Chapter 207 - Episode 28. Rupture (1)
Chapter 207: Episode 28. Rupture (1)
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「Until the Destruction, humanity of the 《Great Realm》 and 《Chaos》 lived under the mistaken belief that the Great Realm were the realm of the living, while Chaos was the realm of the dead.
Therefore, the distinction between the realms of the living and the dead is the greatest and worst achievement of the Lords of the 《Great Realm》.」
From 『The World Before Destruction』
By the poet Euphrates
* * *
The ancient palace of 〈Caspion〉, the Eighth Site.
An unusual tension had hung over 〈Highseeker〉, which had become the sanctuary of 「Rupture」 some time ago.
It was especially strong in the Division Commanders’ office, where the commanders had gathered. Even members who happened to linger nearby would flinch at the overwhelming force the commanders continually radiated.
“It is finally today.”
“Yes.”
Fifth Division Commander Mirel answered Fourth Division Commander Kasim in a solemn voice.
Then someone threw open the office door.
“Fourth Division Commander-nim!”
The newcomer was a handsome man with gentle eyes and thick eyebrows that gave him an oddly likable appearance. The only flaw was the seemingly recent scar on his cheek, which made his features look a little sharper.
“Fourth Division Commander-nim, is it true?”
“What are you talking about?”
“Is it true that the Great Lords are coming here today?”
“You are still rude as ever, Yoonhwan.”
It was Fifth Division Commander Mirel who answered.
Only then did Yoonhwan take a step back, acknowledging his rudeness. Mirel also nodded toward Han Seoyul, who stood behind him.
“Seoyul, you came too.”
“Greetings, Fifth Division Commander-nim.”
Mirel studied Seoyul’s face for a moment, then let out a light sigh.
“It is true. The Great Lords are coming today.”
“Here?”
“Yes.”
The Great Lords were coming.
Not anywhere else, but here, to 〈Highseeker〉, the sanctuary of Rupture.
Yoonhwan asked tensely, “Is there going to be a war?”
“No.”
“Then why?”
“For now, we should call it a ‘negotiation.’”
“A negotiation...?”
A negotiation.
Yoonhwan could neither understand nor accept it. Their opponents were the Great Lords, Harvesters at the pinnacle of cultivation and enemies of every human who had become a 「Product」.
What was there to negotiate with people like that?
“I understand how you feel. But the Great Lords are strong. They are not opponents we can face while blinded by immediate anger.”
Kasim stared at the tea leaves Mirel had floated in his cup as he continued.
“Our final goal is 《Big Brother》. To strike it down, there are times when we must accept cooperation even with our enemies.”
“I do not understand. Are not the Great Lords of the 《Great Realm》 and 《Big Brother》 ultimately of the same kind?”
“Hmm?”
“Are you making fun of me?”
It had already been two months since Yoonhwan passed the entrance test for 「Rupture」.
Over those two months, Yoonhwan had carried out various missions as a member of Rupture and gained a fair amount of knowledge about the 《Abyss》 as a whole.
For example, the true nature of the 《Great Realm》 and the Great Lords.
“The Great Lords are Vicegerents of 《Big Brother》. Are you saying that, to strike 《Big Brother》, we should cooperate with its subordinates?”
Kasim gave a quiet laugh.
“You looked like you had no motivation for a while, but it seems you were listening quite carefully.”
“Do not change the subject.”
“You are right. The Great Lords are Big Brother’s Vicegerents. But that does not mean Big Brother and the Great Lords are the same kind.”
“What does that...?”
“As you know, Yu Seolha stepped down as Second Division Commander not long ago.”
The incident in which Yu Seolha, the Second Division Commander, left 「Rupture」 was far too well known within the organization for Yoonhwan not to know about it.
When he had just joined Rupture, Yoonhwan had briefly met her through Kasim’s introduction. She was a woman with sharp, aloof features, beautiful enough to rival Seoyul.
He had never imagined that their first meeting would also be their last.
“Why are you bringing that up now?”
Yoonhwan quickly considered it.
What did Yu Seolha leaving Rupture have to do with 《Big Brother》 and the Great Lords not being the same kind?
Seoyul spoke first.
“Having the same Worldview does not necessarily mean holding the same ideals.”
Only then did Yoonhwan understand why Kasim had brought up Yu Seolha.
Although she had left 「Rupture」, Yu Seolha still possessed 「Mountain of Corpses, Sea of Blood」, Rupture’s Unique World. Though she believed in the same Worldview as them, she had chosen to walk a different path from Rupture.
Kasim was comparing that relationship to the one between 《Big Brother》 and the Great Lords.
“Are you saying not every Great Lord agrees with 《Big Brother》’s will?”
“That is right.”
Regardless of the comparison, it was not without reason.
If some of the Great Lords were rebelling against 《Big Brother》, Rupture could oppose 《Big Brother》 far more effectively by making use of them.
“Even so, I cannot accept it.”
“There you go being stubborn again.”
“This is not stubbornness. I am saying that questions of efficiency and questions of justice are different.”
“What are you trying to say?”
“We should not tolerate a lesser evil simply because there is a greater evil in the world. The 「Rupture」 I know is not a place like that.”
Kasim’s gaze darkened at Yoonhwan’s indignant voice. In that silence, Yoonhwan hoped his sincerity had reached Kasim.
After a moment, Kasim gave a bitter smile.
“You are still young. You do not know the world very well.”
“Fourth Division Commander-nim. That is not the issue.”
“It is exactly the issue.”
It was violence in its simplest form.
For a moment, Yoonhwan felt as though he had been mercilessly trampled.
Kasim took a cigarette from his pocket, lit it, and continued.
“Justice without compromise does not exist. If you still believe it can, then you are either an immature fool or a con artist.”
Yoonhwan knew. Of course he knew words like that.
It was not as though he did not know.
But.
‘He would not have said it like that.’
Without realizing it, Yoonhwan thought of someone’s face.
When everyone said it was impossible, when everyone so easily gave up on the present, one man had pressed forward without ever abandoning his justice.
His closest friend.
Come to think of it, what had happened to that guy?
Had he cleared the Tower in the end?
Yoonhwan knew as well. He knew the world was not so easy, and that this world would not change simply because one person refused to bend his will.
He shook his head and drove away the sadness rising within him.
Kasim was still speaking.
“You are only selfishly saying such things because you want to be righteous alone. You know there is nothing you can do as an ordinary member, so you are venting that helplessness at us.”
Yoonhwan could not answer.
Perhaps that was true.
“If you alone say things like that, what does that make Seoyul beside you? What does that make Mirel and me? Is there anyone here who does not want to be righteous?”
“Fourth Division Commander, that is enough. He understands, so stop.”
As the mood grew heated, Mirel quickly stepped in to restrain Kasim. Kasim extinguished his cigarette with an unhappy look, drained the tea on the table in one gulp, and continued.
“If you dislike the Rupture as it is now, if you want to change this organization, then build your strength. Become powerful.”
“...”
“No matter how noble your ideals are, they mean nothing without power. No one will listen to the words of a rank-and-file member.”
With those words, Kasim left the Division Commanders’ office. The bang of the door was the only sound to break the room’s silence.
Mirel looked down at Kasim’s empty seat, then spoke to Yoonhwan.
“I did not expect this, but you are quite stubborn too. You were the same during the simulations...”
“...”
“Kasim’s words may sound like nagging, but they are not wrong. You know that, right?”
“I know.”
Yoonhwan answered reluctantly.
Mirel smiled.
“No one here fails to understand what Yoonhwan said. Everyone understands. They are only doing this because there is no other choice.”
Yoonhwan wanted to ask.
Why did they act that way even though they knew?
If they truly understood, was it not impossible to act that way?
Yet Yoonhwan could not ask. Deep down, he also knew why they had no choice.
Not everyone in the world could act like him.
At that moment, Yoonhwan hated himself more than anything.
“Please understand.”
Mirel gently patted Yoonhwan’s shoulder before quietly leaving the room.
Even after she was gone, Yoonhwan remained there for a long while, biting his lip.
A strange look briefly rested in Seoyul’s eyes as she watched Yoonhwan’s expression, then vanished.
* * *
“This is every new recruit gathered over the past half year. No, I mean, this is all of them.”
At the heart of 〈Highseeker〉 was the Commander’s office.
Across from Maiad, who sat back in a plush chair and leisurely reviewed the documents, stood a short man carrying a saber longer than he was tall.
He was Imai Kazuki, the Third Division Commander of 「Rupture」.
“Twelve is fewer than I expected.”
“Still, all twelve have reached their third Awakening. There are more below that... I mean, there are more of them.”
Imai was unaccustomed to making a direct report and kept misspeaking. Formal speech simply did not come naturally to him.
He usually commanded local battles, so he rarely found himself reporting one-on-one to the Commander. There was no need to use formal speech in private, but he could not speak casually to the Commander in an official setting.
Maiad gave a soft laugh.
“You seem to be having a hard time, Imai.”
“...”
A vein bulged on Imai’s forehead.
This report had originally been the responsibility of Yu Seolha, the Second Division Commander. But after Yu Seolha left 「Rupture」, the duty naturally passed to Imai as the Third Division Commander.
“You can speak casually. I do not care about that.”
“Thank you, I mean, thanks, Commander.”
It felt strange to have a superior speak formally while a subordinate spoke casually.
Still, when he thought about it, that had always been Rupture’s style.
Maiad turned another page of the report.
“So, are there any recruits worth using?”
“There are a few. Especially the woman on the very first page.”
Maiad reopened the first page of the report.
The name Han Seoyul was written there.
“She is viciously tenacious. She went through the Great Disappearance Simulation 520 times and survived until the end 518 of those times. Even after completing her third Awakening, she never hesitated to stab familiar faces to death. With a little training, she will become a tremendous warrior.”
“Is that so?”
Maiad asked with faint surprise.
The 「Great Disappearance Simulation」.
This project, which Rupture had recently planned with great ambition, recreated the site of the Great Disappearance from seven hundred years ago to forcibly Awaken its participants.
Though it was a simulation, Maiad knew better than anyone how brutal a testing ground it was.
After all, Maiad had planned the project.
Even if it was false, it was not easy to slaughter every person one knew and survive to the end in a place where the pain felt real.
When ordinary Awakening candidates entered the simulation, their minds collapsed and they lost their sanity for roughly the first ten attempts. Over the next ten, they gradually became used to death. Only after dying around ten more times did they finally begin accepting the simulation as reality.
Rupture called those thirty attempts the Adjustment Period.
Only after overcoming those thirty attempts could someone reach the first threshold toward obtaining 「Mountain of Corpses, Sea of Blood」, Rupture’s Unique World.
Yet this woman, Han Seoyul, had cleared the simulation 518 times without even an Adjustment Period.
“She is an impressive talent.”
“Right? She is one of my prized recruits.”
Maiad gave a bitter smile and turned several more pages.
Then Maiad’s fingers stopped in midair.
“Hmm, that one is a little...”
Imai glanced at the report and showed discomfort without being asked.
The name Kim Yoonhwan was written at the top of the page.
Maiad asked, “Did something happen?”
“There was a bit of an incident during the Great Disappearance Simulation.”
“An incident? Did the simulation malfunction?”
Maiad had not heard anything like that.
The Great Disappearance Simulation was an important matter even within Rupture. If something had happened, word should have reached Maiad long ago.
“It was not that. That guy was stubborn until the very end.”
“Stubborn?”
Maiad asked as if wondering whether they had heard correctly.
“Yes. He refused to kill one of his friends until the end.”
“Are you saying he could not clear it?”
“Not once.”
Only then did Maiad study the report again with fresh eyes.
A total of 1,954 attempts.
And 1,954 failures.
It was an utterly unreasonable number of attempts and an equally unreasonable number of failures.
There had never been a case like this in Rupture before.
Maiad tilted their head.
“Then why did you allow him through?”
“He Awakened. The moment he failed his 1,954th attempt, he suddenly achieved his third Awakening and opened an Unique World.”
“Even though he did not properly complete the Great Disappearance?”
Imai nodded.
“Either way, he achieved his third Awakening, so there was not much we could say. He seems able to use 「Mountain of Corpses, Sea of Blood」 too, though only at an intermediate level. Mirel let him pass because of that...”
He had achieved Awakening without properly completing the Great Disappearance Simulation.
He had even obtained an Unique World.
It was an extremely interesting report to Maiad.
“Come to think of it, this person...”
Several fragments of memory passed through Maiad’s mind. Recent events had been so hectic that they had completely forgotten.
Maiad’s eyes narrowed as they looked at Yoonhwan’s face in the upper left corner of the report.
That was when someone knocked on the office door.
“What is it? I am still in the middle of a report!”
Imai shouted, but the knocking did not stop.
In the end, Imai pursed his lips and threw open the office door.
A breathless administrative officer stood outside.
The officer flinched upon seeing Imai’s angry expression. Even so, the officer seemed determined to deliver the message, squeezed their eyes shut, and shouted.
“Commander-nim, the Great Lords have arrived!”
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