Chapter 48
Meanwhile...
The three people waiting for Suhyeok in the barbarian village were meeting Chief Bjorn.
Taesu suddenly stood.
His face twisted with frustration.
“Why can only hyung enter?!”
He slammed one hand on the table.
“Is there no way for us to obtain that qualification too?!”
Bjorn remained calm.
“Qualification is not given to just anyone.”
He continued,
“Even one of our own people cannot enter without it.”
Then he added,
“Even if that person is...”
His voice lowered.
“The Chief.”
Bjorn’s body contained no Engravings.
Proof of what he had said.
Taesu forced himself to calm down.
Then sat again.
Hyuna asked,
“How many people have passed that trial?”
Bjorn raised three fingers.
“Only three.”
He continued,
“In several hundred years.”
Then he explained,
“As I said...”
“The token itself is qualification.”
“To enter...”
“One must possess a token granted by those three.”
Yumi asked,
“Then who created the trial?”
Bjorn answered immediately.
“The Great Warrior Dakan.”
His eyes became distant.
“The greatest of all barbarians ever born on this land.”
Hyuna rested her chin on one hand.
She thought for a moment.
Then asked,
“Something doesn’t make sense.”
Bjorn looked at her.
Hyuna continued,
“How did he pass qualification down to future generations?”
Bjorn answered,
“The dream world of the barbarians is connected.”
He looked toward the distant mountains.
“We walk one path.”
“And continue walking.”
Then he said,
“Qualification is a form of will.”
His expression became solemn.
“We have waited a very long time for Lee Suhyeok.”
“The token he carries is proof.”
The three remembered the Hidden Dungeon on the 14th Floor.
Everything finally made sense.
Hundreds of years in the past...
Suhyeok had obtained the token there.
Yumi crossed her arms.
“Then at least tell us what the trials are.”
Her tone was sharp.
“You’re the Chief.”
“You should know something.”
Bjorn remained calm.
“The trials represent the life lived by the Great Warrior.”
His gaze became serious.
“Perhaps he will clear every trial.”
Then he paused.
“However...”
“If the darkness inside him is too deep...”
Bjorn’s voice lowered.
“It may become difficult.”
The three went silent.
No explanation was necessary.
The darkness he spoke of...
Was probably inner wounds.
All three had noticed it.
Suhyeok climbed the Tower like someone being chased.
As though...
Climbing was his only path toward atonement.
That was why they were worried.
None of them could even guess how deep Suhyeok’s hidden pain truly went.
“......”
Hyuna quietly remembered her first meeting with him.
The bitter expression Suhyeok had shown when he first saw her.
He had clearly recognized her older sister.
For only a brief moment...
Hyuna had seen something in his eyes.
Regret so deep...
It could never be erased.
“Old man...”
“......”
Suhyeok could not move.
He had forgotten for a moment.
Ever since regression...
His darkness had always been their deaths.
He had used revenge to suppress everything else.
He climbed while burying those emotions deeper and deeper.
And now...
That day had returned.
STAB.
His past self had finally killed Yoo Taeseong.
Back then...
Suhyeok had been too overwhelmed by emptiness and sorrow to understand his own expression.
Now...
He could see it.
His past self sat on the ground.
He held dying Mihyeon in his arms.
Beside them...
Taesu screamed and sobbed.
Then...
Rustle.
“......!”
The corpses began rising.
Every eye had turned completely black.
Then...
Their voices came.
“It’s because of you.”
“If you hadn’t been there...”
“Save me!”
“Please!”
“Save me!!”
Screams.
Hatred.
Blame.
All of it crashed into Suhyeok at once.
Anyone else might have gone insane.
A system message appeared.
[‘Mental Immunity Ring (Mythic)’ protects the user from mental collapse.]
His mind became even clearer.
Which meant...
Every hateful voice became even sharper.
Then...
Roll... tap.
Something struck his foot.
Suhyeok looked down.
Yoo Taeseong’s severed head.
It looked up at him.
Then laughed viciously.
“Hehehe.”
“I told you.”
His grin widened.
“You never should’ve gained it.”
Then he said,
“If you’d just died to me back then...”
“This wouldn’t have happened.”
Yoo Taeseong’s eyes curved.
“Too bad.”
Then another voice came.
“Why...?”
Suhyeok froze.
“Why did only you go back?”
Mihyeon’s broken neck twisted unnaturally.
Her black eyes stared at him.
“Forget revenge.”
She whispered.
“Why didn’t we all return together?”
Her voice became hateful.
“I hate you.”
“If you hadn’t been there...”
Suhyeok said nothing.
It was too late to regret that choice now.
Then...
A familiar voice spoke.
“No.”
Suhyeok looked up.
His pre-regression self stood before him.
“You do regret it.”
He walked closer.
“You think regression will change the ending?”
His expression was cold.
“Nothing changes.”
Then he said,
“Actually...”
“More people will die this time.”
His eyes narrowed.
“Because of your obsession with saving everyone.”
The others slowly surrounded Suhyeok.
Taesu.
Mihyeon.
The raid party.
Even Yoo Taeseong’s headless corpse.
A system message appeared.
[Defeat all darkness.]
Suhyeok tightened his grip on the sword.
He could cut them down instantly.
But...
A small hesitation remained.
And they attacked that hesitation.
Suhyeok understood.
These were only fragments of his memories.
Their blame was created by the system.
Yet...
The words still hurt.
His past self spoke.
“Stop hiding behind revenge.”
Then he said,
“Admit it.”
His eyes were merciless.
“You abandoned all of us and survived alone.”
“You’re a traitor.”
Something inside Suhyeok snapped into clarity.
