By Zephyria [Would you like to view the log?]
Yes
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[Day 266]
I don’t know what I’m doing.
It’s almost been a year, and the tutorial isn’t over yet.
When does the story of 「La Vida Blue」 begin?
When does Jin Mu-hae appear? Should I go find him?
Looking like this?
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[Day 412]
Every day is the same.
Whether the sun rises or not, I sleep when I’m sleepy.
If not, I just zone out.
Then my subconscious hunts and feeds itself.
Kireureung-.
It makes strange cries like now and wanders around.
When I come to my senses, I write in the log like this.
At first, I was amazed that the record was created solely by my thoughts, but well.
I don’t feel much anymore.
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[Day 537]
So, where can I find Jin Mu-hae?
What should I do?
How much longer do I have to wait?
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[Day 813]
The system window is similar to a game.
If I hadn’t, it would have been more fun.
Would it have been more fun? It might have been fun to find everything one by one.
It was intuitive, so I could handle it right away at first, but now it’s boring.
It’s tedious.
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[Day 1227]
Jin Mu-hae?
Jin Mu-hae?
Jin Mu-hae?
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[Day 1256]
Jin Mu-hae Jin Mu-hae
Jin Mu-hae Jin Mu-hae Jin Mu-hae Jin Mu-hae Jin Mu-hae Jin Mu-hae Jin Mu-hae Jin Mu-hae Jin Mu-hae Jin Mu-hae Jin Mu-hae Jin Mu-hae Jin Mu-hae Jin Mu-hae Jin Mu-hae Jin Mu-hae Jin Mu-hae Jin Mu-hae Jin Mu-hae Jin Mu-hae Jin Mu-hae Jin Mu-hae Jin Mu-hae Jin Mu-hae Jin Mu-hae Jin Mu-hae Jin Mu-hae Jin Mu-hae Jin Mu-hae Jin Mu-hae Jin Mu-hae Jin Mu-hae Jin Mu-hae Jin Mu-hae Jin Mu-hae Jin Mu-hae Jin Mu-hae Jin Mu-hae Jin Mu-hae Jin Mu-hae Jin Mu-hae Jin Mu-hae Jin Mu-hae Jin Mu-hae Jin Mu-hae Jin Mu-hae Jin Mu-hae Jin Mu-hae Jin Mu-hae Jin Mu-hae Jin Mu-hae Jin Mu-hae Jin Mu-hae Jin Mu-hae Jin Mu-hae Jin Mu-hae Jin Mu-hae Jin Mu-hae Jin Mu-hae Jin Mu-hae Jin Mu-hae Jin Mu-hae Jin Mu-hae Jin Mu-hae Jin Mu-hae Jin Mu-hae Jin Mu-hae Jin Mu-hae Jin Mu-hae
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“You’ve opened the locked door halfway?”
“Th-That’s… I was worried it might be dangerous, so I wanted to help…”
“What help could you possibly be? Didn’t I tell you never to get out of the car?”
After dealing with the Aberrant, the atmosphere in the car, which I thought would become more comfortable, froze over instead.
When Jin Mu-hae made a chilly expression, the perceived temperature around him seemed to drop by another two degrees.
The client had tried to jump out during the battle. Even though he knew that the inside of the car was the safest place because of its bulletproof effect, and despite all the warnings he’d been given.
Mu-hae, already on edge because of his client’s reckless behavior, quietly seethed.
Joo-oh being uncontrollable was enough.
“I, I brought a gun too! I thought if I shot it in an emergency, I might hit something…!”
“Proper equipment? Someone who spends 300 Deal on a journey like this, what money would they have?”
“……”
“Do you know how much the bullets I use cost? Unfortunately, we’re not trying to kill humans.”
The twisted accusation hit the nail on the head. The client silently shut his mouth.
But the constant twitching of his lower lip suggested that he had something to say as well.
“If you had jumped out there, you would have died or been injured. Actually, being seriously injured is more of a problem than dying.”
“I’d rather be injured than not reach the shelter!”
“He says so.”
“You. Don’t interrupt.”
“All we need is to just go to the shelter and back…”
In the end, the man, who had been on the verge of tears, quietly lowered his voice again at Mu-hae’s glare.
His face, which had been stiff as if he had never raised his voice, withered miserably.
He looked like he had a story to tell, but Jin Mu-hae wasn’t easy to deal with either.
“That’s none of my business, and let’s stick to what we agreed on. Unless you want to turn back now.”
The threat worked, and the lifeless face turned even darker.
The client belatedly nodded and apologized in a barely audible voice.
Then, covered in a blanket, he didn’t move for a while.
Shiiiiiing-.
The danger had passed, but the conflict remained.
We still had a long way to go to our destination, and it was uncomfortable just sitting there.
How much more time passed like that? Joo-oh suddenly made a rustling sound and unbuckled his belt.
He turned around clumsily, kneeling on the seat and looking back.
“Why is it okay to get hurt?”
Joo-oh’s question flew into the silence. The man lying in the back seat blinked belatedly and raised his head.
He started to look around, as if wondering if he was being spoken to.
“Is it okay if your arm gets cut off? You don’t plan on using it for long?”
It sounded like he was picking a fight, but perhaps because of his guileless tone.
It was strangely heard more as a manifestation of curiosity than as a rebuke.
“……Well, something like that.”
It was understandable that he would be flustered by the stranger’s informal speech, but the man answered calmly.
He was silent for a long time, then threw off the blanket and added to the story.
“I… went to the hospital. So, before I put in the request…”
The man trailed off in a weak voice.
It was a situation where anyone with a brain could roughly guess what would come next.
Damn it. The consistently chilly atmosphere had now become solemn.
Mu-hae, who had been ignoring them and maintaining his equipment, glared at Joo-oh for a moment.
“How many months do you have left?”
Joo-oh, of course, didn’t hear that unspoken signal to shut up.
A harmless expression for someone so rude. The man also seemed speechless, his mouth agape, but he gave up and answered obediently.
“Hoo, well, 3 months…? If I get more treatment, it might be longer. But I can’t afford it.”
In short, the journey they were on was like the last wish of a man with a terminal illness.
A goal that had to be achieved no matter what, even if his limbs were torn off.
Jin Mu-hae rubbed his forehead and sighed softly, regretting that he had heard it. Information he didn’t really need was pouring in as it pleased.
“I left something there. A long time ago. It has almost no monetary value… but now I really need it.”
After his words had been unlocked, the man continued to answer on his own, even without being asked.
The eyes that had been gloomy and lifeless until just now were slowly regaining their vitality. It was a look of longing in the eyes of an old man facing death.
“It might have disappeared because it’s been too long. But I still remember the location…”
“You can find it.”
“I appreciate the thought.”
The client’s shoulders, which had been hunched over, straightened a little.
The atmosphere, which had been suffocating everyone, slowly eased from then on.
‘What a waste of time.’
Mu-hae attached the weapon he had finished maintaining to his back.
He leaned back in his seat, his back aching, but he felt more comfortable being one with his equipment.
“Jin Mu-hae.”
“What.”
“How much is left?”
“I won’t tell you.”
Hmph. Joo-oh snorted at the pointless grumbling. Still, he glanced at Mu-hae as if he liked it.
“When we arrive, it’ll be so dark you won’t be able to see an inch in front of you, so just do as you’re told then.”
“Okay.”
Joo-oh always answered well to the warning, even though it was unclear who it was directed at.
“Take out some food from that bag and eat it. Don’t whine about being hungry.”
“I can take my medicine.”
“I won’t believe you no matter how much you say that with a drooling face.”
“I can’t help it then.”
How can he say he can’t help it while smiling like that?
Jin Mu-hae clicked his tongue softly and deliberately looked away from him, focusing on the front again.
Tti-rorong!
―The vehicle has arrived at its destination.
As expected, it was the middle of the night when they arrived at Iron Horse Valley.
Mu-hae, who had thoroughly checked the surroundings before turning off the engine, signaled that it was okay to get out.
“Oh, I can hear the water.”
“Don’t touch it. It’s contaminated.”
Inside the city, they wouldn’t feel it because the water purification facilities were running at full capacity with Blue Energy, but in reality, it wasn’t easy to find clean water outside.
Mu-hae always carried water purification tablets in his bag. He usually didn’t drink outdoor water, but there might be unavoidable circumstances.
“Put your hand in there, insert the battery, and push the inner device to open the door. You know, since you’ve been here before.”
After walking about 100 meters, a square mass appeared. It was a building with no windows, and the metal covering it was heavily rusted and crumpled, making it look more like an incomprehensible work of art than a space for people to enter.
There was a hole in the entrance just big enough for an adult man’s fist to pass through. It was a mechanical device designed so that only a human could reach out and touch the door.
Soon, the building’s door opened with a grrr. Jin Mu-hae didn’t let his guard down and led the client and Joo-oh forward, watching his surroundings.
“Cough, hoo, the air…”
“It’s dirty. It’ll be okay if you wait a bit. I just started the power facility.”
Pababat, the lights came on, revealing the interior of the shelter. It was a large space of about 60 pyeong.
The interior was cleaner than expected, but there were traces of countless hands having touched it. Several bed frames that were left were also badly bent, clearly showing that someone had treated them roughly.
Probably mercenaries working nearby had stayed there. Shelters scattered outside were mostly used for that purpose.
Originally, they were a type of temporary shelter built by the previous generation, who had been recklessly enjoying Blue Energy when Aberrants first started appearing.
The Comfort zone was completed and became empty, but some facilities still worked properly if power was supplied, so people passing through the shelters used them like public property.
The road crossing Iron Horse Valley was once the safest route to another Comfort zone in the north, Seogyeong City. Ordinary city dwellers had traveled there for business once or twice in their lives.
However, the situation had changed a lot about 10 years ago when the habitats of some Beasts changed. Now, those who crossed this place were mostly military personnel or mercenaries on missions.
“We’ll only stay here until sunrise. So, please get what you’re looking for in advance. If it’s still there.”
Jin Mu-hae added a warning as an aside. Since so many people had stayed there for so long, anything that could be worth money would have disappeared long ago.
Jin Mu-hae had only been here once a few years ago, but he hadn’t seen anything worth taking. What confidence did his client have to come looking for something important that was over 10 years old?