A Survival Guide for a Counselor in the Apocalypse Chapter 106 - End of "Loach Soup Restaurant" Arc

Chapter 106

 

The moment I raised the dagger, the owner’s expression stiffened.

“No, no, no, child. No. That’s not right. That’s not it.”

Repeating the same words, she reached into the sack with hollow eyes and pulled out a kitchen knife. Every movement was violent, and for a moment, I was at a loss for words as I stared at her.

“I clearly told you… You just needed to leave. Why can’t you do that and end up like this?”

 

— 

[When a person goes mad, there’s no limit to it!]

— 

 

“…Hah.”

For now, my master simply watched the situation unfold.

Maybe he didn’t think I was in danger.

Or maybe he thought I could handle something like this.

Or perhaps he believed I could reach this point in one go.

Either way…

I had to break this.

Right now, I have to break this and go back with Lee Hoin.

“I can’t leave.”

At my words, the owner, who had been approaching, stopped.

“I can’t leave right now. Because of this. Let me ask you one thing… ma’am, you can see more than just me right now, right?”

I could still see hallucinations.

In the darkness, I saw my teacher crying, the director beside them.

Countless auditory and visual hallucinations rang and flickered around me.

So for her, it must be the same.

Maybe.

“What happened to Mr. Sungho?”

I asked.

She froze in place, still holding the knife.

“Ma’am, the peace is over.”

I had to say it.

That this was over.

That we had to end it before we got swallowed by the ending credits.

“We can’t go back anymore.”

This was reality.

We had to live in reality now.

I raised the dagger.

At that single action, she, who had been frozen, suddenly threw the knife at me and lunged forward.

Slash

Startled, I ducked, and the blade barely missed me.

Then she grabbed my wrist tightly.

“No, no, child. You just don’t understand. We can always go back. We can go back, child. You’re the one ruining everything right now.”

She squeezed with immense strength.

I couldn’t understand how such force came from such a small frame.

 

— 

[People who have something to protect are usually like this.]

— 

 

I exhaled.

“…It’s over.”

“It’s over? What’s over? No, child. You just don’t understand. Do you think something like this has never happened before? I–I…”

At that, I said firmly:

“This is the first time. It is, isn’t it?”

She let out a breath.

As if she wanted to deny it, she kept opening and closing her mouth.

“I can’t back down either. I’m sorry.”

I couldn’t afford to delay any longer either.

There was someone I had left down the mountain.

I shoved her back hard and reached for the core.

“No!!”

At some point, she had gotten back up and grabbed the blade with her bare hand, holding it in place.

The dagger, already sharpened many times, quickly became soaked in blood.

“No, no, no. Not this. This can’t–stop, stop!”

At her scream, I clenched my teeth.

I forcibly grabbed her wrist, pulled it away, and shoved her completely back.

The moment I pushed her, she crawled forward and clung to my ankle.

“Child, child! Child, come to your senses, please! Child!”

I knew why she was doing this.

Because they were her family.

Because she had a family she missed so desperately.

So I understood why she was clinging like that.

But this… this was nothing but harm.

No matter how much she clung to this, they would not come back.

Everyone here would simply sink into it.

At the very least…

I didn’t want to sink.

At the very least, Lee Hoin… shouldn’t die in that kind of suffering.

How hard had he fought just to survive?

How hard had he tried to keep living?

He couldn’t die here.

At least… not like this.

‘He was told not to come home.’

His father had told him not to come home.

Someone had tried to save him.

He was someone I had saved.

I couldn’t lose him here.

Ignoring the owner, I thrust the dagger forward.

Instead of the hard feel of a sphere, it sank in with a strangely soft resistance.

Like something bursting apart… something ruptured.

A scream-like sound echoed from below.

At the same time, the cry of a beast rang out, shaking my ears.

 

— 

[Someone is watching the narrator.]

[‘Item: Trauma Box’ has been destroyed.]

[You have obtained the ‘Core of the Trauma Box’.]

— 

 

Trauma Box.

A very straightforward name.

In the end, the box was destroyed.

Everything melted away.

The hallucinations and voices that had persisted… vanished all at once, as if they had never existed.

Even the snake’s massive body crumbled away.

Amidst it… the owner’s body collapsed as if she had fainted, and the sack lying far away.

I stood there.

 

— 

[Definition of Justice (1)]

※ Current burden of guilt: 4

[Definition of Justice (1)]

※ Current burden of guilt: 5

— 

 

It began to rise slowly.

From 5 to 6,

6 to 7,

7 to 8.

It only stopped after reaching 9.

…I didn’t kill anyone, though.

 

— 

[Do you really think you didn’t kill anyone?]

— 

 

…What I destroyed… might have been the “family” these people had revived.

Or perhaps… their hearts.

Looking at the owner, who collapsed on the ground,

I wrapped her torn, bleeding hand with a bandage.

Then I quickly headed back down.

I didn’t want to think anymore.

Really… not anymore.

At some point, my master had also disappeared.

Running down toward the base of the mountain,

Lee Hoin was still there.

I immediately grabbed his hand and attempted resonance healing.

From 2 to 5… for now, I stabilized him.

Seeing him silent, possibly already unconscious,

I summoned my master again.

I carried Lee Hoin into the car and moved quickly, as if being chased by something.

 

— 

[Wise choice.]

[What if they come begging for their lives?]

[Those who have lost everything often have nothing left to fear.]

—

 

***

 

— 

[Chapter 13, Back into the Tedious Journey ▼]

You are moving.

Where would you like to go?

[〉 Leave Seoul.

[〉 Return to Seoul.

—

 

For now, I left the area around Gaehwa Mountain.

After wandering for a while, I parked near a stadium-like building and let out a deep breath.

Lee Hoin was asleep in the back seat…

What should I even say when he wakes up?

It would be nice if he could just think of it all as a nightmare and move on.

‘He won’t be able to.’

I sighed and lowered my hands from the steering wheel.

My palms were annoyingly damp.

My teacher’s voice still echoed in my ears… the voice that kept cursing me, their crying face, the way they crumbled away.

I don’t know.

I knew dwelling on this wasn’t the right choice… but maybe because it had been so long since I’d seen them…

I never expected my teacher to appear there, of all places.

I shut my eyes tightly and rested for a moment.

There was nothing more to say.

Things I had forgotten because I stopped thinking about them… came flooding back all at once.

 

***

 

[Core of the Trauma Box]

A core that was destroyed just before the story could be completed.

Well, you could use it as material for various things, or resell it as a story.

How you use it is up to the owner.

The core’s description wasn’t particularly impressive.

After all that mess, it felt strangely empty.

Not knowing how to use it, I simply tucked it into my palm.

Meanwhile, Lee Hoin finally stirred, opening his faint, unfocused eyes and letting out a long breath.

It was such a deep breath that I instinctively tensed and looked at him.

“…Are you okay?”

With trembling breath, he shook his head.

I expected as much.

I just told him to rest more and didn’t press further, instead checking the map app to figure out our surroundings.

I was near the Seoul World Cup Stadium.

Since I wanted somewhere with people rather than an empty area,

I had ended up in the parking lot near the stadium.

‘…What’s around here again?’

As I’ve said before, it’s not like I dissected post-apocalyptic Seoul piece by piece, so my memory wasn’t perfect.

If I’d known this would happen,

I should’ve marked locations on a map while reading each chapter.

For now, I drove closer to the stadium.

I planned to pass it and take another road.

I glanced at Lee Hoin in the rearview mirror, still gasping for breath.

“….”

I couldn’t bring myself to say anything more to him.

I just kept driving slowly.

The stadium, once a distant speck, gradually came closer.

And what I saw… was a stadium half-consumed by an event.

‘…No wonder it was so quiet around here.’

It had been unusually silent…

Frowning, I drove past it.

As I passed the front of the stadium, a notification appeared before my eyes.

 

—

Have you all hidden?

Let’s play.

I’m not asking you to do anything dangerous.

You just have to hide.

Hide, keep hiding, and endure.

It’s not hard, right?

Hide well~ your hair is showing.

Hide well~ your hair is showing.

Have you all hidden?

Now I’m coming to find you.

 

[Current participants waiting: 53/60]

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