A World Where You All Are The Villains - Chapter 38

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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38.

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A deep, resonant boom echoed across the landscape――.
The ground trembled violently with the deafening roar.
I staggered, barely managing to regain my balance, and my senses snapped into focus.
“Where am I…?”
A landscape both familiar and unfamiliar greeted me.
A massive crater-like depression carved into the earth, and surrounding it, a city reduced to ash and ruin.
The gas mask pressed against my face felt oddly comfortable.
“…The Gate Site? Why am I here…?”
“Dr. Yu!”
That was when someone in the distance called out to me urgently.
“…Yu Ji-han?”
As I turned to look, I couldn’t help but grimace at the sight of that detestable face.
‘Right. The Military issued an emergency summons.’
Seeing him, the reason for my presence here came flooding back.
Not long ago, an anomaly had occurred near the Gate where the ‘book’ was discovered.
Normally, when a Special Task Force composed of Awakened individuals exterminated all the monsters, the Gate would close and the black fog would dissipate.
But the black fog had reappeared at a Gate Site that had already been sealed and destroyed.
When they requested that I investigate, I hastily grabbed cure-1 and left the Research Institute.
And of all people, the one assigned as my daily escort was him.

― Hey, Dr. Yu!

Yu Ji-han.
The first adopted child my biological father brought in fifteen years ago, and my brother by no blood relation.

― What? Why are you here?
― Why? I received strict orders to safely escort our Dr. Yu to your destination.
― Are you insane? Don’t pretend to know me.
― You’re too much. And here I am, your only older brother, dropping everything despite being busy just to look after family.
― Why would you be my only older brother?
― Because among all those lined up above and below you, only I showed up, so I’m your only older brother, little sibling.

Fragmented memories surfaced one by one.
The reason I couldn’t bring myself to turn away that shameless bastard was because of the curious gleam in Kim’s eyes.

— Oh my…! Aren’t you Yu Ji-han, Major?!

Aside from his ruined personality, he was an A-rank Awakener whose polished appearance and formidable abilities had long since elevated him to celebrity status.
The same applied to my other stepbrothers.
There was no such thing as karma in this world. Unfortunately for me.
That was when it happened.
Kuuuuuung, Kwaaang――!
A tremor incomparably stronger than before shook the very earth beneath us.
“Ugh…!”
“Hey, Yu Sol! What are you doing standing there like an idiot! Get over here now!”
Yu Ji-han shouted at me repeatedly.
But having been knocked to the ground by the earthquake, I couldn’t easily obey his command.
Whiiiiing―!
To make matters worse, a powerful gust of wind came roaring from behind, violently distorting my vision.
“…!”
Yu Ji-han, who had been rushing toward me, suddenly froze in place.
His face was pale, his eyes wide open.
For some reason, his gaze was fixed not on me, but on something behind me.
I tore off the suffocating gas mask and struggled to look behind me.
Just as before the storm struck, the sky had darkened considerably, and dark clouds swirled in a vortex overhead.
Flash!
Lightning descended, casting a brilliant light.
And then.
Crack―
With the sound of something splitting, a fine fissure appeared in the sky.
Black smoke seeped through the crack in thick, billowing clouds.
“That, that’s… a Gate?!”
I couldn’t believe my eyes.
A Gate was opening.
I was witnessing firsthand, with my own two eyes, a phenomenon I had only ever seen through audiovisual materials!
Crack, crackle―
The fissure widened progressively.
Black mist poured out ceaselessly.
Soon, when the fissure opened completely, all manner of horrific monsters would come pouring out.
And yet, the scene didn’t feel quite real to me.
“How, how is this… possible?”
Was this what they called an occupational hazard?
I couldn’t make sense of it at all.
‘How could a Gate open twice in the exact same location?’
But I had no time to ponder such anomalies while watching the Gate unfold before me.
Whoooooosh――!
The violent wind pouring from the rift suddenly reversed direction.
“Wh, wha――!”
After stumbling precariously for a moment, my feet began to lift helplessly into the air.
Just before opening, a Gate releases tremendous energy, drawing everything around it in like a black hole.
This was why the surrounding ground collapsed into a crater-like depression.
If I was pulled into the Gate like this, I would die.
“Yu, Yu Ji-han!”
I spun around in panic.
Flailing desperately, I reached out my hand toward Yu Ji-han.
Not because I trusted him, but because he was an Awakened belonging to the Special Task Force and my bodyguard for the day.
And yet.
He was shaking his head and backing away step by step.
“I, I’ll call for people right away.”
“…What?”
“Just, just hold on a bit longer, Doctor Yu! We can’t both get swept up and die like dogs, right? I need to call for rescue from outside.”
“What nonsense!”
Get over here and grab me, quickly!
Time was of the essence, yet I couldn’t comprehend what he was babbling about.
Even as I processed this, my levitating body was being steadily dragged backward.
I glanced frantically around, but the barren landscape offered not a single tree to grasp.
“…The golden window’s closed. You should’ve run when I told you to.”
Yu Ji-han made his arbitrary judgment as he watched me.
“Hey, Yu Sol. You’re smart, so you’ll be fine if you hide somewhere good. You trust your oppa, right? I’m not saying I won’t rescue you, okay?”
Still muttering while backing away, he suddenly spun around.
And began fleeing rapidly from me.
He was abandoning me to escape alone.
“W, wait! Yu Ji-han!”
It was absurd. Hide inside a Gate teeming with monsters.
‘Where exactly?’
It was no different from telling me to just die.
“Yu, Yu Ji-han! Wait! You crazy bird, no, oppa! Ji-han oppa――!”
A form of address I thought I would never utter even with a blade to my throat tumbled out involuntarily.
I understood.
That even if I were pulled in alongside him, there would be no salvation.
No matter how exceptional an Awakened one might be, a Gate cannot be conquered alone.
But wasn’t it too much for a soldier to abandon a citizen facing death and flee?
And that too, even though not a single drop of blood mixed between us, I abandoned my younger sister whom I’d grown up with for nearly a decade…!
“Hah…”
I watched in dismay as he fled with his tail between his legs, terrified of being sucked in just like me.
Not even a plea to stay with me, not even a cry for help escaped my lips.
It was too absurd, too ridiculous for words.
But that moment was fleeting.
“Kyaaaaaaah!”
My body, caught in the tempest, began to shake like a scrap of paper, tossed this way and that.
Rising and falling as if on a carnival ride, a dizzying sensation engulfed my entire being.
“Yu Ji-han…!”
My screams transformed into desperate shouts, calling out to him.
“Yu Ji-han! Yu Ji-han, you bastard―!”
How could you still call yourself human?
Couldn’t you do something, anything, with that damned ability you boasted about so much?!
My final cry, no different from a last will and testament, scattered emptily across the vast earth.
“Aaaaaaah―!”
Just before I was sucked into the Gate, its maw gaping open like a monster’s jaws.
A brilliant light pierced through my vision.
And…
.
.
.
“…Gasp!”
My eyes snapped open as I bolted upright, breathing heavily.
“Oh, Miss!”
“Y-Your Highness. Are you alright?”
My shoulders heaving with ragged breaths, I slowly lifted my head at the presence I felt beside me.
Familiar faces came into view.
“…Eston?”
Beside him stood Nancy and the Butler, both wearing expressions of concern.
Only then did my surroundings come into focus.
I was in my room at the Duke’s Residence, on my bed.
Warm sunlight streamed through the large window, indicating it was daytime.
At the sight of it, an indescribable feeling washed over me.
Relief, or perhaps melancholy.
“Hah…”
I exhaled deeply and splashed my face with water.
Then, in a subdued voice, I asked.
“…How did I get here?”
“You collapsed at the Imperial Palace, and Master Ethan brought you back.”
The Butler added with a worried expression.
“Did you have a nightmare, Miss?”
“…Yes.”
It was an absolutely terrible dream.
I nodded and mumbled in response.
My head still spun as though caught in a tempest, and my heart hammered wildly against my ribs.
I bit my lip and thought irritably.
‘How infuriating. Why did I have to dream something so unlucky…’
Perhaps the quarrel with Ethan just before I collapsed had triggered it.
Judging by how vividly the memories I had desperately tried to forget came rushing back.
Unfortunately, what I witnessed through the dream was no mere nightmare.
It was how I died before possessing this body in this wretched novel.
My final memory from reality,
and an actual experience from my past.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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