Rehabilitation Therapist for the Broken Warrior – Chapter 108

“Is Hop’s life precious?”

If I close the gate here and die, I could remain in Zion’s heart forever.

I could say it was a meaningful life…

As the Demon King’s sword drew closer.

What should I do?

What I’m talking about now is the story of my memories that survived.

To cut to the chase,

I ended up surviving.

But it wasn’t because I activated the rewind at that moment,

– Tiiing!

It was because Zion barged in and knocked away the Demon King’s sword.

When Zion asked me what was more precious, life or the meaning of life, my answer became something unknowable without a response.

‘Zion? Why?’

And with that last act of blocking the Demon King’s strike,

– Thud.

Zion collapsed forward and knelt down.

Had Zion’s body, which had been in a constant state of anxiety, finally reached its limit?

Now, Zion could no longer move.

But the Demon King wasn’t one to wait.

The second strike came flying at once.

‘Time acceleration!’

I couldn’t let Zion die, so I pressed on the wound with my hand to stem the blood and immediately accelerated time to pull Zion back.

Despite the significant blood loss and shock to my head, I couldn’t stop the acceleration.

Maintaining the time acceleration,

“Creating Simplified Space Movement Array, activate.”

I teleported away with Zion.

As soon as I turned off the time acceleration and cast a simple healing magic, the wound started to heal slowly, and though my consciousness was hazy, I managed to hold on, avoiding the worst case of dying right then and there.

“Hop… you’re safe, right?”

In this situation, Zion was in my arms, struggling to smile weakly and check on me.

“Do you know what you just did?”

Zion had just given up the chance to close the gate and stabilize the world.

With this, the world was practically doomed.

Zion was now completely incapacitated, and the remaining three left behind in the enemy stronghold would surely die.

Humanity had poured all its forces into this operation, so even if they reached the gate, if they didn’t defeat the Demon King right away, the moment the gate stabilized, they would be exterminated.

“Did I just do something… bad?”

An absurd question.

Could it be that Zion finally lost her mind?

“Is that what you call it? I said I could dodge!!”

“That’s a lie. How could I not know?”

“What could you possibly know?!”

“What kind of face someone makes when they’re about to die.”

“…….”

If Zion was right, did that mean I was trying to die?

Could it be that Zion saw a look on my face just before I died, like Iris did?

But even so, it was hard to understand why Zion saved me despite that.

“So what? Couldn’t you have just left it? If you closed the gate and I died, wouldn’t that have been better? You didn’t really think otherwise, did you?”

“Of course I did.”

“Then why!!!”

“Hop.”

In the midst of a confusing situation, I inadvertently got angry, but Zion remained calm throughout.

Was she trying to soothe me? Or was she just losing strength?

Zion, with her frail body that seemed unbelievable after just trading blows with the Demon King, was in my arms, gasping for breath and smiling faintly.

“Why is your life precious?”

That question, which always comes around.

“I just live. For no reason!”

“Hehe. I knew it.”

“Then why didn’t you just let me be? My life has no meaning or reason anyway…!”

“No.”

Zion’s voice was strained, but she cut me off firmly and placed her trembling hand on my cheek.

It felt as if she was telling me not to speak sad words, as if she were speaking to me with her fingertips.

“I saved you knowing you wanted to die. So what I did wasn’t for you. It was entirely for me. I, Zion Laurel, am… much more selfish than you think.”

And again, this was another incomprehensible story.

As far as I knew, Zion wished only for the world and had no greedy desires.

How could someone like her be selfish?

My head was increasingly complicated, but Zion immediately gave me that answer.

“A selfish person who thinks it’s fine for the world to perish for her own happiness.”

“…….”

Zion, who seemed to find it difficult to continue speaking, slowly opened her mouth, beginning to share her story.

Before I knew it, the hand that had been touching my cheek had fallen to rest on her chest.

“Hop. Right now, what I wish for isn’t to save the world, or close the gate, or defeat the Demon King. Actually… actually, I…”

Zion’s voice shook more and more until it completely choked up and could no longer be heard.

Instead, what flowed from her was tears.

Zion, breathless from the tears that flowed uncontrollably, managed to continue speaking.

“I just want my own happiness. The times I spent with you… sob, were the only happy moments in my life…!”

I couldn’t say a word in response to Zion’s sudden confession.

Days spent completely broken and unable to move… Zion’s only happiness…

“Why can’t I be happy? While I was forced to bear unwanted power and duties, fighting all my life in dedication, why can’t I be happy?”

“I dedicated my life to the world, but all I got was broken and discarded. But ever since I thought I wanted to live for you instead of the world, every day has been so happy!”

“Every day I worried about you, shared stories with you, and spent time doing trivial things while laughing together was my only happiness. But why do I have to give that up? If I give up on you, who is one and only in this world, what will be left for me?”

“Even if I save the world, if I lose you, Hop… I’ll just be lost and broken again. I’m scared! More scared of being left alone after losing you in a world I’ve saved than of the world perishing. So I… I…!”

“…….”

I couldn’t say anything to Zion, who was sobbing and struggling to speak, filled with tears.

To Zion, I… although we were allies fighting in the same party, that relationship was very trivial.

Like I had no reason or meaning to live, Zion too couldn’t find any reason or meaning in the world after the war ended.

No. Even Zion’s reason for living for the world wasn’t truly what she deeply wished for.

Without that, she would genuinely fear being left with nothing at all, desperately clinging to any reason to live.

That’s why, for Zion, even a very small trigger would have been enough.

As long as it was something very tiny that could give her a reason to live.

“I couldn’t help but… save you.”

And that was the same for me too.

I just wanted to be a meaningful person to Zion.

The reason I chose death at that moment was that Zion was the one who would remember me.

Even something very trivial would have sufficed.

If my life, if the life I lived could have had any meaning, then anything would do.

“Hey, Hop. Did I do something bad? Is it wrong to choose you over the world? Is it wrong to want to be happy? Doesn’t everyone wish for their own happiness? Was I the only one who shouldn’t have? What was I supposed to do? Please answer me, Hop. What was I supposed to do…!”

Zion clung to me with fear and tears in her eyes.

I had no right to blame her.

What we did was ultimately the same.

We each sought our own desires without considering the feelings of the other.

I was trying to die, focusing solely on my own meaning while ignoring Zion, who only looked at me, and Zion, knowing my wish for a meaningful death, saved me by exchanging the world for her happiness.

Ultimately, this story is about empty shells with no meaning or reason being irresistibly drawn to each other for being the same.

It was a tale of two flawed beings who had become the only one for each other.

Just a broken story created by people who were somewhat broken.

“It’s all meaningless anyway.”

“Hop…?”

“This moment will eventually become a non-issue. I will return to the past.”

What I chose in the end was to rewind.

Without being able to tell Zion the answer, I fled.

Zion’s hand, clutching my clothes, trembled even more as she wept.

“Don’t go. Stay with me, Hop. Now, without you…!”

“I’m not going anywhere. I’m right here.”

Now I could not leave this world.

I would live in this world where Zion was, and die in this world.

And I would find my meaning, and Zion’s happiness… all of it.

No matter how many times I had to repeat this world.

“I promise, Zion. I will always be here. And no matter how many times, I will become your reason to live. I will definitely… make you happy, Zion.”

I hugged Zion tightly, who was clinging to me.

And I turned back time to return to the past.

The sensation of Zion in my arms began to fade away.

Zion’s voice, crying out that I shouldn’t go, grew weaker and more distant.

No matter how many times I rewinded, I probably wouldn’t forget this moment.

This vow was my most precious memory.

Holding deep within my heart the memory that would become the meaning of my life,

I was returning to the moment I first met Zion.