Novelingua - High-Quality Translations of Foreign Novels, Chinese Novels, Korean Novels, Japanese Novels

Chapter 1

A desperate wish can create miracles.

Steadfast beliefs, survival instincts, selfish desires, love, and devotion. Humans who throw themselves towards their wishes often exhibit godlike powers. All those things that are said to be aided by the heavens cannot happen without desperate wishes.

However, the miracles that come are not always blessings for everyone. Because humans can never truly become gods.

Crack-crack

A high-rise building with a broken mid-section slowly tilted towards the ground. The sound of the collapse was like the footsteps of a huge disaster approaching. As the building debris fell, the surrounding buildings collapsed in a chain reaction. Behind the dust that blurred the view, a number of mutants several times the remaining survivors approached.

The subjugation operation for the fourth level 0 disaster that struck South Korea, the 4th Great Rift, had failed.

In the sky, so blue that it dazzled the eyes, there was a large black crack. As if mocking the desperate defense over the past two days, it spewed out monstrous mutants once again.

"Mom, I'll make your favorite japchae right now. Until I finish making it and eat it, I'll try to hold on."

Soram turned his head at the sound of someone talking on the phone next to him. ...I love you. After ending the call with those last words, Ayoung tightly gripped her cell phone and then threw it aside. She wouldn't have the luxury to see it again anyway.

Lee Ayoung, a 20-year-old hunter, forcibly gripped her weapon again. Tears fell from her trembling chin. She was too young to calmly accept a situation with no hope left.

"Aaaaah!"

"Why, why is it getting bigger! Why! After devouring so many lives!"

"I, I don't want to die! Damn it, I want to live... Sob...!"

Screams spread among those who had been fighting while clinging to hope until the end, not just Ayoung. Hearing the sound, the vibration on Ayoung's cheeks also intensified. The only person without any change in expression at this moment was Soram. Standing next to Ayoung, he took a step forward.

"Hunter Lee Ayoung."

"...Yes, Chief."

"Step back. Stay as far back as possible."

If she went to the rear, it would be easy to leave the front lines. Quite a few hunters had already realized there was no hope and fled the scene. If Ayoung went home now, she could spend her last moments with her beloved family. It was the final hypocrisy of the leader who hadn't even played a proper role for several years.

As expected, Ayoung looked at him with an expression that said, 'What is this person suddenly saying?' However, Jin Soram had already gripped his sword and stepped forward.

His body was covered in injuries, as much as the weapon stuck with blood and dust. His steps approaching the oncoming horde of mutants were not steady either. But Soram increased his speed even more as he approached the monsters.

The first to spot him was a goat-shaped mutant with black horns all over its body, including its face. The mutants of the 4th Great Rift were large animals grotesquely transformed. Soram thought as he drew his raised sword in a long line upward.

This time, I will die here.

―Kiaaaaaaah!!!

The mutant, deeply cut in the side, screamed. The swung sword was sharply raised towards the mutant. The blue mist, the unique form of his power, shrouded the surroundings. The sword was thrust into the back of the mutant's ear.

Poof!

―Kieeeee......!

The mutant, whose breath was cut off, disappeared into black ashes starting from the critically injured part. However, that was only one of the tens of thousands of mutants pouring out from the rift. Around Soram, dozens of mutants had already gathered, and various mutants were still descending from the sky.

Soram took another step forward. The leg of a huge bull, which seemed to be about one story tall, was cut. In the gap where the mutant's body tilted, this time he aimed for the neck.

Fortunately, his body still moved properly. He twisted his waist back and cut off the torso of a new mutant. The skin thicker than the length of the sword was sliced off. Even before it turned into debris, he attacked the next, and then the next mutant.

As Soram moved conspicuously at the forefront, the mutants advancing forward also changed direction. The bloodshot eyeballs of dozens of mutants were fixed on a single human much smaller than them.

An unidentifiable beast drooling saliva rushed towards his neck.

Clang!

The teeth that charged in front of his face were blocked by the sword. However, at the same time, he couldn't block the claws of another mutant approaching from behind.

"Ah, ugh......"

Blood splattered on the ground. The left shoulder that was attacked didn't move, perhaps because the muscle was severed. Fortunately, the sword was held in his right hand. Soram gritted his teeth so hard that his cheeks bulged and moved the sword. He tore open the mutant's open mouth with the blade and turned around to pounce on the other monster with blood on its claws.

Like a branch shedding leaves as it faces early winter, blood droplets pooled wherever Soram moved. Soram swung his sword constantly, not even paying attention to his tattered body.

Fighting the mutants until the end, being torn to death by them here.

That's how Soram anticipated his final moments.

He continued to fight alone at the very front. Although there were a few more hunters left on this battlefield, no one approached him.

Jin Soram was the chief hunter who always stood at the forefront in exchange for wielding command arbitrarily. ...In this life, he tried to stop the Great Rift with such an attitude but ended up failing like this. It was his own mistake, so he had no reason or right to think of this situation as bitter.

Thump, thump, thump, thump......

Heavy footsteps shaking the ground were heard. Each time the huge foot stepped on the ground, the asphalt cracked. By the time Soram raised his head while dealing with another mutant, a mutant so huge that its shape was hard to guess had already lifted its claws high. The shadow quickly fell over him.

Kwaaang!!!

"Aaaah!"

The cruel mindless beast couldn't send Soram away at once. Instead, it completely crushed one of his legs. The merciless force completely tore off below the thigh.

"Ah, ah..., ha..."

The unimaginable pain rather numbed the senses. Soram knew that death had come right in front of him. A pale, trembling smile rose, unlike his pale complexion. Now that he couldn't move a single step, he would surely die with the next attack.

"Ch, Chief Jin! Are you alright!"

"Don't come near!"

Soram shouted, squeezing out his remaining strength. The hunter trying to approach him hesitated.

"Get lost! If you come this way, I'll kill you with my own hands!"

He said fiercely. Since the primary goal of stopping the 4th Great Rift had failed, no one should come near him to achieve the second-best outcome he hoped for.

The dust rose so much that it was impossible to see ahead. Behind the yellow clouds, the shadow soared once again.

Time always flowed slowly in the face of death. Soram took in the sight with his eyes.

If he died alone like this, he could at least avoid the worst ending.

If he died 'alone' for sure.

For that, Soram had jumped out in front of the mutants and deliberately sent one of his team members, other than Ayoung, to a different location. Now everything was ready.

At the last moment, Soram slowly closed his eyes. And.

Bam!

Someone pushed Soram to the side. His body, already half-collapsed, fell backward without resistance.

Soram, pushed onto the dust, barely raised his head, propping himself up on the ground. At the same time, a groan much lower than Soram's voice was heard.

"...Cough."

In the spot where Soram originally was, a man with his upper body pierced by the mutant's claws was bleeding.

"Why..."

Soram's white eyes, stained with blood, widened greatly.

He had arranged it so that he absolutely could not come near here, so why.

"Han Tae-un."

Why did you, once again.

Despair clouded Soram's face for the first time at this moment. It was the worst situation among the endings he had anticipated.

"No, no!"

Soram reached out, barely crawling and grasping the cement pieces on the floor.

Even with that desperation, the attack continued. The claws that had penetrated Tae-un's torso pulled out from the back, and the sharp claw tips swung at him again. For a brief moment, Tae-un's dark eyes slid towards Soram.

"...Chief, Jin."

And Soram knew how his blood-clotted lips would move.

"Don't!"

Even when Soram screamed, his lips moved just like in his memory. Even if the form of death was different, the words he left to Soram were always the same.

"You have to live."

The shadow engulfed Tae-un. The face that was clearly visible, the body stained with injuries, and even the legs wrapped in a black combat uniform. As soon as he finished speaking, blood splattered from where he was to Soram's face.

"No..."

Tae-un's body collapsed to the ground, and the blood flowing from his whole body created a dark red puddle. The thick, sticky liquid flowed to Soram's arm that was propping him up on the ground. In the lump of flesh with almost no form left, only the closed eyes were clearly visible. He wasn't breathing and didn't move. Han Tae-un died saving Jin Soram.

Once again, like this.

"No, no! Damn it, Han Tae-un! Don't die! Don't die before me! Han Tae-un!"

Naturally, there was no answer. Soram grabbed the cement powder caked with blood and screamed.

"You, you bastard! Why! Damn it, why are you doing this to me again! No! Don't!"

The blood on his cheek flowed down like bloody tears. No matter how much Soram raised his voice and shouted at the top of his lungs, there was no response from where Tae-un had disappeared.

"Ah, ah..."

Soram stared blankly at the place where he died. With the time Tae-un had bought, he might have been able to choose to run away. But even if he lived a little longer, the ending was already set.

Other hunters tried to approach to save Soram. Soram pushed them far away with the last strength drawn from resentment. And he sat there with unfocused eyes.

"Let's meet again. You damn bastard."

The words he spit out as if chewing became his last will.

Until another mutant approached, smelling the blood, until his whole body was crushed under its foot, Soram stared at Tae-un's corpse as if rooted there and met his death.

2024. 08. 07

South Korea, 3rd Great Rift stopped

2025. 10. 15.

South Korea, 4th Great Rift occurred.

Emergency evacuation order issued for residents in Songpa-gu area.

2025. 10. 17.

Hunter (1st Grade) Han Tae-un died.

Chief Hunter (1st Grade) Jin Soram died.

All of Seoul turned into a dungeon.

2025. 10. 19.

Dungeonification of areas except for parts of the metropolitan area.

Large-scale rift occurred in Busan.