Chapter 33: Heavenly Fire Part 3

“No…”

Giselle Hartmann, a member of Gamma rank from FPL Research Facility No. 4, was sweating coldly.

If she had simply overworked herself, buried in paperwork and fallen asleep as usual, she would have thought it was just another nightmare.

However, ever since becoming a Gamma rank, her body had grown accustomed to comfort, so she no longer confused such nightmares with reality.

In other words, The explosion she had just seen, that familiar one, was undoubtedly real.

Just like the IF-017-1s, but with flames much larger.

The nightmare had become reality.

“I was too careless because it looked a bit more docile…”

Giselle tugged at her hair in frustration.

IF-017, ‘Dragon.’

Though it had woken up trapped, it hadn’t rampaged and appeared calm, which had reassured her.

Seeing her junior peacefully sleeping in her arms had also reassured her.

Even though it could have damaged the containment room, it was said to be drawing pictures, which had reassured her.

In her mind, she thought that maybe the IF-017-1 would be different, which reassured her.

It was all a mistake.

By now, that foolish junior must have already disappeared, and Giselle collapsed from weakness in her legs.

“In the end, it would have been obvious if they were serving that god…”

Giselle clutched her head, which felt like it was going to shatter from the pain.

A voice echoed in her ears.

Though it was a very familiar voice, it was one she didn’t want to hear.

It was all just an auditory hallucination that highlighted the cruel reality.

However…

Bang! 

Crash!

The loud sound of something collapsing was unmistakably not a hallucination.

“…That was a surprise.”

Giselle snapped back to attention and looked around.

For a moment, it seemed like a single house had fallen from the sky.

If it weren’t for the familiar objects visible through the debris, Giselle might have thought the same.

She muttered in surprise at the unexpected identity of what she was seeing.

“It’s the IF-017 containment room.”

‘Could it be that it had remained in place due to the spatial peculiarities and had only now fallen?’

She wondered.

Giselle walked toward the wreckage.

Given how high it had fallen, it was no surprise it was shattered into pieces.

“It was a place with quite a few memories.”

Giselle thought back to the events of the last few years.

Even though years had passed, the events that stood out were mostly from the recent six months.

Naturally, most of what had been inside would have been destroyed.

Giselle let out a deep sigh of regret.

Still, maybe there were a few things she could salvage.

As Giselle was walking around the wreckage, she heard a voice.

“…Please, help me, senior…”

Giselle frowned and leaned her head against her hand.

‘Was it the hallucinations starting again after they seemed to subside?’

Then, something felt off.

‘Why was the voice coming from inside the debris? ‘

She thought.

Giselle, unsure, called out her junior’s name.

“… Kang Hana?”

A familiar voice responded.

“I’m stuck…  Please get me out!”

It was definitely not a hallucination.

With a hint of relief, Giselle’s head became cluttered.

The voice of an acquaintance urging her to come closer.

According to regulations, she should confirm if there was any mental contamination before approaching.

“…No, it’s a gray area, but this is an emergency, so Article 11, Section 7 could apply.”

Still, Giselle didn’t stop.

She rationalized it, thinking that she hadn’t broken any rules, even though it felt forced.

“Hold on, I’ll help you!”

Giselle ran toward Kang Hana.

“So, why were you stuck in there?”

Her senior’s question.

But Kang Hana couldn’t easily answer.

She herself didn’t know why she was still alive.

In times like this, Kang Hana thought it was best to speak honestly and say things as they were, so she reflected on her memories.

“The containment room fell, and I was inside it.”

The containment room had clearly fallen from a great height.

And that was when she lost consciousness.

That was the part Kang Hana remembered.

However, when she woke up, she was somehow intact, though trapped in the wreckage.

***

Afterward, she thought she heard her senior’s voice from somewhere, so she asked for help, and in the end… she survived.

That was the end of her story.

“So, let me get this straight… You fell from several hundred meters along with the containment room, and you didn’t get a scratch?  Is that what you’re saying?”

It was exactly as she had said.

Even when she listed the events as they happened, Kang Hana couldn’t understand it herself.

“Surprisingly, yes…”

Her senior’s expression became complicated upon hearing her response.

Kang Hana couldn’t raise her head.

Even she thought that if she went out and said something like “how to survive being trapped in a building falling from several hundred meters high,” she would be ridiculed mercilessly.

Her senior muttered.

“Could it have been mental contamination…?”

“Huh? No, it wasn’t!”

But Kang Hana didn’t want to be dragged to the security team and endure a long, tedious interrogation for three hours.

In desperation, she waved both hands at her senior.

However…

“I know that much. It wouldn’t make sense for any other unknown phenomenon to have approached where IF-684 was rampaging.  So, it can’t be mental contamination.”

Instead of the expected emergency call bell ringing, her senior hugged her tightly.

Kang Hana flinched at the unexpected physical contact.

“Ugh?”

“I’m so glad you’re alive. I’m really glad you’re alive…”

Her senior clung to her as if not wanting to let go.

Kang Hana, embarrassed, froze with her hand awkwardly raised.

However, it felt awkward to push her senior away while hearing the trembling voice.

So, Kang Hana quietly accepted the embrace.

***

Minutes passed.

‘No, how many seconds had passed?’

Nodding off…

Kang Hana, who had been about to lower her head, suddenly froze in surprise.

Somehow, without realizing it, she had been leaning on her senior and dozing off!

“Hmm? Why am I suddenly so sleepy…?”

Even after rubbing her eyes and yawning, she continued to feel drowsy.

“Are you okay? Blink your eye here.”

“No, it’s not that…”

Her senior, who was now checking to see if she had hurt her head, was reassured when Kang Hana shook her head, saying there were no injuries.

Come to think of it, just before she passed out, she had felt a warmth gathering inside her body.

‘Could that be related?’ 

She wondered.

Kang Hana tried to shake off the sudden fatigue.

Then, it happened.

She heard the sound of footsteps that felt strangely familiar.

Thud, thud, The footsteps sounded like they were being taken aggressively, almost as if they were angry.

But Kang Hana instantly recognized them.

Those footsteps were supposed to be light, like quick little steps!

One word immediately came to her mind.

Kang Hana called out the name.

“IF-017…!”

“…What?”

Upon hearing her voice, her senior turned around and gasped in shock.

Her breathing became frantic, and her heart began to race.

“What is that…?!”

Well.

It was understandable.

What they saw with their eyes was IF-017, burning fiercely.

They had only just met after several days, and now it was in that state!

Seeing it, Kang Hana was about to shout out “No!” and scream in terror, but then she felt something strange.

Even as she watched that scene, she didn’t feel any sense of crisis.

A warmth responded from her heart.

Only then did Kang Hana realize that the flames weren’t dangerous.

Upon closer inspection, it seemed that IF-017 wasn’t burning but was actually controlling the fire. That was a relief.

But…

‘If that were the case, why did it seem so precarious?’

It was as if it were a child left by the riverbank; she couldn’t take her eyes off it.

As she stood there, absentmindedly watching, Kang Hana was snapped back to attention by her senior’s serious voice.

“…Don’t just stand there dazed. Hurry and escape. I’ll stall for time.”

“What?”

“Don’t ask.” 

“Just go.”

“Now. It’s natural that a Beta rank’s life takes precedence over a Gamma rank’s.”

With those words, her senior pushed her away.

The way her senior prioritized Kang Hana’s life over their own seemed strangely urgent, but…

Kang Hana’s steps didn’t falter.

“Why… why aren’t you running? Are you trying to die?”

Even in response to her senior’s question, the only answer Kang Hana could give was that she didn’t want to distance herself from IF-017.

The moment she saw it, she felt it.

She couldn’t pass by IF-017.

“…Giselle-senior, you should escape. I don’t think I can.”

Kang Hana started heading toward IF-017.

“What are you doing…? No, don’t do it. You’ll die! You’ll die…!!”

Even as her senior shouted from behind, it was an unstoppable force.

When Kang Hana turned slightly, she saw her senior holding onto her with tears in her eyes.

It was so unlike the image of Giselle that Kang Hana knew; if she had shown this to herself a month or two ago, her eyes would have been wide with shock.

Still…

Kang Hana pushed her senior’s hand away.

“No, no… not like this again…”

Although her senior seemed to be in great distress, Kang Hana couldn’t look back anymore.

Her feet were already like a sailboat with its sail set.

Following the heat, following her heart.

Surrounded by the flames, Kang Hana moved forward toward IF-017, which was silently gazing in her direction.

Step by step.

As she drew closer, sweat beaded all over her body.

It would definitely hurt.

The most intense pain a person can feel is burning pain, and given the size of those flames…

No, perhaps she would turn to ash before she could even feel the pain.

Kang Hana’s reasoning was completely logical.

Yet, despite that, her intuition couldn’t be ignored.

She knew that if she didn’t get closer, she would regret it forever.

“I don’t care if I die. I won’t see my mom and dad anymore anyway…”

“You’re the only one for me.”

The heat that rushed up her throat made her swallow her words.

It had only been half a year since they met, and yet she was willing to give her life for them.

Even Kang Hana herself thought this was ridiculous, but she couldn’t help but smile bitterly.

Yet, despite all of this…

There was something about IF-017 that seemed so hard for her to ignore.

There was something about it looking so troubled.

Something about it seeming so uncomfortable.

She couldn’t just walk past it.

Kang Hana suddenly felt certain that she could help IF-017.

Finally, she reached a point where she could stretch out her hand to IF-017.

It didn’t burn.

Contrary to her expectations, the flames weren’t that hot.

Instead, it was just hot.

Even sunlight, if it went beyond a certain point, would feel hot instead of warm, but this felt like the intense heat of wearing a million layers of padding.

Feeling her throat dry, Kang Hana wasn’t sure she could even speak.

So, though it was a last resort, she shouted inwardly.

“I’ll help you!”

She reached the place where she had heard the sound of something collapsing, and now she found herself in a confusing situation.

She had found what she thought was the last burning flame.

But the location seemed a bit strange.

‘Why is it inside Kang Hana’s heart?’

‘Hmm.’

‘She may be a bit immature, but is Kang Hana really a priest after all?’

It’s true that she’s just a little lacking.

Her attitude was completely different from that of Giselle-senior, who treated me like some free-spirited monster with irregular features…

People with proper appearances are disqualified, yet Kang Hana passed?

It’s strange…

That’s when it happened.

Suddenly, a chunk of the burning heat inside me disappeared.

My insides felt cleaner than before.

I felt refreshed.

I felt comfortable.

…

No.

This doesn’t seem like something I should just overlook.

‘What happened?’

‘Where did the boiling heat go?’

‘Where did it leak out to?’

I focused my senses on the heat that had disappeared.

There wasn’t really much to focus on.

It was right in front of me.

“A little… No, this is so hot I feel like I’m going to die, but it’s for IF-017, so I can handle it!”

The burning heat was inside Kang Hana’s body.

‘Hah.’

‘What?’

That was inside my body just a moment ago—’why is it inside yours now?’

“This doesn’t make sense!”

“What are you, a monster?”

“How did you even do this…?”