Chapter 94
The standard for moving on to the next chapter was probably a branching point. Even Sa Jaeheon didn’t know the exact criteria. If, in the narrator’s view, that particular moment was considered a “branching point,” choices would appear.
And that would become a chapter of the Apocalypse.
From reading through the chat, it seemed that up until now, Shin Giyeon had been focused solely on finding her family.
Which meant that gathering family members one by one into the group did not count as a “branch.”
A chapter had probably already been written for that. From now on, when she met family members, the choice would have been whether to include them as members, and Shin Giyeon would have answered “yes.”
So meeting family and adding them to the group could no longer become a “branch.”
‘In the end, a branch is when you step into a moment that can’t be undone.’
Like deciding whether to trust a new person you’ve just met, or entering a place that anyone could see would be a disadvantage, or standing right before choosing whether to commit an irreversible action.
So what I could tell her was something formulaic. Something Shin Giyeon probably already knew.
—
From what I’ve felt, those things tend to pop up when you’re doing something dangerous… like meeting new people, entering risky places, or picking up objects you don’t understand. Stuff like that. (Read: 2) (4:45 AM)
—
The chat room stayed silent for a while. No matter how I thought about it, this was all I could offer… just something textbook-like.
—
Shin Giyeon
Then… should we force ourselves to do that?
Honestly, it was hard enough for our family to gather together…
So making those kinds of choices was a bit difficult.
But still… (Read: 2) (4:55 AM)
—
This is why moving as a family makes things harder.
Of course, any group becomes close when they go through things together, and naturally, people try not to lose each other.
But family…
It’s even more so with family.
Especially if they went as far as Guri to find each other, moving back and forth between Seoul and the outskirts of Gyeonggi Province in a situation like this… it meant their bond was even stronger.
‘It’s difficult.’
Because it’s no different from saying, “Let’s all go die together.”
—
Shin Giyeon
Then do you think… we shouldn’t be acting like this right now? (Read: 2) (5:01 AM)
—
At her question, I hesitated for a moment. Should I completely break it, or leave even a sliver of possibility?
And in the end, I just answered, “Yeah.”
If they wanted to increase their chances of survival, they had to open the Apocalypse, participate in more events, and obtain more spirit stones to trade.
They had to. Otherwise, they would just wither away.
Shin Giyeon replied, “Thank you,” and didn’t say anything more.
Letting out a sigh, I picked up the empty bowl and went downstairs. I placed the earthen pot in the sink in what looked like the kitchen, then turned around.
On the living room sofa sat a large, built man like a statue, and he wasn’t particularly looking at me. He was staring out the wide window in the living room.
Through the large window, I could see the back of the loach soup restaurant, and beyond that, massive trees and a mountain.
‘…He’s standing watch.’
Staring blankly into the darkness in a place where you’d immediately notice any intruder… it was something I had done myself in Hermadion.
Kim Sungho. A man that huge… why isn’t he here? Why has he never appeared in the story?
‘It’s not like the owner wouldn’t have taken him along.’
She introduced him as her son. Her son… and with that kind of build, and strength too.
‘From what the owner said…’
He was someone whose abilities were high enough to roam the mountains alone and hunt mutants. Someone like that dies? After surviving this long, he dies?
For a moment, I stared at his broad back and thought.
Is there something more? Some other story behind this?
If so, it could become a danger to me. The owner wasn’t active yet.
‘The reason that man can’t go around with the owner…’
What if it’s something dangerous?
‘I should look into the owner’s past first.’
Of course, even figuring out where she appears would be a challenge. She didn’t show up often and didn’t have many significant interactions. Still, maybe there would be some kind of clue.
For now, I went back upstairs, lay down on the bedding, and started grinding through from Chapter 1, one by one.
—
[Truly, what remarkable persistence.]
[If only you put that persistence into getting a proper job.]
—
What a load of crap.
***
After staying up all night, what I found amounted to about 40 episodes. So in terms of chapters, it was 40, but when summarized, many of them didn’t even amount to a single line.
I counted even the briefest appearances.
Among them, there were three specific chapters.
—
[Record from Chapter 998 ▼]
Kim Jaeyeon encounters Sa Jaeheon while driving a food truck and asks if he wants to eat…
Sa Jaeheon agrees.
Kim Jaeyeon cooks for him and reminisces about her past with her son.
[Record from Chapter 1231 ▼]
Kim Jaeyeon meets Sa Jaeheon, and he buys a meal.
While setting the table for him, she talks about her family.
[Record from Chapter 1473 ▼]
Sa Jaeheon arrives at the food truck for a meal, and Kim Jaeyeon serves food while talking with another group of survivors.
—
Of course, the summaries were unimpressive. But they helped me recall things.
Chapter 998. I remembered it because Sa Jaeheon left a particularly nasty thought while the owner was reminiscing about her son.
—
‘For the sake of your mental health, it’d be better not to reminisce about a past you couldn’t protect.’
—
That kind of remark. Starting from that chapter, readers also began saying things like, “This guy is really losing his humanity.”
That remark was so strong that I couldn’t clearly recall how exactly the owner reminisced about her son.
But…
—
“Still, when I see young men around that age, they all remind me of my son~ I end up caring for them one by one. I miss my son~.”
—
It was something along those lines.
One thing was certain: Sa Jaeheon only started visiting the owner after Chapter 40 of the Apocalypse. Right now, this was still the early part.
‘I can’t tell if I have time to spare or not.’
Either way, once my body recovered, I’d leave soon enough.
—
[At this point, you deserve applause. That grand confidence that you can control everything exactly as you wish!]
[Do you believe in your misfortune?]
—
Ignoring the narrator picking a fight, I washed up and came back out. After staying up all night searching through records, I was getting ready to sleep.
Lee Hoin had fallen asleep earlier and hadn’t woken up even once.
‘When that guy wakes up, I should tell him to wash up and change clothes first.’
Wearing loose clothes, I closed the curtains and shut my eyes. What we needed most right now was rest.
For some reason, in my dream, the orphanage director appeared. We weren’t particularly close, nor distant either. The director just looked at me, and I awkwardly bowed my head.
Does this count as a dream about an ancestor?
‘They might still be alive, wouldn’t it be rude to call it that?’
Thinking that, I stared blankly at the director, who didn’t say anything. Sometimes, they moved their lips as if trying to say something, but stopped.
I didn’t say anything either.
I already knew it was a lucid dream, but it was a strange kind. I recognized it as a dream, yet I couldn’t change the situation.
So I didn’t bother saying anything. I didn’t really have anything to say to the director anyway.
***
The next morning, after sleeping through an entire day, Lee Hoin and I were seated at a large dining table under the orders of the owner and the large man.
Lee Hoin had washed up at some point and was wearing different clothes instead of his ragged hoodie.
Including us, there were about ten people seated at the table.
“Kids, after sleeping all day, do you feel refreshed? We prepared a whole table for a farewell party yesterday, but you were asleep and couldn’t eat anything.”
A farewell party.
At that word, I raised my head, and the owner smiled warmly.
“A mother and daughter left. They said they didn’t need to rely on us anymore. That’s a good thing, right?”
As she said that, the large man nodded. The others, as if used to this kind of situation, casually chatted with her.
“It’ll be hard once they go down the mountain. I’m worried. Saetbyeol is still in elementary school.”
“But Boram said she had to go. The child’s father is there. We had to let them go.”
“It’s a brave thing to do…”
There were about three children and five adults. Most of the adults looked injured or gaunt.
“Kids, let’s at least introduce ourselves. I don’t know how long you’ll stay, but you’re new members of the family now, so everyone should introduce themselves.”
The owner said this as she placed a large braised monkfish dish in the center.
All eyes turned toward us.
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