This World is too Cruel to Men – Chapter 161

Although Dogun was unaware of the fact, last time he was able to hold on without losing consciousness by borrowing the power of the necklace, but this time, without the necklace, there was no chance at all.

Thus, when he suddenly fell through the rift that formed beneath them, both of them were already equally unconscious.

At first, it was definitely like that… but Chae-rim regained her senses quickly.

Actually, it might have been insufficient to say “quickly.”

It was only natural, for Chae-rim regained consciousness immediately after the rift spat her body onto the ground.

“Ugh…”

That was made possible entirely because right before she had jumped toward the rift, she had merely taken a small precaution by holding onto Dogun’s hand, just in case.

Anyway, the moment she hit the ground, the sharp pain that rose from her fingertips helped her regain consciousness, and the first thing Chae-rim did was look around her.

What welcomed her was a serene landscape in the mountains.

“Haah…”

Could it be that while living in that other world, winter had come a bit closer?

Before being caught in the devouring rift, whenever she thought of a mountain, it evoked a more colorful image, but now, the view before her was stark and even eerie.

Nonetheless, she sighed in relief because the place she had fallen to was the mountains.

What if she hadn’t fallen here, but had landed in the middle of the city like before, when she was caught in the rift?

She had no idea, but it would have caused quite a stir.

And to deal with that chaos, other heroes would have rushed in and confronted her.

If that had happened—

The very moment she thought of that, she reflexively turned her head aside, realizing it wasn’t the time for leisurely speculation.

‘Uh, where is…’

…it?

No way… did I return alone?

Even though she cast her gaze toward where someone should be, the figure she was looking for was nowhere to be found, and for a moment, that thought crossed her mind, but that couldn’t be true.

The sensation of the hand she had held onto tightly until just before losing consciousness still remained vividly in her grip.

Sure enough, upon examining more closely, she could see a familiar shoe peeking out beside a pile of fallen leaves.

Confirming that sight, she immediately got up and ran over there.

Having just pushed her talent to its limit in battle, even that simple action made her head spin, but despite that, she didn’t stop her steps.

Finally, the moment she reached Dogun, who lay unconscious, or rather, the moment she confirmed Dogun’s fallen form, she instinctively bit her lip.

There was no other choice.

Dogun’s state was evidently not normal.

Did he roll while falling?

Thanks to some preparations made in advance, he was relatively less injured, unlike someone else, but Dogun was covered in numerous small scratches.

However, they couldn’t even be considered a problem compared to his left arm, which had already undergone more distortion.

‘What in the world…’

While muttering that internally, the violet-hued dark red substance was slowly consuming Dogun’s left arm.

As if declaring that it would swallow the very existence of Dogun itself, chills ran down her spine.

Watching the scene unfold before her, it was impossible not to imagine.

If Dogun hadn’t interfered back then, then what would have happened to her now?

She couldn’t know.

She didn’t know, but one thing was certain—while hesitating and trapped among the suddenly appearing people, the spot they had aimed for was, without a doubt, her head.

And if that attack had hit her, she would likely…

In just a few minutes, her figure, which had grotesquely transformed, overlapped with Dogun’s left arm that had undergone a similar change.

Therefore, she had no choice but to admit it.

‘It’s my fault.’

Dogun had ended up like that because of her… she had to admit that.

After all, she already knew.

That the monster wearing the guise of a girl was preparing to strike back, pretending to be hopelessly pushed back.

Still, captivated by the battle, she had acted as though she hadn’t noticed that fact… all because of greed.

Yes, it was because of greed.

To be precise… she had been anxious.

Even though she had used every last resort to land several clean hits, the monster’s appearance looked like it had taken little damage, and that made her increasingly anxious.

And so… her faith in herself wavered.

That wavering was quite deadly given its magnitude.

She had been forced to rely on her talent in this unstable state, and as her mental state began to falter, controlling her abilities became increasingly difficult.

It was then that she decided she had to aim for a decisive blow.

Before entering the battle, she had overlooked a possibility she had adequately considered, and that was due to this reason.

And now, the result of that string of mistakes lay directly before her eyes.

Therefore… she had to take responsibility.

After all, Dogun had already saved her life twice.

Ignoring that point and treating him with indifference was not how a person should behave.

Thus, she had to move.

Fortunately, since they had fallen into the seemingly deserted mountains instead of the heart of the city, she had bought some time.

But if she waited here a little longer, heroes ordered by the Association would come rushing in.

All with the purpose of constructing another.

And encountering those who had come would likely lead to the worst possible outcome for Dogun.

Everyone who knew the Association knew that they would spare no methods or means.

Especially since public sentiment toward the Association would have been bottomed out due to the sudden large-scale rift incident.

In that context, having been presumed missing after being caught in the devouring rift, it would be the first time someone had returned alive.

That alone was enough to make headlines, and even more so, he bore an arm that appeared closer to being another than a human?

Considering the Association chairman must feel the need to calm the angry public sentiment, Dogun would surely look like an exceedingly delicious piece of prey.

Even if they didn’t need to do anything further, just shining the spotlight on Dogun could potentially resolve a significant portion of the problems they faced.

At the same time… they might see it as a chance to uncover secrets regarding the rifts and the others that had gone unsolved.

Knowing the chairman’s personality, she could believe that was likely the case.

In that process, how much suffering the individual known as Dogun would endure wouldn’t be their concern.

That lady was of such a character.

As long as the masses were satisfied, she could easily ignore the pained cries of those few who suffered.

Thus, she couldn’t just let Dogun fall into the chairman’s grasp.

And, to do that, she had to act.

What was somewhat fortunate in this situation was that due to having released her self-transformation state before reaching the limit of her talent, she could still use it.

What if even that had been impossible?

She probably would have been struggling to drag her creaking body, supporting Dogun, and precariously descending the mountain by now.

So she utilized her talent to hide Dogun first, then returned to where they originally were and moved the cold bodies of others out of sight.

‘By the way…’

This was definitely Korea, right?

Having repeated such actions several times, she suddenly worried about that.

Fortunately, it seemed to still be Korea for now.

It was a rather unfamiliar name, making her wonder if there was even such a mountain in Korea, but nonetheless, the sign she had stumbled upon while moving the bodies had been written clearly in Korean.

‘It’s good for now, but…’

It was still too early to feel relieved.

Even at this moment, Dogun’s left arm was being consumed by the dark red energy.

It was still merely around the elbow, but if she wasted time without taking any action, the elbow would become the shoulder, and the shoulder would engulf the entire body in the blink of an eye.

Therefore, to prevent that from happening, she needed to receive treatment from someone with strong abilities among the awakened.

Even if it might prove impossible to find a way to stop the changes with that alone… it would still be better than sitting idly by.

The problem was… that hospitals equipped with individuals of that caliber were invariably managed by the Association…

‘What should I do…’

What can I do to minimize the harm to Dogun?

No matter how much she thought, only one solution came to mind.

That was—