I Became the Drug-Addicted Childhood Friend

Translator: Elisia

Editor/Proofreader: SemiPickle

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The smoke bomb goes off.

Han Si-Hoo had never experienced a battle like this before.

Even when fighting humans, most of them were Awakeners.

There had never been a case where someone released gas or fired guns.

No one had used flashbangs or smoke bombs either.

Things had been strange ever since they thought they found the doctor.

A hologram? It was absurd.

Some places were so underdeveloped they couldn’t even use electricity, while other places, flush with money, popped out advanced technology like holograms.

“Over here.”

As the smoke cleared a bit, the doctor’s figure appeared.

This time, he had to attack properly.

He was confident in wiping everything out broadly.

But thinking of Seo-Ah and Yeon-Hwa, he couldn’t use such a skill.

“[Please stop right there.]”

Was this an attempt to stop the attack?

It seemed like a skill infused with authority in the voice.

“Shut up.”

It didn’t work on Han Si-Hoo.

Without any hesitation, he slashed through.

There was no restriction on his movements.

This time, he felt the sensation of the blade cutting.

It wasn’t as deep as it looked, but one more stab would do it.

In terms of combat skills, the doctor might be on the weaker side.

He used tricks, but this was the end.

Faster.

Stronger.

The blade pierced straight through.

Once again, it wasn’t as deep as it appeared, probably because of the smoke.

One more time.

He could feel the opponent collapsing.

However, the doctor still stood.

There was no distortion in the doctor’s figure.

Too much so.

“A hologram?”

It wasn’t real.

But he definitely landed a hit.

“Seo-Ah?”

It was Seo-Ah who had stopped in place.

The command to freeze was aimed at Yoo Seo-Ah.

Only now did Han Si-Hoo realize what had happened.

It wasn’t the doctor who had been attacked but Seo-Ah.

He had slashed and stabbed toward the doctor.

Seo-Ah’s eyes, looking at Han Si-Hoo, were growing hazy.

It was a fittingly miserable end.

Let her die just like that.

The doctor would clean up the corpse anyway.

Shut up. I’ll kill him.

Han Si-Hoo was failing to keep his mind straight.

Because he kept finding himself in the same situation.

Repeating.

Since the moment he abandoned Seo-Ah.

Abandon?

He hadn’t abandoned her.

It wasn’t like he wanted to abandon her.

The choices he made out of respect for Seo-Ah had all come back to haunt him like poison.

So, wasn’t it really Seo-Ah who was the problem?

Or maybe Han Si-Hoo was the problem.

It was clear that both were at fault.

“Ah…”

Even while looking at Seo-Ah, the desire to kill arose.

He had to take action, but he couldn’t.

The doctor had to die.

But the penalty was too great.

Still, he couldn’t collapse here.

He thought about why he couldn’t afford to fall.

For whom?

For what had this situation come about?

“As you can see, I have no particular intention of killing you. If I had, there would have been plenty of opportunities.”

The doctor spoke.

His expression couldn’t be seen behind the gas mask.

“Still, if Miss Seo-Ah wishes, there is such a thing as euthanasia.”

The doctor made a gesture as if listening.

Seo-Ah was saying something.

A red liquid gurgled and seeped out from her lips.

What could she be saying?

Han Si-Hoo thought he knew.

She was probably just asking to be killed.

Seo-Ah smiled while looking at Han Si-Hoo.

It seemed the doctor had heard her answer.

“In other words, like this.”

He placed the gun to Seo-Ah’s head.

Bang.

What had once been Yoo Seo-Ah collapsed to the floor.

People really do die so easily.

Bang. Bang. Bang.

Now, there was no reaction.

The doctor pulled the trigger without a shred of hesitation.

It all happened before Han Si-Hoo could fully process the situation.

“Let’s end it here. This is a relatively old building, so it’s weak. There were talks of reconstruction, but…”

Han Si-Hoo couldn’t understand what had just happened.

There was no way Seo-Ah was dead.

So easily?

It didn’t make sense in the context.

That couldn’t be.

“In my opinion, now is the most appropriate time.”

None of what the doctor was saying registered in his mind.

The doctor had killed Seo-Ah.

Why?

Boom!

The entire hallway collapsed.

Bang!

The explosions didn’t stop.

It felt like a ton of bombs had gone off.

The entire building seemed to be coming down.

It couldn’t be.

There was no way Seo-Ah was dead.

All Han Si-Hoo had done in the end was stab her with his sword.

It’s not over yet.

“No.”

This development couldn’t happen.

Thinking calmly, the doctor could have killed Seo-Ah at any time.

It was unexpected that the Academy couldn’t even provide the bare minimum of protection.

From the beginning, Han Si-Hoo wasn’t capable.

That was the reality.

No matter how many monsters Han Si-Hoo killed, he could only handle those within a certain level.

It was like a game.

If the final boss attacked early in the game, there was no way to win.

If you were to classify him, the doctor seemed like a boss-type enemy.

Still, there was no way Han Si-Hoo would lose in a fight against the doctor now.

It was just that protecting everyone perfectly was difficult.

Seo-Ah is dead?

It must be a lie.

The ceiling had collapsed, and neither the doctor nor Seo-Ah could be seen anymore.

He had failed to protect her.

No, but there were still people he had to protect.

He knew that.

Now was a critical moment, so he had to do what needed to be done.

At least, he had to save Yeon-Hwa.

Han Si-Hoo picked up the fallen Yeon-Hwa in his arms.

He couldn’t pick up the swords scattered on the floor.

Her long black hair, braided, caught on his hand.

It was a familiar scene.

He had saved Yeon-Hwa from danger before, too.

There was a reason Yeon-Hwa, who always spoke formally, used informal speech with Han Si-Hoo.

But was this right?

He knew that saving people was the right thing to do.

It was obvious.

But Seo-Ah seemed dead.

Of course, it must be a joke.

He must have seen it wrong.

That couldn’t happen so easily.

No, it didn’t make sense.

But still, you made a few friends, didn’t you?

You made people you knew.

In the future, there would be some event where you’d get tied up with Seo-Ah again.

Right now, things are awkward, but later, it’ll be different.

Right now, Seo-Ah is hurt, but in the future, everything will be fine.

A future much better than this.

A future.

A future.

A future.

There is none.

[Achievement: 100% Awakening Rate Acquired!]

In truth, it wasn’t such a strange thing.

Even if a few people died, the world wouldn’t change.

Yoo Seo-Ah was a high-risk person.

It wasn’t surprising that she would die at any time.

Still, up until now, Han Si-Hoo had never lost anyone around him.

Whenever his friends were in danger, he saved them all.

There was always a chance of victory in battle.

So, if the flow continued like this, it would surely lead to a good result.

What they call a happy ending.

However, Yoo Seo-Ah was running in the exact opposite direction.

A person who naturally gains good friends, and someone who only attracts bad people around them.

A lucky person and an unlucky one.

One succeeds, while the other fails.

One’s future is bright, while the others is invisible.

In the end, Seo-Ah won.

No matter what Han Si-Hoo tried to do, he would collapse.

Trying to stop it only destroyed them both.

Is this negative thinking because of the penalty?

No matter how much Han Si-Hoo pondered, no answer came.

In fact, whether an answer came or not didn’t really matter anymore.

Because Han Si-Hoo had figured it out.

He just needed strength.

It was because he lacked strength that he abandoned Seo-Ah.

It was because he lacked strength that he couldn’t protect her.

He couldn’t even protect his reasons for protecting her.

It was a weakness itself.

Blame it on the environment, blame the parents who abandoned them, blame the oppressive society, blame the people who only seek to exploit.

If you wanted to blame something, you could blame everything around you.

But what if he had been stronger?

If he had been stronger.

He should have been stronger.

Han Si-Hoo muttered endlessly.

This wasn’t just about physical strength.

The doctor had something more.

The ability to deceive and manipulate people.

He had an overwhelming amount of information.

Han Si-Hoo was just a student.

And a kid from the slums who had only just begun to gain a foothold.

If something happened before his growth story could unfold, there would be no way to stop it.

Seo-Ah’s death had been used as the fuel for his growth.

People need an unshakable pillar.

A solid wall that would never abandon anyone.

“Si-Hoo?”

“…Yeah.”

Rena was beside him.

“Sorry.”

“Yeah.”

He didn’t know what she was apologizing for.

He still thought it didn’t make sense.

There was no way Seo-Ah was dead.

That couldn’t be.

“You know, that drug… It seems like it was used by some military units, and for something that the Academy provided, it seemed really off. I should’ve realized earlier.”

An investigation into the drug they had been using.

Come to think of it, they had also assigned an investigation for the drug Seo-Ah had been taking from the start.

To Lee Yu-Ram.

But no results ever came back.

Lee Yu-Ram had no interest in treating Seo-Ah.

From the beginning, Seo-Ah was nothing more than a research subject to her.

They needed to find out where the drug came from.

Are there other people in situations similar to Seo-Ah?

People they needed to protect.

Ironically, just protecting people wasn’t enough to protect them all.

If they had strength, they could obliterate everything.

They needed to eliminate the dangerous elements first.

“Teacher Lee Yu-Ram is also acting really strange. The Academy itself… Why is it like this? If all the other teachers know about this, who can we trust?”

“We need to find out who gave the order.”

“…Gave the order?”

“Lee Yu-Ram couldn’t have acquired the drug by herself.”

Was it the doctor?

The one who provided the drug to Lee Yu-Ram.

Han Si-Hoo had known that Lee Yu-Ram had a younger sister.

She probably thought she had hidden it well, but that wasn’t the case.

In the end, trusting Lee Yu-Ram had been the problem.

Han Si-Hoo had never heard about Seo-Ah being treated with military-grade drugs.

For Lee Yu-Ram, it wasn’t some unfamiliar child that was important—it was her own younger sister.

Han Si-Hoo understood that.

For anyone, family was always the most important.

“We’ll find out soon.”

It felt strange, almost as if he were learning from the doctor’s actions, but there was a way.

He could take Lee Yu-Ram’s younger sister as a hostage.

He had even found out where she was.

The tracking device he had placed on Lee Yu-Ram’s bag had been useful.

Since the doctor hadn’t held back on using technology, Han Si-Hoo had learned from it, too.

The doctor had done despicable things, so Han Si-Hoo learned how to as well.

In a way, the doctor was practically a father figure.

To an orphan like Han Si-Hoo, he was almost like a parent who had appeared.

Why did the doctor kill Seo-Ah?

Han Si-Hoo cried for a long time.

And it made sense—he was still young, after all.

Even an adult would cry if their family died.

Due to the grotesque accumulation of responsibilities and burdens, Han Si-Hoo had never shown his tears before.

There was a time in the past when Han Si-Hoo had been crying.

He couldn’t remember why.

But he remembered Seo-Ah patting him on the back, saying it would be okay.

“It’s okay. It’s okay.”

And then, what had she said?

“I’ll always be with you.”

You can rely on me.

She smiled slightly like that.

Bang.

The doctor had shot her.

He needed to kill the doctor.