Chapter 156: The Road Not Taken

Wiiiiing—.

Damn it.

Should I just smash that thing?

The drone camera buzzing around like a summer mosquito is seriously getting on my nerves.

I don’t even know what it thinks it’s filming, following me around like that.

I’m holding back only because if I throw a rock, even that scene would probably get caught on camera.

Boom, boom!

It’s probably filming me fighting—no, slaughtering monsters.

Even now, whenever I gather mana and stretch out my hand, monsters keep popping one after another.

Thanks to that, I’m carving a path forward with ease, heading straight for the center.

Ha.

There’s really no end to them….

Even if killing them is easy, there are just too many.

What’s more, for some reason, it feels like the monsters are all charging straight at me.

They’re not the type to avenge their comrades, so it’s strange.

Because of that, the espers around me seem to be having a slightly easier time fighting.

“Ghk…!”

That doesn’t mean the battlefield has become safe.

Plenty of agents are still dying.

How long can they even hold out like this?

My impatience grows as I think about breaking through the horde as quickly as possible.

I’m worried that something will happen while I’m wasting time like this.

What kind of something?

One of the two killing the other.

Jaeyul should kill ‘X’, that much is clear.

But there’s still something I need to confirm with him.

I need to uncover the truth behind the mystery that’s been unsettling me.

I need to hear the answer to a question I can’t find an answer to on my own.

If I find all the answers, maybe Jaeyul won’t have to kill ‘X’ after all.

That’s just wishful thinking, though.

Wait.

Wishful thinking?

Why would not killing ‘X’ be a wish of mine….

Ah.

Of course, Jaeyul’s safety comes first.

No matter how curious I am, I don’t want to put him in danger just to satisfy that curiosity.

“Haa, ha….”

The monster horde that had filled the sky and ground with black gradually thinned out, then vanished entirely.

More accurately, I’d broken through all of them.

Only after escaping a path I’d thought was impossible to cross could I finally breathe in relief.

Wooooong—

But before I could even catch my breath, I had to tense up again.

The ground shook left and right, like an earthquake.

It meant I’d come close enough to feel the vibrations of the battle itself.

In the distance, I could see white flashes colliding, splitting apart, over and over again.

“Thank god….”

Seeing how intense the fight was at a glance, I felt a wave of relief.

It meant the outcome I feared hadn’t happened yet.

That relief was quickly followed by worry.

The battle has been going on for a long time—

Is Jaeyul really okay?

If my guess is right, he should be, but… that’s something I need to see for myself.

As I move closer to where ‘X’ and Jaeyul are fighting, I wonder if this is really the right thing to do.

The battlefield where those two are clashing is incredibly dangerous.

With my abilities, it’s obvious I won’t even be able to protect myself.

I worry that a pointless misjudgment might end up holding Jaeyul back—but… there’s one thing I’m relying on.

Even if ‘X’ is a villain beyond my expectations, I don’t think he’ll kill me.

If he’d wanted to, he’d had plenty of chances.

When he approached me pretending to be Jaeyul, and earlier when he came to find me too.

When we were alone, he never showed any killing intent.

No—if anything, he was almost kind.

It’s ironic that I’d trust a villain with nothing trustworthy about him.

The closer I get, the worse the situation looks.

Thud!

An attack launched by ‘X’ tore through Jaeyul’s shoulder.

It looked like it only grazed him, yet blood spurted high into the air.

Half of Jaeyul’s face was already soaked in blood, and there wasn’t a single uninjured spot on his body.

Not just his shoulder—there were deep-looking wounds in his side and thigh as well.

My pace quickened on its own.

It wouldn’t be strange if he collapsed at any moment.

Was Jaeyul being completely overwhelmed…?

I turned my gaze to the other side.

‘X’ didn’t look good either.

One arm seemed broken, hanging uselessly at his side, and his mask was cracked, exposing the lower half of his face.

There were no obvious large wounds, but the blood spilling from his mouth suggested severe internal injuries.

Even so, Jaeyul’s condition looked slightly worse.

“Wait!

S-stop!”

With all the battle noise, my voice didn’t seem to reach them at all.

Despite their serious injuries, the two continued exchanging blows.

Moving too fast to clearly follow, they suddenly leapt apart, creating distance.

As they paused, seemingly to catch their breath, I felt one of their gazes land on me.

I couldn’t be sure through the mask, but it felt like ‘X’ noticed me first.

The distance was great, and blood stained his mouth, so I couldn’t see clearly—but somehow, it felt like he was smiling.

A smile that sent a chill down my spine.

I ran with everything I had.

A bad premonition told me something was about to happen.

While the two had pulled back, this was my chance to get closer.

Goooo—

It didn’t seem like they’d separated just to rest.

In ‘X’’s uninjured hand, a white sphere began to condense.

At the same time, Jaeyul formed an identical Light Bomb.

Like a mirror image, the two of them stood holding brilliant orbs of light.

I realized it instinctively.

They were trying to end the fight with this attack.

“Son Jaeyul!”

Even as I stared at the white glow, my vision went dark.

The moment of my own death flashed through my mind.

I’d died when my stomach was pierced by ‘X’’s Light Bomb.

The thought that the same could happen to Jaeyul made me forget everything else that had driven me here.

“No!”

Despite my shout, the two charged toward each other.

I have to stop this.

Now I have to assume my theory about ‘X’ was wrong.

Protecting Jaeyul comes first, no matter what.

Even if Jaeyul’s attack succeeds, if he can’t block ‘X’’s Light Bomb, something unimaginable will happen.

Clenching my teeth, I kicked off the ground.

My breathing became so ragged it felt like my lungs had stopped working.

My legs shook, then went numb, to the point I couldn’t even tell if I was moving properly.

Maybe because my body was slowing down, Jaeyul and ‘X’ charging at each other looked like slow motion.

With every step, countless memories surged through me.

The day I first met Jaeyul.

The moment I first heard ‘X’’s voice.

The day Jaeyul entered middle school.

The face of ‘X’ I saw as I lay dying.

For some reason, every memory made my chest ache.

“Hyung…?”

Struggling through the flood of memories, all I could see before me was blinding white light.

Thankfully, I wasn’t too late.

Without hesitation, I leapt straight into the center of it.

For a fleeting instant, it felt like my eyes met Jaeyul’s—

But the vibrating light swallowed everything, leaving me unable to see or hear.

Still, I’m glad the last thing I saw was Jaeyul’s face.

The light was so bright that even with my eyes closed, it pierced straight through my eyelids.

I ducked my head, turned my back to Jaeyul, and spread my arms wide.

Can I really take all of this with just my body?

No.

I have to endure it.

Jaeyul is behind me—I can’t retreat.

Just as I found my footing, ‘X’’s hand slammed into my chest.

And yet, strangely enough, I felt nothing at all.

By now, the Light Bomb should’ve been tearing through my body, screaming its way through—but there was no pain.

I wondered if his hand hadn’t even touched me—

And then, the light surrounding us began to fade rapidly.

That was when I understood what had happened.

“Jin Sehyun really is stupidly good at running.”

“Hyung!

What are you doing?!

Are you okay?!”

‘X’’s hand was pressed firmly against my chest.

But there was no Light Bomb to be seen.

When I turned around, Jaeyul was staring at me with wide, shaken eyes.

In his hand, the shrinking Light Bomb still remained.

Ah….

“What were you even trying to do…!”

There was no time to feel relieved that I’d stopped a disaster.

Only now could I be certain my suspicion had been right.

‘X’ had intended to lose this fight to Jaeyul.

He’d planned to end his exhausting life here.

That alone was hard to understand—but he’d gone even further and staged an act.

A bizarre scenario where he’d die after a fierce, dramatic battle with Jaeyul.

Seeing how he charged at Jaeyul without a Light Bomb at the very last moment made it obvious.

He’d intended to die by Jaeyul’s hand.

How does it feel to become a hero everyone admires?

What? Puhahaha! That’s hilarious! That guy should suffer a bit too.

From the very beginning, ‘X’ had never intended to destroy the Earth.

I should’ve realized it when he told us every secret of this world that he knew.

No—when he asked whether I’d enjoyed my time here, or whether Jaeyul felt the same way about me.

I should’ve sensed something was off then.

“Come here, first.”

Jaeyul pulled me back by the shoulders, separating me from ‘X’.

Not realizing there was no longer any danger, he kept the Light Bomb from fully dissipating, staying on guard.

‘X’ merely watched us, taking no further action.

With a faint smile, he finally spoke.

“Wouldn’t it be okay for Son Jaeyul to not be a villain, just once?”

Looking back on the past, did I truly hate ‘X’?

No.

Not just because time passed—consistently, I hadn’t hated him all that much.

At times, I even thought he was okay.

In a suffocating web of human relationships, he might’ve been my only refuge—

Someone with whom I could fight without thinking, without worry.

“I’m already beyond saving.”

And after learning about Jaeyul’s life, about his struggles, I even began to feel pity.

Even knowing he wasn’t the same person as Jaeyul, I couldn’t help but feel as if Jaeyul himself had lived such a harsh life.

Maybe Son Jaeyul isn’t someone who’s purely evil.

Just like my Jaeyul—

Could the ‘X’ standing here have lived a different life too?

Even now…

Isn’t it too late?

At the very least, wouldn’t it be fair to give him a chance to truly live?

But it seems ‘X’ didn’t want another chance.

Before anyone could stop him, he threw himself forward.

Straight toward the Light Bomb Jaeyul had created.

“This Son Jaeyul can.”

Splat!

Hot blood splashed across my face.

‘X’’s body, having leapt into the Light Bomb, crumbled away slowly.

It’s strange.

It’s only ‘X’ dying—not Jaeyul—

So why is my vision blurring like this?

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