Saving My Favorite in a Doomed World

Sinbanpo, Seocho, Gangnam.

 

Yoo Jian stood at the center of the expected gate appearance location, where most civilians had already evacuated. She scanned the large building in front of her from top to bottom.

 

“This must be the place, right?”

 

“Looks like it.” 

 

Jeong Mueum replied, also observing the building intently.

 

When they arrived, the gate had already opened. They thought they were late, but the situation was a bit different from what they expected. Not a single monster was in sight. However, the S-rank gate alert remained unchanged.

 

“…This is a first.”

 

Yoo Jian tightly tied her short bobbed hair into a single knot. This time, she spoke to the other man on her left instead of Jeong Mueum.

 

“Mr. Cha Jaeha, you’ll be moving with us, right?”

 

“Yes, I suppose so.”

 

Cha Jaeha also couldn’t take his eyes off the unfamiliar scene.

 

There wasn’t a single monster in sight. It could be said so because nothing was visible. However, unfortunately, if asked whether it looked like an ordinary scene, the answer would be no. If someone were to claim it was normal for a giant plant stem to be wrapped around the entire department store building, they’d have to be quite the plant enthusiast.

 

Huge, grotesque leaves blossomed in various places along the stem. The leaves were roughly several times the size of an adult man. The thickness of the stem that enveloped the building varied, but even the thinnest one appeared as thick as the department store pillar.

 

“Noona, have you checked how many people are still inside?” 

 

Jeong Mueum spoke, seemingly ignoring Cha Jaeha’s presence.

 

“No? Didn’t everyone evacuate?”

 

“There are a total of 12 people. Their exact locations are unknown.”

 

Cha Jaeha answered, checking the latest contact from the Association.

 

Hearing the response, Yoo Jian looked up at the building again.

 

“Then we’ll have to go in and check. Wait, Mr. Cha Jaeha, can’t you burn all of that? What would happen if you burn them all?”

 

“…It’s impossible.”

 

He replied in a deep voice tinged with complex emotions.

 

“However, I’ll handle any monsters inside. That plant is probably the work of one of them. With your abilities, you should rescue the civilians we need to save, and Jeong Mueum can deal with any hazards that might arise during that process.”

 

Cha Jaeha calmly assessed the situation, and his words made sense.

 

Fire would be more advantageous for dealing with this type of monster. Additionally, Yoo Jian and Jeong Mueum had enough experience working together as a pair to rescue people efficiently. It would be more effective to rely on their natural teamwork rather than hastily coordinating with Cha Jaeha.

 

“Got it.”

 

Mueum agreed without hesitation this time. There was no need to delay any further since it wasn’t an incorrect assessment.

 

“Alright, then. Ah! I feel guilty about tearing down the plants. Ugh.”

 

“…Noona if you had a conscience, you wouldn’t go around demolishing buildings like that.”

 

“If you had manners, would you be saying this to me here? Huh?”

 

“I’m using formal language. Ah! Ah! It hurts.”

 

“Let’s save the chitchat for later.”

 

The three, who didn’t seem to exhibit much teamwork, forcefully pushed the revolving door and entered inside.

 

***

 

Tch. Cha Jaeha gritted his teeth.

 

He hadn’t expected the situation to unfold like this.

 

It didn’t take long to find the citizens they needed to rescue. They had gathered in one place, trying to survive in their own way. The moment Cha Jaeha was about to descend after spotting people huddled together in front of the movie theater’s snack corner.

 

Swoosh!

 

The previously motionless stems began to move. As the grotesquely large stems detached from the walls with a cracking sound, the building’s exterior walls cracked. Cha Jaeha tore off an approaching stem and kicked at its root. The moment he detached the root, he immediately burned it to ashes.

 

Jeong Mueum, extending his hand towards the wall on the verge of collapse, shouted.

 

– I’ll hold it!

 

Mueum immediately and drastically reduced the gravity around the cracked area. This made it difficult for him to concentrate elsewhere. Even for a genius, there were limits to his abilities. He had to adjust not only the surrounding area of the crack but also the weight of the entire building, which was normally beyond his capacity to handle.

 

No, it wasn’t just about handling it; he had never experienced this level of weight before.

 

– Ugh.

 

Blood flowed from his tightly clenched lips. Though no loud music blared from the headphones covering his ears, his mind began to grow hazy over time.

 

“What the-!”

 

“Huwah-!”

 

“Help! Save me, ah!”

 

Amid the piercing screams, Yoo Jian’s fist accurately struck the center of the stem as it rushed towards the people.

 

Crack-crack-crack–

 

The stems split in two where her fist hit. But there wasn’t just one stem. All the intertwined stems surrounded them like snakes responding to a flute.

 

‘Damn it.’

 

Normally, he would have easily burned them. But Cha Jaeha couldn’t touch the stems easily. The ends of the stems were connected, and if he used fire, it would quickly spread to the building. Could he control the flames well enough to prevent these people from being engulfed in the chaos?

 

“Mr. Cha Jaeha, do something! You’re famous, aren’t you? Ah, these things are endless! Can’t you just burn them all at once with fire?”

 

Cha Jaeha frowned at Yoo Jian’s outburst.

 

‘It’s impossible to control right away.’

 

Then what should he do?

 

He pushed back the stems one by one with his fists imbued with fire. The parts touched by fire quickly burned and fell to the floor. If he kept dealing with them one by one, it would eventually be over, but…

 

This method was too slow. What if all the stems spread throughout the building converged here? What if the building, supported by plants, collapsed all at once?

 

The awakened heroes might survive, but all non-awakened would die.

 

“Damn it.”

 

He couldn’t think of a solution.

 

Only this much. Was this all his effort amounted to? If a god existed, this shouldn’t be like this.

 

Despite having these abilities, he was of no help at all. It was frustrating.

 

Maybe if he could just evacuate everyone here immediately—

 

“Argh!”

 

“I can’t hold on anymore!”

 

Amid the chaotic screams, Yoo Jian tore apart the stems reaching from both sides with her hands. Cha Jaeha burned the fallen stems to keep them from reaching the civilians, while Jeong Mueum continued to support the wall. However, he seemed to be struggling, already down on one knee.

 

Blood was already flowing on one side of Jeong Mueum’s nose.

 

‘This is my limit. If this continues, the whole building might collapse. Then, at least Noona should somehow be able to escape.’

 

Blood-tinged coughs kept escaping through his bitten lips. It tasted metallic.

 

Just as Jeong Mueum’s trembling outstretched arms were about to drop, a familiar voice came through the crack in the wall.

 

“「Just stick to the wall.」”

 

A voice that he shouldn’t hear.

 

No, a voice that shouldn’t be here in the first place.

 

“「Remove all moisture from the stems in this space.」”

 

“「Goodness, the wall’s going to collapse. Let the cracked parts return to their original state.」”

 

…What?

 

And then.

 

From the cracked building wall, a man with a nonchalant expression poked his head through.

 

“「You all should just rot away.」”

 

With just a few words from him, the swarming stems crumbled into black ash and fell to the floor.

 

They vanished.

 

All of them.

 

Like dust.

 

Cha Jaeha watched the miracle unfold before him. His gaze inevitably turned to the person who had performed the miracle.

 

He was not a god, nor did he look like one. He wasn’t dressed in sacred attire either. He wore a white dress shirt unbuttoned at the top and ordinary black slacks. His shoes were covered in a layer of white dust, suggesting he had walked quite a bit.

 

Everyone stared at ‘Yoo Hwashin’ with blank expressions.

 

‘Why is an F-rank here…?’

 

‘What did this guy do?’

 

‘…Yoo Hwashin?’

 

The citizens who saw him for the first time were relieved, thinking a new hero had come to save them.

 

‘I-I am alive.’

 

‘Thank you, God. Thank you.’

 

Yoo Hwashin, seemingly surprised, muttered briefly.

 

“Oh dear. I’ve been caught.”

 

*

 

The information Hwashin obtained by shaking down an Administrative Department staff revealed that heroes Yoo Jian, Jeong Mueum, and Cha Jaeha had all headed towards the S-rank gate. With all three S-rank heroes going to one place, naturally, the remaining heroes would have dispersed to other A-rank and C-rank gates.

 

So Yoo Hwashin followed them.

 

– You’re always looking for trouble.

 

No, Dragon. Why did you think I came here? I came to see our kids, not just to fool around.

 

Ignoring the dragon’s jab heard in the air, Hwashin moved towards them.

 

He had another reason too.

 

‘If a situation that didn’t exist in the past has appeared… it might be partly our fault.’

 

Something must have cracked when the dimension was torn and he moved here. Dimensions were delicate things that shouldn’t be tampered with carelessly. That was also why there were so few dimensional dragons.

 

Imagine more than 200 dragons crossing dimensions in a year. Could the dimension withstand it?

 

The revolving door had already been ripped off, indicating the others had gone inside. Hwashin followed their trail and leaped in.

 

A plant-type monster. S-rank.

 

These types of monsters appeared shortly after the SH unit was established. At that time, Cha Jaeha was already adept at controlling fire, so such incidents were resolved quickly. All he had to do was burn everything. He literally burned the stems on the building’s exterior walls entirely. And he did it selectively, only burning the stems.

 

“Sigh, I need to see it for myself. If the monsters come out this fast, I won’t be able to see it.”

 

On the rising escalator, Hwashin pondered with his arms crossed. There was no way the current Cha Jaeha could show such a scene.

 

“Should I go up further?”

 

He thought he had gone up quite high, but there was still no sign of people. Well, to be precise, no sign of living people. There would surely be dead bodies in the collapsed areas.

 

Still, the administrative system seemed to work well enough. Dead bodies weren’t strewn everywhere. Yoo Hwashin headed upwards with an impassive face. From the middle floors, the escalators stopped working.

 

As he approached the top floors, he could hear things breaking and occasional voices filled with urgency.

 

Hmm, this must be the place. Maybe right next to him?

 

The stems were attacking on this floor, so the kids were probably here.

 

“Hm hm hm.”

 

He burst, tore, and made things rot. It was difficult to gauge how far he could go against monsters, so it wasn’t bad to test his limit now.

 

He controlled the stems to smash against the wall. He passed through the cleanly pierced wall and headed to the side. He dusted off the accumulating debris as he walked past.

 

What should he say when he met them? It was a bit awkward to reveal his abilities right away. Yeah, when he found them, he’d just vaguely say he somehow ended up here–

 

“Oh, dear.”

 

But it was already too late for that.