Chapter 9
Snowflakes blurred her vision as they swirled through the air.
Looking around, she saw a vast field of snow stretching out in all directions. But strangely, she didn’t feel cold. No, she didn’t feel anything at all.
‘It’s a dream.’
Seoya quickly realized that this was a dream.
‘And this is Tode.’
The eternally cold planet. Seoya’s home. Tode.
Now, it was a land she could never set foot on again—except in dreams.
In the dream, Seoya seemed to be searching for mutants. As she walked across the untouched snow, footprints appeared behind her with each step.
Her navy-blue hair blew in the wind, obscuring her vision, but Seoya didn’t bother to brush it aside.
‘Back then, Ibin unni used to tie my hair every day.’
Ibin had liked tying Seoya’s hair into two low ponytails. At some point, she had stopped doing it.
Chzzzt—chzzzzzt—
[Seoya—Seoya, do you hear me? Where are you?]
A voice crackled from the radio clipped to her waist—it was Ibin’s voice. Hearing it again after so long, Seoya instinctively grabbed the radio.
She thought she’d cry if she ever heard her sister’s voice again, even in a dream. But strangely, she wasn’t angry. Instead, her stomach churned with the hollow feeling of being abandoned.
“I haven’t spotted any mutants yet.”
[Traces?]
“No traces either.”
On Tode, the pioneers existed solely to fight against the mutants.
The mutants—unknown monsters that had completely destroyed the planet Tode.
They took human form and possessed human-level intelligence but were nothing more than creatures made of pure malice.
Any land a mutant touched became so contaminated that no life could survive there. They had no need for food or rest, so they weren’t even truly alive.
Since awakening at the age of eight and enduring continuous training, Seoya had started fighting mutants at fourteen. Because pioneers existed to combat mutants.
“Unni.”
[Yeah?]
“Why did you do it?”
Chzzzt—
“Why did you betray me?”
Chzzzt—
Unable to resist the urge, Seoya spoke out. But of course, there was no reply from Ibin. After all, this was only a dream.
When Ibin—who had always spoken of honesty—betrayed her, everything Seoya had believed about her sister suddenly felt like a lie.
So she walked in silence.
“Found it.”
A withered, blackened tree.
Shriveled trees, dead birds fallen from the sky, rocks turned pitch-black—these were all signs used to track mutant locations.
Seoya followed the trail of blackened snow beyond the tree.
“Mutant traces confirmed. No visual. Beginning pursuit.”
[Copy that.]
Ibin’s responses were always concise and clear.
‘This dream feels so real.’
And so, Seoya followed the black snow with a heavy heart.
Even as she did, she was careful not to step on it. No matter how strong she was, direct exposure to a mutant’s energy was still dangerous.
“Mutants spotted.”
In the distance, three human-like figures appeared.
But they weren’t human. No humans ever came this far beyond the village.
Sensing her presence, the mutants simultaneously turned to face her.
Their eyes were pitch-black voids, with normal facial features—eyes, nose, mouth—yet their expressions were vacant. Their mouths hung open, emitting a strange, droning sound.
“Three mutants. Engaging.”
[Copy that.]
Seoya dashed forward, her feet digging deep into the snow with each step.
Her body floated through the air like a feather. The three mutants raised their hands toward her, as if reaching to seize her.
‘From up here, they really look like movie zombies back on Earth.’
Still airborne, Seoya gathered mana around her fist and dropped down.
Boom—
Her mana-charged punch collided with one of the mutants’ heads.
Before it could react, its skull was crushed. No matter how many times she saw it, watching heads explode was always unpleasant.
“One down.”
Seoya quickly dodged the others’ attacks by pivoting on a mana-infused foot.
Sensing danger, the remaining two mutants were suddenly enveloped by black energy. That energy warped into grotesque beast-like shapes that lunged at her, jaws wide open.
“Not so fast.”
Boom—
Her mana-covered arm struck one of the beasts, and the shadowy form shattered instantly.
Enraged that their energy had been destroyed, the mutants screeched, opening their mouths wide. At the same time, they summoned more dark energy, which rose like shields around them.
Seoya pulled a dagger from her belt.
‘I used to use this all the time.’
Normally, she’d just use her fists, but who knew when she’d ever get to wield this dagger again?
The blue dagger shimmered in the sunlight. It had always been with her—now, it had been taken from her.
Crack—
As soon as the dagger left her hand and struck the black shield, a loud crash erupted, and the energy shattered.
The exposed mutants stumbled back, visibly dazed. They collapsed onto their backsides and didn’t get up again.
“Not going to fight?”
The mutants raised both hands in a gesture of surrender. But—
“You shouldn’t lie!”
Boom—
At the same moment she spun around, two black tendrils sprang toward her from behind. They slithered like tails, but they had come up from underground.
Mutants often used this tactic—hiding their energy underground for a sneak attack.
“But it’s almost time to end this, isn’t it?”
With a mana-charged blade hand, she sliced through the tendrils cleanly. The sensation of battle thrilled her, even though it had been a while.
‘The dream must be ending soon.’
Seoya knew it. She was no longer who she used to be.
She picked up the dagger and leapt forward.
Thunk.
Two mutant heads dropped to the ground at once.
Landing lightly from a midair flip, Seoya looked down at the three fallen mutants.
“All three eliminated.”
When she released mana to sweep away the corpses, the bodies melted like snow, leaving behind a pile of mana stones.
When a mutant’s energy and a pioneer’s mana collide, mana stones are formed. They were valuable resources.
“Mana stones collected.”
[Copy. Good work. Return to base.]
“Where’s Taesa oppa?”
[He went to the training ground earlier. Why?]
“No reason. Just curious.”
‘If I return to base, Taesa oppa will probably greet me.’
His red hair damp with sweat from training, the giant sword strapped to his waist, the scent of fire clinging to him.
It was all in the past now.
“Unni, why did you betray me?”
[…]
Still, no answer. A painful silence.
“If that was what you were going to do… then you should’ve just…”
“Ah.”
Seoya jolted awake, sitting up sharply. Her body trembled on its own, and her face was drenched in cold sweat.
She raised a hand to wipe it off and pulled down the thick blanket wrapped around her up to her chin.
Suddenly, Iga-yeon’s voice echoed in her mind:
“Seoya, are you sleeping okay these days?”
In this world, Seoya never felt hunger or cold. She was always warm and comfortable. But that didn’t mean she was happy now.
Seoya had been betrayed.
After she awakened as the youngest pioneer at age eight, no new pioneers were born for the next nine years—until she turned seventeen.
When pioneers died, they were supposed to be replaced. But that didn’t happen, and so the remaining pioneers were pushed to the brink.
Eventually, the pioneers voiced their beliefs to the civilians at headquarters and declared that it was time for a change.
“It’s not just the pioneers who should fight the mutants. All of humanity needs to find a way to resist them.”
Naturally, people rejected the idea. The people of Tode had come to take the pioneers’ sacrifices for granted while continuing their daily lives.
Then, the pioneers announced they would no longer fight mutants. That sparked conflict between civilians and pioneers. And the civilians, fearing an uprising, decided to eliminate their biggest perceived threat.
“That was me.”
At that moment—when most pioneers had left to seek the mutants’ origin—the civilians fabricated charges and exiled Seoya.
Among the few who remained at headquarters were Ibin and Taesa.
“I didn’t expect Ibin unni or Taesa oppa to help me.”
They probably didn’t know the conspiracy. By the time they found out, Seoya was already imprisoned.
But still—they led the charge in banishing her.
“If they couldn’t help me, the least they could’ve done was not take part in my exile.”
For nine years, ever since she was eight, they had been her family and mentors. But in the end, Seoya was betrayed. Exiled. Abandoned.
“How am I supposed to go on like nothing happened?”
Curled up in this peaceful world, Seoya thought of the words she could never say to Ibin and Taesa.
“You know… I can’t return to that world ever again anyway.”
“You don’t have to worry about me becoming a threat again.”
“Even if there were a way back, I wouldn’t take revenge. I don’t resent you. Whether you succeeded or failed in killing me—nothing would’ve changed for you.”
“But still, for my sake…”
“If you were going to abandon me like this, if you were going to leave me with these feelings…”
“…You should’ve just pierced my heart and killed me.”
