Chapter 12: A Quiet Departure, Interrupted.

A pill placed in a small case.

One person was quietly watching it.

Seo Jin finally made a choice.

Slowly reaching out his hand,
He covered the case again.

It wasn’t that he had come to have lingering feelings for life now.

However, he shouldn’t end it like this.

Linesha, who had stubbornly found him a few days ago.
Even though she was a girl who had resented Seo Jin and left, if she found out the truth even belatedly….
She might blame herself for her actions.

He didn’t want to leave her with any such regrets.

Therefore, Seo Jin was once again lost in thought.

After all, his fate was already set.
The remaining time was nothing more than a postponement.
It was foolish to endure it.

However, at the same time, Seo Jin’s death had the potential to become another wound for someone. It might leave behind unnecessary self-blame and sorrow.

If so, Seo Jin decided to leave so that there was no need to know the truth.
It was really close to a one-dimensional way of thinking.
He was aware of it himself.

But because he couldn’t think of any other way….

If it was an unavoidable farewell, he just hoped that she would shake off all her emotions by resenting him, rather than being sad about the unchangeable result, and live on.

So Seo Jin was planning to go very far away.

So that no one would see his last moments.

For everyone’s sake.

“I finished adjusting the prosthetic. You won’t need to touch anything or do anything to it for a while.”

“You’re taking care of me until the end. Thanks, Selena.”

“…..The infection suppressants, this is the amount I got this time. Don’t leave it to me anymore and just take it all.”

“That’s quite a lot. Thanks. But I don’t need that much anymore….”

“Do whatever you want. Throw it away or whatever.”

“Then, take care.”

“…..Wait a minute.”

“?”

“….I haven’t stopped the virus research yet… I’m still trying. A cure for the infection too…. maybe…. if you wait just a little longer, you might find a clue.”

“Selena.”

“So…. that’s why…….”

“It’s okay now. Just helping me so far-“

“You always do that!! With people’s feelings!!!”

“In the end, is it all meaningless to you if it’s not Ciel?! If this wasn’t me, if that kid had said it, surely you’d…. you’d…..!”

“….Selena.”

“……Get out now! Go die in the streets or whatever, do whatever you want.”

“……Thanks.”

“You fool.”

His luggage was simple.
It was enough to fit it all in an old backpack.

Seo Jin was standing there blankly with it on his back.

Cars occasionally passed by on the road a few steps away.

A deserted bus stop.

What Seo Jin was waiting for there was a bus heading to the outer districts.

This world had not yet escaped from the aftermath of the great war.

There were many areas where the traces of the battle had not been restored, and there were even rare areas where the Hexa Virus contamination had been left unattended.

Such places are called no-man’s lands.
Of course, it wasn’t that there were no people at all in those places.

It just means the remote areas where the administrative power of the integrated government does not reach because the devastation of the war remains strong.

Most of them were slum areas or places that had been so horribly destroyed that they couldn’t even dare to restore them. As they say, there were quite a few areas where there were really no people at all.

Therefore, if anyone went into such a place, it would be difficult for anyone to find traces of them.

That was what Seo Jin wanted.

While he was thinking this and that at the bus stop, the bus he had been waiting for arrived.

Seo Jin showed his ticket and boarded the bus. There weren’t many passengers, so he was able to sit in a suitable spot inside.

Soon, the bus departed.

The scenery whizzing past the bus window.
As time passed, the appearance of the city gradually disappeared.
Instead, dilapidated areas began to appear.

As he went out to the outskirts of the old defense line, he could see traces of the war that had not been restored.

The priority of restoration, he had heard that there was some kind of political strife in that area.

Humanity, which had been first unified in the face of an unprecedented nemesis, was already showing signs of division since that enemy had disappeared.

But that was also a story that had nothing to do with him now.

Inside the shaking bus, Seo Jin crossed his arms and closed his eyes for a moment.

In order to get at least a little sleep until the arrival, which was still a long way off.

The voices of people he missed so much that it was unbelievable.

[“Son, eat some of this seasoned vegetables too. Mom bought it during the day.”]

[“Seo Jin, how’s school these days? Is it okay to keep up with your studies since you’ve returned to school?”]

[“Oppa, Oppa, listen! Do you know what Yeji said to me yesterday?”]

Seo Jin blankly raised his head.

Before he knew it, he was sitting at the familiar table.

With his family whom he had wanted to see so much.

He was in the middle of eating a meal together at one table.

It was a scenery that made his heart ache even though he knew it was an illusion.

The voices that were chattering softly were warmly warming his ears, and Seo Jin was just blankly listening to them silently.

He couldn’t even recall what scene this memory was.

However, the fact that his appearance staying in the middle of that scene was too ordinary made him realize at once that it was a dream.

The appearances of his family who loved him, whom he loved.

However, something about those faces couldn’t be seen properly.

No matter how hard he tried to open his eyes and look at them, they were just faintly out of focus as much as his faded memories.

It was natural since that much time had passed.

‘Now…..’

10 years ago, right after he had fallen into the world of the game for the first time. Seo Jin had tried every method to return to reality, and most of them had failed.

But among them, there was only one possibility that he hadn’t tested.

He had been imagining that sometimes, no, quite often, so far.

What if he could really return to reality if he died here.

It was a worry that he had thought about every day since he had fallen into this world.

Until he met Arcel, that was the case.

However, that possibility, which had been deeply buried in his memories, suddenly came to his mind recently.

Because he had thought he had given up but he hadn’t in the end.

Now, Seo Jin was hoping once again for the last time.

If his life here ends,
Could he return to reality.

That one possibility.

Even if he was wrong, he wouldn’t have any regrets anymore.

He had really tried hard so far.
It had been really hard.

So, now…..

Seo Jin, who had been awakened by a sudden shaking.

Between his dreamy mind, he felt a bus that had stopped.

Thinking that he had arrived at his destination, he rubbed his eyes, but he was still in the middle of a remote road.

Between the dazed senses, he heard the sound of the car door opening.

Soon, an armed soldier boarded the bus.

“There will be an inspection process due to the risk of terrorism in the nearby area. Please show your ID and ticket for identity verification.”

At that announcement, the few passengers on the bus began to take out their IDs in a fluster. Seo Jin was the same.

Inspection, it was something that happened often.

Humanity had been ‘mostly’ unified due to the outbreak of the Encroachment War, but radical minorities and extreme separatists were bound to exist in any group.

In the first place, the integrated government itself was a coalition centered on the powerful countries at the time, so there were plenty of groups that had a bad relationship with them.

Due to such historical relationships, there were clearly unresolved conflicts even while the entire human race was fighting against Encroachment.

Now that the great war was over, radical disputes were starting again.

Therefore, these inspections were also frequent.

When all the passengers had finished preparing, the soldier scanned the IDs with a portable scanner and checked each person’s identity and ticket one by one.

Beep- Beep!

The soldier, who was finishing checking the tickets one by one with a strangely rhythmic mechanical sound.

Soon, it was his turn.

“Please show me your ID.”

Seo Jin handed it over without complaint.

But the mark on the combat uniform of the soldier standing before him was somehow familiar.

Back in the past, when Seo Jin was also affiliated with the Allied Forces. It was the symbol of the unit that he had worked with on several operations.

He somehow felt a strange sense of déjà vu.

Thanks to that, just as he was about to recall some old memories, an unfamiliar warning sound suddenly began to sound from the scanner that was examining his ID.

Beep- Beeeeeeeeee-

At that sound, the soldier urgently checked the device’s screen, and then raised his head again and began to stare at Seo Jin’s face.