Ch.6666. White Snow Flower (3)

I was lucky or unlucky, but Baek Seol-hwa had exceptional talent as a magic staff.

“……”

“Wow, her performance is absolutely incredible.”

First of all, her magic didn’t necessarily require verbal incantations or activation keys.

Her shouting “flame” was more of a routine to make explosions more easily, and even without such routines, creating flames or explosions in the air was simple for her.

If that was the case, it was a matter of distinguishing between friend and foe.

Baek Seol-hwa’s attacks were specialized in mass slaughter of zombies with tremendous firepower, but were vulnerable in terms of identifying allies.

Her attacks could involve allies, and once involved, they would cause significant damage to allies, literally requiring caution in their use.

In a situation without visibility, where distance couldn’t be properly controlled, how could this group of survivors operate Baek Seol-hwa without any accidents?

“…”

“Ah. Are you saying there are zombies over there too?”

“…”

“Then we’ll avoid that area.”

“…”

Simply put, even without eyes, her ability to detect surroundings through temperature sensations remained intact.

Rather than relying on sight, she depended on magic or sensory detection abilities, so losing her sight actually allowed her to hone these skills more sharply.

Though unintentional, because Baek Seol-hwa lost her eyes, she was able to further develop her ability to detect others’ body heat, and could actually detect living beings or zombies in her surroundings better than when she had her sight.

Thanks to this, as long as she could detect them, she could still annihilate groups of zombies from a distance, just as she had done before.

She could even identify zombie movements and approaches before survivors with functioning legs and eyes, guiding the path of the survivor pushing her wheelchair to safe positions.

“Hey. Ice.”

“…”

In truth, while Baek Seol-hwa’s body was damaged to the point where she couldn’t survive without someone’s help, her magical abilities remained intact.

She could still perform mass slaughter more efficiently than anyone else, and could still create ice in the air by lowering the surrounding temperature.

At this point, when Pohang’s water facilities were no longer functioning, Baek Seol-hwa’s ability to create ice with cold energy was one of the ways to obtain drinkable water, making her even more valuable.

It was the power that allowed her to act as the leader of a survivor camp in one region despite her lack of age or political power, but unfortunately, she couldn’t use that power for herself.

“Wow. The kid is really capable. Was she really the leader of Pohang Airport?”

“But now she can’t survive without our help.”

“Haha. That’s true.”

“……”

She was still receiving the lowest treatment as a magic staff for some group of survivors, and even as she demonstrated her competence as a magic staff to the survivors, what came back was humiliation and oppression.

Anyway, Baek Seol-hwa, who had lost both eyes and legs, needed the help of other survivors to survive, and needed someone’s care.

Moreover, through blatant gaslighting and rough violence, Baek Seol-hwa’s will to resist the survivors had already been broken.

Whatever they said, she repeated to herself that she was a magic staff, living as a tool for them.

Perhaps, it was an action close to self-abandonment to escape from reality.

A young girl who had already experienced survivor syndrome tried to save others under the name of fatalism, but eventually fell from the sky and was being used by the people she had saved.

It wouldn’t be strange if her mind broke or she became a disabled person who lost the will to live.

‘Yes. This is all my fault. My fault for abandoning my parents. My fault for not being able to defeat the mutant spider zombie.’

Rather than resenting the group of survivors who were using her, Baek Seol-hwa, who was suffering severely from survivor syndrome, blamed herself for not defeating the mutant spider zombie and felt guilty toward other victims for surviving again.

Thinking that their exploitation of her might alleviate the guilt lingering in her heart, Baek Seol-hwa actually allowed herself to be used by them.

However, that life didn’t last long.

“Balhut Cult?”

“They’re from Gyeongju.”

When Pohang Airport collapsed and a medium-sized camp was being reorganized nearby, visitors came from outside Pohang.

The organization, calling itself the Balhut Cult, had unified Gyeongju and was now recruiting local collaborators under the pretext of liberating Pohang, having taken control of Geonpo Industrial Road.

Unfortunately, the survivors who were using Seol-hwa as a magic staff didn’t like the visitors from outside.

“If those guys run wild, we can’t exercise our rights.”

“We’re trying to recapture Pohang Airport, but they might eat up all our achievements.”

Rather, they perceived them as invaders who would ostracize them and take away their rights.

They planned to use Baek Seol-hwa to create a new camp that would rival the three major camps of Pohang, and naturally, the Balhut Cult would only be an obstacle to their plans.

At first, there was no conflict because the cult’s advance route went straight through Geonpo Industrial Road to capture the Steel Industrial Complex Intersection, but suddenly they changed direction and tried to control Pohang Airport via Yeongil Bay Road.

Naturally, thinking their interests were being infringed upon, they tried to teach the Balhut Cult that had arrived here a hot lesson.

“Target them.”

Long-range sniping using Baek Seol-hwa.

They thought that if they used Seol-hwa’s specialty of mass slaughter well, they could teach the Balhut Cult a hot lesson.

But the unfortunate fact for them was…

“……”

Seol-hwa refused that order.

It was her will that she didn’t want to attack fellow humans, even if she would attack zombies.

Being used by them was due to her guilt for not saving her parents and people, but the order from the looters would only stimulate her guilt.

“Hey. Aren’t you listening to me? You’re just a magic staff!”

“…! …!”

Baek Seol-hwa suffered from the violence of the looters like that, but she somehow managed to maintain her beliefs.

Fortunately, her suffering wasn’t that long.

Before Baek Seol-hwa’s will was further broken by violence, the dragon god Bahamut personally visited Pohang.

“What is that? I don’t know, it’s scary.”

The looters surrendered to that majestic appearance.

The sight of a dragon larger than a 20-story building sweeping away zombies inside Pohang made the magic staff they were so proud of seem trivial.

Deeply regretting their foolishness in trying to oppose the Balhut Cult with just Baek Seol-hwa alone, they lost their fighting spirit.

‘Amazing.’

And Baek Seol-hwa, who still had magical abilities left, was simply amazed at the enormous magical power and mighty strength that Bahamut exerted.

She felt like her whole body would tremble at the wave of immense power that couldn’t be compared to her own.

Because she couldn’t see, Baek Seol-hwa could feel Bahamut’s magical power and the depth of that strength even more.

‘If there is a god. Would that person be a god?’

Baek Seol-hwa felt that power and thought of Bahamut as a god.

As she thought, after Bahamut’s visit, Pohang was quickly liberated, and most of the zombies inside the city could be cleared.

There were still zombies hiding deep inside, but they were quickly cleared by the soldiers of the Balhut Cult and the activities of the three major camps cooperating with the cult.

As a result, Baek Seol-hwa lost even her meaning as a magic staff against zombies.

Yes, she had lost her reason to live.

“We no longer have an obligation to take care of this girl.”

“She’s useless. Useless.”

‘Ah.’

The looters who had lost their fighting spirit to Bahamut were busy concealing or liquidating their evil deeds before the cult discovered them, and naturally, they had no time to care about Baek Seol-hwa, whom they had been using as a magic staff.

Above all, the loss of value was significant.

If Pohang’s interior was still full of zombies, the value of Baek Seol-hwa, who could mass slaughter zombies, would be very high.

‘I. I’m a useless child now.’

However, once Pohang was recaptured, there was no longer a need to fight zombies inside Pohang.

Her value, specialized in mass slaughter, was lost, and the looters didn’t think her other abilities were very valuable either.

While her detection ability would be useful for looters who needed to loot, they were now concealing or liquidating their evil deeds.

They planned to stop being looters and disguise themselves as citizens by taking advantage of the chaotic situation, so they had no reason to covet Baek Seol-hwa’s detection ability.

While her ability to create ice would be useful in a situation where water was scarce, Baek Seol-hwa, whose spirit was already broken, had no way of discovering her own value.

‘Now I. How should I live?’

Her value as a magic staff was gone, and her usefulness was exhausted.

What remained was a body with numerous disabilities.

To hope to survive the apocalypse with this body… honestly, it was a luxury.

As she gradually faded from everyone’s attention, she was losing hope for life, but fortunately, there was someone who took an interest in her.

“Is this child. That Baek Seol-hwa?”

“Yes, Elder Seo Un-jae. If you’re talking about Baek Seol-hwa, the former leader of the Pohang Airport Camp, it’s this disabled person.”

“My goodness….”

It was Seo Un-jae, who had finished negotiations with the Balhut Cult and was newly established, who took an interest in Baek Seol-hwa.

From Seo Un-jae’s perspective, Baek Seol-hwa was not significantly related to the three major camps of Pohang, had wielded considerable power, had the trust of Pohang citizens, and was Pohang’s strongest Awakened, making her the perfect candidate to represent Pohang as mayor.

From the perspective of those inside Pohang, it was a selection that could be sufficiently understood, and the ruling class, the three major camps of Pohang, judged that if it was Baek Seol-hwa rather than someone selected from the three major camps, they could sufficiently compromise. Above all, the title of Pohang’s strongest Awakened made people believe that Baek Seol-hwa was still alive.

So Seo Un-jae thought that Baek Seol-hwa, who had disappeared at some point, would not have died easily, which is why he had found her with such difficulty, but…

Unfortunately, Baek Seol-hwa’s condition was more serious than Seo Un-jae had thought.

“Is this child. Really?”

“Yes. Hey. Show your specialty.”

“……”

Where had that strong female warrior that Seo Un-jae knew gone, leaving only a young child who needed someone’s protection?

Baek Seol-hwa, trembling at the survivor’s words and demonstrating her ability, showed Seo Un-jae the firepower he knew right before his eyes.

“It is Baek Seol-hwa.”

He didn’t want to believe it, but the crippled blind girl in front of him really was Baek Seol-hwa.

Pohang’s strongest Awakened was a pitiful child who could no longer survive this apocalypse without depending on someone.

“Haha. Hahahaha.”

At that tragic sight, Seo Un-jae couldn’t help but laugh hollowly.

From the beginning, Seo Un-jae had no intention of putting forward Baek Seol-hwa as a puppet.

He had thought of presenting Baek Seol-hwa as a leader with leadership that the three major camps could sufficiently accept, and through internal coordination with Baek Seol-hwa, somehow achieving a dramatic compromise among the three major camps.

However, Baek Seol-hwa was broken like this, and if she were selected as the dragon’s priestess as she was, the Balhut Cult would doubt Pohang’s intentions, and the three major camps of Pohang would not recognize Baek Seol-hwa as their superior.

Rather, they would use a mayor who couldn’t do anything as a puppet and proceed with closed-door politics, and if that happened, the three major camps would gradually walk the path of division to aim for the only seat of power in Pohang.

“But would they accept any priestess other than Baek Seol-hwa!”

Even if he wanted to present another suitable priestess, there was no Awakened in Pohang who had as much trust as Baek Seol-hwa.

There was no Awakened who had shown as much achievement as Baek Seol-hwa, and no one who could match the martial prowess she had demonstrated.

‘Son Sang-hui? Impossible! Even if we select her, who has already gone over to the Balhut Cult, other camps will be dissatisfied!’

Seo Un-jae immediately thought of Son Sang-hui as an Awakened to replace Baek Seol-hwa, but judged that she was also impossible.

She had already gone over to the Balhut Cult, and Son Sang-hui would act for the Balhut Cult, not for Pohang.

It was an unsatisfactory selection for the three major camps, and naturally, they would prefer a priestess selected by themselves rather than a henchman of the Balhut Cult.

“Ahahaha. Everyone. Is having a hard time in the apocalypse.”

“……”

Seo Un-jae thought he was stuck.

If he selected a priestess other than Baek Seol-hwa, civil war was virtually certain, but there was no priestess who could replace Baek Seol-hwa.

‘Is it best for me alone to be cursed and fall?’

He judged that even if he faced criticism and curses from the public… even if his political life ended, it would be best to minimize the bloodshed in Pohang.

Seo Un-jae laughed hollowly, lamented to Baek Seol-hwa who couldn’t speak, and slowly took her hand.

At least her sense of touch was still intact, so Baek Seol-hwa could feel that someone had taken her hand.

And the trembling and anxiety felt from Seo Un-jae’s hand were well perceived by Baek Seol-hwa.

“I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I’m sorry. It’s all. My fault for being incompetent.”

Seo Un-jae didn’t want to betray the morality and conscience he had learned throughout his life.

No matter how much he was a politician who acted to seek power, shouldn’t he maintain the line that should be kept as a human being?

What could he possibly gain by using such an injured girl?

Baek Seol-hwa slowly took Seo Un-jae’s trembling hand as he was being tested on the conscience that should be kept as a human being.

“……”

“Haha. Hahaha….”

And she slowly stroked it as if to calm him down.

At the sight of the young girl who was comforting him despite being so hurt, Seo Un-jae laughed hollowly as if in despair.

If she had blamed him, he would have gladly accepted that blame.

But this girl was not blaming, but comforting him.

And Baek Seol-hwa’s clumsy comfort was breaking Seo Un-jae’s heart even more.

If he had been a monster with a human face and a beast’s heart, he wouldn’t have suffered this much.

If he had been a cold-blooded politician who thoroughly sought power, if he could have not batted an eye at someone’s sacrifice, he wouldn’t have suffered this much.

However, Seo Un-jae’s nature was that of an ordinary person, and while he had greed for power, his conscience itself was the same as that of an ordinary human.

“I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I’m really sorry.”

So all he could say was “I’m sorry.”

“I don’t want to die. I don’t want to kill.”

As an ordinary person, he couldn’t bear his own death or the death of others.

But even crying like a child like this was a luxury for Seo Un-jae.

Because from now on, he had to use a child as a sacrificial lamb to avoid civil war in Pohang.