R4STWH - Chapter 108
Chapter 108
They had brainwashed me, almost to the point of believing that ‘a Pair is a being whose body and soul are destined to be together,’ so they seemed to have thought I would choose our world, not this one, according to Zero’s wishes.
But….
'Whether it’s a Pair or not, I can’t support such a choice.'
It wasn’t that Zero or Yumi were less precious to me. It would have been the same even if Elias had asked the same thing.
There must be thousands, no, billions of beings living their daily lives in this world.
From tiny, insignificant lives like ants and blades of grass to the most numerous, humans.
Of course, among them, there would be plenty of guys who, like that poison frog… Berek, are guilty of even breathing.
But using that as an excuse to push an entire world, billions of lives, into ruin was just absurd.
Zero and Yumi were mistaken.
Just because Ermitar did it, did that mean we could do it too? To take revenge and turn back the time in our world, to live happily with the people we'd already lost?
Absolutely not.
I could see that just by looking at this guy’s state.
A wish to turn back time. The being who would fulfill that wish was the very one who destroyed our world. Would he really offer such a reward with good intentions?
Using that reward as a pretext, we would be bound by a leash, never to be removed, and we would be manipulated at his whim.
Becoming increasingly accustomed to sacrificing others for my own benefit, I would transform into a terrible disaster, just like him.
Just making excuses saying it couldn't be helped, not even apologizing, like that damned lizard.
'That guy needs a proper lesson.'
While I was pondering what to do with the guy who was gloomily watching my mood, I felt Zero's presence approaching.
'He came back quickly.'
He seemed to have come straight down to the basement as soon as he entered the palace. He must have been extremely curious to know if I’d fallen into the trap.
If it had been Yumi, she would have pretended to fall into the trap, then returned it as it was, but I wasn't in the mood to play around like that right now. Besides, I had already broken it too much.
The moment he reached the basement and opened the door, he scanned the inside and chuckled.
Is he, right now…….
“Are you laughing?”
You're laughing now?
A magic circle big enough to use the entire first basement floor. What would have happened if I’d carelessly touched it due to impatience?
'I would have been lying in the middle of the room.'
Just looking at it, it seemed to have layers of mana suppression, gravity control, illusion magic and so on.
As I stared at him in disbelief, his lips slowly hardened.
“Hello, Whitey. It’s even nicer to see you here.”
“Are you saying hello after setting up something like this?”
“I just showed a minimum amount of sincerity. If I didn’t do at least this much to welcome you, wouldn’t you feel even more upset?”
Was that guy always so good at talking……?
'What, it’s like he’s been buttering his tongue.'
Honestly, I was a little dumbfounded.
“Hey.”
“……?”
“Come here for a second.”
At my gesture, he narrowed his eyes but obediently approached me.
When he was close enough, I suddenly threw a punch at his head.
He raised his arm and quickly blocked it, his eyebrows twitching.
“What are you doing?”
“I thought your head had gone weird. They say you return to normal when you get hit once.”
“What quack said that…….”
He couldn't finish his sentence and leaned back. It was to avoid my knee flying towards his temple.
It was only supposed to be a light hit to shake his brain a bit, but the guy kept dodging so annoyingly that I got annoyed.
“Just stay still. What if your head flies off by mistake?”
It's already hard enough to control my strength.
“You’re the one who should stop!”
Whoosh-!
“What kind of logic is that?”
Damn, it was 1 cm off.
“I'm saying I’ll fix your head, right?”
There are no medicines to treat mental illness in this world. There are no counselors or medical devices.
All there is, is this heart that genuinely cares for a comrade, and my fists.
“You heard from the Evil Dragon, didn't you? That there’s a way to revive our world, and yet you won’t do it?”
“Because of that kind of dog logic, hundreds of kids died beside me. And there must have been thousands, tens of thousands of innocent animals. And yet you're asking for my cooperation?”
Thwack!
This time, it was blocked by his shoulder. Judging by the way his face twisted, it seemed like I put in more strength than I thought.
“Unless I suffer amnesia, I can’t do that.”
“……They are different from you.”
“No, I’m just a little, just a little luckier than those kids. I have never forgotten that fact for a single moment.”
If the order of the medicine injection had been just one kid earlier than me, I would have died spitting up blood and having seizures.
“To try and turn back a failed event by sacrificing billions of innocent lives? You don’t have to say something grandiose. Even a single person shouldn’t be treated that way.”
It wasn’t that I was being overly broad-minded, saying I would protect everyone. I wasn’t that righteous of a person either.
It was just that I was angry that my comrade was using such a twisted way of thinking, and I wanted to knock some sense into him.
“Whitey, just stop it……”
“If you want me to stop, just offer your head, I'll fix it up for you.”
Realizing that it wouldn’t end by just dodging or blocking, Zero started counterattacking, and our fight gradually became more intense.
It was a battle of pure strength, agility, and martial arts, without a speck of mana involved, yet the room became more and more messed up.
Cracks appeared in the walls, the floor caved in, stone powder fell from the holed ceiling, and all the furnishings were destroyed.
“Could you guys fight somewhere else……”
Ermitar’s plea went unheard.
I had hit him until my whole body was almost in tatters, but I couldn’t stop since I hadn’t been able to hit the most important part, his head.
Of course, I had gotten hit a bit too, in the process.
Since I was just focusing on hitting his head, it couldn't be helped. To be honest, it would only take a day to heal, so I didn't bother dodging sometimes.
Still, it was worth it, and I managed to subdue him by breaking one of his legs.
As I lightly loosened my fist, pressing his solar plexus with my knee, Zero let out a long sigh.
“You know this won’t do any good, right?”
Yeah. Maybe he’s right.
To be honest, this was just a way to vent my anger; it didn't lead to any solutions.
Even after listening to what I had to say, it didn’t seem like he was going to change his mind, and I, likewise, had no intention of doing what he wanted.
And probably, the next time we met, it wouldn’t be these childish punches, but a life-or-death battle.
“The food in this world tastes much better.”
I tapped his head lightly with my fist.
“……”
“There are a lot of handsome and pretty people too…….”
He just frowned without answering, so I hit him a bit harder.
“Do you have eye problems? Should I fix your eyes too?”
“Whitey.”
“Let’s not do this. I’ll forgive you for tricking me all this time, so let’s stop. Okay? We can adapt and live well here.”
“……”
“We can do well in this world too. If we give that damn quest a good thrashing and successfully end the disaster, we can live even more peacefully and happily than we did in our world.”
I sincerely wished for that.
Even though they were prickly and flawed comrades, they were the first people I had ever truly exchanged hearts with.
Did they really believe that they would be revived, so they died in my place?
There was nothing left in our world.
Just as I cherished Yumi, Baeksa, and Zero, they also cherished me.
That’s why they threw themselves for me without hesitation, and they withstood those scorching flames without backing down until they became ashes.
So I just wished that everyone could live happily, but,
“I’m sorry, but I can’t do that.”
The guy who looked at me with sunken eyes and replied in that way seemed like he would never change his mind.
I was so angry and sad at that, that I laughed instead.
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