episode_0125

41. There was a traitor here. (2)

” Okay! Now, let’s start exploring here on the 3rd floor. Jisung and I will look for clues on the left side of this escalator, and you guys should start looking on the right side. ”

We nodded at Sister Jia’s words and headed to the right side of the escalator we came up from.

Because it was a building that used to be a department store, there were stores wherever you looked.

Now, there is no one to manage it, so it looks completely broken and collapsed, but I think that many people still enjoyed shopping here.

We started our exploration from the place that was the nearest store. While clearing away the rubble, we looked around, wondering if the scout team had left any traces here, and then we saw footprints.

It was a building that no one had ever been in before, and the reconnaissance team had apparently already gone somewhere else, but unlike other places, there was less dust, as if leaving traces of their presence here.

There I could find a few footprints of people.

” Are these footprints? ”

” That’s right. I see… It seems to be true that they were definitely here. However, judging by their condition, they must have already left. There’s even a little dust on their footprints. ”

Yeonseo knelt down and slowly examined the dust around her footprints, then began to thinly freeze the area around them.

” First of all, this won’t erase the traces. Judging from the direction, it seems to be this way. ”

He continued to explore the area, following Yeonseo’s footsteps and covering them with ice whenever he saw them, preserving the traces.

When I got halfway around the third floor, all I found were footprints.

There were no traces of people touching or anything, just footprints.

The traces of their footprints, as if they were running away from something, told us that they were in danger.

But what on earth were they running away from?

It seems unlikely that there was an attack by the demon, as the surrounding furniture and decorations were in disarray or had fallen over, and there were no signs of major damage, so it is hard to say that they escaped from the demon.

That means…

” What, you finished it already? ”

In response to Ji-seong oppa’s question in a sly voice asking if we had investigated properly, Yeon-seo shows him the footprints she had preserved.

” There were no other traces. The only traces I could find were… these footprints. The footprints of someone running away from something. ”

At those words, Ji-sung oppa narrowed his eyes and nodded towards Ji-ah unnie who was coming from behind. Ji-ah unnie nodded in return and moved towards the central stairs.

*****

As we reached the central staircase, Ji-sung oppa found a piece of intact furniture among the overturned furniture around him and used his power to place it in front of us. Hyun-seok oppa saw that and quickly started using his power to dust it off.

Thanks to their cooperation, we were able to find a place where we could sit comfortably without having to stand all the time, and we sat there and started talking about what we had found.

” All you guys found was ‘footprints’, right? ”

” Yes, that was also an image of running away from something. ”

” Hmm, I guess so… ”

When Yeonseo answered Jisung’s question, he gestured to her sister, who then showed us a crystal shard in an envelope from her bag.

” That’s…!? ”

” This is a piece from the place we were investigating. What’s unusual is this part here… See it? ”

” There’s blood on it. ”

Hyunseok quickly answered after seeing the direction my sister pointed to, and I took the envelope from my sister and checked it while holding the crystal shard in my hand, but unlike the glass wall that surrounded this building, I did not feel the aura of Thanatos.

But the red marks visible at the ends of the broken pieces. Just like Hyunseok oppa said… the sight of human blood shining red.

When I touched it, I could tell that quite some time had passed, as I could see little bits of dried, twisted blood falling off.

My sister pointed to the crystals that had penetrated the wall around us and various sized crystals sticking out around us as we were examining the bloody crystal shards.

” If you see crystal fragments here, or crystals that are big enough to penetrate the wall like that… I think they were probably targeting the recon team here. ”

” Why did you start aiming here? ”

” I still don’t know why. But if I had to guess… Charlotte, when you and Mr. Doosik talked on the phone, you said you were attacked, right? I think that’s probably why. ”

” While I was hiding from the attack, while the old man was talking to me on the phone. Are you saying that they started attacking me? ”

My sister nodded, got up from her seat, and headed to the place she had been investigating with my brother Ji-seong.

“After coming here because of the demon’s attack, when everyone was tired and resting… they started attacking. Without being interrupted by the demon.

Now, if you look here… do you see the bloodstains? And if you look at the bloodstains on the furniture here… you can see that the body fell here after being attacked from behind.

After that, here and there. And if you look at that part… there are people running away while bleeding. Perhaps, the footprints you saw were people who left here and were there…

I think they saw someone attacking them and started running away. ”

As I checked the blood and footprints toward the place my sister had pointed out, I could picture in my head people running away just as she had said.

And when I looked closely at the crystal that had penetrated the wall, I saw that it had bloody and torn remains of clothing attached to it.

There was a wooden bridge in the wall that was open to the outside.

It wasn’t a bridge made by humans… it was a bridge made of a huge tree. To be honest, it was just a branch of a tree so big that it was hard to call it a bridge.

” Sister, by any chance… are you in the reconnaissance team… ”

” That’s right, there was a person who had the ability to grow trees. And the remains of the clothes attached to this crystal… are that person’s. Perhaps, he sacrificed himself so that others could escape. ”

The place where the large tree was touching was another building of the department store building. This was probably the main branch, and the taller building… was the new one.

As I was looking out through the broken wall, Hyunseok Oppa went down under the tree.

” Oppa?! Where are you! ”

My brother, who had told me to wait a moment, fell down and soon came back up carrying a slightly decayed corpse.

” Ugh… Hyunseok, why on earth did you bring this…! ”

Soon, Yeonseo, who had frozen the body and preserved its condition, asked while blocking her nose.

” Didn’t Sister Zia tell you? The remains of that clothing were the person who made this tree. ”

” Huh? Yeah, I know that person. W-Wouldn’t it be… this corpse…? ”

” Yes, I looked down just in case and saw that they were wearing clothes of similar colors… ”

Yeonseo was watching from a distance because of the smell coming from the corpse, while her sister and brother Hyunseok were examining the corpse with complicated expressions.

My real older brother, Ji-sung oppa, has been quiet for a while now, so I looked at him because it felt strange…

He had a really angry expression on his face.

I slowly approached him and asked if he was okay, and he shook his head.

” Phew, sorry. It’s not okay… It’s not. He was someone I worked with for quite some time… I never thought I’d see him like this. ”

” Oh, I see… ”

Ji-sung oppa was locked in the basement room until I came… so he probably didn’t get to have a proper reunion with this person.

When I recovered… the reconnaissance team had already left.

” I’ve never met him, but… he was still a good person. Sacrificing his life for others… ”

” He was quite a considerate guy. He said that once things settled down a bit, he wanted to set up his own settlement and make a cozy place full of trees. ”

I just stood next to him silently and stayed still.

Because I couldn’t solve the sadness he had.

As we were standing next to Ji-sung oppa for a while, Hyun-suk oppa and unnie called out to us urgently and waved their hands telling us to come quickly.

” Why? ”

When Ji-sung asked in a low, growling voice, as if his anger had not yet subsided, Ji-ah cringed for a moment, then slowly reached out and slightly unfolded the clothes of the corpse.

” When I see this… ”

” Don’t you have a heart? ”

Ji-seong oppa opened his eyes wide in surprise, as if he had not expected it.

Where the corpse’s heart should have been… there was no heart.

What was there was… a trace made of ‘black crystal’.

A scar that feels like a stab wound to the back where the heart is.

And it seems like no one noticed…

From that ‘black crystal’, I could feel the energy of Thanatos, the fragments of the split divinity.

” Don’t touch me! ”

The moment Ji-sung Oppa slowly reached out and tried to touch the spot where his heart had disappeared! I stopped his hand with a scream.

” Did the two of you touch this part? ”

When I asked my sister and Hyunseok oppa, they shook their heads and said they didn’t touch it.

” That’s a relief. It’s better not to touch it. This is… ugh…! ”

He placed his hand on the area where his heart had disappeared and began to purify it.

The ‘black crystal’ in that area turned transparent and the remaining fragments of divinity entered me.

The now familiar sensation of fragments of the divine entering.

I shook off that feeling and examined the area in detail, and I could tell.

It’s not that the heart was stabbed by the crystal and disappeared, but ‘the heart was wrapped in crystal and torn away’

When I found out, I told everyone.

” From now on, whenever I see another corpse, I have to check if it has a heart. Of course, if it has a black crystal attached, I absolutely must not touch it. ”

This is… not a simple raid.

A planned murder by a madman. And there is a ‘hidden reason’ that we don’t know about yet.