Academy's Silver Gatekeeper-Chapter 103

Once, there was a man I loved terribly deeply.

He was so wonderful and warm, and became everyone's role model.

A man who could embrace even me, who was somewhat fiery.

I loved him so much that I even acted coy, something I thought I'd never do in my lifetime.

"Ugh. Sister. Are you about to die?"

Even Jiyoon, who usually doesn't call me sister, looked at me with eyes saying I was crazy and said such things.

Yes, I was crazy. I must have really been crazy at that time. For that man, for what seemed like my first and last love. I even dreamed the ridiculous dream that from now on, all that remained for me was happiness, happiness, and more happiness. Looking back now, it was really nonsensical.

"Cough, cough! Cough!"

"What's wrong? Honey, are you hurt somewhere? Hm?"

"N-no, it's nothing. Just... my body feels a bit strange. It's nothing serious."

At first, I just thought it was due to overwork from missions.

Like a fool, I shouldn't have thought so lightly. Even now, just thinking about myself back then makes me want to strangle myself.

"Ugh!"

"Why, why are you like this! Get a grip!"

When that man I loved so much, to whom I wouldn't have regretted giving my everything, collapsed before me, vomiting dark red blood, I could understand what the world called 'hell.'

I mobilized everything I could. I was S-rank, after all. As the nation's most precious strategic asset, I could make any demand. Please cure this person. Please return my love to my arms.

"Why is this happening? Why is this happening!"

"We're sorry, Hyeon Sujin. Currently, our medical team is doing their best, but..."

But there was no significant progress. And moment by moment, he was dying. Every day, painfully. So much that bloody tears flowed from my watching eyes.

I wanted to hurt in his place. If I could, I wanted to die instead. When he heard those words, even in that painful situation, he held me tight. Saying I shouldn't do that. That I'm people's hope, so I absolutely shouldn't do that.

'No, no. You're wrong.'

I never wanted to become anyone's hope. And even if I'm someone else's hope, without you, who are my hope, I'm nothing at all.

So please get up. Get up and hold me tight. Say you love me, that it'll really be okay now, that everything's fine.

"I'm sorry."

But my desperate prayer ultimately didn't reach him.

"His body is rapidly deteriorating. Multiple organ failures are occurring. To put it metaphorically... we have to see it as the body itself collapsing. We can't even grasp why this is happening or what the problem is."

Even the best medical teams ultimately couldn't do anything.

My love, who until recently had been called a promising ability user, was now terminally ill, breathing faintly on a bed, not knowing when he might die. I couldn't watch this with a clear mind. I didn't have the confidence to do so.

Afterward, perhaps because his body had weakened, he kept talking nonsense. That he was sorry for surviving alone. That he wanted forgiveness now. Sometimes he would call out strange numbers and cry loudly.

"Thirty-two... Sixty-eight... And, and... One hundred forty. One hundred forty... I'm sorry, one hundred forty..."

That was probably when I noticed something strange. I immediately began frantically digging into my man's past.

That he lost his family as a child, that his ability brilliantly awakened at some point. I investigated everything that I had previously just accepted like a madwoman.

I had never used my S-rank status. I had never flaunted it. But this time, I decided to use it. That's how desperate I was at the time. I ignored all the worried voices from above.

Not only that, I even secretly contacted villains to obtain information. Perfect treason. I had nothing to say even if I were arrested and investigated immediately. Still, I couldn't give up. I had to find out. Why he had become like that.

"Hyeon Sujin. The higher-ups are very concerned about what you're doing lately."

There was something. Yes, there had to be something. Otherwise, high-ranking officials wouldn't suddenly be applying pressure.

"Please accept our heartfelt condolences regarding your fiancé's condition. However, that and what Hyeon Sujin is currently doing are separate matters."

"If you keep this up, we'll discontinue the treatment that's continuing at Hyeon Sujin's request."

They even threatened me by mentioning his life. They knew my weakness. They saw right through why I was doing this.

"I think you're misunderstanding, but there are other S-ranks like you. And more will appear. Even contacting villains? What you're doing now is clear treason and betrayal of your colleagues."

S-ranks are precious, but there are other S-ranks, and they're also watching my actions carefully. Amid all sorts of threats and interference, I continued forward, looking only at one truth.

And finally, I was able to grasp the very thin end of that truth. Something over 20 years old, very old and ancient.

[Savior Project]

[...Conducted in 17 research facilities... Based on past ability users' genes... Artificial insemination and growth... Perfect ability users as national strategic assets... Complete superiority upon success...]

The truth was truly terrible. And truly disgusting. To protect these things. Had so many died, been hurt, and suffered so much?

They praised them as heroes in front but planned to reproduce them as weapons behind the scenes.

Genes secured without any permission or prior notice, just as they pleased. All kinds of experiments using them that directly denied bioethics. Finally born children with no parents or family. Souls raised solely as weapons.

'That alone was an outrageous act. But...'

What followed was far from adequate to describe as terrible or disgusting.

[Experimental results show that most test subjects experienced collapse... Even the few survivors showed the same... Burning briefly then extinguishing... Unlike expectations, no value as strategic assets...]

Perhaps it was only natural. Beings created artificially, looking only at combat ability.

Ability awakening is definitely not something just anyone can do. And that awakening process couldn't be revealed through any research.

Those bastards knew nothing and brought about tragedy, obsessing only with results.

[All research and experimental records erased... Remaining personnel released... Natural extinction within a few years... Even if grown to adulthood, subsequent survival probability is 0.00071%...]

My beloved, my too-beloved, more precious than my own life, he apparently couldn't overcome that cursed probability in the end.

Yes. He wasn't a case like me, born normally and lucky enough to awaken abilities. The legacy of betrayal by those who crossed the line, created by the greed of those damned bastards.

I laughed. I just laughed like a madwoman. I, I had fought for such a world. While gritting my teeth and fighting even as I lost family, friends, and colleagues, those bastards had been deceiving us all for so long.

Filled with anger and hatred, I ran to him. And I told him. That nightmare that tormented you, that disease eating away at your body. Everything was caused by those who sat behind and just wanted results.

That we were getting hurt, suffering, and finally losing, fighting to sustain this damn world without even knowing this.

"...Sujin."

He raised his emaciated body and held my hand.

"We can't help it, Sujin. This is, I am. This is why we're here."

"..."

"We have to fight. So we have to return it. The original world, to the original people."

That was the last time. That was my last conversation with him.

"..."

I looked at him smiling brightly in the portrait.

The cause of death would probably just be recorded as aftereffects from combat injuries. Those bastards had already erased evidence so thoroughly it was almost cruel.

They even eliminated related personnel. What I found was just a few fragments left at the end. And now even that is gone. The moment I reached those fragments, they erased even that.

There's no way left in the world to prove that fact to others. No related materials, no research and experimental results, no related personnel, and no victims. Only I know of that disgusting and terrible deed.

"We can't help it, Sujin. This is, I am. This is why we're here."

"We have to fight. So we have to return it. The original world, to the original people."

I'm sorry. I'm sorry, honey. But I, I just can't do that. Because I love you to death. Because I love you more than my own life. I can't bear to watch those who deceived and brutally killed you, this world.

You can curse me. You can scream asking if I'm crazy. But what can I do? If I don't do this, I feel like I'll go insane.

They say revenge for the dead is called vengeance, but well, maybe I turned away because I couldn't bear it myself. If I don't do this, it feels like my body and soul will be torn to shreds.

"Hyeon Sujin! In the end, in the end, was that really true?! Did you really betray us!"

It seemed those bastards had already prepared for everything. To brand me as a traitor when I dug up the truth.

At that sight, I laughed. Yes, I'll do it. That traitor. I'll become a villain, become an Elder, and kill you all.

You can look forward to it. The shadow that followed behind you will now stalk you from behind to devour you instead.

That's how I became a traitor. I became a villain, an Elder. I had no regrets. No hesitation. Thinking I was the villain actually made me feel lighter. I didn't hold back my anger and just let it out. There were innocent people, but I didn't care. You're all the same bastards trying to live off our sacrifices anyway.

Yes. Until I met one man.

"Honestly, I thought living like this was somewhat wrong."

A man too similar to 'him' who had left my side. Unknown origins, no family or relatives, a lone orphan, late ability awakening and blooming. Decisive, even ridiculously brilliant skills that suddenly bloomed magnificently.

"But, you know. Still, I don't think that's right."

I could tell. Who that man was now. The one my person had searched for so desperately, apologized to so repeatedly. And wanted to meet again, whom he could only see in dreams.

One hundred forty. Test subject number one hundred forty. The last remaining survivor.

This 𝓬ontent is taken from fre𝒆webnove(l).𝐜𝐨𝗺