Chapter 134
They say that before a person dies, something like a panorama of their life flashes before their eyes.
—
[What’s so special about that? What appears right before death is, quite literally, that very panorama.]
[Now then… what is it that you see?]
—
Right now, countless fragments of my past are flashing through my mind.
But none of them took clear shape.
It probably differs from person to person, but there are people like that, aren’t there?
People who don’t cling much to the past.
That was me.
What mattered more was the present.
There weren’t that many things in my past worth remembering.
So… nothing came to mind clearly.
Just useless thoughts rolling around in my head.
My body wobbled, and I collapsed.
Thud!
That sound rang out, and right where my body had been a moment ago, a massive maw snapped shut.
Teeth… neat in their own way, yet sharp, clamped together.
A glob of sticky saliva dropped onto my stomach.
In that brief silence, so quiet you could even hear eyeballs rolling… before anything else, I twisted my body and slipped out from beneath it.
Bang!
My face slammed into the ground.
I rolled across the dirt, catching my breath.
Right now, I couldn’t imagine dealing with that thing’s head alone.
The creature lifted its head and began moving again with a slithering, scraping sound.
I pushed myself up.
My foot slipped.
I didn’t even know what I slipped on.
I was just in a hurry… and my body couldn’t keep up, collapsing my posture.
I rolled again.
A sharp stone grazed my cheek… cutting it open, warm blood trickling down.
—
[Hahaha! What a pathetic sight!]
—
I wiped the blood off roughly and stood again.
I have to go back.
Go back… and attack the neck.
Attacking the “head” had no chance of success.
It wasn’t slow either.
I had to avoid the head and reach the body.
But how?
‘It’s already recognized me.’
It had already noticed me.
It was already chasing me.
—
[How about a frontal fight? The option you didn’t choose included that as well!]
—
A frontal fight?
As if that would work.
Panting, I ran.
I kept tripping over things, rolling across the ground.
Every time I rolled, the already short distance closed even more.
Bang!
Bang!
Bang!
Its head kept slamming into where I had just been.
The ground shook each time.
In the distance, I could hear mutants reacting to the noise.
I couldn’t drag this out.
Either I run far away… or…
My breathing grew ragged.
Running away wasn’t hard.
I could just move between the trees and descend.
It wouldn’t take long.
‘As long as I stay within its range.’
That would be enough.
It would be enough, but…
‘…Then what about Lee Hoin?’
A thought, like a sigh, crept into my mind.
Lee Hoin?
—
[Wouldn’t he survive better than you?]
[You should worry about yourself!]
—
He probably would.
It was true that Lee Hoin had a higher survival rate than me.
If the two of us were dropped separately on a deserted island, he’d do much better.
But what if… in that 3% chance… he gets injured or dies?
If you called it excessive protectiveness… you wouldn’t be wrong.
It could be called overstepping responsibility.
But…
I’m an adult.
Society exists, implicitly, to protect the immature.
Everyone grows up that way.
I did too.
Through someone’s sense of responsibility… through the compassion of strangers.
Society must show compassion.
Adults bear responsibility.
Children receive it, grow, and eventually take on responsibility.
That’s how society works.
And I am one of its greatest beneficiaries.
‘I don’t have parents. No connections.’
I had no money.
Yet I went to university.
Received compulsory education.
Was protected by people unrelated to me.
Lived off the support of strangers.
If you were a beneficiary… You should grow into a benefactor.
Not every beneficiary can become one.
Some can’t, by choice or by circumstance.
But that doesn’t make my choice ridiculous.
This is how I’ll live.
Even if a world like this appears.
Panting, I grabbed a thick branch and pulled myself up.
My “Agility” stat flickered.
At the same time, my “Justice” flickered on and off.
If no one chooses to be a benefactor… then I’ll just move more.
I choose action over criticism.
That’s how I’ve lived.
That’s what I learned.
Crack.
The branch broke.
I hadn’t intended to stay there long anyway.
Using the recoil, I rolled forward and landed.
Using that tree as a pivot, I circled once.
The giraffe that had been right behind me suddenly stopped.
It seemed to understand… that turning like that would expose its neck.
So it had a brain after all.
Ssssh
It retreated slightly.
Exhaling, I sprinted.
Until I could see its neck.
Boosting my speed with mana.
Beside me, its head kept snapping, shortening the distance.
Yeah, damn it… Let’s see who wins.
‘This was Lee Hoin’s role.’
One side only needed to shorten its neck; the other had to run for their life.
Of course, there would be a difference.
My mana was nearly depleted.
At some point, the “head” appeared in front of me, mouth wide open.
Instead of stopping, I rolled sideways.
Stopping would just be like offering myself up.
Now what?
‘Damn it… the solution to this…’
Honestly, in the game, the solution was simple.
One person draws aggro… the other cuts the neck.
Alone?
You overpower it with traits and skills.
‘Or die.’
Since you recruit companions, there was no other strategy.
‘Recoil.’
What if I use recoil and land on its head?
—
[Wouldn’t it just wait with its mouth open below?]
—
I had thought of that.
The reason giraffes die in-game is that they get interrupted mid-way.
They get swallowed halfway.
If you go all the way into its mouth… It’s fifty-fifty.
I rolled on the ground and looked up at the sky.
I have to stand.
Think.
Think about surviving, about killing it.
Then suddenly, an idea came.
With my current mana, I couldn’t summon Master fully.
But what if… just one part?
I pushed off the ground and stood.
Then transferred the incomplete transfer mark on my palm to a tree.
Think. I have to think.
Excuses like “Lee Hoin usually fills the Master role”… or “it’s hard alone”… won’t help.
In the end, I have to find my own way to survive.
Efficiently.
No useless thoughts.
I stabbed a dagger into the tree and began climbing.
The creature stopped below, staring up at me.
A grotesque head… its massive eye locked onto me.
Watching the head slither up like a snake,
I aimed for the eye and threw the dagger.
Slash
With a sharp sound, it dodged… wrapping its neck around the tree as it climbed.
Its neck coiled around the trunk.
Thinner than the head… but still thick.
I climbed to the next branch and dropped whatever I could.
To avoid it, the creature kept wrapping itself around the tree.
The wind blew.
Everything in my grip slipped.
The axe handle nearly slipped from my hand.
Sweat soaked my palms.
Panting, I looked down again.
That neck.
Beyond that face… that neck.
As if enjoying the hunt, it climbed slowly.
Deliberately slower.
Upward.
Toward me.
At the base of a thick branch, I caught my breath.
Then turned my head.
And activated a skill.
***
Lee Hoin walked forward.
Behind him, Kim Taekjin asked casually:
“Where are you going?”
Anywhere.
At least somewhere without him.
In this situation, he was of no help.
Even if he was…
Lee Hoin didn’t want to believe that.
Footsteps followed behind him.
As Lee Hoin quickened his pace to shake him off…
Kim Taekjin spoke again.
“Do you trust him?”
Stop.
Lee Hoin halted and turned, frowning.
“What do you mean?”
“I’m just wondering if you trust that guy… that’s why you’re with him.”
The wind blew.
A cold wind… as if it seeped into the spine.
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