Tomb Raider King : End Line - Chapter 03

========== CHAPTER 3. DREAM (1) ==========

Ju-heon rubbed his brow at the red status window in front of him.

‘Crow, is this your doing? Bored? Want me to give you more work?’

At that, Ju-heon’s secretary artifact, Samjok-o, was flustered.

[It is not me.]

That would be right. Even if you like to tease your master, you wouldn’t pull a stunt like this.

That meant this mysterious system was testing him as the Majesty.

Ju-heon read the options floating in mid-air one by one.

This meant they wanted to turn humans into livestock for artifacts.

And the next one—

Yeah, this one looks like a good deal at first glance, but the sinister intent to kill humans is so obvious it’s disgusting.

And the next one—

This was no different from telling him to sit back and watch humanity go extinct.

“……Disgusting.”

Ju-heon curled his lips.

All three pretended to offer different paths, but the essence was the same.

‘No matter which path I choose, humanity goes extinct.’

And this bastard’s intention was to use Ju-heon as it pleased and drag him in as an accomplice to the slaughter.

Yeah, I don’t know what kind of bastard this is, but it picked the wrong person.

“What meaning do obedience and slaughter have in a world where my child will soon be born?”

Ju-heon turned his gaze away coldly.

“Any further fighting is meaningless. So, get lost.”

Then the message spoke as if laughing.

[Choosing to reserve your decision? Fine, though I think you’ll regret it.]

Are you kidding me?

All the options lead to the destruction of humanity where they become livestock, so what am I supposed to choose?

Ju-heon lowered his heavy eyelids.

And when he opened his eyes again, he was sitting in an unfamiliar place. To be precise, he didn’t know where it was. A place where the sky and the ground couldn’t be distinguished. Everything around him was just white and quiet.

Someone came running in front of him.

Tadak, tadadak.

Light footsteps. It was a little girl.

Shiny black hair and eyes that looked exactly like Irene’s. Maybe about three years old? The child, who had been smiling brightly, threw herself into Ju-heon’s arms without hesitation.

“Appa!”

Ju-heon’s body froze like stone.

“……Appa?”

He rolled his neck for a moment. A strange sense of dissonance washed over him.

“……We don’t have a kid yet.”

Then, suddenly, he was startled and said,

“Is it a daughter? Yes, that’s my daughter!”

The child didn’t answer.

She just held his finger tightly and moved.

A soft, squishy, and warm sensation. It was a hand that had never touched the harsh world before.

It was so overwhelming that Ju-heon intuitively realized it was a dream. Even so, Ju-heon didn’t want to let go of this warmth.

That was when it happened.

Pabat!

Regardless of Ju-heon’s will, his weapon, Gungnir, materialized in mid-air.

And Gungnir was a terrifying god-tier weapon that could pierce an opponent’s heart even from the other side of the globe.

However, the child giggled as she excitedly rode the Gungnir, which was emitting that vicious killing intent, as if it were a merry-go-round. The distinct eye-smile that Irene made when she saw something really pretty was visible on the child’s face.

‘More than that, to handle a god-tier artifact so freely.’

A normal human would have been exhausted just by touching it.

Ju-heon watched that smile for a long time. For the first time, he felt a desperate desire for that smile to truly come out into the world.

‘Is this happiness?’

But that was only for a moment.

A single golden thread was pulled from the child’s small fingertips. The child’s pupils shook violently.

“Appa?”

It wasn’t the joy from just a moment ago. It was a terrified voice calling out in fear.

In an instant, the white space was dyed dark red, and the child’s body began to shatter. From her toes to her fingertips, she broke apart like pieces and scattered in the wind. And the child’s tearful words burst out, as if being dragged by fate.

“……What do I do? *&%#……They say it’s not allowed!”

Chijijik, the child’s words were hard to hear because of the noise. But one sentence was clearly embedded.

“Please remember me. I have to be born and protect Appa……!”

A final cry mixed with sobbing.

But before the end of her words could even land, the child shattered into pieces as if dying.

And at that moment, a sensation of his chest being blown open washed over him. A huge hole was punched through, and he felt like something precious had been ripped out of him.

Soon, with a pain that struck his brain, Ju-heon bolted upright.

“Huk, huff……!”

Ju-heon, who had woken up, gasped for air. His whole body was drenched in cold sweat.

His heart was pounding like crazy. It took a few seconds to regain his composure.

[What’s wrong? What’s wrong?]

[Are you okay? Are you okay?]

The Rope approached, rubbing its body against Ju-heon’s face. Irene was sleeping quietly on the side of the bed.

Yes, everything was peaceful.

Except for Ju-heon.

The next morning, Ju-heon took Irene to the hospital.

Seeing Ju-heon demand a re-examination after just one day, Irene laughed first.

“We’re going for another check-up?”

“Yeah.”

“We checked yesterday.”

“Just in case.”

Irene chuckled but held Ju-heon’s hand.

“It’s because of that strange dream you had yesterday, right?”

“…….”

“It’s just a dream. They say you have all sorts of dreams when you’re pregnant.”

Ju-heon didn’t answer.

He wished it were a dream. If it were just a strange dream, like Irene said.

“Still, since we’re here, let’s check. It’ll be fine.”

Irene walked to the reception desk first. Ju-heon watched her back for a moment.

Something was bothering him.

The sensation still remaining on his palm.

‘There’s no way that was just a dream.’

But Ju-heon suppressed that thought.

Because Irene was smiling. Because she said it would be fine.

In the examination room, the doctor laughed heartily and prepared the equipment.

“Haha, you checked yesterday. The expectant father is too worried.”

“Just one more time.”

“Very well. The baby will also be relieved to see Mom and Dad one more time.”

Irene lay on the bed. The doctor applied the ultrasound equipment.

The screen turned on.

The doctor didn’t speak for a while.

“……Huh?”

Ju-heon’s eyebrows twitched.

The doctor changed the position of the equipment. He looked at the screen again. He changed it again.

“What’s wrong?”

The laughter drained from Irene’s voice.

The doctor lowered the equipment and said,

“……The child is gone.”

“What?”

“It was clearly here yesterday, very clearly, but it’s gone! It cannot be explained medically!”

Irene’s face stiffened.

Ju-heon didn’t say anything.

Instead, his gaze looking at the agitated doctor became a little sharper.

“Calm down and tell me properly.”

“That is…… this is the first time this has happened to us, so we are flustered. In this case, medically…….”

The doctor’s words faded away.

Irene, who barely managed to come out of the examination room, grabbed Ju-heon’s arm. Even after coming home, it was obvious she was trying not to cry.

“I’m not crying.”

“I know.”

“Really.”

“……I know.”

Ju-heon pulled her into a tight embrace.

In the living room, he could see the gift box they had bought as soon as they confirmed the pregnancy yesterday. Inside the open box were baby shoes that hadn’t even been worn yet.

Ju-heon gritted his teeth.

A person who loses their parents is an orphan.

A person who loses their spouse is a widow/widower.

There are ways to name loss in this world. But there is no term for a person who loses their child. Not in any language, not in any culture. Perhaps it is because the sorrow of losing a child cannot be contained by any name.

Ju-heon stared at it for a long time before heading to the room as if struck by lightning.

And he took out an artifact from the drawer.

Actually, there was a story behind this artifact.

A while ago, Julian came to find Ju-heon and issued a threat.

“Seo Ju-heon. What is this?”

“What? Are your eyes broken? It’s an artifact.”

“That’s not it, why are you threatening the childbirth artifact?”

Julian’s eyes flashed. A report had come in that Ju-heon was trying to threaten the Goddess of Childbirth artifact to demand that she let him have a daughter.

“Is there a reason it has to be a daughter? Are you some kind of daughter-fool or something?”

“No. I like sons too.”

“Then it doesn’t matter.”

“Yeah, it doesn’t matter.”

Ju-heon said with a serious, terrified face.

“If it’s a son who looks like me, the world will be destroyed.”

“…….”

Julian was speechless for a while.

“…At least you’re self-aware.”

Ju-heon said seriously, looking rarely afraid.

“If it’s a daughter, wouldn’t it not lead to the destruction of the world?”

“Ha, if they take after their mom, wouldn’t a son be fine too?”

“Irene is also a bankruptcy king.”

“…….”

What a world-destroying couple.

In the end, Julian confiscated the artifact.

To be precise, he returned it on the condition that he wouldn’t use it for blackmail, but that wasn’t important right now.

Ju-heon held the artifact in his hand and activated it.

[Eileithyia’s Thread, activation]

[Searching for target…….]

Ju-heon closed his eyes.

Please don’t be dead, please don’t be dead.

[Search complete]

[Target: Alive.]

Ju-heon gasped.

Alive, that word was enough.

However.

[It is a child that cannot be born.]

What?

[Moved to another location.]

‘Moved to another location?’

Ju-heon’s eyes flashed with a sharp glint.

His resolve to be a gentle father didn’t even last a day. But well, it couldn’t be helped. Because what he needed right now wasn’t gentleness.

‘There is someone who touched my child.’

That was enough.

And one fact wouldn’t leave his mind.

[Choosing to reserve your decision? Fine, though I think you’ll regret it.]

That red message from yesterday. It was a phenomenon that couldn’t be explained unless it was the meddling of those artifact bastards.

‘Yeah, is it that message’s doing?’

Sure enough,

The red message appeared again.

Tiring!

[Oh my, a disaster has struck. It’s a pity and scary, but this was just a taste. From now on, even more terrible disasters will keep striking.]

It was a confident tone, as if it were reading the humans’ actions.

[If you choose a policy direction as the Majesty even now, humanity can be protected.]

[So, choose one of the three options-]

At the same time, Ju-heon burst into laughter.

“It seems you didn’t even consider that I might choose a fourth option.”

…Excuse me?

(Continued in the next episode)