This World is too Cruel to Men – Chapter 564

It’s a bit surprising to hear this now, but Dogun has a surprisingly wide range of ideas.

It’s as if ideas are bubbling up from somewhere in endless streams.

Moreover, even though he’s a humanities guy himself, he knows a lot of peculiar scientific facts… So when Dogun throws out ideas, they often have something to do with that.

Take the new offensive options we just installed, for instance; they’re based on some technique involving water jets or something like that.

‘Is it because he watches a lot of videos…?’

In any case, Dogun has unique ideas, but that doesn’t mean all his suggestions have been successful.

There have been quite a few that didn’t see the light of day for various reasons and ended up getting scrapped.

For example, there’s a technique for artificially creating fog, which was one of those ideas.

The concept was to artificially generate fog in a targeted area to disrupt the enemy’s line of sight.

Just looking at the basic concept, there seemed to be lots of room for application, and it felt like it would be incredibly useful in various situations. The reason it never took off was simple.

The idea itself was fine, but the cost of actually implementing and maintaining such a phenomenon was just way too high.

To put it simply, it wasn’t efficient.

‘Creating a fog-like phenomenon itself is easy, but…’

What even is fog?

In the end, fog is just condensed water vapor.

Thus, while creating a fog-like phenomenon is so easy it’s almost a yawn… Maintaining it, however, requires several times the power that went into creating it.

But would we really burn that much power just to obscure the enemy’s vision?

Perhaps if it were absolutely necessary, but under normal circumstances, it would be much more beneficial to unleash another attack instead.

It’s just far more efficient.

While some ideas simply didn’t work out because they lacked efficiency, others were scrapped for entirely different reasons.

One such case was an idea Dogun came up with in his first year of middle school.

It was so shocking that I still vividly remember it even now, a considerable time later… It was during the monsoon season.

Honestly, if it had poured that much water, you’d expect it to start easing up, but instead, we were just bombarded by heavy downpours day after day. Maybe that’s when an idea sparked in his head.

With an excited look on his face, Dogun came to me and shook my shoulders madly.

The intensity of his excitement was so strong back then… I genuinely thought he was about to make a confession or something.

Looking back now, my face was probably flushed, but at that time, his energy was so overwhelming that it was impossible not to entertain such a thought.

And the intense shout he let out was about how it would be amazing if we could deliberately create storm clouds to use in our attacks.

Seriously? Using storm clouds for attacks?

As someone deep in their awkward middle school phase, it was an eye-opening and brilliant suggestion. To top it off, it was just the right season where the atmosphere was saturated with moisture, so we jumped straight into experimenting that very day.

Well, as a result, we realized it was too dangerous to use and ended up sealing that technique away.

At that time, we had no choice.

Given how poorly I could control things back then, compared to now, I simply couldn’t handle the storm clouds I had created.

Thus, we had to watch a small storm cloud wreak havoc, scattering blue lightning everywhere until it dissipated naturally.

I mean, it’s called lightning, but looking back, it wasn’t quite that level of intensity. Still, it was definitely too dangerous a force for a clueless kid to wield.

That’s probably why Dogun suggested waiting until we were older to try again.

‘Well…’

Not long after that, I gained the ability to control ice, and that idea just faded into the background.

But thinking about that power… wouldn’t it be possible to wipe those sneaky enemies lurking at the edges of the sensor’s range with ease?

After all, the reason those guys are so threatening is that their fangs trigger that monsterization phenomenon—yet they have poor durability compared to the famed exoskeleton of an Another.

I did think about that, but the reason I couldn’t just go for it was … well, concern.

If I attempt this and it goes well, it’ll be perfect, but there’s no guarantee it will pan out like that.

One of the phrases Dogun always repeats is that a person with power must always consider the worst-case scenario.

And Yoonseo’s worst-case scenario is that our allies get caught up in the mess while trying to wipe out the enemy.

It could come across as overly anxious, but the truth is, it’s hard to dismiss it as mere paranoia.

‘While controlling storm clouds is well within my talent…’

That doesn’t extend to dispersing lightning everywhere.

Storm clouds? Sure, but that’s beyond my capabilities.

In that sense, it would be great if I could get my sister Chae-rim’s help.

If my sister, who can wield electricity including lightning like her own hands and feet, just helped control things, we wouldn’t have to worry about harming our allies.

I suddenly thought that, but contrary to my hopes, getting my sister involved would be nearly impossible.

That’s because she’s been practically glued to Dogun for far too long now.

Given the current reality, how could I possibly bring her here?

That would require me to reveal the secret about Dogun first.

Well, considering Dogun’s tendency to catch on quickly, he might just know before I even say anything.

Anyway… unless I had at least a small lead on solutions, I wasn’t keen on doing that.

It might sound selfish, but I’d already steeled myself for that much.

If I hadn’t been prepared for at least that, I wouldn’t have gone through with this plan.

‘Huh…’

Should I just throw caution to the wind?

After all, if the situation keeps up like this, an opening will definitely show itself sooner or later.

The association promised support, but there will definitely be delays in the process of purchasing and transporting ammunition here.

And any fleeting openings that occur… could lead to truly catastrophic results for those holding the forward base.

You never know, some of the people here might become what you call ‘monsters’ by getting taken out by those guys.

Wouldn’t it be better to at least try something than to witness that?

With my gaze fixed on those peculiar entities looming faintly in the distance, I considered things for a moment. Then I realized it wasn’t a decision I could make alone and decided to ask those around me.

“Uh, hey…”

Now that I opened up that way, most of the responses I got were along the lines of ‘Well, since it’s come to this, why not give it a shot?’

Did everyone really think it was better to risk the monsterization rather than doing nothing?

Having received the agreement of others like that put my mind at ease.

So… I decided to take the plunge.

“Everyone, please keep your distance!”

“Ah, yes!”


“Got it!”


“Hey! Don’t mess around, just step back already!”

After getting everyone to step back, I called on Yoonseo, the Hero with the telekinesis ability.

“If I create clouds for you…”

“You want me to stir up a breeze and push them away from the base, right? I got it.”

With that helping hand secured, I fixed my gaze on the sky and started to channel my power toward it.