Hoarding In Hell [EN]: Chapter 323

323. The Best Future (10)

“If you can do it, I can do it too.”

Hyeonmu met the Teacher’s gaze, his eyes wide with disbelief.

The Teacher smiled.

In all the countless timelines Kang Hyeonmu had lived through, he could never have anticipated this.

There was no possible way.

The beast he had always considered his own, the very source of his power…

Without that beast, he’s nothing.

“If you can do it, I can do it too!”

The Teacher’s shout echoed.

Crack, crack, crack.

The sound of glaciers breaking apart reverberated between them. Hyeonmu’s face contorted, desperately trying to hold onto Lenian, but it was beyond his ability.

Finally, through Hyeonmu’s fractured heart, the essence of the abyss began to be drawn out.

And then.

“Aha!”

A clear, triumphant cry rang out.

A tiny fairy with mosquito-like wings and an androgynous appearance emerged from the abyss.

But the Teacher knew that the being behind this facade was the most bizarre entity in existence.

The beast Hyeonmu called Lenian shed the abyss like an old skin.

Exposed to the air like a newborn, Lenian trembled for a moment before locking eyes with the Teacher.

At that moment, the dark eyes curved into a crescent moon smile.

The Teacher felt a shiver crawl down his spine, raising goosebumps across his skin.

He questioned his wisdom in doing this, but he steeled his resolve and calmed himself.

“If you can do it, I can do it!”

I can control this beast too.

I am stronger, more experienced, and possess far greater control than Kang Hyeonmu.

There’s no way I can’t. Absolutely no way.

Even if it’s just for a fleeting moment.

Crack.

Lenian slowly began to approach the Teacher.

Hyeonmu reached out, as if to grasp Lenian, but the flame of life had already begun to fade from his eyes.

The wound inflicted by the Țepeș Case [a weapon designed to impale its target] was fatal, and so was the Teacher’s.

He was barely clinging to life through the power of the abyss.

If Lenian went to the Teacher now, Hyeonmu would surely die.

“Even now, give up, Kang Hyeonmu! Then none of this will be necessary! The world can be safe!”

The Teacher yelled at Hyeonmu, who was reaching out. But at that moment, a spark ignited in Hyeonmu’s fading eyes.

“Shut up! You give up!”

“You son of a bitch…”

The Teacher gnashed his teeth. Then, suddenly, Lenian appeared directly in front of him.

Now, there was no turning back.

“I’ve been waiting, Master!”

Lenian smiled brightly and whispered in the Teacher’s ear.

“Let’s start the end.”

Thwack.

Lenian’s hand plunged into the Teacher’s chest.

Lenian excitedly tore at the skin, broke the ribs, and rummaged through the intestines and lungs, drenching his whole body in blood, as if unearthing a hidden treasure.

And then, he found a pulsating heart.

“I can also…”

The Teacher’s words were cut short.

Lenian burrowed into him. His body convulsed violently.

The beast, finally finding its master, began to take its true form.

The stars would find their place and flee.

The priests who had lost their homes would begin their long wanderings once more.

The Teacher bit down hard and glared. His entire body began to turn black.

The Teacher couldn’t utter a sound, but he screamed silently.

If you can do it, I can do it too!

I could have held the stars like you!

Everything you possess is not due to your own effort.

It’s thanks to the power I brought!

Not you, I am the hope of humanity!

You are nothing!

I am my future!

Thwack!

It was then. With a sickening sound, blood spurted from the Teacher’s mouth.

Lenian’s head, which was about to burrow into the Teacher’s chest, was pierced by a blade.

Lenian made a strange noise and disappeared, as if melting back into the abyss. The Teacher turned his head blankly.

Lee Jitae, his eyes shining gold, stood behind him, having stabbed him in the back with an Ego Weapon.

“What…”

Lee Jitae? Since when had Lee Jitae betrayed him?

The Teacher felt something was terribly wrong. He frantically tried to turn back time.

He didn’t need to go back far. Even returning to the moment just before facing Cheonru would give him enough time to prepare for Lee Jitae’s betrayal.

However, time refused to move.

***

On the ground, Adam Fault anxiously watched the battle between Kang Hyeonmu and the Teacher.

Her role had ended with executing the Țepeș Case using the Ego Weapon.

To conceal the Ego Weapon within the clouds, she hadn’t let her guard down for a single moment.

Finally, when the Ego Weapon pierced both Kang Hyeonmu and the Teacher, she thought it was all over, but then the unexpected happened.

The Teacher began to absorb Kang Hyeonmu’s abyss.

Adam, who had believed it was finished, belatedly tried to separate the Teacher from Hyeonmu.

But even Augustro, the monster star she controlled, was reluctant to approach that black abyss.

“Kang Hyeonmu…!”

From that point on, she had no plan. She was seized with anxiety, wondering what would happen if Kang Hyeonmu was defeated.

Suddenly, Lee Jitae staggered and took a step forward.

“Lee Jitae, if you recklessly step forward…”

“So.”

Lee Jitae suddenly muttered as Adam tried to quickly warn him.

“So that’s how it turned out.”

Adam wondered what Lee Jitae was talking about. Then, she saw his eyes burning with golden light.

Not the bright yellow eyes that shone in the dark like her own, but eyes like the sun, illuminating the darkness.

Adam had never seen such eyes before.

Lee Jitae was different.

His eyes weren’t focused on the present.

Lee Jitae was piercing through time itself.

From this moment to the future, through repeated mistakes, and from the past that had returned again, to the present now.

Everything was connected like a Möbius strip, forming a loop, twisting the arrangement of time into a chaotic mess.

As a result, Lee Jitae was seeing everything.

And he understood the role that Difficulty: Hell’s Lee Jitae had entrusted to his current self.

Lee Jitae suddenly jumped forward and grabbed the Ego Weapon stuck in the floor. Then, before anyone could react, he spread his wings of radiance and soared into the sky where the battle was raging.

“Lee Jitae!”

Adam gritted her teeth and tried to stop him. But her monstrous instincts stopped her.

Don’t stop Lee Jitae now.

You just have to watch.

For this moment, he was the protagonist of the world.

In Lee Jitae’s golden eyes, he saw the future the Teacher had chosen.

“So, you gave him the star that turned away.”

You can’t kill the star of the apocalypse.

No matter what you do, Difficulty: Hell, where the apocalypse had begun, could not be saved.

So Difficulty: Hell’s Lee Jitae gave Kang Hyeonmu a chance to go back to the past.

Even someone who desires the end has a past they long to return to.

But Lee Jitae did not give Kang Hyeonmu hope.

He preserved even a small piece of Difficulty: Hell’s land and presented the only future that could destroy Kang Hyeonmu.

And Lee Jitae was standing at the very end.

Round and round, the Teacher went through a difficult process and finally reached ‘the only future in which he could be destroyed’.

The moment he himself becomes the star of the apocalypse again.

“When everyone does their part in their place.”

Lee Jitae muttered quietly and spread his wings of radiance even wider. The huge wings spread out as if to cover Cheonru [a celestial realm or floating fortress in this context].

Lee Jitae, who grabbed Kang Hyeonmu’s Ego Weapon, soared up with all his might. His body, transformed into a living spear, pierced the target in an instant.

The moment the spear pierced the Teacher, Lee Jitae met his eyes.

“You will face the best future.”

Of all the things the Teacher had said, this was the only truth.

Lee Jitae felt the future rattling.

It was as if the second hand of a broken clock was spinning wildly in place.

But in his eyes, it seemed like time was finally running properly.

The Teacher was trying to flip the coin again. But Lee Jitae was holding the coin tightly.

There’s no need to know which side it is.

Lee Jitae’s foresight was holding the Teacher’s future in place.

Lee Jitae closed his eyes at the brilliant flash, as if the sun was exploding.

And finally realized that he had done his part.

It was the most shining moment.

***

The Teacher recalled the conversation he had with Hyeonmu in the nth regression.

“If you kill me, you will never face that beautiful future I saw.”

The Teacher was very annoyed, and Hyeonmu was stubborn as always.

“Think about it! Aren’t you curious about that brilliant future? Is it okay if your colleagues and acquaintances all don’t see the best future?”

Hyeonmu stared at the Teacher for a moment and then spoke again.

“You’re right.”

But Hyeonmu continued in a tone that politely declined the favor.

“But it’s okay.”

***

Lee Jitae’s attack literally pierced through Cheonru.

Even Adam, who saw it from the ground, couldn’t help but be shocked. Cheonru, with a gaping hole torn through it, staggered, lost its momentum, and stopped in mid-air.

A grotesque form of flesh, neither dead nor alive, was suspended, pouring out blood like rain.

Adam belatedly noticed the falling figure.

Lee Jitae, his small wings of radiance twisted to one side, staggered and struggled to grab the other.

It was a miracle that he had maintained his form even after such an attack that pierced through Cheonru.

‘He must have done something with those black lumps.’

The Teacher was nowhere to be seen.

But instead of searching for the Teacher, Adam stretched out her arms to prevent Kang Hyeonmu and Lee Jitae from falling.

The invisible arm quickly snatched Lee Jitae and Kang Hyeonmu to safety.

Adam carefully placed them on the ground and ran towards them.

“Kang Hyeonmu, wake up!”

Lee Jitae hugged Hyeonmu and frantically groped his wounded areas, unsure of what to do.

Adam sighed at the sight of him being so clumsy for a professional hunter, but then took out the prepared potion and poured it directly onto Kang Hyeonmu’s body.

It was the best potion that Kang Hyeonmu had given him.

Lee Jitae thanked Adam with a wink and checked Hyeonmu’s condition.

Hyeonmu’s body trembled. His eyelids moved faintly.

“Kang Hyeonmu, I did it. I finished him off. It’s over now.”

Lee Jitae tried to encourage his consciousness by repeating it to Hyeonmu.

But Adam, who was watching from the side, already knew. Hyeonmu’s wounds were beyond recovery with potions.

All 44 Ego Weapons had targeted Hyeonmu’s vital areas, resulting in a terrible state that defied description.

The only part of his body that retained its original shape was his black left arm.

Even if he had somehow sustained himself with the abyss until now, there was no hope left.

The fact that he opened his eyes now was likely just a reaction to the potion.

But Lee Jitae refused to let go of hope.

“You should have seen me, Kang Hyeonmu. You don’t know how great I was. No, there’s no way you couldn’t have seen it. When I shone the brightest, you were right next to me!”

Lee Jitae continued, half-sobbing.

“Now I can finally say that I can stand shoulder to shoulder with you. I know that you repeated countless futures and deaths to save me. No, not only me, but countless other people…”

Adam raised her head and looked around. People who had seen the huge flash were gathering one by one.

Jeonneungnyeon hunters [hunters with extraordinary abilities] and alliance ability users were approaching, each with a bewildered expression, as if they couldn’t comprehend the situation.

Very few people had died.

Even though such a large-scale fight had occurred, how could this be?

“How was I, Kang Hyeonmu? Did I burn brightly enough? Did you see even a little bit of my appearance?”

Adam was about to tell him to stop.

Then, suddenly, Kang Hyeonmu’s mouth opened.

“…It was amazing.”

Hyeonmu said, raising the corners of his mouth.

“Indeed, you are the man I admired.”

With those words as his last, Hyeonmu let out a long sigh.

Lee Jitae, feeling the strength completely leave Hyeonmu’s body, frantically tried to perform CPR.

But he couldn’t find a place to press because his whole body was riddled with holes, torn, and broken.

Then Adam grabbed Lee Jitae’s shoulder.