The World After the Fall - Chapter 38

WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: ZERO_SUGAR

◈ The World After the Fall ◈

Chapter 38: Episode 6. God of Despair (7)

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Chunghuh silently drank One-Horn Liquor for a while. It was supposedly alcohol that could not make anyone drunk, yet his pupils gradually clouded over. Even his voice had begun to slur.

“They still come back to life with the Fruits they got back then whenever they die. There's even a place just for them called the 《Palace of Rebirth》. When Lords or the heads of the Five Great Families die, they're sent to the Summoning Ground there. Then they wait their turn and come back to life.”

“...I see.”

“Hehe. The ones who get to live a proper life were decided from the beginning. Damn it.”

Jaehwan looked around the streets of 《Chaos》 again.

The streets were steeped in helpless despair.

The people on them knew.

They knew that something called the 「Fruit」 existed in this world, and that some people used it to come back to life.

Yet they also knew that the “real life” they wanted, that damned 「Fruit」, was always somewhere their souls could never reach.

That was why they despaired.

After watching the people for a moment, Jaehwan asked,

“Then what happened to Mulack?”

“...”

“What did Mulack see at the top of the 《Phantasmal Tree》?”

Chunghuh did not answer, even after Jaehwan repeated the question.

Jaehwan turned toward him.

“Hey, old man.”

He grabbed Chunghuh by the shoulder and shook him. What kind of trick was this now? Chunghuh had completely passed out with his face buried in the table.

Had this old man not been the one to say that alcohol in Chaos could not get anyone drunk? Then why had he passed out?

“It's no use. That old man really does get drunk.”

Claire had returned at some point and was washing dishes.

“...Drunk?”

“I don't know why, but whenever that old man drinks, he really passes out. Getting drunk off alcohol that can't make anyone drunk, I suppose it's an impressive ability.”

Jaehwan studied Chunghuh’s face as he snored loudly, his nose red. Every wrinkle held the weight of time.

The face of someone who had lived for a thousand years.

As Jaehwan quietly watched that face, he felt strange.

Perhaps...

Someone who had spent a thousand years acting out a false life would eventually seek a way to turn the “false” into something “real.”

Claire spoke.

“You're curious about Mulack, right?”

“You know about Mulack too?”

“There's no one in Gorgon Citadel who doesn't know about the 「Abyss Expedition」. That old man gets drunk and babbles about it every other day.”

Claire let out a short sigh and continued.

“To get to the point, that dream demon disappeared.”

“Disappeared?”

“No one saw that dream demon after the expedition ended.”

Claire paused before continuing.

“Come to think of it, I heard from the old man that the dream demon left some words behind before disappearing...”

“What were they?”

“What was it again...”

Claire scrubbed at a dish while thinking for a long time. Then she muttered in a low voice,

“I have failed.”

The tone was so convincing that Jaehwan briefly wondered if this woman was Mulack.

“Right. It was something like that. They said Mulack said, ‘I have failed.’”

Failed...

The meaning was unclear, but it was not impossible to guess.

Jaehwan thought that perhaps Mulack had experienced something at the end of the Abyss. Perhaps Mulack obtained the 「Fruit」 but failed to stop 「cultivation」.

“Is that all?”

“Hmm, there was something else after that...”

Claire kept chopping ingredients into cubes while trying to remember, but nothing seemed to come to mind.

At that moment, someone slumped into the seat beside the stall. It was one of the drunks who had been fighting in the back earlier.

“Ha, the old man got drunk again.”

The face looked familiar. On closer inspection, he was the guard who had picked a fight with Jaehwan at the northern checkpoint not long ago.

His name was James, if Jaehwan remembered right.

As if this worked out perfectly, Claire spoke.

“Hey, drunk.”

“What?”

“Do you know anything about what the dream demon Mulack supposedly said before disappearing?”

“Mulack? That crazy dream demon who made a fuss about ending 「cultivation」?”

“Yeah, you bastard.”

“Isn't that just some story the old man made up? What kind of dream demon like that even exists?”

Claire smacked James on the head with a pan. Rubbing the spot, he suddenly muttered as though something had come to him.

“I have failed, but at the same time, I have not failed... Are you talking about that?”

“Ah, right! That!”

“Damn, that hurt. Why are you asking?”

“Because the guy next to you is curious.”

James glanced at Jaehwan.

“Oh, we've met before.”

It was an unbelievably shameless greeting for someone who had clearly not recognized him.

James scratched his head and continued.

“I was looking for you anyway. Whenever I think about what you did to me a few days ago...”

James muttered through gritted teeth. Judging by the mood, this was about to become another nuisance. As Jaehwan wondered whether he would have to fight again, something unexpected came from James’s mouth.

“...Thanks for earlier today.”

James avoided Jaehwan’s gaze as he continued.

“I mean the chief. If it weren't for you, our chief would've died.”

An awkward silence followed.

James snatched up the liquor Chunghuh had been drinking and gulped it down. Then he turned to Claire.

“Ma’am. I'll pay for this guy’s drinks. How much do I owe?”

“Forget it. I wasn't planning to charge him anyway.”

“Haha, what's this? Looks like you've got a conscience after all, ma’am.”

“Quit causing trouble and get lost.”

James grumbled as he stood.

“Hey, I don't know what you are, but make sure you enter Gorgon from the north from now on. I know your face now, so I won't ask for things like identification papers.”

He turned around in what he seemed to think was a cool pose, then added in a small voice,

“Of course, don't tell our chief.”

James, with his ordinary name, gradually walked away.

The irritated sound of Claire chopping against the cutting board alternated with Chunghuh’s peaceful snoring.

There were sounds of food being prepared even though nobody needed to eat it. Sounds of people drinking alcohol that could not make them drunk.

A world where no salvation remained.

Sounds of people pretending at the real in a place without anything real. They were neither beautiful music nor pleasant melodies, but they were the sounds of people still refusing to give up on life in a world where desperation had vanished.

What was this feeling?

Jaehwan was unfamiliar with his own emotions.

This was not 「Understanding」.

More precisely, it was closer to a misunderstanding or a mistaken belief.

Please, do not give up on this world.

Even though he knew that well, Jaehwan felt as if he understood something in that moment.

Then he saw someone running toward them from afar with a frantic expression. It was a man Jaehwan knew well.

The Anti-Evil Squad Commander?

The man was sweeping through the market street with his subordinates as though half out of his mind.

“Divine Physician! Where are you, Divine Physician!”

Shortly afterward, the Anti-Evil Squad Commander spotted Jaehwan and Chunghuh and hurried over, gasping for breath.

“Esteemed benefactor, you are here as well?”

The Anti-Evil Squad Commander gave Jaehwan a brief glance, then looked at Chunghuh.

“Ha, damn it! So this is why we couldn't reach you. Divine Physician! Please wake up! Divine Physician!”

No matter how much he shook him, Chunghuh showed no sign of waking.

Jaehwan asked the Anti-Evil Squad Commander,

“What happened?”

“The Citadel Lord suddenly went berserk. It usually happens about once a week, but strangely, today...”

Something must have happened with the Citadel Lord, something only Chunghuh could solve.

The next moment, a small explosion sounded from the Inner Citadel.

The Anti-Evil Squad Commander’s face went white.

“No...!”

A sinister, powerful presence slowly rose.

Spiritual Pressure that could not even be compared to Janya’s. No, it was a greater power than anyone Jaehwan had faced so far.

Jaehwan narrowed his eyes.

...So that was it. The Citadel Lord was in that condition.

When Yulhen had asked him to “save the Citadel Lord,” Jaehwan had expected as much to some extent. The nuance of “save” had not felt like it concerned physical strength.

Below the Inner Citadel... underground?

Through 「Doubt」, Jaehwan peered into the Inner Citadel. Seeing it like this, it was a strangely shaped citadel. It was like the belly of a giant beast.

The deepest part of that beast’s belly.

Something flickered in that distant foundation.

A black figure that could not be read even through 「Doubt」.

A monster with writhing tentacles and an enormous mouth.

Jaehwan immediately knew what it was.

A Forgotten One.

That was right.

Gorgon’s Citadel Lord was undergoing Forgetting.

Tremors traveled up from the unfathomable underground.

Something terrible was trying to open its eyes.

The Anti-Evil Squad Commander watched the Inner Citadel, where ominous energy surged, then looked at Jaehwan as though making a decision.

“Esteemed benefactor! You can use ‘Forgotten One Severance’ too, can you not?”

Jaehwan shook his head.

“I only imitated it. I can't do it the way this old man can. Unless I learned it...”

The Anti-Evil Squad Commander turned pale.

“But if this continues, the Citadel Lord...”

The Divine Physician was their only hope now.

And the Divine Physician was sprawled out drunk.

Then several Spiritual Pressures entered Jaehwan’s senses.

Countless Spiritual Pressures moving toward the Inner Citadel.

The energy they carried was familiar to Jaehwan.

The Geumcheon Hall bastards from earlier today.

Jaehwan carried the limp Chunghuh on his back and ran toward the Inner Citadel with the Anti-Evil Squad Commander.

The closer they got, the more overwhelming the Spiritual Pressure became. It felt dozens of times stronger than what he had sensed during the day.

This must have been the Citadel Lord’s true power.

“What kind of person was the Citadel Lord?”

Perhaps surprised by the question, the Anti-Evil Squad Commander hesitated before answering.

“...The Citadel Lord was a good person.”

Jaehwan had heard plenty of people call the Citadel Lord a good person. The Citadel’s last hope, the great master of Gorgon, and so on.

“The Citadel Lord was Gorgon’s living legend. The Citadel Lord was one of the few who joined the 「Abyss Expedition」 with the Divine Physician.”

“The Abyss Expedition?”

Before Jaehwan could continue, someone blocked their path. Every one of them moved with exceptional speed and agility. They were no ordinary strong people.

One of them stepped forward.

“Are you the one who can use ‘Forgotten One Severance’?”

Then their Push entered Jaehwan’s 「Doubt」.

[Is this definitely him?]

[Definitely. I saw him make contact with the Chief Internal Administrator earlier today.]

[He looks like an ordinary Non-Adapter. This guy can use Forgotten One Severance?]

[Honestly, I think it's just a false rumor too.]

[Either way, the order came down. We have to kill him. Poor bastard, what a pointless death.]

The Anti-Evil Squad Commander’s expression became strange when he saw them.

“The Folding Horn Corps Commander and the Guarding Horn Corps Commander too? What are you doing here? Aren't you responsible for the Outer Citadel?”

“It has been a while, Anti-Evil Squad Commander.”

If the Anti-Evil Squad and the Shadow Corps belonged to the Inner Citadel, the Folding Horn Corps and Guarding Horn Corps were battalions stationed in the Outer Citadel.

They were not as capable as the Inner Citadel battalions, but in an all-out war, they were elite forces that would not fall behind the Anti-Evil Squad or Shadow Corps.

The two men before them led those battalions.

“Move aside. You know as well as I do that every moment counts.”

“That would be difficult.”

“Why?”

“Orders.”

“Orders? Whose orders?”

The Folding Horn Corps Commander and Guarding Horn Corps Commander did not answer.

The Anti-Evil Squad Commander immediately understood the meaning of their silence.

“You bastards, are you saying you intend to commit Defiance of Heaven?”

“Defiance of Heaven...”

The Folding Horn Corps Commander smiled thinly.

At some point, yellow armbands had begun fluttering around their arms.