dungeons had appeared, Awakened people had emerged, and the world was changing at breakneck speed.
“So I’m just doing what I feel like I have to do. Same goes for Han Yujin. Me and Hyung are only doing what we have to do, what we can do.”
It was hard to say who was more right or more wrong. Even if one side looked right at this moment, there was no telling how that would change with time. Sitting on the glass railing that let the sea show through beneath him, Hwang Rim lightly swung the tip of his foot.
“Our little Jin sure does work hard~.”
“That’s why I like Hyung.”
A broad smile spread across Moon Hyunah’s face, which had been almost expressionless until then.
“He’s fascinating to watch. At first, I just thought of him as an F–rank with a special skill. I was wary of him because of Yerim too. It’s not like there’s any shortage of people who take young Awakened kids and use them.”
He had suddenly shown up with a monster raising skill, hadn’t been afraid in front of S–ranks, and, despite being newly Awakened, had acted like a seasoned Hunter. Suspicious as hell, all of it.
“After a while, I started thinking, this guy’s going to grind his own life down to nothing. He tried to hide it, but I could see how desperate he was.”
“He was like that in China too. Like he was standing on the edge of a cliff, acting like one step back meant he’d fall and die.”
Hwang Rim nodded. Even to him, it had looked strange. On the surface, Han Yujin had plenty of places to retreat to. Even if he failed, there were people strong enough to catch him.
“Now I know it’s because he already lost them once. Hyung can’t let anyone go anymore. As long as he’s holding on to his little brother, he’ll stay that way.”
Moon Hyunah roughly swept back her disheveled hair.
“I want Hyung to pull it off too.”
Even though she had kidnapped Sigma like this. Even if, when push came to shove, she might take a step in the opposite direction from what Han Yujin wanted. Moon Hyunah grinned.
“People who don’t give up are always the most attractive.”
“You’re no pushover yourself, Sis~. Bet you’re popular.”
“Hey, bat bastard. Are you sure you’re actually younger than me? Something about this feels nasty.”
“A man’s age is a sensitive subject. It’s a secret♡”
Moon Hyunah grimaced and waved one hand as if shooing him away.
“Anyway, just because someone doesn’t give up doesn’t mean things always turn out well. That’s how the world is.”
Someone also needed to move more realistically. That was why Moon Hyunah had decided to stand one step away from Han Yujin and watch. She wanted him to return with everyone too, but at the same time, she couldn’t ignore the people she had to protect.
Moon Hyunah walked over to the sun lounger where Sigma lay.
“To find Sigma, they’ll have to kill Seong Hyunjae. Then this guy will wake up. I do feel bad for Seong Hyunjae. I’ll have to make it up by looking after Soyeong or something.”
“Not the Sesung Guild Leader?”
“If he makes it back safe, I’ll buy him a meal. But.”
Moon Hyunah shrugged.
“I’ve got this feeling I won’t be seeing him again anytime soon. Whether Seong Hyunjae makes it out okay or not.”
“So you do care about him in your own way.”
“Well, we ended up somewhere between industry colleagues and almost friends. He’s better than you’d think.”
Than you’d think, anyway.
“The Sesung Guild Leader looked down on everyone. That wasn’t too bad for me. A lot of those stuck–up high–rank Hunters, especially the ones who’d been stiff even before Awakening, hated his guts for it. Anyway, since Seong Hyunjae treats everyone more or less the same and only cares about what interests him, at least he doesn’t scheme behind your back.”
Of course, the way he manipulated and dominated other people grated on Moon Hyunah from time to time too. But he was clean to deal with.
“He was the complete opposite of Chief Song, and somehow similar too. If things go wrong, I might actually miss him.”
“Wow, that much?”
“People get attached even to a tin can if you draw a face on it.”
And whatever else he was, Seong Hyunjae had a stronger presence than a tin can. After getting tangled up with Han Yujin, he had even started to seem like a better guy than before.
Then came the sound of a long breath. The lips that had been barely releasing breaths faint enough for even an S–rank to miss opened. Moon Hyunah paused and lowered her head. Eyelids that had been tightly shut slowly lifted. If you ignored everything else and looked only at his face, Seong Hyunjae was on the handsome side, but among his features, Moon Hyunah had always thought his eyes were definitely pretty. They were a gold anyone would call beautiful.
And these golden eyes were the same.
“Hello.”
Moon Hyunah smiled. They were still shining. Sigma blinked.
“You’ve been kidnapped by me. Wake up before you fall asleep again, princess!”
Moon Hyunah abruptly reached out and hauled Sigma upright, blanket and all. Still dazed, Sigma looked around.
“Lambda? Where is this?”
“Gangneung. And I told you, I’m Moon Hyunah. Still, you recognize my face. I must look a little different.”
“You got smaller than me.”
Sigma tried to fold his arms, only to be blocked by the blanket and twitch in irritation. He looked like he was debating whether to rip it or not.
“Guess the Puppeteer took good care of you. Just tear it.”
“My daily life was not delicate enough to call that care. I simply haven’t changed. Now untie me.”
“Yes, yes.”
Moon Hyunah unwrapped the blanket wound around Sigma. Sigma’s gaze landed on Hwang Rim.
“That one is here too.”
“Hello, darling. Lovely to see you again. I’m the dedicated babysitter for Han Yujin’s household.”
“Where is the C–rank?”
“Somewhere a bit far from here. More importantly, darling.”
Moon Hyunah placed one hand on Sigma’s shoulder.
“What do you want to do?”
“What are you talking about?”
“The Puppeteer wants to entrust you to me and send you to our world.”
At Moon Hyunah’s words, Sigma’s eyebrow lifted slightly.
“He really does whatever he wants. He only told me he would sever the connection between me and Seong Hyunjae. Explain everything.”
“I can give you the long version, if you can stay awake.”
Sigma let out a small yawn.
“If I try, I can. Right now, it seems that man died to wake me, so I have control.”
“Yeah? I don’t know everything either.”
Moon Hyunah explained to Sigma what had happened so far and what their current situation was. Sigma looked at Hwang Rim with a slightly sulky expression.
“Then whose side is he on?”
“No one’s. I’ve got my own complicated circumstances too!”
Hwang Rim sighed, then put on a tragic expression.
“The truth is, before Little Jin regressed, I was an African poison dart frog who obtained a fragment of the Gardener. But when time was turned back, I was changed into the youngest son of some merchant family in China. If I defy the Gardener, I’ll turn back into a pretty little red frog. But there’s no way the Gardener would leave me alone after getting his hands on something like a source, so to survive, I’ve been making connections here and there~.”
“…A frog?”
“That’s right, princess. If I turn back into a frog, will you kiss me—ugh.”
The parasol Moon Hyunah threw grazed Hwang Rim’s head.
“Quit the bullshit.”
“Unfair. Why do you assume that was bullshit?”
“There’s a high chance that the existence of ‘Hwang Rim’ didn’t exist before the regression. Marisa didn’t remember him, and neither did the Prophet she’d reached out to. I also can’t imagine a guy like him living quietly. So for now he’s helping the Puppeteer, but apparently he can’t refuse if the Gardener asks him to do something.”
“It means I have to slack off in moderation~. That’s why I’ve also been working hard to avoid Jin’s little brother.”
“So he’s just a bat.”
Whether he was a frog or a bat. Sigma turned his gaze back to Moon Hyunah. Then he answered.
“I don’t know.”
“…Huh?”
“Unlike Seong Hyunjae, I wasn’t moved many times. Three or four times at most. Meanwhile, Seong Hyunjae had his memories erased countless times and built up worlds, so apparently he developed something like a tolerance. That is why, even though he did not live long in the world he was moved to, he still seems aged.”
“That’s true. He definitely feels older than you.”
“But the Puppeteer said I have been almost completely erased. So the time from the world I came from matches the experience I have lived through, and while it isn’t exact, it would be a little over ten years—.”
“T–ten?!”
Moon Hyunah recoiled, taking a step back.
“No, wait, a kid is a little…”
Even if it was to save the world, offering up a grown adult as a sacrifice and offering up a child of about ten felt completely different. The latter was bound to be far harder to accept. At Moon Hyunah’s reaction, Sigma folded his arms with a cool expression.
“Didn’t I say I wasn’t a child? Your words are too hasty. What I mean is that my experience is insufficient for me to quickly reach a conclusion after hearing you.”
“That means the same damn thing! This is driving me insane.”
Moon Hyunah had planned to wake Sigma, tell him everything, then state her own decision to prioritize the world. Whether he resisted, resented her, or agreed, she wanted them to exchange their views.
“If I recover my time, then I will be far older than you, Lam—Moon Hyunah, so don’t concern yourself with it. How old are you here?”
“…I was twenty–seven when I met you.”
“I am probably more than a hundred times that. Even if not, I am a transplanted existence. Only my memories were erased.”
Sigma repeatedly emphasized that it was only a lack of experience. His existence itself had lived through plenty of time. But Moon Hyunah still had a hand pressed to her forehead.
“No wonder the Puppeteer kept calling you his kid…”
“He was exaggerating.”
“What are you gonna do, Sis?”
At Hwang Rim’s words, Sigma whipped his head toward him.
“Are you Moon Hyunah’s younger brother?”
“Not by blood. I’m her brother in another, deeply bonded sense.”
“The wild boar brat from my family is still better than him. I never raised a bat like that.”
Sigma rose from the sun lounger. The blanket still half draped over him slid to the floor. He met eyes that were lower than he remembered.
“Moon Hyunah, what do you want to do?”
“I.”
Moon Hyunah answered with a short sigh.
“I have to protect our world.”
“You’re still Lambda.”
At that, Moon Hyunah laughed softly.
“The inside’s the same.”
“I am the same as I was then too.”
Sigma’s gaze turned to the distant sky, toward Seoul. He could feel something approaching him. He had been fixed in time, but the memories of those long years remained beyond a thin film. Unable to seep into him, as if they belonged to someone else.
But there was one exception: his doll.
Perhaps because the Puppeteer had developed an ego within Sigma’s memories and become an independent existence, his relationship with the Puppeteer had slowly grown and changed beyond the frozen time. So he could not say he was completely the same, but—
“I am Sigma. Guardian of Solemnise.”
An SS–rank guard. He was someone who had protected a world.
“But I have no intention of going quietly to the Gardener. You weren’t planning to simply send me off and call it done, were you, Moon Hyunah?”
“Of course not. But if it comes down to it, I might throw you to him.”
“While protecting Solemnise, I aimed for battles without sacrifice. But I was always prepared.”
“Yeah. Same here.”
Moon Hyunah smiled and turned toward the direction Sigma was looking. She was beginning to feel it too.
“Though before that, we’ll have to convince your guardian.”
“I’m his guardian.”
“Yeah, yeah. Hey, Hwang Rim. Where are you going?”
“Parent teacher conferences aren’t on my schedule.”
Not long after, a fierce gust of wind swept in. The Puppeteer descended onto the railing, looked briefly at the three of them, then spun right back around.
“We’ll talk after I take care of those.”
At the far edge of the sky, the dependents appeared, wrapped in wind.
–TL Notes–
Tired of seeing Ads? Then please support me on Patreon! Any tier of subscription will make it so you won’t get any ads!
If you want to support me or give me feedback, you can do it at patreon.com/InsanityTheGame
Join my Discord! https://discord.gg/BWaP3AHHpt
