Chapter 25: Emotional Foundation: Arcel’s Memory.

In Seo Jin’s memory, Arcel was a person who seemed to have been sculpted from all the splendor of the world into one.

Hair as radiant as sunlight,
skin as white as the first snow,
eyes sparkling more than starlight,
her entire appearance was so beautiful that he was happy just looking at her.

But Seo Jin knew.
That what shone even brighter than her outward beauty was her inner self.

Her kind and gentle heart,
her sincerity in always doing her best,
and above all…. even her strong will that never gave up in the face of any hardship.

Even in seemingly impossible battles, she encouraged everyone’s courage,
and even on battlefields where hundreds and thousands of people were dying, she risked danger with her tired body to save even one more person-
that’s why everyone had no choice but to follow her.
That radiance, constantly striving to protect everyone around her with the power given to her, was shining like a single lamp in the darkness.

Upright goodness, unwavering will, justice for others.
A woman who seemed to have been sculpted by gathering all the valuable things in this world into one.
Everyone admired and revered her,
more beautiful than anyone,
someone who couldn’t help but be loved.
But why….

Why on earth….

Did such a person have to die first?

Seo Jin really couldn’t understand.

If there was a god in this world, he wanted to ask.
To tell him the reason.
If there was a cause for taking her, who was more virtuous and altruistic, courageous and just, kind and gentle than anyone else…. before others, please let him know as well.
He begged and begged like that, but no answer returned.

Just like when he had been dropped into this world alone.
There were only things he couldn’t understand,
and nothing he wanted came true.

The being that had dropped Seo Jin into this world one day,
whether it was a god or a demon,
still hadn’t given him even a single word in return.

He resented the world.
And he resented himself.

If he hadn’t rashly stepped forward,
at least Arcel would have survived according to her predetermined fate.

He thought that it was none other than his own fault that he had twisted the future, advancing her end so fleetingly and briefly.

So he blamed himself.
While enduring days filled with regret, he prayed to someone who didn’t answer every day.

Because he was truly wrong, please return her to him.
She was definitely too good of a person for him,
but still,
how could someone give and then take away…..

If he could hold her warmth in his hands just one more time….

He could throw away his pride and everything else,
and beg on his knees to a god or a demon,
and beat his head on the ground.

It was as part of that atonement.
That he, who had lost Arcel, did not give up on his life afterwards, and desperately struggled to replace her fate, his effort to put the story back to square one….

was a kind of atonement he performed while praying that they would meet again in the next life.

But….

That what had taken her, the most beloved person in the world, away from him,

was not the arrangement of some divine being,

nor the butterfly effect of a fate that he had rashly twisted,

but just the instigation of a mere human being….

Seo Jin could no longer-

The bloodied middle-aged man rolled on the dirt floor.

“….Keuh-, Kuheuk…..”

He didn’t even have the strength to lift his head, and was struggling to let out pain-filled breaths with his torn and swollen lips. Then, surprised at the momentary silence, he twisted his shoulders and shouted with a face full of terror.

“I, I’ve already told you everything I know, please… please, I beg you…! Just save me…!”

Seo Jin only looked down at the man who was begging so desperately with cold eyes.

After capturing the target, the place he had arrived at was a nearby mountain.

He had handled things properly, but he was worried that he might get caught, so he was thinking of completely burying even the traces here after the interrogation and returning to Seril.

But…. The results of the interrogation were below expectations.

This former lieutenant colonel, whom he had taken the trouble to secure, didn’t know much.

He was one of the suspects who had thwarted the ‘Dawn of Humanity’ operation, but the instructions that had caused confusion at the time were only actions that he had been instigated to do by someone.
He didn’t know anything about the exact truth or details, and had simply been used because he was lured by a deal to pay off his gambling debts…..

The only useful information was one name.

‘The Sword of Perseus.’

A group that was probably an organization within the Allied Forces.
The purpose was unknown, and the members were also unknown.
But one thing was certain.
The failure of the operation was definitely led by that group.
As a result, Arcel…….

Seo Jin distorted his expression without realizing it.
The man, who was watching his mood, flinched in surprise and trembled at his feet.
He was completely frightened. Because he had interrogated him so harshly, there was probably no falsehood in what he had confessed. Even now, the vomit, bloodstains, and pure white pieces of teeth scattered around were the evidence.

However, even if he had told the truth, the facts he knew weren’t much.
This human was just a cut-off tail.
No, in fact, he wasn’t even that.
He was at the level of a disposable item that had been used and discarded several years ago.

He felt like sighing.

He was certain that there was really something to Arcel’s death, but the fact that the clue that would lead to the next one was only this kind of trash.

Seo Jin was now contemplating whether there was any value left in keeping the man in front of him alive.

‘Still, if I keep pressing him diligently, maybe I can dig up something more…?’

He couldn’t be sure.
So, while he was contemplating, a urgent voice suddenly came from the communicator.

[“What is this, signal reactions nearby…. Seo Jin, approaching your location!”]

The moment Seo Jin, who was startled by Seril’s flustered voice, turned his head, it happened.

Tang-!

In the sparsely populated mountain, a sharp gunshot echoed.

“……!”

The moment the head of the target he had been interrogating until now burst in front of his eyes, Seo Jin reacted instinctively and moved before he could even be flustered.

It took approximately 2 seconds to jump and take cover behind the parked vehicle.

Leaning against the car body at shoulder height, his heart pounded.

He struggled to grasp the situation belatedly.

‘What on earth…!’

Had he already been pursued?
The police department?
No, it wasn’t them.
If it had been them, they would have shot Seo Jin first, of course.

But the target that had been sniped just now was the hostage he had been interrogating.

It was clearly a silencing to prevent any further information leaks.

‘Then those guys are….’

But, no matter how he thought about it, it was too fast.
He had definitely handled things properly, so it should have taken at least two or three days for them to realize that the target was missing from the area. But how could they be here right away….

In an instant, countless conjectures flashed through his mind.

His heart was pounding at the situation that had unfolded so suddenly.
Consciously suppressing that tension, Seo Jin glanced out from behind the sheltered vehicle.

All he could see was the corpse with half of its head blown away, and the scarlet flesh scattered on the dirt floor.
He couldn’t even figure out where the enemy was.

Seo Jin tried to calm down and pressed down hard on the communicator near his ear.

“Seril, can you hear me?”

[“Are you okay?! Are you hurt??”]

“Yes, I’m fine. But can you figure out what kind of enemy those guys are….?”

[“I don’t know their affiliation. For now, what’s being detected is the scale of one squad, but outside the observation range as well-“]

Pajik-

“…Ugh!”

At the sudden intense static, Seo Jin covered his ear.
He hastily took off the communicator at the high frequency that rang to the point where it hurt his head.

In the meantime, something fell from the sky.
A drone that was falling helplessly.
It was the drone that Seril had been remotely controlling until now.

Seo Jin hardened his expression and picked up the communicator again.

“Seril, what’s wrong?! Why is the drone……. Are you listening? Seril??”

But no matter how much he shouted, there was no answer.
Now that he saw it, not even static was coming out of the communicator.
The power had been completely turned off, as if the battery had run out.

‘Jamming? No… is it EMP…?”

Looking at the fact that not only the communicator but even the PDA screen had gone blank, a small-scale pulse attack was the most likely. If so, it was even more difficult.

If the opponent had equipment of this level, they definitely wouldn’t be just any mediocre people.

He could immediately feel it.

He could clearly feel that they were approaching, but he still couldn’t figure out their exact location. Their meticulously trained movements were certain.

Moreover, the tactic of first cutting off communications with the outside was skillful itself.

The intention to prevent even a handful of data from leaking out and to end it all here was clearly felt.

Cold sweat was already damply spreading on Seo Jin’s neck.

“Seo Jin! What’s the situation?! Respond if you hear me!”

Seril grabbed the communicator where the signal had been cut off and tried for a long time.
But no matter how long she waited, no reply returned.

Seril sensed something at that unnatural disconnection.

A ominous premonition that always came whenever an unexpected variable occurred and things went wrong. That cold feeling on the back of her neck…. had always brought her only terrible results.

Every time she got this feeling, she lost one of her precious comrades.

The anxiety that had been imprinted from experience gradually made her hands tremble.

Seril unconsciously bit her lip.

Her complexion sank palely.
The eyes buried in the utmost confusion gradually darkened.

The deaths of her comrades were losses that she still hadn’t overcome.
No matter how much time passed, it was a painful memory every time she looked back.

But she thought that she would be okay now.
Because she was no longer alone. She was confident that she could overcome it if she was with the most precious relationship that understood that it wasn’t her fault.

But the anxiety that was rising now still resembled the wounds of that time.

The eerie imagination filling her head seemed to be realized as a repetition of losing someone precious once more.

‘Then I now…….’

As soon as she thought of the most terrible result she could think of, Seril got up from her seat without realizing it

‘This is not the time to be doing this…!’

She had to help him right away.
With only that thought in mind, she hurriedly packed her equipment.

In a situation where she didn’t know how far this matter was involved, she couldn’t seek the help of other connections. That’s why she had to hurry, even if it was just herself.

‘Please, please be safe.’

Seril got out to the parking lot with trembling steps. And quickly found her vehicle, and was groping for the keys with hands that were as cold as an ice-store when it happened.

Toc-, the sound of shoes echoing clearly on the asphalt.

At that unfamiliar presence, her movements also stopped suddenly

The air that had become thick somehow.
It was a feeling that Seril was quite familiar with.
The pressure that was naturally spread as skilled combat ability users gathered magic power before an engagement, which could mainly be felt on the battlefield. The pressure of that power, which was several times more dense than what she had experienced at that time, was now weighing down on her shoulders.

Seril slowly turned her head.

Her gaze immediately met hers.

There was a woman with a city-like feel, standing with eyes that were staring at her as if to devour her even now, chillingly blue eyes and lushly scattered blonde hair. A slightly sharp-looking face, and a stiff expression.

A slightly sharp impression, but a beauty that was beautiful enough to feel like it was also a charm.

Seril immediately grasped the identity of the other person at the first impression, just like in the story she had heard before.

The youngest daughter of the Apelberry family, a military industry chaebol with enormous influence in the business and political world.

The master of the ‘Stella’, the only S-class combat ability user guild in the entire alliance.

And….

A war hero who single-handedly subjugated the corps-level variant species offensive that had brought down the 44th defense line at once.

Special-grade Aegis, ‘The Artificer’ Linesha Apelberry.

She was now staring at Seril in this place and speaking softly.

“It’s you, isn’t it?”

Her voice was somehow irritable.

“Shamelessly biting off something that already has an owner…..”

There was a clear hostility in her coldly lowered tone.
So Seril unconsciously stiffened her shoulders

The gazes met.
Beyond her chillingly blue eyes,
the sticky, seething anger of emotion that anyone could recognize…
was blazing towards her.

“You damn stray cat.”