Chapter 243: Chapter 243- Heart-Wrenching Decision
"TALON!!!!!!" Hyun-Jae shrieked at the top of her lungs as she looked down. Her heart stopped for a second as her body went completely cold. For a second, she couldn't believe what just happened. "No!! No, no, no!!!"
Screaming, her body instinctively started shaking. "No, Talon fell!" Looking at Sophie with a horrified look on her face. Talon had just thrown himself off just to save her life. That fact alone made her chest burn from pain and suffocation.
Sophie stared down blankly at the chaos beneath them. She had seen when Talon jumped and everything after that became a blur. She couldn't believe her eyes nor did she want to believe them.
The shock was so strong that by the time she snapped out of it, everything was already over and the chaos returned as if nothing happened.
"Go down!!" Hyun-Jae yelled.
"What?!"
"I said go the fuck down!!" She yelled again as she yanked his leg with an outraged look on her face.
"Are you crazy?! We will all die!"
"But, Talon fell!!" Tears welled in her eyes as she clenched her teeth. "He fell… Fuck!" Her voice grew weaker as she uttered the last words. The pain she felt at that moment was insufferable.
"There is no way he survived that! If you want to follow him to his death, go ahead, I ain't going down! That would really do me a big favor to lose extra weight." Katashi yelled.
He knew that there was simply no chance that Talon could survive being thrown into such a water current. Hell, he doubted he would've lasted a second before his body got completely crushed by the immense pressure of the water.
'Tsk, suits you well, bastard! Rot in hell for all I care!' He thought to himself as she smiled sneakily. He was glad that one of his enemies had committed suicide right there and then. 'He really jumped for that girl. He is an idiot for sure!'
Looking down again, Hyun-Jae was about to release herself and follow Talon. But, for some reason, she couldn't release her hand. Not because she was scared of death. Hyun-Jae has always been ready to put her life on the line for Talon with no hesitation.
The only reason she hesitated that moment was the words he said to her before he jumped. "Wait for me."
As brief and as short as they were, they still resonated with her deeply. Something about them made her rethink her choice. Talon didn't say 'goodbye' or 'I'm sorry' or anything that would indicate that he was going to die. He simply said for her to wait for him or in other words to trust that he won't die.
Of course, that sounded like a ridiculous idea to have considering the horrible tsunami that wrecked the entirety of Busan. Even the strongest of creatures wouldn't survive such a natural disaster. Yet, even when logic said so, Hyun-Jae's mind and heart told her that it wasn't true.
How many times did Talon break logic and did things that were out of this world? How many miracles did he perform in his life and how many promises did he fully do?
The answer was too many to count. So much so Hyun-Jae could say that Talon wasn't bound by logic at all. He worked on a completely different set of rules that didn't fit this world in its normal state.
On the other hand, she knew that if she released her arm now, she was going to die 100% and there was no coming back. In the chance that Talon might survive, throwing herself to death would be the worst thing she could do.
She didn't want Talon grief again. He had already been broken by his mother's death not too long ago, she knew her death would be the final blow to his soul.
'Fuck! Fuck!' Tears trickled down her cheeks as she closed her eyes. This decision was the hardest thing she had to ever do in her life. She had never been faced with such a horrible choice before.
To leave Talon behind just like that. It tore her to pieces. But, she had to do it. She had to stomp on her aching heart and do this.
'I will come back for you! I will definitely find you, no matter what!' Looking down with a broken look, she swore on herself that she was going to find him.
When the tsunami finally calmed down, she would look for Talon wherever he was.
"Talon…" Meanwhile, Sophie simply looked expressionless.
Her eyes were empty and her pupils looked hollow as if they lost light. Her mind was completely empty as if it didn't work anymore.
"Get a hold of yourself!" At that moment, Hyun-Jae's voice snapped her out of her thoughts as she looked up silently.
"He's going to be fine! I know it! So let's come back for him!" Hyun-Jae spoke in a hopeful yet extremely sad tone.
"..." Sophie didn't reply back as she looked down. The pain she was feeling at that moment was too horrible to speak. She wanted to jump, follow him wherever he went just like she promised him before. Yet, here she was, still hanging in the air as she stared down.
The world was far more empty in her eyes than ever before.
With that, the trio slowly flew into the horizon. Katashi kept looking around him silently, searching for a spot where he could land safely. He felt his stamina reaching its limit already and he didn't know what to do about it.
Beneath him, a vast sea of violent water stretched as far as the eye could see. It was as if the entire city of busan had turned into an extension of the ocean in a matter of minutes and only continued getting bigger and bigger.
'Come on, come on! Where do I land?!' As he panicked at the thought of falling to his demise, his eyes drifted along the scenery until they fell on something that caught his eyes. In the far distance, a few kilometers away from where they were, there was a rather noticeable protrusion of land, a hill of sorts that wasn't covered by the water.
It stood tall against the raging current and didn't seem to succumb to the crushing pressure. Immediately, his eyes widened as he smiled.
'That's it!' Beaming with hope, he exerted the last ounce of strength he had in his body as he flew there as fast as he could with his weak wings. Now that he saw a glimpse of salvation, his body was more than ready to go beyond the limit just to reach it.
"Hah… Hah… Hah!!" But, even then, there was still a limit that can't be broken with hope and adrenaline. The human body was simply that weak.
As they grew closer from the hill, the wings started slowing down. Flapping up and down, they started descending slowly.
Hyun-Jae noticed that and looked up. "Keep going." Wiping her tears, she said in a tired and yet also extremely angry tone.
The last thing she wanted at that moment was to speak with this bastard. Her mind was in complete shambles.
"Ugh!! I… I'm trying!!"
'Goddamit, why do I have to carry these idiots too?! I can't even use my 'Wave Cry' at them when I don't have any energy left in me.' Closing his eyes, Katashi bit his tongue and tried to just force through the pain and exhaustion he was feeling.
He could see the hill growing ever so closely and it only fueled his determination.
'I ain't dying here! I'm not going to let that happen!' With a fiery look in his eyes, he pushed through till he felt his wings almost falling off his back.
By the time he couldn't even move them, they started free-falling as they hit the ground violently.
"Hah… Hah… Hah…" Heaving up and down, Katashi lifted his head up a little as he looked around him. He didn't feel the violent current of water crushing his body to pieces which meant one thing.
"We made it…" He said in a tired tone as a wide smile appeared on his face. "Yes!! Hahahahaha! I did it! I survived! Suck it, you fools!!" As he rejoiced in his survival.
Hyun-Jae and Sophie slowly rose up as they looked at the far distance where Talon fell.
Their expressions were far from happy. In fact, they looked as if they had received the most devastating loss of their lives.
"Talon… *Hick*... Please, don't leave me here… Please… I can't live without you… Please…" As she sat there, Sophie cried as she begged for Talon to come back. Her cries, however, fell on deaf ears.
Talon didn't hear her wherever he was and that made her even worse. She felt lonely, cold, broken, and she couldn't even let it all out. She was simply too shocked to do that.
As for Hyun-Jae, she simply curled into a ball as she hugged her legs and stared into the distance. Her body felt awfully cold and her head hurt a lot. But, all she did was stare into the distance.
'I'm going to wait here till the waves grow tamer and I'm going to go looking for him. He said he will be there, so I will find him. He never broke a promise and he won't do it this time either. I know that. I'm certain.'
'All because of me… All because I couldn't protect myself!!' Gripping her legs tightly, her nails dug into her flesh and drew blood out. The guilt she felt at that moment was crushing.
Even as tears trickled down her face, her expression didn't change at all. She simply wanted to wait. As painful as it was, she waited. Even if it takes days, weeks, months or even years. She was going to wait till her body decays and her bones turn into ashes.
Nothing was going to change that because at the end of the day she knew that she was going to see Talon's face again and she was going to hug him till she couldn't anymore.
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