Chapter 281: The Responsibility is Mine (1)
Cold.
The encroaching chill.
The frost that gnaws at the skin.
Within this onslaught, Lloyd’s eyes snapped open.
Amidst the frost storm that swept through everything, a message rapidly emerged.
[Your skill, <Hands and Feet Frozen>, is now active.]
“…!”
[You have entered a region with an average annual temperature below 0°C. The skill ‘Hands and Feet Frozen’ has been activated. As long as you remain in this area, you will not suffer from hypothermia or freeze to death.]
“…Gasp!”
Lloyd found himself holding his breath without realizing it.
He hunched his body.
His mind raced, allowing him to grasp the situation and the content of the message.
He quickly caught onto the subtle danger hidden within.
‘That’s a nice option to have… but it only prevents freezing to death and hypothermia. It doesn’t say anything about preventing frostbite.’
Realizing this, he immediately activated his arcane technique.
He desperately gathered the faint warmth remaining around him, absorbing it, amplifying it through three circles, and channeled it into his Mana Heart. He then directed the amplified warmth to his skin, respiratory system, and eyes.
Only then could he finally relax his shoulders.
‘Phew, that was a close call.’
Death by hypothermia.
Frostbite due to cold.
The two are distinctly different conditions.
While death by freezing is exactly that, frostbite involves the freezing of tissues like the skin, causing cell damage and necrosis.
‘If I had just relied on the skill and done nothing… I might have avoided freezing to death, but I would have suffered frostbite on my ears or fingers. Exposed to sudden cold, the blood flow would drastically decrease, leading to tissue necrosis due to lack of oxygen.’
This was precisely the type of cold injury often suffered by South Korean soldiers during winter guard duties.
‘But anyhow… I’ve avoided the horrific fate of dying from hypothermia while suffering frostbite. These skills have their traps, huh? I’ll need to be careful next time.’
It seemed relying solely on the skill’s options wasn’t wise.
With this resolve, Lloyd collected his thoughts.
He turned his gaze back into the frost storm.
Initially, visibility was poor.
There wasn’t much to see.
The storm was too fierce.
White frost danced like a devil’s whirlwind.
But after shuffling forward a few steps, the situation began to clear up slightly.
‘A mess.’
The coolant injection room that stored the Heart of Winter.
A facility protected by sturdy iron doors and six royal guards.
Now, it was in complete disarray.
The iron door was crumpled like a squashed soda can, embedded in the corridor wall.
Sharp ice shards were embedded everywhere, like fragments.
‘What about the Heart of Winter?’
The treasure borrowed by begging the queen.
One of the three great artifacts of the Magentano royal family.
Was it safe?
No, what about the people inside?
With trepidation, Lloyd stepped over the threshold of the coolant injection room.
He surveyed the inside.
And realized.
“…Damn.”
Everyone was down.
No one moved.
Two royal magicians and six guards.
All were lying around like mannequins, motionless.
And the Heart of Winter was going berserk.
Having shattered its special control box.
It was spewing an indescribable cold like a storm through the cracks of the broken box.
It was in a state of runaway.
‘Indeed, that was the cause of the problem.’
His heart pounded.
But something was odd.
Every time his heart thudded, the Heart of Winter seemed to respond by spewing more cold.
‘What? Is it reacting to the sudden activation of the half-dragon option earlier?’
It seemed likely.
At first, it was just a suspicion, but upon closer inspection, it became evident.
Moreover, as he approached, the cold seemed to become more violent.
As if a wild beast, thrilled to see a familiar face, was rampaging uncontrollably due to its unbearable size.
‘What is this?’
Lloyd bit his lower lip.
Whether it synced with his heartbeat or responded to the half-dragon option, it was an emergency either way.
‘This is a national treasure. If it breaks down like this, how will I be responsible? What about the workers inside? Think. Think.’
He had to somehow contain the situation.
But how to calm the rampaging Heart of Winter was beyond him.
He felt lost.
‘If only Javier were here.’
What would it have been like?
He was a Grand Master, after all.
With his overwhelming Mana Heart and mana manipulation skills.
The protagonist of this novel, of this world.
Wouldn’t he have found a way to handle this situation?
That thought crossed his mind.
But it was a futile thought.
Javier wasn’t here.
He had been summoned to the castle by the queen.
He would be sparring with the queen for a special training session.
‘I have to resolve this.’
He felt it was a race against time.
The longer this situation was left unaddressed, the bigger the problem would become, making it harder to manage.
Then, at that moment.
“Uh, uhuh…”
An unexpected sound reached his ears.
A very faint sound.
A painful moan.
It came from one of the guards lying on the floor of the coolant injection room.
‘Could it be?’
Surprised, Lloyd checked on the moaning guard.
Astonishingly, there was still life in him.
Though he was suffering from severe hypothermia.
His skin and lips were completely pale, and his pulse was weak, but he was still alive!
“…”
What about the others?
Lloyd quickly took action.
And soon realized.
“Almost all of them are alive.”
Just one person.
The royal magician closest to the Heart of Winter, holding a bloodied dagger, was dead.
The rest were alive.
Or, to be precise, in a dying state.
‘If we delay any longer, it’ll be hard to save them all.’
From that moment, he acted without thinking.
Six guards.
One royal magician.
He sequentially dragged the seven still-breathing individuals out of the coolant injection room to the corridor outside.
Starting with the royal magician, who seemed in the worst condition.
Strangely, the magician had been bleeding from the back.
As if wounded by a dagger.
However, the bleeding was minimal.
It seemed the wound had frozen over immediately as the Heart of Winter went berserk.
‘It seems this wound was caused by the dagger held by the dead magician.’
Lloyd’s brow furrowed.
What was going on?
What exactly happened in the coolant injection room?
But now was not the time to dwell on such curiosities.
‘Move.’
He had to save the people first.
From then on, Lloyd moved breathlessly.
He carried the royal magician.
Using his arcane technique, he delivered warmth to the magician’s vital organs.
While doing so, he headed towards the tunnel exit.
“Here! Call a doctor! Quick!”
He shouted as he emerged outside.
People were milling around near the exit, murmuring.
They had heard the explosion from inside the tunnel.
The cold wind that shouldn’t have blown from the inside was flowing out.
Most of the standby team members had gathered near the entrance, sensing something ominous.
“What happened inside?”
“Ah, an accident. A leak of the cold from the Heart of Winter. Call a doctor, now.”
Lloyd quickly explained the situation.
He instructed the team leader of the standby crew.
“There are a few more inside. I’ll bring them out. Inform the royal palace about the accident, get blankets to cover them up, as many as you can. And this person here, he’s injured, so apply pressure to stop the bleeding until the doctor arrives. Press hard.”
“Understood.”
The team leader’s eyes were filled with urgency.
The rest of the standby team sprang into action.
Meanwhile, Lloyd dashed back into the tunnel.
He descended the ladder to the vertical shaft.
One by one, he carried the guards he had laid in front of the coolant injection room.
He carried them, hurried his steps, and climbed the ladder of the vertical shaft.
He laid them under the warm sunshine outside.
After handing them over to the team, he re-entered the tunnel.
He made six more trips like this.
He managed to rescue all the guards.
Being inherently robust, fortunately, none of them had lost their lives.
“Phew… Hah… Whew.”
After moving everyone to safety, he felt utterly drained.
The early summer sun felt so warm.
Such a stark contrast to the chilling cold inside the tunnel.
Sitting down to catch his breath, Lloyd sunk his head between his knees.
Among the frenzy of the worried crowd.
The hustle and bustle of people running around.
Yet, amidst all that, he felt oddly warmed.
The sun’s rays, patting and caressing his back, were incomparably comforting.
Warm, snug, and reassuring.
That’s when it hit him.
“…”
What am I doing here?
Why am I already feeling relieved?
‘I still have about twenty workers deep inside there.’
Gulp.
He swallowed his dry spit involuntarily.
Why had he forgotten about them?
Or rather, pretended to forget?
‘I told them to wait. I said I’d check the situation and told them not to move rashly because it might be dangerous. That’s why I left them.’
Why am I comfortably soaking in the sunlight, feeling relieved?
The rescue team will be here soon.
They’ll save them.
Believing so, feeling reassured as if shirking responsibility.
‘Should I go and save them?’
The thought suddenly crossed his mind.
Waiting for the rescue team might be too late.
The cold would spread to the very end where the workers were left, making everything even more perilous.
If nothing was done immediately, everyone would be in danger.
‘The rescue team won’t last until they arrive.’
Then, he should at least attempt to save them now.
He knew it was the right thing to do.
But at the same time, he hesitated.
Honestly, he felt scared.
‘The skill option might keep me from freezing to death… but it doesn’t mean it’s not painful. It’s not safe.’
He had personally carried seven people out.
He had to enter and exit the coolant injection room seven times.
Each time, he felt like his whole body was freezing.
No, it felt as if he was stripped naked and thrown into a snowfield in the middle of winter.
His face and the skin of his entire body felt as if they were being ripped and torn apart.
Despite desperately using the arcane technique.
And yet…
‘To reach the section where the workers are, I have to go much deeper than the parts I just shuttled back and forth.’
He would be exposed to the cold for a much longer time.
The pain would be much more intense.
Even with the arcane technique, his limbs might not remain intact.
Continuous exposure to the cold might cause his ears, face, fingers, and toes to freeze and necrotize.
He might end up like those who suffered frostbite during polar expeditions or climbing Everest, needing to have their fingers and toes amputated.
Or even, his lungs could be damaged by the cold.
Even if he didn’t freeze to death, he might suffer from lung damage for the rest of his life.
All these possibilities were uncertain and scary.
‘I’m not confident it won’t happen.’
In fact, it seemed much more likely to happen.
And honestly, he really didn’t want that to happen.
‘Would I suffer from disabilities for the rest of my life? The rescue team is already on its way, do I really need to risk my safety to step in?’
Very honestly, selfishly, but just for a moment.
He hesitated.
He was scared.
He wasn’t the dazzling hero of a storybook.
Nor was he an unyielding soul facing every trial with indomitable spirit.
He was just someone who had grown up ordinarily and wished to continue living that way.
Frankly, he was afraid.
But then, another memory suddenly surfaced.
Times of extreme poverty and hardship.
The days living in a South Korean goshiwon.
Every day spent toiling at the site.
Especially the memory of a particularly sad and frustrating day.
“…”
There was an ajusshi (middle-aged man) he had worked with on the site.
They weren’t close, but they saw each other occasionally at the same labor office.
Then, they ended up at the same site once.
They shared meals and chatted.
He couldn’t remember the name.
No, he didn’t know the name even then.
He just thought the ajusshi seemed a bit pitiful.
‘He mentioned he was a “goose father.”‘
Originally, he was a section chief at a fairly decent company.
He sent his daughter to the United States for her studies, thanks to a reasonable salary. He sent his wife along too, fearing the loneliness his daughter might face alone.
Thus, he lived the lonely life of a “goose father” for several years.
Then he was laid off.
He couldn’t bring himself to tell his wife and daughter.
Afraid his wife would worry.
Afraid it would affect his daughter’s studies.
He bore the sudden retirement alone, hiding the truth from his wife and daughter, and ended up sweating at the construction site.
Fearing he’d lose his severance pay if he rashly started a business.
Needing to continue sending living expenses and tuition to his wife and daughter in the U.S.
So, he kept his severance pay for emergencies and started earning money on the construction site.
‘But that ajusshi, sitting at a desk feeling suffocated, said moving around felt better, even laughing it off.’
He felt sorry for him, but the ajusshi had a good nature.
Even if his dad jokes were a bit much, he always laughed so good-naturedly.
While he did feel sympathy, that was all there was to it.
After all, his own situation at the time wasn’t much better.
Just thought, “So it goes.”
“That ajusshi must be having a tough time too.”
That was about the extent of his thoughts.
And then, that afternoon, after sharing a meal and listening to the ajusshi’s family stories.
There was a fall accident.
That ajusshi, he would never walk again.
But the site?
It continued on, as if nothing had happened.
As if it was no big deal.
Just replaced a broken part and continued on almost exactly as before.
It was unbelievable.
He couldn’t understand it.
‘The most incomprehensible part was the behavior of the site managers.’
Inadequate safety measures.
Poor awareness of safety protocols.
The accident could have been avoided if the fall protection netting had been properly installed according to regulations.
Yet, no one took proper responsibility for it.
They simply said the person who had the accident was careless.
That the ajusshi lacked caution.
Excuses were made left and right.
A meager amount of treatment costs and compensation was all that was offered.
No one made a proper apology or provided adequate compensation.
So, what about himself?
‘I thought it was despicable.’
He remembered the feelings he had at the time.
Seeing those who were supposed to take responsibility on the site shirking their duties.
How furious he had been, even though it wasn’t his own ordeal.
How sorrowful and unjust it felt.
But what about himself just now?
‘I was the same.’
Lloyd suddenly stood up, driven by an impulse.
Sitting here comfortably.
Feeling reassured in the warm sunshine.
Believing that waiting would bring the rescue team.
Leaving the task to them as if it was the better option.
Swallowing cowardly excuses to shrink away.
He found his own actions utterly repugnant.
‘Then, wouldn’t I be just like those site managers and foremen I despised?’
He couldn’t accept that.
This was his site.
He had won it, was responsible for it, and supervised it.
And now, an accident had occurred.
It wasn’t an accident he caused, but still, an accident had happened.
So, who should take responsibility?
‘It’s me.’
He was the person in charge.
At least on this site.
No one else could take that responsibility.
No one else could bear that burden.
‘This is my responsibility.’
Before he knew it, he was running.
He dashed into the standby team’s resting area.
He grabbed all the thin mattresses, large-sized work clothes he could find.
He ran without hesitation towards the entrance of the shaft.
Was it his sudden action that caused it?
The standby team leader hurriedly grabbed him.
“Lloyd, sir? What are… You’re not thinking of going down there now, are you?”
“Yes.”
It was obvious.
There was no time to hesitate.
Lloyd spoke quickly.
“Winter cloaks. Coats. Grab everything you can, as much as you can, quickly. When the rescue team arrives, give them a precise update on the situation. I’ll take care of these, get the blankets. And until the doctor arrives for this person here, keep pressing to stop the bleeding. Press hard.”
“But, I understand that. But, even so, in this situation, to go down there yourself, it’s dangerous down there. The rescue team will arrive soon. Why would you risk yourself by going down there first?”
“What else?”
His decision was already made.
He had things to do.
He looked at the team leader as if it were the most natural thing in the world and replied.
“To save them, all of them.”
There was nothing more to say.
No time to waste.
Lloyd jumped down into the shaft.
The urgency of the situation, his responsibility, and the need to act, outweighed his fears and doubts. Driven by a sense of duty and the memories of a past he couldn’t ignore, he ventured into the cold once more, determined to make a difference, no matter the personal cost.
