Chapter 41
Swoosh!
Mason felt no impact from his two-handed hammer.
It simply passed through the Monkey Fire’s body.
“…!”
He hadn’t broken through the Monkey Fire’s body. There was no substance to hit.
‘A ghost!’
Mason’s hammer was a regular piece of equipment, not treated with a core. If it was a ghost or spirit without a physical form, there was no way to strike it.
The Monkey Fire, passing right through Mason, lunged at Sung Kijun.
Sung Kijun’s equipment was core-treated. He could handle such an opponent if he dealt with it like usual.
“Leader! What are you doing?!”
However…Sung Kijun remained frozen.
Thud!
The Monkey Fire pounced on Sung Kijun, knocking him down.
“Kyaaaaa!”
Just as its burning claws were about to pierce Sung Kijun’s neck.
“D*mn it!”
Mason threw his hammer and hastily kicked the Monkey Fire.
Wham!
The body of a Player was infused with core energy. If the Monkey Fire could knock down Sung Kijun, Mason’s kick could also strike it.
The Monkey Fire, rolling on the floor, looked at Mason and Sung Kijun.
“Grooooo…”
Mason’s legs. Even now, flames were burning on his thighs and shins inside the leg armor.
But instead of putting out the fire, he clenched his fists and stood between the Monkey Fire and Sung Kijun.
“…”
“…”
A silent confrontation ensued between the superhuman and the monster.
“…Keut!”
It was the Monkey Fire that backed down.
It retreated into the ruins, and Mason didn’t bother to chase after it.
“…Ugh.”
Mason tore off his leg armor and patted out the flames on his legs with his hands. Embers fell to the floor along with burnt cloth.
The burns were healing, but the pain still lingered.
“…Are you okay?”
“I should be the one asking you that.”
Mason said, looking at Sung Kijun. Sung Kijun was still trembling.
“What happened? Don’t tell me you’re scared of the Monkey Fire?”
“I’m not scared of it.”
Sung Kijun gritted his teeth. He was trying to suppress his trembling hands.
“What I’m afraid of…is my nightmare.”
๑ஓ๑๑ஓ๑๑ஓ๑๑ஓ๑๑ஓ๑๑ஓ๑
Sung Kijun sat down on the ground and let out a long sigh.
“Let’s talk for a moment.”
“But…”
“It’s okay.”
Sung Kijun looked in the direction the Monkey Fire had fled.
“It’s a cautious creature. It wouldn’t dare attack with you here, even if I were alone.”
The Monkey Fire and Sung Kijun were not strangers. It knew that Sung Kijun would panic at the mere sight of it. That’s why it had attacked, and it had confirmed that Mason wasn’t afraid of it. So it would hesitate.
That’s why Sung Kijun had called for Mason.
Because it would definitely run away if it saw Mason, even if Sung Kijun were alone.
“Yeah. Then…”
Mason asked directly.
“What happened?”
“I’m not afraid of the Monkey Fire. It’s just…when I see it, something I’m terrified of comes to mind.”
“What is it?”
“A person.”
Sung Kijun clenched his fists. He was doing it to suppress his trembling hands.
“A person…on fire.”
“…!”
Sung Kijun looked at the villa. It was the apartment on the left side of the third floor.
“Do you know that I’m a former firefighter?”
“I heard.”
Although there is no high or low in occupation, firefighters were still a respected profession. It’s human instinct, no, the instinct of all living things to avoid fire. They are the ones who overcome that instinct with courage and a sense of duty, running into the flames.
Those with bravery and nobility. Firefighters were the true paladins of modern times.
“Before monsters appeared, when fire was the biggest enemy of our society, I came here. As a firefighter responding to a call.”
Sung Kijun spoke in the driest, most parched tone he could muster.
To prevent his emotions from consuming him.
“The report came in late, so it had already spread into a huge fire. But there was still time, and we rescued everyone according to the residents’ information. No, we thought we rescued everyone.”
“You didn’t?”
“We didn’t. Room 301 was the problem.”
Sung Kijun said.
“After rescuing the residents, we started putting out the fire. Because we were certain there was no one left inside. But…we heard a scream from inside the building where there should be no one. It was a child’s scream.”
“…You said you rescued everyone?”
“We did, everyone that the people mentioned. The problem was the resident of Room 301. He was an elderly man who seemed healthy…but contrary to what he or we thought, he had a problem.”
“What problem?”
“Dementia.”
Sung Kijun clenched his teeth.
“The old man forgot that he was looking after his grandson.”
“Shouldn’t the people around him have told him that he left the child behind?”
“You can’t blame them. You can’t ask people who are in a panic because of a fire to take care of someone else’s child. And…blaming someone with dementia for forgetting is also cruel.”
Sung Kijun stared at Room 301.
“When you get used to fires, you learn to read the flames. Whether it’s a fire you shouldn’t enter, or a fire you can enter. The fire here at that time was clearly a fire you shouldn’t enter. To be more precise, it was a fire that would definitely k*ll you if you entered.”
“…”
“I was conflicted. Whether I should go through the flames that would surely k*ll me. Or…whether I should give up. And before my conflict was over, the screams stopped.”
Mason consoled him.
“You said it was a fire you shouldn’t enter.”
“Definitely.”
“Wouldn’t it have been too late even if you had gone in?”
“Probably.”
“Then…it’s not your fault, Leader.”
“No, I should have gone in.”
Sung Kijun stared at Room 301. Not the Room 301 that was now a ruin, but the Room 301 of that day, engulfed in flames.
“I should have gone in. I should have gone in. Whether I died trapped in the flames, or came out carrying the dead child. I should have gone in then without hesitation.”
“…”
“I’m not afraid of fire. I’m afraid of remembering the sight I should have seen, the sight of the child suffering in the fire.”
Sung Kijun clenched his fists tightly.
“It’s…painful to remember that I couldn’t make a decision then.”
“But as you said, Leader, even if you had…”
“Don’t say ‘even if’.”
Sung Kijun’s eyes looked at the present, not the past, at Mason, not Room 301.
“The result doesn’t change anything. It doesn’t change the fact that I weighed my life against that child’s life. It doesn’t change the fact that I was that child’s last hope, or that I had a duty to protect people from fire.”
“Isn’t that too harsh?”
“Yes, it might be harsh. But who will make excuses for me? Who will forgive me? My conscience is stabbing me from the inside like a swallowed needle, who can stop my nightmare? Who, but me in that moment that has already passed?”
“…”
Looking at Mason, who was speechless, Sung Kijun spoke calmly.
“Do you know the saying ‘Yousuopilwi (有所必爲)’?”
“I don’t.”
“It means there are things that must be done, things that one must do as a human being.”
Sung Kijun’s eyes seemed to pierce through people. Through Mason, or perhaps through himself on that day.
“Right is right, no matter the cost, and wrong is wrong, no matter the reward. I come here every year…to remember that fact.”
Sung Kijun lit a cigarette.
“Mason, you…will become someone who shakes the world.”
“Perhaps so…”
The pungent cigarette smoke drifted through the ruins like incense.
“Once you reach that position, whether you like it or not, you will have to make choices. Painful crossroads. Times when you have to make choices that seem to have no right answer.”
Sung Kijun took a deep breath.
“This is the place I wanted to show you, and that day’s me is what I wanted to tell you.”
“…”
“When you stand at a painful crossroads someday, remember this place. When you have to make a choice that feels like there’s no answer, remember the four characters ‘Yousuopilwi’.”
Mason looked at Sung Kijun.
He understood what he wanted to show, what he wanted to tell.
He wanted to show what regret was.
The way life changes because of a wrong choice. The way one suffers, unable to turn back time.
He wanted to show what an a*ult of the 21st century was like.
He wanted to teach the young man of the 28th century who would one day make decisions that would affect the world.
“…because you don’t want to be like someone who couldn’t.”
That right is right, no matter the cost, and wrong is wrong, no matter the reward.
He was saying it to both Sung Kijun of that day and Mason of today…
“That’s harsh…”
“I could say the same if it wasn’t my story…”
Sung Kijun exhaled cigarette smoke like a sigh.
After staring at Room 301 through the hazy smoke for a moment, he took out his pocket ashtray and stubbed out his cigarette.
“…Let’s go.”
“Okay.”
Sung Kijun and Mason got into the car.
“By the way, who said ‘Yousuopilwi’?”
“Why do you ask?”
“So I can use it on someone later.”
“Gu Long. A Taiwanese writer said it.”
“Is he a philosopher?”
“He’s a wuxia novelist…Don’t you know him?”
“From when is he a writer?”
“I read his books around the 80s.”
“If it’s that old, wouldn’t people in this era not know him…?”
“…”
Sung Kijun sighed and started the car.
๑ஓ๑๑ஓ๑๑ஓ๑๑ஓ๑๑ஓ๑๑ஓ๑
The atmosphere on the way back was heavy.
Mason tried to console him.
“Don’t worry about it too much. It’s something you can’t change now.”
“Yeah, that’s true.”
Sung Kijun sighed.
“…Tolkien is classic literature, but Gu Long is old?”
“…”
Mason made a subtle expression.
‘Was that the problem?’
Tankers had a tendency to make people angry, and Sung Kijun was no exception.
Mason sighed.
‘I worried for nothing.’
Perhaps Sung Kijun would never leave Room 301. He would never be free from that day of the fire. Room 301 would be with him in all his life, in every decision he made.
But he was an a*ult, and he knew how to walk with a bad guest.
Mason turned his head and looked out the window.
Even though the city had become a ruin, greenery was slowly returning. Would it be too harsh to say that nature was regenerating thanks to the absence of humans?
Above all, that greenery was harboring monsters that moved swiftly.
“…?”
Mason was startled.
The movement of the leaves was unusual.
‘Are they following us?’
It was different from when they came.
‘It’s different. Something is…’
The monsters that had been hiding or just watching them were now moving in unison.
‘Something is starting!’
Mason felt his nerves on edge.
At that moment.
Whoosh!
Flames filled his vision!
The Monkey Fire was charging right at the front of the moving car.
“…?!”
Thud!
Mason instinctively pushed Sung Kijun.
“Ugh!”
The steering wheel jerked as he was pushed.
Screech!
The tires screamed. It had made a sudden left turn.
Crash!
As the car spun, the Monkey Fire’s attack hit Mason instead of Sung Kijun.
