Chapter 324

Chapter 324

I had decided to trust Barbara. But the anxiety was beginning to grow again.

Witch Barbara was an unstable human being. She wasn’t someone who operated with a conventional mindset or emotions. She wasn’t quite on the same level as Mushir al-Kashura, but she was certainly on a similar path.

– Keep going. There won’t be any guards that way.

Barbara’s guidance came through the comms in my ear. Could I really trust her words? Was she sending me the wrong way, or leading me into a trap?

‘She could be planning to steal Giselle from me and escape with her alone.’

That creeping doubt surfaced. But I forced myself to think rationally.

‘Barbara may not be a conventional person, but she’s capable of rational thought. She won’t betray me until Giselle is rescued. Without my help, she can’t get Giselle out.’

At least until we rescued Giselle, I could trust Barbara.

‘In any case, we have no choice but to trust each other. Without trust, we have no way forward.’

The trust between us wasn’t a matter of choice—it was an obligation.

Chhhk, clank.

I passed through several layers of metal doors. This was a heavily secured sector. The walls were noticeably thicker than in other areas, making the interior space tighter.

– I’ve deactivated all the cryosleep. By the time you get there, people will be collapsed naked on the floor. Find Giselle and bring her.

Even Barbara spoke in a dry, emotionless tone—no teasing, no provocation. Somehow, it felt strangely overwhelming.

Well, she was hacking into a facility owned by a massive corporation. An enormous data load was probably pouring into her brain.

Electronic warfare wasn’t my field, but I could grasp how hard her job must have been.

Kiiing!

I passed through the final door and stepped into the cryosleep facility. The moment the doors opened, a sticky liquid spread beneath my feet.

Squish.

A dense fluid from inside the cryosleep capsules had pooled across the floor. The temperature felt roughly that of human body heat.

“How many are there?”

– 242.

I narrowed my eyes as I scanned the interior of the cryosleep chamber. My heart sank at the sheer chaos of the scene.

Shhhhkk.

Below the open cryosleep capsules, fluid was dripping like frothy phlegm. The acrid smell of strong organic compounds stung my nose.

The unconscious people were lying on the floor, naked. Even those recovering faster were only barely able to groan.

‘242.’

There wasn’t enough time. If I tried to check each person one by one, it’d take over five minutes. By then, neither Barbara nor I would be able to escape the Space Force’s encirclement.

‘Human woman. Prosthetic limbs.’

I quickly scanned the naked bodies around me, eyes darting.

Normally, cybernetic implants were removed before cryosleep. But even with a quick look, I didn’t see anyone completely missing all their limbs. At most, a few were missing one or two.

‘Giselle had prosthetic limbs.’

Giselle, as befitted a noble of the Empire, had used prosthetic arms and legs in preparation for a full-body prosthetic transplant. Yet even after becoming an adult, she had never undergone a complete body replacement.

‘She might have changed her appearance or regenerated her limbs.’

To deceive every pair of eyes watching her, Giselle must have gone through various disguises.

I walked among the people lying collapsed on the floor.

– Find her quickly. If Giselle isn’t there, we have to get out. It means your assumption was wrong.

Barbara’s voice over the comms carried an unmistakable urgency.

Squish.

But my steps, and even the motion of my gaze, were slow. I stared at each person one by one.

The farther I walked through the passage without finding Giselle, the darker my thoughts grew.

I’d lived a life far removed from despair. Even when the world tried to crush me, I had stubbornly stood back up and clenched my fists.

The greater the oppression and injustice, the harder I had pushed back. That was the kind of man I was.

‘…But this time is different.’

I felt like I wouldn’t rise again. Like I’d simply be crushed to death under the weight of it all.

I had reached my limit, and my mind was in shreds. Maybe the brain damage was catching up to me.

‘Even if I can’t find Giselle here… could I really go back, recover, and start investigating again?’

I didn’t believe I could. Even if I had some willpower left, I doubted my body would hold up.

Kiing.

Each time that ringing filled my ears, I could feel my cognition slipping away.

My vision began to darken around the edges, closing in. My negative emotions were affecting my senses. The world before my eyes had lost its color, drained of saturation.

As if my emotions were dying, everything appeared blurred. Even if hope still remained somewhere, I couldn’t see it.

‘This is the worst.’

Whether it was because my neurotransmitters had decreased from depression, or because my nervous system was exhausted, I didn’t know—but even my prosthetics were running at minimal output.

Honestly, it wasn’t anything new. I had thought of death countless times back in Border City.

‘As long as a person has hope, they can endure despair and misfortune.’

Every time that light of hope went out, the darkness of death tried to swallow me whole.

Everyone living in this world must have their own light.

…Mine, my hope, my light, was Giselle.

I, Luka, had no grand purpose like Ilay Carthica. I had no desire to live a life full of schemes like Kinuan. I didn’t want to leave my name in history like the Emperor or the statesmen.

I just wanted to live my own life. And to begin that life, I had to find Giselle.

Clinging to a single fragile thread, I had pushed through the storm of Border City. If the end of it turned out to be another endless sea of despair, another typhoon, then I would fall.

…And I had already nearly fallen more times than I could count.

Squish, squish.

With every step I took, the soles of my shoes stuck to the viscous liquid beneath me.

I moved between the people slumped messily out of their capsules, checking them one by one. Those whose thawing had finished looked like corpses to my eyes.

The saturation of my world had dropped so low it felt as if color itself might vanish altogether. The sense of distinction between things faded away. Humans and machines seemed to have blended into one another.

I blinked.

Before long, the world appeared entirely in black and white.

The ceaseless ringing in my ears tormented me, my eyes stung, the bridge of my nose throbbed, and the headache pulsing in my temples felt like needles stabbing into my brain.

Stagger.

My vision swayed. If I fell now, I would probably collapse among the thawed humans.

– Luka!

Barbara’s voice through the comms sounded as though it came from far, far away. No—maybe not just in distance, but in time. Her urging felt detached from reality, like an echo from the past. Her voice no longer reached my heart.

Usually, I didn’t wish for miracles. I never liked relying on luck.

Of course, there were times when I did wish for them. But even then, it was only after I had done everything within my power.

‘I’ve never helplessly prayed for a miracle.’

Even now, if I scraped together the last of my strength, I could still do something more—focus my mind and search the area again, or retreat for now and plan for another day.

But being able to do something didn’t mean I wanted to.

For the first time, I wanted to throw a tantrum at the world.

‘Sometimes…’

I felt wronged by my own circumstances.

‘…Happiness and joy can come to people even if they don’t work for it, can’t they?’

So far, no matter how desperately I ran, all I could ever manage was to escape from the worst misfortune.

The path I had walked was black and red. To be honest, I didn’t think I deserved happiness.

But another part of me, another Luka, disagreed. It told me not to look at myself with such cold eyes. It wanted to compromise, to live selfishly at times, to justify things by saying, “I’ve done enough.”

To be honest, I’d killed countless innocent people… and yet I wanted to live happily from now on.

If those who died by my hands—or their families—heard that, they would cry tears of blood. I knew I had no excuse.

But this was who I was.

The mask of reason had shattered, the scales of morality were broken, and all that remained was the childish, self-centered desire deep within me.

I wanted the world to be kind to me. I wanted it to stop trying to kill me. I wanted people to love me, even if I was a powerless, unmotivated Luka.

Just once… I wished for that.

Just as people offer congratulations to complete strangers simply because it’s their birthday, shouldn’t someone who was thrown into this world by chance be allowed, at least once, to taste heaven-sent fortune and happiness?

– Lu…

Barbara was shouting something repeatedly.

I reached the end of the cryosleep facility. I had scanned everyone, yet Giselle was nowhere to be seen. Maybe I had missed her.

But either way, for now, I couldn’t recognize Giselle.

Thunk.

I leaned my back against the wall.

My chest and throat hurt so much that instead of sighing, all that escaped me were shallow, ragged breaths.

Tong!

I tilted my head back. My helmet struck the wall with a hollow sound.

Even the Akies Victima that once dominated my brain wasn’t responding anymore. My thoughts slowed as if the neurotransmitters inside me had dried up.

‘Fine. Yeah… let’s end this now.’

The world hadn’t granted me my childish wish. Still, I had no intention of crying or throwing a tantrum.

After all, I’d long known that this universe treated me like a dog.

If I chose to abandon the world and walk away, that would be the end of it. The right to decide happiness or despair didn’t belong only to the world. I also had the freedom to stop living in it.

“Lu…”

Hm, I’ll just ignore Barbara’s voice.

“…ka.”

I slowly lifted my head and tilted it to the side. That voice didn’t come from the comms.

“…Luka.”

My name drifted from somewhere nearby.

Following the thread of that voice, light began to shine into my world.

The black-and-white world was suddenly dyed with color, vibrant hues spilling into existence as if light had been born from nothing.

I walked toward the beam of light that had taken on the shape of a voice.

Thud.

My knees touched the floor.

And there, I looked down at a woman.

Her hair wasn’t the blue of a night sky. Her short hair was a deep brown. Her limbs weren’t prosthetic, and her face looked unfamiliar.

“Luka.”

The woman murmured my name like she was sleep-talking, unconscious yet still calling out to me.

Slide.

I lifted her gently and rested her on my knees.

How many women in this world could call my name, even in their haze of half-consciousness? Not even my own mother—whose face I couldn’t remember—would remember that I existed.

There were faint signs of regeneration on the woman’s limbs. At the joints, barely visible scars remained. You wouldn’t notice unless you were looking for them.

I opened my mouth with difficulty, as if dredging up an old treasure from a pitch-black swamp.

“Giselle…”

The woman’s eyebrows twitched slightly, unnaturally.

Skk.

I pressed my thumb lightly to her forehead. The organic mask peeled away under the pressure. Now that the thawing was complete, its structure had gone soft and pliable.

‘Ha…’

A hazy smile slipped out of me. A silent smile, without even a breath of laughter.

Vrrrrrrn.

Little by little, the world’s sounds and lights sharpened. The vibrations and hums of machines surrounding me now felt vivid—real.

I was still alive. Life hadn’t ended. It came stomping right up to me, as if to declare itself.

“Found her.”

I reported to Barbara, bracing myself for the flood of shouting sure to follow.

– Then run! You idiot!

We were probably already running late.

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