At the red-haired man's brief words, the five felt as though they had plunged into an ice cave.
They had never loathed anyone as much as they did at that moment.
Truly, people did not share one another's joys and sorrows. All they felt now was how painfully glaring the smile on the red-haired man's face was, as though it mocked everything they had hoped and worked for over the past three years.
Of course, they did not know that he really was mocking them.
All their efforts had been wasted, their goals were false, and the hope they believed in had never existed. Was there anything more despair-inducing than that?
At that thought, the red-haired man truly smiled.
Then he comforted the five leaders, using the same lines as before.
If they gave up now, they would have nothing left. Their six full years of struggle would all have been for nothing.
What else could the five say? They could only keep holding on.
Over those three years, the apocalypse had grown ever more severe, making their lives even harder.
Had they not had hope, they would really have wanted to kill themselves.
Three years passed like that, yet the person who was supposed to appear never came.
They were utterly dumbfounded.
What was going on? Had they been deceived?
Impossible! Surely not! Perhaps something had come up, and he would simply arrive a little late.
Yes, that had to be it! It had to be!
Through self-hypnosis, they avoided breaking down, but they lost their former spirit. Every day, they lived like walking corpses, muddling through without a goal.
Those precarious days were their most despairing time.
Those precarious days lasted an entire year.
It was a day no different from any other, with the same gray, gloomy