Resurrection Chapter 113 - Who Are You?

If they failed to defeat Yaksha, I was bound to be dragged away by his demands anyway. Even if they hid me in a safe house for now, they couldn’t just keep me cooped up there once the hostages started dying. He clearly thought that, in that case, it might be better to join the other S-rank Awakened right now and fight together.

Hesitation was visible in Kang Cheoljun as he delayed his answer. He seemed to be torn between whether to hide me at the cost of some sacrifice, or to eliminate Yaksha with all their might.

I opened my mouth to try and persuade him one more time. But before I could speak, Heesoo hyung beat me to it.

“No.”

I was quite surprised by his short and firm opposition. Even Kang Cheoljun looked at the side of his head as if it were unexpected. Heesoo hyung came closer to me and said once more, as if for emphasis.

“No. We decided to take refuge, so let’s stick to the plan.”

I was extremely flustered and retorted.

“That was when Kim Piljoong’s plan had worked to some extent… Kim Piljoong is in that state and the entire Grand Temple of the White Goddess has been taken hostage, and you’re saying we should just stick to the plan and hide?”

Heesoo hyung’s tone did not change as he answered my question. With a face so expressionless it seemed not a single drop of blood would come out even if you stabbed it, he said.

“Now that the situation has worsened, we must prioritize Mr. Yitae’s safety even more.”

Heesoo hyung had always been worried about my safety. He was the one who had opposed me going out to find the magic sword and meeting Min Gongchan. But I couldn’t accept his argument as a matter of course. I retorted, feeling an unpleasantness creeping up from the bottom of my chest.

“No, how can you prioritize my safety in a situation like this? Many people’s lives are at stake. Besides, the people Yaksha is holding hostage now were your colleagues, even if it was in the past. Of course we have to go save them.”

“In this world, nothing is more a matter of course than Mr. Yitae’s safety. Mr. Yitae is the holder of Resurrection, the key to reaching the max level, and above all, my partner. So I cannot tolerate Mr. Yitae walking into danger of his own accord. Especially if that danger is none other than Yaksha.”

The unpleasantness filling my chest turned into a sense of foreboding. I had vaguely felt this kind of feeling before. It was when Heesoo hyung had pretended not to know about Min Gongchan going to catch Yaksha and suggested we just go find the magic sword.

In my bewilderment, I stared intently into Heesoo hyung’s seemingly expressionless eyes. Seeing his black eyes burning with a dangerous light, I knew that Heesoo hyung wasn’t just worried about me. He was already furious, guessing what kind of state I would be in if I were dragged away by Yaksha.

The sight of his anger was unfamiliar. I couldn’t believe he was acting like that over just one person—me—and nothing else. Heesoo hyung was a righteous person, so he could be angry about what happened to me. But that couldn’t take precedence over other people’s lives.

When I came to my senses, my whole body had become as cold as if I had fallen into ice water. Heesoo hyung softened his expression as if to soothe me and held out his hand to me, but I couldn’t take it.

“Don’t just stand there, come here. Let’s go to a safe place first and see how the situation unfolds, then we can talk again.”

Far from taking his hand, I instead pulled my hands back and shook my head.

“…This is strange.”

As if my words were out of the blue, Heesoo hyung showed a questioning look. I tried my best not to blame him, but I couldn’t help that my words sounded that way.

“Hyung, this is strange. The original hyung would have apologized before I even said anything. He would have said, ‘I’m sorry, but I have to go save those people,’ that he would go even if he had to go alone.”

Only after hearing my words did Kang Cheoljun glance at Heesoo hyung, as if realizing that it was indeed strange. When I first met Kang Cheoljun, when hyung and I had abandoned the stragglers, Heesoo hyung had been the one to persuade me first. He had said we had to go save them, even though they were people who had nothing to do with us and were under Kang Cheoljun’s protection.

But the Heesoo hyung now was acting as if he couldn’t care less about the hostages. It was truly unlike him. Amidst a great sense of disharmony, I ended up saying something very obvious to him.

“The hyung I know wouldn’t be like this.”

I knew there was a blaming tone mixed in my words. But I couldn’t help it. The behavior I expected from Heesoo hyung was not this kind of selfish attitude. I could act selfishly, but Heesoo hyung shouldn’t.

Because he wasn’t just anyone, he was Seo Heesoo.

Because he was the last righteous man left in this world, the only person who could become the world’s savior.

I looked at Heesoo hyung as if I were looking at a complete stranger. After spitting out the words, my unclear suspicion became certain. The Heesoo hyung I knew would never be like this.

Then what is this Heesoo hyung in front of me now?

I stared at him intently, waiting for his answer. I wanted him to show a sign of regret and repent. I expected him to say that he had been blinded by worry for me for a moment, and that we should go save the people in the grand temple right now.

But Heesoo hyung did not say what I expected. Instead, he subtly shifted his gaze to the side.

I realized what he was planning to do. So instead of waiting for his answer, I shouted the activation word.

“Blink!”

I moved to the driver’s seat of the van and started the engine. As soon as I heard the roaring sound, I put it in reverse and stepped on the accelerator. Heesoo hyung, who was trying to snatch me, missed me but did not give up.

I saw him kick off the ground and leap. He caught up with the van in an instant while I was shifting gears from reverse.

Thump!

The roof of the van caved in. I could tell Heesoo hyung had gotten on the roof. Shifting into drive, I slammed on the accelerator with all my might.

The van shot forward as if it were launched. I drove recklessly on the narrow road where weeds sprouted here and there.

I knew that Heesoo hyung could fall under the van because it was shaking violently, but I repeatedly reminded myself that his body was like a chunk of iron. He was someone who had fought a 5-Black-Star-rank monster and survived, so there was no way he would get hurt just by tumbling under a van.

Right now, it was time to worry about myself, not Heesoo hyung. Could I really shake Heesoo hyung off?

My anxiety became a reality. Heesoo hyung’s hand came down by the side window.

He fumbled with the window, but he didn’t break it, perhaps thinking I might get hurt. Instead, he rattled and pulled at the locked handle, then did something that made me freak out.

With a cracking sound, the entire van door was torn off. I was so dumbfounded by his formidable strength that my jaw dropped. But with my hands, I calmly shook the steering wheel, trying to throw off Heesoo hyung who was on the roof.

The van shook violently like a ship in a storm. The narrow road led to a fairly wide local road. As I drove the van onto it, Heesoo hyung’s hand, which had slipped into the van, yanked the steering wheel hard.

“Aack!”

The van, having gone off the road, crashed into a rusted and broken guardrail and flew into the air. Feeling the sensation of gravity disappearing, I quickly teleported.

Actually, the van was just a distraction, and I had intended to move by teleportation from the beginning. A moment ago, Kang Cheoljun was there, so it would have been easy to be tracked even if I used teleportation, so I drove the van to get away from Kang Cheoljun and to conserve my magic.

After escaping the van by teleporting, I didn’t move that far. Thanks to that, I saw the driverless van careening wildly down a farm road.

Heesoo hyung’s figure was not visible, whether he was hanging on the other side or had climbed inside the van. It might be an presumptuous thought, but I was worried about him. I knew it was difficult to harm his body, which was enhanced as a berserker, but Heesoo hyung was not my enemy. No matter what the situation was, I didn’t want to hurt him.

From a distance, I saw the van go off the farm road and crash onto farmland covered in weeds. Heesoo hyung’s figure was still not visible.

As my eyes roamed, searching for him, I saw smoke rising from the van. I had the illusion of smelling oil, and wondering if it was going to explode, my eyes widened.

Boom! Bang!

Soon, a loud explosion was heard, and flames and smoke billowed from the van. The flames engulfed the van and it began to burn fiercely.

“Heesoo hyung!”

I shouted without thinking and started running toward it without a second thought. I was so startled that I ran for a while before belatedly remembering I had magic and teleported.

At the place I arrived, the van was burning, emitting intense heat. I searched the inside of the van, which was invisible due to being covered in flames, and shouted.

“Heesoo hyung! Hyung, hyung! Heesoo hyung!”

It was then. A hand shot up from the overgrown weeds at my feet and grabbed my shin. I stumbled, nearly falling, and turned around. Heesoo hyung, who had been lying on the ground, lunged at me like a wild beast. Startled, I moved in succession.

“Teleport!”

Wasting my magic, I moved twice in a row, covering a considerable distance, but I couldn’t shake off Heesoo hyung who had grabbed me. I moved with him, but in the end, I was tripped by Heesoo hyung’s hand pulling at the back of my knee and fell to the floor.

Thud!

When I came to my senses, I was inside some abandoned house. Sunlight was pouring in through the gaping window and the gaps in the partially collapsed ceiling. The clothes scattered on the floor were tangled with dust, so it didn’t hurt much even though I fell backward. The problem was Heesoo hyung, who was on top of me, pinning both my wrists to the floor.

Just by him being on top of my body, I was unable to move. My breath caught in my throat from his weight, and I met the gaze of Heesoo hyung, who was looking down at me with wide eyes.

The sunlight pouring down from the broken Spanish tiles cast deep shadows on his face. Nevertheless, his eyes, which seemed to be blazing, were vivid. I struggled violently, as if asking him to let me go, but Heesoo hyung did not move. He pressed me down like a stone statue and said.