Ch.116Life Flashing

# Enhanced Translation

A superhuman’s senses are several times more acute than a human’s.

They hear sounds they don’t want to hear and feel gazes they don’t want to feel.

Even the emotions contained in those sounds and gazes.

They can notice everything.

“Did you hear? About the Jung family.”

“Ah… everyone in that house died except for the child.”

“And apparently the surviving child is an awakened one.”

“I heard they survived by pressing their back against the wall in a corner.”

“Huh? Then…”

Why did the rest of the family die?

Whenever those gazes were directed at me, I felt like my throat was filled with thorns.

I was too late.

By the time I awakened, everyone was already dead.

I couldn’t move until a superhuman came to save me.

Stuck to the wall, I survived alone.

“Superhumans! Heroes sent by God to save humanity! You have been chosen. Be proud that you were chosen to save mankind!”

Superhuman conscription to counter monsters.

Even after being dragged into the superhuman corps, people dismissed my ability.

An ability that merely creates walls.

Not even able to move the created walls fast enough to inflict damage on monsters.

While it can properly block straight firepower like tank shells, monsters aren’t tanks.

They simply move sideways, and that’s it—a useless ability that’s just solid, garbage.

It was an ability that suited me well.

“Ooh? That ability of yours looks really good, doesn’t it?”

The one who took interest in such an ability was an annoying woman.

She started coming around from the day when, instead of the soldiers’ useless education, running drills, firearms training, ceremonial training, and memorizing command systems, the awakened ones who faced monsters in the field began to educate us.

“Your name is Jeong Ho-young? I’m Yeoryeong. Don’t call me teacher, call me ‘noona.’ Yeoryeong noona. It’s not like there’s a big age difference between us anyway.”

That annoying woman was already an awakened one on the verge of A-rank.

Rumor had it she was the daughter of that hero, Quake.

To have both parents and daughter become superhumans fighting monsters—was this a blessing or a misfortune?

“I’m really not saying this to mock or make fun of you! I genuinely think your ability looks good.”

“What’s so good about this garbage ability?!”

“Look, you barely qualified for D-rank, yet you blocked a tank shell without breaking a sweat. The concentration of your ability is incredibly sol—”

“Yeah, that garbage ability! What’s so good about something that can only block attacks from one direction?!”

“Hmm, want to make a bet?”

“What?”

“If you do as I say and within a month your ability becomes one that others envy, I win. If it’s still garbage, you win. How about it?”

“Who would make such a bet…!”

One thing I could tell.

That woman’s existence was a blessing to me.

“Good, six walls! You finally did it! See! I told you computational ability can be improved if you work on it!”

“Huff… huff… huff…”

“Now, next training. I’m going to throw this can, so try to catch it in mid-air with your ability.”

Yeoryeong taught me ways to use my ability that I didn’t even know about.

She showed me that my ability wasn’t just for protecting myself, but a weapon to trap enemies.

She taught me it was an ability to control the battlefield so that no harm would come to others.

“What is that ability… it can trap monsters?”

“If we concentrate fire the moment the ability is activated, even D-ranks can easily take down a Destroyer.”

“Did you hear that? What did noona say? She said your ability was good, right?”

“Still, it’s an ability that can’t defeat even a single monster alone without someone’s help.”

“Oh really? You can create both curved and straight barriers at will, right?”

“I can, but why?”

“If they’re incredibly solid, couldn’t they be used as weapons too?”

She helped me not to rely on others, but to defeat monsters by myself.

She taught me that my ability wasn’t just for running away, but for facing monsters head-on.

And on the day I defeated a monster alone under Yeoryeong’s protection,

I felt a thrill knowing I had the power to fight against monsters.

“Haa, haa… haa…!”

“Congratulations on your first monster hunt.”

“I, I killed it! A monster!”

No longer did I need to fear things like monsters.

I became confident that I could become anything I wanted.

I honed my ability, which had become my pride, and gradually improved my techniques.

“Did you really approach me because my ability looked good?”

“Hahaha! No way, if I was approaching someone because their ability looked good, I’d go to Yu Anna. You know her ability, right? It’s kind of scary. What is it, the ‘kill all monsters’ ability? What kind of experience makes someone think like that?”

“Then why did you approach me…?”

“Because I didn’t like the look in your eyes.”

“My eyes?”

“Eyes soaked in frustration—I don’t like that.”

Yeoryeong and I spent time together and grew close enough to share personal stories.

“You look upset. Did something happen?”

“Huh? Ah… it’s nothing. I just heard my dad got hurt again.”

“Your dad? You mean Teacher Yeo Un-jae? The one who comes for special classes sometimes?”

Yeo Un-jae, a hero on humanity’s front line.

Yeoryeong, with such a father, grew up practically alone because her dad was busy fighting monsters.

“I’m his daughter, but I can only hear that he’s been injured and don’t even have proper time to see his face… isn’t that strange?”

“He’s busy… it can’t be helped.”

“Yeah, he’s always busy. Because people everywhere ask for his help. People around my dad say that with given power comes responsibility… but I don’t understand why it has to be my dad. Thanks to that, I’ve barely spent any time with him… even after becoming a superhuman.”

“We can’t face monsters above Despair level without your father.”

“I know, I know. I just don’t like people who take it for granted that my dad risks his life, while saying such things.”

Yeoryeong hated the reality that superhumans had to sacrifice themselves just because of their abilities.

“I awakened with an ability that lets me go anywhere freely, but it’s no fun going places alone. I want to go on a trip with my dad just once. Always alone, ah~ I’m so lonely.”

“I’m… not busy.”

“Huh?”

“If you’re that lonely, let’s go somewhere together. I’m asking you on a date.”

“Eh? W-what… a kid trying to act like a man.”

“I am a man.”

I came to like Yeoryeong.

“I thought it was strange! You’re not that diligent, so why are you hanging around offering to educate someone…!”

“Hey! If you’re coming home, at least let me know first!”

“F-Father… hello. I’m Jeong Ho-young.”

“Who’s ‘Father’! You, get out!”

“Dad, who are you to send him away? This is my house!”

One day, while spending time at Yeoryeong’s house,

Teacher Yeo Un-jae suddenly arrived and got angry seeing me with Yeoryeong.

“…You’re the man with the code name Cage, aren’t you? I hear you’re a very promising superhuman.”

“Th-thank you.”

“Isn’t my student amazing? Already B-rank?”

“You be quiet! A teacher putting hands on a student…! I’m sorry, my daughter’s education has been lacking…”

“Did you ever educate me? I grew up on my own.”

The teacher wouldn’t accept my relationship with Yeoryeong.

“I’m sorry, but please break up with my daughter.”

When he called me separately, without Yeoryeong, the teacher shared his thoughts about our relationship.

“Being a superhuman means you never know when you might die. At least wait until times are more stable before meeting.”

“It’s not… because of our age?”

“To be honest, that’s part of it. But isn’t this the era we live in? I think you could meet a bit earlier. It’s just… the fact that you’re both superhumans bothers me.”

“You’re afraid of leaving behind someone you love when you die. Is that what you mean?”

“Yes, I’m always afraid of that happening.”

“Then why do you keep fighting?”

“…I don’t want others to feel the frustration I felt.”

The teacher was a good person, just like Yeoryeong.

A kind-hearted person who saw others in a positive light—I could tell who Yeoryeong took after in approaching me.

“I just feel sorry for my daughter. I haven’t properly fulfilled my role as a father at all…”

“If it weren’t for heroes like you, I would have been killed by monsters too.”

Among the superhumans who fought monsters to save me as a child, Yeo Un-jae was one of them.

“I won’t die to monsters either.”

“You…”

“Isn’t that why you’ve survived too? So you wouldn’t leave Yeoryeong alone.”

In the end, Yeo Un-jae conditionally approved my relationship with Yeoryeong.

“At least when you become strong enough to defeat me, I’ll give my permission.”

When Yeoryeong heard this, she responded as nonchalantly as ever.

“You’ll have to give permission whether you like it or not if I get pregnant anyway.”

“You…”

“Oh whatever, why are you interfering now when I say I want to date a guy I like? You were never there when I wanted your input.”

Yeoryeong was headstrong.

A woman who did what she wanted to do.

With her outstanding drive for action, she would defeat monsters and save people while I was still hesitating over better methods.

Even when faced with choices that everyone else was agonizing over, she moved forward.

“Is that possible? A monster listening to human speech?”

“It’s because it’s not possible that we’re researching it! And there’s not zero possibility, right? We’ve seen monsters before that hesitated to kill children! You saw it too!”

“That was… just an anomalous species exhibiting unusual behavior.”

“If we keep training such monsters, it’s possible! A day will come when heroes won’t have to fight!”

The government’s proposed monster weaponization experiment.

Yeoryeong was the first hero to agree to it.

Yeo Un-jae also agreed to the experiment, unable to resist Yeoryeong’s persistence.

As such, when the monster they thought they had tamed began to rampage.

“No…”

Yeoryeong was also the most shocked.

“Stop talking about command systems! What a waste of time!”

“Uncontrolled superhuman abilities are no different from monsters! If you don’t strike at the exact location, you’ll only increase the number of rampaging monsters…”

“Shut up! You pigs! Superhumans are not monsters! We’re not weapons for you to use as you please!”

“W-what did you say? Pigs…?!”

“Humans who can’t even awaken, get lost! We’ll take responsibility ourselves!”

Yeoryeong was also the first to take action.

“Nam Gyeong, use your ability. The question is, considering all our abilities, what’s the most appropriate deployment.”

“Uncle Yeo Un-jae? Please knock them out.”

“This isn’t the time to say this, but I don’t feel good every time I have to use your ability urgently…”

In the appropriate deployment where no one would die, Yeo Un-jae took on the strongest monster, and Yeoryeong took on the second strongest.

“Good, while it’s trapped like this, with my ability…”

“Yeoryeong, something’s wrong…! This one isn’t a Disaster!”

“What?!”

My ability that trapped the monster gradually cracked.

And shattered into pieces.

“Existence evolution?!”

“Despair…!”

“Yeoryeong unni! We need to run!”

The monster that another B-rank hero had lost track of when they threw citizens as bait and fled in the confusion.

In that time, it had grown to an unmanageable level, but even then, Yeoryeong didn’t run away.

“I’m the only one who can stop that monster until my dad arrives. Don’t worry and run. You know my ability, right?”

“I-I’ll call for backup right away!”

“But, alone…!”

“Go! You’re just in the way!”

And I.

“Why did you come back?! What were you thinking?!”

“Yeoryeong, let’s do that.”

“You…! Are you serious?”

“With that, we can fight even an S-rank! Even against a Despair of the same rank!”

“The limit was maintaining it for just a moment! You want to suddenly try it in a real battle?!”

I should have run away.

“Isn’t a superhuman someone who does the impossible?”

“Ahaha! You’re saying that now?!”

“Let’s surpass our current level…!”

Together with Yeoryeong, I overwhelmed the monster.

The monster was completely terrified and tried to escape from us, but Yeoryeong and I didn’t let it go.

“Keep going! We can catch it!”

If Yeoryeong had been alone, she could have held out until Yeo Un-jae arrived.

If I hadn’t insisted on chasing after it, none of this would have happened.

A family that hadn’t evacuated in time wouldn’t have appeared in front of the fleeing monster.

“H-heroes!”

“Help us! He-help us!”

The family who spotted the heroes didn’t stay hidden but rushed toward the monster.

A completely panicked, irrational action—suicidal behavior, ignorance of not knowing that what stood before them was a powerful monster.

At the moment the monster was about to devour the family that appeared before it,

Yeoryeong used her ability to protect the humans.

And she was fatally wounded by the rampaging monster’s attack.

“Cough…!”

“…Huh?”

A strike aimed at the core of her ability, with an irregular heartbeat and fluctuating waves in an instant.

At the moment when both of us were about to be killed by the monster, she used her last ability to transport me and the humans who hadn’t evacuated.

To the farthest place within her ability’s limit.

With a smiling face.

My superhuman senses read her thoughts from that expression.

‘Ah, sorry.’

‘My body moved on its own.’

A superhuman’s senses are unnecessarily sharp.

Despite the distance, her smiling face was clearly visible.

The sound of her head being crushed in the monster’s jaws.

The monster was defeated by Yeo Un-jae, who arrived too late.

The pieces of flesh that had been Yeoryeong were scooped up with a shovel and placed in a body bag.

Cremated, turned to bone ash.