Accomplice III
The final resistance team included not only awakened ones but also a large number of ordinary people, so right after they were swept away, Busan turned into a ghost town.
Even after hanging the [Opened] sign and looking out onto the street, there wasn't a single passerby. Noh Do-hwa and I sat on the bench in front of the workshop, watching the scenery.
“…….”
“…….”
“Hmm. Would you like some coffee, master?”
“Oh. Yes. Coffee made by my assistant is always welcome…….”
The desolate street scene didn’t feel awkward.
Rather, it felt like the days that had managed to pretend to be lively and normal despite the end times were the ones that had occasionally felt unfamiliar.
The deserted streetlights.
The crosswalk with its white stripes all torn up.
The broad-leaved street trees. The sunlight's aurora. The cicadas, not yet extinct, sounding their sirens to find mates also not yet extinct.
“It’s summer……”
Noh Do-hwa muttered as she sipped her Café au Lait, her breath rising like transparent smoke.
The world seemed to have finally regained its original appearance, peaceful.
At 9 AM, 11 AM, and noon, the menu was steak I had cooked myself. Even at 1 PM, 3 PM, and 5 PM, there were no customers in Noh Do-hwa's workshop, which was usually bustling.
The sun set.
The eyelids of the night sky were the color of dusk.
The world that should have fallen asleep long ago, had spent the last 8 years clinging to a late slumber, finally closed its eyes gently.
'Watching the end of the world together like this isn't so bad.'
It was then.
As the reclining Buddha of the sunset gently nodded off, I suddenly heard footsteps.
My ears perked up.
“Well, it’s about time to close up. Hmmm. Today was a total loss. You must have enjoyed the break… Hmm? What's wrong, Assistant?”
“…Someone's coming this way.”
“Oh…?”
The sound of footsteps grew clearer. But there was something strange about the sound. Step, clack, step, clack, like footsteps overlapped with another sound.
It was the sound of a cane.
“Ah.”
I stood up from the bench to welcome the guest. Sure enough, a familiar old man was hobbling around the corner with his cane, leaning on the summer air.
I hurried over to support the old man.
“Oh, sir! What brings you here today! Did you walk all the way from Bansong-dong?”
“Oh, our young assistant is still in Busan. Huh? Why are you still here? Huh? Oh, and Ms. Noh Do-hwa is still here too. What are young people like you doing here? Huh? What are you planning……?”
“…….”
I supported the old man into the workshop, where Noh Do-hwa was already wearing her white doctor's coat as usual. She adjusted her monocle and picked up a patient chart.
“Is this patient Shin Soo-bin from Bansong-dong? What brings you here?”
“Uh, it’s nothing special. Just, this ankle brace has been creaking since last week. It’s old……”
“Hmph. You've been fiddling with it again, haven't you? I told you not to touch it. Do my words sound like a joke to you?”
“No, oh no. That's not it—”
“And if the brace is misaligned, you should come in for repairs immediately. What could be so important that you waited a whole week?”
“Ah, I’m sorry. Doctor, I feel bad about this. Uh, do you think it will take long? If it takes long, just forget it.”
“No. It will only take ten minutes……”
Noh Do-hwa took out her tools and tapped and tightened the misaligned parts of the assistive device. Then she and the patient exchanged small talk.
Just like usual.
Clang- The sound of the hammer echoed.
“…….”
I sneaked to the entrance of the workshop and looked outside.
A strange noise was mixed into the twilight sky.
Instead of starlight, red spots glimmered like scratches, and instead of the Milky Way, a blue vein throbbed like an artery.
The sky was hollowing. Or rather, beyond the sky, the celestial void phenomenon. It was proof that the end of the world was truly near.
‘…This is not good.’
Even the sunset was being infected in real-time. What started as a mere crimson and yellow sunset was beginning to take on a thick viscosity, like the blood of the black night sky.
If the sky were an experimental beaker, and red liquid were dropped into it, this is what it would look like.
The void was becoming the surface, the light was turning into mucus, the clouds into blades, and the ground into the Milky Way.
If powerful anomalies were left unchecked, they would mix and merge, forming a mass.
The Night Goddess, Nut. At this time, I couldn't even begin to theorize the cause of this anomaly and void. It was a recurring world-ending scenario.
The night of this world was devouring the city step by step.
Soon, the beings on the surface would fall into eternal sleep. In no more than 10 minutes.
“Master, it’s about time–-”
“Assistant.”
I turned around. Noh Do-hwa was coming out of the workshop with the patient.
Our eyes met.
A pair of black islands floating in a white sea stared at me.
“Please take Mr. Shin Soo-bin back home.”
“…….”
A brief exchange of glances and a more substantial exchange of silence followed.
“Do you have a metal rod in your ear? Assistant. Take the patient home. Damn. It’s already rough out there; if he falls, will you take responsibility?”
“Okay, understood.”
“Good……”
Noh Do-hwa faintly smiled.
“As expected of my assistant……”
The old man kept insisting that he was fine and could walk by himself, but Noh Do-hwa was unwavering.
I gently picked up the old man and started walking.
“Oh, I’m really fine. Ms. Noh Do-hwa cares so much about her patients, it’s a problem… Ooh!”
The old man’s soprano transformation at the end was, of course, because I used lightfoot.
The old man looked around with wide eyes. The scenery passed by in an instant. I used my aura to protect the patient’s body.
Tap. Tap. I moved by stepping on the collapsed building walls and traffic lights.
‘If I move as quickly as possible to take the patient to his home in Bansong-dong… Then return to the workshop, it’ll be tight, but I might just make it back in time before the world ends. No, but the timing of the void reaching the workshop is the variable.’
“Young man.”
As I used lightfoot, the old man in my arms suddenly spoke.
“Yes?”
“Let me down here.”
I blinked. To reach his home, we still had to move for another four minutes.
“No, sir. I will take you home.”
“Oh no, that’s enough. Does the house matter? The way home does. Now that my ankle brace is fixed, I want to walk the last part on my own.”
“Oh.”
“I’ve lived in this neighborhood my whole life. My elementary school was around here, and this was the road home. I’ve walked this path back and forth for decades. Today, I didn’t want to die at home, so I walked out, but there was no one around. I didn’t expect Ms. Noh Do-hwa to be at her workshop. She’s truly a thoughtful person.”
“…….”
“Thank you, young man. You’re worried about Ms. Noh Do-hwa, aren’t you? This isn’t your path. Let’s both go our ways.”
I let the old man down on the downhill path. He muttered as he leaned on his cane and took a step.
It was the first lane road Noh Do-hwa had privately paved in Busan.
The old man, supporting about 30% of his weight on the cane, waved his hand.
“I’m fine now, go back quickly.”
“…Thank you.”
“You’re thanking me for no reason. I’m the one who’s grateful……”
The old man muttered to himself as he slowly descended the hill.
The sound of cicadas filled the air. But from beyond the concrete jungle, their cries were slowly dwindling.
The world’s night was closing in.
“See you next time, sir.”
I bowed my head and turned around. Then I moved even faster than when I had carried the old man.
On the rooftop of the workshop.
When I had first joined, it was a two-story building, but over the past eight years, it had been renovated and expanded to five stories. On top of the building with its uniquely Korean green waterproof paint, showing no sense of interior design.
“Oh……”
Noh Do-hwa stood there, holding a wine bottle and a corkscrew.
She looked at me as if it were natural for me to land on the rooftop like a butterfly. Even though it was the first time I had used lightfoot in front of her.
“You came back faster than I expected. Did you properly see Mr. Shin Soo-bin home?”
“The old man said he wanted to walk the last part himself. I had no choice but to let him down.”
“Oh. Hmm. I didn’t think of that…”
Pop- The cork came out of the wine bottle.
Noh Do-hwa threw the cork and the corkscrew over the edge of the rooftop.
“Wanna have a drink?”
“If it’s from the master’s collection, I’ll gladly drink.”
“Hmph.”
The red liquid, resembling the wine-colored sunset of today’s sky, poured into the glass.
“A toast. To something, anything…….”
“To a toast.”
Clink.
The glass rang pleasantly. The wine in the glass looked like a flower bud of a bleeding heart suspended in the air.
We stared at the sky over the city through our wine glasses. The sky, which had also turned into transparent glass, gave the feeling of looking through glass beyond glass.
Five minutes until the end. Maybe six if we were lucky.
“Assistant.”
“Yes.”
“Actually, I can make weapons…”
I looked at Noh Do-hwa. She wasn't looking at me.
“Pardon?”
“Weapons, weapons. Equipment? Whatever. You know those games where the character gets stronger with new weapons… As you know, my ability is to [make prosthetics feel like natural limbs], but, hmm. This applies to other equipment as well…”
“……!”
My eyes widened.
Indeed, the human limb was the first tool. If Noh Do-hwa could make swords or spears, which could be considered extensions of the arm?
“Body and Sword as One……!”
“……? What’s that……?”
“Oh. Um. It just means it’s amazing.”
It was difficult to convey my amazement to someone who had no connection to subculture and was purely a born and voluntary outsider (this person hadn’t even watched a single Marvel movie).
“…Why did you hide such an ability, master? You’re a born blacksmith. You could have gained recognition from Dang Seo-rin, attracted attention from Cheon Yo-hwa, and made warlords eager to have you.”
“Hmph. You just answered your own question… If word got out that I could make awesome weapons, wouldn’t those annoying awakened ones come even more fiercely to bother me?”
“Oh.”
“But if I knew the world was going to end like this, I would have made at least one weapon for someone. Not that they would spread the word.”
“…….”
The sky turned red.
Then, like the blade of a guillotine, the black night flowed down. Arteries and veins spread across the sky, mimicking the Milky Way's colors.
“…Then, make one for me next time.”
“Hmph. Sure. It's a huge hassle. But if we're going to die anyway, that’s a hassle I can deal with…….”
“You must.”
“Yes. If I don’t want to, feel free to pester me until I do……”
Clang-
From the rooftop, a sound of something breaking came from near the traffic light intersection. The sound was like steel being crushed.
It sounded almost comically absurd, but the result was not funny. The entire 'scenery' on the other side of the traffic light was swallowed by the night sky.
Clang, clang. Clang-
The crosswalk and buildings were swallowed by the void one by one. Like a bitten apple, the tops of buildings were sliced off.
300 meters, 250 meters, 180 meters, 120 meters. In an instant. The black night sky devoured the space voraciously from all directions.
The world had shrunk to the point where it could only accommodate our breathing.
“Assistant.”
“Yes.”
“Thank you――”
Crash.
The last sound I heard was the sound of the wine glass Noh Do-hwa was holding. Or perhaps it was my wine glass shattering as it was bitten by the night sky.
A crescent moon formed on the glass.
And the world closed its eyes.
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