STM 204 (End)

It was strange that Enya was hesitating, which was uncharacteristic of her. She had delivered the news that humanity would soon perish and the story of the traitor so calmly.

So Why?

But Enya just stared at me silently for a little longer.

“Team Leader Kim, pack your bags and head to the Integrated Research Institute now. There is one researcher still there. That person will be able to help you.”

“Help what? And where am I supposed to go? You said the Eye of Hell will open in just one year; then I’ll have to stay behind and prepare to fight…”

“No. There is no need to fight.”

Only then did I realize why she and the others here had been so calm. This time, I felt suffocated for a different reason.

Ah, she had given up.

“Our plan is to wait for the monsters to die on their own once their preys are gone, but if the Eye of Hell opens and monsters swarm endlessly, there is nothing we can do. There are few left who can fight, and we don’t have any robots left to use.”

“……It’s always been like this. But we’ve held on.”

I barely managed to say. Enya nodded calmly.

“Right, For one more year.”

“But…….”

“The person who wrote the Book of Prophecy was a researcher who conducted the initial brain transplant tests.”

“Back when they went without coordinates? Someone’s really alive?”

“Yes. Unlike the traitor, that person was working hard in her own way there to close the Eye of Hell. And she kept sending these scrolls to let people know about the situation.”

So who is that person…

In that instant, I froze as if struck by lightning. When she saw my eyes widen, Enya smiled for the first time.

“Go to the Integrated Research Institute. The researcher there might send you there. Kanghee, go and meet your family. Try moving toward a different goal, even if it’s just you.”

‎

D-341

‎

The researcher I met at the Integrated Research Institute was briefly surprised to see me, but responded calmly. True to someone who had survived that hell and guarded the institute alone, she accepted my request without much reaction. I was actually surprised, as I had expected a response that it was difficult due to technical issues.

“You mean it’s possible?”

“Yes, I’ll send you.”

“I heard that operating the device requires a lot of energy?”

I looked around the half-collapsed laboratory. As expected, her answer was exactly as I had anticipated.

“That’s right. But we can use it once. Most of the devices will turn off after that. But once is enough.”

Of course it was enough. And a short while later, I lay down on the laboratory device.

“You can think of it as similar to file transfer.”

The researcher attaching the device to my head continued her stiff explanation.

“Besides, the coordinates this time are more accurate than usual. I will do my best as well.”

Rumble!

The underground laboratory where I was suddenly shook as if there had been an earthquake, and dust fell from the ceiling. Both the researcher and I paused our conversation for a moment, as we were accustomed to it. The researcher finished installing the device on my body. Her explanation also quickened.

“If the transplant is successful, you will open your eyes in a body that has just met death. Only the mind is dead; the body is still alive. However, you can only use that body for three minutes. You must properly activate this within that time.”

She showed me a black stone, about half the size of a thumbnail. I knew that it contained nanorobots.

“I will send this stone to the Eye of Hell first. If it passes through successfully, it will attach to the body to be transplanted. That acts as a kind of antenna. That is the only way the transplant can proceed. I will send everything I have right now. …I just hope at least one makes it through.”

“It will. I will go and close the Eye of Hell.”

There was no reply. Does she not believe me? I’m serious.

After a while, I heard her voice.

“There is no need for that. Humanity will not survive.”

“At least one person will. I’ll do it for that person.”

I looked up and met her gaze.

“I will believe that you are still alive.”

“It’s a vain delusion.”

“Then the delusion will save me. Because with that power, I will definitely succeed.”

I did not see her reaction after that. My eyelids grew heavy, and my mind drifted. Soon, I was overcome by a dizzying sensation, as if I were being sucked through a pipe.

‎

‎

D-0

When the researcher opened her eyes that morning, she checked the writing on the calendar. Today was the day the Eye of Hell, mentioned in the Book of Prophecy, would open again.

The beginning of a true hell that would never close. She brewed the last cup of coffee she had saved for this day. And she waited for the apocalypse.

However, the sun set, the night grew darker, and even as the morning sun rose again, the Eye of Hell did not open. Only then did she realize that the last informant she had sent had kept his promise.

Ah, he really succeeded. For the sake of that one person who might still be alive.

The researcher rubbed her tired eyes with her hand, exhausted from not having slept for a long time.

Moisture smeared under her fingers, but she got up from her seat without caring. For the first time in a long while, she carefully surveyed the research institute, which had already turned into a ruin.

There must be seeds left somewhere. I could build a hydroponic system to grow them.

She had high hopes.

Let’s turn on the communicator. There must be people somewhere who are still alive, just like me.

Even in places where communication is cut off, there must be many holding on.

She imagined them gathering, talking again, cultivating the land.

It could all have been a delusion. But she was not disappointed.

Who knows? Perhaps this delusion might save me.

–Epliogue-

If you were to meet the strongest being in the world, what would be the first thing you would want to say? For me, there was undoubtedly only one thing.

“Ah, you don’t know what a chili pepper is? You really don’t?”

My daily life was a series of fruitless days, even after searching through the Acorn Forest. I went to find the master of the Forest of the Crimson Waves and asked directly. Anyone watching might have thought I was a madman talking to grass, but I was serious.

However, despite having even hit me on the back of the head with the wind once, the grass didn’t react to this question.

I mean, it’s a plant too, right? How could it not know?

“Are you deliberately withholding information to mess with me?”

No matter how long I waited, not a single gust of wind blew.

Fuck.

I was about to stand up when I paused. Wait, the master of the forest only has green stems and leaves, but since it’s a plant… maybe…

Whoosh–

A strong gust of wind struck the back of my head. It hurt enough to make me cry out.

I heard the voice; It told me that I must not eat it.

It was dumbfounding. As if I’d eat something that looks that unappetizing.

“I don’t eat that kind of weed either.”

I pointed around angrily and cursed.

“You cursed land!”

By the time I had searched almost the entire Acorn Forest, my anger toward this cursed land had turned into despair. The only good news was that Doctor Kim had fully recovered around then and was moving around just fine.  However, even she, now full of vigor, clutched her head in agony at the news of the chili peppers.

“Haa, even the Acorn Forest I trusted…”

“Because that place is also cursed.”

“Are you sure you searched correctly?”

I got angry and put down the dongchimi broth I was about to drink.

“I’m the one who is most desperate right now.”

I missed kimchi. If it were gochujang stir-fry, I could eat dirt. Doctor Kim nodded as she looked at me.

“All right, that’s exactly when you go crazy.”

“When does it get better?”

“After about nine years, you kind of give up.”

Damn it. I swallowed my anger along with the dongchimi broth. Doctor Kim, who claimed she had given up, still lost her mind at the mention of chili peppers. It felt bleak because it looked like my own future.

“Haa, what do we do now?”

“What else can we do? We just have to keep looking.”

Frustrated, we both propped our foreheads with our hands.

A figure we had forgotten about came to find us. Unable to make eye contact, fidgeting awkwardly, it was Baron Owick. She held out a tray and mumbled in a barely audible voice.

“Um, my, my research has borne fruit, and um… would you like to have a taste?”

What is it? Doctor Kim and I turned our heads without much thought, and saw it.

A blue, thumb-sized fruit placed on the tray. But the shape…a chili pepper?!

Clunk!

Crash!

Doctor Kim and I rushed at her like rhinoceroses at the same time. Baron Owick, startled, recoiled in terror and dropped her tray.

But who am I? I dove, slid, and caught the precious fruit, and Doctor Kim picked it up and quickly took a small bite.

“How is it?”

“…….”

However, Doctor Kim froze like a statue, still in the same position after taking just one bite.

“Ah, how is it?”

Unable to bear it any longer, I snatched the fruit from her hand and took a small bite.

Crunch.

In an instant, a spicy taste spread throughout my mouth. And it carried a scent that was tearfully familiar. My eyes immediately teared up.

Fuck… it’s really… really a chili pepper.

That day, Doctor Kim and I were saved.