This World is too Cruel to Men – Chapter 643

“Bora.”

The Senior called Bora’s name.

Is she perhaps thinking of hurrying her along?

In that moment, I nearly rushed to stop the Senior, thinking that might actually be the case.

“Are you worried about Dogun?”

What came out of the Senior’s mouth was far different from what I had anticipated.

That left me tilting my head in confusion.

While I was like that, Bora reacted differently.

As soon as the Senior’s words echoed within our space, Bora’s hand, which had been gripping the brush, flinched and trembled.

It was as if she had been struck right at her core.

So why did she react like that?

I would soon find out.

Thanks to what followed from the Senior’s voice.

“If you’re hesitating because you’re worried something might happen to Dogun, you don’t need to be. I’m planning to follow along to prevent that from happening.”

“…Ah.”

The confident demeanor she had shown at first quickly faded—her hand wasn’t slowing down because she was unfamiliar with the tools; that was the issue.

Thinking back, it made sense.

Especially from Bora’s perspective.

At first, she must have approached it confidently, thinking she had to fulfill my request, but as she completed each stroke of her painting, that doubt might have crept in.

Was it truly the right thing to send me to Heogye like this?

That suspicion, initially tiny, must have quickly taken hold of Bora’s heart… and that’s why her hand was now enveloped in hesitation.

The moment those thoughts reached me, I naturally realized.

I had become so focused on the immediate goal before me that I hadn’t considered how Bora was feeling.

How could I not notice something so obvious until hearing the Senior’s words?

What a fool I must be.

“…If it’s too difficult, you don’t have to force yourself to complete it. We can find another way.”

It seemed Bora was so flustered from having her true feelings exposed that she bit her lower lip while I spoke to her in a comforting tone.

It was an obvious thing to say, but I meant it sincerely.

Of course… I knew.

I understood that trying to find a new approach at this point wouldn’t be as simple as it sounded.

Yeah, it surely wouldn’t be easy at all.

However… that didn’t mean it was impossible.

After all, in my hand was something vastly different from before—an opportunity, thanks to the Senior’s assistance, to reach the condition for victory.

If I used that wisely, finding another way wouldn’t be entirely out of reach.

That’s why I had said what I did… but perhaps my attempt to ease Bora’s feelings of pressure and anxiety only tightened her resolve even further.

For a brief moment, her hand, which had been trembling while gripping the brush, suddenly tightened its grip as if it might snap the brush with force.

“Will you give me just one more chance?”

She looked directly into my eyes as she said that.

Though it might sound obvious, I had no reason to refuse.

So I slowly nodded, conveying that I still believed in her, causing Bora to turn back toward the wall.

What unfolded just then was brush strokes so flowing and beautiful that comparing it to what I had seen before felt entirely pointless.

Of course… it hadn’t been that way from the start.

When she first brought the brush close to the wall, I could tell that she hadn’t shaken off the doubt and anxiety lingering in her heart since the brush had trembled slightly against the wall.

But that moment was merely a flicker.

Before long, Bora let out a short, deep sigh and began to move her hand unrestrainedly.

I had no idea what exactly Bora was envisioning in her mind while painting.

The concept of the picture belonged entirely to her.

However… one thing I was certain of was that there wasn’t much time left until the painting was complete.

Just a moment ago, despite dedicating a significant amount of time, she hadn’t even moved past the sketching stage.

Yet, while momentarily lost in thought, she had transcended the sketching step and entered the coloring preparation phase.

Perhaps because it was just a sketch?

That rough, unrefined look exploded into a cleaner form every time Bora’s brush, dipped in black paint, met the canvas.

As the outlines began to take shape on the canvas, I could see the essence of what Bora was trying to draw.

It was… an enormous Machine Device.

It appeared as if a massive shovel from a space opera movie had scooped it up and grafted it onto the wall, boasting a design that felt several generations ahead.

I couldn’t help but feel overwhelmed when faced with it.

How had Bora managed to pull something like that from her mind?

There was no way it looked like a haphazard drawing.

If it had, I would’ve felt chaotic vibes, but the Machine Device she had drawn radiated a sense of order.

A singular logic and purpose penetrated that Machine Device.

As if it had truly been manufactured with some special intent.

Could that possibly be influencing me?

Somewhere in this world—or perhaps even beyond it—I felt certain that a Machine Device like that existed.

Could this feeling be due to Bora’s talent?

While I was lost in thought, Bora was diligently moving her hands to finish the painting.

As if responding to her relentless efforts, color began to fill the areas where her brush passed, previously barren of shade.

Thus, as the metallic hue finally began to overlay the nearly monochromatic canvas, Bora lifted her brush from the wall and stepped back.

Still not satisfied even after stepping back for some time, she even urged the Senior and me to step further away from the wall.

At that moment, as we retreated toward the entrance—

The building, which had only been filled with the sounds of Bora’s brushwork and some exchanged voices between the Senior and me, suddenly trembled slightly.

The painting on the wall began to emit an otherworldly light.

And before I could even process that light, an enormous Machine Device appeared before me—much more vivid than before.

It filled the room in an instant.

“Did, did it work?”

Before I knew it, I blurted out that question toward Bora.

“…Well.”

Bora’s answer was a bit vague to my offhand inquiry.

“We’ll need to check that now.”

As she said this, she walked toward the Machine Device.

Even though it derived from the picture she had created, the sheer enormity of it must have overwhelmed even Bora, the creator.

I heard the sound of her swallowing nervously.

As I approached the Machine Device, its interface appeared overwhelmingly complex.

“How… do I operate this?”

Wait, is it even powered on?

Those initial thoughts crossed my mind, but surprisingly, that part was resolved rather easily.

Both the Senior and I were somewhat accustomed to learning the operating methods of newly released training devices for more efficient training, so it didn’t take long for us to grasp the general handling technique with just a bit of observation.

“This seems to be the power button.”

“Let’s try pressing it first.”

What I wanted was to reach the location Yoonseo was in—not to fallback into an unknown place and become a lost child.

To avoid such a scenario, it was necessary to go through a test, so the Senior and I cautiously pressed the button we were focused on together—

Vroom, vroom—

With an incredibly loud sound of operation, a beam of light shot forth from the Machine Device.

And as that light surged about a meter into the air, the point where it met the void split apart, and something painfully familiar began to bloom from midair.

…The “Rift” that had once engulfed me whole.