WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: Natty
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
◈ The Seven-Time Hero Goes Live ◈
Chapter 49: The Expert's Way (1)
──────
An elementary school classroom.
A child stood to give a presentation.
“My dream is to become a great firefighter like my dad.”
“Waaah!”
The children and teacher smiled and applauded.
The child giving the presentation was filled with pride too.
Time passed, and they were in a middle school classroom.
The child said the same thing.
“I want to be a firefighter.”
“Huh? Um... really? Why?”
The words were the same, but the reaction was not.
Still, the child did not think much of it.
He was not the sensitive type to begin with.
“My dad's a firefighter. Haha!”
“I see...”
High school.
He said the same thing.
“A firefighter? Why would you do that? It doesn't even pay well.”
This time, even someone as easygoing as the child could read the room.
His father's job.
Maybe it was not actually something so great.
When he got to college, he told his friends.
“I might take the firefighter civil service exam.”
There was nowhere near as much confidence in his voice anymore.
“Huh? Do you really have to? If you want a physical job, just join the military.”
“Why firefighting? Oppa, are your grades bad?”
By then, Hae-il knew it too.
He himself no longer intended to become a firefighter.
So why had he said that?
Maybe he wanted confirmation.
His childhood dream, the image of his father...
He wanted to know whether it had not actually been something admirable, what reality was truly like.
[Firefighter Kang Jeong-ho Receives Citation as “Hero Who Saved Baby” During Massive Wildfire]
Not just the momentary reactions beneath articles like that.
- Wow, there are still people like this around.
- Now that's a real firefighter.
- Maybe this country still runs because people like him are still out there.
- He really went in there and saved the baby? Damn.
- That child will be grateful for the rest of their life. ㅠㅠ
He wanted to hear what people really thought.
The conclusion was always similar.
“If job hunting doesn't work out, I'll try that at least.”
That was how Hae-il changed the subject.
“Ah, that makes sense. Why are you worrying about that already? The major companies haven't even started open recruitment yet.”
“Pfft. You had that kind of personality? Why are you worrying so early?”
Only then did the people around him relax.
Maybe it was a coincidence, but that evening at dinner, his father said,
“I think I need to retire.”
“...What? Why?”
“I had a checkup. They said it would be better if I didn't work anymore. I'll get a pension, and a security company said they'd value my experience. I thought I'd try working there.”
“...”
Hae-il could not finish his meal that day.
He had definitely seen the moment when his father shone brightest.
But it felt as though that moment had never existed at all.
Then, some time later, Hae-il asked,
“How is the new job?”
“Mm. It's good. The commute is regular, and the work is basically just taking walks.”
“Father.”
“Mm?”
“Why did you become a firefighter?”
His father was briefly taken aback.
Then he smiled and said,
“Just to make a living.”
A lie.
That was what Hae-il thought.
No, that was what he hoped.
“There were better jobs if all you wanted was to make a living.”
“...Right. Your dad was foolish.”
“...”
That was not what he meant.
The more he tried to untangle the knotted thread, the tighter it drew.
It had become a knot.
“If I'd been more educated, things would have been different.”
Tap.
His father picked up his plate, placed a hand on his son's shoulder, and headed for the sink.
Burn scars were visible on the back of his large hand.
“You studied hard, so you'll find a better job. Don't stress too much over job hunting.”
Had he been smiling bitterly then, or was his face simply blank?
Hae-il could not bring himself to look.
“...Yes.”
Later, Hae-il got a job at a fairly decent company and moved out.
He only saw his father when something came up.
Then he learned the truth much later.
When he watched a video uploaded to YouTube.
[Edited Live Footage Documenting the Line 4 Incident]
His father had remained a firefighter to the very end.
- What happened to the man who was trying to open the door? ㅠㅠㅠ
- He was a former firefighter... ㅠㅠ Oh my god...
- Holy shit, he blocked it off?
- Damn... But I understand the people who stopped him too...
- It's just a disaster. There is nothing else to say. May the deceased rest in peace.
- We will remember you, firefighter...
His father's face in that final moment.
The face shouting at civilians and leading the way.
Kang Hae-il burned it deeply into his memory.
He decided never to doubt again.
He decided never to leave the judgment to others again.
The answer had been within him from the beginning.
And then...
[You have Awakened!]
[Rank: S]
A revelation descended.
Snap.
Hae-il took out his father's memorial portrait, the one taken while he wore his uniform.
He engraved that proud face into his mind once more.
He hoped that one day, he would not feel ashamed before that face.
But then.
[Patchwork Corpse Golem Lv.30]
That face appeared before him again.
‘Huh?’
Booooom!
The scenery suddenly blurred, and his body flew into the air.
‘Why?’
Hae-il could not understand.
He could not accept it.
Thud!
Even as he crashed into the dirt, his mind had been wiped completely blank.
His body would not move.
“Ah... Father.”
His father's face was there.
Not in a memorial portrait, but in reality.
Buried among the countless corpses he had failed to save.
- What the fuck?
- What's going on???
- Holy shit.
- His father???
- Insane.
- O_O
- Huh???
- Is that for real??
The Constellations who had been rooting for Hae-il panicked.
They knew all too well what this trial meant.
“Father... Dad...!”
Kang Hae-il lost consciousness.
Not because of the blow he had just taken.
It was because he had to confront something he could never face.
That construct of corpses, with his father's face fixed at its center.
To others, it might have been nothing more than a lump of rotten flesh that needed to be burned immediately.
But to him, it was something sacred that he could not dare touch.
He could not fight it.
“Urk!”
Booooom!
“Ah... Ah...”
He knew.
His father was already dead.
That thing had to be removed. It was only being controlled.
He knew it in his head.
“Ahh... Ah...”
But setting that face ablaze with his own hands, making his father lose to what he had fought against his entire life...
It was impossible.
It was an act of defiance against the sacred.
But just as a god feels nothing for a human, that sacred thing felt nothing for Hae-il.
It merely swung its massive arm to kill him.
And the weak human who had lost the will to fight could only be judged.
Booooom!
- Ah, fuck.
- This is insane...
- This is so damn frustrating.
- It's telling us to drop the story, right?
- This is seriously harsh.
- They might as well shove us out the door, fuck. LOL.
Those who had been rooting for this weak human were disappointed.
- He seriously looks pathetic.
- Here comes another shitty development.
- He's just getting beaten to a pulp like this?
- This is rage-inducing, seriously.
- Isn't it understandable if it's his father???
- Who planned this? I want to throw a liver shot. LOL.
Their reaction was only natural.
To receive the Constellations' support was to share some of their emotions.
The feelings Kang Hae-il was experiencing were being passed directly on to the Constellations.
Even after passing through several filters, the concentration of that pain was simply too high.
That was why the Constellations were crying out in pain.
- Fuck, this is so awful.
- What even is this?
- You made this for us to watch, right??
- Why are you torturing me? LOL.
They wished and wished.
Booooom!
Each time Kang Hae-il was struck by the Patchwork Corpse Golem and collapsed again.
- Ah, please stop already. ㅠㅠ
- Hurry up and end this, fuck. While I'm asking nicely.
- Someone solve this already.
They wanted this situation to end quickly.
- Does this even look solvable?
- He's just going to die.
- Ah... Fuck.
The Constellations were not the only ones wishing for that.
“F-fuck! Why him? Why is Kang Hae-il's dad at the center of all those corpses!? Is he an idol!?”
Ram vented her fury, spitting as she spoke.
What was this terrible luck?
It was not like a protagonist at all.
“W-well...”
Sam tapped away at the keyboard and pulled up the data.
“This area's Luck stat has dropped too much. Could it be a type of Black Magic... Ah... N-no, that's not it! That bastard is affecting it!”
“That bastard?”
Snap!
Sam struck the L4GS pose.
“Yulian!”
“...!?”
Damn it.
Then...
“It's our fault again?”
“N-no, right? It's Yulian's fault!”
“Then where did that bastard go now!? Why isn't he fighting with him!?”
“He was near Kang Hae-il earlier, but then he suddenly ran off somewhere.”
Ram had declared that she would kill him, yet now she was looking for L4GS because the situation had become serious.
The Constellations' reactions were not looking good.
- I'm dropping this here.
- If you're going to write it like this, give the S-rank to L4GS, idiot.
- The protagonist is seriously fucking pathetic.
Kang Hae-il already had a hard enough time dealing with the Patchwork Corpse Golem.
In his current mental state, he seemed to have even less hope.
“Th-then what do we do?”
Ram's eyes shook.
‘Don't tell me...’
What if something happened to the protagonist here?
What if the story went on hiatus?
Headquarters had invested so much, and she ruined it?
Seraphim would come to judge her personally.
She might receive a writing ban.
“T-there is one possibility.”
“W-what is it?”
“Awakening.”
“!”
A way to break through when a protagonist faced a crisis.
“If Hae-il can find the will to fight properly here... We can help him with Awakening Coins! Other than that, it is impossible to intervene while so many Constellations are watching!”
Awakening.
A phenomenon in which the wishes of countless Constellations were converted into energy, allowing a character to grow another step.
But unlike Flashback Energy, it was not something the fairies could control as they pleased.
A sufficient crisis, sufficient will, sufficient support.
All three had to come together.
“Will... If only Kang Hae-il has the will!”
What they lacked right now was will.
Kang Hae-il was losing the will to fight what stood before him.
If they could somehow solve just that...!
Kang Hae-il would instead use this as an opportunity to Awaken.
That was when it happened.
Wooooong...!
“Huh!?”
“C-crazy!”
Maybe he was not doomed to die after all.
Diiing!
[Abnormal Constellation Energy Flow Detected]
“Th-this is a sign of Awakening! O-of course, it can also be a sign that the story is about to go on hiatus... But this will be Awakening!!”
Rustle.
Kang Hae-il, who had done nothing but take hits, pushed himself up.
His eyes had changed.
“Right. It was a lie after all.”
Cough...!
Blood came out with his cough.
“You said you did it to make a living. Yet you couldn't even eat, couldn't live... couldn't even die...”
He clenched his fist.
Fwoosh!
All the wounds he had received were wrapped in flames.
“It is working! It's working!”
Ram clasped both hands in excitement.
This was what they called overcoming a crisis by turning it into an opportunity.
“I think it is working, Lady Ram!”
Sam bounced up and down in excitement as well.
“Grrrrrr...!”
The Patchwork Corpse Golem charged.
Thud, thud, thud...!
Kang Hae-il's entire body was engulfed in flames.
The atmosphere was clearly different from before.
He bit down hard on his lip and steeled his resolve.
‘I will save you this time, Dad.’
Sizzle...!
Steam rose from his eyes.
His pupils constricted, reflecting his father's final face.
He wanted to squeeze his eyes shut, but he did not look away.
Just as his father had done.
He would face it head-on.
He would somehow avoid his father's face and burn the golem.
He could do it.
‘If I'm S-rank.’
Kang Hae-il raised his fighting spirit.
But then.
[Mana Blade]
Slaaaaaash!
The Patchwork Corpse Golem split in half.
His father's face split in half.
“!?”
Kang Hae-il's eyes flew open.
Reflected in them, behind his father's face as it split apart and collapsed to either side, was a familiar mask.
- O_O
- Gasp.
- ???
- Huh?
- Holy shit.
- What the fuck?
- ?
- It's me. <(_ _)/
“L4GS...?”
The Line 4 Goblin Slayer.
The enemy who had led his father to his death.
- Now of all times??
- Holy shit, LOL.
- You Porter bastard, LOL.
- Gasp.
- The frustration is gone! <(_ _)/
- Why did it have to be this?
- Pfft, LOL.
- Did he come late because he had to put on the mask? LOL.
- Legendary...
- He's the enemy who killed his father twice now.
- This is fucked, LOL.
- I'm used to being the villain. <(_ _)/
- He is seriously insane.
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