Ch.73MOTHER (5)

As I approached the heart, the resistance grew stronger.

The meat walls were getting thicker. Even oxygen was becoming scarce now.

“Huff, huff…”

I remembered something I’d read in a newspaper article.

Cancer cells divide so rapidly that they suffer from chronic oxygen deprivation.

Perhaps the oxygen here was being depleted in the same way.

Thump, thump.

The pulse grew stronger.

Countless eyes were forming on the mucous membrane surrounding us.

Tiny eyeballs, like millet seeds.

These immature-looking pupils rolled around, following our movements.

“Ugh.”

Jung Haewon shuddered.

“Noona I really think I’m going to lose my mind if we stay here any longer.”

“Just hang on a little more. We’re almost there.”

I comforted Jung Haewon as I continued walking.

Now I could begin to see the massive pulsating mass of flesh ahead.

Just as the human heart is protected by ribs, this creature’s heart was hidden between the warehouse pillars and walls, making it difficult to see.

Finally, we reached the heart.

A massive chunk of flesh, roughly the size of a regular car, pulsating endlessly.

Daju, who arrived first, raised her hammer in preparation for attack.

“Yaaaaah!”

The hammer came down with full force onto the giant heart.

But what followed wasn’t the squelching sound of flesh being torn apart.

It was the sound of metal striking metal.

A dull metallic ring echoed throughout the warehouse.

Were we too late?

The surface of the still-busily pulsating heart now gleamed like steel.

[Metallization]

Clang!

The hammer bounced back after hitting the hardened flesh.

Daju staggered from the recoil, barely managing to regain her balance by leaning against a warehouse shelf.

Tentacles immediately lunged at that spot.

“Daju!”

Canned food and ramen packages fell from the tilting shelf.

Amidst the chaos, a hand gripping the hammer emerged and struck the tentacle.

“Phew…”

As if it were nothing, Daju walked out over the debris, casually dusting off her clothes.

“You were right, oppa. I don’t think we can break that by hitting it.”

“Yeah.”

As soon as I answered, everyone’s gaze naturally turned to the container I was holding.

A plastic container filled with gasoline.

I walked around the warehouse floor with the fuel container.

From where I stood to the monster’s heart, a liquid fuse was drawn on the floor.

“Done. Light it up now.”

Click, click.

Jung Haewon tried with all his might to light the lighter.

Or rather, that’s what he was trying to do.

“Huh?”

Click, click, click.

The lighter only made the sound of gas escaping.

No flame appeared.

“Noona, it won’t light.”

“Don’t you know how to use a lighter?”

“I’m telling you it won’t light!”

“Let me see.”

I tried it myself with the same result.

No matter how much I rolled the flint, no spark appeared.

“You’re right. Do you have another lighter?”

“I have one.”

Daju pulled out an expensive Zippo lighter from her pocket.

The way she proudly showed it off made me wonder if she’d been waiting for this moment.

Click, click.

Daju flipped open the lighter’s lid, but again, no flame appeared.

“Huh? What’s going on?”

“Wait a minute.”

Could the lighters be defective? Both of them?

While I was thinking, Jung Haewon spoke between labored breaths.

“Could it be because there’s not enough oxygen here?”

“You think so?”

That made sense.

Oxygen deprivation could be part of the reason, but something still felt off.

“It’s hard to breathe, but we’re not completely unable to. The lighter not working seems like a different issue.”

“But right now… I don’t think we have time to think about that.”

The oxygen was rapidly depleting.

Fighting against my increasingly foggy mind, I focused on what I could see.

“…”

“I said we don’t have time!”

Complete concentration.

Jung Haewon’s voice grew more distant.

The “insight” ability granted to the Wanderer’s Library librarian isn’t just about seeing the invisible.

[Jung Haewon strongly insists that time is running out.]

[The Fifth Apostle’s tentacles are protecting its heart.]

Like reading a novel while holding the paper.

I could see the surrounding situation from a higher narrative level.

[Yoon Daju is on guard.]

[Jung Haewon has fallen into panic.]

I held the lighter in my hand and tried to spark it.

Then a series of events appeared as narration.

[Lim Dabin activates the lighter.]

[A flame rises from the lighter.]

…

[Lim Dabin activates the lighter.]

[A flame ri■es from the lighter.]

[A fl■me ■■■■■ from the lighter]

[■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■]

The causal relationship I was seeing was simple.

Turn on lighter -> Flame appears

An utterly common cause and effect.

These linked causal relationships appear in chronological order and form a single event—a story.

But now, I couldn’t find such a natural flow of events.

[Lim Dabin activates the lighter.]

[A flame ri■es from the lighter.]

[[Lim Dabin activates the lighter.]

[A flame ri■es from the lighter.]

[A fl■me ■■■■■ from the lighter]

[■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■][Lim Dabin activates the lighter.]

[A flame ri■es from the lighter.]

[A fl■me ■■■■■ from the lighter]

[■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■]

[■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■]

The causality was being interfered with.

By someone who feared the outcome of my actions the most.

Thump. Thump.

The heart beat violently.

It looked as though it was desperately resisting to survive.

Splat-!

Bright red flesh burst right next to my face.

Daju’s hammer narrowly missed my cheek, breaking a tentacle that was about to wrap around me.

“Oppa! What are you doing? Snap out of it!”

“Keep protecting me. Just a little longer.”

“Got it.”

Daju quickly assessed the situation and prepared to fight the incoming tentacles.

“But I can’t hold out for long, you know? If you’re going to do something, do it quickly.”

“Yeah.”

Lighting a fire was impossible now. At least in this space.

So then.

“Daju.”

“I’m busy!!!”

“No, Jung Haewon, you’ll have to do it.”

“W-what is it?”

Jung Haewon was already terrified without even knowing what I was going to ask.

He’s usually so efficient, but in crisis situations, it’s different.

“You’re not asking me to, like, go in there and become the fire myself, right?”

“What are you talking about?”

I closed my eyes.

The information I had seen earlier appeared more clearly.

“Just… carry me if I collapse.”

What’s given to the Wanderer’s Library librarian isn’t just exceptional “eyes.”

There’s also a minimal power to protect oneself in the treacherous library.

[Ignition. Engulfed in flames and burning.]

The ability to edit the story of reality by rising to a higher place.

I merely inserted a single sentence.

Dizziness immediately washed over me, and a metallic, fishy taste filled my dried-out mouth.

Strength drained from my body. I could barely stand.

I didn’t even have enough strength to breathe.

“Huff, huff, huff…”

I gasped for breath while leaning on Jung Haewon.

In exchange for all that, I had created just one small spark.

“What? Did it work just now?”

“Stay… still…”

I threw the spark into the darkness of the warehouse.

Tick.

Whoosh-

The fire spread quickly.

From the floor to the tentacles. And to the heart area where I had practically poured in gasoline.

A wave of hot air rushed toward my face.

“Run. Let’s get… *gasp* out of here.”

“But what about the others?”

“I’ll take care of them, you take oppa and run!”

Flop!

Flopflopflop!

The tentacles began thrashing wildly in the heat, like shrimp trapped in a hot pot.

No matter how much it tried to manipulate causality, this was a fire it couldn’t extinguish.

‘Doomed to burn to death in the fire.’

That was the story I had created.

I barely managed to turn my gaze to the side.

Every muscle in my body was constantly convulsing. Even the slightest change in posture caused a dull pain.

So it took quite a while to completely turn my head.

In the fiercely burning flames.

I could see the silhouettes of two people.

Seok Hyunmin stood frozen in place like a pillar, lips tightly sealed.

In contrast, Heo Yoon was struggling wildly, trying to enter the flames.

“No. No!!!”

Her desperate screams were engulfed by the smoke.

Daju was holding her back with all her strength, but Heo Yoon’s resistance was too fierce.

“Daju! Knock her out!”

“I’m trying, but I can’t!”

No matter how much she tried to subdue her, Heo Yoon kept getting up and screaming.

Seok Hyunmin remained petrified, saying nothing.

Saving these two was proving much more difficult than planned.

“W-what should we do?”

Yoon Daju was at a loss.

Knocking them out would be one solution, but then we’d have to drag their limp bodies. With me already exhausted, that wasn’t a realistic option.

We couldn’t just attack them like we did the monster.

Persuasion would be the best approach, but…

“Daju.”

Heo Yoon, who had been staring blankly at the flames, suddenly called out to Daju.

“Unnie. We need to get out of here now. Hey? Please snap out of it!”

“…”

Her parched lips barely moved as she spoke.

“Just let me die here.”

And a tear fell onto the ashes on the floor.

Heo Yoon’s face as she turned away from the fire to look at us. That expression…

I will probably never forget that scene for the rest of my life.

“Unnie.”

Yoon Daju could only mutter helplessly.

The strength drained from her arms that had been embracing Heo Yoon.

“Thank you.”

Released, she began walking toward the flames.

Seok Hyunmin approached her side, placing his arm on her shoulder as they walked together.

I couldn’t do anything.

I could only watch.

Just as the curtain of fire rising from floor to ceiling began to envelop the two of them.

“…”

The two stopped in their tracks.

Their breathing, thoughts, and even emotions seemed frozen.

Wordlessly, they turned around and came back toward the exit where we were.

I looked behind me.

In the darkness of the warehouse, a vertical line had been drawn.

“Dabin. Over here.”

Choi Serim was holding the door open, calling for me.