"Is this the last time I'll ever be useful to someone?"
That statement wasn't a desperate scream, but rather a faint whisper from deep within the heart, as he slowly walked toward death. It was something Ren felt after managing to save someone, even though he himself couldn't be saved.
His consciousness slowly faded. His body was swallowed by the current, sinking deeper and deeper into the endless dark below. Sharp pain spread from the wounds on his back and shoulders, making his movements grow weaker. Fresh blood seeped out, blending with the salty water that pressed against his entire body.
Every time he tried to breathe, only the sea water entered, and his lungs felt like they were being wrung dry, leaving no room at all to survive.
The water was cold—cold that pierced down to the bone, slowly stealing every trace of warmth left in his body. The world around him disappeared into silence. No more roaring storm, no more panicked screams from the passengers, not even the rumble of the ship's engine. Every sound that once reached his ears faded away. What remained was the stillness that slowly consumed him.
His eyes caught a glimpse of moonlight breaking through the surface above, shimmering for a brief moment before fading as his body sank further down. In that darkness, vague shadows flickered—perhaps only hallucinations born of his fading mind, or maybe something else entirely, something that happened to pass before him by chance. The pressure of the water tightened around his chest, and time itself seemed to stop.
Even at the edge of death, Ren showed a faint, resigned smile spreading across his lips, as if to say he could only accept what was happening to him—accept everything that had come to pass.
For someone like him, there was no better choice than saving the lives of those two unfortunate children in that situation, even if it meant sacrificing himself. That satisfaction came from his surrender and humility to the very end—and that alone was more than enough.
"Damn it... I just wish I could find a new life that isn't boring," he muttered, his voice fading with a hint of resignation.
Ren closed his eyes in the depths of the sea, letting his body drift with the current and the chilling silence. In his mind, the moments from just before began to replay—the calm aboard the ship, the chaos of its destruction, the child he'd pulled from the wreckage, and his own body now rendered powerless. Everything seemed so vivid, so painfully real.
And before it all vanished, his thoughts returned to a few moments earlier—a terrifying night, the night before he sank into helplessness.
—
A few moments earlier…
———