episode_0037

I had no choice but to step back into that hell once more.

The rising flames.

The faint scent of blood lingering in the air.

The screams of those dear to me echoing from all directions.

And the fading warmth of life right before my eyes.

The stark, bitter nightmare from eighteen years ago was unfolding again.

No—perhaps “nightmare” wasn’t the right word.

This was an undeniable fragment of my life.

“J-Jeonghyeon… R-run! Mommy’s okay—”

My mother’s abdomen was pierced mid-sentence as she kept shouting for me to flee.

From the gaping hole in her stomach—yes, that warm, dark-red liquid the Artist personality called the proof of life—gushed out in thick, sickening spurts onto the ground.

Trembling, my mother looked at me with wide eyes, not letting out a single scream.

Her lips only twitched.

Go.

Run.

Get away.

Her silent plea didn’t last long before it, too, faded.

Seojin—no, the thing that had once been Seojin—pulled the blade from my mother’s stomach and turned its gaze toward me.

Staring into his clouded eyes, countless memories I had shared with him resurfaced.

Those brilliant, warm memories had once given me the strength and will to live.

But now, they had become chains binding me in place.

“……”

It was a scene so horrifying it felt wretched.

Every time I recalled it, my breath faltered.

My heart shattered.

My eyelids trembled uncontrollably.

A sight that could break a person’s mind.

A pain so unbearable that one might wish to bury it in the past forever.

But.

I wasn’t afraid.

To be precise, I couldn’t be afraid.

Because.

“…I’m here.”

This was a sight all too familiar to me.

Even now, when I lay down to sleep, this horrific scene sometimes resurfaces.

It’s been this way for eighteen years.

My father’s arm was torn off midair.

My mother lost her life to Seojin, who had become a Corrupted.

And I—physically and mentally weak—frantically ran for my life.

This tragedy must have repeated itself dozens, no, perhaps hundreds of times by now.

And so, after running endlessly, I eventually realized:

There was no meaning in fleeing from the past.

This tragedy was my history.

The proof of my existence.

The driving force that moved me forward.

The very root of who I am today.

No matter how horrifying.

No matter how lamentable.

No matter how wretched.

No matter how agonizing.

No matter how it crushed my heart.

No matter how it eventually reduced me to something less than human.

I could never forget this moment.

And I swore to everyone that I wouldn’t forget.

So how could I possibly fear the past?

I had never once escaped this hell.

Step by step, I walked toward Seojin—now a Corrupted.

With a guttural growl, Seojin swung his monstrous hand toward my chest without hesitation.

I didn’t bother dodging.

—CRACK!

With a sickening burst, his hand tore through my left chest.

Yet, strangely, I felt no pain.

I didn’t know why.

Maybe because this was merely an illusion conjured by the Despair Seed.

Or perhaps, after being worn down so thoroughly, even pain had dulled beyond recognition.

Either way, it didn’t matter.

As my consciousness faded once more, I tilted my head at the damp sensation on my cheeks and touched them.

“……”

Hot, red tears of blood streaked down.

A ruined street.

Thick, acrid smoke rising into the air.

A field of cold corpses scattered in every direction.

“Hah…! H-Heuk…!”

Karen gasped for breath as she kept running.

She couldn’t remember when she had started.

Her heart pounded as if it would burst, but she couldn’t stop.

If she did, the things chasing her would really tear it out.

The sudden disaster in what had been peaceful days had taken everything from her.

All the frail girl could do was run endlessly, evading the Corrupted.

But the thought of letting go, of giving up, kept rising in her mind.

Just once.

If she just stopped once, it would all be over—

“D-Don’t… stop!”

A voice from beside her snapped her crumbling mind back into focus.

The voice was ragged, breathless.

Yet, it carried a vivid will to survive.

Struggling for air, Karen turned her head to the right.

There, gripping her hand tightly, was a boy she didn’t know—running alongside her, fleeing from death.

She had never even heard his name, let alone exchanged introductions.

For all she knew, they might have met for the first time today.

But Karen couldn’t let go of his hand.

In that moment, it felt like the only lifeline that could save her.

Swearing never to release it, she clutched the nameless boy’s hand desperately.

But Karen’s weak stamina soon reached its limit.

Her body refused to move.

“I… can’t… anymore…”

As she gasped out those words, the boy clenched his jaw and frantically scanned their surroundings.

Then, as if spotting something, his expression brightened slightly.

“…Just a little longer.”

Pulling Karen along, he dragged her somewhere.

Their destination was a half-shattered wardrobe lying in an alley.

“Here. Hide inside.”

The boy shoved Karen into the wardrobe—barely large enough to fit one child.

“W-What about you…?”

The boy didn’t answer her trembling question.

“…Don’t come out. No matter what. Got it?”

Karen faintly realized what he was thinking.

And absurdly, the first thought that crossed her mind was:

Ah… I can live.

She couldn’t help but feel relieved.

At the brink of life and death, morality had long since warped into something meaningless.

Shameful as it was, she wanted to survive.

The boy looked at her and smiled faintly.

Then, releasing her hand, he mouthed something silently.

Though his voice didn’t reach her, she knew what he said.

—I liked you.

And the moment their hands parted—

………

…….

…..

…

.

“…!”

Karen jolted awake with a soundless scream.

“G-Geez! Turn on a light before coming in. You scared me.”

What… was happening?

Just moments ago, she had been—

“……”

Panting, Karen slowly looked around.

No screams. No flames.

No bloodstains littering the ground. No unbearable pain in her legs.

And the boy who had been holding her hand was nowhere to be seen.

Instead, Park Jeonghyeon sat there, one hand resting on his own chest.

And yet… why did her right hand still feel so warm?

Glancing down, she saw Jeonghyeon’s hand tightly gripping hers.

…..

“…Y-You crazy—?!”

Karen yanked her hand back as if burned.

The warmth that had been comforting her just moments ago quickly faded.

“I told you not to touch me!”

Snarling, Karen glared as Jeonghyeon let out a dry laugh.

“Wow. Unbelievable. You grabbed my hand. I just lent it to you because you looked like you needed it.”

“I… did?”

“Yeah. You squeezed so hard I thought my fingers would break. Must’ve been one hell of a memory.”

Only then did Karen piece together what had happened.

The Despair Seed’s corpse had exploded for some reason, forcing her to relive that horrific past.

“H-How long was I out?”

“Roughly thirty minutes.”

It had felt like hours.

Now, it was as if she had just woken from a nightmare.

“Still, you pulled through. I knew you could.”

Jeonghyeon stood and offered her his hand.

Karen stared at it for a moment before a question surfaced in her mind.

That boy who had held her weak hand and run with her—

What had happened to him?

“……”

He must have died.

She had been the only survivor in the village that day.

“Not getting up?”

“…I’m getting up.”

Snapping back, Karen grabbed his hand and pulled herself up.

For some reason, the warmth from his palm felt especially comforting today.

“So… it’s really over? You said that Despair Seed thing was the boss, right?”

Still holding my hand, Karen avoided my gaze as she scratched the back of her head and spoke.

“It’s over. I told you—I know everything about this dungeon.”

“Oh, really? So you totally knew the boss would explode after dying, huh? That’s why you panicked like that?”

“Well…”

I had no comeback to her sarcastic jab.

There was no denying this mess was my fault.

‘What was the real reason?’

While Karen had been fighting her despair, I’d tried to figure out why the Despair Seed exploded—but nothing came to mind.

Maybe some unknown factor had triggered it, or perhaps a rare event had occurred.

I wasn’t sure.

“Sorry. My bad. I’ll make it up to you, okay?”

“I’m not mad.”

The corner of Karen’s lips twitched briefly.

Yeah, that slight upturn told me she really wasn’t angry.

I’d been worried this ordeal might have affected her, but seeing her like this put me at ease.

“Alright, then. Time to claim our reward.”

With a small chuckle, I trudged toward the coffin where the Despair Seed had rested.

Inside should be the item that’ll let me break my limits.

“You look like a grave robber.”

“Shut up.”

Brushing off Karen’s remark, I unceremoniously pried open the coffin.