Hoarding In Hell [EN]: Chapter 315

315. The Best Future (2)

Clatter!

The moment Hyun-woo swung his arm at Lee Ji-tae, the moss crystals on its surface shattered with a loud noise.

As Lee Ji-tae’s sword scraped away the moss crystals, the dark skin of a beast wriggled from within.

Lee Ji-tae tried to slash his arm, but Hyun-woo planted his feet on the ground and pushed forward, making it impossible to resist.

“Ugh!”

Lee Ji-tae gritted his teeth and spread his wings even wider. Dazzling radiance filled the surroundings.

Even in the midst of this, Hyun-woo’s body continued to be covered by the Beast of the End.

At the same time, ink-like smoke emanated and flowed around him.

“Get out of the way!”

Kang Hyun-woo roared like a beast and swung his claws at Lee Ji-tae.

Lee Ji-tae’s eyes flashed.

The moment his sword tip touched the ground, lightning raced across the area as if sprinting across the earth.

The fastest destruction, the flames that bloomed and faded most quickly, engulfed the dark smoke.

However, Lee Ji-tae’s sword could not cut through the smoke. Soon, Hyun-woo charged at Lee Ji-tae with the force of a tsunami.

Kugrrrr!

The black smoke swallowed the wings of radiance. The smoke churned, and small storm-like roars echoed from within.

Flashing noises burst out in succession, and lightning scorched the area from within.

“Kugh!”

Before long, it was Lee Ji-tae who was thrown out from the black smoke.

Scars from cuts remained all over his body.

Lee Ji-tae barely managed to stand and looked back at Teacher. Teacher nodded.

“Kill Kang Hyun-woo, Lee Ji-tae.”

“…Can I do it?”

“I will make it possible.”

Lee Ji-tae gripped his sword tightly.

Teacher’s words are like a tossed coin.

If heads come up, he will keep tossing it until heads come up.

Lee Ji-tae didn’t know how many times tails would come up in the process.

But even if tails came up hundreds, thousands of times, Lee Ji-tae would have no way of knowing.

All he could do was to do his best in his current moment.

Lee Ji-tae lowered his sword and glared at the black smoke. The black smoke writhed and swirled.

Hyun-woo, sensing that Lee Ji-tae was not easy to deal with, circled as if devising a strategy. But with the previous clash, they had grasped each other’s capabilities.

Lee Ji-tae is weaker than Kang Hyun-woo.

But he is enough to hold him back.

Hyun-woo had to consider the possibility that Teacher’s assistant, who might be somewhere, would help, or that Teacher himself would help while fighting Lee Ji-tae.

Teacher can repeat it over and over again even if he fails, but Hyun-woo only has one chance now. He couldn’t afford even one fatal mistake.

Wrapped in black smoke, Hyun-woo, in the form of a beast, slowly revealed himself. Lee Ji-tae also floated in the air, preparing for the final battle.

The appearance of Hyun-woo, engulfed in ominous smoke, and Lee Ji-tae, flapping his wings full of radiance as he looked down, were in stark contrast.

Lee Ji-tae had been preparing for this moment for a long time.

From the day Kang Hyun-woo defeated him in Pyongyang, Lee Ji-tae had been preparing for the final battle with Kang Hyun-woo.

“Get out of the way, Lee Ji-tae. This isn’t your fight.”

But even though that moment had finally come, Kang Hyun-woo still wasn’t looking at him.

“Do you even know who’s ordering you around from behind you?”

“It’s Teacher.”

Hyun-woo gritted his teeth.

“That bastard is Kang Hyun-woo!”

It felt strange to use his own name as a curse, but no one cared about it.

“Yes. The person I respect, hate, admire, despise, can’t understand, but want to understand.”

Lee Ji-tae silently closed his mouth and then opened it again.

“I know that you have seen our world in the future… Difficulty: Hell. Kang Hyun-woo.”

“If you know, why don’t you get out of the way? The one who made that world into that state is the guy behind you.”

“Yes. Maybe.”

Lee Ji-tae calmly affirmed. But at the same time, he spoke with an expression as if he was forcibly swallowing something bitter.

“Your words also mean that the future ‘you’ will drive the world into hell. Should I regret a disaster that has already passed in a world I have never seen, or should I prevent a disaster that will come to our world? I don’t think there’s a choice anymore.”

The air mixed with murky smoke tasted bitter.

The heart that longed for him, the heart that believed they could be together, all felt bitter.

Lee Ji-tae swallowed everything, believing that this was medicine.

“The future ‘me’ chose to send Teacher instead of regressing himself [choosing to go back in time himself]. That was his answer, his conclusion. ‘I’ knew the answer. ‘I’ am too weak to save humanity.”

Lee Ji-tae’s eyes slowly began to turn golden.

The star Lee Ji-tae chose is the ‘Leading Star’ [a guiding principle or philosophy].

Not justice or good, not rules or morality.

He looks ahead of others and chooses the most correct choice.

Teacher, who can turn back time if he makes a mistake, and Lee Ji-tae, who looks ahead and sets the direction, were the worst combination from the opposing side’s point of view.

“The person who was next to me when I shone the brightest. Maybe that wasn’t you, but Teacher.”

The conversation was over.

With a burst of flashes, the black smoke intertwined with light and darkness.

***

Crackling, lightning shot from close range flowed over his skin, peeling off the moss crystal-covered epidermis [outer layer of skin].

Hyun-woo felt a burning pain, but still swung his claws to catch Lee Ji-tae, who was weaving through the black smoke.

However, Lee Ji-tae’s movements were astonishing.

Lee Ji-tae, who had already activated his Precognitive Eye [ability to see the future], read and understood all of Hyun-woo’s movements, and stabbed without hesitation if he saw even a slight gap.

Hyun-woo was receiving shallow but steady wounds.

On the surface, it seemed as if Hyun-woo was being unilaterally pushed back. But the actual situation was different.

Hyun-woo was not concentrating on the battle at all. He was thinking about what Lee Ji-tae had said.

‘Teacher received the Star that Turned Away from Lee Ji-tae? Not snatched or tricked?’

Hyun-woo thought that would definitely be the case if it were him. But he never thought that Lee Ji-tae would hand it over willingly.

The Star that Turned Away was the hope of mankind, and Lee Ji-tae was the one who was allowed to use it. He didn’t think Lee Ji-tae would take it on his own.

Even so, if Lee Ji-tae did such a thing, there is really only one possibility.

Lee Ji-tae ‘looked ahead’ and chose the future Kang Hyun-woo.

‘Do I really develop that much trust with a guy like this?’

Hyun-woo thought, waving his claws to chase away Lee Ji-tae, who was flying around like a fly, as if he was annoyed.

Even though he was wearing the beast’s armor, it didn’t mean he wasn’t taking damage.

But Lee Ji-tae is just one of the steps to reach Teacher.

‘Why did Lee Ji-tae choose Teacher? Does he really believe he can save the future?’

Maybe.

Lee Ji-tae might try to choose a future where everyone can live equally, but fail many times.

But Teacher wouldn’t.

He would resolutely, naturally, choose the future where he can live the happiest.

‘And save the world in the process?’

Hyun-woo chuckled.

At that moment, he felt a pain that dug into his solar plexus [area around the stomach]. Lee Ji-tae, with an angry expression, was stabbing his sword deeply.

Lee Ji-tae’s sword pierced through the beast’s armor and reached Hyun-woo’s main body.

He had noticed that Hyun-woo was not concentrating.

‘Sorry, but Lee Ji-tae.’

Hyun-woo thought, pressing his claws down on Lee Ji-tae.

‘It seems like you’re just my stepping stone, whether it’s on that side or this side.’

Bang.

Lee Ji-tae dodged lightly, but his expression soon changed to embarrassment.

The moment Hyun-woo pushed Lee Ji-tae away, he immediately turned and rushed towards Teacher.

For Hyun-woo, the process of fighting Lee Ji-tae was just a way to narrow the distance with Teacher.

Hyun-woo judged that Teacher would not be able to avoid it.

It was an opportunity to at least inflict an injury. But just before the smoke covered him, Hyun-woo found a sneer on Teacher’s face.

“To try even though you know all your actions will fail… how desperate must you be.”

***

Teacher tilted his body slightly as if he knew it all along.

He thought even the hem of his clothes would brush against him, but at that moment something quickly soared out from behind Teacher.

The black smoke that Hyun-woo was wearing was pierced, and the appearance of the beast was slightly revealed.

Hyun-woo discovered Park Do-ryeong, who was waiting far away on the horizon.

Even from that far away, Park Do-ryeong was continuously sniping Hyun-woo with a crystal spear.

With movements that were so natural as if they had been prepared, Hyun-woo realized that Teacher had ‘rewound’ this moment.

‘Damn it.’

He doesn’t know if his attempt was successful or not.

Anyway, since he rewound time and ended up in this failed situation, it must have failed.

Teacher can rewind time indefinitely until Hyun-woo fails. Hyun-woo had no choice but to be pushed back unilaterally.

It was difficult to avoid Lee Ji-tae’s attacks, dodge the snipers, and be aware of Teacher.

Moreover, Hyun-woo must not allow even a single failure.

“There’s no way for you, Kang Hyun-woo! Surrender!”

“If I surrender, what, you’ll tell me to commit suicide?”

Lee Ji-tae closed his mouth as if he had said something stupid.

It must have been a customary remark that came out of him. Because he didn’t want to see blood.

Hyun-woo discovered a brief moment of carelessness from Lee Ji-tae and tried to knock him down. But this time too, Lee Ji-tae avoided it as if he knew it would happen.

Lee Ji-tae looked at Teacher with a surprised face.

Teacher was covering not only his own mistakes but also Lee Ji-tae’s mistakes.

Lee Ji-tae emitted light with the momentum to burn even his own life and gradually drove Hyun-woo into a corner.

‘Is there really no way?’

That can’t be. There’s something he’s missing.

It was at that moment.

“You son of a bitch! Get away from the branch manager right now?!”

With a roar, someone jumped into the black smoke.

It was Song Yeo-un.

Song Yeo-un jumped into the smoke and quickly swung his whip at Lee Ji-tae.

Even in the black smoke, Lee Ji-tae’s shining wings were no different from a target.

Lee Ji-tae, who was pouring all his precognitive abilities into Hyun-woo, was caught off guard and was hit by the whip.

“Kugh!”

It wasn’t enough to be injured, but it was enough to stagger him momentarily.

His movement to regain his balance in the air was blocked by Seo Ji-hoo’s skill that was activated in an instant.

The stiffness time was short enough for an ordinary person to blink.

But it was enough time for Hyun-woo.

Hyun-woo’s claws instantly pressed down on Lee Ji-tae. With a roar, Lee Ji-tae was slammed into the ground.

Lee Ji-tae groaned and bounced out of the black smoke. It wasn’t a fatal wound, but it was clear that it had dealt a considerable blow.

Other hunters seemed to flinch for a moment as if they were about to move, but they froze again when Lee Ji-tae spread his wings wide and revealed that he was unharmed.

Except for Song Yeo-un and Seo Ji-hoo, they still seemed unable to make up their minds.

But Hyun-woo couldn’t help but be surprised as he looked at Lee Ji-tae.

‘What is it? Why this time?’

Teacher was frowning and glaring at Lee Ji-tae. Lee Ji-tae also looked embarrassed.

‘Could it be.’

Hyun-woo made one assumption.

If this situation is already a situation that Teacher has experienced, and if this is the ‘best’ among those situations, then the answer is to just leave it as it is.

Because Lee Ji-tae took damage, but it wasn’t a serious injury.

But what if we assume the worst here?

Lee Ji-tae might have been injured to the point of death, or he might have attacked Teacher instead of Lee Ji-tae.

He could also assume a situation where not only Song Yeo-un and Seo Ji-hoo, but also more hunters joined Hyun-woo.

Teacher chose the ‘best’ among several ‘futures’.

At that time, Park Do-ryeong’s sniping flew towards Song Yeo-un. But the sniping was shattered and disappeared in an instant by Hyun-woo’s swinging arm.

The armor was shattered and blood was dripping down the beast’s skin, but Hyun-woo asked in a strange voice, as if holding back laughter.

“Teacher.”

Hyun-woo looked at Teacher as if he had seized an opportunity and said.

“Are you scared?”

Teacher’s expression changed strangely.