Chapter 58 - 57: The breakdown

The familiar chime of the system cut through the quiet like a blade through silk. [Mission 4 Complete.] [Winner: Owl Faction Champion — Shin Ye-jun.] [Result: Raven and Owl combatants are withdrawing from Buk-gu, Ulsan.] Reward: All Owl Faction members gain +3 Levels.] [Special: The Owl King may now claim one Wish.] I blinked at the glowing text hanging in midair. "Winner, huh?" I muttered, my voice tasting like blood. I let the Harpy form dissolve. My skin prickled as feathers receded, muscles twitching like they’d been wired to a dying battery. Roger landed heavily beside me. His feathers were ragged, one wing hanging at an odd angle. He gave me a long, slow blink. "Feels like losing, doesn’t it?"I muttered. The last echo of wing beats outside faded into the distance. "I guess now that the outside world has now gotten quieter." I slowly moved towards Ye-Rin, as she leaned against me, eyes half-lidded and unfocused. "...did we win...?" She murmured slowly. "Yeah," I said, tightening my grip around her. "We won. Kind of." Seo-yeon and In-ji were completely unconscious, their arms hanging limp as I dragged them closer to the wall so I could brace their heads. That is when Mother held Min-Jae,Eun-ha and the twins Soo-min and Jin-ha came out of hiding.They took three steps before freezing. Mother’s gaze swept over all of us — her kids first, then the others. "Call Volt down". Mother asked me. "False healing." A mana thread connected Volt and the rest of us, as our injuries started to heal. That is when we heard the sound of crying. Hana lee was on her knees, hunched over a crumpled body. Cheng-min’s body. It seems she has gotten the grasp of her situation. "Wake up... please... Cheng-min, you can’t—" She was kneeling beside Cheng-min’s limp body, shoulders trembling, clutching his shirt like it might anchor him back. I took the opening to approach Hana Lee, slow steps, like I was walking toward a landmine. "Hana—" "Don’t." She didn’t even look at me. Her voice was wet, raw. "Don’t you dare speak to me." I stopped two steps away. "You killed him," she whispered, but the whisper cut deeper than if she’d shouted it. "You... you killed my husband." I tightened my jaw. "Hana, you know it wasn’t—" "I don’t know!" She shoved the words like knives. "All I see is you standing here, and him lying there!" Her voice trembled, but the fury stayed sharp. "Is this your revenge? You took revenge for Han ji-a, right? I bullied her during school and you....you...." She paused for a second. Then the next words she spoke shattered me, "Please I will beg, even lick your shoes. Please bring him back. Please bring my husband back. Please." She started to move towards my legs to grovel. I immediately took a few steps back. Mother crouched beside her. "Hana. Listen to me." "No. No, I—" "You have a child. You think he can survive losing both of you?" Hana flinched, shoulders curling in. Her breaths came short, uneven. Hana’s breathing hitched once—then broke entirely. The sadness that had been holding her upright collapsed, and she fell into Mother’s arms like her bones had turned to dust.. I stayed where I was. Because if I took one step closer, I didn’t know if she’d shove me away—or if she’d break worse. The room’s silence wasn’t peaceful. It was the silence after a battlefield, when every survivor is too tired to cry but too wounded not to. And in the middle of it, Hana Lee wept into Mother’s arms, her grief spilling out into the ruins we’d just fought for. After crying her eyes out, she fell asleep. Eun-ha, who was carrying the little infant Min-Jae looked like an angel from heavens. The twins looked after Hana lee, Seo-yeon and In-ji. Due to mother’s false healing, our injuries healed to some extant. We still felt pain here and there but the physical injuries were gone. I quietly and gently picked up Cheng-min and Min-ho bodies and laid them on a table near by. Then I placed a cloth on their bodies. By the time I was finished, Hyun-tae and Junior came back. They were also carrying Mr.kang body on their back as well. "I thought we should give them a proper burial." Hyun-tae spoke, while laying down Mr.kang’s body near the other two. "Hana..." I paused for a second and then continued, "I know what you did was the right thing, sir but she may blame you for killing her husband.So.." but before I could finish, Hyun-tae cut me off. "But he was a killer who killed these two innocents lives. She should be happy that he didn’t died outside or somewhere else where her flesh is eaten." Boom-Boom, the shot guns ego, Chimed in. "Are you even a human? I am a shotgun but I am feeling sympathy for these humans." "I do feel sympathy." Then Hyun-tae gaze shifts towards Cheng-min’s body, "But not for people who actually murder someone else." What Hyun-tae said is true, Even if Cheng-min was a good human being who loved his family before this apocalyptic event happened. Killing innocent lives is an unforgivable sin. "I can understand where you may be coming from ...." Again, Hyun-tae intrupted, "No. You can’t understand. You don’t know how it feels when your own son is killed in front of you and you can’t do anything about the killer who did it." "I’m sorry." He turned and left. I stood there seeing the back of a person whose life may have been a hell even before these crazy stuff. I may not understand the pain he went through but I know that he has to move on by his own. I did it myself as well. I can confidentially say that I climbed out of my hell by myself. "Be sure to present when we start the burial." I shouted on which Hyun-tae just gave a wave. That is when I heard a familiar sound. Another message chimed in. [Mission 5 will start after a week]