Hoarding In Hell [EN]: Chapter 201

201. The Devil Dances (2)

“Looks like it’s about time.”

Hyeon-woo, glancing at his watch, spoke. Beside him, Lee Ji-tae, who had lost his left eye, lay groaning.

At Hyeon-woo’s words, Lee Ji-tae raised his head. “What do you mean?”

“Fireworks.”

Hyeon-woo gazed at the northern sky from the collapsed wall.

Lee Ji-tae was confused. He didn’t understand why Hyeon-woo, who seemed ready to kill him moments ago, was keeping him alive, or what he was waiting for.

But the longer he lived, the better. His body was battered, and he’d lost an eye, but that meant Hyeon-woo might be less cautious.

If he could muster his remaining strength, he might be able to neutralize Hyeon-woo, even if it meant dying together.

“Fireworks? Is there something else happening?” Lee Ji-tae asked, stalling for time.

But Hyeon-woo didn’t answer. Instead, he stood and produced something.

Lee Ji-tae wasn’t surprised by the book that appeared as if by magic, as it always did. But the presence he felt upon seeing it made him tremble.

It was a book bound in strange leather. Just looking at the cover made him feel nauseous.

“I recently rescued a company that was isolated in a monster horde near Pyongyang,” Hyeon-woo said, looking at the book’s cover.

Lee Ji-tae thought he knew what Hyeon-woo was talking about. The story of Hyeon-woo single-handedly rescuing a company from an undead horde was well-known.

The All-Powerful Alliance [likely referring to Hyeon-woo’s organization or a similar group] was praised, while the hunters who’d neglected the area were criticized.

“I heard that some Chinese soldiers were loitering around there at the time. It wasn’t a big deal, but the timing of the monsters’ appearance, the fog… it was all a bit strange. So, I investigated further.”

“Undead, fog, Chinese soldiers… Could it be Xiaojie? Was she involved?”

“You have a knack for that sort of thing. That’s right. And I found something quite interesting. I also figured out Xiaojie’s scheme. I’ve been preparing for it ever since.”

“What did you find?”

“A North Korean specialty: a lost relic.”

When Lee Ji-tae looked puzzled, Hyeon-woo smiled. “I guess people have forgotten, since North Korea’s been gone for so long. But North Korea was definitely a country. Xiaojie’s dream was to create a country based on North Korea and wage a war of conquest.”

“That’s reckless.”

“Exactly. No matter how capable Xiaojie is, the major powers would intervene and crush her instantly. But if she absolutely had to do it, there’s one thing she’d need, regardless of her ability.”

Lee Ji-tae’s eyes widened. “Could it be…”

Hyeon-woo grinned. “See? I told you you were perceptive.”

Hyeon-woo turned to the page he wanted. The moment he did, Lee Ji-tae’s vision blurred. Just opening the page seemed to shake the floor.

Lee Ji-tae lost his balance and collapsed. It felt like his soul was being sucked into the book.

“What… is that?”

“The reaction is dramatic, Lee Ji-tae. I’ve learned one thing for sure in hell: I’m not overwhelmed by ordinary bloodlust or presence. It’s an everyday occurrence.”

“What… is…”

“Anyway, watch closely, because the fireworks are about to begin.”

Hyeon-woo began to recite the words on the page. It was an incomprehensible language from another world, barely resembling human speech.

But the moment the incantation began, Lee Ji-tae’s vision went white. The sensation struck his entire body.

***

Light, roar, heat. And a crazy wind rushed at Lee Ji-tae. Even then, Kang Hyeon-woo continued the incantation as if singing. Strange melodies and pronunciations filled Lee Ji-tae’s ears.

Lee Ji-tae could only think that Kang Hyeon-woo was insane. Hyeon-woo was even smiling as he recited the spell.

“Look, Lee Ji-tae!” At some point, Kang Hyeon-woo stopped chanting and shouted, “Xiaojie was a crazy bitch, but I still liked her idea! I need my own territory too. So, I decided to take the kingdom Xiaojie made. Right here!”

Lee Ji-tae saw, with his one eye, the mushroom cloud rising with flashes and heat that seemed to burn him away.

The mushroom cloud exploding from the north was quite far from Pyongyang, but the aftershock alone shattered the windows throughout the city.

“I adjusted the locations where she planted the nuclear bombs a little. I have a sense of guilt, so I didn’t want too many people sacrificed. But there can’t be no victims at all. I have to send a message that you shouldn’t touch this place carelessly.”

“Not many… victims?”

“Xiaojie was trying to kill nearly 300,000 people. In terms of North Korea as a whole, nearly 10 million casualties occurred. If she didn’t have enough this time, she probably would have done it in other big cities. I reduced that number drastically.”

“So, do you even know how many ‘not many’ victims are…?”

“Well, roughly…” Hyeon-woo tilted his head. “I don’t know.”

Lee Ji-tae was speechless. He detonated a nuclear bomb in a place where hundreds of thousands of people were gathered, and all he could say was ‘I don’t know’?

“It’s definitely over 10,000 and not over 30,000. The margin of error is a bit large. So, I don’t know. How would I know that?”

Even if more than 100 people die, it’s a disaster. 30,000 was an unimaginable number. In the long term, the damage from the fallout would be even greater.

“You’re crazy, Kang Hyeon-woo.”

“What if you think I reduced the number of victims by nearly 1/10?”

“Not a single person should have died!”

Hyeon-woo burst into laughter. Lee Ji-tae couldn’t understand how Hyeon-woo could laugh in this situation.

Was he really crazy? Had he misjudged him? Was the Leading Star [likely a prophetic ability or organization] showing a completely wrong prophecy?

Hyeon-woo laughed like a madman, then barely contained himself and said, “How about 7 billion people dying?”

The number of all mankind.

It’s easy to talk about the extinction of mankind, but it’s hard to truly grasp the number.

But Hyeon-woo was different.

“How would it feel to be the only one left alive, wondering how human civilization can continue?”

“What are you talking about…?”

“I guess the Leading Star didn’t show you that far? Where and how you’re going to die, how full of regret and despair you’re going to be?”

Hyeon-woo stroked Lee Ji-tae’s head as if he were a pet dog.

“Xiaojie is useless, but her kingdom is important. If other stars are holding their breath and looking for opportunities, you have to move one step ahead. And the only way to preserve the future is to settle things as quickly as possible.”

There was no room to dwell on the lives of tens of thousands of innocent people. In the grand scheme of things, this was war, and they were the enemy.

In fact, he didn’t necessarily expect to be understood.

Lee Ji-tae shouted at Hyeon-woo, “Just kill me! Why are you keeping me alive and making me see this?”

Lee Ji-tae glared at Kang Hyeon-woo with hateful eyes. But even more than that, he hated himself for believing in his goodness, for believing that he could be with him.

“Please kill me,” Lee Ji-tae murmured.

“So many people died because of my mistake. I can’t handle it…”

“Lee Ji-tae, Lee Ji-tae,” Hyeon-woo squatted down and whispered as if comforting him. “Why is that your fault? I’m the one who stabbed you in the back, and I’m the one who threw the bomb to kill you. You shouldn’t want to die; you should want to kill me.”

Murderous intent flared up again in Lee Ji-tae’s eyes. But Hyeon-woo didn’t find it very satisfactory.

“That’s why you’ll die miserably. When the waves rush in, you have to think about swallowing the sea to kill them.”

Lee Ji-tae was about to retort, but then he vomited blood. His expression turned pale as he saw the blood pouring onto the floor.

It became difficult to breathe, with a pain that felt like his throat was being squeezed.

“Looks like the effect is starting to take place,” Hyeon-woo said, looking down at Lee Ji-tae.

“I raised the difficulty of this area to the highest level. I sent a warning to the international community, so invasion is now impossible. For now, I hope they think of this as a problem caused by radiation.”

“Difficulty? What…”

“This is just a taste compared to the hell I’ve been through, Lee Ji-tae. But unlike me, you’ll only taste this once. Is the fine dust delicious?”

Lee Ji-tae was gasping for breath, trying to speak. But all that came out were lumps of blood and pieces of internal organs.

“Don’t push yourself. I used to want to see you die crying and screaming, but now that I see it, my heart is weakening.”

Hyeon-woo said, leaving the dying Lee Ji-tae next to him.

“You’re a good guy, Lee Ji-tae. I know how hard you worked and struggled. So, I thought even more. I wondered if I could somehow make you move according to my will.”

“I… am…”

“But I don’t think it’ll work. From the moment you move according to my will, you’re no longer Lee Ji-tae. But I don’t want you to stay by my side as you are. I want you to die as a good guy.”

Lee Ji-tae was dying with faint convulsions. Still, perhaps because he was a high-level ability user, he was holding on for quite a long time.

It wasn’t clear if he was listening, but Hyeon-woo continued to speak.

“You’re like a wide lake, Lee Ji-tae. On the other hand, I’m like someone who boiled that lake down and left only poison.”

Hyeon-woo felt Lee Ji-tae’s life force weakening. In response, Hyeon-woo’s smiling expression gradually faded.

“So, I feel like I’m being diluted when I’m by your side.”

Lee Ji-tae was moving his mouth as if trying to say something. Or maybe it was just a convulsion.

“But right now, the world needs poison the most.”

History changes from now on.

Because Lee Ji-tae was there, Hyeon-woo was confident that he would not repeat his mistakes.

Just by protecting the death of the hero who tried to protect humanity to the end, Hyeon-woo thought he had done his part.

And finally, Hyeon-woo felt Lee Ji-tae’s breath completely stop.

He probably didn’t have any consciousness anymore.

Hyeon-woo looked into Lee Ji-tae’s left eye and waited for the sentence to be absorbed into him.

At that moment, Hyeon-woo suddenly felt a chilling sensation.

Hyeon-woo quickly stored the book in his inventory and turned his head. And Hyeon-woo doubted his eyes.

“Park Do-ryeong?”

Park Do-ryeong, whom he had clearly killed, was standing there.

‘No.’

Hyeon-woo quickly corrected his thoughts.

The opponent was wearing the same mask as Park Do-ryeong and wearing the same robe, but he was completely monochrome.

He was a man who had lost his color, as if he was alienated from the world.

Even if he couldn’t see his face, he could tell at once that it wasn’t Park Do-ryeong. His aura and presence were completely different.

Looking closely at the mask, it was different. It was the same mask as Park Do-ryeong, but it looked like the broken cross-section was roughly attached with tape and glue.

It was not clear whether it was the same mask that Hyeon-woo had stepped on and broken.

“Who are you?” Hyeon-woo carefully tried to gauge the opponent’s identity with his monocle.

But nothing appeared.

Come to think of it, it was natural since he was wearing a mask. Hyeon-woo, thinking it might be a hallucination, took out Tam [likely a weapon] and swung it around.

Tam crossed the air in vain. Hyeon-woo, still suspecting a hallucination, quickly ordered his subordinates to search the area. But he couldn’t trust his judgment.

If that’s really a hallucination, what is this presence?

The monochrome man strode towards Hyeon-woo. Hyeon-woo hissed and swung Tam again.

But Tam still couldn’t cut the man and crossed the air.

The man came to Hyeon-woo, pointed at his chest, and instantly pushed him out the window.

It was a strange movement that he couldn’t help but be defeated by, even though he knew it was coming.

“What the hell!” Hyeon-woo spread out his spider webs [likely a grappling or movement ability] and leaped towards the collapsed wall with teleportation.

The monochrome man was looking at Lee Ji-tae’s condition as if checking it. It seemed that his purpose from the beginning was Lee Ji-tae.

The man glanced at Hyeon-woo and pointed upwards.

The sky.

The moment Hyeon-woo’s gaze turned to the sky, the man suddenly picked up Lee Ji-tae.

Hyeon-woo hissed and tried to rush in, but he felt an undeniable aura from the sky. A powerful force was plunging vertically from above.

That which Hyeon-woo had been waiting for, Adam Fault’s ‘Final Measure’.

“Why at this timing…!” Hyeon-woo momentarily fell into conflict. He became confused about what he was going to do with Lee Ji-tae.

Was he trying to save Lee Ji-tae, or was he trying to finish him off?

He couldn’t dwell on his worries for long. He couldn’t abandon the Final Measure to chase after the man and finish off Lee Ji-tae.

Hyeon-woo immediately ran out of the building. The monochrome man took Lee Ji-tae and disappeared as if his business was over.

The moment Lee Ji-tae disappeared before his eyes, Hyeon-woo felt an unknown sense of relief. And he cursed himself for feeling such relief as he ran towards the rooftop.

The sky was tearing apart.

The best destruction in existence was plunging towards the Ryugyong Hotel.

At the same time as the Ryugyong Hotel was cracking, a beast surrounded by black smoke leaped out as if hatching from an egg.