Chapter 32 - Episode 6. God of Despair (1)
Chapter 32: Episode 6. God of Despair (1)
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“Anyway, because of that old man, there was a fad for a while. People said that if you repeated the basic slash a billion times, you would gain some kind of enlightenment and become incredibly strong, or something like that.”
- Imai Kazuki, Third Division Commander of Rupture
* * *
Cheongheo, the Divine Doctor of Despair.
It was difficult to find anyone in 《Chaos》 who had not heard rumors about him.
He was the only person in Chaos capable of using Deadman Slash. There was probably no physician in the world better suited to the title of Despair. Of course, his reputation was not built solely on his abilities as a physician.
- I heard the divine doctor’s Combat Power is at the Hall Master level.
The strange history surrounding Cheongheo was more than enough to fuel gossip among the idlers wandering Chaos.
- I heard he is an Abyss powerhouse.
- They say he was once a member of Rupture.
- I heard he cleared the Master’s Tower.
No one knew the truth. Cheongheo had never spoken about his past in public. Over time, the rumors about him gradually dwindled into trivial gossip.
That he was an eccentric old man who only knew how to slash.
That he was a lecherous old man who only treated women.
That the Despair in Divine Doctor of Despair came from his constant longing...
“The divine doctor is in despair!”
As the medical officer watched Cheongheo kneeling on the floor, they were once again convinced that the rumors were true.
The Anti-Evil Squad Commander helped Cheongheo up and asked, “Divine Doctor! What about the Fortress Lord? Why have you come here?”
“A beauty is about to die, and you are worried about the Fortress Lord?”
“What do you mean by that...?”
Cheongheo glared at Jaehwan over the stunned commander’s shoulder.
“Hey! What are you going to do about this? You ruined my Deadman Slash! And now my sword is like this...”
Cheongheo’s sword had shattered into pieces. His Deadman Slash was a divine technique that could only be performed with a sword made from a Four-Horned Beast or higher.
Then Cheongheo’s expression changed.
“Oh! You have something good there.”
Cheongheo rushed over in an instant, his eyes gleaming.
“A Garnak horn.”
The sword bore the aura of Garnak, a Five-Horned Beast. Cheongheo had seen swords made from Five-Horned Beast horns before, but this was the first time he had seen even the scabbard made entirely from a Garnak horn.
Garnak was just that powerful and savage a Horned Beast.
Without asking permission, Cheongheo reached for the sword.
“Oh, you little brat.”
Cheongheo gave a bitter smile as he looked at his wrist, caught in midair. He had known Jaehwan was no ordinary man when he blocked his Ordinary Slash, but the young man was more skilled than he had expected.
“If you lend me this sword...”
“Hm?”
“If I lend you this sword, can you save that woman?”
Cheongheo blinked.
“Of course! If it is me!”
Without a word, Jaehwan handed Dokbul over, scabbard and all.
Cheongheo was a little surprised.
It was their first meeting, yet Jaehwan was handing over his weapon so easily. He had to be extremely confident in his abilities...
Well, that was not important right now.
“It is a fine sword, but it really does resemble its owner.”
Cheongheo snickered as he turned the sword over. Dokbul let out a low hum, as though it disliked the old man’s touch.
Before long, Cheongheo’s eyes gradually turned white. Like an artist sketching an outline, the old man’s sword slowly swept through the air. Everything in the room began to settle into silence.
Jaehwan watched as the world turned blank as a sheet of paper.
That illusion from earlier?
Each time the old man’s sword moved, more white spread across the scenery. Jaehwan watched for a long time before realizing something.
No.
This was no low-grade illusion.
This was the world the old man saw.
Mino stood on a blank white page, her lines fading.
The old man looked at Mino like a master painter.
There was none of Doubt’s discomfort in his eyes, nor Understanding’s brilliance. There was only an unbroken gaze. Looking from this side once, then from that side once.
At last, the old man held Dokbul like a brush.
He began to redraw Mino’s lines. His movements flowed elegantly. His hands moved with the ease of someone who had spent hundreds of years painting a single picture.
As Jaehwan watched, a strange feeling filled him.
The old man’s hands were gentle, yet unhesitating.
At times fierce, at times relaxed.
Yet never dull.
Mino’s soul was being inscribed upon the world once again.
With every stroke the old man added, Jaehwan’s heart stirred. A life devoted entirely to drawing a single stroke had seeped into every layer of those tender lines.
It reminded him of the life he had lived, yet it was a history that followed an unmistakably different path.
The old man’s hand moved again.
A stroke drew Mino’s nose, another her lips. He was even more careful when drawing the curve of her chest. The white world rippled and danced along with the old man’s movements.
It was like a song.
Not a song that moved anyone deeply, but one that offered comfort simply by being seen and heard. Before long, the old man’s dance was nearing its end.
Then, in the next moment, he suddenly dropped Dokbul and collapsed.
“Ah, I am too tired to go on.”
Cheongheo, who had been dancing as though possessed, sprawled out on the floor.
“Damn it, I am short on spiritual power.”
Mino’s restoration was still unstable. Even Jaehwan could tell that the picture would be complete with just a little more work.
Yet the old man did not even seem to have the strength to stand.
“If it were not for that damned Fortress Lord...”
The world was shaking.
Jaehwan instinctively understood. If that picture was not completed, Deadman Slash would not be realized. He looked at the old man’s exhausted eyes and hesitated for a moment.
‘I cannot slash.’
But.
Even if it was only imitation.
Jaehwan picked up Dokbul in the old man’s place.
Cries rose around him.
Shock, protests, meaningless noise.
Too loud.
His mind, which had doubted the world through 「Doubt」, and his soul, which had longed for 「Understanding」, held their breath. The heart that had been tightly clenched slowly loosened.
So this was what it felt like.
When he opened his eyes again, a world as white as a canvas lay before him.
Cheongheo stared at him in shock, while Mino lay asleep.
It was peaceful.
For the first time, he raised his sword to save someone.
The white world accepted him.
He felt as if he could draw anything into this space.
Like he was painting an intricate pointillist work, Jaehwan tapped Dokbul through the air.
He thought of Mino. It had only been a few days since he met her, but she had told him many stories in that time.
She was playful and stubborn. An assassin, yet fragile. Someone who did not betray others. Someone who disliked him.
And...
Someone who trusted people.
Jaehwan moved his hand without taking a single breath, as though afraid that the Mino he knew would disappear in that brief moment.
How much time passed?
It seemed complete, but something still felt missing.
Then Jaehwan remembered something.
Something he had never seen, yet had learned about by chance.
He placed a tiny dot above Mino’s right breast. His vision went dark from lack of oxygen. Jaehwan slowly caught his breath, then blinked.
“When did you see something like that?”
Mino stood before him, smiling brightly.
As he looked into her eyes, Jaehwan thought, if only for a moment.
Maybe.
Maybe there was a way to destroy the world without anyone dying.
He soon shook his head.
There was no way such a method existed.
When he opened his eyes again, Jaehwan wondered if he had still not escaped the blank world.
Everyone around him was silent.
James was rubbing his eyes, and the medical staff were trembling as they held their measuring devices. Claire stared blankly at Mino. The black veins were gradually receding.
Someone shouted.
“Mutation has stopped!”
“O-Oh, the contamination level is dropping!”
Cheongheo, the Divine Doctor of Despair, wore a stunned expression.
“How in the world...”
Cheongheo’s Deadman Slash was not a technique one could copy after seeing it once.
It was not a skill.
Countless Adapters had sought his teachings, but none had mastered it. That was Deadman Slash.
“...That petty spirit of yours has softened a little.”
Cheongheo muttered as he studied Jaehwan. Jaehwan’s spirit, which had bristled aggressively like a hedgehog’s spines, had mellowed slightly. What had just happened had clearly changed something inside him.
“Though it still looks like a five-year-old has only become a ten-year-old.”
Cheongheo’s lips twitched as though Jaehwan still displeased him.
“By the way, who are you? And how did you use Deadman Slash?”
Cheongheo changed his wording halfway through. Strictly speaking, what Jaehwan had shown earlier was not the stance of a slash.
“No, I should call it Deadman Stab. Anyway, where did you learn something like that?”
The Anti-Evil Squad Commander looked startled.
“Was what he used truly the same as Deadman Slash?”
“I hate to admit it, but yes.”
“Then...!”
Cheongheo’s eyes grew complicated as he watched the commander’s expression. The commander was among the most loyal people in Gorgon Fortress.
Cheongheo had lived for a thousand years. Reading the thoughts of a commander who had not even lived a century was no difficult task.
“Commander, calm down. We still do not know who this person is.”
“But did you not say so yourself, Divine Doctor? That if there were one more person capable of Deadman Slash, we might be able to save the Fortress Lord.”
“That was...”
Cheongheo frowned, looking troubled.
He had certainly said something like that. Still, he never thought the commander would remember words he had thrown out in passing.
Who would have guessed someone truly capable of Deadman Slash existed?
The Anti-Evil Squad Commander’s expression hardened.
“Divine Doctor, nothing is more important than the Fortress Lord’s life.”
At the mention of the Fortress Lord’s life, Cheongheo paused before letting out a sigh. Then his lips moved.
[Commander, you know that I am an Awakened One, right? Though I am not a complete one...]
Awakened One.
The Anti-Evil Squad Commander’s body stiffened.
Among those who roamed the 《Great Realm》, who would not know the term Awakened One?
Beings beyond the System’s rules, the few supreme powerhouses who gained tremendous strength by refusing to adapt.
Even across the whole of the 《Great Realm》, there were not many known Awakened Ones. At most, there were the few supreme powerhouses who roamed the twelve zones, and some commanders of Rupture, which Big Brother had designated a dangerous organization.
Yet the Anti-Evil Squad Commander knew there were a few more Awakened Ones beyond them.
For example, the old man standing before him now.
He might fall short of the Lords of the twelve zones and Rupture’s commanders, but an Awakened One was still an Awakened One. The mere fact that Cheongheo, the Divine Doctor of Despair, was in Gorgon Fortress kept the other fortresses from targeting Gorgon carelessly.
[What will you do if he is also an Awakened One?]
Footnotes:
“Despair” is a Korean homophone here. One spelling means “severing forgetting,” while another means “longing.”
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