It’s the Apocalypse, but My Summons Do Everything - Chapter 20
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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Episode 20
#Episode 20
Jinu quietly wiped away his tears and smiled awkwardly.
I grinned nonchalantly and roughly tousled Jinu’s hair.
“Done crying? You wimp.”
“Wh-when did I ever cry…?”
“At least let the tears on my clothes dry before you say that.”
“Ugh… So, so what did you want to tell me!”
As Jinu’s face turned red with embarrassment and he got flustered, I removed my hand from his head and casually said.
“Do you know about the National Assembly?”
“Doctors Without Borders? Of course I know them, they’re famous worldwide.”
Perhaps feeling some admiration, Jinu’s eyes lit up slightly.
But the story I was about to tell wasn’t such a light topic.
“If we sent your siblings to those people, how would you feel about that?”
“…What?”
Jinu’s eyes shook violently as he read my expression, which had lost all traces of laughter.
“I’m telling you in advance, this isn’t coercion. I have no intention of forcing you to do something you don’t want to do.”
“Ah, r-right?”
“However, if things continue as they are…”
I glanced toward the inside of the orphanage.
I couldn’t say the facilities were good, not even as empty words.
The fact that such young children were living without major injuries in a place where even adults would struggle to survive was miraculous in itself.
Jinu probably felt this even more desperately than I did.
When I brought up this topic, hope had momentarily flickered in his eyes.
“You know you can’t live like this forever.”
“…Yes.”
Life is reality.
Life on the hellish Korean Peninsula is even more intensely colored by that reality.
To live a life that’s not just realistic but desperate, there are no exceptions, not even for young children.
But the bonds built over time couldn’t be cast aside in a single night.
These were siblings he’d lived with like family.
Connections are as tenacious as they are cruel, and they gripped Jinu’s heart tightly.
“Still, I want to take care of them at least until I reach my limit…”
“Then what about you? Your body? Who’s going to take care of your wearing mind?”
“Ah, once the children all grow up, somehow it’ll work… work out…”
He was speaking, but his gaze was directed toward the ground.
It seemed he knew how unreasonable what he was saying was, and eventually couldn’t finish his sentence.
“…Please give me a little time to think about it.”
“I can’t give you much time. We have our own path to follow, so decide by tomorrow.”
“…Yes.”
Jinu’s expression became complicated.
I said nothing more and quietly stepped aside.
* * *
The inside of the orphanage was more cozy than I’d expected.
Perhaps because I was so accustomed to sleeping on the streets, even sleeping indoors felt luxurious.
“Hehehe… It’s really bustling.”
“Yeah, it’s been a while!”
“It was like this when the older brothers and sisters were here too…”
“Shh! If you talk about that, Jinu will get sad.”
From listening to their conversation, it seemed there used to be more children at the orphanage in the past.
Judging by their dark expressions, the ending was definitely not a good one.
The pain of losing family.
That was something Kim Yeo-ul and I had also felt with heart-wrenching intensity.
Even though I was the one making this request, I greatly understood Jinu’s dilemma.
‘They’re probably like his last remaining family.’
Is that why he’s trying so desperately to protect them?
Jinu couldn’t seem to fall asleep easily, as he was still pacing in front of the orphanage.
I had no intention of just watching an S+ grade talent suffer mentally, so I went outside the orphanage with him.
“You seem to have a lot on your mind.”
“Hyung…! You’re still awake?”
“Someone was groaning outside.”
“Ah… I’m sorry.”
Usually in situations like this, you’d get a coffee from a vending machine and offer it to them.
Unfortunately, the vending machine in front of the orphanage had already been smashed to pieces and ruthlessly gutted.
‘Nothing works properly in this damn land.’
I plopped down next to Jinu.
As I briefly pondered what words to offer, I noticed Jinu’s eyes were painfully red.
Sixteen years old.
An age caught at the tail end of adolescence.
She had become an adult too early, at an age when others would be going through terrible growing pains.
Since I couldn’t easily figure out what words to offer, I just quietly stayed by her side.
Jinu also couldn’t easily open his mouth and sat quietly.
Outside the orphanage with its power cut off, it was terribly quiet.
The darkened city had no sign of human presence, and pitch-black darkness filled the entire view.
What would the outside of the orphanage mean to Jinu?
Leaving those children he had been caring for to others and departing would feel like abandoning family, making his heart even heavier.
But contrary to such ideals, reason was screaming that this was already too much.
It would be too much for a mere sixteen-year-old boy to handle something difficult even for adults.
The heart of the 16-year-old boy who maintained his humanity alone in a land full of beasts that had abandoned being human looked far too heavy.
Just as I was about to say something while looking at the moon dimly illuminating the ground.
Swooooosh-!
“Duck-!”
A blunt arrow that flew from somewhere aimed at Jinu.
My fist, imbued with the King of Fists’ stance, immediately caught the arrow.
“Hi, hiiiiek!?”
Startled Jinu trembled like an aspen leaf.
I firmly grasped Jinu’s hand and made eye contact.
“Go inside and wake up my companions!”
“Y-yes, I under…”
“What’s happening-!”
Kim Yeo-ul, who heard my shout, came running out with Seo Iram before I could even call them.
I showed Kim Yeo-ul the arrow that had flown at us and gave her a look.
Then, Kim Yeo-ul’s expression became severely distorted.
“Is it a monster?”
“The arrow’s maintenance condition is terrible, it must be a monster.”
“What level?”
“Judging by the power of the arrow that flew at us, it’s not that high.”
Kim Yeo-ul, who had grasped the situation in an instant, stood in front of me.
A subtle King of Fists’ stance rippled and began to brightly illuminate the surroundings.
“Jinu, go inside and keep the kids from coming out.”
“U-uh… y-yes!”
Jinu, whose hands were shaking like crazy but who bit his lips to regain his composure, hurriedly got up and ran into the orphanage.
Iram, who had followed out rubbing her sleepy eyes, clicked her tongue.
“Even dogs don’t bother you when you’re sleeping…”
“They would bother sleeping dogs.”
“Is that so…?”
I started the car parked at the entrance.
When I turned on the high beams to see how many enemies there were, the area around the orphanage was brightly illuminated.
Disgusting green monsters began walking steadily into the bright light.
“They’re goblins, is there a settlement nearby?”
“I think I can already smell them.”
“Goblins don’t exactly have a clean image, but of all things, why goblins.”
When I glanced at Kim Yeo-ul, the veins on the back of her hands were menacing, as if she was already furious to the top of her head.
“Why is she so angry?”
“Well… she suffered a lot because of goblins in her early awakening days.”
“I see…”
I infused her with Soul Devouring Enhancement so Kim Yeo-ul could go wild.
Then, as if she had been waiting, Kim Yeo-ul kicked off the ground and shot forward.
Kim Yeo-ul’s fist, shot forward like a bullet, shook the air.
The clustered group of goblins burst apart and corpses scattered everywhere.
Goblins have terrible strength as individual entities, but their intelligence is quite high.
Therefore, they don’t engage in losing battles and conduct raids at dawn and night as surprise attacks.
And they do so on this large scale to prepare for any variables.
Of course, that’s only when assuming ordinary enemies.
The best way to break a strategist’s plan isn’t excellent command or a genius’s military tactics.
Just overwhelming force, that’s enough.
“I don’t need to go out.”
“Yeah, she’s completely pissed off.”
The number of goblins that swarmed was roughly about 120.
There must be quite a large tribe nearby as there were quite a few, but what’s rampaging now is a buffed S-rank Hunter.
And a Hunter who revives infinitely and heals any decent wounds instantly.
It was like releasing a tiger that had been starved for days into a chicken coop, so how could they be a match?
I peacefully continued Soul Gathering while watching Kim Yeo-ul massacre the goblins.
‘Well, I probably won’t need to use it anyway.’
Only goblin corpses lay scattered miserably.
All those deaths were created by the hands of a single Hunter.
Indeed, skills are invincible and buffs are divine.
I didn’t even need to use Yeonje.
I only got up from my position after the last goblin’s head went flying through the air.
“Where did that A-rank Hunter who was trembling at the sight of goblins go?”
“I told you not to mention that!”
“Fine, fine, just come over here.”
“Hmph….”
Before I could get an earful, I took out a towel and handed it to Kim Yeo-ul.
Just as she grumbled while taking the towel to wipe off the blood, Kim Yeo-ul stopped her movements.
“Oh….”
“…I felt it too.”
The earth began to rumble.
I could feel a massive army approaching that was incomparably larger than before.
“It’s goblins again this time.”
“Yeah.”
Kim Yeo-ul’s hand gripped the towel tighter.
Countless goblins slowly began to reveal themselves.
“That would be called an army… right?”
“…Whoa.”
The goblins that entered the range of the car’s headlights were truly an army.
They weren’t just ragtag goblins, but proper ‘soldiers’ forming groups.
Goblin warriors, goblin archers, shamans and generals, goblin rogues, and even a goblin king sitting on a throne in the distance.
“…This got a bit troublesome.”
“Even so, there are way too many of them….”
An army numbering close to a wave was pressuring Kim Yeo-ul and me.
Naturally, they didn’t seem to have any intention of talking nicely with us who had massacred their kind.
“Yeo-ul, can you handle this?”
“I’ll just come back to life anyway, so it doesn’t matter to me….”
Kim Yeo-ul anxiously glanced toward the inside of the orphanage.
Inside the orphanage, Kang Jin-woo was looking this way with an anxious expression.
“Hmm….”
The most ideal scenario would be to use Kim Yeo-ul and Seo Iram as bait while escaping with the children.
Since I could just summon them again anyway, there wouldn’t be a problem.
However….
Kang Jin-woo’s eyes shook violently.
He had pushed the children inside and came out alone, holding a pipe in his trembling hands.
I didn’t want to show Kang Jin-woo, who might travel with us in the future, the sight of abandoning companions from the start.
The souls I had gathered with Soul Gathering totaled 120.
Could I win against that with just around 120 souls?
Of course, I do get stronger the more I fight.
While I was briefly calculating my chances of victory in my head, Kim Yeo-ul bit her lip and pushed me back.
“Hyun-soo, I’ll hold them off here, so just take the kids and run.”
A pitiful gaze followed me.
Even though this was a situation where we might really die, for some reason my mind was looking for variables rather than escape.
I looked at Kang Jin-woo who was trembling again.
I saw a boy who could have easily escaped alone but was gripping a weapon to protect his younger siblings.
‘Good nature… loyalty… exceptional talent… no matter how I look at it, he’s too valuable to abandon.’
I examined Jinu once more with Soul Insight.
“…Huh?”
“Why? What is it!? What’s wrong?”
Wondering if I had made a mistake, I carefully observed Jinu again.
“…No, let’s fight together this time.”
“What!? You want to fight against that!?”
My eyes weren’t wrong.
I quietly activated Soul Gathering next to Kim Yeo-ul.
Kim Yeo-ul’s eyes widened in surprise at me suddenly taking a combat stance.
“Yeah.”
“….”
Kim Yeo-ul, who seemed to have a lot to say, bit her lip and then poked my side.
“You have some kind of plan, right?”
“Of course.”
I glanced back.
The boy who was trembling all over but still held a dagger in his hand was looking at us.
With a flower bud that would bloom brilliantly.
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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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